Misfits

The next days lesson didn't end very successfully. Taryn somehow managed to burn a good portion of her arm when Ahrima had her manipulate a small fire. He called it quits for the day, and spread some strange paste over the large burn and wrapped it up. Thor caught up with her a little while later and had her meet some of his friends, the Warriors Three and Sif, despite her protests. She was relieved to find they seemed to like her. They taught her a few things about being warriors, and shared stories of battles they took part in. She was surprised to find they were actually interested to hear about her life on Earth.
"I've never had any battles or anything even mildly as exciting as you guys. I got in a fight once with this guy, though. He was being a jerk to my best friend at the time, and slapped her. Right in front of me. She hadn't done anything wrong, I had been with them the entire time. Whatever it was that he was mad about was just a really petty, insignificant thing and he just got so mad he slapped her. I told him to back off, and then he turned his rage on me. So I punched him in the nose while he was yelling at me. He got even more mad, and a full out brawl started. In the end I broke his nose and his pride. He got his ass handed to him by a girl, and he never bothered either one of us again," she explained, smirking at the memory.
"Ah, a true fighter. You, young Taryn, have the courage of a warrior. That is something to be proud of," Fandral complemented after her story. "Thor has told us of your doubts. Do not underestimate yourself, you are more than you think," he said. Taryn only grinned sheepishly in response, picking at her pants leg.
She dismissed herself after a short while, she felt like wandering the halls of Asgard to be alone with her thoughts. She liked the solitude of the giant hallways. It was peaceful. She found she spent the majority of her time wandering around alone in Asgard. Actually, that was how she spent most of her time in general, even back in New York. She couldn't help but being such an introvert. Being around people drained her energy.
Outside, she was sitting on the ledge of the water fountain, making blobs of water float around in the air in front of her. She smiled lightly at the water orbs. They were moving around silently, colliding and separating, and glittering in the peculiar light of the Asgard sky. It just looked so... free. She couldn't think of a better word for it.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't believe we have properly met," a smooth voice startled Taryn out of her watery haze, and the orbs fell with loud splashes back into the fountain. She squeaked as the water fell, and spun around to see a pale man clad in black and green standing a few feet away from her.
"Do you both have to sneak up on people like that so much?" Taryn asked, voice a little too high as she recovered from the sudden appearance of the man. He gave a small smirk at her reply.
"My apologies," he said with a small dip of the head. "I did not mean to startle you. I am Loki, I understand you have met my brother," he said.
"I have. He's told me a bit about you. I'm Taryn," she introduced herself.
"You are new to Asgard, Thor told me. What business brings you here?"
"I have to learn how to control myself. Apparently my parents made a deal to send me here if I ever ended up knowing magic. Or whatever this is," Taryn explained.
"Magic is a suitable word," Loki said. Taryn quietly watched him for a short moment.
"You look like you could use some sleep," she said thoughtfully, tilting her head slightly.
"Believe me, I could," Loki replied with a bitter laugh. "Sleep would not come easily, however. The dreams would just leave me more exhausted than I was."
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Taryn shrugged.
"You have no idea," Loki said.
"Well, if you aren't going to go to sleep, then would you like some company for a while?" she offered, remembering Thor's request.
"I would not mind having company," he said.
"Sit down, then," Taryn said, gesturing beside her.
"May I ask what you did to your arm?" he asked, sitting on the ledge beside her.
"Oh. I was trying to manipulate fire. It kind of exploded at me," she said, giggling sheepishly.
"Your talents include fire as well as water?" he questioned.
"Air and earth too. It sounds so cheesy. But I guess I just have power over the elements," she said, feeling awkward. She wasn't used to talking about herself and that's all she seemed to be doing that day. "What do you do? I mean, you're the god of mischief. There's not much description in that title," she asked, trying to steer away from the topic of her.
"Whatever I want to, really. Magic, as you say. I can use magic as a form of trickery," he answered.
"Doing what you want didn't seem to work out for you exactly. From the looks of it," Taryn said, pulling her legs up from the ground and crossing them.
"You are correct," Loki said, a small, rueful laugh escaping his lips. "Your choice of clothing is peculiar," he pointed out.
"Is that bad?" Taryn said, feeling a bit self conscious at the statement.
"Not at all. However, most women in Asgard prefer to wear dresses. Other than the Lady Sif. But you are not a warrior," he said.
"I've never liked dresses. I'd pick your worlds warrior trainee clothing over a dress any day," Taryn said.
"You were wearing a dress the other evening,"
"I had to. There was a dinner party for my arrival. I couldn't just wear the clothes I had on when I got here," she said.
"You left your own welcoming party?" he said, eyebrows raising, recalling the fact that she had found her way to his prison alone.
"There were a lot of people. Half of them kept giving me weird looks. It was all making me nervous, so I wanted to take a walk," Taryn explained, fiddling with her fingers.
"I understand. I have received strange looks for as long as I can remember," Loki said. After a few moments of silence, he couldn't hold his tongue any longer. "How is it you are speaking to me the way you are?" he asked. She gave him a questioning look. "I attacked your city in hopes of gaining control of Midgard, yet you speak to me as if I did not," he explained for more clarity. Taryn shrugged.
"You've kind of been in prison for the last three years, being forced to relive your actions and being mentally tortured enough to drive any mortal to insanity. Not only that, but you haven't been able to speak for those three years. And you look like hell. The last thing I think you need right now is someone bringing up what you did and raging on you for it. You're going to get enough shit for it by your own people anyway. Besides, I'm pretty sure you could destroy me," she explained. "I mean, yeah, you may have ruined peoples lives, and cost millions of dollars worth of damage, but catastrophe's on Earth happen all the time. We're just going to continue to destroy property and our own humanity until the sun explodes," she added. Loki only smiled.
"You are a very peculiar person," he said. Taryn huffed a short laugh. "I would like to see what more you can do with your talents," he requested.
"Show me some of yours and it's a deal," she smirked.
Eventually, Loki was too exhausted to stay awake any longer. That was mostly Taryn's plan when she saw how tired he looked. She walked with Loki to his chambers, bid him goodnight, and was headed to her own room when she ran into Thor.
"Hello, Taryn," he greeted with a friendly smile.
"Hi," she smiled back.
"You spent the afternoon with my brother, yes?" he asked.
"You saw? Yeah. Maybe it was because he was so tired, but he didn't seem very bitter or anything. He seemed pretty calm to me," she said.
"We have yet to see how he will act. I can only hope he isn't as vengeful as he was before," Thor said.
"Well, he is the god of mischief, after all," Taryn said thoughtfully.
"That he is. Be careful when you are near him, Taryn. Be kind, but be careful," Thor warned. "I will be watching him carefully myself. Until tomorrow, then. Sleep well," he said, flashing another smile before continuing down the hall.
"Goodnight!" she called after him before retreating into her room.