MAGIC AND CROWNS ; loki

xviii. gatekeeping

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"So, where to, Val? Following my advice or going on an intergalactic tour?" asked Cora playfully from the passenger seat of the ship, Brunnhilde playing pilot to her left and the other three men hanging on the back having a snack around the Grandmaster's orgy table (not that they needed to know what it was)

"I think i'm gonna go back to Asgard" she confirmed "How am I keeping in touch with you if Odin goes coocoo?" asked the brunette after checking that the other travelers weren't paying attention to their conversation

"Oh yeah, about that,  I gave my extra one to Lenora, so I asked her to make replicas of them to give to my other non-midgardian friends, you know? Heimdall has one, he recently discovered the depths of memes and has been sending them nonstop" spoke Cora while rummaging through her backpack (which she conjured up out of nowhere) and took out a similar looking phone to the one she and her daughter had

"Interesting... 'Stark'?" questioned Brunnhilde while expectioning the phone now on her hands

"Ignore it, it's Earth lingo for annoyingly smart and obnoxious" which earned her a laugh from Bruce, who had decided to step into the pilot cabin with a bowl of something that looked like spaghetti... but definitely wasn't

"Dear, that's deformis limax, which I assure you does not mean 'tasty buttered noodles' or anything of the sort" said Cora softly but trying to hold in her laughter

Just as she was finishing her statement, the scientist had hanging from his mouth the rest of the insect's body and started freaking out once he realized he definitely wasn't eating spaghetti

"LOKI AND THOR COME HERE RIGHT NOW" bellowed the pilot

Like misbehaving children caught in the act, they sheepishly walked towards the two angry women and man

"I can understand that Thor might not have known... but I refuse to believe that you, Loki, saw what poor Brucey here was eating, and didn't know that he was eating disgusting slug" scolded Cora who had fury coming out of her pores, all directing to the frightened trickster god, meanwhile the other god on board had his eyes wide in indignation

"I'm offended, of course I knew it was deformis limax, i'm not that stu-" he interrupted himself, knowing that by trying to prove his intellect, he had also proved he had tricked Bruce too, "DAMN IT" cussed Thor,  now too fearing for his life as Cora's glare was redirected towards both brothers

"From the god of mischief I almost respect it, but from you... you wound me, Thor" said a very disappointed Bruce walking back to the orgy table with his head hung low

"Go and find a way to make him happy again, goldilocks, as for you..." she ordered then turned to the raven haired prince "... I don't want you annoying him anymore" she finished with a glower

"Only if you let me stay here, with you, alone" he said eyeing hatefully the valkyrie piloting the ship, clearly still bitter about whatever had happened between them

"Works for me, I need a drink anyways" and with that the brunette warrior got up and walked away, leaving the driver seat empty and the ship with no operator

Cora instantly scurried to the pilots side and leveled up the controls, a sigh of relief escaping from her mouth when she was sure they weren't going to plummet down to their deaths onto a stray moon

"You are so lucky I know my way 'round this pieces of shit" she joked, back to her cheerful ways

It seemed that that was how it worked, by herself, she was her bubbly self, but, whenever she was mixing her friends from Earth (who know her as an avenger and sorceress), with her friends around the realms (who know her as a queen), she was always on edge, almost uptight, careful not to make any mistakes that would sell out her upbring. Like kids who don't like birthday parties where they have to invite both their school friends and their neighbour friends, because they don't know how to act around all of them as a singular group