#I’m still trying to work out how they’re trying to work on Loki’s ‘not good not bad’ gimmick

[worstloki]

I noticed that you're not talking about it and I'm not surw if your love for comics Loki died or if you just don't know but I need to tell you that Loki is getting a new comic limited series this june!

I’m a bit ??? on the direction they’re taking comic Loki in recently—they alternate him a lot from good to bad to fit whatever definition of ‘mischief’ and I don’t like the stories title getting thrown around lightly. I know that’s standard for comic continuity but from what I’ve read I’m waiting for the comics to actually come out before judging them. The art so far looks nice tho!

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Dangerous Liaisons

Pairing: Loki Laufeyson x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Warnings: angst, prison!loki

Summary: You do your best to make sure the prisoners of the prison you work at get the utmost care that you can give them. The prison gets a new inmate, one that you see yourself connecting with.

Squares Filled: prison au (2021) for @lokibingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are greatly appreciated <3

x

You leave the prisoner’s cell with a heavy sigh. Most of the time, you like your job because that means you’re healing people but not when they try and kill you, too. This American prison is one of the worst in the country because it houses the worst of the worst, the most dangerous individuals known to man. Your brother often tells you that you should quit and work in the hospital he works at, but you actually like it here as weird as it sounds.

Some of the prisoners are a menace that makes you want to quit your job, but there are other prisoners who think of prison as a rehab and try to get better. They’re still the most dangerous men due to the nature of their crimes, but at least they’re trying to become better.

You’re here to nurse anyone back to health because believe it or not, there are a lot of stabbings that happen here. You do your best to take care of the inmates as much as you can without letting the job affect you that much. Mental health is just as important.

You walk back to your station in the middle of the prison where the other nurses are gossiping. You try not to participate in the gossip especially when it comes to the other inmates, but it’s hard not to when you work so closely with one another.

“What are you two whispering about?” you ask.

“Did you hear? We’re getting another inmate.”

“Really? Aren't we at capacity?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Who is it?” you ask.

Neither women know the answer to that. All they know is that he is probably the worst of the worst, and that’s saying something. It doesn’t take long for the new inmate to get here, and you’re looking out the window for him. A herd of guards walks down the hallway with the new inmate stuck in between them. You gasp when you see the prisoner. You know who that is. You’ve seen him destroy New York while you were safe in your house in another state.

Loki’s chains connect his ankle handcuffs and wrist handcuffs, only allowing him enough room to take a small step forward. He has a metal muzzle on his face, covering just his mouth. He can use magic so they thought putting a muzzle on him was best to keep him from using it. He doesn’t look bothered about being here but maybe he’s really good at hiding his true emotions.

Loki looks at the nurse’s station and locks eyes with you. Even though there is a muzzle over his mouth, you can see the smirk on his face. His eyes are a powerful blue that gives his expressions away. A shiver rolls down your spine from how intense his gaze is. You’ve met and been with men who knew how to take your breath away, but never has someone been able to do that just by looking at you.

Plus, it doesn’t help that he’s extremely good-looking.

From what you can see, he has cuts and bruises on his face from what, you’re not sure. The guards take Loki to the most secure prison cell in the place. The place had been under construction for a while, probably getting Loki’s cell ready. The warden walks into the nurse’s station and approaches you.

“Consider him your new patient.”

“What?”

“I don’t want anyone else but you with him. You’re the best nurse I’ve got on staff, but don’t tell the others,” he jokes.

“Oh...kay,” you say slowly.

“Don’t worry about him hurting you. We have taken extra precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. There are guards in place if the chains fail, but they won’t. Tony Stark made them.”

“Do you need me to do it now?”

Preferably within the hour. We don’t want to give him an excuse to be let out.”

You go as soon as you can just so you can get this out of the way. You don’t know Loki, only what he’s done, but you know more than most that your actions don’t define who you are. Look at some of the prisoners here. They know what they did was wrong and are trying to better themselves for it even though they may never be released from prison.

You gasp when you see Loki chained up like some animal. The muzzle is still on his face and a chain is hooked to the chain connecting his arms and legs. That chain is connected to a hook on the floor so he can’t escape. Loki is a magical being that is over a thousand years old (yes, you did research on him). If he wants out of the chains, he’s getting out. Why isn’t he? Why did they let him take him? The other inmates have free roam in their cells but Loki is chained to the ground.

How is that fair?

You walk up to Loki and look into his blazing blue eyes. They’re like oceans. He looks like he’d be the quiet one even without the muzzle on.

“Hi, my name is Y/N. I’ll be your nurse. I’m here to clean you up and make sure those cuts aren’t going to get infected.” He doesn’t say anything, obviously. “I’ll be by every day to make sure your wounds aren’t infected and to check your vitals to make sure you’re not sick.”

You roll over a table and put your first aid kit on it, pulling out the things you need. You use a cotton swab to clean up the blood around the edges of the wounds before dabbing a paper towel on the wounds gently. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and if he is, he doesn't show it.

“Let me tell you a little bit about me so you’re not uncomfortable with me. I started working here about six years ago. It’s not always the best but I love what I do. My brother who is a doctor wants me to work in his hospital but I don’t think I’d ever leave here. When I’m not working here, I like to do ceramics. I have a kiln at home where I make my own bowls and other little sculptures. I don’t need the money but I like to sell them. People seem to like it.”

Loki has a twinkle in his eyes as he listens to you ramble. You do that when you’re nervous, and he really makes you nervous. You continue to ramble as you clean his wounds, finishing in just over an hour later. You leave his cell and return to the nurse’s station in thought. You did minor research on Loki when he attacked New York, and you set a reminder to do some more when you go home tonight. It doesn’t matter what anyone at this prison has done. No one should be locked up like an animal. Your coworkers don’t share the same views as you, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

When you return to work the next day, the first prisoner you see is Loki. There are guards located outside of his cell twenty-four-seven but you don’t think Loki will escape… maybe. You walk to his cell but the guards don’t move from their spot. Each prisoner gets an hour of your time each day with the more severe cases getting an extra one. They like Loki to be last so that you can focus on everyone else and not give him special privileges, but there is no way you’re putting his health risks below others.

“Excuse me.”

“We can’t let you enter.”

“What did you just say?”

“The warden said--”

“I don’t care what the warden says. My job is to take care of prisoners with wounds, and Loki has several cuts not only to his face but upper chest. Cuts that if left untreated will get infected causing him to be sick and possibly die. Even if he didn’t have anything physically wrong with him, you have him locked up like some animal so he isn’t getting exercise. His muscles will start to atrophy. Now, do you want me to report that to the warden or do you want to step aside and let me do my damn job?”

Both guards look at each other before stepping away from the door. You lift your nose up and yank the door open before walking inside. Loki looks up when he sees you and almost smiles at the determination on your face. You roll the same first aid cart over to Loki and remove the bandages to check on his wounds.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. What was I supposed to say to them? It’s not right how they’re treating you.” You grab more cotton swabs and wipe away the leakage that’s expected to come from the wounds. “Anyhow, aren’t Gods supposed to self-heal?” You pause. “That’s what I hear you are. You and Thor. Gods. Norse Gods, actually. Sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous. You make me nervous.”

You grab the stitches to stitch two wounds together since they are deep enough to leave a scar if not properly healed.

“I read about you when I got home last night like some stalker fangirl.” Your eyes widen. “Which I’m not, by the way. I just… I saw what you did to New York on TV. I know what you did in Germany.” His eyes grow sad. “Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re as bad as they say you are. We all make mistakes, right?”

Of course, he doesn’t answer. You take your time in stitching up the two wounds before cleaning the rest of them and putting bandages back on them. Next, you check to make sure the restraints aren’t on too tight because you’d hate if you were the one being restrained and it was uncomfortable.

“Are you uncomfortable?” you ask. He shakes his head in response. “Have they brought you any food?” Another shake. “Are you hungry?” This time, he nods. “Okay, I’ll be right back with something to eat. Any preferences?”

Your joke makes the edges of his eyes crinkle. He’s smiling underneath his muzzle. That’s a good sign, you think. You leave and head to the cafeteria to get a tray of food for him. You sneak in one or two extra items just because you’re feeling generous. The door to the kitchen slams open and the warden walks in with fire in his eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“No, what do you think you’re doing? Are you keeping food from Loki? He deserves to eat.”

“A monster like him doesn’t deserve that. Plus, he’s not even human.”

“If he doesn’t eat, he’ll die,” you glare.

The warden shrugs as if that doesn’t bother him. He looks at the tray in your hands before leaving. You roll your eyes and continue filing the tray until you have more than enough for him. The guards don’t give you any trouble when you return back to Loki’s cell. He looks up and sees the food. He has to admit, he is hungry but he doesn’t think he’d accept any food if it didn’t come from you. You two have only known each other for less than two days but he feels a sort of connection with you that he has never made with a human.

You roll the first aid cart over to you and clear off the top before putting the tray there. With both hands free, you reach up and touch the clasp of the muzzle.

“I’m going to take this off now. I don’t think it’s right that they have this on you like some kind of animal.”

You remove the muzzle but Loki still doesn’t say anything. Since his hands are chained, you have to feed him but he doesn’t seem to mind. You take your time and ramble on about the different sculptures you’ve made, momentarily forgetting where you are.

“I’m not gonna put this back on,” you say about the muzzle once Loki has finished everything you brought to him. “Like I said. I don’t think it’s right.” With the muzzle off, you can see the hint of a smile on his face. Loki shifts and you look at the restraints on him. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to loosen your restraints just a little. They look tight.” You use the master key and loosen his restraints, allowing him some more room to stand properly and move about. “Is that better?” He nods. “I’ll be back later with more food and to check to see how you’re doing.”

You take the empty tray and leave his cell. You spend more time checking on the other prisoners than you’d like only because two of them got into a stabbing match in the courtyard. After you get done with them, you go back to the nurse’s station to grab some snacks from your lunch box. It’s better than eating that slop in the cafeteria.

You’re the last one left in the nurse’s station since all the others have gone home for the day. You have more patients than the others because most of them request you to fix them. It doesn’t matter what someone did, you’ll treat them the same way you treat everyone else. It’s better for your conscious.

All of a sudden, the lights go out in the station only for bright red lights to replace them. Alarms echo down the hallway, and most of the prisoners become erratic from the sound. Someone has escaped. They only put those alarms out when someone has escaped from their cell. It better not be Jacobson. He has a habit of finding new ways to piss off the warden.

You continue putting food on the tray when you feel a breeze a your back. The door is open. You look up and see a figure standing behind you through the reflection on the window. That’s not Jacobson. For one, he’s a very lanky short man. The man behind you is tall… very tall. You’re frozen in fear because you have no idea who is behind you. If he wanted to, he could kill you without a second thought.

“Hello, darling.” The man steps underneath the red light and you see those piercing blue eyes. You turn to face Loki as he walks closer to you. His voice is much deeper than you thought it’d be… much more raspy. You must have loosened the restraints too much. He reaches out to you and tucks your hair behind your ear. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m not scared,” you say truthfully.

“Good girl,” he grins. “I wish I could stay but I have somewhere I need to be. Believe me when I say I’ll be back.”

He leans in and presses a gentle kiss to your cheek. Just like that, he’s gone. You believe him when he says he’ll be back. Funny thing is, you’re kind of looking forward to it.

x

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[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Bittersweet Symphony 3

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Thor

Summary: you meet a god in real life but he’s not the saviour you think.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

“Tired her out,” you whisper as Joanie snores on the couch. 

