Back to New York
Chapter 40: Back to New York
"Dregnr! Dregnr drop my shoe. Please drop it!" Loki called as he hurried after his princess down the hall. They were in the process of trying to get ready to head out for the airport so they could just load up the car while Mobius changed out of his work clothes. He had packed his suitcase the night previous.
Loki had his bag packed with the essentials and sent a couple changes of clothes to the closet in their room in Sean's apartment along with one of his robes before he grabbed a pair of shoes to put on.
Dregnr had been such a wonderful addition to the house. He worked with her most days on commands and his therapist had suggested making her a service dog, but he wasn't sure he really needed a service animal and some of the troubles that were caused just by having one, the attention that had a tendency to draw to people, he didn't really want it on him. He had merely said that he would work on it.
She wasn't prone to destructive tendencies often and stayed out of the trash which he was thankful for, but he had found out the hard way that she couldn't quite contain herself when it came to a good shoe chewing session every now and then. It was something he was still working on.
He heard Kevin laugh as they ran by his room. Loki with one shoe and sock on his left foot and only a sock on his right foot. "Dregnr!" He shouted a little more firmly and she stopped at the top of the stairs. Looking back to him. "Drop it!" Her pointed ears fell a little, but after another moment she lowered her head and dropped the shoe which landed on the hard wood of the hallway with a dull thud.
Loki came over and immediately gave her a couple pats on the head. "Thank you so much. That's my good girl." He murmured and felt a little better about having to raise his voice when he heard her tail wagging again. He reached down and took his shoe back. "Come on. We have to get you ready for your flight as well." He said as she followed him back to the room where he sat on the edge of the bed to pull his other shoe on.
He was pretty sure Dregnr had never been on a flight before and the first couple of times he had tried to coax her into the kennel so that she could get used to it she had full on growled at it. He wasn't sure why at first, but then he remembered that she had come from a hoarder home. There was a good chance she was locked in a kennel for a while.
When he finally managed to coax her into it one day she had been fine as long as he was in the room with her, but as soon as he had tried to leave the room for a little bit to try and get her used to being alone since she would have to be for a couple hours during the flight, but she had started crying out for him again. Just like she had done in the shelter and he just couldn't handle it. Every time she cried for him all he could remember was Fenrir's cries of pain while he had been bound by unbreakable bonds and weakened from the fight he had put up defending Fenrir...helplesss to help...and he couldn't take it. The vet had given him some sort of a pill, they had promised it would be safe for her, that would calm her, make her sleepy. She would take a nap and when she woke up he would be right there and they would be in New York.
Once he had his other shoe on he collected his bag and Mobius's suitcase and took them both downstairs. On his way poking his head into Kevin's room whose door was open halfway. "You need any help in here?"
"Uhhh..." Kevin looked around. "I don't think so. I'm almost done."
Loki nodded. "Alright bring your suitcase down. And don't forget your jacket it's going to be colder there now that we're more into the fall than the summer."
"I won't I promise." Kevin said.
Loki chuckled before he continued on his way. Dregnr trotting along with him. He set Mobi's suitcase close to the door and then headed to the kitchen. He got into the fridge and pulled a couple pieces of lunch meat and got into the cupboard to get the pill from the vet. He wrapped two of the pieces of meat around the pill and handed one to her to eat as a distraction. She ate it no problem and the piece that followed. He gave her one more piece and some more loves for eating her pill no problem. She would be snoozing comfortably soon enough.
With her taken care of he pulled on a longer green wool sweater with a hood on it and headed up to Sean's room. He took the lid off the cage. Carefully calmly he lifted Hiss from his enclosure and smiled as he sat on the edge of Sean's bed and and spent a couple minutes cooing to him. Stroking along his head and letting him slither and wind around his arm. Sean had handled her a lot growing up once Loki had deemed her safe and with Sean gone, he made a point to come in every now and then and give him some attention so he would not grow unused to being handled.
Once he had the snake thoroughly relaxed he held up close to the hood and with a little encouragement he nudged him into the hood on the cardigan where he would be safe for the trip and warm.
***
Mobius got home around five. He changed into some comfy clothes while Kevin helped him load up the car and soon enough they were off.
"Can I hold Hiss for the flight?" Kevin asked as he sat next to him in the airport waiting for their flight.
Loki shook his head. "It's better to just let him be. It will be a little stressful for him as it is, but I'm sure once he has a chance to get used to his new home Sean will let you hold him."
Kevin pouted a little, but he nodded. "Okay."
Loki smiled and ruffled his head before he leaned back a little in his chair.
"Did you know that Thor's back in New York?" Kevin said excitedly out of nowhere.
Loki tensed next to Mobius, but he tried to keep his tone light and just curious. "Oh? What need would they have of him? I thought they had been handling things pretty well without him. Doesn't he have a new...town...somewhere?" He asked as he felt Mobius wrap an arm around his shoulders.
"Yeah he does! It's called New Asgard. A kid did a presentation on it last year, but they were having some trouble with some sort of a girl who knows magic."
Loki tensed further. "A sorceress?"
"Yeah, kind of reminds me of you actually. But she has blonde hair. She's got magic like Wanda, but...not? I don't know. She's kind of cool, but she's a bad guy. She's been working with Doom from what sources can find out."
Loki felt like he was going to be a little sick. What was Amora doing on Midgard? She hadn't been around in so long.
Mobius held him a little tighter. "Sweetheart just breathe." He murmured.
Loki's realized he indeed wasn't breathing and he forced himself to let out a wheezing breath and then focused on taking a couple more. "It's...it's probably not her. Last I heard she was locked up in Vanaheim." He whispered back in French so that Mobius alone would understand him.
