5859/Astral Flux: Honesty

Astral Flux: Honesty
Date of Scene:	27 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Thor and Loki discuss the infinity stones.
Cast of Characters:	Thor, Loki
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

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Thor has posed:
    The world was not given over to a sigh of relief for the damage had been done. Yet it could take a breath once more, the minds in this realm of existence could feel the weakening of that utter pall that weighed heavily upon them ever since the King of Shadows had held the Mind Stone in his grasp. There was that sense of foreboding, the subtle portent in the air as if expecting the other shoe to drop. Only it was most of reality that felt that way. At least for now.
    Far across the Atlantic Ocean, away from where the battles had been fought against the Shadow King, the people of New Asgard were at rest. Distantly there might have been guardsmen in the area doing their rounds. But not up here upon the cliff face that faces outwards towards the seat. Not up here with the half-built ramparts that are starting to come together as something decidedly Asgardian now that the stoneshapers have put their efforts into its construction. It was here where they had decided to meet after the battle.
    It was here that Thor descended from on high, cloak billowing slowly around him as if the crimson cape was floating underwater. He landed light upon the finished gate that overlooked the waters, overlooked the spot where they last spoke to their father together.

Loki has posed:
    The air warps a little bit as if to indicate there were some illusion. Intentional? Of course. There are no accidental warps in air currents, except when the illusion master chooses for it to be so. In this case, a playful twist in the breeze that goes entirely the wrong direction, a flutter of scents of rain-cleansed air.

    Yes, Loki is there.

Thor has posed:
    The helmet is taken from off Thor's brow and he sets it down upon the white stone wall that perhaps is unneeded in this day and age, or perhaps might some day aid them in protecting this settlement. But for not it is at the least a place of privacy for them to talk as the Thunderer steps forwards to rest his hand upon the thin rail. He turns his head towards he warp and he says with a faint smile. "It seems you were successful."
    There's a pause as he looks to the side and his brow lifts, "At the least I hope you were." He turns, resting his back against the melded stone that almost seems as if the entire wall were carved from one gigantic piece of marble, even though he was one of the men that toted some of the rocks to carry them up here and lay them against their mates.

Loki has posed:
    "Well, YOU were," Loki's voice answers in a bratty, grumpy tone he can often take after a physical beating of some type. The illusion peels away for Thor personally - though others approaching will see something different, naturally. Loki's in an elusive mode, and once he reveals to Thor, it may be apparent why.

    Loki took a considerable beating, probably from more than just Thor's onslaught, though much of it IS from that. There's some illusion still at play to buffer it, which should suggest it is even worse than what he's allowing Thor to be aware of. Then again, Thor knows his brother: and even if the visual was pristine, the behavior follows with 'sharing' his level of suffering with the world in another way.

    "It's not here anymore, so. Am I a hero now?" Loki grunts. He's reclined in the grass near the stone overlook as if it were intentional to need to relax that way.

Thor has posed:
    Visibly Thor winces, his cheeks rising and his good eye narrowing as he turns his head just so, as if looking at Loki was too painful but he holds up a hand as if in apology. "Ah, that isn't all from me, is it?" He asks with that actual lack of surety as he looks his brother over. But then he takes a few steps and drops off the side of the rampart and onto the grass beside Loki, taking a moment to adjust the hang of his hammer upon his hip.
    "I thought it better to err on the side of... veracity when we faced each other." He takes another breath and lets it out slowly while he ponders the trickster's injuries. But he nods and asks, "What did you do with it? There are others who will wish to aid in dispensing with the Stone and insuring it is protected from future events such as these we just passed."

Loki has posed:
    "Yes, because I was clearly /very/ ferocious and deserving," Loki says with some undertone of sharpness, but he relents, lifting one hand in a way that isn't exactly an apology, but it is some self-awareness that he's being unfair. "No, not all you. Just mostly. You don't get ALL credit, though," Loki says, grumpy but less directly aggressive.

    "You trusted me this far, now we're involving more people?" Loki parries, as if mildly insulted. "It isn't here, I didn't /bring/ it." A deep sigh follows, as if having to explain that he's not that stupid.

Thor has posed:
    It's a difficult situation between them and for a time there's just silence after Loki finishes speaking. He's seen that look before in Thor's gaze, the knit brow that signals consternation or confusion, the way he seems to lean slightly to the side as if trying to get a better angle on whatever Loki is showing him. And, to be fair, in the past that has aided him. It has given a tell-tale shimmer or flicker that's given the game away, or it has caused him to catch a hint of a smirk on the countenance of his brother. Especially in those times when they were young and both of them were more given to laughter.
    But now, in this moment, that silence might seem heavy as he watches and he says quietly. "Loki, this matter is too important for us to play each other these age old games."
    His smile is there but it's pained, as if recognizing what may well lie before him but choosing to indulge and continue forwards towards what may well be a precipice and a long drop yet he chooses to go on with the chance at his belief being validated.

