Drama and Vikings (Loki)

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Beowulf did not understand the point of this school. One did not learn by just sitting and discussing and listening about whatever they were learning. He did not see the point. He certainly did not understand how one could effectively learn this way. This was a rather absurd way to learn. People were better off learning by experience. He was a Viking. He should know. Vikings learned by doing, not by listening. It might have taken him several times to learn the right way to swing his battle axe, or how to block a sword, but he had learned from experience and from watching the mistakes of others.

Beowulf had sent word to his father about what it was like here, but he had yet to reply. And he doubted that his father would allow him to come home anyway. He needed to experience or something like that. His father was under the impression that he would be able to tolerate his own people better if he could tolerate these absurd heathens. Well perhaps, but he was not thinking so at the moment. At the moment he was thinking how very much he would like to find out who decided to put him in a drama class.

The young Viking did not appreciate this one bit and the way he was slouching in his seat was a good indicator of such.

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Loki walked into the classroom like he owned it, which he did as far as he was concerned, being a teacher. Not that it really mattered, he was the sort of person who walked into anywhere like he owned it.

"Afternoon class," he announced without actually looking round, as he headed over to the desk in the corner and threw his bag and coat onto it. "I'm Professor Laufeyjarson, but I doubt any of you would be able to pronounce that, and it makes me sound ... stupid. So just call me Loki." He finally turned to face his students, only to find that thus far the turnout was abysmal.

"Great, now I'm going to have to keep repeating that."

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Beowulf did not want to be here in this class. This was stupid. This was absurd. He was a Viking. He should be somewhere else doing Viking things, not sitting here in this absurd class learning about drama. This was absurd. If his father saw him he would surely pull him out of this absurd school and bring him back to Geatland where he belonged.

The young Viking turned when the teacher entered the room. But when he began to speak, well everything came crashing down. Not literally of course. No, everything Beowulf had ever learned seemed to come crashing down around him because here in front of him was one of the gods. And not just any gods. One of his gods. Loki was a Norse god. And he was here. He was actually sitting here in front of Beowulf in the flesh. And he had no idea what to do or how to act, so he just stared with wide eyes.

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Well, at least he seemed to have made an impression. Were he anyone else, or had he been here for very long, he might have been surprised or confused by Beowulf's staring. Having only just arrived fresh from a place where everybody knew who he was, he attributed the staring to any number of things, starting from him (Loki) being just that awesome, ranging through him having slept with the boy's sister/wife/mother/uncle/father/dog, and only ending up on Beowulf being surprised to see a god here after going through every other possibility.

Still, actually admitting there were several reasons he might be staring was not nearly as much fun as feigning innocence, so he just smiled benignly back at the young viking.
"Something on my face?"

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Beowulf had been here long enough to know that Loki was currently the only Norse god at this school and the heathens sitting around him didn’t even know who this was. Loki was no Odin, but he was still a god and gods were powerful beings. And one was here. In front of him. Right here. Loki was his teacher or professor or whatever. And Beowulf was sure he very nearly died when Loki addressed him.

A god, one that he worshipped, had talked to him. Specifically him, Beowulf son of Ecgtheow, was being addressed by a god. This was not real. No, this could not be real. That would be absurd. But the most absurd part of this was that it was real.

He shook his head slightly. “No Sir.” And then he bowed his head in respect to the god because the gods must always be respected. Especially when they were here at his school. He would not like to get on Loki’s bad side.

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Loki leant against the desk and crossed his arms, unable to keep the smug smile from crossing his face at Beowulf's actions. Now that was what he liked to see, a little bit of deference - not only did it boost his already towering ego, but it tended to make people much easier to manipulate.

It made him curious though, as the few other students in the class seemed more baffled by Beowulf's actions than likely to copy them, so either the kid came from someplace that really respected teachers, or he knew who Loki was.

"Something tells me that's not normal student behaviour," Was what he said out loud. "Not that I don't appreciate the respect, obviously."

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Loki was pleased. Pleased was good. As long as the gods were fairly happy then things were good for the Norseman. Beowulf had a lot of respect for the gods. He had been raised right. He was a good Viking and a good Norseman. So of course he had a high respect and fear for the gods. And it was Fated that Loki would be here and that Beowulf would meet him.

He was very honored that Loki was even taking an interest in him and talking to him. Of course for a normal student and teacher his actions would have been odd. No, his actions must be befitting for a god. He stood and made a proper bow to the god before answering. “I, Sir, am Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, a Geat and Viking. I am honored by your presence and your attentions.”

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Ah ha, a viking. Well that explained it, though it was certainly very interesting, Loki hadn't known how likely it was to find anybody who knew who he was here, let alone somebody who actually worshipped him.
While the rest of the class was increasingly confused, Loki was increasingly interested.

Loki might not be as bad as some people liked to make out, but he did enjoy causing chaos, and having a follower to help him out with that goal would be quite handy. However, the problem with a viking was that they knew him just a little too well to make them quite as easy to manipulate as you might expect. Still, the worship was good...

