Loki can't register their surroundings once they land because he's immediately pulled behind a brick wall. Byleistr looks a little sheepish.
"I forgot we... can't really walk around looking like this."
Loki stares at him blankly for a moment, not understanding his words for a moment. And then he realizes that Midgardians look like Asgardians. They didn't have blue skin or red eyes.
"Oh, right."
"Can you change your appearance?"
Loki points at himself and smirks, "Shapeshifter."
"Right," Byleistr nods, "It's easy to forget. You don't do it much."
"I have no reason to."
"Neither did I. Come on."
Loki watches as his brother runs a hand through his short and scruffy hair, the pitch black color lightening into a dark brown. The blue and white vanishes from his skin, melting into a pale tan. The red in his scleras change into white and his irises turn into an ocean-like blue-green. When he smiles, his teeth aren't as sharp.
"I know, I'm attractive in all forms."
Loki closes his mouth that he hadn't realized was hanging open, "Sorry-- Er-- I'm just unused to it."
Byleistr nods knowingly. Loki busies himself with changing form, looking down at his pale hands. He hasn't been in this form for some time. He feels... apprehensive. Hopefully, he doesn't come across any mirrors.
"And the clothes," Byleistr motions at his own, which have been changed as well.
He wears a white collared shirt and a brown leather jacket over it, with plain black trousers and brown leather shoes. Loki puts on an illusion to make his clothes look the same, except his shirt is green and the jacket and shoes are black.
"Wow, Loki, you make a pretty decent Midgardian," Byleistr smirks.
"Oh, piss off," Loki says, making a face and trying to shove him away. The only thing he succeeds in is having his hair ruffled.
"Come on, then."
He takes his brother's hand and leads him out from behind the wall. They're in a semi-populated area, mostly stores and houses some way down the road. They come out of an alleyway right next to what seems to be a diner. Byleistr opens the door and they both step inside.
The inside is a little dark, the only light coming from the windows at the front and multicolored lights on the walls. There are interesting looking machines around and there are some groups of people at the tables.
Music floats through the air and Loki notices the platform to the side where a couple people stand. They sing happily to the music that plays on the speakers, bouncing on their feet and making extravagant gestures with their hands. They aren't professionals, since they keep breaking into fits of laughter, but they seem to be having fun.
Byleistr pulls Loki to sit with him at one of the tables, between a group of men and two women chatting loudly.
"So?"
"So?" Loki echoes, not understanding the question.
"What do you think?" Byleistr asks eagerly.
"I don't know, I've been here for five minutes," Loki says, "It is interesting. Last I visited, the people worshiped me for parlor tricks."
"Well, now they'd probably call their authorities on you for witchcraft."
Loki's eyes widen.
"Well, they like making advancements," Byleistr explains, "They do experiments to see how things work. They inspect plants and animals to advance their medicine and machinery. If they caught wind of us, we'd most likely end up on a table to be dissected."
Loki gags, feeling a little sick, "Why?"
"They do what it takes to survive," Byleistr shrugs, pausing his talking to thank a person who gave the some water and to tell them that they hadn't decided what to order yet. "At least, that's how it was the last time I was here. Some months before you showed up, I think. It's been years."
Years? I arrived in Jotunheim years ago?
"They can't have changed too much," Byleistr continues, nodding to the music, "The people are nice, if you speak to the right ones. Some just act like rabid ice wolves. But they're working to become a less hostile species. There is more equality between gender and races now."
Loki frowns, "There wasn't--?"
A loud noise interrupts them. A couple of men from one table are now at the table with the two woman, standing over them menacingly. The women are also standing up, glaring back at them. They seem to be in an argument of sorts. Loki instinctively lowers his head and stares intently at the table.
"Well, I'm just worried your pretty faces will get ruined if you do something too reckless," one of the men, big, blond, and stupid looking, says.
