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Trapped in the past?

Claudia didn't know exactly how it had happened, but the guy she'd been trying to snag an artifact from had caught her instead. She remembered being dragged through some kind of portal, and a conversation with some very strangely-dressed individuals that would have scared even some of the toughs she'd known in her time on the streets. It had been hours before she really understood what had happened, to get even a slight grip on the foreign words and sights around her. Somehow, she'd been sent back in time, when exactly she wasn't certain, and given over to these scoundrels to do with as they pleased. It wasn't until she saw the city that she even knew where she was. Nobody could mistake Rome, even this ancient shining city.

Her wrists tied together and into a string with the other unfortunates, the only real indignities she'd been spared were being stripped of her possessions and raped. From the little she could catch, they thought she would being them quite a small fortune as a wonder. Maybe even one of the senators would find her worth having, and it wouldn't do to damage the goods unnecessarily. Still, she had quite a few bruises and a blackening eye from the casual 'encouragements' she'd received. A halting attempt at what she knew of Latin and Greek had only resulted in snickering laughter and an incomprehensible reprimand with a threatening knife at her mouth. Apparently their definition of 'damaged goods' didn't include the ability to speak.

Now, she was turned over to the slave auction, and there, nothing could have prepared her for the indignities. Her clothes, much the worse for wear after all the travel were unceremoniously stripped off her in front of the noisy crowd as one man gave a long-winded description of her, enthusiasm clear even through the language barrier. She struggled against the touches of interested parties, only her bonds keeping her from being able to strike back.

She'd yanked away from yet another impertinent squeeze when she finally saw a familiar face. It made her gasp, her thoughts latching onto the name that went with it in what might have been a prayer of salvation, but she had to get his attention. And if he was the one from this time, she couldn't just call him by name. Not his real name. Still, she knew one of those he'd used in the millenia he'd been hanging around pretending not to be an archangel.

"Loki! Help me!" The words were in modern english, and that was probably a mistake, but she was too distracted to try for something more appropriate to the era just now. She had to get his attention, maybe get the eager shoppers to give her some space. She had to get out of here.

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Gabriel cocks an eyebrow at her. "I can make you sleep on the floor instead if you'd rather."

He's not that nice. "Nah. I can manage."

"I suspect it's big enough for two," Claudia commented, but she knew she wasn't going there. This wasn't her boyfriend, they barely knew each other.

She sighed, sitting down to eat. As good as the day had been, she knew she couldn't just say here. There wasn't another Caretaker, and without that, her Warehouse was vulnerable in ways it normally wasn't. Thinking about that, though, was just getting her tied up in knots.

"Why don't you tell me about your day?"

"Besides the part that involved getting somewhere else to stay? I'll stop off at a baker's stall with you tomorrow to get your bread for the day and make sure they know they have a new customer in the form of you, since I'm not buying it for you every day. It's not like slaves don't do shopping, anyway."

He snaps a cup into existence, pouring some of the wine into it and producing water to mix in to make it a little more drinkable for humans, pushing it her way. "I put out a few feelers asking about followers of Ra. Some are bound to be dead ends but one or two may turn something up."

"Be careful," Claudia said, even as she took the offered cup of wine, sipping it. "While I know we don't have anything that can actually kill you in the collection, there's plenty that will hurt. Not to mention that most of the people try hire tend to have unusual talents. That's part of how I knew you were, well, you, even though I'm better with objects."

"Noted. Although somehow, I'm not too worried. It'll be awhile before word trickles back anyway," he says with a shake of his head. He's already had a few people try and fail to take him out. It's not worth worrying about.

Claudia grimaces at that, not liking the idea of staying here any longer than absolutely necessary.

"If anyone can dig up stuff you're not supposed to find, it's you," Claudia commented. "I'm just worried about the impact. Most people in my line of work are, well, too used to weirdness to blink at a guy who claims to be a deity. Especially when they have powers. More likely to strip-search you to see what you're using."

Gabriel snorts at the thought of anyone strip-searching him. "If they try, things will end badly for them. Which I'm sure you know."

