#the scene where she captures thor???

[galaxythreads]

hi,

I'm fascinated by ur Loki works, and since I'm currently rereading all my favourites I wanted to ask about your general headcanons for Loki, and your opinions on all the movies and appearances Loki had. Basically, could you please talk about Loki, because i feel like my idea of Loki and your idea of Loki are similar. bye!!

"Do you want to rant at me about your favorite character?" I mean. do you want my first born?

general headcanons:

there's this scene in Loki: Where Mischief Lies where Loki has a throwaway line that talks about how it never matters when Thor hits him even if it gets violent and it rotates around in my head like a microwave all the time. Such an interesting concept that Thor took things too far but Loki never said anything because that's Just What Siblings Do TM

Loki's hair is soft to the touch, not greasy, because I will die mad about loki's hair in ragnarok

loki steals clothing. This is something you can see in all my fics, he's constantly stealing things from everyone.

Loki is ace, never had sex, and isn't interested in changing that. I don't think he's aro, I think he is interested in romantic love to some extent, but I think sex is just mid to him

loki's magic pokes at all five senses. It's something you can see, taste, hear, touch, and smell

loki got "food poisoning" a lot as a kid because his body was made for jotun stuff and like. asgard doesn't have that

Loki has a moral code, and there are lines he won't cross

loki doesn't lie that much, people just gave him the name because he's shifty and it was a rumor that was started by thor that he lies all the time

loki and thor's relationship has only gotten more complicated as they've gotten older and they have the brain chemistry to process things better, look at their childhoods and go, uh, bro, wait a minute

frigga wasn't a very good mom to loki, even though she tried

Loki can cook

loki uses magic less now that he's older, not because he's not good at it, but because he just like. he uses more subtle magic, and he doesn't need to turn his magic into a glowy show when he could just punch you in the face

loki is a man of few words

loki being captured and watching him lose his mind is straw that broke the camel's back for Gamora, who left shortly after he agreed to help thanos

loki wasn't mind controlled per se in the first avengers, the scepter was just affecting his feelings, but not more than anyone else? Loki was just genuinely tortured/coerced into this by thanos and they didn't have to force him to do anything. he was too terrified to say no. scepter was just an added bonus to cement the control

loki absolutely has permanent spinal damage from his time with thanos

I have a bazillion of these i could literally go on for ages.

---

thoughts on movies:

Uh. Okay. um. How do I say this without getting slain? I...do not think, objectively, that any of the Thor movies are good movies. I think they have fantastic concepts, and wonderful characters, and I adore poking at them, but I think one of the reasons that they're so beloved is because of their potential not because of what they are. People love thinking about what could have been and what they wished happened, because there's very little that's actually satisfyingly completed about the films.

Because the Thor movies are not...It. You kind of have to go hunting for outside material for pieces to be connected together and thor 2 has lots of issues that not even thor 1 could have dreamed of, and Thor 1 is just. A disaster, narratively. I think Thor 3 is definetly the most well put together movie, which sucks because it's the one that botched the characters beyond repair. You either have good characters and awful story or fantastic story and terrible characters with no inbetween.

Trying to talk about why I don't think the movies are good - objectively, as movies - has never ended super well for me, but yeah, i just. I don't. I don't think they're very good. I can break it down in more detail if anyone is interested, but there seems to exist two opinions on tumblr: you either think thor 1 - tdw is an untouchable master piece or you don't and there's nothing good to say about them at all.

I have endless praise to give the movies, but that doesn't mean I don't have criticisms, because, good lord, they suck in some places. Loki's character arc is the most baffling mishandle of a character that I have ever witnessed, and yes, I mean this from the get go. Connecting thor 1 - thor 2 takes some mental math.

Thor 1: Interesting set-up for Loki's character, I like how careful they are with setting him up to make sure that his arc was clear and the line between victim and villain was really blurred. They did a good job on making him sympathetic, and revealing an interesting concept with him and Thor, even if I don't think it was executed as well as I wanted.

Avengers 1: adore poking at Loki and Thanos's relationship here. I cannot get enough of it. I like writing with the avengers mostly because of all that didn't happen in the movie that I wished had. There's so many narrative secrets that don't get addressed or glossed over and I just want it picked apart

Thor 2: i enjoy seeing Loki and Thor working together, Loki's deteriorating mental stay in prison is always fascinating, and generally tdw is my favorite movie and portrayal of loki. It's what I usually base all my fics off of is how he acts in this movie. 10/10, will sing praises

thor 3: my loathing for this movie has shriveled considerably since i saw it the first time, but i'd still be hardpressed to say i liked anything they did with loki's character. Loki is self-sabatoging constantly, and his character makes no sense whatsoever. he is the village idiot, and like, i'm not really into that.

Infinity War: Honestly, i'm just gonna say it - i really did like what they did with loki in this movie. Like yeah, I wanted him to help and be an important part of the story, yeah, of course, but I also appreciate from a writing perspective what a powerful move killing him off before the credits was. Loki was the Big Bad of the first avengers and murdering him set the stakes amazingly. It carried Thor's entire arc, and it felt like a shroud that was layered over the movie. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I appreciated what they did with it, and I like the tragedy.

---

Appearance:

not a single scene in ragnarok with him it it did not make me want to chew off my foot, his character design was awful. I will never understand why everyone was drooling over the black suit, it looked like it was bought from walmart and then the wrinkles smoothed out with a flat iron. His hair is greasy af for no reason, all of his clothing looks cheap and ugly. there's nothing impressive or visually interesting about him. the choice to remove his colors so hela can take them will never not be annoying to me even though hela is my baby child

thor 1 has the best hair, in my opinion, but he also looks stupid as hell in his armor. loki's design, to me, works best when it has long lines and it's flowy and/or soft. visually nice:

and like the reason it's visually nice is because it's soft and doesn't make me notice tom hiddleston's hips. The moment i'm aware of his hips i get irritated as hell about it, because idk man, loki just. he does not look good when you're aware he has hips. tom hiddleston is like fine, somehow? i don't know why it doesn't bother me when he's wearing whatever he wants to - i also just like. do not care - but with loki i'm just like. oh good LORD stop making me aware of your hips.

It's why i can't stand his ragnarok suit but would sing praises over the thor 1 one.

It's something that's just like. confounded me forever, because i don't even know why it bugs me so much, but every time i see his TVA outfit, thor 1 armor, or that stupid ragnarok suit i want to shoot a canon ball into the sun.

Give the man a suit coat or do not put him in a jacket. loki has lots of skills but pulling off a jacket is not one of them.

He needs to look haunted, like, in general. Or like an 18th century tired man. it's integral for his character to me.

things that make galaxy happy:

loki soft hair

loki having suit coat or suit coat equivalent

things that will send her into a ranting, unwanted, nitpicky rage

loki greasy hair

loki dressed in jackets

[winters8child]

It´s been a long, long time

Chapter 65

I stood rooted to the spot, my breath catching in my throat as I stared at the framed photograph of Steve and me. It was as if time had slowed, the memory rushing back with startling clarity. Nat had captured the moment at the party, a candid shot I hadn’t even realized she had taken. In the photo, Steve and I stood on the balcony, wrapped in each other's arms, the soft glow of the evening light casting a golden hue around us.

I could almost feel the warmth of Steve's embrace again, recalling how he had confided in me just moments before, his voice tinged with a vulnerability I rarely saw. He had admitted that he felt like he was always in Bucky’s shadow, a constant second best. My heart had ached for him, and I had reassured him with everything I had, telling him that I would love him until my very last breath.

The picture captured the aftermath of that confession. We were both smiling, a shared secret in our eyes, our lips still tingling from the kiss we had just shared. My cheeks were flushed with emotion, the intensity of the moment lingering between us.

Bucky had been right, we did look happy—radiantly so, as if nothing else in the world existed except for us in that fleeting moment. I barely had a moment to process the weight of Bucky’s final goodbye when a deafening crash shattered the air, followed by a thunderous roar that reverberated through my very bones. The ground seemed to tremble beneath me, a sense of urgency igniting in my chest.

Without hesitation, I grabbed my gun, the cold metal familiar and reassuring in my grip, and bolted toward the lab where Tony and Bruce were working feverishly on the Cradle. My heart raced as I dashed to the elevator, jabbing the button repeatedly as if sheer force could make it move faster. The ride felt agonizingly slow, each second stretching into an eternity.

When the doors finally slid open, I rushed out, my breath hitching as I caught sight of the scene unfolding before me. Thor was crouched atop the Cradle, his mighty hammer crackling with fierce lightning that arced directly into the device. The lab was bathed in an eerie, flickering glow, the air thick with tension. Every eye in the room was wide with horror, frozen in the face of something terrifying and unknown.

It was then that I noticed Steve had returned, flanked by the two talents he had brought back with him. My gaze locked onto the girl’s face, and in an instant, a torrent of anger surged to the forefront of my mind—rage I had tried to bury, now burning with renewed intensity.

Suddenly, the Cradle burst open with a deafening crack, sending shards of metal and glass flying. From within the wreckage, a figure emerged, shrouded in an unsettling, almost otherworldly aura. Its skin was a deep, blood-red, gleaming eerily under the flickering lights. At the center of its forehead, an orange crystal pulsed with a menacing glow, catching the light with a hypnotic brilliance. That must be the gem Dr. Cho had warned us about.

The figure’s gaze swept over us, its eyes sharp and calculating, as if assessing the situation with a mix of caution and latent power. Slowly, it began to straighten, rising to its full height with an air of quiet, ominous authority. The tension in the room thickened, each of us holding our breath as we stared back, uncertain of what this new and terrifying presence might do next.

Without a hint of warning, the figure lunged forward with blinding speed, a blur of red streaking directly at Thor. But Thor was ready. With lightning reflexes, he caught the figure mid-charge, his powerful hands gripping its shoulders. With a mighty heave, Thor hurled the figure across the room, sending it crashing into a glass panel. The impact was brutal, the glass shattering into a cascade of jagged shards that exploded outward with a deafening crash.

