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_ratagem]

“You were actually funny!” Not that Thor looked like a plan pleased by the successful execution of a joke. Which meant... Loki started laughing again. “Oh, no, you were serious?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You didn't think I was?"

[st_ratagem]

“Obviously not! You said a ridiculous thing, why wouldn’t I laugh?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's not ridiculous," Thor grumbles. "I trust you, you betray me. Round and round in circles we go and yet you think that I'm not putty in your hands."

[st_ratagem]

“You’re not. That’s simple stubbornness. You don’t know when to quit and refuse to do it even when you do know.” Loki didn’t bother to deny the assertion, because it was true enough and they both knew it, even if it hadn’t really happened at the Inn.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Maybe," Thor is willing to concede. "I'd still do almost anything for you. Even before the whole Thanos thing."

Easier to call it the Thanos thing than call it what it is.

[st_ratagem]

“Yes, brother, I know you believe that.” To a certain extent it was even true, but past that was more complicated.

[st_ormbreaker]

"You doubt me?"

[st_ratagem]

“Not at all! I don’t doubt your belief in the slightest.” That wasn’t what Thor had meant, of course. “I do know you fairly well, though.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor sulks. "Do you now?"

[st_ratagem]

“I do, yes.” Loki decided to be impervious to sulking.

[st_ormbreaker]

"What's my biggest secret, then?"

[st_ratagem]

“Hmmm.” Loki tapped a pencil against his lips, mock-thoughtfully. “I think I’ll go with ‘I don’t actually care about that’.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's because You Don't Know Me Quite As Well As You Thin." Thor's smugness registers just as much on his face as it does in his voice.

[st_ratagem]

"No, brother." Loki's tone was amused, as if Thor being smug was funny, but not quite as funny as the idea that he was putty in Loki's hands. "It's because you don't have interesting secrets."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I have plenty of interesting secrets," Thor proclaims. "You just don't know that they're interesting because they're still secrets."

[st_ratagem]

“Believe whatever you must to get through your day,” Loki said, magnanimous, but then he raised a finger to signify that he had more to say. “But if - if! - I granted your ridiculous premise, you would then have to grant my reasonable one. You can hardly be putty in my hands if we’re virtual strangers.”

[st_ormbreaker]

It's as if Loki knows precisely what ruffles Thor's feathers.

As if Loki knows Thor terribly well.

"Even the closest of kin don't know everything about one another, do they brother?"

[st_ratagem]

"In our family, that's certainly true, isn't it?" Thor was ruffled and annoyed, which meant it was time to twist the knife a little by indirectly alluding to Odin's secrets. Loki had had ten years for pain and fury to settle into a sort of acceptance made of cold hate. Thor hadn't.

[st_ormbreaker]

True to Loki's predictions, he does manage to twist the knife rather painfully.

Thor manages an irritated smile. "Not all of us are guilty of it, brother."

[st_ratagem]

“Also true! I, after all, have no secrets.” Definitely not true, but Loki did have far fewer than he used to, at least from Thor.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Mmm-hmm," Thor hums. Clearly he doesn't believe it.

[st_ratagem]

“I do not.” He wasn’t inclined to admit it, but part of the fun of riling Thor, sometimes, was seeing if he could smooth the ruffled feathers back down. “I dare you to tell me one secret I’m keeping!”

[st_ormbreaker]

"How long you were upset with me before you attempted to usurp the throne the first time. Why you didn't try talking to me first. Why you let go on the Bifrost. What happened to you afterwards." Thor looks like he's about to continue but...

"I'm going to stop there."

[st_ratagem]

“Those aren’t secrets, they’re just things you don’t know.” Loki’s dignified tone suggested that there was in fact a difference.