She’s asleep sitting up. You gently take her hat off but before you can move her, Thor is right there. Wordlessly, he lifts her and turns to you. A nod. 

You take him to your bedroom and have him put her in there. He lays her down and tucks the blankets around her. She doesn’t stir at all. 

You back out of the room and leave the door and inch. You cross your arms as you pace and Thor follows. You face him as he nears the covered table. 

“You can go now. You’re free,” you say. 

“Mm, yes, I know,” he stops and brushes his fingertips over the canvas. “I am curious though...” 

You sigh and cross the room. You come up beside him and lift the edge, revealing several ceramic pieces. Some are painted, others not, and one mug still needs a handle. He lets out a soft noise and his fingers flutter. 

“May I?” He asks. 

“Sure,” you shrug. 

He lifts the mug with embossed petals and admires it, “you sell your wares?” 

“Sometimes. I work down at a shop, I teach some classes, but this is all just on the side,” you explain. “More of a hobby.” 

“They’re marvelous. How much?” He asks. 

“What? You don’t have to--” 

“I like them,” he says, “could you make me something special? I have some ideas.” 

“Well, I guess I could take a commission but I can’t guarantee a time window. I have Joanie and even with my days off, she’ll take up most of them.” 

“I can wait.” He insists and sets the cup back down, “for you, I can be patient. It isn’t my strong suit but I will try.” 

You smile and rub your palms together, “alright. I’ll see what I can do. What are you looking for?” 

“You can do a vase, perhaps? We had these standing ones in Asgard, at home, I can draw them out for you. I miss them. They were my mother’s favourites,” he gives bittersweet look. “Oh, and I suppose I need a wedding gift for my brother.” 

“Wedding? He’s getting married?” You wonder. Does he mean Loki or is there another god? 

“Already wed. Secret ceremony. He didn’t even invite me.” He frowns. “Still, I am happy for him.” 

“Well, congrats to him. That’s wonderful.” 

“And you? You have many suitors? A princess, always does,” he says. 

You laugh, “I told you, I’m not a princess.” 

“Mm, so you say, but I’ve known many a princess and you seem to me as one,” he shifts to look down at you. “And I was a prince for eons, they call me king now but I do not feel it very much. Still, I have an eye for such things. 

“Uh, yeah, it must be a lot to deal with,” you mutter. “Really, I’m just me.” 

“Just you?” He echoes, “so you are... unclaimed?” 

“Unclaimed?” You toy with the word. “Single, yeah, I am.” 

He nods thoughtfully, “as am I. It would seem as fate.” 

You’re struck by his meaning. Or what you think he is trying to say. It’s outlandish enough to the he would be into you that you’re certain it’s a joke. 

“That’s funny,” you say. 

His expression turns dire, “funny? I am not making light. Unless, you would deny me.” 

Your lips open then close, then thin. You try to process his offer. He’s asking you out.

You look down at yourself. You’re not exactly getting a lot of swipes or a lot of men looking your way. You always took it in stride. If someone isn’t into you, it’s a good way to choose the right person. It just so happens no one is. So this all seems a bit absurd. 

“You’re quiet, princess,” he says nervously. 

“I... not a princess,” you shake your head. “Joanie, sure, she has the attitude. Not me. I’m just me and you’re you. You’re Thor.” 

He recites his name next to yours, “it does sound rather nice, doesn’t it?” 

“Please.” 

“You are saying no.” 

“I am thinking,” you drag out the response. “I don’t want to... you’ve spent all day here and I don’t want to disappoint you. You’re very busy and important and I make cups. And I work constantly just to pay for this,” you gesture around you. “I just think we should be transparent about who we are.” 

“You are kind, to others, but no yourself,” he says. “I wouldn’t ask without great consideration. I have lived for quite a time, I’ve been through my share of heartbreaks and intergalactic flings. Mm, yes, there was a giantess.... pray she never sees me again. But we are here now, at this time and place together. It is enough for me and you are more than I could hope for.” 

You stare at him. You’re certain you look as dumbfounded as you feel. “It’s a lot, sorry. I’m... processing. I--” you blush and dip your chin down. He’s asking you out. That’s unreal. “Okay,” you giggle. “Alright, I will go out with you, Thor, God of Thunder, King of Asgard.” You look at him as your cheeks round, “that’s wild.” 

“Oh, thanks the norns,” he chuckles, “I was rather not ready for rejection.” 

[darkserenity24]

Haunted

GIF by afreydycat

Dark! Loki x Reader/Thor x Reader

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵.

𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: 𝙢𝙖𝙟𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙣-𝙘𝙤𝙣/𝙙𝙪𝙗-𝙘𝙤𝙣, 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧, 𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙚𝙩𝙘.

𝘈/𝘕: 𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Chapter 1

A nasty storm covered the beautiful countryside for the third night in a row.

You cursed silently as you stared out of the large window in the hallway, barely able to see the mess of wind-whipped trees, stray branches, and flailing leaves violently swirling about through the thick waterfall covering the window. You had no idea how you were going to get home in this weather, as it had gotten worse as the days passed. 

You overheard on the bus this morning that there was a warning for a possible hurricane in the county area where the Odinsons lived, but you paid it no mind, not wanting to have an excuse to miss a day of work. So you took the hour ride to your place of employment and were met with the flood of heavy rain as soon as you stepped off the bus.

Anyone else would have thrown in the towel and stayed within the safe walls of the manor to avoid the treacherous weather outside, but not you. You didn’t want to overstay your welcome here. Sure, one half of the Odinson's were kind but the other half you were a bit wary of. 

You didn’t want any of them thinking you were trying to freeload off of them just because of some bad weather. After all, you were just one of the many housekeepers that worked here. Your only business in a place like this was to keep it as pristine as possible. Nothing else. 

You flinched slightly at the sudden vibrations coming from the pocket of your uniform, tearing your eyes away from the darkness outside of the window and pulling your phone out. You sighed, being reminded of the other reason you couldn’t stay here tonight. Your baby sister.

“Hey Buttercup, what’s up?” you answered.

“Do you see the weather outside? It’s insane. When are you coming home?” The concerned voice of your younger sister rang out from your outdated smartphone. 

You sighed heavily, moving away from the window and down the dimly lit hall. “I don’t know, sweetie. It may take me a few hours longer to get home tonight, but I promise I’m still coming.”

You entered Odin’s study. It was currently empty and was a good place for you to take quick, discreet phone calls. The fireplace was still lit, embers gently crackling as the flames burned and you appreciated the warmth that was radiating throughout the room.

“Oh, okay. I can wait up for you. Just, um, be careful, please. They’re saying this is the worst storm we’ve had in years.”

“Yeah, they always say that. Dramatic beings, these weather people are. But don’t worry, I’ll get home soon enough. Maybe we can watch half of a movie before bed? I know that tends to relax you whenever you get nervous.”

She’s quiet for a moment before speaking. “Y-yeah that would. I’d like that.”

“Okay, then it’s settled. See ya soon, Buttercup. Oh- and make sure you eat dinner soon since I may be late. I think we still have leftovers in the fridge.”

You could practically envision her rolling her eyes at your mothering. “Yeah, I will. See you soon, Blossom.” 

“Love you.”

You end the call quickly, grabbing the nearby iron poker and using it to spread out the flaming logs in the fireplace. You only had fifteen minutes left until your shift was over and needed to finish checking the rooms on the second floor before making your much dreaded trek to the nearest bus stop which was a ten minute walk from the manor. You shivered, partially at the lack of warmth that covered the room after the flames were put out, and partially at the thought of how soaked you were going to be once you arrived at the semi-sheltered bus stop.

“Are you truly planning on leaving in this disastrous climate?” the cool voice of an unseen person inquired.

You nearly jumped out of your skin, snapping your head over to the doorway where a tall shadow lingered. 

Immediately recognizing the shape of the imposing figure and their refined regal voice, you let out a breath of partial relief, grip tightening on the fire poker you still held in your hand.

“Oh, hi, Loki. You, uh, startled me for a moment there.” You send him a pained smile, doubting he could see it through the darkness that covered the room.

He only tilted his head, his dark curly locks falling to the side with the movement. He was still crowding the middle of the doorway, hands in his pockets as he simply… observed you.

He did this quite often, and it was always just as chilling each time. He observed you more than he spoke to you, so when he did, it always put you in a state of momentary shock. Out of all of the Odinsons in the manor, he was the most quiet, slinking around the house as if it was his job to watch over everyone. As if it was his job to watch over you. Sometimes he’d simply observe you, watching as you dusted the shelves, vacuumed the floors, or cleaned the laundry. He seemed curious for the most part, but other times you’d catch a glint of something else in his gaze. Something a bit less innocent and more nefarious. Darker. 

At this moment, you couldn’t tell how he looked, only witnessing the shape of his familiar silhouette.

You gulped. Setting the poker back into its place before walking over to the lamp on a nearby desk, switching it on with a click. Warm light flooded the room and you were glad to finally be able to fully see the youngest Odinson of the manor. It was strange to think of him as the youngest, as he was still several years older than you.

Blue-green eyes were still focused on your figure as if he was waiting for you to say something.

You self-consciously smoothed down the errant curls at the back of your neck that had escaped your bun. “I was just finishing up here, as um, you can see. I’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

He raised a dark brow at you. “You still have yet to answer my question.”

You frowned, rummaging through your tired brain to figure out what he was talking about before your mouth formed into an ‘o’. “Oh yeah, s-sorry, I'm kind of tired so my mind’s all over the place. Yes, I’m going to leave in a few more minutes, just finishing up here.”

“Why?”

His question caught you off guard. What’s it to him? 

You considered yourself a professional, so you often made it a point to answer your superiors, regardless of how strange their questions were. 

“Well, I need to get home. Mr. Odinson said I could leave an hour early because of the storm.”

Loki blinked, his brow twitching slightly as he glanced away before meeting your hesitant gaze again. “That’s absurd. We have plenty of space as you obviously are also aware. You can stay for the night and retreat in the morning once the weather calms.”

Your mouth opened as you considered his words. Out of the five years you worked in the Odinson home, you had never stayed the night once. It was not something you were comfortable with doing because it was not your home. You had your own home- well, apartment near the city. It was small, and not nearly as regal as the Odinson manor but it was yours. Yours and your sisters.

You spewed out an excuse. “Um, that’s very kind of you but I think I’ll be okay. I need to get home to my sister. She’s waiting for me.” 

“I’m sure she’ll be fine with waiting for you to arrive tomorrow.”

“No, sir, I'm afraid she needs me.” You bit your lip, not missing the way his analytical eyes lowered to the nervous habit you had. “I’m all she has, and her only caretaker.”

You knew you were giving him way too much unnecessary information about your personal life but you needed to make him understand that you weren’t staying the night here. His offer was kind but what you said was true. Zuri needed you.

The young Odinson looked as if he wanted to protest, staring at you as if you were defying his orders before his gaze dropped to the floor as he sighed.

“Alright, if you must,” He looked back up at you and you felt some relief at his words, but not for long. 

“However, I’m taking you home myself.”

You tried your best, you really did. But if Loki wasn’t a lot of things, he sure was a stubborn man.

He ignored your carefully crafted words of decline at his offer- no his declaration to take you home. Nevertheless, you found yourself in the passenger's seat of his sleek back car that probably cost triple the amount or more than your yearly salary, holding on tightly to your bag as he maneuvered you both through the nearly flooded streets. 

