Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

[necromanswers]

Who: Everyone! OTA!
Broadcast: sure why not
Action: yeahhhhhh
When: 11/12 to 1/4 (minus 12/26)


It's Candlenights! Or Christmas! Or whatever! It's festive! Go celebrate, explore, go get free stuff from a tree!!

More importantly it's a mingle!

--SYSTEM INFORMATION--

Comments

[dothelokimotion]

[ innocently. ]

Nonsense. It suits you perfectly.

[rebuildyourruins]

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.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki scoffs. ]

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

[rebuildyourruins]

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

[dothelokimotion]

[ 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.

[rebuildyourruins]

[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.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki looks down at the pool, pensive. ]

. . . Perhaps.

[rebuildyourruins]

[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.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ 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.

[rebuildyourruins]

[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.

[dothelokimotion]

[ 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.

[rebuildyourruins]

[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.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki stares at the pool, or forcing himself to stare at it when his voice wavers. ]

Can I ask for yours anyway?

[rebuildyourruins]

[He straightens up suddenly, staring at Loki's hunched shoulders with surprise. It had been a throwaway comment, one Thor himself only half took seriously. The Odinson name isn't one Thor himself feels is his to give or take from his brother. It settles uneasily in his stomach, a strange power dynamic he isn't sure what to do with.

Far stronger is the eagerness he feels at Loki wanting to claim it. Because he must, mustn't he? To even ask this way, as though afraid he might be told no? Thor takes a breath before exhaling, nodding to himself.]

You don't need it. [Not from Thor, not as some give or take from on high.] But if you want it, then - of course you have it. You always did.

[dothelokimotion]

[ no, it's certainly not thor's responsibility to give it to loki. but it adds a certain legitimacy to it. after all, loki still isn't sure whether he deserves to have it, not after everything. it helps, to know at least thor believed that even if loki remained unsure.

his shoulders relax slightly as he looks at thor. ]

Thank you.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Reaching over, Thor squeezes the back of Loki's neck lightly.]

Don't thank me yet. I have something to give you first.

[dothelokimotion]

[ something to give him? is it a stabb — no probably not. still, loki squints. ]

What for?

[rebuildyourruins]

[He takes his hand back and starts rummaging around in his pocket.]

I told you, the locals do a lot of gift-giving here. I've had a lot of time on my hands, so I thought I would do the same thing.

[Finding what he's looking for, he draws it out and holds it out on his palm for Loki. In his hand is a woven leather strap, capped at one end with a golden stone. Interwoven with the leather is a strip of familiar red fabric.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ gob-smacked, loki takes the strap, turning it over in his hands. his fingers absently run through the fabric. ]

Did you make this?

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah. The leathermakers in this world have good wares.

[Thor shifts his position, bringing up one knee and resting his arm against it. When he talks again it's across the water in front of them.]

I've been here for a year, but home is never far from my mind. Even moreso now. It is hard not to feel like the time trapped here isn't slipping away from us back in our own universe, no matter what anyone else says about it.

[And it constantly sends his thought down dark, nervous roads. Doubting his own ability to lead when he returns, worn away by endless months of useless time spent away from his own people. But Thor can't let time go by without making some use of it. He has to act as though his efforts are leading to something. Because they are. He believes that.]

Despite the time, I haven't forgotten how much we all lost in Ragnarok. We have our lives, that's the important thing. But that doesn't make the loss of everything else any less. So, [Thor turns back to Loki then, his gaze catching on Frigga's ring where it sits on Loki's finger before returning to his face.] I wanted to give you something to keep. We're all of us starting over, wherever we end up. [Whether Loki stays or goes. Thor knows there's no guarantee Loki will stick around for good.] There's no reason we should start empty-handed.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki swallows, his throat bobbing. he's never been good at this. declarations like these left him off-center and uncertain. his fingers tighten over the strap. it feels for the first time, he had more to lose than ever before. and he couldn't — would not be the instrument to destroy this.

his fingers tighten over the strap. ]

We are.

But I have what I wanted. Do you know what that is?

[rebuildyourruins]

[Times like this, Thor never knows if he'll get the answer right or not. He's been wrong before.]

What is it?

[dothelokimotion]

To be here like this. To be your equal.

[ he doesn't smile because he feels his face might just crack and reveal all his deep seated insecurities, the ones loki is trying to disassemble, piece by piece. by telling people, he's giving them the means to destroy him. ]

I'm not going anywhere without you.

[rebuildyourruins]

[It strikes him almost like a memory out of the distant past. A statement from a time when they were still just children, Thor going out riding or hunting and Loki yelling at him from behind to slow down, he's coming too. But this is now; now, where it means something wholly different.

Thor finds that he believes Loki when he says it, too. A year is hardly anything to him, but it has still been long enough to be a process in finding some measure of trust in Loki again. So he lets the smile take hold of him without hesitation.]

Good, because I don't intend on it either.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki smiles back, faint and uncertain but slowly growing. it helps to know thor believes him, even if loki still has a long way in proving himself. but that's not so important either. he is who he is. ]

You had better not.