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[dothelokimotion]

( you can reach Loki here )

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[rebuildyourruins]

didnt see it down there

[dothelokimotion]

Then it must be sequestered somewhere else.

[rebuildyourruins]

lurking in a cave

[dothelokimotion]

Did you not see anything else?

[rebuildyourruins]

i did

[dothelokimotion]

What was it?

[rebuildyourruins]

will tell you later

[Not over the communicators.]

[dothelokimotion]

All right.

action, the next day.

[rebuildyourruins]

[After an unpleasant night riding out his reacquired nausea - most spent in his bedroom, part sadly spent in the bathroom - Thor wakes feeling better if not entirely okay. It's not enough to confine him to the ship any longer, so he sends Loki a message and heads for the Iskaulit.

He drops into his chair with a sigh, thumbing through the pages of his notebook without really seeing them. Every day brings something new to think about.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki comes in, dressed in a white shirt, tie and black slacks. Even he doesn't feel like wearing his leathers all the time. ]

What's the matter?

[rebuildyourruins]

[Can it be that after five-odd months Loki is 2% less high strung? The clothing choices say maybe. Thor routinely doesn't wear his armour unless he's doing something potentially dangerous, so per usual he's in jeans and a sweater. And also wearing the faintly dour expression one gets after a night of miserable health.

Thor looks up and flips the book closed.]

Nothing now, but what we found down on the surface wasn't the most pleasant.

[dothelokimotion]

I thought you said you didn't find the monster.

[ Loki briefly eyes Thor before taking his own seat. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

We didn't. We found a ship. One that looked like the Marsiva.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He starts. ]

Did you go inside?

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah... [Thor grimaces, planting his elbows on the desk.] Though it was as difficult as trying to approach the Marsiva itself.

[He doesn't feel he needs to say why. There's only one thing he could be referring to; only one sensation.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki eyes him briefly.

Then he pokes him on the forehead. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

[He immediately smacks Loki's hand away, giving him a mulish look.]

Stop.

[dothelokimotion]

Just checking.

You don't seem to have a temperature.

[rebuildyourruins]

Because I didn't get one. [It's a grouchy response but no less true. With a sigh, he continues.] I was sick for a few hours after leaving. It was nowhere near as bad as our other encounter with the ship.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki hums, noncommittal. ]

Perhaps that was the test ship. The first one before they rolled out a complete model.

[rebuildyourruins]

If it was a test it was a miserable one. The whole thing was half destroyed.

[By time or circumstance, Thor couldn't rightly tell. It was hard keeping a straight head walking into that wreckage.]

I thought we might be able to work something out by seeing the inside, but it was too decrepit to see much of anything.

[dothelokimotion]

So . . . there was nothing?

[rebuildyourruins]

There was more of that black stuff in the middle of the wreck. In a cylinder.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He exhales softly. ]

I should go down there. I might be able to sense something.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor watches Loki for a long moment, weighing up what he knows of the ship and what happened last time.]

The approach isn't terrible until you get near the cylinder itself. [It's not so easy to remember exactly when it started - it seemed like earlier, but belatedly Thor realises he was misremembering it.] I don't know how much can be sensed around - that.