His car was way faster than a bus, and you knew you’d be home in no time. He didn’t say a word on the car ride home, only keeping his eyes on the road before him.

You glanced over at him from time to time, seeing the dark shadows of the rainy night pass over his face. Loki was absolutely stunning. Along with his older brother Thor, he was a beautiful specimen of a man, and from what you know of him, he was also ridiculously intelligent. It was completely unfair. He had the money, the brains, and the looks. All of the Odinsons did, but unlike the rest of them, Loki was the only one who intimated you. 

He was not as kind as Thor or Frigga, he was more like his father, Odin. Odin had a similar quiet yet unnerving demeanor as his youngest son, but he still never made you feel the way Loki did. The man was not known as being very kind to the staff at the manor, or really anyone else. He seemed to barely tolerate his family, throwing disinterested remarks to Frigga from time to time while insulting his brother and ignoring his father. You’ve even witnessed him reprimanding another housekeeper for entering his room without his permission. Luckily enough, he seemed to save his words when it came to you, preferring to watch you like a hawk instead which was just as unsettling.

Loki reminded you of the treacherous and highly dangerous weather you were both driving through. He was like a silent storm, just lurking around the manner, sneaking up on you and looking as if he was going to reign down terror on you at any moment. But he never did.

You were just a housekeeper, no one important, yet here he was taking you to your hole-in-the-wall apartment building that was miles away from his family’s secluded home in the countryside. You didn’t know why he was doing this, but you were also too afraid to ask, not wanting to offend him in some way. You were fine to just assume that he wanted you to get home in one piece so you didn’t show up for your next shift at his home sick as a dog because you were stubborn enough to try to take the bus home in this weather. That made the most sense to you, and you liked things that made sense.

When Loki arrived at your apartment building, you tried your best not to cringe in embarrassment as he observed the surroundings. The neighborhood you lived in wasn’t terrible, but it was not as clean and fancy as the one he lived in.

You pulled the handle to the door, attempting to open it, yet it didn’t budge. You slowly peeked over towards the man in the driver's seat, not surprised that he was already watching you.

He ran his eyes over your tense frame before turning his head towards the front window of the car. 

“I expect this storm will not prevent you from tending your duties at the manor tomorrow, correct?”

You blinked at his question before nodding. “N-no sir, of course not. I will be there for my shift in the afternoon as soon as the weather clears up.”

He nods stiffly, squinting his eyes as if something displeased him. You thought about your answer, trying to figure out if you said something wrong.

“Very well, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Mr. Odinson.”

Though he looked reluctant, he unlocked the door and you exited the car, heading into your apartment building and up the three flights of stairs.

When you got inside, you headed into the bedroom, seeing Zuri sound asleep in her bed. Your shoulders dropped in relief to see she was okay. You knew she got nervous when she had to be alone for a while. 

Quietly you walked over to the small window, peeking between the blinds. You were surprised to see the familiar black car still idling by the curb in front of the building. 

It was another five minutes before it left, speeding down the dimly lit and water-flooded streets.

Story Masterlist

DarkSerenity's Masterlist

✦ 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰. 𝘙𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 ;)

✦ 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘒𝘰-𝘧𝘪 ✨: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘬𝘰-𝘧𝘪.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺24

[mischiefmaker615]

Not This Time

Summary: Being one of Loki's mindless puppets comes with benefits.. for him 

Requester: @eleniblue

Rating: *DARK* R, buckle up cause.. god damn 

Song Inspired: For You by HIM

‘Trembling.. throbbing.. pain.. I see what’s happening but.. my body betrays me.. how could I have done such things? His bidding.. his.. I would have never stolen.. hacked.. backstabbed.. killed.. not them.. not my friends.. not SHIELD..’

My body tensed, the more I would fight to gain control, the more my head would hurt. Move damn it! all I could do was stand there, ready on call or to take orders. We all still wore our uniforms. But he’s taken away our reason for wearing them.. all for his sick, twisted bidding for this plan of his.. I’m not sure what he has all of them building, but I know it’s not good. They’re all just his puppets, holding a bright, blue hue to their eyes as they mindlessly went about his orders, just as I did whenever I was given one.

Was I special? Everyone else would slave away but most of the time all I was told to do was stand there.. ready and waiting, but hardly given an order other than to move to the next room where he would resign next.. him… Loki..

Perhaps its his own way to torture me? To just stand there and watch while my coworkers- my friends, would slave away going against what we all believe in, to help him destroy this world. The more I thought, the more I thought but the pain of a headache would make it nearly impossible to keep trying as I would flinch back into an emotionless state.

Today was different.. at least, according to him.

He stared more than usual, he normally did when you were in his presence, seeming like he was half listening to whomever he was speaking with while his eyes seemed to study my body. Gods..

He talked a lot with Barton, selecting him as a right hand man to do his bidding, and it practically broke my heart to see my friend not being able to do a damn thing about it. just as we all couldn’t..

A hand rubbed against my hip, a long slender hand that pulled me out of my thoughts and I felt my body stand better at attention against my wishes as I lock eyes with Loki. ‘’sir?’’ my mouth responded, yet my mind screamed at wanting his hand off of me.

He would merely smirk and walk away, his lingering hand being removed at the last minute as he would walk away. Not today. ‘’agent Y/N,’’ he spoke, my name rolling off his tongue as I held my breath. ‘’I need you to come with me.’’ He says and begins to walk off, his hand waiting to the last minute to leave my body before joining his side while I felt my legs begin to follow.

What did he want? He hardly ever gave me a job- half the time I felt like a decoration as I watched the others work.. and there were hardly other female ‘puppets’ if you will. I couldn’t even ask him what he wanted, my body just responded by “doing” without a question or pause to it. my mind screamed countless times to halt, very much so in the beginning to the point of mental exhaustion until now I just held my breath and expected it to be simple things such as “have you see agent this or that following orders?” “what file permits so and so?” such things like that to bid his plans.

Not this time.

My heart felt like it stopped as I followed him through a few halls before we got to a room in which he usually slept- a simple, almost prison like room where there was dim light, blank walls and the only piece of furniture there was a bed.

‘’after you,’’ he smirked, standing to the side as I felt my lips pull to a smile and gave him a thank you nod before he followed me in.

My body shuddered, feeling how any interaction I had with him, my body would be polite, smiley, almost flirtatious if people would have taken a guess. That wasn’t me? That’s not who I was..

‘’oh but it is Agent Y/N.’’

His voice was amused, and my mind stopped and so did my heart as I turned to face him just as he had closed the door. ‘’you have very loud thoughts, you seem to be the only one I can here where all the others seem quiet. How interesting..’’ he raised a brow with a grin, staring at me, intrigued as I stood at attention with my body beginning to tense again.

‘so.. you can read my mind?’ I thought, my body still and my face blank as he chuckled and gave a nod.

‘’I can my darling, and have kept you around for my own amusement while I’ve had to tend to a few things. But now I have a task for you finally.’’ His voice got dangerously low at the last part.

‘’of course sir,’’ I hated myself while I was like this, never would have thought I’d betray.. myself.

‘’your not darling, this is your true self. You mind stops you from acting upon certain things because humans have..’’ his hand waved slightly to search for a word. ‘’morals. What your body does and how it responds, is your true self.’’

‘’yes sir.’’ my mouth responded but my heart felt rage surging. ‘fuck you! humans have always been free will creatures- knowing what’s good and bad and acting upon that. I would never-‘

‘’no? touch me. If your human mind is so strong and sure of free will, I guarantee this little spell of mine will instantly break. If your mind is strong enough.’’ He smirked ‘’if it’s not, perhaps it’s because this is the good that your body wants to act upon.’’

‘no- no no no-‘’ my mind screamed, feeling my body move towards him as my hips seemed to take on a sultry pace, as if I was some type of flirt in another life. This isn’t me- stop! My mind screamed to stop myself as I stood close enough so our shoes could touch. The heels on my knee-high boots gave the advantage of height for his and I felt my hands resting at his stomach, his cold metal and leather running against my finger tips as my hands moved up to his chest and to his shoulders.

An amused look on his face pierced into my eyes, knowing he was loving and entertained with the fact that I was his puppet, that I just proved his point that I wasn’t strong enough to break his spell. My heart rate quickened as he bends down ever so slightly for my height, his hands running at my sides, my body suit feeling paper thin in that moment as he buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent while his hands suddenly gripped my ass.

‘your sick- you fucking bastard- I hate you-‘ I screamed in my mind, feeling my eyes closed as my head tilted back, exposing my throat to him as he began leaving slow, open mouth kisses against my flesh while he smirked against me.

‘’if you didn’t want it, then you’d be free right now darling.. this is the chance at freedom I provide, do not deny yourself the pleasures your body desperately crazes’’ he purrs against my skin, nipping at it that seemed to pull light gasps from my lips while he kneaded and pulled my ass more towards him, his bulge pressed up against my clothed center while my fingers gripped into his hair, earning a growl from him.

‘please don’t do this.. anything but this..’ I yelled in my head, sounding as though I was choking back tears while my eyes remained completely content and dry while he began grinding himself against me.

‘’I do believe I brought you in here for an order,’’ he seemed to think out loud, as if trying to remember but the smirk on his face showed how he could never possibly forget as he suddenly released me and I stood, catching my breath while he looked me over.

‘’it’s been quite busy lately, and having been going through hell to get to this realm can be quite stressful; so I am in need of some relief finally, now that we have some time..’’ he smirked, his body drinking in my covered curves while I stood obediently still for my next order.

‘go to hell-‘

‘’you have been quite the woman on this realm, serving on the wrong side. Needless to say, I’ve know about you far longer than you know..’’ he said with his voice quiet, beginning to circle me while I held still.

‘what are you talking abou-‘

‘’you think this spell really just gives me the ability to control your body? It’s given me your thoughts, desires.. memories.. i first laid my eyes on you.. back when my brother came here first.. although I wasn’t worthy enough to pick up his hammer, it wasn’t a total waste of coming there.’’ He smirked, my eyes raising to look at him as every once and awhile he would pass my front, standing behind me where my mind would tense at his whereabouts until he would full circle again.

Bastard..

‘’I’ve watched you since, fully anticipating this moment where not only will I have a kingdom, but someone to rule beside me with it.’’ he said gently, his expression and voice genuinely honest as if he were straight up proposing to me now.

‘you’re a murderer!’

‘’and I’ve done it all for you in the end.. so we could be together.. as much as I’ve hated having you like this.. but I promise it won’t be forever.. you’ll choose me willingly in the end..’’ he whispered, finding himself behind me now as his hands stroked my waist and hips, his bulge pressed firmly to my ass again while his chin rested at my shoulder.

“I love you and I hope you feel the same..’’ he breathed ‘’even if it’s.. not right now. There is so much to focus on but we’ll get there..’’ he sighed, almost not hearing my screaming thoughts anymore as his head tilts towards mine to begin kissing my neck and behind my ear. ‘’I’m for you.. you may not realize it now, but your body as responded honestly, it’s only a matter of time before you rid of your denial.. I saw how you looked at me, those many years ago..’’

If I could glare and shove him I would. ‘you mean of pity, how you could never be worthy of anything, not even picking up a hammer?’ I thought it, there was truly no real way of not thinking it and that seemed to piss him off as he gripped my hips, spun me enough to where he could shove me back to I could hit the wall before his hands gripped my wrists, pinning them above my head where his face leaned dangerously close with his own piercing blue eyes.

