driftfleet | the white noise is deafening silence

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the white noise is deafening silence

[In the very early hours of January 20th, as the Marsiva and her captives drift nonchalantly through the depths of the universe, there is a call. Every single personal communicator and console springs to life, spitting out a stream of indecipherable static and showing only gray snow on screen. It continues like this for a few seconds longer, going black and then going staticky, and then the signal switches to the encrypted channel generally used for speaking to the Interceptors when something big goes down.

This is a little more successful. The voice may be familiar to some, at least through the static.]

Zhade here! I trust I ███ your attention? I'm having some ██▓▓ble ██tting through. Some of the ░▓██▓█ are missing. I can't ░▓▓▓ read on their loc█████ns. [A particularly long burst of static.] ███stening. I'll s█▓▓█ more inf██▓▓▓▓▓█ I get it.

Stay sharp! [There's the sound of someone actually doing the fingerguns wink noise, and then static.

Any messages sent back won't get through, and Zhade isn't there to answer.]

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round three of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

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[ loki has certainly secluded himself. he's shared too much with the fleet. also wrestling with the ramifications of his sacrifice hasn't been easy either. but loki doesn't want to mope as much as he rather ignore everything about what's happening. ]

An unwanted alien crash-landed on Earth and was taken in by some sisters.

Huh.

[That's at least more interesting than Thor would have first thought. Apart from the sisters part, it might as well mirror his own banishment from a few years ago. Deciding to stay, Thor moves to sit on the metal chest in the room, resting his chin in his hands.]

And that's why he's being adopted, is it.

No. They found him and it . . . clicked. He learned to care about them.

[ loki's eyes flicker to thor before returning to the screen. ]

Apparently there is a story among the mortals. Called the Ugly Duckling. Where all the ducklings grew up perfectly except for one. And he wandered, trying to find his family. Eventually, he turned into a swan and found himself.

[It isn't hard to guess what Loki is thinking about, watching a movie like this. Thor meets Loki's eyes before his brother looks away again. He watches Loki's profile for a few moments longer then returns his gaze to the movie as well.]

I haven't heard that one. Maybe there's a copy on board.

There might be. It seems to be popular.

[ his shoulders hunch briefly. he wonders if thor remembers what happened in his heart. mind. whatever that place represented. ]

[Thor's attention is on the movie for now. He hadn't had much of a plan when he walked in here, and now he's delaying that inevitable conversation about his dream - soulscape - whatever he experienced. Because Loki was there too (he thinks?) and while he doesn't recall what it looked like, he remembers enough otherwise.]

I'm going to look at the books later. I'll let you know if I see it.

Of course.

[ loki hears it for what it is. he's no fool in such things after all. but he's not keen on deflecting and pretending nothing happened. at this point, he's quite sure things can't get worse for him. ]

Thor. I am sorry.

[Thor shifts, sitting up straighter and looking Loki in the face once more. Despite the rest there's still something tired in his expression.]

You're speaking about the dream.

I'm speaking for all of it.

[ he stupidly thought that he had spared thor a little. maybe even freed him. ]

[Loki isn't much one for apologies. He tends only to give them out in the worst of times - like when he's dying. Thor's heard a couple of them since then in this place, but it's still so out of the ordinary that it makes his stomach drop.

He stares at Loki for a moment before shaking his head sharply.]

Don't. Don't do that.

[ loki blinks, surprised, turning to thor. a tinge of wariness descends in his expression. ]

Why not? Isn't that what people do? Good people?

[He winces at that, that it even has to be a question. In another lifetime he might have thought Loki was playing at some deception. Back before they had gained any kind of trust in each other again.

The events of the dream aren't in sharp focus, a conversation against a backdrop he can't quite remember. It makes him feel like he's missed something.]

I don't mean-- you cannot apologise for all of it. It isn't all on you.

[ yeah, no. loki is at least 99% sure it's all him. he failed at dying, he aligned himself with thanos. he got frigga killed, he got odin killed. he helped start ragnarok through his hubris. every single event in motion could be traced back to him. his skeptical look says as much. ]

You don't believe that.

[Thor's gaze snaps up, harder.]

I do. I think it's you who doesn't believe it.

[ he's unable to restrain the slight flinch that comes from the truth of it. he's not sure if he's raring for a fight or something else — something beyond his reach. ]

And why should I?

Because it isn't true.

[He shifts in his seat, angling around to face Loki instead of the television. There's tension building in the room, he can feel it, but in a way it was inevitable. The great black mass of everything has hovered over them both ever since coming back here, both of them skulking underneath without wanting to look up more than they could bear.]

Don't mistake me. I am not saying you're blameless - I am not a fool. [Thor knows full well the hand Loki's had in so much of this.] But I won't accept that you're at fault for all that's befallen us.

[ for a moment, an unnerving stillness descends upon loki. then he explodes, lunging at thor, forcing him onto his back. loki keeps him down and pulls out a knife that he presses against thor's throat. the blade touches skin, but goes no further. loki's eyes are wild and furious, a bright light that cannot be extinguished. ]

Accept it. Say it. Say that I'm responsible. Say that I'm the one that ruined everything.

