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#also this is almost entirely about loki and mobius I’m sorry
lokust · 3 years
Text
A God doesn’t Giggle
LMAO HEY I’M BACK.
I was rather inactive for a few days because I had a violent allergic reaction to 75mgs of a new medication, but I’m better now!
(Also, I don’t ever post any stories, but I wrote this one knowing I was gonna post it so I was rather nervous. My apologies if it seems forced or too short. I felt the pressure with this one.)
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The question Mobius often asked himself was ‘How does one deal with the God of Mischief?’.
But the question he had asked himself earlier was ‘Oh shit, how do I deal with the God of Mischief when I’ve made him so genuinely upset that he won’t even cause any mischief?’.
Loki was incredibly upset, with Mobius specifically. For once in his life, Loki was genuine, he was honest… and Mobius brushed him off, accusing him of lying and throwing him in a loop where he was reminded over and over again that he was worthless and undeserving of love.
Mobius had done everything he could think of to cheer Loki up; from telling him the exact opposite of what Sif had told him to searching through his fondest memories and putting him in each and every happy memory he could simulate. None of it was enough, and Loki was still hurt.
“Come on, Mobius”, he said to himself, still searching through Loki’s memories and flipping through all of his files, “If you had just listened to him for once…”. He had left Loki in a simulation of a memory where Frigga had taught him his favorite spells and tricks, hoping it would be enough to at least get a smile from the God.
He had been watching the best memories of Loki’s life for what felt like hours, but he was willing to watch for 48 hours more if it meant finding a solution to the pain he’d caused. He clicked and forwarded through some memory Loki had with Thor back on Asgard.
He had almost disregarded it entirely, but something about the tone in Loki’s voice caught his attention. It was a nervous tone, yet somehow… playful? Mobius couldn’t quite describe.
“Thor… Thor, get away from me. Okay. I am much too old for these antics now”.
Mobius watched intently, observing the interaction between the two as closely as he could manage.
“Oh come on, little brother! It’s never failed to get you out of these moods before!”
Yes. Yes, this is what Mobius needed. This was the solution.
Suddenly a shrill screech filled the small room as Thor had seemingly attacked his brother.
Mobius sighed in disappointment, “Well, that blows. I can’t wrestle him back to happiness”.
He got ready to start searching again, until the loud laughter of two Gods filled the room instead.
Mobius watched as Loki writhed in his brother’s arms, laughing unwillingly as he tried to escape the hands that clawed at his sides and ribs while Thor simply laughed at the sounds he was producing from his brother.
Mobius’s eyes lit up, finally shutting it down and turning to walk out of the room, “Damn it, Thor, you’re a genius”.
——
Loki sat on his bed beside his mother, sulking as he listened to her explain her magic to him.
The fireworks. She was teaching him how to make the fireworks, just in the palm of his hand. It was his favorite trick to do, and his favorite one to watch her do as well.
He’d been there with her for hours, relearning all of her favorite spells, but he couldn’t stop the thought in the back of his mind, reminding him she’d be gone and he’d be indirectly at fault.
He wanted to cry, and he could have, but suddenly, she was gone, and a golden doorway opened up to the left of him as Mobius stepped into the memory.
“Alright, Loki, I’ve got two things to say to you”.
Loki rolled his eyes with a scoff, “Grand, but I’ve got nothing to say to you, Mobius. Couldn’t you have just left me here with my mother?”. The trickster crossed his arms against his chest, looking away from Mobius with a scowl.
The blond just sighed, “Alright, I deserve that, I really do, but just hear me out, alright?”, he said, approaching the taller man carefully.
“I’m sorry, Loki. Alright? I am truly, horribly sorry. I should’ve believed you. I should’ve listened to you, and I definitely shouldn’t have thrown you back in that loop with Lady Sif. You didn’t deserve that, and I, Mobius M. Mobius, am sorry”, he spoke genuinely, carefully placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder as he sat beside him.
Loki furrowed his eyebrows, glancing at Mobius from the corner of his eye, “I thought you had two things to say- Wait a moment… Mobius M. Mobius? Is your name Mobius Mobius Mobius?”
The agent sighed, “That’s not the point, and I do have one other thing to say, alright?”
Loki gave a simple nod, a silent signal to continue, but he didn’t like the smile that was slowly growing on Mobius’s face.
“I didn’t know you were ticklish”.
Loki’s eyes widened as he pulled away from Mobius, standing up and crossing the room immediately, “I… I’m not. That’s ridiculous. I never have been”.
Mobius just smiled, “Wrong”.
The God grumbled at the agent, “Alright fine. I grew out of it”.
The shorter man looked like he was having a field day, “Wrong again”, he said, standing up to approach his friend.
Loki scowled at him, “Mobius, this collar may keep me from using my powers, but it won’t keep me from biting all of your fingers off if you get any closer to me”.
The agent hissed as he looked down at his hand, “Ouch, that one really does sound painful, but how about this, alright? You stop sulking around like an angry little dog, and maybe I won’t tickle you, deal?”
The God backed away as Mobius came closer and closer to him, but suddenly he found himself backed into a wall with Mobius so close he was practically pinned in place. He huffed at his blond friend, but simply stayed silent.
Mobius shrugged, “Alright, fine… but you asked for this”.
Suddenly, Mobius had Loki’s arms pinned above his head, the taller of the two struggling in place as Mobius fought to get both of his wrists in one hand.
“Why are you fighting it so hard? I thought you said you weren’t ticklish?”, he gasped suddenly as if he was shocked, “Did you… Did you lie to me, Loki? I can’t believe you’d do such a thing”.
Oh, if looks could kill, Mobius would’ve certainly been a goner, but the faint blush on Loki’s face certainly overpowered any threat behind the scowl.
Loki’s breath hitched as he eyed the hand that now rested on his side, but he looked back at Mobius immediately, unwilling to show any sign of anticipation or nervousness. The agent was looking at him as intently as possible, his mind set on finding even a hint of happiness in Loki’s expression.
“Alright, I’m tired of you sulking around like this, and even more so, I’m tired of seeing you in pain because of my mistakes”, suddenly, Mobius’s hand came to life at Loki’s side, clawing and scratching up and down to really test the God’s sensitivity.
Loki threw his head back against the wall,
“G-Goddamnit Mobius! Quihihit ihihihit!”, he bit his lip through his laughter in hopes to suppress it, but Mobius moved his hand up higher, spidering now at Loki’s ribs. That action produced something that was definitely not a squeal, thank you very much.
“You suhuhuhuck! Lehehet me gohohohoho!”, he spat, thrashing side to side as he tried to get away from his friend, but his mind was too boggled and he was split between fighting against it and just letting it happen.
Not that he enjoyed it or that he was having fun, no definitely not. That’s ridiculous.
It had just… been so long since he was able to laugh like that. Yeah. That’s all.
He was ashamed to admit the noises coming from him most definitely qualified as giggles, so he wouldn’t be admitting it, but that’s most certainly what they were.
“Aw, cute. That’s something I didn’t expect to hear from a God, but giggles are cute so who am I to judge?”, Mobius teased, alternating between spidering at Loki’s sides and digging into his ribs while the trickster tried to sink to the floor with no luck.
His eyes widened at Mobius’s words, “I- I do nohohot gihihiggle, you ahahass! Now stahahahap!”
Mobius just hummed, “Mmm… No, I don’t think I will. You very obviously lied about not being ticklish, but you look pretty happy right now, so I’ll keep this up for a while”.
Gods don’t whine, except for when they do, and that’s exactly what Loki did as Mobius’s skittering fingertips slipped to the back of his rib cage.
Loki squealed and suddenly tugged at his arms as hard as he could manage, shocking Mobius enough to slip away from him, but when he started to run, he realized there wasn’t much of anywhere to go.
Mobius knew Loki had nowhere to go, so he stayed in place, watching Loki search frantically for a place to run or hide before he gave in and rolled onto his bed, moving to sit on his knees and eye Mobius warily.
“Oh look at you”, Mobius said, approaching the God slowly, “You really got nowhere to go now”.
Loki put his hands up in front of himself as Mobius came closer and closer, “Now- Now, hang on, Mobius. Wait just a moment, can’t we talk about this like adults?”
Mobius hummed in thought, sitting himself on the edge of the mattress, “I don’t really think it’s necessary. The whole point is to get you smiling again, so what’s the point of talking?”
Loki racked his brain for any argument he could make and came up mostly blank, “Can’t you tell a joke or something?”
Mobius shook his head, “No fun in that, but this”, he said, suddenly tackling Loki into the mattress, just to pin him down and straddle his hips, “this is fun, wouldn’t you agree?”.
Loki shook his head frantically, tugging at his arms as they were pinned beneath Mobius’s knees.
Mobius unbuttoned the few bottom buttons of Loki’s white shirt, slipping his hands underneath the fabric and causing the God to nearly scream through his gritted teeth.
“MOBIUS- MOBIUS NO! Get out!”.
Mobius was taken aback for a moment but he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the dramatic reaction, “Worse on the bare skin, huh?”, he chuckled, drumming his fingers against Loki’s hips.
Loki held his breath as he threw his head back against his mattress, grumbling empty threats through his teeth and kicking out behind Mobius.
“I was doing this mainly to cheer you up, but this is entertaining”, he teased, tracing his fingertips up to Loki’s sides to spider and scratch at them as gently as he could manage.
Loki squealed as he drummed his feet on the mattress and tugged at his hands, “Mohohobius nohoho! Nohohoho quit ihihihit! You’re ahahahawful!”, he spat insults at his friend as he thrashed and squirmed beneath him, the ticklish sensation teasing his nerves maddeningly.
Mobius just smiled before clawing his way to Loki’s ribs, scratching in and out and side to side before spidering and thumbing between the bones, attempting to decide which got the best reaction.
“NO! Nonono, not thahahahat!”, the trickster’s laughter got higher in pitch and increased drastically in volume with the tickling in the spaces between his ribs, and Mobius noticed the tears beginning to pool in his eyes.
He didn’t want to kill Loki, so he went back to the scratching, “You didn’t just lie about being a little sensitive. You, my friend, are desperately fucking ticklish”.
Loki shook his head, but he was struggling to form words. The longer Mobius tickled, the worse it felt, “Stahahahahap, I cahahahan’t! I can’t, Mohohohobius. MOHOHOHOBIUS NOHOHOHO!”
Mobius stopped suddenly when his hands touched the center of Loki’s abdomen, watching the God do everything he could to sit up and get away from his captor, but he just couldn’t do it.
“Ohoh, bad spot, huh?”, Mobius teased, using his fingers to trace teasingly around the bare skin of Loki’s stomach.
“Mobius, please, don’t do this to me. Let me go, and I promise I won’t be upset anymore, okay? Just please… don’t”, Loki was ashamed of himself and his over dramatic reactions, but if there was one thing he couldn’t handle, it was being tickled there.
Mobius cooed sympathetically, “Aww, too ticklish?”, he asked as if he was considering letting Loki go, “Man… that sucks doesn’t it?”
Loki’s eyes widened and he went to protest, but he didn’t have a chance as Mobius’s fingertips skittered mercilessly around his belly.
He squealed and screamed and tried to buck Mobius off of him, but he was stuck, “PLEHEHEHEHEASE STOHOHOHOHOP! STOP IHIHIHIT!”
Mobius smiled down at him, using all ten of his fingers to vibrate his hands in the very center of the God’s abdomen.
“NOHOHOHOHOHO, SHIHIHIHIHIT! MOBIUHUHUS!”, he drummed his feet against the mattress, looking down at Mobius’s hands as his tormentor stopped for just a moment.
“I got a question”, Mobius said, using just one finger to trace around the tense muscles of his friend’s abdomen, circling dangerously close to the little divot in the center of his stomach.
Loki looked back and forth from Mobius’s hand to the smug grin on his face as he tried to collect himself and rid himself of any residual giggles, “Then ask it”.
Mobius hummed, “I’m getting there”, he remarked, “How ticklish do you think you are riiight… here”, he asked, teasing and circling the rim of Loki’s bellybutton.
Loki squirmed and whined pitifully as anticipatory giggles poured from his lips, “Dohohon’t. Don’t do thahahahat. Please, plehehehease”,
With his free hand, Mobius tickled up and down Loki’s side, pinching at the fleshy area, “Aww, I like that you said please”, he teased as Loki tried to roll to one side to protect the one that Mobius was tickling, “But… Im gonna do it anyway”.
Mobius dipped his finger in his ticklish friend’s bellybutton, wiggling at the base and walls of the little divot while he tickled around his belly and sides with his other hand.
“NO- NOHOHOHOHO! I CAN’T TAHAHAKE IT!”, he squirmed and kicked as Mobius tickled him mercilessly, one hand scratching relentlessly at the spaces between his ribs before he finally had some mercy on him and started tickling around his belly again instead of in his bellybutton.
Loki snorted, but he was too weak to fight and too lost to be embarrassed about it. His nerve endings felt like they were on fire and it was the only thing he could think about as those pesky tears finally fell.
Mobius had mercy on him, ceasing his tickling and allowing Loki to calm down, “Alright, let me try one more thing, and I’ll quit, okay?”, he asked gently, a fond smile playing at his lips as the trickster tried to hide his red face in his shoulder.
“Just do it”, he breathed out heavily, trying to prepare himself for whatever Mobius was going to do.
Slowly and carefully, Mobius moved his knees off of Loki’s hands to reposition himself and sit lower on his his friend’s thighs. He unbuttoned just a few more buttons on Loki’s shirt and pushed it up as high as he could manage.
Carefully, Mobius laced his fingers with Loki’s to hold his hands in place. The God panted in an attempt to gather himself when he tensed his muscles once more, recognizing Mobius’s actions immediately as the blond leaned down so his face was just above Loki’s abdomen.
Loki shook his head, “Oh for fuck’s sake, Mobius, why?”
Mobius just shrugged, “I just wanna know how you’ll react”.
Loki didn’t even try to deny it, “Visciously”.
Mobius hummed, “Alright, then I’ll just hold you tighter”, he said teasingly, suddenly taking a deep breath.
Loki braced himself, shaking already as a nervous smile played at his lips.
Mobius put his lips right over his friend’s bellybutton and blew as hard as he could.
Loki squealed and snorted and squirmed as the first raspberry rippled across his abdomen torturously before Mobius blew one after the other all over his tummy,
“NOHOHOHOHO! NONONOHOHOHO! PLEHEHEHEASE! Plehehease, please, Mobius- NOHOHOHOHOHO!”, the small breaks he got in between each raspberry were just long enough to drive him crazy while Mobius breathed in to blow another.
The agent lifted his head once more, breathing in as deeply as possible before blowing the longest, most ticklish raspberry he could manage right over Loki’s bellybutton. He couldn’t take it anymore, his brain was fuzzy and his lungs were burning, “MERCY! MEHEHERCY!”
Mobius stopped immediately, sitting up and letting Loki breathe, “Alright, calm down. I’m done now”, he soothed , moving off of his legs to allow Loki to curl up on his side and wrap his arms around himself.
Loki’s body shook with leftover giggles as he tried to rub away the ghost tickles around his abdomen and wipe away the tears on his cheeks.
Mobius smiled at him, patting his back lovingly, “You happy now, big guy?”.
Loki glared at him, but nodded nonetheless, eliciting a small chuckle from Mobius.
“Good, good. I’m pretty happy too. Hearing the God of Mischief snort and giggle is a great serotonin booster”, he teased, nodding approvingly and giving him a thumbs up.
Loki huffed as he felt his cheeks heat up, “I do not giggle, Mobius”.
Mobius rolled his eyes, “Then what were you doing while you were pretending to try to get away?”.
Loki sat up, his eyes widening in shock, “I was not pretending!”, he scowled, pushing Mobius back a little before crossing his arms over his chest.
“Sure you weren’t, and you definitely don’t giggle, and you’re certainly not pouting right now.”, he said, sarcasm just dripping from his tone.
Loki looked at him, his expression softening as he thought about how much Mobius must have cared about his happiness to have went through the trouble to make him laugh like that.
“I uh… Thank you, Mobius”, he whispered, looking down at his lap as he spoke, “for caring”.
Mobius huffed out a small laugh, “Don’t thank me, big guy. You deserve it”.
Loki smiled, leaning against his friend’s chest and allowing himself to relax as Mobius wrapped an arm around him. Both of them smiled, trying not to look at each other for the sake of their own shyness.
It was quiet. It was peaceful. They were happy…. but who would the God of Mischief be without causing a little trouble?
“So… your full name is Mobius Mobius Mobius?”
Mobius tightened his arm around Loki with an impatient sigh, “Don’t make me pin you down again”.
——
The next few days passed full of smiles and jokes, and plenty of passing pokes and tickles to Loki’s sides and belly.
Loki knew now that Mobius cared, and he knew that Mobius was sorry, and that was all he could ask for.
And if pretending to be upset or just being ridiculously stubborn became a part of Loki’s daily routine, who was anyone to complain about it?
Certainly not Mobius, but he was always there to take care of Loki’s moods.
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har-rison-s · 3 years
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pray, do tell
request: If you don’t mind me asking, request for Loki asking the other Loki’s if they have a s/o in their timeline during episode 5?
a/n: hi ! i absolutely ADORE this idea and i hope i'll write it out respectfully :)) i loved episode 5 so much, except for SOME scenes, and i especially enjoyed multiple lokis sitting around and talking, chilling, that's like... my dream place to be. YOU DON'T KNOW THE EFFECT PRESIDENT LOKI HAS ON ME. like it should be studied in labs and schools cos ??????? that feeling when he's on screen was just something else. also ! kid loki holding alligator loki my beloved <3. i'd love to be surrounded by lokis, me and loki actually have the same personality type so they're like... my people. sorry for the rant, hahah ! this one is a bit shorter than my other loki works, sorry about that :/ also it took me like 40 minutes to find decent gifs lmao. happy reading !! <3
masterlist
mcu masterlist
warnings: nothing really
disclaimer: lokis mentioned have he/him pronouns !
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Weirded out by what he's seeing, and not entirely sure it's real, Loki can't take his eyes off it, either. The way alligator Loki drinks his boxed wine is just so fascinating to him, yet weird and other-wordly (he knows those well) at the same time. And he's weirded out more by the fact that he doesn't find a variant of him being an alligator strange in any way. He's had a few trying days, as he said himself.
Loki manages to divert his eyes off the creature with horns on its head and looks to the grapes he holds in his hand. He picks small dirt away from the berries and takes a grape into his mouth with ease. The taste reminds him of many things. His childhood, his home, his family... Thor, Frigga, Odin, Sif and the Warriors Three. Asgard. The Gardens, the waters, the Bifrost. Heimdall. Visits to the city, the markets, the celebrations.
Love.
Loki blinks, fooling himself and others by aiming to portray that he's not thinking about anything important. But he is. She was the most important thing to him, and now... Well, maybe during the New York heist, she's still fine, but after Ragnarok... Loki fears too much to think about it.
He wishes he could remember everything with her that followed New York, but all he has of their future is some worn-out tape in the TVA archives. Perhaps even pictures... He wants to live through all they had now, he wishes he could do that most of all. Of course, there's the finding Mobius and helping Sylvie burn down the TVA thing, but upon remembering her, it all falls into the background.
His first love. Not a god, like him, but she was a goddess in his eyes. He smiles now, subtly, at the fond memories of her. He noticed the little moments he had with her in the tape Mobius had, about his whole future. How beautiful she always was, her subtle way of laughing and going about her smiles and giggles, how exceptional and different her clothes always were, how her hair shined in any light...
“Did any of you...” Loki starts to say, and sighs shortly before continuing, thinking he'll probably regret asking it, “did any of you leave a... a lover behind when the TVA arrested you? Prince or princess?” He looks between his variants. Young Loki shoots him a stern look. “Apologies, my liege. You seem too young for that.” Loki bids him a polite smile, but his brain whirs. “How long have you been here, anyway?”
“Don't know. Time doesn't really... exist here.” Young Loki says and throws a salt biscuit into alligator Loki's jaws. “But no lovers in my lifetime, Loki.” He pointedly looks at the older variant of himself, nodding slightly.
“Not yet, at least.” Loki points out and gets scoffs and chuckles from Boastful and Classic Loki. He looks at them with a furrowed brow.
“Oh, you and your grand plan,” Classic Loki shakes his head before taking another sip from his huge cup. Loki only rolls his eyes, but still waits for answers to his question, “well,” Classic Loki downs his drink, “it would be no surprise to you that I had countless partners before I chose isolation. Partners of any kind.” He winks. Loki nods, understanding how much alike he truly is with his variants. “But I feel there is no one truly... truly made for me. Like midgardians would say - 'the one'.“
“In my case, there were many 'the ones',” Boastful Loki says, mocking Classic's use of words. All other Lokis roll their eyes, “I actually feel like every person in the whole universe was made to be with me. I'm just that irresistible.” He smiles pleasantly to himself. Alligator Loki growls again.
“That's another “liar” from him to you, Boast,” Classic Loki nods his head towards Boastful, who only shakes his head and frowns.
“I had my fair share of men and women before I was taken,” Boastful says, “must have been the same for you, Loki.” He looks at him. “Asgard was truly a giving place.”
Loki chuckles, but looks away from his variants. “Oh, it was...” he says quietly, “it was.” His voice grows even more quiet. Young and Classic Loki exchange a look.