“I will make you love me, even if it kills you..’’ he breathed, his hand moving my wrist so he had both in only one, while his gripped the zipper of my jumpsuit.

My body didn’t even struggle, he just applied pressure to my wrists so I could squirm in pain and I almost appreciated my nature response I knew I would have done no matter what.. not everything else..

‘you’ll spend a life time then of unsatisfaction.. my body may respond, but my mind still is mine’ I shout at him, even as my lips stayed perfectly still, other than the small gasps that would leave my mouth as he slowly moved a hand into my suit and down my pelvis, his finger tips ghosting over my panties where my clit was.

‘’my heaven is wherever you are..’’ he breathed, as if touching me instantly sooths his mood as he begins kissing at my exposed skin at my best and my cleavage now that my zipper is down.

‘s-stop-‘

“I love you 'til my death do us part..’’ he murmured against my skin and his hand dips into my panties now, my back arches at the feeling of his hand now finding my pleasure spot. ‘’I’ve waited for so long.. how could you ask for me to wait more..’’ he practically begs, feeling his finger ghost in and out of your tight entrance and the feeling of your arousal has him shiver.

‘I’m not yours to have bastard! Get off of-‘

‘’I’m killing myself for your love..’’ he breaths and slowly pulls back, releasing me as I stood back with undone clothes, awaiting like a good little puppet while my head throbs at trying to fight. ‘’I am here for you..’’ he breaths and his hands draw down to his leather and armor, not even sure how you go about putting it on but somehow he now has freed his cock that has a mere size that made my heart jump in freight.

‘’and like it or not, you are mine. Body and soul, I just need to break that little mind of yours.. you’ve been abused and in denial for to long, it’s time to let go’’ he breaths and I scream eternally scream when I feel myself sink down to my knees.

His eyes follow me with desperate breaths while he strokes himself and I move my hands against his thighs.

‘p-please stop- d-don’t do this..’ I scream while a hand comes to pet my hair, my eyes looking up at him with almost excitement that just has him give a smirk.

‘’I am doing this for us darling, I promise you will enjoy yourself’’ he whispered and as my mind screamed, my head moved forward while I supported myself on my knees and heels.

My tongue sticks out and strokes his tip, tasting his pre-cum already as I feel the arousal beginning to intensify between my legs. ‘I hate you.. I hate you I hate you I hate you..’ I yell as I take him into my mouth, squeezing my eyes shut as I concentrate on swirling my tongue and moaning against his cock, the mere vibration sending him to rest a hand against the wall behind me for support.

‘’you mean.. you love me..’’ he breathed as a smile could he heard with his words. ‘’you body betrays you darling, it wants me and soon your mind won’t be to far behind.. as much as I love your alluring, stubborn wit..’’

I tried to keep my mind blank, to think of mindless things that words as I fought to try to break the spell. It was almost as if he knew and did subtle things such as now and again, push his hips forward, wanting more of himself into my mouth before he would let me set the pace again when I would show small signs of chocking. His other hand sound itself in my hair now, keeping still but the grip was enough to rid of any thoughts I might be having on breaking out of this mindless puppet illusion.

My hands had to move to stroke the rest of his cock I couldn’t get into my mouth, hearing a pleased moan leave his lips as my eyes stole a peak. His head was leaned back, eyes closed with his mouth open a little as he took shallow breaths and his body shuddered now and again.

If this wasn’t some twisted fate, I would have thought that he looked beautiful right now. And just the mere thought of that, had his lips twitching up to a smirk while I feel his fingers grip more hair now as his hips began to thrust slightly into my mouth. He tried to be gentle, but I could feel him hit the back of my throat as I gripped his thighs and he moved both hands into my hair.

He was getting close, and I cursed my body for moaning against him, which only seemed to spur him on more as he seemed to be loosing himself. Tears pricked my eyes as I kept begging him in my mind to stop this, how he seemed to ignore my please all together and just focused on that one tiny, sliver of a thought that had flashed in my mind he just so managed to catch before I got rid of it.

I was turned on.

His thrusts now became sharper to the point where even my body curled my fingers against his thighs, getting a little uncomfortable as I struggled to breath properly and that seemed to dull my thoughts that just forced me to feel instead. Just as I let out a small whimper, Loki used his grip in my hair to pull me forward and backward repeatedly as he stilled his hips, having the manipulation of my head do the work before he shoved himself deep, causing my to gag around him, only in resulting at squeezing around his cock before I could feel him cum.

Hot spurts of his seed went right down my throat, giving rare chances at even tasting him when it went right down my throat directly. He shivered and gasped, his grip holding tight in my hair as he gave small thrusts and pull him to a slow halt of his high before he took an inhale.

With a small smile, he used my hair to pull me up to my feet, my hands at his to try to pry it off as pain began to sting and I froze as he looked upon me in amusement, using his other hand to grip my chin while few tears finally fell.

‘’I lessened the spell about 5 minutes ago darling. You could have bite, fought and struggled. But all you did was take me.. and you took me so well, how could you possibly expect for me to let you go now?’’ he tsked as he looked upon my face lovingly while my eyes widened.

Just before my muscles could flex or a single thought of fighting him could happen, I was shoved back, feeling the mattress come in contact with my back as I bounced and leaned on my elbows as I looked up at him with wide eyes. ‘’how.. y-you cant-‘’

‘’I’ll leave you as you are just this one time darling. So go ahead and fight, struggle, scratch,’’ he smirked, his hands slowly resting onto the mattress before his knees joined, slowly crawling his way towards me with a hand shooting out to grip my ankle.

‘’it only turns me on, and I need your mind properly whipped into shape if I am to have you rule this world beside me.. so lets get started.’’

•DM me for your own Musical Mischief One Shot ♥

Tag List: @foxherder  @asgards-princess-of-mischief @fire-in-her-veinz

[gloriousburden]

Just saw gifs of the variant’s outfit in the finale.. day = ruined. Please it’s so ugly and I hate the reasoning behind it so badly they’re always trying to strip Loki of who he is and it’s so sad like so what if he wants to wear the attire of his home realm where he is also royalty mind you 😞 now I have to go on a rant..

Not only was he stripped of his personality but also of anything that represented him. How anyone who claims to love Loki can tolerate this series, I have no idea. It was written by people who do not like Loki, or his fans. Like okay so the diminishing of Loki’s character is alright just because they put a scene of him crying for one episode while also skipping over the major event he previously went through to go on and talk about other characters and their struggles oh don’t piss me off.

The whole concept fucking pisses me off from the get go. I do not care about an alternate version of Loki. I think series fans fail to realize that our dislike of the series does not only lie with the mischaracterization. It also lies with the entire concept of the series. Loki had already existed for a decade before the series came out, and his own story was left unfinished. Why would I care about an alternate version of him from the Avengers (immediately before he was able to go through his most important character development in TDW btw) when he couldn’t even be written consistently after 2013?

Loki fan to Loki “fan”, I don’t care how much merch you have. I don’t care if you’ve met Tom multiple times. I don’t care if you’ve watched the movies (but I mean if they actually did, I figure something would click eventually) every single day. If you truly believe that the series did justice to Loki’s character as well as respected the previous writer’s work that implemented and laid down the definitive traits and aspects of his character for years only for them to get overlooked and completely erased in a few episodes a decade later, you do not love Loki. You are not a fan.

There are so many series diehards that have SO much merch or have met Tom like 30 times and it boggles my mind. Like you don’t even like Loki enough to see the difference of his characterization from 2011 to 2013 (or even fucking Ragnarok at this point. He still had at least a few aspects of who he is in it. I hate to defend it because it did him wrong as well, but I’ve got to be honest) vs in this this garbage ass series that bears his name, but does nothing except diminish it. Why be so invested financially in something you cannot think critically about? How do you not like… sense the difference?

I’ve also met Tom and have a LOT of merch. Is that what makes me a fan? No, Because what makes me a fan is my love for Loki and my dislike of the ignorance towards his character. I’m not saying this towards casual fans who enjoyed the series and bought a funko pop. Like i really don’t give a fuck and I’m not expecting them to know anything about Loki. But I’d expect better from people who claim to be his fans.

In 2021 when the series first came out, I was critical from the beginning. I did not like the concept, and also didn’t really trust marvel with doing anything good with Loki. When I watched that first episode, I just knew it was over from the first few minutes or so. And I was a fairly new fan of Loki!! Like how could anyone accept this bullshit? Also I could’ve swore so many more people disliked it then. I’ll never forget it lol my entire TikTok FYP was just people shitting on the episodes each week. Especially the finale. They were like “yeah guys uh.. Maybe it’ll get better.” Then the finale came out and everyone flipped LOL

I don’t care if people think I’m harsh for saying any of this. You straight up are not a Loki fan if you’re a fan of the series. You like the idea of him maybe, but you don’t like him for who he truly is and that’s sad because neither did the characters around him. Misunderstood in canon as well as by his own “fans” it’s so over.

Oh also notice how series fans pretty much never talk about TDW. They cannot comprehend an MCU project that takes place directly after the Avengers and actually does Loki’s character right. Lmfao.

Loki “fans” if they were forced to actually enjoy his character in canon instead of only in fanon for one second:

They’d be so surprised that he dares to stick up for himself, and has a fucking personality and motives of his own.

[skaldish]

Helloooo,

I’m not sure if this would be an odd question or not so I’ll give a bit of context for it before I ask: basically I’ve wanted to try and worship/work with Loki and become Lokean for a few years, I’ve always been extremely drawn to Him and He’s the first deity I felt like I loved—I’ve been fixated on him since I was around 8 years old and it was around about then that I wanted to become a heathen, and that’s stuck with me for all these years.

The only problem is that I’ve always been a huge skeptic and I’ve been an atheist or atheist-leaning agnostic (depending on the day) for my entire life, I’ve tried several religions and having faith in multiple deities (Loki included) but every time I try I feel like I just can’t connect with any faith, I can’t believe no matter how much I want to and try to, and I just start getting anxiety around it.

Again this might sound a bit odd but I see the sorts of connections other people have with their deities and how close or happy they are and I’d really like that sort of connection as well. I know religion and faith and a connection with a deity can’t be forced but do you know if there’s any way that I can help myself find faith, and more specifically faith in Loki?

The concept of “having faith”—or unquestioningly believing in a higher power exists without any evidence to support its existence—is a Christian thing. As in, this is a feature unique to the religion of Christianity, especially the Protestant branches.

The state of “having faith” in this manner is actually a state of cognitive compromise. Protestants learn to react to feeling doubt by initiating a certain script of affirmations, which produces feelings of euphoria and drowns out the sensation.

This doesn’t actually make the doubt go away, though. All it does is block the sensation from their conscious awareness.

Doubt is an essential part of our reasoning, and it goes away with verification, not with belief. If I doubt that a wild berry is edible, no amount of “having faith” is going to verify whether it’s edible or isn’t. It’s only by gaining clarity about the nature of the berry do I satisfy my doubt, and this will happen regardless of what the nature of the berry ends of being (edible or not).

At no point should we believe in anything without a satisfactory reason.

I acknowledge Loki as a phenomenon not because I have faith in him, but because I experience him, the same way I experience the sky being blue or the phenomenon of “Autumn”. All it takes to get this experience is to ask the gods to verify themselves for you. (Granted, you’ll want to make sure they’re around to hear you first. Leaving them offerings in a companionable manner is a good way to go about this.)

