#Loki et Sylvie

[alwida10]

Loki season 1: divided the fandom in an unprecedented way.

Loki season 2: does what everyone thought impossible and unifies the fandom.

….

… in the shared feeling of disapproval regarding “the other” Loki fans.

#loki series negativity #loki series critical #loki series criticism #this is mostly for documentation of the crumbling fandom #the Loki series did what no Thor movie -not even ragnarok- managed #it doomed loki #Feige et al. never intended for him to keep him around as much as they ended up #all because of his massive fandom #and devoted fans #divide and conquer #they managed to divide the fandom which drives away massive amounts of fans #most of the remaining focus rather on infighting than fan-activities #it’s already obvious season 2 has much less hype than season 1 #this is the beginning of the landslide #the next installment after this will have even less #and then Loki will be remembered as he is shown in “his show” #Sylvie might prevail tho #she has potential

[nostalgia-tblr]

Et voila, le awkward sex scene! Note the dubcon warning I've added on account of how awkward it all is. (It might not be needed, let me know what you think?)

Title: The Winter Of Our Discontent (Chapter 3/15) (AO3) Fandom: MCU Rating: Explicit Pairing: Loki/Sylvie Wordcount: ~2000 for this chapter Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence - Thor (2011), Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Blood and Violence, Sexism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Wedding Night, Bad Sex, Procreative Sex, Alcohol, Dubious Consent Chapter Summary/Extract: “Let’s get this over with, husband.”

#my fic #The Sylki Arranged Marriage AU #i feel like i should apologise for this chapter

[mthofferings]

black_feather_fiction

See black_feather_fiction’s existing works here.

Preferred contact methods: Tumblr: black-feather-fiction

Preferred organizations: - Center for Reproductive Rights - Native American Rights Fund - RIP Medical Debt - The Bail Project - Transgender Law Center (See the list of approved organizations here)

Will create works that contain: As you can probably tell from my AO3 works, my specialty is angst, hurt/comfort, whump and dark themes. Sometimes I write crack if the mood hits me. In general, angsty and/or whumpy prompts will be much more likely to get me inspired than fluffy ones. I really like writing Loki-centric fics, obviously, since about almost everything I've written for AO3 so far was Loki-centric, lol. I am also a real sucker for the trope of the original Avengers living in Stark Tower in domestic bliss, Clint hiding in the vents, Natasha being creepy and Loki dropping by occasionally to cause trouble and be a little shit. So if you want to ignore everything post TDW or even post Avengers (2012), that's more than fine by me!

Will not create works that contain: Omegaverse, pure fluff without at least some tension or angst, Dark!Tony, fics hating on the Loki series or on Sylvie, Slyki etc. Dark Themes, especially sexual abuse and rape/non-con: I do write about that, and quite regularly too, but fics that depict it in a positive or uncritical way or go too much into the abuser POV squick/trigger me, especially if a fictional minor is involved, so that would be a no. I usually don't get very inspired by human AUs, coffeshop AUs and the like. Exceptions may occur. No reader-insert or fics focussing on Loki/ofc, Loki/omc or Loki & ofc, Loki & omc.

  -- Fic or Other Writing --

Auction ID: 1037

Will create works for the following relationships: Loki fandom any gen - MCU Loki/Tony Stark - MCU Loki/Thor - MCU Loki/Sylvie - MCU

Work Description: Length: 1000 to 4000 words should work in any case, but experience has shown that if I get inspired by the prompt, I might write a much, much longer fic (my fic for 2022 ended up with more than 45k, lol). Please tell me if you have an upper word limit. Scheduling: Since I have a small gremlin I have to care for, my free time is even more unpredictable by now than it was a year ago. So I won't give any estimates here except that I will try very hard to keep to the soft deadline of one year. Loki/Sylvie: Be aware that I will depict the relationship as a queer and genderfluid one. Loki will not necessarily be considered always male, Sylvie not necessarily always female, and their relationship will definitely not be straight.

Ratings: Mature, Explicit

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

#black_feather_fiction #auction: fic #mth 2023

[honoka-marierose]

Ahead of the release of Disney+'s Loki Season 2, two new Marvel Studios Legends episodes were released on the streaming platform.

Since the beginning of Phase 4, Marvel Studios has released episodes of a series called Legends ahead of every major project, highlighting certain characters or aspects that will play a prominent role in an upcoming movie or Disney+ show.

The Loki Season 2 episodes were already previously announced back in August.

For example, the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy team each received their own episode before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was released in theaters, and each one of those installments focused on its respective character and their journey throughout the MCU up to that point.

Loki Season 2's Marvel Studios Legends Episodes

Season 2 of Loki will officially begin streaming on Disney+ starting on Thursday, October 5, but ahead of that, two new Loki-centric episodes of Marvel Studios Legends are now available for fans to watch.

The two episodes that will continue to build hype for Season 2 aren't focused on any specific characters.

Tom Hiddleston's Loki already received his own episode before Season 1 came out, so the two new episodes will be about something else.

The first new episode of Legends is titled "TVA" and takes viewers throughout the history of the Time Variance Authority as seen in Loki Season 1.

This episode just serves as a bit of a refresher to what the TVA is in general and the role it played in the show's first batch of episodes.

The second episode of Legends that was released stays along the same lines as it is called "Variants."

Variants have become a huge element of Phase 4, and Season 1 of Loki is largely to thank for introducing fans to different versions of popular characters.

The "Variants" episode also plays some of the hits of Season 1, showing the different Loki Variants that were prominent throughout the show. It also features Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror from Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, as Majors will play a major role in Season 2 as Victor Timely, a Variant of the Conqueror.

Where is Mobius & Sylvie?

Fans may be a little confused as to why Marvel Studios would elect to give the TVA and Variants their own episodes of Marvel Studios Legends instead of Owen Wilson's Mobius and/or Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie.

Mobius and Sylvie are extremely important characters and were already confirmed to be by Loki's side in the greater portion of the upcoming Season 2.

However, the answer to why they didn't receive their own episodes is fairly simple.

Sylvie is featured a lot in the "Variants" episode of Legends as she is a Variant herself. That episode talked about her in great detail and even showcased her big moment at the end of Season 1 when she killed He Who Remains.

Mobius' case is fairly similar to Sylvie's. He was the focal point of the TVA's episode of Legends that was just released. However, not much was talked about him as a character rather the TVA itself and how he was a member.

Seeing as how Mobius was so important in Season 1 and will likely continue to be just as much in Season 2, he probably could have benefited from his own episode.

It also wouldn't have hurt the fans any, seeing as how an episode focused solely on him would have refreshed everyone's memory of his role in the first installment.

The first episode of Season 2 of Loki will be available to stream on Disney+ on Thursday, October 5 at 9 p.m. ET.

#marvel #marvel comics #marvel entertainment #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #loki #loki season one #loki season two #loki season 2 #marvel studios #disney #disney+ #tom hiddelson #loki laufeyson #sylvie laufeydottir #he who remains #mobius m mobius

[beaft]

i drafted a bunch of posts about this when the loki show was airing and never published any of them and they were all kind of rambly/nonsensical anyway, and now it's too late and nobody cares anymore, but here's my two cents on the Sylvie Problem:

i think there was a lot of misogyny surrounding people's responses to her. i think she was a pretty good character. i hate the fandom trend of "there's a woman here and she gets in the way of our ship so we're gonna be mean to her actress on Twitter", or responding to a legitimately well-written female character with apathy or dislike just because she doesn't live up to your exacting standards, and i especially hate the term "mary-sue". (it's dated and sexist. we all know this. it's 2022, come on.)

but at the same time...

you cannot introduce a completely new character to your show who has no prior history with your protagonist and then make it so she's the one moving the plot forward, she's the one with all the motivation and character development, she's the one the protagonist falls in love with, et cetera. or - well, you can, but it's gonna feel weird, because audiences are gonna look at your protagonist and go "ok so why are we supposed to care about this guy again"

sylvie was a good character she was just in the wrong show

#she could've had her own show without loki involved at all and nothing would have changed #which from a storytelling standpoint... not great

[filmsetseriespourtous]

Loki, saison 2 : à ne pas manquer sur Disney +

La saison 2 de la série en streaming « Loki » de Marvel, débarque sur Disney Plus, et bien qu'elle ne soit plus aussi novatrice, elle continue de divertir grâce à son duo principal, Tom Hiddleston et Owen Wilson. Dans cette nouvelle saison, le continuum espace-temps est en plein chaos après que Sylvie ait éliminé « Celui qui Reste », créant ainsi de nombreuses lignes temporelles divergentes.