“Do tell us, your mischievousness.” Classic Loki urges him. Loki shoots him a nervous look, then he leans back into the sofa and sighs, his eyes strictly focused on his hands.
“I had plenty before I met... one,” he starts to say, “me and her share a past, and, it seems, a future as well. After New York, I am taken to Asgard, imprisoned, but she is there. I fake my death and rule over Asgard as Odin, and she's there. I help Thor destroy our evil sister--”
“Oh, she was a nasty one.” Boastful says, shaking his head. “We used to have a connection, but then she just... I don't even know.” He shrugs. Loki eyes him for a second before continuing.
“We destroyed Asgard, but saved its people, and saved her. We make for Midgard, and she's there with me.” Loki sighs, his eyes gloomy. “And then... Thanos attacks, destroys half, if not all our people, and...” he can't even speak further. His variants share a look, each having quite the correct guess for what could follow after that. Boastful drinks from his cup in an awkward manner. “But I feel like that's another life I lived. Or another me. I don't know, I feel so... disconnected from her, from what we had. Must be the TVA and this... void. And all that's happened, all I've learned about my future.” He sighs again.
“Meeting her again would be a wake-up call, no?” Boastful asks. Loki shrugs, a sad expression on his face.
“Rather a sign that you're real.” Classic Loki says with a wide, true smile. Loki looks to him as if looking at a mentor. “I often felt like the people I loved and the love I had for them, even if it was not reciprocated, were a reminder that I am real, I exist and I can feel all these things.”
Loki considers his words, and then nods along, finding a truth in them.
“After all, love and all other emotions are the human part in all of us.” Classic says. “And it isn't always bad to feel like a regular human being.” Loki can also find truth in those words. Love makes one feel alive, makes you feel like you're on the right path, found the right person, found your purpose. It doesn't always have to be glorious, it can be small, but nonetheless important to you.
“I used to think humans smaller than us, more pathetic and puny, but...” Loki shakes his head, “we, gods, are just the same, really.” He chuckles sadly. “Having quarrels over the stupidest things, being as imperfect as humans... Sometimes I even felt like I was too good, too perfect for something like true love, which is a pathetic emotion that makes you feel all kinds of other feelings, but...” he smiles, “often times I felt like that, she told me everyone was deserving of love, even me.” His smile grows wider.
“She sounds lovely.” Classic Loki tells him with a kind smile.
“She was that, and more.” Loki nods along. Young Loki imitates the sound of a snore and throws a crumpled piece of paper at Loki's shoulder.
“You're making me extremely bored.” He announces and sits straighter in his chair, looking over the mess that is his palace. “Love's boring.” Young Loki throws a juice carton across the room, making a face.
“You are just too young to understand and know it, your majesty.” Boastful says with a wink, and the next juice carton is flying over his head with a snicker from Young Loki. Classic Loki keeps Boastful tight in his seat so an argument wouldn't arise, and Boastful hesitantly restrains, his drink almost spilling over his cup. Loki watches them with a sappy smile on his features, and decides this is a good place to spend eternity at, even without her.
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monicashipslokius · 3 years
Text
Soulmates, Actually Pt 3
(read Part 1/Part 2)
Soulmates protect each other.
Loki paces the length of the small bathroom, turning after only two steps. On each turn they catch sight of themself in the mirror, as hard as they try not to. They don’t want to see the cowardice marring their own features. They don’t want to face themself, knowing they are standing here in relative safety at the cost of their soulmate’s.
Through the thin walls, Loki hears another pound on the front door. Mobius calls out, “I’m coming, I’m coming!”
Loki stops pacing and presses their ear to the bathroom door, straining to hear outside of it.
After the creak of a door opening, Mobius says, “Can I help you?”
“Are you Mobius M. Mobius?” Thor has a weakness for Midgard and its people. Even as he speaks to Mobius now, his voice isn’t quite as booming as Loki is accustomed to.
“That’s me. Are you selling something?”
“I...? No. May I enter?”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t. I’m kind of busy, you know?”
“I see,” Thor says. “Wait! I’m looking for someone.”
“Sorry,” Mobius says. The door creaks again, loud, like it tried to close but was blocked by a hard shoulder.
“I must insist,” Thor says, and there’s the booming authority Loki expected. Heavy footfalls step into the apartment. Loki instinctively leans away from the bathroom door. “Do you live here, or is this a closet?”
“Hey, why does everyone think that,” Mobius says, his following footsteps much softer. “My apartment is not that small.”
“It is,” Thor says, blunt as ever, though perhaps his own time on Midgard changed him a small amount, because he immediately adds, “But... nice. Very... brown.” A long, awkward pause. “Seeing this... I feel apologies are in order. I cannot imagine Loki hiding here.”
Loki knows that their usual love of decadent flair is what’s saving them now, but the words still sting. It’s one thing for them to think disparagingly about their new home. It is entirely another for someone else to speak badly of it. Even Thor.
Maybe especially Thor.
“It seems silly now,” Thor says. “I had heard you are their soulmate.”
“It doesn’t seem all that silly,” Mobius says, voice much softer.
“I mean no offense,” Thor says. “Only that you are not their type.”
“Oh? Too old?”
Thor laughs. “Too human. But consider yourself lucky, friend."
"I don't know, I'd think it'd be okay to be the soulmate of a god."
"Not this god," Thor says, and that familiar self-hatred claws at Loki's ribcage from the inside out. They place their hand over their chest, physically pressing down on the feeling, but it does not stop.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mobius clips his words short.
Loki braces themself as Thor continues, "They never stay with anyone for long. They haven’t met a person yet who could hold their interest.”
“Maybe they just hadn’t met the right person,” Mobius says, stronger.
"Right people tend not to hang around my brother. You may have noticed that they are..." Thor pauses and Loki holds their breath. "A villain." Thor, at least, sounds pained to say it, though that is little comfort for Loki.
The word shouldn't hurt them. It is true. Despite their glorious purpose, they will never be seen as a hero, but only ever as the one who stands in the hero's way.
“Or instead," Mobius says, stronger still. Irritation oozes from his words. "Maybe they got so used to being seen as a villain that they started to think that’s all they are.”
The scratching in Loki's chest slows until it ceases entirely. Mobius.
But the calming effect of Mobius's defensive fury does not linger.
Thor holds his tongue a moment, and in that moment, a thick dread buds in the pit of Loki’s stomach. Thor may be oblivious at times, but he is not totally obtuse. And Mobius is angry enough for even him to take notice.
“Have you seen Loki, Mobius M. Mobius?”
“I think you should leave now,” Mobius says.
“So it’s true?” Thor asks, like he still doesn’t believe it. “You are Loki’s soulmate?”
“You don’t have to say it like that.”
“They must be deceiving you. Tell me where they are, and I will take them back to Asgard. Then you will be safe.”
“Loki’s not going anywhere with you,” Mobius says, stupidly brave. Stupidly perfect.
Outside a storm brews. Thunder rumbles the walls, as loud as Thor’s voice. “Do not stand in my way, Mobius M. Mobius.”
“No, you don’t get to order me around,” Mobius says. “You barge into my home and try to kidnap my soulmate. You didn’t even do it at a reasonable hour. We were asleep!”
“I am a god.” Lightning cracks outside the window, the light so bright, it flashes under the door of the bathroom. “You are a human.”
Mobius huffs out a breath. “I’m not giving them up. You’ll just have to kill me.”
Every nerve in Loki’s body, every pulse in their brain, the very breath in their  lungs - all scream, No!
The bathroom door flies off its hinges from the force of Loki pushing through. Their daggers are in their hands, their armor has replaced their silk pajamas - there is no room for softness here.
Mobius glances behind him from where he’s standing, blocking the bathroom from Thor in the kitchen. “You broke the door,” Mobius says, entirely too calm for a man who was just about to throw his life away.
“We are going to discuss your blatant disregard for your own fragile life,” Loki tells him, stalking forward to Mobius’s side.
“I had it under control,” Mobius says.
Loki sucks in a deep breath to try to tamper down their roaring rage. “No longer will you risk yourself for me.”
“No, sorry, Loki.” Mobius crosses his arms. “You don’t get to boss me around either. I told you, soulmates protect each other. And that’s that.”
“You stupid, brave, impossible man.”
“Dying for you would be worth it.”
“And what am I to do at that point? Hm? Bid your corpse a fond farewell and move along?”
Mobius startles, like he hadn’t thought ahead that far. “Yeah, I guess.”
If Loki wasn’t holding daggers, they would grip him by the shoulders and shake him. “You have no idea what you are to me. You have no perception of how long I have waited for you. For us. For this tiny little room. For everything we shared last night. And all that we will share.”
Mobius’s eyes widen. “Loki -”
“No, Mobius. You will not be throwing your life away. Not now. Not ever. Not while I have strength enough to hold a blade.”
Mobius blinks. The surprise on his face lasts a moment longer, then softens entirely into fondness. “Let’s go to the store later. Buy some stuff. Spruce this place up a little. We can get a plant or two. And maybe a new bathroom door.”
Loki exhales, and the harshest of their anger slips away. “Only if we also buy you new clothes.”
“Hey, what’s wrong with my clothes?” Mobius is smiling now.
Loki almost mirrors it. Until he remembers their thunderous brother occupying the entire minuscule kitchen. Thor seems to lack his usual righteousness. Instead, he looks between Loki and Mobius like he has no idea what to make of them. His mouth hangs open but no sound comes out.
A moment, Thor tries, “Brother, you...” He closes his mouth. Opens it. “You... actually care for this little man?”
Loki’s answer comes easier than even they expected, “Yes.”
“I’m not that little,” Mobius says.
Outside the storm clears away and starlight returns. Inside, Thor lowers his hammer to his side, no longer holding it ready to fight. He stares at Loki for a long moment. “We thought you were dead. We mourned you.”
Loki’s impulse is to argue. They aren’t yet numb to the pain of Odin’s deception. Of Loki’s own monstrous truth.
But instead of drudging forward that pain, Loki draws strength from Mobius beside them. From the comfort of their home. From the promise of buying new drapes and bed sheets.
“I’m not going back,” Loki says, hating the way their voice cracks. Mobius inches closer to their side, and they stand taller.
“You cannot rule Midgard,” Thor says.
Loki glances at Mobius, who gives them a soft smile.
“Mostly,” Loki says, “I want to buy drapes.”
Mobius’s smile widens, and he dips his head, as if to hide it. Loki loses themself in the sight of such softness and warmth, until they remember their brother again.
Thor watches them, his confusion palpable. “This is not at all as father said it was.”
Loki tenses at the mention of Odin.
“A lot’s different since yesterday,” Mobius says. “Dubuque can really change a person, you know?” Mobius winks at Loki, and a fresh wave of comfort rolls through them.
“Yes,” Loki says. “Dubuque.”
“Perhaps I could return without you,” Thor says, confusion shifting gradually into something more sure. “If you hand over the tesseract.”
Loki pointedly refrains from glancing at the coat closet. As, to Loki’s surprise, does Mobius. Surely he had seen them place the scepter within. Surely he could parse together what the tesseract could be.
“You wouldn’t need it to buy drapes.” Thor’s grip tightens on the handle of Mjolnir, but he does not yet raise it again.
Loki’s body tenses like a bowstring. There is no way out of this then, without a fight. “You have no comprehension of its power, brother. Of what I could have, what I could achieve with it in my possession. With what I’ve been promised.”
“Promised?” Thor asks. “Promised by who?”
A chill creeps over Loki’s skin, inch by slow inch. They think of the creatures that invade their mind, that found them when they fell from the Bifrost.
You could have this, they whisper, even now. You are nothing without this.
“Loki?” Mobius whispers. “Are you okay?”
Shaking their mind free from the dark grasp, Loki thoughts travel instead to those same creatures wrapping Mobius in their viciousness. Tearing him down. Exploiting his deepest vulnerabilities.
The cold runs deep, all consuming.
With the tesseract still in Loki’s possession, maybe they could protect Mobius. Or, the opposite. Maybe those creatures will never stop hunting them until Loki finally does as they command.
When it was Loki alone, forgotten and fallen, following the icy commands was no question, when both vengeance and a crown were promised.
But Loki is no longer alone.
To Loki’s surprise, concern covers Thor’s face as well, and he has taken a step closer, hand half-lifted, as if in a halted attempt to reach out to them.
“The tesseract will not bring you happiness, Loki,” Thor says, and motions toward Mobius. “Not in the way your soulmate can. You must make a choice.”
“They don’t have to chose,” Mobius says. “I’m staying with them, regardless of what they want to do.”
“But they must,” Thor tells him. “I will be leaving here with either Loki or the tesseract. I’d prefer to do it without a fight.”
Mobius takes a step forward. “I already told you, Loki isn’t going anywhere.”
“If forced, I will take you both to Asgard,” Thor says.
Loki thinks of Mobius standing before Odin, of all the brave, protective things he would say to the All-Father in Loki’s defense. And Loki thinks of how fast Odin would cut him down, Loki’s soulmate or not.
“No,” Loki says.
Soulmates protect each other.
Loki disappears their daggers, then goes to the closet and draws open the door. They reach through Mobius’s brown suits and retrieve the scepter. It’s cold in their hand.
They could grab Mobius and teleport away. Together, they could go anywhere. Thor would need time to track them down. But they’d have to keep running. They’d never be able to stop.
Loki thinks of Mobius, sweating in the desert. Humans are weak, fragile things. Mobius would not be able to sustain that kind of life.
The scepter, the creatures, whisper to Loki, He will die anyway. Why shouldn't you have more?
"All my life, I’ve been in your shadow,” Loki says to Thor. Thor lifts his hammer, readying for the fight to come. “This is my chance to carve my own path. To find my own throne. The Midgardians are hapless. They are in desperate need of a ruler.”
Loki looks at Mobius and finds him watching Thor, body tense like he intends to jump in the way if Thor were to attack. He will die anyway.
“There is no happiness in the promise of a throne, Loki.” Thor frowns, and after a brief, sideways glance at Mobius, his eyes turn sad. “We have waited the same for a soulmate. You have found yours, while I am still waiting. I ask you, who lives in envy of who?”
A new feeling twists inside Loki - something like... pity? For Thor? No. Impossible. Thor has had a life filled with all of his whims being catered to. Ever the favorite. The favored.
Yet.
Thor has no Mobius of his own.
He will die anyway. But. Not yet. Not yet.
“To be honest,” Mobius says, drawing Loki’s attention. “Humans are kind of a drag. We fight all the time, can’t agree on anything. I know that’s half why you think you can fix it all, but really, it sounds like a bigger headache than it’s worth.” He shrugs. “You and I, we’ll do whatever you want. I’ve got your back 100%. But... if you were King of Earth, do you get any vacation days? Cause I got some places I really want to take you.”
Looking at Mobius, hearing his words, listening to the steady cadence of his voice, Loki warms from the inside out.
“We need to go to the beach. You saw my jetski picture, right?” Mobius turns to Thor. “You ever been on a jetski?”
Thor blinks at him. “...No?”
“You’ll love it. It’s so much fun. Out on the waves, just you and the ocean - with the wind in your hair, and the sun all bright.” Mobius turns his smile back to Loki, and Loki doubts any sunshine could ever be as brilliant as him. “What do you think, Loki?”
The cruel whispers grow dim. Thoughts of, You are nothing without a crown, are replaced with, What worth is a crown without him?
The chill burns away, until the scepter is too cold, too painful to hold.
Loki moves closer to the kitchen. Thor raises his hammer. Mobius hurries forward.
But everyone stops when Loki surrenders the scepter - the tesseract - to Thor. As soon as it is gone from their hand, Loki feels a heavy weight lifted away. The chill leaves entirely, and their mind is silent once more.
“You’ve made the right choice, brother,” Thor says. They lower Mjolnir to the ground to look closer at the scepter.
“Odin will not be pleased when you return without me,” Loki says.
Thor hums. “I will pass along your promise to behave yourself.”
“I made no such promise.” With Loki’s new weightlessness, a small, sly smirk slips onto their lips. It's shaky and unsure, but Thor doesn't mention it.
Thor slides his gaze to Mobius. “I think you will have your hands too full to do otherwise, with how quickly this one throws himself into trouble.” He pitches his voice low. “I like him. He’s small, but brave.”
Pride swells in Loki. They didn’t need Thor’s approval, but having it...
“Mobius M. Mobius!” Thor walks to Mobius and draws him into a tight hug. “Now my brother. I await the day our paths cross again!”
Mobius awkwardly pats him on the back. “Yeah, sure! Sounds great.”
As they break, Loki begins to steer Thor toward the door. Thor looks as if he also wants to wrap Loki in a hug, but thankfully thinks better of it. Instead, he simply says, "We will see each other again."
"We will," Loki says, a promise. And for now, it is enough.
Thor starts forward, when Mobius calls out, “Wait, you forgot your hammer.”
Loki and Thor both turn away from the door, toward the kitchen - where Mobius stands, hand gripping Mjolnir’s handle, holding it up off the ground. He brings it forward and hands it to Thor, who stares at him, mouth agape.
Mobius says, “Surprisingly light?”
Loki bites back a smile. They knew their soulmate was no ordinary mortal.
Thor looks at Mobius like he’s seeing him for the first time. “Only to those who are worthy. You are small in stature, but not in heart, Mobius M. Mobius.”
“Uh, thanks?” Mobius says. Softer, he adds, “I’m really not that small.”
*
When Thor is gone, with the slightly damaged front door bolted behind him, Mobius turns to Loki and says, “Told you I’d get rid of him.”
Loki reaches out, grabs Mobius by the shoulders, and pulls him into their embrace. They do not let go for a long time.
Mobius holds them back, nose tucked into the crook of Loki’s neck and shoulder. “I would have followed you,” he says, voice muffled. “You want to be king? We’d make it happen. You didn’t have to give it up.”
Loki will tell him of the whispers and the cold, of the dark promises made. Later. “Perhaps another time,” they say. “Plenty of life to find a throne of my own.” Though as the words leave them, they know they are only half true. Plenty of time for Loki. No time at all for Mobius. The creatures no longer whisper in Loki's mind but they still hear their mocking, He will die.
“I was thinking we could get a couple chairs while we’re out.”
Loki can’t help and doesn’t stop their grin, even as their heart aches. “See? My fortune is already changing.”
“I’ll buy you the best throne,” Mobius says. “You ever heard of La-Z-Boy?”
Loki closes their eyes, presses their forehead to Mobius's shoulder, and wonders how, with the cruel inevitability of human mortality, they will ever go on without this man.
59 notes · View notes
ladyblogger-margie · 3 years
Text
Traitor
Pairing: Mobius M Mobius x Loki (MCU)
Summary: The Loki Variants are captured and Mobius battles his personal versus professional feelings. 
Warnings: Mentions of bondage kind of?? A little angsty
Word Count: 1788
a/n: thanks to this post by @pietro-maximoff I have been listening to Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo and thinking about Lokius non-stop. This fic is what came out of that obsessing. Also I wrote it before Episode 3 aired. 
MY MASTERLIST
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Mobius heard the alarms blaring and didn’t flinch. It had been set off so many times lately, it had lost all impact. This time though, Casey came flying through the halls of the TVA and skidded to an abrupt halt next to Mobius’ cubicle. 
“We found him,” Casey panted. 
“Who?” Mobius asked, fearful to get his hopes up. 
“The Loki variant,” Casey explained, his hands on his knees. 
“You may need to be more specific, there are several,” Mobius said, as he stood and led Casey back where he came from. 
“The variant, your variant,” Casey said, jogging to keep up. 
Casey’s words rang in Mobius’ brain. Apparently everyone could see how he felt about Loki, well except Loki. If Loki knew, he wouldn’t have ran off, or at least Mobius desperately hoped that was the case. The alternative was too gut wrenching to consider with everything else going to shit. 
Mobius had called out for Loki, begging him not to leave, but he went through the door anyway leaving Mobius behind. Loki had looked at him, but gave him nothing but an empty glance before he turned his back and ran to join the Loki Variant they were supposed to be chasing together. 
Now Casey was explaining how both Loki’s were now surrounded and Mobius needed to get there immediately. He was trying to keep his focus professional and stuff down the longing rising in his chest, a longing that would not do him a single lick of good. 
Suddenly Mobius turned a corner and saw the Hunters in position by the Time Door. He didn’t slow down as he gestured for them to breach the door and he was right in their midst as they arrived on the scene. 
Lady Loki sat with her eyes rolling tied up and contained, clearly annoyed, bored, as well as plotting. Mobius knew Loki well enough to know that she wasn’t truly as subdued as she appeared on the surface. The other Loki, the one in the TVA Variant jacket, was looking extremely put out with a collar back around his slender throat and his wrists in cuffs. 
Mobius banished his first thought in favor of the professional thoughts that followed. 
“We’ve apprehended the variants. Let’s reset this one here first,” he said, pointing to Lady Loki. 
The other Loki was desperately trying to make eye contact with Mobius, but Mobius turned his back to him. 
This was his first mistake. Loki slipped in behind him so close that Mobius felt that taller man’s breath against his neck and he suppressed a shiver. 
“I did it, I captured the Variant,” Loki bragged, his tone smug, “But these fools arrested me in the process of turning her into the proper authorities.”
Mobius caught the indignation in Loki’s voice at the second part and tried not to let it affect him. He was fooled before and he would not be fooled again. 
“Reset her, bring this one back to headquarters,” Mobius said, still ignoring Loki, “Someone’s going to have to question him to complete the paperwork.”
