What They Do.

A Golden Stag.

"They say there's a golden stag in the forests of Vanaheim. Its fur is said to be as bright as the

clearest rays of the sun. It shall be of a powerful magic, you know", Sif explains. "This is why I

need your", she hesitates, rolls her eyes and sighs, "your help, Loki. I cannot find it without a

magician."

Loki draws up one eyebrow. Never before has he heard the Lady Sif talk in such an honest tone

to him. She'd always mock him for being not strong enough to really call himself a man. But today

Sif seems to be earnestly making an effort to win his attention over to her plan.

He does not have enough details yet to decide whether to say yes or no, though. "And that stag:

What do you intent to do with it?"

Her eyes glow in a rapture very rare to her temper. "I want it to be my gift to Thor at his

coronation. Its fur shall lie next to our bed. And once he's king of Asgard the first thing his feet

shall touch every morning will be a coat of gold."

The coronation. Yes. It isn't that long anymore. Of course people start to think about it. Loki thinks

about it for some time himself now. Things like Will it end once he's king? haunt him ever since.

The question whether he wants it to end or not he doesn't dare to let into his mind, though. Lokis

eyes twitch at the way Sif says our bed.

Wouldn't it be absurdly ironic if the thing meant to lie beside Thors bed, and of all things his BED,

came as a gift from Sif ... and Loki? Thor would know that his brother's had a hand in it, wouldn't

he? No, he'd probably not think about it at all.

Our bed. Loki cannot keep from imagining Thor lying with Sif. He tries to shake it off. But it

stays. Naked limbs, skin on skin, perfectly intertwined. Would Sif be under him? Loki cannot

really think of her to ... oh, he tries to shake it off! Atop, beneath, it doesn't matter in the end:

Thor would be inside of her. And he would kiss her. With the very same mouth he ... No. Loki cannot even think it. He hasn't ever realized that Thor kisses his future queen with that

goddamned mouth which he sucks his brothers dick with. And he cannot dare himself to think:

Why doesn't he kiss me? Instead there is a stitch inside of him. This is no jealousy. I am not

jealous.

Suddenly Loki cannot look Sif in the eyes. As he doesn't say anything she gets angry: "Come on,

see it this way: You wouldn't have to get a gift for him yourself anymore! I could tell him that you

helped me a good deal with getting the fur. It stays my idea and my hand which hunted the stag,

that goes without saying. But your tricks would have an essential role in it."

He shuts his eyes and snuffles.

But if it ends once he's king ... and if it doesn't ... for all the wrongs he pulled Loki into so far and

possibly yet would ... the fur would always remind Thor of it. It would haunt him. Loki could

forever be the very last thing King Thor would think of whenever he tries to peacefully fall asleep

in his matrimonial bed. And Loki would be the first to appear in his mind the morning after.

Okay, it sounds a bit overdone. But it sounds like a pretty revenge, too.

"I would be most pleased to assist you, Lady Sif."

And thus they travel via Heimdall to the forests of Vanaheim. The light is greener and purer in this

realm. More feminine. And the trees! Loki almost forgets what they came for the instant he

witnesses their beauty. The forests aura pulses with magic all around. Loki sighs in a sudden flush.

This just feels like home.

Impatiently Sif eyes him up. "And ... do you need any kind of special things for any kind of chant

or so?"

"No ... no, I don't think so. I sense these different streams of magic so much stronger that

anything in Asgard. Their colours taste that ... good. Oh, I am very sure I can just follow the stags

track."

The Lady frowns. But as Loki directly stalks into a certain direction she stays close behind him.

It is a wide and brightly lit clearing where they find the golden stag. In all its majesty it stands

between strangely fluorescenting flowers. Oh, how that animal makes every light, the sun, the

moon and stars blush in awe! It is a sight to fill ones heart up to the brim.

"Loki", Sif whispers close to his ear as they crouch beneath some bushes. "Do you think you can

lure it over here?"

"I think ..."

Drunken by the pulsing magic aired by the incredible stag Loki slowly looks down to where Sifs

grip rests tight around the adorned wood of an asgardian longbow. His eyes wander back up to

meet hers and then to meet the figure in the clearing. Loki stands up without a sound and secretly

creeps closer to it.

How strong you are, shoots through his mind as he enters the last mantle of the stags aura only

sensible to the ones blessed with magic. A smile widens upon his face as the shimmering creature

turns its majestic head around to face him. It doesn't turn away. No. It comes closer.

Loki drowns in these otherworldly eyes. Suddenly he knows that the stag is not made of gold, not

of the sun. Thor is made of gold and sun. But this being is something even above. The fur shall lie next to our bed. To be trampled on.

Suddenly a panic makes Loki turn his head around. For an instant he glimpses Sif and the bow.

And the arrow. He shoots a desperate glance back to the stag and screams without a voice and

only with his magic: FLEE!

The arrow darts rapidly past Lokis left ear and into nothing but the clearings air. The stag didn't

even run. It just disappeared.

"NO! Where did it go?" Sif comes out of her hiding place. "Track it, Loki! We'll have a second

chance!"

"I cannot sense it", he lies. Breathless. As she frowns he adds: "It must have hidden its aura when

the arrow scared it. I cannot sense it anywhere around. It's gone."

Deeply disappointed she lets her bow sink down and sighs. Loki can't hide a smirk. "Maybe a

thing of such a powerful magic is not to be owned by anyone."

And maybe I am not to be owned by Thor. For a most beautiful instant Loki feels like he's found

... kind of a way out.