Goddess of Stories | Loki & Peter

Alone

Pepper Potts was such a fearsome woman that Loki was sure that she'd see right through her act and smith her with whatever cosmic power she clearly must yield.

After Stark had explain why Loki was here, Ms. Potts had sighed, like it was old news, and said simply "This is going to put a damper on the wedding plans."

She'd given Loki a room and a fresh pair of clothes, and had suggested she relax until at least dinner. As much as Loki didn't want to, she agreed, and let herself collapse onto the bed once the woman left.

What more could she do anyway? She had called Captain Rogers. It was only a matter of time until he called back and then they could plan.

But being inactive let the weight of Thor's - and likely all of the other Asgardians' - death sink in again. If she hadn't taken the infinity stone, would everyone have been safe? Maybe Thanos would've always come regardless of what she possessed, she had been told that her failure to procure the Tesseract would result in a fate that'd make her wish for death. Perhaps the only way she could have prevented all those deaths would've been to part ways with Asgard.

It wasn't like she had chose to rejoin the asgardians though. She had simply asked the space stone to get her to safety once the world around her was consumed by flames, and it had brought her to Thor (albeit, some time later). Loki wanted to believe that if she had been allowed to make the choice again now, with the advantage of hindsight, she'd do the heroic thing and go elsewhere. In her heart though, she doubted it. She was selfish, and that was how she'd always be.

Loki was still stewing in self loathing (a favoured past time) when Peter Parker came in. He sat down next to where she was sitting cross-legged on the bed but didn't speak.

"Did Banner arrive on Midgard too, do you know?" Loki asked.

"Banner? Like, Bruce Banner?"

"Indeed." She said. "The Beast."

"Arrive like you? From space? Was Dr. Banner in space?! Mr. Stark has been looking for him since forever!"

"Yes. The doctor was with us for a time. Thor picked him up from Sakaar like a green stray cat. I was able to send him away with the space stone with me when I used it. The gem has a personality of it's own though. While it would be nice and convenient for it to have sent the Hulk here, he could be anywhere in the universe. I was hoping that with space's connection to time that he'd simply arrive a little later than I, but if I'm being honest, he's probably halfway across the universe."

After some pushing from Peter about Sakaar, Loki told him of the events of the last few weeks, although she made sure to make it days from Thor's perspective, and to mention herself very little and in third person, and say that she'd died in Surtur's fire. She told him of Hela and of the last Valkyrie and Thor. She told another story of herself, a fictional one, of a protector of magical artefacts, and put herself in the story as one of the citizens under Heimdall's protection, the Tesseract under her care. She told him of Thanos' arrival and of the massacre that occurred afterwards.

Somehow, she remained completely stoic throughout. She was becoming herself again it seemed, able to face everything with a smirk and a nonchalant attitude to cover her true feelings.

Peter was a good audience. He responded to everything she said vividly, but didn't interrupt her unless she gave him the opportunity to. He asked the right questions at the right times and Loki revelled in the attention. She had often been the one asked to recount the stories of battles during feasts, which she'd gladly do, accompanied by illusions and voice acting, just to briefly have all eyes on her for once. She wasn't the Goddess of Stories for no reason, even if the Midgardians didn't remember her title.