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bornandforgedHe has not been the easiest man to find of late, though Sif has not really been one to talk on that score. Avoiding the embassy in New York for the palace at home, and then the palace for her own retreat, and then that for her family's estate on a different distant patch of coastline has left her out of pocket for a week before her appearance today, now, here. She steps out of a neat tear in the world, blade returned to its sheath as the rift's smooth edges seal shut behind her.
"Thor," she greets him, a hand clapped on his arm to aid in announcing her presence in case his name wasn't called heartily enough to do the trick. Her smile is as friendly as ever, the threat of nerves well-buried beneath cheer. "How goes it here with you?" she asks. She looks to survey their surroundings, his hide-out here away from the court. While faced away her shoulders find a way to straighten one last fraction of a degree, and when she turns back it is with hands caught before her, knuckles interwoven and left to rest on shining plate.
"There is a thing I would speak with you about," she says, not because she wasn't really interested in discussing his recuperation after all, but because finding the gauzy corner of the bandage here now in her fingers and the delicate new skin beneath already stuck and pulling it is too much to resist the urge to rip it off. She finds his eyes, "To do with Loki, and with me."
"Thor," she greets him, a hand clapped on his arm to aid in announcing her presence in case his name wasn't called heartily enough to do the trick. Her smile is as friendly as ever, the threat of nerves well-buried beneath cheer. "How goes it here with you?" she asks. She looks to survey their surroundings, his hide-out here away from the court. While faced away her shoulders find a way to straighten one last fraction of a degree, and when she turns back it is with hands caught before her, knuckles interwoven and left to rest on shining plate.
"There is a thing I would speak with you about," she says, not because she wasn't really interested in discussing his recuperation after all, but because finding the gauzy corner of the bandage here now in her fingers and the delicate new skin beneath already stuck and pulling it is too much to resist the urge to rip it off. She finds his eyes, "To do with Loki, and with me."
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Date: 2013-05-31 03:13 am (UTC)Thor has the best room at the joint, of course. "Greetings, Lady Sif." He takes the arm to his shoulder with a smile, doesn't immediately reach for her in turn; his hands are occupied with a long sheaf of parchment, a map sketched across it in careful detail, red lines flowing along what are unmistakable demarcations of territory. Thor closes the parchment carefully with his enormous hands, then sets it down on the table. There are other parchments there. Thor has probably been procrastinating reading them between waiting for folks to show up and make their cases in loud voices, rendering said reading unnecessary.
He doesn't try to hug her, which may suggest he knows what this is about. Instead, Thor settles his stare on the woman, his features pleasant, but not quite as easy in their warmth as he typically would be, seeing his friend after extended absence. "I won't be coy about it," because he's Thor, obv. "Loki and I have spoken. Do you come to discuss your plans to journey beyond the boughs of Yggdrasil?"
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Date: 2013-05-31 03:37 am (UTC)The smile she flashes him is more tense than before, but she dips her chin in a nod, "Yes, that is what I wished to talk about. May I?" She gestures at one of the table's chairs and waits rather than assume his permission, the hand she's already spread used now to indicate his map, "We can speak of this another time should that better suit you. If I have interrupted another meeting, I apologize."
She shifts her feet and leans knuckles on the corner of the table, saying, "I apologize too for not being the first to tell you of this. I wished some time to think on the notion myself before I did. And I had not thought that he would." Knuckles rap softly, once, twice, and then caught back to her side before the third down-stroke can fall. "What do you think?"
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Date: 2013-05-31 04:39 am (UTC)Things change. And Thor still manages to cut a great figure, even seated, broad shoulders stooped to set an elbow on the arm of his chair and jaw squared in thought. Maybe someday he'll fit the throne of Asgard-- though Loki would sooner perish the thought. "I see both merit and folly in it," he answers, bluntly. "I would like to know your thoughts on it. And your heart, if that is closer to the truth; I have not forgotten the conversation we had in the snows of China."
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Date: 2013-05-31 05:18 am (UTC)"I had not expected that you would," Sif replies, wetting her throat with a sip as she offers a refill to his cup. "I think it is in our interest to see these new lands explored. The invasion of Vanaheim has shown us there are foes out there we cannot ignore, and likely there are allies as well. I would explore, and learn of them, and bring that knowledge back home that we might fortify and prepare ourselves as needed.
"And it may be that I may catch some hint of Thanos, and set us on the path to recovering the Gauntlet he stole. It seems certain we will grow no closer to retrieving it while we remain here." She pauses for a sip of wine, the moment not quite scripted in though it isn't hard to guess she has thought through this part of the conversation a few times before. The next part perhaps even more, though it doesn't prevent her hesitating:
"And Loki.... I think if he were to go alone his unhappiness would fester and if ever he returned at all it would be even worse than his last reappearance from the depths of space. No doubt I flatter myself but it is my hope that going together it will be an adventure instead of flight, and perhaps he will allow himself to benefit from the experience instead of growing still worse. And--" She drinks and carries on, nails scratched across the table's edge in restless destruction. "And I wish to see whether there is any chance that we might work, he and I."
