Young God | L. Laufeyson

18. Dancing in the Dark

"Here is your meal, Lady Aurora. Enjoy." The guard Tyr wishes the auburn-haired girl for dinner as he serves the tray. Aurora's eyes widen in shock though, her mouth open wide. Loki almost chuckles at her facial expression, yet he keeps his mischievous poker face.

"Sir Tyr, what is this?" She asks, still astonished by the appearance of her meal. Tyr is slightly confused, not really understanding the purpose of her question.

"Your meal, my Lady. Order by the Queen herself. May I apologize? Due to royal festivities today, my presence is required for the protection of the castle." He slightly bows in politeness before he leaves while the confusion and shock on Aurora's face turns into excitement and happiness.

"Loki!" She calls him, grabbing the tray and running towards the force field. To her surprise, his attention was already focused on her. "Loki! Loki, Loki, Loki! Look! I've got meat, actual warm bread and grapes! Meat! Holy shit, no cheese, I can eat meat and grapes! Is this milk? Oh, my god, milk, too!"

"I'm aware. Last time I checked, my eyes were still fully functional." He remarks with sarcasm, yet he is glad that she finally got proper food. In the end, his mother listened to his wish and fulfilled it, even though their conversation did not end well.

"It smells so good, I'm gonna cry of happiness." Aurora laughs and sinks to the ground in front of the force field.

"What do you intend to do?" He asks slightly confused while she prepares her tray on the ground, sitting criss-crossed opposite to him and not caring about her dress.

"Let's eat our dinner together! I don't know why we haven't done that yet but it's much more fun, don't you think? Besides, I've never seen you really eating much, this is my chance." She rolls her eyes at his skeptical brow in the air. "Come on, don't tell me the ground is too dirty for your royal ass."

"Even though it indeed is, I nonetheless exceptionally consent to your proposal for once." Loki wrinkles his nose, only doing this because Aurora is in a special good mood. Grabbing his tray, he sits down in the most elegant way possible.

"God, I can see now how you're an actual prince." She chuckles and starts eating, enjoying the taste of the fresh meat. "Oh, my god, this tastes so good! I'm actually dying, you Asgardians really know how to cook."

"Yes, they do." Loki bitterly takes a sip of his wine, barely touching his food. Aurora swallows, now remembering his actual origin. Sometimes, she forgets that he's a Jötunn.

"Hey... You still are an Asgardian, you grew up as one. Your DNA is different but being different is okay, I guess. It is for me, at least. And I don't know, but...", Aurora pauses chewing the meal, taking a short breath as her eyes wander from the ground to Loki, "... As long as the people you care about accept you, it actually doesn't really matter what others think of you."

Her words seep into his mind, planting in his memories and Loki actually wants to do nothing else but scoff and mock her naive attitude. Yet, he doesn't manage to do so, instead his emerald eyes grow gentle.

"You don't need to answer to that now, it's fine, I know I'm rambling a lot and I'm probably just a bit high and overwhelmed by the meat, to be honest- "

"I treasure your words." He interrupts her before she suffocates on her own words. Now he actually takes a piece of the bread and eats it in a still noble way. The female prisoner's heart makes a little jump at his progress, he actually shows feelings and almost kindness because of her.

"So, uhm, why do they celebrate? Everyone, Asgard, I mean. Is it Thor's birthday or something?" Aurora changes the topic quickly, taking another bite from the bread.