Crédit image : marvelousRoland via Wikimedia Commons / Attribution – Partage dans les Mêmes Conditions 2.0 Générique (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)

#loki #disney + #marvel

[streampourvous]

Loki saison 1 épisode 4

Regarder Loki saison 1 épisode 4 en streaming VF VOSTFR HD L'anxiété prévaut au TVA alors que Mobius et le chasseur B-15 sont à la recherche de Loki et Sylvie. Read the full article

[what-does-the-moose-say]

I feel like the casting of Loki (the tvshow) failed on the part of casting Lady Loki/Sylvia was it? She should for all intents and purposes look like Tom Hiddlestone on estrogen. Hrt.

#after many hot takes on wandavison and falcon wintersoldier i will only say this about loki (the tvshow) #i am unable to shut up so we see #was it sylvi? sylvi is also the name of a norwigian rightwing racist cunt. En jævla rasistisk fitte As we say in norway #et jævlig rasshøl av et menneske #anyaway

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

So many Sylvie and the TVA series stans shitting on pre-series Loki really proves the point that the show was never made for actual Loki fans at all

Right? I've seen so many people claim that the Loki we saw in the movies was written oh so badly and wasn't a good character until Herron et al got to him and gave him growth and character development and I just.... WTF, man.

And this isn't about who is a real fan and who isn't because I hate that gatekeeping bullshit but it's quite obvious that in the series they grabbed one of the most complex characters and stripped him of everything that made him who he was then turned him into someone a lot simpler and easy to read. Which sure, that's great for the newcomers who have never seen anything MCU-related before but for those of us who have been fans for a decade? We know better.

That's the biggest mistake Marvel made. They knew we wanted him so they kept on bringing him back and they wrote him wonderfully in the first Thor movie and the Avengers, he was pretty good in TDW, not so much in Ragnarok but he was still recognizable.

But about the time Disney+ comes along the MCU is already +26 movies long and they want more viewers = more fans = more money so they grab one of the most popular characters and give him a show but the intention was never to tell a story about him, the whole point of the series was to grab the attention of the general audience to hook them up for Phase 4, and if you take the time to talk about his character then the new viewers will clock out because they don't have the background info, they don't know this guy and don't care.

So he's stripped of everything, a new character is included in the show so that not only the newcomers but old fans have to be acquainted to her and hopefully the fact that the series never gives the spotlight to Loki goes unnoticed, and there's enough talk about alternate universes and variants and time shenanigans so that even older fans will forget about Loki and talk about the TVA and Mobius instead.

I genuinely expected all of the Loki fandom to be mad about that. I knew some people would like the series, and honestly that's fine by me, but I really thought all of us would at least be asking for a story about Loki, that we would be telling Marvel they had spent a decade writing a fantastic character but they ended up ruining him in the end, that it is their fault we're fans of him because they did such a good job in the past and now they kind of shot themselves in the foot with the series.

Never in a million years I expected fans who have been following Loki for years to be happy with what was done to him. I don't get it.

#Loki critical #loki series critical #loki negativity

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

sixish sentence Sunday

been a bit. here’s one especially for @scintillatingshortgirl19 because we were talking about this a while ago.

see, the more I thought about wanting to write something for President Loki, the more I also wanted to relate it to this immensely adorable fanart from @murdermuffinloki, so at this point the general concept is that after the finale, our Loki convinced Mobius et al. that he really was an analyst, got a TemPad and a dorm room or whatever, and pruned himself so he could look for Sylvie in the Void, with the additional vague idea that maybe, if they weren’t all awful, other inhabitants of the Void might be interested in helping with the Kang Situation in exchange for a way out of there. naturally he stumbles across President Loki first.

I have no idea when I might be able to turn this into an actual fic, because at the moment I’ve just written some disconnected chunks of President Loki yelling at our Loki and it’s always hard to turn those into a conversation after the fact, but the alternative is forgetting them entirely while I try to come up with the other parts of the conversation. anyway here’s a snippet.

“Oh, I see,” the other Loki says, sneering. “You think you’re better than us because you’re new. You looked at all of us in that ridiculous brawl and thought you were seeing something profound about the nature of a Loki, and then you thanked the Norns that you were different, that you were capable of change. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been here?”

“No,” Loki says.

The variant’s grin is wide and utterly devoid of humor. “Neither do I.”

#six sentence sunday #fanfic #loki #loki show #marvel cinematic universe #loki series #president loki #occasionally I write things

[moumouton4]

Guys I have a theory about our Loki 💚

Theory Time :

The first episode is about the soul stone 🧡

This stone is orange like the inside of the facility of the TVA. It is about Loki's soul and how he was, have to be and how he will be. There is also the scene with the Are you a robot ? Have you a real soul ?

The second episode is about the reality stone ❤

Same for the colour in the shop all red. And he meets Sylvie who is him. His new reality. He can only count on him, on her. When he choose to follow her the lights came back to normal. Because he followed this reality, his.

The third is about the power stone, the purple one. 💜

Colour thing : Lamentis ( the planet ) is purple. And Sylvie et Loki are using their powers and they try to control each other. Sylvie showed him how her magic works.

The 4 th ep is a bit more complicated.

It I about the space stone, the blue one. 💙

The colour blue is present during the last scene with the Times Keepers and Loki's death. This stone is what Loki wanted, and it is also what brings him to death in Infinity War. Finaly in this episode we travel in à lot of places : Lamentis, the TVA, Mobius office, Rennslayer's office, the scene with Sylvie and B-15, where Loki is with Sif and the room with the Times Keepers. A lot of places for the space stone.

The 5th is for the time stone, the green one. 💚

Loki, Sylvie and Mobius are in a chaotic place wich take place at the end of times. Loki met Old himself, Young too and Loki like him but just few times ago when he was obsessed by power. Also Loki's colour is green and the episode was full of Loki. 🥰 The last scene when Loki and Sylvie fight Aliot there is a green shadow surounding them.

The last episode will be about the mind stone, the yellow one. 💛

I remind you all that in the first épisode when Loki finds all the Infinity stones we didn't see the mind one. We can only see it in the credits. At the end of the episode.

The last episode will reveale the mastermind of the serie. Who is this son of a b**ch who created the TVA. And maybe a Loki is the mastermind because in the original timeline, Thanos gave him this stone wich is in his Seidr, is it why he could control Hawkeye. Maybe in another timeline he didn't lost it and he kept it.

Searching his glorious destiny and snatching all the Lokis, it is why we have all this Lokis in the 4th episode. We also didn't see the King Loki in the serie threaler.

And well this place has à beautifull YELLOW colour. And it takes us back where all begins : New York when Loki still has his Seidr and the mind stone.

It is all for my theory bent.

But I guess the serie was quite annoying for me because of the lack of powerfull Loki. But maybe he was here since the beginning. I think we will see the biggest plotwist of the world. And then binge-watche the serie again.

I think they want us to believe in Loki but that will made us blind that he is the bad guy that we needed. Because a serie about Loki without a trick sounds weird. The Loki we followed no, but if another one is playing with the TVA's members and all the people through space and time was a Loki too. This one would definetely be the bad guy.

So the final fight would be against himself ? Said @electroma89

Like in Wandavision, with Vision vs. Vision or in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, with New Cap vs. The guy who think he is Cap, or in Endgame Cap vs. Cap.

#loki series #mcu loki #loki disney+ #loki the god of mischief #loki the variant #loki theories #theory #marvel #loki laufeyson #infinity stones

[mthofferings]

Raine

See Raine’s existing works here and here.

Preferred contact methods: Discord: 3raine Tumblr: meralasan Twitter: merala_san

Preferred organizations: - Anything from the list of approved organizations

Will create works that contain: all the topics and tropes, AUs, angst, fluff, dark!characters, gore, kidfic, kinks, ships with OCs

Will not create works that contain: incest, underage, shippy content featuring father/mother figure and their protegé, complicated backgrounds, complicated mecha characters, Loki/Sylvie

  -- Art --

Auction ID: 1058

Will create works for the following relationships: Tony Stark/Any - MCU Tony Stark-centric - MCU Erik Lehnsherr-centric - X-Men movieverse Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier - X-Men movieverse Steve Rogers/Any - MCU Loki-centric - MCU Loki/Any - MCU Venom fandom any gen and ship - Venom movieverse Avengers fandom any gen and ship - MCU

Work Description: I am offering one fully rendered sfw picture with the specified ship (throuples are also welcome!). Apart from the selected ships, I am also open to drawing rarepairs, including drawing Character/OC. Please see my DNWs for exceptions. I am a bit busy at the moment with providing content for my Patreon page and other commissions, however, I can provide the first sketch fairly quickly (2-3 weeks) and then update you regularly on the progress. If you have any questions or specific ideas that you're not sure are my cup of tea based on the provided portfolio, please reach out to me before bidding so we can discuss them :)

Ratings: Gen, Teen

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Art --

Auction ID: 2034

Will create works for the following relationships: Tony Stark-centric - MCU Tony Stark/Any - MCU Steve Rogers/Any - MCU Steve Rogers-centric - MCU Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier - X-Men movieverse Avengers fandom any gen and ship - MCU Loki/Any - MCU Venom fandom any gen and ship - Venom movieverse

