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Loki hadn't been avoiding his mother. Definitely not. He was just so happy to have her around, he spent enough time around her that it no doubt might be annoying her. But he'd avoided certain topics because they were too fraught and heavy. Even if they were the topics that plagued him. Perhaps because they were the topics that plagued him. Things about what had happened back home, and what had happened here since his death and resurrection. It was all still too difficult to think about.

He went over to his mother's house to visit as was his usual habit, bringing a gift of a nice new tea he'd found. The intention was to have a nice conversation as usual. Though he felt very tired today; he hadn't been sleeping well lately.

Frigga was expecting Loki, not exactly at this time, but somewhere around it. She had enjoyed setting up this little tiny square house into a home with her limited resources. She wasn't quite done yet. But at the very least it smelled of flowers, felt of peace, and exhibited an elegance so carefully arranged that it appeared to be natural.

She smiled when he knocked and opened the door. "Hello, Loki. Won't you come in?"

"Of course, mother." A little touch of magic to make certain where everything was, and he leaned in to kiss her delicately on the cheek. Then he went into the house. It smelled like Mother's rooms always smelled, which was something he could find very peaceful now, if a bit sad. But she was here, so she yet lived in some sense. That was the thing to remember.

He looked so tired. She wondered if he knew. And always, there was that touch of sadness when he saw her, and that, Frigga knew, she could not touch. This time with her sons was a gift, and not one she was eager to squander or to repeat the mistakes of the past.

So, she would wait and see.

Frigga shut the door behind him and lightly took one of Loki's arms, as if he was escorting her, to take them both into the sitting room. "How goes your training of young mortals?"

She had only stopped by once to observe Loki with Eugene and Jack, but she liked seeing him as a teacher.

"They are not so hopeless as they might seem," Loki said, amused. His standards were extremely high and he was a demanding teacher. But really, Jack and Eugene weren't doing bad as such. He thought it likely he tapped into some of their false memories, which would put them to good use.

"Some day they shall figure out how to properly run away. At least they are not overly hampered by pride."

"I am glad to hear it," Frigga said, smiling. Running away properly was an important topic, she supposed, though she could only imagine what Loki's armsmaster would have had to say about that. Dash the man. No imagination.

"Pride has its place after the deed is done," Frigga said. "In the meantime, is there anything you would like to drink?"

He had never been one to idly eat.

"One can always celebrate being alive," he said dryly. Perhaps not the most delicate thing to say around mother, but they weren't pretending.

"Tea would be lovely. Or wine if you're in the mood. It's late enough in the day."

"True enough," Frigga said with a wry twist of her lips. Wasn't that what she was doing now?

She let go of Loki's arm, but would wait to see him safely seated. "I think... chilled wine would do nicely for a summer afternoon. I found a nicely dry vintage you should appreciate."

Nothing sweet would do for Loki, of course, but she had not turned on the air conditioning in her home. Her windows were open, but the contrast should be nicely pleasant, even though Loki did not usually prefer cool things.

"That sounds nice indeed, mother." Loki smiled and found his seat. E was glad mother didn't Ferrell the need to seat him herself. He Jared the feeling of helplessness that came with things.

"Perfect for this weather, I should think. You have ever been the best of alp hostesses, of course." She was the goddess of the hearth. "And everyone seems so surprised when I know how to properly entertain guests when the mod strikes."

Frigga moved to her wine cabinet and selected the vintage. She took out two wine glasses. "Such a compliment to my rearing of you," she teased. "I am glad to hear you prove them wrong."

She poured the wine. This was an old duty, pouring mead in the halls of the king, and not a drop splashed where it should not go.

He grinned. "I do like to surprise people."

Normally just not so pleasantly.

"When the mood strikes." When he felt like entertaining at all. "Have you had many guests of late?"

She took the glasses by their stems and moved to join Loki on the couch. "Besides my sons?"

They were faithful callers, after all.

"No, I have not done much entertaining. I have been catching up on my reading and attempting to get a sense of this world."

She set her wine glass on the table and waited for Loki to hold out his hand so he could receive his.

"Well, none might be more worthy than us, but others are allowed." He grinned.

"Ah. Well, so long as you have not felt lonely. There is time enough around here, to be sure."

Loki did hold out his hand, and carefully took the glass. He swirled the wine slightly, and inhaled. "Lovely."

She gave a mild tut, "I'm pleased to hear I have your permission."

As if she needed it. And she had felt... not lonely, precisely, but... the whole thing was surreal and...

She missed her home. She missed Odin. She hadn't been away from him for this long in thousands of years and she missed him like she missed her marrow. Was this life now?

It was enough to ignore the statement, she thought, but she noted the sentiment and thought it fine. Loki had not always been so solicitous - at least, not sincerely. And he fairly radiated sincerity at the moment, right up there with exhaustion and tension.

