I've got my gym shorts and my flippy floppies

[bornagoddess]

It was a beautiful day. A beautiful, outdoors-worthy kind of day. And it was completely due to the fact that Sif was once again a woman. She hadn't gone to find one of her new female friends for clothes yet, or gone back home to get her own gear, and so Sif was sporting the same diminutive training garb Natasha had lent her weeks ago. However, this time she had paired the clothes with some peculiar shoewear, platforms that held onto the feet by a simple strap between your big toe and the rest - the lady at the shop had called them 'flip flops'. Egged on by her so casual attire, Sif had gone outside instead of heading for the training room, to walk the grounds and catch some sunlight.

With this wonderful day it was even fitting that her clothes exposed some of her midriff and calves. Her hair was flowing uncharacteristically lose behind her back and Sif more glided than walked through the grass. Really it was all relief. While she had enjoyed herself as a man Sif had began to wonder if she would never go back to who she really was, who she felt like. Even despite the embarrassment of having had her pants drop in front of strangers, and her top cover very little of her breasts, Sif had not felt so good in weeks. And, apparently, it was a feeling meant to last.

Comments

[bornagoddess]

Sif had not been expecting anything alike admittance of bad taste on Loki's part, so it was a pleasant surprise when it did come. While at the moment, as he was now, Sif couldn't quite see where Loki was similar to Lorelei other than the obvious sorcery, she thought back - or forward? - to the sceptre he had wielded and pointed at men's hearts to make them do his bidding. It was eerily similar, then, to Lorelei's own power; only he needed a weapon as vessel where she did not. The notion only contributed to upsetting Sif further, and she looked away while inhaling sharply. "I suppose you do."

Seeing Loki laugh at long gone times forced a smile into Sif's face, albeit a tight one. "What if he hadn't, then? What if I had succumbed to his advances like many do?" She asked, amused by the scenario. It wasn't that Fandral was not a pleasant sort to look at, it was that him and his admirers did a great job to never, ever let you forget it. And while Sif appreciated straightforwardness she did not like things to be shoved down her throat at every chance. Nevermind the fact that she viewed the Three as her equals and had worked very hard to have them view her as such, and so she had never entertained any such thoughts about any of them. They were her comrades, brothers in arms. When you spent so much time with someone as they did with each other certain charms tended to get lost forever. "I know. I left his nose bleeding and he would not speak to me for a week on account of the shame and for ruining his doublet. I told him if he had stopped when I first stated he should none of that would have happened."

[thelostprince]

Loki was a far different creature from Lorelei - that he knew of, anyway. Sif's agreement made him wonder if this was another one of those instances where she was referring to something in the future that he didn't know about, or if she was simply thinking of the penchant for sorcery they both shared. He didn't know and he did not care to press for details. He was done with that part of their conversation, unless she wanted to tell him something specific to warn him away. And he didn't think she would.

"What do you mean, what if he hadn't?" Loki asked. "Some battles are lost before they are ever fought, and it is a fool's journey to start them. In no way would you have fallen for his advances, and I had an inkling of that then, and knowledge of that now. So I don't see the point in entertaining some impossible fantasy situation where you suddenly transform from Lady Sif into someone else entirely." He tipped his head to the side, expression teasing. "If he didn't know how to get blood out of his more expensive clothes before then, he certainly does now. I don't think he had the courage to give it to a washerwoman."

[bornagoddess]

It had been simply an amusing supposition, a fantasy scenario with no basis on reality, but as Sif was about to remark on that Loki kept going and she found herself stumped for words as he went on. He seemed staggeringly sure of Sif as a person, who she was and how she responded to certain things. She did not know whether that was heartwarming or disconcerting. Having Loki, of all people, know her remarkably well could have its dangers. Not to mention, his adamant refusal to entertain the possibility was odd at best. "Well." She finally managed, eyebrows raised as she fought the urge to smile more softly than usual. "You seem very certain and unwavering about who I am. I am...flattered?" Sif tilted her head, eyes narrowed as she assessed whether that really was the word. "Even if all you did with that certainty was cause Fandral a bloody nose for your amusement."

Not as if there was anything else she expected him to do with it. Sif couldn't even think of anything else. "Oh I'm sure he did and added a completely fabricated sob story about how he saved a child from being eaten by a bilgesnipe, or some such." Sif shrugged. "In any case, we have been friends ever since. I think I left it quite clear what our relationship could and could not be."

[thelostprince]

"Perhaps I just had a more firm grasp on the realities of Fandral's talents," Loki replied, idly, still smirking. "Anyone else might have seen the headbutt coming, but thought that, perhaps, surely there was no way Fandral could fail... maybe I'm just negative." He tipped his head to the side as he looked at her, like a cat ascertaining a playmate. "Then again I think it was just obvious that you were a woman of more elegant tastes. I don't think sweet words or lusty, male-driven promises are the keys to your heart." And, while he figured compliments may help open the doors to her bedchamber, so to speak, he was also relatively sure that that was something Sif decided upon beforehand. She wasn't a woman to be swayed, in fondness and in attraction. He supposed it was a good sign, then, that she decided to be friends with him at all. "You were clear enough for Fandral, I think."

About the laundry, he laughed. "That is true. I confess to having done something like that myself, once or twice, where my own blood in my clothing was concerned. I'm under the impression there was a royal edict going out not to break a prince's nose, though," he added. "I was pummelled practically everywhere else when it came to sparring. It's just as well." As Sif was utterly aware, of course. She landed a good number of those blows in training.

[bornagoddess]

The hint of disappointment forming in the back of Sif's mind as Loki clarified that it had not really been about her or knowing her well at all threatened to make her outright angry. She ought not to be disappointed by such a thing - it was stupid and unbecoming and stupider yet. Biting her bottom lip Sif chastised herself for such a reaction, though she attempted not to let it show.

"Right. Of course that's what it was." She replied, attempting not to sound too bitter. Sif was not sure that she was a woman of more elegant tastes or simply more pragmatic than most, and thus not susceptible to the elaborate (yet transparent) way Fandral did things. Not to mention the fact that she had never been the least bit attracted to the man, of course. And while Loki was right in his assumptions as to how to reach her heart, Sif could not come up with firm ways in which to achieve it. "I don't think there are any clear keys to my heart." Sif blurted out, more as a musing than a clear reply to what Loki had said. Now she wondered, and in wondering she was again confronted by how different the men whom she had given her heart - or part of it - to were. With ease she could list honour among the things she treasured, but then Loki wasn't that known for being honourable and yet... This was an exercise in frustration, Sif concluded with an eyeroll and a deep sigh.

The subject had turned a bit lighter again, and Sif found her smile creeping back into her features. It was eerie how conversations about bloodying someone's clothes got her in good spirits, but that was something better left unexamined. "Unlike certain other soldiers I never felt the obligation to go easy on either of Odin's sons. You would learn nothing if I had." She replied with a smirk.