[semi-closed]

[rebuildyourruins]

Who: Thor + various
Broadcast: no
Action: the First Breath, some other places
When: May 20th - May 27th

[After engaging in some extremely extra behaviour with a bunch of other extremely extra immortals, Thor came down with a brutal fever on the First Breath and has been holed up in Loki's room ever since. Still, there remain some things he needs to do.

If you want your character to find Thor during this time, hit me up on PM/dudemeister and I'll toss up a starter for you! Otherwise if they would just try to call or message him, feel free to use this post to do so.]

Comments

[dothelokimotion]

[ Thor had helped Loki get back to the First Breath. After their encounter with the Marsiva, Loki's mind was frayed, erratic. Neither of them had been keen with letting the other out of their sight. Their losses were still all too present in their mind and old memories came too close to the surface as well.

I could have done it, is something Loki thinks to himself. It means nothing. It represents nothing. Because . . . there is nothing he can do. But even now, Loki can't — won't accept that. He won't.

Neither of them discussed it. Once they got back, Thor had promptly collapsed with a fever and Loki had the arduous task of dragging his brother to bed and getting the medicine. His lab augment finally came in handy, though he's not sure how he feels about being a healer, Loki is very used to Thor's ills and injuries and knew exactly how to deal with them. Until he started feeling queasy himself. Falling sick was not something that happened often. He used to suffer heatstroke when he was younger (and hadn't that been ironic?) but most Asgardian diseases easily passed him by. It wasn't as bad as Thor, so Loki was still able to fetch food and drink to bed, along with the medication.

No, the hard part was coaxing Thor into having it. ]

Thor. You need to eat.

[rebuildyourruins]

[There is something to be said - usually - for Asgardian constitutions. Thor had had his share of childhood illnesses when he was younger, but it's been centuries since he's truly been sick. Injured, yes. Suffering a debilitating fever? He'd be hard pressed to remember what that was even like.

Not that he remembers what it's like now, three days after fainting. Those few days are just random blurs of heat and chills punctuated by some clear moments. Some of those moments were of Loki forcing medicine on him, a task he probably didn't relish and Thor definitely didn't appreciate. He just groans. Hadn't he eaten not that long ago?]

I did. Stop shoving it at me.

[Right now Thor is sprawled on the bed with an arm flung over his face, so he doesn't genuinely know what Loki's trying to give him. He does know he's not hungry, and too hot, and too tired to do much about either.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki presses the heel of his palm to his forehead. His mother must have had the patience of a saint to deal with this. ]

No, you ate hours ago. You need to eat at regular intervals for the medicine to work.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Sliding his arm away from his face, Thor gives Loki a dubious look. He abandoned his eye patch days ago, and without it he always gives a disorienting impression of only bothering to open one eye.]

It hasn't made much difference so far, food or not.

[Not as far as Thor can tell. There's a possibility he could be worse off without the medicine, he just doesn't know.]

[dothelokimotion]

Medicine takes time, Thor. It's not going to work immediately.

[ Loki stirs the porridge. ]

I laced it with honey. Like we used to.

[rebuildyourruins]

[But it's taking forEVERRRRRRR.

...is what he would say if he were still only four centuries old. Thankfully, some maturity has seeped in since then. Heaving a sigh, Thor pushes himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the scrape of fabric on his skin. He truly doesn't want to eat but there's nothing for it.]

Where did you even find honey.

[He reaches out to take the bowl from Loki, looking at it curiously. It does bring back memories of home, and their mother.]

natasha.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Sometime towards the end of the week, when Thor is coherent enough to think straight for several hours at a time, he sends Natasha a message.]

can you meet me on one of th eplanets in an hour. i have something to discuss.

[This is his third pass at typing the message and as good as it's going to get.]

[outstandingbalance]

Just tell me when and where. I'll be there.

[Considering the source, Natasha takes the request to talk seriously.]

> action.

[rebuildyourruins]

this place, two hours

[Thor sends through directions to a cafe on one of the smaller moons, a place he's frequented a lot after Starstriker matches. It seems best to do this off the Fleet entirely. And two hours gives him time enough to throw on jeans and a hoodie, drag himself out of the First Breath and onto solid ground without passing out again. This fever is such a nuisance.

He grabs a table outside to wait at, ordering a coffee that sits mostly untouched as he stares intermittently off into space. At one point he has to wave the waiter away after they come to check if he's all right, his pallor and lack of focus having been noticed from halfway across the cafe. He's fine. He's got things to do.]

[outstandingbalance]

Roger that.

[Natasha is right on time, and she notices something off right away. She's never known Thor to seem so uncomfortable looking. She's seen him hurt, and she's seen him exhausted, but she's never seen him look ill.]

Hey... You didn't have to wait for me, if you wanted to get something.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Straightening up when Natasha arrives, Thor hitches a smile up and shakes his head.]

It's fine - I'm not hungry. [Very out of the ordinary.] Thanks for coming.

[outstandingbalance]

Of course. Not like I'm going to turn you down if you want to talk.

[She does wave over their waiter, asking for whatever passes for coffee.]

katara.