Then Mobius retreated with the team completing the Variant reset, leaving a stammering Loki behind him.
“Mobius, where are you going?” Loki asked, “Mobius?”
Mobius ignored him. 
After they successfully solved the Lady Loki Variant problem, Mobius returned to headquarters. He wasn’t told exactly where they had taken Loki, but he had a hunch, and until recently his hunches usually proved correct. 
He found Loki in the same room he had shown Loki his role on the timeline when they first met. There Loki was heavily guarded and they had added a gag to his collection of restraints since Mobius saw him last. 
“You can all go,” Mobius said, waving the hunters away, “I can handle him.”
Mobius shook the control to Loki’s collar in his hand and with minimal muttering, the Hunters filed out. 
Mobius sat in a chair across the table from Loki and just looked at him. He watched as Loki squirmed and tried to speak. He watched the frustrating boil over on Loki’s face and felt guilty for watching him suffer. He thought he’d enjoy catching Loki out, but he was wrong. The image in front of him made him sick. 
Mobius reached across the table and gently removed the gag from Loki’s mouth. He’d barely sprung the release when Loki began talking rapidly.
“Mobius, you have to understand,” Loki’s fast tongue clipped, “I had to go. I needed to catch the Variant. That was the plan, was it not? Use a Loki to catch a Loki.”
Mobius bit the inside of his lip, pouting them slightly as he did so, but he kept quiet. 
“I know what you must be thinking, but technically I didn’t stab you in the back,” Loki said, attempting a joke. 
Mobius remained silent and to his surprise he found it was making Loki look, well, nervous. 
��You don’t think I left you on purpose?” Loki asked, “Why would I do that?”
Loki’s face looked so open, so vulnerable in its proposed sincerity, Mobius was almost moved. He promised to himself he wasn’t buying the trickster’s words, but unconsciously he stood and removed the rest of Loki’s restraints except the collar around his neck. 
“Thank you,” Loki said, his voice soft with emotion and Mobius' heart clenched. Being in close proximity with him again had Mobius on edge, so aware of his own body and Loki’s as well. 
“What happened when you went through the door?” Mobius asked in a professional tone. 
“I heard you calling,” Loki said, standing to stroll the room. 
“I’m aware,” Mobius sighed, “You looked right at me.”
“Well I thought that meant you understood,” Loki said, his arms open wide, head cocked to the side. 
“Understood what? That you’re a traitor? You betrayed me,” Mobius said. He shook his head, this wasn’t the time to air his personal issues, he shouldn’t have fallen in love with a Variant, especially a Loki whose betrayal surely was inevitable. “I’m here to assess and record what happened after you walked out,” he said, pushing forward with his assignment. 
“I didn’t betray you, I swear. Besides, isn’t paperwork and cleanup a bit beneath your pay grade? There’s got to be more to you being here than just the job,” Loki suggested with a raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t trust you with anyone else,” Mobius admitted plainly. He didn’t trust himself with Loki either, but that wasn’t the point. 
“I didn’t leave you, Mobius,” Loki said, sitting back down. He reached his hands across the table to where Mobius’ were resting. 
Mobius ripped his hands out of the way and stood himself, taking up Loki’s pacing position. 
“I trusted you to see this through,” Mobius said, barely containing the tremble in his voice. 
“But that’s just it!” Loki said, following Mobius and completely disregarding his personal space, “I did! I caught the Variant.”
Mobius studied his face, “You were captured with the Variant.”
“No!” Loki was frustrated now, his hands in his hair, “Those imbeciles showed up after I had her in custody because I was trying to call you.”
Mobius was blinking very quickly now, “But you left me, I saw you look at me and deliberately choose to abandon the team and the mission. Loki, I am trying to get to the truth here and I know that’s a foreign concept-“
Mobius was cut off mid-sentence when Loki crashed his lips against his, kissing him and shutting him up in one fell swoop. The action short-circuited Mobius' brain and he stood frozen, his lips responding on instinct alone. 
Loki tasted like honey and peppermint, sweet and sharp and a little bitter, but absolutely perfect. Mobius raised a hand to Loki’s throat and in horror remembered he was still wearing his collar. 
Mobius shoved Loki away abruptly. It wasn’t easy to shove a god, but the advantage of surprise  granted him the space he needed. 
“You really think you can play me,” Mobius said with a sad chuckle. He had to drop this idiotic fantasy - Loki could never love him the way that Mobius loved him. 
“Play you? I’m trying to kiss you,” Loki said, his tone sharp. 
“You’re trying to get me to take off that collar,” Mobius said with a limp gesture of his hand. 
Loki’s fingers brushed across the collar almost like he forgot he was wearing it. 
“So take it off and see how I act then,” Loki suggested. 
Mobius actually laughed, “How thick do you think I am? I know you don’t respect me, but give me a little credit.”
“Of course I respect you, I care for you,” Loki sighed, “You’ve caught me many times before, I have no magic, and your team already confiscated my daggers, what have you got to lose?”
Loki watched Mobius with his head tilted, as Mobius squinted at him intently. 
Mobius released Loki’s collar with a press of the button on the controller. Loki tossed it aside casually and he made no effort to run. Instead he moved closer to Mobius, crowding his space. Mobius held his breath as Loki inspected him intently, his crystal blue eyes tracing across Mobius’ face. 
Mobius’ breath hitched as Loki kissed him again, slower this time, deeper. He felt his skin catch fire as Loki traced his thumb across his check as his tongue swept across his lower lip. Then Mobius’ resolve shattered. 
Mobius yanked on Loki’s tie, wrapping it around his fist as his other hand wrapped around Loki’s waist. Mobius could feel the smile on Loki’s lips through the kiss and he couldn’t help but smile back. Loki’s hands were soft and cool and Mobius relished in the feel of them, still not entirely sure if he believed his good fortune, but too overwhelmed to care. 
Suddenly the door to the room opened and Casey walked in, interrupting the kiss. Mobius flushed and jumped back in surprise, his hand still wrapped in Loki’s tie.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to - wait, what’s happening?” Casey said, obviously flustered. 
“What can I help you with?” Mobius asked. 
“There’s a new variant we need your help with,” Casey said, “After you reset this variant, there’s a file at your desk.”
Mobius turned to Loki and held his hand, “He’s not a variant, he’s a member of the TVA.”
Loki’s face lit up as Casey left with a shrug. 
Mobius turned to Loki, and fixed his tie and collar as Loki smiled at him. 
“I swear I wasn’t leaving you, I’d never do that to someone I love,” Loki said sincerely, and Mobius believed him so he kissed him, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last. 
66 notes · View notes
assemble-revengers · 3 years
Text
Nexus Split
**Contains spoilers for Loki**
Pairing: Loki x Reader
Word Count: 2203
Prompt: “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”
Author’s Note: I woke up and chose violence today.
--
Time was hard to grasp before this whole mess began, but it at least had some structure regardless of how ethereal it seemed. There was structure and a time and place and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time so it seemed when you also made a move to snatch up the Tesseract the second you saw Loki move in New York. That’s how you got into this mess and honestly there were many things you had regretted initially. For instance, why couldn’t you have minded your own business?
Well, if you had you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet Loki, and at the moment? That felt worth more than anything. It hadn’t started that way -- the two of you were practically at each other’s throats and when you weren’t bickering between each other you were being confused by the politics of the TVA and time in general.
In a wild turn of events you became an unpaid intern all over again. You supposed it was better than dying or “being pruned”. You still were confused as ever by the lingo and even though you had tried your best to pay attention to the onboarding process, but frankly you were still wrapping your head around the prospect of the TVA in general. How had no one even considered this being a possibility? Where did these people come from? It seemed that it just...was? But if that was the case, why was there an onboarding process?
Miss Minutes was terrifying -- she was just so...eerie and popped up randomly and honestly you just wanted a nap. Or to wake up from this bizarre dream.
The worst part was the notion of running into other variants, namely the fact that a variant that had been targeting members of the TVA happened to be a Loki-variant.
“Wonderful,” you retorted, interrupting Mobius with disdain, “There’s another one of him.”
The aforementioned god was sitting across a table from you and you weren’t entirely sure how he was taking the whole thing. According to him, the tesseract was useless here. A paper weight. Another beyond weird thing that the TVA brought.
“We should team up,” a voice interrupted your spacing out and it took you a moment to realize that the voice belonged to Loki. And he was talking to you.
You blinked a few times incredulously, “You have been nothing but cruel to me since we met. Why would I ever help you?” Honestly, the audacity of men.
“I am sorry about that, by the way,” he answered, “I was going through something.”
You couldn’t help the laugh you let out, covering your mouth immediately to try to mute the sound and avoid any more attention. “Aw, that makes it all better.”
There was no reason to hide your sarcasm, and he knew that. You could tell from the way he blanched for a moment before resuming his composure, obviously trying to turn on some godly charm or something onto you, “I was. I truly am sorry.”
“Loki, you stole the Tesseract, tried to take over the world and brought a bunch of crazy alien things into New York City,” you listed, counting off the things on your fingers, “And now because you went after the stupid Tesseract again, with a room full of Avengers I might add, I cannot return to my life which wasn’t that impressive, but at this moment? I kind of miss it. So, no, I don’t accept your apology.” He was silent after that and you went back to your mind palace spiraling about the logistics of what was happening to you.
It was not a great day for you. Week? Hour? Time was weird. It was even more weird when you were suddenly having to do research into the Loki-variant-assassin. Going through files and files of different instances in time was tedious. It was interesting in that some of the things had already happened, were going to happen, and were happening in places you had never even heard of. It was during this that you and Loki had begun to work more collaboratively.
In fact, the moment you guys had made the connection that it was apocalypses? You taught the god of mischief the importance of a high five. Or rather, never leaving someone hanging because you chased him down, yelling at him until he returned the high five before you even allowed him to present your findings to Mobius. The bond continued when you both were treated like unhinged criminals or starved, ravenous animals by pretty much everyone other than Mobius who was...friendly as ever.
You did not have a lot of options in terms of trust. While Mobius seemed genuine, there was no way you could possibly know. The issue was that the only thing that was any level of normal in your eyes was Loki which was...laughable, but he was from your timeline. The two of you were in this together sort of because at this point you wanted to go home and it seemed he did too after the whole semantics of this whole thing. Or maybe he wanted to take over the TVA. Regardless, it gave you some hope that he might be kind and put you into your timeline where you belong.
The feelings came out of nowhere. In fact, you hadn’t even realized it happened until there was a chance for you both to chase after the Loki-variant (or Sylvie as you would learn later) and before Loki went through the portal, he reached a hand out for you, Mobius yelling and you found your feet moving on their own accord, turning to mouth ‘Sorry’ to Mobius before grabbing Loki’s hand and rushing through the portal.
Sylvie was interesting and endearing and was someone you instantly found yourself drawn to. You felt sympathetic to her story, and maybe that was dangerous. Dangerous, but gave you another sliver of hope despite the fact things were bleak. Very bleak. Being on Lamentis-1 about to explode and everyone die bleak. Despite this, the two of you sat and chatted in your booth at the bar while Loki got absolutely hammered and even began to softly serenade you in what you assumed was Asgardian (this was after he sung to the whole room) and you found yourself pulling him back down to the chairs and pulling him into a hug while you laughed.
“Loki, I have no idea what you’re saying,” you giggled, pulling away from him, “But I think you’ve had enough.”
“Darling, I think I’m just getting started,” he answered with the smoothness of butter on a hot pancake. You couldn’t help the burning of your ears and the rest of the blush that began to dance across your features. Sylvie coughed. Moment interrupted (Thankfully? You don’t know). Back to the business of the world ending and no way out. Maybe that’s what let all of you decide to unload tales of the past. Yours was boring and...uneventful comparatively which led you to remain relatively quiet as both Loki and Sylvie talked.
Hearing all of Sylvie’s plight and what brought her to that moment had both you and Loki feeling empathetic. You felt anger that this whole this was allowed and deemed ‘okay’ by the TVA. An entity that really had no checks and balances as far as you could see. You pretended to ignore Sylvie and Loki bonding. You felt your stomach tighten. Envy was ugly and green really was never your color.
But that triggered the TVA rolling up and taking the three of you back. You weren’t sure what you were expecting. You weren’t expecting yourself to start fighting. Your restraints, the situation, the fact you were separated from Sylvie and more importantly Loki. You were utterly alone in your cell, screaming for them to let you out. The person interrogating you entered, tried asking you questions that you just couldn’t hear. Your head was swimming and it was almost as if you were hearing things like you were underwater. Fight or flight and apparently your entire being chose to fight.
Per someone’s orders you were moved, you lit up the moment you saw Loki and soon you were joined by Sylvie. Your restraints were removed and your eyes began watering as you rushed to Loki’s side, grabbing his hand as he gave yours a reassuring squeeze, moving so that he was shielding you from the front. The next thing you knew and before you had a moment to process, Mobius was pruned in front of you and Loki moved to shield you further.
Surprisingly, you were not entirely useless in the fight that ensued, but couldn’t help but feel entirely out of your element. The closest you had ever been to being in a fight in the past was when you were five and some girl stole your crayons and had the nerve to try to eat them.
Your adrenaline was pumping when you turned to Loki a feeling like being shocked by a plug while also being burned by a pan that had been on the stove. You were confused, Loki was yelling something. You couldn’t hear. You reach for him, desperate to calm him down or maybe it was because you subconsciously knew what was happening and you were terrified. The hot, electric feeling spread across your body before what felt like you were dropped in ice cold water and suddenly...your eyes blinked awake. You weren’t at the TVA.
Instead, you found yourself on the run (you hated yourself for missing out on all that gym time because your cardio could use some work) from a cloud that ate things. You would learn that you were in The Void, the evil vacuum of the cloud was called Alioth, and that there were even more Loki variants. One was an alligator. He was your favorite.
Your Loki also turned up and you practically threw yourself into his arms in relief, “I thought I lost you, you idiot.”
“I could say the same to you, pet,” he responded, murmuring into the crook of your shoulder. Reunions had to be cut short after you introduced the other variants, (“And this Loki is an alligator! How cool is that! He’s my favorite of all of you, no offense.”) and now you were seeking shelter to hide from Alioth and...well survive you supposed.
President Loki and the other Lokis were...a lot. In fact, there were so many Lokis that you were beginning to get a tension headache trying to keep up with everything that was going on. Some of them seemed to recognize you, including President Loki that informed you that you were late and with the wrong people (“No? I don’t even know who you are?” “You will.”)
Reuniting with Sylvie and Mobius brought even more relief. Sylvie seemed to think she could enchant the Alioth. You protested quite a bit before she was able to convince you otherwise. There was a way out. You had a chance to go back to the TVA and sort things with Mobius. Maybe go back to where you belong. Maybe stay. You weren’t sure, but it seemed Loki, your-Loki was hesitating.
Mobius was opening the portal behind you to the TVA. You stood with your hand firmly within Loki’s, fingers interlaced as you bid Sylvie a small, quiet ‘good luck, you’ve got this’. You and Loki were right by the portal, a sliver from stepping in before Loki stops, pulling you so that you two were facing each other, your back to the portal.
“What’s wrong?” you ask concerned.
“I’m staying,” Loki affirms, “To help Sylvie, to...do this.”
“Okay,” you lament. You were staying too. You tried to move to leave the portal Loki gave Mobius a heartfelt hug, which ended up being a group hug since Loki wouldn’t let go of you. In fact, as soon as Mobius was released from the hug, you were engulfed into Loki’s arms where you practically melted. The hug ended far too soon, but Loki didn’t release you, holding your face in his hands as he pressed his forehead to yours. It made your heart warm and peace washed over you.
“Loki…” you sigh, feeling an entire lifetime of emotions flooding your system, “I…”
“Shh,” he cuts you off, “I know. I feel the same...but I can’t bear to hear it.”
“Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?” You inquire, voice cracking. You felt frozen in place as panic began to bubble up under your skin.
“Because you’re not staying with me,” he murmurs weakly, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, “I love you, Y/N. Remember that, please.”
Before you could respond, you were shoved by a great force. You couldn’t even react as your grip was easily broken, your sense of balance knocked out from under you. Mobius had already stepped through the portal...surely it wasn’t still up? You landed on the ground, having been knocked off your feet, but you were no longer in the void.
You felt your heart shattering. You couldn’t even cry. He was gone.
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saber-of-dreams · 3 years
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Lamentis - An Analysis
If we’re being honest here, there’s probably enough material to look at the entire episode in extensive detail, but that would take forever and I’ve got work tomorrow.  Funny story - I had originally put “A Brief Analysis” in the title...then I realized it wasn’t actually brief anymore.  😀
So for now, I wanted to do a quick analysis of the scenes between Loki and Sylvie once they make it onto the train, because this is where the whole dynamic between them shifts.
It’s interesting that we start out talking about Frigga - about family.  Loki’s biggest soft spot.  Especially now that he’s seen what happens to him in his original timeline, and now that he understands that his family did in fact love him.  
And we see how having them - Frigga, in particular, has affected Loki’s development.  Not just his skill in magic, but his true nature.  He becomes noticeably softer, gentler, when he talks about his adopted mother.  Whatever the circumstances, he truly loved her.  And although this Loki never made it to that point where he sent her to her death, he still knows that he would have done it.  And he still feels that regret.  This is also echoed in the first episode when he reads about the destruction of Asgard.  Family is family, regardless of your blood.
We also figure out Sylvie pretty quickly here too.  We see that she is abysmally lonely.  Jumpy.  Untrusting.  And then we find out that she never really knew her family, but that they had the decency to tell her she was adopted and allow her to process that information positively as a child.  It’s an interesting parallel for them both - Loki who grew up with the family, but didn’t know he was adopted, and Sylve who grew up knowing she was adopted, but lost her family so early.  Equal but opposite.
This is all perfectly encapsulated in that moment where Loki does the mini fireworks for her.  It’s a genuine gesture meant to do nothing but make her smile, and pull her out of the dark place she seems to have gone.  And it works.  
And then he follows it up with a genuine question about her own powers.  And you can hear the amazement, the respect, in his voice when she explains that she taught herself.  
We then move almost directly into the subject of love.  And again, we see the juxtaposition of their two lives.  Loki having relationships/lovers but no real depth and Sylvie having no real relationships at all, possibly only physical experience - the non-attached variety (in case that wasn’t obvious from the dialogue).  
The key piece of dialogue here?  Loki saying “Nothing ever...” and Sylvie supplying the word to finish the thought - “real.”
Love is kind of like a recipe.  You need a few key ingredients, in just the right measure added just the right way to create something truly spectacular.
See here’s the thing - it is so much harder to see someone as an enemy, when you know them.  Maybe you don’t know everything.  But you know enough.  You understand.  Ingredient one - compassion/understanding.  Again, we see that here.  You have to know someone.  And that requires honest engagement.  No masks.  No lies.  Just blatant, heart-wrenching truth.  Family.  Love.  
You also need respect.  Genuine, un-assuming, respect for another person.  For their abilities/skills/personality traits - doesn’t matter.  But if you don’t respect them - you don’t love them.  Now obviously it takes a while to develop true respect for someone, but again, this scene is the start of that for them.  
Loki is impressed by Sylvie’s ability to teach herself magic, and Sylvie is impressed by Loki’s obvious skill with illusion.  And given the multiple fights the two have had, I would imagine they see each other as competent fighters.  Not to mention their various plans to get them to this stage working out/working together.
Okay.  I’m going to step away from the recipe we’re crafting here for a moment so I can talk about The Song - part deux (I did a brief analysis on that yesterday).  But instead of analyzing the content of the song this time, I want to analyze the moments around it.
Now, Sylvie wakes up in the middle of it, so I sincerely doubt that Loki started singing it with any deliberate attempt to serenade her - but - when she wakes up?  And he notices?  He immediately turns to her - and sings the true centerpiece of the song (the adventurer/warrior trying to find his way back to the maiden who waits for him) directly at her.  Literally.  He turns his body to face her directly.  He sings to her.  And you know, literally dedicates the song to her when he’s done.
You know that bubbly, excited feeling you get, when you start crushing on someone?  That joy that just kinda...makes everything a little brighter?  That’s Loki here - aided by quite a bit of alcohol.  He has dropped his walls, and is trying to let Sylvie in.  He has been nothing but honest with her since they got on the train, and he’s starting to develop real feelings for her.  I think their conversation really made him see that - not that he actually consciously understands that (that doesn’t happen until next episode when Mobius has to actually spell it out for him).
Sylvie?  She thinks he’s an idiot.  Being the center of attention like that?  Actively seeking out that attention?  Completely foreign to her.  And, as she points out, someone noticed him and goes to tip off the real guards.  But the other thing here is - this dynamic also foreshadows episode 6 - Loki is focused on Sylvie, and on helping others (i.e. when he finds out the TVA agents are all varients too).  Sylvie is focused on her mission to the exclusion of all else - regardless of the feelings that she too may be developing for him.  Interestingly, I noticed a super tiny smile on Sylvie’s face when Loki said “To Sylvie, everybody!” 
Now, Loki’s lines about love being a dagger are very interesting.  Not only is it a great way to see how he perceives the emotion, but it’s also a really nice metaphor for the two of them.  
Love is a dagger.
It’s a weapon.  
To be wielded.
Far away - or up close
You can see yourself in it.
It’s beautiful.
Until it makes you bleed.
Okay.  Back to our recipe.