Mobius smiled as well. "Probably just a mutant who got pushed to the wrong side." He said a bit sadly and reached over to shush Kevin as he saw him getting ready to correct the both of them with the name of the soreceress. There was no need for Loki to get so upset right before a flight. Besides they weren't going to be doing anything that would draw the attention of Thor or the Avengers or Amora. They were just going to cheer Sean on in a bot battle.
Loki calmed down as the conversation turned to Kevin's excitement over both seeing his brother and seeing his bot as well. While they were waiting he placed a call to the airport they would be landing in New York and asked if he could set up a rental that he could collect when they got there so that they wouldn't have to worry about a cab this time around.
***
The flight itself went well enough. Loki was stressed because of the rain, but there was no thunder which helped him a little. Hiss stayed curled up in his hood the whole time and when they collected their bags from baggage claim along with his princess it was all there. He had been so worried that his precious baby was going to end up going on a world tour like his suitcase, but the thought of leaving her at home for nearly a week had been worse. So when the crate was sent out he was so relieved.
He made sure his cuffs were in place for millionth time that evening and hefted her kennel in both his hands, thankful for his extra strength. Kevin got both his and Mobius's while Mobius went and collected their rental. He met the both of them outside and they got the car loaded back up.
Dregnr was just starting to wake up a little so she didn't seem to mind being in the crate a little longer. He could feel Hiss wriggling around in his hood as well so he was glad when they finally reached Sean's apartment.
He just opened the kennel and let Dregner hop out of the hatchback. Leaving the kennel for when it was time to go back home. There was no need to have it in the apartment and Kevin ran ahead of both him and Mobius. The elevator let them out onto Sean's floor and Kevin, so sure that he had the right apartment number this time beamed as he gave a loud knock on the door second to last on the left side of the hall. "Sean we're here!"
A very old, but sweet enough looking elderly woman hunched over a cane pulled open her door and adjusted the impossibly thick glasses on her nose. Squinting before she smiled.
"Ralph? Is that you?"
Kevin took a small step back. "Uh...sorry Ma'am, I...I think I have the wrong door."
"Oh..." She said a bit sadly. "You remind me of my little Ralphie..." She said before she smiled again. "If you ever want some cookies young man you can come over."
"Okay...thank you." Kevin said awkwardly as the door shut again.
"You were close again."
Kevin turned to see Sean standing in the doorway directly across from her laughing.
"That's Mrs. Addie. She's really nice. Makes really good cookies to. I help her with her grocery shopping sometimes. I'm kind of mad they put her so high up knowing she has so much trouble getting around, but I do get more cookies."
Loki smiled and Mobius felt a bit of pride swell up as he heard how polite of a young man his son was shaping up to be. He moved to give him a hug first. "Hey champ. How'd your test go today?"
Sean shrugged as he motioned for all of them to come in. "It went good. I feel good about it anyway. Won't have the results til Wednesday." He said before he found himself sort of tackled by a small wall of fur that was giving him face licks.
Loki laughed as he set down his bag on the couch. "Sean that's Dregnr."
Sean giggled as he sat down fully on the floor to give her some proper attention. "She's so cute! I can't believe someone gave her up because she looks kind of like a wolf. Who wouldn't want a dog that looks like a wolf? That would be cool!"
"Just out of curiosity did you make dinner again Sean?"
Sean shook his head. "No I didn't have time today. I'm sorry."
Kevin looked to Mobius. "Dad can we get pizza? New York's pizza is so good."
Mobius shrugged as he looked around the room. "Any objections?"
Loki shook his head with a small yawn. "For me just get pineapple and jalepenos. I don't feel in the mood for heavier toppings tonight."
"Not a problem sweetheart." He said before he looked to the boys. "Any requests?"
Kevin and Sean looked at each other before they looked to Mobius. "Chicken and bacon with extra bacon and cheese."
"I'll go make a call." Mobius said as he dug out his phone.
Sean called after him with the name of a local pizza chain that made some of the best pizza in his opinion.
Loki watched him go as well before he turned his attention to the boys. "Sean?"
"Yeah Loki?"
"Come over here for a moment and look in my hood. There's another friend of yours that's going to be very happy to see you."
Sean bounced up immediately. "Hiss!" He cheered as he ran over to Loki who sat himself on the couch kind of turned to the side so that Sean could have easy access to his hood.
Sean peeked in and moved slow as he stuck in first a finger just barely. Just to announce his presence. Once he felt the tongue brush up a against his finger and then Hiss slowly trying to climb up his finger he very slowly moved more of his hand in until he was able to safely scoop him out without startling him. "Hey Hiss. I've missed you buddy. I have an awesome set up for you. This terrarium takes up half the hall height and width wise. I put lots of branches for to climb on and..."
Sean's voice faded as he disappeared into his room. His door lingering open long enough for Kevin to join him before it shut.
Loki let out a hum as he laid back on the couch and Dregnr looked up to him for permission. "Sean?" He called out a bit louder.
A second later the door was cracked open. "Yeah?"
"Is Dregnr allowed to get on your couch?"
"Yeah, she's fine! Thanks for asking though." Sean called back before the door clicked shut again.
Loki smiled as he patted the spot on the couch next to him. Moving his bag to the coffee table in front of the couch as he did so. Dregnr had no qualms about jumping up and laying on her side next to him with her head in his lap. Loki's hand found it's way to rest and comb idly through the fur on her head and he let out a breath. Mobius was right. Nothing terrible had happened in three visits now. Everything was fine.