#Loki's entire downfall occurs because of what he was doing for Thor and then with him trying to prove himself just as worthy

[worstloki]

*wakes up in the middle of the night* no but when Loki was offering Thor the throne at the end of The Dark World as Odin he said one son wanted the throne too much while another would not take it but in that moment neither Thor nor Loki wanted the position because now both know the burdens that come with it and how Odin had ruled and Loki hadn’t ever wanted the throne for itself but to be an equal to Thor and in Thor 1 Thor had been impatient and arrogant and started a war over being denied his place as King so the phrase not only doubles over to call Thor out on flaws he now himself admits to since there is only one Odinson but it is also an open admission that he himself sitting there right now does not want the crown because he is ‘another’ and Odin’s legacy in the end, right there, right then in that scene was amounting to neither son wanting to be a part of what Odin had built through his imperialist practices (even if Thor was only just coming to terms with that) and through disregarding the lives of others and that’s something both sons, Thor included, now sees and THEN Thor replies with how he’s try to live with honour as Loki died and acknowledges them both on equal footing which is all Loki had wanted and hearing “Is that not legacy enough?” before being offered the hammer, the fr*ckin hammer that Odin had put between them to declare Thor more worthy, and Loki declines taking it from Thor because he never wanted to drag Thor down or take the throne from him but just having it was the chance to prove that he wasn’t less and it reflects how now he doesn’t even see the need to compete and he finally thinks his brother is capable of ruling well without starting wars and suddenly there’s no one who wants the dumb chair just Loki knowing that he doesn’t need to be Thor and Thor taking the time to reflect on himself and admit that the brother he knew and cared for was still there and hoping to make himself equal to Loki and Loki who still looks up to Thor and it’s the perfect complementary half to the way their developments in Thor 1/Avengers 1 had them mirroring each other and taking the place the other was in because now they’re both on the same side and they got there themselves and the words of their shared antagonist “our survival will be your legacy” apply to Thor and Loki too because Frigga died and Odin isn’t to be looked up to as a pillar of strength and what these two brothers have is a relationship that was put through the blender because of secrets and lies but neither cares for that because even when he thinks him dead Thor sees Loki’s worth and Loki knows the death effected him enough to try and change more and now Thor is rejecting his birthright and just handing it to Loki without knowing it’s him but it’s the same birthright that Loki had argued with Odin on only earlier and so you have both of them who would take up the responsibility but doesn’t see it as their place and that’s why Thor and Loki working together from the get-go when more secrets and lies came forth in Ragnarok with Odin’s actual death should have been the natural progression in both of their arcs and in reconciling their relationship they should have either shared or abolished the throne by the end of the trilogy because literally one person would want the throne and it would be Hela as a symbol for what Odin stood for which only makes Thor’s role as an inheritor of a colonial empire trying to make amends and Loki’s role as the colonized relevant again from Thor 1 and should have tied the loose ends up with Mjolnir’s destruction having no significant impact because it also stood as a symbol of the wedge drawn between Thor and Loki which they already shared sentiment enough with each other to have agreed on as not a determiner of worth and this makes Endgame even worse because Thor has fallen back on letting the hammer be an indication of worth while avoiding acknowledgement of Loki at all while also being King after the both of them already expressed no interest in having the position and they were finally so close to being seen as equals in each other’s eyes and were respecting each other and both had decided to move on from the ideas they had been raised on and only had each other left because they always end up with each other again and 

