(no subject)

[st_ratagem]

Loki glared at the journal, then shook his head. Asking Thor that particular what-if had been a mistake, and he'd realized it immediately after writing it. It was annoying, though, being asked the same question over and over again, as if the answer was going to change the twentieth-plus time. And it had never really stopped being concerning, verging on worrying, how clingy his brother tended to get, lately.

They'd been in battle before. Loki had even been injured before. It hadn't led to endless repetitions of ARE YOU OKAY before. One, maybe, immediately after the battle. But not... this.

A good indicator of how upset Thor really was: would he use the door or make a hole in the wall?

Either way, Loki wasn't actually in his room at all. He was on the roof above his room with his journal, a thoroughly non-magical blank book slowly filling up with astronomical observations and other thoughts, and a pen.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

"Likewise, I'm sure." Exactly ten years, or almost, probably not. He'd thought he'd taken care of his problem status. He hadn't, of course, so the time since then had been all 'problem'.

But then, Loki had always been a problem of some kind, even before everything. "Still, one would think my actions in that time would earn me less concern, not more."

[st_ormbreaker]

"We had that big long adventure," he says. "The one you haven't gone on, yet. Lots of things happened there. Escaping Sakaar. Fighting out sister --" Thor points a finger at Loki. "-- that's a big one. Siblings squaring off against one another. Teamwork."

[st_ratagem]

"That's not me yet, though," Loki immediately pointed out. "Nor will it be anytime soon, unless an opportunity for escape presents itself." Nor would it be, ever, possibly - how would he know? "I'm me."

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's not relevant," Thor says flippantly. He looks up at the sky. "Anyway, what does it matter? Either way, you would still be my brother."

[st_ratagem]

"What is relevant is that once is enough." Loki tapped his journal meaningfully, the nonmagical book with its pages of notes and thoughts currently forgotten. "Once is more than enough. Why wouldn't it be good enough that I'm up and moving around? You don't have to ask, you can see."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Plenty of people can still move, even when they're hurt," Thor says. It occurs to him he might be too smothering, but it felt like for last 1500 years he hadn't cared nearly enough.

Thor lays his legs flat on the roof and then sets his back down, hands folded behind his head.

"If you say again you're fine, I will take your word for it."

[st_ratagem]

"I'm fine." That felt too easy, so as usual Loki pushed it. "For the record, if I'm moving, I'm fine. What doesn't kill me isn't worth worrying about. In fact, as you well know, what kills me is also not worth worrying about."

[st_ormbreaker]

What kills me is also not worth worrying about.

Thor is uncharacteristically quiet for a second, but the second he becomes acutely aware of the silence between them, he scrambles for something to say before it becomes weird.

"What were you doing out here, anyway?" He knows the answer already, but it's the first thing that comes to mind to ask, and so he asks it.

[st_ratagem]

Thor generally had a reply for most things, even if it was just a Look. But it was like he just stopped, for a moment, which was as much Thor as endlessly asking 'are you okay'. Loki wanted to think that maybe, maybe his over-optimistic brother was reflecting on the admittedly bleak truth of things... but probably not.

The moment passed, though, and Loki allowed it to do so.

"Mostly thinking. Some amateur astronomy." He flipped through the nonmagical journal until he came to a few pages of his constellation observations, then showed them to Thor. "We're told this is California, but it occurred to me that few people track these things by the stars anymore." And whether it actually was or wasn't, it would be good to have proof. Assuming he could construct whatever data into a proof.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes the book into hand and pages through it. There's only a few pages, but it's clear that Loki's put a lot of effort into his observations. Loki'd always liked the stars, even when they were young.

"It might be awhile before another portal opens," he says, paging back to the beginning of his notes. "But when it does, I'll keep an eye out for an astronomy text." Like the other notebook, he snaps it shut with an audible sound, then offers it back over to Loki. "I don't know how helpful it'll be if it's not from Earth, though. Maybe we can ask around and see if anyone has such a book in their personal collection."

[st_ratagem]

"I'm sure there's something in the library. I'll check when I have less of a stack already claimed." While it would be entertaining to see exactly how far the lovely Illyana would let him go in terms of checking books out, it was entertainment best saved for when there was nothing else available. "So far I haven't found anything obviously wrong."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Were you doing a lot of amateur astronomy while you were on Earth?" Thor can't imagine that he had much time for it, but then again, it felt like he didn't know his brother nearly as well in the last ten years. Or maybe he didn't really know Loki that well before then, but just hadn't been aware of it at the time. He'd been blindsighted by Loki's betrayal. Was there some slow buildup he had been blind to, some signs he should have caught before then? Thor's not sure.

[st_ratagem]

"Of course not." Loki smiled faintly and repeated what he'd told Stark when the man had asked about food, "Just the mayhem, for me. But I'd been to Midgard before that, as often as you."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Plenty of amateur astronomy here, though," he says. "And on Asgard."

Thor blinks up at the stars. It's a remarkably clear night. He can understand why Loki'd be on the roof. It was a good view.

"You remember the play you put on? Back on Asgard?"

[st_ratagem]

Now Loki grinned. “Awful, wasn’t it? But very entertaining. Yes, I remember.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor turns his head so he's looking at Loki. "You seemed to be enjoying it at the time," he observes.

[st_ratagem]

“Oh, I was. It was entertaining, and of course it’s always fun when things go as planned.” Better than planned, in many ways, since he’d always assumed Odin would come for his head, not quit the field entirely.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor directs a lazy finger at Loki.

"You had Sif and Jane both there in your play. Sif wasn't even there, and I'm not sure why you included Jane. The two of you barely knew one another."

[st_ratagem]

“Why would I need to know her?” Thor’s ex-mortal was easiest to tackle. “I knew what she looked like, and she only had to sort of flutter around like a sad dying bird. Which, being fair, she essentially was at the time.” She’d tried to pick a fight with him at their introduction. It had been adorable, and deserved a little commemoration.

Sif, though... “Narrative requirement was why Sif. Odin wasn’t there and received no official reports.” Since the soldier who’d reported Loki’s corpse had been Loki himself. “Placing Sif in the play explained how the Allfather could know details enough to write with. And of your friends, she was the only one I could believably write not immediately cutting my throat to make sure I was dead or throwing a one-man dance party.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's eyes narrow yet again at Loki's explanation.

"You actually wrote that thing?" he asks, incredulously. He always imagined that Loki'd just commissioned some poor, unfortunate soul to pen the thing.

"You met the woman who might be Sif here, haven't you? Short hair? Tattoos?"

[st_ratagem]

“It took, oh, five minutes? Not longer. Silly overblown thing.” And commissioning someone else wouldn’t have kept the important details in without explanation. He’d put some random name on it so it would never be credited properly at least.

“And yes. Not as myself, but yes.” Thor would no doubt assume, correctly, that this had been a kitten adventure. “Another mortal Jane, you do seem to collect them.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Yes, well, she isn't going to be a Jane if she really is Sif," he says.

Thor hopes she is.

"She has a friend that's helping her to regain her memories, but I know that's --" Thor gestures vaguely. "-- sort of your arena, too."

[st_ratagem]

“Try not to take this the wrong way,” not that there was going to be any other way to take it, “but I might be the last person who actually wants Lady Sif around. Between you and Stark, I’m outnumbered already.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Outnumbered?"

[st_ratagem]

“Two of you, one of me. Have you forgotten how to count, brother?”