metaheroes - inbox

[voicelog]

CONTACTING...
deanna troi (public)
T (private/personal)
@tony.stark (neural implant)

TEXT ▪ AUDIO ▪ VIDEO ▪ SPAM

Comments

[text]

[helpdesk_hero]

Mister Stark. My name is David Alleyne. I was directed to reach out to you by Jean Grey.

[voicelog]

hey david! great to hear from you
call me tony, please

[ he half-expected for david and josh to decline speaking to him negl. ]

i wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the world you came from
the one you and josh were brought to before the confluence pulled you here
are you free to switch over to audio or do you prefer we stay on text?

text ; un: jeanluc.picard

[interloping]

hey you got a sec?

[voicelog]

yeah what's up?

LOKIOFASGARD; text

[ikols]

good GODS, you make it difficult to find your number
when you feel like emerging from whatever pit you are buried in you can thank me for informing you there are two osborns in central city
one is a norman
the other is a harry, from my partner's earth

[voicelog]

[ ......how the hell did he miss the osborns? ]

when you say "a", i'm assuming that means neither of them are from our earth

LOKIOFASGARD: text

[ikols]

what are you doing
besides hounding me on the network
DEANNA

[voicelog]

i explicitly told you that i don't appreciate you bringing me up in conversation
or now letting the whole network know that i'm iron man

LOKIOFASGARD; text

[ikols]

you have worked with children, teenagers, yes?

[voicelog]

[ well,

this is random. he isn't about to ask him to teach, is he? ]

kids aren't really my wheelhouse

LOKIOFASGARD; text

[ikols]

thank odin's beard you are the only one who will not talk to me, i cannot talk to anyone anymore except this phone which is set to diction because fUCK TYPING
you won't reply so this is fffine, allow me to ramble and then delete this from your computerised mindscape

i am so well known across so many universes, saying nothing else i can offer my name and everyone has some idea of who i am
i am Loki
i am seen and spoken of and told so many things about myself
sometimes they become absorbed into my past, the stories become true and i remember them like they happened, because then they did
gods have no history, only stories
STORIES STORIES STORIES

i am tired of being told which story to be
it happened once, in a story-that-was-but-is-no-more
i met my future self and he had razed midgard to the ground where he sat on a throne of bones as tall as a mountain, he did it because everyone called him nothing but Liar
Liar, Trickster, no good could ever come from him for long, they said, and they laughed
so he stabbed Thor as he fell in line with it all

he set me on fire
i think i ought to like fire, i have a rune named for me and i am said to be a spirit of fire, sometimes
in some tales
they do not say i am ice

he set me on fire

i tore off his face and he was my twin beneath, he sobbed in my arms with the guilt of it, then i put him in a gemstone to give him peace and i knew to always beware of how stories could affect me
i became the god of stories, to protect myself
stories are just lies, after all

the boy has been telling people for a while now that i murdered him, that i was a questionable character who stole his skin and paraded around
and i did
but i also didn't
i was
i think i was turning bad for a while, before he acquired the demon and i settled the issue with him

you ought to know, i would want to be stopped if i ever became like the old man again
you have my permission, and my blessing
but do not cut off my head for that will not kill me
i hate being beheaded

i think he hated the avengers so, so much because it was another family to which thor belonged which he could never touch
i too yearn to be one
perhaps i only inherited that from him, too
i do not know who i am if i am not Loki

sometimes i wonder what my name would have been

ALTHOUGH i AM totally drunk and YOU are the second coolest avenger
i hope i die from alcohol poisoning and never awaken to know you have read thisssssldkjfl

[voicelog]

[ unfortunately for loki, tony is getting all of this in real time.

even more unfortunate (possibly for the both of them) is the fact that he can't seem to ignore him. despite his efforts to remove himself from what has been going on with the lokis (or with any of the others from back home), he is still keeping track of the progression of events. he doesn't have any interest in "leading" anyone while he's here, but he does want to ensure that they're safe and that they aren't causing enough trouble to, for lack of a better word, implicate everyone else in their mishaps.

