driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

[Despite Thor's time spent down here, he's still not used to the energising feel of it. He tips his head back for a moment and hums his agreement, before locking the shuttle brakes in place.]

I don't really have words for it. [He tips his head sideways, looking at Loki once more.] So I knew my just telling you to come down here and look wouldn't do it.

No.

[ and his tone holds a faint trace of whimsy. ]

I feel like magic-users might find words for it, but only barely.

All I know is I keep starting storms when I'm the slightest bit annoyed.

[That's way too chipper a comment, but he's already popping open the door and sauntering out of the shuttle.]

[ loki rolls his eyes. ]

You should really work on your control.

I'm always in control. [Bold statement, coming from this guy.] It's more... the level of magic here makes it far quicker to happen. It starts before I realise it.

[Walking the short distance to the nearest steaming pool, Thor peers into the gleaming waters. He sounds thoughtful as he continues.]

Normally it takes much more than that.

[ loki raises his hands. wisps of green magic curl around his fingers, twirling and spinning before he closes his fist, quenching them immediately. ]

Quicker or not, it is still worth noting that these forces do not control us. We control them. We're Gods after all.

[Thor looks back over his shoulder at Loki, and huffs. Show-off. With a shrug he sits down on the edge of the pool.]

Yes, I know. I was mostly joking.

[Mostly. His mood has been stormy enough to prompt that kind of thing a few times, and he hasn't cared to immediately get it under control. Every now and then he just wants the growl of thunder to vent his own frustrations.]

I imagine that joke had some truth in it.

[ loki quietly joins him at the edge of the pool. ]

What have you been doing all this time?

[Thor crosses his legs on the ground, resting his chin in one hand.]

Looking around, mostly. The towns are all preparing for some festival in a couple of weeks.

[ hmm. ]

And nothing else?

Not so far. There is little that needs doing on the ship after the last world, and our crew hasn't changed much.

[Finding things to do - productive things - proves difficult at the best of times in the Fleet. Thor shrugs one shoulder.]

You know what I usually do on new worlds.

[ loki hums, thoughtful. ]

Run around joyously at having free space?

When you put it like that, it sounds stupid.

[Which Thor most definitely does not think it is. He doesn't run around, exactly, but - well, he has a lot of energy most of the time to burn. There's no pretending he doesn't launch himself out of the ships as soon as possible.]

[ innocently. ]

Nonsense. It suits you perfectly.

I should shove you into the water.

[He won't, because that would put a literal damper on what Thor set out to do tonight. But it's very tempting.]

The people here are very welcoming. It seems to be something about this season, but they throw feasts every day and give out gifts to everyone who walks past.

[ loki scoffs. ]

It's a frozen rock. No doubt the people here are desperate for any kind of levity.

I don't know, they don't seem desperate to me.

[ what would thor know? thor who looks for the best in everyone. but loki can't — will not look deeper in a place like this. a place too riddled with similarities for loki to ever be comfortable here. his shoulders hunch up briefly. ]

There is only so much one can do with . . . this place.

[He sighs, without any heat behind it.]

You've only been here five minutes, Loki. Maybe you ought to talk to some of the locals before deciding if they're hopeless or not.

[Their kindness had been enough to at least blunt Thor's own prickly mood earlier in his stay. It's not gone, just shoved to the side. Having something else to focus on is good enough for him in this moment.]

[ loki looks down at the pool, pensive. ]

. . . Perhaps.

[Well, that's something. Thor knows Loki doesn't much want to be on this planet - he had said so to his face, after all. That biting comment about Frost Giants earlier was more than enough to tell what's on Loki's mind. His brother rarely bring up what he is.

Glancing over at Loki, he just says it how he sees it.]

We haven't been here before, after all. We know nothing about them.

[There's a point there. This isn't Jotunheim.]

[ loki remains quiet for a while. ]

Father said my birthright was on a place like this. That was my fear in those early days, Thor — That you'll come back and he would simply just . . . banish me. I'm not an Odinson. Even Hela had that.

Coming to a place like this is not easy. Because it is that simple to be left behind.

[A stretch of silence falls in the wake of Loki's words. Thor can't argue that Odin wouldn't banish Loki. It would be laughable to try, and Thor wouldn't quite believe it either. Their father had banished both Hela and Thor at different points - it wasn't a tactic he shied away from.

But there are thorns here that Thor refuses to leave stuck in the skin. He's heard it before - 'I'm not an Odinson' - and Thor had said nothing then. Enough of that.]

It didn't happen, though. You weren't banished. [They both know well enough what happened instead, so Thor ploughs on.] There's no one left who's going to do that to you.

[He turns then and pins Loki with a hard stare.]

You're the only one who says you aren't an Odinson. No one else is saying so. I'm not. Hela's status granted her no favours in the end either. If you ask me, blood isn't the measure I would count it by.

[ there's a small snort at thor's remark on banishment. it's a technicality and they both knew it. yet it was unimportant compared to all the other things thor does say, things loki has been hesitating to acknowledge ever since asgard imploded behind them. loki, who is still piecing together the more. ]

Well it's not a name I can pick up with impunity.

[Thor opens his mouth to ask why the hell not, then shuts it again with some effort. Loki's reasons are inscrutable and often tangled, and Thor doesn't think himself that adept at unpicking them.]

I hope you aren't waiting for someone to give you permission.

[Because it's never going to come. Odin is gone.]

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