#was thinking about the line ''one son who wants the throne too much and another who will not take it'' and I-- #and then just like with Cap and Tony the entire idea of a Grand Legacy that is being left behind comes in #but Loki and Thor #their legacy isn't supposed to be built from what exists for them it's supposed to be completely new and built from nothing #Tony gets his father's company + makes his way presenting himself a certain way and building an image and decides to stop the weapon section #he makes a name which overshadows the one he inherited but he stopped being proud of how he was making money or whatever #that's where his redemption arc leaves him and he's got harley and peter and morgan and the whole theme of that #you've got Cap with his shield and what that means for the country and how others and Sam struggle with what it stands for #but with Thor he's all set to become king in ragnarok/iw/endgame #but by the dark world that's not where his arc is going his arc is going towards him wanting to be 'a better man' #neither character's arc is tied to the throne #it's an insignificant plot device-y detail that comes in and no one *wants* to take the throne even before the history is 'revealed' #Thor and Loki's arcs were intertwined with each other with Thor only becoming better in Thor 1 because of Loki #Loki's entire downfall occurs because of what he was doing for Thor and then with him trying to prove himself just as worthy #Avengers 1. Loki's back from a year of torture and the act he puts on of taking over earth has elements of the black order and THOR. #there's am entire scene where Thor and Loki skim over details of their issues and never address them and in Thor 2 it's similar #in Avengers 1 though Thor is disregarding Loki's trauma because he's trying to attack a planet and even Thor sees Loki's mind isnt right #another break at the start of Thor 2 and Thor is miserable and Loki is rejecting he's Odin and Frigga's son and that's his right ya know #but when Thor needs help he still shows up at Loki's cell and Loki despite being offered nothing for himself helps #their interactions are great they get together well there's chemistry and you can TELL these are brothers who can still get along #Loki provokes him and unlike the last time he did so in Thor 1 Thor isn't tricked into attacking and looks at himself instead #Loki dies and Thor may not still be processing the death but he says that Loki died honorably and he doesn't want the throne #and Loki's done here too and died and doesn't want the throne but he can't leave it with no one but at least if he must Thor can handle it #there's TRUST there . even when on opposite sides they KNOW the other. there's an intimate understanding that isn't going to go away #even when angry at each other there's undertones of not WANTING to hurt the other and wanting the other to be BETTER than this #thor lost a brother to not understanding what was going on because of odin's lies and loki lost a brother to the same thing #that ragnarok was missing so many things about their relationship is a shame #I would've LOVED a proper reconciliation where Thor accepts that Loki was hurt and Loki admits to not being in control during New York #just Thor explaining that he didn't see the imagined slights/wrongs he had done Loki before and wants to stay brothers despite their past #because they were brothers for a thousand years and i can't believe that was reduced to a nothing-speech on reverse psychology and torture

[foundlingmother]

“Everything anti-Ragnarok people bring up is just them reaching.”

A list of a few things that are just what blatantly occurs in Ragnarok that someone might find problematic:

Male hero and audience surrogate side-eyes a woman emotionally invested in a piece of media (based on a scene that is specifically meant to be emotional)

Queer-coding of villains

White male crown prince of an imperial power is the anti-slavery voice in a conversation with a Black woman who turned to slave trading because she needed the money to self-medicate with alcohol after developing PTSD

White male crown prince of an imperial power longs to achieve power level of his father, the late king of an imperial power who he just learned “drowned entire civilizations in blood”

“Ragnarok is only two hours long. They couldn’t address all of the things anti-Ragnarok people complain about.”

Take your pick of rebuttals:

You’re right, movies have never depicted multiple meaningful relationships or character arcs in two hours.

You’re right, there isn’t a moment of Ragnarok wasted. We REQUIRE Skurge using that Shake Weight, Thor getting a haircut, and the not at all schadenfreude moment where we linger on Banner twitching, seemingly dying, after he decides to potentially sacrifice his humanity to save Thor’s people.

Thor introduced the rich, realistic (in as much as it can be) dysfunction within the Odinson family, introduced themes of racism and imperialism (even if they didn’t fully know what they were doing), developed Thor, achieved a believable and intelligible downfall for Loki that depicted neglect, abuse, mental health issues, and suicide in a serious manner, included multiple named female characters with distinct personalities, had some of the most iconic humorous Thor moments, and set up the conflict in Avengers in two hours, but Ragnarok didn’t have time?

Gamora and Nebula screamed at each other for a handful of minutes and had a more satisfying and nuanced reconciliation than Thor and Loki in a movie where Gamora is only one of five main characters.

If your Thor movie doesn’t have time to adequately address the main conflicts between Thor and Loki, it’s not a Thor movie.

#ragnarok discourse #fandom: marvel #i'm super aware of my stitches and i can't sleep have bullet points

[mentallydatingahotcelebrity]

Rreading posts today from various people I learned that Taika Waititi, director of Ragnarok, has no idea why Loki is a tragic character. Loki’s story alone and from his POV is, actually, a tragedy. But to someone who doesn’t really understand the definition of what makes a character, setting, novel, or film a “tragedy” the idea that Loki is a tragic character sounds utterly ridiculous and overdramatic.

