#i think a lot about the fact that loki has never met a genuine person

[nikkoliferous]

My personal best guess for how Loki would respond to compliments, based on what we know of his history, would be kind of like the stages of grief. Except it’s more like

Stage 1: “wait, did I mishear that?”

Stage 2: “is this person making fun of me?”

Stage 3: “does this person want something from me?”

Stage 4: “I know this is a trap, but I haven’t figured out how yet”

It would take a long-ass time for him to finally arrive at Stage “Oh, This Is A Genuine Compliment”.

#i think a lot about the fact that loki has never met a genuine person #like... ever #i mean someone who he doesn't have to constantly be asking himself what their ulterior motives might be #and can just let his damn guard down around #he's not paranoid it's just that literally everyone has treated him like shit so what else is he supposed to expect at this point? #and yes i sure as fuck include frigga in this #where do you think loki learned how to manipulate people so well #and to recognise when he's being manipulated? #you may file this under 'reasons i want to murder every person loki has ever met in canon' #loki meta #loki headcanons #loki #mcu

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.

#antisylki #loki meta #kinda #loki series critical #loki series negativity #anti loki x sylvie #anti loki series #anti sylvie #frosty bby #loki deserved better #I don’t even like TVA!Loki tho so I guess it doesn’t matter with him lmao #tva loki #loki laufeyson

[professorrw]

Mistakes, a Loki One-Shot

Warnings: Angst, Smut, attempted murder, mentions of death, enemies-to-lovers

Request: “Can you do a Loki one shot? enemies to lovers troupe? a lot of angst pls -moon”

Word Count: 2195

A/N: I hope this was good! I’ve never written angst so I tried my best! And yeah, Loki doesn’t hate Y/N, it’s more like she hates him in the beginning but I tried. If you have any tips please message me or comment! Reblog and like if you enjoyed!

Loki, God of Mischief. During his attack on New York he managed to kill 80 people. One of them being your mother, your anchor. She had been with you through it all. She supported you no matter what. When you wanted to enlist in the military she let you and when you were discharged she was still there for you. 

When you left the Marines you began to work as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Your current assignment was to watch over Loki, who was being held at the Avengers base. The assignment was perfect. You could finally get revenge on Loki for taking away your only family.

If any of the Avengers found out about your mother’s death they probably wouldn’t let you watch him. And they shouldn’t. When you got the chance, you were going to kill him. It didn’t matter that you might go to jail or get fired. He deserved it, and you were going to serve the justice your mother and all his other victims deserved.

Monday rolled around and you arrived on the base. Loki would be held in a room made of see-through electric walls. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to escape. You were in control of the wall. If you wished, the walls could be lowered. Eventually, you would lower them. Not for Loki to leave, but for you to enter.

You sat with your feet lounging on the desk in front of the “cage.” Loki was standing in the middle, watching you. You weren’t going to give him the satisfaction of speaking to him. Hell, you avoided looking at him. 

Hours passed by silently and you left your post. You had the surveillance cameras hooked up to your phone so you could watch him while you were away. You slipped into bed in the room you were assigned and went to sleep, thinking of your plans.

The next morning was just as uneventful as the previous day. It wasn’t until noon that something happened. Instead of standing in the middle of the room, Loki approached the wall nearest you and spoke, “You seem to disdain me more than your fellow Avengers. I don’t recall ever doing anything to you. I would remember seeing such a beautiful face.”

You ignored his comment and turned your face away from his smirking one. You were told he had a knack for getting under peoples’ skin.

“You want to be silent? Very well. I’ll admire you from a distance then.” He returned to the middle of the room but continued to watch you with a thin-lipped smile. Despite yourself, you couldn’t help but wonder if his legs ached from standing so long.

As Loki said, he didn’t bother you for the rest of the week. You kept your mouth shut and tried to avoid his gaze the whole time. There was an incident when you were coming back from getting lunch and happened to glance at him, already looking at you. He seemed to find pleasure in the quick turn of your head when your eyes met. No doubt, just as the other Avengers promised, he was trying to get under your skin. You were used to having people scrutinize your every move, but what Loki was doing felt different. 

To your dismay, when you returned to your desk the following Monday, Loki decided he wanted to bother you.

“It’s terribly lonely in here. Why don’t you join me?” He knew you weren’t going to answer but he still prodded you. “What’s wrong dear? Afraid I bite? I promise it’s only lightly.”

You gave him a cold scowl and returned to the book you were reading.

“You enjoy reading? Do enlighten me on the title,” he asked. Unlike the way he was speaking previously, he seemed genuinely  curious to know. Who knew a god would be interested in books?

Even though you told yourself you wouldn’t utter a word to him, you decided to tell him what you were reading. “Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.”

He responded only with a hum, as if he was thinking it over. You raised your eyebrows, expecting him to say more about your sudden inclination to speak to him. He didn’t say anything else though, and returned to look into your eyes with a searing intensity.

He remained silent for the duration of the day, which bothered you more than his speaking evidently. You had to admit, sitting there for hours was boring but it would be worth it in the end. 

Another week passed before Loki decided to speak again.

“You dislike talking to me and looking at me.” He said it as if it was a fact. Which it was.

“What did I do to you?” He said this with an earnest tone. He genuinely wanted to know. It was eating at him that such a beautiful creature would feel such hatred towards him.

He let out a sharp sigh and decided to give him what he was searching for. “During your little rampage in New York, you killed my mother. I’m sorry if I don’t act friendly,” you spat.

For a second he looked taken aback. Even though it was only a fraction of a second you caught it. Did he not realize the damage he had caused? Surely he wasn’t that thick-skulled, you thought.

“I apologize, I wasn’t aware.”

“Of course you weren’t. You were too busy trying to take over Earth to take into account that you were killing people,” you scoffed. “And don’t act like you’re sorry. I know you aren’t. You can’t begin to understand the pain I felt and still feel.”

“You would be wrong there, dear. My own mother was killed. It was my fault; a foolish mistake.” He muttered the last sentence and you had to strain to hear it, but you did. You couldn’t help but feel a twinge of… empathy?

“Well I’m sorry. That doesn’t excuse what you did though.” You were sorry. Not that he deserved to hear your apology.

“I did not dare think it would. You should not feel so alone, dear. I share your emptiness.” His words caught you off guard. He was right. A part of you did feel empty. But you weren’t one to admit that you were aching for someone or something to fill that gap. Your mother was your support system and since she died you were alone. You had friends, but none close enough that you would relay so much person information to. People tried to comfort you but at the time nothing made sense. You were a ball of anger and sadness that never got to let go of your grievances. The feelings inside of you never came to the surface, you carried them with you, just for them to haunt you at night.

You didn’t want to say anything back in fear he was still trying to pick you apart and tear you down. “He’s a villain. He’s done terrible things. He killed your mother,” you kept repeating to yourself. You weren’t about to let Loki make you vulnerable. You had a personal mission to carry out and it would get done. You decided to quit talking to him for now on. You couldn’t start being friendly. You especially couldn’t let yourself be attracted to him. That would be your downfall. Although you did feel empathy towards him, you wouldn’t let anything else happen.

“What am I doing?” you thought as you arrived back in your bedroom around a week later. Your mouth didn’t like to listen to your head. You found yourself talking to Loki when he spoke to you. Talking to him. Answering his questions. You promised yourself you would put an end to him soon. If you didn’t want to fall deeper into the trap that is Loki’s charms, you would have to kill him soon. Things had gone too far already. “He is a terrible man,” you reminded yourself once more.

You laid in bed watching the security cameras for hours. You had to wait until him and all the other people in the building were asleep. It was 2 in the morning and Loki had been asleep for hours. Surely, everyone else had been too.

You stalked through the halls silently as you made your way to the “cell.” Sure enough, Loki was asleep in the small bed, laying on his back to your luck. You quickly lowered the electric wall nearest you and walked into the dark room. You pulled out your knife and steadied yourself. Finally, you could have peace. 

You leaned over his body, trying to avoid looking at his peaceful face as you raised the knife to his neck. But you stopped. Could you really do this? Hasn’t he proven that he isn’t so bad? While talking to him the past week, you learned a lot about him. He openly spoke about his home and filled you in on anything you were curious about. “Shit,” you thought. Surely enough he had lured you into his trap. You couldn’t deny the growing affection you felt for him. It doesn’t matter how small the feeling was. You weren’t going to let yourself do this.

As you were thinking a voice spoke behind you, “Are you trying to kill me dear?”

You snapped your head back and saw Loki standing behind you. When you turned to look at what you had previously thought to be Loki, he wasn’t there. The covers were still pristine and in place. 

“It’s alright, darling. I know you were not going to harm me. I saw your hesitation. Something has developed inside you,” he said.

“That’s not why.”

“Then whatever could change your mind? On that first day I could feel your hatred. It slowly dissipated as time passed. When I first laid eyes on you, I was intrigued. You are a passionate creature, driven by whatever your heart desires. Does your heart… desire me?”

Your breath caught in your throat at his sudden proximity. His face was inches from yours and you could feel his soft breath against your ear.

“Do you desire me… as much as I desire you?”

“I- I can’t… This was a mistake. I came in with a mission and it seems that it won’t be fulfilled.” As soon as you were done talking you turned away from him. Parts of you wanted to stay, but you knew you shouldn’t.

“A mistake? I have made many mistakes but wanting you is not one of them, love.” He looked at you with pure desire and truth in his eyes that your knees nearly went weak. Your mind told you that what you were about to do was betrayal, but you ignored it.

In one movement your body was flush against Loki’s. He placed a hand on your cheek and met you halfway, pressing your lips together. The kiss was filled with many unsaid words. It was an apology, a confession, and a thousand struggles shared between you. 

Your hand moved to tangle in his hair, deepening the kiss, if that was possible. His hands traveled to your waist, pulling you against him. You could feel the hardening going on in his pants. He pulled away as if to ask you permission. You took a step backwards and fell onto the bed, laying on your back.

Loki took that as a yes and stripped out of his clothes, leaving you the only one dressed. He climbed on top of you and began to trail kisses from your jaw to your exposed collarbone. You raised your hips to let him pull off your pants and underwear, which were already wet. He chuckled lightly at the sight but continued to undress you, throwing you shirt and bra over his shoulder. Anybody could take a peek at the security cameras and find you two together, naked on his bed.

Loki started slow, teasing your entrance with the tip of his dick before pushing it in the rest of the way. You bit your lip to suppress any noise. He slid in and out of you, picking up the pace as he went. It was becoming more and more difficult to stay quiet. You wanted to moan, say his name, anything to express how he was making you feel.

Loki also seemed to be having trouble staying quiet, breaths ragged with each thrust. He lifted your legs so your ankles were on his shoulders. The thrust he gave after that was enough to make a sound slip from both of you. He groaned and you moaned out his name, “Loki.”

It didn’t take long for you to reach your peak, coming undone as he gave another hard thrust. They soon became sporadic, some slow and some fast, but none at a steady pace. Just moments after you came, so did he, right into you.

He pulled out and rolled to your side, wrapping an arm around you as you both caught your breath. Whatever worries were troubling you were gone from mind as you laid there, mind focused on the man next to you.

#loki #loki smut #fanfiction #marvel #marveloneshot #marvel one shot #loki oneshot #fanfiction with smut #smut #marvelsmut #angst #enemies to lovers #lokioneshot #requested #request

[juliabohemian]

oh dear

I have noticed a number of posts circulating which imply that ANY character being mean to Loki EVER and for ANY reason = abuse.

I will admit that I initially felt mostly irritation at what appeared, on the surface, to constitute such a complete and utter lack of critical thinking. What I’ve realized, though, is that people who make such posts definitely believe what they are saying. And like everything people do and say, there’s a deeper reason for it. The fact is, traumatized characters attract traumatized fans. And not all of those fans are in a good place, emotionally. And those people are perfectly valid, even if the conclusions they draw are not.

When it comes to fiction, good characters are complex. That means they are conflicted and flawed. They make mistakes. They lash out when they are afraid or hurting. They sometimes hurt other characters. Loki fits that bill very well. It’s one of the reasons he is so popular. Not just with traumatized people, but with people in general. He’s relatable.

The problem comes when fans relate to fictional characters, but really aren’t conscious of why, because they aren’t all that conscious of themselves. They haven’t done a whole lot of self-reflection. Maybe because they aren’t ready, because their trauma is too fresh. Or maybe they are still living in crisis and don’t have the freedom to self-reflect. Those possibilities are all valid.

But very often, when a person goes through trauma and doesn’t have the luxury (and yes, it is a luxury) of working through it, their reasoning skills can become flawed as a result. Trauma, especially childhood trauma, tends to have a negative effect on our ability to socialize and form intimate relationships, because it damages our ability to interpret the intentions of others. We call this hostile attribution bias.

The problem with hostile attribution bias, is that it makes it difficult to tell when people genuinely mean you harm. If a person’s words, actions, or facial expressions are ambiguous in any way, they will be interpreted as being hostile in nature. This keeps one on the offensive, constantly, always anticipating the next blow. Very often, no such blow is coming. But it doesn’t matter. Fear is real, and the experience of it is real.

It stands to reason that someone who struggles to interpret the intentions of real-life people would also experience the same difficulty with fictional characters. For instance, fans who identify with Loki because they perceive him as being a victim will have a hard time seeing him as anything else. Thus, anyone who harms Loki in any way is just further proof that the universe is against him and always will be.

This is referred to as an external locus of control. It means that a person sees life as something that is happening TO them, and that they are powerless to affect the outcome. It’s also important to note that people with this mentality struggle deeply to heal from their trauma. They are stuck in a sort of Groundhog Day scenario, living the same thing out over and over again. Because of their flawed perception, everything that happens to them feels like an extension of that initial trauma.

So, it would make perfect sense that a person with a history of trauma, who suffers from attribution bias, and who has an external locus of control, would be extremely uncomfortable watching anything bad happen to Loki. In fact, it would probably be traumatic for them.

And while their feelings and their experience of those feelings are 100% real, their perception of reality is not entirely accurate. In other words, what they think is happening is not necessarily what is happening.

Loki’s initial trauma, believe it or not, was just being abandoned as an infant. Even though he can’t remember it, that experience alone can result in lifelong emotional struggles. In real life, we refer to this as an attachment disorder. A person with an attachment disorder usually develops major issues with abandonment. They also suffer from (wait for it) attribution bias. And that bias absolutely affects their perception.

Loki’s next trauma was being raised in a dysfunctional family. Not only were they dysfunctional, but they weren’t a very good fit for Loki. Loki was a quiet, contemplative person. He was a thinker, an intellectual. He would rather read or do magic. So, not a good fit for Asgardian society. The combination of Loki’s initial trauma, with his inherent temperament, and his dysfunctional family is what led to the inevitable breakdown that is regarded as Loki’s “villain” arc. I’d like to point out that, in reality, such a person would have probably suffered a breakdown much sooner than that. Typically, prior to reaching adulthood.

Loki’s next trauma was encountering Thanos. Now, we have no idea exactly what happened between Loki and Thanos. We know only that it wasn’t good and that it resulted in Loki being absolutely terrified of him. Other than that, details are fuzzy. I think it’s fair to assume that whatever mistreatment Loki endured probably qualified as torture. Whether it was physical or psychological, we cannot know for sure.