Since future-him apparently was dumb enough to have a thing for a mortal, resulting in lots of time spent with her.

"Aside from the human lie detector, you don't really have much to do with my friends. Especially since I'd really prefer you not drive Pete to drink. We need his gut," Claudia said, shaking her head slightly.

"I just meant they'll assume that you're using an artifact or more than one for any powers you might display. Our mandate is to remove the objects from where they can be misused. Some, like Pandora's box, are really scary."

She shrugged a little. "But we should probably work on my fitting in a little better if I have to be stuck here. And not annoying you."

It was going to be hard not to be able to do some of the fun things like curling up with a book, well, scroll, and making fun of people's ideas about how the world works. No movies, no ice cream. She actually wondered how Gabe managed his sweet tooth in this time period.

There are these substances called 'sugarcane' and 'honey'.

"I'd just like to remind you that people are more aware these days that demi-gods exist than they apparently are in your time," he points out. "They might believe me a little sooner than you think."

Right, that's enough of that. He finally claims the chair opposite her, rocking it back on its back legs. "I'm figuring a month here at the supposed center of the world. Gives people time to get back to me without needing to tack extra time onto their trips to get their asses up north. Up there, people actually expect me to do things not within the realm of the merely human, which will make crap easier."

Claudia can't help a chuckle at his method of sitting. Apparently some habits were always there.

"And having a mortal follower isn't going to be a problem when we get up there?" she asked. It seemed like a demigod might not be the kind to take in strays, especially Loki.

"You have heard of Zeus, right?" Gabriel asks with raised eyebrows. "We have the occasional follower beyond the ones who do the whole worshiping thing."

Gabriel is hardly lacking for bedmates of the human variety.

"As long as there's no turning into animals or impregnation via fruit or the like," Claudia said, with a warning glare.

"That's really how you want to play it? Bringing home a pretty piece of ass you bought in foreign parts?"

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "One, I'm pretty sure you know better and two, nothing's going to be said about how you ended up with me. And considering I probably wouldn't be sleeping with you, that explanation wouldn't hold up very well, now would it?"

"I could point out that you don't sleep, and as far as most are concerned, we're sharing rooms," Claudia said. "And yes, I know kids are a dangerous thing for you. Sometimes I think that's part of why we've got the furballs."

"I think a nephilim would blow my cover just a tad," he says drily, not touching the rest of it.

"A bit," she agreed. "And the medical care is a little...lacking. Not to mention my brother would be annoyed I didn't tell him in advance. Your brothers, well, let's not even go there."

Gabriel smiles thinly. "Think such things are abominations to be destroyed? I'm aware."

"And that is why a certain mutual acquaintance is known for referring to you lot as dicks with wings." Except that idiom really didn't translate into old Norse.

Gabriel gets it well enough and snorts. "Not gonna argue with that too much. Anyway, you've got a long day tomorrow and should probably get some sleep if you're done eating."

A not so subtle hint that it was time for bed.

"I suppose you're right," Claudia said. "One good thing about that is it isn't going to leave me too much time to think."

She got up, and, considering, took off the sandals and stopped, realizing she wasn't certain if she should sleep in her clothes or what. The previous night it hadn't mattered quite so much, since she wasn't about to remove layers. But now...

She was definitely going to miss snuggling.

Gabriel raises an eyebrow at her when she stops. "Trying to figure out your clothes or trying to decide if you want to go with the 'I slept fully dressed' look?"

"More the latter. Pretty sure it doesn't sell well."

"It does bring questions about your competence to mind, given you'd be showing you can't even manage to get your clothes off for bed," he says with equanimity.

"There are worse things. Maybe," she said, but she started undressing, not really thinking about what Gabriel thought. He'd already made it clear he was unimpressed by her, which was probably for the better.

Still, she turned around, which meant the anti-possession tattoo on her shoulderblade was pretty obvious.

Does she really want Gabriel all in her personal space and so on when he's basically the wrong version?

His eyebrows go up when he sees that. "Demon problems back home?"

Trapped in the past?

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