So here’s a definition of the tragic character/a tragedy as written by E. B. Greenwood in 1994/95 for the introduction to Anna Karenina for anyone curious as to WHY I call Loki a “tragic character”. I’ve changed some words so that it fits my topic.

“What do I mean by saying that it is, in substance, a tragedy? [...] It has the substance of tragedy in that in it, as Aristotle required, a person neither of superlative goodness nor repellant wickedness (i.e. a character whom we can sympathise with, even love) makes a mistaken choice or set of choices. Aristotle called this hamartia. When this choice leads to a situation from which there is no way out but suffering, we have tragedy. Both Greek and Shakespearean tragedy involve poetic stylisation and elevation and actions out of the ordinary. Loki’s tragedy comes much closer to the type of tragedy described by Tolstoy’s favorite philosopher Schopenhauer in Section 51 of The World as Will and Representation:

Finally, the misfortune can be brought about also by the mere attitude of the persons to one another through their relations. Thus there is no need either of a colossal error, or of an unheard-of accident, or even of a character reaching the bounds of human possibility in wickedness, but characters as they usually are in a moral regard in circumstances that frequently occur, are so situated with regard to one another that their position forces them, knowingly and with their eyes open, to do one another the greatest injury, without any of them being entirely in the wrong. This last kind of tragedy seems to me to be far preferably to the other two; for it shows us the greatest misfortune not as an exception, not as something brought about by rare circumstances or by monstrous characters, but as something that arises easily and spontaneously out of the actions and characters of men as something almost essential to them, and in this way is brought terribly near to us. . . We see the greatest suffering brought about by entanglements whose essence could be assumed even by our own fate, and by actions that perhaps even we might be capable of committing, and so we cannot complain of injustice. Then, shuddering, we feel ourselves already in the midst of hell. In this last kind of tragedy the working out is of the greatest difficulty; for the greatest effect has to be produced in it with the least use of means and occasions for movement, merely by their position and distribution.

When I read all of the above upon purchasing Anna Karenina, I was quite surprised at how fitting it was of Loki’s role and an explanation of why he is a tragic character. Because, in a most ironic turn of events, the god who declares ‘there are no men like him’ is, in fact, utterly and completely like the men he seeks to dominate. He’s relatable, identifiable, lovable; because he’s flawed, and hurting, and desirous of the same emotions all human beings want:

Recognition, adoration, affection, support, protection, love, companionship. 

The reason why I included that excerpt from Schopenhauer is because I think that fits Loki too-- in his universe, the things that happened to him frequently occurred, but they built and built until he snapped beneath the weight of them; something everyone who came to adore Loki recognized and found utterly relatable, to the point of being distressed for Loki. 

He’s not a villain, he never was, he’s just a tragic character. 

And the problem with this is that tragic characters are not absolutely good nor utterly evil, they’re a bit of both and completely relatable from the audience’s point of view. That’s the reason why Marvel couldn’t figure out how to adapt him or develop him, because a tragic character is, always, fated to die.

Hamlet, Anna Karenina, Romeo, Juliet, Loki-- their roles are to bring to the foreground that the typical nature of humans is to destroy themselves for a motive they think in their own minds will help them while meanwhile the reality of it is that guides them toward their eventual end. We are all heroes in our own minds where we tell ourselves how much good we’re doing; but our actions make us deplorable to the people looking on. The Tragic Character role in all forms of writing is to wake up other characters to the realization that they need to change how they act if they want to prevent the same end. 

[Which is what happened in the end of Thor. Thor realized that anger can lead to self-destruction, and Odin learned that not mentioning his love for his sons can lead to their downfall]

The problem is that in order to continue to make Thor and Loki interesting, new and unique storylines would have to be created-- risk would have to be made. Loki would have to keep on being a tragic character and he’d have to die. Which he was going to do in The Dark World. But with Marvel, as with most things in this day and age, Loki’s name goes synonymously with money. He’d been making them money, he generated interest. Look how massive Ragnarok’s box office income [or whatever that’s called?] was on day one alone. 