Work Description: I am offering one fully rendered nsfw picture with the specified ship (throuples are also welcome!). Apart from the selected ships, I am also open to drawing rarepairs, including drawing Character/OC. I'm also open to Marvel/CoD crossover ships! :) I'd be so excited to draw a crossover between Marvel and CoD characters. Please see my DNWs for exceptions. I am a bit busy at the moment with providing content for my Patreon page and other commissions, however, I can provide the first sketch fairly quickly (2-3 weeks) and then update you regularly on the progress. If you have any questions or specific ideas that you're not sure are my cup of tea based on the provided portfolio, please reach out to me before bidding so we can discuss them :)

Ratings: Mature, Explicit

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

#Raine #auction: art #mth 2023

[silversoulstardust]

regarding that Japanese Marvel tweet saying something about a huge betrayal

nah gais I don't think Sylvie will betray Loki that will destroy Loki's character growth for sure (he went from "trust are for dogs and children" in ep 1 to "she's the only one I do trust" in ep 5) and so far it was never hinted that Sylvie is evil. they have done well to make us sympathize with her for being on the run since she was like 9 years old and making her the villain for shock value is just an awful direction to take.

my bet on this take is another Loki variant played by Tom Hiddleston. It is afterall....a show called Loki. What's better than having the protagonist be our Loki, supporting characters are a bunch of Lokis and the antagonist is another Loki?

it's like another one of those " @loki et tu, brute?" moments y'know

#its chaotic but doable for loki series #loki #sylvie #loki series #loki theory #chrmz.txt #do not tag as Sylki!

[lokiondisneyplus]

Director Kate Herron calls from her childhood bedroom. She's staying at her parents' home in Southeast London for the summer, having spent the past year apart due to the pandemic and directing her latest series, Marvel's Loki. "It's so surreal seeing the show go out," she says over Zoom, "and being in the room that I was last in as a teenager."

Loki's first three episodes have seen the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) team up with Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and the all-powerful Time Variance Authority to track down a fugitive Variant of himself: A female Loki that goes by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) who's set on blowing up the Sacred Timeline and, with it, the MCU as we know it.

"My dad, bless him, he was never into Marvel before, but now he's obsessed with it," she says. "When I got the job, he started watching his way through the films, and he's got all these different YouTubers that he now watches for theories, and he tries to get spoilers out of me. He's like, 'What does it mean?!' and I'm like, 'Dad, I can't tell you!' It's very sweet, but very funny."

Now, with three episodes left of the season, she's bracing for their first family viewing experience. "I might not be able to, though. I might be like, 'You have to watch it by yourselves and then we can talk!'" she laughs. "Wait to hear the Loki theme and be like, 'Oh, I can go downstairs now.'"

In the meantime, Herron fielded all of ET's midseason questions about making Loki's bisexuality canon in the MCU, flexing more of his magic than ever before and why Sylvie isn't really Lady Loki or the Enchantress.

We are halfway through the season. Outside your parents, how has the reaction felt so far?

It's been amazing. We had these big ideas in it -- like, about free will and good and evil -- and wanting to [know that] if we're going back in with Loki because he's so beloved, that it's going to be a good story for that character, but some fresh terrain. I think the response has been pretty joyous and it's just so fun seeing what people are liking, what people's theories are. I couldn't be more happy, to be honest.

Being someone who appears pretty online and active on social media, how deep are you going into reading what people say and diving into those theories and all that?

I definitely read a lot of them -- I don't comment on them -- but I used to love Lost and Game of Thrones, and I was on Reddit, commenting, like, "Ooh, maybe it means this or means this," and I think that's the fun thing with our show, right? Our fans are so smart and it's fun seeing what they're getting right and what's not right but is very interesting. The Easter eggs they dig up are always amazing to me. Some of them we put in there, and I'm like, "Well, let's see..." and I'm like, "Oh, they found it!" So, it's really fun tracking it online. It's very weird directing something where you know every frame will be [screen]grabbed by some fans because they're looking for stuff.

I loved your tweet about why it was important for you to confirm that Loki is bisexual in the show. Not really reveal -- because he's bisexual in the comics -- but make that canon. Talk to me about having those conversations with Marvel.

I think it was something very important to everyone. And I felt like, OK, how can we acknowledge this? We have aspects of the story that are there, so how do we build this into the story so it feels earned in the moment? I didn't want it to feel like we were just wedging something in, but we had this beautiful scene where these two characters are being really raw and really honest about who they are, and I was like, "Well, it is a part of who he is and who they are." For me, talking with Michael [Waldron] and Bisha [K. Ali], it just felt like it was the right moment for that line. This episode is really beautiful for me, because it's these two characters getting to know each other, so in that sense, it felt like the right place for that conversation to happen. And I thought it was done really beautifully by the writers.

Obviously, like I've said, it's very personal to me, and I said it was a small step in some ways -- because obviously, he's just talking about it -- but in the bigger scale of things, I'm like, oh no, it's massive actually. If I saw that when I was 10, it would be really big for me. It's been really nice getting comments from people online. Some people were like, "It helped me actually talk about how I feel to my family and helped me come out." And I thought, "Well, if it helped one person do that, then it's worth it."

This is the MCU's first lead character who is openly queer. Did you know that? Were you aware of how big a milestone this would be?

Yeah. Well, in some senses, yes, and in some senses you're never sure, right? Because [Marvel is] so secretive about all their other projects. [Laughs] For me, I was like, I'm telling Loki's story, it's a part of who they are and I just want to acknowledge it. It's canon in the comics and if we can make it canon in the films, that would be amazing. When I came on board, I was like, if there's a way to do this, it would mean a lot to me and, I'm sure, a lot of people. But it was very welcomed, and I think we're all very proud of how we did that.

This may be getting into spoiler territory that you aren't able to talk about, but acknowledging one's sexuality is one important part of representation, seeing it play out through relationships is another. Can we expect to see any further exploration of what it means for Loki to be bisexual in this show?

I'm trying to think how to answer your question. [Laughs] I would say in our story, this is how we acknowledge it. But I hope that that paves the way for deeper exploration.

We're halfway through the season. What were your biggest goals in these first three episodes?

I think the biggest one was obviously, the Loki we're with in this story is on a completely different path, so it was tracking his character in the sense that he basically sees this amazing arc that the other Loki had gone on across the MCU movies, he sees that he reconciles with his brother, but that wasn't him in that moment. He's watching a different version of himself. But seeing that moment and seeing that he has room for growth and change is really interesting with our Loki, because he's in a very different headspace. So, it was tracking, what's familiar about this character from the Loki that we've seen over the last 10 years go from villain to antihero? And what is going to be completely different and completely different sides to this character that we get to now dig our teeth into? That was something really important to me and to Tom and the writing team, and it was really fun unpacking that and what his identity means.

The other challenges, honestly, were just setting up the TVA, because it's outside of time and space and giving that a grounding and a reality and making that feel like a whole new exciting corner of the MCU. That was a big responsibility, and I was really excited by that. And then you have the bigger arc of the story, but you also knowing it's going out weekly on TV. So, how are we going to track this week by week. Where are we leaving the characters and what are we leaving for the audience? Something we always thought about was we knew there'd be discussion week to week, so it was like, "Where are we going to give them certain bits of information across the show?" We wanted to provoke conversation and discussion about even just things like free will, you know?

I will say about the TVA, I'm basically a human Miss Minutes stan account. I think she's the baddest bitch in the MCU. I watch every Miss Minutes fancam that pops up on my Twitter feed.

She's incredible! What I love about it is that she's in our first episode and she actually used to come out of the presentation that Loki watches -- she came out on the screen -- but it was too crazy. We were like, "OK, we can't do that in the first episode. We'll do it in the second episode!" But what I love about her is that we're seeing the TVA through Loki's eyes and it's, like, the status quo, right? And if our status quo is a Southern-talking, Roger Rabbit-style clock, the show is going to probably get quite weird. I think that's what I love about her. And obviously, Tara [Strong] is awesome. Yeah, Miss Minutes is a lot of fun.

You talked about exploring who Loki is and could be. He's always had an arsenal of powers, but in this series, you really get to explore and define what his power set is. What were those conversations like?

That was something else, coming in, I was so excited about. We have six hours of him, let's see some more magic. Because across the comics, he's super powerful, and for example, in the last episode, that's what was so exciting to me about that, the oner at the end of episode 3 was that I've seen a lot of oners but I haven't seen one with magic. So, I was like, let's put loads of magic in there! We get Loki using his telekinesis and his magic blasts and then also Sylvie, as well, and her powers.

