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i feel like a manip is in order here BUT I’M NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE TO MAKE IT LMAO

.......

AWED

There it was, the magnificence that Thor always tried to deny and Loki always saw. It was there, right before him, before his men, then those they were fighting.

It was there, taking place in the middle of a battlefield as they defeated their enemies.

The power.

The might

Thor.

His eyes, though normally blue were now white, matching with the lightning that danced over him, slithered over him like the snakes Loki formed in the beds of his enemies and the drinks of his friends.

Thunder roared above them and the enemies scarpered quickly enough, turning tail and running as lightning descended from the angry black skies.

Awed, that was that they were. Awed and terrified.

They were running but Loki knew it wouldn’t happen, for their lives were going to end in a few, barely countable breaths.

He himself lay on the ground, a gash in his chest that was pumping blood out faster than he could heal. Sif, the dear lady, was trying her best, but Loki had been hurt enough to know that this would be a long, painful recovery.

Not that it wasn’t worth seeing Thor like this.

So strong!

The lightning was a cage, falling all around them, keeping the enemies in, roasting them alive when they tried to go through.

Fools

Why take on Thor anyway? Why take him on after hurting his most prized brother?

They had been confident before, now no longer.

They were terrified, screaming in fear and agony as Thor raised Mjolnir above and brought her down, holding her straight in front of him.

the static made his hair float around his head, as though he was in water. It lifted his cape as though he was flying and it reacted to his strength enough to burn them all where they stood.

Loki could feel the buzz of power above him, around him, floating over him like a balm. He felt Thor everywhere. Thor smothered him, choked him, made it hard to breathe and yet he loved it.

Loki loved it.

The smell of burning flesh, the agonizing screams of those who hurt Loki, all made him smile with joy as he stared upon Thor and his revenge in awe.

Thor shouted in rage and the lightning turned even stronger, the buzzing, frizzling and roaring turned so loud that even Loki looked away, though he  wanted to do anything but.

A heavy thud broke their world and Loki was sure he heard the earth crack beneath them.

It rumbled over and around them and then silence.

Complete silence.

Loki, Thor’s friends and the army could only stare.

Gone, the entire army led by their enemies was gone, nothing but ash and dust. Loki couldn’t even Sif’s hands on him anymore.

His eyes, his soul, his heart, his attention, his breath, all of it was focused on Thor. And excitement flooded his chest when Thor turned.

Beautiful, strong, dark and his.

This was Loki’s to control.

That awed him more than what he’d just seen.

Thor - all this - was his.

This is kind of a weird coincidence, because I basically just wrote this in the in-progress Chapter 3 of “Starting Over.” But I’m going to do a different version of it here instead of cheating and just giving you another preview. Here, have a fix-it drabble.

“You are incapable of sincerity,” Thor gibed his brother, though his laugh was fond.

“Am I?” Loki said softly. His tone was light, but Thor could hear the hurt underneath it, and instantly regretted his ill-considered jest. Loki met his eyes, and for once they were open and earnest, innocent of mischief. “I’ve looked forward to this day as long as you have,” Loki murmured, so quietly that Thor had to strain to hear him, as if his honesty were the most intimate of secrets, one he could not bear for anyone else to overhear. “You’re my brother and my friend. Sometimes I’m envious”—his eyes flickered down with the admission, his teeth caught at his lip, but then he raised his gaze firmly to Thor’s again—“but never doubt that I love you.”

With a feeling like the ripple of electricity over his skin, or the sudden illumination of a storm-darkened landscape by the flash of lightning, it became clear to Thor that he was being presented with an opportunity that, if he did not seize it, might never come again.

He placed a firm hand where Loki’s neck met his shoulder and said, “I do not doubt it. I have never doubted it. And though I may not always show it—though I may seem to take your aid and loyalty for granted—never doubt how much I love and trust you. If I am not nervous—indeed, if I am not quaking-in-my-boots terrified—it is only because I know I will always have you at my side. Offering me your wise counsel, correcting me when I am foolish, supporting me when I am weary, doing with your mind and your magic the things that my arm and my will, however mighty, could never do. And of course,” he added with a grin, “your tricks will keep me on my toes should I grow complacent, and should my ego grow swollen, the blade of your tongue will lance it.”