Yeah, sure, there were people there because their interested had been piqued by the [bad] trailers for the film, and they also came because a large majority of people love Thor-- but who hadn’t been seen living, breathing and walking around for 4 years?

Loki.

People wanted to know what happened to Loki more than Thor-- sucks for Waititi and Hemsworth, but it’s the truth. We’ve been seeing Thor in basically every Avengers film except Captain America: Civil War. We know that he’s alive, how he’s doing, how things are going for him. But no one knew about Loki. Because Loki is the tragic character, the human one in a sea of unhuman, “good” characters (Thor, Odin, Frigga, Sif, Volstagg, Hogun, Fandral, Heimdall), if you will. He’s the one we look to and go “I wonder what he’s thinking” “I wonder how he’s feeling” because as soon as we see it:

“Trust my rage”

“Because I’m the monster parents tell their children about at night?”

“The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret”

We can RELATE to what he’s saying, we GET what he’s saying. Yes, we all think with a grin at one another, Thor really is going on about nothing, wish he’d stop some of our wars. Yes, TRUST RAGE, because when we’re angry the truth comes out ungilt with fancy falsehoods and pretty pretendings. Yes, we all sometimes feel we’ve become what our parents warned us against when we were younger--no wonder it seems as if their love for us has diminished into nothing, they hate what we’ve become.

This is, 100%, a tragic character. People either love them or hate them because they remind us of who we are and what we’re capable of. Murder? Yes. Hatred? Yes. Rage? Yes. Self-doubt? Yes. Fear? Yes. Self-loathing? Yes. The capability to be good or bad or both in turns? Yes.

And the fact that the person who plays this role is someone who studied roles like this (among others) for his higher education? Well, it (quite literally) can’t get any better than that. Not only is Loki a tragic character, but he’s played by an actor who understands the method of performing tragedies, who understands how those characters have to be played out, and who can relate to them at the same time to make that performance dynamite. 

The reason why Ragnarok!Loki is so appalling is because he’s played in the same method as Thor, however not in the role of “Morally Good” character but rather in the role of Touchstone the Jester. He says some clever things amidst his largely joksy lines. But he’s really just there for giggles [also as a foil for the main characters to bounce sage-sounding lines or soliloquies off of], and not much else.

And we, as fans, hate that because that’s not Loki’s role. He isn’t the god of jokes. So I’ve taken to looking at this whole Gagnarok problem as an attempt at erasing the Tragic Character That Is Loki because he’s very difficult to write. It was difficult for Tolstoy to write Anna Karenina in the beginning because of how human the characters were, how easily their actions could very well become his own. There’s a reason it took him some three years to complete that novel: writing Tragic Characters is hard. In the process of creating them, writers have to admit things about themselves that all human beings would rather shove into little dark places in our hearts and ignore.

Or there’s another reason they have to crush his beautiful writing into the garbage chute: 

He’s

a) going to turn up alive and well but just for shits and giggles in A4

or

b) going to turn up alive and well and hatefully backstabbing in A4

I’m voting on the latter instead of the former. I’ll be really pleased, however, if he has a proper Tragic Character ending. As in, he comes back, helps the Avengers out, and then agrees to die anyway to save the “better” characters. Or dies in the process of actually saving one of the “better” characters. Because that crap at the beginning of Infinity War will never please me, I’m sorry. Tom’s acting: lovely. Loki’s role before kicking the bucket: garbage.

Annnnnd I think I’m done for the evening. I hope this made sense-- I’m sick so I’m doped up by the doc to the point of constantly feeling drowsy and half-lucid. If anyone wants to have further conversation on this, reblog the post or message me or ask me.

#Loki #Marvel #the problem with loki #Gagnarok and Infinity War Loki #tragic characters #Anna Karenina and Loki Laufeyson #Tolstoy and Tom Hiddleston #writing tragic characters #god of jokes vs god of mischief #silvertongue vs slapstick

[imagine-loki]

TITLE: The Powers That Be CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter Thirty-Three

AUTHOR: wolfpawn ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki discovering a hidden mutant when he realises they are at risk of being found by S.H.I.E.L.D. who experiments on mutants, he is the one to help them.

RATING: Teen and Up

"What?" Loki could not hide his shock.

"Is this good or bad?" Alexia looked at him fearfully.