This is also how I started things off for my own practice. I asked Loki for evidence, and he gave me it through a magnitude of different channels; dreams, synchronosities, physical portents, nonphysical portents, and whatever else was in his capacity to orchestrate as a non-corporeal being. It was a non-insignificant pattern of data. It made me extremely curious and I’ve been playing in this space ever since.

(My doubts still rear up, of course, but that’s because I’m anxious and get stuck doubting my own judgement.)

I would recommend taking this approach for yourself.

[lulubelle814]

A Marriage of Convenience - Part 4

Part 5

A Marriage of Convenience Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Any trigger warnings are listed in the tags.

1 year into the fake marriage

Although today was a holiday, Loki still had to go into the office because of some big project and turned down Eva’s offer to come and help.  He’d been a bit distant the past few days, but work was also a mess.  She used this time to herself to walk to the nearby bookstore and browse their collection.  It was a unique kind of bookstore called The Reading Nook.  The store had a comfortable, homey feel that she loved.  Looking around the store, her eye caught a book with a pretty cover: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.  Reading the description, it sounded intriguing.  A girl who makes a deal with a dark god to have her freedom with a catch: once she’s out of sight, she is no longer remembered by whomever was around.  There were other details she found interesting and decided to buy the book after reading the first few pages.

One other book caught her eye: Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology.  He was a favorite author of hers and thought Loki might like it, seeing as his namesake is in more than one of the stories.  Up at the register, Clark scanned the books and bagged them.  Hopefully it would at least give him a bit of a laugh.  

On the walk back home, she had an idea, something his mother had mentioned, one that might help cheer up Loki after having to work on one of his few days off.  Stopping by the store on her way home, she unbagged everything and turned on the oven to preheat.  Picking up her phone, she started one of her playlists almost at full blast (not wanting to disturb any neighbors who might be home).  Pulling out the big pot, she followed the directions his mother had given her a while back.  While the stew simmered on the stove, she started on the dessert: lemon bars.  

With the loud music, she didn’t hear the front door open, nor did she notice Loki having found her in the kitchen, leaning against the wall watching.  He pulled out his phone to take a couple of pictures quickly as well as record a short video of it; however, she saw him as he was taking the video and got her squeaking in embarrassment on video.  “You can’t sneak up on a girl like that!”  She threw a kitchen towel at him which hit him in the chest as he laughed.  “I couldn’t help myself, darling.  Are you making stew?”  Eva smiled and nodded.  “I got the recipe from your mother a couple of weeks ago.  I know you’ve been stressed with work and thought you’d like some comfort food.”

Loki couldn’t hold himself back from enveloping her in his arms.  He kissed her on the cheek before pointing to the other thing she was working on.  “Are those lemon bars?”

“They are!  I know how you like your sweets, and I found a recipe I wanted to try.”

He lightly gripped her arms, giving her a quick kiss on the mouth.  “You really are the best.”  As he went to take a closer look, her hand touched her lips, thinking about the unsolicited kiss.  Sure they’d kissed before, but it was always in public and always as part of the charade, but no one else was here.  Was he even aware of what he’d just done?

She turned to see him swiping a bit of the lemon filling on his finger to taste and lightly smacked his hand.  “Oi! Not until after they’re done you silly man.”  Loki laughed at her response, holding up his hands in defeat.  “Yes, ma’am.”  Slowly, his good mood faded, and the sound of his voice turning sour.  “I have to go on a business trip Monday.  I’ll be gone a few days.”  

“I’m sorry.”  Then she suddenly remembered.  “I got something for you.  You could take it on your trip if you’d like.”  His eyebrows scrunched.  “You didn’t have to get me anything.”  It only took a moment to remember where she’d put the book bag and pulled out the norse mythology book, handing it to him.  When he saw it, a grin spread across his face.  “I love Neil Gaiman!”  He hugged her, kissing the top of her head.  “Thank you, darling.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of this.  And this book is definitely coming with me.”

She stepped back, leaning against the counter.  “How long will you be gone?”

Another sigh.  “Most of the week.  I should be back no later than Friday though.  I wish I didn’t have to go at all, but Odin isn’t feeling well.  Apparently that’s why he had me go into the office today.”

“I’m so sorry.  I hope he feels better soon.”  Eva turned back to the stove to stir the stew.  Loki came up and held her from behind.  “Yeah, but you’ve made this day so much better with all of this.  I haven’t had this stew since I was a boy.”  She held up a spoonful for him to try.  “What do you think?  Does it need more salt?”  The smile on his face said everything.  “It’s perfect.”

While she finished up and placed the lemon bars in the oven, Loki set the table, pulling out bowls and spoons.  The soup was poured into a nicer container, one that had a lid and could be put into the fridge later.

Loki was gone for a few days on a business trip.  Eva got so used to having him around that it felt lonely with him gone.  So she tried to keep herself occupied like she had before this contracted marriage: reading books, watching a bit of tv, etc, but none of it held the same joy that it had before.

Things at work continued to go well.  With Loki on the business trip, her days were less busy, and she was eager for Loki to come back, not that he felt the same way about her.  In the time they’d been cohabiting in this ruse, her deep seeded crush was turning into requited love, and she was doing what she could to squash it: going to movies by herself, running errands alone, and the like.  Distractions were good.  Distractions helped keep her mind off it.

Meanwhile, Loki was getting bored in the meetings he was forced to attend on this trip, his mind wandering back to that weekend, the soup, the sweets, and the book.  He kept looking at the pictures on his phone of her dancing in the kitchen and watching the video on mute. A small smile formed across his face as he spaced out thinking about it.  When someone asked for his comment on a matter, he pretended he was listening but didn’t understand what they’d said, asking them to clarify.

Back in the main office, Steve noticed Loki was gone for the week and used the opportunity to get closer to Eva, becoming bolder than he had before, touching her hand when purposefully going to reach for the same thing, brushing against her back in the breakroom.  The further into the week they got, the more aggressive he became.  She did everything she could to avoid being in the same room as Steve.  When Thursday came around, he made his move, finding her alone in the supply closet.  Closing and locking it behind him, he pinned her against a set of shelves by her neck.  “Get off of me!”  She tried to push him off of her, but he was stronger than he looked.  “Nah nah, baby girl.  I’ve seen how you are in the office.  You like me, admit it.”

Shaking her head, tears started to fall.  “I don’t!  I’m married to Loki.  You know this.”  She tried to show him her giant engagement/wedding ring.  Instead, he grabbed the hand, using it to help pin her.  “If you really didn’t want me, then why haven’t you reported me?”  A spin chilling grin spread across his face.  Pulling her other hand up, he held both with one hand while the other started groping her.  The dam holding her tears back burst.  “Stop!”  This time, her voice was louder, hoping someone would hear.  It didn’t stop him.  In fact, he started kissing around her face as his hand wandered further down her body.  As he reached her nether region, he fondled her folds through her underwear.  “You know you want this, baby.”  Shaking her head, she cried loudly, continuing to protest.

Downstairs, Loki arrived back early, the meetings having gone well.  He knew his wife would still be at the office and thought he’d stop in to offer her a ride home.  Not sure where she was assigned that day, he started towards his office.  While walking down one of the hallways, a terrifying sound interrupted him from his thoughts.  Someone was screaming for help.  Following the sound, it was coming from the supply closet.  Trying to open it, he found it was locked.  The screaming and crying inside continued.  Rather than demand the door be opened, he followed his instincts and kicked the door down, finding his wife being assaulted.  All he could see was red, ripping Steve away and punching him in the face.  He continued to kick him when the assaulter fell on the floor.  With the door now open, the sounds reached farther in the office, people running to see what was going on.  Two gentlemen who came had to pull Loki off of Steve before he killed him.  Another held Steve so that he couldn’t run.  Someone called the police and said they were on their way.  

Loki shrugged the two men off to check on Eva.  He moved gently so as to not scare or startle her.  “Darling, are you alright?  Did he hurt you?”  He scanned her to see any signs of injury and spotted the bruises showing up on her wrists and neck.  Just as he turned to take his rage out on her assaulter, the police arrived.  Steve was swiftly arrested, and the detectives took statements from both Loki and Eva.  Eva had a hard time trying to tell them, feeling so overwhelmed and broken that they called an ambulance for her.  Loki went with her to the hospital, holding her hand gently the entire time.

At the A&E, a female doctor was assigned to help her, to help minimize the trauma.  Loki refused to leave her side but looked away out of respect when they inspected her more delicate areas.  Thankfully there were no other injuries to be found.  Eva was given something to help her calm.  “This will help, but it will very likely make you fall asleep.”  True to their word, she was asleep a few minutes later.  They wrote a script for Xanax, advising Loki that she’ll likely need it over the next few days at least and released her to go home.  He was able to get the script filled at the hospital so that she wouldn’t be alone even for a few minutes in the car, feeling she was safer in the A&E while he got it done.

When they arrived home, she was still completely knackered from the sedative.  He didn’t want to leave her alone and laid her down in his bed rather than her own so he could be there should he have nightmares, or at least to be there whenever she woke up so she’d know she wasn’t alone.  When she awoke later that night, the first thing she saw was Loki and was flooded with relief.  Starting to cry again, he held her close, stroking her hair and telling her over and over that it’s okay, that he was right there and wouldn’t leave her alone.

From that night on, she spent more time sleeping in Loki’s bed, feeling safer with him so close, and her things slowly migrated into his room, not that he minded one bit, even making room in his closet and drawers for her.

Dividers by @jiyascepter

Taglist: @vbecker10 @eleniblue @msdjsg7 @lovingchoices14

Taglist is open!

[writerscafehub]

𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀: 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱

@thecutestlittlebunbunfairy

From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

I give myself a solid 3 stars. I think I can churn out some good stories and smut, but I know I make grammatical errors and sometimes my stories have an awkward flow, but I'm always working to get better. 

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

I’ve been told a few times that I have a good story telling ability; so I think that’s where I shine/stand out/ Being able to take a prompt, a song, or just a few quotes and turn it into a full story.

Are there any writers that inspire you?

Unfortunately, a lot of the writers who inspired me have left tumblr and are lost to time. Some of the ones that are still here are angryschnauzer, tsuntsunfangirl, and caffiened-queen. Some new favourites are Navy, hansensgirl, harryspet, tumblin-theworldaway, and of course all my friends in the server <3

What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

It’s so hard to pick just one so i’ll give two! I’m incredibly proud of my Spooptober 2023 collection. It was a tribute and inspired by Hozier’s newest album, and it was the first time I completed a monthly collection! Easter Bunny is definitely a favourite as well; not only a Lee fic (I love our Sheriff so much) but it was a chance to write some real escapist fluff. 

Which character(s) do you find easiest to write and which do you find most difficult to write?

Loki, Bucky, and Cap are definitely my easiest characters. They’re my ol’ reliables and I love all three of them.

Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?

The obvious answer is: BUCKY lol. But a lot of my fifcs tgend  to be escapism style stories. Bucky coming in to “rescue” the reader in one form or another, even if it’s a dark “rescue”

Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about!

I have 3 long term multi chapter fics planned that I can’t wait to share with everyone (eventually). Two of them are Kylo Ren fics, with one having Kylo Ren as a Director of an art museum, hiring an intern whom Kylo assumes is a guy, but is actually a v cute girl and the other being a Mafia!Kylo with an arranged marriage. The last is a Loki fic with Loki as the CEO of a company who needs a bride to appear good for business purposes. 

First fandom you ever wrote for?

