festival day!

[thespaceopera]

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: Up to you
Action: Everywhere in the Yadrolla system!
When: 5/30

[At last, the day has come: Festival Day! Once again, the Starstrikers have taken the trophy this year. But that doesn't mean members of other teams, or those who didn't play, can't celebrate with the rest of them!

There are parties everywhere. Ribbons, streamers, and confetti litter every major street in the system. (Remember what they say about glitter...) There is food on every block, and people cramming into shops to get in on the merch.

Don't forget about the reason for the festival-- the pet adoption drive! A large playground-type area has been set up on the Starstrikers' desert moon where people can play and interact with the lovable creatures needing new homes. Whether you're looking for companionship or just something to do, there's plenty to coo over! Every pet comes with an info card listing a fanciful name and a general description of their age and temperament. Maybe Sir Pringle the puppy or Marquess Mariana the fish can become your new best friend.

Sadly, the Fleet will be drifting in about a week... but feel free to party until then!]

Comments

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki just looks at him. ]

Then I congratulate you on your new found hobby of star-gazing.

[rebuildyourruins]

I'm not moping. [Very pointed. Thor came out here so his mood wouldn't ruin anyone else's fun. It's a frustration to be caught out.] I'm just thinking.

[dothelokimotion]

[ It's not like Thor is hard to read. ]

About?

[rebuildyourruins]

[He isn't. Much as he tries, sometimes. Instead of answering, Thor casts his gaze back through the doors where the party is carrying on. Nothing about it looks like Asgard. Not the people, not the decor, and the music is certainly worlds apart. Yet it still got under his skin. He still stopped, in the middle of an embrace with someone, and felt a terrible pang of familiarity and loss that scuppered his enjoyment.

That, too, had been familiar. He had behaved much the same way in Asgard after coming back from New York.]

About home, [He finally says, setting his empty glass aside on the railing.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Ah. The loss of Asgard still sits heavily, especially since they both had to make the choice to destroy it. Loki was of Asgard, after all, even if it came with mixed emotions. Some days he felt nothing and that simply made him feel worse. Another sign he wasn't quite like them. ]

That's hardly surprising. You can't exorcise grief like that with time.

[rebuildyourruins]

I wouldn't count five months as that.

[A discrepancy between the two of them. Thor's been here longer by a handful of months. He's a little further away from the events of Ragnarok... but it's still not much more than the blink of an eye.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki shrugs, nonchalant. ]

What would you count it as?

[rebuildyourruins]

It's - I don't know. [It's a lot of things, none of them particularly pleasant. Finally, he just says this:] It catches me by surprise. How long it's been.

[Contradictory though that is, it's the truth.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki eyes him briefly. ]

Difficult, isn't it? To live among mortals. To take on their time.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor looks at Loki sidelong in turn, disliking the implication.]

It's not unfamiliar to me.

[dothelokimotion]

Not like this. Why do you think the others take to it so easily? They fill their lives with the mundane. Pets, trophies, baubles.

Could you see yourself doing that?

[rebuildyourruins]

[The question grates. Because Thor has accumulated some of those things here. Some incidentally, others on purpose. It's easy enough to see himself doing it but he resents the idea that it's from giving in to the situation.]

You assume too much.

[dothelokimotion]

My assumptions come with weight.

[ Loki cocks his head. ]

We will take none of this with us when we leave. But we cannot act like this is anything less than a cage.

[rebuildyourruins]

You don't need to tell me things I already know, Loki.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Do you? Loki wonders. For all of Thor's homesickness, he ran from Asgard plenty of times as well. Loki may have resented Asgard, but he couldn't imagine being anywhere else. It's why he came back. Thor could. ]

It is one thing to know and live it, I suppose.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor's sullen for a long moment, his already poor mood dovetailing into Loki's picking apart of their circumstances. It has the same sting as when Loki came back that second time and commented on how defeatist Thor sounded.

The cage itself isn't the problem. It's the slow grind of time making it feel normal that seeps into Thor's skin when he's unaware of it. When he speaks again, his tone is steadier. Less aggravated.]

I will never forget what this is. I can't. Every day I remember exactly what I'm being kept from. [Thor shifts against the railing, loosening up his shoulders.] But at the same time I can't do nothing but throw myself against the bars of this cage every single day. You said yourself that this has to be a longer game.

[Little though he likes admitting it. He looks Loki in the eyes this time.]

You were right about that.

[dothelokimotion]

Of course I am.

[ Loki turns his gaze away. ]

I've been in worse places. Either you play or you lose yourself.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor watches Loki turn away quietly, shadows falling over his face. There's much he doesn't know about where Loki's been or what he's done. Even his time spent on Sakaar was mostly unsaid.]

I let myself get captured once. On Muspelheim.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He blinks. ]

Ah. Because of Surtur, correct?

[rebuildyourruins]

More because I couldn't find out what was happening any other way. I thought if I let myself fall into their hands they would gloat about it.

[He shrugs.]

I was right. They did leave me in a cage for several days first.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki snorts. ]

I suppose fire-demons are a little predictable.

[rebuildyourruins]

Thankfully, yes. It went the way I thought it would.

[Though the information he got out of it turned out much different.]

[dothelokimotion]

Predictably using Mjolnir to make your way through. Of course.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes, well. That's not an option anymore, is it?

[Thor would have dearly liked to throw his hammer at the Marsiva and see if that made a dent in the stupid vessel. He shakes his head, not as maudlin about the loss of his hammer as he used to be.]

I'll need to find another way.

[dothelokimotion]

[ His expression softens a little. ]

You will.