"That is highly debatable. What is your opinion on living another four thousand or so more years?"

"WHAT!"

"That apple." He pointed to the inconspicuous fruit in her hand, or what would be inconspicuous were it not for the fact it was gold. "Is from Idunn's garden, and grants the eater a lifespan as expansive as ours. How do you think we live so long?"

"I never thought to ask," she answered. "So, if I eat this, I will outlive everyone I know by thousands of years?"

"Well, the Midgardian people you knew, yes. But Thor and I have somewhat similar life spans to what you will have, so as long as we are not killed by other methods, you should not outlive us." Loki explained, noting the sadness on her face.

Alexia looked at the golden fruit, half wanting to throw it into the vast expanse of water that separated the land she now called home from the Bifrost. "I'm not sure."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure I want to live that long."

"You may actually get to wield fire if you live that long." Loki shrugged.

"I'm not really too concerned about that, to be honest. I will have to witness Earth change, see everyone I ever knew die and know I will outlive them all for so long."

Loki folded his arms, "You know, most mortals wish for a life as long as ours, but of course, the irony of ironies, you do not want it and yet you are the one offered such a gift."

"Calling it a gift is debatable, to some that could be seen as a terrible sentence." she sighed. "I need to think this over more, could you mind this for me?" she extended the hand that held the apple to him.

"You want me to mind that for you?" He eyed her in disbelief. "You are aware those are harder to come by than that metal the Soldier has in his shield."

Alexia looked at the apple again. "Then definitely take it, I don't want to care for it until I decide what I am doing." She as good as thrust it into his hands. "Take it."

"You do realise Odin will lose what of his mind he has if he knew you even entertained the idea of me caretaking one of these apples. I could use it as a bargaining chip with some terrible being."

Alexia looked him in the eye. "Are you going to?"

Loki looked at her and sighed. "No."

"I trust you Loki." That caused him to frown. "I know you think I am mad because I am not just wolfing it down, but I'm not sure I can take four thousand years of the shit I have had to deal with recently with dirty old men wanting me to pop out kids like sneezes for a substantial portion of that length of time."

"They all have less than a thousand years left in them." Loki shrugged dismissively.

"That is terrifying, you have no idea what a thousand years is to someone from my world, I mean, we don't tend to make one hundred."

"It is an awfully pathetic lifespan it must be noted."

"Just give me some time to think about it, I will find you later."

"There is a time limit on this thinking?"

"Yes, apparently I have today to think about it, or else the apple has to be given back." she shrugged.

"Fair enough, just remember, if you take it, you will get out of the Mjötuðr, if that will alter your decision."

"How is that?"

"The apple sends you into a sleep for a week, somewhat like Odinsleep, you can hear everything in your surrounds, but your body must remain still so to be viable with the changes that give one a longer life, everything within you will be forced to slow down, your organs will have to alter and adapt, so you need to be in a state of stasis for that to occur."

"So I just stay unconscious for a week?"

"Yes. Do not fret, you will be heavily guarded, I can assure you."

Alexia bit her lip and nodded slightly. "Well, I better go think this through," she stated, walking off, deep in thought. Loki tossing the apple in his hand as he turned and went towards his rooms, wondering how long she would take to decide.

*

Alexia looked at the letters in her hands, she had written them because she knew there was a chance that Thor would be gone back to Earth before she woke again. This time, she did write one to Phil, telling him what she was doing, and explaining her reasons. In truth, she had no idea why she felt she had to explain it to him, but did so anyway. It was simple, she could end droughts, prevent floods, eradicate hurricanes and tornadoes; there was no telling if, much less when one with such a power would ever exist again, so if there was a way to try and prolong her ability to help others, she wanted to take it.

"Your reasons are honourable, to say the least." Diarmaid commended when he had come across her in the gardens and she had told him her thoughts. "Not many would be so selfless."

"I'm scared, though."

"You are seldom led by fear these days, what causes it now?" He asked, curious as to her answer.

"I will have to mourn their deaths, every last one of them, I will have to know that they are aging while I will look exactly the same for the rest of their lives." She explained, biting her lip as her nose flared, trying hard to keep in her tears.

The elf sighed. "But you are younger than them all regardless, you would have most likely outlived them all anyway."