For me, it was exciting getting to bring those in in a way that pushed the story forwards. Because I get it, when he first lands in the TVA, they can't use magic, so I know if I was watching, I'd be like, "What? No magic?!" But I think that's the fun thing is, we still have three episodes to go and also it was fun to put him on Lamentis and see him using his powers in different ways. It was definitely something important to me and the team, was to get to show a little bit more of him. But across the films, you can only do so much. Now we have six hours, so it felt like, of course we have to delve into that more.

I don't know if you saw this on Twitter, one of my favorite reactions to episode 3 was someone tweeted a screenshot of Sylvie screaming and her hands glowing and wrote, "she did the meme!!"

[Laughs] That's great!

We've now officially met Sylvie, and we're starting to piece together that this may be sort of a hybrid character of Lady Loki and Sylvie Lushton, the Enchantress. Are you able to confirm that you pulled from both to create your Sylvie? Or is that something that's to be further revealed?

I would say there's more to be delved into. One thing I would say is, like, she's different to the comics. Like, she's a unique character, but obviously, there's things that have been pulled from. I think for her character, she's on the run and she's called Sylvie and she's dyed her hair. The blonde that we associate with Sylvie is played in that sense, but it makes sense for her character within our story. But I would say deeper than that, yeah, there's more to be revealed about her character to comes.

The main thing I would say is: Lady Loki in the comics is a very different character to our character, obviously. I love that character and I think she's got a very different journey. But our Sylvie is a female Loki, in that sense -- because in episode 1 and 2, they know it's a Loki they're tracking -- but I think that's part of the discussion. It's almost like Loki -- as in Tom Loki -- he's like, "Wait, how much of my life have you got? Who are you?" And I think that's the real question is, who is she? So, we will discuss that as the show goes on. Why does she not like being called Loki? What's her past? Where did she come from?

Tom and Sophia have such great chemistry, but how challenging was it for you and Michael and Sophia and the writers to create a character that essentially has to match up with our Loki, who's had however many films to become the fan-favorite character that he is?

It starts in the writing. Because she's a unique creation, and that was exciting and I was intrigued where they were pulling from with the comics. I was like, OK, that's cool. Beyond that, I think it's casting it. Sophia is an incredible actor. I've worked with her before. She has this fire in her and she brings this amazing vulnerability to all her characters, but she's also, like, so funny. It's just, so many of these things she always brings, I was like, they're so Loki. So, I was like, "We've got to get her to read!" And we were just all blown away by her read of it.

She definitely can hold her own. That's the other thing, as well. I know her, and I was like, she will hold her own. I know she will. Because she's going against Tom's Loki and that's such the fun thing about them. Even just on the train, where it's the end of the world and Loki's solution is, "I'm going to have a party and I'm going to have a drink. I'm going to have a lovely time." And her solution is, "I'm not going to have a glass of champagne, thanks. I'm going to focus on the mission of getting off the moon." Those little differences is what's quite fun about them to me. How are they different, and how are they the same?

Was there something you got to do as a director in these first three episodes that you had never done before that you were especially excited or nervous or both to tackle?

I suppose so much of the show, right? Because I've done a lot of drama and a lot of comedy, but they were like, "Here you go! Here's the reins to this massive, genre-driven piece where you have to set up a new corner of the MCU and you're going to have this beloved character." There was a lot to carry. But I'd say in terms of something I was excited about, only because Kevin Feige was teasing me, when we filmed the big oner at the end of episode 3, I was really inspired in the writing, because it sounded like you were really with the characters. I love doing long takes anyway and I remember thinking, "Oh man, this sequence feels like the one that we should do as this oner," because I want the audience to feel like they're with Sylvie and Loki in this moment, and it's also a moment where you finally start to see an apocalypse and it feels more real, because you're seeing the horror and the terror that's going along with that.

For me, that was exciting, but the really cheesy bit that made me so excited is they had these foam rocks that fell on people, but it felt like real movie magic to me. I was so obsessed with the rocks. I was like, "Oh my god. This is like real, big Hollywood filmmaking." And I remember Kevin Feige was like, "You can take a rock home, if you want," and I was like, "Oh my god!" So I have this rock. It's in bubble wrap now, and I'm going to unpack it when I move into my place. But that's probably honestly the most excited I've ever been. [Laughs] I was just so excited by the rocks. Oh, and also, I remember when we were at Roxxcart and Tom gets thrown into those robo dogs, I was obsessed with the robo dogs. He was like, "I think this is the happiest I've ever seen you." So, those are my favorite moments on set. The foam rocks and the robo dogs.

Somebody's going to come into your flat in the future and there's going to be a shelf with just a rock and a robotic dog on it.

Mhmm! And I'll be like, "Yeah, guys, I did something." [Laughs] They'll be like, "What is this...?" But the foam rocks are genuinely amazing, because they look like real, heavy rocks, but they're so light. I was so fascinated with them. I was so excited. I made a lot of low budget stuff before this, so it was a big deal to me.

My favorite part of the first three episodes is the Kate Berlant cameo. How did that come to be?

Basically, I love comedy and my producer, Kevin Wright, does as well, and we were trying to think of people that could be fun. We've got Josh [Fadem] in episode 1, and that was a miracle. I just spoke to her about the part and was like, "This is a very small role, but if you're interested, you're very talented and you're so funny." And she was like, "You know what? That sounds really fun. Renaissance faire? Yeah, I'll come do it." So, it was very kind of her to come down and do that for us. She's so funny, man. She's so funny.

Do you let her riff at all?

We did. We have a lot of alts and a lot of very extended bits of her talking to the Minutemen. I think there's one where she talks about a bird show at the faire. She's so funny. I was very flattered and grateful that she did that for us.

I'm going to start the #ReleaseTheKateBerlantCut campaign. I want a whole episode of her alts. Or she can be the new Stan Lee and cameo in every MCU project. Before I let you go, if you had to choose one word to tease these upcoming three episodes, what is that word?

Hmm. I thought of one word, but then I'm like, it's spoiler-y, so I can't say that. [Laughs] Oh, one word. Exciting? I have to say "exciting," because I can't say the other one I wanted to say!

#Kate Herron #Loki #interview

[chipper9906]

Heal The Cracks Within My Heart - Chapter 12: The Road Not Taken

< - - - Previous Chapter

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LOKI SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 ‘FOR ALL TIME. ALWAYS.’

Pairings: Loki/Sylvie

Rating: General Audiences

Chapter Word Count: 7,785

Overall Word Count: 104,519

Status: Multi Chapter Fic - In Progress (12/?)

Chapter Preview:

“Happiness,” Loki answers. “That’s what we were chasing, wasn’t it? The need for power, to prove ourselves as capable as others… all for that shiny dream of us sat upon the throne. King of the nine realms. And here you are, in that very position I myself fought valiantly to get… and you’re not happy, are you?”

“Do not speak of what you do not know.” Any smugness or arrogance the other Loki had on display has been thoroughly broken down and wiped away. “Who are you to say if I’m happy—”

“What did you have to give up?” Loki continued, despite the flush of anger that crept across his other self’s face. “What did you lose, Loki? Who did you have to sacrifice to achieve what’s brought you nothing but suffering anyway?”

“This is not suffering!” The other Loki whispers harshly. “I am living the life of a king!”

“Are you?”

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* * *

 “Loki!”

Loki barely hears the hushed whisper from next to him, the sound just about enough to pull him out from his forced sleep. A small groan involuntary escapes him as he comes back to consciousness, both the back of his head and his forehead throbbing with every beat of his heart, reminding him of just how exactly he ended up here….

Loki blinks rapidly to clear his blurry vision, taking a few seconds to register that he was on his side, laid out on the floor of... ah. Yes, now that his brain was starting to switch on, he knew why he was getting such a sense of deja vu… Right over there, in the middle of this room, in front of the large glass windows that stretched across this entire room, displaying a rather stunning view of New York City? 

Yeah, that was where he had the sense knocked out of him, or… into him, in a way, by a rather large, green, mean creature… Even now, his back twinged painfully whenever he thought of it. 

“Loki!” Loki’s head snaps in the direction of the call of his name, regretting it almost immediately when his vision swims in response. He pushes down the bout of nausea that comes with it, forcing himself to focus on Sylvie’s -- now -- relieved face as she sees that he’s awake. 

Instantly, he feels his stomach constrict with worry as he takes in the discolored bruises littered across her face, a few spots — such as the sharp angle of her cheekbone or her lip— were stained with blood, some particularly bad hits having split open the skin. 

“You okay?” Sylvie asks. Loki’s eyes drop down to her hands, placed behind her back, restricted by some type of shackles. He frowns at the sight of them, moving his own hands only to realize that he too had had his hands tied up in the same metal contraption. 

“I’ve been better…” Loki groans once again as he struggles to sit up with his hands tied up behind his back. “Gods, Sylvie, your--”

“It looks worse than it feels,” Sylvie brushes off his worry. She then immediately contradicts this claim by spitting out a glob of blood with a pained wince. “Cut open the inside of my cheek… damn thing’s still bleeding.”