While Loki’s Thanos-related trauma was NOT an extension of his family-related trauma, his decision to entangle himself with Thanos was a product of that trauma. By which I mean that his willingness to align himself with someone like Thanos came from a place of desperation, and a desire to prove himself to someone who he perceived as being qualified to validate him.

So, fast forward to the LOKI show. Our version of Loki never returned to Asgard in chains, was never told that it was his birthright to die, nor endured any gaslighting from Ragnarok-Thor. He never got his neck broken by Thanos. He never went through any of that. He arrived at the TVA, fresh off his failed attempt to take over planet Earth. He was all fired up and defensive, as anyone in his situation would probably be.

Now, here’s where we need to put our critical thinking caps on. Because, I hate to tell you this, folks...but unlike most of the Loki content we’ve gotten prior, this content is actually well written. It’s VERY well written. And while it might be tempting to respond to it with pure emotion, it is imperative that we don’t abandon all logic and reason. This show is not an extension of the gauntlet of trauma we’ve watched Loki endure since he first appeared on screen. The creative minds involved in this venture ALL care deeply about Loki’s character and want to see him succeed (whatever that means for him).

Enter Mobius. He’s a cog in a very big machine. He likes to think of himself as being more than that. He establishes a rapport with his boss in the hopes of distinguishing himself from his peers. His interest in his work is personal. He likes what he does.

From Mobius’ point of view, Loki is an asset. He has information that could help solve the bigger puzzle. But Mobius exists in a world that affords him access to multiple realities. He has probably met dozens of Lokis. And he has probably seen hundreds of people casually pruned or executed or reset. It’s just part of the world he happens to be in. And he doesn’t question it, because he has been brainwashed.

So, does Mobius attempt to manipulate Loki? Absolutely. Just another day at the office. And it works, because he knows Loki better than Loki knows himself, has studied him and other Lokis. And it’s hard not to be mad at Mobius for causing Loki pain. Especially when that is followed up by Loki eagerly taking Mobius up on his offer to help track down the other Loki variant.

I think some people might find Loki’s enthusiasm disconcerting. And there are certainly aspects of it that can be considered such. Loki, at his core, just wants to be told that he is doing a good job, that his contributions matter. That part of him is definitely a product of trauma. But is Loki motivated entirely by his trauma? Not really. Despite his manipulations, Mobius offers Loki the closest thing to warmth and compassion that he has seen for a while. Some of that is genuine and some of that is not. And faced with the reality that everything he knows is gone, Loki does what most people in his situation would do, he tries to be productive. He gets busy. He distracts himself. Because at the moment, little else is under his control.

Despite all of that, you simply cannot have compassion for Loki and none for Mobius. Because Mobius is a victim too. He was abducted from his own reality. He is living a lie. He is part of something that, upon deeper reflection, he realizes he doesn’t agree with. He is so very much like the Loki we first met in 2011. He is such a well-written and multi-faceted character, I thoroughly enjoy his on screen time with Loki.

But I understand that there are people who are not in a place, emotionally, where they can overlook such plot devices. And I sincerely hope that those eventually people find healing. In the meantime, let’s try to remember that this is a work of fiction. And unlike real-life trauma, when it becomes upsetting, we can turn it off and walk away.

#loki spoilers #loki show meta #mobius meta #loki show spoilers #juliabohemianrant #juliabohemian #loki meta #mental health awareness #reactive attachment disorder #external locus of control #hostile attribution bias #early childhood trauma

[avatar216]

Rant: Tropes I hate:

This one just going to be me ranting about tropes I hate with examples and some other opinions. Let’s begin.  

Fake/real dad reveal. I don’t know what else to call it, so I just call it this. This trope involves a character finding out their dad is not their real dad, but usually it’s because the fake dad either died or was/is abusive. Example: Laurits Seier from Netflix’s Ragnarok. Laurits found out the man who raised him was not his bio-dad and this understandably had a major impact on him and his sense of self. Unfortunately, this reveal made me dislike him more than I did at first. I already felt meh about him at the begining but by the time season 2 rolled around I genuinely disliked him as much as I disliked Wotan who I knew I wasn’t going to like. I hate this trope because it’s overused, unrealistic, and often used in Loki's backstory in movies, shows, and books. I want to see a Loki who knew his and was raised by his real parents Laufey and Fárbauti. When I see it I just roll my eyes, sigh, or get pissed if it seems like the writer{s] isn’t even trying. Writers, your characters can have issues without them having a fake father, mother, or whoever.  

Character x looks being different means their adopted/one of their parents had an affair. I know this one is long, but whatever. I see this one a lot in books and Lifetime movies. This trope involves a character having say blond hair and blue eyes when both their parents have brown hair and brown eyes. This is supposed to be a nod to the reader/viewer that something is amiss in the family. I find it vexing because the writer is rarely subtle about it, it’s often used as a cheap and easy way to create drama, and it continues the myth that a person can’t possibly look nothing like their parents or siblings without there being something nefarious going on. NEWS FLASH. It is biologically possible for 2 brown haired/brown eyed people to have a blond haired/blue eyed child. Likewise, it is possible for a person to look nothing like their parents or siblings at all. It doesn’t mean there’s something going on. I hate this trope because it creates and perpetuates the harmful idea that if one looks different from the family there must be something wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that someone looking different from their family members never indicates something like adoption or an affair, but yet it might just indicate they inherited dominant or recessive traits that aren’t present in their parents/siblings or that they have a medical condition that changes the way they look. Example: Farrendel Laesornysh from the Elven Alliance series by Tara Grayce. He has blond hair whereas his father and siblings have black hair. While reading, I just knew he was either adopted or one of his parents slept with someone else. I was right, of course. It turns out his father slept with a random woman after his wife died who just left him with the baby after. I love this series, but man did it ever piss me off when I read this. 

Biological essentialism/determinism/it’s just their nature/biology excuse. This is a bit complicated. This trope/cliche involves a character excusing their own behavior/minimizing their involvement by saying like well, he/she is adopted when another character is pressing them on their connection to the person in question who is usually the villain. It also involves a character refusing to help another character because he/she will never change. I hate this one because that’s the kinda excuse my ex “friend” made for why he didn’t have to change and stop pushing/forcing the happiness doctrine/positive thinking, self-help, atheism, or entrepreneurship on everyone he met. Example: Marvel Loki and Thor. Thor excuses his involvement by saying he’s adopted when Tony says, your brother killed like 80 people. He essentially says well we don’t share the same biology so I can’t possibly be like him even though they grew up together. The fact Thor completely ignores the environment they grew up in irks me. Thor never does grow to question Odin, Frigga, Heimdall, or anyone else in Asgard for that matter. He just assumes it’s all in Loki's head and his resulting behavior is just how he is naturally rather than it being learned or a cry for help. Another example is Tom Riddle and Dumbledore. Dumbledore basically justifies his actions by saying well Tom was born without the ability to love or feel other emotions,so there is no point in even trying to help him/teach him how to be good. Nevermind the fact empathy has 3 types which include cognative, emotional, and compassionate. Lacking the emotion doesn’t mean someone is necessarily unable to understand someone is feeling something and respond as other people respond.                               

As you can probably tell I don’t really like Marvel Thor. I didn’t always dislike the character, but I grew to dislike him after rewatching the movies and reading other people’s opinions about him.   

#tropes #tropes i hate #anti thor #anti laurits seier #rant #opinions

[iamanartichoke]

[please blacklist spoiler tags: #loki tv series spoilers, #loki series spoilers, #loki spoilers]

Yes, I did just watch episode 2 at 5:30 in the morning.

No, I am not sorry. Not at the moment, although when I inevitably crash later this afternoon, I will be.

Just some very, very quick - and scattered and messy - thoughts: That is a straight up lie; they’re definitely scattered and messy but not very quick at all.

Under the cut for spoilers and length.

I’m going to start with Loki’s characterization. My honest opinion is that Loki’s overall characterization feels like a fic characterization. He definitely is not Avengers Loki, like, at all. I don't know if Tom just, like, forgot how to play that Loki or ...?? That, or Loki was so much more mind-controlled than we realized and getting hulk-smashed just completely reset him back to zero but also fucked him up a little bit and affected his personality, kind of like how some people completely develop weird new personality quirks after a traumatic brain injury.

… yeah, I think that’s where I’m gonna land for now. TV series!Loki feels like a more-or-less canon version of Loki, but if that Loki got hit in the head really hard and now he’s just a little bit fucked up but overall no worse for the wear. Which - it may be that it’s so early in the morning, but that’s actually really fucking funny to me, lmao. God, I kill me. It’s not funny.

No, but, that’s pretty much how I feel. He’s ooc but he’s also ic, and the reason I’m not particularly bothered by the inconsistency, for lack of a better word, is because that’s what pretty much every fic Loki already feels like to me? (Including my own, so I’m not, like, saying that in a derogatory way.) Which is why I say Loki feels like a fic!Loki and to try to explain it better - there is always, for me, a little suspension of disbelief that I employ when I read fic. The reason for that is because the context, the plot, and the dynamics of the fic are usually pretty different than what we ever get in canon, so it becomes a matter of taking film!Loki and, like, bending him a bit in order to fit him into the perimeters of the fic.

The result ends up being that I don’t see the exact Avengers!Loki or TDW!Loki, and thus by definition the portrayal is ooc, but the version that I do see feels like a genuine extension of the canon version, possessing enough of Loki’s overall traits and characteristics that he feels authentic, albeit a bit pretzeled for the new context.

I honestly think that’s something that’s unavoidable, just due to the fact that in fic - and now, in this series - there are a lot more variables at play than there are in the films, wherein Loki is not just a supporting character but also the villain/antagonist and is therefore very limited in what he does/what the narrative allows him to do. When those limitations are taken away, what are we going to see? Probably a lot of different things, and yeah, a lot of them are going to feel a little ooc. And, like in fic, even if the characterization mostly lands, there are definitely bits and pieces (some fics more than others lean this way) where the author didn’t stick the landing or got carried away or otherwise probably forgot for a while that they were writing Loki, not their own OC.

That’s the point where it strays into cringe territory for me (and where the ‘heh, he’s Loki but with a brain injury’ aspect comes in), but while I had to consciously decide to just ignore those moments, overall the tone in this episode felt a bit more balanced between the new, the old, and the cringe, and less whiplash-y from the beginning of the episode to the end.

… I have no idea if that makes sense, but what I’m basically saying is that while I am enjoying this version of Loki, I do recognize all of the ways he’s ooc but, unlike how I feel about Ragnarok!Loki, the ooc-ness feels genuine and unavoidable rather than just a fundamental and careless misunderstanding of the character altogether. In other words, I feel like any ooc-ness here is happening despite the writers taking care to do their best, and isn’t just a result of Loki being lazily written by a person or persons who just doesn’t want to bother with him at all.

Again, I don’t know if that makes sense, but fuck it, there we are and I’m moving on.

I liked all of the little details, including again, things that felt straight out of fic, like Loki asking Mobius why he has the jetski magazine. (Also, if any of my thorki friends read this, was I the only one who noticed that when we see Loki reading the magazine, it just happens to be open to a page with a picture featuring a jet skier who looks like Thor? l.m.a.o.)

Loki interrupting things to explain the difference between illusions vs the other power (I can’t remember which one, off hand, and if I stop writing to go look it up I will lose my train of thought and not finish this) was great, but his overall input and contributions to the missions inspired very mixed feelings for me. On the one hand, I loved that the narrative, via Loki, is reminding us of all these things that he’s capable of that the films generally left out or brushed aside or ignored - but, every time he spoke, he was met with eye rolls and sighs and just a general feeling of “someone please shut this guy up” and I didn’t like the narrative treating him that way.

But also, it’s understandable bc none of the people on his team are actually on his team. None of them want him there (story of Loki’s fucking life), none of them trust him, and none of them are particularly interested in hearing what he has to say. So it’s like, I understand why they reacted the way they did, and I don’t think their reactions are meant to support an overall narrative undermining of Loki’s skills and input - but, the tone is hard to read for me bc I am very defensive and protective of Loki. I can’t quite determine the line between the TVA agents being unreliable narrators (ie, they’re annoyed by Loki bc of who he is to them, but that doesn’t mean the audience is supposed to feel the same) and the TVA agents validating that Loki is just being a nuisance (and, thus, the audience is supposed to feel the same).

That is, I know how I am consuming the narrative (that they’re unreliable narrators), but I’m not sure if that’s how tptb are intending for me to consume the narrative - and I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it’s worth mentioning.

In general, I really liked, again, Loki existing in his own space and watching the way he carried himself. I especially found it interesting that his hands were almost always in his pockets - for one thing it's a stance I tend to imagine him taking often in fic, but also it’s kind of a weird choice bc pockets don’t seem to be a thing in Asgardian clothing. It makes me feel like Loki is the kind of person who never knows what to do with his hands but is always conscious of them, as is common among anxious and self-conscious people, and I just find that relatable on a weird level.

I am really kinda torn on Mobius in this episode; when not interrogating Loki, he’s much less antagonistic toward Loki and therefore I’m more inclined to take-him-or-leave-him but I’ll go ahead and take him I guess. Yet at the same time, bc he’s not interrogating Loki he’s also not trying to put on a show for Loki and when you take that away, he really doesn’t seem to like Loki at all. It supports that Mobius only wants what Loki can do for him and doesn’t actually particularly care about him as a person, which is fine and more or less what I figured, but it contributes to me not really being able to decide how I feel about him in general. Idk, though, I kinda like their dynamic? Like I want them to end up friends?

Regardless, Tom and Owen have amazing chemistry and it’s really funny to me bc (not to be a jerk) I honestly didn’t know Owen Wilson could act. Like, I’ve never seen him in a role where he wasn’t just playing Owen Wilson. So for him to not only be playing Mobius so well but also having such chemistry and a sense of holding-his-own against Tom Hiddleston is like, color me surprised but pleasantly so.

I like B-15 a lot, even though she obviously hates Loki, so idk why I like her but I do. I like Renslayer less, but meh. (Side note - when I was in undergrad in Syracuse, I took the Amtrak from Syracuse to Boston and back more than a few times, for reasons that aren’t relevant, and that route always had a layover at Albany-Rensselaer and every single time I see Renslayer’s name, I want to call her Rensselaer instead.) Shout out to the guest appearance by Casey, sorry Loki stole your juice lmfao.

The moments from the trailer that were very cringe were less so in context (though still kinda cringe, tbh). I think we’ve seen most of the content from the trailers in the first two episodes now, though, which means going forward, it’s going to be like 95% previously unseen material (aside from the brief apocalyptic shots and so forth).

One thing I fucking loved was how Loki, reading about Ragnarok, was visibly affected and even teared up a bit, and you could tell he was in his feels about it, but then later when Mobius expresses sympathy, Loki is just like, “Uh huh, very sad, but anyway.” It was a subtle (well maybe not that subtle) but effective way to remind us that what Loki presents to other people is more often than not a mask and he keeps his true feelings close to the chest. It makes last week’s breakdown have even more of an impact, I think, bc clearly Loki was at the end of his rope to allow himself to show that much raw emotion and vulnerability, but also - for me - there’s a niggling little doubt there that wasn’t there before, in that there was probably more performance in it than I thought.

By which I mean, I think his reaction to the film of his life when he was alone was genuine but, while I previously thought his admission to Mobius later was also genuine, I now think was probably half genuine and half performative. I know others already figured that out, but I’m a little slow and, also, I don’t mind changing my opinion and interpretation from week to week.