[ his hand does not tremble. loki needs this. he needs to hear it. he needs to know that deep down, that this is the real truth that must be dug out. he no longer wants to hold onto the illusion that there is good in him. the blade nicks a little of thor's throat as loki bares his teeth, his voice a terrible whisper as if he wants to shout it out. ]

Say it!

[Thor has time enough to suck in a startled breath before he's slammed to the ground, taken aback by the scale of Loki's fury. Not surprised - deep down, not surprised in the least - but caught off guard.

The knife's edge makes itself known against his throat and for one blinding moment Thor's own rage comes boiling up, sparks crackling around his hands and eyes turning white with lightning. It would take barely anything to blast Loki backwards along with all his twisted beliefs and hateful insistence on his own guilt. How dare he. How dare he.

Thor snarls back, heedless of whether that brings the blade slightly closer. In the span of a breath the room could explode. It would be a blessed release of all the pain and grief and anger he feels, directed at the only suitable target in range.

...

my undying fidelity

...

But that isn't entirely true either.

The electricity dies out of Thor's eyes though the anger doesn't. He glares up at Loki and says, unmovable:]

No. Fuck you. You're not.

[ no. no, that's not what he wanted. loki shakes thor uselessly. his blade quivers and it cuts a little deeper. not enough for pain, but enough to make loki's eyes widen, trying to hold to this course. he blinks the wetness from his eyes. don't falter. ]

Damn you. Damn you Thor. What happened to killing me if I betrayed you? I have done that many times over! Just say it.

[ his tone has shifted, without loki realizing. he's pleading, maybe even begging. the knife is no longer steady, but he needs this, he needs this. ]

You -- absolute moron.

[The knife barely registers to Thor, used to far worse than that. How many times had Loki stabbed him in annoyance, or sport, or -- betrayal, yes. If it goes too far Thor will strike back. He knows that. They both do. But Loki's nerve is starting to crack and Thor doesn't genuinely think it will come to that point.

He almost moves to shake his head but stops when he feels the knife slip a little deeper.]

I told myself that's what I would do because I couldn't damn well stand the idea of you doing it again. I've had plenty of chances to kill you. I don't want to.

[He never had. In that awful time when Loki was imprisoned Thor had avoided him entirely out of confusion and anger. He didn't understand why and he feared the answer. In the aftermath of their mother's death the anger had won out and for a time he believed he would do it. A short time.

Now Loki looms over him wild and desperate, wanting to be that hateful creature and hear it confirmed from Thor's lips. But Thor is nothing if not stubborn.]

No.

[ loki remembers this. dimly, yet perfectly. the howl of the void. the roaring of the waterfalls. gungnir, cold in his grasp. it is a different position but it feels the same. loki, hanging by a thread and —

and it feels like nothing has changed. with a cry, loki pulls his knife back to aim for thor's new eye but it stops. of course it stops because loki can't do it. he could never do it. he lacked the bent backbone of cruelty. he lacked the perfect spine of goodness. the sobs are wordless, but loki pushes through. he tosses it aside, listening to it clatter and he pulls back a little, quiet. ]

You lied to me. You told me I could be more. How could you make me think that?

[If Loki had aimed for anywhere else, Thor wouldn't have budged. If he hadn't just relived the moment Hela slashed his eye out of his face through whatever dream ensnared both of them the night before, maybe he wouldn't have reacted. When the knife starts plunging down however and Thor realises where it's aimed he flinches, jerking one hand up to take the blow.

The blow never lands, though. Thor pants through the seconds that follow and for a moment he does hate Loki. Hates that he went for that spot above all others, that he's fighting Thor on this, that he makes this harder than it needs to be. It's gone in a flash as Loki hurls the knife away and pulls in on himself.

He moves the hand he'd flung up to protect his face then and grabs hold of Loki's wrist, right around the strap still tied there.]

It wasn't a lie. Don't you dare act like my believing in you was some great ruse.

[ loki shakes his head. he knew that, of course. thor has no reason to do that to him, but it still feels like his head is full of cotton. bowing his head, loki tries to still the weeping from his face. he's tired of crying, of being this weak. of being made up of jagged pieces that he's trying to put together badly. ]

I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry.

[They've been here before, Thor realises with a pang. Last night - whenever that time was, when Loki broke down inside his mind. It's nothing more than an extension of that awful moment, brought out into the light of reality and made real by memory. And Thor knows why. What Loki had seen, that conversation he had with Rocket while Thor felt like he was shoring up his existence with memories of life and vengeance for the dead. It had been cold and lonely.

And they were here before then too, when they woke up again in the Fleet and felt their lives falling down around them. A neverending nightmare.

Thor breathes out sharply and pulls Loki down into a hug, blinking his own tears from his face. Because this apology... this he can accept.]

[ the apology feels different than the time at svartalfheim. loki had meant it then too, of course. the words then and the words now have not changed. i'm sorry, i'm a fool, i didn't do it for him. loki knows what he did it for, what he's always done it for. he can never fully apologize for saving thor's life over his own because he'll never truly regret that. but he does regret this purgatory that thor is left in, alone.

i thought the world of you. ]

I'm sorry.

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