action.

[rebuildyourruins]

Who: Thor + you
Broadcast: no
Action: around Baruut
When: mid-to-late october

a. scrap markets

[Thor hates this planet, honestly. It's like a worse version of Sakaar, somehow, and he wasn't fond of that place to start with. The only upside Thor can see to Baruut so far is that he wasn't immediately captured and enslaved in a fighting arena.

Kind of a back-handed compliment.

But after his stint on the Marsiva and then spending a week looking after a shockingly young Loki, Thor's ready to put that baggage in the backseat and go look around anyway. He has a couple of items he's on the lookout for. It becomes quickly apparent though that finding a decent item is the harder task. The low quality of most wares annoys him and it's not uncommon to find him standing in front of a stall keeper, shaking an item at them and being loudly indignant.]

Yes, I know that it has clear sight, but if it only sees in green then what's the point of it as an eye?

[Is that an eyeball in his hand? .........yep. Unfortunate.]

b. watch for falling debris

[You're out in the junkyards proper, minding your own business. Doing whatever it is you decided to venture into canyons of rubbish to do. A distant yelp and a thud rings out somewhere above you - and you barely have time to look up before a body comes smashing down into the junk a few metres away, sending scrap metal and plastic spraying everywhere.

The 'body' turns out to be a very alarmed, very dazed junkyard thief. They scramble to their feet and run away shrieking, not looking back at you or in the direction they fell from. Should you decide to look up though, you'll see Thor pop up over the top of a hill-sized pile of rubbish a fair distance away. He waves to you and calls out:]

You should be mindful where you step! There are thieves about.

c. wildcard

[Thor can also be found bartering for equipment at shops specialising in spaceship parts, lugging supplies back to the Blue Fish, or throwing his hammer around near the Knorst Cliffs. If you have any other ideas, drop a comment or hit me up on dudemeister.]

Comments

[rebuildyourruins]

That's a good thing.

[There's a long pause before Thor crosses his arms over his chest.]

Soooo... are we going to talk about it?

[dothelokimotion]

[ his tone comes out a little more waspish than usual and it makes him wince. ]

I don't see what is there to talk about. Nothing changed when I was a child. It was a lot of people sheltering me from the truth.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor doesn't flinch, if only because that's the kind of tone he expected from the beginning. The accusation sticks though.]

That's-- come on, you know that's not the same.

[dothelokimotion]

Well then. Explain to me how it is different.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Rubbing a hand over his face, Thor lets out an exasperated sigh. He then spreads his hand wide in askance.]

What would you have had me say? I lost my eye to our sister, who we weren't told about, and the adventure ended in us starting Ragnarok? I didn't want to upset you.

[dothelokimotion]

[ his eyes flash. ]

You really think I did not notice, even as a child? The way you skirted around it? You may have improved, but you're no liar.

[rebuildyourruins]

[That has Thor snapping his mouth shut, jaw tight.]

I wasn't trying to lie. You were asking a lot of questions and you know I couldn't answer them right then.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki scowls, crossing his arms. ]

It still feels the same.

[rebuildyourruins]

It's not. [Thor grunts with irritation, leaning back against the counter behind him.] Or it wasn't meant to be. It was weird, Loki, talking to you like that.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki laughs softly. ]

Weird.

[ he lets that feeling linger, brittle in the air. then loki turns to face thor properly, jaw clenched. ]

You once said that you wished you could trust me. Let me tell you then. I wish I had someone I could trust. Because when the truth came out, there was no one. Your friends thought me a snake, our parents were complicit in the lie and you were not there.

I was alone and there was no one to trust.

[ his breathing is uneven and so, he takes a deeper inhale to calm himself. ]

I understand the difficulties when dealing with a child. But even then, the fairytale was sour, Thor. And it does not improve with time.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor's defences are already rising like hackles in that silence, though he does little more than raise his chin slightly when Loki turns to look at him once more. Unease settles into his features as Loki starts to talk about then, that fractious time they so rarely touch upon. Even more rarely without hostility.

Thor hadn't known then what was driving Loki to madness. Knowing now only makes it a little more comprehensible. Knowing had done nothing to soften the memory of Loki fighting him like a wild creature, screaming about things that made no sense. This - this was a further window into the why of it.

His fingers tense against the counter, but he holds his tongue until Loki steadies himself. Thor's tone is low when he does speak.]

It doesn't. I know.

[Not to the extent that Loki does, not so far as the tentacles of the lie have infested every part of Thor's being. Yet he's walked among the shattered pieces of Asgard's lies too.]

You shouldn't have been alone then. [You should have come to me, he thinks, but he remembers that cold room in the desert. Loki in his suit, spinning further lies, jamming the knife in when he could have done anything else. There are reasons Thor's desire to trust Loki hasn't become trust in itself.] And maybe I shouldn't have avoided the truth when you were a child. I didn't want to lie, but it ended up being the same thing.

[Crossing his arms over his chest, Thor looks Loki directly in the eye.]

Call it a fairytale if you want. I think the page has been turned on it, whether it's over or not. You aren't alone now.

[dothelokimotion]

[ that stops him short, abruptly so, and it takes him a longer moment to work his tongue, throat bobbing. finally, with a huff, loki uncrosses his arms. ]

There is that.

Though I noticed you could not resist the urge to show off to a younger me.

[rebuildyourruins]

You enjoyed it.

[As if Thor's going to apologise for that.]

[dothelokimotion]

I was young. I didn't know any better.

[rebuildyourruins]

You had excellent taste, I think.

[Thor pushes away from the counter, the strained air that had fallen between them mostly dissipated. He casts Loki a sidelong look.]

And you weren't that difficult.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki sniffs. ]

I never was. I may have acted out from time to time but I wanted father to see that I was just as worthy.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor's eyebrows shoot up at 'never'.]

You once filled my bed with spiders.

[dothelokimotion]

You ripped my favourite book!

[rebuildyourruins]

You left your book lying around on the floor!

[dothelokimotion]

It was not on the floor and you know it!

[rebuildyourruins]

Of course it was, that's how it got stepped on in the first place!

[He distinctly remembers stepping on the thing, at least. The rest of it- well, he's sure it wasn't his fault.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ he scowls. ]

It got stepped on because you knocked into the table and couldn't watch where your big feet were going!

[rebuildyourruins]

[Loudly, as though saying it louder makes it more true:]

That wasn't what happened!

[dothelokimotion]

That is precisely what happened. Why would I be leaving books on the floor?!

[rebuildyourruins]

I don't know, to trip me? You got a new book anyway!

[At this point, they're drawing stares from the market shoppers around them, curious about the two grown men arguing over torn books.]