Along the same lines, I wasn’t exactly surprised to see that Loki is “undercover” in the TVA, but it was nice to see it acknowledged fairly quickly. Not sure I buy that Loki wants to overthrow and rule the TVA - it’s still a little too “Loki only wants a throne” for me, but again, just because that’s what he told the variant doesn’t mean that’s actually what he’s after.

And, finally, I like the variant, I love Loki’s reaction to seeing her, and while I realize that the show has acknowledged Loki’s gender fluidity and we’re meant to assume that Lady Loki (I guess? Not sure if we’re going with that or not here) is Loki, I saw a theory somewhere about how this is actually not Loki-Loki, but - I wanna say her name Sophie but that’s the actress, again I can’t go look it up bc I will lose my train of thought - but it’s a character who is similar to Amora and who was created by Loki and models herself as Loki but she’s actually someone else.

Ugh I can’t remember the details of the theory, but I am kinda going with it bc I don’t think that Loki would look so - not surprised but just kind of “oh, well, I wasn’t expecting that” if he were seeing the female version of himself. Like, he doesn’t seem to recognize her the way I assume he would recognize himself, male or female. Not only does that make me feel like she’s actually someone else, but also not recognizing her as the female version of himself doesn’t necessarily mean Loki doesn’t recognize her at all. He may very well recognize her as this other Amora-similar character and, if so, I really want to see how that character fits with MCU Loki (as I think she’s a comic book character but, again, I’d have to go back and find that theory).

Edit: I found a version of it here.

Overall score, B-. Mostly solid, but needs moar Loki breakdowns and tears. (That's just me, don't fucking judge me.) Also, I really hate that we have to wait a week between episodes. I wish they were following Netflix’s method of dropping the entire season at once but, then again, if they did that, I’m not sure any of us would survive.

I gotta get ready for work and I deleted and rewrote so much of this and it still seems nonsensical to me, lmfao fml. Anyway feel free to interact/send me asks/whatever, it’s going to be a long fucking day with all of this on my mind. I’ll be working my way through my dash as best as I can.

Oh, also! Loki is so fucking pretty in this episode! The TVA suit is ugly, but he makes it work, and his hair's combed nicely and he looks like he finally got an opportunity to sleep and shower and eat something and, yknow, it's working for him.

#loki tv series spoilers #loki series spoilers #loki spoilers #loki pokey artichokey #also thought it was interesting that as soon as mobius gave him the jacket #loki barely took it off and didn't go anywhere without it #lending even more credence to the fact that he likes to be as covered up as possible at all times

[qwanderer]

Loki in the Hall of Mirrors

This story is complicated. Not, like, as a plot, not particularly, but philosophically and thematically. It's got that great play of hero against villain that I love about the Loki story in general and that makes it all so divisive and messy. And I love it even more than I did on first watch.

The first time I watched the desert landing scene, I was like, "Wait? What happened to Allspeak?" because the people who live there don't seem to understand him. But on the second watch, I realized it could be a lack of context, rather than a break in translation. These people probably have an even chance of knowing nothing about Norse myth. Like, what if an alien came up to you and said "I am Boogle of Bofgar, I carry a burden"? You would still have questions like "What the hell is a boogle and why are you carrying your shit here?" So the basic dynamic of Allspeak is probably still functioning, and Loki probably understood their questions, but he was still trying to figure out how to answer when he got distracted by the TVA people.

It could even be an innate psychic ability rather than a magical one, as he seems to understand everyone in the TVA, including the man who can't be fluent in all languages like the field agents because he has never heard of a fish and the seemingly nonverbal robot. (Which of course makes me want Loki talking with Dum-E and the other shop bots! But I digress.)

Okay. I want to start talking about the next-level manipulation shit the TVA are pulling on Loki here. Time, as they say, moves differently in the TVA, and one might even assume that they can avoid having to deal with more variants at once than they can handle. And yet we see them dealing with exactly two other troublemakers during Loki's onboarding.

The first, I'm going to call little echo man.

Little echo man is incredibly annoying to Loki, because he does and says everything Loki might find himself inclined to do and say if he wanted to be difficult. Little echo man does these things in little annoying undignified ways, making them look silly and petulant. Little echo man protests and questions and pushes back, in his business suit and his long dark hair and pale skin, and clearly thinks everyone should treat him as important even though every indication is that he is an annoyance and an afterthought.

Perhaps he's a plant, and perhaps he's just a variant of an annoying but predictable regular they see who they lined up at the same time on purpose. But he is on purpose. Everything he does screams directly at Loki, "Don't do this."

We'll get to the second convenient intersection later.

The most obvious layer of manipulation is simply the beraucracy. They put him up against a series of obstacles which he needs to deal with to get anywhere else, and nothing he does can get him past those obstacles except compliance. All of these obstacles have personality, but they are not personable. They treat Loki like a bag of trash they have been tasked with taking to the curb. Annoying, distasteful, but ultimately routine. His silver tongue isn't going to get him anywhere because these people simply don't care.

I think a lot of these he just goes along with to see where it gets him, since at this point he still believes he has his magic in reserve. But the fact that he steps through the robot fryer even though he thinks he might be a robot without knowing (as others have pointed out, he spent thousands of years as a frost giant without knowing it, and he's recently spent time in the control of the being who shaped Nebula) is a testament to how deep they've already got their hooks in him.

They treat the robot fryer like it's routine, but come the next obstacle, they kill little echo man like it's routine, too. Because he didn't comply.

Loki is slowly being ironed flat to thread into their compliance mill.

And then - I love this, because it reminds me of one of my favorites among the multiplicity of Lokis, GoS!Loki - they put this line in as punctuation between the impersonal, compliance, don't phase of their manipulation and everything that comes after it.

When he's set before the judge, someone actually paying some attention to him, this is his chance to use his silver tongue on someone who will listen. But, although the judge listens, she treats him the same as all the other obstacles have - like listening is a distasteful chore she would like to be done with.

So it seems like the perfect moment for a dramatic escape. Except his magic is gone.

"It's not your story," the judge says. "It never was."

That hammers in all the worst things Loki has ever believed about himself - that he stands in the shadows of others, that he will never have the central place he was raised to desire, that he is, and always will be, a villain to be vanquished rather than a person with choices and agency.

Enter Mobius.

Mobius is a big echo.

He draws all the attention in a room. He is everything that Loki wishes to be - he is powerful, informed, prepared, in control. Capable of charming the judge. And most importantly, he is actively interested in Loki.

At this point in Loki's journey - both in the show and in his life - that has to be irresistible.

So Mobius is in a perfect position to wrap Loki right around his pinky finger.

He listens to Loki without shutting him down, the way all the obstacles have. When Loki tells Mobius he's going to burn down the TVA, Mobius suggests a couple of places he might want to start. One concrete, small, mischievous. One an indication that he's open to Loki doing larger, more significant things here in the future.

He shows Loki his own past and future - but carefully edited, to paint a particular picture.

So many echoes, so many reflections - Loki is in a house of mirrors. Lost, disoriented. Distorted one way, then the other. Magnified and examined.

Loki snarks, and Mobius comments, "Makes you sound smart." Affirms Loki for that little mischievous bit of personality.

Mobius shows Loki some of the most terrible things he's done, and questions them. Pushes Loki away from them. Then changes direction before he can get too heavy-handed, to basically fangirl over the DB Cooper adventure. That's mischief. That's good. I like that.

Punishes him for a small infraction, just to remind him who is in control and that even looking threatening could be seen as a problem.

I think it was at about this point that I got hard reminded of the dynamics of the show White Collar. It's a buddy cop show on a basic level and sometimes the relationship can be very sweet, but sometimes Peter spends one too many times reminding Neal that he can send him back to prison any time he wants and the power dynamic shows its messed up edges.

Mobius is part of the machine, and the machine is doing terrible things to Loki, but I have at least a sliver of hope that the relationship could gain more balance - more genuine balance, not based on the faux freedom that Loki has gained by the end of the episode. There's something to be said for making changes to a system from within that system, but for that to be meaningful change, Mobius would have to change as a person.

Anyway, this current nastily powerful Mobius pushes Loki as hard as he can, and then is conveniently interrupted by the actions of another variant, leaving Loki alone with his remote.

It could easily have been on purpose. The only thing Loki learns by escaping that room is that the TVA is more powerful than any force in the universe, in his experience.

Let's talk about the other Loki variant for a minute. It took me until the second viewing to realize the symbolism of leaving a small child the only survivor in a place of worship, then giving her something to turn her blue.

Odin said he found Loki in a temple, in the aftermath of a battle.

It's actually frighteningly easy to imagine how a distraught Loki could get to a place where he feels the need to genuinely burn down the TVA, and kill every agent in it. Because the TVA put certain clips in his little future show, focusing on the death of his mother, the way his own actions affected it, and the futility and brutality of his own death at the hands of Thanos.

They don't show him the destruction of Asgard, his own role in helping save the evacuees, and the way Thanos decimated the population of that transport before it could even reach Earth. They don't show him the devastation of his home or his capacity to do good.

A Loki who knows that the power of the TVA exists and that he has the capacity to be Asgard's heroic savior would do anything to get that power and save his people.

But we haven't met that Loki yet. I'm sure we will, and it's going to be exhilarating.

This Loki is being taught the importance of control over little things, and so when he gets his collar off and onto that guard, he toys with her, just to see that he can. They have been toying with him and it's oh so satisfying to turn the tables. But it's still compliance in its own way, the petty little mischief that Mobius has been steering him towards.

Loki has been given just enough freedom, just enough choices, that it seems like his own choice to watch the rest of the slide show and come to the obvious conclusion - there's no "out" to go to. His life has gone on without him, and ended. And there's really no point in his trying to fix it. No putting things back the way they were.

So he admits to Mobius - the person who has listened hardest, probably, besides his mother - he admits that he is small and scared and lashing out. That he doesn't know what to do.

Of course, this is when Mobius introduces the task the TVA has for Loki - to take down his other self.

Oh, I can't wait for the next episode! I want to know where this is going.

(I've popped in some panels from Loki: Agent of Asgard because it's my favorite and the show is giving me feelings about it.)

#the loki show #the loki series #agent mobius #loki #loki meta #spoilers #loki spoilers #loki show spoilers #aoa #gos!loki #marvel

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 8

Releasing two chapters today in honour of my birthday! I am officially 23 years old. Oh my God, what the fuck? I feel ancient.

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it's own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV.

Summary: You're Peter's classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you're lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: I started writing this for porn and now? Look at all this plot. Disgusting! Featuring: the Hulk, more Bruce fluff, and DISASTER PARENTS. It's gonna get worse before it gets better y'all.

My beta, @miscmarvelwritings is the Peter to my Tony. Love you 3000, baby.

The beeping startled me awake, the haze of my recent memory made me very unsettled. Last thing I remembered was laying down on the couch and Peter's admission - the little! Guy! Was! Spider-Man! Holy! Shit!

Beeping intensified and I heard grumbling and shuffling coming from the side of me. A warm sensation engulfed my right hand and I smiled. I'd recognize that hand anywhere. Bruce was in the room with me so I was definitely in a safe place.

Me eyelids parted meeting a set of oddly fluorescent green eyes. Holy fuck, that was no Bruce, it was... But how? His form was slouched in an uncomfortable position over the bed, crease marks on his face. It was Bruce's body, Bruce's face but who held control over it - he was no Bruce Banner.

"No worry, Princess is safe," The voice that left his mouth was much more primal, with an unmistakable growl underneath. He watched me, alert, scanning my face with unblinking eyes. "Bruce asleep now. I keep watch."

I swallowed the unease. "Hi, Hulk, and thank you," Squeezing his hand very, very gently. "Nice to meet you, by the way."

He grinned, all teeth and sharp canines. He looked like a wolf. The look was so out of place on usually gentle Bruce's face that I had to study it, had to memorize that stark difference between Banner and his alter ego. The smile faltered slightly as he closed his eyes. "Bruce waking up now. See you soon." And with that, his head fell onto his arm, dead weight and limp.

His hair was tousled, a curly mess, and he wore the same shirt I remembered him in. Upon closer inspection it still bore minor stains of what I assumed was my blood. It was probably the only time I would get to look at him, really look at Bruce without the fear of being caught, being weird or getting misinterpreted. He was really handsome, the five o'clock shadow silver on his usually neatly shaved chin, his jawline was firm and... He really was beautiful.

His eyes slowly blinked open, the usual colour brown. Noticing me awake, Bruce immediately perked up. "Morning. How do you feel?" He asked, voice croaky and sleep-drunk.

It sent shivers down my spine. "I'm good, nothing feels amiss besides the left part of my face. That's kind of puffy," I admitted, failing to describe the full-and-pulling sensation I was currently experiencing. "I met the Hulk. He was nice." I added as an afterthought. Thought he should know.

Bruce frowned. "He does that sometimes. Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I think, I think I'd like to meet him properly one day," I admitted my biggest curiosity. After all, I've already met real aliens.

Bruce seemed speechless for a moment. "Are you sure?" He stuttered. "He's...a bit much," He parroted my previous comment about my house, much to my amusement. "You sure it's not the concussion talking?" Banner squinted at the monitor at my bedside, avoiding my eyes.

"I'm very sure," I squeezed the hand I was still holding in quiet affirmation. "Besides, he promised to see me soon."

"Oh did he," Bruce muttered darkly but I could see his face brighten nonetheless. "Right, so I'm going to call in Strange and we can see about unhooking you from all these things," Bruce gestured to the various wires and monitors.

True to his word, Strange waltzed in no more than ten minutes after Bruce called him. Seeing me, the usually stoic man began snickering, unsuccessfully attempting to hide his amusement by swirling his cape in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion. I was not impressed, Bruce was not impressed and neither was Tony who walked in shortly after all the wires were removed from my persona.

"So... Is someone going to tell me why is Dumbledore so joyful this fine morning?" I crossed my arms under my boobs.

"You don't remember?" Tony snorted at my negative head shake. "Before you passed out, you demanded cake and said Wizard here looks like Benedict Cumberbatch. To be fair, I see the resemblance, but you...." Tony paused to snicker multiple times. "You managed to butcher up the guy's name multiple times, I swear to Thor, what came out of your mouth was..." The engineer laughed, making a broad and vague gesture with his hands. "What did she say? Bubble-butt Orgy-pants?" He asked Bruce who was as unsuccessful at hiding his laughter as Strange himself. Even the wizard's cape was bouncing.

I wheezed, suddenly coming to a realization. It wasn't a concussion induced lucid dream, I had actually said that. "It's really bold of you to assume I can pronounce and remember his name while I'm sober," I said. "I just call him British-guy Funny-name." Tony cackled at that, giving me a hearty thumbs up and ungracefully plopping down at the foot of my hospital bed.

"How do you feel, Buttercup?" He was looking earnestly at me now, his sparkling brown eyes big and round and worried.

I had to distract myself to keep from literally face-planting into his lap then and there. "Good, actually." Tony nodded happily, and I raised my finger. "But for the record, Doctor Strange..." I addressed the man who turned to me expectantly. "Please don't get pissed off, I have a request..." He nodded warily. "Don't shave? I mean, now that I can clearly see the resemblance between him and you... Please don't shave off the beard or you'll look like an angry aardvark."

