#SIF IS A VERY STRANGE MUSE TO HAVE AS I GO THROUGH IT IS ALL .

[impinged]

lil ooc update i am going through the Wringer currently and desperately trying to keep writing despite (in spite of?) that, just so i have some semblance of enjoyment to hold on to... but i'm sorry if there's a noticeable dip in the quality of my writing right now... >_>

[tangleweave]

♡ Munday Meme ♡ - 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23

{The Munday Meme}

4. Favourite thing about roleplaying?

Practicing my character portrayal. I work really hard to get the voices straightened out in my head so that when I'm writing a piece of dialogue, you can hear them when you read it. All of my muses share the "he" pronoun but you shouldn't be left guessing which "he" I refer to when I'm writing their dialogue.

5. Least favourite thing about roleplaying?

<sigh> Toxicity in the community. I realize this constitutes a minority, and a very small fraction of participants at that, but I've had the misfortune of running into a few who have been terribly disrespectful, pushy, and even flat-out insulting to their fellow RPers. I have no stomach for that. I'm here to disengage from reality and have some fun, not to engage in middle-school level dramatics (unless it's dramatics my partner and I have chosen to write for ourselves).

6. OTP for your muse?

Well, I've got seven muses, lol, but assuming you'd like to know my OTPs for all of them? Sure, I'll try it out. Be aware, too, that not all of my OTPs are necessarily in relation to RP interactions. With that said...

Beta Ray Bill -- Up until the publication of Argent Star, I would have immediately said Lady Sif. But I was so disappointed with her reaction to the notion of intimacy with him in his true form (augmentations, enhancements, equine face) that I've begun to reconsider that ship. Here on Tumblr, though, Bill found a curious kinship with the Olympian goddess Persephone, courtesy of the extraordinary @titansaints [check them out!] which quickly became a lovely, fluffy ship that I've thoroughly enjoyed.

Phil Coulson -- Two OTPs for this man, I gotta be honest. The first is with Melinda May, because do I even need to say why? But the second is here on Tumblr, with the illustrious Dejah Thoris of John Carter of Mars lore, provided by the talented @voice-of-barsoom [check them out too!]. It's a pairing I would never have thought of on my own and I stan it.

Groot -- Not really applicable in a canon context, for obvious reasons, but here on Tumblr, this one goes to Beth Riley, lovingly provided by the inimitable @brooklynislandgirl [if you're not checking them out, why not?!]. This is a ship that sails right down the center of platonic and romantic seas, and is stunningly soft... and really, I honestly do believe only Beth can adore Groot in the specific way she does. It is a testament to this fabulous writer.

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) -- Gotta toss this to MJ, out of recognition for her dedication. In most canon iterations of her, she's stuck with Pete through thick and thin, no matter what curve balls his life as Spider-Man has thrown their way, up to and including home invasion, abduction, mutation, and even death. If there's a runner-up, it's Gwen... because let's face it. If Gwen had survived, it would have been her. I don't currently have any Tumblr-based threads which ship Peter with anyone. (Yet.)

Stephen Strange -- Nnnnnngh. Okay, I'm going to out myself here, I know precious little about Stephen from the comics, so although I'm intellectually aware of his relationship with (and marriage to) Clea, I've not familiarized myself with those dynamics and nuances (but I'm interested to see what she brings to the MCU). I refuse to say Christine Palmer, I just never sensed any sparks there. Regarding RP, one of my favorite Stephen ships here on Tumblr is also probably my first one on this profile, with Sigyn Freyjadottr, as portrayed by @sigynthevictorious [yes, I'm reccing them too, deal with it!]. A true enemies-to-friends tale that really went the distance in the telling!

Venom (Eddie Brock) -- NOT Eddie / his Other. That's both obvious and low-hanging fruit. And to be honest, I think we've yet to see what a really good relationship for him in canon would be. However, here on Tumblr, there is absolutely no question at all, and this ship is my ultimate favorite OTP out of all the ones I'm listing for this question... this goes also to Beth Riley @brooklynislandgirl , who has generously worked with me to create an absolutely sprawling multiversal saga with our muses at its heart. BEddie for life.

Vision -- Okay, do you really expect me to say anybody but Wanda? Whether in canon or via Tumblr RP alongside the illustrious @illbringthechaosmagic , there's really just one woman for Vis at the end of the day, and it's Wanda Maximoff.

7. NOTP for your muse?

This answer will be far shorter, because the honest truth is, my muses tend to be pretty open-minded about relationships -- though as listed in my Rules segment, with the exception of Groot, they're all hetero males. That being said, even restricting themselves to women, these boys can get themselves in tons of trouble for the sake of a ship (and frequently do!). It's never characters I'm averse to shipping with... just situations, and a couple very specific members of this community.

15. What do you look for in an RP partner?

Primarily, someone who is decently literate and not afraid to write more than a smattering of words per tag. I'm not terribly picky about length beyond that... give me at least one paragraph. Or give me a novel. Either way, I'll run with it. What you give tends to be what you'll get in return.

16. Favourite trope?

<scratches the back of his neck> Damn it, you caught me, I'm a total sap. I really like that trope of when two characters share that revelation that they've got feelings for each other. It's been building up between them for an embarrassingly long time, and they just can't hold it in anymore. But this comes with a caveat... to be truly satisfying, I need the buildup. I need it to be sold to me.

17. Least favourite trope?

Betrayal whose flags were completely visible but entirely ignored. It kinda pulls me out of the story when I can see the turn of a coat coming from miles away and the characters can't pick up on it to save their own lives (sometimes literally).

18. Are there any AU's you'd like to explore but haven't had the chance to yet?

I have an AU concept which involves Hydra being successful in taking SHIELD down, except for Coulson, who assumes an offshoot Ghost Rider persona and seeks vengeance. I've also had a half-formed idea rattling around wherein all of my muses randomly exchange roles (Spider-Bill; Groot, Agent of SHIELD; Vision, Guardian of the Galaxy). As for universal shifts, I've been fleshing out some concepts for my spread of muses to all take up residence in the Star Wars universe (Venom is a shapeshifting spy, Stephen and Spidey are Force sensitives in exile, Coulson is an ex-diplomat turned crime lord... it's a whole thing). It's also kind of fun to imagine them all within the context of D&D (and I still have at least one request in my Inbox asking me to write a drabble of one of my muses in the realm of Dragonlance). What would happen to them in the world of Pokémon? Would they all be trainers? Y'know. Fun stuff. So the short answer is yes, there are... and I'm open to discussing them!

21. Are there certain characters that you gravitate towards?

Yes, but probably not the ones you'd think. My top three favorite characters in this spread of muses are Beta Ray Bill, Venom, and Coulson, in that order. Stephen and Spidey are present among this spread for several reasons, but among them is the fact they're mainstream and tend to attract eyes (and Follows) in a way my three favorites simply can't. Bill is obscure, Coulson is niche, and not everybody wants to interact with Eddie / his Other / Venom (or that pedantic distinction I insist upon making).

23. Do you ever get jealous when RPing? How do you handle this?

Oh jeez, calling me out, this is embarrassing... Okay, the honest truth? Yeah, I do occasionally get jealous, and that's not a good color on me. My method of dealing with it is remembering we're all doing this for fun, and we all chase the dopamine, wherever that chase leads. It doesn't always lead my mutuals towards me or the threads I'd like to work on, and that... really is okay. My own dopamine chases don't always lead me in the direction I know some of my mutuals would hope for either, and they're all incredibly gracious towards me about it. That's why I have multiple threads with multiple mutuals. At any given time, I have a ton of ideas and threads I can work on... and if a character I want to write for is lacking love, I can fairly easily find someone who'd be interested in threading. And even if my luck ran out... I've written a LOT of fanfiction over the years. I can write on my own, too! (If I ever get past the crippling anxiety and perfectionism.)

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #235: Havoc on the Homefront!

September, 1983

Welcome to the Wizard’s Mansion of Mechanized Mayhem!

This cover has got it going on!

Where “it” is “multiple things.”

Still, I love covers that are just like ‘here’s a couple things happening today’ and this is a great version of that concept with the things being viewing screens that the Wizard is looking at.

He’s watching the Avengers in various peril channel.

This is a good cover!

So last time: uh, a couple things. Wasp called Vision and Scarlet Witch in as reservists when Annihilus tried to blow up the universe with an invisible dome. The two basically contributed nothing but Vision was thrown into a robotic coma.

Wanda and Vision in a tube moved into the mansion while he recovers and Wanda recapped her entire backstory including new retcon that Magneto is totally her dad.

Then she had a Dr. Strange crossover. Since it also involved Monica, two Avengers makes it notable enough to synopsize in brief. And its titled Assault on Avengers Mansion! so its like its baiting me.

Dr. Strange astral projects to bother Wanda when she’s trying to get some grief reading in. He wants to find the Darkhold and she’s the last known possessor or vice versa because thats when she was possessed by Cththon and had to be saved with a care bear stare from the Avengers. But Dr. Strange really wants the Darkhold to stop Dracula from getting it. Yes, Dracula.

Since the Darkhold is being stored in a vault at Avengers Mansion after Beast brought it back from Wundagore, Dracula’s cult attacks and manages to break into the Mansion. Dr. Strange, Wanda, and Captain Marvel all fight off Dracula’s cult and then Dr. Strange trolls Dracula by teleporting the Darkhold somewhere else.

Also, Avengers Mansion got trashed in a break-in in Fantastic Four #257. Dammit. Whats with all the intertextuality in this era?

So that story there is: mostly a lot of Galactus eating the Skrull homeworld and fallout from aforementioned Annihilus story. Only the last two pages are relevant.

Mr. Fantastic shows up to Avengers Mansion to check on Vision, Wanda goes to make him tea, and then he’s teleported to a space trial leaving a giant melted hole in the mansion.

Honestly, I don’t know why FF got asterisked instead of the Dr. Strange issue. They both messed up the mansion but the Dracula cult was more of a break-in than someone leaving a giant hole in the wall. Although that’s more mysterious.

Anyway, with two different ‘read this also’s between issues that messed up the mansion, no wonder the opening splash has to be devoted to a repair crew patching things up.

Wasp is putting her size-shifting to good use to literally micro-manage. Zipping around at tiny size telling everyone how to do their job.

Captain America who is also supervising and impressing people with how buff he is gets annoyed and goes to tell her to stop but stops himself.

Captain America: No... No. She’s in charge here, and I have to let her handle things as best she can. Her methods do seem to bring results... They’re just not my methods, that’s all. Yeah...

And then he sulks off, ignoring Wasp when she asks what he’s muttering to himself.

Hm. The new leader honeymoon period is off, it seems. Cap was Wasp’s biggest supporter as chairperson and now he’s grumbling and second-guessing.

Dang.

I hope this isn’t snapback to Wasp not being leader because she’s flighty and silly. I hope we’re not just going to do that.

Cap wanders over to where Vision-inna-tube and Wanda are. Wanda is still glued to Vision’s side. And either Wanda can read minds or Cap says something between panels because we have Cap wondering in a thought bubble whether if Vision has shown any signs of improvement and then Wanda answering that he hasn’t shown improvement or worsened.

Cap(tain) America: “Well, don’t let yourself get too worried, Wanda. That husband of yours has been through worse scrapes than this. He’ll pull through!”

Scarlet Witch: “When you say it, Cap, I can really believe it!”

Inspirational Cap! Charisma rolls: Very.

Still, Wanda is sad because Vision is lying in a tube helpless and she can’t even touch him.

Cap wanders off again, without even saying goodbye (rude) while musing how much it sucks.

Cap: Blast it! Those kids were just starting to make a life for themselves, and this had to happen! Why was it that of all the Avengers who went up against the threat of Annihilus -- it had to be a couple of reservists who suffered most?

And then starts musing how weird it is that Scarlet Witch and Vision as reservists since they were active Avengers for so long!

Remember, Wanda joined the Avengers not very long after Cap did! Only a couple months in-universe! She was one of his Kooky Quartet!

