Adjusting
Loki wrapped the robe tighter around his lean frame after he realized that beating on the door was futile. The tower room was drafty and afforded little warmth from the wintry storm raging outside. He wiped at the tears spilling down his cheeks.
“Maybe I should’ve stayed at home.” He says to himself as he tries to huddle in the stale hay to keep warm. Minutes pass… how long… Loki knows not. But soon he hears the grumbling growls of the Master approach once more and Loki instinctively starts to tense with a horrid mix of fear and anticipation. The door is unlocked and wrenched open. In the darkened space stands the darker silhouette of the Master… tall and broad with antlered helm… and still the bright blue of those eyes seem to glow in this dimness Loki notes.
“Come with me.” The Master says firmly but in a surprisingly gentle tone than before. Loki is confused.
“But I thought-” The boy starts as he looks around the shabby lodgings.
“What? You want to stay in the tower?” The Master asks a bit harshly. Loki blanches.
“No.” Loki replies a bit sheepishly as he lowers his gaze.
“Then come with me.” The Master says with finality and turns… tugging his cape in a firm gesture. Loki follows albeit hesitantly from the tower room. He watches the silhouette of the Master start for the spiral stairs where the faint light from a candle or torch is coming from further down.
“Wait!” Loki says and the Master halts. “I want to see your face.” Loki then says in a somewhat demanding way. His bravery earns him a snort from the Master who turns to look at him with those luminous, azure eyes once more.
“Fandral! Approach.” The Master then commands as he turns to face the stairs once more… and the light from down the stairs starts to ascend. The tinking of the little metal candelabra echoes off the stone walls and Loki watches with widening eyes as his host comes into better view. At first all he sees is the Master’s back… broad and tall… with the antlers poking above the red caped form.
“Turn around.” Loki says in a near whisper as Fandral the candelabra stops at his bare feet. The Master turns slowly to face his new guest. He stands upon his odd animalistic legs to his full height and Loki gasps as he looks at the sight revealed before him… for there stands a seven foot tall monster covered in golden fur of various shades with a beastly countenance. Fangs protruding from his extended lower jaw, pointy ears like those of a deer or elk, and large blue eyes that seem so human. His beastly host’s head is crowned with a pair of elk antlers that look to be gilded at the points. Loki is rendered speechless by this revelation and his beastly host grows visibly fidgety as the silence stretches.
“Come… I’ll show you to your rooms now.” The Beast then says somewhat awkwardly as he turns and heads down the stairs slowly so that Loki can keep up. Loki hurries down behind his odd host and now that his mind is working again after the initial shock, he has a thousand questions…
“So… was it a curse?” Loki asks as they walk along a long corridor. “I mean, obviously you weren’t born this way.” Loki then adds. His beastly host glances back at him with angry blue eyes and a warning growl. Loki blanches a little.
“I’m not stupid. I’ve read several books… I’m familiar with the concept of curses.” Loki then says a bit petulantly. Silence fills the next few moments… until…
“It was a curse, wasn’t it?” Loki then starts once more. “That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Don’t you ever stop talking?” The Beast rumbles out as they continue.
“I’m afraid I don’t quite know how to stop actually… once my curiosity is piqued.” Loki replies. Grumbles are the only response to that.
“There is only one rule in my home…” The Master starts. Loki looks up then to catch the side glance from his bestial host. “You can go anywhere you wish in my home… save for the West Wing.”
“Why? What’s in the Wes-” Loki starts.
“It’s forbidden!” His host says firmly and turns to stare Loki eye to eye as they suddenly come to a stop. Loki barely manages to keep himself from bumping into the Master. His host then pulls his red cape as he turns and resumes heading to the East Wing of the palace. Loki follows now quieter than before.
“Here is your room.” The Master then says after opening a door. Loki hesitates at the entrance.
“What is your name?” Loki asks as he looks up at his fearsome host.
“I don’t have a name.” The Master growls out in response.
“Of course you do… if you were once human… then you had a name.” Loki presses once more.
“I gave it up.” The Master says firmly… his ire is starting to rise.
“Fine… if you won’t tell me then I’ll just call you… Beast.” Loki says a bit flippantly and struts into his offered room. The Master snarls at that.
“I HAVE a name!” The Beast roars out letting his anger get the better of him.
“Yes… it’s Beast.” Loki repeats indifferently. Thor can feel his blood boil.
“You want to know my name?! FINE!” The Beast rages as his fur stands on end. He is ready to charge into the room and give this pretty boy a piece of his mind.
“Master, wait!” Fandral says trying very hard to get Thor’s attention. “This isn’t the best way to start things.” The candelabra cautions. Thor snarls and snorts at the candlesticks causing them to go out. “Okay… give it a shot.” Fandral adds meekly. Just before Thor can give his name though, Pepper Potts the tea pot rolls up on a tea trolley.
“Now, now… Master. Let the boy be. He’s had a hard day and he must be awfully tired.” She says to sooth the situation. It seems to work for Thor’s anger eases… a little.
“Yes, look at the time… it’s late.” Volstagg says as he crosses his eyes to look down at his clock face to check the time.
