Asgardian Princes and Midgardian Fairytales

[littlerubyred]

It seemed to Ruby that the moment she began to really look for the door back to Storybrooke, it had appeared and not moved a single time since. She'd been wary of it at first, only sticking her head through to have a look around before scuttling back to the Nexus. For all that she needed to go home, she was wary of leaving the Nexus behind for too long, lest it disappear entirely and take all her friends and Graham along with it. That had not been the case the two times Ruby had made her way back to Storybrooke to check on Granny and on her friends there, none of which seemed to notice that she'd been gone for any amount of time at all.

Knowing all of that, she'd invited Loki to go home with her as they'd discussed after running into him on one of her days off. Graham had disappeared for a while, then seemed distant upon his return, and Ruby, unknowing of how to handle it, had left him to his own devices. She wasn't sure what was going on, though she was not the sort to pester or plead when she invited someone to confide in her and they declined, and she'd decided to wait to tell him about the door to Storybrooke for when he seemed in better spirits as well. He would come to her in his own time, and she'd deal with whatever sort of revelation he wanted to lay upon her then.

"I do hope your prepared for a lovely dose of small town quaintness," she teased Loki as she swung open the door and took his forearm in her hand so that they could both pass through. "I don't know if it's necessary to actually be holding onto each other," she said. "Is that necessary when going through the home door?" She asked once they were in the bright sun of Storybrook outside of Granny's Diner and she could let his arm free. "Either way, here you go. This is home. Spin around and you can see it all in its entirety, I'm sure."

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[littlerubyred]

Loki waving the towel away from her face was a reaction she'd expected, so she patted at his face again, lightly and teasingly hitting both cheeks with the towel. "Are you sure? Are you sure you princes know how to get it all?" She teased. "I think I saw some behind your ears, your highness." She was grinning widely as she said it, and glanced up to realize that a good chunk of the diner were watching her with Loki in either a blatantly obvious sort of way, or very demurely looking at her out of the corner of one eye. It wasn't something she minded necessarily, though she was glad that leaving Storybrooke to return to the Nexus was an option. Sticking around for the tidal wave of questions that would follow Loki's leaving town would not be a pleasant thing, she had to think.

"I would think she had to be," Ruby said. "Since she was responsible for all of this, generally speaking." Ruby made a gesture toward Loki, though it was meant to indicate his intelligence, wit, and princely bearing rather than the good looks that were presumably a miracle of genetics. Ruby wasn't an unconfident woman, and she felt like she could be suitably charming enough to at least make Loki's mother not dislike her upon sight, though it did not negate her nerves entirely. It boiled down to wanting to impress Loki's mother, and all the apprehension that went along with offering oneself up to someone who was so respected and who's opinion carried such weight with Loki. "Does your mother have your leather kink? I don't think I've seen any regal, gorgeous, queenly types decked out in black leather. Well, except for you that day I found you in the gardens, but that's a moot point."

Granny was studying Loki obviously, no doubt making all sort of assumptions and generalizations, but letting none of them show on her face as she looked him over. Ruby had to wonder if Granny had always been so suspicious of men, and if so, how she'd ever managed to have a husband and start a family. "I run a bed and breakfast. You probably saw it on your way in, " Granny said. "If you'll be staying the night, it's the only place in town to rent a room so you can talk to me about that, if you would like." A smile formed on Granny's face as she studied Loki for a beat more, then turned to look at Ruby. "There are other customers in the diner today, Ruby," Granny said, not unpleasantly but Ruby understood it was a reprimand for paying such singular attention to Loki. "If you've brought him his chocolate, leave the man in peace and do your work."

"I was just getting ready to do some rounds," Ruby said, smiling with forced brightness at Granny. "Loki and I weren't talking for that long."

"Uh huh," Granny said, then stared at Ruby until she sighed and picked up her notepad before walking out from behind the counter to approach her first table and collect their glasses for refills. When Ruby was out of earshot, Granny looked back at Loki and said, "My Granddaughter isn't looking for a relationship. Not the sort that only lasts a single night, or otherwise. You're welcome to stay, but please keep that in mind."

[thelostprince]

Loki tipped his head to the side, slightly. Everyone kept referring to his penchant for leather as a 'kink', and he wasn't sure he entirely understood it. Still, he supposed there was some sort of common thread running through it all; he would just have to discover it. "My mother wears gowns," he decided to settle on. He didn't bother to mention that he was adopted, and his resemblance to Frigga was faint at best. Still, no one could say he hadn't taken after her.

Ruby's grandmother was the sort of steely old woman that Loki suspected was secretly some sort of warrior or giant killer - she had that sort of strange way about her. Still, looking at her, smiling at her, Loki felt that odd sensation, the same he'd had when inspecting Ruby for anything otherworldly. It wasn't that a curse seemed to hang on her; it felt as if she was a curse. And her grandmother - Granny - felt the same to him. Did that make her dangerous, like a predator, or like rapids, or a rockslide? Was their danger incidental or personal? He wondered if he would discover it sooner rather than later.

While Ruby was scolded Loki didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt or unsettle her. He just smiled faintly, and watched her leave. At the reprimand - it wasn't phrased as such, but it undoubtedly was - he turned his attention back to Granny. He remembered how Ruby had said she wouldn't mind her grandmother having an adverse reaction to him, and his own habit to try to charm anyone that may not like him. He wasn't sure what route he ought to truly take, but when he understood the core of what the woman was saying, he found he couldn't resist a third option.