"Pleasure to meet you, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow," He greeted with the faintest of smirks "I do hope you'll enjoy my class." he added with a wink.
Oh yea, there was definitely something seductive in his tone. He didn't know if he could make use of the boy yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't play with him a little.

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The rest of the class was confused, but they were all heathens anyway, so it didn’t matter. Beowulf highly doubted that they would care that Loki was a god anyway. They didn’t worship him so they most likely would not care. But Beowulf cared. He cared a great deal.

But this was also Loki, known very well for being tricky so he’d have to tread carefully. He did not want to upset Loki in any way, but he also wanted to honor him because he was a god. He would have to be wary and think on his feet. He could still worship the god, but keep his distance at the same time. Beowulf did not want to be responsible for chaos.

“Yes, Sir,” was the only thing Beowulf replied because that wink threw him off for a moment. And then he sat down. He also had to remember that Loki was a very sexual being. And Beowulf most certainly was not. And he certainly did not want a man winking at him, regardless of the fact that said man could shape shift. He would have to tread very carefully.

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Beowulf's awkwardness was obvious, especially to someone like Loki (a trickster is essentially a conman, and a good conman learns to read people), and that only made the god's smirk widen. Even the smallest prank was enough to make him just that little bit happier.

Not that he was entirely joking, although he wouldn't usually go after someone who was obviously not interested (except, perhaps, for the challenge), he was, as Beowulf noted, a very sexual being, and he'd go for pretty much anyone or anything.
He was willing to let it drop for now though, and actually seemed about to get on with the lesson, until something occured to him.

"You haven't seen any of the others here, have you?" He asked suddenly, rounding on Beowulf once again.

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Beowulf was very relieved that Loki seemed to be dropping whatever it was that was kind of happening between them. He was probably more relieved than he should have been, but what with not understanding what was going on with Sunny and now this, it was more than a young Viking who refused to have feelings could take.

And now perhaps they could get on with the lesson so Beowulf could go back to his room and contemplate some things. But apparently the lesson could not go on yet. And Beowulf was confused by what Loki meant by ‘others’. But it could most likely be assumed that he meant other gods. Though if he was speaking about specifically Norse gods or not was debatable.

He thought for a moment before answering. “There are others here, but not Norse,” he said with disdain. There were heathen gods here, running around like they owned the place. It was no place for a respectable Viking.

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For a split second, Loki was annoyed, his face darkened with irritation. They'd bloody followed him here, just to get in his way and ruin his fun and- wait, not norse? The annoyance faded as quickly as it had appeared and was replaced by intrigue.

"Not Norse?" He repeated. There were other gods here? He'd never actually met any of the other gods, it just wasn't really the done thing (and even for a trickster, there were some things you didn't do) - but here, here where everything was just that little bit more blurred, none of them were really on their homeground so it was somewhere they could actually interact. "Interesting..." he smirked.
Other gods sounded good to him, powerful enough to give him a challenge, but lacking the authority that some of the other Norse gods (say, Odin) might have to reign him in.

He finally decided to pay attention to the rest of the class long enough only to set them an improv task to do in pairs, before once again accosting Beowulf.

"So tell me more about these other gods, what do you know?"

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Loki did not seem pleased at all, and Beowulf didn’t blame him. Heathen gods were here too and Beowulf himself was quite put out. Heathen gods coming in here and trying to take control and do whatever it was that gods did. Well, that was completely absurd. It should be the Norse gods here, not those stupid Greek ones.

But oh, now Loki was not looking displeased anymore. Oh, well…well that was absurd. He should not be pleased that he’d have to compete with those heathen gods who no one seemed to worship. At least not here anyway. And though the same could be said about the Norse gods, Beowulf refused to think of it that way.

And he was rather put out that Loki wanted to talk about the other gods. But he was a god so he would be a good Viking. “They are Greek,” he told the god with disdain. “There are several of them here. I don’t know why. They just are.”

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"Interesting..." He said again, looking thoughtful. He imagined their reasoning for being here was much like his own. The Greek gods, from what he had heard, were not dissimilar to the Norse ones when it came to just doing whatever they wanted, so they probably came here because it sounded interesting.
He doubted any of them were here to avoid any sort of irritable fellow gods if there were a few of them here, but it was possible.

"Is that everything?" He asked "Do you know anything else?" He knew a bit about the Greek gods, but not enough to really decide if this information was useful to him. Saying 'Greek' didn't exactly tell him a lot about their personality or who they really were - although he was amused at the disdain in the boy's voice, he clearly didn't rate any gods that weren't his own. Good to know.

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Beowulf watched Loki’s reaction carefully. He seemed to be thinking it over carefully, which he should. He didn’t know why the Greek gods were here, but it was probably only to cause trouble or something. The Greeks were no good. They were heathens and by this point anyone who didn’t know how Beowulf felt about heathens must not have met him.

Of course he had no respect for other gods. What good Viking would? And Beowulf did not like the Greeks, did not care for them at all so he tried to avoid all contact if possible. He didn’t want to know about them. “No, Sir. That is all.” And Odin help him if he ever ran into any of those Greek gods that he had heard about. He would not be please. Not at all.