Somavar: Cavern

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

It's that time of the week again, and I'm with_rainfall, bringing an appropriately gloomy topic to start or end your Monday. Caverns are often “places deep, where dark things sleep”, metaphors for primal fears and hidden dangers. But they can also be spaces of great natural and man-made beauty, or provide comfort and shelter.
Which of these ideas will your characters explore?
---

Remember the rules!
No more than three prompts in one fandom.
No more than five prompts in a row unless one of your prompts is filled. Then you can prompt again.
No spoilers in prompts.
If your fill contains spoilers, please warn in bold and leave at least three spaces.

Format:

Fandom, Character, Prompt
Fandom, Character/Character, Prompt
Fandom, Character + Character, Prompt

Examples:

Any, any, fire and shelter in a cave
Supernatural, Sam + Dean, cavern of the fear (Emily Rodda)
Lord of the Rings, Legolas/Gimli, making Moria whole again

If you don’t like what you see, delve into the lonely prompts!

tag=cavern

Comments

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Merlin, any, carried off the battlefield to the safety of a deep, dark cavern. H/C and/or claustrophobia ensues

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Torchwood, any, outside the Hub is a major network of tunnels originally put in place for Victorian underground trains. One of the team ends up in there and the others have to seek them in the labyrinth.

[iantojjackh.livejournal.com]

Naked hide and seek went wrong...very wrong.

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Greek Mythology/Avengers Movieverse, Loki, he goes in search of a Minotaur to unleash on the New York Subway.

Beast

[hobnailedboots.livejournal.com]

Loki can find the heart of any labyrinth, and he can slay any beast he wishes. He remembers that Daedalus was a trickster amongst men, though, so out of respect (and nothing more) he brings the ball of string.

For any mortal, it would be tough to find the labyrinth itself. No longer on Crete, the labyrinth and its beast had been consigned - along with Dionysus, and the golden fleece, and Zeus himself - to the place that all gods go when humanity has forgotten them. For any mortal, this place would be impossible to find. For Loki, however - unworshipped by humans, hated by Asgardians, and abandoned by his race - it was like coming home. He'd only been there once before, a long time ago when he'd been cast into the gap between all worlds, and he'd thought it a sad place. The Norse gods had Asgard, and they held it proudly; the Greeks, however, had built Olympus on earth, and as belief in them had crumbled so did the mountain upon which they lived. Zeus and his family had fled.

If Loki could feel pity for such arrogant, battle-hungry creatures, he would.

As it was, he invoked the laws of hospitality, and obtained from Odysseus rich bread, sweet, honeyed wine, and as much information as he could pry out of him. Odysseus was a crafty sort, Loki knew, but that made the reward all the more satisfying.

In the morning, he entered the maze, and by noon he was flattening himself to a wall and peering round it to observe the Minotaur himself. The Minotaur's horns were thicker and more curved than Loki's, extending nearly to the roof of the cavernous building. Oily black fur covered his bull's head and most of his oversized torso. It did nothing to preserve his modesty. As Loki watched, the Minotaur padded on bare feet from one end of the corridor to the other. The Minotaur's breath was all that could be heard, and its congested, dangerous rumble echoed off the walls.

Loki was most surprised by the Minotaur's hands. He had expected claws, or paws, or even hooves. Instead, the Minotaur had artist's hands: their long fingers twitched restlessly against his thigh as he walked, and their delicate shape was entirely at odds with his menacing silhouette.

"Are you here to slay me, Loki?"

The Minotaur's mouth did not move. In fact, the Minotaur did not stop pacing the floor, nor give any other indication that he was talking to Loki.

"I'm here to offer you a proposition."

"Ah," said the Minotaur, his voice rich and deep. "I overestimated you. You are here to beg me to slay something."

"Beg?" said Loki. "You underestimate me. You will do as I bid, beast, or--"

The Minotaur stopped walking and, turning on his heel, faced Loki.

"Beast?" said the Minotaur. He chuckled, and it was the most menacing sound Loki had ever heard. "You put yourself above me? We are both of us unwanted children. We are both of us monsters. We are, both of us, beasts."

Loki wanted to object. He wanted to point to the tail hanging off the Minotaur's rump, and to draw attention to the grotesqueries of the Minotaur's head. He opened his mouth to speak, but caught sight of his own horned shadow on the ground.

Frost Giant.

"Were you not once known as silvertongued?" the Minotaur mocked.

Self-made monster.

"I live out eternity in this prison, Loki, waiting for the end of all things. You desire vengeance, but you are chipping away at walls that are not there," said the Minotaur. Raising a hand, as though in friendship, he continued: "You are your own gaoler, and if you are not careful you will be your own demise."

And so, early in the afternoon, with the taste of wine still sour on his tongue, Loki left the land of forgotten gods, and travelled in search of creatures he'd be less likely to believe.

Re: Beast

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

This is really lovely.

Re: Beast

[auroramama]

Yes, Loki would pretty much have to try elsewhere, wouldn't he. Or he could try actually listening. It's a marvelous analysis.

Those artist's hands -- his mother's? Or is he some kind of kin to Daedalus? I wish Loki would come back with paper and charcoal. And maybe a copy of da Vinci's notebooks.

Re: Beast

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

My gods I think I'm in love. With you, with the fill, with Loki (well, obviously! :P)

This is gorgeous. And I love that the Olympians' faith in people's faith was tied up in their home, while the Norse gods had Asgard but kept it utterly separate. There's a story in just that minute detail, I can almost imagine it. Atlantis was probably the first place people stopped believing... Now you've made me think, that might be dangerous! :-)

Thank you so very, very much for this.

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Assassin's Creed, Desmond (/any), down in the Sanctuary of the Auditore Villa he misses the Sun on his skin.

[drabblewriter.livejournal.com]

ASOIAF/Game of Thrones, young!Cersei +/ young!Jaime, exploring the caverns beneath Casterly Rock

[enochia.livejournal.com]

Morrowind, any, Cavern of the Incarnate

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

Silmarillion, (Glorfindel/)Maeglin, minerals in the rocks of Nargothrond

[elfgirljen.livejournal.com]

Supernatural, Dean, if he searched long enough maybe he would find a cavern that would lead him back to Hell.

[moetushie]

Any, any, in the cave behind my house I found a softer world. They understand what I had to do for love.