Fenrir's expression was baffled as he stared up at his older brother.
'Now this is a surprise. I knew he was coming but... well, not this soon.'
Realizing that he was in his younger form, he cleared his throat before returning to his typical human form—a tall and muscular man with waist length silvery blue hair. His pale and glowing ice eyes were suspicious of his elder siblings calm and collected expression; it wasn't long ago that he caused the entire server shake due to an unknown situation, and suddenly he was calm?
Fenrir didn't buy it.
Not only that, but bringing along a few companions?
He was shocked his brother even had the patience to deal with humans, given his innate nature. But nope, here there was a blonde, identical twins, and kid that looked to be around Aspen's age, and... a ghost?
Fenrir took a double take at the apparition, a pale blonde with traditionally Nordic braids and a loose, white, long sleeve dress with the dagaz rune running down her sleeves, and the Yr rune making a pattern at the hem of her dress. A pale blue eye not unlike his own, and a tourmaline red eye affixed on him, before slinking back a little, as if anxious.
He tilted his head, curious before his elder brother narrowed his eyes a little in warning. Sensing this light warning, Fenrir retracted his gaze and muttered, "Quite the group you've got here, brother."
"...Mn."
"Hmm... still a man of few words huh..."
Aspen, who had hidden behind her Patron, peeked out, her mismatched eyes wide as she observed the man whom Fenrir referred to as "brother", her gaze curious yet confused.
They didn't seemed related the least on the physical level, yet on a spiritual level, she felt them to be an unusual pair; a certain animalism resided beneath their humane shells, and in Aspen's eyes, the animal that was Jörmungandr was frightening to behold.
Within those shining yellow eyes was a madness that could only be called instinctual, and a hidden and suppressed loathing for everything around him; the sky, land, weather, sun and all of nature seemed to grate at him, as if to trigger an event.
Even the people that surrounded him were privy to this silent rejection of the world.
All save for one—the ghost.
The quiet agitation he exuded was entirely calmed by the specter's presence, and Aspen was left feeling curious as to why her ghostly image was reflected so clearly in the serpent's eyes.
"...Lord Fenrir... how come she's..."
Fenrir just rubbed the small young woman's head, her eyes scrunching up from the rough yet affectionate contact; though her Patron's expression was calm, the kindness was in the gleam of his eyes, not the color. Even so, the warm eyes were kindly telling her to hush—otherwise, she could gain a monster's unwanted attention.
Immediately, she ceased peering over at the ghostly woman.
Feeling the cool burn of a serpentine gaze, Aspen hid behind Fenrir's taller and bigger frame, her comparatively shorter and more petite form being easily engulfed.
At a low growl that could only be heard by Jörmungandr, the aforementioned serpent retracted his gaze and his interest from the young woman, his softened yellow eyes slinking to the faint image of Asta, who also hid behind him a little.
"...Important?"
Fenrir's affection froze at the casual but meaningful question that was as sly as their father.
"..."
Fenrir had now become the silent one between the brothers.
———
"So, why're you here older brother?"
Fenrir had resumed his more youthful form as he lounged on furniture that was really just rocks covered by pelts of animal fur; though primitive, it was easy to move and easy to set up as well as effective, so Fenrir had no qualms with it.
It was funny; when he was an adult he didn't wear shirts, but when he was younger and next to Aspen, he would wear a sleeveless tunic—though it was really just two strips of cloth that were held together by rough stitching down the sides. The girl in question comfortably sat next to Fenrir's right hand side, as if such an arrangement was as normal and comfortable as her as breathing was.
Those mismatched eyes of hers lacked patience and consistently overflowed with curiosity, and so on the short walk to the cave, they'd strayed on occasion to glance at the ghostly figure. In the process, she had discovered a white snake with the same eyes as the ghost, curled around the figures limb, but as she hadn't lacked tact, she would look away with no questions.
The other people of Fenrir's Patronage weren't as mindful, and as such they'd asked their suddenly young leader, whom they'd long since adapted to changes in his appearance, who the group was and what they were doing here.
One had even asked if they were new recruits; Aspen had never seen Fenrir look so disgusted.
Just thinking about it now made her tremble from suppressed laughter, but she managed to push away her humor at her Patron's inquiry.
"... Asta... Hela. Where's...?"
"So I take it the little apparition's name is Asta? Is she your Priestess?"
Jörmungandr tilted his head a little, his blank face betraying his confusion. Fenrir sighed at his elder brother's cluelessness—really, who was the real older brother in this situation?
"A Priestess or Priest," Fenrir quipped while placing his hand on Aspen's head, "is the Patron's companion. There are certain variations among them and what they're capable of, but overall, they're the one that is to act as an intermediary between Patron and Patronage. I could've sworn System told you this..."
Jörmungandr's expression darkened a little at the mention of the System, but his words were calm when he muttered, "...Sleeping..."
Fenrir groaned at the reminder, his youthful face scrunched up with annoyance as he began racking his hand through his hair, his eyes seeming a touch paler than their usual tone. He recalled being unable to wake up the dolt, and had given up after the first three days since he needed to help his own targeted Patronage.
"That's right," he complained, "you slept for like a week, right? Sleeping at the beginning... no wonder so many of your Patronage died..."
A glare from the serpent made the wolf look away before he started to braid Aspen's hair as a way to calm his agitation, all while grumbling, "I got it, I got it, not your fault sleep's a habit for you, or that those damn Aesir and Vanir hate us Jotun so much, etc., etc...."
Jörmungandr calmed slightly before his agitation was touched upon once again from Fenrir's quiet, "Still your fault, no matter how you spin it..."
While Jörmungandr wasn't one to articulate and was the type to leave himself out of sentences as he wasn't used to referencing himself as a being, and he rarely viewed others as such, he could still speak eloquently when forced to; he was Loki's son after all.
"Hela. Where is she? Tell me now, or else I'll test if Priests and Priestesses remaining after death are a trend."
Immediately Fenrir stilled, his pupils all but disappearing in the icy iris of his eyes before his face twisted; a contortion of rage overcame his handsome features, making his seem very wolfish as the temperature dropped and he slowly turned to cover Aspen, his nails growing into claws.
"Is that a threat I hear, brother?"
A warning was held in the sentence he'd spat out like a growl, and already was his body an adult again, but this time seeming more so wolfish, and muscular.
Jörmungandr's pupils narrowed, and his posture shifted into a battle crouch as he deftly mocked, "Is it?"
A sneer coupled the rage on Fenrir's face as he growled, "Well look here, the little serpent learned enough ego to develop sass; congrats on becoming a prick, you damned sea snail."
"Says the mutt."
Just as the brothers were about to pounce, the ghost, having found a stick, wacked both Fenrir and her Patron on the head before writing very aggressively in the dirt, 'STOP AND SHUT UP. WE NEED TO DISCUSS MATTERS.'
She wacked Jörmungandr over the head again while her angry face clearly dug into him, a warning in her mismatched eyes. Suddenly docile, he resumed his blank face and looked down at her message, a little happy that she'd managed to get enough blessings from him to interact with the world a bit better.
Though still pissed, between his curiosity over the ghost and his little Priestess's anxious look, Fenrir shifted into his younger form again, his expression regaining neutrality.
Who'd of thought the unusual correspondence from an apparition would stop two monsters from fighting?
It really was an odd day indeed for Fenrir...