[rebuildyourruins]

[In retrospect, Thor probably should have told someone on the Blue Fish where he had gotten to. Waking up to his buzzing communicator after yet another groggy sleep drove this point home. How was he to know it had been four days already? After fumbling through the messages from Katara he eventually replies, explaining where he was and why - without saying how it had happened. He's not foolish, even if he isn't at his best.

Once Katara says she'll be coming over, Thor drags himself out of bed and into the showers. There's no way he's going to look well but he can at least look less dishevelled.

He waits in the shuttle bay, arms crossed against the shivers that keep threatening to wrack him.]

[watermarks]

[ Katara comes over directly, once she's finished gathering her medical supplies and picked up chicken broth. She's concerned, but not overly worried...

At least until she sees him, standing up and shivering like a leaf. Her eyes widen as she sees his face without his eye patch - it's less damage than she would have assumed, but certainly distinctly missing an eye... and he's pale, and the eye that remains looks feverishly glassy. ]

Thor! What are you doing up? [She hurries over.] You look terrible, you need to be lying down.

[rebuildyourruins]

[He was definitely regretting his decision to wait here, though he's stubborn enough not to admit it. It still takes him aback when Katara asks what he's doing here.]

You said you were on your way.

[As though this is a perfectly valid reason for him to be up.]

[watermarks]

[ She blinks, taken aback for a moment. She can't help the quick quirk of a smile or the incredulous shake of her head before concern takes over her expression again. ]

I'm pretty sure I would have been able to find my way to where you were staying by myself. Come on, let's get you back in bed.

[Moving to take his arm and hustle him along, to be honest, but also to provide him with something to lean on since he looks terrible. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

I wouldn't ask you to do that. Especially since this is not my ship.

[It's too far outside his sense of decorum to let a young woman come to find him when she ought to be invited in. At least he doesn't argue when she takes his arm and starts leading him back into the ship. He has to shake his head a bit to clear the dizziness. Bed is starting to sound more promising, despite how much he hates being stuck in it.]

Besides, I think Loki is finally asleep, otherwise he would have done it himself.

[It's unlikely his brother will stay asleep for long once they get into the room. Thor gingerly removes his arm from Katara's grip to open up the hatch to Loki's quarters, wincing a bit at the grind of metal.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki jerks upright, wild-eyed as he pulls a knife out of nowhere. His gaze darts back and forth before it centers on Thor and Katara. With a scowl, he makes it vanish. ]

And where were you? What part of "sick" don't you understand?

[watermarks]

Probably the 'stay in bed' part. [Katara's tone is slightly exasperated, but mostly wry. She moves to take Thor's arm again.] But a lot of people get like this. It's hard to stay cooped up, but you're not going to get any better if you keep breaking down your body by over-exerting yourself, [that to Thor, as she moves to help him back to bed.]

shiro.

[rebuildyourruins]

[By the end of the week, the worst of Thor's fever has subsided. It still lingers around, leaving him weaker than he'd like and digging out that woollen jumper from the ice planet that he rarely bothers with. But he can move around again without much concern, and he's not liable to hallucinate things anymore.

Which leaves him ready enough to add his observations to the document on the Iskaulit. It seems reasonable to give Shiro a heads up, since the man gave him the details about this document in the first place. Thor sends Shiro a message about getting a drink at the Space Bar, though they're not going to do any such thing.

Thor waits at the entrance, overly tired and pale but feeling more motivated than he has in a week.]

[padadin]

[Shiro gladly accepts the invitation and shows up at the bar perfectly on time like the good boy he is. And he also quickly takes in the state of his friend because wow, yeah, that's pretty obvious.]

Hey. Something tells me we aren't here to drink, unless that's the kind of medicine gods take when they get a bit too pale.

[Vikings drank to everything, didn't they, does that apply to their gods too or...]

[rebuildyourruins]

[That earns Shiro a half-smile.]

It does revive you at the end of a hard-fought battle. [Thor, no.] You are right though. This isn't about getting a drink.

I have something to add to that document you showed me.

[padadin]

[Oh. Well now, that's a surprise. Shiro raises both eyebrows, immediately taking interest in what Thor has to say.]

New information? [A new look at Thor's face and the state of his health.] Please tell me you didn't lose anything important in exchange for it.

[rebuildyourruins]

Only a few days of my time.

[Thor drags his fingers back through his rumpled hair and turns to lead them back down the corridors to the lecture hall. He doesn't look well, but he's not about to fall down dead.]

About a week ago, I attacked the Marsiva.

[Well, at least he gets right to it.]

[padadin]

You were stuck in bed, weren't you.

[The way he says "stuck" is filled with sympathy. Shiro is a very active person, and hates it when he has to do nothing for long. It gets him restless, and bored. Thor doesn't look great right now, but he doesn't look almost dead either. Shiro keeps an eye on him as he follows him regardless.

Eyes widen and eyebrows raise when he hears what comes next.]

You attacked the Marsiva? After I told you about the swallowing void? Thor, you could've been killed! Why? Did you have a plan at all or you just were trying to break in?