Cap: At times I wondered if the Avengers would survive -- but somehow, through all the tumult and changes, the team not only survived -- it grew stronger! I pray it always will... with the menaces we so often face, we can’t afford to weaken. We’ve gone through so many changes lately. We’ve picked up two fine new Avengers in Captain Marvel and the She-Hulk, but we’ve lost Hank Pym... and now we’ve lost Iron Man, too. Even Thor has taken himself off the active roster to pursue a personal mission. I hope he won’t be gone too long.

Cap is clearly in some sort of dour Mood.

A dour and monologue-y mood.

And what’s Thor up to leaving the team roster OFF PANEL?

(Sigh)

Well, since the asterisk is telling me to see Thor #334... oh geez, Don Blake is under suspicion of killing Jane Foster. Thor, and Lady Sif take Keith Kincaid (the non-Thor love interest of Jane) on a trip to get the Runestaff (long story) and restore Jane Foster (long story).

Annoyingly, the Thor issue does show him telling the Avengers he’s going to be gone for a while and to take him off the active roster. And borrowing a Quinjet.

I think that it would have been nice to see at least a panel of that. Or something. I don’t want the book bloated with ‘see alsos’ but I’m confused why it put the most emphasis on the FF one when it was literally two pages where Reed manages to ruin the wall while getting kidnapped.

Whatever.

Anyyyyway.

Even though he thinks the new Avengers are good, Cap worries about having both Thor and Iron Man off the team.

Especially Iron Man.

He was their science/technical guy. And on the current team, the only one with any sort of science expertise is new trainee Starfox.

Who is busy making out and not being on time for his daily training session.

At least he remembers that he has a prior obligation.

And he’s only two minutes late. Or to put it another way, he’s a whole two minutes late. And Cap(tain America) is a notable stickler for punctuality.

Cap: “Punctuality may be an anachronism in this day and age -- and, for all I know, it may be unheard of on the planet Titan -- but in my day, it was something that was expected of people!”

Wow, Cap really pulled a ‘in my day.’

Frankly, I’m surprised he doesn’t pull that more often.

Starfox does seem contrite and apologizes for putting pleasure before business which sends Cap into an introspection about why he’s really being so harsh on Starfox.

Protip: It’s Tony. It’s almost always Tony.

Cap: Pleasure versus duty, that’s what it always comes down to. It was Tony Stark’s ‘pleasure’ which led him to giving up his Iron Man identity... leaving the Avengers. Some ‘pleasure’! He’s crawled so far into the bottle, he may never get back out. And there’s nothing I can do to pull him out... Nothing any of us can do, unless he lets us. That’s what’s really bothering me... isn’t it?

And he accepts the apology with a “just don’t let it happen again.”

You sound so old sometimes, Cap.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk is off on a jog through New York, listening to some Beach Boys’ California Girls.

An overeager driver scoots forward and cuts her off at the crosswalk and (I assume) in frustration, she punches the hood of the car.

And given it’s She-Hulk, she kinda punches a hole IN the hood. And probably engine.

The guy being either an idiot or incredibly unperceptive runs after She-Hulk to grab her arm and yell at her.

She does not care for that at all.

Like, why would you? She’s seven feet tall and green and just punched a hole in the hood of your car.

Luckily for the guy’s skeletal integrity, Spider-Man pops out of nowhere to be Friendly Neighborhood and mediate this conflict.

They both air their grievances.

She-Hulk: “This creep grabbed me!”

Creep: “Hey! She... she crunched the front of my car!”

She-Hulk: “That was you who cut me off in the crosswalk? You’re lucky I didn’t rip out your axle!”

Spider-Man: “Now, now! Let’s keep this friendly! Sounds like you’re in the wrong, chum! The lady had the light!”

Creep: “Lady?!? She’s no --!”

Spider-Man: “I wouldn’t say that if I were you! That’s the She-Hulk, dummy! Remember what she did to your car? Well, just imagine what she could do to you!”

Creep: “Oh yeah.”

And with the power of Spider-Man’s bomb-ass mediation, the guy realizes that he was in the wrong, apologizes, and leaves in a hurry.

(Her skeptical glare cracks me up for some reason)

Moral of the story: Don’t be a jerk. Stay behind the line when the little man is lit up.

After the guy takes off, She-Hulk praises(?) Spider-Man’s amazing mediation skills by saying he should have been a lawyer. And then they catch up.

She-Hulk is still having trouble adjusting to the East Coast lifestyle and lack of beaches so Spider-Man suggests checking out the Jersey Shore.

She-Hulk: “My big problem right now is housing. Avengers Mansion is nice, but I want a place of my own.”

Spider-Man: “It’s tough -- rents are pretty steep.”

She-Hulk: “The real trouble is finding a place I like. With the thousand a week I get as an Avenger, rent’s no big deal.”

Spider-Man: “I guess not, if you’re making a... a thousand A WEEK?!? I passed up a chance to become an Avengers, and they make $1000 a week?!? Oh, NO!!”

Ha ha, that ol’ Parker luck.

Maybe Thor should have mentioned the money when he tried to recruit Spidey.

Meanwhile, at a federal penitentiary in Vermont, a scene change.

Bentley Wittman, aka the Wizard, aka the Wingless Wizard, aka the adult man who thought the best use of his time was bullying a teenager, is being questioned about Plantman Sam Smithers’ escape from jail.

The Wizard claims that he knows nothing about Plantman’s escape and that he barely knows the guy anyway. They were airlifted from Ryker’s in the same helicopter and that’s it.

But a convenient x-ray tells a different story.

And that story is that “the Wizard” doesn’t have any skeleton bones.

... Were we really at the point in 1983 where we didn’t know about the dangers of overexposure to x-rays? They just causally scan both “the Wizard” and the guy questioning him?

Anyway, the ruse being rumbled, the fake Wizard rips the bars out of a window and jumps out to his death.

Or it would be death if he wasn’t just animate wood wearing a fake skin suit.

Kinda gross if you think about it.

Anyway, where is the real the Wizard?

Obviously, he escaped jail a while back. Not only is he a sinister criminal mastermind who has sinister masterminding to mastermind but also he was tired of the prison hair code. Because dammit, he wants to rock the goatee!

(Literally a comment he makes, calling the prison barbers butchers)

The Real Wizard gets a BLIP-BLIP-BLIP priority alert that informs him that the plant-him has been discovered which means that the authorities will be looking for him now.

Wizard: Now every law officer in the nation will be looking for me. Well, let them! They’ll not find me, unless they look here! And if they do look here, they’ll have a fight on their hands! The Wizard will not bolt and run like some common criminal! My home is my fortress! They’ll never get me out of it! Never!

Anyway, within an hour of the discovery of Plant-Wizard, a disgruntled agent of the national security council named Mr. Sirkorski receives a briefing.

Usually, this problem would be Gyrich’s problem but he’s busy somewhere else, probably making mutants miserable if I had to guess.

-checking- Yup, he’s over in the X-books, being involved in Project: Wideawake, the project that will later accidentally shoot Storm with a demutantifying gun that will take away her powers, leading her to kick Cyclop’s ass, leading to him leaving the team and feeling sad about being happily married.

Wow, Gyrich, you’re the worst.

Anyway, since the Wizard is tied to the presidential hostage crisis via Plantman, that makes it Serious Business.

Hence, Mr. Sikorski’s serious business.

And he hates it.

He hates this bonkers superhero universe. He just wants to live in a spy thriller universe without all this specific nonsense.

Mr. Sikorski: “Oh, great! Plant-Men... criminal scientists... prison breaks! Don’t they think I have enough to do, just keeping track of what the Russians are up to?”

Also Mr. Sikorksi, on the following page: “And it’s up to me to call in the appropriate parties. I feel a little weird doing this! It’s hard enough for me to believe there are such things as Avengers! I certainly never thought I’d be calling them for help!”

This guy is great. I hope he becomes a recurring and just continues to be low-key pissed about what genre he lives in.

SCENE CHANGE TO AVENGERS MANSION’s actually looking cooler than ever meeting room.

The table looks enormous and theres a giant viewscreen that they can display stuff on.

Only misstep in my opinion is that the seats don’t have personalized icons on the back.

On the big viewscreen map, Cap(tain America) is displaying for Captain Marvel known properties and hideouts that the Wizard has used in the past.

And then big boss the Wasp comes in with She-Hulk to start the meeting.

Since the government has requested that the Avengers help search for the Wizard, Captain Marvel suggests that she could zoom around and check off the whole list in no time flat by using her lightspeed.

Cap(tain America): “You probably could, C.M. -- that’s up to Jan to decide, of course. It would save us some time. After all, the Wizard could be in any of these places... or none of them!”

Wasp: “You think so? If I’d escaped from prison, I’d want to go home. But that’s just me, I suppose.”

Cool contribution, Jan.

I don’t mean to mock, its just she makes a goofy face.

(Hey, I wonder if her new costume was inspired by the FF’s negative zone’d ones. It’s kinda got a similar palette and rough design)

Anyway, Scarlet Witch asks whether she can be excused from superheroing for the day to keep an eye on the Vision.

Wasp: “Why, Wanda! I should say not! You agreed to fill in for Thor while he’s off in space, and I intend to hold you to that! I’m the chairwoman, and I’ll decide who goes where!”

In fact, since somebody does need to watch the Vision, Wasp chooses the most reasonable candidate.

Captain Marvel!

Who needs her to get the task done in five seconds! She can watch the coma-robot.

You make interesting decisions, Jan!

The remaining Avengers will split up into squads.

Captain America will take Scarlet Witch and She-Hulk to check the hideouts on the east of the map. Wasp and Starfox will check out the western ones.

She-Hulk: “You and Starfox, huh? That’s rich... the All Flirt Squad!”

Pfft.

Cap(tain America) isn’t feeling the humor and tells She-Hulk to save her jokes for when they don’t have a job to do.

Minutes later, the Avengers land a Quinjet on the front drive of the Wizard’s Long Island estate. He has one of those.

Cap: “Come on Avengers -- let’s get this over with!”

Good attitude, Cap.

Wanda notes that the grounds look neatly tended considering that the estate has been empty for the past several years but She-Hulk thinks a gardener was probably kept on retainer.

The Wizard was stupid rich.

When they get inside, Cap changes his tune. The place looks too tidy and ready for occupancy to be empty so maybe the Wizard is here.

So he pulls a ‘lets split up gang’ and splits up gang with each Avenger taking a wing.

Cap: “Oh, and She-Hulk, try not to break anything if you can help it. This is private property!”

Priorities!

Granted, She-Hulk is known to break things. Why just today she broke some dude’s car.

The Wizard is watching all of this on his home security system and springs individual traps on the individual Avengers.

She-Hulk finds herself in a series of identical small non-descript rooms, each more identical than the last.

So identical that its the same room, looping.

Wizard: “Through the circuity in that doorway, I’ve activated a dimensional matrix which will keep your walking back and forth ad infinitum through the same room!”

Except without seeing herself leaving which you’d think she’d be able to see.

It’s a smart way to trap a Hulk, provided they don’t run out of patience or get frustrated and smash something.

Meanwhile, Cap gets locked in a chamber where an anti-gravity field has been activated, leaving him flailing through the air.

Oh, and dozens of high-intensity laser torches pop out of the walls and start trying to carve up Cap.

Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch’s individualized trap is the most individualized of all.

Because She-Hulk’s and Cap’s could be used on any number of people really. But Wanda’s feels like it was created to counter Wanda. Pretty on the ball from the Wizard considering he doesn’t often fight the Witch.

When Wanda enters the room she suddenly starts spinning out of control, flies across the room, and lands in a chair.

Wizard: “Marvelous! I’ve ensnared the Scarlet Witch within something against which her astounding hex powers are useless. My field effect devices have generated a pocket of non-causality within that test chamber! Within the area, all actions have an equal chance of occurrence. Therein, all probabilities are skewed. She won’t be able to stand, much less cast a hex!”

Wow! That’s some high octane comic book nonsense science!

The point being that every time Wanda tries to do something, something random happens instead because its all equally likely. She tried to walk into a room and ended up standing on the roof. She tried to back out of the room, she started spinning. She tried to stop spinning and she flew into a chair.

