System Mingle!!

[appletart]

Who: EVERYONE!!
Broadcast: If you want?
Action: In the current system!
When: ALL MONTH!!!

It's a system mingle! What are you up to? Exploring the surface? Living the best nightlife ever? Fighting off your own allergies? Doing your best to ignore Fred.....?


System Info Here!

Comments

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes, and? They are changes nonetheless.

[Just take the damn compliment, Loki.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ compliments are hard, but he nods slowly. ]

Thank you.

[rebuildyourruins]

It is worth saying.

[Thor believes that, genuinely. It's been nice to see Loki commit himself to something like this, ephemeral though it might end up being. That's the same of everything in this place though - built on uncertain foundations. Swirling the liquid in his glass, Thor stares into it with the past on his mind.]

The Blue Fish has changed so much in the time I've been here. When I stop to think about it, it seems so stark.

[dothelokimotion]

[ ah. thor does have more friends around. it's not surprising he'd feel the sting. ]

It must be hard. To watch it change so.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes, but that is the way of things here, isn't it? It's to be expected.

[He pauses. Where he would normally stop, he decides to keep going, itching at the layers of silence that have fallen over him so often.]

And yet I still find myself wanting to speak with them sometimes - Sokka and Riona. Before I remember again that they aren't here anymore.

[dothelokimotion]

It is the way everywhere. Especially with mortals.

[ they never last, after all. ]

You could try the Iskaulit. I made a wall there to . . . relive one's memories of a person.

[ loki almost mentions that he goes there at times. to remember clark and castiel, but he stops himself. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah... I've seen it. I'm just not sure if-- do I need to think of the right person? It won't show anyone I don't want it to?

[Because there's too much risk, if it does. If it shows people he thinks of inadvertently he could end up thinking of others he's seen die, who still live in the Fleet and have no idea. He could see Frigga or Odin, or Heimdall. When he considers it the list expands far and fast.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ gently. ]

Only the people you choose. It cannot pull anything from your head if you do not desire it.

[rebuildyourruins]

Ah, okay. Then I will go look at it, sometime.

[Maybe not this week, but the next time he's on the Iskaulit for certain.]

[dothelokimotion]

Whenever you like. I hear it helps for some.

[rebuildyourruins]

Is that why you made it?

[It's similar to the wall Loki had created inside the First Breath, just different in concept. There was a pattern there. Allowing recreations of things lost.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ his lips curve at that. ]

That's what illusions are good for.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor just chuckles quietly at that, going back to his drink. Even he will admit that reality is too harsh at times. It is now, at very least. Trickery has its place and he knows that these works of Loki's aren't malicious. It could be out of sentiment or just a will to see if it could be done... he's not particularly concerned what it is. Those efforts his brother has been making to do helpful things, though? That's heartening if nothing else is.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ at least it's no longer tinged with the bitterness loki carried in his heart for so long. the fact that he could even say so to thor is a large step. or maybe loki is just making sure what can be said is said. before it's too late.

he takes a sip. ]

I hope it helps, regardless.

[rebuildyourruins]

We'll see, I suppose.

[Help is such a foreign concept at this point. He knows Loki has concerns... still, the enormity of everything seems beyond help a lot of the time. Where do you even start?]

[dothelokimotion]

[ many, many concerns as loki clearly eyes thor skeptically before turning to his drink, his expression twisting. ]

Hm.

Do you remember what I said? On the ship?

[rebuildyourruins]

[Exhaling through his nose, he looks Loki in the eye.]

Yes. Which part?

[dothelokimotion]

[ for a moment, it feels like his courage fails him but loki presses his lips together, continuing. it's not about timing or the right place. it's about the things that need to be said. just in case. ]

The part about undying fidelity. I know that it matters to you, this idea of . . . failure.

[ he swallows tightly. ]

But above all else, I believe in you. It will not change.

[rebuildyourruins]

[His free hand curls into a fist on his knee, lips pressed tightly together. Being reminded of his failure, even like this, sends a frisson of tension through him. It's hot and suffocating.]

It isn't just an idea.

[That's all he wants to say about it. All he will say about it. Because what Loki said after is more important, even if it makes his heart ache.]

I haven't-- earned that, Loki. I didn't avenge you.

[dothelokimotion]

[ he wonders if it's worth telling thor that he never expected it. to be avenged, to be saved. honestly, it still sounds laughable to him. that loki would ever rate so highly. but it wouldn't help thor to hear that. instead he says. ]

I don't care.

[ which isn't entirely true. some small, jealous, needy part of him does. the weight of actions makes loki feel better about himself, but it's small and it gets smaller every time he sees thor like this. ]

I don't need you to earn it. I don't want — to be an unfulfilled ghost on your shoulder, Thor. I just wanted you to live.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Maybe Loki doesn't need it, but Thor does. He needs to do something, anything, to bring a sense of justice to those fallen. Loki stands at the head of a long line of them, Asgardians and friends and strangers alike.

At the same time Thor wants to grasp at it. This belief Loki has, absurd though it feels to him. He finds he doesn't have the same reserves of his own anymore to draw upon; he's been drying up for months, losing more and more of it as time went on.

A tiny shake of his head, centring, before he looks up once more.]

I did. I am. But it was at... such a cost. I didn't want it to be like this.

[dothelokimotion]

Neither did I.

[ but loki always knew that thanos would come for him. that it was inevitable. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

[In a strange, sad way that's heartening to hear. Thor knows this of course. Loki has said it before: he didn't want to die there. He wanted to live as well. Oftentimes though it can be hard to recall that, when the memory of Loki walking to his certain death still permeates his mind.

Thor musters a faint smile, on slightly steadier ground.]

What a mess.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shrugs, taking a long swig of his drink. wherever you go, death and destruction follows. ]

One thing at a time, brother. One thing at a time.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah, I know.

[Easier said than done. He finishes off his glass and signals for a new one, shaking his head.]

We're here now. That is what matters.