open.

[mistruths]

CHARACTERS: loki (MCU) & u
DATE: post-rescue mission, pre-next mission??
WARNINGS: n/a
SUMMARY: a new and exciting(???) arrival is exploring Oska...


Arrival in Oska, following the short (but definitely anything but boring) time in the unknown forest, is very welcome. It's warm and dry, and Loki is quick to claim a room of his own. In the cavernous castle, he roams the halls, taking note of rooms of interest (CYOA). You might find him popping his head into the training room, kitchen, or just wandering curiously through the halls. Or, perhaps, you might encounter him in one of the following places:

i. viewing room
Though he hadn't intended to stay in any one of the rooms he found (exploration first, in-depth investigation later), this place catches and holds his attention. Loki steps inside, chin lifted as his gaze sweeping slowly over the shifting frames. He walks along one wall, then the next, eyes inevitably drawn back to a section of mirrors he'd already looked over when movement shows that they've changed. It's overwhelming, dizzying, and he could stay here for hours on end if he allowed himself to.

Not yet, though, not now, not when he knows next to nothing of Oska and the other people here. Perhaps later, perhaps another day. Though, another few minutes will be of no harm...


ii. mists
How could he resist? The mists hover there, a clear line from a distance that fades the closer one approaches. Loki paces the edges of the thick mist, half-shrouded. The castle is just barely visible, and if he takes but a few more steps into the clouds, he has no doubt it'll be entirely too easy to lose one's way. Another day, perhaps, to better prepare. For now, though, he walks the boundary of reality.


iii. library
Eventually, as he knew would happen, Loki ends up in the library, prowling the stacks and flipping through books that catch his interest. The sheer wealth of knowledge available here easily rivals the library in Asgard's palace, where they were content with what they knew and had experienced. Asgard is the Realm Eternal, unchanging, stagnant; for all the Loki idealizes it, he's well aware of the rot beneath the gold.

Comments

[selfimage]

"He died."

It's said sharply.

If it's anything he learned through all of his existential trauma, it was that he was not that Loki. A copy of memories and personality, a fill for a blank slate, or an amalgamation, but certainly not what Loki had been.

Here they were, at the center of the timeline, the multiverse, with a choice.

[mistruths]

He watches his other closely, curiously. "He is not you," he concludes, "But you were not speaking of me, were you." It's not a question.

"Loki still is Loki, but what that means... For you, for me, for he who has died..." Metaphorically, literally, what does it matter? A breath. "I thought that, perhaps, you were telling me my own story."

It's a concession, an admission.

[selfimage]

Oddly truthful, and oddly vulnerable. It catches him off guard, even as he steadies himself internally.

"It could be," the easy sound of his voice centers him again. "If you let fate win."

There was more to it, he knew; there was a web of hurt and bitterness, anger that penetrated everything he did. There were threats at. every angle, promising to destroy him, and the desperate wanting for something that he struggled for seemed so far off. He wondered if he ever wanted anything he so desperately desired, or if it was just getting there.

"That's your choice, I suppose. Quite the dilemma, isn't it?"

[mistruths]

That makes him laugh. "I don't think the Norns ever predicted my coming here." He tilts his head, their gazes catching and holding. "Nor my meeting you. I don't know that they could have."

[selfimage]

"Their predictions are only a consequence of resonance." From his lips there's a sigh and a tip of his head. "Fate doesn't work that way. It works in expectation, that's what I mean."

He waves a hand somewhere dismissively, as if it's unimportant.

"So ..."

[mistruths]

"Resonance," he echoes, barely more than a breath. "I've never heard it described in such a way--but I cannot deny that I've spoken to very few" none "about it before. I do believe, however, that I can, perhaps, understand just what it is you mean."

How strange this child-man-Loki is; he finds himself unwittingly swaying between helplessly charmed and unimaginably irritated. Exasperated.

"So...?"

[selfimage]

That generally seems to be the consensus around him. He's somehow both charming and aggravating, as if he's made an occupation of some blend of the two.

"It's your turn. Unless you'd like to owe me."

But he knows how dangerous that sounds. No one wants to owe Loki anything.

[mistruths]

"As I said," he hums, half a breath, half a laugh., "I did not immediately know if your story was your own or mine. "Imagine, if you would: Thor, brash, quick to anger, glorying in battle and war--his coronation day. Though all refused to believe it, his becoming king would have spelled the ruin of Asgard's peaceful days. So what could Loki do, but to prove beyond doubt that Thor wasn't ready? Thor is found unworthy and banished to Midgard. The Odinsleep comes upon the Allfather. The throne of Asgard falls to Loki.

