Völuspá

Delirious

Kitri was deep in thought, finally able to slowly calm her irradic thoughts as she performed this mundane task of trying to alleviate some of Loki's suffering for days. She knew she had to do something, but the sounds of his agonized cries and his violent writhing whenever she had to empty the venom filled bowl made her stay by his side. Her heart just couldn't take watching the man she loved so much take on this kind of suffering.

She had tried everything to break this cursed stone snake or the enchanted entrails that bound him, but all it achieved was more terrible pain for him as she had to stop holding the bowl to even try. The bowl itself seemed to have an enchantment on it as well, since she couldn't lift it with her magic like she could with other objects. Odin really went all out on this punishment, not taking any shortcuts to make sure he was bound to suffer until the end of time.

Her attempts to do anything to the entrails that tied him down had an adverse affect as well, squeezing tighter around him and pressing harder into his flesh as they burned. She was worried that any more of these actions would cause him to bleed from  how tight they now were. She probably would have burned her hands raw to the bone from trying so hard otherwise...

Loki was half delirious from the pain, covered in sweat and straining to breathe. He could only communicate with her through thought and unfortunately could only manage even that when the effects of the venom that hit him wore off, just around the point where the bowl was already two thirds of the way to being full again...

"Perhaps if I just hid after he killed me the first time he would have been satisfied with a faked death of ours or something..." She thought to herself.

"Do not..." Loki thought weakly, surprising Kitri who checked on the contents of the bowl from this. A sliver less than the two thirds mark. Maybe he was getting slightly stronger or hearing that thought really upset him. After a pause he managed to get the whole thought out. "-let yourself dwell on this. This isn't Musplheim with those forced self chastising thoughts. His fault. Not ours."

She smiled and lightly shook her head. Even in this state he gave her good advice. Drove her forward and discouraged regret about the past. Perhaps he had so much of his own that any sane man would go crazy if he dwelled too much on it. Just block it out and move forward.

Yet how to move forward from this situation was difficult to determine. She was serious about wanting to begin the event that will end all of those cruel gods, but had no idea how in Hel to even start.

"Stay still for a moment" Kitri thought as she carefully tried to balance this bowl on top of his head and against the stone wall behind him.

"Easy to say, hard to do." Loki complained, but managed to hold it up. As it started to tip from being nearly full, Kitri grabbed onto it again.

"I need to find a way to get you out." Kitri thought. "Perhaps I can shift realms and get some kind of help."

Loki let out an exhausted sigh, knowing if he is thinking with this much clarity, surely it means he is about to be doused in that horrid venom again in not too long. "Please... please do not leave me." He pleaded, the sound of his words in her mind breaking her heart even further as she chocked back a sob.

"My love, once you are still from the trembles after I empty this, I will place it upon your head. I swear to you that I will return before it is full, but please please do your best to stay still. I will get you out of this." She promised.