he has more than one reason for why he's being so hands off. some of these reasons were a direct result of his time in new amsterdam; others stem from even long before then. given his current state, he doesn't think he's fit to seriously look after or "lead" anyone when he is barely tethering on the brink of a relapse.

it wasn't fair of him to judge or be upset with loki though and it wasn't until after their conversation that it slowly began to dawn on him that his anger was misplaced. it wasn't right that loki murdered kid loki, but the complexities of their lives (especially the life of a god) doesn't give much room for harsh criticism.

he also knows something about stories — about having something larger than you rewrite and dictate segments or even your entire life on a whim, changing the history of events you knew to be true and erasing the memories you had to paint their own portrait. on a much smaller scale, it happened with the media back on 616; on a much more recent and detrimental scale, the aeries had wiped him of who he was and reshaped him to fit into its story of how the world should be and his place in it. he understands the helplessness in it; the anger and frustration that comes from it, and the desperation in wanting to regain some control over the narrative, no matter how insignificant. he has centuries of memories now from another life that continues to leak through despite his best efforts to keep them tightly contained and compartmentalized.

even if he tries to convince himself that he wasn't in control of his own actions then and that his memories aren't real, he doesn't have any leg to stand on as far as moral high grounds go. not anymore. he can't fault loki for what he has done when he has committed worse atrocities whether he wanted to or not.

it's a lengthy moment before he responds. ]

i spent almost a year in anonymity back on the other earth. it gave me the chance to be someone i'm not for once. no one recognized me or heard of my name, no media outlet hounded me or reported my every action.

not gonna lie, i started to feel a bit spoiled by it.

but you want to know what the funny thing is? before i came here, something happened that made me realize that being tony stark was my best bet. when the stories have already been prewritten and there is no way to change it, then there isn't much you can do about it. people will judge you based on what they know of you. sometimes it's only a handful of individuals; other times it's a whole country. sure, you can work towards changing the narrative and pursuing their respect or acknowledgment, but that's like a dog chasing after its own tail. you might get a bite of it one day, but sooner or later, you're going to lose your grip on it. we are who we are because of the experiences we have had. they've given us the armor and tools we need to defend ourselves and continue moving forward.

you don't need to separate yourself from being loki. you just need to be able to differentiate between who you really are or who you want to be and the version of you that everyone else knows.

strive for the former, disregard the latter. that's it.

[text: anon]

[howlett]

a little birdie told me you're back in business

or maybe it was you.
i forget.
anyway hows capitalism?

[voicelog]

before we talk about capitalism, why don't you introduce yourself first, buddy?

at the expo

[rehandle]

[ The problem with attending a meta expo is you're on show whether or not you've set up shop. He attends because he must: there are three Lokis running their own booths - one of them is his legal responsibility, another is from his world, and the last has over the course of a few months become something at least adjacent to a friend. All have recently been involved to varying degrees in an existential meltdown and all are wont to be menaces (somehow the one he trusts to be the least chaotic in this context is the one who once tried to stab him) and it would be remiss of him to stay at home.

Which is exactly what he wishes he'd done as he's forced to move himself in the space of a second out of the main hall and into the connecting space where fewer people mill about and little food outlets serve a variety of dishes, just so he can avoid the onset of another barrage of questions from a small group of attendees whose eyes had lit up when they'd noticed him.

He appears abruptly and without any warning, empty air one second and Stephen Strange the next. Out of the frying pan and directly into the path of Tony Stark, who he notices a second too late.

Sure. Why not this too. It's too late to pretend he hasn't seen him, so instead he stares straight at him - defiant against his own resignation - and leaves the onus of next steps to Stark. He still has a few seconds to change course if he really wants to. To talk or not to talk, that is the question. ]

[voicelog]

[ the benefit of being a superhero who customarily adorns a full body armored suit is that the man behind the mask goes unnoticed in a world unfamiliar to him. even with all the people who do recognize him, tony stark has managed to navigate the convention as a businessman rather than a revered "hero".

it's the way he likes it.

with a cup of coffee in hand and a danish in the other, tony is making his way to a more secluded area of the convention when the sudden appearance of doctor strange stops him dead in his tracks. he... has been very intentionally avoiding any encounters with him. it's still weird seeing him, especially since every interaction he has had with this iteration so far hasn't exactly gone smoothly and he doesn't know how to act around him.

still, an all too natural friendly smile emerges on his face the moment their eyes connect, ever impeccable in his public performance. he strides over to him casually, confidently, as he greets him with the same level of amicability he would have for anyone else in the city. ]

Grabbing a quick lunch too, Doctor?

special delivery!