Loki did not laugh. Instead, his eyes had gone wide and bright, pained and almost fearful.

Well, this doesn’t follow the prompt exactly, but having recently seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, I was inspired to run with my idea from Abyss that Loki met several of the Guardians during the year between Thor and The Avengers (Rocket and Groot during his criminal career, and Gamora and Nebula while in Thanos’s clutches). This is what came out. Enjoy! (P.S. I didn’t know what Sam Wilson’s military rank was so I went with lieutenant because it’s lower than captain but still sounds cool.)

The official meeting between the Avengers and the Guardianshad been called to a close, and now the members of both teams had dispersedaround the room and were talking to each other in twos and threes. Gamora andNebula—having greeted Loki already, the one joyously and the other grudgingly—seemed to be commiserating about something with the women of the Avengers, the Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch. Vision was chatting animatedlywith Groot, and seemed to have no trouble at all understanding him. Barton andQuill appeared to have discovered that they had a great deal in common, whichLoki was charmed and amused to see, though he still felt a pang of regret thathe could never have a truly warm relationship with Barton. Captain Rogers wastalking with—or more accurately being talked at—by Drax the Destroyer, andlooking distinctly unhappy; he looked across the room to his friends Barnes andWilson, clearly pleading for rescue, and they exchanged a few words and thenlaughed, just as clearly having no intention at all of coming to his aid.

Amid all this camaraderie, Rocket had crossed the table(quite literally; he walked across it) to Loki. “Hey, Lucan, or whatever yourname really is,” he began.

‘Lucan’ was the name Loki had used when he was operating asa criminal in the Andromeda Galaxy and pretending, more or less, to beXandarian. “It’s Loki,” he said.

“Eh, close enough,” Rocket replied. “I have a proposition.”

“Oh?” Whatever it was, this should be good.

“I wanna convince that guy that Groot really hates him andwants to fight him.” He jerked his head toward the Falcon.

Loki did not need to ask why he wanted to do that; heunderstood that Rocket simply thought it would be humorous, and he had to admitthat he concurred.

“And what is my role in this charade?” Loki asked, amused.

“Well, since you and your brother have that Asgardian All-mouththingy, I need you either on board or out of the room. And that purple guy,too.” He waved a paw at Vision. “And knowing you, I was pretty sure you’d geton board,” he added with an exaggerated wink.

Thor was standing just a few paces away, speaking with T’Challa,the grave-faced Wakandan king, whom he had not met before this gathering. Loki regardedhis brother consideringly, debating whether to involve him in the scheme orsimply find a pretext to dismiss him. He relished the idea of drawing Thor intosome bit of mischief as he so often had when they were boys; and as much ashe always had insisted to Loki, after they had been caught, that it was entirely Loki’sidea and therefore his fault that they were being punished, Loki recalled thathe had never been all that reluctant to join him in the roguery.

“Thor, would you come here a moment?” Loki called, raisinghis voice just enough to be heard by those standing close by.

Thor excused himself politely, inclining his head to hisfellow royal, and T’Challa inclined his head in turn and went to join Rogers;Loki was unsure whether he had noticed the captain’s predicament and hoped to assisthim, or whether he was walking unawares into the ‘conversation’ with Drax.

“What is it, brother?” Thor asked, sounding somewhatapprehensive.

“Rocket here has an idea, but he needs our cooperation. Hewishes to convince Lieutenant Wilson that Groot does not like him and wants tochallenge him to a fight.”

Thor frowned and looked askance at Rocket. “Why do you wishto do that?”