Sure.

With the Avengers all trapped, the Wizard turns his attention to deciding how to dispose of them.

Except, as cleverly foreshadowed by my snide comments, She-Hulk’s trap is only as good as Jen’s patience.

Which is good forrrrrrr. Two dozens loops.

At that point, she’s sure some bullshit is up and scratches the wall with her nails to leave a tangible mark. When she sees the same mark in the ‘next room’ her suspicion is confirmed.

And now that she knows someone is jerking her around, she decides to ignore Cap’s suggestion to not break private property by breaking private property and rips the doorframe (and the dimensional matrix) to crap.

There’s a backup trap that drops slabs of six-inch omnium steel around her but yeah she’s a hulk and she’s not playing considerate anymore. She starts KRUNGing the walls with her fists.

Meanwhile, Cap uses physics to get out of his jam. He throws his mighty shield to break some lasers so action/reaction will propel him backwards and he can jump off the wall, grab his shield back, and uses one of the broken-off lasers against the others.

Also, meanwhile, Scarlet Witch tries to figure out her own, incredibly specific trap.

Scarlet Witch: This is like a nightmare! Whatever I try to do, something else happens. Just in making the attempt to call on my hex power, I wound up falling flat on my face! I can’t even... wiggle my fingers? I... I can! Oh, but only very close to the floor! Whatever is causing my actions to go awry must be weaker near the room’s outer surfaces! Then there’s HOPE -- !”

Wizard must have gone cheap on the pocket of non-causality projector for that room if it’s not completely covering the area. Sure, the area it doesn’t cover is relatively small but now what’s about to happen is going to happen.

So Wanda gets as low as she can go to the floor and uses her probability-altering powers.

This causes the non-causality field to reverse because why wouldn’t it? And causes feedback through the circuitry which causes the master control to shock the Wizard.

It also causes every logic circuit in the master control to overload and the whole dang thing explodes, Wizard barely flying out of the control room in time.

Right in She-Hulk’s path.

She’s not happy. He’s not going to like her not being happy.

She-Hulk: “After what I’ve been through, it’s gonna be a real pleasure to pound that helmet down around your ankles!”

Wizard nopes right out of her way and decides to abandon fortress.

Then Scarlet Witch probability alters his battlesuit flight controls to malfunction to halt his escape and make him crash to the-

...

I’m pretty sure his neck is broken now.

I mean, it’s apparently not because he keeps talking and moving and living but he look at that panel. Guy should be dead as movie Zod.

Y’know, if the Avengers are going to kill the Wizard, the FF should really get them back and kill one of their villains. I suggest Grim Reaper.

Anyway, surrounded by Avengers, Wizard pulls his trump card.

Wizard: “Your confidence is ill-founded, Captain America. There is one resource I can yet draw upon. There is a thermonuclear devise beneath my house -- powerful enough to destroy half of Long Island and make the remainder very unpleasant for a very long time. Much as I hate to see this place destroyed, I would press the button, so to speak.”

“You being such renowned public heroes, would hate that even more. But unless you allow me to go unharmed, I shall active the timing sequence of the bomb’s detonator.”

And Cap is like ‘do you mean this detonator’ and pulls out one he prepared earlier.

HAH!

You know, ironically, if he had just hidden in a safe room or on the roof or something, the Avengers probably would have came and went without noticing him. Springing traps on them really backfired in oh so many ways.

The threesome return to the mansion, presumably after turning Wizard over to the authorities, and Wasp comments that it sounds like they had a bit of excitement (Starfox grumbling to himself more excitement than he had searching the Bronx with the Wasp ha ha).

Cap(tain America): “You’ll be glad to know, Wasp, that your instincts were correct. The Wizard had indeed gone home. He gave us all a pretty good challenge... a welcome challenge, I dare say.”

Wasp: “Looks like I assigned the right people to search the right place, huh?”

Cap: “Yes, Ms. Chairwoman, I’d say you did!”

And elsenow, Wanda goes to the medical bay to check in on Vision and relieve Captain Marvel.

Scarlet Witch: “Can you hear me, darling? I hope you can. I was feeling awfully blue today... And I was given a duty that first seemed annoying, and later became dangerous. But I didn’t give up... I came back, and I won. I know that you can come back, too, darling! It’s just a matter of time... and hope.”

“It’s funny! I thought the Wasp was silly for sending me on that mission. But -- in a way --it was something I need. I think the others needed it, too!”

Captain Marvel: “Then that’s why she sent you, Wanda... because she knew what you needed! And that’s why she leads the Avengers!”

Secret friend mastermind Janet van Dyne sends you out for punch therapy when you need to punch something.

Reminds me of when Captain America picked a fight with Goliath Hank Pym to lift his spirits. Except with a lot less fighting her own friends and more pointing them in the right direction.

Something I love about this era of Avengers and with the big shift in Wasp after Hank’s court-martial is that while her character has changed she’s still recognizably and uniquely herself. She’s still a bit goofy. She’s still playful. And on top of that, she’s proven that she’s a good leader for the Avengers. It’s not mutually exclusive.

Cap (previously Wasp’s biggest supporter as leader) started this issue grumpy and even had his own ideas what the best tactic for searching for the Wizard would be, but by the end he agrees that Wasp made a good decision.

Despite playing the ditz for a long part of her career, Wasp isn’t dumb. And she’s got a good head for the interpersonal challenges of running a team too.

I’m reminded that during the much later Busiek run, when the Avengers need to expand and modernize to match up to expanding challenges, Captain America turns the leadership of the team over to the Wasp.

My point being, I was worried that there’d be snapback on Wasp being leader because she is flighty and silly. But instead, she can be flighty and silly and still a good leader.

I’m pleased with this take, Stern.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because there will probably be more Wasp being a good leader. Fingers crossed. Also, like and reblog this post maybe if you also like Wasp being a good leader.

[lokidokiliteratureclub]

Frostbitten: Chapter Five

Y/N L/N is a child of a Jotun and an Asgardian. She spends her life hidden in the dungeons of Asgard, with no one to talk to other than one of the princes- a man who seems completely incapable of leaving her alone and entirely unable to give up on helping her. Y/N and Loki Odinson have always been inseparable, it seems- even when there is a cell wall, or a village, or an entire kingdom between them.

Even when he disappears, even when you run away, and even when his world falls apart; you are inseparable.

okay, quick note:

there have been at least 3 VASTLY DIFFERENT drafts for this chapter, where I’ve incorporated different aspects of the story in different measures. I felt this was the best way to continue the story, but a lot of the previous writings for this part still have important details may or may not answer long-standing questions. For that reason, my ask box is open! If there was anything in the previous parts that made you think weird flex but ok or but why tho or what the shit is happening, do not hesitate to ask, because it’s probably intentional. If it’s not, even better. I always need to edit :).

Also, marching season!! No sleep. Big mess. Sorry for lack of update. I promise I'm not abandoning this!

Tag list: Open

-----

Loki curls up beside your cell, knees to his chest, back to the wall. You cannot see him from your spot on your bed, so you don't acknowledge him. You sit, flipping quietly through a book he had given you and sipping lightly at the death-soup Asgard gave you for food. And he’s there, eyes unblinking, trying to remember how to speak.

In his hands is a small dagger, dabbled with dry blood and dirt and dulled from use, and he flips it twice over, staring at the gentle curves of the blade. He has made mistakes today, and he needs to tell someone, but he can’t tell his family and he’s not ready to tell you. Pretending everything is alright on the other hand, is equally unacceptable. Loki is sick of lying. He’s sick of... well, sick of having to lie.

He presses the flat of the blade to his palm and closes his eyes, and the weapon disappears in a flash of green. You peek up from the pages and set the book on your bed, now aware of his presence.

“Are you hiding from me, now?” you jest, smiling softly and standing. “You look tired.”

Your voice draws him in from the first syllable, and he closes his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. 

Your smile fades as quickly as it came, and you heave a deep sigh. “You’re doing it again,” you comment, looking away from him. “Loki, please talk to me. I’ll listen. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s no one for me to tell your secrets to. They’re safe with me.”

He looks at you, and through his eyes you see that your words have inspired anger. He hides it well, speaking even and low. “You’re worth more to me than my secrets."

“Alright, then. Tell me why you did it. Whatever you did, or whatever you said.”

“I don’t know. That’s the worst part.”

You stay silent, awaiting an explanation. He looks toward you, clearly doing his best not to give anything away. “I have a very helpful resolve to only play practical jokes," he says, "and if they get out of hand I fix my mistakes. I didn’t do that this time, and I made things worse instead. I got angry.”

“At what?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m always angry, always plotting- it’s in my nature to be the epitome of wrongdoing. When I’m good, there’s no reputation for me to lean on like there is my brother. We demand on good versus evil for security, because gods forbid two good people have a disagreement.”

“Why do people expect you to be bad? Why not Thor?”

"Thor is the heir to the throne, so obviously he's perfect. I'm his opposite, so I'm the awful one."

You fiddle your hands together, entertwining your own fingers. "So you're angry because you have to fill this role?"

"No," he pauses, and shame crosses his face. He looks away from you, closes his eyes, and exhales, his entire body going slack against the wall. "No, that's not it. I'm angry because I'm so good at playing it. I'm uncontrollably good at playing it."

"Oh." You shift, turning your head to stare at the wall. "I can't imagine why. You're the kindest person I know."

"And how many people do you know?"

Sif, and Fandral, and Thor, and Odin, and the other guards. All of them different, all of them horrible in their own special way.

"Enough," you mutter.

Loki must read your mind, because he seems to regret his words after he hears you speak "That's fair," he murmurs, lifting a hand to push back his hair. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't be emptying my heart out to you. You're not my therapist."

You scoff, recoiling, and cross your arms. "When I was six, a woman grabbed me by the wrist, angry with my lack of compliance in training. She had gloves on, and managed to keep me under control. I didn't want her to keep touching me, so I used my other hand to grab her wrist. When she tried to run, her arm frostbitten, I shot an icicle at her shoulder and knocked her to the ground. Then I left her there, locking her in the room and running about until eventually being captured," you say, bluntly. Loki blinks, surprised.

"I didn't know all that," he says, mildly fearful.

"I know," you reply, smiling slightly. "A secret for a secret. You dump your feelings on me, I'll return the favor. Deal?"

Loki sighs, eyes wandering for a moment while he ponders. Then his face softens, lips curving upward, and he looks back at you. He has forgotten the reason for his hesitance in speaking to you. "Are you sure you can keep up?"

"With the amount of times I've kept my thoughts from you?" You chuckle. "Absolutely."

"What do you have to keep from me?" he asks, mildly amused.

"What do you have to keep from me?"

-----

Loki did not mean to kiss you last night. No strings were meant to attach. The encounter was meant to be short, and friendly, and consisting of comforting hand touches and maybe, maybe a kiss on the cheek- something very forgettable. Instead of being casual, however, you had refrained from contact, afraid of touching him, of hurting him, and this made the confrontation more... well, more something. Loki got a little too close, a little too eager. Now he has to come to terms with the reason why he wanted so suddenly to kiss you, and why he wants to kiss you again. It's all he can think about, which is unfortunate considering the fact that he needs to figure out why he's still trapped with his brother on Jotunheim.

He grunts noisily, trying desperately to shove you into his pile of secrets, and steers his thoughts back on course to his main suspect. If he's right, the culprit is Arvid Erikson, since when everyone was through the Bifrost, Arvid was left behind in close proximity to Heimdall and the key. In those moments, he could have killed the gatekeeper and stolen the sword- the only way the Bifrost should remain closed. Arguably, the Allfather could summon dark magic to get everyone home, and regretfully, Loki has yet to figure out why that hasn't happened.

Erikson has always been strange, of course, but never showed any ill intent, so Loki is asking himself the very repetitive question: why? Why do this?

Of course, this question is relatively meaningless if he's trapped in his cell. He'll die, of starvation or dehydration or boredom or all of the above if he doesn't make his escape, which he will. If not to survive and bring the guilty to justice, he'll escape to see you. To touch your hands, or embrace you, or maybe, maybe kiss you again. On purpose and with purpose. To figure out whether you share these strange emotions, and if you do, to indulge in them.