You need an intersection point - where two opposing people with two opposing ideals meet in the middle.  But.  That intersection?  It has to be mutual and it has to be consensual.  You have to be willing to meet someone else half way - to attempt to see things from their perspective, before you step forward.
You cannot force someone to see past their own blindness.
Loki and Sylvie take that next step in a few parts - and sorry folks, but I’m going to pick this up in a future post.  I just realized how late it is and I do need to be semi-functional for work tomorrow.  
Until next time.  😉
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lokislittlesigyn · 3 years
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// loki spoilers
This is basically a huge infodump on my thoughts about the first episode, because I doubt y’all want to sift through my trauma-ridden ramblings. I’ll make another post for the rest. This is just everything not related to the IW stuff/my reaction to that. It’s general thoughts, theories, musings.
1. When Loki gets first taken into the TVA. Is that Peggy Carter in the background? Others have suggested it might be. What would that mean??? Will we see the TVA fix the mess the Russos made with Steve/Peggy (not likely) or is it just a lookalike? Who knows..
2. A skrull at the main intake desk! Idk not super relevant just interesting!
3. I’m kind of glad they changed the... uncomfortable scene... with the robot burning his clothes off. He gets more time to react to seeing the machine itself, and he seems more shocked (”Now.. H-hang on just a minute.”) than angry (”Now hang on just a minute!”) i still feel.. horrible for him, i’m glad nobody Saw him and that the machine didn’t grab the clothes off, but still. Ehhh.. uncomfortable.
He is beautiful though, don’t get me wrong - I’d just prefer a shirtless Loki scene where he wants to be shirtless? let him do what he wants with his body?? he’s probably felt so out of control of his body, from being jotun to falling through space that any invasion of privacy like that hits extra deep...
That being said, I recognize the utility of the scene for the narrative - his lack of control, his literally being stripped of what he was before.
4. WHO IS THE MAN WITH THE CAT. What is his name. I love that he has a mug with his cat on it. But I want to know more. Who is he?
4.1 WHY DIDNT YOU LET LOKI PET THE CAT Please,,, I am begging you,,, let loki pet the cat and have something react kindly to him and purr all happily at his scratching behind their ears plea s e
5. The info sheet. Now this is just a little nitpicky tidbit, but in a previous promo they listed Loki’s height as 6′4 ft and weight as 525 lbs. This is taken directly from the comics if I’m not mistaken. However, in the actual show he’s listed as  6′2 (Tom’s height and Loki’s presumed height) but I don’t remember if his weight is the same. Is Loki 6′2? 6′4? please let me know i want to know how smol i am in comparison
6. His little aggressive shaking of the ticket at the guard makes me giggle each time.
7. The fact the turnstile hits so low on him reminds me,, I am short compared to him. Those things hit my stomach/waist. That one hit his legs. I am once again asking Loki to pick me up.
8. The cartoon with Miss Minutes introducing the TVA is wonderful, I love the art style especially. But it raises questions about Variants... I guess Variants can just, pop out of nowhere? Any action could be the wrong one? And then once you commit the wrong action you either get returned or pruned? Yikes??? And THIS ties into another thing later!
9. The trial scene. I have a hunch - a feeling, a suspicion. That one of three things may be true.
A. The Time-Keepers never actually existed. They’re fabricated, and now whoever runs the TVA is actually using the excuse of “The Time-Keepers decree it so!!!” to carry out whatever They think is right. The fact we haven’t seen the Time-Keepers makes me.. suspicious...
B. The Time-Keepers existed, but they have since passed on, however that may have happened. Now someone is doing the same as above, using the excuse of the Time-Keepers apparent dictations to run things.
C. The Time-Keepers do exist, and do run the timeline/TVA, but maybe they’re not infallible? Maybe the TVA info video is lying or incomplete in some way? Idk I just feel like, something about the TVA and how they run things has to be wrong. It has to? Something is off. Again, this will tie into another thought later...
I have no idea if any of these are actually true! But Loki’s questions of “Who’s in charge here? What do they do? What do you do?” punctuated by laughter leads me to believe he’s suspecting something too, or perhaps just trying to figure this mess out.
10. Seiðr/Magic. We see in this scene, Loki’s magic (”powers”) don’t work in the TVA. (and a quick side note, did he have to Flex like that? do you have to make me see Loki’s bare arms Flex like that? be still my heart. anyway please get that collar off of him and let him rest for five minutes) This makes me wonder.. Why isn’t Loki in his Jotun form? His pale skin and blue eyes are decided by magic, are they not? I suppose this is 2012, so perhaps Odin’s magic is keeping Loki looking like that. But if magic doesn’t work in the TVA, why would his spell reach so far? Clearly Loki’s magic isn’t what’s doing it. How is Loki not appearing as a Jotun? Is his Jotun form repressed - is pale skin his default now, rather than something hidden by magic? I need answers!
11. he sounds so scared about being “reset” please dont hurt him,,
12. cALLING LOKI A PUSSYCAT? (lokitty confirmed) I think Mobius was goading him (Mobius strikes me.. As extremely clever. He’s trying to push Loki’s buttons to see who he’s dealing with. At least, I hope so. Because if he really meant that “You were born to cause pain and suffering and death... All so that others can achieve the best versions of themselves.” and that line about killing Frigga??? No no no he is not guilty. He had no way of knowing what would happen. It wasn’t right to send Algrim up to Asgard (i think algrim wouldve found the way up anyway) but there was no intent to hurt Frigga. I really hope you’re trying to goad him, Mobius, because if you believe that I trust you much less. anyway i digress) but wow is he pushing Loki’s buttons a lot. I can’t... Blame him entirely, I understand he’s trying to make sure Loki’s on his side, maybe I’m just too soft for Loki idk. But some of that was very cruel to say. /:
12.1 AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT MOBIUS. That scene with the girl in the church?? Did that little girl kill the men? Is that young Sylvie? Or is she using an illusion to make herself look young and innocent? What’s going on!!!!
13. LOKI SNATCHING THE LITTLE TIME-TWISTER DEVICE AND STOWING IT IN HIS POCKET.... POCKET....... sorry sometimes i get so caught up about loki that i just say random words in between little noises and squeals,,, i am a silly thing
14. CASEY. CASEY??? That whole exchange is funny. Poor Loki, just trying to intimidate this guy so he can escape but - Casey doesn’t know what a fish is. to be fair.... thor doesn’t seem to know what a raccoon is... right?
15. That bit with the infinity stones is kind of funny until you realize
A. Natasha died for a paperweight
B. Tony died from paperweights
C. Loki was tortured for paperweights
D. Oh, and Gamora died for a paperweight too. And Vision. Need I go on?
Then it becomes less of exclusively “haha funny” and now it’s a mix of funny and pain and gosh, is that a good way to sum up being a Marvel/Loki fan sometimes...
16. Loki gazing at the timeline all “Is this the most powerful thing in the universe?” or something, i’m sorry i don’t remember exactly... made me think of a meme and i shall make it presently.
17. I love that Loki got to see examples of how his family loves him but the fact he’s all “I can’t go back.” really just breaks me. It’s like he can finally see they love him after all of this mess, and now he doesn’t have the chance. Please, please let him be happy. Give him some relief. This is the Loki that just came off finding out about being Jotun, falling from the Bifrost, encountering Thanos, attacking Earth, facing defeat, and now he’s being thrashed around in this wild place and has just found out he inadvertently caused Frigga’s death (he did not kill her: his actions, by mistake, lead to her murder, let me be very clear) AND Odin will die AND all the rest... And he wants to be with them.
18. Loki’s reaction to Thor suggesting the hug makes me soft. Please I want to hug this little mischief man so so so bad-
19. Skipping over the iw parts! That’s for another post because this one will be grossly long anyway.
20. “I don’t enjoy hurting people.” and “It's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. A desperate play for control.” was all so, so validating. I’ve been trying to argue on Loki’s behalf for almost a solid decade. Seeing the show recognize that Loki’s not all just violence and hurting for “fun”, that he’s not unhinged and bloodthirsty.. Is so nice. It’s just so, so comforting. and it gives me hope for future episodes that they won’t go the route of “oh haha loki bullied and mistreated and stabbed thor for years!!! :)” loki cries during basically every fight with Thor and you want me to believe he stabs Thor for fun? absolutely not.
21. Theory.. Just another hunch.. So we know a fugitive variant, aka Loki, is running amok. Refer back to 8 and 9.C. What if the Time-Keepers never actually fixed the timeline into a single timeline? What if there are other timelines, and these different Loki variants have hopped over to the current one? Or, maybe the Time-Keepers did fix the timeline into a single one, and these Lokis are remnants from that huge time-war at the beginning? Time runs differently in relative spaces, they may have Just Left that war from their perspective!
I say Lokis and not Loki because we’re pretty sure there’s Female/Lady Loki, Old Man/King Loki, and possibly Young/Kid Loki. That’s at least three. From the peeks of Asgard and NYC we’ve seen from the trailers, I think we’re also getting an Asgardian King!Loki and Midgardian King/Vote!Loki. (unless our dearest variant is hopping into timelines and situating into them, but I doubt Mobius would let that happen..?) That’s five.
To further support this, keep in mind, I believe recently six (i think 6 regular and 6 rare...) different funko pops were announced for the series? I’m not sure if they’re in addition to the Loki and Mobius already released. If they are, there’s enough room for each Loki and maybe a TVA agent. One of the pops is supposed to have a buddy/companion I think? Maybe they’re making the cat guy into one, or maybe there’s something else (Throg, anyone?).
22. That is totally Lady Loki/Sylvie at the end by the way. Has to be. But why does she want the reset devices? Why did she snatch that TVA Hunter? Again, WHAT’S GOING ON
ANYWAY this was a very long post if you made it this far, I commend you.
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So this is going to be a long, overemotional/melodramatic post... but I need to get my feelings out somehow.
I've only watched ep1 so far, but I really love the look of, and am really excited for, the new Loki show.
When I first saw that some Marvel shows were coming to Disney+...okay, yes, I was definitely excited about Wandavision and Loki, because those are three of my favorite marvel characters. But at the same time, things did feel a bit like a marketing ploy. Of course Disney would make a bunch of marvel shows on their new platform--thats what'll sell. Of course they'll pick Loki, because he's really popular and that'll sell more. I wasn't even sure I'd watch Falcon and Winter Soldier. It didn't feel like I could genuinely be excited about the shows, thinking this. And, don't get me wrong, this problem is still there, no doubt about that.
But I've definitely enjoyed Wandavision and Falcon and Winter Soldier, especially the former. I thought they were solid shows.
So even though I LOVE Loki as a character...I came to the trailers with this sort of bias in mind.
Now, let me be clear, I don't just love Loki.
He was probably the first character I ever became truly obsessed with. I'm pretty sure he was the first villain character I liked, and kind of awakened my love for redeemable villains (which, if you couldn't tell by my url, stays strong today). He's a character I've loved since Thor came out in 2010. He's been in my life for ten years, and in a way shaped who I am.
I enjoy marvel overall, but pretty casually. I definitely keep up with all the movies, but I don't totally obsess over all of them. However, I still remember just how unfathomably excited I was when Dark World came out. How unbelievably happy I was to see Loki again. How I savored every joke he made, every tender moment with him, and just how happy I walked out of that theater. When I watched Ragnarok, I was older, so I wasn't quite so giddy, but that kid inside me is still there, and still jumped and grinned every time I saw him come on screen.
Needless to say, he holds an extremely special place in my heart. Even though I have characters now that I potentially like more, he's sort of been my "favorite character" for ten years, and I will always adore him.
I'm sure its been said by plenty of Loki Stans but...I absolutely hated how Infinity War went.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad because he died. Okay, of course I'm mad he died. But I can deal with character death. In fact, I sometimes prefer a character getting a dramatic and fulfilling death to them getting a happy ending. (And there are things I liked about his death--like, I really adored his dialogue, that he was dying for a good cause.)
But what I hated the most was that it felt like the creators didn't know his character. Loki is the god of mischief. He would never EVER launch a straight attack on a villain, no illusions, no back up plan. I'm sorry, but that's just not him at all. (Sure his plans in Avengers were more scattered and went horribly...but, firstly, he was being mind controlled so he wasn't all there, and secondly, if I remember correctly, there was still a level of mischief in his plans. He didn't generally do things straightforward. That's part of what made it fun to watch.).
(Loki wasn't the only character I felt they did this with in IW. I hated that they just had Cap live his life through time with Peggy. Not that I hate that idea itself, it's cute of course. But Cap is so incredibly selfless. He would never just do something so selfish like that...It wasn't him).
In addition to that, I felt like I saw the puppet strings so clearly in that scene. That movie was all about shock value. I don't think a movie--at least one in a franchise like marvel--should ever be made purely for shock value. It should be about what's right for the characters and the overall storyline. If there's some shock there, great. But give the audience an actually fulfilling story. Don't make your entire plan to shock and horrify the world that loves these characters/this franchise. In that scene, it truly felt like they were "Oh hey Loki's like the most beloved character, right? Lol, let's break his neck within the first five minutes to show we mean business. They'll hate that."
I'm a writer, I know the merit in going "okay, hey, we're going big here, we need to set up our villain early, and set up how this movie overall is going to go with the first scene." I know why they felt the need to kill off a character in the first five minutes.
And hell yeah I'm largely just mad because it was my fave, of course I am.
But it didn't feel like they were going "Okay does this make sense for Loki's character? Is this a good way to have him go out? Will this satisfy our audience who loves him?"
It felt like they were going "Okay let's pick the most beloved character so it'll shock, annoy, and hurt people the most."
And I'm not okay with that.
I'm just some shmuck, there's nothing I can do about that. But I'm not okay with that. I was so not okay with that, that I've pretty much hated marvel for all the years preceding Infinity War, and have not been fully excited about anything marvel related since then. I have barely interacted with Loki content since then it affected me so much.
I know it's melodramatic, but It felt like they were killing my childhood. That little piece of me that got excited every time he came on screen. That piece of me, that had been so excited to see him be on the side of the villains in infinity war, because it just meant I got to see him. It truly felt like a small part of me died when I watched him die.
So when the Loki trailers came out? In a weird way ....I couldn't even be excited.
They were bringing him back, potentially erasing the problem I have with Infinity War. And yet...I couldn't be excited.
First off, when I saw what happened with him in Endgame (it made me extremely happy and hopeful, let me tell you, but it obviously didn't fix everything) I was kind of under the impression he'd just be causing mischief throughout space and time for the show, and I was absolutely here for it.
So when I saw the trailers were him getting caught immediately, and then recruited for the side of the good guys...I was like "okay so...the same plot as other Marvel movies? The plot of Ragnarok again? He gets stranded on an alien planet, and has to work for the leaders. There's lots of fighting, like there is in every other marvel movie, which is the part I least care about." When I saw the trailers I didn't get to see Loki being himself at all. I saw other people controlling him, and then him working for the good guys. That's not Loki. Loki is mischief. Loki works for himself. Loki fights, yeah, but his character actually has depth and emotion to it, he's not just for brainless fighting. (And whoo boy let me tell you I was mad when I saw the DB Cooper part of the trailer and thought they chopped his wonderful hair off when they made him a good guy, like they were totally changing his identity. And also let me tell you the SHEER RELIEF I felt when I found it was just a tiny scene, and his wonderful hair will remain (please God let it remain)).
So here I was thinking "great, its infinity war all over again. I'm gonna have a whole show of them not knowing and staying true to his character."
Even though that little kid inside of me was still there. Even though that little kid was going "Dude! Dude! It's Loki! An entire show about Loki! You won't have to wait for him to show up on screen, he'll just always be on screen! He'll be the protagonist! Do you realize how much I would have loved this if I got to see it years earlier?" I was so tired, and so mad.
But now I've watched the first episode.
And for the first time since infinity war...I felt like I could breathe again.
Here I thought they'd forgotten his character. They forgot that he's the god of mischief, that he's funny, that he's, well (to use the words of Thomas Sharpe)...absurdly sentimental.
And they didn't at all.
From minute one he's himself, wanting to rule the world, cracking jokes, refusing to be controlled, causing mischief when and where he can. They actually showed the progression of why he'd be willing to work for them really well.
And gosh I loved that scene where he sees what his life would be like. From the moment Mobius started showing him scenes from his life, I was desperately hoping he'd be left alone with the device and get to see more of his life, and desperately hoped he'd see and react to his death.
And they did not disappoint.
They remembered. They remembered that he's ambitious, that he's not controlled, they remembered that he's funny and mischievous, and that he's a special marvel character, that you can actually get deep and emotional with. They remembered all of it.
Watching Loki watch his own death was like taking all those years of anger, and for one brief moment melting them away. I felt like I wasn't alone anymore. Wasn't alone in going "hey that's not Loki." Loki himself was watching it, and could judge that for himself. And most importantly, it was confirming before my eyes that it was no longer was his end.
And him being the villain and the hero? I cannot explain to you how much I love that idea. How much and how well that keeps in line with his character. A great premise and protagonist can make for a poor story if it has a poor villain, and, to be fair I haven't seen how it goes, but that seems like the perfect--and perhaps only--villain who could make this show absolutely stellar. I'd love to see them explore that Avengers-level villainousness, with him also being a hero like we see at the end of Ragnarok. It'd be fun to see his two sides trying to convince each other to join them. It would truly feel like they understand all aspects of his character.
I'm older now, so I don't get nearly as excited about things as I used to. I wish I did. I almost wish this came out when I was younger so I could be more excited. But that kid is still inside of me, and I'm so excited to see him on screen all the time.
Now...I don't really care so much if it's all about the money.
It's a whole show about Loki. I don't have to wait for him to come on screen, he's just there.
This feel like more of a relief than I can possibly express.
(@mylokabrennauniverse @annievvv7 I’d be curious to hear your thoughts/if you’ve felt similarly!!)
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chipper9906 · 3 years
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Heal The Cracks Within My Heart - Chapter 4: Glimpses
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WARNING: SPOILERS FOR LOKI SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 ‘FOR ALL TIME. ALWAYS.’
Pairings: Loki/Sylvie
Rating: General Audiences
Chapter Word Count: 9,907
Overall Word Count: 42,032 (In Progress)
Status: Multi Chapter Fic - In Progress (4/?)
Chapter Preview: 
Loki was pretty sure Sylvie was making fun of him. Probably around ninety percent sure, if he had to give a figure. Or… or maybe more seventy-five… sixty-five… fifty-fifty? No, what was he thinking? He was just getting into his head, is all. Of course Sylvie was just joking around with him. Clearly he wasn’t supposed to take what she had said seriously.
…Right?
“Uh… so, just to be clear-,”
“Oh my God…” Sylvie’s drawn-out groan cut him off. “You’re supposed to be a master of lies, both in telling them and detecting them! You’re telling me you can’t pick up on a little sarcasm?”
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Sylvie was glad that Loki didn’t laugh at her comment in the self-deprecating way she had partly been expecting him to. For a few seconds, he didn’t even react at all, taking the time to absorb her answer and realize that she wasn’t lying to him – or trying to make what would have been a cruel joke. He makes no effort to hide the soft smile that hitches at his lips, eyes holding a warmth directed towards her that was almost overwhelming. There were times like these in the small moments of peace they found together where Loki bared himself to her, practically holding out his heart for her to take, and she always felt that bolt of fear that she would break it the moment she reached out for it. 
Loki reaches out for her hand, and she lets him take it - lifting under her hand and pulling it up to place a tender kiss on the back of her hand. It was strange, only having used her knuckles to throw punches, and now experiencing the sensation of his lips on an area that was only used to violence. 
“Thank you,” Loki said, voice brimming with genuine gratitude. His gaze rested on hers, bearing deep with an intensity that set her already over-heated skin alight. 
Sylvie cleared her throat, forcing herself to break away from his gaze and pretend to brush away bits of sand and dirt that weren't actually on her clothes. Loki watched, partly in amusement but also in some confusion as she stood from the wall, only to drop back down on the floor directly in front of him. 
“Teaching time,” Sylvie answers his unspoken question, crossing her legs underneath her. “Since you managed to conjure up that shirt, I’m assuming you’re up for it. Or, ‘have enough focus’ for it.”
“I… I think so,” Loki replied, pushing himself up a little straighter. “Although, I have to warn you: I’ve never actually taught anyone magic before. I’ve only ever been the, uh… the student.”
“Then we’ll both teach each other,” Sylvie offered. “I can give you some more tips for enchantment, if you’d like. In return, I want to know more about your powers. It seems our mother had a lot to teach me that I never got to learn.”
“There’s a lot,” Loki warned her.
“Examples?”
“Well, there’s conjuration, for starters,” Loki began, pushing down on his pointer finger with the finger on his other hand, counting to ‘one’. “Conjuration is… tricky. There are two main methods of conjuration I use -- one being more like ‘teleportation’ than conjuration. See, with that method, I’m simply grabbing something from a location where I know it already exists - though there’s nothing simple about it - and manifesting itself where I am. Say, for example, I had a dagger stored on some shack on the other side of this planet. I can use my magic to will the dagger to rearrange its atoms to a new location - such as in my hand.”
“Sounds easy…” Sylvie says, sounding daunted by the idea. 
“Takes practice, just like any other magic,” Loki assured her. “There were a few times the item I was summoning arrived… not quite as it should. Other times I’d mess up the location completely. Ended up with the dagger materializing in my hand.”