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Date: 2013-05-31 05:56 am (UTC)"You didn't really listen, last time, when I forbade you to kiss my brother," Thor recalls, with a furrow in his brow. Okay, maybe just a little dickish-- but really, only a little. "I have nothing but the greatest hope that Loki will find peace and fulfillment, and love free of disfiguring expectations." He curls his heavy hand around the cup, when it's been filled, drawing it closer to look at, his own blond shape blurred and bruised by the dark luminosity of the drink. He doesn't drink yet. "The same for you.
"We have seen much trouble within Yggdrasil of late. I fear that you and Loki will be a loss that we can not afford. And I also fear the strange sands and unsung horrors that might wait beyond the Tree, that might turn Loki against you, as he was once before, or drive you to forgetfulness and-- lunacy-- as I have felt its touch, myself." What other word could there be, for the edges of the hollow Thor feels in his soul, if not for lunacy? Something was taken from him. He barely comprehends it, but he knows in his bones, deeper than the core of Mjolnir, that he wouldn't wish it on anyone.
"But," there's gravel in his voice, merely serious, "so too do I realize that denying you this journey would be to divide us, poison our friendship again, and weaken Asgard in doing so." Thor tilts his head forward fractionally, about as close to a concession as Thor is going to make while making conversation over wine cups. He's a little better about it when, for example, the results of his grievous errors are blasting a dinky New Mexican town apart with balefire, or demanding he smash his rainbow road to Jane apart lest destruction befall an entire planet, or. Well, Thor's made a lot of mistakes in the past, and shouting at Sif about fraternizing with Loki was one of the smaller ones, to be honest.
Thor can learn from even his lesser errors, though. "If I could take the wish from your heart without injuring the rest, I would. But I know I can not."
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Date: 2013-05-31 06:47 am (UTC)She listens in silence, attention keenly fixed on her friend across the table. "I know not what we shall find," she says when he is through, "I cannot promise we will return unscathed. But I can promise you that if you have need of me here I will return at once. If he should turn again, I will return. I will visit and I will tell you my tales and you can tell me if you think I grow more mad than I must already be to consider this at all. It is not really so different to our own explorations here within the realms," she suggests with less than complete confidence in the truth of her statement, "Except that we go further afield. Someone must, why not we two?"
Her shoulders are lifted to an arch and dropped, her smile dipping uneven beneath the weight of the conversation. "If you could take this out of me perhaps I would welcome that. I surely did not ask to love your infuriating mess of a brother, nor to be-- unsatisfied with my present lot. But Thor," she reaches across to set a hand on his, gaze and tone laden with the sort of gravity that comes easier to all of them these days, "If you truly wish me to stay.... I don't want to divide us and poison our friendship either. I have thought on this at length and I believe it is a chance to serve Asgard and suit myself at once, but if you disagree...." She spreads both hands, callused palms opened to the ornate ceiling. If he disagrees, then what? Forced to choose between the sons of Odin yet again? That he does not seem inclined to outright forbid her going has eased her nerves but slightly.
Wine is recaptured, nearly polished off before she sits back, the shining bowl of the goblet dimmed as she cups it in both hands. "What did he say, when you two spoke of it?" she wonders, "What did you tell him?"
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Date: 2013-06-01 01:32 am (UTC)"Odder, considering his Hel-bent ambition for the crown and how that has defined him for the past few years," Thor opens his hands, makes a shrug out of them that doesn't quite channel all the way up to his enormous shoulders. "But perhaps that is the point, for him." Or maybe Loki was just selling him a line, but what's the point of that? Of thinking about it, anyway? If Thor is at all equipped to explore the labyrinthine darkness of Loki's mind, it's not going to be because he's worries about whether or not he's lying in casual conversation.
But that's not to say Thor is in the habit of letting people get away with things without confrontation. "If I disagree, then what?" Thor asks the lady warrior, looking at her expectantly. There's a light in his eye, a twinkle, but he isn't laughing preemptively at her answer; maybe at the idea that she wasn't going to finish that thought. He wants to hear it, clearly, however awkward or painful it might be.
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Date: 2013-06-03 05:30 am (UTC)But that twinkle in his eye draws down her brows and pushes out her jaw and instead of whatever she had been going to say she says, "This isn't funny, Thor. Having over and over again to choose between the two of you, the thought that whatever choice I make I may lose one of you? It is--." She jerks her head in a shake and blows a breath out her nose, one hand lifted to press fingers to temples and then slide them back through her hair, now long enough to at least mostly lie flat instead of sticking up every which way.
"If you disagreed I would try to convince you. And then I don't know. In all honesty," she says, with a lift and a slump of her shoulders, "I really do not know. I think that I might go. I believe this is how I can best serve Asgard, truly. And my duty is to Asgard, above everything else. If I can discover new worlds and bring back new treasures and perhaps help to bring Loki back to Asgard's side, all at once? Then that is what I need to be doing instead of sitting on Midgard bickering with your friends." She looks back up then, shaking her head as she meets his eyes, "I am sorry. You have my friendship and my loyalty, always, you know that. But I need to try this. It is for the best. Please understand."
