st_ratagem: (reading)
[personal profile] st_ratagem
The beach hadn't been in Loki's original plans for the day, to the extent that he planned days ahead in the Inn. They were all similar enough that there seemed little point. But after a message from Thor arrived while he was spending his few hours in the clinic (no more than a few, as he was still primarily trying to stuff information into his head and it turned out there actually was a limit to how effective that was on a daily basis) his not-plans had shifted.

The message had been simple, almost innocuous. Anyone else would have read it as a simple 'hey, we should talk!' More of Thor's sporadic clinging. But Loki had a longer baseline, and a few things had put him on edge.

It wasn't going to be a conversation that should have an audience. There was a chance it wouldn't actually be a conversation, per se - he'd have thought 'lecture' if he'd actually done anything worth lecturing about. (Surely putting a small child on a very low to the ground tightrope didn't qualify.)

But that was how he'd come to be seated on the beach (easy enough to reach within the border timeline if he shapeshifted to a wolf) with a neat coil of twine beside him, tying it into the right series of knots for a decent fishing net and waiting for Thor to turn up.

If nothing else, he'd know if he still remembered how to make nets properly.

Date: 2018-09-12 12:14 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (I'm quite happy thank you.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
"Hi."

For once, Thor's presence wasn't as bombastic as it usually was, and neither was his greeting. He wasn't somber by any means, more subdued than normal.

Which likely was normal for almost anybody else.

Thor looks down and surveys Loki's work, the ends of his lips naturally tugging up and into a smile. He hadn't seen Loki do this for probably a millennia.

"You're making a net."

Date: 2018-09-12 01:04 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Hella charming.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
"I'm not looming," Thor protests, and then, as if to demonstrate physically how he's Definitely Not Looming, promptly sits dwon next to his brother.

"I'm just interested," he pouts.

Date: 2018-09-12 03:19 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (I'm quite happy thank you.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
"Yes, but you don't make nets. You haven't made a net in a long time." At least not that Thor has seen. But right now, Thor's grateful for something -- anything -- he can cling to to put off the inevitable.

Date: 2018-09-12 03:39 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Neutral.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
"No!" Thor reaches to grab the net out of his brother's hands before he can untie any more. "I like it!"

Date: 2018-09-12 04:13 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Neutral.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
"I think it's good for you to go off-brand from time to time." Thor looks down at the net, at Loki's precise little knots and rolls one of them between his thumb and his forefinger and middle finger.

He needs to say something, or he will continue to put it off.

"More happened after we left Asgard."

That seems like a good enough place to start.

Date: 2018-09-12 04:44 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Neutral.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor doesn't let Loki's words get to him. He idly continues rubbing that little knot until he realizes what he's doing and sets the net back down in his lap.

The next words come harder than the first.

"We were about a week out of Asgard when Thanos found us."

Date: 2018-09-12 05:42 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Neutral.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
For a second, Thor doesn't say anything. He just looks at his brother and he knows everything in an instant.

Loki is afraid.

He's always felt some sense of obligation to take care of Loki, even when they were children; it felt like his responsibility as older brother. That was part of why he was insistent that his brother be allowed along on their adventures, though he was never Sif or the Warriors Three's favorite. He felt less of a need to protect them when they grew older; Loki was capable of taking care of himself. But there on The Statesman, he had certainly tried to protect him, just as he tried to protect everyone else on board. He hadn't succeeded.

Even now, he wants to say or do something that softens the blow, but he's not sure what. Open communication, as Loki said so long ago, was never their family's forte. Neither were difficult conversations. Perhaps if he had more experience it would somehow be easier. Thor's not sure if it would be.

Thor sets a hand on his brother's back. It seems right.

"He killed half our people. Those that survived Hela and escaped with us from Asgard," he says, somehow managing to keep his voice steady. "We fought them -- all those who stayed behind or couldn't escape. We were all overpowered by Thanos and his Children."

Date: 2018-09-12 05:58 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Neutral.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor feels something catch in his throat. He's trying to choose his words carefully, omit the things that aren't necessary. He doesn't blame Loki for anything he did anymore; all his fury died out along with Loki, though he had been impossibly angry when he watched as Loki conjured the Tesseract out of thin air.

So he skips over the parts about him being tortured with the power stone. And he adjusts the way he's going to tell the next part of the story. There are some details he doesn't need, even if he's sure Loki would insist that he did.

"He already had the Power Stone," he says. "And then he got the Tesseract."

Date: 2018-09-12 06:18 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Defeated.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor laughs hoarsely at that, and he doesn't even know why. Perhaps it's at the absurdity of the situation. The entire story is so unbelievably tragic that sometimes, even Thor had a hard time believing it was real, and he remembers every detail -- from Asgard to those last few moments with Thanos with such clarity that the events might have happened yesterday.

"I don't really know what you were doing," he says. "The Hulk came barreling out of nowhere at your cue." We have a Hulk. "You retrieved the Tesseract while Hulk fought him."

Thor briefly presses his lips together.

"And lost."

Much as he tries not to, Thor hand shakes lightly on Loki's back. He pulls it away, then wrings his hands together.

Date: 2018-09-12 06:30 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Defeated.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor suddenly wishes he could go back home, but even if they were trapped here, there wouldn't be a home to go back to. The best he could hope for is to return to Earth, but even then, what would be waiting for him there?

Thor swallows, and for the first time since he mentioned Thanos' name, he manages to look over at his brother.

"Do you want me to keep going?"

Date: 2018-09-12 06:51 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Defeated.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor turns and looks out at the ocean, his hands still sitting in his lap.

"Heimdall sent the Hulk to Earth with the Bifrost. Thanos killed him," he says. "Thanos got the Tesseract back. You offered to work for him, pledged your undying fidelity." To him or to Thanos? Even now, Thor wasn't sure. It somehow felt like Loki was talking to him, even as he addressed Thanos.

"But then you attacked him with your dagger. And then --" Thor feels something catch in his throat, and he turns his gaze away from the ocean and down to his hands in his lap. "-- he killed you."

Thor takes a breath and forces himself to look at Loki. He doesn't know what else to say or what to do, but he hopes that once he sees some shift in his expression, the right words, the right actions will come to him.

Date: 2018-09-12 12:36 pm (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Defeated.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
Thor tries not to think of it. The sounds of Loki gasping for air; his brother struggling against Thanos' grip; the sharp crack that followed it; Loki's thrown out in front of him; No resurrections this time; clutching his brother's body and it feeling different than the last time he held his brother when he thought him dead.

He utterly fails at it.

"I'm sure."

Thor brushes away the start of tears with the side of his hand and for not the first time tonight, gazes out at the ocean so he doesn't have to look at Loki.

Date: 2018-09-13 12:54 am (UTC)
st_ormbreaker: (Defeated.)
From: [personal profile] st_ormbreaker
For a few moments, Thor doesn't react to the press of his brother's lips to his forehead, nor Loki's arms when they fold around him. They should; his brother has never been especially affectionate to anyone but their mother, even when the two of them were boys. This uncharacteristic physical display of kindness should be enough to rip Thor from where he is, but it doesn't.

Not immediately.

But when it does, he wraps his arms around his brother and pulls him him close. He rests the top of his face against the top of Loki's shoulder and for once, doesn't say anything.

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