The figure halted abruptly in mid-air, hovering just inches from the shattered window. It seemed almost mesmerized as it stared out at the world beyond, where the night had settled over the city, leaving the skyline aglow with a sea of shimmering lights. The figure's gaze shifted to its own reflection in the fractured glass, its expression unreadable as it absorbed the sight.

Steve tensed, ready to spring into action, his muscles coiled like a loaded spring. But before he could make a move, Thor extended a hand, halting him with a firm grip. Thor’s eyes were locked on the mysterious figure, a mix of curiosity and caution etched on his face as he watched, waiting to see what the next move would be.

The figure slowly turned to face us, and as it did, its crimson skin began to shift and ripple, transforming before our eyes. The red hue gradually faded, replaced by the sleek appearance of a grey suit that seemed to form seamlessly over its body. With a controlled descent, it landed in front of us with a solid thud, the sound reverberating through the room.

Thor, sensing a change, set aside his hammer and stepped forward, his gaze steady as he approached the figure. The tension in the room was palpable as we all watched, unsure of what would happen next.

The figure looked at Thor with an expression that seemed almost human, its eyes filled with something akin to gratitude. "I am sorry. That was odd. Thank you," it said, its voice startlingly familiar. The words carried a calm, measured tone, and the unmistakable voice of Jarvis echoed in our ears, leaving us stunned by the realization of who—or what—this figure truly was.

Thor sighed, the tension in his shoulders visibly easing as if a great weight had been lifted. His eyes remained on the figure, watching as it stood in silent contemplation, processing something deep within. Then, without warning, the air behind the figure seemed to shimmer, a subtle ripple passing through the space.

As we watched, a cape materialized, unfurling like a flag in the breeze. The fabric was rich and flowing, reminiscent of Thor’s own, and it draped gracefully over the figure’s shoulders, completing the transformation.

Steve approached cautiously, his posture tense and his eyes locked on the figure. “Thor, you helped create this?” he asked, his voice edged with a mix of disbelief and stern authority. The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of everything that had transpired.

Thor turned to face Steve, his expression grave. “I’ve had a vision,” he began, his voice carrying a somber tone. “A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that.” He extended a hand, pointing directly at the glowing gem embedded in the figure’s forehead.

Bruce, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly stepped forward, his face paling as he processed Thor’s words. “What? The gem?” he stammered, his voice tinged with nervousness.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the Universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.", Thor explained his eyes wandering over us. Steve's face darkened, "Then why would you bring..", Thor interrupted him before he could finish his question. "Because Stark is right".

Bruce’s eyes widened in disbelief at Thor’s explanation. The realization that Thor had just confirmed Tony’s concerns sent a ripple of unease through him. The gravity of the situation was clear—if Thor was acknowledging that Tony was right, it meant we were facing a threat of unprecedented scale.

“The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron,” Thor continued, his voice carrying the gravity of a dire warning. His eyes met ours with an intense urgency.

Before any of us could fully absorb this, the figure spoke its voice a smooth, almost soothing contrast to the tension. “Not alone.”

I stepped forward cautiously, my brow furrowed in confusion and suspicion. “Why do you sound like Jarvis?” I asked, my voice tinged with a mixture of curiosity and concern. The familiarity of the voice, so eerily similar to Tony’s trusted AI, only deepened the mystery of the figure before us.

Tony’s eyes gleamed with a mix of pride and apprehension as he gestured toward his creation. “We reconfigured Jarvis’s matrix to create something new,” he explained, his voice tinged with a hint of nervous excitement. The figure before us stood tall and enigmatic, a new and unsettling presence in the lab.

We all eyed the figure warily, each of us grappling with a swirl of suspicion and uncertainty. Could we trust this entity? Was it merely an extension of Ultron, despite its vehement denials? The questions lingered, casting a shadow over the room. In these unprecedented times, I couldn’t help but long for the clarity and simplicity of the 1940s.

Steve stepped forward, his face set in a determined frown. “Are you on our side?” he asked, his voice laced with doubt.

The figure remained still, its expression inscrutable. The witch, her eyes dark with foreboding, interjected with a shiver in her voice. “I looked into its mind,” she said, her gaze flickering to the figure. “All I saw was annihilation.”

The figure turned its gaze toward us, its eyes reflecting a cold resolve. “I am on the side of life,” it said, the words resonating with a chilling clarity. “Ultron isn’t. He will end it all.” The gravity of its statement hung heavy in the air, the weight of impending doom was palpable.

"What is he waiting for?", Tony asked getting impatient for the figure to simply reply with "You".

If Ultron was waiting, we had to confront him and end this madness once and for all. The figure's demeanor shifted, an almost mournful expression crossing its features as it spoke. “I don’t want to kill Ultron,” it said, its voice heavy with regret. “But given what Ultron has planned for our planet, there’s no other choice.”

It paused, letting the gravity of its words settle over us. “There may be no way to make you trust me,” the figure continued a note of urgency in its tone. “But we need to go.”

Before we could react, the figure moved with unexpected speed and grace. In one fluid motion, it grasped Thor’s hammer, lifting it with ease before walking over and handing it to him. The gesture left us all stunned, our mouths agape as we watched the hammer, a symbol of Thor’s immense power, pass from one hand to another.

Thor surveyed the room with a knowing smirk, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. “Right,” he said, his tone carrying a mix of approval and resolve. He clapped Tony on the shoulder with a firm pat, his gesture both reassuring and congratulatory. “Well done.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode purposefully toward the exit.

The room fell into a heavy silence, the weight of what was to come pressing down on us. Steve broke the stillness, his voice cutting through the tension with a commanding edge. “Three minutes,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. “Get what you need.”

The urgency in his voice was palpable, fueling our resolve. It was time to put an end to this nightmare.

Tags: @capswife

Next Chapter

[unassimilatedsoul]

So i recently saw Furiosa, and... look, it's not a bad movie, but the people who made it clearly didn't understand a lot of what made Mad Max: Fury Road great.

(Spoilers for Fury Road and Furiosa, I guess)

The only reason I even saw Fury Road to begin with is because a bunch of "Men's Rights Activists" were getting angry about it online, and I figured anything that made them that mad had to be worth watching. And it is, I highly recommend it for a variety of reasons. One of the simpler reasons is that while Max and Furiosa are the main characters, a lot of the supporting characters were women. This meant that none of them are individually in the dubious position of "representing women", so you can have one of them be stereotypical (being in a love story) or weak (try to run back to your abusers and beg for mercy) without it reflecting on women as a whole by virtue of having other women around who don't do that.

A good contrast is Avengers: Age of Ultron, which justifiably got flack for Black Widow's storyline largely being concerned with her infertility. The problem is, since there's only one woman on the team, there's no good options to avoid controversy. If you gave her the Hulk's plot it becomes a problematic PMS allegory, Hawkeye's is about secretly being domestic, the villain existing at all is Iron Man's fault, Thor isn't as plot-relevant, Captain America is "too perfect". If you have only one woman on the team, there isn't a single plotline in the movie that you can give her without it being problematic. The solution? Have more relevant women.

What does this have to do with Furiosa? Well aside from Furiosa herself, the only plot-relevant woman in the movie is her mother, who dies in the first act. I can understand if they want to emphasize her being a "woman in a man's world", but that doesn't justify having literally no important women in her life. Especially since we know that there were: the Wives.

There's a point in Furiosa when she is being held in the vault with the women being kept by Immortan Joe as sex slaves, but rather than have her meet any of her fellow captives, she quickly escapes and joins Joe's mechanics disguised as a boy. This would have been an ideal place to have her connect with other women in the same situation as her, see all their different reactions to it, and join a community with other women.

Maybe there's another girl about her age who she becomes friends with and they plan an escape together, but they get caught (maybe because another one of the women sells them out in an attempt to curry favor with Immortan Joe) and her friend gets captured or killed. Furiosa hesitates, and we flash back to the scene earlier in the movie where her mother was captured trying to give her a chance to escape, but she turned back because she was a child who couldn't bear to hear her mother screaming and gets captured again as a result. Back in the present, Furiosa runs, and successfully escapes... but she can't bring herself to flee into the wilderness. She turns back, not in desperation but with determination, joining the mechanics in disguise to keep from being recognized (at least until she's convinced Immortan Joe that she's more useful as less troublesome as an Imperator then as a Wife) as she works her way up through the ranks and begins her plan to break out the Wives that we see in Fury Road. Then the movie can continue as written, except she regularly checks on the Wives to make sure they're ok (or as ok as they can be) and to brainstorm and coordinate her plans, so that by the end of the movie when she's setting up the escape, they have a clear bond and it's clear that Furiosa is fighting for a cause greater than herself.

[taraljc]

One of the things I've been thinking about recently is how most of the things that upset me about The Dark World relate to pacing, and cutting a significant portion of Jane's storyline so that she ends up a damsel in distress for a huge chunk of the movie. It's a massive disservice to the character and the actor, and I remember really empathizing with how frustrated Natalie Portman was when Patty Jenkins was no longer available because she had mostly signed up to do the movies specifically to work with Jenkins.

But I remembered that apart from scrapping the entire original Jane and Thor ending where they break up and also Odin voluntarily leaving Asgard and decides to wander Earth for a while, that they had gone back and added scenes with Loki. I kept thinking that they were more of the banter while attempting to fly Malekith's ship, but it turns out it was two scenes that I can't actually imagine the movie without.

I had some notes saved in a file but I had to figure out where they came from so I actually dug up the original article from 2013.

Here are the excerpts that are relevant to my and probably other Loki fans interests:

[Director Alan] Taylor was very clear to say they were not "reshoots," but "additional photography," he gave some insight into the Marvel process:

"It's my experience with the Marvel process they save a portion of the budget for this and what we were basically doing. A lot of it was getting more Loki stuff, because we realized how successful he was in the movie, so we sort of "Loki-ed it up" a little bit.

