planning stages!

[st_ratagem]

Loki had decided to solve a problem. It wasn't an active problem yet, but with Thor and Valkyrie both in residence, it was entirely possible that at some point alcohol would end up in short supply. Thor alone had managed to drink most of the alcohol in the Inn, and Loki thought that Valkyrie's tolerance was probably somewhat higher. That being the case, it seemed like a good long-term idea to start making booze. Specifically, Asgardian spirits strong enough to ensure that the king and his lieutenant had more efficient options than 'drink two whole bars'.

The only problem was that Loki didn't exactly know how the brewing and distillation process had worked. He'd never paid much attention to distilleries back home. Stills themselves were simple enough, according to a few books he'd collected from the library, but how the versions on Asgard differed... was it a matter of material? Ingredients? Something else?

It was almost certainly an area where Thor knew more than he did, so Loki sent a message inviting his brother to come up and help with a project. He made no particular effort to sound like he wasn't up to something, because it would be fun to see what conclusions Thor jumped to regarding the invitation.

Comments

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor had no idea what his brother was up to, but that didn't particularly matter. Loki didn't usually go out of his way to make plans with him, so it was hard for him not to feel pleased at the arrival of his brother's invitation.

He raps his knuckles lightly against the door. Loki said before he could just come in whenever he was expected, but Thor was determined to respect Loki's boundaries, even when his boundaries weren't as broad as they once were.

[st_ratagem]

He'd told Thor it was fine not to knock if he was expected, but it was oddly charming that he knocked anyway. It was rare that Thor was so meticulous about things. Loki had expected his brother's drunken promise to hold for a week, at the very longest, but here it still went on. He considered actually getting up to answer the door, but he was sitting on the floor surrounded by books, paper, and pencils, and it seemed like too much work. Instead, a little telekinesis cracked the door open and he called, "Come in!"

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor opens the door, steps inside, then carefully shuts the door behind him. After that, it doesn't take Thor very long to make himself at home. He plops down next to Loki, eyes scanning over the paper and books.

"Studying?"

[st_ratagem]

"Yes and no." Loki fished through papers and came up with one, which he offered to Thor. It was a sketch, to the best of his memory, a sketch of an Asgardian still. "Does that look right?"

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes the drawing and mmms at it appraisingly. "Almost." He reaches for a pencil, then sketches in a few minor changes.

"There," he pronounces, and he passes it back over to Loki.

[st_ratagem]

Loki looked over the alterations and nodded. "Closer than I thought it would be. Copper?" Whatever metal would need to be enhanced with magic, for certain. But copper seemed to be the most common material. "I'm going to build one, I think."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor is nodding at Loki's suggestion of Copper when Loki announces he's going to build one.

Thor looks at his brother perplexed.

"You're going to build one?"

[st_ratagem]

"Yes. It seems like a practical sort of idea, and I want to see if I can figure it out." Loki flashed a smile at his brother. "You alone can wipe out both bars, and I don't believe the Valkyrie is less capable."

[st_ormbreaker]

"What do you need me to do?" he asks, looking up from his brother's blueprint. He's unnerved by his brother's smile. Loki doesn't generally make a habit of smiling unless he's up to something and Thor isn't sure what he could possibly be up to right now beyond what he explicitly said he was up to.

[st_ratagem]

"I never paid much attention to the whole thing, on Asgard. I thought you might have, if only from the view of enthusiasm. So just... tell me what you know." It had already been a benefit, just by the additions to the blueprint. "I think it's possible that the 'error' part of 'trial and error' will be less, if you help."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I might know my way around one, yes," Thor says. He and the Warriors Three. He suspects Hogun would have the better memory of it than he or the other Warriors by virtue of him almost always being the sober one of the team. Thor typically didn't stay sober long at the distilleries.

"I'll put something together for you tonight so you can get to work," he says. Something like the notebook, but less depressing. "I think I can handle the heavy lifting." If the muscles don't make it obvious.

[st_ratagem]

"As per usual. And it will be needed." Several of the parts would be on the large side, and while actual transport could be done over there, manipulating them would be unwieldy. Certainly a better job for Thor than Loki. "I imagine I'll set up in the woods somewhere. Put up a hut or some such thing."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor leans over conspiratorially. "Are we keeping this a secret?" he says in a low voice, as if they may be overheard.

[st_ratagem]

Loki leaned over, dropping his voice to match. Why not? It was entertaining, not least because once upon a time it hadn't been unheard of for them to whisper to each other regularly. "Not particularly.I just think having independent space will be best." Stills were hot, and they sometimes smelled, didn't they?

[st_ormbreaker]

"Do you think we're going to make people angry?" Thor whispers back, still leaned over. "I don't want a repeat of the snow incident."

Some people just didn't have a place in their heart for fun.

[st_ratagem]

"That's another reason for a little privacy." The bars were heavily used enough that the alcohol probably wouldn't be objected to on principle, but there was no sense giving anyone an excuse to clutch pearls over the fact that it was being made.

[st_ormbreaker]

That out of the way, it was time for more important discussion. Thor straightens, prepared for far more serious conversation.

"What are we calling it?"

[st_ratagem]

"What do you mean?" Just like Thor to want to name everything! Loki chuckled. "It's just a still, brother."

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's like one of those secret bases we had when we were younger," he says. "You can't have a hidden location and then no name for it."

[st_ratagem]

"I absolutely can." Ah, the secret bases. They hadn't been secret at all, not with Heimdall around, but as children that hadn't mattered. Thor enjoyed naming them... and putting up signs, as if that wasn't giving everything away. "That makes it hidden with words as well as hidden in the world."

[st_ormbreaker]

"No, you can not," Thor argues. "How are we supposed to discuss it in secret if we can not call it by a name?"

[st_ratagem]

"You're obsessed with naming things." Loki rolled his eyes. He didn't mind if the still had a name, of course. It was just entertaining to argue with Thor. "You always have been. Not everything needs a grand title that will ring down through the ages. We can just call it 'the still'."

[st_ormbreaker]

"But then everyone will know what it is," Thor argues, content to press the matter with his brother further. "We can hardly call it a secret then."

[st_ratagem]

"I said we're not particularly keeping it a secret, so that's not a concern." Loki waved one hand dismissively, mostly because he knew that tended to annoy Thor. "You're the one who decided it was a secret."

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's a surprise," Thor clarifies. "For Valkyrie and Tony." Thor has decided this. "I'll even let you come up with the name."