"You should be worried about something else," replies one of the women. She has long, dirty blonde hair and a denim jacket tied around her waist. She wears a white t-shirt with something written on the front.
"Like what?" The man sneers.
"I don't know. Maybe when your daddy's money runs out?"
The other woman at the table, dark skinned with short, dark hair, stays silent but grins widely. The man looks angry and some of his friends laugh behind their hands.
"Listen here, Danvers," The man growls, "I don't know who you think you are, but I know one thing. You don't belong out on their. Piloting is a man's territory, so why don't you go home and cook dinner. Maybe then you'll find a guy who accepts you."
Instead of getting mad, the woman (who seems to be called Danvers) smiles, "I'll cook dinner for a man when pigs fly, so why don't you try to go sprout some wings first?"
Byleistr lets out a loud laugh. Loki glares at him, but the man has already turned his attention to them.
"Is something funny?"
"Yes, actually," Byleistr says, ignoring Loki's frantic signalling to shut up, "I find it rather amusing that your sense of masculinity seems to be entirely dependent on making women seem like lower beings."
"What the hell does that mean?" The man scowls.
"You act like you're manly just because women 'aren't'," Byleistr says, doing the air quotes. "It's so sad that it's rather amusing."
The man's friends burst out laughing and the man himself goes bright red. He storms out of the building, his friends following him. Loki covers his face and tried to suppress the blush creeping up on it. No matter who he is with, Asgardian or Jotun, they always seem to have a knack for picking fights with random people.
(Byleistr did it with his words, though. Thor was always ready to outright brawl over the smallest of things. When someone was disrespectful to him. Disrespectful to Loki--)
The two women are now standing next to their table. The brunette was now talking, "I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you new?"
"Just visiting," Byleistr says, glancing at the door, "I'll never be able to understand why people find pleasure in being so rude."
"It makes them feel powerful," Loki mutters, trying not to look at the women as he takes a sip of water.
"Some people are just morons," the woman shrugs as they both sit at the table, "I'm Maria Rambeau. This is my best friend, Carol Danvers."
Carol jokingly gives a salute.
"I'm Byleistr and he's my brother, Loki."
"Those are interesting names," Carol says with a tilt of her head.
"Old norse. Our family is one that prefers tradition," Byleistr explains in an expert lie that even Loki would believe, if he hadn't known the truth.
"That's cool. You have any hobbies?"
"Ice carving," Byleistr says, then playfully nudges Loki, "He likes storytelling."
Loki blushes, "Stop it. I don't do it often."
"Then why do all the children swarm you whenever you enter the village?" Byleistr asks, "They're always asking about the dragon and the mouse or about the world tree."
"Stop," Loki repeats, turning back to Carol and Maria, "What about you? You're pilots?"
Honestly, Loki has no idea what that means. He's attempting to figure it out from context.
"Oh, yeah," Carol jerks her head toward the wall, where a portrait hangs. There are some people in some kinds of suits standing in front of a big machine, "The don't let women to pilot actual planes, so we're test pilots for these new prototypes they're working on."
"Prototypes? What are they improving?"
"The engines. The design in general, but mostly the engines," Maria says, "More efficient power source, sleeker model, faster plane."
"Higher, further, faster, baby!" Carol grins.
"Sounds like something Helblindi would take interest in," Byleistr notes.
"Definitely not you," Loki smirks at him, "As long as it looks pretty and sounds nice, you don't care to know how it works."
"No, I just don't comprehend that sort of things. Pieces that fit together like a puzzle. I don't like putting things together and taking them apart. I like manipulating what's already there in a fluid motion."
"That's a nice metaphor," Carol says.
"Thank you."
Loki notices a slight blush on both of their faces, but shrugs it off, "Fluid motion like what, ice? But you take that apart plenty enough."
"I don't chip away at the ice like marble," Byleistr says, looking a little exasperated, "I melt bits and refreeze others. I don't like breaking things."