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Date: 2013-06-03 06:28 am (UTC)"I understand," Thor says at last. Finally, he leans forward, stretching an arm out to touch her upper-arm. He gives it a squeeze, his grip familiar; hundreds of thousands of salutations and congratulations over hundreds of thousands of days. The gesture has a funny sameness on this one night of farewell.
"Go, then, with my blessing. My hope that you will find happiness -- or at least fulfillment," they don't write songs about the ones that come easy, whether the musicians are Aesir or human, "and adventure plenty. And in hope, also, that you will return to us soon." Thor is already rising, boots thunking solidly underneath him. A swiveled knee suggests that Mjolnir sits under there, hidden by the table, ever close to Thor's hand-- but he's being subtle about it, with the politics afoot, and touchy trolls and elves often enough visiting his room.
And he has no wish to fight Sif on any level, clearly. "I will come to Earth to see you off, when it is time. The others will come, too."
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Date: 2013-06-03 03:22 pm (UTC)She doesn't really trouble to hide it, head dropping forward into a bow that's more relief than respect, and she stretches out a hand to grip his arm in return. Silent until he rises and she shoves back the chair to get feet beneath her, stepping around the table to capture Thor in a hug. One arm is up over his shoulder and one wrapped beneath the other before he has time to avoid it should he have wished to, her grip tight. "Thank you," she says, lifting her head to repeat the words less muffled by his shoulder, "Thank you."
She'll set a hand to his face before she really draws back, palm to jaw, fingers catching at ear and neck like he does to her sometimes though she lacks his ability to literally palm her friend's head. "I will return," she swears, eyes bright and serious, "Before too long, and sooner if ever you have need of me." She presses a kiss to Thor's cheek and leans her forehead against his temple for a moment, and while she has always been more affectionate with her friends than most would credit, this is perhaps edging into effusive.
But they have not really ever said farewell before, not like this, and so any joy at his agreement is tinged with melancholy, longing for the home and friends she hasn't even really left yet. And tamped down beneath it the constant awareness that things might so easily go wrong, of the possibility that the lives ruined and blood shed might continue to be theirs and not some nameless aliens' from far off continents. That this might all end in disaster and she will have practically begged him to let her bring it. It's a darkness that sits within her, relentlessly flooded in the light of hope and excitement that animates her now as she kisses Thor again and pulls back with a grin to thump his shoulder extra hard.
"We should all get together here first, before I go," she says, "If you can spare the time from court. Or now," she proposes, because why not, "Come, leave your meetings for tomorrow if you can and drink with me. I want to hear of you now that we've both of us babbled about me for hours."
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Date: 2013-06-04 05:13 am (UTC)Thor sets her on the floor again, a hand set to her shoulder. "We will drink," he says. "And speak of better times." There are graver matters he perhaps would have liked to speak of, but he wouldn't want her to worry or weigh her mood when she's about to be free of it all. There is the small matter that Death reached inside his head, took something-- important; and left him important messages about foreboding events. Such as that Loki carries an Infinity Gem, for instance.
There are other matters to talk about, and things to say. Volstagg's lady friend is due on the Bifrost in a few days, for the first time; Fandral imported ice cream into the capital; Hogun is liaising with the dwarves, and it near came to blows about the respective quality of their stonemasonry. "We will have to take turns riding our larger foes around the battlefield, in your honor."
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Date: 2013-06-04 06:05 am (UTC)One more thump and then she's pulling away, headed for the door to order more wine. That the prince is present means refills are close at hand, and in a minute or two she is setting flagons down before him and retaking her seat. She kicks her feet up onto an empty chair beside Thor and pours for them both.
"So," she says, leaning back with her cup, "Do you care to talk about this lunacy matter now, or later when we are drunk, or not at all?" She did not miss it nor his look when he said it, just postponed asking, selfishly preoccupied. Now that it is foremost she looks mildly concerned in the manner of someone who is actually at least moderately concerned but making the effort to downplay it, more than willing to listen but not about to force him to speak.
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Date: 2013-06-07 03:12 am (UTC)And he'll feel better when she comes home. Thor throws himself down on the broad furniture, and raises his cup in toast. "And it was not all wounds and ill result, you should know. I daresay, it was lunacy in part that has brought me to make this tenuous peace with my brother. What shall we toast to?"
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Date: 2013-06-07 04:39 am (UTC)"To tenuous peaces?" Sif suggests at talk of toasts and manages to not even quite mean it as a joke, for all that she is war. But it is easier to be that little bit more serious about other things: "To the future? That things may yet be better than they have been? New adventures?"
She gives her head a toss, ruffling a hand through dark hair. "All of the above," she decides, lifting her cup to him, "And more beside. Plenty to drink to, for we've plenty of drinking to do."