The men in the room gaped, most of all, Stephen - his face was somewhere between resigned suffering and surprised disbelief.

"Angry... Aardvark..." Tony fuckin' WHEEZED. "Fuck a duck..." The engineer clutched at his stomach in an obnoxious fit of laughter, Bruce was snorting too. "The fuck is an aardvark?" The lone word seemed to have a magical effect on Tony, increasing his laughter with every time he repeated it out loud.

"Duly noted," Stephen nodded with as much seriousness as he could before cracking a reluctant smile. "I see that the healing technology Tony developed has worked well, if judging only by your sense of humour returning. Good," With that, he waved his hands about and the puffy feeling from my face disappeared. "I took some liberties and added a healing spell with Loki's help." Seeing my raised eyebrow, he elaborated. "Loki was deeply touched by your kind gesture towards his teammate and offered his help. You should be good to resume your daily activities by nightfall although I recommend you take it easy. And call your mother, she stopped by and instructed me to request you communicate at the first comfortable opportunity."

The mild pity and disdain on Strange's face told me that he was the one who had actually spoken with her. She must've been especially icy and bitter considering I had interrupted her daily routine with getting punched in the face. How inconvenient.

With that, Stephen left me with a parting pat on the shoulder, taking Tony with him - the engineer managed to squeeze a whole hug out of me before being bodily (magically?) dragged behind Strange. I was really uncomfortable with all the attention I was receiving wearing only a thin hospital gown and I told Bruce exactly that - promptly, Natasha arrived with a bag I recognised as my own, an ostrich Birkin that held a cute, soft cashmere loungewear set, some basic toiletries along with a set of underwear and a pair of slippers.

Evidently, my mother packed this bag. Never in a thousand years I would wear a $1200 worth of leisure clothing at a hospital. Even Natasha whistled when I first examined the bag's contents.

"Yeah, yeah, my mother's a bit much," I said, immediately cringing at how obnoxious that sounded.

"No shit," Natasha rolled her eyes. Something told me she'd met her too.

"Wait 'til you see my dad," I replied in an identical tone, disappearing behind the door to the bathroom. It was all very luxurious, extra and overall very Stark. Friday's voice coming from the ceiling made it known that I was still in the tower, the AI informed me of the date, time, weather and the further instructions to follow Natasha after I was done freshening up.

Showers had never felt so good.

I was greeted by muted cheers and a hefty brunch on the common floor. Lots of hugs, too, even Loki paused his brooding to give me an awkward, albeit very genuine embrace. I whispered a thanks for the spell which made the moody god considerably less moody - in fact, he smiled like a child on Christmas Eve. Suddenly, I felt much less out of place with my disaster self.

The pleasant part was done and I geared up to call my own personal curse.

"Hello, mother, it's kind of you to pick up," I started the usual. I could literally feel the confusion and concern of the people in the room piercing my back. "Sorry for interrupting your meeting. Yes, I am quite well now. No, Josh can keep running your errands, I will stay at Mr. Stark's for the time being. Tomorrow morning, probably, don't wait up. I will, absolutely. Oh, is he? Wow, that's amazing. I'm so happy," I chirped. My face was one of the suffering kind. "Yes, dinner on Friday night. Okay-I mean, yes, I will ask. He's actually right next to me." I paused to turn around and look at Tony, mouthing 'she wants me to invite you for dinner'.

Tony's speed was breaking the laws of physics as he snatched the phone right out of my hand. "Hello, this is Tony Stark speaking. You know, maybe you should come over to Stark tower. Yes, the whole family. Thanks, bye." He promptly pressed the end call button right as mother had started her goodbye-have a nice day-live long and prosper speech. "How the fuck do you put up with that woman?" He started at me with a mix of concerned incredulousity.

"She's an acquired taste," I groaned. "You just wait. My dad. I..." I literally had no words to describe the upcoming disaster. Tony had no idea what he just had condemned all of the tower's inhabitants to. "Why am I like this? Why are they like this?" I raised my head up to the ceiling as if the AI living in it could give me all the solutions to my life's problems.

"Get some rest, Princess," Bruce was kind enough to spare me any more misery as his warm, broad hand steered me towards the elevator by the small of my back.

As he dutifully fluffed my pillows and handed me a glass of water and my smartphone, I unashamedly basked in the soft attention I was receiving from the older man. I still felt somewhat groggy; best case, I'll fall right asleep and if the dreamland avoids me, I would browse tik tok and Instagram until something else would strike my fancy. The gentle murmur of him describing the latest lab incident I missed out on and the hands combing softly through my hair were the best sleep aides I could have ever asked for.

Bruce is too precious for this world. Too pure.

Friday rolled in with the force of a pissed off rhinoceros. Dad had flown in on a Thursday afternoon, stopping by the house to drop off his suitcase and happily dangle the keys of a brand new Chevrolet Corvette in front of my face before briefly stopping to ruffle my hair, kiss mother on the cheek and drive off into the sunset to "catch up with people at the studio". Jetlag wasn't a word in that man's vocabulary, he probably snorted a line or three as soon as he stepped out of the airport.

I could carry my groceries in the bags under his eyes. He just waved off any of my attempts to get him some rest only showing mild interest when I spoke about my friendship with Tony Stark, absolutely disregarding the rest of the team sans Captain America and the billionaire himself.

I might as well have been in front of a trainwreck, watching it happen second by second. The moment all three of us stepped out of the elevator onto the tidied up common floor, I had the sudden realization of exactly how much we weren't a family.

We were the exact opposite of that.

My mother, tall and slim and perfectly posed in a sleek blue dress with diamonds glittering around her chin, neck and fingers, her obnoxious greed proudly on display. My father, in his early fifties, well-groomed and fit, in his tight designer pants and a plain white t-shirt under a stylish tweed blazer. He looked ridiculous. Only Tony could pull off something like that (I shuddered. Sigmund Freud sends his regards!). And me, little old me, in my $900 jeans, $1500 Gucci sneakers and a mesh crop top I got at Hot Topic. At least, amidst this mess, my eyeliner game was on point.

I smiled sardonically at Steve who came to greet us. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

"Captain Rogers," My father greeted him with his Hollywood smile.

"Steve," An equally fake and toothy grin came from the superhero as he gallantly greeted my mother and swept me into an unnecessarily tight hug.

Point one, my father smirked. Somewhere in the corner, Wanda made a gagging noise - quietly, of course, I only knew about it because she did her telepathic mumbo-jumbo to make me aware of her stance on this particular matter.

Point two, my mother loudly announced she was vegetarian while simultaneously praising the catering services that Tony used. Clint had enlisted Bucky and Thor to help him cook and now all three were smiling awkwardly as mother spoke about the "incredibly talented immigrant workers".

Point three, dad made it his JOB to brag about my skills and achievements as if he was the one encouraging me to pursue them. It was fair, I suppose, since he paid for it but alas, it sounded a lot less like he was a proud father and more of a "look at what my puppy can do". I had to tip my proverbial hat to Tony and Bruce there, they both began to describe our lab work in such unnecessary detail, using so many long words, even Loki began quietly chipping in with totally random, long, difficult words. Confusion was beginning to seep through the eternally cheerful facade that my dad wore.

Or maybe it was the coke and Adderall wearing off. Who knew.

"Peter?" Came the dreaded question from my mother. I shook my head in quiet despair as Peter visibly cringed at my mother's voice.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"That vile boy has been taken care of," I could absolutely see Natasha saying the same thing and the only difference laid in the fact that I knew my mother wouldn't actually kill a person. She would hire someone to do it for her. "It's really unfortunate my daughter got in the middle of that sort of situation."

Wow. My mother just called Peter a coward. Wow. Tony briefly went cross-eyed with anger.

"Baby, why you bein' so quiet?" Dad, the mitigator that he was, intervened before a real shit storm could start. Which meant, as usual, putting me on the spotlight. It was me between a rock and a hard place: nothing, and I repeat - nothing I ever did or have done was good enough for both of my parents at the same time.

"I'm fine, dad, just chillin'," I replied, pushing my food around on my plate. He hated it when I ate too much, which was really anything more than two glasses of water and a salad. Being around models on a strict avocado and coke diet really skewed his sense of normal.

"Nah, baby, you're brooding," His teasing tone could've fooled anybody. Just messing around with a teenager. "Come with me tonight, there's a party, Billie Eilish is going to be singing. Not my style but you like that weird goth shit, might cheer you up a lil'," Dad joked and everybody around the table smiled happily at last. Everyone except Tony that was - his press-tour smile was still glued to his face. I hated it. It was unnatural.

"No, dad, you go have your old people fun," I rolled my eyes.

"Jesus Christ," I heard mother mutter on my other side but she kept quiet beyond that.

"C'mon, don't be a spoilsport," Dad insisted.

"Actually, we have a project planned up in the lab..." Tony trailed off, attracting confused looks from his teammates and friends. Pete looked at me in pure envy.

"Alright, alright, dad, I'll go with you, jeez," I mumbled, flushing from the sheer amount of embarrassment flowing through me. Partying with your own father, how sad and pitiful is that?

"I'm very upset at you ditching me," Tony poked a fork in my direction but didn't press the matter further. I avoided the looks of my friend's friends. I avoided the hell out of Bruce who kept making his perfect, round puppy eyes and radiating so much kindness and support I nearly choked on my intermittent sips of water.

"Alright, we will be waiting downstairs with Josh, say your goodbyes," Mother announced as she subtly towed my father towards the elevator. He'd had a whiskey too much and felt particularly chatty much to Tony's displeasure. "Thank you again for your hospitality."

As soon as the doors closed behind my parents, the group of superheroes erupted into a confused debate. I saw Tony blankly staring at the ceiling. Bucky cursing. Thor overly calmly talking with Loki.

Beyond caring about anything, my face flamed as I made a beeline for my dad's latest, untouched glass of whiskey (single malt, neat, double) and downed it in one go. The conversation stopped promptly, people eyeing me with visible concern. Steve was outraged.

"No," I announced, stopping any and all questions, slamming the glass on the table and departing towards the elevator that had made its way back upstairs. "Just no." Were my parting words as the doors closed once again on a startled and disgruntled group of superheroes.

Please check your blog settings before requesting to be added to the taglist. I can't tag some of y'all.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit @littlegasps @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @as-i-layhereinyourbed @sleep-i-ness @gigglyfox01

#party favours #bun writes #stephen strange x you #stephen strange x reader #Stephen Strange x y/n #tony stark x y/n #tony stark x reader #tony stark x you #bruce banner x y/n #bruce banner x reader #bruce banner x you #LMFAO BEING A DISASTER RUNS IN THE FAMILY

[fangirlovestuff]

Cycle - Steve Rogers x reader ch.1

a/n- Hey lovely people! this was a one shot idea that spiralled into a multi-part series, and i am very very excited to post this! i actually identify with steve’s situation more than the reader’s, but we all have imaginations😂 also i suck at summaries but give it a chance! the divider is by the amazing @whimsicalrogers​, thank you so much! Enjoy<3

Summary: You want a relationship but keep getting tangled up in one night stands, while Steve just keeps getting himself friendzoned. When pollar opposites with the same desires meet, will you change each other’s lives? Will you break the cycle?

Word Count: ~2,420

Warnings: bad language, mentions of sex

The music was thumping in Steve's ears, way too loud as always but he learned to manage it. He tried tuning back in to Bucky and Sam's conversation, but his thoughts kept pulling him away. He liked going out with his friends, he really did, it's just that lately, life wasn't exactly working out the way he expected it to. Which is normal, I mean, no one's life is exactly like they imagined, but at this point it was getting ridiculous.

A pretty blonde was coming up to them, and Sam and Bucky elbowed Steve, drawing his attention towards her. His overly-supportive friends were, of course, nagging him to "get some" for a while now, and honestly, it wasn't Steve's fault he didn't. It wasn't for a lack of trying.

It's just that, well, Steve was a really nice guy. That was just who he is – sweet, attentive, caring. And he wanted to love someone, physically but also emotionally. But his character kept getting in his way. You see, he had many opportunities to get a girlfriend or even just a one-night stand, even though he wasn't that kinda guy. Plenty of beautiful women came up to him, he was Captain America for gosh sake. He was told he's also very good looking, but that's a matter of opinions. To himself, he still seemed like that scrawny kid from Brooklyn, just that he obviously didn't look the same. Still, none of Steve's thoughts about himself can change the fact he was a catch.

But every time he'd go on a date, or meet someone at a bar, he somehow said exactly the right things. So right in fact, that the women in front of him ended up confessing their secrets to him, opening up to him, trusting him immediately. One time the girl even started crying, a full-on sob session in the middle of the restaurant they were in. And of course, he'd comfort them, rubbing soothing circles across their backs, nodding in that understanding way of his, listening to them with genuine interest in his eyes, because that's just who he is.

And at the end of the night, when he asked, "can I see you again?" or "can I get your number?" they'd answer: "You're so sweet… but I think we would be better as friends, you know?"

He'd swallow a disappointed groan, smiling politely and saying "sure, that'd be nice."

And that's the story of how Steve Rogers ended up with tons of friends who were girls, but not one girlfriend to spare. Honestly, it was kind of sad that a man who listens gets automatically labeled as a friend who doesn't want to date the girl in front of him.

But it was getting sadder that he wasn't, as his friends so delicately put it, "getting some."

Presently, the blonde came up to them, waving and looking at Steve with interest in her eyes. "I'm Sharon," she introduced herself, "Wanna dance?" she smirked. From the corners of his eyes, he could see his friends glaring daggers at him, as if saying "if you say no, I will kick your ass so hard."

"Sure," he said, getting up. He took Sharon's hand and led their way to the dance floor. They danced for a while, moving against each other to the beat. They didn't talk much, because the music was so loud on the dance floor. After some time, Sharon pointed towards the bar and he nodded, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while.

They ordered their drinks, Steve insisting to pay for hers. From their place at the barstools, the music was still loud but bearable, so they could hear what the other was saying.

"So, what do you do?" Steve asked her.

"Well, I actually work at S.H.I.E.L.D," she smiled a little. "I saw you a couple of times but you seemed busy so I didn't come say hello," she shrugged apologetically.

This, of course, would be the time to say something smooth like "I'm never too busy for such a pretty woman." Except that, well, Steve worried that might be a little objectifying, so instead he opted for: "Well, you can come say hello whenever."

She giggled a little and sipped her drink. "I bet you've got some interesting stories though, right? I mean, bring an Avenger and all must make for some adventures."

"Oh, it does." Steve chuckled. "Do you know about the time when, uh, Loki disguised himself as Fury?"

Sharon sent him a quizzical look, prompting him to continue. "He thought he could access some weapons like that. The funny thing is, he almost did it, but Tony fell asleep while making a waffle and nearly burned the kitchen. When Fury didn't appear the moment the fire alarm went off, we realized something was seriously wrong."

She laughed. "Yeah, I can see how that would be alarming, pun intended," she grinned. "Honestly, Fury's great at his job, but he is a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes. I mean, that one time he told me off when my holster was on the wrong side, but we were in the office! What the hell would I even need a gun for?"

They continued to talk about work, and conversation flowed easily. At one point though, the conversation took a more personal turn.