"There's a scene that we probably shouldn't identify too much, that's one of the funniest scenes in the movie where Loki's a shapeshifter. That was a very, very late addition. And there's a connective thing at the beginning that bridges from The Avengers story to sort of explain how Loki is in prison or why he is in prison. That was a very, very late addition. That was probably "more Loki is a good thing," but also we decided it was an expositional link that was needed for the audience. So those are two examples of Loki stuff."

Tom Hiddleston further clarified:

"[The bridge scene and morphing] were the only scenes [added], yeah. What does it do, adding scenes? It's interesting, because I had actually always wanted there to be that scene with Odin. I remember saying when I first got the draft of the script, "Shouldn't he have a scene with Odin where you see them lock horns one more time?" So I was very glad to do that and I think it makes more sense of the references to Odin all the way through the film.

"And the morphing scene was just so fun. It was just adding more mischief, more playfulness to the character. His charm is so much of the character and is a facet I love to play. I suppose the challenge of adding stuff later is just trying to capture the same psychological and emotional continuity, because there were many months between... Of course when you're shooting, that's when you're focused solely on that particular job and then once you wrap you go off and get distracted by other things, other projects in your life. So it's having the discipline to shift back into the right gear, but it was worth it."

You definitely want to read the entire article because from a production standpoint, the fact that they were still rewriting well into post-production. like they didn't have a complete script until picture lock which I just can't even imagine. No wonder Idris Elba was so disgusted with the process that he asked specifically to be killed off in the next film. and I know that Christopher Eccleston was very disappointed in the final film because a lot of the material that he shot was cut. and the thing is if you look at all of the excise material, and all of the additional photography, it would be very easy to recut the movie into a significantly better movie in every way.

The deleted scenes with Jane and Odin by the way are not available on any of the home entertainment releases that I've seen. The only place I found them was on YouTube. If I can dig up the links, I will post them next.

[xalygatorx]

Worthy (2015) | Chapter 2, "If She Be Worthy"

Disappearing sporadically in public spaces quickly becomes Cora Dempsey's least concerning problem when suddenly she captures the attention of the forming Avengers Initiative, the World Security Council, and Asgard's fallen prince all in one week. And the universe is only just getting started with her.

Worthy is a slow-burn SFW Marvelverse (films) romance between Loki and a female OC. For additional details on what canon is used, see the Prologue post.

Summary: We meet Cora and so do Tony, Steve Rogers, and Clint. The three combine efforts with a remote Thor, Erik Selvig, and Coulson to chase her down. Something unexpected happens and arguably the worst person to witness it is there to see it unfold.

Pairing: Loki x Fem!OC

Warnings: Superhero movie levels of action with a chase scene; briefest mention of a past abusive relationship by the fem!OC

Word Count: 3k

Cora sniffed a little as she peered up at the diner menu, light circles beneath her midnight blue eyes and her mouth a thin line with lips pursed by indecision. She listened to the bustle around her, for the first time in her life drawing comfort from a crowd as she tried to breathe evenly and not reflexively throw glances over her shoulder.

She'd skipped town at last, heading back across the country toward her west coast roots, if only to give those strange suits the slip. The smaller one with the balding head and charming smile, who'd introduced himself first as Agent Coulson and then as Phil, had seemed nice enough, but after what had happened in Central Park and the Broadway subway terminal, she knew no one with a badge was on her side. It had become increasingly apparent with the UFO crashes and the weird demolition in New Mexico that anything deemed "out of the ordinary" would be dealt with immediately on a level of confidential severity. And she had a feeling she wasn't prepared for that.

She sighed a little when someone butted in front of her in line, but figured there wasn't much point in fussing about it right now; she didn't even know what to get. Potentially running for her life and she couldn't even pick something off a breakfast menu. One of the employees at the counter asked for probably the third time if she was ready to order and she finally caved and asked for two bagels, toasted, with a few cream cheese packets tossed in the bag.

Five minutes or so later, she sat on the curb outside in the blistering Arizonian heat, slathering half-melted cream cheese on one of the bagel halves, her mouth watering a little. She was starving and tired. She'd been barely sleeping in her car for the past few days when she hadn't been driving nonstop, living out of a suitcase and a cooler she'd only managed to throw a few things in before hightailing it out of the place she'd only just started to welcome as a new home.

Cora took a bite of her bagel and while she was terrified of the authorities along with her newfound handicap of sorts, she was pretty angry about the whole thing, too. It would figure that getting a job—a great job, at that—just one year after graduating university would warrant something catastrophic to take place in her path. She wondered if Lacey, her roommate, was wondering at all where she was or just taking the disappearance as an opportunity for her sleazy boyfriend to stay over without Cora bullying him out at one in the morning.

She worked on another bagel half and glanced down at herself, making sure she was still in full form though she knew fully well she would be. It had only seemed to happen when she was in danger, or perceived danger; she'd seen an…unfavorable ex of a few years past in Central Park and a man had tried to pull her purse away from her when she was getting on the subway.

Cora nibbled her lip and murmured quietly, "Can't I feel stable for just one day without something kicking me off course?"

The answer, as the world had proclaimed time and time again, was no. She couldn't.

Cora took a sip of her soda once she'd finished her breakfast, in the process of getting up when a slightly peculiar group down the street caught her attention. They were like service bars in height, the shortest looking cocky and seeming to be mouthing off to the tallest one, who looked like some wonder boy out of a fashion ad or maybe some cliché millionaire's son. The one doing the big-talk wasn't necessarily short, but he looked about as tall as she was and he, admittedly, had a rather impressive beard…

Down the way, Tony had snorted dismissively in Cora's general direction when he saw her. "She looks pretty solid and not-wavering to me. Go get her."

Steve Rogers gave an uncertain glance toward Clint, who shook his head. "Thought you were going to complete the mission, no problem, Iron Lung," he remarked before sobering a bit. "Nah. Not that easy. Anyone briefed you, Rogers?"

"Not really," Steve admitted with a small frown. "Is she a threat?"

"No, but she's not easy to get close to. We shouldn't get any nearer until we have a plan," Clint noted, pinching the bridge of his nose a little as he thought.

"Not like we can see her very well from here anyway," Tony complained, squinting against the sun. "You're sure it's her?"

"I can. And yeah, I'm sure."

"Oh, right. Bird eyes," Tony muttered with a flippant wave. He stretched his neck a little before saying in a professional tone, "JARVIS, the suit's ready and raring to go, yes?" In his ear, he heard the prim and proper robotic assistant's confirmation, but he was met with a look of disapproval from both parties. "What?"

"Don't call your suit. It'll freak her out."

Tony held out his hands with an indignant drop of the jaw. "The ladies love the suit."

"Not terrified ladies who are running for their lives," Steve argued with a sympathetic glance down the street toward the woman eating her breakfast curbside.

"Thought you weren't briefed."

"I didn't have to be to know that, I just had to watch the news."

"How long did it take you to get the TV to work?"

Steve started to retaliate a little just as Clint interrupted them. "Stop."

The two followed Clint's gaze and noticed their target had gotten to her feet and now had her hand poised over a trash can, her dark eyes directed at them. A full three seconds hadn't passed before she started walking off at a more hurried pace down the street.

Cora clenched her jaw as she tried to hurry along without giving away that she'd realized what they were there for. More agents, she assumed, from the same organization that had knocked on her door one morning just two weeks ago. She recognized the brown-haired one with the focused eyes; he'd been outside her apartment building and she'd seen him from the window. Not on the sidewalk, but on the opposite complex's roof, watching.

She couldn't help the desperate way her speed inched her along, gradually upping the pace to her car. Cora dug around in her purse for the keys, cursing herself for just tossing them in there willy-nilly in the pursuit of foodstuffs earlier that morning. Finally her fingers grasped one of her keychains and she pulled the ring from her purse, selecting the right key as she hustled to the beat-up Honda, just hoping they'd stayed where they were and she was overreacting.

Cora let out a yelp when something shot past her and sank into the keyhole of her car door, stumbling back with wide eyes as she took in what the sleek object was: a long arrow made up entirely of some kind of metal…

"Ma'am?"

Cora whirled around, noting that Golden Boy was toward the front of the group, the other two tailing a bit and talking amongst themselves. The smaller one still seemed to be picking fights and the one next to him was holding the bow that must've loosed the arrow now piercing her poor car.

She looked back at the tall, cut blond man walking over, his hands raised with his palms facing out as a gesture of peace. There was a large circular object hitched to his back that looked somewhat like a shield, but she couldn't discern what it actually was. "It's okay, we're not here to hurt you. We just want to talk."

"Funny way of showing that," Cora murmured breathlessly as she reached down and tried to yank the arrow out of her door to no avail.

"Sorry about that," the bowman said, though he didn't sound very sorry.

"My name is Steve Rogers," the blonde tried again, offering up a smile that was even more charming than Agent Coulson's. "I'm on your side and no one here is going to hurt you, I promise."

"Unless you try to hurt us, of course," the short one noted bluntly, smiling briefly. "Tony Stark."

Cora's brow knitted slightly and she nodded. "Yeah, I thought I recognized you." Tony grinned gloatingly at Steve, who wasn't even looking at him. "What do you want?"

"To talk. As Steve said," the agent with the bow said without much emotion to his tone.

"I have a feeling that's not all," Cora noted, starting to step back a little when she decided they were getting too close.

"Probably not. But talking seems like a good start, right?" Tony reasoned, earning sour looks from both his allies. He blew out a gusty sigh at their disapproval before looking at her again. "You're not stupid. That's obvious. So don't act stupid; come with us and we'll figure out what's going on with you, okay?"

"I thought I told you to let me handle this," Steve pointed out perturbedly and, just as he turned to look at Tony, Cora took off like a bat out of hell.

He whirled back around in surprise before Clint sprinted past him with an exasperated, "Come on!" Steve and Tony glanced at each other before hurrying after Clint and Cora, who was keeping well ahead of them despite the heat and the terrain.

