nine_realms | Welcome To Asgard

Loki mirrored the glancing around before nodding.

"Yes, of course. It has been fairly quiet, apart from... well, some unexpected Midgardian guests."

He said the word guests more as if they were unwelcome as much as unexpected.

Quiet? Then Thor was not here? What of Odin? Or... or Frigga? Was this a time, in which she lived?

Did his alternate even know of what he was? The thought of the secret was disquieting. Loki fidgeted in reaction to it.

His gaze flicking to his alternate's eyes, Loki asked, "Did you know them?"

That ought to resolve a few questions anyway, if he did.

"Who? The... guests?" He smirk was leaning toward becoming a sneer.

"One was Tony Stark. I presume that you know him - or of him."

That sneer bothered him. It reminded him of the entity with the aqua-colored eyes. Was it the guests themselves, that his alternate sneered at? Or simply the thought of Midgardians in general?

Oh yes, he knew that name. Frowning uncomfortably, Loki tried to make it appear that it did not unnerve him. He could still remember throwing the man out a window -- of his own volition -- after all. Somehow, that made it worse. There had really been no one else to blame for his actions. Except that there had been. It was all so wrong.

"I have heard more than enough of him, yes."

Loki made a small scoffing sound. "Well, he is gone now, thankfully."

He looked the other Loki up and down then beckoned him to follow.

"Come with me."

It's likely he would recognise the path Loki was going, down a corridor toward his own private room.

He was, of course, free to not follow or stop them.

Loki was having mixed reactions to the direction they were heading. His room was a place of quiet and peace, that he had been loathe to visit during his rule as Odin. Yet also it was a place of peace, because he was in control there. His own room had traps set in place, for any who would dare to harm him. Was this just an inviting cell that his alternate was leading him to? Or was it a return to normalcy?

He could return to his home, if he was trapped, could he not? It would be easy enough, to slip away again.

So he followed his alternate, knowing the path. Dreading it, in a way, for it now felt like a bitter lie that he told himself again and again, with every step. A beautiful lie that had shattered this past life of his. He may return to this room, yes, but he would never return home.

Walking down the same hallway, knowing these steps by rote, did not make it feel less unusual. Less wrong.

"You still use this room?" There was little intonation in Loki's voice, for his alternate to make sense of how that question was meant. He sounded a little tired.

"Why should I not?" Loki gave him a questioning look. This one had not taken over Odin's throne and was not even aware of that. The fact that he had been parading around out in the open, looking as he always did may be something of a giveaway that not everything was like the alternate world.

Loki's expression fell, caught in an unwinnable situation. Any answer he gave, would speak his heart. Many of them might anger his alternate, if the other Loki did not yet know of his birth origins.

"No reason. Different universes might imply different destinations for our personal chambers, after all. The coincidence of the same room in both, is interesting."

He gave a slight smile, trying to make it look contemplative and natural.

"But you made it sound as if I should have moved on from it," Loki observed. "What are you not telling me? What is different in your world?"

Giving an appeasing gesture, Loki laughed out, "How would I know what is different? When I have seen but a few hallways of yours."

"Indeed... Do you even know the reason why you came here? By accident or otherwise..."

Loki was becoming more suspicious about this again. Was this twin here to replace him?

The alternate spread his hands in a gesture of confusion. "I've no idea. I was halfway across the palace from here. I walked through a doorway, and... here I was."

"So you were on Asgard? Your Asgard?"

Loki's Asgard. It was, wasn't it? Before, that idea may have brought him joy. Now the thought was an aggravating one.

Before, the power of the throne had allowed him a sense of control, even as matters in his familial life had begun to deteriorate. He had been Regent, and in that, he'd had control over Asgard. Theoretically. Because in actuality, it seemed to him that his orders had been occasionally followed, and rarely respected.

Now, though... Now, being the Allfather was an annoyance. It was responsibility and a strangely-crowded isolation. If any spoke well of his deeds, Loki would be left to wonder whether their love was for Odin or himself. No one spoke to him as Loki. No one spoke to him, at all. Just to Odin. Odin, whose patience was supposedly stronger than that which Loki had felt, when assuming his role.

Then there was Thor. Now, bearing Odin's face, Thor heeded Loki's words. Now words the Thunderer had once considered folly, were now thought wisdom. Loki's aggravation had been continually repressed, and it was building.

So yes, Asgard was his. Yet not. Because for all of Loki's efforts, he felt that Asgard would never truly want him.

Nodding, Loki responded, "I was."

If those thoughts had been voiced, Loki would have understood and had to agree. There were differences between what he wanted and what he would ultimately get, and his dissatisfaction would surely grow. Especially since there would be no acknowledgement of his own wisdom in the form of Odin. Having the burden of the throne either way was very limiting.

And Loki had never liked to be limited.

"So simply stepping through a door... I expect if Heimdall had spotted you, he would already have sent guards to report on the anomaly. You are clearly not an illusion."

Heimdall... was on Loki's side? For more than just their short little adventure together? Confused, Loki silently regarded his alternate for a moment.

"I am not. But if you wish to prove the notion, I assure you I am solid enough."

"Obviously. I had already gathered as much, although whether you are actually also me is yet to be determined. Tell me something... Tell me something that only you and I would know."

Tilting his head, Loki considered. How much might be the same, in this alternate universe? Certainly, the more recent events appeared to have played out differently. Though their rooms were in the same place. Something of their childhood, then. Something hidden.

"I always preferred the cooler weather."

Should he risk mentioning it? Perhaps he could hint at it, without fully alighting on the subject. Just in case his alternate was yet unaware. "I suppose I felt more like myself, there. Less... burdened."

"More like yourself in the early morning... frost?" Loki gave his double a wary but pointed look.

He could not keep the troubled look from his own face, and instead had to illusion it away. To his alternate, he would merely seem as though he had become sad for half a moment, before smiling with understanding.

"Indeed." He paused, unsure of whether to continue. Eventually, he added, "So you know."

"Of course," he wasn't giving away how he felt about that himself. "And as evasive as I would be too."

"Glad to impress." Loki responded, with a tone of amused sharpness. He felt almost obligated to snark and be silly, right now; it covered up the hurt.

"It is less impressed and more that you have proven that you know something that very few do," Loki said in return.

Not wanting to discuss that 'something' in any further detail, Loki cast about for any other subject, to talk about in its stead.

"Shall we stand in the hallway all day?" he laughed out.

"So you want somewhere more private," Loki ushered him the little way further to his room. "Here we are."

And he closed the door.

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