"You know what…" Sharon said, "being in S.H.I.E.L.D is great, but sometimes I wish I would have taken a different path. I always thought that being an agent was my destiny, but honestly there are a thousand other things I could've done," she sighed. "Like, I don't know, be an architect or… a vet. When you're a kid you have all these dreams and then you just end up taking the practical job."

Steve's eyes filled with understanding. He reached out and put his palm on her arm, rubbing it soothingly. If he would've glanced at his friends, he would see them facepalming violently, aware that Steve's getting himself friendzoned, again, but Steve didn't notice. Instead, he told Sharon, "Hey, you're great at what you do as an agent. But It's never too late to change it up. I mean, I thought I wasn't gonna have a chance to fight in the war and here I am," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, a pensive look on her face. "Thank you, Steve. For the drinks and everything." She smiled and got up, taking her bag with her.

"Wait," Steve said, "can I get your number?"

"Oh," Sharon's brows furrowed for a second before she fixed her expression. "I just figured we'd see each other at work or something, you know, now that we're friends and all."

"Yeah, sure, you're right," Steve said, disappointment settling in his stomach. "See you around, Sharon."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Bye Steve," she said before getting up and walking away, exiting the club while Steve ordered another shot and got back to his friends' table, who took one look at his face and guessed what happened, thus were cackling and giggling like crazy.

He sat down, downing his drink and grumbling, "I miss Asgardian mead." Which only sent Sam and Bucky into another laughing fit.

Later that night Steve plopped down on his bed. He tried to sleep, but his thoughts were keeping him awake. What was he doing wrong? What was it about him that pushed women away? But should he change in order to get someone to like him?

He tossed and turned like that for a while, not finding a good answer to any of his questions. But when finally, after a couple of hours he managed to drift off, he closed his eyes with a resolution in mind.

I'm gonna break this cycle.

You looked around the small café, searching for… Josh. Yeah, that was his name, you were sure of it. Pretty sure anyway.

You sighed in frustration and checked your phone once more. Sure enough, he texted you he'll be this address in five minutes. It was definitely this address.

But it's been nearly an hour and he wasn't here, not texting anything else either. The waitress was giving you weird looks, so you had ordered your own coffee in the meantime.

You met Josh two nights prior, when you were out with your friends. You felt numerous eyes on you as you and your friends were dancing, the alcohol sending a pleasant buzz through your body. Josh was the only one who caught your eye, so when he came by offering to dance with you, you said yes.

Now, this is probably the place to mention you weren't having a lot of luck with guys lately. You liked to divide the guys you met into four catagories, so; pretty much every guy you met has either:

a)      Used you for sex

b)      Blew you off

c)      Gave you a wrong number, probably on purpose, or

d)      "was looking for something casual and it seemed like you were too"

So, your dating life was a little shitty to say the least. You knew that you were hot, or at least that guys considered you to be even though you didn't most of the time. But it's not like you were looking for "something casual." Quite the opposite actually, you were more than ready to date, have a serious relationship like most of your friends did.

But apparently, guys didn't really get that memo. Some days you wondered if you were a douche magnet, or was it maybe tattooed on your forehead that "I am a slut! Fuckboys, assemble!"

It wasn't that, but you couldn't say it didn't sting a little every time you were sent straight to voicemail, or every morning you woke up and found that he snuck out.

To be fair, you enjoyed some of it. The clubbing, the energy you feel when you cross eyes with someone across the room, the occasionally good sex. But for a long time now, it wasn't what you really wanted. You wanted to be sent flowers, not "u up;)" messages.

It wasn't like you didn't have other hobbies as well, and a job you were great at. So great in fact, you were offered to work with the Avengers, starting next week, because the position was open and they knew you were that good. You were a well-rounded person for fuck's sake, not a one-night-fantasy.

But the night you met Josh you really thought he could be different. You both talked, danced, had a lot of fun. And then, you know, went to his place, and argued about if he should put on a condom, which you won because he was way too drunk and horny to argue that stupid opinion, then fucked. At that point you realized no matter how much fun you had; he was a jerk for thinking he shouldn't put on a condom when you asked him to. So, you waited for him to fall asleep and then quietly gathered your belongings and left his apartment, thinking you'd never hear from him again.

The next day your fingered hovered above the "delete contact" on your phone. When you exchanged numbers last night you saved him as "cute guy<3" and you kinda hated your drunk self for that, but what's done is done. You were just about to delete his number when he shot you a message apologizing for last night, saying he didn't mean it, and asking you if you were free tomorrow to meet him at this small café which was "totally great".

So, wanting to give him another chance, you accepted.

Which brings us here, to said little café you were currently sitting in, waiting for the guy you were pretty sure was named Josh and questioning all of your life choices.

You finished your coffee, which had already gotten to be at room temperature and it wasn't even that good in the first place, so it was bad. But hey, you already paid for it, so you downed the rest of it and left the café, wandering into the warm, humid street.

Once you were back home from the commute, which was a terrible experience due to the humidity, you quickly shed your clothes, taking a nice cold shower to wash off the sticky sweat from your skin. You dried off, putting on a pair of shorts and a tank top before checking your phone, just to be sure, and—

Yep, still no message from Josh. You resisted the sudden urge to throw your phone across the room, taking a deep breath before shooting him one last text – "sayonara, dipshit" – before finally deleting his number from your phone, like you should've done yesterday.

You put your phone away for the rest of the day, going on your computer to do some chores – reply to your emails, settle some stuff before your start at the Avengers compound, closing things in your old workplace.

When evening arrived, you opened your phone to messages from your friends asking how your date with Jason, and it took you a minute to realize who they're talking about. You chuckled bitterly before telling them he stood you up.

They were very sympathetic, telling you you're going to find the right guy and that Jason wasn't worth it anyway. You agreed with the latter sentiment, but you weren't sure how much you agreed with the first one.

You had dinner on your own, scrolling through social media and mindlessly pecking your food. You spent the rest of your evening thinking about… life.

The thing is, you were tired. Tired of being treated like you're only good for sex, tired of pretentious assholes apparently named Jason who play you just so they can feed their own ego by having the last word, but most of all – tired of being alone.

You were ready for a change. You needed a change. You spent the rest of your evening planning it all in your head, resolving to stop giving into guys because they're fun or cute. You're not actually looking for cute fun, and it's time to start acting like it.

When you're on your own, this all seems like a given to you; that you're a strong woman, that you want romance. But somehow when you're actually around guys you forget all about it and become impulsive. Living in the moment is great, but so is having a future.

Well, your future starts tomorrow, because before you went to sleep you made up your mind –

Tomorrow, I break the cycle.

Hope you liked it! this was a bit more of an introduction, but i still really liked writing it :) i don’t know exactly when the next one’ll be out cause school and stuff but i promise to do my best... if you have any ideas/requests please feel free to tell me about them!

thank you again @whimsicalrogers​ for the magical divider <3

next chapter teaser: “It's a new week, and you're getting a new start.” 

Chris Taglist: @swatson06 @horny-nd-bored​ @shannon124 @perfectlyharolds​ @phoebe-21-99 @wintersoldierslut​ @iceebabies​ @wanessalopesueiros @sleepingpapermouse @steverogerswasalwaysworthy @holtzkinnon @angelicl-y @stydia-4-ever @thatoneperson5000 @fangirlfree​ @kaitcordx25 @bequeening​ @steve-barry-damon-logan​ @itscrazycherryblossomcollection​ @hollandxmarvel​ @darkwitchfromthesouth @stargazingfangirl18 @readsreblogsfics @onetwo3000 @beritmetal

if you wanna join / be removed from the taglist, comment/message me! this is a taglist for Chris and his characters. much love <3

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x female reader #chris evans x female reader #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers smut

[cozy-the-overlord]

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FIC THAT YOU WROTE AND WHY? WHAT'S ALL THE LITTLE SPECIAL DETAILS YOU INCLUDED FOR YOURSELF?

OOOOOOOOOOH

Crimson Curls. 100%. I absolutely love murder mysteries and listen to a lot of true crime/missing persons case podcasts and I've always wanted to write something like that but it always felt too daunting. Crimson Curls was my first attempt and I still to this day am so happy with it. Putting some fUn fAcTs about the story under the cut ...

The first chapter is supposed to be like a murder mystery podcast just recounting the story, and I got the idea for that just based on this weird thing that I do when I'm alone and bored and start wondering what these true crime YouTubers would say about me if I went missing. Like how would Ryan from Buzzfeed Unsolved describe my life if he was doing a video on my disappearance?

There's a couple true crime cases that I had in the back of my head while I was writing the story. I had just been watching OJ: Made in America right before I started work on it, and elements of that case made it into the story kind of unintentionally. I was also thinking about the Laci Peterson case and how quickly public sentiment can shift when it comes to suspects in high profile cases like this. The detail with the bloodhounds and the carpet was something I added in after watching the Netflix documentary about Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

There's a scene where Loki and Kristine are talking about red hair. For some reason, I had always thought Frigga had red hair. Then I realized that she doesn't. At all. That messed up that scene. A lot. It doesn't make as much sense anymore, but I think it's okay.

Originally, the idea was that Michael would nearly kill Kristine, but due to the Convergence, she was teleported away from him before he could finish the job, and that would be where she met Loki. I was actually inspired by @maiden-of-asgard's Frostbite in that regard, but I ended up changing the whole plot pretty significantly from that idea. I did include Natasha and Bruce's quick conversation about the Convergence as a nod to this original idea.

I actually wrote a long, detailed backstory about Kristine, most of which was not included in the story and was never meant to be. I didn't want to write the whole thing thinking of her only in terms of her victimhood, so I spent a whole day coming up with stuff like what her childhood looked like, what her homelife was like, what she liked, what she hoped and dreamed about, what her first kiss was like and what she thought of it, what her favorite classes were in college, etc. I included a bit of it in the final chapter, which is the only chapter from her perspective, but I didn't want to over do it with needless exposition in what was supposed to be the resolution. Her backstory was more for me anyways.

The title was a nightmare to come up with. I genuinely had no idea what to name it. I remember asking my mom and dad for ideas, and the best they could come up with was "The Mystery at Avengers Tower," which sounds like a off-brand Nancy Drew title. I went with Crimson Curls just because Kristine's red hair is a visual that is important in each chapter for different reasons: in the first chapter, it's an obvious part of her physical description that is vital to her missing person's case. In the second, it's her red hair and green dress that causes her to stand out to Loki, which leads to the start of their relationship. And in the third, she reveals that she has always had a lot of insecurity around her hair (one of the things that was a big part of her backstory that I only alluded to in the actual story). And I figured "crimson" would be a good descriptor because in literature the word crimson is often used to describe blood or things that are reminiscent of blood, which suits the subject matter for this. But I still think it's a pretty weak title. Not as weak as Whole, but I feel like I could have done better in that department.

#ahhhh i'm so genuinely proud of this story #which is so weird to say #i am rarely proud of the things i write #but this! #i like this #i spent way too much time writing this out lol #thank you for indulging me #thanks for the ask :) #high functioning lokipath #crimson curls

[lonelyandlovelorn]

Adore You

A/N: Wow, this is my first request and I really liked it. Sorry it took me a while to get written, it’s been a wild week, as I’m sure you all know. To @marvel-madness, I hope this is close to what you wanted, I’m sorry if it’s not perfect. Also, tagging is being weird so I hope this works. 

Genre: fluff and like, a smidge of angst that’s hardly angst

Warning: uhh, none

Word count: 1500

Pairing: Loki Laufeyson x fem reader

Summary: You’re weird and afraid Loki hates you.

Request: marvel-madness asked:

Hi I read your marvel fanfics and I love it!! Could u do a fanfic where reader is like super quirky and tries to get to know Loki but he’s a bit cold and she feels that he hates her. And one day she confronts him crying and he’s all like I love you and I felt someone perfect like you wouldn’t want to be with me. Love your works and hope you’re having a good day :)

Masterlist

You’re weird. Even if you didn’t have superpowers, you would be weird, and that never bothered you. Until now, it seems. You have always been okay with being the strange girl, because anyone who thinks that’s a bad thing isn’t worth your time.

But then you met Loki. You greeted him in all of his stoic glory and were immediately drawn to him. Wanda later let you know you had gone a little doe-eyed upon meeting him. However, as warm and welcoming as you tried to be, he never looked at you with anything better than indifference. Worse than that, you often felt as though he judged you for the way you acted and dressed. You know your social skills aren’t exactly the norm, but you don’t think you’re terrible. And maybe your style is a little eccentric, but it makes you happy. 

You have spent your whole life ignoring judging looks and funny stares from those around you, and that was okay because they were just people who thought they were better than you. But now, the man you’ve been fascinated by since you met him seems to look at you the same way. And now, it breaks through the armor you had built up in childhood. It hits you right in the chest to see what you’re sure is judgment reflected in his gaze.

A few days into Loki joining the team in the tower, Thor assures you that his brother is always like that. He tells you not to take it personally. Thor is a sweet man (god?) and you think that if Loki cares so deeply for someone so much his opposite, then maybe he’s just hiding a kindness. You decide you need to get over your fear and possible prejudices and make it your mission to get to know him. 

You begin by joining him on the couch as he sits alone reading. He has found a common area most of the rest of the team avoids, but that you happen to frequent for the peacefulness. As you sit a seat away from him, jostling him in the process, he glances at you from the corner of his eye. You can’t be sure that’s a look of judgment, but it resembles many a side-eye you’ve gotten in your life. You shake the feeling off and push forward. 

“What are you doing?” you ask, chipper and enthusiastic. 

“Reading,” he responds shortly, briefly looking in your direction. 

After a moment, you continue. “What are you reading?”

“A book.”

There is an awkward pause where you had hoped he might continue talking, but he doesn’t and you have to keep trying. “So, how has your time here been so far?”

“Fine.” This time, he doesn’t even look away from the page. Your shoulders sag, seeing how obviously he doesn’t want to speak to you. You give a quiet goodbye before trudging out of the room. 

--

It’s really okay that he doesn’t like you, but does he have to look at you like that? You hadn’t noticed originally, but a few weeks after his arrival, you could feel eyes on you. You casually glanced around, only to find Loki looking at you, stone faced. You had blushed in confusion before quickly looking away.

But he keeps doing it. Sometimes you’ll just be wandering around the tower in some strange and unmatching outfit, and you will be able to feel that sensation of someone watching you. Almost every time, he’s the only one in the room. It would feel flattering if his look came with the heat that people always describe in romance. He doesn’t look at you like he wants you, though. He looks at you almost in complete indifference. Maybe if you were trained like Natasha, you would be able to read more into it, but all you can see is the exact same stare you had gotten all throughout your adolescence, riddled with condescension and judgment. It could have just been the fact that he was raised a prince that made it feel like he was always looking down his nose at you, but a lifetime of being a target of mockery and ostracism could really shake one’s confidence. 

You know you talk a lot about strange things, your laugh is weird, and on and on. But why does he have to watch you as though he’s waiting for you to make a fool of yourself? Why does he hate you without even knowing you?

--

Your worries are interrupting your sleep schedule. You’re too anxious and wrapped up in your fears to sleep, so you go to your favorite lounge. You like it because whoever designed it hadn’t felt the need to add a TV or any fancy technology. It’s just some big and comfortable couches with a great view. You stare numbly into the lights of New York. At least in the dark, no one is there to think you odd. 