"Dammit, what am I thinking?!" Tony exclaimed breathlessly after a minute before shouting, "JARVIS!"

"Right away, sir," JARVIS replied immediately and, within a few minutes, pieces of Tony's armor began to catch up with them, collecting on his form until the suit was complete and he was able to kick off from the ground and rocket up ahead of Steve and Clint, siding up with Cora.

"You know, this isn't a great way to make allies," Tony admitted and he almost laughed at the disgruntled look on the girl's face when she looked over at him. "You're hurting our feelings, kid. Mostly Steve's because he already doesn't have any friends."

"Heard that!" Steve shouted as he used his superhuman body to catch up with them, leaving Clint to keep pace behind them. "Miss, really, we just want to—"

And then, suddenly, she was gone.

"Good job, Uncle Sam, you made her do the thing. What the hell is going on with my readings…"

Steve blinked at the space between them, not knowing quite what to do. "You talked to her longer than I did, Stark, if it's anyone's fault, it's—"

"What the hell are you two talking about, she's right there!" Clint shouted from behind them, seeming evermore aggravated by the way things were going.

Tony and Steve again looked between them, but there was nothing there and it was hard for Tony to focus on anything past the hyperactive error messages and flickering on the inside of his mask. "What are you talking about, Hawkeye?" Steve shouted behind them. "Where?"

"Right between—wait, no, she's gone for me now, too," he corrected himself, blinking widely ahead.

Cora wasn't gone, but she was booking it just about ten feet ahead of Tony and Steve now, using their confusion (which had consequently slowed them down a bit) to put some distance between them. She tried not to focus on what she was doing or even how she was doing it, just trying to let it happen long enough to get her away from them, even though she knew it was fruitless. Unless they stopped, she was done for.

Clint pressed a finger to the bug in his ear and shouted over Steve and Tony's deliberative argument ahead, "Barton to headquarters, does someone copy?"

"We copy you, Agent Barton, what's your position?" he heard Coulson say clearly through the speaker.

"Just outside of Clarkdale. Have you got Selvig in position to connect us to Asgard?"

"Affirmative. Hold on for just a moment." Clint waited, squinting against the sun. He saw a form waver slightly about fifteen feet ahead of Steve and Tony.

"Come on…," he murmured, trying to focus and keep track of the bare glimmer of a figure. Even with his eyes, she was near impossible to see.

He heard Coulson come back to his line just before he said, "Positions confirmed for both Selvig and Thor. Though it's uncertain whether or not he can make it through the wormhole."

"You're telling us this now?!" Clint grunted, earning some inquiring looks from Steve and Tony, who had quieted down to listen. "Keep your eyes ahead, watch for her!"

"I'm just reporting the facts, Clint. What's your order?"

Clint hesitated briefly before replying, "Open it. Open it now!"

It was a brief moment before he heard a crack through the sky, and then a rush of wind picked up around them, making it hard to breathe for a few seconds. The three looked up as a small maw opened, seeming to be already working hard to sustain itself while devouring itself in turn. Clint's gaze was the first to move back to where Cora should have been and she was there again, her confusion and distraction causing her to lose control a second time. "Steve, throw your shield!"

Steve looked ahead and saw Cora, too, starting to reach back for his shield before shaking his head. "Negative, I might hurt her!"

Clint started to reach back for one of his arrows, but didn't see a clear shot he could take that wouldn't likely result in injury for her also. He cursed before patching through to Coulson again. "Thor's the only one who can lift his hammer, right?" he asked, waiting for Coulson to confirm what he already knew.

"Affirmative. Didn't get that impression from New Mexico?"

"Just making sure," Clint gritted. "If he can't come through, have him hurl the hammer. Do you have a way to tell him that?"

"He can probably hear you right now. The gatekeeper regulating the Asgardian end seems to be very in tune with the universe, including us."

"I can't decide whether or not that's comforting…" Clint glanced up warily at the wormhole and shouted, "Throw it! Throw it in front of her!"

A minute passed before thunder cracked across the desert and a small bead of glinting metal came hurtling down, the bead taking shape into the ancient hammer as it came closer into view. It hit the ground about twenty feet ahead of Cora and she stumbled as the ground crumbled ahead of her, crying out when the crater formed and she toppled down into the newly formed ditch.

"All right, kid, we're doing this kicking and screaming, I guess," Tony called as he flew down into the crater toward the fallen girl.

Cora shook her head a little as she started to sit up, forcing her limbs to push her sore body to her feet. She wouldn't give up and become a prisoner or a lab experiment, not without a fight. That wasn't how she did things even though losing seemed inevitable at this point. Her eyes fell to the projectile that had caused the earth to cave in beneath her, surprised to note that it was some kind of hammer, but willing to accept that it was her only chance for a weapon to hold them off. Cora leaned down and grasped the handle.

"Not a great idea, it won't—," Tony started, but bore witness in league with the other two men coming down the slope of the crater when the slender woman hauled the hammer from the ground as if it weighed just a few pounds.

"Well, shit," he was able to remark just as Cora clocked him across the facemask with Mjolnir, sending him flying backward into Steve just as he'd slowed down to a stop at the base of the crater.

Clint stared wide-eyed at Cora as she wielded the Asgardian god's hammer like it was nothing, just seeming a little shocked that she'd been able to put that much force behind it to knock Iron Man spread-eagle back against the dirt. In his ear, he heard Coulson venture a hopeful, "Did it work?"

"You're…not going to believe this," he murmured back breathlessly.

Nearby, eying the portal back into Asgard, a being even less visible than Cora at her most threatened paused and glanced back at the mortals scrambling about on the ground.

The hammer wasn't the passing god's problem; he already knew he couldn't lift it, so there wasn't much point in pursuing it into the crater. However, the long silence following its strike—and the potential reason for the strike in the first place—did peak his curiosity. That curiosity swiftly transpired into surprise when the man in the iron suit flew back against one of his companions with a force the passerby knew quite well.

Edging toward the crater just enough to see over the rim, he warily looked down, taking in with some surprise the woman at the center, his brow furrowing in confusion until he saw what she held in her hand.

As he processed this development with a calculative stare, he took one more set of brief seconds to contemplate the shivering portal in the sky before his gaze turned back to the woman, a slow sneer of a grin curving his lips. "Well�� Isn't this interesting."

Next chapter: Chapter 3, Chosen

[themculibrary]

Hurt No Comfort Masterlist

5 Times Steve Rogers Lost Someone and 1 Time He Pushed Them Away (ao3) - stark2ash implied steve/bucky G, 4k

Summary: Steve is no stranger to loss.

A Handshake and a Smile (ao3) - heartreactor T, 5k

Summary: And... you've won. Congratulations. Fair game. Good sport. Have fun?

Or...

Nebula misses the human she ended up stuck with when stranded in space.

all messed up with nowhere to go (ao3) - girlbookwrm steve/bucky M, 8k

Summary: “You make me promise to try, every time before we say goodbye. “Whatever happens, you always stand up, Steve.” And I will. I'll try, Buck. I'll try to pick up where you left off.”

After the Snap, Steve starts writing in Bucky’s journal.

and they will run you down 'til you fall (ao3) - an_insomaniac T, 4k

Summary: The first thing he felt was bright light, even through closed eyes, coloring the insides of his eyelids a reddish color.

The first thing he thought was, fuck, I overslept. Ma's gonna kill me.

Then he realized he wasn't at home in New York with his family. No, he was overseas in Europe, fighting a war. Except not anymore, because they all got captured. And now he was stuck here, strapped to a metal table, alone.

Or: Bucky has gotten hurt by Hydra countless times in his long, long life. But how, exactly, did it go the first time around? Bucky (and the Howling Commandos)'s time as prisoners of war in Azzano.

Backwards (ao3) - Strickmaler T, 1k

Summary: His nightmares, while not a recurring thing, always take their toll upon Peter.

Concession (ao3) - obsession_inc pepper/tony M, 26k

Summary: An AU diverging from canon after the first movie: Christine Everhart investigates the disappearance of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. No warnings, no guarantees.

Delusions of Happiness (ao3) - McKiwi_Writes T, 1k

Summary: What good is a Sorcerer Supreme to a world that's lost it's magic? What good is a heart to a man with no one to love? Sinister does this Stephen, like so many others out there, a favor.

ghost of you (ao3) - yelenatasha clint/natasha G, 1k

Summary: There's something very personal between them. It always has been.

Natasha and Clint through the years and how Endgame changed it all, somehow.

Great Power Greater Responsibility (ao3) - Dearestspaghetti, Vennat T, 5k

Summary: “I don’t know about the stuff that was going on behind the scenes but. I-I saw him bleed.” A pause, Peter held his breath. “I didn’t use to think he was truly a hero. Stopping a bus, sure, that’s impressive, but I didn’t think he was needed. Until today. Until I heard him screaming.”

Just One (Is Never Enough) (ao3) - Myrime T, 2k

Summary: Tony knows the criteria for diagnosing an addiction since Pepper has helpfully supplied him with a flyer once or five times. He is not an addict. He could stop. It is not withdrawal making him feel miserable. That is just his life. At least Obie understands that and helps - even if that means putting a bottle of whiskey in his hand at eleven in the morning.

Tony is fine.

Nothing Left (ao3) - 16woodsequ G, 3k

Summary: “What was I supposed to do?” Steve asks sharply. “Wait to hear the news second-hand from your Ma?” He runs a hand through his hair, his stomach twisting as he speaks. “We wouldn’t even have had anything to bury, Buck.”

Bucky dies.

That's three times now.

And there's never anything left to bury.

Red Glass (ao3) - Anonymous T, 12k

Summary: Thor hits Loki in a drunken rage and has to realize later how truly shattering his action was, and the negative effects it had on his little brother.