[ikols]

[ A box of gooey spring-themed doughnuts magically swivels into existence on Tony's desk with a spritz of green magic, a little doodle of a smiling face wearing horns attached with sellotape. ]

text, a few minutes later—

[voicelog]

thanks for the doughnuts

what's the occasion?

LOKIOFASGARD, text

[ikols]

hello loser 3:)
are you coming to the bifrost bridge game tomorrow?

[voicelog]

[ 🙄 ]

yeah i'll be there

action ;

[interloping]

[ It's the night of Loki's theatre opening. A fancy gala party. Most of their kind, the ones who crash-landed into this world through the Confluence, will likely be there, but Peter Parker? Well.

Peter Parker is still at his desk at Wellness, a number of colourful sketches of varying shapes, sizes, and forms of ... toys sprawled out over the surface. He still can't believe he's doing this. He still can't believe this is his life. ]

You sure you don't want to drop in for a second? I can finish up here, or ... close it, or whatever it is you do when you're the last one at a sex toy company.

[ He ... definitely could have phrased that better.

Whatever, as long as he works here, there's always gonna be some kind of weird double entendre.

He stretches in his seat, hears the satisfying pop of his joints before he gets to his feet and crosses over to Tony's office. Leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, he eyes his 'boss' past the opened doors. (This, too, is something he can't believe; despite his better judgment, despite their complicated history and whatever else he feels about the guy, he's working with Tony Stark again.) ]

You must have some kind of tux hidden in here somewhere.

[voicelog]

[ he does, in fact, have a tux hidden in his office as well as a couple other business suits. it's always good to be ready for any unplanned meetings or events. but as far as tony is concerned, diana is all the representation wellness needs at the opherium's grand opening tonight. he doesn't intend to go.

looking up from several contracts laid out on his desk, he looks up at peter who seems to have settled quite comfortably against the frame of his door. ]

I'm sure. [ he would rather continue working. ] If you're interested in going, then I can close up for the night.

video call | un: littlealbatross

[soulmakingsound]

[River squints at the screen, frowning faintly when she doesn't recognize the man on the other end.]

Hello? To whom am I speaking?

[voicelog]

[ shouldn't he be the one asking that question? ]

Tony Stark. Can I help you with something?

text!

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

psst tony

hey tony

(if this isn't tony and I have the wrong number I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE)

what would you have to call yourself if you started doing 5k marathons for charity?

I-RUN MAN :D

(this is Doreen btw, idk if you know me, alternate universes and timeline shenanigans are a big thing here!)

[voicelog]

good one doreen
i know who you are
do you know what your universal designation is?

LOKIOFASGARD, text;

[ikols]

(insert meme voice ) where've you been, bitch? where've you bloody been???

hey, i need you to ask thor why he's angry at me
specifically
with a timeframe
before you say NO hear me out, in return for services rendered i can give you:

a) temporary gratitude
b) money
c) miscellaneous

[voicelog]

no

backdated to the start of mecha event, text.

[rehandle]

[ Well. He may have artfully ghosted him after not knowing how the respond to an earnest, straightforward and relatively uncomplicated offer of help, but at least something's come up to give him a reason to immediately take him up on it. ]

Will you be working on the machines? I have an idea and it's going to need an architect.

( post-mecha event ) LOKIOFASGARD, text;

[ikols]

i take back ever saying i wished to wear armour like your suit
can you send me grapes?
or a bacon roll

text, approx 3/4 days into the 4th wall event.

[rehandle]

Do you have time?

[voicelog]

yeah

what's up?

LOKIOFASGARD; audio

[ikols]

Hey, are you dead? Don't feel the need to reply if so, haha.

[ikols]

Okay, but seriously. Are you dead?