Mischief on Midgard

Water of sight

Loki arrived at an island called Iceland. The population there was rather sparse, secluded to small villages. The cave that housed the Waters of Sight was thankfully not located near one of the populated areas. The only sign of civilization near the cave was a tiny little wooden house near a large cliff. Loki landed next to the building and exited the small jet-pod. He made a bee-line for the small house.

He opened the door and paused. There was quite a mess inside the building, even near the entrance. Computer screens, tablets, laptops, papers, books, notes with coffee-stain rings marring them, and food wrappers were scattered everywhere. The different screens that Loki could see showed that they were monitoring a constant stream of readings coming from the cave. Loki picked up one of the notepads and found scribbled writing on the front and back of every page. He set the pad back down and continued deeper into the house.

Loki stepped into another room and found Eric Selvig in the center of yet another mess. His head was lying on one of the keyboards. A line of drool had dribbled down his cheek. His glasses had slipped from his nose to clatter beside his head. A loud snore escaped him, and the saliva dripped further down his cheek. Loki wrinkled his nose at the sight, but stepped forward and touched the sleeping man on the shoulder.

"Doctor?" he said in a questioning tone. When he got no response, he gave the man a small shake. "Doctor Selvig!"

The reaction was immediate. The man's eyes flew open, and he let out a surprised scream as he jerked up. Selvig slipped out of the chair he'd been sitting on and landed on his back with a hard 'thud' of sound. Papers scattered into the air, fluttering down to land around and on the wide-eyed Doctor. Loki frowned down at the man, both amused and annoyed. Selvig stared up at him, jaw dropped.

"Did I disturb you?" Loki asked in a dry tone.

"I... no... no," Selvig said with a blink, brushing a paper from the top of his head. "I... I suppose I drifted off for a bit..."

Loki glanced toward the half-empty mug that was full of cold coffee and the sandwich that only had a single bite taken from it. He looked back to the Doctor with a small huff.

"Several hours ago it seems," he said with a raised brow.

Selvig blinked and slowly sat up. He stared at Loki long enough to make him a touch nervous.

"What?" he asked finally.

"Um... wow... sorry. I haven't had any human interaction for weeks now!" Selvig admitted with a weak grin.

He picked up his glasses where they had landed next to him and started cleaning them with his shirt. Loki grimaced as it probably hadn't helped. The shirt looked badly stained as it was. Selvig popped them back on regardless and beamed up at Loki.

"Just... wow!" he said happily. "Another human being. Here of all places! That's wonderful. Oh! Can I get you something? A sandwich? Coffee? Tea?"

"I'm good, Doctor Selvig," Loki said firmly.

"Oh. Alright. That's fine," Selvig looked like a disappointed puppy for a moment before his head whipped back up. "Wait! How did you get up here?! You either have to climb, and you don't have any gear, or you have to take a helicopter! And that would have woken me up!"

"Fair points," Loki conceded with a grin. "Or I could have taken a private mini-jet provided to be by Stark Industries."

"Stark? As in Tony Stark?" Selvig asked as he gingerly stood up. "He sent you? What... what does he want...?"