In The Works

MCU - Loki/OC (Hlin)

An MCU Fanfiction

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Summary

When Hanna Warren went into work at Stark Tower that day, the last thing she expected was to be part of an Alien Invasion. Neither did she expect to catch the interest of one very messed up God of Mischief who decided it would be crueler to let her live. She really didn't expect to become his source of amusement as he languished away in a cell on Asgard. And there was no way she could have ever dreamed that he would ever become one of the most important people in her life...or her of his. Loki/OC

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Tentatively titled: Verita(s)

Again, OC's name subject to change, but again, quite unlikely at this point...though I am considering Calla for some strange reason... This one's been in my head the longest, and was also the only one for a time to reach back to Phase One, even if it is only the tail end. But it's also proving the hardest to get down. Like Tony's story, we'll see how it goes. Same issues, really. Basic idea mapped, etc, etc. Thor: Ragnarok complicated things for a time, but I think I have most of the major kinks ironed out. Will probably be integrated with the rest of my MCU series, but I don't know precisely how much I'm going to have to do so far as integration, yet....

Oh, and for this story, my one-shot (ultimately three-shot) A Child of Two Worlds will be considered canon. So might as well catch up on that. ;)

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Prologue Excerpt

Cora couldn't help it. She grinned, her gaze dropping back down to her glass. The pub was dim and surprisingly cozy despite the near raucous laughter coming from across the way and the chatter ringing in her ears. Not to mention the smoke from the handful of lit cigarettes throughout the establishment was beginning to make her throat sting. But it still somehow felt cozy. Intimate even.

Or maybe she'd just had a little too much to drink. She was already on her second glass of beer, not that she was a lightweight. Everything was starting to get a little bit hazy around the edges, though—in a pleasant sort of way, of course—and she knew she was a little less inhibited than she usually was.

Enough so that she was smiling back at the man who sat next to her at the bar. And flirting back. She never did that. Well, not often. She'd always been far more focused on school or work.

But she was in college! She was on a Summer Away course! Why should she not live a little? Besides, while admittedly older than her, there was just something about him that she was drawn to.

He wasn't conventionally attractive, she had to admit—he was dressed like a professor just out of a lecture from the campus around the corner, and his hairline was beginning to recede above features that were a little plain for conventional ideas of beauty—but he had a bookish sort of charm and a sweet smile that made her stomach flip just a little. Not to mention a quick tongue and a sharp sense of humor that had her grinning into her glass as she tried not to burst into raucous laughter of her own.

Next to her, he grinned, his eyes glinting with amusement of his own, as though he knew she was trying not to burst out laughing. After a moment Cora managed to get herself back under control, taking a swift mouthful of her beer before turning back to him, eying her new companion thoughtfully. Then, throwing all caution to the wind, she held out her hand.

"Cora Warren," she introduced, "summer student from New York." He nodded, grinning crookedly as he studied her thoughtfully back. He reached out and took her hand. His touch was pleasant, and his grip firm without being overbearing the way some men's handshakes tended to be. It was surprisingly intimate.

"Cora. A Latinate form of the Greek 'Kore', which was also another name for the Goddess Persephone," he said. Only to grin somewhat sheepishly as Cora tried and failed to hold back a laugh. "Sorry, it's the professor coming out," he apologized. Cora giggled. Actually giggled. But she paid it little mind. She was enjoying this man's company.

"So you're a professor, then," she said, half flirtatiously and half out of true interest. He nodded.

"History, specializing on the Ancient Norse and particularly on their mythology," he said with an amused glint in his eye. "Professor Elliot Randolph."

It was only then that Cora realized he was still holding her hand. As she looked down, he noticed too, letting go with another sheepish look. Cora was biting back another giggle, her grin threatening to grow wider still.

"So you specialize in ancient bedtime stories, then," she teased lightly. He laughed.

"More than stories, you know," he said back just as lightly, though the glint in his eye deepened, promising a secret knowledge. Cora couldn't help but be intrigued. She couldn't fight the sense that there was...more to him than met the eye. He shifted on his stool, leaning minutely closer to her. Before she even realized she was doing it, Cora was edging closer herself.

He set down his glass, catching her gaze with a faintly mischievous expression.

"Have you ever heard the Legend of the Warrior Who Stayed?"