treason | loki laufeyson ✓

iii. talk

📍THE TVA

. . .

I enter the Time Theatre in silence, pulling a chair out for myself. The boys enter soon after me, with Loki examining the room back by the entrance, suspicion twisting his features, "For the record, this really does feel like a killing-me kind of room."

Mobius glances at Loki from the projector he's fiddling with, setting his baton on the table, "Not big on trust, are you?"

"Trust is for children..." Loki slowly takes the two steps down, stopping at the base, "...and dogs. There's only one person you can trust."

"Yourself?" I ask, quirking an eyebrow with a grin, "I like it. Slap it on a T-shirt."

"If the TVA truly oversees all of time, how have I never heard of you until now?" Loki asks Mobius whilst shooting me a death stare from the corner of his eyes.

"'Cause you've never needed to. You've always lived within your set path." Mobius answers without looking up. Individual pixels starts to form the TVA logo onto the screen in front of us, showing that he had successfully turned the projector on.

"I live within whatever path I choose." Loki declares, refusing to believe that he had knocked himself off his set path.

"Sure you do." Mobius stops messing with the projector, pulling a chair out for Loki and himself, "Okay, come have a seat."

Loki looks over at Mobius with distaste, making his way over to him at a concerning speed. Mobius reacts quickly, though, picking up the Time Twister that controlled Loki's collar, sliding his thumb on the circular remote pad before he got any closer. Loki teleports back to his spot immediately, confusion written all over his face.

"Like Juniper told you, time moves differently in the TVA." Mobius waves him over, "Come on, sit down."

Loki's piercing gaze slides over to me at the mention of my name, begrudgingly walking to a seat on my left.

"Go on, have a seat." Mobius encourages him, to which Loki complies, looking between us with distrust as he sits down slowly. He crosses his arms, staring at Mobius with a severe intensity from across the table.

Mobius shakes his head, chuckling a to himself. "If looks could kill."

"What do you want from me?"

Mobius sighs, "Well, let's start with a little cooperation."

Loki clicks his tongue, keeping his same expressionless face, "Not my forte."

"Really? Even when you're wooing someone powerful you intend to betray? Come on." I muse, crossing my arms across my chest.

"You don't know anything about me." Loki claims, refusing to work together.

"Well, maybe we'd like to learn." Mobius gestures to him and I, opening a can of Josta, "I specialize in the pursuit of dangerous variants. And Juniper here does too."

Mobius takes a sip of his soda just as Loki responds, "Like myself?"

"Mmm," Mobius sets down the can, quickly swallowing the sugary drink, "No, particularly dangerous Variants. You're just a... little pussy cat. Anyways, we got a set of questions for you. You answer them honestly, and then maybe... I can give you something you want."

"You wanna get out of here, right?" I question Loki, who tilts his head at me like that wasn't already known, "Yeah, so we'll start there."

I clear my throat, flipping the page of my notebook, "Alright, should you return, what are you gonna do?"

"Finish what I started."

"Which is..." I move my hand in circular motions, coaxing him to elaborate.

"Claim my throne."

"You wanna be.. king?"

"I don't want to be. I was born to be."

"We know, but king of what exactly?" Mobius asks, urging him to continue.

Loki scoffs, shaking his head, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Loki sighs as he gives in reluctantly, "Midgard." 

"AKA, Earth." Mobius mutters, writing it down in his notes.

"Alright. Now you're the king of Midgard, then what?" I shrug my shoulders, taking a guess. "Happily ever after?"

"Asgard... The Nine Realms..." Loki answers dreamily without hesitation.

"Space?" Mobius continues his list of kingdoms with a shrug, earning a scowl from Loki.

"Space?" Loki asks with raised brows, looking at Mobius like he was an idiot.

"Yeah, space is big." Mobius comments, not really finding a reason why being the king of space is bad, "That'd be a nice feather in your cap. Loki, the King of Space."

Loki cocks his head at Mobius, glaring at him. "Mock me if you dare."

"No, I'm not!" Mobius chuckles, raising his hands in defense, "Honestly, I'm actually a fan." Loki quirks an eyebrow at his claims, not quite believing him.

"And I guess I'm wondering; Why does someone with so much range just wanna rule?"

"I would've made it easy for them."

"People like easy." I nod towards him.

"The first and most oppressive lie ever uttered... was the song of freedom." Loki states, leaning forward slightly.

"How's that one go?" I ask softly, resting my head in the palm of my hand.

"For nearly every living thing; Choice breeds shame and uncertainty and regret. There's a fork in every road, yet the wrong path always taken." Loki recites the poem effortlessly, leaning back in his chair when he finished. 

"Good. Yeah." Mobius whispers, pleased with the process we were making, "You said 'nearly every living thing', so I'm guessing you don't fall into that category?"

Loki chuckles, looking around the room as he avoids the question, "The Time-Keepers have built quite the circus,"—he moves his unblinking gaze to Mobius and I—"and I see the clowns are playing their parts to perfection."

Mobius chuckles, pointing his pencil to the god, "Big metaphor guy. I love it. Makes you sound super smart."

Loki scowls, looking taken aback, "I am smart."

Mobius nods, agreeing. "I know."

Loki narrows his eyes, "Okay?"

"Okay." Silence falls between our trio as Mobius presses the play button on the projector. A whirring sound is heard from the small device as an image of New York is formed on the screen in front of us.

༻❁༺