This should be happening soon, because Loki is no longer in his cell, but right outside, brushing the dirt off his clothes. How? you might ask, and to that I offer no response. He's Loki. He's... special.

“Thor,” Loki grunts, cautiously peering around the corner and starting toward where he thinks the other cells are. “Thor, are you still in there? We’re getting out.”

Quiet, then a crack.

“Loki?” a voice calls in answer, but it’s not Thor’s. It’s Sif’s voice, high and dry and hoarse, coming from a cell just a couple feet away. Loki struts up to the bars and peers through them, using the sparse blue daylight coming in through the cell window to try and make out her shape. There is blood dried down her chin, and down her arms are purple bruises, marks of swollen blue. Also in the cell is Thor, his hair dried with sweat to the sides of his face, skin covered in dirt. “Thor, your brother is here.”

“Then let him be. We can’t leave either way,” speaks Thor, casting a glance toward Loki through the bars. “Brother, she’s wounded, I’m wounded, and they’re coming for you. The two of us can’t afford to risk another escape when there are so many of them and so few of us.”

“That sounds logical,” Loki muses, scoffing gently. “Who are you and what have you done to my brother? Get her up. This may be our last chance to get out of here, Thor.” 

“Loki,” Sif says, maybe a bit too loud. She opens her mouth to speak again, but when she breathes in she is caught in a fit of violent coughs, clutching her stomach like she might throw up. When the coughing ceases, she meets his eyes. “We need to wait for the Allfather. He’ll come and get us.”

“Have you considered that maybe this wasn’t an accident?” Loki furrows his eyebrows, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible. “I think it was Erikson. The Professor. I'm sure you can figure as to why."

"Arvid is harmless."

"Arvid is a genius, Thor. I wouldn't doubt him."

"Do you have any proof?"

"He didn't try to kill Y/N. You know how horribly he spoke of Jotuns when he taught our history- not to mention he obviously would have known if I was sneaking through the-"

“Speaking of whom,” Thor cuts in, suddenly alert. “You’ve been conspiring with a prisoner or war this entire time?”

“Y/N is not a war prisoner, and that’s beside the point. The point is that Erikson is from Vanaheim, and I believe he may have the gift of foresight. It’s quite common amongst his people.”

“So,” Sif frowns, blinking slowly, wiping her chin. “You think that Arvid has stranded us on Jotunheim for a reason? To fulfill some sort of prophecy?”

“Or to stop one,” Thor breathes, barely audible. “If we we’re stranded here, then we’re long dead, brother.”

“Says whom?”

“Says the corpses rotting in the cells beside us.” With a deep grunt, Thor rises to his feet, walking steadily up to the bars and staring toward his brother. “But I don’t believe we’re stranded. Best to wait. Odin won’t be overpowered for long. But if you do run, then run fast, and run silent.”

“Are you alright?” Loki asks, frowning. “Thor, I can turn the lot of us invisible. I can do magic.” 

“We’re not going.”

“You’re being frustratingly reasonable.”

“Loki!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave you be. Just- the both of you had better not go soft. Then, we will die.” He steps away from the cell, turning his back, but pauses. “And is that all? Anything else you'd like to ask before I disappear?"

Thor contemplates in silence for a moment, and then says: “Do you love the Jotun?”

There is a heavy, far-too-long silence, and Loki’s faint wittiness fades. Without turning back to his brother, he mutters a suddenly harsh “What’s it to you?”

Thor leans the remainder of his weight on the door. “I saw the two of you speaking when we first arrived. You were like old friends. Speaking and smiling.”

“And what does that imply?”

“It’s unlike you to be so friendly with others. But all of your absences- times when you’d be inexplicably missing- you’d return lighter, gentler. I want to know what makes a monster in a cell so appealing, so softening to you.”

He spins slowly around, striding quickly back up to the door. “This monster, Thor, is the only thing currently leaving your body attached to your head. I’d choose your words more wisely.”

“Fine, then. Why is Y/N so much more interesting than any regular Asgardian?”

He stares- a stare that is less a look than a threat, and then says. “Y/N is different because in all my time on Asgard, as a prince, as a son, or as an ally, no one else has paid me more mind than you. Y/N values the pages over the cover- the mind over the body. Do you understand that?”

“But the prisoners have seen so few people that they’re probably desperate, don't you think?” Thor stares pitifully at Loki, breathing deep. “I don’t want you to end up in love with someone who has had no choice but to love you back.”

“How naive can you be, Thor?!” He’s suddenly loud, and Loki takes a moment to gather himself before speaking again, fists clenching. “I was just as alone as Y/N was. The only ones other than our mother willing to speak to me would speak in brute, snobbish comments, and nothing more. If anything, I came to Y/N out of desperation. You were all so enthralled with your own lives that you hardly noticed me leave.”

Thor shakes his head, dismissing the very idea. “We would have let you- you isolated yourself, brother. Separated yourself from the rest.”

“Is that what you've been telling yourself?” Loki spits back. “I clung to you like a shadow, Thor. It was the only way you’d let me, and with Y/N I finally have someone to cling back. We both have wills. We both make choices. If you’d like to speak about forced love, take a look at the throne. Look beyond your own glory, just for a moment.”

“Loki, I-”

In a shimmer of green magic, Loki disappears from sight, his footsteps light thumps across the soft, dirt dungeon floor. He walks past the guards, flinging open doors in his wake as he storms out of the crumbling palace. He steps over glass and ice and stone, walking as far and as fast away as possible. When he stops, he pulls himself behind a rather large stone, slumping and leaning his back on the solid surface. His blood is still humming with anger, and with it he calls to the sky.

“Heimdall,” he groans, looking hopefully upward. “I know you can see me. I know you’re not one to stay dead, and I seek your guidance, seer. If you cannot bring us back, let me see.”

Silence. Loki sighs, then throws his elbow back into the rock, splitting it where he hit. “Heimdall! Bring us back!”

Then, the youngest prince is hit by yellow. He stumbles back, caught in the sudden sensation, vision blurred. When his sight clears, he’s no longer on Jotunheim, but in the darkening, deep woods of Asgard. Heimdall is leaned against a tree, looking extraordinarily annoyed. “Hello, Loki,” he grunts, unamused. “You are aware that you’re supposed to open your mind when calling, right? I had to fight my way into your head. I do not wish to repeat that experience.”

“Where are you?” Loki asks, ignoring the comments. “Why are you in the woods?”

“I’m dead,” he answers simply. “Can’t you tell?” Heimdall signals to the red blotches on his chest, the bandages around his upper half. “What better place to dispose of a corpse?”

“This is no joke, seer! My brother, Sif, and I have been trapped on Jotunheim, and if the Bifrost is not reopened..." Loki steps toward him, misplaced confidence in his swagger. “You’ve no time to be dead.”

“You’ve no time to be empathetic. Be logical. Put your emotions behind you, as you seem to be so gifted at doing, and find things you will need to survive. I will try to retrieve the Bifrost Sword. I know where it is, but I need time to heal.”

“Did Arvid Erikson do this to you?”

“That he did. He’s a very dramatic fighter, in case you were wondering. He talks a lot.”

“What did he say?”

Heimdall pauses, looking over the prince, and then sighs, turning his back and beginning to walk through the undergrowth. “I'd expect you'd know by now."

"Prophecy? Foretold evils?"

"That's the one."

Loki rolls his eyes. “And that’s all?”

“Well, of course not. He’s also trying to kill you.” He stops at a smaller, shorter tree and kicks it square in the base, effectively knocking it over. Small, round fruits topple from its branches, rolling across the ground. Heimdall kneels, gathering several of these fruits into his arms. “If I recall correctly, you’re to attempt to overthrow the throne. Mind enlightening me as to why?”

The prince hesitates. “Overthrow the throne? That’s, I’d not want that. I’d make a much better king than my brother, but I wouldn’t...” he trails off. Heimdall looks up from the fruits, raising his eyebrows, and Loki turns his gaze to his palms, scratched and bare. He takes a deep breath, gritting his teeth. “And this is to bring about some horrible fate?”

“Why?” he asks, ignoring Loki’s question. “You answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.”

Loki glares slightly, rubbing his palms together. “Thor doesn’t deserve the throne in his state. He’s reckless, and arrogant, and dangerous.”

“That’s not all you have to say.”

“That’s all I care to say.”

“Does what you don’t care to say have anything to do with your parentage?”

Loki shrugs and doesn’t let on that he’s at all confused. “Doesn’t everything?”

Heimdall stares, holding his gaze. Then he looks away, satisfied. “Not in the way you think. Survive, Loki. I’ll come and get the four of you-”

“Four of us?” Loki cuts in. “So, you’ll-”

“They’ll kill your beloved once they find out Y/N isn’t Laufey’s missing child. I’m under the impression that you don’t want that to happen. Am I mistaken?”

“I don’t want Y/N imprisoned again. Father will forbid we speak to one another.”

“Your father is in Odinsleep. He has more important matters to worry about. Now go, you’re giving me a headache."

Frostbitten Tags:

@natalia-rushman @what-inspirational-name @jessiejunebug @fandomdestroyer @a-new-schematic @iris-suoh @pandacookieowo @givememyskittlesback @awesomefandomsunited @itsanallygator@arttasticgreatnessoftheawesome77 @fire-treasure-iii @strangerliaa @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @woohoney @itsanallygator @rosesarestriped @justyuuhi @i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction  @loser-alert @egos-obese-anorexic-minds @themusingsofmany @lokiboomer

[fadingcoast]

Death Of The Lie  ||  Chapter 19: Sabotage

AUTHORS: @fandom-and-feminism​​ & @fadingcoast​

Summary: Odin and his daughter Hela are the perfect conquerors of the universe. The nine realms fall one after the other into their clutch. After Odin takes a second wife and has a son with her, he doesn’t need Hela anymore. Hela abandons her father and ends up marrying Laufey, a sworn enemy of the Aesir people. Not long after, she becomes pregnant with Laufey’s child. Odin cannot let that son be born, but against all odds, the boy survives. Odin is forced to bring him back to Asgard to be raised as his own until he could make further use of him. The half-Jotun-half-Aesir boy grows up to look and act a lot like his mother, which disturbs Odin, and makes him treat the boy horribly. Odin’s lies are deep and complex, but one day the boy will find out the truth about everything he is.

PAIRING: None RATING: Teen

MASTERLIST

Feedback is always appreciated and reblogs are encouraged!!

.-

Chapter 19: Sabotage

The day had finally come. Nobles gathered in the throne room, a grand feast had been prepared, and the entire castle polished down to every last mural on the ceiling until it gleamed in the light. It was time for Thor to take his place as King. But the Allfather could not shake the uncertainty in his bones.

Odin stood at his balcony and watched as more people were escorted into the castle. His thoughts turned to his elder son yet again.

“Do you think he’s ready?”

Frigga looked at Odin’s reflection in her mirror. He was weary, and tired. There was no time to test Thor’s readiness for the crown, this much they both knew. She shook her head.

“Does it matter? He thinks he is.” The Queen went back to adjusting pieces of jewelry in her hair and offered her husband a smile. “He certainly has his father’s confidence.”

“He’ll need more than that,” Odin said, walking heavily to his armchair. “He is but a boy still.”

“He won’t be alone,” Frigga assured him. “Loki will be at his side to give him counsel.”  Odin interrupted with a growl and she gave him a hard look. “Loki is much more capable than you give him credit for. He has proven that much since he came home from Alfheim.”

Whatever Odin was going to say was stopped by the slight shaking of his hand. A reminder that his time was short, his strength fleeting. All fight in him drained and his shoulders slumped. When he spoke it was barely above a whisper.

“If we only had more time.”

“For once, our sons need something we cannot provide.” Frigga walked close to the King and stroked his cheek. “You’ve put it off too long. It’s time.”

With a dejected sigh, Odin had no other choice but to agree. The kingdom would have to do with the King he was giving them. He could only hope that the mantle of King and Allfather would give Thor no choice but to grow up.