“Well, in my defense, you did immediately start swinging with your sword like some sort of barbarian.”

Loki never thought he’d loathe the sound of his own voice quite as much as he did right now. He closes his eyes with a tired-sounding sigh, opening them up again to see the last of the invisibility spell his other self was using disappear, revealing its smug-faced owner. 

“It’s genuinely fascinating.” The other Loki steps over to Sylvie, crouching down in front of her. He cocks his head to the side, analyzing her like she was some sort of study piece to him. He huffs quietly in laughter, glancing over to Loki. “How did you do it?”

“Do… what exactly?” Loki asks. 

“Gain such avid loyalty.” The other Loki looks back to Sylvie for a moment, the fascination still etched onto his face. “Of course, you were unconscious for most of it, so you wouldn’t know, but this one…” The other Loki exhales sharply, shaking a pointed finger up and down at Sylvie. “It might just have been the most feral display I’d ever seen… You went down, hit the floor, lights out, and… she just lost it. Truly, that was a type of rage that, if I had actually been down there, I might just have feared for my life.”

Sylvie shoots the other Loki a steely glare. “Must be losing my touch if you think you ‘might’ have feared that…” 

“I’m sure the soldiers of mine you cut down would disagree,” the other Loki counters with a grin that makes Sylvie shiver in discomfort. “Speaking of, I should probably send out someone to clean up… whatever parts of them remained after you were finished.”

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Sylvie challenged the other Loki. “Or ordered your goons to do it, since you didn’t want to go down and face us yourself. The opportunity was right there, especially after I took down some of your men -- or… whatever those things are.”

“Oh, I was going to,” The other Loki assures her. Except… maybe assured isn’t quite the right word… “The second I was aware of your presence, I was ready to dispose of you, but… well, I couldn’t exactly go and kill someone who bared a shocking resemblance to myself, was being referred to by my name, and had my subjects convinced you were me, without getting some answers. And… as skilled as I am, I’ve yet to master the art of forcing answers from corpses, so…” Loki gestures to them with a swing of his arm and a much too wide smile. “Here we are!”

“Wow…” Loki mumbles. “Even after victory — I assume, anyway — I would have thought…”

The other Loki turns his sharp gaze to him. “You would have thought what?”

“That--” Loki begins, but then falters. His eyes narrow and his brow pinches together, looking back at his other self’s antsy-looking gaze. “You know what? Doesn’t matter.”

“Hmm… I suppose it doesn’t,” the other Loki agrees. He stands up from his crouched position, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get to the whole reason I dragged you up here, shall we?”

“You want answers?” Loki guesses. “Answers we were more than willing to go to you?”

“Well, had to be sure I’d get the truth out of you, didn’t I? Down there, with your weapons on you and me not actually there… you could have told whatever lies you wanted. But now? Here, in this room with me, stripped of your weapons? I imagine you would feel more… inclined to speak the truth.”

“Our answers will be the same either way,” Sylvie tells him. “Lying won’t do us much help.”

The other Loki laughs full-heartedly at that. “I’m sorry, but… if I heard you two right down there, with you calling him Loki, then… I suppose you’re claiming you’re… me?”

“That’s right,” Loki answers. 

“Well, if you’re me, then I know more than anyone that lying most certainly will help. So what reason do I have to believe you’ll tell the truth?”

“Because you said it yourself: you know more than anyone,” says Loki. “Very few are able to sense a Loki deceit — and who better to know when a Loki is lying… than a Loki?”

For a moment, the other Loki just looked at Loki with that same paranoia-filled stare. Then, a small smile slowly crept onto his face as he stepped closer to Loki, copying his earlier move and crouching back down — this time in front of himself. 

“I’ll admit, you have me intrigued,” the other Loki said. “Go ahead -- tell me something.”

“I’m not the only Loki,” Loki told him. “In fact, there’s another one sitting right next to me.”

The other Loki’s eyes swiveled over to Sylvie, glancing up and down before returning his focus to Loki. If he seemed surprised at Loki’s claim, he didn’t show it outwardly. 

“I think I could buy that you’re me more than I could buy that she’s me.” 

“Oh, believe me, it was quite the shock when I first saw her myself,” Loki said, getting a rather annoyed look from Sylvie. “The first few hours I knew her, I thought ‘…how could this woman possibly be another version of myself?’ Sure, we could both be egotistical at times, and share a similar fashion choice and love for magic, but… there are so many ways we aren’t the same. How could someone like me, who hungers for power and control, have a version of myself who wants nothing of the sort? Who would rather destroy that power and control than wield it?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be convincing me?” The other Loki asks. 

“Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Loki agrees. “I know it didn’t for me. You know, when I was searching for her… I was told by someone that she was the ‘superior’ version of me. And I didn’t get that. I… I didn’t get why that claim got under my skin as much as it did. What about her, made her better than me? Was she stronger, perhaps? Had a greater grasp on magic than myself? A master of mischief beyond my abilities, able to escape situations I never could?”

“And is she?” the other Loki asked. “Better than you?”

“Gods, yes.” Loki’s answer took both the other Loki and Sylvie by surprise. “But I couldn’t see that at first. It took me some time, but I realized it eventually. It… it wasn’t about if she was stronger than me, or better at magic, no. Nothing like that… Sylvie is better than me, because… the things she did? They weren’t for power. They weren’t to… to prove to herself or to anyone else that she deserves that power. She doesn’t want it.”

“Oh?” Loki asks as he looks to Sylvie, voice brimming with both genuine curiosity and amusement. “And what is it you do want?”

Sylvie took pause for a moment. That… that was quite the question, wasn’t it? It was the question. If you had asked her that before today, before meeting Loki and the events that transpired after, her answer was simple: ‘Kill the Time—Keepers. Kill those that took my life away from me.’ She supposed, if you wanted to cut it down to one word, it could be made even simpler: ‘Vengeance.’ But now, having got that revenge for herself, sat here with her hands shackled… well, you do hear the cliche that revenge is never what you think it’s going to be. It never solves anything -- Hell, it didn’t even feel all that good. It would be hard to, with the multi-verse cracking open before her very eyes. Any little ebb of satisfaction she thought she’d feel as the life drained from He Who Remains was overshadowed by this deep, dark, all-encompassing numbness settled in her chest from what she had done… of seeing that flash of shock and hurt on Loki’s face as she pushed him away. 

Yes, she had wanted to kill He Who Remains. And she supposed whether that made her feel any better was another question in itself. But the question this Loki was asking her, after achieving what she had set out to do nearly her whole life, now… what did she want?

“Peace,” Sylvie answered, then immediately shook her head. “No, no, I want… Calm. Stillness. I want to… to live. More than just existing, or surviving. I want… to be home, wherever that ends up being for me, and I want to live happy. I don’t want to rely on my anger, or the hate I felt, to keep me going. There shouldn’t have had to be something to keep me going, I -- I should have wanted to keep going, and now I… I’ve found that. I want… to know I won’t have to continue alone.

The other Loki rocked back on his feet, looking to Sylvie thoughtfully as he pondered over her answer. “Sounds… unambitious.”

“To you,” Sylvie fires back. “You had that, for a while. A home. A family. I know you can’t deny you lived most of your life comfortably.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I can’t,” Loki speaks up, shrugging his shoulders when the other Loki looks at him. “Up until the moment we picked up that Tesseract that landed by our feet and were spat out in the desert, our lives have been the exact same. The life of a prince…”

The other Loki scoffed. “The life of a lie.”

“Okay, so we’re still upset about that…” Loki mumbled towards the ground. 

It seems to hit a nerve, the other Loki’s face darkening considerably. “Are you trying to claim that you’re better than me? That it doesn’t still bother you?”

“Oh, so you believe us then?” Sylvie asks. “That we’re you?”

“Not quite.” Loki dismisses her claim with a wave of his hand. “The pieces of the puzzle fit, that’s for certain. But… question is whether they were force-fit together to create the image you want me to see. For one—” The other Loki holds out his hand, materializing the two TemPad’s he had taken from them. “This… is quite the interesting bit of tech. Definitely not of Asgard’s creation and… doesn’t seem to be of Midgards either…”

“It’s not of any of the nine realms,” says Loki, keeping a cautious eye on the other Loki as he jumps up to his feet, TemPad still held securely in hand.“It’s… not of any realm. It comes from a place that exists outside of everything.”

The other Loki gives a high-pitched hum of enthrallment at Loki’s answer. He makes the two of them exceedingly nervous by tapping around on the TemPad’s screen, flipping through various options as he tries to get an understanding of the high-tech object in his grasp. “…Time Door?” The other Loki reads with an amused snort. “There’s an… odd clock face smiling at me here… Are you sure this isn’t a children’s toy?”