"Thank you," she said, picking up her own glass and doing the same. "This place is remarkable for many small treasures."

He laughed. "A mother does not need any permission from her sons of course. And a lady of Asgard less so. How kind of you to salve my ego."

"It lulls one into a false sense of peace easily." He sighed. Because that was true. And then something untoward would happen, and it would all fall to pieces again. "Though I am glad it has been so for now."

She gave him a slight smile, "Indeed."

And then... hmm. A false peace? And he looked so tired. Frigga took a sip of her wine, tasting it while attempting to decide her approach. She decided to go with how things had been before. "I sense that there is something on your mind, Loki. Will you talk with me?"

"There is always much on my mind, mother," Loki said, his tone amused.

He breathed out a long sigh, sipped his wine. He hated coming at things so directly. "Of late, my personal life has been a ludicrous mess. This seems the hazard of having a personal life to speak of."

Frigga arched her eyebrows slightly, curious and concerned. "These things do take practice, my son. And you have ventured far into relationships the depth of which you have not known until now."

She would not yet directly inquiring, rather giving him time to come at it in his own way. She wouldn't forget, either - Loki had raised the topic, now he must see it through.

He snorted. "Such faith my mother has in me," he muttered. Yes, he'd never really had a stable relationship of any sort in Asgard, but that had really been because he hadn't wanted one. Of course.

There were things he did want to talk about with Frigga, many things. And many that didn't have anything to do with the ongoing drama of his love life. He brooded for a moment, considering possible places to start. Finally, he sighed. "There isn't really a people to whom I belong," he finally said. "And I think I am glad for that. Sometimes."

One battle at a time, Frigga thought. Once, she certainly would insisted, as she had over Odin's bed, that Loki belonged with them. She would still insist upon it, f he had not qualified his statement with 'a people,' and caused her to wonder if that was entirely what he meant. Was it so terrible a thing to be the son and brother of their hearts?

"What do you mean?"

He turned the wine glass in his hands. He wasn't really certain where he was going with any of this, which left him feeling very off balance. Normally, he considered his words far better. He had an intended end point for every conversation. But this time, there was too much swirling through his mind, too much troubling him. He didn't know where to begin, and so it was coming out so unevenly, so unmeasured.

"Being here for nearly two years has only highlighted for me how unlike the mortals I am," he finally said. "But I do not feel as if Asgard is home to me either." He smiled crookedly. "It was painfully obvious I did not belong at all amongst the Asgardians, when I grew up. Being what I am, that is not going to change."

Because he wasn't going to change for them. He just wanted to be Loki.

Frigga paused for a moment, trying to consider, but a lifetime of impulses was hard to suppress when it had been such a long life. She leaned forward slightly, "I do not see why you must feel the things are mutually exclusive. You are my son. If you thought there was no place for you in Asgard, perhaps it was because it was not the place that you wished- - or perhaps it was a place that needed to be more than what there was for you. You are Loki. There will always be a place for you, wherever you are and wherever you go, if you wish it."

"A place other than the dungeon?" he asked, dryly. "I am not the person Asgard wished me to be. I never was. I wasted many centuries trying, and I am done with it."

Though apparently not quite so done, since there were still certain things he did not wish to admit to Mother about himself. Hah, even then, still hiding.

"You are not all of Asgard, mother. If you were, I would feel far less hatred for that realm. And it for me, presumably." He huffed a laugh. "Perhaps some day I will meet this person you and Thor seem to think I am, but I do not believe in the existence of such a Loki."

"The dungeon was not for who you were, it was for what you had done," Frigga said. Was he still so stubborn as to admit to any wrong? Had she not searched for him endlessly until she found him after he fell, only to be dismissed by him? Was he so deeply entrenched in this identity he made for himself as one disenfranchised, unloved, and entitled to what he could get by strength or by wit?

But then what she had or would have said was stung out of her. She grew very still, and gracefully, carefully, set the wine glass on the table. "Do you truly believe I do not know you? That my love is for a phantom?"

Loki sighed. Well, yes, he should have expected this, since he hadn't come in with a plan. Of course they were going to rehash the old argument again, because it was an argument that neither side had ever won. Frigga had merely ended it with her death, so they could continue it now. But he also couldn't resist digging at it, because the argument had never ended. "Next time I'll be sure to merely smash everything with a hammer instead. Maybe then I'll get a vacation on Midgard for my trouble," he drawled.

He sat back on the couch, turning the wine glass slowly in his fingers. Always turning. "Then who am I, mother? For every time I think I've figured it out, it all falls to pieces again."

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wow my Swype fail in the last tag

still legible!

you are magical

/does a magical girl sequence

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