“Because it would be hilarious!” Rocket said with theexasperation of one always being compelled to state the obvious. “No one hasany idea what Groot is saying except me, you two, and Mr. Ex-Robot there. Hewould be so confused, and Groot will be insisting that he said nothing of thesort, and he’ll get madder and madder at me, but everyone will think it’sbecause he really hates the bird man. But I need one of you backing me up,because if it’s just me saying it, Quill and Gamora will smell a rat.”

“No pun intended, obviously,” Loki added sotto voce.

“Huh?” said Rocket.

“Never mind.” Loki turned to Thor. “It seems to me that thiswould work best if you support Rocket in his interpretation of Groot while Idraw Vision away. The Avengers are even more suspicious of me than yourcompanions are of you,” he explained to Rocket, “while they expect nothing buthonesty from my shining paragon of a brother here.” He gave Thor the sweetestof smiles.

Thor still looked skeptical and somewhat disgruntled. “And whyshould I aid you in this utterly dishonorable enterprise?”

“A sense of fun? A collegial bonding exercise? The sheer Helof it?” Loki suggested. Then, more quietly, almost sincerely, “Old times’ sake?”

In the wake of the election, there was some discussion among philosophers and political theorists about the advantages and disadvantages of an “epistemocracy,” i.e., government by the knowledgeable/ intelligent/ educated. In principle, I think this is a fabulous idea, but a lot would have to be in place before it could be effectively implemented. The notion of a “literacy test” as a precondition for voting has extremely bad precedent in America, and right now the outcome of such a condition would basically just be government by the relatively wealthy. Even if we were just talking about rigorous examinations as a condition for serving in the government -- something like the system they had in Ming Dynasty China -- the tendency would also be to discriminate against the poor, those who never had access to good primary education in order to matriculate into good secondary education, etc.

This seems to be a problem with our current education system rather than with the idea of an epistemocracy as such. So what if we really could guarantee equal access to good primary education to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status? Then the remaining issue would be what kind of knowledge about government and current events would be required for voting, and whether this would exclude people who have time-consuming occupations that prevent them from staying properly informed. People like Aristotle thought that the only way to maintain a “democracy” -- in which all property-owning citizens voted and served in government periodically -- was to have a permanent slave class (not to mention women) doing the menial labor to leave time for the gentlemen to give their attention to the affairs of the state. So maybe the bar should be low enough that a lot of leisure time is not a requirement for participation. And if there were truly equitable access to primary education, would a test even be needed? (My inclination is to say yes, because some people are just dumb, but maybe I’m wrong.) Should there only be a test of knowledge and intelligence for people who enter the civil service (who generally do have to go through rigorous training anyway, except for the political appointees at the top) and for people to be permitted to run for office?

25. favorite line you’ve ever writtenI’m fond of this one, describing Thor’s thoughts in response to Loki’s questioning after the first time Loki kisses him in Desert Flowers: “Disgust was not the word he would have chosen, but… it had felt something like nausea. Or that adrenaline-intoxicated point where nausea and hunger meet.” Though it has occurred to me that Asgardians probably don’t have adrenaline... fill in whatever hormone serves a similar function in the fight-or-flight response.

30. hardest part of writingMy story ideas tend to revolve around little scenes or exchanges of dialogue, and I’m always very excited to get those down, but it’s filling in all the interstitial bits that gets annoying. How characters get from Point A to Point B, what they’re doing with their hands, etc.

15. Have any pets?

lord, do i. i have 3 to 4 depending on if my eldest is home from college and brings their bird. if that’s the case, i have a dog (jessie), a cat (buster) and two birds (pikachu and pasokon)

23. Do you have piercings? How many?

i only have piercings in my ears (2 in each lobe). i’d gotten a cartilage piercing in my ear at one point, but it hurt so bad that i had to take the ring out and let it close up

34. Who/what was your last dream about?

…i am drawing a complete blank. i can think of memorable dreams i’ve had, but not the last one i had :/ i sorry 

51. Favourite food?

SUSHI AND SASHIMI. i haven’t had it in so long bc i’m always broke, but god i love sushi and sashimi so much, especially anything that involves unagi (eel) or spicy tuna