Lost and Found

"I quite like this one." Loki said as he stepped out from the changing room, straightening the black suit he'd tried on. 

Sig- er, Jolene sat on a bench just a few feet away and giggled at him, putting a hand to her lips.

"What?" he asked. 

"Anymore black and you’ll look goth...!" she teased him playfully. 

"I don't know what that is." Loki said obliviously, admiring himself in the mirror. He could probably put his hair up in a bun, not many men had long hair nowadays.

"Imagine witches, vampires, werewolves, stuff like that." 

Loki chuckled, pulling the cuffs further down when he noticed they were slipping up slightly. "I suppose that's fitting, my mother was raised by witches." 

He saw her blink curiously through the mirror. "What, really?" 

He chuckled. "Really. She was a very wise and powerful sorceress, she can glimpse into the future." 

“I’m going to have to get used to you saying things like that.” she giggled, her beautiful eyes shining with interest. "Where'd your normal clothes go, anyway?" 

"Dimensional pocket." 

Her absolutely bewildered expression made him laugh lightly as he followed her over to the counter to pay for the suit. He watched her dig around her purse and hand the woman at the counter a 'hundred dollar bill,' he believed, before she motioned for him to follow. 

"I could have paid for it, I have gold." Loki told her as he walked alongside her. 

"Er, gold isn't really common currency around here." 

"You just use paper?" 

"Well, yeah, and coins made of metal." 

He must've looked incredibly perplexed because she laughed, a beautiful sound that threatened to melt his heart. "Now that we've got you some human clothes, what would you like to see? A movie? A dance? The theatre?" 

"I have no idea what a movie is, but I quite enjoy the theatre."

She smiled. "Great! But uh..." Then her smile became more sheepish. "It’s kinda expensive..." 

He smirked at her. "I can get us in easily."

She blinked. "Really?" 

He nodded and took her hand, leading her along. "Let's go!"

She yipped a bit but laughed as she led him to the theatre. Loki curiously looked around, watching how people went up to some sort of booth to pay for the tickets before he led Sigyn around the back.

She squeaked a bit. "Where are we going?" 

"Last time I was on earth, I discovered something called 'fire escapes'." He smirked when he found one in the back of the building and lead her towards the back entrance. He jiggled the handle, then pushed it down hard enough to force it to unlatch. "Ta-da~"

She gapped at him. "This is so very illegal..." 

"Only if you get caught." he said with a mischievous smile, shrugging his arms as he walked backward into the building.

She looked like she was bordering on protesting, but she just ended up giggling as she followed, and he could see the exhilaration in her eyes. He took her hand and led her through the backstage, narrowly avoiding actors and security as they made their way around to get to the seating areas. He led them up to one of the empty private balconies and sat down, bidding her to take a seat with him.

She smiled as took a seat. "How did you do that??" 

He chuckled. "I'm quite good at sneaking around, even without my magic. I've had centuries of practice."

She smiled at him. "Really? Doing what?" 

"Pulling pranks on everyone at the palace." he laughed. "Especially my brother." 

She giggled happily and he grinned at her, then they both looked up as the tale of Macbeth began to unfold onstage. 

It didn't take long for Loki to lean forward with an intrigued expression, quite enjoying this play. Witches, prophecies, murder, and unforeseen twists, it was all incredibly captivating. And he had to admit, the actors were quite good. He almost believed he was actually watching these characters work to defeat each other, a classic battle between good and evil. 

When the intermission allowed them some time to talk, he asked Jolene, "Shakespeare was the man who wrote this play, right?" 

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, he was! He wrote many pieces of literature that we enjoy.”

"I think I met him once." Loki hummed thoughtfully. "Charming fellow. I need to catch up on his works, he clearly went far...!"

She blinked quickly at him. 

"What? I've visited earth before." Loki said simply. 

“Even though you don’t like it?”

"I mean, in my youth, I quite liked causing trouble down here. I just never stuck around."

She giggled. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?" 

He chuckled. "Because you used to come with me, sometimes."

Jolene gawked at him. “I did? What did we do?” She asked curiously

"I wreaked havoc, you helped certain mortals if you thought they needed help." he said with a wistful smile.

She softened gently. “Did I? That... sounds like me.” She scoffed in a bit of amusement. 

He smiled softly with a chuckle. "You always dragged me along anytime you needed mischief done."

“I needed mischief done?” She asked curiously. 

"Oh, you know, tracking down a long lost love, rescuing orphans, murder, playing pranks on corrupt officials."

She blinked very quickly, looking incredibly alarmed. 

His face broke into a grin at her expression and he tried his best not to burst out laughing. "I'm joking, I'm joking...! You're too soft-hearted to have anyone murdered."

She let out a breath and laughed in relief. “Oh, my gods...!" 

"I'm a trickster." He laughed.

“Clearly!” She giggled with a blush

He snickered. "You always loved my pranks."

She smiled softly at him. “I can imagine...!”

He smiled back at her and when the play began again, he leaned forward in his seat, excited to see what would happen next. 

After the play finished, Loki insisted on seeing the library to pick up the rest of Shakespeare's works, and perhaps some history books about the past century or two. Jolene had to giggle at him as she led him there. She was sure that the library was rather small to Loki compared to Asgard, but he seemed happy to look at all the books. It was like he felt right at home here.

