Apparently serious
Sep. 11th, 2018 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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.
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:05 am (UTC)In Odin's vault, where the Tesseract was also kept.
Of course he'd taken it in passing. Despite what Thor probably thought, he couldn't even consider taking it to have been a mistake. It was a bargaining chip, and a good one... in theory, anyway.
Was there perhaps a hole to exploit, when he got to that point? It would bear thought. Later. When he could think properly again. "I hope I at least tried to make it difficult for him."
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:18 am (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:22 am (UTC)Thanos would have killed everyone and destroyed everything anyway. There would have been nothing real to be gained from running, almost certainly.
Almost. Another thing to consider. "I'm not there yet and I know your Hulk would lose."
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:30 am (UTC)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?"
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:38 am (UTC)It was impossible to make decent plans or decisions without good information.
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:51 am (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2018-09-12 06:56 am (UTC)There was no way he could have thought that a dagger would work where a Thor and a Hulk had both failed. It was suicide, or a trick, or both.
He’d done it before. “You’re sure.”
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Date: 2018-09-12 12:36 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2018-09-12 01:16 pm (UTC)Loki couldn’t weep or even be that upset by a future death; not only was he currently alive, but a couple of cold places inside sad no great loss. He’d wanted to die when he’d let go of the Bifrost, back when, and even if he wasn’t there anymore part of him still thought it would have been better on the whole if Odin had just left his infant self to die.
No great loss.
What started to occupy him more was that Thor had told him. Before it had become pressing. He wasn’t the first to know, no, but he wasn’t being sent to that final battle with no real weapons. He’d decided to try a degree of trust, and it had worked out.
When he moved, it was all at once, to rest on his knees directly in front of Thor and watch him for a few seconds. Without pausing longer than that for a chance to talk himself out of it, he leaned to press a kiss to his brother’s forehead, then pull him into a hug and murmur an unusually sincere “Thank you.”
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Date: 2018-09-13 12:54 am (UTC)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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Date: 2018-09-13 01:40 am (UTC)It was easier than he might have expected it to be, though he wasn't crying himself. (Loki wasn't actually sure anymore what would wring tears out of him. Nothing, maybe. Or nothing he wanted to think about.) It wasn't a habit he wanted to get into, of course - it was never a good idea to get used to these things.
But he could... tolerate it. Until Thor was done.
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Date: 2018-09-13 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-13 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-13 03:34 am (UTC)"I'm not going to stop loving people just to make it easier," Thor says."I'm too hard-headed."
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Date: 2018-09-13 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-13 03:57 am (UTC)"I really do love you," he says after a moment. He's sure that his brother knows that much from what he said before, but he might as well clear up any doubts.
"I wish I had told you that. I thought I'd have all the time in the worlds to do so, but..."
Thor trails off.
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Date: 2018-09-13 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2018-09-13 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-09-13 05:26 am (UTC)"So you try at it?"
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Date: 2018-09-13 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
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