"You like ice a lot?" Maria asks.
"We live in a very cold place. If you don't like ice and snow, you'd never survive there. What about you? Is flying your passion?"
"Yes," both women say simultaneously.
(So a plane is machine that flies. Asgard had machines like that.)
"It's amazing," Carol gushes. (No, not gushing. Gushing would be a woman swooning over a man. She spoke very passionately, though.) "It's such a rush, with the loud winds and--"
Loki zones out, the woman's talking becoming a faint buzz. He silently watches the other three talk. Byleistr is leaning forward in his seat, listening intently to Carol's dramatic reenactment of one of her flights. She makes large gestures with her arms and quips about things that make Maria laugh, like an inside joke or reference.
Loki notices a strange glint in Byleistr's eyes, like admiration and something more. He notices the slight pink tinge to his cheeks as he speaks to Carol, the clever little smile he has when he says something that made Carol giggle--
Oh Norns, they're flirting with each other.
Loki stiffens, glancing at Maria. She also seems to have realized this, because she's staring at them now. Her eyes flicker to him in a panicked look that says "What is happening?!"
Apparently, her friend has never acted like this before either.
Sure, Byleistr is a hopeless flirt who has the best pick-up lines for any woman he comes across, Midgardian or Jotun, but nothing like this. He isn't even being subtle about it. He is visibly lovestruck.
What are Dam and Sire going to say? I agree to go to Midgard one time and now Byleistr is pining for a human.
As Loki internally panics, Maria says something to them and Carol enthusiastically nods about something. Byleistr also seems happy about it. Both women get up from the table and go outside.
"Come on."
Loki blinks and shakes his head, "What?"
"They offered to show us the planes they fly," Byleistr says, "While you were daydreaming."
"And planes are flying machines, correct?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Loki agrees as they both stand, "By, do you like her?"
"Like who?" His brother frowns.
"Carol."
"Yes, she's a very interesting person."
"No, By," Loki says, putting on a smirk, "Do you like her? As in, more than a friend?"
Byleistr stares blankly at him for a moment, then his face flushes red, "Wha-- No, no! She's just-- I'm-- She's a very nice person! And very interesting and enthusiastic and-- Oh fuck--"
"What even is that word?" Loki asks, knowing if he pushes the other topic Byleistr might stop talking altogether, "You use it as a curse of sorts?"
Byleistr explains the Midgardian term. Now it's Loki's turn to blush and make a face.
"Nevermind, let's go see your lover," Loki says.
"She-- She's not my lover!"
"Right, because you need to court her first. Then propose. Then have a wedding--"
"Stop."
"Oh, I can't wait for my nieces and nephews!"
Byleistr shoves him as they step outside, trying to cover his lingonberry-red face. When they come out, Loki also notices that Carol has a similar expression of embarrassment on her face. He doesn't say anything.
This is going to be fun.
~~~
Two updates in a week? Alright!
YES CAROL x BYLEISTR DEAL WITH IT
You can't sink a ship that was never sailing in the first place. Any haters? There's the door.
Idk why people don't like Carol. I see myself in her.
Also, about them openly telling these strangers about a super-secret government project. They're just test pilots. They don't know anything about the Tesseract so they can't spill government secrets. And Byleistr seems to have a very innocent, trustworthy face so yeah.
I realized I never actually described Helblindi or Byleistr, so I hope that description was enough to figure out what his Jotun form looked like. To clear it up, nothing changes except he has blue skin, heritage lines, sharper teeth, and his hair is as black as the void. He's also taller, but that's the size-changing thing. Helblindi is naturally taller then Loki and Byleistr, he has really long hair to his waist that's usually braided with ribbons and beads in it, and he has a similar face to Laufey. Sharper features, you could say. Byleistr has a rounder face like Farbauti. Loki is a mix of both.
ANYWAYS THANKS FOR READING COMMENT WHAT YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NEXT
BYEEE