Before we begin…

This shall be a collection of oneshots involving Loki and my OC Naomi Carson, from my story Battle of Wits. You also might know her from my various humor fics. In any case, this shall be a collection of random oneshots, really just fluff, some angst, A little humor, and whatever else I decide to throw in there. This entire story goes out to all the people who were oh-so-disappointed with the less-than-happy ending of Battle of Wits. Here is your balm, your feast to ease the hunger for Naoki. Shall we begin? I think we shall. Enjoy.

Tyna Válað

Naomi's Point of View

"Loki?" I asked softly.

"Yes, Naomi?" he responded quietly.

I looked up from the screen of my phone and to the other side of the couch, where he sat with a book of Shakespeare's complete works. As if he could sense my eyes on him, he lifted his gaze to mine and raised a single eyebrow in question.

"Yes, Naomi?" he repeated slowly.

"Destiny. Do you believe in it?" I asked, looking at him curiously as I swept a strand of hair out of my eyes and tilted my head slightly.

His brow furrowed a tiny bit as he looked at me. "Do I believe in destiny?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Do you think everything we do is predetermined, fated to happen, that we're just running the track that's already set down for us? Or do you think we're free to actually make our own choices in life, which changes our lives for good or for bad?"

"…Terribly random and deep subject to be bringing up so suddenly," Loki observed mildly. "Not that that would be anything new for you."

I smiled faintly. "No. Nothing new. But really. Destiny. Yay or nay?"

"Dare I ask what brought on this question?" he inquired.

I shrugged. "I was reading something on my phone. There's this quote from Albert Einstein. Here," I motioned for him to come closer and read it.

He snapped the Shakespeare book shut and scooted over to me, leaning over my shoulder to read the quote displayed in the middle of the screen.

I held back a smile at his closeness. It still always gave me jitters, especially when he was looking over my shoulder. And the feeling of the energy vibrating between us was veritably palpable.

"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control," Loki read aloud from the screen. "It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. Albert Einstein." Loki scoffed and then drew away, meeting my eyes again. "Well, Naomi, what do you think?"

I smirked. "Personally, I'm not a fan of the pipe. I'd rather dance to something else than a piper's tune."

Loki snorted. "That's what you get out of the quote?"

I shook my head. "No. What I get out of the quote is that someone thinks we're all forced to dance to a tune we may or may not like. I don't like that idea. I don't like the idea of destiny. I like the idea of my being able to choose which songs to dance to. And if a piper's piping away at his pipe, then I think I'll go off and play a kazoo for myself and dance to that instead."

Loki chuckled at that. "A kazoo, hmm? I disagree with your choice of instrument, but I see your point."

"Besides being half-decent at drums, the only instrument I can play is the kazoo," I shrugged indifferently. "Anyways. What do you think?"

He cocked his head to one side and looked at me critically, evidently thinking of exactly how he wanted to word his answer. I said nothing, waiting patiently as his eyes roved my face, like his answer might be found there. After a long moment, a trace of a smile flickered on his lips. "Tyna válað," he murmured decidedly.

I blinked in confusion and frowned. "…What?" I said blankly.

"I said, tyna válað," he repeated with a look of satisfaction. "It's… Old Norse."

"Ah," I nodded exaggeratedly. "That explains everything, Loki," I gave him a look as I raised my eyebrows, words laden with sarcasm.

"Good to know," he nodded. "Then I think your question has been cleared up."

"Hey, I was being sarcastic!" I protested quickly. "That doesn't answer my question in the least! What does… What does tyna válað mean?"

Loki let out a breath of laughter and shook his head at me, as if I was silly for not understanding Old Norse. "I've a quote for you to consider, Naomi." He reached over to the book of Shakespeare's complete works, and he took a moment to flip through it. "Here. Julius Caesar. It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves." He looked up at me again. "Tyna válað. See, Shakespeare got it."

"Shakespeare didn't write in Old Norse," I pointed out. "And you'll notice that nowhere in all of Julius Caesar did it say tyna válað anywhere in that play." I wasn't even sure if I was pronouncing the phrase correctly, but I tried my best. "So what's it mean?"

He just laughed softly and shook his head again. And then he stood from the couch and held a hand out to me, which I hesitantly took. He pulled me up to a standing position and kissed my cheek. "It means, Naomi, that no one can tell us what we have to do. That we decide, and there aren't any pipers intoning tunes in the distance for us to dance to. It means you can go play your kazoo if you want to. That's what it means."

I raised my eyebrows at him and tried to suppress my smile. "Is this leading up to you telling me the exact translation, or do you feel like being enigmatic?"

"You love it when I'm enigmatic," he grinned confidently.

"Maybe," I conceded.

"Most certainly," he grinned. "Now… tyna válað means that we can throw ideas of fate and predetermined lives to the wind. Tyna válað means… forget destiny."

"Forget destiny?" I blinked, looking up at him with intrigue.

"Forget it entirely. It doesn't exist. No such thing as destiny. We decide," he nodded assuredly.

I smiled back at him. "I like it. Tyna válað. Forget destiny."

"I like it, too," Loki agreed.

"And now that we have forgotten destiny," I smiled slightly. "What shall we do with our unfettered lives?"

"Why, whatever we wish," he shrugged. "Such a beautiful idea, isn't it? Anything."

Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Well, then. This one was really only written as a bit of an explanation for the title of this story, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. The quotes in this story (from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and from Albert Einstein) were both retrieved from the internet, so they may be paraphrased or not entirely accurate. I got them both from Good Reads. Com. From what I know, Tyna Válað is indeed Old Norse for "Forget destiny." My source for various words in Old Norse is Vikings Of Bjornstad. Com. It has an extensive dictionary of Old Norse to English, though I'm not entirely sure just how accurate it is. Point being that the entire point of this story will be to forget how destiny shaped the fates of Loki and Naomi in Battle of Wits, and to simply enjoy the far happier fates I forged for them in fluff/angst/humor oneshots contained here. I hope you'll all appreciate them. Let me know what you think. I may accept requests for oneshots at some point, but first I have a couple of oneshots I've already written that I shall post. I'll be updating soon

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