Technically the MCU. The first ever fic I wrote was a Tom Hiddleston fic.

Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

I admit I don’t really believe in “guilty” pleasures; pleasures should be enjoyed! But man am I a sucker for my dub/non-con, kidnapping, and yandere stories!

A trope you’ll never, ever write for.

I try to not to say “never” because i’m always open to inspiration, but i don’t see myself ever writing anything with pregnancy/babies

Wildest fic you’ve ever written?

I wrote this INSANE fic called “When Magic Meets Insanity” which is a threesome between Loki, Reader, and Jerome Valeska from Gotham. It’s crack to hell and is still available to read on my AO3. 

Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)

Stucky. Always. They are my OTP and I love how fun it is to explore their relationship. Especially throwing Sam into the mix. 

Do you listen to anything while you write?

It mostly depends on what/who i’m writing, but yes! For example, I’ll listen to oldies stuff when I'm writing for Lee, and I have this GREAT Asgardian library ambience for writing Loki. 

One-shots or multi-chaptered works?

One-shots. 

Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!

Not really, I sometimes imagine what happens after, but once a fic is done, I tend to just put it on a shelf and leave it. It’s why I hardly write sequels

Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

I long to write some really good multi-chaptered works, but I struggle with writing long term conflict and i’m worried they’ll be awkward and won’t read well. 

What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

The best comment I’ve ever gotten was on my fic Sunlight (Sun God!Steve) from tumblin-theworldaway. She wrote a big huge comment on the fic and it was like the first thing I saw on a monday morning and I needed a good comment. 

Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?

I won’t say “comfort zone” but I wrote my first ever Monster Fucker fic not too long ago, “By Land or By Sea” about Sea Monster!Loki and it was defintely new and interesting to write! 

Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

Fluff, always. I’m always a sucker for happy endings (even dark happy endings lol)

Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!

Sort of. I have a beauty and the beast style novel planned. The beast is a rich lobbyist for oil industries. And the beauty is an indigenous woman who meets the beast at a cabin in the woods. It’s still heavily in development and i’m not sure when it’ll come to fruition. 

If you could enter the universe of any one of your fics, which would it be and why?

“Teddy Bears” for sure. With slightly dark Bucky and Steve kidnapping me (is it kidnapping if i’m willing?? lol) and telling me I don’t have to work and they’ll take care of me? I’d be there in a heartbeat. 

Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

I always write stoned lol. I get a ton of creativity and inspiration from weed and it helps make the ideas flow. It just can take a while to interpret all my stoned ramblings sometimes. 

Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

This is from my most recently published fic, the last fic in my Spooptober Collection, “To Someone from a Warmer Climate. The fic is about a witch!reader who is visited by a humble sheriff, Lee Bodecker. But he is more than meets the eye.

“Mmmmm…damn…That’s the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. And I just love the taste of the forgetfulness potion you added.”  Your heart dropped into your stomach.                 “What did you say?” He didn’t answer, only leaning back in his chair. He blinked and where crystal blue eyes had seemed to make him handsome and rakish; now were two inky black pits. He blinked again and his eyes were human again, but now his irises were crimson red. You took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself. You’d dealt with a few lower-level demons in your travels, but never someone who you could walk through your house’s defenses so easily. Usually, any malevolent force was neutralized before it even touched your house. But he…he was something darker. “I’d heard about a pretty witch living out here in the woods.” Lee continued. “Thought it was just another one of them dippy mortals wearing peace signs. But then that little old lady came in, bringing some brownies she said you’d made. And when I tasted them, I knew for sure. There was a real little witch somewhere in town. “Though it took me a while to find ya, darling. All them wards and runes…you’ve kept yourself pretty well hidden. But when that same sweet little old lady called in, worried about her friend in the woods, I knew I’d found you and here you are. Hidden away from the world, cooking up spells your nose buried in a mountain of books. All that defensive magic and you opened the front door for me and invited me in. Silly girl.” His eyes raked over your body, studying you.

Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

Fanfiction writing has been some of the most fun writing I've ever had. I’ve loved writing for my whole life but sometimes it’s a struggle to write and create an entire cast/world. Fanfiction gives a helping hand to an entire gallery of characters with infinite possibilities. Not to mention the fact that based on “What if” logic, there is a multiverse out there where these fics really happen lol. I look forward to even more writing in the future, both fanfic and original. 

[6leggedhorse]

Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

I haven’t posted all week like I should’ve and I’m here to say why. I want to start this off by saying that Uni isn’t easy for some people, for me it’s easy usually. However with an internship twice a week sandwiched in between that makes it a little harder, and that’s okay, I can do it. Now that I’m taking a personal day on Fridays, this will improve my mental health and only working twice a week may not be what I wanted but it’s what I needed. However school has gotten harder, I am in a group for one of my classes and they’re involved in sports. That’s great, nothing wrong with that at all, but the issue is that they’re doing everything last minute and giving me very little time to do my part as well as very little information.

There’s no consistency in our communication; I wanted to get a head start and complete the first project early, all things considered, I considered everyone’s schedules and thought if we got this done early, it’s gonna be less stress for everyone. But unfortunately, they don’t think the same way, and putting me in a time crunch to get stuff done isn’t something I’m comfortable and okay with. For the first project, I got one set of notes for a bit and then the other two and I didn’t perspectives or any more details so my ability to write, which I know I’m good at, wasn’t put to good use and potential. So for this project they were doing the same thing, and quite frankly I was and still not happy about it. At this time a bit before I began to take Fridays off, I began to get stressed out even more. I put off studying a midterm and paper for a social work class.

I felt so overwhelmed and loaded, I got so stressed out and angry, I felt like I was being put into a position where I didn’t matter and neither did my mental health. So I found a last minute solution to our project, we needed to go to a specific event for our class project. And they waited until and I mean UNTIL the very last minute on last week, no one communicated. I didn’t say anything for this project because I wanted to be flexible and allow them to address it because last time on the first day of school, I sent the first text in our group chat asking when to get the first project started and shocker, no said anything until it was due the last possible second. So for this project I crowd sourced more events and information on social media, they wanted to play last minute bull crap again and I was not having it.

I feel as though my boundaries have been crossed soon after the post, I got comments on events AND I emailed my professor letting him know what was going on. He told me not to work with them this one time and submit it on my own which I will be doing in parts today (ADHD-I makes it difficult to focus.) hence why I NEED to get a head start on things to not get to this point. I don’t mind small assignments but this is big, and when I get overwhelmed I procrastinate because an amalgamation of unfinished projects is incredibly overwhelming and scary I just avoid it. So they began to complain over the group text and I unplugged from it to take time to think and care for myself. I have yet to open the texts, for now, my sanity matters, they don’t get to ruin how my day goes.

So, you may not hear from me for a hot second so please try to be patient, and on top of all this I have a shitty mentor in the place I intern at. She is just so rude and talks down to me and my fellow interns, and my mentor herself increases my anxiety, it’s getting to a point where I’m ✨depressed✨. Next seminar I will be talking to my Liaison and finding a new group to work with. This sucks because I love writing on here, I love writing in general, it’s so therapeutic to me but school comes first. I will let yall know when I come back. Which hopefully by next Monday I will be, things get worse before they get better I need to roll with the punches and chaos, if there is any I trust, it’s Loki that’s for damn sure.

[rose-lunaire]

mcu characters as (unexpected!) romance book tropes

characters: steve rogers, bucky barnes, tony stark, loki laufeyson

warnings: innuendo? if you squint, otherwise it’s just fluff

steve rogers - best friend’s sibling

let’s be honest with ourselves, this guy wouldn’t get close to anyone, especially a girl, without the support of his bestie

you knew him way before the injection, got to know the vulnerable boy with a big heart, the one who stuck up for the weak even though he was the one who needed someone to stuck up for him

during parties bucky would leave you alone together while he went on his conquests

two wallflowers lost in conversation, who wouldn’t notice the room emptying

you couldn’t help but respect his efforts and support his dreams of becoming a soldier

after all, it’s the good motives that save people, it’s the moral compass that lead the armies to the battle grounds

the world could use for his purity during the darkest hours of humanity

you meet again after the war, with a hole in your heart and desperate for a friendly soul

steve comes back home more mature and… well, bigger

friendly connection turns into physical attraction, longing and nostalgia brings you closer than ever

bucky barnes - christmas romance

bucky comes back to his hometown, bitter and hopeless, he’s more than sceptical about this whole “christmas magic”

until his s/o comes around to show him the other side of humanity

you spend a week together, exploring malls, drinking mulled wine and throwing snowballs at each other (who knew a battle could be so innocent and.. fun?)

but it’s not until the s/o shows their insecurities that he’s in love

how could someone believe in the good in people, the good in him!, but be unable to see their own worth?

he’s kind of relieved that you aren’t perfect, that there’s something he can help you with

otherwise how could he dare dream of being in a relationship with an angel?

he’d spend the rest of his days trying to lift you up into paradise

he could show you the way into the devil’s den, if you’d like

tony stark - love triangle

this guy is so focused on work and himself, there’s barely time for anything else

he considered you a friend, a skilled coworker, but never a love interest

that is until he saw you falling for another person

the jealousy and competitiveness kicks in!

bonus points for “i bet you couldn’t make them fall for you”

at first it was all about his pride, the thrill of the challenge, but soon enough tony realises it’s love and there’s no way out

he would move mountains for you, never looking back at other people’s opinions, throwing away work without a second though

after all, what all those riches and treaties for if his heart isn’t satisfied?

he doesn’t care about anything or anyone but you

loki laufeyson - riches to rags (to riches??)

i know, i know what you’re thinking: how is it possible for loki to be poor?

it’s not, he’s a cat, always lands on four feet and manages to find a way out of the hardest situation

this story is about finding yourself in a new reality, navigating dangerous relationships and seeing light in the darkest places

his s/o is the only one who sees though his tricks and unbothered façade, they’re the one who noticed his strange habits, slight frown while eating humble dinners and a glint of sadness in his deep gaze

you find out that the walls he built around his heart are the only lasting fundaments of his broken soul

still, everywhere loki goes he brings freshness to the hopeless stagnation, paints blurry nights with colourful tales of asgardian lifestyle

sooner or later he finds a way to come back home, this time with a new-found appreciation and brighter outlook on life

also with a soulmate in his bedchamber

a/n: finally, my marvel debut! i’m slowly clearing out my inbox, send me asks! what would you like to read next? <3

[redfoxwritesstuff]

Sunflower, Book 1, Chapter 29

Tom Hiddleston x OFC Series rated: M Chapter warnings: It's fluffy. AN: Can you believe it's almost done? Book two will come later this year. :)

