a new journal is full of possibilities

[skyti]

 There are few things Atreus loves more then listening to the stories of others and writing them down.  Okay, okay he definitely loves his parents more.  That's a given though.  Also wolves are cool.  He sure does love wolves.  He's quite convinced he'll prove his father wrong one day and teach himself how to turn into one but that day's sadly a long way off probably.

Writing in a journal though! Back to that! He loves writing about his adventures and and every tale he comes across, and he's wanted to write down his findings of the Nexus too... but he thought it'd be appropriate to have a separate journal for here.  There were so many people from so many different worlds! He figures it'll be really easy to fill up a lot of pages really fast.

That's when he discovered the stationary store.  Which is probably one of his favorite places he's found here so far.  Dozens of different journals in different sizes in so many colors with so many pictures on the covers.  And the writing tools! Markers, pens, colored pencils! In any and every color he could possibly imagine! There were other even more ADVANCED materials like stickers an washi tape but he was honestly starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

So he ended up leaving with a truly epic looking journal with a wolf on the cover and a small package of pens in an assortment of colors.  He's investigate the other materials more thoroughly later.

As he walked he flipped open the journal.  The pages were empty and pristine.  There's a bit of a thrill whenever you look at blank pages like that.  What will eventually fill them? He knows the first thing at least.  He selects a pen and writes in runes 'Tales from the Nexus' and smiles to himself.  That feels right.  Not to just... get those tales!

"Excuse me!" he hails a friend or a friendly looking stranger, or just someone INTERESTING looking as they pass by, "Know any good stories?"

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[tr1ckortreat]

Loki heard the familiar child's voice and looked around and then down at the form of the little boy warrior. Atreus. Of course it was and why was he holding some sort of book? The god's eyebrow raised at the question and he could not just walk away from such a curious question.

"Oh, I know lots of good stories. It depends on which you'd like to hear since some can be a little bloody and explicit. Not the sort of thing for a child to hear."

Of course he was teasing lightly since he knew Atreus was some sort of warrior and had probably seen his fair share of battle and blood. It depends on what sort of story he wanted to hear, whether it be tales of battle or tales of mischief. Loki also had lots of those.

"Or, would you rather I tell you a story involving mischief? Those I have many in regard to my centuries of being the god of mischief."

[skyti]

He snorts a little at that. He's certainly seen far more blood and battle and the just plain morbid then most other kids his age. Heck one of his traveling companions is a severed head! Who also happens to tell very good stories. Many of which are also very bloody.

"Always with the mischief, huh?" he cocks his head to the side and taps his pen on his notebook page. An almost alarming consistency among those in this place that call themselves 'Loki'. He's not sure if he should be concerned for his own future or not.

"All right! Let's hear one of those," he grins and pauses a moment to switch out his pen colors. While he liked the red one it felt thematic to use the green for this one, "Tell me your favorite one."

[tr1ckortreat]

Where to begin?

The child wanted to hear one of Loki's favourite stories so be it. He would hear one that was close to his heart and also close to his memory before being pulled to this place. The truth would be told no matter how harsh the ending, since the boy was innocent and Loki was in a good mood. Lying to this child just felt wrong and now that he was in the Nexus, he felt some good rubbing off on him.

"Alright. This is a tale of metal men, green monsters, outer space aliens and a chariot ride around New York."

Loki was in half a mind to not tell the story of the Chitauri invasion since a lot about it stung, yet maybe getting it off his chest might help him heal faster. Defeat had a lot to answer for.

"A giant chasm had opened up within the sky of New York, a Midgardian city, sending down the alien Chitauri invasion force, unleashed by my hand and the mighty sceptre I wielded in my right hand. A bright blue glow emanated from within the end of the sceptre; the Tesseract's power, alien energy commanding anyone under my will that I touched. I orchestrated the take over of Earth, bending the mortals to my will, forcing them to kneel, since they craved subjugation."

He watched Atreus, wondering what the boy thought of the story so far. Loki continued.

"I rode my Chitauri chariot through the streets of New York before ending up on the Avenger's tower. My plans were going well until Earth's Mightiest Heroes showed up in force. The Avengers. A man encased in red and gold iron armour forced to stop me since it was his tower I was standing atop. Iron-Man. He and his large green monster friend threatened to end me. The Hulk. Then, my brother, Thor, with his might hammer, Mjolnir, aimed to smite me down in the air with the power of thunder."

Loki felt a pang of anger well up inside of him but it was soon quenched when he closed his eyes.

"I was overcome, my plans in ruin and the Chitauri destroyed by the might of the Avengers. My body thrown through the tower's window and I ended up being smashed into the hard floor by the Hulk monster. The dullard creature's strength overpowering my own."

That part caused a wave of emotion to rise in the god but he stilled himself. The memory of the event still raw in his mind.

[skyti]

Atreus doesn't say anything as Loki regales him with his tale. He glances up a time or two. And it's not like Loki is suffering the cold judgmental stare of a twelve year old or anything but there's something... something disappointed in his expression at the talk of subjugating the mortals and whatnot. This is the type of god his father would hate. This is the type of god that his mother would tell him tales of as an example of a bad one. This god's name is Loki.

Atreus doesn't like it much. It's a thrilling tale certainly full of adventure but... it feels unsettling all the same.

By the time the story is a an end Atreus has filled up a couple pages with his neat runework, He's added an illustration near the bottom of a page, because he always draws while he writes. It's Loki of course. In a chariot pulled by nothing. While it's certainly not quite right, the silhouette feels oddly accurate. His mother's people had the gift of prophecy and saw visions of the future and sometimes the past. Occasionally Atreus catches glimpses of both.

"You know... a lot of the best stories, whether they're real or some fable someone's made up, there's something to be learned from them. Sometimes I think that a big reason why we remember them. And retell them," he taps his pen on the filled page. Well filled save for a small blank area at the top. A place for a title that he hasn't decided on, "Did you learn anything? From your battle in New York?"

[tr1ckortreat]

Loki's eyes flick down to where Atreus was writing his story and then he spotted the picture to go with it. The chariot being pulled by nothing. The image itself was rather charming and Loki found it compelling that Atreus also illustrated what he heard from others.

"Oh, I do like the drawing. You've got it spot on there."

There was no malic or spit on his voice this time, only truthful appreciation that the boy had actually bothered to put in so much effort on his behalf. It was all rather humbling. The feelings of the past event involving the Chitauri weighed heavily on Loki and even now he still felt pangs of regret.

"What did I learn? That you should not trust those who would so easily turn their back on you."

Once the Chitauri learnt of Loki's failure, they dropped him like a stone. He was no longer useful and if he had not been captured by Thor and placed within the confines of the Asgardian prison, then surely he'd be dead. The Chitauri did not take prisoners.

How could he have been such a fool? The whole stunt revolving around the invasion was for Loki to prove himself against the weakness of Midgard. To prove himself against Thor and Asgard that he was as strong as the Thunderer and would be silent lurking within the shadows no longer. The power of the Tesseract had consumed his very soul almost.