Sylvie cringed at the image that came to her mind, still able to feel the faint sting across her palm from his dagger metaphor not long ago, knowing that doesn’t compare to the entire blade going through your palm. 
“The other form of conjuration is, unfortunately, just as difficult - perhaps even more so,” Loki continues. “I’m afraid we’re rather limited to what we can conjure. Simple object mostly, that are only compromised of a few materials.
“Like clothing, and bandages, and blankets, and daggers…” Sylvie lists the items she’d seen him create from thin air. 
Loki hums in confirmation. “Precisely. Bits of cloth, really. Simple weapons, such as my daggers, are possible as they’re not much more than… metal. Start adding too many parts and it gets too complicated, too complex to materialize. If there were no limits, well…” Loki cut himself off with a huff of laughter. “I could have just created a Tem-Pad whenever. Or an infinity stone. Anything.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“Probably a good thing there are limits then,” Loki says with a knowing smirk.
“So… is that what you did back on Lamentis?” Sylvie asks, getting a confused frown in response. “Back when we trying to sneak onto that train headed towards the Ark. You changed your clothing to blend in with the guards?”
“Ah,” Loki realized what she was referring to. “No, that wasn’t conjuration. That would be a different power.”
“And you say you’re not a magician…”
“I prefer the term ‘Sorcerer’,” Loki corrects her. “You have the potential of these powers too, you know.”
“We’ll see,” Sylvie said, not sounding all that confident. “Come on, then - what else can you do?”
“Hmm… Well, there’s Astral Projection?”
“And what do you use that for?”
“Deceiving, mostly,” Sylvie nearly jumped out of her skin when his voice came from right beside her. She whipped around to face the direction of the voice, blinking in surprise at… Loki. Another duplicate of Loki, who looked identical to the one still sat against the wall, looking rather proud of himself for his magic. 
“Sometimes gets confused with Illusion Casting - which is what I did back on Lamentis to alter the appearance of my clothing,” The other Loki faded away as the real Loki waved down at himself and - with another flash of magic - he was dressed head to toe in the deep blue guard uniform from Lamentis, ridiculous helmet and all. “Which is also what I used to create the fake dagger back on the train. And is… the same power we saw us - old us - use to trick Alioth.”
“Right…” Sylvie murmured quietly. “I’m guessing you’ve never been able to recreate the entirety of our home in an illusion?”
“Not quite,” Loki admitted. “But I can use it to alter my appearance rather convincingly.”
Loki backed up his statement by seemingly shape-shifting into a man she had never seen before, dressed in a uniform of distractedly bright blues, reds, and whites. “This pretty face belongs to one Captain Steve Rodgers - more commonly referred to as ‘Captain America’. He was one of the plucky heroes that managed to bring my army down in New York.”
There was nothing on him that Sylvie could see which would give away the illusion – no haziness to his form or fuzzy edges. There was no other word for it but to call it downright impressive. Although, her answer quickly changed to ‘creepy’ as Loki altered his appearance once more, and she came face to face with… herself. It was unsettling, to say the least, to stare back into her own eyes that technically weren’t her own, getting more and more creeped out by the minor mannerisms in her movements that Loki had managed to learn and use so quickly in his replication of her. 
“Nope, too weird,” Sylvie has to look away, made all the more uncomfortable when his laughter at her discomfort comes out in her voice. “Give me back the original you.”
“As you command,” Sylvie’s grateful to hear him speak in his voice again, cautiously peeking at him out of the corner of her eye, relieved to see the face of the Loki she knows. 
“Never do that again…” Sylvie asks of him, looking almost queasy at what had just happened. “It’s bad enough I have to look myself in the eyes in reflections; I'd rather not have to stare myself directly in the face, thank you.”
“You know, there was a variant of us that looked almost exactly like me back in The Void,” Loki tells her. 
“And… is there any particular reason he wasn’t with the other versions of us you introduced me to?”
“Well, he was…” Loki tried to find the best way to put this. “…Rather an idiot, I suppose.”
“So, when you said exactly like you…?”
“Ouch,” Loki placed a hand dramatically over his heart. “I guess you could say he was me - if I’d never learned my lesson. There were… at least a dozen versions of us all congregated in one place, which went about as well as you could expect. A fight broke out; the alligator version of us bit off the other me’s arm-,”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Never even knew I could scream like that...”
Sylvie’s head reared back in surprise, wondering exactly how much mischief Loki had managed to get into in the short amount of time he was in the Void before she and Mobius had run into him. 
“What did you want to start with?” Loki asks her, experimentally stretching out to see how much pain would blossom from his wounds. The pain is still sharp and evident, enough so for him to wince and quickly stop his stretches, but it’s bearable. 
“I think it might be worth for the both of us to be able to use conjuration,” Sylvie answers. “Especially if you’re going to be insistent on throwing yourself into danger every chance you get. I’ll probably be materializing bandages in my sleep…”
“With you as my carer, I know I have nothing to worry about,” Loki counters, shooting her a cocky smile as he offers out his hand once more for her to take. She places her hand in his, though raises a brow in questioning. 
“Keeping skin-to-skin contact with you helped immensely when we were sharing our powers to enchant Alioth,” Loki answers. “Thought it might help with this, too.”
Sylvie nodded, his answer making sense in her mind - along with that annoying whisper in her mind that told her she didn’t need an excuse from him to hold his hand when she knew full well that she wanted to. 
  “Close your eyes,” Loki instructs her, and she does so. A sense of calm washes over her the second she does, keeping her grip tight around Loki as she sinks into that still, tranquil river of peace. “You can feel your control over your magic within, can’t you? Feel the opportunities it can provide? Feel the possibilities of the known Universe under your command?”
“Yes,” Sylvie answers automatically, keeping her eyes closed firmly shut. 
“Picture the object you wish to manifest. Make it as real in your mind as if it were in front of you,” Loki continues with his teaching, his voice smooth and soothing as it washes over her. “Grab hold of that magic brimming within you. Remember that it is yours to control, to bend it to your will. You need to start encouraging your magic towards that picture in your mind, manipulate it into the object you desire.”
Sylvie’s brow was creased into a deep frown as she dredged up every bit of concentration she had, focusing it all towards the task at hand. The few beads of sweat that ran down her face from her hairline were not entirely from the sweltering heat of the cave, resisting the urge to wipe the drops away. 
She heard Loki’s sharp inhale of surprise, but didn’t dare look at what he was seeing just yet. She let the sound of him fade away as background noise, doing all she could to ensure her first attempts at conjuration were at least somewhat successful. Loki’s hand in hers was not of the distraction she thought it’d be, rather acting as an anchor to keep her focused whilst simultaneously providing her with a reassurance; a way of him saying ‘I believe in you’ without him actually saying it. 
She didn’t know if it had worked. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to look. She knew that, chances are, her first attempt at conjuration was unlikely to end the way she was hoping to. But that didn’t mean she wanted to see that with her own eyes. 
“Sylvie,” Loki’s voice doesn’t give away how he’s feeling, the tight squeeze around her wrist being the only thing that snatched some of her focus away. “Sylvie, open your eyes.”
His words mirror her own from not too long ago, and she knows they hold the same pride she felt towards him on that day, as she got to witness him branching out his magic in a way he hadn’t done before. It’s this that gets her to slowly peel her eyes open, looking down to the small space between them to see if she had managed to manifest what she had envisioned.
And… there it was. It might not have been the exact same size, and maybe the color was slightly off from what she remembers, but… it was her boat; the little model that seemed a lot bigger when she was just a child. She knows that, technically, it’s not her boat - having long been pruned by the TVA along with everything else in her life. Yet… she had made it. She had willed it back into existence. 
Loki watched her silently as she gingerly picked the model boat up from the ground, cradling it in her hands as she looked to her creation. She turned the model around to get a good look from every angle, inspecting the boat thoroughly for anything that would give away it being a first-time conjurer's creation. 
“Not bad, huh?” Sylvie asks him, voice thick with emotion as she holds the boat out for him to take. Loki takes the boat from her hands with great care, knowing that - whilst it was only a replica - was the only physical thing she really had from her childhood, and from the life that had been taken from her. 
“Not bad at all,” Loki agrees with a smile so full of pride that it makes her heart hurt, holding out the boat like he’s inspecting it - except he only has eyes for her. 
"Not sure why I chose that," Sylvie says, taking back the boat when Loki carefully offers it back to her. "It just sort of... popped into my head."
She shoots him a sheepish smile, placing the toy boat down on the ground next to her. "Okay, your turn." 
"My turn?" 
"With learning," Sylvie clarifies. "Anything else you want to know about enchantment? Practice it?" 
"Well, yes but..." Loki started, confused. "...But practice on who?" 
Sylvie raised an eyebrow at him like the answer was obvious. 
"You?" Loki's voice pitched up in disbelief. "You're going to let me enchant you?" 
"I'm going to let you try," Sylvie returned with a playful smirk. 
Loki glanced down to her extended hand nervously, delicately taking hold of her wrist. Back when they had enchanted Alioth, it had felt more like... like Sylvie was doing most of the work. She was the one to make that bridge between themselves and Alioth, whilst he sort of... did what he could do in the background, extending out his magic towards both her and to Alioth. He hadn't been too sure what it was he was looking for, his magic reaching out and searching through the mess that was Alioth's thoughts and memories. 
"It's easier to search by my emotions, rather than just randomly selecting through all my memories," Sylvie tells him. "We attach our emotions to our memories; they stick out like a post-it note atop each one. It's useful when, for example with that hunter from the TVA, where I'm trying to... manipulate their memories. I sifted through the happy memories I could find, then forced myself into her memory, trying to blend in with her life."
"Why happy memories?" Loki asks. 
"Keeps them placated," Sylvie answers. "They're more likely to accept changes - such as that hunter believing she knew me back on her normal life on Earth."
"...What would happen if you used bad memories?" 
"Well... It'd be like a form of torture, I suppose," Sylvie gives him a somewhat concerned look. "Not many people want to re-live their worst memories." 
"Oh, believe me, I know..." Loki says bitterly, shuddering at the memory of his repeated cycling memory with Lady Sif. 
“If you’ll let me, I can show you,” Sylvie offers. “Afraid you’ll have to take down the walls in your mind, though. Even I can’t get through your defenses.”
What Loki found odd was that… the idea of Sylvie searching through his head didn’t worry him. He knew he had an extensive record of memories stored up there, and he knew full well that a lot of them featured his not so finest moments. But… it’s Sylvie. If anyone were to understand the things he did and the reasons he did them, it would be her. And besides, she said she would be looking through his good memories, right?
“Go ahead,” Loki gives her permission with a small nod of his head. Sylvie removes her hand from his hand, raising her fingers up to the sides of his temple, like she had tried to do in Lamentis. As her eyes slid shut, so did his, waiting for the moment he would be thrust into his own mind to relive his memories. 
He could feel her presence in his mind. She was rummaging around, carefully sorting through memory after memory. It was unsettling that he didn’t know what it was she was… feeling from him? Feeling the emotions attached to his memories? He simply didn’t know where in his life she had jumped to, and to what ‘happy memory’ she would bring to the forefront. 
He didn’t have to wait long to find out. 
Loki opened his eyes, expecting to see Sylvie sat in front of him, as she was before. Except now, he was standing upright instead of leaning against the cave wall, Sylvie stood next to him. Gone was the stifling heat, the unbearable dry air, and landscapes of nothing but sand. It had been replaced by a gentle and welcoming breeze that whistled through the trees surrounding them, soft dirt under their feet, and a perfectly reasonable temperature around them. 
“Come on, Loki!” A young boy with a mop of blonde hair yells as he runs by the two of them, some of his finest clothing having been dirtied up – which would more than likely earn him a scolding once he returned home. He held a wooden sword in his hands - no more than a child’s plaything - but he held it like it was his most trusted weapon. “We need to advance before they retreat any further!”
“Thor…” Loki whispers in disbelief, the memories of this day rushing back as he watched the… well, the memory unfold. 
“The cowards!” Another high-pitched, young child’s voice comes from somewhere within the trees. Loki watched as his younger self hurried over to his brother's side, he too holding a child’s weapon in his hand. Although, unlike his brother, his weapon was much smaller, thinner, and easier to conceal. 
His love of daggers had started at quite a young age. 
A touch against his hand distracts him for a moment, glancing down to see that Sylvie had slipped her hand into his, their fingers sliding together in a perfect fit. She watched the two children play with a warm smile, reminded of the mischief she and her Thor would get up to when not under their parent’s watchful eyes. 
“You were a cute kid,” She leans closer to tell him, and before he can say or do anything in response, she looks him up and down with a criticizing eye. “What happened?”
“Oh, very funny,” Loki deadpans with a light-hearted glare. “I grew into my looks, thank you very much -- not out of them.”
“Don’t need to tell me,” Sylvie responds slyly, appreciating the way it made him close his mouth with an audible clack of teeth, looking caught between a feeling of embarrassment at her agreement, and that overly cocky sense of ‘Damn right’. 
Whatever fake battle his younger self and younger brother had created in their imagination seemed to have reached its peak, the two boys ferociously swinging their wooden swords through the air and pretending it was slicing through the bodies of countless enemies. A part of Loki yearned to go back to those simpler times when his only worries were of what imaginary monsters needed to be slain, back when he was sure he would grow up defending Asgard until he breathed his last, ready to take arms against the Frost Giants if the need ever arose. 
Finding out that he was one really threw a wrench into the plans…
Loki blinks, and all of a sudden he’s back in the cave, like they had never left it. The sudden shift in surroundings was disorienting, and he needed to take a second to come back to himself, and back to reality. 
“That was an abrupt ending,” Loki commented, rubbing a hand against his forehead as he felt the lingering traces of Sylvie’s magic slowly dissipate. 
“It was supposed to be a happy memory, you know,” Sylvie says, much to his confusion. 
“What do you mean? It was a happy memory.”
“You didn’t look it,” Sylvie says, and he finds himself taken aback not only by how much he apparently put his emotions on display, but on how well Sylvie was able to pick up on it. “I don’t know what you were thinking about, but that memory certainly wouldn’t stay happy for long if you kept that train of thought up.”
She was right, and he knew it. Even now, he could already tell that the memory was tainted - no longer the pure and innocent moment captured in time that it had been. 
"Now, if you don't mind, I'd rather you didn't try to manipulate my memories," Sylvie says, tapping a finger to the side of her head. "We'll just go with simple enchantment for now. Just... do the same as I did for you. Enter my memories, and show them to me. Try and find a good one, if you can."
Loki swallowed nervously, slowly raising his fingers up to her head. He knew it was no small thing that she was so willingly offering her most vulnerable side to him, giving him the opportunity to view any and all memories that she has. And yet, when he placed his fingers on the sides of her head, she did not flinch away in a desperate bid to escape him. They both once again let their eyes fall shut, and like a searching hand did Loki’s magic reach out towards her mind. 
He could tell what she meant before with the whole ‘wall’ thing. Hers was just as impenetrable as his, bringing his magic to a standstill as he reaches it. There’s a moment of hesitation - although, really, it feels more like a moment where Sylvie was gathering herself together - before the wall all but crumbles away at his touch, and he delves deeper into her mind-
Too much. It was too much, all at once, surrounding him until it engulfed him. He had no idea how Sylvie was able to pick through all those different emotions when they are all just there, screaming for his attention. Disembodied voices surrounded him, and there was no chance of him making out what voices they were as they all congealed into one unidentifiable mess of noise. 
Something good. That’s all he had to find, wasn’t it? Surely he can do that. He makes an effort to filter through everything around him, and the very first thing he comes across that shows even the slightest hint of being somewhat good, he grabs hold of. 
And… immediately wishes he hadn’t. 
To say he was shocked still was an understatement. Wherever they were was almost too dark to make out, barely able to detect that they were stood in some… shack, maybe? He didn’t know. But what he did recognize were the noises, and as soon as he heard them, he knew exactly why a memory like this would fall somewhere in the ‘good’ category. Loki could feel the intense flush across his face at the needy, breathy moans he could hear from the two bodies writhing together atop what looked like a less than comfortable bed. Then again, it wasn’t like they were using the beds for sleeping...
His mind incessantly reminded him that one of those naked figures moving on the bed was Sylvie, and he was caught off guard by the bolt of lust that shot through him whilst, simultaneously, he had to deal with a whole other mess of emotions: Shame, at witnessing such a private moment; embarrassment, at knowing he had been caught witnessing said moment by the person whose privacy he was betraying, stood by his side with an equal expression of shock. But what caught him most off guard though was the burning, overwhelming feeling of jealously that over-powered all the others, irrationally hating this unknown person. It shouldn’t be them who were allowed to run their hands across her body. It shouldn’t be them who were permitted to see every inch of her skin. It shouldn’t be them who got Sylvie to make those soft sighs of pleasure that made his mouth run dry. 
He wasn’t sure if it was him or Sylvie that ripped them away from the memory. It was probably a little of both, the two of them hurriedly shoving each other out of the proverbial memory door, tripping over each other to get out. 
Loki sat wide-eyed, staring un-blinkingly at Sylvie. He had ripped his hands away from her as soon as they had come back to themselves, waiting for his racing heart to calm down. They could only gape at each other for a good few seconds, neither one knowing what to say or how to react to what had just happened. 
“I--I- I’d like to apologize…” Loki takes the first step, his words coming out in an awkward stumble of speech. 
The pure panic on his face would usually be enough to make Sylvie laugh if she wasn’t still working through her own embarrassment. She pointedly refuses to look him in the eye, staring at a particularly interesting piece of wall behind him instead. “Suppose I should have expected that might have been a possibility…” 
“I wasn’t searching for, um -- that,” Loki tries to defend himself, but it only makes his face flush brighter. “I didn’t know what memory I had found, only that it seemed to be a good one - which admittedly, it, uh… seems like it was?”
“It was… pleasant…” Sylvie forces out through the shame that wanted to keep her mouth firmly shut. “Um… how much exactly did you see?”
“Not much,” Loki answers, and it was the truth. “It was too dark to see much of anything. I mean, I knew that since it was your memory that it was… you, on that bed. But I didn’t see it was you.”
Sylvie nods, apparently accepting his answer. She clears her throat awkwardly, trying to shake off the last dregs of embarrassment that were intent on lingering. “Good. I’d rather not have that be the first time you see me like that.”
Loki’s wide-eyes stare somehow got wider, not expecting for Sylvie to bounce back from her embarrassment like… well, like that. It wasn’t exactly like he could take what she said and interpret it in any other way than what she was hinting at. 
“Okay - let’s try again,” Sylvie said, giving Loki a serious case of conversational whiplash. 
“I… what?”
“Enchant me again,” Sylvie clarifies, shuffling closer to him. “Only, this time, if you could spend a little extra time selecting the memory, I’d appreciate it.”
“Are you sure?” Loki asks, voice filled with anxiety as he places his fingers on her head again. “There’s every chance I could mess it up again.”
“I have faith in you,” Sylvie assures him, and it’s all he needs to hear to delve straight back into her mind. 
At least he was a little bit more prepared for it this time. It still felt like he was being squeezed in on all sides by every single memory her mind had procured, but now he knew what it was like, he didn’t feel the immediate panic that had him reaching for the first good memory he could sense. Loki forced his way through, letting all the different emotions attached to each individual memory wash over him. It was disheartening to see - or more accurately, feel - just how many of her memories were bad ones. The good ones, if you could even call them that, seemed few and far between, dull in comparison to all the terrible moments she’s had to endure. Still, he trudged forward, extending his magic to its limits.
There it was. Shining bright in the darkness of everything else, tucked snuggly away in a nice, safe spot away from all the bad. He wasn’t sure if she purposefully hid it here to make this more of a challenge for him, or if it was just where it already was. Loki reaches for the memory, and the memory seems to move towards him, eager to accept his touch. 
The blackness surrounding him gives way to a flash of white, momentarily blinding him. Loki raises a hand to shield his eyes, rapidly blinking as he waits for his vision to come back into focus. When it does, he can only slowly lower his hand back down, staring out to what was in front of him in disbelief. 
He recognized this memory. This bright, shining, happy memory. Because… he was in it. For most looking on the outside, the memory certainly didn’t look happy, what with the giant chunks of planet moments away from smashing into them and obliterating the moon that was under their feet. Yet, there was beauty amongst all this destruction; the purples and pinks of Lamentis’s sky created an almost dream-like atmosphere, the luminous colors reflecting in the still lake they had been sat by.
He could see himself, sat on that rock with Sylvie by his side. This had been what they both thought were going to be their last moments. It had been remarkable really that, in those last moments, Sylvie didn’t hold onto any grudges – him having admittedly been the one to doom them to this fate by accidentally crushing the TemPad. 
“Do you think that what makes a Loki a Loki… is the fact that we’re destined to lose?” He hears the words Sylvie had spoken to him, just as beaten-down sounding as he remembered.
“No,” His past self asserts with all the confidence he has. “We may lose. Sometimes painfully. But we don’t die. We survive. I mean, you did. You were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the organization that claims to govern the order of time. You did it on your own. You ran rings around them. You’re amazing!”
Loki didn’t realize at first that the wave of emotions that crashed into him weren’t entirely his own. Somehow, he was simultaneously re-experiencing the emotions he himself had felt in that moment, combined with not only the emotions he was feeling in this very moment watching it all unfold, but also getting the full brunt of Sylvie’s emotions, from where he was witnessing all this from inside her head. 
