st_ormbreaker | (no subject)

(no subject)

Thor started off by knocking. When Loki didn't answer, he let himself in.

It doesn't take him long to find him. The first floor is easy enough to survey, and he saw from outside that Loki wasn't on the roof or the balcony, which left only the upper floor of Loki's room. As gifted as an illusionist as Loki was, it was easy enough for him to see through the alcove, particularly since he was already intimately familiar with the layout of the room.

Thor passes through it easily and drops the journal on the edge of the bed with a little thump.

"We're going to talk about this," he says in a tone that broaches no argument. It is simply a fact. Thor has no interest in wallowing in his own misery, and he has even less interest in allowing his brother to wallow in his own because of him.

It's time to talk.

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“I don’t intend to go to Midgard at all. I never did.” Loki was even willing to bet that his dead had intended the same. There was nothing but a cell waiting on Midgard. “That bring the case, Stark’s sections are likely enough to be no use to me that I’m willing to be polite.”

Thor takes the journal from Loki and looks down at it. He looks over at Loki.

"There's no need for politeness, you know."

“Take the win, brother. I’m declining to intrude on what you wrote to your human.” Loki, somewhat daring, leaned on his brother. In his defense, Thor was warm and comfortable, and he was exhausted and some percentage drunk. “Politeness is shield and currency, both for future use. I’ve a decent enough truce with Stark and no idea how long it will need to hold that it’s a bad idea to risk it for a few pages of whatever.”

"I didn't just write it for him," he says, body softening to make room for Loki. True, most all of it was more relevant to Tony than it was to him, but...

"You might find it beneficial to know everything else if you want to help Tony or avoid Thanos."

He wasn't going to count on Loki wanting to help.

"There's no avoiding Thanos." Brothers made excellent pillows when that was safe to indulge or he had an excuse for forgetting it wasn't. "He's going to kill me. Don't get twisted up about telling me, I've known that for years. It's always part of any deal with him. Fail and die. Probably succeed and die too, really. It's just a matter of when and how long he makes me suffer first. Once I'm out in the open, that's that. So I no longer plan to go anywhere near your Statesman. Or Midgard."

"I can kill him," Thor says quietly. "Stormbreaker was forged specifically to kill Thanos. Your death is not an absolute. Not if we can manufacture a scenario where I can get to him at the right place, at the right time."

In the right mind.

"I don't mind." Loki waved a hand vaguely, but didn't detach himself from Thor. He didn't have to, yet. "If I run fast enough it'll buy you time, a living Heimdall, and maybe less graphic nightmares. That's a good deal. I thought maybe I'd sell him the Tesseract in exchange for not killing me and see if I couldn't cut his throat later, but... now I think not that."

"I know you don't mind dying," Thor says,doing all he can to keep the anger from rising in his voice but still not quite succeeding. "I care. You don't have to die. We can work together. I can kill Thanos."

By the time the last words left his mouth, the anger was drained from him, replaced with a stubborn insistence.

"Please."

"I told you, I intend to live if I can. If there's a path, I'll do my best to find it." That was as much of a sign as anything that it was time to pull back, armor up, get to business as usual. On his way, though, he tapped Thor's head. "It's not your responsibility anymore, brother. You've done what you can, and now you have to trust my spite and self-interest."

Thor wants to protest, to insist that Loki is his responsibility because he's his older brother, but he knows that it will fall on deaf ears.

"Okay," he says finally, and he rises to his feet, then grabs the journal.

"Are you going to be all right?"

“As I ever am, yes.” There were a number of hard limits regarding how ‘all right’ Loki could be, at least by general estimation, but if he didn’t have to completely cut the few connections (or one connection) he had he’d swing back to equilibrium quickly enough.

Thor attempts a smile.

"Okay," he says again, and he heads down the stairs and toward the door.

Now that was a gargoyle face; Thor was clearly nowhere near as good at fake smiles as Loki was. It was no doubt due to the fact that he'd never practiced.

He slid off the bed, out of the alcove (dismissing the illusory wall as he went) and down the stairs. This time, rather than wait to see what Thor would do, he used telekinetic force to hold the door closed.

If Thor was determined to leave, it wouldn't hold him - he'd just call his mini-Bifrost and go where he willed. Beyond that, well... this could be part of talking. "What's that expression, brother? Remember that you're terrible at lying."

"I'm allowed to have expressions, you know," Thor says as he tries to shrug off the bad feelings. "Even weird ones."

"True enough, but I'm still asking." Ordinarily, he'd smile - a fake but practiced expression that meant whatever he wanted it to mean. This time he didn't. No sense showing off! "Also, in control of the door."

Thor turns. "I'm tired," he complains for starters, since Loki really wants to hear it. "And when I return home, it will be to a reality shot to Hel and I hate thinking about it."

"Then don't think about it." If Loki had been more given to physical contact, someone who reached out or offered hugs, he would have. But centuries of habit meant he was better suited to watch closely while trying not to appear awkward. "You're likely to be here for years, and you've done everything you can reasonably be expected to do. Take my advice this one time, brother: let it go. You have your human, your roses, various friends - enjoy them and let the future fend for itself."

"Great, I never thought of that. How fortunate that I have a brother who can do the real deep thinking for me."

“You mock, but the voice of experience doesn’t have to be deep.” Now Loki did offer his best smile. “You’ve had a bleak future for a few months, brother.” And it was unlikely to be permanent. Thor was resilient and attracted support, there was every chance he’d adjust and heal and be tolerably happy in time. “I’ve had mine much longer than that, and barring the occasional hiccup I manage well enough.”

Thor doesn't think that bleak future really adequately covers what exactly he has to look forward to, but he's at least willing to acknowledge that his brother is trying to comfort him, and it's not something he does very often.

Thor attempts to swallow his irritation.

"You're right," he concedes. "Probably." He's not sure how he feels about potentially becoming acclimated to a future in which Thanos wins and half of life is wiped out of the universe entirely, but maybe -- maybe that'll be an option after he kills Thanos.

"That comfort hardly helps right now."

“Well, no. The whole thing takes practice, but it does get easier with said practice.” Loki tilted his head, then gestured towards the balcony. “Let’s go outside, brother. I think the frog story may actually be appropriate now.” And who knew when he’d have a better opportunity?

Thor doesn't say anything, but he does head for the door, tucks the journal under one arm, and reaches for the handle with the other.

It's cool outside, and a little rainy, but the rain's never really bothered Thor. He sets Stormbreaker down, shifts the journal into his hand and leans against the balcony.

"Tell me the story."

Loki followed, then leaned back on the railing, finding the best possible position to watch his brother. “I know I mentioned it, but it bears repeating that this story truly has nothing to do with you. You were... incidental. All right? I don’t tell you this to guilt you at all and admit my fault up front.”

Thor looks at his brother, curious. "All right."

It would be interesting to see if that actually held, but it was a good start.

He’d never actually talked about that whole thing before, and figuring out how to start was... awkward. But trying to figure that out gave Loki an idea. “Do you remember Lady Sigyn at all? We would have been very young, it won’t surprise me if you don’t.”