"Naturally, it all culminates in Thor proving himself worthy, and--as you said--every hero needs a villain. Loki is the perfect option. Much happens, there is a bid for Midgard, many innocents die, Loki is taken back to Asgard to face justice wherein...more happens that results in Loki's death at the hands of the Dark Elves. Luckily he died for Thor, leaving Thor of the opinion that his brother is everything he once thought."

And the throne of Asgard open and available.

[selfimage]

It's not just about Thor being a terrible King, it's about envy, the fear of being loved less, and not knowing what to do while reconciling those feelings of love. These are truths, and he doesn't need Gram to tell pierce through the lies of omission, all he needs is his own experience to tell him that.

There's a moment where he digests it, then his brow knits.

"I can't believe you let those losers pretend to kill you."

Dark elves.

Really.

(So help him, his arrogance goes deep.)

[mistruths]

Loki's disgust is palpable, and it makes him grin despite himself. He spreads his hands, then draws them in again, clasping them behind him.

"It was an opportunity I saw, and took." Though, perhaps, perhaps... Perhaps he really would have died for Thor, then. "It was my chance for freedom; what else did I have waiting but a cell and Odin's contempt--and that only until he'd forgotten about the Jotun changeling hidden beneath his floors?"

[selfimage]

There were a lot of feuds between Loki and the other antagonists that prowled their ways through Asgard. Malekith was one, perhaps more vile, than Loki himself. He had a tendency to fall in with those types, feud against them, himself, and then re-ally when it was convenient.

It was a play. A game. A movement of a chess piece.

"What else did you have waiting in Asgard, aside from a throne? That still comes with its own brand of loss of freedom."

[mistruths]

"A throne is power," he says simply. "Control. And that is something I've been rather short on, lately. I will have it where I can."

And though he hadn't had much time to enjoy it before being drawn here, Loki is patient. Asgard will still be waiting when he returns.

[selfimage]

Somewhere he convinces himself that he gave that up, threw it away with the rest of his undesirable traits when he remade himself in the name of freedom. In that way he had treated himself like a fine machine, carelessly removing and replacing the parts that were no longer valuable in pursuits of want.

Maybe he wasn't so far from this Loki, after all. Maybe how far he's come has just been a convenient lie.

For the moment, Loki considers him, then turns as if to share a secret with himself. There's a wave of his fingers. "Ah, so you haven't figured it out yet. You will, I suppose. This is as good of an opportunity as any. Just don't fall too far that you can't come back." He says it with a glance over his shoulder.

[mistruths]

And immediately again, he's irritated, frustration crashing through him. You haven't figured it out, Loki says, and he has to bite back the urge to ask for clarification. What it? What opportunity is it, that this place might offer him? Where might he fall to, and how? Why?

Meeting his other is far more annoying than Loki had ever expected; as a child, he'd once thought it would be fun. That it would be a sanctuary. To know someone as clever as himself, who might understand that which he does and understand the wonders that no one else in Asgard does.

It's a silly thought he'd long set aside.

And now, well. It's nothing at all like he imagined which, really, is more a reflection on Loki himself than anything else. That too, is an uncomfortable thought.

"Is that a threat?" he finally asks, "Or a warning?"

[selfimage]

"I like to think of it as avoiding a self-fulfilling prophecy."

A warning, as well as something for him. An evil Loki was no good for anyone, not for the multiverse, not for title held by the god of chaos, and certainly not for himself. He knew that, but he knew himself stubborn and desperate enough not to listen. So, he presented it as a challenge.

"Since there's so much of Oska to explore, I'll let you get to it." Hands went from his chest and into the pocket of his hoodie. Rolling back on his heels, he offers his other self a knowing, smarmy grin meant to annoy. "Toodles."

And he finds his step again, heading toward the door.

[mistruths]

Loki's eyes narrow as he jerks his chin down in a sharp nod, watching as his other leaves. He does intend to explore, intends to learn this place and the people that fill it, but there's a part of him that almost wants to not--out of spite.

That would be the worst idea, though, and he lets out an annoyed huff before turning back to the ever-shifting frames.

A self-fulfilling prophecy.

That is something...he will have to think more on.