The strength of it nearly took him off his feet. The sense of gratitude he could feel from Sylvie, just from him saying what he had said. And there was this… this sheer adoration towards him, his chest tight as it felt like his heart stumbled over a few beats. It might have been him, it might have been Sylvie, or it might have been both of them. Either way, it was… beyond reassuring to know now, that it had been the same for her. This very moment, as he watched her reach out and place a hand on his arm… it had been the moment he began to fall for her. 
Funny that it took reliving a memory for him to be slapped with the realization that right here, and right now, he had fallen completely and utterly in love with her. Deep down, he probably already knew that. In fact, it was probably obvious to many, let alone himself. 
He wondered if, by some miracle, that she felt the same in that moment. Truth be told, he doesn’t know how she feels for him now. He’s not completely blind; he knows there’s some semblance of feelings there. Question was… how far did those feelings run? Were they as deep as his? Would she ever tell him? 
Would he ever find the courage to tell her?
“Our Nexus Event…” Sylvie said quietly from next to him, eyes still transfixed on the memory of the two of them
It wouldn’t be too long before the ‘happy’ part of the memory was interrupted by the entrance of the TVA, their workers storming in to take them prisoner once again. Loki wasn’t too sure whether it was Sylvie’s influence on her own memory, but it seemed… slower, like she was savoring every second of it she could. He could almost feel the warmth of her memory self’s hand on his arm - the first genuine touch of kindness from her - the moment forever etched into his skin.
The end of this world, and the near end of their lives, was almost…. almost beautiful to behold. Especially now, with everything slowed down: the shards of broken-up planet hurtling towards them so slow you nearly couldn’t tell they were moving, the picture-perfect lake in front of them as still and calm as can be - quite the difference to the chaos and destruction just above their heads, waiting to rain down upon them. 
“You know, I spent many nights wondering what my end would be,” Sylvie tells him. “Different scenarios that could occur. Most of them were preparation, I suppose. Trying to make escape plans for every possible thing that could go wrong. I thought that, if the day came that something did wrong, and I couldn’t find a way out of it? I tried to imagine how much of a mess my mind would be. What would I think about, as my death approached? That I failed my mission? That my life had been for nothing? Would I spend those last moments thinking of my family - or at least, what of them I can remember?”
Loki watched Sylvie as she spoke, who had yet to look away from the memory versions of themselves. Although she wasn’t looking at him, she seemed to sense he was looking at her, for she gestured with a flick of her chin for him to pay attention. Loki followed her line of sight just as she blindly reached out for him, wrapping a hand around his forearm, just below the elbow. At that same moment, the memory version of himself had slipped his arm down until his hand met Sylvie’s, the two of them latching onto one another tightly as the deadly chunk of planet that had been looming ahead crashed into the surface of Lamentis, sending a blast of heat and debris towards them. 
It was then, with Sylvie’s hand still wrapped around his arm, that he heard her voice in his head. Not of her current thoughts, no, but of the thought she had in those last seconds - moments before she was certain would be the last seconds of life. What caught her off guard though, as much as it had Loki, was that she too heard his thoughts. Their last thought - or so they had thought - rang out within the memory as clearly as if they had said it out loud. And the craziest part? 
It had been the same single thought. 
‘Finally…I’m not alone.’
Their combined voices echoed in Loki’s head as the memory faded away, and he found himself opening his eyes back in reality. His fingers were still held against the side of her head, and he found he couldn’t take them away as Sylvie opened her eyes, immediately focusing in on him. There was such warmth to her gaze, and it took him a moment to remember how to breathe. There were times, such as the moment they had just visited, or when they shared a blanket in the void, where she had given him glimpses of that warmth. He had seen it, hiding behind a layer of wariness in her eyes, valiantly trying to fight to the surface. It seems that, in this moment of raw truth, that it had won its fight. 
Gods, he never wanted her to stop looking at him like that. If he wasn’t careful, she would become an addiction - one he knows full well he won’t be able to kick. 
Oh, who’s he kidding. He became hooked on every essence of her long ago. 
And he didn’t mind one bit. 
Loki let one of his hands drop away as the other softly grazed down the side of her face, coming to a stop at the bottom of her chin. It was a bit of an awkward angle from where they were sitting - even if Sylvie had gravitated towards him throughout their little enchantment training session - and the bending of his body as he leaned towards him had most definitely sent a twinge of pain shooting through his side. He was pretty sure that the movement had torn the wounds open again, but as he tilted her face up and their lips finally met, he decided that this was worth bleeding for. 
Their kiss broke for the briefest of moments as Sylvie pushed herself up onto her knees, her hands resting on his shoulders as she swooped back down to reclaim his lips with her own. The pressure of her hands on him pushed him back into the wall, the rough and cold surface of it against his back a stark contrast to the gentleness and warmth of her lips. Loki had found a way to bring out a soft side of her that she didn’t know existed, one she thought was buried down and would cause great embarrassment if she ever let herself be seen as so weak. But with Loki, it all just… came easy. She knew that he wouldn’t see her as weak - and she was completely right. From Loki’s perspective, the fact that she was able to display such a side of herself when she’s relied on nothing but toughness and cruelness to survive filled him with a sense of pride and admiration that he hoped he was able to express with every lingering tender gaze and press of lips.
Kisses had never been much of an expression of emotion for Sylvie. They had just been part of the process – a sensation that leads to more, something to distract her. Most of the time, they were rough and hard: clashes of teeth, red and puffy lips as they make haste to get on with it before the end of the world, the taste of iron in her mouth from a bite of the lip that had been a little too hard. 
It was nice, to have this with Loki. No rushing, no ‘We’re here to do a thing, so let’s get it over with’. She could just… take her time. Appreciate the way it feels to have someone touch her in a way that didn’t send her into fight or flight, savor the way he held her – not like she was fragile, but something precious. She doesn’t have to kiss him like the world's about to end. She gets to kiss him simply because she can, because it’s what she wants, because he’s what she wants, because she lo--
Whoa. That thought had almost come too easily, ready to slip into her mind like it was something of common knowledge. It’s enough of a shock that she pulls away from Loki – but then again, the burning in her lungs and the way they were both panting as they break away from one another likely meant that there would have been a pause soon anyway. Loki’s pupils were blown almost all the way out, the blue-gray of his irises nothing more than a thin ring eclipsing the black holes trapped within his eyes. Sylvie wondered if her eyes looked about the same right now – at least, if the heat searing through her veins was of any indication. 
Loki’s tongue darted out across his lips, swiping away the taste of her that lingered there. His lips had turned cherry bright and glossy, which was almost tempting enough for her to dive right back in, only for her racing thoughts to be brought to a calm as Loki spoke. 
“I know that you’ve spent nearly your entire life alone,” Loki began. “But… it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. I can promise you: I’ll make sure you never have to feel alone again.”
Sylvie could feel her face soften at his nervous offer. “You can’t promise that. And that’s not me saying that you might one day decide you’ve had enough of me - which is something I could see happening.”
Loki opened his mouth to strongly argue against her statement, but Sylvie continued before he could get a word out beyond the deep frown etched onto his face. “I’m saying it because… there’s a chance you might leave me, not of your own volition. The life I’ve dragged you into - especially now with so many new threats out there that we don’t even know about… someone could take you from me. In a blink, you could be gone, and… and I’d be alone again.”
“There’s always that risk,” Loki pointed out. “I mean, it’s us. You didn’t drag me into this life. I dragged myself into it when I picked up the Tesseract that landed by my feet. And If I hadn’t done that? Then my life would have ended at the hands of Thanos anyway. If I had to choose between that, and spending the rest of my life with you? Well, let’s just say it’d be the easiest decision of my life. Hel, you could give me the choice of living a life of luxury on the throne of Asgard, or slumming it with you in Apocalypse after Apocalypse, and I’d still choose this path. Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter what path is laid before me. I’ll only choose the one where you walk down it beside me.”
Sylvie’s jaw clenched hard as she fought back the tears that threatened to spill over. She was almost certain that Loki was the reasoning behind around seventy percent of the number of times she’s cried in her entire life. When you’ve lived a life running from an all-powerful organization that’s chasing you for not belonging in their carefully crafted universe, it’s not all too surprising that actually feeling wanted by someone was enough to open the floodgates. 
“You’re an idiot,” She croaks out in an attempt at a joke. Although, she supposed it wasn’t much of a joke. Choosing her over a life of comfort seemed like a pretty stupid decision….
“That’s likely true,” Loki agreed with a wonky smile. “But if you’ll have me, then I’ll be your idiot.”
“Hmm… Such a tempting offer…” Sylvie says, smiling through the tears that still sat in her eyes. “I’ve only gone and spent over a thousand years of my life living completely alone, doing what I can to survive. And now, here’s someone sat in front of me who’s fought by my side, helped me outsmart the TVA to achieve the one goal I had set out to accomplish, had my best interests in mind even when I couldn’t see it myself, has thrown themselves into danger numerous times to protect me, and is now the one asking if I’ll have him?” 
Loki stared blankly back at Sylvie. “…Yes?”
Sylvie’s lips flattened into a straight line, unsure whether to laugh or sigh at his uncertainty. It had at least helped to lessen the burning in her eyes. “Hmm… Nah. I think I’ll keep going on my own, thanks.”
Loki was pretty sure Sylvie was making fun of him. Probably around ninety percent sure, if he had to give a figure. Or… or maybe more seventy-five… sixty-five… fifty-fifty? No, what was he thinking? He was just getting into his head, is all. Of course Sylvie was just joking around with him. Clearly he wasn’t supposed to take what she had said seriously.
…Right?
“Uh… so, just to be clear-,”
“Oh my God…” Sylvie’s drawn-out groan cut him off. “You’re supposed to be a master of lies, both in telling them and detecting them! You’re telling me you can’t pick up on a little sarcasm?” 
Loki’s lips pursed into an honest to God pout, crossing his arms across his chest with an in-dignified huff. He had already known, from Mobius’s little interrogation technique, that the skill-set he possesses in making him the Trickster he’s known as is often thrown completely out the window whenever Sylvie becomes involved. 
Sylvie took pity on the sulking demigod, reaching down to place a hand on his knee. Loki’s eyes darted down to her hand, then back up to her, his frown softening by just the slightest. “Listen, Loki… What I was trying to say is that...”
Sylvie stopped with a heavy sigh, shuffling around until she was side to side with him once more. She leans back against the wall as he was, letting her head fall back until it softly collided with the wall as she closed her eyes. She figured it would probably be easier to say what’s on her mind when she can’t see the way his eyes were trying to burn into her soul. 
“After everything that happened… I truly didn’t know how you’d react to seeing me. You know how I said I liked to think over different scenarios in my head? Try and prepare myself for every outcome?”
Loki nodded his head, and although she couldn’t see it, she took his silence as her cue to continue. “In nearly every scenario I envisioned… it never goes as I want. Maybe the Time Door wouldn’t take me to the same TVA I placed you in. Maybe I’d be arrested or pruned before I could find you. Maybe… maybe they had already killed you,” A lump formed in her throat at that thought. “Maybe, if I did find you, you’d refuse to go through that Time Door. Maybe, once you saw me, you’d run away. Or maybe you’d run towards me, and thrust your dagger through my chest.”
“I’d never-,” Loki tries to exclaim, but Sylvie raises a hand to stop him. Obediently, he falls quiet, though his mouth was still twisted into quite the grimace.
“I ran through the argument we’d have so many times in my head,” Sylvie continues. “A lot of shouting… a lot of tears… some of them would end in another clash of swords, others… you leave. And I find myself alone again. So when…” Sylvie forces her eyes open, glancing at Loki from her side vision. “When you ran to me, I was waiting to see which of those scenarios would unfold. But you did none of them. You wrapped your arms around me, and you were… you were happy to see me. Even with what I did to you, you were just…”
“Glad to see you were okay,” Loki finished for her. 
“And I still don’t know what I did to deserve that,” Sylvie confesses, the two of them turning their heads towards one another. “I hadn’t been expecting it, and… I thought that, if I somehow managed to find you and you didn’t want nothing to do with me, then… then I thought that I’d be the one that was asking you if you’d have me – not the other way around.”
Loki exhaled softly from his nose, averting his gaze down with the beginnings of a smile. “Communication doesn’t seem to be our strong point…”
“Really not a fan of… feelings,” Sylvie spat out the word like it burned her. “They’re rather messy, aren’t they?”
“Hmm. And confusing.”
“Way too confusing. I mean, really, they seem to be more trouble than they’re worth.”
“No doubt about it,” Loki agrees wholeheartedly. “They get in the way half the time. How am I supposed to make clear-headed decisions when they’re always there?”
“So we’re in agreement?” Sylvie asks. “Feelings are stupid?”
“Oh, definitely,” Loki answers with a sly grin that forces a near-identical one from Sylvie, the two of them smiling at each other in the steadily darkening cave as this planet’s day came to an end. Loki’s grin slowly softens into a gentle smile, matching the tenderness in his eyes as he looked to her. “Glad I have them, though.”
“Me too,” Sylvie utters gently, unable to look away from his eyes on hers, admiring the way they almost seemed to change color as the cave’s lighting had gradually changed with the passing of time.
“Guess that makes us both idiots.”
Sylvie snorts at that, giving his shoulder a flimsy shove, making sure not to touch anywhere near his wound. Although his eyes don’t once stop expressing that never-ending kindness he always seemed to direct towards her, even Sylvie could see the bone-deep exhaustion that had begun to dull them. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had slept properly herself, outside of the brief nap she had sneaked in on the train to the Ark on Lamentis. Loki probably hadn’t slept in… well, she didn’t know - and after days, weeks, perhaps even months of running both with and against the TVA, jumping in and out of apocalypses, facing the ruler of the sacred timeline, and now getting himself hurt fighting actual space lizards… It was downright shocking he wasn’t conked out right this second. 
Even demigods had their limits, after all. 
“You should get some rest,” Sylvie expresses her worry both verbally and with her expressions, her brow creasing in a frown that only a mother-hen would sport - which she certainly was not. “I’ll take first shift; keep an eye out for any more man-eating reptiles.”
“You sure that’s safe?” Loki asks. “We still don’t know whether this is an Apocalypse.”
“That’s why I’m keeping watch,” Sylvie counters. “First sign of trouble, I’ll… Well, I’ll hope that this thing still works, first of all,” She gestures to the TemPad on her hand. “Besides, there hasn’t been any evidence that this is an Apocalypse.”
“Other than the TVA not showing up,” Loki points out. “Thought they only did that when we existed within Apocalypses?”
“We still don’t know how this whole ‘multi-verse' thing works. I don’t even know what kind of universe we’re in. What if this one doesn’t even have a TVA?”
“You don’t think the other TVA’s would work out a way to jump between universes?” Loki asks. “I’m sure some of them are already getting to work on pruning all those ‘unruly timelines’…”
“Oh, just lay down and get some sleep, would you?” Sylvie all but orders him. 
“Yes, ma'am…” Loki mumbled, barely avoiding another annoyed shove.
Loki shuffled down the wall until he was flat on his back, staring up at the rocky ceiling that loomed above their heads. Now, with the once glaring sun that had been peeking through the cracks long gone - and the beginnings of the night sky now having replaced it -the temperature had slowly taken a nosedive. The hard ground under his back made it especially difficult to drift off, despite his body's desperate pleas for rest. 
Then, even from beyond his closed eyelids, Loki could sense a bright burst of light appearing above him. Naturally, it startles him, eyes popping open in preparation for potential danger. Instead, he feels the comforting weight of a soft, warm blanket being draped over his body. His eyes dart over to Sylvie still by his side, seeing her watching him with a knowing smile as she twirls her fingers, conjuring the blanket out of thin air that was now laid comfortably over him. Loki pinches the corner of the blanket between his thumb and fingers, inspecting the new creation. The blanket was of a similar dark green to the one he had made, but the material had a heavier weight to it, along with being made of more of a wool type of material than the silk of his own. 
“You looked cold,” Sylvie jokes. “Thought I’d return the favor from last time.”
“Made a few changes, I see,” Loki notes, running a hand across the blanket. “Seems we both enjoy the same type of color scheme, though.”
“Nothing wrong with the color of yours,” Sylvie said. “But c’mon - even you have to admit that it wasn’t the snuggliest of blankets.”
“And is that what you had in mind when designing this one?” Loki’s teasing grin as he looked up to her came through in his voice. “Ideal for snuggling?”
Sylvie’s glare came out weaker than she intended, trying - and failing - to ignore the heat that had rushed to her face. “Last time I do something nice for you…”
Loki’s responding laughter at least wasn’t a mocking one, the very definition of ‘I’m laughing with you, not at you’. For what felt like the umpteenth time since she’s met him, Sylvie looked away from him with a roll of her eyes, staring out into the dense darkness of the cave.
The moonlight seeping in above could only do so much to illuminate their surrounding, and her eyes could only provide her with so much information about what they could see before it became ‘nothingness’; the shadows and outlines of the cave blending together into one deep, dark, stretch of murky black. She could almost convince herself her eyes were closed if it weren’t for what felt like little weights attached to her eyelids that were trying to force them down. Sylvie hid a yawn behind her hand, as if fighting off those yawns would convince her that she wasn’t really tired. 
For once in her life, the feeling of a hand wrapping around her arm didn’t have her reaching for her sword. She glanced down to the hand, then followed the arm attached to its owner, raising an eyebrow at Loki as he peered up at her. Loki answered her questioning look by gently tugging on her arm, which… didn’t entirely answer those questions if she’s being honest. 
“What… are you doing?” She asks him, glancing between his hand and his face. 
“What does it look like?”
“Kind of like you’re trying to pull off my arm?”
“What? No, I’m-,” Loki cut himself with a sigh, eyes narrowing as he looked to her, weighing out his decisions. Or, more accurately, the consequences of said decisions. 
He seemed to make up his mind remarkably quickly, for the next second, the tug on her arm had become much stronger. Stronger enough that, with just one pull, she found herself being pulled down, all but falling into his side. She placed a hand on his chest, ready to push herself back up and ask him what the Hel he thought he was doing, when she froze at the feel of his blanket-clad arm sliding across her back to wrap around her, pulling her close to him and wrapping them both up in the blanket she had conjured. 
“You were right,” Loki’s voice rumbles in his chest under her ear. “This blanket is snugglier.”
“A little bit more warning would be appreciated,” Sylvie tries to pretend she’s annoyed by his antics, whilst at the same time tucking herself closer to his side, resting the arm that had been trapped between them on top of his chest. “I’m supposed to be keeping watch, you know.”
“And you’re more than welcome to do that,” Loki mumbled sleepily, eyes closed and sounding like he was a few seconds away from dropping off. “Just make sure you wake me up in a few hours for my shift,”
“You don’t have to-,”
“Yes, I do,” Loki asserted strongly. “You need some sleep just as much as I do. And I know you don’t like letting your guard down, but… I promise I can keep you safe.”
Not long ago, Sylvie would have scoffed at anyone that said that to her. But Loki had said he could keep her safe like he truly believed it - enough so that she believed it, too. The battle wounds he’s currently sporting from their earlier skirmish were proof of that. 
Loki’s heartbeat was calm and steady under her ear, its rhythmic thumps combined with the alluring warmth of his body heat making it particularly hard to fight off the drowsiness fogging her mind. It was with great amusement that she realized that, whenever she lightly brushed her fingers against his chest, she could both feel and hear his pulse picking up, pounding just a little harder below her head before settling back down to its usual rhythm. 
 “It’ll be your fault if I fall asleep on watch, and we’re murdered by scavengers that sneak into the cave,” Sylvie says after a few minutes, able to tell that Loki was still awake by the way his breathing had yet to slow. 
“I’ll be sure to apologize profusely in the after-life,” Loki said, his large hand covering her smaller one atop his chest. “And I’m supposed to be sleeping, you know. That’s quite difficult to do when you’re quite literally playing games with my heart.”
Sylvie chuckled gently, the weight of Loki’s hand on top of hers stopping her from continuing her little amusing experiment. “Apologies, your majesty.”
“Just you want until it’s your turn to sleep,” Loki grumbled. “We’ll see how grumpy you get when I keep interrupting your nap-time.”
“Unless you want me to spring awake with a knife to your throat, I wouldn’t advise messing with me in my sleep,” Sylvie advised him. 
“Duly noted,” Loki said with a long sigh, giving her hand a quick squeeze. “I had planned on waking you up with a morning kiss - you know, like a good prince should -  but if you say not to…”
Despite his tiredness making it difficult for him to do much else than lay with his eyes closed, Loki had to suppress his laughter at the long stretch of silence from Sylvie as she absorbed what he had just offered.
“...I suppose it’d be good to try and break me out of that habit..”
Loki did laugh that time, the deep rumbling of his laughter vibrating throughout his chest.
“Well, if all I have to risk is a knife to my throat to steal another kiss from you? Then that’s a risk I’m more than willing to take. I’ve done it before, after all.”
Next Chapter - - - >
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pinktwingirl · 3 years
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Loki Series Rewrite (AKA Loki Series But With Squirrel Girl) Ep 4
INT. TVA - DAY
Mobius and Ravonna are talking.
RAVONNA
Every moment those variants are out there, we're all in danger.
MOBIUS
I'm working on it; Doreen's locket is charging... It should be ready any second now-
Just then, an AGENT enters, holding the locket.
AGENT
Sir, we got a location.
MOBIUS
Well, there you go.
AGENT
He's on Lamentis-1, 2077. I can only assume she's there with him.
