riverview | Video; thunderer [Thor 3 Spoilers]

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Video; thunderer [Thor 3 Spoilers]

[You can tell from the moment Thor's face appears on camera, he's been through hell and back. His hair is almost entirely buzzed down, save for the tufts on top, with markings shaved into the sides. His eye is covered by a black patch, indicating an injury that he isn't happy to talk about.]

I've made some changes. [Bluntly, as if he consented to any of this.]

What else.. Some things have happened at home that may be of interest to some of you. [He hums, considering.] Odin is dead. I have another sister? Her name is Hela. Mjolnir is destroyed. Banner is alive. [He feels a little guilty revealing that one, but he thinks someone deserves to know.] I fought the Hulk. I won. I met a real, live Valkyrie- And Asgard is.. [A people, not a place, but..] The realm has been destroyed. My people are seeking refuge, I suppose I understand now what displacement feels like.

I have the remains of Asgard in a ship, floating through space. If a portal could open for them, that would be extremely useful to me right now. I'm a king with no land or people, now. Very poetic. [Does he seem terse? He's kind of tense.

And then Loki comes barging in, looking very much the same and carrying a large parchment. He glances at the recording with a frown. He places the map of Earth on the wall, pinning it with a single dagger.]

Must you reveal everything? Put that away, I have work for you.

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[ What even. He blinks at that, but decides to ignore it. Loki doesn't have the patience to go through their extended history. ]

The only ones in trouble are us. We have a ship full of refugees and a limited amount of time to feed and shelter them in space.

[ Aoba's face falls. ]

...Ah, because your realm was destroyed.

I'm really sorry.

Are you okay?

[ Loki opens and closes his mouth abruptly because this is such an odd conversation compared to the others he's had so far. ]

I'm fine. Merely busy.

[ This is just how Aoba is, he genuinely gets concerned about people - even strangers. It's got him in trouble more than once, but he never learns. What also doesn't help? He has a rudimentary knowledge of heroes and people associated with Thor so like... that's... fraught with assumptions that fall painfully far from the mark.

Sorry, Loki. ]

Doing what? Do you need any help? [ See? ]

How can you possibly help us?

[ He's snapping back, frustrated. Thor is grim and Loki is tense because this is a situation where they're both over their heads. Loki doesn't want to be the first person to lose it, but his temper is fraying. ]

I don't know! [ He sounds defensive. ]

Some of us might not be able to fly around and beat up monsters, but we can still fix things, help out with stuff that's... you know...

[ Beneath the effort of heroes. Aoba feels embarrassed and instantly flusters. ]

...It's stupid, I know, just... forget I said anything.

[ Ugh. He despises sentiment, even now. ]

Thor, no doubt, appreciates such . . . gestures. But I am more practical. Even superheroes provide useless suggestions and I have no time for either.

...So what is it you think you need?

Other than for people to get out of your hair?

[ He's curious and booty-blasted in equal measure. ]

[ A pause as he considers this. ]

A decent location for us to settle in without too much trouble.

[ Aoba thinks, tapping his chin. ]

...Why not here?

I mean... there's plenty of room. We haven't really even done much with the Abandoned part yet.

And in 5 years they'll find a place for us on that world, right?

[ Loki flicks the reasons off his fingers like an asshole. ]

Room, perhaps, but not resources. The city is small and unsustainable to the numbers we currently have on hand in our ship. The Abandoned City is dangerous and full of monsters, many who have given me a hard time and requires at least fives times the size of our current Perimeter Guard to manage.

We don't have years. We have a full months in space and if we're not careful, we will run out of food and water much sooner. The portal is erratic and unreliable and cannot pull out an entire ship full of refugees.

Maybe, but I don't think you can place limitations on a place like this where resources and skills aren't so predictable.

Think about it - the Portal is bringing in new, different people all the time. And there are already some people here who can transmute resources into whatever we need.

It might not be a perfect solution, but even help for a dozen people... a hundred people... isn't that better than nothing?

And yet the numbers have dropped significantly over the past few months. As if the portal itself cannot sustain large numbers.

[ His eyes flash. ]

Yes, why not save a hundred and leave the rest to potential death in space.

[ His face floods with color, he didn't mean that! ]

That's not -- I just mean...!

[ This isn't going well, and Aoba doesn't know enough of what he's talking about - he's optimistic to a fault at times. ]

I know what you meant. That does not excuse your haplessness in this area. I do not expect you or anyone else to understand the situation, but your pathetic attempts at rendering aid are, at best, insulting.

[ Aoba quiets at the scolding, his own anxiety mutes better than anything else. He feels stupid in the wake of this cold splash of water that is reality and that's nothing new. ]

...Sorry.

[ He doesn't have any ground to stand on, no experience ruling people or managing refugee crises. He's just some guy with a strong sense of justice and little real life experience outside of a streetside brawl in some slum in Midorijima. ]

[ Loki is not kind. He lacks compassion, he has no real empathy for the masses. Loki saved his people for the glory, for that brief look on Thor's face when he arrived and he stayed because he has nowhere else to go and he doesn't know where to be. And Loki is deeply unsuited for these concerns and well-wishers, who may come from an honest heart but all it does is remind him deep down that he lacks this fundamental feeling.

But Aoba, other than Taako (in his own way), was the first to ask if Loki was okay. ]

No harm was done. No easy solution will present itself. And even if you had not said it, someone else would have.

[ If only Loki had a clue the kind of colorful people Aoba has involved himself with, he might not feel too bad - gang members, terrorists, broken robots and data miners, ranging from the twisted and cruel to those with hidden hearts of gold.

Aoba feels a little foolish for have once again stuck his nose into something that's really none of his business, but be it by design, a sense of justice or some fickle form of luck, he can't help but get involved. ]

...Well, you at least seem to have time.