.-

Still quite annoyed about being snubbed by Thor so he could make his own grand entrance, Loki was only half paying attention to what was going on in the throne room when the sound of a horn rang out, announcing Odin’s arrival and the beginning of the ceremony. Frigga joined Loki at his side and greeted him with a warm smile tinged with anxiety that prompted him to look out among the crowd for his brother. Thor was nowhere to be seen, of course.

Since Loki was standing just to the right of the throne, Odin’s gaze bore down onto him as though Loki were expected to produce Thor out of thin air. He swallowed thickly and shrugged his shoulders. He and Thor had rehearsed the ceremony just the previous day, with the two of them coming in together, so Odin was clearly less than pleased at this sudden change in plans. Slowly the crowd began to mutter to each other in hushed whispers, the scandal of the prince being late to his own coronation too much to keep silent about.

Volstagg, who stood at the bottom of the throne steps with Fandral, Hogun, and Sif, took the few steps up to where Loki was standing and leaned in, facing away from the crowd. “Where is he?” he snapped.

Loki frowned at Volstagg’s insolent tone. “He said he’d be along.” Sif clearly heard him and rolled her eyes.

“If he doesn’t show up soon, he shouldn’t bother,” Fandral said. “Odin looks like he’s ready to feed him to his ravens.”

Loki was no fool; he knew Fandral had been right in his observation but he knew just as well that Thor would not be punished, regardless of how long he made everyone wait. “I wouldn’t worry,” he assured Thor’s friends with barely concealed contempt. “Father will forgive him. He always does.”

As if on cue, a strong gust of air burst through the front doors to the throne room and Mjolnir came flying through the divide in the crowd, Thor close behind it. He spun around and caught the hammer behind his back and earned himself a deafening round of applause. Loki clenched his jaw to keep from commenting on this garish display - it was no less than he expected from his brother, getting everyone all worked up and worried about him only to make a scene and show off his strength. The day was already about him, but to Thor it must not have been enough.

Even more infuriating was that all anger had faded from Odin’s expression. Thor approached the throne and knelt before it, and even the Queen was not immune to the wink and smile he gave her by way of an apology.

Some King, Loki thought, his mind wandering as soon as Odin silenced the room with the sound of his spear hitting the ground. Do what you want now, charm your way out of it later.

“Gungnir,” Odin’s voice boomed across the throne room, commanding everyone’s attention. It was time for the ceremony to start. “Its aim is true, its power strong. With it I have defended Asgard and the lives of the innocent…”

If only Gungnir’s wielder was half as innocent as the people it protects, Loki thought. The blood on the hands of each King impregnates its very core.

“…Thor Odinson, my heir. My firstborn.” The sentiment in Odin’s voice made Loki clench his fists.

Firstborn. First trained. First loved. First spoiled. Look at this golden-haired fool, thinking he can rule the nine realms with his muscles and a smile. He wouldn’t last a day.

“...Only one may lift it. Only one is worthy. Who wields this hammer commands the lightning and the storm…”

Worthy. Who even knows what that means anymore? If Thor is worthy of the throne, I’ll eat my helmet.

“I have sacrificed much to achieve peace,” Odin proclaimed, staring down at Thor with a much more serious expression. “So, too, must a new generation sacrifice to maintain the peace. Responsibility. Duty. Honor. These are not merely virtues to which we must aspire. They are essential to every soldier, and to every king.”

That disqualifies this arrogant oaf, Loki mused to himself. Odin’s speech was nearing its end, so he extended his senses to the weapons vault below the throne room so he would know when it was time to act. They’ll thank me when their King ascends in a time when he is mature enough to handle the position. They’ll all thank me.

There was a slight shift in the air, a chill growing in the hall, and Loki felt it even before the crowd itself started to shiver and rub their limbs for warmth. But no one paid any more attention to it. Thor was looking at his father’s proud face with a smile.

Odin began the oaths, his grasp on the spear so tightly that his hand shook. “Thor Odinson, do you swear to guard the Nine Realms?”

If it were possible, the smile on Thor’s face grew wider. “I swear.

“Do you swear to preserve the peace?"

“I swear.”

“Do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition and pledge yourself only to the good of all the Realms?

“I swear!"

“Then on this day, I, Odin Allfather, proclaim you…”

The king stopped his speech, finally noticing the frost floating in the air, making the banners glisten in the light with small drops of frozen dew. Odin cast a wary look at Frigga, and then at Loki, but he looked as confused as everyone else.

No, Odin realized - this wasn’t Loki’s doing. This was more powerful, angrier, yet still familiar…

“Frost giants…” Odin muttered, rising to his feet. A powerful shockwave emanated from the base of his spear as he pounded it on the floor a single time - a command to unleash the Destroyer from his prison and take out the intruders.

The far-off sounds of a struggle echoed in the depths of the palace. Thor, gripping his hammer, raced down the corridor, and he tracked the sound right to the vaults. Loki followed close behind, melting ice and the burnt bodies of two frost giants lying on the floor greeting them when they arrived. The two guards who had been tasked with protecting the vault lay dead at their feet. On the far end stood the Destroyer, with the Casket of Ancient Winters in its massive metal hands. Odin stepped in as the Destroyer set the Casket back on its pedestal and moved to the back wall, which seemed to swallow him as it deactivated.

Loki stared around the room, surveying the destruction, the tension growing palpable. He could practically feel the heat of anger rolling off of Thor in waves, and the air was thick with a strange type of magic that was making him feel uneasy.

Finally Thor broke the silence, his hand squeezing the handle of his hammer until his knuckles turned white. “The Jotuns must pay for what they’ve done!”

Odin remained calm and shook his head. “They have paid with their lives. The Destroyer did its job, and the Casket is safe. All is well.”

“All is well?!” Thor looked at his father in disbelief, then at Loki as if asking for backup. “They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants had stolen even one of these relics--"

“But they didn’t."

“I want to know why they--” Thor insisted, but Odin promptly cut him off.

“The Casket of Ancient Winters belonged to the Jotuns. They believe it’s their birthright.”

Growing ever angrier by the second, Thor raised his voice, clearly frustrated that Odin didn’t feed into his desire for violence. Loki suspected any minute now his brother would throw the hammer into a wall. He knew better than to get in the middle of an argument between the two of them so he resolved to remain silent.

“And if you hadn’t taken it from them they would have laid waste to all the Nine Realms!”

“I have a truce with Laufey, the Jotun King.” Odin’s resolve to maintain peace was steadfast, and Loki wondered how far Thor would push against it before giving in.

Thor pointed to the Casket with disdain. “He just broke your truce! We must act!"

“And what action would you take?” Odin asked Thor, eyeing him up and down. This was a test; Loki could read that in his one eye.

Thor, however, didn’t take the hint.

“I would march into Jotunheim as you once did, teach them a lesson, break their spirits so they’ll never dare try to cross our borders again!”

It was clear to Loki at this point that Thor had lost the argument. Odin accused Thor of single-mindedness, thinking only as a warrior, while Thor insisted the intrusion was, in fact, an act of war worthy of retaliation, and if the Jotuns got in one time they could get in again. But no matter how much Loki silently projected to Thor to shut up, he wouldn’t.

“As King of Asgard, I would--”

“You are not King!” Odin shouted, his voice loud enough to echo across the vault. “Not yet.”

At a loss for words, Thor turned away and stomped out of the Vault, the doors slamming hard behind him.

.-

Thor’s tantrum continued upstairs, in the banquet hall, after the guests were long gone. Loki had followed him to try to placate him, to no avail. He had tried to avoid provoking his brother even further but Thor decided to upend one of the long tables - covered end to end with an astounding array of food and dinnerware - and shout out his anger with a roar. The noise attracted the Warriors and they ran inside to see what caused the calamity, only to find Thor standing in the middle of the room with food strewn everywhere, panting like a dog. Volstagg immediately began mourning for all the wasted food, shoveling what he could into his arms to eat.

Unimpressed, Sif put her hands on her hips. “Redecorating, are we?” she teased, one eyebrow raised. Thor cast her an indignant glance and strode over to the steps leading up to the balcony, taking a seat with a huff. Loki knew the wheels were turning in his brother’s head, and when Thor got a thirst for vengeance it was hard to put the brakes on his focus. He joined Thor on the steps and sat next to him as quietly as he could, waiting for him to talk. It took only a moment for Thor to cut his eyes at him and sigh angrily.

“It’s unwise to be in my company right now, brother."

Loki half-smiled and folded his hands in his lap. “Who said I was wise?”

Thor deflated, but the fire in his demeanor remained. His fists clenched, nostrils flared, foot tapping against the stairs. “This was to be my day of triumph,” he said quietly, but no less bitter.

Choosing his words carefully, Loki shook his head and tried to insert an air of authority into his voice without provoking Thor even further. “There’s nothing we can do without defying Father,” he said with finality, hoping Thor would take the hint.

Thor sighed, and for a moment he seemed to accept that Loki was right. But Loki watched with horror as he read resignation, defiance, and finally glee in Thor’s expression as he rose to his feet. Rebellion wasn’t in the plan, and quickly Loki tried to stop it before it started.

“No… stop there! I know that look!”

Thor smiled, as though he meant to charm his way into yet another ridiculous plan. “It’s the only way to ensure the safety of our borders.”

“It’s madness!”

Loki’s shouting caught the attention of the Warriors, and Fandral spoke up. “Madness? What sort of madness?”

If Thor’s friends got involved, there would be no convincing him to stay. Desperate to keep the situation contained Loki tried to speak over his brother. “Nothing! Thor was making a jest!”

Thor stepped in front of Loki to silence him. “The safety of our Realm is no jest,” he insisted. “We’re going to Jotunheim.”

This is getting too far out of hand, Loki thought, searching his brain for a new plan. If he’s going, I can’t stop him, but I’ll have to do damage control. As always. Thor looked around the room with a bright smile, and Loki knew exactly what his brother was thinking. A few well spoken phrases, a tiny amount of sucking up, and Thor had his friends in the palm of his hand, as usual. And they call me the silvertongue. Loyalty comes not without a tiny amount of stupidity it seems.

“My friends, trust me now. We must do this,” Thor finished his case. “Come on. You’re not going to let my brother and me take all the glory, are you?”

“What?!” Loki tried to looked startled. He knew this was probably coming - Thor would never take blame for something like this on his own.

“You are coming with me, right?"

In a split second, Loki had to make up his mind. He returned Thor’s smile with as much authenticity as he could. “Yes, of course! I won’t let my brother march into Jotunheim alone. I will be at his side.”

The Warriors Three voiced their agreeing. Sif took a little longer to answer.

“I fear we’ll live to regret this,” she said solemnly.

.-

As Loki had predicted - and warned Thor and the Warriors - Heimdall was not fooled for a moment by anything any of them said, but still Thor convinced him to open the Bifrost for the five of them to travel to Jotunheim. The Gatekeeper let them pass, but not without a warning; if bringing them back to Asgard threatened the safety of the realm, there they would stay, and there they would die.

All Loki could think about as they stepped into the portal to Jotunheim was the guard he had sent, using an illusion of himself while Thor and the Warriors weren’t watching him, to alert Odin of their excursion. His original plan to simply delay the coronation had been derailed to a point where he wasn’t sure how to get it back on track, or if he could. If they weren’t intercepted in time, if Thor discovered who had let the Jotuns in, all would be lost.

The Bifrost burned and melted the ice on its landing spot, baring the black rock of Jotunheim’s foundations. But the snow and the wind covered it back up in mere seconds as the Bifrost vanished and the group were left on their own.

The realm seemed to be a massive platform of ice that reached as far as the eye could see. Deep crevices and canyons showed the thickness of the glaciers and the black rock it covered.  Nothing grew here, not even the sturdy shrubs Loki had seen near the tops of some mountains, not even the lichen that usually clung to permafrost. It was as if Jotunheim repelled the very idea of life aside from the Frost Giants, the only creatures able to endure the cold.

Drawing his comfortable leather coat a bit higher up his neck, Loki realized that he was adjusting much faster than his traveling companions to the endless winter this realm was known for. Thor and the Warriors were shivering violently within seconds, particularly Sif, whose skirt did nothing to protect her from the biting cold and wind.

