Part One - A New Beginning (Loki x Reader)

Chapter Thirty-Four - The Game

     "You're going to join the game, right?" asks Lady Sif.

     I stop chewing as Loki turns to me with a really excited face and nods quickly. I turn back to Lady Sif and she nods quickly too. I chew a bit more before swallowing my food.

     "But I've never played this before and both of you have. Can't I just watch first?" I ask.

     "Where's the fun in that?" asks Lady Sif.

     "The rules are quite simple and it is very fun to play. Would you, please?" asks Loki.

     I sigh. "That's not fair. It's your birthday. I can't say no to you on your birthday."

     Lady Sif claps and Loki smiles at me.

     "So what are the rules then?"

     Loki clears his throat to explain so Lady Sif and I keep eating. "Everyone who is playing the game gets a token that has either the letter G on it for guilty or the letter I on it for innocent. Those who are guilty are the people who go around "killing" the innocents who become their victims. Only my mother, who hands out the tokens, initially knows who is what because she has a letter appear on your token when she hands it to you. It disappears as you walk away from her so even if someone got ahold of your token, they would not be able to see what letter you received."

     "She lets whichever one of her ladies is taking notes know who is what before the next person steps up to receive their token. The innocents must try and figure out who the killer is or killers are before they are all killed. The game ends when the innocents all get killed or when the innocents figure out who all the killers are. The board they are putting up now in here helps the people playing keep track of who is playing, who has been killed, and who has been discovered as one of the killers."

     I frown. "But couldn't the innocents just go around guessing until they get the answers right? Or the people who get killed tell them who did it?"

     Loki's mouth is full of food and he and Lady Sif shake their heads. Lady Sif says, "This is where it gets interesting. The dead cannot speak as in real life. But even if they could, the killers have to try and kill someone without anyone else noticing. Not even the person who is killed. If the killer does their job correctly, even if the victim could speak, they would not be able to let anyone know who did it, because they do not know either."

     "And each innocent only gets one try at naming killers which makes it harder. Especially if people try and work together since there can be disagreements on who is playing what role," says Loki.

     Lady Sif nods. "One time, a very skilled killer was able to kill five innocents who were too busy bickering to see what was happening until it was too late."

     Loki laughs.

     "Who was the killer?" I ask.

     Lady Sif smiles. "It was me."

     I laugh. "You've been a killer before?" She nods. "How many times have you been a killer?"

     "Just once. The other time, I happened to be an innocent."

     I think for a moment as I finish a bite of food. "Wait, you've only played this twice before?"

     Loki speaks up. "Well, yes. I had not invented the game yet, you see."

     My mouth drops open in surprise. "You made the game up?"

     Loki nods. "It came to me a handful of months before my twelfth birthday. My mother had asked me the year before if I wanted anything special done for my eleventh birthday, but I said no. There had not been anything specific I had wanted to do or have other people do for my birthday other than the feast that is thrown for our birthdays. As my twelfth birthday drew closer, I began thinking about what I could do for mine. And then this game came to me. This is the third year we will be playing it."