Decrypting a tiny Frost Giant

Reed was having sooooo much fun! Once Loki had fled the cafeteria, Reed had noticed he had abandonned his tome at his table. Not one to abandon a book in a usually messy environment, he had picked up the book, and left with it, trying to find the Frost Giant. Unable to do so, he had looked at the book, intrigued. The strange "alphabet" (or maybe was it a syllabary… Maybe were they even pictograms?) seemed somewhat familiar… Unable to contain his curiosity, Reed found himself ineluctably drawn towards the computer labs (the most wonderful place he had found at the academy up until now… And which would be incredibly hard to dethrone).

He had started his research by carefullt scanning a page in the tome, after that isolating a few of the characters used. He followed by starting a general search to find if there was a dialect that still used those. After a fruitless search, he turned towards dead languages, and this search bore results. It appeared those symbols were the same ones used by ancient tribes who used an anglo-saxon dialect. Starting from this discovery, he decided to build a simple translating program based on an already translated text. He followed by inputing manually the first page, symbol after symbol. While the program was running, he elaborated a second one, this time to simplify the data input sequence. He would simply have to scan all the pages and the program would run a picture-to-letter algorithm based on shape recognition. His second program was nearly done when the first one warned him the atempted translation was done.

Looking at the results, he figured that a non-scientist would have been discouraged by the inconcluent translation obtained. He decided to finish his other program, and, after having scanned all the pages of the tome, he let the program do its work while he tried to figure out a way to create a decryption algorythm. If someone had entered the la bat that time, they would have seen a rather gigantic smile on his face, as he figured out that this was nothing more than decrypting a simple letter-to-symbol code.

As this third code was compiling, he figured he might as well ask Loki to come meet up with him… After all, the book was his and he figured out he might as well ask if he had the right to read what he had translated. Breaking into the firewall protecting the intercom’s control was a piece of cake, and he leaned towards the microphone he had previously prepared for this task.

"Hello, this is Reed Richards. If Mr Loki Lau-something would please come to the computer lab, I would like to give him back something he has forgotten at the end of our previous discussion. Thank you for your attention." Reed sent before falling asleep in his chair, the book hugged to his chest.

He had however not noticed that, during the time it had taken him to write all his codes, time had flown, and it was now 4 in the morning...

Loki wandered in the school’s corridor for a few minutes getting lost on his way to the laboratories. He had not thought about bringing the school’s map with him. It was only when he was outside his room that he realised he had not bring it, but he refused to go back inside, not ready to face the two others. So he jogged in the dark corridors to avoid the other students even tough it was now 4:30. What would they think of him if they saw him for the first time running through the corridors wearing his pyjama? It was bad enough Reed had to call his name at the intercom.

When he finally reached his destination, he stared wide-eyed at the student who was taking a nap like he hadn’t just contributed to ruining Loki’s reputation. Loki entered the room and made sure to close the door behind him before joining the sleeping teenager. He then realised where his book was and frowned at the thought of having to try to get it back without waking the other up. After deliberation, Loki finally decided against it wanting to give him a piece of his mind. He bent over, face near Reed’s ear.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Do you know what time it is, you bloody jerk? You must have wakened up every freak of this school with your “brilliant” plan! I ask you to return my book, now, so I can go sleep!”

Mathematical formulas were floating everywhere. So were a few things, but the physical explainations as to why they were ignoring Newtonian physics appeared to magicaly pop into his mind. Some strange creatures were walking around, with their evolutionary ancestors trailing after them, and their biological pecularities floating along. All in all, one of the best dreams Reed had ever had.

However, this restful sleep had to be disturbed by the waking world. There was suddenly a loud noise right by his ear, and Reed reacted partly as a scientist would, partly as the fighter he had been forced to become. Thus, he leaped backwards, falling heels-over-head from his spinning chair, going along with the movement, and help by his completely superhuman flexibility. He rolled three or four times (he wasn't completely sure, having only awoken enough to understand his surroundings once he was already on the ground) and came to a stop six feet from his chair, the book still craddled to his chest, rising nearly automatically to his feet. He was only aware of the last part of Loki's speech...