“We shouldn’t be here.” Hogun stated the obvious, his voice shaking from the chill, and Loki rolled his eyes.

“Too late now,” Thor growled, and started to walk. “We have to move or we will freeze. Let’s go.”

The ice spires of a ruined city, the only signs of life, were clear in the horizon, and Thor was already making his way there. Reluctantly the Warriors started behind him, tightening their robes and furs around themselves to keep the biting cold from affecting them. Loki followed close behind Thor, his every instinct screaming at him that something was wrong. He noticed the shadows moving around the icy structures that, upon closer inspection, looked like the remains of what was once a castle. He wanted to think it was the light playing tricks on him, but he knew better: those shadows were soldiers. They were being watched.

A Jotun sentry, impossibly tall and twice as broad as Thor, stepped out from the darkness and approached them. Thor and the Warriors immediately reached for their weapons as they waited for the Frost Giant to speak.

“What is your business here, Asgardians?” The sentry’s voice shook the ice beneath their feet but they stood their ground.

“I would speak only to your King. Not to his foot soldiers,” Thor spat with contempt.

“Then speak,” another voice spoke from high up on a throne of ice. Deep and cold, it seemed to reverberate in the icy structures around them. Loki could swear it even calmed the storm. “I am Laufey, King of this Realm.”

“And I am--”

“We know who you are, Odinson. Why have you brought the stench of your blood into my kingdom?”

“I demand answers.” Thor stated simply, not in the mood to mince words. “How did your people get into Asgard?”

The corner of Laufey’s mouth pulled up in what could be called a smile. “The house of Odin is full of traitors,” he said cryptically. There was a veiled pleasure in the way the words dragged. Loki’s stomach clenched but he allowed no fear to change his expression,

Thor gripped his hammer and brought it closer to his body in warning. “Do not dishonor my father’s name with your lies.”

“Your father is a murderer and a thief,” Laufey spat. “He stole what was ours, and left our world in ruins. We have the right to reclaim the Casket.”

“Not when you’d use it to make war against other Realms."

“And why have you come here? To make peace?” Laufey’s laugh held no joy. It was freezing cold, and sent a shiver through the very bones of the intruders in front of him. “I see you for what you are, Thor Odinson. Nothing but a boy, trying to prove himself a man.”

“This boy has grown tired of your mockery.” Thor took a step towards Laufey, raising his hammer. Two Jotun sentries stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

Loki moved forward and grabbed Thor’s arm, pulling him back. If Thor attacked unprovoked, it could trigger a war. Silently he prayed to himself that their father would show up before it escalated any further. “Thor, stop and think,” he pleaded. “Look around you. We are outnumbered.”

“Know your place, brother.” Thor bit the words, snatching his arm from Loki’s grasp.

“You should listen to his counsel. You know not what your actions would unleash.” Laufey straightened on his throne, the blue light finally revealing the sharp edges of his face. “But I do. Go now, while I still allow it.

Loki gulped silently and bowed his head slightly. “We will accept your most gracious offer.”

Thor stared at Laufey for half a second that dragged like an eternity before he finally turned to leave. Loki held back his sigh of relief but he knew it wouldn’t be over even when they got home.

“Run back home, little princess,” one of Laufey’s sentinels mocked.

Thor stopped in his tracks, and Loki closed his eyes. “Damn.”

In one quick move, Thor turned around and knocked the offender, sending him across the plaza with one hard swing of his hammer. Everyone froze.

“Silly hammer!” Volstagg joked, his prominent belly jiggling with the forced laugh. “Has a mind of its own!”

But the Jotuns were not having it. Ice formed a frozen armor around their bodies, and extended off the ends of their arms like swords, their sharp edges gleaming in the blue light. Thor stepped forward and swung his hammer at another Jotun, his half smile too evident. “Next!” Thor shouted with glee.

All Hel broke loose. The frost giants attacked them in waves, demanding the Asgardians to be on top of their games. Loki had no time to worry about what everyone else was doing, and quickly summoned as many daggers as he could, throwing them at the giants closing in on him. Trying to not get cornered, he ran to the crumbling edges of the castle and summoned a few of his illusions, confusing the soldiers that were chasing him.

In the distance he could hear the battle cries of Thor and his friends, trying to fend off the attacks.

“Come on! At least make it a challenge for me!” Thor’s mocking tone could be heard in all corners of the ice palace, and Loki wished he would put Mjolnir in his mouth instead.

The battle raged on. Loki knew they had to leave the castle and head on to open ground if they wanted the slight chance for Heimdall to be able to open the Bifrost for them. The Jotnar, on the other hand, were determined not to let them leave the castle grounds. Their ice magic, Loki could see, not only worked on themselves, but on the terrain around them. Large spires and ice walls grew where the exits were, and Loki had to be quick on his feet as the giants tried to freeze him to the floor.

Hogun wasn’t as fast, and was already waist deep in ice when Sif and Vostagg reached him to help him out, not without problems. A Jotun slammed Volstagg to the ground, making the floor shake. The warrior recovered quickly, and tried to fight back as the Jotun grabbed his bare arm. The warrior watched in horror as his skin went blue and black with frostbite. He shouted in pain, and reflexively headbutted the giant, making him stumble and release his arm. But the pain didn’t relent.

“Don’t let them grab hold of you!” Volstagg shouted.

Loki ran past him, throwing him a small cordial of potion which Volstagg downed in one gulp. His arm was still smoking, but the pain dimmed down enough for him to go back to battle.

Across the opening, Fandral was preoccupied fighting a group of Jotun sentries, completely oblivious to the one stalking him from behind. Loki’s warning died in his throat, as the sentry reached down and sent a spray of ice stalagmites that impaled Fandral.

Loki raced towards Fandral, throwing daggers at the Frost Giants as he went. Fandral was nearly unconscious, and more Jotuns were closing in Loki, blocking his path. He tried to summon a mist, but it was doing little more than to obstruct his own view. Daggers flew from his hands, but even his agility wasn’t enough to keep the Jotuns at bay. One got too close, and Loki had to plunge two daggers into its chest. The giant grabbed Loki’s gloved wrist, freezing the leather piece, making it crack and fall away. Loki tried to pull away but the giant tightened his grip on his arm, the cold spreading on his skin. Loki looked at his arm, prepared for the worst. But instead of the blackness of frostbitten flesh, his arm began to turn blue, markings etched on the skin spreading upwards until his forearm and hand looked exactly like the frost giant holding on to him.

“My prince?” The Jotun muttered, as confused and thrown off as Loki himself.

Shaking out of his stupor, Loki summoned a dagger and thrust it in the giant’s neck, only then noticing its black gleam. He focused on his arm then, and watched the deep blue color fading back to his pale skin, the markings disappearing and leaving no trace.

It can’t be-

Loki shook his head. This was not the time. There was a battle around him. He could hear Thor shouting and cackling in the blizzard, drunk with bloodlust. Never mind that his companions weren’t in great shape, or that the Jotnar King decided to join the battle, summoning an enormous beast, cracking the ice with a deafening sound.

“Thor, we must go!” he shouted, hoping Thor could still hear him over the blasting winds.

“Then go!” Thor roared.

In his desperate attempt to stop Laufey’s beast, Thor was not exactly being careful about his power and strength. Each blow and each lightning cracked the ice beneath their feet, as Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three ran to open grounds. Heimdall’s warning resonated in Loki’s mind. If your return threatens the safety of Asgard, the Bifrost will remain closed to you. He looked back: there was no way to get far enough from the Jotnar to summon the Bifrost safely.

Loki briefly closed his eyes, and summoned a thick mist, trying to cover their escape. It worked, and the only thing he could see were the cracks of lightning summoned by Thor. The group made it to a small clearing, and waited. The lighting had stopped, and the mist around them seemed to dampen all sound.

“Where is he?” Sif asked.

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Thor landed beside them, staggering. He looked at his companions, as if making a head count, and then faced the mist.

“Loki, we have to see.”

Loki took a deep breath and raised his arms, concentrating to make the mist dissipate. But the sight that greeted them was not what they expected: hundreds of Jotnar were surrounding them.

“Actually, could you bring the mists back, please?” Volstagg said in a little voice.

Loki gave Volstagg a hard look before turning to Thor, realization dawning on his face that he and his friends were as good as dead. That he, the invincible Thor, wasn’t as invincible as he thought. Loki looked up to the sky as if waiting for something.

A bright light opened in the darkness, and Loki let out a small sigh of relief when he saw Odin himself mounted on Sleipnir. The Giants stopped their advance and opened a path for their own king. Laufey slammed his hands on the ground, willing the ice to lift him up so he could look into Odin’s eyes.

The two monarchs facing each other were a terrifying sight, as they were discussing the fate not only of their own worlds, but the Nine Realms as a whole.

“Laufey. End this.”

Laufey sneered at Odin with disdain. “We are beyond diplomacy now, Allfather. He’ll get what he came for -- war and death.”

Without warning, Laufey swung his ice blade at Odin, but the Allfather was already bringing Gungnir to the ground. The explosion knocked Jotuns and Asgardians alike to the ground, and Laufey ordered his soldiers to retreat.

“Now! We’ll finish them together!” Thor shouted with a smile, quickly getting on his feet and swinging his hammer.

“Silence!” Odin barked. He summoned the Bifrost and when they all came back out of the portal in the Observatory he dismissed the Warriors, sending Fandral to the Healers’ wing.

Still incensed, Thor turned his focus from his friend to his father. “Why did you bring us back!?” he demanded. In his shock Loki retreated from the inevitable argument so he wouldn’t get dragged into it. This had already gone more wrong than he could have ever predicted and he didn’t want to make it worse.

Odin rounded on Thor in disbelief. “Do you realize what you’ve done? What you’ve started?”

“I was protecting my home,” Thor insisted. “Whatever the cost, the world must know that the new King of Asgard will not be trifled with!”

“Your pride and vanity nearly cost you your friends; if you can’t protect them, how can you expect to be able to protect a kingdom?” Odin shook his head, disappointment beginning to leak into his voice. “Have you forgotten everything I’ve taught you? There is more to being King than war, boy! What of a King’s patience, his cunning, his wisdom?”

Thor had nothing to say, no biting retort, not a charming word to weasel his way out of another scrape. He could only stand there before his father, searching for the forgiveness he was convinced would come. This time he had gone too far, though, and finally Odin was seeing his eldest son for who he was. There was a charge in the air as Odin lowered his voice and cast his gaze to the gilded floor.

“I was a fool to think you were ready.”

Loki could sense Odin was about to do something rash, but he wasn’t sure what his father would do to Thor to teach him a lesson. Without much time to think, he opened his mouth to speak in Thor’s defense, but he couldn’t come up with anything to say that could possibly help and decided to keep silent. His heart was pounding, the sense of impending and inevitable retaliation making it hard to control the residual cold that was creeping up his arm. He clasped his hands behind his back and took a few more steps away from Odin, just in case.

Odin strode over to Thor with great purpose and began to tear at his metal armor, casting it to the floor as he spoke. “Thor Odinson…” he hesitated before he continued, relieving Thor of his crests, “you have disobeyed the express command of your King. Through your arrogance you have opened these peaceful Realms and innocent lives to the horrors of war. You are unworthy of your title, unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed, and unworthy of your weapon and strength.”

Odin then plunged Gungnir into the Bifrost control panel, activating the spire. Loki watched in silent horror as their father ripped Thor’s cloak from his back, and summoned Mjolnir from Thor’s shaking fist.

“In the name of my father… and of his father before… I cast you out!”

Odin thrust Mjolnir towards Thor, the electricity coming from the weapon disintegrating the rest of Thor’s armor and pushing him backward to the swirling lights of the Bifrost.

This is all my fault. It wasn’t supposed to get this far!

Loki’s mouth hung open in disbelief as he stared at the vortex that had swallowed Thor, barely registering when Odin hurled Mjolnir in, sending it and Thor to a place only he knew. Suddenly it felt as though Loki’s chest was caving in, and the world was spiraling around him.