MOBIUS
That's not good... We need to get them, fast.
INT. TIME THEATER - DAY
After Loki and Sylvie are apprehended and Loki is stuck in the time loop, Mobius interrogates him in the time theater.
LOKI
You betrayed me!
MOBIUS
No, you betrayed me! You followed that variant when I explicitly told you not to, and now you're working with her?! 
LOKI
How did you find us?
MOBIUS
Oh, well, you can thank your friend Doreen for that. You know, she went through all the trouble of fixing it when it was broken just to find you.
Loki's eyes widen.
MOBIUS
You know, I have no idea why she bothers putting up with you. At first, I thought, "well, maybe, she's smart. Maybe she sees something in you that I don't." But now, I think maybe she's just being naïve and she's wasting her time and trust on someone who doesn't deserve it.
Loki grits his teeth.
MOBIUS
How long have you been working for the variant?
LOKI
Me? Working for her? Please.
MOBIUS
Okay, so, if you're not working for the variant, what is it? You're partners?
LOKI
Absolutely not. She's... difficult and... irritating, and... she tries to hit me all the time!
Mobius raises an eyebrow.
LOKI
No. Not partners, no.
MOBIUS
Yeah, I guess you don't do partners. Unless, of course, it benefits you and you intend to betray them at some point, like you'll probably do with Doreen.
LOKI
It was a means to an end, Mobius. Welcome to the real world. Down there, we're awful to one another to get what we want.
MOBIUS
And now I gotta have a prince tell me how the real world works? Look, if you're not gonna cooperate here, I'm just gonna have to send you back for another round in the time loop...
LOKI
Wh-No, wait! Wait, wait, wait.
He pauses for a moment, and Mobius sits back down.
LOKI
Of course it was me pulling the strings all along. 
(Beat)
She came to me on Asgard a long time ago... and then, she took me to one of her apocalypses... and that's where we hatched our plan together.
Mobius raises an eyebrow.
MOBIUS
Which is...?
LOKI
Coming along very nicely, thank you.
MOBIUS
And the variant?
LOKI
Doesn't matter. She's a pawn.
(Beat)
Something very, very big is going to happen, and when it does, I'll dispose of her.
MOBIUS
Well, we saved you the trouble there. She's already been pruned.
Loki's face falls.
MOBIUS
So, assume I do set you free. Does that-
LOKI
H-hang on, wait, what did you say?
(Beat)
MOBIUS
Assume I do set you free...
LOKI
The variant. She's gone?
MOBIUS
Yeah. Not before she took out two of ours. Yeah, she was going to her time cell, broke free, Hunter B-15 stepped in, popped her... So you might wanna fire off a thank-you note to Hunter B-15, because it looks like you're the... superior Loki. I would've bet on her, but... that's what makes a horse race.
Loki tries to look unaffected and shrugs.
LOKI
Good riddance.
After a pause, Mobius starts laughing, which irritates Loki.
LOKI
What? What's so funny?
MOBIUS
You know, for the god of mischief and lies, you really are a terrible liar.
LOKI
Is she alive?!
MOBIUS
Yes, she's alive. And I know that little story you told me was a lie too. So why don't we try this again, and you tell me the truth this time?
Loki clenches his jaw. 
INT. TVA HOLDING CELL - DAY
Doreen slowly regains consciousness, blinking a few times before taking in her surroundings. She notices she is still in her ballgown and bound to a chair with handcuffs. She tries to use her strength to break the handcuffs off, but Ravonna enters.
RAVONNA
Save your energy. If you break those handcuffs off, they'll just put themselves right back together.
Doreen glares at her. Ignoring her warning, she uses her strength to snap the handcuffs off, but, like Ravonna said, they put themselves back together on Doreen's hands.
RAVONNA
Told you.
DOREEN
What do you want?
RAVONNA
I want to know what you saw in those restricted files you accessed. And I also want to know why you're working with Loki. He's a murderer and a liar.
Doreen scoffs.
DOREEN
Yeah, that's rich, coming from you. You're lying to all these people about who they are, and they don't even know it.
RAVONNA
That's different. It's a necessary lie.
DOREEN
There are no "necessary lies," only ones that benefit you at the expense of others. These people had families! Real homes! And you took that from them!
RAVONNA
We are preventing the universe from falling into chaos.
DOREEN
And at what cost?
RAVONNA
(losing her temper)
Whatever cost is necessary!
(She pauses.)
You know, despite what you may think, I am trying to help you.
DOREEN
I don't need your "help."
RAVONNA
Really? So you would rather side with the man that nearly enslaved your entire planet?
DOREEN
That was the past. He's changed.
RAVONNA
You know, I would think that someone as smart as you would be able to tell when they're being taken advantage of.
DOREEN
You don't know Loki.
RAVONNA
On the contrary, Ms. Green, I know everything about Loki. Every variant of him - they're all the same. Destined to be a selfish, lying murderer from the day they're born to the day they die.
DOREEN
That's not your choice to make! The only ones who get to decide who we are, are ourselves.
RAVONNA
Not as long as the timekeepers are around. Free will is a poison that leads to chaos. Having a set path to keep everything in its place is the only way to keep life in the universe safe.
(Beat)
Look... You can still do the right thing here. All I'm asking you to do is help me stop these Loki variants. With your help, we can save all living beings from their reign of chaos. We aren't your enemies, Doreen! The universe needs us to protect it... for all time.
After a moment, a scornful smirk grows on Doreen's face.
DOREEN
Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.
Ravonna glares at her. After a moment, she steps closer to Doreen.
RAVONNA
You wanna know what happens to you on the timeline?
Doreen's face falls.
RAVONNA
You'll spend the rest of your life hiding from people who either want to lock you in a prison or a lab cage. Did you really think running around stopping bank robberies was going to change how people see you? You're a mutant. A freak to the rest of the world. You will always be an outcast. 
Doreen clenches her jaw, blinking away tears as Ravonna leaves.
INT. RAVONNA'S OFFICE - DAY
Mobius is talking with Ravonna, growing more and more suspicious of her.
RAVONNA
Case closed.
(She and Mobius clink glasses of whiskey.)
Cheers.
MOBIUS
Cheers.
RAVONNA
To putting all of this behind us. Now we just need to take care of sending the mutant girl home.
MOBIUS
Oh, hey, where is she, by the way?
RAVONNA
Holding cell 15.
Mobius frowns.
MOBIUS
You put her in a holding cell? Why?
RAVONNA
She's an associate of the variant. She could be working with him.
MOBIUS
Yeah, but we don't know that! She helped us find him! I don't see why she should be punished for a crime she hasn't even committed yet.
RAVONNA
I'm not taking any risks on this one, Mobius.
Mobius gives her a suspicious glance.
INT. TVA HOLDING CELL - DAY
After Mobius is pruned and Loki is reunited with Sylvie, Ravonna forces them into Doreen's holding cell. Loki's eyes widen when he sees Doreen is being held by two agents with a time displacement collar around her neck.
LOKI
Doreen...
In a last-ditch attempt, Doreen tries once more to break her handcuffs off. One of the agents shocks her with an electric staff, and she screams in pain. Loki glares at Ravonna.
LOKI
You said you wouldn't hurt her!
RAVONNA
Consider this a taste of your own medicine. Your break your promise, I break mine.
The agents release Doreen, who collapses to the ground, now sobbing. Loki rushes over to her and helps her up.
DOREEN
(Crying)
Loki... M-Mobius... It's my f-fault he's dead... I couldn't stop them... He was... I c-couldn't...I should've...
LOKI
No, Doreen, look at me. It's not your fault.
DOREEN
I sh-should've stopped them... I-I...
Exhausted, she passes out.
RAVONNA
(to Loki and Sylvie)
Once the timekeepers are ready, they'll deal with you.
(She gives a passing glance to Doreen.)
And once she's had her memories of the TVA wiped, we'll send her back to the main timeline where she belongs.
Loki glares at her as she and the agents leave them and lock the cell.
We cut to later, where Loki and Sylvie are looking after Doreen, who is lying unconscious on a bench in the cell.
LOKI
It's been at least an hour... Do you think we should try waking her up?
SYLVIE
She just had 50,000 volts of power forced through her body; I think we can let her rest a little longer.
Loki looks down at Doreen, still concerned.
SYLVIE
If she's not a variant, why did she come here? Who is she?
(Beat)
LOKI
She's... a mortal. One of the kindest I've ever known.
(He gently tucks a strand of stray hair behind Doreen's ear.)
Ever since we met, she's made a point of looking after me.
(He lets out a light laugh.)
I can't, for the life of me, understand why. I assumed it was just out of the goodness of her heart... Or, perhaps, just pity...
He looks up and sees Sylvie studying him with a curious expression. Before he can ask why, Doreen begins to stir. 
DOREEN
Loki...?
He gently places a hand on her back as she starts to sit up. She glances at Sylvie, still regaining consciousness.
DOREEN
Oh, hey... Sorry I almost stabbed you in the face...
SYLVIE
Well, to be fair, I did kick you in the face, so I suppose we're even... Are you alright? Where'd you get the dress?
DOREEN
Oh... I had to go to Asgard to fix the locket. My clothes didn't exactly fit in, though, so I had to change.
LOKI
Well, that's why you should always rely on a genderfluid demigod to design your costumes. I know what works.
Doreen smirks.
DOREEN
Yeah, well, you weren't there, because I was too busy trying to save your ass!
(After a pause, her smile fades.)
Loki, everyone here... They're all variants too.
LOKI
I know. I told Mobius. That's why they...
(His voice trails off.)
DOREEN
I hacked into their database to get information on the agents... But Ravonna came after me before I could tell anyone. I'm so stupid! I never should've let my guard down!
SYLVIE
There'll be time for taking blame later. Did you find anything out about the timekeepers?
DOREEN
No... I'm sorry... I didn't get that good of a look... Oh! But good news for us, I did figure out why magic doesn't work in the TVA! I guess they have these things called "runes" set up around the whole area? So as long as those are active, your powers are useless.
Loki frowns.
LOKI
Well, how is that "good news" for us?
DOREEN
Because... Ravonna didn't count on me teaching Tippy-Toe how to hack into their systems and disable the runes, and also the time displacement collars, your welcome, which she should be doing right about...
The time displacement collars and handcuffs suddenly deactivate and fall to the ground.
DOREEN
Now!
As she stands up to move to the other side of the cell, Loki and Sylvie test their magic and see their hands are now glowing green.
SYLVIE
Oh, I like her.
They join Doreen at the other side of the cell.
DOREEN
Now, we just need to figure out a way to get out of here...
(Beat)
LOKI
You have the strength and speed of a squirrel, right?
DOREEN
Proportional strength and speed, yes.
LOKI
And squirrels have a jaw strength of around 7,000 pounds per square inch, right?
DOREEN
Right...
LOKI
Which means that, converted to your size, you should be able to chew through any metal wall, correct?
Doreen gives him a sour face.
DOREEN
I really don't like where you're going with this...
LOKI
Do you have any other plans for breaking out of an impenetrable steel cell?
Doreen sighs.
We cut to Doreen chewing through the wall and creating a tunnel to a corridor in the TVA. She spits out a piece of the metal and gags.
DOREEN
Uuuuggghhh, that was so gross!
(She climbs out of the tunnel.)
Okay, guys, you should be good to-
Before she can say another word, Loki and Sylvie use their magic to create another hole in the wall, and simply walk out of the cell.
DOREEN
Wh-?
(She turns to look at the hole they made.)
You could've just done that the whole time?!
LOKI
You did give us our magic back.
(Beat)
DOREEN
What did you just make me chew through the wall for, then?!
LOKI
Because it was amusing, of course.
SYLVIE
It was quite funny.
Doreen scowls at them.
DOREEN
You know, it was annoying enough having to deal with one Loki; now I have to put up with two of you?!
Loki and Sylvie laugh as she flips them both off. They each take a hand to help her to her feet.
DOREEN
Alright, I'll go gather some weapons and maybe get some more intel. You guys go take care of the timekeepers. I'll catch up with you later.
INT. TVA - MOMENTS LATER
Loki and Sylvie are running through a corridor, while Doreen goes the opposite way.
SYLVIE
Was it really a good idea to leave the mortal girl to take on all those agents by herself? Shouldn't we be helping her?
They stop running to see Doreen being ambushed by a group of agents. They try to prune her, but she uses the cape on her dress to temporarily blind them and kick the prune sticks out of their hands. She then jumps on top of the group as they all run in her direction and slams their heads together, knocking them all out simultaneously.
(Beat)
LOKI
She'll be fine.
SYLVIE
Yeah.
They continue running.
We cut to them running towards the timekeepers' chambers, when they run into Ravonna and several other agents, with their prune sticks ready.
RAVONNA
Right on time. The timekeepers are waiting for you.
Loki and Sylvie glare at her.
INT. TIMEKEEPERS' CHAMBERS - DAY
After discovering the timekeepers are fake, Loki turns to Sylvie.
LOKI
Sylvie... Trust me, we will figure this out.
SYLVIE
Not another pep talk, please...
LOKI
No, listen to me... We've come this far... We're not turning back now. We just need-
Before he can say another word, Ravonna prunes him.
@drawntothedarkside
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diamondcitydarlin · 3 years
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probably not a popular theory but the more I mull it over, the more I'm almost hoping Sylvie ends up betraying Loki. Of course I don't know that it'll happen, but I have some reasons as to why I'm sort of rooting for it and think it's probably the best writing choice to have made from this point. (And, no, I'm sorry this post isn't overly friendly to Sylvie and Loki as a couple, though I'm by no means judging people who enjoy it or saying it's an inherently bad pairing. I had hoped they'd be gay best friends but I don't think I'll be getting that wish either lol)
1. As it is, if the writing followed the trajectory of the last episode into Sylvie and Loki defeating -the big bad- and then falling in love, I suppose, that would be, yes, cute and adorable from a shipping standpoint but not exactly what I'd describe as anything other than...kinda boring and predictable. Maybe not 'boring' to everyone, but definitely a predictable choice either way. And if they were going to do that why not do it earlier? Why not have them kiss at literally any point? The will-they-won't-they stuff feels awkward and unnecessary, but it could just be that lol. But it could also feel awkward on purpose.
2. In the comics, Sylvie Lushton is given her powers and basically created by Loki- or A LOKI anyway, making her sort of him but sort of not. Wondering if there isn't another, more malevolent Loki that Sylvie's working with or for (though I'd rather it not be that she was CREATED by him and given her powers BY HIM that's a little unfair lol)
3. We still know very, very little about this Sylvie. She is still strangely guarded with the information about herself despite her apparent closeness to Loki and now even to Mobius. This is another reason why I'm not overly eager to see her end up with anyone at the end of this show, I feel like feminine characters deserve to have some concrete sense of development and be able to stand on their own as characters before they have to fill a love-interest role.
4. I don't think I'm imagining that Sylvie seems...oddly guarded and weird in her scenes with Loki, especially the more endeared he becomes with her. Of course this could just be emotional resistance to something unfamiliar, but I also think ulterior motives would be a great way to explain the odd chemistry, why some of us feel uncomfortable watching them. Loki always seems to be taking several steps towards her, and she always takes several calculated steps back. And it's strange.
5. The idea of Loki feeling what it's like to be betrayed by 'one of his own'/'himself' would be incredibly impactful for the sake of his character development; also betrayal and trickery is a commonality of most Loki's as evidenced in the last episode. I know the point is to try to get away from the things that have defined Loki for so long, but then, Sylvie might not be entirely a Loki and now my brain hurts!!
6. Sylvie has motives that we don't entirely know the extent of and they are what has driven her across time. I get the feeling that when push comes to shove, those motives are what she's going to favor over anything else.
There are more reasons I'd have to comb through episodes to pick out and I'm not gonna do that lol, but mostly I'm just sorta HOPING for it because I'd like to see Sylvie regain some autonomy as a character, I think she'd be a great 'villain' or morally grey character perhaps that prioritizes herself (and good for her if so honestly)
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gaaradreamer · 3 years
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SPOILERS ALL SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN EPISODE 4 DO NOT READ!!!:
ok I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of feelings about episode 4
1. WTF was that!!!!!?????!!!!
2. I still ship lokius and I don't think the ship has completely sunk there was still some very shippy moments there
3. I actually ship both lokius and slyki so I'm riding high shipping-wise
4. BUT the way they wrote it and what level of connection is on the screen doesn't make sense . I'm sorry but Slyki needs more heat to be believable. Despite having an entire episode to set it up, it still felt out of nowhere. I got no problem with the selfcest especially because they aren't actually eachother or siblings but different people who do not know eachother and it's a perfect way to break the timeline but if you're going to do something like that freaking do it right goddamit!
5. I hope not but I kinda think mobius is really dead. He had a quick meaningful line that characters often say to make you feel worse when they die and only other lokis were in the end credits scene. "why all this security for a loki we've had kree and Titans and..." plus they didn't just prune them on site they intimidated them 1st
6. what if being the God of chaos means he can't actually be erased from the timeline it would be sad but really cool and it would explain why a "pussycat" and Sylvie were such a threat
7. unless it was just that Sylvie could show them the truth maybe?
8. I don't get ravonna. She almost seems like she's the one pulling the strings, she's very sadistic and uncaring but in her and Sylvies flashback she was just a TVA agent implying she was also originally a variant. Is she in the know or not????
9. That was a sick move on the writers part to make us think they both died like that
10. I'm still hopeful lokius will be canon because it's still POSSIBLE for him to be alive and just somewhere else or something
11. Who in the next episode is he saying "come on...what did you expect?" to? is it an alternate speaking to the loki we've been following or maybe Sylvie or Mobius somehow?
12. I knew I'd eventually love Hunter B-15 and I now officially love Hunter B-15
13. MOBIUS AND HIS JET SKI!!!!!😭😭😭😭
14. Jeez! Somebody cut Sylvie a break
15. What the actual fuck did I watch?
Sorry this was so delayed had to get my thoughts together
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eykismyfav · 3 years
Text
Loki Episode 4 Reaction
Spoilers below the keep reading. Also Swearing.
Not necessarily in timeline order and only thing that stuck out to me
Okay a lot happened this episode
First of Sylvie deserves the world and did not deserve to be arrested as a child
I really hate that they seem to be forcing a relationship like a romantic one between Loki and Sylvie.
I’m sorry but Sylvie was born the Goddess of Mischief which is a little disappointing and I feel like they are ignoring the fact that they made loki genderfluid just saying.
Of fucking course they killed C-20 and fuck that.
B-15 has one of the best redemption arcs in this episode have a complete personality shift and in the end she seemed like a genuinely good person.
I do need to talk about the lighting in the scene between Loki and Mobius when Loki tells Mobius that everyone in the TVA is a Varient for a hot sec. When the camera is on Mobius as Loki say that he might have had a family the light that was completely above Mobius moves and he is in the darkness maybe of realizing that Loki might actually be telling the truth but as soon as the other agents enter the light moves back and Mobius starts to play his role again.
Mobius stealing Ravonna’s temp pad because he does trust Loki deep down and believes him.
Ravonna sucks like god I hate her so much more now I mean I always hated her but now... I really hope Sylvie hurts her or better yet kills her.
Ravonna pruned Mobius right after he and loki made up and that fucking hurt me I love Mobius and if he does not come back I will cry I am not mentally stable enough for this shit. 
Mobius and Loki’s conversation directly before he was pruned was so sweet and I need more of those to together with that energy.
The timekeepers being robots and also just being the biggest douchebags did I expect it? Yes of course. Did I like it? No not at all!
I hate to say it but I’m glad Loki got pruned when he did I feel like he was going to kiss Sylvie or tell her that he was in love with her or something along those lines and I feel like that would have just been not so great.
Also Loki’s line of I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve died do your worst is by far my favorite line from the entire episode that or B-15′s Line of I look happy which almost made me cry like Fuck the TVA for hurting so many people.
Okay and finally the end credit scene I am very glad Loki is not actually dead which I’m hoping means neither is Mobius but that is besides the point those other Loki variant have me so excited to see what there are gonna do with them specifically kid Loki like was the Motherfucker holding a baby crocodile like it was a puppy or a cat.
That is all I can think of at the moment. The Loki series so far really has not disappointed me it’s been so good and seems to get better and better as the show progresses.
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okay so that loki video essay thing was going well, and then like a day into writing it i lost the hyperfixation so it's never gonna be finished. i still think it's alright, completely unedited, entirely a train of thought, i hope you like commas and pacific rim, it's only 2.8k
btw if something doesn't make sense, i was writing this while watching some video essays, and also haven't read it
Introduction
Loki is a show, well you know that, but a show that does everything right, until it doesn’t (crazy, I know). If you’re here, I assume you’ll already know a fair bit about it, but if you don’t, here’s a quick refresher. Spoilers for everything MCU.
Loki begins in 2012, technically, just after the Avengers go back through time from Endgame to meet themselves and grab the infinity stones. Unfortunately, the plan goes awri, and Loki ends up in possession of the Tesseract, the mind stone. With this, he teleports to a desert in [a place] and is quickly arrested and apprehended by the Time Keepers for ‘Crimes Against the Sacred Timeline.’ Sounds a bit cult-y if you ask me, and given that you’re stuck here, you will ask me. Essentially, his actions (taking the tesseract) were not supposed to happen. They created a branch, a new timeline, and, according to the TVA, if left unchecked, the timeline could cause a multiversal war that would result in the end of time. This is, to put it simply, a very interesting premise, and the first two episodes do a wonderful job of exploring the TVA and searching for the mysterious Loki variant who causes chaos and mischief, all while evading the time cops.
