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]

"So what do I need to do then?" Thor's antsy for a project and so far it sounds like "altering plans" was going to be his biggest contribution.

That and maybe carrying heavy things, which Thor also enjoyed.

[st_ratagem]

"I don't know." Loki shrugged. "Assembly once the pieces are made? I mostly just thought your experience would help with planning. And likely with the actual brewing and distillation as well, later."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor hums at that.

"I'm jealous, you know," he says. "You'll be able to see Asgard one last time before it is destroyed."

Not that either one of them really had much time to enjoy it. At least Loki would be able to take one final sight of it in and commit what he could to memory.

[st_ratagem]

"Don't be too jealous, brother. If I've put together the timeline right, when I go back I'll have about a month to live. And there's virtually no chance of it being a good month." Loki erased one part of his design and redrew it. The re-draw looked almost exactly the same. "Of course, that also means I may well be relieved when the time comes, which is some comfort."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Things aren't bad on The Statesman, you know," he says. Sure there was having to deal with his people struggling with the loss of their homeworld; even though most of them were relieved to be alive, they still needed to grieve for those that didn't make it, for Asgard herself, and for the uncertainty of their future. Most had never been to Earth, and though Thor had taken the time to describe it to those who seemed most uneasy about their destination, most found little comfort in this unknown variable.

Loki was considerably less involved in comforting the Asgardians. That wasn't really his area of expertise. Thor wasn't sure it was his, either, but he still made the effort. He needed to because he was king.

"We spent a lot of time together. You, me, Valkyrie, Banner. It felt like old times."

[st_ratagem]

"Yes." Loki didn't doubt that Thor had found some comfort in being surrounded by people who needed him and/or loved him. "That's all likely to be the worst part."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks at his brother, puzzled. "Why the worst?"

[st_ratagem]

"A you that never really bothered with me and a Valkyrie who loathes me. I'll be alone again, but worse than usual." Banner, who cared: the man barely knew him anyway. "And every day here I get more used to... not that."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I told you that our relationship changed," he says. "Things improved with Valkyrie after you joined us on Asgard. The only difference between now and then is that our relationship has only grown better with time."

At least Thor thinks so.

[st_ratagem]

“Yes, idiot. That’s what I’m saying. I will lose everything done here, and not only will I not get it back, I can’t even try.” Thor wouldn’t understand. He’d never have to, either. “Never mind, brother. Forget I said anything, it’s not your problem. It’s barely mine, short-term as it is.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor wraps an arm around Loki and pulls him over to him in a side-hug.

"You should just enjoy the time we have together now. I am." More than Loki knows. "I don't know if you'll be the Loki from my timeline --" Thor hopes he is if he's going to make the foolish decision to let Thanos kill him. "-- but I'm glad I could say all the things I didn't get to say before..."

Thor, the man who usually has words for everything, trails off at that.

[st_ratagem]

“Yes, idiot,” Loki repeated, but without the frayed, annoyed edge this time, and he didn’t fight the hug. “That’s my current policy. Paying for it will be my future self’s problem, and he’s welcome to it.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor lets the hug carry on a little longer than it might usually before finally letting go.

"You know, there's nothing stopping you from changing that," he says. Even if Loki were determined to still be killed by Thanos, that at least was something Loki could safely change.

...but Thor was pretty sure it would make things all the more painful when it happened. Probably for another Thor -- not him.

[st_ratagem]

“I can’t,” Loki disagreed. “I don’t know what all of the important bits are, even little changes tend to ripple.” And there was one other reason, close enough to being sentimental that he almost didn’t say it.

Almost. “Also, if I leave matters as they are, there’s a chance I’ll catch up with you-you should I recover from my little affliction.” That being death.

[st_ormbreaker]

Affliction. That's one way of putting it.

"Yes," Thor says. "If you recover from your affliction." Thor somehow doubts there's any recovering from that. Perhaps after two "deaths", he should have more than enough reason to doubt the finality of it, but he can't allow himself that hope.

[st_ratagem]

Loki waved a hand. "I suspect that's down to you and yours, which is why I use if rather than when." For a wonder, he didn't doubt Thor. If there was a chance, Thor would take it if he saw it. But there was a chance he wouldn't see it because he wouldn't be looking, as well as strong argument and good reason for Thor's numerous Midgardian friends to ensure he stayed dead. Either way, Loki wouldn't have a say, so he didn't see the point in worrying over it.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I don't know if there's going to be any bringing you back," Thor says. He doesn't -- and as strong-willed and determined as he is to barrel through any obstacle, he can't bring himself to fully cling to that hope. He knows now that belief isn't enough; he believed that it was his fate to kill Thanos, and yet Thanos still stood and the universe was less half its people for Thor's efforts.

"If we get the gauntlet back, it's a possibility, but I'm not sure if the stones can move time back that far easily."

Thor still planned to try.

[st_ratagem]

"Fortunately for me, I still don't think I'm relying on your plan." Thor didn't make plans that seemed as convoluted as the one Loki thought he'd seen pieces of, and he wasn't willing to do cold equations. "So I also don't think you'd know."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Probably not," Thor says, looking over at his brother. "But if there's any way to save you, I will find it. Whatever reasons you have don't matter."

A partial lie. They do matter, because Thor wants to believe that his brother wasn't simply throwing his life away as he did on the Bifrost -- even if it was for him.

But that didn't matter. All that mattered was bringing Loki back along with everyone else.

[st_ratagem]

Loki shrugged. "They matter to me, if not to you."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I know they do," Thor says. "You wouldn't have done what you did if it didn't matter."

[st_ratagem]

“Which time are you talking about this time?” If Thor had been speaking generally, he’d have sounded less singular, Loki thought.

[st_ormbreaker]

"On The Statesman," Thor says vaguely. Usually, Thor has no problems saying anything, but he can't bring himself to be more specific than that.

[st_ratagem]

“Ah. Well, I’m not there yet. What I have is inference and assumption.” Loki shrugged. “Based on what I know now, that’s the best path for me, so I’ll take it.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You saw it, though," he says. "You don't have an opinion?"