What have I done?

.-

<< Chapter 18  –  Chapter 20 >>

.-

@nikkalia @igotloki @xalgaliareptx  @christy-winchester @silverhart93 @claiming-loyalty-to-loki @honeybournehippy @unseelie1963 @mischievousbellerina @manager-of-mischief @angryowlet @thelittlestlittlecutiepie @moonlightprime

[musikat18]

Light of Valhalla, Fire of Hel: Chapter One (Skurge x Reader)

(A moment of celebration that someone made a gif of the Shake Weight and NOW AT LAST I CAN LIVE)

Pairing: Skurge/Reader

Warnings: Language, bickering, mentions of combat, SLOW BURN

Summary: You’re the best friend of Thor and Sif, a high-born Asgardian lady with a penchant for running off into battle, enchanted halberd blazing. The battle of Vanaheim brings your secret close to being discovered, but when the goddess of death arrives in Asgard, you must examine how far you are willing to go to preserve both of your lives when her new assistant happens to be the one man outside the Royal Family who knows the truth about how you spend your time.

AN: IT BEGINS! There’s a timeskip between the prologue and the first chapter here, but all you need to know is most everything is covered as the story unfolds. After this chapter, most chapters will include the main story as well as flashbacks to the Amora/Enchantress adventure referenced in this chapter, which should hiopefully help build up Skurge and Daybreaker!Reader more than what the Ragnarok plot bits allow. Enjoy!

Light of Valhalla, Fire of Hel

<Previous Next>

Chapter One: Return of The Prince

You drummed your nails on the walls as you slowly followed the corridor of your home. There was celebration in Asgard-- there had been for quite a while, it seemed-- but nothing sat well with you about it, anymore. The first few years since Thor left, you were certain all was well; the Convergence had passed and the Dark Elves were subdued, were they not?

It wasn’t until the Statue of Loki went up that you became suspicious.

Odin loved Loki as a son, even for all his misdeeds-- this you knew was true. But that statue was far too handsome to have been approved by the King of Asgard you knew.

As you passed Daybreaker, gleaming on its pedestal, you felt your heart grow heavy. It felt like ages since you had wielded it; with the odd new mood Odin was in, it surely wasn’t safe to practice your skills. It wasn’t like you were the only one suffering silently, either; Heimdall had been called a traitor by Odin and fled the city (you had more than a little to do with that), with Sif following shortly behind, and even your father had been displaced from his seat on the council. Even if the kingdom’s respect for your family had not wavered, the king’s clearly had.

Your eyes swept over the city square, where Odin lounged in lush, orange robes and watched yet another performance of the ‘Tragedy of Loki.’

Tragedy, my arse, you thought spitefully, but you were quickly distracted by a buzzing in the back of your head. You closed your eyes to accept the call, and you opened them again to the forest bordering Asgard, standing across from Heimdall.

“Heimdall,” you sighed. “Is there trouble?”

“There has been nothing but trouble for years, Lady Y/N,” he said dryly. “You may want to be more specific.”

“Have you found anything that might fix this, then?” you frowned bitterly.

“Thor is calling the Bifrost,” he said seriously. “He’s in danger. Someone else is watching...but he’s not answering.”

Your jaw set as Heimdall returned your mind to your body. Staring over the water at the gleaming Bifrost dome, you knew that whoever was waiting there was about to get a very stern reminder of the duties of Bifrost Guardian.

You let your gaze linger on Daybreaker just a moment longer, before you departed without it.

In these strange times, perhaps violence wasn’t your best plan.

Your shoes clanged on the floor of the Bifrost chamber, signaling your presence, and you weren’t very happy with what you saw.

Two ladies were lounging on the steps to the channeling piece that held the sword Hofund still in place. Both of them gasped in surprise and stood upon recognizing you, but their shock was followed by smirks.

“The daughter of disgraced Kustaa,” one of them snickered. You silenced her with one icy glare. Eyes sweeping the observatory, your frown deepened as you caught view of a crude pile of stolen treasures and not-so-treasures next to one very, very distinct ax warrior playing with some oscillating toy.

“So Odin’s replaced the stalwart watcher of the Nine Realms with a thief who ignores his duty anyway,” you crossed your arms at Skurge.

“How about, ‘Hello, Skurge,’“ he said dryly, tossing his plaything aside, “‘Nice to see you, Skurge. It’s been years. How’s the family?’“

“My family has suffered, and I am going to bring back the one person who can fix it,” you snapped, storming up to Hofund and twisting the Bifrost open. You paid no mind and didn’t change your cross-armed stance as Thor burst through the light, puling you aside and landing on his feet. You were marginally grateful for this, as the next thing behind him through the portal before it closed was the decapitated head of a Fire Dragon that splattered Skurge and his guests with some waxy kind of fluid. You ignored the disgusted shrieks of the girls as they fled the observatory.

“Don’t give me that look,” Thor said at your unchanged expression. “Please? Look, surprise, I came back.”

“It’s about bloody time,” you grumbled. “Your father’s gone absolutely mad, you know. He fired my father and put this one in charge of the Bifrost? Worst decision ever. Also, how dare you go dragon-slaying without me.”

“I can hear everything you’re saying! I’m still here!” The current ‘Bifrost guardian’ interjected, wiping the gunk from his face.

“And you’ve been here when Heimdall should have been in charge, pilfering trinkets instead of actually paying attention to when your prince calls for your action!”

“Y/N-”

“Well, pardon me, oh high and mighty Lady Daybreaker!”

“High and mighty? I wouldn’t have to have come down here if you were paying attention instead of flirting!”

“Y/N, I want to know-”

“And don’t you dare use that name against me! You’re lucky I didn’t bring it down here to scalp you with!”

“Joke’s on you! I have no hair! Perhaps that’s why I have people who actually like me!”

“What, bored heiresses?”

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“Say that again.”

“I said, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“Y/N!”

As you stood nose-to-chest with the so-called keeper of the Bifrost, you snapped your head back towards Thor.

“What happened to Heimdall?”

“Your father declared him and Sif traitors and enemies of the state. I helped them flee the city.”

“Why would you openly declare that?!” Skurge looked at you with disbelief, “I literally was employed by the king to protect Asgard!”

“You haven’t told anyone about me being Daybreaker, have you?”

He opened his mouth, but closed it upon realizing you were right.

“Where’s my father?” Thor asked.

“This way,” you pulled on his arm toward the observatory exit.

“W-wait!” Skurge called, “I’m supposed to announce your arrival.”

“You were supposed to do a lot of things,” you rolled your eyes.

If you had looked back for a moment, you might have seen him looking slightly defeated; you hadn’t needed to point out the obvious, after all.

“...Your Midgardian friends sound so strange,” you mused as Thor neared the end of his recap of where he’d gone following the Convergence. “Is it true that the Midgardian witch girl was able to show you Asgard first? That’s actually quite remarkable.”

“I’m sure Wanda didn’t mean to do so,” he said. “But, at least it led me in the right direction...if somewhat in an unconventional way.”

“I just wish you’d said something!” you sighed in frustration, “I’ve been stuck here for years with nothing to do and no real time to smash some battle dummies! There was only one minor uprising and I barely got to help with any of it!”

“What, the circumstances of Heimdall and Sif’s expulsion?” Thor raised his eyebrows.

“No,” you shook your head tentatively, “uhm...you remember my cousin, Amora?”

“You mean your little companion from your childhood visits to the palace?” he groaned, “How could I not? She got on too well with Loki and always chased me around the palace gardens. It was embarrassing. She was almost as troublesome as you. Almost.”

“Yeah,” you scratched your neck, “There...might have been a small incident, but it’s fine, she’s been taken care of.”

“Oh my god,” Thor stopped short, “you killed your cousin?!”

“What?” you scrunched up your face, “No! Don’t be ridiculous! I got help from the warriors and Heimdall to banish her to the Realm of Silence so she couldn’t charm anyone else!”

The prince heaved a heavy sigh, “Dear god, you had me scared for a second.”

“Don’t think I wouldn’t,” you reminded your friend with a stern look, crossing your arms as the both of you walked into the very end of the Tragedy of Loki.

Thor’s face said it all, and with one look your way, he didn’t need to speak to tell you what he’d concluded. 

“Father!” Thor called out with minute tension in his voice. You watched Odin blanch into his goblet as your own father approached you from the crowd.

“Y/N, when did Thor return?” 

“Just a few minutes ago,” you said, “Don’t worry, he’s here to reinstate you.”

“I doubt he can convince Odin to change his mind,” he frowned regretfully. With a warm smile, you patted your father’s arm.

“It’s not Odin he has to convince,” you said, and your father’s jaw dropped in shock as Mjolnir flew past the entire lot of the crowd, the both of you turning to see Thor calling the weapon back with a hand he had placed just behind Odin’s head.

“Thor, Your Highness, see reason!” your father pleaded. “Odin is your father!”

“His counsel is wise, Thor,” Odin nervously interjected.

“But, surely, as the Allfather,” you spoke as Thor opened his mouth, earning a smile from your longtime friend, “you could certainly stop the weapon you created. Is that true, Your Majesty?”

You relished in the sweat that beaded on the so-called king’s forehead, even being so bold as to step in the path of the hammer. You could hear the buzzing of the weapon as it drew closer and closer to the square. Even Thor gave you a hesitant look, but he did not change the course of his weapon.

“ALRIGHT!”

A rush of gasps fell over the crowd as Odin’s image dissipated to reveal Loki himself, the supposedly-deceased adopted Prince of Asgard. He shot Thor a charming smile as he tried to save face.

“Brother,” he nodded. “Lady Y/N. Did you change your skincare routine?”

“I’m always this bitter when it comes to you, you slimy cockroach of a man,” your face remained as stone. Skurge once again caught your attention (and everyone else’s) when he burst through the crowd, running low on breath.

“Thor, son of Odin!” he announced. Loki dropped his amicable act and whirled on the slightly shorter man.

“No! No, you had one job. Just the one,” he snarled. Skurge’s shoulders sank, and he looked to you, gauging your reaction, but you were as difficult to read as ever, keeping your expression stony and frozen. 

Instead, you turned your attention to your father.

“Loki must have been masquerading as Odin this entire time,” you said. “He must have only sought Daybreaker’s help against Amora to protect his cover.”

“That time has passed, Y/N,” your father reminded you under his breath. “Amora will not be spoken of, and I assure you, there is no Daybreaker any longer. You know this. Legends are enticing, but that one is not true.”

Oh, how wrong you knew he was.

“Don’t you know what this means, Father?” you smiled, “You never truly lost your position. Odin never dismissed you; Loki did. You can return to the Council.” Even in his doubt of your ‘belief’ in Daybreaker, you could tell he was glad for your part in the return of justice.

“How did I deserve a daughter so smart and beautiful as you?” he said proudly. You smiled gently back at him. 

“Probably the same way I earned a father who respects my choice when I ask him to,” you said. 

With Thor’s next statement, your attention was returned.

“I will return as soon as possible,” he announced to the kingdom. “Until I return with my father, the House of Light will oversee the undoing of Loki’s usurping.”

You were near certain your father was going to burst into tears.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” he said, giving Thor a deep bow. “I shall serve my kingdom dutifully, and I’m sure my daughter will be able to help things run smoothly.”

“I would expect no less from such an esteemed ally of the throne,” Thor nodded, shooting you a smile. Hoisting Loki on his back and heading toward the Bifrost, you turned to the servant holding the diadem Thor had been carrying the whole way back.

“Keep it in the treasure room,” you advised. “Far away from harm or manipulation.” You felt your father’s hand as a gentle weight on your shoulder.

“There is much to be done, my daughter. It will take a great amount of work to undo all that Loki has done and restore Asgard.”

Yes, you thought to yourself as you watched Skurge dejectedly blended back into the sea of nobles and disappeared among the crowd. There is much to be done to restoring the people, indeed.

