thisavrou | Video | After Than and Link's trip through the gate

Hello, the ship!

[Loki's tone, cheerful as always, and his smile don't quite match his eyes, which are a little more tense than usual. Wary, mostly, a little angry, and also somewhat distracted. Unsurprising, given that he's planning a little trip later, but- there's always time for curiosity. And talking. He does like talking.]

A couple of questions I find myself pondering, should you wish to consider them. One: if this Ingress takes you to your home universe- where, precisely, did our brave test volunteers go? Surely one of them and likely both are from this universe, yes? So, then, where did the gate take them?

[He props his arms on the kitchen counter, leaning to rest his chin on his hands, still smiling lopsidedly.]

Question two: if the machine doesn't work entirely as intended already- what's to say it works as intended at all? Does it really take you home, or do you merely think you've been? Perhaps you instead end up in a dimension shaped by your whim and will, a mayfly universe of desires and subconscious urges...

[He straightens, shrugging.]

Well, I suspect it doesn't matter all too much to most of you. Still, be careful with your whims, perhaps. They do have a habit of biting you in painful places, if you let them roam too freely, trust me.

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If it's shaped by what my whims, I'll figure it out soon enough.

That doesn't sound that bad, if that's what it is though.

[It probably isn't, though. Going home would be the perfect, awful ending to this entirely unpleasant vacation.]

Consider this! Not all whims are pleasant daydreams. Sometimes subconscious impulses are far, far darker :-( And sometimes what you wish for is not really what you want- or what you believe you deserve.

I have enough real people trying to give me what I deserve, I'm not going to help them with that.

There's only one thing I want and an imaginary place couldn't give it to me.

[Well, that's not true. There are two things she wants, but if she went through the portal and her mom was still alive, she'd figure out pretty quickly that the place wasn't real.]

Frankly the only thing that should be truly looked at in this, considering that whole 'time limit' aspect, is what we could gain from such mayfly universes.

If we could gain materials and emergency supplies, that are stable and useable, via this entire concept it would at least be a much better boon then living in a fantasy of false hope that this is a way back home.

Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of a downer?

[He's teasing, mostly. He figures Billy's boyfriend, because that's apparently a thing that happened, won't be among those yelling at him if he tries to talk to them.]

Excellent decision :-D Never let anyone tell you what you want or deserve, not even me. Especially not me, frankly!

Can't it? If it's shaped by your imagination, perhaps it can. And perhaps you're strong-minded enough to resist, but is everyone?

Am I? Perhaps I have valid reason. Have you heard from Billy in the last couple of days?

[He raises an eyebrow. He might not agree with Peter's stance on reprogramming people, but he can hardly argue for "each to his own" and then refuse to talk to them because they did exactly that.]

Besides, it never hurts to give people something to think about.

I only barely know you, so you definitely don't get to decide that.

[Blunt as ever.]

It can't. I want to learn something about history - it can't make up something from my imagination if I don't have any idea what I'm going to find.

He's going to be fine.

[Quick, automatic response. Bruce had went into cryo and came back okay. So would Billy. He didn't have the emotional stability to consider otherwise.]

I think a lot of people kind of need this, dude. Don't ask them to look the gift horse in the mouth.

[Peggy has been wary about this Ingress from the moment they learned about it, so she's glad to see someone else express their concerns about it all.]

It does all seem a bit too good to be true, does it not?

[In one sense, the idea of going home... Even if for a moment, it's tempting. She's sure most here would say the same. But she's finding herself wondering what the catch is. There's always a catch.]

A little too coincidental for my tastes, yes.

[Loki is naturally genre savvy, and the appearance of a gate, here, when the story is barely even started? It wouldn't be the first time someone's come across something too good to be true and suffered for it. It smells like a trap, and Loki doesn't like traps at all.]

It feels like a trap, or a lure.

Does it really matter if we've really been or not?

[It's giving her a headache trying to figure out what might happen to their minds if it's all just in their head.]

As long as you make the trip safely, most likely not.

[He shrugs, off-handed.]

I merely wanted to speculate a little, that's all. And perhaps warn people that this seems very... hmm. Conveniently timed, perhaps?

Why not? That's the first place you should look, lest the gift-horse have a mouth full of sharp pointy teeth, or be full of soldiers.

[Loki, paranoid? Who would have thought it, right?]

And he'd better come back exactly as he was when he went in, or there'll be... repercussions.

Harsh, but fair. :-)

[Loki is pretty difficult to offend with bluntness these days. It's almost soothing, reminds him of a friend back home.]

Hmm, true, unless you believe some very strange theories. But still- I trust the whole thing very little. Do be careful, going through the gate. It makes my thumbs itch.

I don't see what itchy thumbs have to do anything, but I;ll be careful.

It's really conveniently timed to my asking about being able to send things back through the Ingress.

[Which means she should be more wary but she's enjoying knowing that she's able to try and get word back to her group at home.]

I'm sure it's gonna backfire in one way or another. It's too perfect of an opportunity for something to not go wrong.

Eh. I'm more of a deal with burning the bridge after you cross it kind of guy. Not a nip the problem in the bud one. Besides, I don't think anyone is going to listen when they know this might be their only chance to see their families again.

[Nobody, that's who.]

Let me guess, going to tear this place apart if something happens?

No, I know. But this way, when it inevitably all goes horribly wrong, I'll have the warm glow of self-satisfaction.

[He never said he was a very nice person, after all.

His lips turn up in something very, very far away from happiness.]

To Billy? Oh, no. That would be far too obvious. My power works better in smaller ways- and I have so many ways of making our captain's lives very difficult.

Ah, genre-savviness. An underrated skill, I feel.

[Loki knows stories. He's made from them and of them, after all. And this chapter of their time on this ship doesn't feel like one with a happy ending.]

And... yes. I can see more than one way for this to end in chaos and mayhem. No doubt we'll see when it inevitably happens.

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes". An old story, although not as old as mine.

[Not a nice person indeed. Lucky that Peter doesn't care at all about that kind of thing.]

Really? Just smaller things? Because I'd go for something a lot bigger, will if it comes to it. [Like hell he could be convinced to play the long con if something did happen to his nephew.] Who cares about being obvious when someone has to pay?

It's less about obvious, and more about consequences. If I want to be better than what came before, remembering there are consequences is at least one way I can do that, whether it's unwelcome attention, or people getting caught in the crossfire who I'd as soon not cause harm.

[He's a little younger and a little wiser than he was, even if that's the wrong way around. And he remembers that vengeance, as satisfying as it might seem, often seems hollow when it hurts yourself more than the other person.]

[Ugh. Loki, that's all so intelligent and mature sounding. Peter can't relate.]

Does the attention matter? As long as you got the right people on your side, does it matter who you piss off?

Video | After Than and Link's trip through the gate

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