What is the TVA? Well, it’s the Time Variance Authority, which clears up nothing to those who haven’t seen the show. I would let a clip explaining it play, but I think I’d get a copyright strike, even though I’m fairly sure it’s within fair use. Regardless, the TVA is an organisation supposedly created by the Time Keepers, space lizards who brought together all of time into a singular sacred timeline. Had they not done this, time itself would have ended, how they did this is unexplained, and likely either impossible, or they are greater than gods in their power. Loki is immediately doubtful, but can’t deny that they must hold some power, because not only does his magic not work in the TVA, but infinity stones are useless too. Time is also stranger there too, more an idea as opposed to a set part of their reality. Many theorise that they reside within the quantum realm, which makes sense, as that is how one travels through time, at least in the marvel universe, but we can’t be sure until we get an explanation. Of course, I’m writing this long before I’ll see the finale, so who knows, perhaps I’ll have to rewrite it.
Now I’ve said all that without explaining what the TVA actually does. It’s pretty simple, similar to Stephen Hawking’s (???) ideas of the multiverse, every decision you make has the ability to make another timeline, one that is not part of the sacred way of time, and therefore must be pruned by the TVA before it grows enough to cause another multiversal war, despite multiverses being well-established in the MCU, but I know that’s different. Or perhaps the Time Keepers are lying (spoiler, they are, just not exactly in that way). Anyway, when someone makes a decision or takes an action that creates a new timeline, the TVA arrives. Minutemen arrest the ‘Variant’ responsible, despite their lack of intentional crime, and prune the new timeline, which we are told destroys it. Then Variants must stand trial for their crimes, in which they can either plead guilty or not, but really, that doesn’t make much difference, as they’re unable to make a case, let alone get away as innocent. Before they reach the court, however, Variants are dressed in TVA jumpsuits, have to sign off every word they’ve ever said, and a snapshot of their temporal aura is taken, for some reason. Yeah, it’s not really ever explained why they have to go through all that, like, why don’t they just prune them all, or just send them straight to court. It seems like they’re putting on a big show for nothing. Of course, if you have to go through all that, you probably won’t have time to think about the whys of your situation, which I’m sure the TVA uses to their advantage.
Now, we’re heading into real spoiler-y stuff, just in case anyone here hasn't watched episode three. If you haven’t, why are you here? Go, finish the whole series, and then come back. Alrighty. Now that everyone’s seen it all (apart from me at this point) we can continue.
Everyone working at the TVA is a Variant, and they don’t know it. The Time Keepers are said to have created everything within the TVA, every analyst, Minuteman, and whatever the other roles are. But that’s not true. They’re all variants who’ve been taken from their own timelines and had their memories wiped. This gives an explanation for the courtrooms, and the process to get into them. Robots will be melted from the inside out if they go through the temporal aura machine thingy, and I have a feeling it’s harder to reset a robot’s memories. Living beings are let through, and their actions in the courtroom could give a good overview of their strengths and intelligence, so it can be decided whether they’ll be pruned or ‘reset’ which we are told is killed, but with the information of them all being variants now available, is more likely having all their memories hidden, replaced with the idea that they’ve been at the TVA their whole lives, and that they were created by the timekeepers. Though why would space lizards create workers in the image of humans instead of like their own lizard-y selves. The TVA as a whole, as we are introduced to it, feels very cult-y. Things such as the videos Variants are shown upon being arrested, the whole ‘Sacred Timeline’ thing, the Time Keepers being viewed as almost gods, and that when one of the TVA’s own minutemen is told the truth (C-20) she is, well, removed. The TVA views Variants as criminals of the highest order. How dare they violate the sacred timeline?!!? Only, no variant knew that what they were doing was wrong, or that it even mattered, but if you’re late to work on a day where you weren’t supposed to be, then you’re removed from your timeline and charged. The sentence? Essentially death, or removal of all your memories and being lied to about everything, which might be worse depending on your stance on that kind of thing.
Anyway, the minutemen themselves are another issue that the TVA has. They respond with violence at every available opportunity, like when a young french child from the 1500s walks into a church, the first thing a minuteman does is reach for his weapon. This is also the scene where we’re introduced to my favourite character, Mobius, but more on him later. For now, I need to stay on track and keep in mind this part of the view has to remain consistent. All I can think of are the nerds I split. It seems I have an inability to stay on topic, however, I’m gonna try so you have fun keeping up with that.
Loki stood trial for crimes against the Sacred Timeline and, like any logical person may in that situation, relentlessly questions the validity of his conviction. The answers he’s provided with he just,, kind of,, disagrees with, which is fair. The concept of the TVA and the sacred timeline as a whole is absurd to him, as who would a god serve?
Part one: Glorious Purpose
Loki, in his own words, it ‘Burdened With Glorious Purpose.’ I’m so glad no one but me is gonna read this draft cuz I managed to spell many of those words wrong. His glorious purpose, in his eyes, is becoming the ruler of all, removing free will and choice from those beneath him, in a twisted attempt to make it easy for all living things. He believes in free will, at least, the free will of himself, and also believes that, out of everyone in the universe, he is the one who is right, the one who can make the world better, that is his burden. Now, you may look at that and think, ‘hey, for a god of mischief, that doesn’t seem very mischievous,’ and you’d be right. It isn’t. He’s evil, like, without a doubt, an evil person in his ideals and views of the universe, however, the change from mischief to villainy was rapid, as it’s shown that he was D.B. Cooper, and, when asked, said it was because he was ‘young and lost a bet to Thor’, which, like, okay, but that was the 60s or something. 50 years aren’t a lot in the face of 1,500, but a lot can happen then
Part something: ethics
So, as you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m a pretentious asshole, and with that comes three years of philosophy classes and a superiority complex, though perhaps that comes from the whole leftist thing. Anyway, as per usual, I got sidetracked. I’m watching a really good video atm, so lots of things are happening in my head right now. Back to being pretentious, I’m going to be talking about ethics, fun, and how that relates to the TVA, the sacred timeline, Kang, sorry, he who remains. Regarding the whole Kang thing, I haven’t read a single Marvel comic since I was a member of the comic book club 4(???) years ago. Gods, I’m so old. Yup Percy Jackson took up too much of my childhood. Sidetracked again! I apologise, anyway, everything I know about Kang the Conqueror comes from Tumblr, so I’m not going to spend any time talking about any parts of the character that aren’t shown in the show. I really want to be writing about Doctor Who right now but I have my notes up so I’m gonna do this. Okay, right. Ethics. I hope I don’t go into free will right now because I will never stop going on about that. Anyway, let's look at the TVA, ignoring Kang, not for simplicity, but to see if the ends do in fact justify the means as Mobius said. And by that I mean, if what employees of the TVA think is true, are their actions justified? Finally got to the point, after how many words? Too many, anyway, let’s start from the start (kinda).
In an actual, proper, organised essay, I think that whole last paragraph was supposed to be 1 (one) sentence long, maybe. I have been writing year nine level essays for many years, despite not being in year nine for many, many years, so, be glad you’re reading something I’m interested in. Back to the topic at hand, please. Sorry I just got distracted again. I shouldn’t have Tumblr open atm. Anyway, what are the TVA’s means? So, I’ve already explained what the TVA is, and what it does, but let’s use a fun example to show what they really do. Imagine you’re a kid (or maybe you are a kid, so imagine you’re a younger one) and you just got home from school. You just made an awesome new friend who believes in you and loves your art. This sparks your interest in art, leading to countless pieces, days and days spent drawing and painting and having a great time. Your art begins to take hold on the world, speaking to people, letting them believe in themselves, thousands upon thousands of people inspired to start their own art, to rebel against the system of capitalism and teach people that there’s more to life than a job. This begins the global radicalisation of the working class, and with that, rebellion and the downfall of capitalism. I’m in a good mood rn, feeling optimistic, so don’t worry about what’s happening. Anyway, with the downfall of human exploitation and eradication of poverty comes a branch in the Sacred Timeline, and as the root of it is you as a child making a friend, your 5-year-old self just committed a crime that, according to the TVA, is worthy of what they believe to be actual death, like, being pruned.
Now, this was a very umm, off-the-top-of-my-head example, and entirely makes no sense, but give me two seconds and I’ll remember my original point. Right. The risk of allowing the downfall of capitalism is the end of all time. Always. Maybe? But, in the eyes of the TVA, kidnapping a 5-year-old, putting them through a dehumanising process to be shoved in a courtroom and being accused of crimes against the sacred timeline, and what was the crime? Making a goddamn friend. As a child. Being supported in art. Doing what you enjoy, destroying oppressive systems that will eventually be the downfall of us all and so entwined with all the problems in the world that any chance of saving it revolves around its deconstruction. I’ve been hunched over too long and my back is really starting to hurt, but the essay must go on. And remember, the domino effect of that friendship never actually happened. The timeline was pruned before it could happen, so the crime is literally making a friend. Very extreme example sorry, but shock makes your point go across faster, and also sparks outrage, which I don’t want to happen, but with doing literally anything comes backlash, like stepping on the wrong leaf, or a butterfly. I hope you guys know that this is unplanned and probably unedited. Okay I need to watch Pacific Rim again. Okay imagine now they kill the child. Right. That’s likely what would happen. Children are weak (usually, Sylvie is just on another level of awesome) [author’s note, Crimson Peak is a horror movie and I’m very upset by that cuz now I won’t be able to watch it]. Alright, so, kill a child, or destroy all of time. Always. Maybe. The way we see the TVA in the first two episodes is through Loki’s eyes, as a cult-like lie with a cool retro/futuristic aesthetic (like Doctor Who, but more on that later). I have been sitting here for 4 hours and I can confidently say my cat is an asshole whose sole purpose in life is to want to come in right when I’m in the middle of a point only to not want to come in but allow me to lose exactly what I was about to say, meaning I’ve gotten next to nothing done. Hi, I'm back. I got distracted by My Little Pony and Pacific Rim. And checkers. Issues with pacing? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Okay, so, I’m going to say something possibly controversial. When the stakes are the endings of the entirety of time, it’s okay to let a child die, and technically they might not die they’d just be sent to be either devoured the void or saved by a ragtag team of loki variants. Which is not great. That might sound like I agree with the TVA, but trust me, I do not. Not in the slightest. I hate the slimy bastards. (I do love every single character though, like all of them are awesome) The prickly pricks will bury us all!!! I don’t agree with them because I think there is a better way to handle the multiversal problem and the issue that arises regarding the particular cause of the multiversal war. That made no sense. You’re really just gonna have to guess at this point, however, for the solution, we must look into the finale and the reasoning behind He Who Remains’ plan. I said I wasn’t going to talk about him, but I lied (rule number one). Basically, from what I understood of his plan (which wasn’t much, I’m pretty stupid) was that there were two options; option number one was to leave him there, looking over all of time, preventing free will, so that the infinite variants of him that would come from timelines wouldn’t once again attempt to conquer all of the timelines (though if there are infinite ones, how would that work? Just kidding, you’re not allowed to question this). He dictates all. There’s no such thing as free will, and if you dare veer off the path, you will be pruned, and your timeline destroyed. His plan is to hand that power over to Loki and Sylvie, because he’s getting old and has lived long enough. The other option (and the one that’s taken in the show) is to allow Sylvie to kill He Who Remains and let the multiverse unfold, allow free will and chaos to reign, with the possibility and established likelihood of the destruction of time itself. Now, just putting this out here, what if there was a third option? My proposition is based of knowing next to nothing and not having seen Loki in a while, and that is,
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justjessame · 3 years
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Glorious, Before the Burden - The Mourning ~ 13
Waking up after seeing Loki with Sylvie - adult Sylvie - I lay in bed and stared at my ceiling trying to understand.  What - where were they?  The morning dawned as I tried to make sense out of the senseless and I gave up.  LISTENING was how I was supposed to get my magic in line to grow and evolve, not forcing myself to make things work into a box of logic when the logic was nowhere near where I was.  
I got out of bed, letting it right itself as I dressed and fixed my hair - making up a schedule for my day.  A trip to the village was in order since my cupboards were getting bare, my books were growing tiresome, and I needed to find some inspiration for what I should do next.  As I stood in the kitchen getting a glass of water, staring out at my garden - I watched as once again a group of people wandered in to trample it - only this time they appeared out of the same type of doorway that Sylvie had.
Sighing deeply, I opened my door and stood with my arms crossed.  The man with the crooked nose and white hair I’d seen Loki interacting with was among the barbarians ruining my garden.
“Do you MIND?” Stepping out onto the pathway, I raised my hand and they parted like water.  “Do keep to the path, I’d rather not have to replant the damn garden every time one of your groups stomps through to demand an audience.”  
He stepped forward, the leader clearly, and offered his hand.  “I apologize, Miss -” I stared at his hand and then back at his face.  Awkward silence prevailed and he dropped the hand.  “You’re not as hospitable as I was expecting from the files.  I guess that’s understandable given your current status.”  
“Pardon?”  Staring at him, he realized that he’d only made matters worse for himself.  “Who precisely are you?  All of you?”  
“Right, sorry again.”  He looked as if he might wish that anyone else had been in his place.  “My name is Mobius M. Mobius, I’m an agent of the Time Variance Authority.”  
“The Time Variance Authority?” I sounded as unimpressed as I felt.  “And what authority does this particular agency have, AGENT Mobius?”  
“I’m glad you asked that, Miss -” Again lacking, so he rushed on.  “We’re tasked with keeping the Sacred Timeline intact and on track.”  
“The Sacred Timeline, you say.”  My eyebrow couldn’t be stopped from rising.  “There are infinite timelines, Agent Mobius, which one of these infinite timelines has been deemed ‘sacred’?”  He stared at me.  “Why are you here, on my doorstep, while your fellows are tearing apart my garden?”  
“Loki,” one word, one name, and yet it weighed more than the entire universe.  “Your husband, well a variant of your husband - he’s killing our people.”  
“And?”  Not really my problem, given that he wasn’t MY Loki.  My Loki was locked away on Asgard and I was trapped here.  “What precisely do you want from me?”  
“Information.” I laughed.  “He has to be stopped, Miss -” 
“First of all, Agent Mobius, I am not a ‘miss’.”  I sighed.  “I’ve been married for a very long time to my husband, and while we are not physically together, I can assure you we are still VERY MUCH MARRIED.”  He swallowed so hard that I felt sure that his people could hear him even as they muttered amongst themselves.  “Second of all, I cannot see why you would imagine that I would give information to such a ridiculous outfit such as an agency that is so fanciful as yours.  Honestly, a Sacred Timeline?  Have you no understanding whatsoever of how anything works?”  
He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my hand and whatever he hoped to say caught in his throat.  And as I stared into his eyes I saw something terribly tragic - this person had no idea who he truly was, none at all.  Taking the hand I’d raised to stop him from uttering more nonsense, I touched his hand and saw that not only did he hope to gain my trust and cooperation in bringing this dangerous version of my husband to heel, but he also wished to keep me safe - even if he wasn’t entirely sure what I was in danger from at least not on the surface level of his current state. 
Someone, a young woman with a rigid disposition and a darkness within her that was unmatched by the man before me, planned a very different way to correct the problem the Variant - that’s what they called the Loki, and others like my husband who strayed from their proper place in time - had created on their Sacred Timeline.  A plot that the man before me had disagreed with so vocally that he’d been reset, but not well enough to get the urge to bring me onboard in his quest to fix the issue in his own way.  How horrible, I thought, as I felt the confusion and betrayal he’d felt as a person he thought of as a friend had violated that trust to remove a piece of him - and how truly horrific that he didn’t know that his entire existence was built on a lie.
Removing my hand, I also released him from the silence I’d forced on him.  
“Of course I understand -” he sighed, “What should I call you?”  He smiled awkwardly and I returned it with a smile of my own.  Why not, since he would lose this memory as well?  
“Sigyn,” giving him my name was easy enough, but knowing that Loki - any version of him - AND Sylvie were running from people like these made my blood run cold.  “You can call me Sigyn.”  
Mobius didn’t stay much longer.  He even managed to convince the troop he came with to stand outside the garden.  And he found that I was true to my word, I would not give him information on my husband - Variant or not.  
Before he, and the others, left - I removed the visit from their memories and the TempPad.  Watching him disappear through the doorway I’d seen Sylvie disappear behind so many times in my childhood, I wondered what would become of him - this Mobius M. Mobius? Would he ever learn the truth about the lies that built his world and purpose?  And how would he take it when he found out that the ONE person he thought he could trust the most, was the one he shouldn’t trust at all?
My schedule was thrown off by the visit from the Time Variance Authority.  And using powers that I hadn’t used before, but somehow knew I had access to - LISTENING to my intuition, to what felt right instead of what I would normally do - had reminded me that I hadn’t broken my fast.  Hungry and a touch tired, I went back to the kitchen to pick up where I’d left off when I witnessed my visitors’ arrival.  
Sitting at the table, my cell phone next to me, eating absently while I contemplated what I saw through Mobius’ ruined memories.  His companion, a superior to him - a judge named Ravonna - had told him she planned on erasing parts of Loki’s timeline, the parts she deemed most likely to set him on the path that would lead to his homicidal rampage.  He’d argued against this course, reminding her that they still had no idea where this Variant had come from, and that meant that they hadn’t a clue as to which parts of the timeline should be wiped to be effective.  The coldness in her face should have warned him, but he didn’t know her, not really.  He simply thought he did, because of the process that created him.  
The part she wishes to erase was me, Sigyn, the wife.  Clearly erasing the most emotionally charged part of his timeline would work to break him - dull the blade and he’d be easier to prune.  Mobius had argued that by that logic she should erase Frigga as well, or Thor - but Ravonna shook her head.  
“No,” her smile grew in an almost reptilian way.  “If you look through the files, if you WATCH it - what Loki feels for Sigyn, it goes far beyond simple affection or love, Mobius.  Remove her from the equation, take her away and he has NOTHING to search for, nothing to yearn for, nothing to reach and grasp for - he’ll beg to be pruned.”  
I’d felt sick, the way she’d considered it - as if breaking him apart and ripping me away from him was a game.  As if watching him - I knew that these files weren’t simply written, that they were visual - she watched him in his cell in Asgard, watched as he saw the wraith of me visit him and how he felt tortured by it.  And I knew she ENJOYED it.  Unlike Frigga, who I felt did only what Odin asked, Ravonna wanted to see Loki in agony and begging for it to end so she could order it.  
The only thing that gave me strength was the knowledge that she obviously didn’t KNOW Loki.  Removing me from a file wouldn’t convince him that I was gone or break him - that equating that with the pain he was feeling in his cell in Asgard was the mistake of a sadistic amateur.  If anything, removing me would make him MORE thirsty for a path to find out WHY I was removed and WHERE I was.  Ravonna had done nothing to make her tiny little hope bear fruit, instead she made it more likely to go in the opposite direction.  
If only I knew how Sylvie fit into the situation -
I set off for the village after my breakfast.  Content that the weather was perfect for the walk, and that I could easily find everything I needed within walking distance of my home.  
Books first, the small shop was owned by the second person to befriend me after Michael.  A lovely young woman named Caroline who quickly learned the types of books that I most enjoyed and would tuck a few behind the counter for me, even though she knew I’d still wander the stacks and pluck a few more to add to the pile.  
“You’re up and out early this morning, Margaret,” her smile was open and warm.  “I had a feeling you’d be around today.”  Reaching under the counter, she pulled out four books and set the on the counter.  “I’ll keep them here for you while you browse.”  
Shaking my head, my smile came easily as I roamed the aisles, gaze dancing across the spines of the books as I looked for anything that stood out and caught my attention.  While I shopped, Caroline and I chatted, the shop being small enough that we didn’t have to raise our voices even when I was at the furthest point from the till.  She asked about Micheal and I assured her that he was well, telling her that we’d spent the day before together.  
“He dotes on you,” she was grinning as I joined her at the counter to pay.  “We’re all happy you came home to keep him company.  You keep him young.”  My smile faltered, a reminder that I’d be leaving once I learned how to rejoin Loki - leaving Michael alone again.  
“He’s incredibly kind,” I agreed, paying for my books.  “And I’m glad I came home too.”  
The rest of my shopping trip was much the same.  Friendly reminders of how thankful everyone was that I’d “returned” to the family fold so Michael wasn’t alone any longer.  The reminder of what I would be leaving was starting to cause me pinpricks of pain - but the piercing ache of being apart from my husband was overpowering.  I could always visit Michael, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t come back.  
At the cottage, once everything was put in its place, I chose not to return to the laptop and instead went to the garden to inspect the damage caused by Mobius and his group.  A few bushes weren’t quite as bushy as they should be, several of the flower beds were smashed with boot prints, and the grass had divots that showed dirt where green should be.  
Sighing heavily, I sat down on the bench and closed my eyes.  The air was cool and the sun was trying to shine through a hazy cloud cover.  A slight breeze ruffled my hair as I let the calm of my garden - damaged though it was - soothe my frayed nerves.  
Perhaps it was the breeze.  Maybe it was the scent of apples that blew in from somewhere.  It could have been the hint of galbanum that tickled my nose.  Whatever it was, somehow I wasn’t in the garden anymore - instead I was on a train unlike any train I’d ever been on - and there was Loki sitting across from Sylvie. 
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