Ah, there it was: anger and embarrassment, mixed together. Loki wondered which was stronger, and whether the lack of response was more one than the other. He could, conceivably, draw an answer out of Thor’s mind, but as soon as the idea occurred to him, Loki dismissed it. He didn’t care that much about the answer.
But it led to a little revelation, petty as epiphanies went but nevertheless enough to privately remark on: he wasn’t angry. Not at being caught, not at losing, not at... anything, much. Oh, he wanted (desperately) to escape punishment, but there was no bitterness or fury in this defeat. It was the natural end to a game, hardly like losing at all.
At another time, when they were both younger, Loki might have tried to explain this wonder to his brother, how getting caught and sliding away was part of The Way These Things Go. Now, he didn’t. Now, things had gone too wrong, too extremely, in too many ways, for explanation to do anything but sound like another trick. Which it probably was. So Loki contented himself with a little smile - more real than the bright toothy thing he used as a weapon - and directed his attention to Skurge instead of Thor. “Oh, are we being distracting? Is this one job also too much for you?”
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2018-07-31 06:56 am (UTC)But it led to a little revelation, petty as epiphanies went but nevertheless enough to privately remark on: he wasn’t angry. Not at being caught, not at losing, not at... anything, much. Oh, he wanted (desperately) to escape punishment, but there was no bitterness or fury in this defeat. It was the natural end to a game, hardly like losing at all.
At another time, when they were both younger, Loki might have tried to explain this wonder to his brother, how getting caught and sliding away was part of The Way These Things Go. Now, he didn’t. Now, things had gone too wrong, too extremely, in too many ways, for explanation to do anything but sound like another trick. Which it probably was. So Loki contented himself with a little smile - more real than the bright toothy thing he used as a weapon - and directed his attention to Skurge instead of Thor. “Oh, are we being distracting? Is this one job also too much for you?”