If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks...

[coldsong]

It's customary to have a Wake after the subject thereof dies. Even Loki knows that. But this is a special occasion. Ego-death is coming to his alternate, and the idea of letting him go off to perish alone, uncertain he will even be mourned, is too dark a proposition even for a flawed and callous person to contemplate.

That, and this Loki has been in a melancholy mood since speaking to the spirit of Frigga. He anticipates a dark choice of his own, sooner or later, and where the fates will send him after that, he can't know. Maybe oblivion, although even at that rate there may be worse places.

What's important right now is that no one dies unremembered. And honestly, any excuse for mischief a party. The first text rolls out to Harley, an innocent enough invitation to join them for milkshakes. Cricket is next, because it occurs to him that Cricket has plenty of liquor, which is good for a reckless celebration.

Things snowball from there.

As long as they don't destroy too much property, they'll call the night a success.

Comments

[smartass_captain]

He didn't handle it very well at first, and there was a very long few nights spent in the privacy of his own home coping with it until he figured out whether or not he could deal. And then Felix had to go and make friends with Loki which so far as Jim is concerned mandated that he get along at least decently with Loki's brother. So, here they are.

"I just figured you should know it's not personal if I'm occasionally making an odd face at you, especially when you first show up anywhere." He rubs at the back of his neck with a slow shrug. He's making an effort here, and Thor does seem rather personable aside from all the weirdness.

"I suspect we'll be seeing each other at least fairly often, considering how close Loki is becoming with my fiance and some of my friends."

[pirateangelbaby]

"Fair enough." The mind and heart don't always agree, and Kirk can no more ignore the resemblance than Thor can change his face. It might be awkward, but better that than trying to avoid each other completely. No doubt the captain will get used to it, with enough exposure.

When he hears about why, however, Thor is torn between a measure of sympathy for those he's befriending, yet something resembling pride that Loki's making new friends at all. "Yes, he has a talent for that sort of thing."

Though it occurs to him that as long as they're getting things out in the open, there's something he should mention too. Just a small detail, but an important one. "You should probably also know that the Loki you've met is not from the same universe I call home. Either of him," he adds, because there are at least two, at this very party even. "Very similar, though. Almost identical. If not for his experiences here, which my Loki doesn't share, I might not've known."

[smartass_captain]

"He's not?"

Well that's not exactly impossible given the Nex-wait, neither of them are? So then there's probably a third Loki running around somewhere and--oh boy, smoke is starting to pour out of Jim's ears while he tries to keep up with this exceptionally odd family being explained to him right now.

"That's got to be a hell of a thing. Have you told yours about...all of this?"

[pirateangelbaby]

Once, Thor probably would have been distressed about having to keep track of multiple Lokis, paranoid of way too many knives and way too many grudges that might end up biting him in the back at any given moment. Whether they've all grown past that point or maybe Thor's just given himself over to the weirdness that is his life, is anyone's guess. Either way, the end result is the same, in that he's probably not nearly as worried about this as he should be.

"Of course I have." He tries not to make it sound too much like he thinks that's a silly question. "Without access to the Bifrost, it'd be hard to explain my absence from the ship otherwise. He laughed heartily when I told him I'd met two more of him." Norns forbid all three of them ever join forces together. One trickster alone is plenty, and when all three are Loki, well, Thor pities whatever target they choose to harass.

[smartass_captain]

"How can you keep track of all of that? I've only met the one so far and he's made me look like an idiot pretty easily every time we've spoken."

Not in like a bad way or anything. Jim rather likes Loki based solely on their brief interactions. He's a consummate little brother in everything he does. Jim honestly can't help but to find that pretty endearing considering who he's chosen to keep company with over the last few years.

"My counterpart had to grow a beard just to get people to stop mistaking him for me. The Nexus makes things complicated in ways I never thought I'd have to deal with."

[pirateangelbaby]

The thought of Loki with a beard is startling enough to draw a short laugh out of Thor. Honestly, he might be able to pull it off, but the trickster has always favored a clean, youthful face. Perhaps it's easier to misdirect strangers when he looks younger, more innocent. Or maybe he simply doesn't like it, but Loki has almost always had deeper reasons for what he does, Thor knows that now. "Your twin isn't the only one. A friend of mine, Steven Rogers, I've met two of him and can tell them apart the same way."

Honestly, it's a good look for him. Thor can appreciate a good manly beard.

Thoughts of how to tell the more identical Lokis apart, however... Thor's smile dims a little. "There's something about him," he says at last. "Not physical, not obvious. Something in the way he looks at me, sometimes, like he knows something my Loki doesn't." And after the small scraps of intel the trickster saw fit to pass along, just hints of a deeper knowledge, Thor has a pretty good guess what is on his brother's alternate's mind.

But that's something he shouldn't trouble the captain with, he thinks, so he shrugs and adds, "And my Loki hasn't made a habit of visiting here, not yet. Norns forbid if he takes it up, I might never know which Loki I'm speaking to."