"I have nothing but respect for Ruby," he said, deciding to defend her instead of himself. Showing fear was a mistake - also untrue - and so he met Granny's gaze without a flutter of worry. He was an otherworldly prince, why would he be nervous? "You seem to, as well. So let us not insult her by inferring you make her decisions, yes? You do run a lovely establishment, though, and she must be of great help to you. I hope that's not what directs your concerns."

[littlerubyred]

Ruby's job at the diner was as familiar and comfortable to her as a worn blanket, and she easily went through the motions of smiling and speaking with the people she'd known all her life, while simultaneously attempting to keep one ear out for Granny's conversation with Loki. Ruby felt an almost adolescent fear of being embarrassed in front of her friend, as she well knew what sort of things Granny would be saying to Loki as soon as Ruby was a distance away. It was silly, she knew, just as she also knew that Granny was far too suspicious of men, especially the sort that were as handsome as Loki, to believe that he and Ruby were just friends even if Ruby were to sit her grandmother down and tell her the whole of her life experience over the past few months. Still, she'd forewarned Loki time and again of what her Granny was like, and she supposed there was nothing to be done now that he was being shown evidence of it other than to ride out the storm.

"Yeah, I'll bet," Granny said at Loki's declaration of respect, but her words had lost a bit of their hard edge. She turned at the sound of the diner door opening and her lips thinned a bit as a woman in a sharp pantsuit made her way inside, her gaze falling instantly to Loki as though he were as bright and obvious in the crowd as a lighthouse on the shore, and perhaps he was. "Well, you'll be a celebrity for as long as you're in town," Granny said before reaching out to lift Loki's cup of hot chocolate and slide a pair of napkins underneath just in case of a spill. "When you need someplace to rest, remember what I said."

Granny walked away and, her customer's tended to, Ruby made her way back behind the counter and over to Loki. "Madam Mayor has come to have a look," she whispered conspiratorially with a direct look as to where the dark haired woman in the expensive suit had paused to talk to someone. "And I'm sorry for whatever my Granny said. I would like to believe she was all charm, but I have a whole lifetime's experience to the contrary."

[thelostprince]

Loki just smiled at Granny - not in an infuriating way, more in a way that he understood her, or at least why she was doing what she did. If Ruby was all Granny had, he could understand a little protectiveness. In any case, in some suspicions she was probably quite right - Loki did represent a wide, wild world for Ruby to run off into. Granny just clearly didn't understand she had already done so.

When Ruby came back, he was looking at the napkins under his cup in bemusement. "Has she?" he asked, not bothering to turn and catch a glance - he'd see what she looked like soon enough, of course. He was curious, though, because after meeting Ruby's grandmother, he wanted to see if there was anything he might glean from someone else in the town, about how natural or supernatural they might seem. "Oh, don't worry about your grandmother. She's quite solid, I suppose."

[littlerubyred]

There were some days when Ruby thought nothing at all of Regina. She was the mayor, a woman who was known to be less than friendly on occasion, but mostly tolerable on a day in and day out basis. Ruby could not ever think of a time when she'd been suspicious of Regina outside of the general wariness reserved for politicians, but there was a feel to the woman's gaze when she looked upon Ruby and Loki that reminded Ruby inexplicably of an oil slick. Her spine tightened and she stood straight up, and Ruby had a strange, fleeting thought that dipped in and out of her consciousness just as quick. If there was a curtain over Storybrooke, it was a curtain of Regina's design.

The unsettled feeling made Ruby want to climb over the counter to put herself in between Regina and Loki, not because she thought that Loki couldn't defend himself against someone like her, but because she sensed Regina would know that Loki was not simply a stranger traveling through town. She didn't know what Regina could possibly do about it, but Ruby felt like she did not want to find out.

"Madam Mayor!" Ruby said brightly in an attempt to distract. "Don't you look wonderful! You're usual?"

Regina's acknowledgement came in the brief flick of her fingers, her gaze already locked on Loki's profile, and she moved past Ruby as though she wasn't even there to claim the seat beside Loki. There was a smile on her face, but it was as slick as her gaze, and equally unsettling.

"Regina Mills," she said and did not offer her hand. "Hello. How did you wind up in our little town?"

[thelostprince]

He had not bothered to turn and look at the Mayor when she came in; but as she edged nearer into his focus, Loki regretted that, because now he did, he wanted the casual turn easily hidden by the mild curiosity of a visitor. She prickled at his awareness. These were people of a different make, beyond the realm he knew, and his senses were not finely tuned. He was expecting to find something strange or off about the place, and that's how it felt, and maybe that was why he was able to notice it.

He could only hope this Mayor would have a similar experience, and not see how much stranger Loki's visit to the town really was. She would undoubtedly pick up on something, of course; but hopefully something much too blurry for her to accurately guess at. Though it itched at him he waited until the woman was sitting beside him to turn, one elbow leaning casually against the counter.

She was a very good looking woman, older than Ruby, with a more settled, domineering look to her. He knew a sorceress when he saw one, though, and even though she didn't offer her hand, he smiled and offered his - much more brightly than he would have, normally.

"I suppose the same way everyone else did," he said, cheerfully, knowing his demeanor might surprise Ruby, but that was a chance he was taking. Mysterious stranger was not a title he wanted in a small town with a sorceress who, for all he knew, ruled its undercurrents with an iron fist. And boisterous, cheerful people we far less interesting, and far less mysterious, than calm, wry intellectuals. If it had been only him, he wouldn't have cared so much - but this was Ruby's place. If he made a mess and left her in it, who knew how it would turn out? "It's a beautiful little spot."