Ships Passing in the Night (ao3) - osprey_archer T, 2k

Summary: Hydra releases the Winter Soldier for the Battle of New York. Steve Rogers is 100% thrilled to meet a fellow frozen World War II soldier, even if he was a Soviet.

somebody take my hand (and carry me down this road) (ao3) - orphan_account steve/bucky G, 1k

Summary: Steve had always hated the aftermath of battles. This one was no different, except, of course, it was.

That Damaged Love (But I Don't Know What Else) (ao3) - FairyQueen (etoilecourageuse) T, 1k

Summary: It was way too high a cost to shed even a single tear, and all those who had once entered the Red Room were much too aware of this for their very own good.

The More Things Stay the Same (ao3) - issuedSideways M, 2k

Summary: Tony is invited to a party, and things go poorly in a way he's all too used to.

Written for the prompt "spiked drink."

There's no remedy for memory (ao3) - Gigglebox peter/mj G, 5k

Summary: There was something strangely familiar about the man who just entered MJs coffee shop. She was sitting at the counter nursing a headache from a wound that she still couldn’t quite remember getting and waiting not-so-patiently for her shift to finally end.

A brown haired boy walked in and MJ was struck for a second with a sense of recognition and a deep longing. But just as quickly as it came, it was gone. “Can I help you?” she asked, hoping the annoyance that she felt throughout the day wasn’t obvious in her voice.

“Hi, um, My name is Peter Parker. And I…” The boy looked at a paper as if he had some speech written down on it and MJ was intrigued wondering why he would be giving a speech to her. “...would like a coffee, please.” But as quickly as he gained the confidence to say whatever he was going to say, it disappeared.

or: Peter failing to tell MJ about their relationship after the events of No Way Home told from MJs perspective.

Void (ao3) - MnemonicMadness T, 1k

Summary: Everyone would have expected for Mantis to react, to scream or rage the moment she touched Tony Stark. To feel anger or sadness or some other twisted thing. Instead, she doesn't react. She touches him and feels nothing.

who loves for real loves for ever (ao3) - dante_baby T, 3k

Summary: Love sees Thor's tattoos and asks who Loki is. This makes Thor realize that he wasn't prepared for this conversation at all.

[eddiestattoos]

I Knew I’d Like You

(AKA Sam and Daniel, season 1)

@fighting-naturalist you asked for the essay, here it starts

She thought he was dead, everyone did (except for Jack's team and well, Hammond (see 1969)). But she knew how important he was to the program, to her work. But she never knew how close they could be. 

When they arrived on Abydos again, she was instantly geeking. And Daniel, for maybe the first time ever, was the one left confused and speechless. But then he gave her the one answer she hadn't found in two years, in a field he "doesn't pretend to know anything about." Suddenly, she had a partner in crime. Another doctor in a sea of hardcore military men. Then she’s pulling him out of the line of fire and doing her best to keep him comfortable when he comes to. They come through the gate together, synchronised in their defence of his people. They instantly bonded over nerd behaviour, but it quickly went deeper. “You can’t just stay awake forever.” She was understanding of his position but caring, and honestly I don’t know if Jack would’ve got him to go to bed (He might have, but it probably would’ve been more of a fight. At that point anyway.) There’s other little moments like Daniel being the one to come get her in the tent when she’s singled out in emancipation.

Jack, under the influence of the touched virus mind you, sees Daniel’s care for Sam as something more, even though Daniel was insistent on Sam being a friend he cared about. (Although Danny boy was giving Jack some looks in that scene but he’s just like that). 

Onto Thor’s Hammer. They capture the Goa’uld. She knows what Daniel’s thinking about doing with the rest. She tries to stop him. She almost gets through to him, not wanting him to tarnish his character. But he turns around, shooting the tank. And she just falls silent, carefully taking the weapon away. She knows exactly why he did it, as unwarranted as it was in her mind. She knows she couldn’t have stopped him, not really. And she never judges him for it, never brings it up again. 

Fire and Water. They all think he’s dead, but Sam has the most immediate difficulty. She’s the one in his diary, personal effects that everyone else was avoiding. She was the one that went forth with the hypnotism, not dismissing it in hopes of answers. Then she’s immediately guilty when she realizes they left him behind. Then the way she finds him in Hathor, brainwashed and defenceless, she can only watch in pain and walk away, there’s a mission to complete.

Jump to singularity, very well thee Sam & Daniel moment of the season. She’s the most attached to Cassandra, but he’s second in line. He’s sitting outside the girl’s room, where Sam also is, almost as a guard. He assures Sam she doesn’t have to do it alone.  He’s right there in her corner. She’s distraught, saying she shouldn’t be so attached. She’s become so used to having him around (For what, maybe eight months? Maximum?) That she’s lost full sight of the fact that he’s not actually military. (Not to mention the look on his face in that scene geez Danny do you understand platonics?) And when she’s in the General’s office giving her stance on Cassandra’s situation, Daniel’s right there in the doorway, backing her up. Daniel does have every reason to be there, he knows what Cassie is going through, he was an orphan too. But it’s just as much about Sam to me, he’s been there the whole episode, this was no different. 

Obviously in the alternate reality Daniel is thrown to, Sam is with Jack, they’re engaged. But she’s the one that jumps on board with Daniel’s theories, trusting him, sympathising. She’s mixed right into the charge that eventually gets him home. And the Sam of our reality is the same, the first to acknowledge the possibility that he actually did experience an alternate universe.  

Couple this all with the fact that Daniel has zero definition of personal space (with anyone but especially with Sam) and the seeds were planted for their bond from the get go. The friendship lines were always blurry, not just with them. Though Daniel wasn’t about to get into anything consensual until after his wife was gone for good, he found an undeniable beautiful relationship with Sam, starting mere seconds after they met.

[notoyax17]

Small moments in the MCU that STICK with you

I remember there was a thread on reddit about the small moments in the MCU that impacted you the most. For me that moment was the scene in the first Avengers movie where Tony flies through the portal and sees Thanos' fleet as he lets go of the nuke.

And just stares at it.

And in every movie Tony Stark appeared in since then, it's easy to get the sense that, in the background (or foreground) of Tony's mind there's just that constant sense of existential dread.

The MCU hand waves a lot of stuff, and I don't even think they meant to play this storyline as well as they did later on, but it made for interesting contrasts between Tony and the other Avengers.

The Avengers, both as individuals and as a group are very NOW focused. Their job is to avenge after all; to solve a problem in progress or to right a wrong committed after the fact. And up until that movie, Tony was like that too, even if he occasionally turned to handling things like legacy, it just wasn't his primary focus.

And then the invasion happened, the writing was on the wall, and it suddenly seemed hard for him to focus on the here and now (the foreground in your vision) when there was something big and glaring going to happen in the future (the background/distance).

It guides his decisions in the next several movies.

And it aches, a little, to know that he spent half a decade essentially screaming the truth into the void, knowing that no one truly believed him, wouldn't see what he thought was so obvious until it was too late.

But the thing that interests me the most, is how Tony handles the aftermath of what is essentially the apocalypse in Endgame. Tony is the only one to actually be a peace, more or less, after that 5 year time skip.

Bruce is happy, but quick to jump at the chance to change things.

Steve and Natasha are struggling to be okay and are more or less going through the motions.

Clint and Thor are both lost and unable to move on in very different ways.

I always got the impression that it was easier for Tony to move forward not because he was a futurist or because he hadn't lost "enough" but because, well...

It wasn't as bad as he was expecting it to be.

Infinity War's ending gave us a much softer apocalypse than the visions/dreams of what Tony expected to happen. No one was enslaved, the deaths were relatively pain free, the majority of the world didn't see it coming and didn't have to sit through hours/days of fighting and fear like you would through a war or a storm. It just happened and then that was it. Everyone was affected and the world was, for now, united in its grief.

It was like finally going through something that the mere thought of has scared you for so long only to realize that, yes... I can survive this.

And Tony is, more than anything else, a survivor. He takes the changes as they come, makes them manageable and continues moving on. Like being captured for months, having an electromagnet in his chest, making major changes in his company, nearly dying several times, losing and/or killing loved ones and so on. That is not to say that he handles them with ease or very well every single time. But the moment he does decide that "this is just how it is," Tony tends to buck up and get on board fully.

Natasha comes the closest to being able to handle major changes in her life that well and even then, it's more like she faking it until she makes it as opposed to fully absorbing the changes as the new normal.

Half of everyone died, but close to half of everyone was still left. The world was still spinning and as long as that remained the case, things were manageable... fixable. So he fixed what he could and went on in the new normal.

He's had years to grieve the end of the world before anyone else even knew it was coming, after all.

[nobleriver]

The thing with gifs is that they're closer up, high quality, and (maybe it's just me?) slower than the actual episode. I'm looking at some gifsets and I can see every tiny emotion hitting a character. More specifically, I was looking at that one scene in THORS where she says the Doctor is "not someone special". But like, you can see she's having mixed feelings, you can actually see her hiding the damage. It's something I don't really notice, well I do "notice" it, but I can't actually see what's happening. It makes the scene all the more fun (and emotional) to watch.

I don't know what was the point in saying this, but oh well, random thoughts.

It's not just you. The gifset actually IS slower than the episode. At least, my gifsets are. In PS, the frame rate should be between .04-.06 depending on your PS, with .05 usually being the actual frame rate to match the episodes. But I always put mine at .06 because .05 is just too fast for me. Even if .05 is the actual frame rate, the point of my gifsets is to let people SEE the scene afresh, to spot a detail they never saw before. I slow the scenes down, just by a tenth of a second. And sometimes, I push it even further and make the frame rate .07 or if it's a really short moment, like less than 30 frames (and no one is talking), I might do .08 to make the moment stretch longer.

Often my gifsets are born from a single gif, a lingering look, or a line of dialogue. I just want to capture that, blow it up, and shout hey come look at this! Have you noticed this before? What do you think of this? And then, when I sit down and grab the screencaps, I think what's the best way to capture that feeling, that thought, in a gifset? How can I get someone to pause and take a look closer?

