Lore: When a Trickster Meets His Match

Chapter Three: The Belly of the Beast

It was another day in the bleak pocket dimension known as the Void. After hazarding a very grumpy alligator, who despised being woken up early in the morning, and bidding farewell to her new pet frog, Thirteen set out early to begin her duties of scavenging for food and items of interest from among the wreckages on the plains of the Void. She squinted. Using her hand to block off the light from the "sun", she surveyed the fields around her. Shadows from grey, nebulous clouds brushed over the landscape like a lion's tongue as it rends flesh from bone. This made it dark in some places and bright in others. It wasn't bright enough to quite resemble a sun but it was just light enough that it irritated her eyes, so she scrubbed them with the back of her hands. Bad idea. Her hands were dusty. She coughed.

There was a crash. Thirteen flinched, instantly on edge, and threw herself beside the shell of an atom bomb. In hindsight, hiding beside something so conspicuous, explosive or painted neon yellow would not have been a good idea. But its bulk was just large enough that she could hide herself behind it, poking out just enough of her face that she look for what had made the noise.

Thirteen sighed. She stood up, patted down her shins and arms from the dust now coating her clothes, and spared a moment to run a hand through her dark hair. Long, fine tendrils of her black hair fell across her shoulders and licked at her forehead with the movement. She crossed her arms and rested her elbows on the shell of the bomb as she watched his approach.

"Are you trying to give me a heart-attack?" Thirteen's voice was calmer than the clambering of her heart seemed to suggest. "Did you need something?"

It was the TVA Loki again. The one that she was starting to think of as just Loki, for the pure fact that he was singular and separate from the other Lokis that lived at the base. There were still splotches of damp on his shirt from where it was still drying and, already, the dust from the plains were turning it brown. There was an apologetic look on his face.

"Need something? No," He said quickly.

Thirteen raised her brow curiously, "Then why are you here?"

"I thought perhaps you could use some help."

Thirteen was shocked. Out of the many times that she had gone to the plains, which was a dangerous place as much as they were often boring and difficult to traverse, none of the other variants had ever offered to help her. It was the way that their minds worked, perhaps; that, although a Loki, she was still a woman with work to do. Though this "chore" was fatal and difficult, it was hers. Woman's work. Not worth their time or energy.

Except for this strange Loki variant. He was so odd.

Thirteen felt a smile beginning to dimple on her face, "Are you sure? It'll take us a few hours - It's not the most glorious work."

TVA Loki - just Loki - nodded, "Yes. I'll follow your lead, shall I?"

There wasn't much conversation between the pair as they ventured into the depths of the Void. The Belly of the Beast. It wasn't unsurprising that the Void was not a place which sprouted charming small-talk, seeing as the only thing it was capable of growing were thin, wraithlike plants that grew from the scabs of soil in the ground. It was a fine, chalk-like soil that chaffed and got into the woman's shoes as she walked. Not even a good kick would wrest it out.

Most of the talking that took place was when Thirteen warned him of the obstacles that were coming up and helped him to brace for each obstruction: she smiled at him as she extended a hand, helping him to climb over one of the ships that she hated scaling herself. The grimy metal was slimy and he almost slipped, but she clung on tightly to his wrist.

"Careful. If I don't bring you back in one piece, the others will suspect me of foul play," Thirteen winked.

Loki's return smile was thin and uncertain, almost as if he hadn't expected himself to smile at all. That expression remained on his face as she pointed which way they were headed, in the direction of a great stone arch in the distance. They travelled further on until the woman spotted something of interest and hunkered down, carefully picking through the debris. It was then that she heard the sound of him clearing his throat, willing himself to speak.