Of course, you have to think something like that. Moments later, you hear steps coming towards you. You look over your shoulder to see the God of Mischief himself walking into the room, seemingly unaware of your presence. He walks around the couch to sit down, only to finally notice you as he settles in. The book in his hands closes as though you startle him. 

“Oh, hello,” he greets quietly. 

You’re a nice person, but you’ve lost a lot of sleep over this man, and you can’t hold in the huff of frustration at his words. He quirks a brow at you. “Have I done something?”

You realize as soon as he asks that you should have left when he entered the room. You’re a lot less nice when you’re tired, sure. Unfortunately, you’re also much more emotional. You are reminded of this when you immediately feel your eyes sting at his words. You try your hardest to hold the tears in, but your sniffle gives you away. His eyes widen momentarily and he scoots slightly closer to you on the couch. 

“Why do you hate me?” you ask, your voice obviously choked up. You train your eyes on the city lights once more, afraid to see disdain in his eyes. 

“Hate you?” He genuinely seems confused by your question, and that somehow makes it so much worse. Without warning, your face scrunches up and your tears fall, out of your control. If you were to look at him, you would see the frantic concern on his face now, more emotion than you’ve ever seen. 

“I was so excited to meet you. I wanted to get to know you and maybe be friends or something, but you didn’t want that. I tried to be nice, but you hated me no matter what. I know I can be to excitable and clingy, but I wasn’t even that bad! And then you look at me like my presence is offensive. Please don’t hate me for being weird, I’m sorry, I’ll be better, I swear.” The exhaustion is surely the reason for your lack of filter. While you speak, you tuck your knees to your chest and hug them. Somehow, every insecurity you had ever had in a friendship or relationship leaks into this conversation. You bury your face in your knees in shame at your outburst. 

You’re startled to feel a cold hand on your arm. You look up quickly into his eyes to see him looking at you earnestly. “My dear, you are absolutely perfect the way you are, I don’t want you to change.” A small, almost bashful, smile appears. “I swear on my life I do not hate you.”

You wipe your nose in the most un-ladylike way, keeping your eyes glued to him. “You don’t?”

He shakes his head slightly. “Darling, I adore you.” 

You’re sure you’ve never felt more like a deer in the headlights. “You what?”

He looks down at his hands, which you now see are fiddling with his book. “I adore you. You’re lovely and energetic, you light up a room with your smile, and to top it all off, you were kind to me from the moment I got here. I was quite taken with you. I hoped to hide that by seeming unaffected by you, but my intentions were not to make you feel bad about yourself.” 

“Then why…?” you trail off. 

He lets out a self-deprecating chuckle. “I didn’t want to fool myself into believing myself worthy of someone as wonderful as you. You could do much better.”

You don’t speak for a long time, shocked to your core. He adores me. His eyes never leave his book as you appraise him. You can see in the hunch of his shoulders that he is preparing for rejection. In a split-second of courage, you set your hand on top of his, stopping it from messing with the book cover. When he doesn’t pull away, you let out a shaky breath and intertwine your fingers with his. He watches in fascination, and you can feel a grin overtake your face. 

“Will you tell me about what you’re reading now?” As he finally meets your eyes with a small smile, his expression can only be described as adoration. 

#loki x reader #loki x you #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Friggason #loki odinson #Loki Laufeyson x Reader #loki x y/n #fem reader #reader insert #imagine #fanfic #fanfiction #marvel #avengers #lonelyandlovelorn #request #adore you

[gwydionae]

The One Behind the Curtain

Who is behind the TVA, and what is Renslayer's deal? These are two questions I have seen and heard a lot of people asking before the finale episode, and I, like everyone else, have got some thoughts on both.

Let's start with Renslayer. We know she is working with someone other than Mobius based on the various trophies he doesn't recognize (note: even a variant Mobius would count as "someone other than Mobius" in this case, just to be clear). On top of that, she obviously knows more than the average TVA worker as she knew about them all being variants and that pruned individuals don't actually die. She also didn't seem too surprised at the fact that the Time Keepers were androids and claims she wants to find out who is really behind the TVA. This seems to be genuine. She did state as much to Sylvie, but the fact that she then talked with Miss Minutes alone, asking for the files from the beginning of the TVA in order to protect the people responsible for creating it, is what really implies that this is true. If she did already know their identities, there would be no reason to keep up the act with only Miss Minutes around to hear.

So what is her goal? I don't think she wants to destroy the TVA like Sylvie otherwise she'd actually try and work with her. Instead she is keeping everything running as she's supposed to, claiming the TVA "needs stability" to Hunter B-15. But she wants the answer to who's behind it all for some reason, and my guess is that she's trying to find out the information for someone else, someone she's working for. Perhaps someone who brings her snow globes and pens. If I had to guess, she was sent on this mission by someone who knew of the TVA and wanted to rule in place of whoever is currently running it. Maybe they knew that variants were taken as workers, having her do something to get taken in. And even if she may have forgotten for a time (as Mobius and B-15 forgot their past lives), knowing that everyone is a variant would imply that she knows about her own past now, and she remembers what she's supposed to do. And with all this time having built herself up as a trusted worker, she is now making her move.

Maybe that's even why Sylvie was able to get away from her so easily as a child. Maybe she allowed her to, hoping that Sylvie could be the catalyst to her own plan someday. It could explain why Renslayer seemed so hesitant to send Mobius to Roxxcart to stop Sylvie and the real reason she was kept alive after being caught on Lamentis-1 to instead be executed in front of the Time Keepers, a fact both Sylvie and Loki find strange.

Speaking of Mobius, her conversations with him, especially in episode 4, feel off, and not just because he is starting to have doubts. Her reaction to having him pruned is that of genuine loss, so I believe that she was indeed trying to protect Mobius from finding out the truth, or at least from finding it out in a way that would turn him against her. She asks him about where he would go if he could go anywhere, and he states that he likes being there with her, doing the work. And then when she goes on her speech about how their friendship is uncommon, she focuses in on fighting to keep their relationship, only very quickly at the end adding a line about the importance of the Sacred Timeline. I think this shows that she does genuinely see the two of them as friends and wants him on her side, the Sacred Timeline more of an afterthought. I believe this is the reason that he gets invited to oversee Loki and Sylvie's pruning. I think she wants Sylvie to expose the false Time Keepers, and she wants Mobius to be there to witness it with her so that he can join her in her secret mission, sparing him from whatever fate may befall him otherwise. Mobius finding out the truth from Loki and siding with him, however, puts an end to all of that.

There is also one other character that Renslayer has some interactions with that I find strange - Miss Minutes. First, Miss Minutes is the one to offer up the lie about the void ship when Sylvie says that she has no more need for Renslayer. Renslayer doesn't instantly try to talk her way out of it, but Miss Minutes does, lying and buying them time until the Minutemen arrive. This makes me wonder if Miss Minutes suspects that Renslayer does know of a way to get past the void and didn't want her to be intimidated into giving up such information. After all, it would be strange if the only way to get past Alioth was by going to the void and enchanting him. My second point stems from this, and that's Miss Minutes' reaction to Renslayer asking for all the files on the founding of the TVA after talking with Hunter B-15. She doesn't immediately go to find the files, instead simply stating that it's a "mighty tall order". Renslayer is the top of the TVA workforce food chain - if Miss Minutes is hesitating to give her information, it seems likely that it's because she doesn't trust her. I'll talk about this a bit more later, but this seems to support the idea that Renslayer is hiding something from the TVA itself.

With all that said about Renslayer, let's look at the question of who is behind the TVA.  There are two theories that seem the most prevalent: 1.) another version of Loki and 2.) Kang. As Kang has connections to Renslayer in the comics, let's start there. I don't know anything about Kang personally, but I have heard a lot about him from the comic-reading fans watching this show. And, yeah, it does seem like there are a lot of Kang connections, not to mention the fact that he's confirmed the villain of the next Ant-Man movie. So why DON'T I think it's Kang?

Well, for one, all of these connections are things that people who haven't read the comics would never have caught on their own. Had I not heard all the theories about him, I would never be able to look back on the season and notice the solely comic-based breadcrumbs hinting at his inclusion. And that's not good storytelling. Introducing someone as important as him in episode 6 would just be jarring at this point.

But saying all that, I do think all of those tie-ins are there on purpose. I believe that Kang does have a role in the series, but it's less "main villain" and more "ominous shadow", and rather than Kang himself, we will deal with the one living in that shadow. To put it simply, I think that Kang is the one who sent Renslayer to find out who is behind the TVA.

For one, Kang and Renslayer have a relationship in the comics, so it makes sense for them to have a connection here, especially since he's a confirmed upcoming entity in the MCU. For two, he is someone who wants to rule time, so it makes sense that the TVA would be in his way of that. And for three, apparently the big cloud thing, Alioth, in episode 5 actually acts as a sort of obstacle or even rival for Kang in the comics, making its use here as the "guard dog" of the true creators of the TVA feel very symbolic and purposeful, if perhaps severely toned down. So, yeah, I think that Kang wants to overthrow whoever is behind the TVA so he can rule it and therefore bend all of time to his will. So I believe that he does have connections in this series, but I don't think he is currently running the TVA. I also don't think we'd see more than maybe a glimpse of him at the very end, in perhaps a teaser à la Thanos in the first Avengers movie if anything. Instead the focus will be on Renslayer - as it was with Loki in "The Avengers". This would set him up for Ant-Man without actually ruining anything for that movie or making "Loki" a 100% necessary watch beforehand, something I don't think Marvel would want to do with their new TV show format just yet.

The other often theorized secret head of the TVA is a version of Loki. I admittedly cannot wrap my head around how this could work, especially after episode 5. If you want to argue that one similar to President Loki, for example, would probably create the TVA simply because he wants to rule all, then my only response is that we've just seen that. Why have a character like that introduced - and made fun of - right before introducing another one in the finale? How would that be satisfying to see again? Just because he'd be less silly doesn't mean he'd be any more interesting or compelling after seeing President Loki get his hand bitten off by an alligator. So going the "evil" Loki route would seem like a retread.

But going for a more "noble" version doesn't work either. Whoever is behind the TVA clearly wants all Lokis to be alone, not allowing them to ever change to be a good person. You could make the argument that this is because it makes everyone around him better, and such things are needed for the greater good, but then you have Classic Loki's story. He got pruned long after he was supposed to because he dared to want to see Thor again, after he had already served his purpose in the Sacred Timeline. What would the harm be in letting him return after Thor had done what he needed to do? It feels like the person overseeing this timeline is genuinely against Lokis having connections. Why would a "noble" version of Loki do that to other versions of himself even after Thor and the rest of the Avengers have matured to the point of being able to defeat Thanos? It just winds up feeling cruel in that instance, and that doesn't sound "noble" at all. So having a Loki be at the end of all this just doesn't seem to fit, in my opinion.

Ok, so if not Loki or Kang, then who? As I mentioned with Kang, it would be weird to just introduce someone completely new in the very last episode that hasn't even been hinted at yet. So it would have to be someone we've either met or have heard about already. I have seen speculation about Mobius or even Sylvie thrown around, but neither of these would fit what we know of the characters without a huge out-of-left-field twist (or variants of said characters, which I suppose shouldn't be ruled out, but just seems unnecessarily convoluted, but it IS Marvel, so...).

So who's left? There doesn't seem to be a lot of options to fill this role out of the people we've already met. But there IS someone running a lot of things within the TVA that we have seen several times now and I've already noted has acted a little odd. Whether as a joke or not, I have seen others throw out Miss Minutes as a possibility, and I have to say that she is the character I am currently leaning most towards.

Does that mean that I think Miss Minutes created the TVA? No, I don't. But I do think she is currently running it. I believe that someone - possibly the original Time Keepers - created her in order to help them run everything, either in case something happened to them or just simply as an extra hand. From here I believe there are two possibilities. Either the original creators died, and Miss Minutes has dutifully been carrying on their work as she was created to do, or said creators, for one reason or another, decided that the "Sacred Timeline" was a concept they no longer believed in and Miss Minutes - who was programmed specifically to uphold said timeline - decided that the creators needed to be disposed of in order to keep fulfilling her duties. Either way, without them, Miss Minutes would need help to continue her work, and so she would start employing variants for that purpose, all the time keeping up the appearance of "Time Keepers" in a very "Wizard of Oz"/man-behind-the-curtain scenario. This would mean that the identity of the original creators wouldn't be important, because the one stealing the lives of variants and employing them against their will would be Miss Minutes herself. So no one new would have to be introduced at the last minute in order for the audience to feel satisfied with the overthrowing of the TVA, Miss Minutes and Renslayer both having antagonistic parts to play.

I could obviously be very wrong on all of this. Maybe Renslayer herself wants to take over the TVA and Miss Minutes is nothing more than a cute, animated helper. Maybe it is simply another Loki variant heading the TVA. Whatever the outcome, as long as it's pulled off well, I'll be satisfied. But it's fun to theorize and see what does ultimately fit the Sacred MCU Timeline and what winds up just a heartfelt, fanmade variant.

#loki #loki series #loki series spoilers #loki spoilers #mcu loki #loki laufeyson #mcu #spoilers #gwy writes a literal essay #oops i did it again #let's see how long is THIS loki essay... #oh only 3 and a half pages that's nothing XD #nice little mini essay then lol #i just have a lot of thoughts on this show #maybe i'll finally get around to writing up that loki character analysis essay i've been thinking about #...you know a new one to go with the series and not the old one that was for the movies XD #but i tell you what typing this up i came to a whole lot more conclusions about renslayer than i had previously #i tried really hard to condense her stuff buuuuuuut that didn't go so well so sorry for rambling a bit XD #my guess at the end winds up feeling more like a footnote in comparison LOL #oh well

[arandompostarchive]

SALEM - Ch. 5

SAVED WORK

Summary: In all the centuries of your existence, you had never been dragged out of hiding by another god, put in a superhero team and forced to save the universe. But it seems your luck has run out.

______________

“I can’t believe you’re all actually considering this.” Tony started. He was sitting on the opposite side of you and Thor. Something he called “debate club 2.0”, whatever that was.

“I mean the guy tried to conquer Earth, killed a lot of people, and I’m sure has numerous other crimes to his name. Not to mention bad hair.”

Thor interrupted, “His hair has gotten better, actually. Not as… pointy.”

“Has it really though?”

“Okay, boys.” You started, “This isn’t about his hair. We need to decide whether he stays in a cell when here’s here or not. Keep in mind, either way, he stays under our protection. And even if he stays out, he’d be with me and Thor. He won’t be going anywhere.”

Steve sighed, “It doesn’t matter. He’s a criminal, he needs to be treated as one.”

Thor interrupted again, “I have reason to believe my brother was under Thanos’ influence at the time. You’ve all fought him. He’s not a kind being, even to the others you view as villains. Steve, my brother is many things. Very many things. But somewhere in there, he’s someone who actually cares about other people.”

Tony laughed, “Oh yeah, Point Break?”

“Yes. He didn’t need to help me back on Asgard, granted it took him a while to get there, but he did. He wasn’t in complete control of his actions.”

Steve sighed. “People are dead because of him.”

You were serious about this. Sure, it was partially a slight longing to just talk for hours like you used to. To be able to spend time with each other. At this point? You’d take anything.

