(no subject)

[st_ratagem]

It had been a while since the brothers had spent time together; it was possible that Loki had been avoiding Thor somewhat since their message conversation about his... involvement with Valkyrie. Further conversation was something he both did and didn’t want to have, which was a good sign of an unintended fight ab It to happen. But things had been quiet enough for long enough that it didn’t seem like something worth worrying about.

So Loki sent a quick message to Thor, inviting him up to see the fish tank and mostly-Valkyrie’s collection of goldfish swimming around inside it.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

“A terrible decision, really.” Loki’s tone was mostly amused. Thor was more careful about his trust than he claimed to be, so it worked out. He clipped a few more ends, then ran his fingers through Thor’s hair to check length. “I trust you at least somewhat.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Somewhat," Thor repeats, more for the sound of it than in protest of it. "I'm still trying to trust your decision-making on The Statesman. It's nicer to believe you died for something than for nothing."

Though Thor still would rather his brother not die at all.

[st_ratagem]

“I wish you would.” The hair looked even, so Loki opted to deal with the hair that had fallen in Thor’s eyes earlier with a quick braid and simple silver clip at one temple. Thor, he thought, would like that. “I have to, at least until I actually get the missing pieces.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"It'd be easier, you know," Thor says, resisting the temptation to touch his hair where it's clipped. "If I really believed you valued your life."

[st_ratagem]

“There’s nothing to value, brother. If I don’t die, my choices are solitary confinement on earth for the rest of my life or solitary exile for the rest of my life.” It was easier to say the second time, which likely wasn’t a good sign. “Fifteen hundred years of being on my own was enough to make the void a relief once already. I can’t do anything but dread having to do it again twice over or more. But I will, if that works out to a win. I hate losing more than I want to die. If I don’t still think death is a win when the time and context comes, I’ll opt to suffer instead. I have a few options in mind for that.”

[st_ormbreaker]

For a long moment, Thor doesn't say anything.

"When I go back, it'll be like losing you for a fourth time," he says. "It doesn't matter if you die, if you opt to leave it will still be a loss."

[st_ratagem]

“Alive and staying is choosing a cage. I’d be able to move around, at least, as an exile.” Loki pulled a hand mirror from over there and offered it to Thor so he could look at his head, including the little braid with its clip. “When I go back I’ll lose everything I have, no matter what else happens. That’s just the way it is. I find I prefer to think of it as little as possible.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes the mirror, but doesn't hold it up yet. "You could stay in disguise," he insists. "Stay with us with some other face."

[st_ratagem]

“Not tenable over any kind of long term.” Loki patted his brother’s shoulder, then moved to the bowl, which now contained the small pile of hair-snips from the trim. “And once on Earth, escape would be difficult. There’s a path to Jotunheim, but that’s not much help. I don’t want to be stuck there, either.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks over at Loki. "We'll go somewhere else, then," he says. "It doesn't have to be Earth."

[st_ratagem]

“Earth is the best option for our people. You weren’t wrong about that. It’s decidedly livable, the humans are at least superficially similar to you, and of course they love you.” Loki pulled a bottle of rum - not his favorite, but good for burning - and a matchbook from over there. “Not only is there very little chance they’ll turn down any kind of asylum request, you’ll get the best deal possible. That’s not something that can be said for most other worlds.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor squints at Loki as he pulls out a bottle of rum and a matchbox, but doesn't remark upon it.

"You don't think Vanaheim would welcome us?"

[st_ratagem]

“I think there’s at least some chance Vanaheim would be more complicated than you think, and I further think that given your personal tendency to flit around Midgard and get involved with humans it’s worth wondering how much of a king our people would actually end up with, in that case.” Loki poured a measure of rum into the hair in the bowl, then struck a match and dropped it in too so a flare of fire surged up out of the bowl.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor blinks at Loki's display.

"You can't just throw that away?"

[st_ratagem]

Loki looked at his brother, genuinely horrified. “No. Do you usually? That’s... no. Do you know how easy it would be to control you with your hair? It’s worse than fingernails.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor squints in response. "No, I usually don't have reason to suspect people might control me."

[st_ratagem]

“Well, no one’s going to use this hair, at least.” Loki actually shuddered a little, then struck another match and dropped it into the bowl. Just to make sure. “And you’ve been lucky. It’s not just control, you know. Any sympathetic magic could use your discarded body parts.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I don't know if after 1500 years it can still be called luck," he says. "Are you that worried about someone doing magic on you after a haircut?"

Thor feared few things, but he couldn't imagine a reality when he'd have anxiety about leaving a few hair clippings behind after a haircut. He'd left plenty back on Sakaar and no one had thought to do anything with any of that.

[st_ratagem]

“Me, no. I’ve always burned my clippings.” It was, in fact, one reason he cut his own hair. “I do worry if I somehow leave anything behind, though.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Did you do that when mother cut your hair, too?"

[st_ratagem]

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Loki shrugged. “Sweeping the lot into a fireplace was easy enough.”

[st_ormbreaker]

That seems weird to Thor, but he doesn't remark upon it. Instead, he moves the conversation back to where it was before.

"I don't think Vanaheim is as far out of reach as you think it is," he says. "We're the sons of Frigga. I'm half Vanir."

[st_ratagem]

“While I’m nothing at all, yes, I’m aware. And I said ‘somewhat more complicated than you think’, not ‘far out of reach’. Vanaheim might not be so eager to put itself back in thrall to Asgard, for example.” The subject change was easy enough, especially with the fire already almost out. “And I note you have no answer for the fact that you’re tied to Midgard and would want to spend time there with your humans.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I would much rather have my brother in my life." Yes, his human friends were important, but he could easily see them whenever he wished with the Bifrost. That wouldn't be the case for Loki if they settled on Earth.

[st_ratagem]

Loki sighed. “You’d need to have capable councillors to rule for you while you’re off playing house, then. Trustworthy as well, unless you fancy putting down palace coups every few years.” By any sane estimation that let him out at least once if not twice. Valkyrie was probably still in, though.