A Tale of Mischief and Mutants

Morally Ambiguous

WARNING: huge spoilers for The Last of Us (Part 1)

—-Mary—-

I see that Sam looks nervous as we say goodnight and head to bed. I hope she doesn't have another anxiety attack. I can't sleep and the walls are thin. I overhear a conversation that I feel was supposed to be private.

They're talking about her nightmare Sam describes it in detail. I want to go in to comfort her but that would mean dealing with the awkwardness of explaining I heard everything. Luckily Loki's already on it. I hear his muffled voice through the wall.

"No one can touch you when you're with me Sam. You must know that."

I smile he's right I wouldn't want to be on his bad side and anyone doing anything to Sam would guarantee his rage would be directed at them.

"I do I know that, I'm not afraid of them coming for me when I'm here, nobody's that stupid. I'm afraid to sleep Lo' you're not with me there."

"I wish I could be."

Aww I'm glad I'm leaving my sister in such good hands.

"I'll be ok Loki it's just tough right now. At least I can always wake up to you."

"Until you leave."

'Leave?' The way she spoke to me and the way she looks at him, I had just kind of assumed she had decided to stay here. I don't fully understand her current situation for why she has to stay here but can sometimes come to the United States for Avengers stuff I'll have to ask her. Whatever the case I figured since they're so close now she'd be staying here no matter what.

"Loki I'm not leaving."

"What?!"

Ha I knew it. She's happy here and I'm happy for her.

"I've thought about it for a while and I think... I think I'm falling for you. S-so I'm not going back to live at the school........... if that's ok."

"Mortal..."

Loki doesn't finish his sentence.

"Did you really think you could get rid of me?"

"I had hoped not."

They exchange I love yous. Damn, I won't be surprised if he puts a ring on it soon. That would make him my brother-in-law. The god of Mischief my brother-in-law now that's a thought. 'Mary you're getting ahead of yourself.' I laugh at my thoughts and go to sleep.

——————————————————————

I wake up the next morning and we have cereal while Sam continues where we left off yesterday. I have to say I've only played this game once and I had forgotten how emotional the story is.

As I watch Sam play I realize I should probably book a flight to return 'home' tomorrow. I don't want to overstay my welcome. We sit and take turns watching and playing I wish I had recorded our conversations. Sam and Loki played off each other beautifully and left me dying of laughter more than a few times. I had even literally died in game because of their commentary.

Seriously I think they could run a gaming channel. That's not likely with Loki's personality though. I recognize something suddenly now that my mind has wandered into thinking about gaming videos, Peter Parker the Spider-Man ran a YouTube channel, he would sometimes post CSGO funny moments that featured Thor and some other people that He didn't identify he blurred and bleeped names. I recognize that people like Korg and Noobmaster were in Those videos. Noobmaster's gamer tag was blurred so people didn't hunt him down to harass him.

I also recognize now that the woman in those videos had been Sam. My sister was pretty beloved on his channel people referred to her by her gamer tag MissMedic. I don't even think she knows Peter posts videos with her in them. I'm pretty sure she'd be chill with it though. I'm definitely gonna show her later and ask if it's her just to be sure.

Hours later we're reaching the end of the game. A pivotal cutscene is happening I look over to see Loki's reaction as it plays out

—>
Joel: 'Take me to her.'

Marlene: 'You don't have to worry about her anymore we'll take care-'

Joel: 'I worry. Just let me see her please.'

Marlene: 'You can't. She's being prepped for surgery.'
<—

Loki looks confused.

"What?!"

—>

Joel: 'The hell you mean surgery?'

<—

"Exactly!"

—>

Marlene: 'The doctors tell me the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated. It's why she's immune. Once they remove it. They'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine. A vaccine!'

Joel: 'But it grows all over the brain.'

Marlene: '...it does.'
<—

"OH HEL NO!"

I smile a little bit he's reacting a little dramatically it's entertaining. We watch the rest of the cutscene and Loki is fuming yelling at the screen.

"YOU MEWLING QUIM! There is no way Joel's letting this happen!!"

I smile he's right. On screen Joel begins to fight the person leading him out of the building.

"YES!"

Loki watches intently as Sam skillfully plays the game and retrieves Ellie. When Marlene shows up with a gun pointed at Joel on screen he's surprised.

"Oh shit."

He watches the standoff between the two characters in suspense as they talk. I know how this ends but it's still nerve wracking to watch. Marlene begs Joel to 'do the right thing' and the scene cuts to Joel driving. Loki looks at me in frustration.

"Well?! What happened?!"

"Just watch."

He breathes a sigh of relief when it's revealed Ellie is in the car with Joel. He watches in stunned silence as Joel lies to Ellie. Then looks sadly at the screen as Ellie laments about all the people who died during the story. He doesn't seem to know how to feel about Joel's last lie to Ellie. When the end credits start rolling he looks in shock at the bitter sweet ending. Sam turns to him.

"So?"

"What was that?!"

"The Last of Us."

"I didn't know these games could tell such a story."

She smiles.

"Video games aren't all just a bunch of idiots shooting at each other."

He looks deep in thought.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that ending."

I pat him on the shoulder.

"That's the point it's morally ambiguous."

Sam asks him flat out.

"So you liked it?"

"I think so."

He still looks deep in thought. Sam pulls him out of it.

"What'd ya say we get some lunch at Drekka?"

Loki nods it's funny how much he's pondering the game's ending. I remember it did the same to me when I first played it. We leave for Drekka's.