“This team is made of second chances,” Natasha said. She stood up, walking directly in front of him. “Most of us were criminals at some point. And if he stays here, Strange and Y/n can find a way to stop him from using his abilities, we can put him right back in a cell at any time. If he’s serious and there is actually a death god trying to steal the Tesseract, I think we’re going to have to take a chance here.”

Steve slowly nodded. “As long as we have it under control, we can try.”

Toyn clapped his hands together. “Okay, sure. Let’s let the psychopath roam around my building.”

“Tony, I’m afraid you’ll have to get over it. I’m not excited either. Y/n, you and Strange get on that, Thor and Nat, why don’t you bring Loki up here. The rest of us can start figuring out what’s going on.”

You stepped out, walking down towards your own room.

***

“So your mother is Nyx? Like the goddess of the night?”

You nodded and Peter put it down in his notebook.

“I’m a goddess of magic and the goddess of darkness. I used to go by Circe.”

Peter looked slightly confused, “Isn’t Circe a daughter of Helios?”

“I suppose that’s a complicated question. Yes, in myths. But not all myths are accurate. I mean, in myth, Loki is the god of fire. Not everything is perfectly accurate, really.”

He nodded. He was sweet. In the first month of your meeting, he had practically attached himself to you and Tony. Although you weren’t as science-focused as either of them, you were still close. After so long, it meant a lot just to spend time with people. Especially people so kind, even with Tony’s extremely sarcastic personality.

“That makes sense, but my teacher probably won’t like it as much.” He laughed a bit, so did you. A moment to breathe. That’s exactly what you needed.

“Hey, Sal?” You looked at him. It was a small nickname he came up with after 2 months of you insisting he could stop calling you Ms. Salem, you hadn’t bothered to use your real last name in centuries. Too many bad memories. But eventually, he settled for Salem, and slowly he shortened it to Sal. It was nice to have someone so close to you.

“You and Loki… you’re the one that talked to him, right? Do you two know each other?”

You weren’t quite sure how to answer. Obviously, you did, and you were beyond excited to be able to talk again. You know, now that you know he didn’t actually let you die.

“Yeah, we did. A while ago.”

“How long is a while? Because Thor said you first met him in the 1800s? What was it like then? Were you and Loki actually friends?”

You laughed a bit at his curious expression. He wasn’t trying to ask too many things at once, he just really wanted to know.

“We met a few centuries ago.”

***

You sat next to the lake outside of your town on a small bench. Normally, you weren’t allowed out, but every once in a while your father spent a full day in court for some case or another. It meant you had plenty of time to go wherever you wanted in Salem.

You always chose the lake.

You closed your eyes and let the sun hit your skin, taking in the day. There weren’t many people out. With the amount of clothing most women wore, none were really up to spending summers outside, you on the other hand weren’t affected much. You supposed it was part of your mother living in the underworld, hot temperatures weren’t really a problem.

Part of you enjoyed the silence and was slightly disappointed when it was interrupted.

“Excuse me.” You let out a small sigh, turning to the man behind you. He was formally dressed, to say the least. Clearly not from the States, but to be technical, neither were you. His hair was slicked back, and he had gold around his collar. Not something you saw often, not that your father wasn’t inclined to the occasional expensive dress coat. The more you looked, the more you felt it. That sort of… power.

“What are you?” He asked.

“I apologize. It seems I don’t understand the question.”

He sat down next to you, making you move over slightly. He seemed oddly comfortable with you. Especially for someone who clearly wasn’t from Salem.

“Well, you clearly are not human, even if you look it. But I just can’t place it. So, what are you?”

That’s what it was. He was a god. Not Greek, or else it would’ve been much easier. In fact, you weren’t even sure if you’d call him a god. Normally, that implies immortality. Something you weren’t sure if he had. You sure didn’t.

“I could ask you the very same, Sir.” He laughed a bit, a light, genuine sound. It seemed that was something he didn’t do very often. At least, not really.

“The god of mischief, pleasure to meet you, Mistress…?” You laughed. Offly direct for a man you just met.

“I am most definitely not married.” You prayed to Chaos itself that he didn’t see how you moved just a bit closer to him. Ever so slightly, you saw him move too.

“Really now?” You nodded as he turned towards the lake. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that. And a full god? You had only met a few, your mother, Nyx and two of your siblings, Moros and Hemera. Your mother was a kind person, even if she was protective. Moros was exactly what you’d expect for a god of destruction. And Hemera was much too kind for her own good. Always finding some way to help, even when she really shouldn’t.

“Yes, really. I barely leave my father’s house, much less have time to spend with someone else.” He nodded.

“Something I understand all too well. But, that does still leave my question unanswered. What are you?” You smiled at him.

“I’m a demigod, a daughter of night herself.”

He looked surprised.”Night herself?”

You shook your head in confusion, “Nyx. I’m Greek. I’m going to assume you’re Norse. There are limited gods in the world and not many who would come to Earth willingly. The Norse are one of the more accepting gods when it comes to humans.”

He nodded. “You are correct there. My brother certainly likes Midgard, though we aren’t allowed to visit much.”

“My mother likes humans more than other gods. She’s probably the one person Zeus will actually leave alone. But, people don’t seem to like darkness much.”

He didn’t seem shocked by your statement. You had a lot in common.

“Midgard is interesting,” He started. “The people are… difficult to understand. But it is beautiful.”

He had a point there. The sun in your eyes proved it. The sky was melting into a soft golds and pinks, with bright oranges across it. Dark trees swayed in the distance, the static of the blowing leaves echoed in your ear. A beautiful sound. You saw the man glance at you from the corner of your eyes. Hm.

“It’s a lovely sunset. Are they all like this?” He looked towards you. Had he not been here for more than a day?

“No, not at all. They’re all different in their own ways. All beautiful.”

He smiled. “My name is Loki.”

“Circe.”

***

“So he came to Earth for a while? How long? Did he like it here?”

You laughed, “He used to. He wasn’t much of a fan of humans, but he always liked Earth. I’m not sure what happened.”

Suddenly you heard Friday’s voice in Peter’s room. “Salem, there’s an emergency meeting concerning you in the briefing room. I suggest you make your way over there as soon as you can.”

You sighed. “I’ll be back later, Peter. I can help you with that English project too.” He smiled and waved. You knew a huge part of him wanted to be at that meeting. To be a real Avenger.

“You’ll have your day, Peter.” You said, walking out of the room.

It wasn’t hard to find which meeting room they were using, the door was wide open. You walked in with Wanda, taking a seat between Thor and Bucky.

“There was another small energy spike,” Fury said. “It was enough for our agents to handle, so we sent them. But they found a problem.” Steve sat up a bit.

“Was it the woman?”

“I’m not sure if it’s better or worse, Rodgers. There’s just a sentence, written over and over again in what looks like spray paint.”

“Well? What sort of graffiti are we talking about? Just your standard gibberish?” Tony asked Fury.

Fury sighed. “No. They all just say “Doom is Rising.”

***

#loki x reader #loki #salem #saved work #fanfic

[wlntrsldler]

Toothpaste Kisses (Bucky Barnes Imagine)

PROMPT: The reader is superstitious and she discovers something when she tries a folklore. 

WARNINGS: kinda a plot twist? a lot of dialogue, that’s new for me, best friend tony, smitten bucky

A/N: The title has no correlation to the actual prompt I was just listening to Toothpaste Kisses by the Maccabees and it reminded me of sunshine and love and this is what this imagine gives me. 

-

“Y/N,” Tony scoffed, tinkering with one of his suits again. “You are one of the most brilliant scientists I’ve ever worked with and you mean to tell me, you’re superstitious and believe in fairytales.”

“Folklores.” You corrected, pushing the glasses up from the tip of your nose. “And yes, I am proudly superstitious and I believe in magic. I work with the goddamn Avengers and I’m friends with the God of Thunder and God of Mischief, for crying out loud! Anything is possible at this point.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “The Avengers all have a scientific explanation to all of us. Thor and Loki are different. Shakespeare in the park, I say.”

“Tony, just please take me out to the field.” You begged, growing impatient with your boss’s lack of understanding. 

“Truly, Y/N, you surprise me.” He replied, throwing one of his pens at you from across the table. “I cannot believe you still don’t know how to drive.”

You were about to hit him back with a snarky comment about how he never gives you the time to practice how to drive so you never learned, when a voice interrupted the two of you. “I’ll take you, Dr. Y/L/N.” 

Your cheeks flushed at the familiar voice. Bucky Barnes. 

You met him when Steve first brought him into the compound. You were assigned to be his medical doctor, supplying him with meds and injections when needed. How you managed to stay upright and not melt at the sight of the beautiful super-soldier remains a mystery to you until this very day. 

Tony smirked at you, eyebrows raising suggestively. Tony may be your boss but he also doubled as your best friend who you tell everything to. It wasn’t like you even had to tell him anything. He knew you like the back of his hand. The minute you started to tense up when Bucky walked into the room and how your cheeks grew embarrassingly pink under his gaze, Tony knew right away. “Barnes! Thanks for offering. Y/N, he can take you.”

“Tony, shut the hell up.” You muttered under your breath, not wanting to turn around as you heard Bucky walk closer to the table where you worked. 

“I’ll be glad to,” Bucky sat on the chair right beside you, turning his body to face you in the swivel chair. “Where we going, Doc?”

You let out a shy chuckle, rubbing the back of your neck with your palm. “Bucky, it’s okay. I was just trying to give Tony a hard time. I’m sure you have plenty of other things you should be doing, anyway.”

“I insist.” Bucky smiled. Dear God, he is perfect. “Where are we going?”

“If you say so,” You breathed out, eyes focused on your tablet. You always found it hard to look Bucky in the eye after the one incident where you literally tripped over your own feet when his blue eyes met yours. “I wanted to go to the field today and pick some flowers.”

“Sounds like a plan. What time do you want to leave?”

“I should be done here in about an hour.” You chewed on your bottom lip, staring at the clock ticking on the corner of the room. “That good with you?”

“Perfect.” Bucky got up from the chair, placing a hand on your shoulder to get you to look at him. You obliged and instantly regretted it. His features were so defined under the light and he was so close to you. You gulped, mouth slightly agape. “I’ll come back over here in an hour to pick you up.”

You gave a small nod, holding in the whimper in your throat. He just flashed you another one of his award-winning smiles, completely oblivious to what he does to you, and made his way out of the room. Once Bucky was out of ear shot, Tony bursted out laughing.

“You’re a fucking ass, you know that?” You glared, hitting Tony on his bicep. “I fucking hate you.”

“No, you don’t.” He snorted, stifling his laughter to get through the conversation. “I just got you a date with Barnes.” 

“‘s not a date.” 

-

“So what are we here for, Dr. Y/L/N?” Bucky asked, leaning over to turn the music down from the car radio. He rolled down the windows, letting the scent of fresh, country air fill his senses. The sun was beginning to set in your front view, making the sky a perfect blend of yellows and oranges. “You experimenting with nature for the cure for cancer?”

You sat with one leg tucked under the other, elbow propped up on the window. You looked to your left to take a look at Bucky. He was already staring at you, sunglasses resting on his head, pushing his hair back. You giggled at his question, not missing the way his eyes lit up at your reaction to his joke. “No, I’m not. We’re here for personal reasons.”

“Too personal to share?” His eyes drifted to the road for a second before returning back to you. One hand gripped the wheel while the other tapped mindlessly to the beat of the song playing in the background.

“It’s actually pretty stupid.” You confessed, suddenly growing self-conscious of your reasoning. It wasn’t just Tony who made fun of you for your superstitions. The rest of the team often made playful jokes about it, with the exception of Bucky and Steve who were too polite to say anything. Of course, you knew it was all just for fun, often you’d join in on it, but it still made you feel a bit awkward when people talked about it. “You know how I love learning about and trying folklore?”

“Mhm.” 

“Well, I heard one that’s supposed to help you meet your soulmate.” You explained, beaming up at him. You haven’t been able to truly talk about it in detail because Tony would scoff and change the subject every time you tried to bring it up. You didn’t blame him. You two shared a bond through science, folklore and superstition was not up his alley. “I needed to get seven different types of flowers for it to work so here we are.”

“You meet your soulmate?” He asked, genuinely intrigued by the idea. “How do you do that?”

“Well, you don’t really meet them.” You started, twisting your body to angle towards him. He was slowing down, recognizing the familiar off-road path to the field. “They come to you in a dream. You put the flowers under your bed while you sleep and they pop up. I wanted to try it, seemed interesting.”

Bucky pulled into the small area, putting the car in park. He unbuckled his seatbelt and faced you, “Can you pick some flowers for me too? I kinda wanna try it.”

You looked at him, “Why don’t we pick some together?”

The sun was still partially up, the darkness of the night not being too prevalent yet. You grabbed the basket you brought with you from the backseat and exited the car. Bucky was standing in front of the car, staring off into the field of wildflowers. 

This was one of your favorite areas. The team had a picnic here one time and you fell in love with it since. If the team couldn’t find you, they knew you somehow made your way over here to detach from the hectic life of working with the Avengers. You’d disappear here for hours at a time, getting lost in the sea of words in your novel and with the scent of nature. 

You motioned for Bucky to follow you as you walked across the grassy field. You leaned down to pluck some wildflowers along the way, placing them gently on your clothed basket. Bucky watched you skip happily, smiling to himself as you stopped ever so often to smell the flowers around you. Bucky had seen you in this field once before, when Tony ordered him to pick you up for the day. He saw you, laying on your stomach, eyebrows knitted as you turned a page in the book you were reading. You looked at peace, very different from how you looked at work. 

But seeing you now, almost carefree in nature, was a new side to you that Bucky absolutely adored. He knew it was unprofessional, falling for his doctor, but he couldn’t help it. You were breathtaking. He could never wrap his head around the fact that you were a woman of science and technology but still believed in fairytales and happy endings. You were surrounded by so much gloom in life, yet you managed to muster up the courage to believe in the good. Bucky loved that. 

“Y/N,” He called out, jogging a bit to catch up to you. “I have a question.”

“What’s up?” You turned around, cocking your head to the side. Bucky looked down at the basket, foolishly grinning when he saw that there were definitely more than fourteen flowers in your basket. You blushed, “Yeah, I got a little carried away.”

“Here, I’ll hold it for you.” Bucky reached over to take the basket from you. Your hands touched in the process, causing his heart to swell at the sensation. He was whipped for you. Absolutely smitten. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. He cleared his throat, trying to relieve himself from the awkwardness that followed. “I was wondering, what if someone already met their soulmate?”

“Well,” You started, thinking about it for a second. “Then they’re one of the lucky ones.”

You turned back around to continue your hunt for flowers, completely oblivious to the fact that Bucky was asking for his own sanity. He was praying to the heavens and to the Gods above, if there ever was such a thing, for you to be the one to surprise him in his dreams tonight.

-

Bucky was upset the following day when the folklore didn’t work on him. He knew that these things rarely worked but he got his hopes high for this one. He fell asleep with the flowers under his pillow, hoping that you came to visit him in his dreams. When the sun peeked through his curtains and he realized you never came, he huffed disappointedly and walked down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. 

Tony was sitting at the head of the dining table, coffee in one hand and a tablet in the other. He cocked an eyebrow upon seeing Bucky’s disheveled state, “You good there, Manchurian Candidate?” 

“Too early for this, Tony.” Bucky replied, mixing his coffee to retreat back into his room.

“What crawled up your ass today?”