“No, and please don’t bring out Miss Minutes here,” Sylvie requests of the other Loki. “It’s more tolerable sitting here talking to you than it is listening to her chipper nonsense…”

“TVA…” The other Loki reads out loud, peering at the corner of the TemPad’s screen. “What is that? A realm? A being?”

“An acronym,” Loki answers. “Stands for the ‘Time Variance Authority.’ They’re… the organization that dictated the flow of time. Every event that’s ever occurred was only allowed to occur if they wanted it to.”

The other Loki laughs in obvious disbelief. “Well, that’s ridiculous. I’m supposed to believe it’s possible to have control over that level of power?”

“I thought the same thing, funnily enough.” Loki packed as much sarcasm into his voice as he possibly could. “Even as they showed me reels of footage showing me my future… I still didn’t believe it. Of course, that all changed when I opened up a drawer and found infinity stones.”

Naturally, this piques the other Loki’s interest. “Infinity Stones? That… that doesn’t make sense…” The other Loki looks away, staring into nothing with a deep frown as he thinks. His head snaps back over to Loki, the frown remaining in place. “Which ones?”

“All of them. Multiples of them, actually. In fact, one of the workers said, and I quote — because I’ll never be able to forget this until the day I die — ‘some of the guys here use them as paperweights.’ And the best part? They were useless! Just like our magic was useless in that hellish place… The most powerful items in the universe reduced to… colorful gems that stopped papers blowing away…”

If they didn’t have every bit of the other Loki’s attention, they sure as hell did now. The main concern the two of them had now was whether this Loki was actually believing any of what they were telling him. But they still had plenty of evidence to put forward, and judging by the way this Loki seemed hooked on their every word… it would probably be safe to say he was going to listen to the full story. 

The other Loki switches his intense gaze between them, and the TemPad he held in his hand. He knocks it against the palm of his other hand as he thinks, inhaling then exhaling deeply as he de-materializes the TemPad. Loki and Sylvie’s eyes follow him as he makes his way to a rather lavish-looking bar tucked away in the corner of the room. He pulls out one of the stools from under the bar’s table, dragging it across the room in a way that creates the most obnoxious sounding screeching sound that has Loki closing his eyes and grinding his teeth with annoyance at himself. 

When he opens his eyes again, it’s to see the other Loki had plopped himself down on the chair in front of the two of them, leaning back against the chair’s back with his arms crossed and staring at them both with laser focus. 

“Come on, then,” Loki beckons. “Convince me. How do two versions of me get involved with an organization that is apparently powerful enough to damper the effects of the infinity stones, and then… end up in front of me.” 

“It could take a while,” Sylvie warns him. “Don’t want to cut into the time for whatever duties you have as ruler of Midgard…” Sylvie raises a questioning eyebrow. “…Or ruler of the nine realms?”

The other Loki immediately begins to laugh at Sylvie’s prodding questions, ducking his head as the last of his laughs trail off. “Tell you what -- you tell me your story first… and I’ll tell you mine. Deal?”

Loki and Sylvie glance to each other, doing their best to bite back their laughter at the proposition. They knew better than anyone that this Loki was dying to tell them the story of his victory either way, so his offer wasn’t much of an offer in the first place. Still, it was a better proposition than… this Loki torturing them for information they wanted to give anyway. 

 “It all started with a portal, a few TVA soldiers, a stick that can slow down time, and a rather debilitating collar…”

* * *

The sun had already descended well past New York City’s skyline by the time their story was wrapped up. What should have been a city full of lights and noise was… rather dull. The odd scattering of buildings here and there had golden light spilling from their windows, but apart from that… there wasn’t much of anything that resembled the city Loki once knew, if only briefly. Without all that light pollution, even the stars were visible up in the night sky…

Not that Loki or Sylvie were paying too much attention to any of this. Rather, their focus went towards the other Loki sat in front of them. He hadn’t moved much since they finished telling their story, apart from to continue chewing at the edge of his thumb’s nail — which Loki assumed was some sort of nervous habit he had picked up at some point. It was oddly… human. 

“And… you claim to have seen Him again?” The other Loki finally asks, removing his thumb from his mouth. “Another version of Him?”

“Well, it... it was kind of hard to make out who it was from how far away we were, but um… it certainly seemed to be, yes,” Loki answers. 

“And what does He want? Same as the other?”

“No clue,” says Sylvie. “But he really seems to want us out of the picture. Enough so that he’s actually jumping timeline to timeline himself to find us.”

The other Loki stands from the chair so abruptly that it startles the two of them, both leaning back instinctively at the sudden movement. There’s not much they can do but watch the other Loki as he paces back and forth in front of the ceiling to floor windows, his arms tightly folded behind his back as he walks. 

“After everything…” The other Loki spits, coming to a sudden stop and turning on the spot to face them. “That’ll be it? I’m not part of the timelines He allows, and I’m just… removed? Just like that?”

“You and a billion other Loki’s,” says Sylvie. “Ourselves included.”

The other Loki scoffs, muttering under his breath as he resumes his pacing. "Of course. Just my luck... You give everything to achieve what you set out to do, and now–" 

Give everything? Loki did not like the sound of that. What did this Loki have to give? What did he have to give? What was everything to him? "... And by give everything, you mean...?"

The other Loki stops his pacing once again, his eyes swiveling over to Loki at his question. "Oh, right, of course," he says with a short bark of laughter. "I was going to tell you my story, wasn't I? How could I forget..." 

The more Loki sat here and listened to this other version of himself, the more he got the feeling that whatever events unfolded for this Loki resulted in him being... not all there... Or perhaps that's how a majority of Loki's are when left unchecked, himself included. And, on top of that, the only other Loki he's spent a large amount of time with was Sylvie, who quite clearly had her wits about her far greater than some of the other Loki’s he met in the Void... 

“To tell you the truth, for a while I… I wandered in that desert. The locals didn’t know what to think of me, and any demands I made of them were just met with confusion.”

“Did you…?”

“Kill them? Enslave them? ” The other Loki guesses. No, I didn’t. They were of no threat to me, and… truth be told, they were of no use to me. I had been thoroughly beaten, my pride hurt, and being ruler of a small village in the middle of nowhere wasn’t going to do much for me.”

“But you had the Tesseract,” Loki points out. 

“Oh yes. I had the Tesseract.” The other Loki’s voice is dark and regretful. “I had an infinity stone in my grasp. Someone else knew I had it too.”

The other Loki drops back down into the chair he was sitting in earlier, leaning forward as he continues speaking. “Let me tell you, if you thought what Thanos did to us was bad before? If you had experienced what he did upon learning of my failure…” The other Loki trailed off with a shake of his head. Loki had never seen his own face look quite so… haunted. His eyes held stories of the tremendous pain that must have been inflicted upon him. 

“I may have brought him an infinity stone… but I lost the other,” the other Loki continues. “Stuck down on Earth, now in the hands of the rag-tag group of heroes that had defeated me and a section of his army. Clearly… we underestimated Midgards defenses… But you see, now I knew that. I had first-hand personal experience of the kind of kickback you’ll get trying to take control over the realm. I knew, now, of what it would take to win. Whether he liked it or not, I had valuable information… and Thanos knew it.”

“So you went back?” Sylvie asked. “You tried again with… what — a different infinity stone?”

“No,” the other Loki answered eerily calmly. “Not just me. Thanos didn’t just give me another chance… he offered up his own abilities.”

Loki could feel his face pale at the thought. Earth wouldn’t have stood a chance… Especially with the world still recovering from the… from his invasion. They wouldn’t have even had a chance to study the scepter they had taken from him. They wouldn’t have even known the power that lay within it. No, if Thanos himself inserted himself into the fight… 

That was it. 

“I suppose he had assumed Earth was going to be like any of the other planets he had culled. Some resistance, of course, but… not one powerful enough to stop a God.”

“Uh, come again?” Sylvie cuts into the story. “Did… did you just say ‘culled?’”

“Yes, he…” The other Loki stops, taken aback by Sylvie’s confused expression. “You don’t know?”

“Never got involved with this ‘Thanos’ guy,” Sylvie tells him. “My timeline branched off long before I ever got the chance.”

The other Loki turns his questioning look over to Loki, mouth partly open with a finger pointing back and forth at the two of them. His face suddenly brightens with the ‘lightbulb over the head’ moment of realization, letting out a long, slow laugh as he claps his hands together. 

“Of course… You know, I saw you together and I just… I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe we would let ourselves do that.”

“Do what?” Loki asks defensively. 

“Repeat our brother's mistake,” the other Loki responds with a knowing grin. “I mean, look at you… what’s become of you? You saw it happen to Thor, same as I, and yet… you went all soft.”

“And so what if I did?” Loki counters with a hard glare. “Looking at you, I can see there are much worse ways to end up.”