“But not too late for supper.” Fandral says with a smile as his candles relight. “Invite the boy down for a meal.”
“That’s a good idea, Fandral. He might be famished.” Ms. Potts says. Thor blinks having felt his anger slip away as his servants prattle off suggestions to him.
“Enough!” He snaps at the moving, talking objects… they all halt and cower under his snarling gaze. He turns his blue eyes to Loki is standing there inside the room eyeing him with arms crossed over his chest and looking rather steely himself. Thor can’t help but notice how pretty this boy is standing there in nothing more than a green robe.
“I can’t tell you my name… at least not now.” Thor starts as he scratches at the back of his thick neck. His lion-like tail flits about behind him in an annoyed fashion. Thor sighs in his grumbling way and looks everywhere but at Loki. “You will join in the dining hall for supper in one hour.” His calm voice starts getting a bit shaky with his nervousness at being ‘nice’. “That’s an order.” Thor then adds firmly as he stands up to his full height in hopes of intimidating the boy into heeding his commands. It is a habit he has used for so long that he doesn’t realize that he’s doing it until…
“Let’s get one thing perfectly clear right here, right now.” Loki starts heatedly and Thor is thrown of balance by the lack of fear in the smaller male. No one stands up to Thor… EVER. “I am NOT one of your servants that you can just command willy-nilly.” The boys adds sternly as his eyes stared hard into Thor’s own… and the beastly king notices the rich green hue of those bright eyes. Like the forest in the summer months when all is verdant and lush… Thor is snapped from his momentary lapse.
“As long as you are under my roof… you will obey my commands.” Thor then snaps back, growling to emphasis his point. “And if I say that you are to join me for supper… then you WILL join me for supper.” Thor says heatedly. They lock eyes and glare hard at one another for a moment… then suddenly… Loki slams the door in Thor’s face. Thor recoils for the door barely got his snout. His fur rises and his growl deepens.
“I’m not going anywhere with you if it’s a command!” Loki shouts through the door.
“FINE! GO AHEAD AND STARVE!” Thor roars at the door. He then turns to his servants. “If he doesn’t eat with me… then he doesn’t eat AT ALL.” Thor commands and runs down the hall on all fours. He is quickly out of sight in no time at all.
“He’s impossible!” Thor shouts heatedly as he enters the throne room and digs his claws into the red plush carpet and rips it with his sharp claws.
“Calm yourself, Son.” Comes his mother’s voice in his head.
“I AM calm!” Thor growls out as he paces before the thrones. “It’s just that… he’s so beautiful… and I’m… WELL, LOOK AT ME!” Thor then says as he thinks about his growing attraction to the pale skinned, dark haired farm boy.
“Don’t let your rage get in the way, my boy.” Odin’s voice comes through now, fatherly and sage-like.
“Be gentle and kind.” Frigga says to him.
“Don’t lose control.” Then Odin.
“Listen to his needs.” Then Frigga.
“And above all… you must control your temper!” They both demand firmly in his mind. Thor winces and then gives a roar snapping back at the advice given to him. Their voices go silent and so he paces angrily for a few paces more then stops and sighs as he realizes his mistake. Even now… after two hundred years of being trapped in this form, he still acts like a savage beast.
‘The boy has aptly named me then.’ Thor thinks to himself as stands there slumped in on himself in his own self-pity.
“I-I can’t do this.” Thor mutters out and races on all fours from the throne room… he hears his mother’s voice calling his name faintly as he goes. Tears threaten in his eyes as he swiftly makes his way outside into the swirling snow. His muscles burn as they carry his bulk across the courtyard. The golden gate opens on its own allowing him to dart out and over the long stone bridge. He will hunt now… slaughter a deer and lose himself in his animalistic side for the night… after all he has forgotten what means to be human… so maybe it’s better this way.
Don’t get too close, don’t get attached. He’ll send the boy away tomorrow and be done with him. But then Thor recalls the sight of that pale skin glowing in the moonlight as the robe had slipped down from his thin shoulders… long, wavy hair as black as ink that contrasted so beautifully against that pallor flesh…
Thor growled and shook his head… this boy was starting to really annoy him even when he wasn’t around. He tried to scent out a deer… but the recall of the boy’s scent… such an enticing one at that… makes Thor roar at his inability to focus on his task of hunting.
All he wants is to lose himself in the hunt… in the crunch of bone, the spill of hot blood… the cries of… of pleasure. Thor stops dead in his tracks deep in the woods. Bright blue eyes wide… heart racing… thoughts swirling as they fixate on a singular goal… the boy. Thor wants him… wants him like nothing else he has ever wanted before in his life.
‘But he is being SO difficult!’ Thor thinks as he circles around on all fours in the woods. How can he get what he wants? Before all of, well, this… Thor would’ve had no problem. He would’ve smiled his dazzling smile, said some charming words, and the boy would’ve been under him instantly… but not now. Thor stops to scratch at the back of his thick, maned neck as he ponders how he could get Loki to look at him with kindness and (dare he hope) affection.
“He will never see me more than as I am now.” Thor says to himself in a resigned despair as he pulls his clawed hand from behind his neck to look at it. “I am nothing more than a beast.”