“I tried Y/N’s soulmate thing,” He sighed, leaning over the counter. He rubbed his eye with his flesh hand, trying to wipe away the tiredness from his body. “Let’s just say it didn’t work.”

“Maybe because it’s fake,” Tony laughed, taking a sip from his coffee. “And even if it did work, your brain’s been fried like a hundred times. I doubt that would work on someone like you.”

Bucky pondered Tony’s statement for a few minutes. It did make sense that it wouldn’t work on someone like him, given the fact that he was heavily brainwashed and tortured for years. His mind probably put up walls to prevent any other mind-altering revelations. He mumbled, “I’m going back to my room.” 

You came into the kitchen thirty minutes after Bucky left, face as red as ever. You were glad to see Tony still there, sipping his third cup of coffee, unbeknownst to you. You pulled out the chair next to him and turned his tablet off. 

“Wow, I totally wasn’t doing anything important there,” He grumbled, placing the tablet down on the table, face down. “What’s got you in a mood?”

“You know that soulmate thing,” You said, palms rubbing together in nervousness as you explained. “So I tried it.”

“Let me guess, it didn’t work?”

“No,” Your eyes widened, scoping out the room to make sure nobody was around to hear you. “I saw my soulmate.”

“Yay!” He cheered but halted when he saw your worried expression, “Why aren’t you happy? Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Well yeah, sorta.”

“I’m confused.”

“I’ve always wanted to meet my soulmate, you know.” You began, using hand gestures to further your point. “And I was so excited when I got to meet them in my dream. It’s just that… Tony, I know them in real life.”

“Okay, I’m even more confused now.” He placed his coffee mug down beside his tablet, blinking trying to understand your point. “Isn’t that a good thing?” 

You sighed, “Yeah, it would be if my soulmate was anyone other than him.”

“Who is it?”

“Steve.” You cringed, the name bitter on your tongue. “I saw Steve in my dream last night.”

-

MAIN MASTERLIST

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x yn #winter soldier #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier one shot #winter soldier fluff #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier x yn #the avengers #steve rogers #marvel #marvel imagines #frances song fics #frances writes

[azulashengrottos]

Ahhh I’ve been so lazy finishing these! I’ve had them in my wip folder for like two weeks now. Have some Hollowelle busts in their dorm uniforms!

Also if anyone is curious, I’m gonna ramble about them under the cut and go more in depth to their personalities and relationships with each other!

Alright so in general, Hollowelle members have an affinity for games and have unusually high luck with chance. They also tend to have a fondness for the weird and creepy!

Oswald Umberstitch: Dorm leader for Hollowelle. Usually goes by Oz for short. Smug bastard man. He’s got a playful personality and enjoys lightly teasing  and pranking people. He may seem like an asshole but he genuinely likes making others laugh.

Loves games of chance, especially ones involving dice. Do not let him anywhere near a casino. The police will get called and he will get people arrested. Did I mention he’ll use any underhanded method he can to win at games? He even cheats just for the fun of it even if he’s going to win anyways. He constantly prides himself on always playing by the rules and encourages others to do the same. Don’t listen to him. This is a lie. He’s very competitive and a horrible winner. He’ll brag and rub his win in your face like an asshole. On the other hand if he happens to somehow lose, he’ll throw a temper tantrum and accuse you of cheating like a filthy hypocrite.

He loves creepy crawlies! He makes friends with all the local snakes, spiders, bats, ect. He’s very talented at sewing and makes creepy little voodoo looking dolls as a hobby! He thinks they’re adorable but most people find them creepy. If he really likes you, expect to get one as a gift! He also hates Christmas with a burning passion lol.

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Loki Carmine: Energetic and brash personality! He likes to be active either playing sports or practicing magic. He’s friendly enough, but would not hesitate to stab a bitch. He’s got the biggest temper out of the four and has a short fuse. He gets into childish petty arguments with Beryl a lot, but Sebastian and Oswald aren’t immune either. Brutally honest to a fault and tends to piss other people off with this fact. He’s unabashedly blunt. Can also be kind of a dumbass despite his high grades.

He loves food. He claims he eats so much to keep up with his active lifestyle to save face. He’s really just a glutton. Beryl’s cooking is his favorite. One of his favorite things to do is have campfires in the courtyard and roast marshmallows! He loves having people to do this with, so if you’re close, he’ll definitely invite you! He’s also a sore winner when it comes to games and likes to rub it in your face. Fun! He beat Oswald once at poker and has never let him live it down. He’s jealous of Sebastian’s position as vice dorm leader, but also respects Oswald’s decision in choosing him. Honestly Oz consults all three of them before making tough decisions anyways. Sebastian’s vice dorm leader title doesn’t really mean anything.

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Sebastian Beldam: Vice dorm leader for Hollowelle. Polite and relaxed personality! He’s willing to get along with just about anyone. He cannot handle idiocy or people with no common sense for the life of him though. He just gets this “done with life” look on his face and wishes he had a bottle of alcohol. Beryl and Loki are guilty for making him have this reaction fairly often. He complains a lot about those two being morons lol. He’s the smartest out of the four of them.

The best mediator. He breaks up arguments between their group and keeps the peace when he isn’t involved himself. His best subject is alchemy and he’s very talented at brewing potions. He loves the occult! He has a large collection of supposedly cursed and haunted objects that he’s very proud of. He loves showing it off to people he’s friends with. He can’t cook for shit and he’s no longer allowed in the kitchen when food is being prepared. He thinks this rule is ridiculous and stupid. He’s the he worst at games out of the dorm. He often refuses to play but if they make him and he loses, he sits there pouting and makes petty comments the rest of the night.

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Beryl Marrow: Lazy and easygoing personality! He’s incredibly easy to get along with and has the most friends outside of Hollowelle. Seriously, he’s a sweetheart. This does not apply to the other three lol. He can totally be a mischievous little shit to them and often gets into arguments with Loki and Sebastian. He does have a cunning side that may slip out from time to time, which comes as a shock to anyone that hasn’t seen it before. He has a lot of trouble sleeping, so he almost always has dark circles under his eyes. He relies on one of the other three to wake him up in the mornings because he more often than not sleeps through his alarms.

He doesn’t do the best in his classes, but his teachers love him regardless because of his personality. It isn’t that he’s not smart or anything like that, he just hates studying and doesn’t care enough to apply himself. Surprisingly he’s an amazing cook! He often makes meals and snacks for the other three and will gladly share with his friends. Expect gifts of food often if you’re close! He collects bones, as totally creepy as that is and has an odd fascination with anatomy and biology. He could easily ramble for hours about the topic. Those are the only two subjects he gets good grades in lol. He’s the best at games next to Oswald. Not necessarily a sore winner, but he gets the subtlest smug smirk on his face that infuriates the others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Random Ramblings: All four of them get along really well. Loki, Sebastian and Beryl have been close since they were toddlers and they all grew up in the same neighborhood. The trio met Oswald in middle school and looked up to him as a senior. He was happy to befriend them and act as an older brother figure from that point on since they were all so similar.

Oswald playfully teases the trio but if anyone else does it he’d fight them. Same goes for the trio about each other. They’re all very close knit. The trio likes to suck up to Oswald and they constantly try to one up each other over who gets the most praise.

Beryl and Loki argue the most between the group but anyone can tell they aren’t being serious about it. Any serious fights are resolved quickly.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #oswald umberstitch #loki carmine #sebastian beldam #beryl marrow #hollowelle

[lokidrabbles]

Ethereal (Loki x Reader)

Reader is having some doubts about their relationship with Loki.

You had been quiet. Too quiet. Loki took note of this, wondering what could have happened to cause you to...refrain from talking so much like before.

You had been mindlessly staring at a window, lost in your thoughts and in your doubts. Something had been building up in your chest, something important to spew out towards the other individual in the room. It was shameful and embarrassing, however, and you dared not disrupt the harmony you had created with him. You attempted your best to ignore the subject as much as possible. Unfortunately, Loki was a master of knowing very well when you weren’t being your usual self.

In a way, both of you knew your relationship was more than typical. You two had shared several intimate moments, had expressed your attraction to each other in the most physical way imaginable, and now it was undoubtedly true of how you both could not go one day without seeing each other, being in each other’s presence.

But, how long would it last? How much deeper could you dig into this?

While Loki was no mind reader, he has lived long enough to know exactly what thoughts had been racing in your mind. He wasn’t a fool. He knew you had more than likely taking a huge fancy to him, developed those sweet feelings, and you had been battling within yourself whether this was a right step to take. He knew, whatever little thoughts you had running in your head, of the doubt which was present, and how you were potentially wondering how this could just be a huge mistake.

It irked him to no extent.

To Loki, he took this much differently as an Asgardian. While you were preoccupied with creating a catastrophic event to every little negativity present in your head, he dug himself deep in the moment and in the small private occasions he would spend with you. Loki was certainly a person who enjoyed the instant gratification of being able to be this close to you, both physically and emotionally. While it would be a lie to say he did not fall into brief doubts ever so often, he was fully open to taking in the enjoyment of this “relationship” to the maximum. He understood however, in whatever way he wanted to interpret it,  he needed to approach the situation carefully. Truth be told, Loki was lacking in providing comfort, or understanding how to do so. But, at least, he could offer some relief.

“Tell me what you’re thinking. It’s obvious it’s about me.” Loki stated nonchalantly, his arms crossed over his chest. There was a small hint of assertiveness in his voice.

“Hmm? Nothing? Why are you asking?” You held your hands close to your chest.

“You know better than to try to fool me (y/n).” He continued, continuing to be annoyed that you would dare to do so.

You turned with an arched eyebrow, seemingly unsure as to what he referred to. You shrugged your shoulders, providing both an answer and no answer at all. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

Loki sighed, swinging himself upwards and walked over to join you by the window pane. He kneeled down on one leg at your eye level, providing you with a good look at his deep green eyes, ensuring your gaze did not falter away from his. His expression was rigid, making your heart skip a beat. You knew this stare very well. He wasn’t messing around. “Speak.” A single word. Simple but a furious strength behind it.

You shuffled a bit in your seat, taking a soft breath. You quickly thought of what way you could potentially cover up, but you feared angering him even more. Caught between a rock and a hard place, you gave in, knowing very well you’d rather take Loki’s scolding than his frustration with you.

“I...just-”

He nodded attentively.

You swallowed down the sourness in your mouth. “I just don’t know if...this is enough for you.”

Loki made a motion with his hand for you to continue. He knew there was more to it.

“I know this is going to sound completely stupid to you, and I know I’m not going to hear the end of it, but I don’t think we should be together.”

Loki hid very well how hard he had taken these words you had just spewed from your mouth. He hadn’t thought you would have been thinking about something this severe. Maybe something along the lines of feeling unwanted, or having a lack of romance, but not wanting to be together? It was an unfiltered feeling he had seldom felt.

“This is only me just lusting after you. I don’t want it to be that way,” you whispered quietly.

“What way do you want it to be.” He responded quickly.

“I don’t...want to just fall for your exterior, you know? I want to, know you better.” You said, feeling the sour knot in your throat. You realized just how selfish you had sounded, regretting everything. “No, I mean-I’m sorry Loki.”

He scoffed. “You know me better than any other human on this whole planet. Try again.”

“It’s not right for me to be with someone like you.” There it was, the true visage of what you prevented from accepting. Accepting the fact of a man like Loki of Asgard to become entangled with the mess which was you. The mess of a human.

“Hmmm. You are ashamed? Because of what I’ve done?”

You immediately looked up to meet his deep eyes. “No! That’s not it!”

“(Y/N).” He placed a silky pale hand on your own twiddling fingers; immediately he felt how fast your heart was racing, how much you were shivering, how hard this must have been for you to speak of. “Please.”

“I’m moreso...scared I can’t fulfill your expectations.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, notably confused at what you were referring to. “Expectations? (Y/N), you’ve lost me. Have I asked anything from you? I realize I may be a bit demanding at times-”

“I mean,” you cut in. “Just look at you. You’re ethereal.”

Ethereal. Never in the thousand years Loki has existed within this realm, did he hear someone or something refer to him in such a way. It was unexpected and something he never pictured himself to be seen as. The sentiment behind it was sickeningly genuine, sweet and raw as well. He saw how your pupils became enlarged as your looked upon his face, like a deer caught in headlights. He knew you had a fancy for him, but to this extent, he was still foolish in accepting this.

An smile crept up between Loki’s lips.

“You’re this otherworldly being whose gifted with these unbelievable skills and immortality. You’re a literal piece of ancient mythology. And I’m just...me.”

“Why do you refer to yourself like that? Just “me”? Are you this unsure of yourself (Y/N)?” He had no need for you to be this foolish of yourself, of him, or of whatever you would call this connection you had developed with him.

You gave him the most unassured smile possible, much unlike what he was used to seeing on you. Loki was absolutely flabbergasted.

You sighed, the smile vanishing immediately. “Sorry. I know I get these stupid things in my head. I guess I’m still in awe at how close we’ve gotten and well...how lucky I feel.”

“This has nothing to do with luck (Y/N). I fancy you, very much so, simply because you are you.”

He placed his hand behind your head, pulling you close to where your lips met his in a soft but deep kiss. You felt your heart heat up, inching in slightly closer into his mouth, wrapping your arms justly around his neck. He pulled back, looking at you with such intent.

“You intrigue me (Y/N). You truly do. But I need you to be a little more confident and honest in regards to me. When that time comes, I’ll demonstrate to you that I have valued this time with you.”

You leaned in once again and felt cold, full lips against yours. It was only for brief moment when you pulled back to look at the man in front of you once more. Your eyes glistened as Loki gave you a soft smile.

“You are a meek one. You don’t need to worry about nonsense like this.”  

You cleared your throat, to hide the fact that you felt your blood rush to your face. “You know, you need to be more honest with me too.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?” He asked you.

“You know very well what I mean Loki. You leave me a cliffhanger way too many times.” Your voice was more marked and clear.

He remained quiet for a moment, then crossed his arms in contemplation. It was true, there were still many things you did not know about Loki. There was probably a lot of things Loki did not know about you. The connection was still young, and there was still plenty of room to explore each other. But Loki knew this was still something forbidden, for your sake.

“There are things I’d still like to keep to myself. Things you don’t need to know. However,” he paused. “...those things shouldn’t cross between us.”

You hummed. You knew this was probably as close as it would get to being this severely close to Loki. And yes, the curiosity burned you intently. However, you too also knew discovering too much this early on would be too much. “ Fair enough. Thank you, Loki. For, uh, getting me out of this funk.”

He nodded, gifting you his signature smirk.

“Let it not happen again, it’s rather annoying having to tell you the same things over and over again. The next time you wish to doubt me, or my intentions with you, I will make sure to deprive you of these lips.”

Your mouth fell agape, and you gave a single chortle. Was he really bribing you with denying you of kisses?

“Are you serious?”

His mischievous nature began to manifest itself again. He winked at you, a devilish grin present. “Of course. After all, I am quite ethereal, don’t you think so?”

You pushed him off, grumbling and muttering nonsense along the lines of “stupid” and “jerk”, huffing and stomping to your room efficiently.

Loki giggled at your undoubted reaction, knowing quite well he would not let this go for a very, very long time.

#loki #Loki Laufeyson #loki x reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki of asgard #loki odinson #loki drabble #loki headcanon