“You can keep telling yourself that.” The grin had yet to fall from the other Loki’s face. “Not so believable when you’re the one tied up though, is it?” The other Loki turns his gaze to Sylvie and, for the smallest of moments, his grin falters. “The same curse befell the both of you… You’ll realize it, someday. You’ll become each other's Achilles heel. The power that can be held over you when the other is put in danger…”

“Is this… supposed to be advice?” Loki asks. 

“A warning, really. Such as how keeping your past from her—” The other Loki pointed to Sylvie, but kept his eyes fixated on Loki. “Can only end poorly.”

Sylvie looked over to Loki, only to find him unable to meet her gaze. He even had his head turned away from her, his eyes flickering between the ground and this other Loki’s much too pleased face. 

“I’m not keeping my past from her—”

“But you haven’t told her everything, have you?” The other Loki prods. “Why is that? Are you… oh, you are, aren’t you?”

Loki grits his teeth, looking away from this other version of himself with a sharp, irritated exhale and a frustrated shake of his head. 

“You’re scared to tell her, aren’t you? You’re scared that if she knows… she won’t love you anymore.”

“She doesn’t lo—” Loki begins, but quickly cuts himself off. He closes his eyes, choosing to ignore the way Sylvie’s eyes were burning holes through his skull. “I’m not scared.”

“Then tell her,” the other Loki demands. “If you won't, then I will. Either way, she’ll know. But I get the feeling you’ll deliver the news in a gentler way. You know, with your newfound softer side.”

Loki forces down his annoyance at that comment. He slowly opens his eyes, hesitantly meeting Sylvie’s anxious and waiting gaze. There’s something close to understanding there. Something like assurance, that just maybe hearing this won’t forever tarnish the way she sees him. “I need you to understand. When Thanos found me, I was worse than dead. At least, that’s what I thought… If you had known the pain he inflicted… the misery… My mind was… no longer entirely my own. I was left numb, nothing but… nothing. He dug out all the worst parts of me and made them to be all I am. The man I was -- the man I became… he didn’t care of Thanos’s plan. He didn’t care of his life’s work. Thanos was obsessed with the idea of balance. There was only one way he knew how to achieve that. And… and what he wanted to do, it… What he wanted the stones for—”

“Loki,” Sylvie says, soft, but with a firm bite. It’s enough to stop his hesitant ramblings. 

“The way he would achieve balance… was by wiping out half of the population. He would go from planet to planet, civilization to civilization, pick out half at random, and... he and his army would cull them. With the stones, he would be able to perform such a task across the universe almost instantaneously. So… Thanos made me an offer. He would loan me the scepter and a small portion of his army, and I… I would invade Earth on his behalf. I was then to give back the scepter and the Tesseract to him, and in return... I was given rule over Earth."

Sylvie did not react in the way he thought she would. There was no horror or disgust in her eyes, no look of disappointment that he's seen from others when it comes to his choices. She just... looks at him – her stare deep and with a frown of what Loki can almost trick himself into thinking is sympathy. 

"Now see, that's what I was waiting for," the other Loki says, leaning forward with an eager smile. "Look at her, Loki. She's not angry, is she? She doesn't even seem all that shocked. Why is that?" 

"Stop it," Loki spits out the command, glowering up himself. "I know what you're doing."

The other Loki raises an eyebrow. "Pray tell."

"You're trying to force a wedge between us. It's not going to work."

"Now why would I do such a thing?" The other Loki asks with an impressive air of dramatics. "Why would I care if two lovers quarrel?" 

"Because you're afraid. Here you are, having won the battle, perhaps the most feared being in the Universe recognizing you as more useful alive than dead... You had nothing to fear. Nothing, except, for yourself. And now here’s two of yourself, seemingly working together, and all of a sudden there's a threat to your throne and you don't like it, do you?"

Loki knows he's right when that frustratingly smug smile finally drops from his face. The other Loki inhales deeply, leaning back against the chair. A muscle under his eye twitches uncontrollably, and Loki wonders if he's about to lash out or not.

"Why isn't she angry?"

Loki can only frown in his confusion. "...What?" 

"You kept this from her, but she's not angry. In fact... she hasn't said much of anything."

"I'm not playing your game–"

"And yet, you can't stop yourself from wondering, can you?" 

"Just say whatever the hell it is you want to say," Sylvie finally breaks the silence. Loki was just relieved that her burst of anger was directed at this other Loki, and not him. 

"You're no fun..." the other Loki mumbles in disappointment, dismissively waving a hand at Sylvie. "I feel that, given he just told you the truth instead of me, that it should be you who returns the favor and tells him."

Sylvie's upper lip curls in disgust as she lets out a sharp exhale of laughter. "I honestly don't know what it is you're trying to get at. This 'reason' you're looking for, the thing you think is going to drive us apart... It's not. It can't. If Loki can try and interfere with the one mission I set out to do my entire life, and we still find a way to come together again? Then..." Sylvie pauses for a moment, glancing over to Loki before she continues. "Then at this point, I'm convinced there's nothing that will split us apart."

"How disgustingly sweet." The other Loki genuinely sounded like he might throw up. "All I'm hearing is you avoiding answering the question–" 

"Because I don’t owe you a damn thing," says Sylvie, turning her head back to the other Loki. "But you know what? I'll tell Loki why his truth didn't 'shock' me or 'anger' me, because it really isn't the big 'divisive' thing you think it's going to be. If he asks, I’ll tell. But not to you. You’re not him.”

“But we are, aren’t we?” asks the other Loki. “Isn’t that what you were trying to convince me?”

Sylvie shakes her head. “You share the same name and the same face, but from what I’ve seen… that’s about it. You know, we all have our flaws, and as Loki’s, I think it’s fair to say ours are worse than others. And now, meeting you… I’m starting to realize just how lucky I am to have met my Loki.”

“Are you… claiming ownership over him?” The other Loki asks, pointing to Loki. The other Loki looked about ready to laugh, glancing over to Loki, only to see that Loki had his entire attention focused on Sylvie. 

“Oh for the love of…” The other Loki looked away from the display in front of him with a disappointed shake of his head. “I genuinely don’t understand either of you. You speak as if trying to claim that you’re better than me, but this?” The other Loki snorts in disgust. “How is this the better version of myself? Weak. Dependant on one another.”

“No,” Loki spoke softly, yet the single word caught the other Loki’s attention. “It’s not like that. I used to think that. Seeing what it had done to Thor and the way it had changed him… I didn’t understand it, either. Not until I was given the chance to experience it for myself.”

“Is this the part where you tell me ‘the world shines brighter' and other rubbish like that?”

“...No,” Loki repeated. “But she gives me something that I know all the titles and power you have never will.”

The other Loki shoots him a disbelieving glare. “And what’s that?”

“Happiness,” Loki answers. “That’s what we were chasing, wasn’t it? The need for power, to prove ourselves as capable as others… all for that shiny dream of us sat upon the throne, King of the nine realms. And here you are, in that very position I myself fought valiantly to get… and you’re not happy, are you?”

“Do not speak of what you do not know.” Any smugness or arrogance the other Loki had on display has been thoroughly broken down and wiped away. “Who are you to say if I’m happy—”

“What did you have to give up?” Loki continued, despite the flush of anger that crept across his other self’s face. “What did you lose, Loki? Who did you have to sacrifice to achieve what’s brought you nothing but suffering anyway?”

“This is not suffering!” The other Loki whispers harshly. “I am living the life of a king!”

“Are you?” Loki asks with a skeptical look. “If you’re ‘king of the nine realms’, then why are you living down here? On Mid-Guard? With the Chitauri as your only company -- ‘company’ being a generous word there.”

“I… it was part of the agreement. Thanos wanted me to keep Earth under control, to prevent any potential uprisings before they get a chance to hinder his plans. It only makes sense that I stay here to do that--”

“No. No, it’s more than that,” Loki disputed. “I’m assuming it’s more than just this city that’s so empty and quiet, isn’t it?”

The other Loki looked away, standing sharply from his chair. He strode over to the large windows overlooking the city, resting an arm across it as he stared out to his kingdom. 

“He did it, didn’t he?” Loki asks. “He collected all six infinity stones?”

“Yes.” The other Loki keeps his gaze focused on the darkened city. “After gaining possession of both the mind stone and the space stone, it didn’t take him long to find and obtain the others.”

“And now he’s left you to rule over nine realms struggling to cope with the loss of half their people. Ruled by someone who’s…”

“Who’s what?” the other Loki snaps, finally looking over his shoulder to Loki. 

“...Struggling to cope with their own loss,” Loki realizes. “When you said you gave everything… you meant that, didn’t you? Gods… what did you do?”

“I tried,” the other Loki insisted, furious tears glistening in his eyes. “I left them alive. All of them. The Avengers were defeated, done, and I… I didn’t want him dead. I didn’t. I didn’t realize it until…” The other Loki’s voice cut off as his throat constricted. He cleared his throat, glancing back out towards the city. “Two battles on Earth… Even with the aid of Thanos and his army, they still put up quite the fight. They were defeated, but… Thanos wasn’t satisfied with that. He recognized them as the threat they were, and he… he couldn’t have anything risking his plan.”