Loki has posed:
    Loki doesn't like the statement at first, there's a rebellion at being called out as he flicks his eyes up and across onto Thor. Loki isn't smirking, at least at this point; Loki is more defensive than he is actively playing or acting superior. Some of that comes out of the physical situation, and the smarting wound on both body and on pride of having been beaten up. Even if it was asked for, permitted, planned, it still sparks a deep place that gets humiliated by Thor's brute power.

    Loki gives a breath through his nose, eyes squinting out at the place where they spoke not long before. "I replaced it into my scepter for safekeeping. It's contained at this point, and off-world," Loki gives, defensive but talking in what appears to be an honest way. "What would you prefer we do with it?" he asks, finally, returning the look.

Thor has posed:
    So often Thor usually speaks whatever comes to mind, for he is often an open book, and so it may be disconcerting to watch him now in this moment. To watch him holding his words back as he looks on Loki with such consideration that it might seem it is he himself wearing some illusion. That perhaps the visage of Thor is being worn by some other.
    But then Loki's words come forth and he smiles faintly, lifting his eyebrows upwards as if seeking counsel from on high as he brings a hand up to rub at that ridged eye-patch. "I would ask for you to hand it to me and then we will confer with the others who have helped us here defend our homes and theirs."
    Then his smile grows a touch as he offers this concessionary point, "For if I were to take it, what purchase could the mind stone find upon my own?" His lip twitches, playing to the role so often given to him by Loki.

Loki has posed:
    Loki releases a long-suffering sigh, though his eyes were alert and watchful of Thor's interesting display of thoughtfulness. It's /strange/ to watch. And disconcerting. The familiar is easier to understand and deal with, not this new display of thoughtful (or, gods forbid, wisdom-reflective?) Thor.

    "I think you'd find it worthless, mostly. And I don't mean that as a direct cut against your intelligence," Loki answers, tone sliding a little playful, but he couldn't resist. The mischief of it is too strong, and Loki isn't /dead/. "You're not a mind-mage. But I think something like the Shadow King would find you an easy target to take it away from, since you wouldn't be able to use it well to stop him," Loki replies. It isn't a threat, it's just a statement.

    "I am willing to confer, but I'm not handing it over, only to then be left out of the decision," Loki barters smoothly. "That I'm open to bringing it and discussing a fate other than it staying with me is, I think, very kind on my part."

Thor has posed:
    "Perhaps it is selfish of me, brother." Thor says as he sits down slowly, a little awkwardly with the armor, dropping down upon the grassy patch that looks out upon the sea. He draws his legs up a bit so he can lean forwards and rest his arms upon his knees. "For I do not wish to be proclaimed a fool for agreeing to our plan, albeit a successful one."
    He tears off a small bit of grass and starts to roll it between his fingers as he looks sidelong towards the trickster and tells him, "Far easier for me to go to the others with it in my possession, you at my side and tell them that it was through your efforts that victory was achieved. Than it is for me to go to them and tell them you hold it and I trust you with it."
    He twists that small blade of grass in his hand into a knot, then considers it as if it held some hidden message. "But I tell you this, brother. I agreed that in the end the stone would be held in your hands. And I know that if you wished you could use its power to affect me so I could not stop you. You could likely fool me for a time into believing that you had done the right thing."
    A deep breath is taken as he looks over towards that outcropping from which their father spoke his last, then he looks back and he has that same beetled brow as he speaks quietly. "But you would know I would come to my senses eventually, somehow. And then I'd know that you had betrayed /me/. Not our father's court. Not our father. Not the realm that was Asgard. Or these things that one could say had rightly done you ill. But just me, your brother. And perhaps I flatter myself to think you do not hold such ill will for me."
    "But I could be wrong..." He lifts a hand back to that eye-patch and frowns, "Just know whatever you decide, I will not raise hand against you."

Loki has posed:
    Loki's quiet throughout Thor's explanation, though there was a bit of questioning look at first when Thor comes 'down to his level' in the grass. Which is just how Loki reads things: a lot is read into posture, how people move, how their tone adjusts, how everything plays social. To the master manipulator, reading others and giving proper cues himself is all part of the elegant dance.

    Loki frowns just a little as Thor goes over the truth of the possible betrayal and how things could indeed go down if Loki chose a path of direct mental twisting. And the very direct move against Thor that THor would interpret such a move as.

    "I will give it to you for that meeting, Thor," Loki says, in a voice that sounds a little controlled. Loki's masking his reaction, to some degree, but it won't make his statement ring false, necessarily. "But not until then." His eyes move directly to Thor's face and gaze, watchful. "The stones sense each other. I'll keep the 'target' on my maze of defenses for now."

