outer_divide | [Video] | Tuesday afternoon

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[Video] | Tuesday afternoon

[Hey, look who's found his way onto the network again! Finally! Thor is smiling cheerily, and maybe a little bit like he's going stir-crazy, at the camera on his phone. He's also not in his armor, but a rather nice blue tunic with some gold embellishments. Somebody did some shopping while across the ocean.]

At last, we are again in range! Hello, my friends in the Old City! It is Thor Odinson, and we are on our return trip. Apparently we will be arriving at the end of the week, but we are not to speak of that until we strike land again.

[And Thor, while a bit of an airhead, is still trying to abide by the rules.]

Have we missed anything of import? Is everyone still well? Please, regale me!

[And keep him from being bored. Please.]

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[It wasn't supposed to be this way.]

[He'd already decided. Thor would return, explain why on earth he'd joined a diplomatic mission, and sit around being cheerful and unhelpful while Loki got the two of them home. They'd leave behind the uncomfortable place and its strange machines and unfamiliar magic, and he'd even start leaving the temple again, his appreciation for Asgard renewed by this stint in the grim little city on the edge of no world at all.]

[Loki has been quietly regarding his communicator for hours, making himself accept what he'd been trying to deny. There aren't just different Midgards. But he'd know his brother in any guise, and it's better to get this over with. Then, when Thor returns, they can plan from there.]

Circumstances have gone more awry than I had realized.

[Of course he tries to sound aloof and mildly bored, but his voice cracks when he speaks. Loki--this Loki has a bit of a fixation on being both tidy and unremarkable to look at. At this age, it's one of many ways he copes with his place, the shadow to his brother's sunlight. Short hair, modest bearing, and no finery at all, but not a speck of dust or a thread out of place. Looking exhausted and disheveled and not posing to hide any interesting feature says a lot about just how distressed he is.]

[When Thor gets the communicator back from Alenko again, at this belated message, it takes him several long minutes more to reply. Because he's watching the short message over and over again. Yes, that is the spitting image of his younger brother... yes, that is his manner of speaking and even his favorite outfit as an adolescent... but it seems like it has been so very long since he's seen that Loki. A Loki who doesn't have pain behind his eyes and an anger that requires him to ruin everything around him just to get attention.

And what's worse, he's not even sure that this is that Loki, or the old Loki, or a completely different Loki. He finally replies, clearing his throat and looking somewhere between pained, wary, and apologetic.]

Loki... brother. This is not how I anticipated seeing you again, either.

[Loki's unsure whether he'd rather this be his own brother in the future or some other incarnation, but only because he can't decide which would be more disquieting. It doesn't matter too much for practical purposes. For Loki, there was no reason to doubt that Thor would be pleased to see him once the shock wore off, that the sweet oaf would do everything he could to help, and that he probably won't even tease too much if Loki lets slip how upset he is. Thor, after all, had to feel the same way about this mess.]

I've been told there were inadvertent visitors here from more than one strain of reality on Midgard. I didn't realize that might be the case elsewhere.

[Because even if he can count on his big brother not to be too mean to him, he's not going to stop trying to give the impression that he's on top of everything and will have the situation sewn up in short order. It's just habit.]

Nor did I.

[He pauses, then gives the bigger of the two bombshells he might have for a Loki who is truly younger.]

The Loki I saw last tried to kill me. Twice.

[Is this Loki going to do the same? Will he even react to that? Thor isn't sure what kind of reaction he wants, here. If this really is the Loki who hates him, or if he isn't. It's unlike him to be uncertain like this, but there it is.]

[It's quite difficult to really throw Loki for a loop. He's very, very good at composure. But something that unthinkable goes beyond breaking his careful lack of reactions. He almost laughs. That's too ridiculous, but as a jest it's too stupid even for Thor, and too cruel.

Instead he just looks stricken. Thor is the only one he's sure loves him, the only one who comes to look in on him in the temple since Algrim's betrayal, liege and brother both. He's had to bite back the impulse to strike out at plenty of people, fretted endlessly about what other awfulness might be tucked into his heart, but he's never turned that on his brother. It's such an awful thing to hear he completely forgets his usual measured verbosity.]

What?

[Either Loki is far better at acting than he thinks he is-- and Thor thinks he's pretty good, but that he wouldn't generally bother for him-- or this is not the same Loki. He winces at the expression on Loki's face, sympathetic and a little less uncertain now, but nods.]

It is a complicated tale... and the Loki I saw last is... older. We will have much to discuss, but it must be after I arrive at this city. We should speak face to face and let there be no deception or confusion.

[He pauses, and after a beat adds,]

... it is good to see you, brother.

[He'd like to be offended. Deception and confusion? But Thor has recently learned (or, rather, Sif has flat-out told him) about a few of Loki's ways of managing him, some bidden by their father and some of the younger prince's own admission. He probably deserves that.]

I'll be waiting.

[He doesn't know what else he can say. A Thor who's too old is strange, but he can handle that. A Thor making awful accusations and looking at him like that... Looking at him like he deserves, like a murderer, like his own Thor refused to do... He looks away, not sure if he's being dismissed or not.]

And I will try to make this vessel hurry, to the best of my ability.

[Thor isn't entirely sure how to end the conversation, either. This is not how Loki should be acting. It makes him feel terribly guilty, even more than he already felt when Loki disappeared into the void. His Loki, not this one.]

Do take care of yourself. I will see you soon, brother.

[He'll just go ahead and not comment on how well taking care of himself is going. Normally it would be because a worried Thor is difficult to deal with and makes bad decisions, but a little part of him isn't sure how this brother would react, and he doesn't want to know.]

Yes, right.

[Might be best to just stop before this gets worse.]

[After another uncertain pause, searching Loki's face for he knows not what, Thor finally disconnects and goes to return the communicator to Kaidan.

This is doing nothing for his restlessness, after all.]

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[Video] | Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday Night, Video

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