"Every last human on Earth that is alive today will be dead before I age any bit."

"Yes." The elf conceded. "That is true, and I can comprehend that that is a daunting thing for you, but you cannot lose sight of how many people, in all the realms, whose lives you will better in four thousand years rather than a mere fifty."

Taking a deep breath, Alexia nodded her head. "You're right, this isn't about me," she repeated again. "I need to speak with Loki before I do this, though."

"I can get him for you if you wish." Diarmaid offered; she nodded, looking ahead slightly scared. "I will do so immediately, go to your rooms, it will be best for you to be in them as the apple takes effect." Nodding again, Alexia did as she was requested.

*

Diarmaid walked through the halls with long elegant strides, making his way quickly to where he assumed Loki could be. He found him sitting on a balcony, deep in thought, just as he was about to approach the prince, however, he noticed Odin come up to him.

"What are you doing with that apple?" The old king demanded.

"Alexia gave it to me for safe keeping." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"That girl puts too much fate in you, that is her greatest downfall."

"And you never put enough, that could very well be yours."

"Convince her to take it."

"Why, why should I get her to do anything for you?"

"You know this is nothing to do with me, she needs to take it, she is too powerful to whither way to nothing at the rate Midgardians do," he growled. "She can help all the realms, given time."

"She could aid or annihilate them all right now should she choose." Loki scoffed, "She is powerful beyond all measure."

"Yet she chooses to not even truly try."

"You are a fool old man, even with two eyes in that thick skull of yours you would fail to see that she will take the apple, she just needs to understand her own reasons and her thoughts beforehand, I expect she is merely taking time to ready herself for the process and also take time to thank whatever Gods she may believe in that she will have to miss the Mjötuðr because of it, I am envious of her it must be said."

"You are not as humorous as you think yourself to be Loki," Odin growled.

"That is debatable, it is well known you have no sense of humour, so your opinion matters little on the subject." Loki shrugged. It was then that he noticed Diarmaid standing nearby and rose to his feet, causing Odin to turn and look at the elf also.

"She has called to speak with you, my prince." he bowed. "She is ready."

Loki nodded and looked to Odin, a smug look of 'I told you so' written on his features. Odin was tempted to snap something back at him, but with Alexia willing to take the apple, he was more concerned with other matters. "I will arrange Einherjar that will defend her in her rest immediately, do not let her eat it until it is known to you that they are present outside her rooms." He ordered.

"Place two inside also, you know that if any find out about this, they could use it to come retrieve her. She will be too easily harmed or moved once she bites it." Loki stated, going to pass Diarmaid. "What is her humour?"

"Nervous and anxious; the mortality of those she will be leaving behind is concerning her, but she is thinking of the greater good, I believe her to be confident in her decision." The elf answered, with a nod of comprehension, Loki left, leaving the older beings to simply watch him leave.

"That alliance concerns me greatly." Odin voiced.

"That alliance will either be the greatest pairing to ever grace the realms, or it will be the ending of us all, we can only pray for the former." the elf responded. "It is dependent on whether Prince Loki can control his resentment and continue to assist her."

"What is it that she is requesting his presence alone for?" Odin half demanded.

"I cannot fathom, it could be anything from asking the prince to remain with her as she eats the apple to forbidding his presence as she sleeps, only time will tell." The elf answered. "All I know is that once this is done, she will be one of the greatest Goddesses the realms will ever witness. All that remains is to see if Prince Loki corrupts her, or if she will continue to corrupt the darkness within him."

Odin looked at the elf curiously, not entirely sure what it was that Diarmaid was saying.

*

"You called?" Loki grinned widely as he entered her room, having just knocked on the door once before opening it.

"Loki." The sensation of someone truly being delighted to see him felt peculiar to the dark prince. "I need you here."

"I have the apple." He reached out to give her the fruit. "You are not to eat until your Einherjar arrive, wear comfortable attire and make sure you are comfortable." He instructed.

"Are you going to abandon me?" she asked meekly.

Loki frowned at her blatant concern and odd demeanour. "Those taking apples tend to wish to be alone doing so."

"Please don't go," she begged. "I don't want to be alone, not when I will be so weak."

