the other kind of endgame.

[rebuildyourruins]

Who: Thor + others
Broadcast: no
Action: the First Breath + some other places
When: June 7th onwards

[A number of closed starters for Thor's canon update to Avengers Endgame. Hit me up on dudemeister if you want one!]

Comments

[shroudedsecrets]

[Even for those for whom time passes differently, being stuck in a place like this is enough to comprehend the length of a year alone and how much could change.

To have a gap like that of five years, and then to come back here and have it all rush back in... yeah. She gets it. It sounds terrible, even without having the details.]

Seems as though it was five years too long. You did not waste any time after your return.

[Because she could sense that there was an implication there, that it may have been five years without Loki.]

[rebuildyourruins]

Mmm.

[He agrees, without much hesitation. Thor glances towards the doorway of the kitchen; Loki isn't there, but it's who he's thinking about.]

You know... my whole family is gone. Loki was the last one left, and when he was killed -- our people are long-lived. I am over a thousand years old. But those five years still felt like centuries, without them.

[shroudedsecrets]

[She's quiet for a moment, allowing that to sink in. Certainly, she was familiar with Loki's telling of such things, filling in gaps where he was not direct... but she had never truly heard Thor's perspective on it before. It was a familiar ache.]

The ones who survive are the ones who bear the burden of loss.

[And lose themselves to it.]

It is no wonder that you did not waste time upon your return to come here. To join him. What this reality offers us is... precious. If we could but hold on to it.

[rebuildyourruins]

[All he can do is nod. The burden of loss is something he's become all too familiar with, between his own family, his people ... his universe. Some of those wrongs had been righted, but so many of those he had lost did not fall to Thanos's use of the Stones. Those people were gone for good.

Except for what the Fleet has given him.]

I have no intention of letting go of it. I'm done being at the whims of other beings. I will not let the Atroma have their way with us.

[shroudedsecrets]

Those are powerful words.

[His words speak much, for what he'd been through, dragged back and forth between universe and memory. There was something scary about the fact that he had done so as many times. To forget all that was here.

But he had returned. He did recall. There was something to admire about that strength, that resolve.

There's also just something about Thor's presence that has her smiling more often around him than most others, even if she's not really sure why. Some kind of ancient nostalgia, an oddly comforting presence.]

It is good that he has you.

[rebuildyourruins]

Do you think so?

[It's not that Thor wouldn't gladly agree. But he's failed Loki before. He's gone these last few years without his brother, without anyone, and it's hard to see how anyone really benefits from Thor's presence. The sharpness of that doubt has blunted recently, after rejoining the Avengers and defeating Thanos. It's not something easily swept under the rug, even so.]

I hope to make certain of it. Even if he tries to say otherwise.

[shroudedsecrets]

I know so.

[She would not say such a thing if she did not believe in it. She did not know all of their story, but she knew enough. She cared enough for Loki, to want the siblings to find a way to survive this together. For him to not be left behind or sent to his certain fate, and yet, here was Thor, who had ended up alone...]

You are here for him... and he is here for you.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yes. We are now, even if we weren't before.

[And that will have to be enough, going forward.]

[shroudedsecrets]

Your chances are better here.

[Home universes were the worst, but she was glad these sibling pairs were all united as they should have been.

Maybe she should attempt to lighten this up...?]

Perhaps you should promote yourself to his First Mate. No one else would be worthy of that role.

[rebuildyourruins]

[He chuckles a bit, shaking his head.]

Oh, I think there are plenty who would be. Especially since I just abandoned my own captaincy, I don't feel I'm a good fit for it.

[It's a casual statement. He's well at ease with the decision.]

[shroudedsecrets]

That is fair. Although you did not seem willing to do that before.

[To abandon his Captaincy. But with what had shifted, it hardly seemed of consequence now.]

Yet none of us have ever stepped up to do so. Though he has prioritized wanting to be the one to care for things in that capacity.

[His ship, that was always very clear, with Loki. And she was ever one who stayed in her place.]

[rebuildyourruins]

Things change, Haggar.

[As do people. Thor had already handed over his throne to someone else. Resigning his captaincy was a trifle compared to that.]

I don't think he needs me in that role, to be honest. It's important for him to be able to be in charge of his own affairs.

[shroudedsecrets]

[She nods. Well... she could certainly understand that now. More than before.]

... That is fair. You will find an arrangement that suits you both, whatever that may be.

[If living vicariously through other families was all she could do now, she at least wanted theirs to succeed, given her fondness for them, the benefit of having Loki in her life. Although, speaking of changes, there was one particular change she had been less... vocal about, but so rarely did she get addressed by name.]

... Perhaps I should tell you. My name is Honerva.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, is it? I will use that then. Honerva.