Masterlist AO3 KoFi

~~~~~<3

As the movie came to a close, Mia came to realize once again that she was sitting next to the man on the screen. She was wearing his coat. That was the man she married. How could he look so different, sound so different and yet, she could see him in the man on the screen?

“Did you like it?” Tom laced his fingers through hers after stacking up the cups into the popcorn pail. 

“I did,” and that surprised her a lot. “Was I supposed to feel bad for the bad guy that much?” 

Tom laughed his special little laugh, “I do think they didn’t intend for it but Loki’s story is one that I think more people than they thought can identify with.”

It was Mia’s turn to chuckle as Tom lead her down the stairs. The theater wasn’t packed, thankfully, as the movie had been out for a few weeks already. “Yes because everyone can identify with a powerful royal god.”

“A lot can identify with feelings of not being good enough, not being able to measure up. Always trying to step out of a shadow and never quite making it.”

“Can you?” 

Tom thought for a moment before answering. That was something Mia appreciated about him. “Sure. Everyone has to escape the shadow they’re born under in one way or anther.”

“You care about him,” Mia mused. 

“Of course. I spent months creating him, learning who he is. I can’t imagine not caring.” 

“I didn’t think,” she shrugged, not really knowing the right words for it before giving up and continuing, “I didn’t think you guys really cared about the characters.”

“Why do you say that?” 

“I don’t know. I never really thought much about it, I guess. I don’t really do the fan thing so I guess I’m not used to hearing how actors talk about characters.” 

“I won’t lie and say I’ve always cared about every character. Sometimes you just need the money or experience, especially early on but it makes it easier, more enjoyable, when you do.”

“I want to see more.”

“More?”

“More things you’ve done. More characters you care about.” 

Glancing at her, Tom saw a blush high on her cheeks as she kept her eyes definitely forward as they walked through the sliding doors and out into the parking lot. The night had cooled some but the heat still radiated up off the pavement. 

“Have I made a fan out of my wife?” Tom teased. He knew pointing out their relationship always flustered her and wasn’t disappointed this time. 

“I mean- If you don’t mind. I’m sure it’s weird for you to watch yourself. I Just-”

“You’re allowed to like my work.” Tom stopped and pulled her to face him. “I would rather you did, if I’m honest. I’m rather proud of the work I do and hope to do in the future.” 

“Will there be more Loki in the future?” 

“You like him?” Tom teased. 

“I like that you like him,” Mia countered, “I like how you talk about him.”

“Well, if you don’t like him maybe I shouldn’t tell you. I’m not allowed to tell, after all.” She wasn’t sure when it happened but Tom’s arm was resting on her waist. 

“And if I liked him?” 

“I still couldn’t tell you,” Tom laughed as she playfully slapped his chest, “But I can say I’m not allowed to get a haircut for a while.” 

~~~~~<3

Mia realized as they walked up to the apartment door that their hands had been linked together almost from the moment they left the theater. It felt childish to cling to another human but she couldn’t help it.

“We’re back,” Tom called softly as they stepped inside the apartment.

“Good, I’m ready for bed,” Gretchen wasted no time turning off the TV and gathering her bag. “She went down just fine. Ate dinner fine too. You two better have enjoyed yourselves.”

“We did,” Mia said watching as Gretchen did what she did best, rushed around. She pulled her braids out from under her jacket after she slung her worn leather purse over her shoulder. Like Tom, Gretchen believed in jackets for fashion, desert heat be damned. 

“Movie was good?” 

“Surprisingly.” Mia answered with a smile over her shoulder at Tom while slipping out of his jacket. 

“Hey!” he protested playfully as she winked at him. 

“Good, good.” Gretchen was always in a hurry to leave and while she enjoyed the fact that Mia had someone in her life, she didn’t need to stick around for the playful banter. She was a woman who liked being at home and the highlight of her days was to return home. “See y’all in a few days. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

“I will never get over how fast she leaves.” Tom laughed, watching the door shut behind Gretchen. 

“It takes a few months to get used to.” Mia laughed as she hung Tom’s jacket from the back of a barstool. 

She felt awkward now, being alone with him. It reminded her of how she had felt when she was younger, just a girl in the presence of a attractive man she wanted to get to know more. 

This was a feeling she wanted to indulge in but she was scared of it just the same. She wasn’t a girl anymore and the risks were so much higher. She was starting to feel things for this man that were hard to deny, to argue against and it was so overwhelmingly too much. 

Warm arms wrapped around her. Tom pulled her back to him, holding her tightly. She could feel the firm planes of muscles, the pounding of his heart in his chest and each calm breath he took. 

“Tom?”

“Thank you,” He whispered, warm breath fanning out over her lace covered neck and shoulder. “For letting me indulge in a bit of narcissism and share my work with you.” 

“You were very good.” She rested her hand over his and allowed him to hold her. It wasn’t as intimidating when she was looking at the kitchen instead of at him. “It was hard to remember he is you.” 

Tom’s fingers brushed against her jaw, directing her to look up and over her shoulder. Leaning forward and twisting around her, he kissed her softly. Her heart slammed hard in her chest as everything felt so overwhelming. 

“You look mesmerizing in that dress,” This wasn’t the first time Tom had complimented her dress but there was a naked honesty in this moment that made it hard for her to disregard his words. “But I imagine you’ll feel more comfortable changing.”

~~~~~<3

Mia’s heart pounded as she changed. Disappointment burned in the back of her throat and she didn’t even know why. What had she expected? What had she wanted to happen? 

“I’m an idiot.” Mia told herself as she wrestled her way out of the clingy dress. 

She had to have been imagining things. If Tom had actually been looking at her the way she had thought, wouldn’t he have done more than a few kisses and complements? Wouldn’t he have been the one to remove her from the dress?

Once the slinky dress was switched out for shorts and a oversized tee, she took a deep breath and tried to pack away her shame. 

~~~~~<3

Tom closed the door to Sally’s room as Mia stepped out of their room. “Just checked on her, she’s out like a light.” 

“Oh.” Mia wasn’t sure what she should say. It was late and she was tired. The evening didn’t end how she expected it too but still, she wasn’t ready to let the day be over. For better or worse, this was Tom’s last day in America. 

“Are you all packed?” God, that made it sound like she wanted him to leave. 

“I’m not packing much,” Tom shrugged. “Just throwing my laptop in my bag and taking an empty suitcase.”

“Oh,” She was cringing at her own words. She sounded dumb. 

“Unless you want me to take my things?” Tom spoke, eyebrow raised and hopeful he hadn’t misread the situation. 

“No, I- this is just weird still,” Mia wasn’t sure what to say.

“Let’s go sit down?” Tom’s hand ran down her arm lightly, leaving gooseflesh trailed behind his fingertips as he hooked her fingers with his. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go with him but felt powerless to resist as he walked them toward the couch. 

He sat down and pulled her down next to him. They were close now, his jean clad leg was pressed against her exposed leg. Tom had turned the lights down low while she had changed. 

“You looked beautiful today,” Tom started once he decided the silence went on for too long.

“Thank you,” She hated how she still blushed. 

“Mia, I-”

“Tom, I-” They had spoken over each other. 

“You go first.” Tom said, shifting his hand to more properly lace his fingers between her’s. 

“I-” She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. There was so much to say, that she wanted to tell him but it was too hard and she was a coward. She settled for, “I want to try.” 

“Yeah?” Tom’s heart beat faster in his chest, “You’re done pushing me away?”

“I’m trying. I’m going to try.” She took a deep breath and prepared to lay it all out. “You’ve been so kind to me, to us. You wear your heart out on your sleeve and I’ve been so scared. I’ve fought you every chance. I’ve pushed you away.”

“What changed?” Tom’s mouth felt dry and he licked his lips before speaking. 

“I don’t know.” Mia answered honestly, shifting herself to be more comfortable on the couch. She really shouldn’t have gone cheep. “Seeing you with Sally. Seeing your work. Hearing how you talked about it. Hearing you talk about her.”

“You’re done pushing me away?” Tom asked again as he turned to face her more fully as they sat on the couch. 

“I’m going to try. It’s the least I can do.”

“It’s because you liked Loki, isn’t it?” Tom’s laugh filled the room as he tried to lighten the mood. He held up his hands as she playfully slapped at his arms and chest with one of the throw pillows. “I kid, I kid!”

Her last swing was too forceful and her grip on the pillow wasn’t what it had been when she first grabbed it to smack him. It flew off to the side as Tom defended himself from the onslaught. 

The loss of her weapon resulted in the loss of her balance too. Momentum carried her forward and she fell against Tom in a heap of laughter. This, whatever they were doing right now, felt good. It was fun and free and light. 

She had cheated herself out of this for weeks.

There was no way to sit up without bracing herself against him. She wasn’t sure where to put her hands so she froze where she landed, one hand on his chest and one on his thigh.

Tom’s arms draped around her, fencing her in. Large hands rested on her back. Shifting under her hands, Tom leaned his back into the corner. He pulled her into him as he shifted his leg up and stretched it along the back of the couch. 

Before she had a chance to overthink it, Tom had her laying against his chest on the couch. Her head was tucked into his shoulder and she tried to remember why she had felt discouraged earlier. 

“This is nice,” Tom said, “I’ve been wanting to hold you.”

“Why haven’t you?” It was easier in a way to have this conversation when she was resting against him instead of looking at him. He was warm and firm under her. The scent that had surrounded her while she wore his jacket again was surrounding her. His cologne. 

“I didn’t want to rush you,” He spoke carefully, taking his time picking his words. “You were pushing me away whenever I tried to build too much, too fast. I was afraid to push back too hard and lose any ground I had made with you.”

His heart was pounding in his chest. She could feel it under her hand. Splaying her fingers out, she rested her palm flat against his chest over his beating heart. 

“I’m sorry,” It hadn’t occurred to her how much pushing him away had been hurting him. The weight of that had been crushing her since the night before but now there was no doubt about it at all.

His hand wrapped around hers, holding her hand to his chest above his heart. “My heart beats for you. It has since we wed, though I didn’t always know it.” 

“I don’t want you to go,” She whispered in response to what felt a lot like a confession of love she was too scared to examine deeper, relaxing into his embrace fully as she stretched her own legs out along the couch next to his. 

“We’re going to be apart a lot.” Tom confessed. “It comes with my career. I’m passionate about it and that’s not going to change but I will always come back.”

“What’s that like? Being passionate about your work?” 

“It’s consuming. It can become unbalanced but it’s glorious as well.” 

“That must be nice.” 

“You’re not passionate about serving drinks?” Tom teased, rubbing his hand along her arm to try and soothe any offence she may take. “What would you do, if you could do anything?”

“I don’t know,” She felt ashamed to say, “I never really thought about it. People like me don’t get to chase passions and dreams.”

“People like you?” Tom worked his way down the couch, scooting his seat along and leaning back more, trying to ignore the way doing so shuffled her against his crotch. It was getting late and he was tired, though he didn’t want to end the moment. 

“Poor people,” she shrugged. “I didn’t do great in school, I didn’t have time for that. I didn’t get to do sports, no time or money for that either. There was no chance at me getting scholarships. It was either sell my soul into lifelong debt or don’t go to college so I didn’t dream any bigger than customer service.”

“College?” Tom took a moment before he put the cultural translation together. “Oh, university.”

“Same thing, pretty much.” 

Tom chuckled. “Hardly, in England but I got there. I know you don’t want to stop working but if you ever find something you want to chase or you want to cut down or something- don’t be afraid.”

“Tom, I-” He kept talking over her. It was now or never. 

“You’re my wife. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to have to feel the way you feel some nights when you get off work. I don’t want you to feel alone or abandoned when I’m working. I want you to be able to travel with me if you want. I know it’s a lot, and I’m not asking you to make any changes or decision or anything now. I just want you to know that you have the freedom to take control of your life.” 

A shaky breath slipped out from between her lips as she admitted one of her deepest fears, “Isn’t it too late?” 

“It’s never too late, I think, to become someone new. If you wanted, that is.” 

“I’m scared,” she admitted, “of this. Of everything.”

“So am I.” 

