A Whole Bunch of Loki's

Like That One Story... - Beauty and the Beast AU - Jotun Loki - Part Four

Loki finished his food quickly and set his used crockery to one side, enjoying the lasting aftertaste of his first proper meal in a long time since he'd gotten lost.

He'd had smalls snacks and eatable plants he'd stumbled across, but they didn't compare to a homemade, warm meal.

As the food went down, he took the downtime to stretch and rub his aching muscles in preparation for the continued journey.

Where he was going, he wasn't quite sure, but Loki believed that sooner or later he would stumble across something that would help him find his way home, if not then he would certainly die on the trek trying.

He wasn't sure how long he had spent sat in the silence, but Loki estimated it to have been around twenty minutes before his eyes had adjusted better to the dark and he felt ready to get up and leave.

Standing up, he stretched his long limbs and worked out the cricks, enjoying the feeling of the strange satisfying ache that accompanied the action, before he picked up the crockery that was far too small in comparison to his large hands.

Then again, most things were small to the frost giant.

With cautious steps, he started his adventurous trek downstairs, searching the house and its layout as he went in the hopes that the kitchen would be obviously placed and jump out at him, though it seemed unlikely with how vast this place was.

Though his steps needn't have been as cautious as he originally intended, as the floor was littered with so much debris and dirt that he found himself tripping over something every few steps.

By some miracle, Loki managed to find his way to the kitchen with only a few of his toes stubbed and throbbing, even if that in itself proved to be a fruitless effort as only sputters of water came through the creaking taps.

He shrugged and washed up his used items, after setting it to one side he turned to face the rest of the kitchen and frowned.

Even through the darkness he could see the piles of bits and pieces that were laying around, the kitchen was evidently used often but it seemed as if a path had been created in the most areas and everything else went ignored.

Looking around the room, he found the shuttered windows and found a way through the rubble and grime to reach them, thankfully his tall stature meant that he mostly just needed to lean over to reach the wooden covers and pry them open, letting natural light into the room for the first time in who knows how long.

With the new light over the room it was easier for Loki to see the damage and though it wasn't as bad as he had believed it would be, it still needed a considerable amount of TLC before it became a home again.

If anything, he would have thought it the home of a squatter who happened upon a beautiful, abandoned building.

He surveyed the damage and deciphered the worse areas, his worry growing about how bad the rest of the manor must be if this was what the regularly used kitchen looked like.

The oven, sink, fridge and thin path that had been dug out from amongst the rubble was the cleanest part of the room, everything else was covered with broken bits of plaster and dust and other areas had evidence of damp, some areas had been overgrown with plants that somehow managed to thrive solely from the moisture.

"This place could use a definite touch up."

Glancing at the ceiling, he noticed that one of the wooden beams across the ceiling had fallen and other pieces of the roof were precariously close to falling, how it hadn't caved in further already was a mystery.

Looking at the debris, he found it surprisingly easy to find the fallen beam that was partially sticking out from among the rest of the pile.

Taking the few strides over, all the while watching that he didn't stand on anything sharp, Loki managed to dislodge the beam and hoisted it up, giving it a look over and a contemplative hum.

With some magic, that he had learned much to his father's chagrin, and some time, he believed that he could fix up the kitchen.

It was the least he could do to say thank you for their begrudging hospitality.

Moving back across the room, he looked up towards the ceiling and deciphered just how much work it would take.

Before he knew it, day turned back to night and the light dwindled upon his good deed, which had started life as a gesture of thanks and had turned into a multiple room restoration mission.

Loki had worked his way from the kitchen, which now sparkled in comparison to its previous state, to the foyer and landing, which he estimated would have taken the longest time for anyone else to have cleared, but his larger than life stature and magic made it all easier for him.

He was working on mending one of the holes in the roof that lingered over the staircase, which he could now see was a teal colour thanks to opening the doors and removing some boards from the windows, when a gasp to his left caught his attention.

Stood at the top of the stairs, with light shining upon them for the first time, was the host of the manor, whose face was contorted in pure shock and horror.

For the first time since he arrived, Loki finally got a look at the details of his host.

They were a peculiar mix of human and beast.

Their stature was tall and stocky, granted not as tall as the frost giant himself, but tall enough to loom over any average person they would stumble across, enough to intimidate most who crossed their path.

Underneath their tattered clothes poked out varying bits of skin or course fur, their feet reminded him of a beast's, mangled claws at the toes and padded soles that rose into canine-like legs.

There was evidence of a tail, though from his stance he couldn't see it well enough to say whether that was true or if it was just a trick of the light and large, pointed ears that matched the colour of the fur sprouted out from amongst the hair atop their head.

Most peculiar to him was their face, which was mostly that of a wolf-like being except for the left eye which was definitely still human, the affect gave the image of a creature stitched together from pieces of human and beast into the monstrosity before him.

Never to be accepted by either kind, always an outcast.

Loki hadn't realised that he had been staring as long as he had, his mouth most likely as agape as theirs, which, now that he paid attention to it, exposed yellowed fangs that looked as if they could tear anything apart.

A strangled breath broke the air and jolted Loki back to the present, his eyes flickered up to meet their tear-filled ones that he now noted were two separate colours.

He wanted to say something, anything, but the moment he fumbled out any sound and moved to go up the stairs, they had stumbled back into the corridor and raced back to where they had originally been hidden.

A roar of anguish echoing down the hall behind them.