Stories and hobbies and other ways to pass the time

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity's in her favorite seat in the forum, drinking coffee and trying to read a book that's frustrating her. It isn't long before she puts it down with a scowl aimed at the cover (or possibly the concept of books). "Does anyone understand Norse mythology? Is that a thing? Because I do not get it."

"Alternately, any suggestions for hobbies for someone with lots of time and few skills? Preferably things that aren't group activities."

((A note about Verity: she's got a magic spell stuck in her that lets her always know when someone is lying to her. Please respect this; if your character is trying to lie to her, please make that known so she can react appropriately.))

Comments

[damn_yourself_early]

"I have insights on the subject!" Kid Loki crows, beaming.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I would hope so." She toes the book in his direction. "Can you make sense of this? Because it's all reading to me like lies and also lies."

She would permit his coming to sit next to her. There might be a chance of cuddles for the kid, but mostly because he's small and innocent-looking. And also she's still not sure where his "off' button is and this way she'll already have an arm around him if when he gets a bad idea.

[damn_yourself_early]

Sit he shall. He won't lean right up against her, but he will try to peek at the book. "Well, you're getting this through several layers of editorial meddling. If someone drew mustaches on a bunch of portraits, someone else cut those portraits up into puzzles, gave half the pieces to a third person, who put them into a cannon and shot them at a printing press, you'd get a similar idea of what the portraits were, originally."

[brave_heart_verity]

Hey if he doesn't want cuddles that's on him. Or possibly Ikol.

"That makes a disturbing amount of sense, but it doesn't help me understand. You explain it? You're good at stories." And there's the unspoken promise of ice-cream-shaped rewards at the end. He knows how well-stocked her freezer is.

[damn_yourself_early]

"Well, which part do you want to know? The full mythic and historic eddas are, well, kind of long."

He does, indeed, know a thing or two about the contents of her freezer, as well as the rewards a teller of tales can expect from a grateful audience.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Loki. I want to know the things Ikol never got around to telling me. He's been. Busy." Lies are so uncomfortable for her. "If he were going to hide somewhere, where would he go?"

[damn_yourself_early]

"That's... a good question." He pulls his knees up under his chin, wrapping his arms around them to give it a good think. "Naturally, the best place to hide is where they'd never even think to look for you, which is usually the places you least want to be. The cave at the root of the world, maybe. No one would ever think to look for Loki there, except perhaps Loki."

[brave_heart_verity]

She doesn't rush him. It's better when he's thinking before he speaks, and she wants to encourage that. But would he mind an arm around his shoulders?

"Hmm. How do I get to this cave?"

[damn_yourself_early]

He would not mind an arm. "Well, you'd need to find a ca--oh. Oh, no. He wouldn't go to the cave." He looks up to Verity, asking, "what was he struggling with, before he left?"

[brave_heart_verity]

She bites back the snarky reply, just barely.

"You sure you want to know? It might not be good for you to hear it."

[damn_yourself_early]

"I could keep fumbling around with uninformed guesses, if you'd rather," he points out.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Better I waste my time than you get hurt." Have a little squeeze of reassurance. "So how have you been? Been on any interesting missions lately?"

[damn_yourself_early]

He's disappointed. He'd hoped appealing to her desire to find her friend, combined with the puppy dog eyes icon, would get her to spill some beans. "Well," he answers airily, "I've had to find homes for a litter of puppies, lately. That has been somewhat diverting."

[brave_heart_verity]

Yeah, sucks to have a friend so good she's technically someone else's friend and still is willing to sacrifice herself for you. Poor poor Loki.

"Puppies? That sounds... really unlikely. I always figured you for a cat person."

[damn_yourself_early]

Yes, but he's still left in the dark, and adults never tell him anything important unless they're villains!

"Hel-wolf was, it turns out, something of a ladies' man during our visit to Hela's realm, and spent some time in the company of the great she-wolf who guards the gates. Hela sait since the puppies are a consequence of my visit, I had to be the one to find them homes. And I did!"

[brave_heart_verity]

Hey, she has told him lots of important things. Well. Several.

"Oh? That's good. Good job." Is that what he wants to hear? Is it what he needs to hear? The hell if she knows. There are books about this kind of thing. She'll have to read one of them.

[damn_yourself_early]

Good luck finding a parenting book that isn't a cavalcade of untruths.

"I found homes for all of them except one; the troublemaker that nobody wanted. He's going to be my dog, and he'll be the best dog ever."

He really believes that.

[brave_heart_verity]

Damnit.

"I'm sure you're going to take really good care of him." She gives him an encouraging smile and hopes the little beast doesn't eat any of his limbs. "What's his name?"

[damn_yourself_early]

"Thori!" He already tried that with Tyr ("Not again!").

[brave_heart_verity]

Doesn't mean he won't try again.

"That's sweet. Have you told your brother yet?"

[damn_yourself_early]

"Not yet. He, er, isn't back yet. There's a wrong story somewhere, but it's very persuasive. Pervasive. At least one of those."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Maybe both. But you're more so." He's also getting a hug now. "You're the god of stories. Nobody's stories beat yours."

[damn_yourself_early]

Oh, hey, that's a good hug, there. "You really think so?"

[brave_heart_verity]

She hesitates only long enough to make eye contact with him. "I know so."

She'll hate herself for it later.

[damn_yourself_early]

Oh, look at him beaming!