They were whispering now, darkness, fatigue and relaxation combining to lull them both to sleep on the too small couch with words hanging in the air.

~~~~~<3

Tag List: @winterisakiller, @alexakeyloveloki, @jennyggggrrr, @dangertoozmanykids101, @tilltheendwilliwrite, @tinchentitri, @wizardcherryblossom, @kats72, @buttercupcookies-blog, @violethaze, @soulpiercing, @evedia, @princess-ofthe-pages

[tragicbeauty1991]

Today I got called a “murder apologist” (and other not so nice names) by someone who apparently does not like the fact that I love a good villain redemption arc. Let me explain a few things…

First off, welcome to my blog. We believe in the inherent goodness of humanity here. We believe in love and forgiveness and that people can change. We believe in kindness over bitterness, in hope over despair, and in reconciliation over revenge. And if that’s not your thing, maybe this isn’t the best blog for you to check out. And that’s okay. People are allowed to have different opinions.

Second… We recognize that there is a difference between fiction and reality. Just because I like a character and want to see them come around to the side of good does not mean that I approve of any or all of their actions. Murder is bad, kids. I think we can all agree on that point. I don’t support the character’s evil deeds. I support the idea of them working through the reasons they got to the point of doing them and then coming out on the other side of it as a better person who wants to try to make up for their past. I also recognize that there is a distinct difference between a fictional villain and a real-life serial killer in jail. I’m not that person who’s gonna be caught sending love letters to violent men in prison. I am, however, fascinated by them and am the kind of person who will listen to podcasts and watch documentaries that investigate the psychology of such people. I like to see what makes people do the things they do and I firmly believe that in the vast majority of cases, there is more than a little bit of nurture lacking in the “nature or nurture” cause of evil. People aren’t born evil. Learning how and why they became teaches empathy. And yes, I can empathize with them and still think they’re a terrible person. Maybe I’m naive, but I think the world can use more empathy, and I’d rather be a little too kind to someone who might not deserve it than bring more hatred into the world. Real people often don’t change their ways, but it does happen. And fiction allows a safe environment for us to play around with that idea.

Third… In the words of Wonder Woman, “It’s not about deserve.” Do I think these characters who have done awful, horrible things deserve to be redeemed? Probably not. But that’s the thing about grace and mercy…they are inherently undeserved gifts. And that doesn’t mean you don’t set boundaries. It doesn’t mean you put up with abuse. It doesn’t mean that actions don’t have legal or emotional or financial consequences and everything is automatically all rainbows and butterflies. Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice. It’s choosing to allow the legal system (and God, if you believe in Him) to do its work and taking yourself out of the equation in terms of offering vengeance. It’s not allowing yourself to get walked all over, but it’s also choosing not to go walking all over your enemy when you have the chance. Also…redemption isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s hard work. It’s a long process of the person slowly coming to realize that they were in the wrong, grieving deeply over the wrongs that they have done, and doing the best they can to make up for it by living a different sort of lifestyle. It’s not a single choice to do one good thing. It’s a million little choices to do the right thing instead of the easy thing over and over and over again. It’s stumbling along the way and making mistakes and getting back up and trying again. It’s learning to control anger and to accept that love and friendship and fear and heartbreak aren’t weakness. It’s learning to put others before themselves when before they only ever had to worry about looking out for Number One. To use a recent quote from the Loki series, “Raze it to the ground. That’s easy. Starting over is hard. Hope… Hope is hard.” Redemption doesn’t always mean a totally happy ending. It means becoming a better person, and there is often a lot of pain involved.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with the words I once heard from an Orthodox priest that really stuck with me and which I think are especially relevant to how I approach my thinking in both fictional villains and my actual fellow human beings… “Other sinful human beings are not the enemy. They are slaves of The Enemy. And you don’t hurt your enemy’s slaves. You try to set them free.”

[buttercups-song]

Things I really really want to see in season two of Loki but I know won’t happen for various reasons (most of them being the mouse):

Siblings reunion!!! When will the sun shine on them again disney? When ?? The fact that all the thor movies were so reliant on the siblings dynamic but now it’s completely absent boggles me. I know you can afford chris hemsworth for five minutes! Hell, give me a buff extra in a wig with their back turned! Give me a green screen background of a sunrise/sunset in norway! I’m begging! We can even pretend they talked offscreen!

Actually queer Loki. I know I know so much to ask for since we were already given… *looks at my notes* one really forced line about dating princes and princesses and… Loki’s arrest rapport in the credits (tiny and you have to pause and squint) which says that his sex is fluid. Which is completely different from saying that they’re gender-fluid and also is later retconned by making all the lokis except for sylvie men who are shocked at the notion of a ‘female version’ of them. I don’t even care about shipping (I do, I care so much, send help), just give me a flashback or even mention a past lover! I’m not picky, I know this isn’t good omens or ofmd but give me something!

Sylvie getting a self discovery arc. She spent her whole life running and hiding in apocalypses, she doesn’t need a romance she needs therapy. And I really liked the post credit scene in the first episode! She wants to try everything! She’s never had a normal life, she’s never had friends! Let her live! Let her find out who she is outside of her revenge plot!

Hi! Remember that Loki is a jotnar? Disney sure doesn’t (Flashbacks to that terrible blanket scene) Remember that this is loki post avengers, who basically just found this out and is probably still pretty messed up? Disney sure doesn’t! I mean who cares about what happened in those silly movies! How is Loki’s glamour working in the tva, where there’s no magic!? I don’t know (I mean I can make up a head canon that makes sense but you know) and you won’t either because no one cares! Please please explore Loki’s character in a show that’s meant to be about him! I’m on my knees disney! I get that this show is mostly multiverse and kang introduction but unfortunately I don’t care that much! Phase four is not that great anyway! You have Tom hiddleston on your payroll! He’s putting his whole lokussy into this show like this is an oscar worthy production! Just put him in a room with owen wilson and let him cry about his fucked up childhood and fail cringe trauma!

[thesimulationswarms]

I'm so insane about these two i cannot get them outta my head. How is episode one real. The thing to remember is that we left off when Loki was fighting Sylvie, which means that when we come back, barely any time has passed between season 1 and season 2. Which means Mobius has not had time to even process, let alone grieve and accept the fact that Loki could be gone for a long time or forever. And then he’s there again. I need to re-watch how long exactly has passed but i’m sure it’s not long considering they’re uh, immortal.

Literally the whole episode is about them trying to find each other. That’s it. Finding each other and saving each other, which first comes from Mobius needing to help Loki (understandable). Literally the care they both have for each other is quite astounding, especially considering it really wasn’t such a long time that they’ve properly known each other AND trusted in each other.

The first thought Loki has when he comes back to the TVA is finding Mobius because he’s the only one he can trust and he knows Mobius will know how to fix this situation, or at least, make it a little less stressing – which is true! He does that!

Then we have Mobius who is trying to work things out with B-15, trying to fix the TVA and the whole universe, really, trying to focus on something that isn’t Loki because at this point, they’ve both done what they need to do and now he has to continue his mission. And then Casey gets there, and he’s like “Loki is looking for you” and Mobius is like “Loki’s here?!” He’s speechless. Loki is back. How is he back? Is he okay? But there’s so much on Mobius’ plate with the TVA and now the War Room and everything. Still, the moment Loki actually appears there, everything else is dropped. Loki IS the priority. He’s the priority to the point where Mobius won’t drop him, literally won’t stop touching him, and this is for sure due to the fact that Loki keeps disappearing, so in a way, it’s almost as to keep him with him, keep him close (don’t go where I can’t follow).

I really feel like this episode was a turning point for their relationship and overall dynamic. This is the culmination of what season 1 was building up to, in a way. We have reluctant partners who find a deep connection through hardships, and see that they can truly trust each other in ways they couldn’t trust other people. This show is so important for Loki’s development because we see he is able to truly care about people and let himself be vulnerable and soft, he just hadn’t found the right one yet. And as we see, Mobius is the right one for him.

Then we have Mobius’ sacrifices for Loki. First, he lets go of all responsibility with the TVA and puts Loki’s hurt as the priority. They visit O.B, we get that fantastic lowkey flirting scene, and they are both faced with the bad things that could happen. Yet they persevere. First, because it really is hurting Loki and it is dangerous, and second because Mobius really needs Loki to be okay. As we see in the elevator scene, he truly is horrified by what’s happening to him, he’s got to fix this situation, and he’s willing to lose all his skin, and even die, for Loki (who does that!!???). This needs to not be understated. He is willing to risk it all just so Loki is safe. Are we seeing this?

I don't know if this makes any sense but I really REALLY feel the need to emphasize that Mobius was willing to RISK IT ALL for LOKI. Not doing good guys not doing good at all.

[kynmoonlight]

Bard's Broken Heart

I present: 1 motif of what I’m calling “Bard’s Broken Heart Lace”

OK, not quite, but still a cool design. Inspired by this post from Tumblr user @loki-is-my-kink-awakening https://www.tumblr.com/loki-is-my-kink-awakening/723753602720661504/oh-my-gods-are-these-the-hearts-hidden-on?source=share Who noticed that the trim on Jaskier’s shirt in Season 3 Netflix Witcher is little hearts! And a reply (sorry OP, I can’t find it now) noted that they’re very symbolically, hearts that are divided!

So anyway, I got crafting-obsessed and had to try to figure out how it was made and attempt to recreate it.

Which lead to research on historical lace-making and needlework.

[Disclaimers: this is all my best guesses as an amateur crafter, not a historical expert. I know my stitching is uneven, especially the pin-picots, which I just learned last week]

by the way, crafters or fic writers looking for historical fibercraft reference, check out Project Gutenberg’s (free!) The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/20776/pg20776-images.html SO much fascinating stuff!

First, based on the clearest photos I can find (ie not very) I’m guessing the actual trim was machine-made, because a) the stitching is really even and smooth and tiny, b) handmade lace would be extremely expensive, and c) TV/Movie costuming needs multiples of every garment, especially for something like a delicate chemise Jaskier wears running all around the continent for a whole season. 

My first guess and attempt was crochet, which wasn’t it, then thought it might be tatting or bobbin lace, which also weren’t right once I looked up images. 

I finally settled on whitework cut-work embroidery with some needle lace techniques for the edging. Which I think gave me a kind of close facsimile. This one is about 1-½ x the size of what he wears (because that’s the limit of my aging hand steadiness, crafting magnifiers, and the materials I had.)

This one motif took me probably two hours, including many screwups and tangles. Not including drafting, blocking and snapshots. With the right materials and one done for practice (as it was only my second project in whitework and first try at needle lace!) one heart would take around an hour. For someone whose lifelong job, all day every day, was embroidering lace trim, they’d probably manage a meter/yard or two of the actual size trim, which I’m guessing is how much is on that shirt.

So in-universe, this still wouldn’t be a cheap piece of clothing, with at least a full day of skilled craftswomen wages for just the lace, plus finely woven, printed fabric that (I think, historically, that would have been block printed by hand), and additional seamster time to make it up. Modern-day equivalent would probably be easily USD $1000 if not 2x that. Our boy is making good money as a now-famous bard! (I suppose in a universe with magic, it could have been magiked, or magically duplicated after an expert created a template, but I suspect that would cost as much as handcrafting anyhow)

If I get bored and the crafting bug hits me again, I might try to make a whole edging this, maybe on a handkerchief. 

Now, what do I do with one lace heart? I settled on starching it and attaching a safety pin back, so I guess if I ever go to a convention I can wear it as a pin so fellow Witchercrafters and Jaskier fans know how much of a nerd I really am.

I could write up direx with step by step pictures if anyone else really wants to try it.