Loki's brows furrowed more, but seeing the genuine fear in her eyes, he nodded and sat nearby. "Now do as I instructed and get comfortable, the Einherjar will be here in a few moments, the sooner you start the process, the sooner in is over." Alexia left the room for a few moments. While she was gone, there was a knock on the door, which Loki answered, her maids having been dismissed considering what was to take place. On the other side stood Diarmaid and four guards, two standing sentry while two more made to enter with him.

"Is she ready?" The elf asked

"She is preparing."

"More Einherjar will be sent when she is asleep, the Allfather thinks sending too many now would worry her."

"I think he actually got something right for a change. Dare I ask why you are here?"

"The Allfather thought it best that I preside over this, ensuring she eats it all. Though I assume that she requested your presence." Loki nodded. "I will remain here while she goes into her bed quarters then, just in case."

"Good."

Loki was going to expand on his answer when Alexia stood in the doors that divided her rooms looking sheepish. "Okay, I'm ready." she sighed. Noticing Diarmaid and the guards, she seemed a little antsy.

"No time like the present." Loki started towards her, taking the apple, which he had wrapped in a handkerchief out as he did so. The Einherjar following him.

"Are they going to be in the room too?" She asked, pointing to the guards.

"Yes, they will remain for the entire time you are asleep, well they will alter with their shifts, but you will be heavily protected throughout the process," Loki explained, trying to sooth her.

"Okay." She nodded. "Right, so what do I do?"

"Either sit on the window seat and eat it or go to the bed, you will feel very sleepy as soon as you finish it, allow the sleep to take you, do not fight it, is that clear?" Alexia began to panic, thinking back to when she had been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and their scientists had drugged her to sleep, thinking of how helpless she had been, her breathing increased immediately. "Lexi, it will be alright, I promise, no one will touch you to harm you as you sleep, they will only touch you to make you more comfortable, maids to fluff your pillows and such."

Alexia giggled. "It's weird to hear you say the word fluff."

Loki's brow arched. "Very mature." she only giggled again. "Now, enough procrastinating, and begin."

Alexia went to the window seat she always found so comfortable and looked at the apple in her hand before looking out the window. "Make sure that if I don't wake for the feast and if Thor is leaving before I do, that he brings those letters with him, okay?" She indicated to the sealed envelopes on her desk.

Loki walked over and took them in hand. "I promise." He smiled putting them into the leather coat.

Sighing, she looked at the apple again and bit into it, grimacing at the taste. "It's bitter."

"You will adapt to the taste."

"Hopefully not, I don’t plan on doing this too often" She smiled back, taking another bite. "Will I look different when I wake?"

"What do you think that thing does, you are still you, simply with a slower aging process." Loki scoffed, seemingly satisfied, she continued to eat. He watched her bite into the apple and swallow each bite. "You are eating it very slowly."

"You're just used to eating around Thor, not everyone throws their food down their throats whole."

Loki chuckled, "That is a fair argument."

"This reminds me of the story of Snow White."

"I am not familiar with it."

"Well, she..." Alexia yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted, looking down, she realised there was only one last bite left. Forgetting she was about to tell Loki the premise of the fairy tale, she brought the apple to her lips again and looked at him, the God giving her an encouraging nod as she bit in one last time. The last bite took her the longest to finish but she did it and nestled into the cushions she had placed on the seat, her eyes becoming heavy.

Knowing she would fall asleep in moments, Loki walked over to her. Sure enough, her eyes were beginning to flutter closed. "Don't fight it, just rest." He reiterated.

"Loki," her voice was a mere whisper. "Don't leave me."

"I will not."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He swore, and with that, she fell into unconsciousness. Scooping her into his arms, he brought her to the bed, and placed her on it, then pulled a blanket over her. He turned to the guards, who were silently watching the kindness the usually cantankerous and morose God was bestowing on a Midgardian, a race he seemed to hold in contempt. "Get the rest of the Einherjar positioned, and one of you tell Odin that it is done." Nodding, the closer Einherjar to the door did as commanded.

A moment later, Diarmaid entered the room. "There is nothing to do now but wait."

"She requested I remain."

"And will you?" Diarmaid asked, somewhat startled.

"Yes." Loki made to the window seat she had eaten the apple in. “I promised I would.”

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