Sometimes, I push the color of the set until it breaks. Then, I start over, and push it again. Other times, I use the crop tool. The crop tool not only blows up the image, but it allows me to cut out any distractions in the periphery. Cropped gifs literally narrow the viewer's focus. And sometimes, if a gif is not strong enough on its own, I buttress it with other gifs. Like with my Doctorriver "That's nice. But I'm married" gifset. 11's quote was the point of the gifset, but imo, it wasn't strong enough to stand on its own.

The reason that line is so powerful is because of the context. It's an unflinching, unapologetic testament; it's a declaration that this marriage, that River, is real to him. So how might I get someone to see that scene afresh? In this case, I used other scenes to amplify the impact of what he stated, scenes from their marriage in which he couldn't get enough of her; moments when he was eager to please her. And by adding those scenes, that's what I drew more attention to. I tightened the focus through parallels and visual cues. And based on the comments in the tags, it worked. People had only expected to see his dialogue, but by adding the other scenes, the set turned into something unique, something they hadn't seen before. And that's the beauty of gif making. Funnily enough, that gifset is unintentionally structured like an essay; you have the intro, the evidence, and the concluding statement. But it's the evidence in the middle that makes the conclusion hit so hard.

P.S. I actually messed up that THORS gifset. That scene has always caught my attention, because we as the viewer know she's lying, but the Doctor thinks she's telling the truth. So the scene finishes with these two heartbroken time travelers who are desperately in love with each other but fear their entire marriage is a lie. I meant to pair it with Moffat's quote to that effect, but I forgot to add it. Oops. Oh well, mistakes happen, and now I get to do a THORS gifset again, this time with even more scenes. :D

[avengersrewatch]

E8: Some Assembly Required

I think you should skip to this one after "The Breakout." Maybe you can watch the episode about Captain America, but boy I wouldn't watch the others.

This episode starts with the Avengers capturing Mandrill. I noted in my last post that Mandrill is gross so this is why I love the Avengers. Mandrill surrenders when he sees the Hulk. Thor says he "shames all monkeys with his cowardice." Nah he shames monkeys with his existence, but I appreciate you making fun of him, Thor. I want to kick him when he's down too.

Meanwhile, on the docks, a black-clad figure comes ashore. Who could it be? Oh gosh I can't stand the suspense. Anyway, the shot of Black Panther (spoilers!) crawling down the chain in the moonlight is cool.

Everyone except Pepper and the Hulk are late to the first Avengers meeting at the Avengers Mansion. I like when Jan lands on Thor's element and just... stays there for the rest of the scene.

Jan is very excited about the Avengers and she seems to be the only one. I think that is why I like this iteration of Jan. She wants to help people. She leaves her "penthouse" apartment to stay at the Mansion (like that's a downgrade? I'm not sure). She's not a reluctant, jaded hero. She's like, "this is so cool. I want to save everyone and kick ass!" It reminds me a bit of Kamala Khan's energy, but she's not a fan. You know? Not everything has to be dark and terrible and angsty.

Speaking of angsty, the Enchantress is manipulating Hulk by pretending to be Banner in his head. Telling him not to trust the Avengers. So Hulk quits. I guess this is a bit similar to Wanda manipulating the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel loves to make the Avengers fight each other for dumb reasons. Thor tries to bring him back, it gets messy.

We get our first "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE" from Tony, which is cool. Less cool is it is to go fight Hulk who should be part of the assembly?

JARVIS figures out there's a strange "energy" around the Hulk and Thor guesses he's been enchanted. Like, could you maybe do these scans before you start hitting each other and damaging property, next time?

Hulk only stops fighting the Avengers when Janet is squished. Because everyone loves Janet, she's just so cute. (And also she and Hulk had that moment in "The Breakout" where she helped him.)

Then there is an obligatory fight with Enchantress and Skurge (Skurge appeared in Thor Ragnarok where he serves Hela, not Enchantress like he usually does, but we never did get the Enchantress, unless you could Sylvie "enchanting" things in Loki which I don't).

Real Banner talks to Hulk--and I should say here they are not only separate entities, they can talk to one another--so it's a bit like Moon Knight and how Steven can talk to Marc. Except it's just in their head and everyone else is like "who's that big green man talking to?" (Strong arguments have been made by people more knowledgeable about the comics that Bruce Banner also has dissociative identity disorder, but that is not really how it is played in the MCU.)

Anyway, Hulk returns to save the other Avengers from Enchantress and Skurge.

(There is a joke that is similar to one in The Avengers where Thor hits Iron Man with lightning and it recharges his power. Since I'm noting similarities.)

Even though Thor offers a bit of an apology, and Jan is sweet, Hulk decides to quit the Avengers. He probably needs some "me" time.

But don't worry because we're about to get a new Avenger on the roster-- and it's not the one in the Black Kitty costume who is seen watching all of this. (I totally understand why T'Challa is skeptical about joining the Avengers at this point. It was their first real day together and they had a knock-down fight. He's going to a take a few more episodes before he decides they are worth befriending. He's like, "I'm gonna wait and see if these white people get their act together. Or maybe I will go to the X-Men.")

Spoilers: It's the one with a shield encased in ice. (Interestingly, a shot like this was cut from The Incredible Hulk where he went to a similar frozen place and Cap's shield was going to be visible.)

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[ink-and-sheet]

Chapter one- A call of duty

Iris POV

My name is Iris Doukas, the niece of Hatzis Doukas, the fierce and feared leader of the white fang pack.

My uncle was a cold man who cared only about battles and nothing else. Other than the prostitute he slept with, he didn't have a mate and refused to have an heir.

My childhood was beautiful and also filled with gruesome scenes because uncle Hatzis was ruthless to anyone that's not me since I was his little brother's only child and his last surviving blood relative since my parents died.

Our pack and territories had flourished and expanded over the years because of the several victories he won in the wars with other packs and the slaves he had captive.

Although our lands and people are enjoying peace. But the threat of war is very real and that's why one of uncle Hatzis's priceless hostages was Alpha Thor, the leader of the Storm Riders Pack.

My uncle kept Alpha Thor tightly in his grip because although his pack lost the war and its members were now rogues, they didn't lose their willpower to fight.

The only thing that stopped the Storm Riders pack from attacking us was the captivity of their leader who had their fear and respect.

It's said that after Thor got captured by my uncle, not even his beta will step up and take his place as the next alpha because of the terror he felt for Thor, and the loyalty the pack members have for him

Sadly, my uncle passed away a month ago to the cold hands of death, and I as his niece is forced to pick up from where he left off.

My body feels glued to the bed just by thinking about it, and I wish that such a heavy obligation wasn't placed on my shoulder at the age of eighteen.

It wasn't strange to me after he passed for the park members to get down on their knees and pledge their allegiance to me because uncle Hatzis made them do a blood oath and swear upon their lives that I would take over after he die.

For the past one month, I have been trapped with the burden of making decisions for the pack, worrying about finding a mate to rule beside me, and pleasing the elder who are a bunch of old dudes that are annoying as fuck.

When the echoes of footsteps in the hallway grew louder and closer to my room, I raised my eyelids and stared at the masterpiece on my ceiling.

"Why is it so bright?" I mumbled without blinking, trying to pull myself together.

Finally, when reality settled in, I hastily sat up and gazed around the room before burying my face in my palm and sighing deeply.

It was morning already, and that means I did it again and stayed up all night thinking things over in my head to the point that I forgot to sleep.

All this leadership stuff was so tiresome, and yet, I couldn't stop thinking about matters about the pack because my uncle had made quite a lot of enemies, one being the Storm Riders Pack.

A gentle and sweet voice suddenly echoed into my ears after my room door opened, "My Luna, you are awake?"

Swaying my gaze to the right, my sight rested on my maid, Rona. From since I can remember, she has been by my side and so gentle to me.

With a soft smile on her lips, she brought a tray towards me and set it on the bed.

"Please eat, and afterward, I will help you get dressed, my Luna," Rona mumbled, taking two steps back.

Every time she refers to me as her Luna, I feel the weight upon my shoulder getting heavier, and yet, it was my burden to carry.

Drained and frustrated, I looked down at the tray of food, reached my hand into the bowl of grapes, and took a bite into it.

"Have the elders arrived at the mansion yet?" I asked, reaching for another grape.

"No, my Luna," Rona said with a look of hesitation in her eyes. "Do you want me to send out words for them to gather in the great hall?"

Another meeting with those suffocating dictators will drive me mad. How was I supposed to run a pack that is used to iron hand leadership when all my uncle did was pamper me with love and treated me like a princess!

Unexpectedly, Rona rushed to my side, squatted with a napkin in her hand, and whispered, "My Luna, you are crying… I know it's only been a month since our former leader passed away, but you need to pay attention to your health and not grieve for too long."

I love my uncle, but right now, I am not crying because of him but because the future seems worrisome. Uncle Hatzis was obeyed by everyone.

But I'm not him, and I feel like I'm just a wolf that got ascended to the title of a pack leader to get used as a puppet by the elders because they know the respect the pack members had for my uncle is now passed onto me.

However, since fate has given me such a burden, I should accept it, even though I'm nothing compared to my uncle or father.

"What's my schedule for today?" I asked, looking into Rona's eyes.

Immediately, she looked a bit uncomfortable and glanced at the floor as she mumbled, "The elders want you to meet slave number one."

"Oh, they want me to visit the cell," I whispered, feeling a bit calm.

Then my eyes widened when I realized who slave number one was. Instantly, I started to freak out because that number belonged to Thor, the alpha of the Storm Riders Pack.

They wanted me to visit him. No way! Rumor has it that he has no soul, and his eyes are cold and dark.

His story is nothing different from the one my uncle shares, maybe it's even bloodier than that of uncle Hatzis, and I don't know how he managed to capture Thor, but I rather not face him or look into his cold eyes.

