Unexpected

Sunglasses and Ice Cream Cones

As it turned out, the line of trees I had seen did turn out to lead to a rather large New York City park. There were slight hills covered in neatly trimmed grass, a smooth sidewalk surrounding the park and weaving through it, converging on a large fountain that was spewing clear water into the air, a stage off in the distance where performances might play, and a quaint pavilion off to the right near a corner of the park where a small group of violinists and a flute player were doing a little performance. Off to the right was a saxophone player and there was a stall with more 'New York' paraphernalia, and all of this was canopied by great oak trees and lined with dainty yellow, purple, and pink flowers and rose bushes. It was a lovely park all in all and I soaked in each statement of nature as we entered through a corner where there was a marble stone archway proclaiming the park's name.

Upon entering the park Loki and I fell into talking like we would at mealtimes, telling each other stories. Loki regaled me with a story from when he was just getting into his teen years where he, Thor, the warriors three, and Sif had gone hunting with Odin and some of his men. The young teens had decided to slip away from the group, relying on Loki and his illusions, and they were not caring too much about actual hunting, but more of rough-housing and being silly. They had left their horses tied up and gone over to a small glade to test out some of their fighting skills against the glade's surrounding trees when Fandral and Thor got into a wrestling fight match over who was strongest. It had gotten to the point that they were seriously fighting and Loki had decided that it was no longer funny to watch and he tried to break it up, but instead got whacked with an elbow and was tossed to the ground. Since it had rained the day previous to the hunt, the ground was rather muddy and the mud from his fall splattered not only all over himself, but also all over Sif. She was not a girlie girl and quickly scooped up some mud to throw at him for getting her dirty. This incited an entire mud war which was ended abruptly by Odin and his men finding them.

"As you can imagine it was quite a while before any of us were ever allowed on a hunting trip again." Loki ended.

I laughed, envisioning the group of teenagers covered in mud from head to toe looking ashamed and embarrassed while facing the hunting party. My laugh was also because it seemed so odd to me that we were talking about this in the middle of a populated city park and no one was paying attention to the fantastical tale so freely told. Everyone else had their own agenda, though, so why would they pay attention to a stranger's story?

"You're an excellent storyteller, Silvertongue." I said once my laughter had faded.

His eyebrows flew up and he gave me a bit of an amused, incredulous smile, "Silvertongue?"

A blush rushed over my face as I realized I had just given Loki a nickname. It worried me how quickly I could forget who he was and what he was and become so comfortable around him, "Uh, I guess I did call you that. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. I kind of like it." He said turning to me, but having to squint as the light of the sun was right in his eyes at the angle we were walking. I enjoyed the sun immensely, the warmth and natural light it gave off that I had missed so much, but I had to agree that it was hurting my eyes, making me scrunch them up.

Glancing around to the little stall with all the New York stuff a little ways away, I asked Loki, "I don't usually ask for it, but do you have any money with you?"

He reached into the back pocket of his dark jeans and handed me a small, new black wallet. I opened it up and saw that it was well stocked. "Awesome! One moment."

I rushed ahead and stood at the stall, clearing my throat to catch the attention of the seller who had earbuds in and was reading a magazine. Once I had gotten his attention I picked out two pairs of the cheap sunglasses he had on a turning stand with white letters scrawled on the colorful legs of the shades that said "I <3 NY". Loki had caught up with me at the stall just as I had paid for the sunglasses and I handed him his pair, which had green legs, as I put my own pair that had blue legs on. "Here."