Log

[thoreal]

Characters: Thor and Loki
Where: The castle
When: RD8
What: After days of avoidance, Thor finally corners Loki. Loki isn't happy, but when is he ever?

At first, Thor had made himself a nuisance -- although the word he would use is concerned brother. He'd tried to talk to Loki again and again, first as a wolf, and then again when he was spotted as a human. Loki was having none of it, and either rebuffed or ignored every attempt.

Oddly, their mother's arrival had made it easier for Thor to back away. She had always understood Loki best in their family; they had always been closest. If anyone could reach him, it was she, not Thor, who might do it. So he'd stopped hunting Loki's shadow quite so voraciously, agreed to let him have his peace for now. Yet after his latest conversations with Sif, he knew he finally had a reason to corner Loki again. Something he would not want to hear at all, according to Sif, but would be better heard from his brother than from the orb.

Which made it a little vexing when Thor got up early specifically to track Loki down, only to find no trace of him in the room Sif had called his. He waited for a time, wondering if Loki had gone and come back... but when nothing changed, he returned to the castle, grumbling. Perhaps the orb would have to find him, after a--

"Loki." He stopped in the castle hallway, blinking. Well, that hadn't been so hard, after all. "Brother. You're here." He hesitated, then steeled himself. "It is long past time we spoke."

Comments

[thoreal]

Thor does turn, now, and his own eyes are still angry, but not uninviting. "I mean to ride against the thorns, Loki. You could still come with me."

He does not mean it as a choice, but in a way, it seems to be framed as one: turn inward and seek the truth; turn outward and become a hero.

[sorcerous]

And Loki, abruptly, remembers what it is that he's forgotten. From yesterday. His eyes widen.

"No," he says. "No. Don't ride out. There is something greater at stake. How could I have forgotten..."

He rummages in his pockets. The grey stones -- they have come with him. A handful of gemstones. He holds one between his fingers.

"Carry this with you," he says.

[thoreal]

He hesitates.

He can't help it -- he hesitates, and he does not yet take it. "What is it? Why?"

[sorcerous]

Loki presses it into Thor's palm, and he darts past Thor. "I will explain all," he promises. "Do not ride out. Do not go; if you have trust left in you, use it now."

[thoreal]

"Loki--" If you have trust left in you? He turns quickly to follow his brother, the stone still in his hand, unsure whether to pocket it or throw it away. There must -- surely, there must be a trick here, mustn't there?

"Loki, tell me."

[sorcerous]

"A threat greater than the thorns," he insists. "Once I find what's happened, I will tell you."

And then he is gone, fled, for the mirror. For Anya, and answers to his questions.