[the-firebird69]

I remember making the scene with red and he remembers it and we're there and you're saying we're gonna do it again and we start to understand that we probably will this time around it has deeper meaning there's a couple things we're missing they wanna make a reflector it's actually the two in their design and they want to have a really big one and that's the empire they're using their stuff it appears to bring it over there to capture it and find out how it's engineered and copy it and they want to use it to redirect the energy beams that we see and he's saying huge ones and amplify them in space and we are in a lot of trouble these bases that the empire has already have reflectors and already have huge lasers and you can't get near them and we're in trouble already we don't need them having this so we're going to have to research it and see where the hell the thing is and he says he recognizes that gate and I've seen it two somewhere and the stacks he says might be from 4 points it's a cold burning facility and there's some cooling towers and it's not sure where that is it might be Japan where that chunk of it is with nuclear material it looks familiar keep in mind there's two plants but one of them has cooling towers we're gonna check it out and I remember the plants in Japan looks like that and it's Fukushima So they want to get to it because it sounds like someone is trying to ruin it and it's starting to make sense and what he says is it sounds like a sign to eliminate the Titans and to bring on the next generation and it says it for a good reason it's about the Titanic and it wasn't cutting the mustard and the monster is the one that destroyed it and went back to its nest and he calls it its origin point and someone broke it out and it's a mutated mega dinosaur He thinks he knows what it's for and there's a whole bunch of them and see the USA it's reminding uranium and it might be something that goes and visits the Mac proper and they call the foreigners trespassers now we're starting to see it's probably our friendly neighborhood counterparts

it's probably our friendly neighborhood counterpart

trump

Olympus yes pring now good

and good girl too

thank you both and Olympus

Hera Zues

she means us

Thor Freya

[sonofcoulson]

Tales of Asgard

Series 1, Episode 2

Glorious Purpose

Odin's sacrifices; the story of how he sacrificed his eye to Mimir, and hung himself on the world tree (Yggdrasil) and nearly died to gain knowledge of the runes from the fates. All to gain knowledge, wisdom and magic.

The thematic link here being how sacrifice is sometimes necessary (both stories) and not to give up when things look bleak (mostly the 2nd one).

The main story... Loki cuts Sif's hair as a "prank" because of her snub in the previous episode.

In the norse legend Sif is distraught, but we see in the Loki series that she is just angry and confronts and beats Loki herself (here she thinks to ask Heimdall who did it. We see this scene and he asks her if Haldor knows where her heart truly lies).

Then, in the legend, Thor is furious and ready to kill because they are married and they don't initially know who did it. In this version it's Haldor (Sif's new boyfriend) and Volstagg (her brother) that are livid and want to kill Loki after Sif confirms it was him. Thor could initially find it funny but has to physically intervene with Balder so that Loki is not killed. Odin will not allow it. Sif is like, guys it's fine it's just hair and I already smacked him a couple of times.

Loki says he can't do anything about it and is emboldened by the no god killing rule, but Haldor and Volstagg plead with Thor to punish his brother for the deed if they can't or he can't or won't fix things. Thor eventually threatens Loki with violence enough that he travels to the Star Forge in Nidavellir (Svartalfheim in the legend) and tries to trick two groups of dwarves (the sons of Ivaldi, and Eitri from Infinity War and his brother Brokk) into a competition making several amazing gifts for the gods, including new hair for Sif. He hopes these will lead them to forget his transgression.

The tricks are necessary as he does not have the riches to pay for any of these fine gifts nor the time to get said riches. His scheming leads Brokk to demand Loki's head as payment if they win.

Gaiman tells a tale about Loki becoming a fly and trying to distract Brokk, but perhaps we could see three different attempts with varying levels of desperation as a teenaged Loki realises he's in over his head.

The Ivaldis make an enchanted spear for Odin (Gungnir), Sif's hair and an amazing ship that folds into a small cloth (Skidbladnir) for Volstagg. Eitri and Brokk make an arm ring that replicates to increase your wealth (Draupnir) gifted to Frigga, an impossibly fast golden bristled boar (Gullenbursti) that will pull Haldor's (later Sif's) chariot and a hammer that Thor will one day wield when he be worthy (Mjölnir). Mjölnir's handle is a little short from Loki's trickery but has captured Thor's warrior dreaming heart. His vote swings it, much to Loki's outrage. His own brother! Even after he knew it meant Loki's head!

Of course Thor knew Frigga had enchanted Loki against being cut by a blade, but Loki didn't know that. He is no happier when he finds out as they are all laughing at him. The trickster does not like to be tricked. They also tried to teach him a lesson which he also does not like. Odin allows them to sew up his mouth. He's fuming.

This is the episode where Sigyn begins to figuratively pour poison into Loki's ear. Maybe she coins the phrase 'glorious purpose '!

Thor decides to make his sparring sessions with Balder a big public spectacle as he thinks that the adulation will make him more worthy. It will actually do the opposite.

[unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff]

Ooh ooh ooh, I suddenly remembered a scene I neglected to mention because it was so bafflingly horrible I think my mind blocked it out.

OK, so Loki, about halfway through the episode, after being told by He Who Remains that no matter what he does the Temporal Loom will wipe out everything but the Sacred Timeline, decides he needs to talk to someone he cares about. (There's no on-the-nose dialogue where he says this, but I think it's meant to be the implication given he seems rattled.)

Now you might be thinking "gee, Loki wants to talk to someone he cares about and has the power to go to any point in his personal time-stream? Well, obviously this is a perfect opportunity for him to go back to before he got yanked from his timeline and get advice from Frigga, or Thor if he gets desperate." And that would be the logical and in-character choice. But this series makes anti-sense, so instead.....

He goes back to the very first episode of this series, to the scene in the Time Theater where Mobius was engaging in the most extreme case of revisionist history the MCU has ever done (I don't count the post-Phase 4 discourse around Wanda, because as of yet the narrative itself hasn't tried to rewrite who she truly is). While he is there (then?), he is able to get Mobius to tell him a story about his life as a Nazi. I'll do my best to sum it up.

Basically, Mobius used to be a Hunter going out and capturing variants, and one day he and Renslayer were on a mission together to find a variant that would become a dictator. The problem is, the deviation happened when the variant was 8 years old, so Mobius hesitated to wipe him from existence, but Renslayer did not, and in the matter of seconds that he hesitated, the timeline branched a lot further. Mobius considers that his greatest failure. (And while it's never said, I'm guessing this was the reason he got demoted to desk duty; because he was only 99.99% heartless unlike everyone else at the TVA.)

I don't have the words for how fucking tasteless this is. But... SOMEHOW this absolute horror story is treated as what was necessary for Loki to have his big epiphany for what he has to do, as after this he has the talk with Sylvie I mentioned briefly above, and this cascades into the clown-show of a climax.

I realize now why I left this out of my initial summary; because it's so fucking awful it required its own separate essay.

I know you said you weren't watching Loki Season 2 (and trust me, you're better off not doing it), but I DID watch it, and I need to get my thoughts straight and describe how it ended, and I can think of no better way than by telling you.

So... how to put this down concisely in a way that won't make me look insane?

OK, I think I got it.

Loki has somehow gained the ability to transfer his consciousness to any point in his time-stream. What happens to the past version of him when he takes control? Don't know. But ignore that, the story purpose of this is so he can Doctor Strange himself and continually repeat the process of trying to modify the TVA's Temporal Loom before it overloads and destroys all of reality. [In case you don't know, the Temporal Loom apparently "takes raw time and weaves it into the Sacred Timeline", but now that the multiverse is free it can't account for so many new branches, so they want to expand it's output.]

Now you might be thinking "well, the multiverse is infinite, so how can anything quantify it?" And you'd be right, because when Loki finally manages to expand the loom, it still overloads because there is just too many branches. Why did it take him thousands of years to realize it was fruitless? Because this show's Loki is a fucking idiot.

Anyway, at first Loki thinks the solution is to stop Sylvie from killing He Who Remains so the timelines aren't freed (I think the writers forgot that the timelines started branching before HWR died), so by going back along his time-stream he is able to talk with HWR, who tells him... get this... that the Temporal Loom has a fail-safe where if it overloads, it blows up to destroy everything except for the Sacred Timeline, and then it's rebuilt. So that puts Loki back to where he was at the end of Season 1 both narratively and literally; either protect one timeline and only one timeline by wiping out quintillions of lives, or let everything burn completely.

Right now you're probably thinking "killing quintillions of people to save a few trillion doesn't feel like a good tradeoff" and you'd be right. Loki thinks so too, because he tells Sylvie that he doesn't think it's worth keeping one timeline alive at the cost of all the others. So what does he do?

... to be honest, I don't fully grasp it, so stay with me here.

He does back to the moment before the Temporal Loom was destroyed, and somehow uses his powers to rip it apart himself and contain the explosion so it doesn't incinerate anything.... I think, because after that there are millions of little strands that I guess are supposed to represent timelines. And then.... I still can't believe what I saw... Loki reaches out and starts grabbing as many strands/timelines as he can, and weaves them into what I think is supposed to be the Tree of Yggdrasil, and at the end of the sequence he sits down on a throne at the center of the "tree".

How does any of this work physically? How can Loki do any of this? Fuck you, that's how!

What does any of it mean? I haven't the faintest clue. The best I can figure, the Tree of Yggdrasil is quite literally a physical representation of the multiverse and Loki is holding it together by sheer force of will, so he did in fact get out of HWR's puzzle box.

The cynic in me initially thought the opposite was true, and the tree represented just the Sacred Timeline, so we were back to square one and free will doesn't exist. And in my defense, there isn't any dialogue denying that. In the final scene we're back at the TVA, which seems to just be looking out for Kang variants now (Mobius briefly mentions the term "616", implying they are cataloguing timelines now I guess), but... as we've talked about many times, trying to turn a Nazi organization into something better, with ALL of the same people (minus Renslayer) to boot, will inevitably crash and burn. AND ALSO, the Tree is still a finite thing, so how is it accounting for literal infinite timelines? I dunno, it just is.

