Skaði

“All people of great power have done things that burden their souls. No one is immune to it, no matter how cleverly they try to escape it.” Odin replied. “What you have done, has been done. For all our many centuries, for all our strength, we cannot go back and change our pasts, no matter how much we wish to.”

“Father.” came Thor’s voice. He had entered the garden, staff in hand, still in his gleaming armour and helm, the marks of his acting authority.

“You!” Odin said, spinning around. “How long did you think to keep this from me, you wretched boy?!” he spat. “How dare you!”

“Father.” Thor repeated, and this time it rang with a strength that had so often left the young Princes quaking, when it came from the Allfather. Odin paused, a frown on his face.

“It was my intention to come here and tell you myself. I only learned of Loki’s survival myself mere hours ago. His life was in no danger, nor was anyone else’s from his presence here, so I saw no fault in attending to the duties of my station before addressing this… more personal family matter.”

Odin seemed to deflate a little, looking tired and ancient. He sighed, giving a very slight nod of agreement.

Thor was nothing like Odin. The Allfather had once forced the eldest prince’s hand every waking moment, grooming him to follow in the path he had carved out for him but Thor was nothing like him. There was a softness to his heart, a softness that came from Frigga. The one common thing they did share was a pigheadedness that drove them both to the edge of conflict. 

Loki had been a mediator between them or so long it was natural instinct as sparks began to fly that he took a step forward; readying himself to stand between them. 

“It’s alright.” He sighed as the situation diffused much quicker than he was used to. “I.. It’s not Thor’s fault, I was hiding myself even from Heimdall’s gaze. I know.. I know I have a lot of explaining to do, please just–” Loki looked back to Thor with a gentle expression, “can we agree to a ceasefire. Hostilities won’t do us any good.

Odin listened to Loki, but stood facing Thor. As if studying him for the first time in a long while.

“I’m not here to start hostilities. On the contrary, I rushed here thinking your reunion would be much… well, much more hostile, to be honest.” Thor said with the faintest hint of a smirk. “I think it wise that each of us take an hour to collect our thoughts. Then I will meet you both in the King’s Council Chambers.” Thor suggested.

“I used to look at you, and see a little boy, whose hands were too small to wrap around Gungir’s shaft. It seems, that now, once I have stopped trying to make you a king… you have finally grown into one. Gungir suits you well.” Odin said.

It certainly was true, Thor in his youth seemed impossible to pin down and Loki had doubted his brothers leadership and strength to be king. Yet as time progressed as experiences aged them, they grew into what they were meant to be.

“I am proud of you brother, this time I know you are ready.” Loki winked before turning away and heading back to his chambers.

The empty halls eased his anxious mind, no glances or glares in his direction. Once in his room he took a moment to change into his old clothes; a green tunic, brown leggings and a leather robe. Dressing almost like he did in his cell, forgoing any of his old armour. Not feeling he was deserving of it. Even trying to tame his hair by slicking it back like he used to but settling on a messy, half bun to keep it out of his face.

Slowly life returned on Loki’s features. When his skin turned from icy blue to pale ivory, Sif felt deep relief. Loki was coming back to her. She picked herself up from the floor and came to look at Loki’s healing injuries. The stasis chamber repaired fatal damage but didn’t remove brusing or scars that the body would deal with naturally. There was a dark bruise, shaped like a giant hand, around Loki’s throat. If the assailant had but a hair’s width more strength in it, they would have popped Loki’s head away from the spinal column, and then there would have been nothing to save.

Loki’s lips moved, and Sif hurried to open the chamber.

“Shh… shh…” she pulled him against her chest. “No words now…”

For a moment she just wanted to hold him, comforted by knowing that al least Loki was aluve and with her. There would be time for everything else, and she needed this, this one win.

When she finally pulled away, Sif’s eyes caught on the stasis chamber controllers.

“What… five cycles… that can’t be right?” Sif frowned at the timer. “Why does this say you’ve been in the stasis for five cycles?”

Tears fell without any shame as she pulled him in close; Loki thought he would never see her again after he had seen the Titan’s ship on the horizon. He had lost so much but he hadn’t lost her.

Facing Thanos after all these years he knew it was his end. The Titan would never let him live after what he had done but if he had to die, well, giving his last breath to ensure his brother lived was always enough for Loki. “Thor..” He tried to ask, his voice nothing more than raspy air and syllables mouthed. Yet as soon as Sif’s attention was pulled away so was his.

Glancing down at the panel he was thrown into a state of confusion. Reaching down he tapped to the keys to bring up the detailed log. 

A holograph rose out of the screen and showed in fine detail his vitals, steady in stasis for a little over five years. 

Shaking his head he pushed himself out of the chamber and onto his feet, nearly falling if he hadn’t reached out to braced himself. Taking slow and shaking steps to the cockpit and bringing up the ships log. The computer coming to life and nearly blinding him with brightness. Schematics showing how the ship had gone into low power mode after remaining adrift for so long. 

Weird, innit?

-

There seems to be a bit of an issue when it comes to nonroleplaying blogs reblogging roleplay threads. So I am going to try and explain the difference for you so that you don’t get confused.

A fanfiction is a short or long story that one writes about characters and shows they enjoy. They are able to be shared and liked and enjoyed by many. Authors don’t care if you reblog their fanfictions. Hell, they’re thrilled when you reblog them! I don’t know about you, but if someone reblogs a fanfiction of mine I tend to see if they wrote anything cute in the tags to see if they liked anything. I live for when my stories are shared.

Roleplay threads are a sort of story, where two writers, portraying characters that they enjoy or created themselves, come together for their characters to interact. It may look like a story, especially if you find a good thread where the responses are paragraphs and in depth and amazing, yes I love reading those threads.

Roleplayers don’t mind if their threads are read by others. They don’t care if you press the little “like” button.

 But what they do care about is whether or not you leave the thread alone.

Roleplaying is between two people. The two people who are acitively writing the thread together. It belongs to them, no one else.

 If you reblog it, you’re asking for trouble because,

a) You have nothing to do with the thread.

b) You are not a part of the thread

c) You are messing up the roleplayers’ notifications, thinking they got a reply only to find that, nope, it was just some asshole reblogging the thread all willy nilly.

If you reblog a roleplay thread, then there’s a good chance the roleplayer will get angry and send you a message demanding you delete the thread. Don’t get a stick up your butt because of their reaction, you brought it onto yourself. Does a roleplay thread really look like a vastly unfinished fanfiction? I doubt it.

If you reblog a roleplay thread, the roleplayers will get upset and block your sorry ass, and, if you don’t delete the part you reblogged, will have to actively delete the thread and start over. You know how fucking annoying that is? It’s so annoying and it’s completely unfair. You could be ruining days or weeks or even months of work the roleplayers put into the thread.

So, what have we learned from this?