'... your “brilliant” plan! I ask you to return my book, now, so I can go sleep! '

Taking off his reading glasses (that's what happens when you spend more than half of your childhood in front of a computer screen) and rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes, he turned his smile towards Loki, risking a look towards his computer. 'It's translated about... half of the book.... and it seems legible!' Reed's smile could only get larger, looking at the Frost Giant.

"I apologize for bothering you at... Oh my... 4:30? I'm so terribly sorry! I seemed to have forgotten how time flies when I'm entertained" exclaimed Reed, running a hand through his sleep-tousled hair, running his fingers along the white stripe that had appeared at the same time as his powers. "Here is your book" he said, handing it to the green-eyed boy. "I, however, have a question to ask you. What is the name of the language it was written in? Because you see, I could not find any parallel languages in any databases online, so I had to create a decryption program, a... a translation program to try and understand it. I do hope you do not mind I did? If you do, I could stop the translation right now and delete all the files pertaining to your book. You would not mind if I kept at least the translation program, would you?" asked Reed, nearly all in one breath, turning pleading eyes towards the one he hoped to soon be able to call friend.

Loki stayed where he was worrying for his book the whole time Reed was making a fool out of himself in front of him. He did not dare approach him in the first place, not wanting to be attacked for having disturbed his sleep. You never know with the freaks wandering in this academy. Insecure, Loki lengthen his arm only to grab his book and hold him like Reed was about to steal it away from him again. He listened quietly as the other revealed what he had done with the book.

Without answering, Loki moved to the computer and watched what was on the screen clearly curious about this technology. He dared to approach his hand of the screen and tried to put his fingers on it wanting to know how it worked.

“It is the language we use in Asgard obviously. No mortal has ever found interest in this language before. Why…Why did you translate it? I mean… Why are you so interested by everything about… me?

As soon as the words escaped his mouth, Loki started to regret it. He took a few steps back from the computer and kept his gaze on his book.

“You can keep your translations or whatever you have done…but I am afraid you will not understand most of it… and I should really go back to my dorm. This day has been terribly exhausting…”

Reed had a wide smile on his face, and slowly approached Loki. After all, the only other humanoid person in the room (after all, he doubted a Frost Giant... or Asgardian would appreciate being refered to as a human) seemed somewhat curious about the way the computer worked.

"Well, why would you not interest me? Have you never had anyone interested in you before? And the reason why I translated it... Well, I was rather certain I would be able to do, and I did beileve that you might like having someone to talk about those things with. You are, as I have come to understand, rather far from home, and from anyone who might hold any ability to converse with you about things you find interesting. So, I was thinking, that as someone who never denies knowledge, in any form it might take, I could read up on you culture and we could discuss on a more equal footing."

Reed crossed his arms in front of himself, playing with the cuff of his sleeve. It would appear, trying to understand Loki was a harder task than he had previously anticipated.

"So... would you mind helping me see if the translation is accurate, and then, once I've read it and understood it as much as possible, we could... talk about it?" asked Reed, nervously biting his lower and upper lips. "Oh.... but it... it does not necessarily have to be tonight. A... and in exchange, I could show you how to use one of these" said the scientist, pointing to a computer.

He knew he was asking a lot from Loki, but he hoped the other would agree to his ideas...

After everything that happened to him today, Loki had a hard time believing what Reed was saying even if he seemed sincere. He sighed and backed away a little more not wanting to look vulnerable, but he needed more space. Everything was going on too quickly for him and when he was not in charge, the one in control of every decisions and plans, he felt insecure and at stake. He just met Reed after all, he could not tell if the man was worthy of his trust or not.

Loki had to look away when Reed started his speech. He dared not to answer his questions in fear of sounding pathetic. The last thing he wanted was people to feel pity for him. They could hate, fear or adulate him, but never pity him.

“My relationships are none of your business, but I am willing to help you. And only because I am curious about this … grey magical box. It is getting late. I will see you later. Good night…”

Ashamed of himself for sounding so vulnerable, Loki fled from the room after a quick bow since he was grateful for the other’s proposition, even if the way he looked at him was getting a little too insistent for him.