Written out I'm realizing how wildly incoherent this seems, but I swear I'm being as concise as I can. This show is just a nonsensical disaster.

Okay, that was the wildest ride I've been in a while. I don't know how to thank you because I genuinely loved that 👌

So... Loki can grab timelines now? 😂😂 See, this is what I meant with my review of The Marvels, the powers range in these new phases is all over the place. We have so many characters who are widely OP for no freaking reason, it is not explained, they just have that ability out of nowhere and the writers don't care about what that might mean in upcoming movies and series. Just like Wanda in MoM: if you give her such overarching powers, when we see her throwing a punch here and there it seems comical. Ridiculous, even.

Anyway, if I understand correctly then the timelines are still controlled, just by Loki this time instead of HWR? And the TVA still exists? So how is that a good thing? God, what happened to Marvel that they went from "Hydra, Shield, it all goes" to "Let's keep the TVA alive, they can do some good". Did they show the agents actually learning that all the shit the TVA taught them was wrong? Otherwise they will cause the same problems all over again. The problem wasn't HWR, the problem was that those agents believed in what they were doing. If they don't have a change of heart, they will repeat it all over again.

And character-wise, did Loki learn anything about himself? Or was it all talk about timelines and him taking over? Ugh, I'm so glad I didn't watch it...

[nux-morbid-art]

Ragnafuck was Good it was loud and colorful and fun and a good break from the dark n gritty realism that turned me off of previous comic book movies

Also I want the Valkyrie to punch me in the face

[lady-rose-moon]

I am his safe space || Loki || hurt/comfort ||

My main Masterlist can be found ~~here~~

Summary: Loki is locked in his cell on the Helicarrier and you come to save him but when you get to your safehouse, you find out something horrifying

A/N: well- I wrote this in 45 minutes and it's currently 1:25 am so I hope you enjoy it. I realise that I don't get a lot of reads on my stuff anymore so those who stick around to read, thank you, I love you all ❤

P.S:: yes, there's inspired scenes from Lore Olympus, see if you see it

“I don’t like it,” Captain America muttered again, staring down at the surveillance cameras that were monitoring the God of Mischief’s movements in his glass confinement, “he came willingly, great, but why?”

Thor hummed and strode over to take a look at the cameras beside the Captain, “my brother has always been a good strategist, he has a backup plan for seven other plans. He’s a snake, he can escape easily if he truly tried, I wonder why he is staying.”

“I’ll go talk to him,” Natasha began, standing from her seat and making her way down to the holding cell where the God of Mischief was casually pacing the expanse of it.

The God ceased his movements and smirked as he turned to face Natasha, “there are not many that can sneak up on me.”

“But you figured I would come,” Natasha replied easily, crossing her arms as she glared at the God before her, “why are you here, Loki? What do you want with Earth?”

Loki chuckled and walked closer to where the agent was standing, “I am here because I was captured, is that not apparent?”

“You chose to be here, you look too calm about being in there to be here against your will, what are you planning?” the redhead sneered as Loki chuckled, his smile wide and threatening.

The God stepped back and tilted his head, his blue eyes shining maniacally as his smile spread wider. Suddenly, the ship lurched and the agent had to hold onto the rail to keep herself upright.

“What did you do?!” Natasha demanded before hearing the click of heels coming down the hall. The Widow immediately jumped into action, cocking her gun and striding over to the control panel to protect it. 

Loki remained silent even as the door opened and in walked a familiar figure. With a tilt of his head, Loki hummed and whispered, “Y/N.”

“Husband,” you acknowledged him with a soft smile before turning to Agent Romanoff, “you can go now, agent. My husband is in my care.”

The agent scoffed and held her gun up, pointing it at your head before it disappeared in a glow of forest green and she stared at you in surprise.

“Please,” you purred with a smirk so similar to your husband’s, “you don’t bring guns to a magic fight.”

You conjured a wave of magic and swept her away from the control panel as you walked over the railings to get to it, pressing the button that would open the door for Loki. As the God strode out, Thor slammed open the door and threw Mjolnir at you, hitting you square in the chest and sending you to the floor with an agonised scream.

“Stay down, sister,” Thor ordered before turning to his brother, “you drag her into this now?”

Loki chuckled and his magic summoned two daggers into his hands as he stood between Thor and you. “You hurt her,” he sneered, fury flaring in his eyes as he approached Thor, “you hurt my wife. As I promised in my vows to her, those who harm her shall know pain.”

You watched in horror as Thor and his brother began to fight. You knew Thor was at a disadvantage without Mjolnir while Loki benefitted with his magic. However, once Thor was thrown to the floor, his instincts took over and he summoned Mjolnir, sealing your chance of escape. Quickly, you got to your feet and disappeared in a flurry of green, taking Loki with you.

You appeared in Norway, in front of a quaint cabin that was covered in a beautiful sheet of white. You wove your arm around Loki’s waist and guided him inside, laying him down on the sofa before noticing a note on the coffee table. Curiously, you picked it up and read it. 

Hello, darling,

Welcome to your new home. In every universe, this cabin will be ours. You may know me, you may not, but the door is always open for you, for Haven and for me. I love you, sweet one, don’t give up on your search.

Love,

T.S/L.O

L.O? Ah, you thought with a smile, turning to look at your husband, Loki Odinson.

“Are you alright?” you whispered, setting down the note and walking over to him, kneeling beside him as the Prince groaned and covered his eyes with his arm, “Loki. Answer me.”

“No,” came Loki’s reply, broken and hoarse and scared. “I’m not alright,” he whispered, “I’ve had a terrible year, my darling.”

You frowned and held his free hand to your cheek, leaning into it and kissing his palm, “I’m always going to be here to listen, my love. Always.”

Loki shook his head and his thumb caressed your lip before he pulled back and gripped his hair, “I can’t. I can’t speak about it. I just can’t.”

You frowned and stood, pressing a gentle kiss to his soft forehead before stepping out onto the porch and beginning a difficult combination of spells so that no one would find out where the both of you were hidden; not even Heimdall.

Once you were finished, you walked back inside and closed the door behind you and found Loki staring out of the window solemnly. His ebony hair was matted and greasy, spiking up in places due to lack of care, bags were hung under his eyes and deep purple was easily seen beside his eyes. He looked slimmer too, he had a slightly shaky hand that he hadn’t had a year ago. YOu frowned as you wondered what had happened to him. 

You gently touched his shoulder and watched as he flinched before settling and melting into your comforting touch. “Tell me,” you whispered, tears forming in your eyes, “please. It’s alright. I’m right here.”

With a sigh, Loki turned to you and began to talk. The more he talked, the more the air tensed with your rage. He had been tortured, horribly so, torn apart and sewn back together as a puppet, as a replaceable toy. He was subjected to all sorts of abuse. He was shown your death countless times. The air was swarming with your built-up magic when he was done.

Once you were sure he was done, he looked at you brokenly and watched you storm out into the snow, uncaring of the dropping temperature. With a startled cry, Loki followed you.

“Y/N!” he yelled, following you into the forest desperately until he caught up to you and held your arms, “No! Y/N, please!”

“I’ll kill him,” you growled, tugging on his hands as your own glowed a sickly green and your eyes shone with power. Loki stared at you head on, appreciating that you would go to such lengths to protect him but he needed you.

“You can’t kill a titan,” he whispered brokenly, cradling your shaking arms with his hands, rubbing his thumbs on your tense muscles as tears surfaced in his eyes.

You growled and pulled the Prince closer to you, gently reaching up to cup his cheek, “you’re right. For you, I’d do so much worse.”

With a soft sigh, Loki cupped your cheek and recessed his forehead to yours, “Wait,” he whispered tenderly.

“There need to be repercussions,” you sneered, holding Loki tighter and only letting go slightly when the God winced in pain.

Loki shook his head and allowed tears to fall from his eyes, seeing how much it brought you back to him, “hurting him will not make me feel better, Y/N! If you want to help me then stay with me!”

Your eyes softened as Loki pulled you into a tight hug and your power dimmed to a halt when he whispered, “I am the one who needs you… I am the one who needs you.”

You felt him crumble in your arms as you both dropped to your knees in the snow as the God broke and cried in your arms. You frowned and held him tight, allowing him to cry as he processed his trauma. All that shit he went through with Thanos. The lot of it. Watching his children be murdered before his eyes in simulation along with you. The mental torment. You hated Thanos so much for ruining your husband but you could never hate Loki himself.

When Loki was calm, you helped him to his feet and guided him back to the cabin. He silently sat on the sofa and you brewed the kettle, pouring some tea for the both of you as you both processed what had happened.

“Loki,” you whispered, staring down into the mug of tea, “I’m sorry for losing my temper, for all of it, I just-”

“No.”

“What?” you turned to look at him in confusion, watching him raise his teacup to his lips and take a long sip before sighing.

“I said no,” he replied simply, meeting your eyes with a sad smile, “you were justified in your wrath. Trust me, I know. But that wasn’t what I needed in that moment. I just needed you.”

You nodded and set your teacup down on the coffee table, along with his cup before you got onto his lap and held his face in your hands, “until you’re ready, I will just stay by your side and keep you safe from there.”

Loki smiled brokenly and nodded, “I think I would like that, my love,” he whispered. 

You leaned forward and sealed his lips with yours in a tender kiss, allowing him to whimper and cradle you closer, his eyes fluttering closed in relief. He had probably thought that you would never get to kiss him like this again. He loved you so much and missed you. 

Thanos would pay for ruining your prince.

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Hope you enjoyed!

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@lokisgoodgirl @lokisninerealms @evelyn-kingsley @slpnbty2001 @jennyggggrrr @hahaha12123445 @ozymdias @holdmytesseract @itsybitchylittlewitchy @lovingchoices14 @xorpsbane @huntress-artemiss @muddyorbs @nerdy-fangirl-65