She stood back while he passed every shelf with his fingers tracing the spines of every book, smiling gently at how focused he seemed. It felt familiar, watching Loki pick out any books that caught his eye, and she could feel something deep in her resurfacing. She could almost see a young boy in his place, gathering books and taking in every word as he read through them with surprising speed, a warm feeling glowing in her chest

"Sig?" 

His voice snapped her out of it and looked up at him with a blink. “I-I’m sorry, what?”

He chuckled at her, looking amused. "I was saying that there seem to be quite a few books on the American Captain, it's quite amusing."

She smiled gently. “Oh yes, there is quite a bit of history on him.”

"I only met him briefly, but he was very amusing." With a wave of his hand, suddenly Captain America was standing before her. "'On my way down to coordinate search and rescue.'" Loki mimicked his voice perfectly. 

Jolene gawked for a moment before she burst out laughing. “Does he actually sound like that?” She giggled, putting a hand to her lips

Loki snorted as he changed back. "Yes, he does. To the point that Stark himself looked like he was about to laugh at my impression." 

She giggled and watched as he picked out a few other books before he returned to her side. “Find everything?”

"Yes, I did." He grinned, and she found the way his eyes seemed to shine with interest incredibly adorable. "I'm eager to learn."

She smiled and waved him along. “Let’s check them out then!”

He happily followed behind her. She checked out all his books and she was kind of surprised that Loki was able to carry them all with ease. 

“How are you going to read all these in time??” She laughed

"Don't doubt my power." He smirked playfully.

She giggled at him, pressing her fingers to her lips. "Ooh, sorry, tricky boy." 

He scoffed as he followed her through the city. "'Tricky boy'? That's awful." 

She laughed. "Hey, I work hard on my nicknames." 

Loki chuckled at her, mirth dancing in his eyes. "If you need to give me a nickname, you could just call me Lie-Smith." 

She looked up at him curiously. "Lie-Smith?" 

His skin seemed to become pinker and he averted his eyes, looking around at literally everything they passed. "It's what you always called me growing up." 

"Oh." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "How did we meet?" 

He looked back at her in surprise, probably not expecting that kind of question right now, but he obliged. "Well... your parents wanted to give you a good education, and since you were gifted with magic, my mother offered to take you in and teach you." 

"So I can do magic?" She was certain her eyes were shining. 

He gave her a smile. "Yes, you can. We trained together for a while after you came to live in the palace, but we met before you arrived there." 

She tilted her head as they got to her place, unlocking her door and leading them both inside. "How?" 

"Well... any time there is a visitor from another realm like Vanaheim, there is a parade to welcome them to Asgard. My brother and I never really left the palace, but I was incredibly curious and we snuck out to see our new visitors." His expression became wistful as he put all the books down on the coffee table. "You and your parents were being brought in a blue and white carriage, the colors of Vanaheim. I got separated from my brother because I was so excited to meet you, another magic-user like me, and, funnily enough, a gust of wind blew your fan out of your hand." 

She listened to his every word closely and tried her best to imagine the scene. A beautiful summer, cheering crowds, a boy with black hair and green clothes dodging in between the guards that kept the people at bay. A wind blowing by and her hand loosening around her fan, letting it fly out of her grasp and into the lithe hand of the boy. 

"I got it back to you and the guards brought me and my brother back to the palace when they realized we'd snuck out." Loki chuckled softly, amused. "Odin didn't get to punish us because we had to be there to greet your family. And my mother introduced us to each other since we'd be working together in her class." 

Jolene smiled softly, imagining large doors opening as she followed her parents in, only to meet the gaze of the boy she'd met in the street. She wondered if she was surprised or happy, or maybe even both, to know that the boy she'd met in the streets had been the son of the Queen she'd be studying under, the prince of a mighty kingdom. 

"And ever since, we were quite the pair of magic-users." Loki chuckled, sitting down on her couch. "An Asgardian and a Vanir, a match made in Valhalla." 

She felt her face heat up, but she had to giggle as she sat beside him. "I assume I had to keep you out of trouble?" 

Loki laughed. "Oh, certainly. We balanced each other perfectly, gave each other a new perspective on things." 

Jolene smiled softly. It sounded amazing, the life she'd lived a long time ago. She wished she could remember it all. 

"Can you tell me more?" she asked him. "About... us? Asgard, Vanaheim, all that?" 

He looked at her and she felt her heart stutter as she stared into those emerald orbs of his. She didn't remember him, not really, and yet... she felt as though she were flying just by looking into his eyes. And his smile... it was a smile she wanted to treasure forever. 

"I'd love to." 

They sat there for hours, with Loki telling her all about the Nine Realms, telling her stories of their childhood together, all the fun they had. And she listened the whole time, her imagination running wild with the descriptions of the worlds he'd visited. It all sounded so magical, and she hoped to see it one day. And he promised her that they would, the Nine Realms were theirs to explore soon. 

And as the day passed them by, she slowly started drifting off next to him. She tried to stay awake, but she just couldn't shake it off. At some point, she ended up resting her head on his shoulder, listening to his soothing voice. She vaguely noticed that a blanket was being draped over her body and smiled a little with a small, content sigh.

And as she drifted off, she just barely registered his voice whispering, "Goodnight, Sigyn..."