Tagging: @bkwrm523 @goingknowherewastaken @lauuerodz @space-helen @aubinkey @atomicdna @annathewitch @gladheonreads @waterbabybel @goodnightwife @dirajunara @skosmo @boldlywritingtrek @snow-leopardfetishist @battlebunnyteardropsinthesun @antiscocialfanwarrior @maydayfigment @curiositywillbethedeathofme @earinafae @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @eyeofdionysus @andfeelmyroarrrr

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[hyperesthesias]

Loki x Sigyn

Love Never Dies | Part XIII

Rating: G

Words: 2.558

Summary: Thor’s return is met with gladness, but will it compromise Sigyn’s secret?

Jane was not particularly enjoying herself at the banquet that honoured Thor’s return. Happy as she had been to see him after all their time apart -- time that should have, that was meant to be, spent together -- her joy was short lived. Cut abruptly by the many courtiers and his myriad of friends who were eager to push the unknown Midgardian aside in favour of the Prince. And try as he might have to keep her at his side -- which he managed for some while, a pleasant surprise to Jane -- even there she did not seem to enjoy herself. Aside from the odd glances, the ignorance to her presence, and the general unfamiliar air about the festival, she wasn’t altogether known for her desire to partake in such events. The first day would have been fine, it would have been enough for her to handle, but for three days the Asgardians celebrated -- a cultural aspect she was sure she would have to get used to, she was sure. Thus, on the second day, and even the third, she confined herself to a corner, watching the event from the outside looking in, as it were.

But she noticed she was not the only one. 

Loki had sequestered himself to his own corner -- a glass of wine politely in hand, she saw he had not even had a sip. His eyes, while they watched the sea of people, they were focused on nothing in particular -- as though he was there, yet not all at once. It was the first time she had seen him in over two weeks, due to his supposed illness -- which she knew more than was not illness, but some ruse to hide the woman in his bedchamber, the woman she could hear through the conjoining door. But he looked different -- and not in the way she had expected. He was not himself, she saw: he was not taking what chances provided to prod at his brother, as he may have done in a veiled attempt at closeness, he hardly reacted to Sif or the other Warriors when they spoke to him, words of which were not altogether pleasant, she was sure. He did not perch himself, as he often did, to watch things from a convenient angle. He simply...was. A statue, if nothing else.

Jane meandered her way to the black haired brother, a glass of her own untouched wine in her hand as she came beside him -- but when she looked up at him, to garner his attentions, it was as though he hadn’t noticed her at all. She squirmed upon realising she’d unintentionally wandered beneath his attentions, and tried to concoct some way to break the silence without startling him into either lashing out or into some cardiac event.

She cleared her throat. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she started, hoping some form of amusement might ease the tension.

Loki started nonetheless, as was the nature beaten into him, and his eyes flew to beside him from whence the voice came. He had to look down until he met Jane’s eyes, and he huffed as he straightened himself again. “Should you not be at your place with Thor?” he questioned with his usual manner of harshness.

“I was,” she nodded, “I kinda...got squeezed out,” she admitted, finding it more difficult to verbalise than she’d anticipated, as though she expected Loki to tease her for the misfortune.

But he did no such thing -- a swell of empathy choking at the back of his throat, instead. He did nothing other than look into his glass. “Not uncommon, I assure you,” he murmured.

She didn’t say anything, only looking at him with wonderance as to the meaning of his words came from experience rather than observation. “Yeah well, I told him I’d be here.”

“You sound as though you would rather be somewhere else,” he mused.

“The party scene never really...fit me. Suffice it to say I had more deadlines than parties in college.”

He raised a brow as he glanced to her. “Then you would rather the company of your books than the company of the Crown Prince and his court?” 

She shied away from his eye, as though his words were meant to chastise her. “I’m not trying to be insulting.”

“Nonsense,” he turned his eye from her again. “I find it rather refreshing,” he paused, rolling his eyes as he heard Sigyn’s voice in the back of his head, urging him into some semblance of goodness: “As does Thor, I’m sure.”

As reassuring as it was, Jane’s eyes couldn’t pry away from the crowd gathered around Thor in the centre of the room. She wouldn’t deny she was happy for him, proud of him -- but so were many others. Somehow, that happiness was only more offset by the feelings of uselessness that burrowed itself in the back of her mind since the moment she’d stepped foot on Asgard. 

She stared into her glass, just as Loki had. But unlike him, she took a drink. A very large drink. 

“I...would not do that...if I were you,” Loki chanced to warn, harbouring a wince -- but it was already too late. “Asgardian wine is immeasurably more potent than anything on your Realm.”

But just as Loki finished speaking, Jane already regretted her decision. A hand pressed against her stomach. “Yeah...I’m getting that.”

He huffed at her incompetence and indiscretion as he took the glass from her hand, calling a servant over to help her. “I suggest you retire, Midgardian, before you make further an ill impression.” He did move from his spot as he watched the servant aide her down the hall and back towards the girl’s suite. But he supposed it was for the better, a relief for her, no doubt. A trade off of one pain for another. 

Though Jane was still debating which pain she would have rather endured. The quiet of her suite was much more suitable to her mind and ears, as she sat on the edge of her bed, hand still resting on her stomach. It would pass soon, she told herself -- it can’t be that bad. A drink of water would do her well, and some silence in solitude would be even better. 

Silence, all except for the gentle coughs she heard through the conjoining door, from Loki’s room. Feminine in nature, she listened closer for any words spoken, and could hear a woman speaking quietly to herself, though her words were muffled by the door that separated them. She listened for some, finding that focusing all her attentions on something other than the burning in her stomach dulled the nausea. 

She heard more whispers, another few coughs. And a pause. She heard the creaking of a bed, as though this woman were sitting up. And a pause. More creaking, then the sound of a door -- most likely the washroom. And a pause. The sound of water, the sound of the door again. And a pause. The rustle of loud papers, the sound of metal tools clattering to the floor, books toppling off his desk, and a yelp as a body collapsed to the carpet.

Jane jumped at the suddenness of the sound -- hesitating for a moment, wondering what to do. Maybe the woman was fine, maybe she just lost her balance, or tripped over something she dropped. She was fine, and there was nothing to be alarmed about, she told herself.

Until she heard a quiet: ‘help’ come from the other side of the door. 

Jane waited to see if a servant would come to aide her, not wanting to invade Loki’s room once again, and face his wrath. But no one came, and she could hear the woman struggling on the floor.

Jane took to her feet, ignoring the pain in her stomach, as she rushed to the conjoining door -- scenarios of all kinds running through her mind: had she been right? was this some concubine? was she prisoner? were her feet chained and caused her to fall? was she some slave? no, they didn’t have slaves on Asgard. Was she a criminal, as well? or maybe some servant or nurse that Loki had confined to his quarters.

She parted both the doors and the curtains as she came in to find a woman trying, and failing, to push herself up from the carpet. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Jane reassured her, immediately coming to the woman’s side, helping her sit upright. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am,” the woman let a breathy chuckle as she gathered herself, pushing the locks of hair from her face. “Just a little...embarrassed.”

She spoke with an accent not Asgardian, and her hair! Her hair was longer than the length of the woman’s body. Her eyes, her face...something was strangely familiar about her, Jane thought. A puzzlement befalling her until a dreaded thought come upon her. Her eyes widened, and she somewhat froze in front of this stranger, who was even more strange than she could have imagined.

“Are you alright?” Sigyn asked the girl, finding her rescuer to be suddenly pale. “You seem as though you have seen a spirit.”

“Funny you should say that,” Jane muttered, pushing back her shock to help the woman to her feet. “But, I’m -- I’m fine. I think it was something I ate,” and it wasn’t exactly a lie.

Sigyn took her help, standing on her feet -- a liberating feeling, indeed! that she had gotten carried away with it, much to her mortification. “I am sorry to trouble you, then. But thank you, for coming to my help.”

The woman came just an inch or two shorter than Jane, yet she was far more stately and regal, that she felt herself much smaller than she really was. “Oh, it’s -- it’s not a problem,” she chuckled nervously, helping her limp to the bed. “Should I call someone for you?” Loki was going to kill her, she was sure.

“No! No, thank you,” Sigyn unexpectedly exclaimed.

Jane thought for a moment Loki might do something to her, as well, and a furrow knitted her brow. “You sure?”

“Yes, I simply...” she sighed and replaced herself to her burrow in the bed, “do not want my mate -- my husband, to blame himself.”

“Blame himself?” 

“Yes, he is away...at the festival. I told him I would stay in bed, but...he will blame himself that he was not here to help me if he finds out,” she simpered with a shake of her head. 

“Oh, I see,” a mild relief, but relief nonetheless. “Are you hurt?”

“No more than usual,” Sigyn chuckled. “I will be fine until he returns.” 

Jane only nodded, unsure what to do with this event -- not entirely sure if it had been product of the Asgardian wine, or if this woman was real. If this was really Loki’s wife, the woman in the portraits she had seen. 

“And why are you not at the festival?” Sigyn asked, beckoning the girl from the depths of her thoughts.

Jane’s eyes flew back to the woman and she shook her head again. “I don’t exactly...fit in,” a simplified answer, but truthful.

“Loki has told me of you,” she admitted, a tired smile making its way up the corners of her lips as she leaned her head against the headboard. “The Midgardian who has stolen Thor’s heart.”

She only chuckled. “Yeah, that’s...that’s me. I guess.”

“Feeling out of place?” 

“A little,” she sighed, before she shook her head only once more, “a lot, actually.”

Sigyn smiled and nodded. “I felt much the same way you do, when I first came here. A diplomatic mission. It takes time, to find one’s place anywhere, but if your heart desires it, nothing else will suffice.”

Jane then supposed it was up to her whether her heart desired...this. She looked around at the room, not really seeing Loki’s suite, but what it represented. 

“Fear will be your enemy forever -- it is your soul you must obey,” a piece of unsolicited advice, this Sigyn knew, but she could not help but see the same look of uncertainty in her eyes that she once had. Sigyn was not born royal -- unknowing of the customs, the trivialities, the obediences, the price. But she had been appointed Queen over all her Realm, a burden she had accepted with grace and a terrified spirit. She did not want to fail her people, what was left of them. Neither did she want to become someone she was not. That fear had never left her, and she reckoned it never would, but she was fortunate enough to still have the voice of her soul within her, if only because she heeded it. A notion she could bear to part on the girl’s mind, as well.

How odd it was, Jane thought, that so calm and wise a woman was the spirit mate of so cruel and hardened a man -- at least, that was how he wished to be perceived to others. “Thank you,” she said, her heart speaking for her.

Sigyn nodded only once, then stopped with a breath as she raised her head. “Loki returns, I can feel him in the hall.”

“I should...I should leave,” Jane stood and hurried for the conjoining door. 

And just as she closed it, Loki opened the door to his suite.

Sigyn could hear him stop at the sight of the things strewn across the floor that she hadn’t picked up, and silently scolded herself that she hadn’t. She could hear his footsteps hurry to her bedside, where he drew a breath of relief to find her sitting there.

“Hello, my love,” she smiled, taking his hand to sit him down beside her. 

“What happened? Are you alright?” he took her face in his palms, stroking her features with his thumbs, searching for any sign of any harm. 

“It was rather foolish of me, really,” she started, placing blame on herself knowing he would want to harbour it all. “I went to the washroom, but when I came back, I stopped at your desk. I was just...standing there, and I...well, I fell,” she admitted.

Loki closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath of regret. “I should not have left.”

“Darling, you could not have known. I am well, I am not hurt. Your little Midgardian friend helped me, in fact.”

His sights shot up to her again. “Jane? She was here? She saw you?”

“Yes,” she answered calmly. “I like her, in fact.” 

He said nothing, pursing his lips as he took on everything she told him. He feared she would tell Thor of what she had seen, that Thor would tell Odin, and Odin...He shuddered to think on it, he would deal with her later. For now, he returned his attentions to his wife. “Are you sure you are well?”

“I am, my love,” she reassured him, entwining her fingers in his. “My body is fine, but...”

He stopped, searching her for any sign of unwellness, that he might cure it.

“My mind is not at ease,” a heavy sigh parted from her lips as she met his eyes, without fear of what he might do neither say in return: “I saw what was on your desk, my dear. I know how you brought me back.”