Loki stared at his other self in horror, knowing what it was he was unable to say in words. “You let him kill our brother? Just like that?”

“Let him…?” The other Loki looked taken aback for all of about three seconds before his face reddened with the fury that overtook him. “I begged! I dropped down to my knees in front of his throne and I groveled at his feet! You think I just stood back and watched my brother be executed without a care?! I did all I could to convince him that Thor could be swayed, that he’d be a useful ally in the coming fights, but… but Thanos knew better. Thor would never abandon his beliefs like that. He always enjoyed being the hero…”

“And that makes his death okay?”

Somehow, the other Loki only gets madder. “Of course it doesn’t! His death is a guilt I must carry with me, amongst…”

The other Loki tries to stop himself, but the damage is already done. “Amongst what? Amongst others? What do you -- oh…” Loki trailed off as the realization hit him. “So you lost more than Thor…”

“I’m not talking about this--”

“Did you do it yourself?” Loki asks. “Did you return to Asgard with Thanos by your side? Or was it just you who ‘achieved’ that goal?”

“Be quiet.”

“I thought it was bad enough that we were destined to be responsible for our mother’s death, but you? You’re responsible for the death of everyone who was ever foolish enough to love us.”

“You don’t know--”

“Perhaps I do have to give the TVA thanks. Not only were they responsible for introducing Sylvie into my life, but they stopped me from turning into you. One sole man who no longer feels like a God, ruling over realms that do not care for him, too ashamed to return home to the throne he dreamed of one day sitting upon. Do you fear the ghost of father, perhaps? Unable to walk those halls without being reminded of mother -- reminded that it’s because of you that she’s no longer there? Knowing that it should be Thor sat upon that throne, and now it’s yours… you finally realize you don’t want it, do you? You never did. You’ve achieved nothing but your worst fear. You, and only you, are the reason you shall remain trapped here, alone.”

“I DO NOT FEAR BEING ALONE!” The other Loki’s yell almost seemed to shake the windows. Loki didn’t even bat an eyelid as he advanced towards him. “I AM NOT TRAPPED! I AM EXACTLY WHERE I WANT TO BE, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF--”

What the other Loki did not notice was the exact reason why Sylvie was being as quiet as she was. It was as the other Loki got close enough, his anger driving him towards the desire to use physical violence instead of his manipulative wit or even the safety of his magic, that she was able to pull her hands free from her restraints. She got to savor the briefest look of genuine surprise in this Loki’s eyes as her hand clamped tightly around his arm before they went blank, replaced by a green glimmer of her magic moving through him. Then, they both watched in relief as he tilted backward, Sylvie not trying in the slightest to soften his landing as he goes crashing into the ground. 

For a few seconds, Sylvie could only stare at the unconscious form of this Loki laid out on the ground, the only sounds in the room her somewhat labored breathing from the rush of adrenaline. It doesn’t take long for her to snap back to her senses, hurrying over to her Loki and getting to work freeing him from his restraints. 

“How did you do that?” Loki asks over his shoulder, trying his best to wiggle out the restraints as Sylvie works. “I thought our mind was too well guarded for enchantment to work.”

“Not always the case,” Sylvie answers. “There are times you can lose control over the walls in your mind. Exhaustion being one of them, or being under great emotional duress. Whether than be grief, or anger — anything that overtakes all rational thoughts.”

The restraints finally break with a satisfying click of metal. Loki makes quick work of removing them from his hands, rubbing his hands over the patches of skin made raw from the restricting metals. 

“But you knew that… right?” Sylvie asks, already dreading the answer she was going to get. “That’s why you were trying your best to piss him off… right?”

Sylvie didn’t need to be a genius to figure out why Loki was averting his gaze. “Um…”

“Seriously?” Sylvie stared bug-eyed at him. “Were you trying to piss him off just because?”

“Not entirely,” says Loki sheepishly, only brave enough to meet Sylvie’s maddened gaze with a few brief glances. “I wanted… I needed to know if I was right… that the path I was led down would only end in misery.”

Some of the protective anger in Sylvie dissipated, feeling the puffed-up tension in her posture slowly deflate at the self-deprecating way Loki was looking at himself. “And now that you’ve seen it?”

Loki huffs. “As talented as we are with lying… I think we can both agree he could fool no one with those last statements.”

Sylvie nods in agreement, glancing down to the Loki by their feet. “I almost feel sorry for him.”

“Hmm. Almost…” Loki quietly agrees, stepping closer to the slumbering body. “But having been on his path… I know that the decisions that led him down it were made only by him. He - - I… have no one to blame but myself.”

“Perhaps in this timeline,” Sylvie utters softly. “In his story. But not yours.”

The corner of Loki’s mouth ticked up by the slightest, the sight of his small appreciative smile helping to make this dark city feel a little bit brighter. Sylvie’s hand seemed to move towards his of its own accord. Loki glances down in surprise at the first timid brush of her fingers against his own, his surprise only growing as she slips her fingers between his, her thumb gently caressing the raw skin around his wrist. Even though any contact on such sensitive skin should have brought more discomfort, Sylvie’s feather-light touches only seemed to soothe the burning pain wrapped around his wrist. 

“I’m sorry,” Sylvie whispers, and once again Loki’s surprise doubles. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you the way I did, or… or said some of the things I said. I just… I’m not used to all this. All I’ve ever run on is anger, and I.. I’ve never had to dial it back. I’ve never had someone else in my life the way I have you, and… and I directed all that anger towards you, and I shouldn’t have.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Loki insists with a knowing smile. “The moment I opened that Time-Door, I accepted any and all blame you were going to place on me. To tell you the truth, I anticipated for that blame to go on for a lot longer.”

“To tell you the truth… I can still feel some of that anger inside me for what you did,” Sylvie admits. 

“As you should,” Loki replies so non-nonchalantly, it just makes Sylvie feel all the worse for the way she reacted. She wondered what exactly it was that made him so understanding, especially with her. 

“Sometimes I wish you were more of an arse like him so I can keep being angry with you.” Sylvie pokes at the other Loki on the ground with the tip of her foot, who doesn’t so much as stir at the boot pushing into his ribs. “So, um… what I said about this other version of you being a lost cause…?”

“You mean you being right once again?” Loki says with a tired-looking smile. 

“So you won’t be upset if I said I don’t want this guys help even if he gives it?”

“I’d be concerned if you did.”

“And you don’t mind that I want to get the hell out of this place as fast as possible?”

Loki answers Sylvie’s question by kneeling down beside his other self’s sleeping form. Sylvie didn’t have to ask to know what Loki was looking for as he searched in whatever hidden pockets were stitched into his leather armor. 

“Did you, um…. did you used to wear this kind of armor?” Sylvie asks, peering down at the dark greens and black patches of leather that held a striking resemblance to her own armor. 

Loki chuckled heartily at that, pausing in his search to glance at Sylvie over his shoulder. “Every chance I got. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Sylvie answers with a shrug of her shoulders. “Looks good is all…”

“Is that so?” Loki’s subtle smile widens to a much too satisfied grin. He turns his attention back to the task at hand, patting down his other self’s body in his search.“There you were, getting all agitated about me joking over me falling in love with an alternative version of yourself, and now--”

“Appreciating his clothing is a far jump from liking anything else about this guy,” Sylvie answers with a glare and a nod of her head towards the other Loki. 

“If you wanted to see me more often in my Asgardian leathers, you only need ask,” Loki throws in a wink for good measure, lifting out his hands to reveal the two TemPads he had recovered. 

“Not the time for this,” Sylvie reprimands him, but the smallest of smiles on her face gave away any illusion of disappointment. “He might gain control over his mind again sooner than we’d like. He could wake up any second—”

Sylvie couldn’t even finish her sentence before the sounds of rushing footsteps approaching the closed-door replaced her words. There was no time. No time for Loki to do anything with the TemPad’s in his hands. No time for anything but to let his instincts guide him to his feet, the both of them stepping closer to each other in an attempt to protect the other. They had no weapon on hand, no weapons in the room from the quick scan they did of the room. They had nothing but each other, and their magic.

Perhaps it was the overconfidence talking, but… in Sylvie’s opinion? 

That seemed more than enough. 

Next Chapter - - - >

#sylki #sylki fanfiction #sylki fanfic #pro sylki #loki/sylvie #lovedagger #enchantricks #loki x sylvie

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Loki saison 1 épisode 6

Regarder Loki saison 1 épisode 6 en streaming VF VOSTFR HD L'épisode final se déroule comme une course contre la montre, où Loki et Sylvie sont en passe de rencontrer leur destin. Read the full article