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So, Loki came to the Embassy, where he knows Thor is living for the time being. He has to go in disguise while he's in there, but once he gets to Thor's quarters, he drops the illusion of a guard, and remains himself when he knocks.
*
Thor swings open his door to regard Loki with a lifted brow; he seems surprised by his brother's presence, and immediately looks around the hallway to see if anyone spotted the Trickster's approach.
He steps aside and ushers Loki into the room, quickly, and closes the door. Once they're sequestered, he flashes a short grin at the slender fellow and offers a clasp of the wrist to Loki.
"Brother," he hails the other man, nodding at him. "A pleasure to see you again. How fare you?" he inquires, inviting Loki to take a seat in the tiny settee in Thor's quarters.
*
Loki draws in a deep breath as he's welcomed…a breath full of relief. He holds fast to Thor's arm for a moment and then squeezes and releases. "Well met, indeed. I…have a proposal…something I think you will like. Just…look, I know that we have not really spoken much, since my return and yours. I wished to take some time, without our…various loves and not-loves, to be as brothers. I remember it keenly, how we would fight together, side by side, for some glory or another. Usually yours." He moves about the room a little, hands behind his back, looking over the accommodations Thor is getting in this embassy.
*
The suite is ideally suited to Thor's status as a prince, though it lacks many of the nuances personal touches that make it a 'home'; trophies on the wall, images of friends, things of that nature. A few little items mark it as 'his', though, and a trailing bit of perfume-scented silk drapes from the back of a chair as a clear indicator Amora's been by recently.
"A proposal, brother?" Thor inquires of Loki, folding his bare arms across his chest. His lips quirk in amusement. "Changed you might be, but I seem to recall many of your 'fine ideas' starting off this way; and as often as I might scrape the glory of the moment, I seem to recall carrying a fair amount of the blame for misfortune, too!" he says, with a cheery, good-natured grin. "What is it you are contemplating, then?"
*
Loki flicks a smile in Thor's direction and stops to face him, the flaps on his leather outfit stirring. "I want to take you to a place I've found…an old hill. You'll remember it, perhaps. It was there, long ago, that we threw spears to see who would distract the giants with a dress on and I lost. I'd like a rematch, and if I win, then you come to dinner in a dress. And if I lose, I will." His grin grows brighter, playful, just all good fun.
*
Thor looks at Loki, then laughs merrily, and shakes his head. "Aye, I'll join you for a game of casting spears, brother," he tells the dark-haired fellow. "But I'll not wager with you, not anymore. Last time I let you trick me into a gambit like that, I recall having to stalk across Vanaheim naked save for my dignity," he grins at Loki, wryly.
"What prompts this visit, brother? I had expected you'd spend a year or two in your cups with Kai, enjoying his return to you," Thor says, flopping gracelessly into a heavy chair and looking up at his lean shadow.
*
"I need Kai. I do. But, he is not all that concerns me. In my rebirth…I know my goal was to make ammends with you, whom I had betrayed in many ways. I do not remember the betrayal…its like I am from the times before bitterness crept upon me. I have a chance to change my own future. Our future. Simply, this is a bond that is just as great, and I value it just as much. I keep Kai in good company enough. Let us go throw spears and drink. I need my brother." He tosses a hand in the air and looks down at the golden, chosen one.
*
"If all you seek is company, brother, then I shall not deny you," Thor says, heaving to his feet. "'tis been too long since we spent time in social company; just the two of us, as it 'twas in years past," he agrees, grinning wryly. "The betrayal was worked by a man you no longer are; I cannot be angry at a dead man, or hold a grudge against him. And you have labored so hard to protect Kai. Truely, you have changed, and I would be cruel in the extreme if I did not give my own brother trust he deserves in this regard."
*
Loki approaches the other brother and flashes a quick, grin. "Thank you, Thor." He reaches out and grabs his brother's arm again, but this time, it is to bespell them both to the north of Scotland, to a place he has already obviously selected for its age…and the fact that it does have some targets already in place. There's a few bundles of spears…who knows where he ransacked that from. The grass is green…and its still foggy morning, here. Not another soul in sight. But, its clearly a field where people go. Its manicured and such, and there's a bench a ways off, and the signs of people putting up tents on the regular.
*
Thor turns, looking around in mild surprise as Loki upends him across Midgard with a touch; it takes him a few moments to recognize the hill, and a grin spreads across his shaggy features.
"Hah! By my hammer, you've found it again," he acknowledges, looking around. "Where are we? The Highlands, isn't what the mortals dub these ghostly hills?" he inquires, moving to the bundled weapons— his fingers can't leave them alone and in a moment he's got a spear in his hands, testing the fine point against a thumbnail and checking the haft for straightness and balance.
*
The spears aren't quite up to Asgardian snuff, but they are decent enough for a friendly contest like this. "Aye…the highlands is what they call it now. But…then…I think this had a fell name. The people had that…grimness to them. Those that embrace death a little too easily, so close to becoming monsters, or wretches. But, your presence helped them…showed them a champion worth dying for." Loki unties his own bundle. "So…I smelled perfume. Do I take it to mean that you are not discouraging Amora, any longer?"
*
"Aye, well— yes, and no," Thor says, waffling. He picks a spear up, hefting it, then flicks his wrist and hurls it a half a hundred yards with little visible effort, to stick into the ground against a distant hillside.
"Amora's heart remains a mystery to me. For so long, she craved only power; and I was a path to it. Now she claims I am her heart, and power is but a secondary thought. So … we have reached some detente, I suppose. I do not discourage her affections, no she mine; we are working to be … friends, I suppose. Setting aside the trappings of prey and predator for the time being."
*
Loki makes a grunting sound. "Amora cannot deceive me. You have long had her heart." He hefts up his own spear and then chucks it as well, clearly making a great effort to do it. It sails through the air and sticks into the hill…not to far off of Thor's. "Love gets bitter when it isn't returned. I can understand it. Sometimes its like…you want to destroy it, just so no one else can have it. She's fine. She'll be fine to you. You'll see if you give her a chance." He picks up another spear, "But the other side of this is that you just aren't in love with her, then there's nothing you can do to make it so."
*
"To say we do not love each other, feels a falsehood," Thor says, flicking another spear effortlessly into the mists. He's not trying particularly hard, more focused on the laborious process of bringing his words forward than playing the game. "Tis been many years we've danced this game; her and me, chasing one another, rebuffing. A kind of love exists, though it has been muted or blunted by other, more demanding passions."
"At times we've both tried to quit one another, but we come crashing back, again and again. The Norns may be trying to tell me something, brother; there is perhaps reason no Princess sits on my arm, yet. It might not be Amora, aye… but I know not for certain it /will not/ be her, either."
"So we owe it to ourselves to at least explore the possibilities."
*
Loki nods sagely. "I think that sounds like one of the wisest actions you have ever taken, brother. I have a different problem." Loki winks, chucking his spear another time. They can do this for an hour…and sadly…he still can't seem to win.