Thor has posed:
    Nodding twice, Thor casually sidearms the small bit of grass, letting it catch the breeze and flutter off over the side of the cliff. He watches its flight for a moment and then looks sidelong over towards Loki and says, "Then let's get that meeting done so the damnable thing will be out of our hair once and for all." He leans over and gives a light thump to his brother's shoulder and it's as if nothing has transpired. It was the same Thor that had always been known, jovial and warm.
    Pushing himself to his feet he rises and should Loki wish to stand he'll offer him a hand up. "Come, Helga is likely still up and serving. We can get there before last call and you can tell me the story of what passed after you left my side." That having been said, he starts up the path and away.

Loki has posed:
    "Phhhh," Loki huffs when struck, even lightly. It's Thor-light, after all, which isn't ever actually light. His illusion partially caves. Loki is hurt pretty badly. He did only show that momentary issue, though, because he's getting to his feet, brushing his hair back with a hand from his face, and loosely slapping the offer of hand-up aside with his own hand. He's not so broken, see! It's an old move, automatic, and came with a smile.

    Loki climbs up, smirking. "As if Helga wouldn't keep serving if we asked," Loki teases in answer. And slides back into the previous topic, "I know you're probably under the impression, and the others definitely are, that I want to keep it," Loki says, flatly.

Thor has posed:
    The tall blonde man smiles to himself as he walks and he says sidelong towards Loki, "Actually, I think you do not want to keep it." He looks down the curving path that leads back down to the settlement, the guardsmen far off down the way likely catching sight of them and passing word along though no alarm is raised or call to identify.
    Looking away, Thor's gaze is distanced, wandering down an entirely other path though this one is composed of nostalgic memories. "Even when we were children you did not care to repeat yourself, tell the same joke, play the same trick twice." He lifts a hand and waves it to the side as if tearing down the conjured memories. "It's old hat. Dull." Those last few words are offered in a typically Thor-like ham-handed attempt at replicating Loki's voice and he fails for it sounds most just like a nasally Thor than anything else.

Loki has posed:
    Loki stares dubiously at Thor for a long moment as if deeply insulted, but then laughs. It's isn't a cloying, mock laugh so often emitted from the trickster, but an actual one. A natural laugh that probably has not actually shone in Thor's company for decades. That the situation actually came into that magical center of something that not only was funny, but in a place to where Loki wasn't being defensive and moderating himself, and wasn't due to some nasty thing where the fun is being had at someone else's expense, and therefore had a snide quality in it.

    "And here I thought you never learned," Loki says, amused, lifting both hands, the smirk arriving. "It /is/ mine," Loki begins, with a possessive firmness that leaves little doubt about Loki's stance on the item. "But---" He lifts one finger, to allow that to hang in the air. "It is ludicrously /stupid/ to have two in the same place. And, while I am some things to some people, that descriptor is not one of them."

Thor has posed:
    "There is another aspect we're not considering, brother." Thor says as he continues the walk, though now they're getting close enough to the guard down in the valley that the Thunderer lifts his hand to offer greeting, just a wave of his hand as the soldier on duty likely recognizes them as they descend. "That if you held onto it for an extended period of time then you would likely become a target."
    He stops at the small fence with its hinged gate that separates part of the settlement from the other, the curving stone walkway leading to the main road that in turn leads towards the marketplace where Helga's Broken Antler still has a healthy warm glow to it coming from the large windows in its front facade. The gate squeaks as he opens it and steps through, "And the beings that hunt such power are a match for even the sons of Odin."

Loki has posed:
    "Doesn't mean I want to hand it off to a sniveling human that doesn't know what it's capable of, either, to be a 'target', as they are even less of a match for such beings," Loki chuckles. His anti-human sentiments sometimes come out: like now, when he thinks of the awful idea of a human having the stone. Gah. Shadow King was bad enough, and that thing wasn't human.

    "I suspect there's another stone here, unrelated to the ones I hold," Loki says. "And the more they get grouped, the more likely it is something comes to collect. This is an aspect I HAVE considered, and have to consider. Consolidating them is dangerous. Stupid. And I don't do 'stupid'."

Thor has posed:
    Stepping up onto the port that leads to the front door fo the bar, Thor says, "Then we will insure it gets stored elsewhere, off this planet and perhaps with a being older than our family." He rests his hand on the handle and turns to consider his brother. "In my travels I have come across many strange creatures. Perhaps here is help to be found in the beyond."
    With that said the door opens and the smoky atmosphere of the Antler wafts outwards even as a faint hint of low conversational rumblings are heard as the last patrons of that bar tonight call out in greeting to the Sons of Odin. Thor lifts a hand to wave, "Hail, and well met." And for tonight that should serve them well.