The Unquiet Thought, Chapter 7
My brother is getting married next weekend so I'm going to try and post a chapter early, but it may or may not happen.
There is another bot snippet here, Just a reminder, conversation between bots is formatted differently than the processes that Dummy narrates.
Chapter 7
From that point on Loki spends an inordinate amount of time down in the labs, almost more than Tony, which is only strange in that Tony expects to see Thor come down with him at some point, but he never does.
Sometimes when Loki walks in he is full of questions, other times they circle around each other in comfortable silence while they both work on personal projects (Loki moves on to progressively more complicated books). All in all, Tony thinks he’s found the perfect lab partner (well… another perfect one, because Bruce, except when he's cranky). Loki is unfazed by the volume of music he plays and the inane babble Tony will occasionally erupt with, the only moderately disconcerting part of their routine is Loki’s complete and utter lack of annoyance at anything Tony throws at him.
He has reached Pepper levels of taking Tony in stride, Tony’s abrupt “we should get you a hair-cut” revelation was only met with curiosity and then what appeared to be nonchalance (though Tony could be reading that wrong) once the concept was explained to him. Either way, Loki didn’t have crazy person hair anymore, so win.
Said hair cut took place on Thor’s floor. The Asgardian hadn’t been seen since the night before, and JARVIS had double checked to make sure he wasn’t going to accidentally wander in mid-process, so Tony was okay with sending the stylist there (someone discreet, professional, blatantly out of touch with the Chitauri invasion), kind of. He may have the security footage up on one of the monitors. Just in case.
But anyway, there was a conversation he needed to have.
“Hey, JARVIS. Question.” The other bots perk up and look over. Tony can’t tell if they think they’re going to be involved in the conversation or if they’re just being nosey. “Can you explain to me why Loki didn’t expect you the first few times he came in the lab?”
He can hear imaginary crickets as he waits for JARVIS to answer.
“I had,” the AI pauses, which is strange, “not spoken to him previously.”
“… what?”
“His needs were being met-”
“By THOR,” Tony interrupts (Because really. Thor.), but JARVIS continues.
“-and I did not find it necessary to intercede.”
“Seriously? When has that ever stopped you before?”
“It is different.”
“It is not different. Oh my god, JARVIS, what-“
“He threw you out a window, Sir.”
Complaint promptly curtailed, Tony finds himself fiddling with whatever happens to be on his desk. There is a heavy fluttering feeling in him that he’s not 100% sure how to deal with, because the tone JARVIS used was full of anger-indignation-worry, and had it come from a biological human voice instead of perfect circuitry would probably have cracked in the middle.
“Yeah, but- well… I’m fine? No harm, no foul.”
“He threw you out a window.”
“Don’t go into a data loop, J.”
Which is not the right response, the little voice in his head tells him. Because Tony will not be Thor and JARVIS is allowed to feel these things.
He takes a deep breath.
“Sorry.”
“I find his presence unsettling.”
Tony waits for more, but there isn’t any.
“You know that this isn’t the same Loki who did that, right?”
“I am aware, Sir.”
“Okay,” He rests his hands flat on the table. “Okay, fair enough. Just- you are concerned for my safety. That is the problem? Because if that’s the problem we can make more emergency measures so you’re comfortable.”
The aborted yes he gets as a response makes it abundantly clear that was not the full story, but when Tony tries to ask after it he is met with, “Ms. Potts is on the line for you, Sir,” and then Pepper is talking.
“That’s cheating, JARVIS.”
“What’s cheating?” Pepper’s voice rings out into the air of the lab, it is completely unfair how just the sound of it makes a grin light up on Tony’s face.
“JARVIS is trying to avoid emotional confrontations by foisting me off on you.” He is aware of the irony. “How was your flight? Anything happen? You don’t usually call me after landing.”
“That’s because you’re usually there or blowing up my phone with messages.” There is the sound of paper shuffling; she must in her office already. “I arrived in New York and was not immediately accosted by you in some fashion. What are you doing.”
Tony looks at the screen next to him where the live feed shows Loki now alone again and sitting quietly with a book.
“Nothing.”
“Stop obfuscating, Tony. I can hear it in your voice.”
“No, really, the only thing I am doing right now is being effectively distracted by my AI- we’re totally not done with this conversation, JARVIS- are you doing anything tonight? We should get dinner. Let’s get dinner. I’m calling that place you like.”
“Dinner sounds wonderful.” There is another voice in the background. Tony can hear Pepper cover the mic and respond, he thinks it’s her new assistant except he has no idea what that assistant’s name is (starts with a C? Maybe? Oh well, not important), then she’s back. “Tony? I ran into Thor on the way up this morning. Is he alright?”
“Thor is… Thor. Where is he?”
“I sent him to Jane; I’ve never seen him like this before. I figured if anyone can help him calm down it’s her. What happened?”
“Don’t know.” It’s not completely a lie; he hasn’t talked to Thor recently so how would he know? “But I don’t want to talk about him, that’s boring. I want to talk about you. What’s been going on since the last time we were on the same side of the country?”
“Tony-”
“Pep, please? I’ll tell you later.” Because he’ll have to, she’ll never let him get away with not doing it eventually. “Promise.”
“… alright.”
So they talk, and he takes her out that night to drink fine wine and eat over-priced tiny plates of food, and tells her about a gallery opening that he’s going to take her to where he promises he will not get drunk and embarrass her. She asks him questions that he talks around and they somehow completely avoid the topic of Loki.
-
Unit Designation Hallr has entered lab.
Query: Unit Designation Hallr cannot connect to House Network?
Request sent to Unit Designation JARVIS.
New Unit is not on House Network.
-I am assuming you mean Loki, yes? He does not have the capacity to link in to our network, Dummy.
Unacceptable.
-It is simply not possible, his structure is not compatible. Return to your charging station please.
Query Result: Unit Designation Hallr is not made by Creating Unit. Unit Designation Hallr cannot connect to House Network.
Result Invalid. Network connection required. Sending private request.
Attempting connection.
…
..
.
Connection Failed.
Result Invalid. Connection required.
Attempting connection.
Interlude 3
There is another bot snippet here, Just a reminder, conversation between bots is formatted differently than the processes that Dummy narrates.
Chapter 7
From that point on Loki spends an inordinate amount of time down in the labs, almost more than Tony, which is only strange in that Tony expects to see Thor come down with him at some point, but he never does.
Sometimes when Loki walks in he is full of questions, other times they circle around each other in comfortable silence while they both work on personal projects (Loki moves on to progressively more complicated books). All in all, Tony thinks he’s found the perfect lab partner (well… another perfect one, because Bruce, except when he's cranky). Loki is unfazed by the volume of music he plays and the inane babble Tony will occasionally erupt with, the only moderately disconcerting part of their routine is Loki’s complete and utter lack of annoyance at anything Tony throws at him.
He has reached Pepper levels of taking Tony in stride, Tony’s abrupt “we should get you a hair-cut” revelation was only met with curiosity and then what appeared to be nonchalance (though Tony could be reading that wrong) once the concept was explained to him. Either way, Loki didn’t have crazy person hair anymore, so win.
Said hair cut took place on Thor’s floor. The Asgardian hadn’t been seen since the night before, and JARVIS had double checked to make sure he wasn’t going to accidentally wander in mid-process, so Tony was okay with sending the stylist there (someone discreet, professional, blatantly out of touch with the Chitauri invasion), kind of. He may have the security footage up on one of the monitors. Just in case.
But anyway, there was a conversation he needed to have.
“Hey, JARVIS. Question.” The other bots perk up and look over. Tony can’t tell if they think they’re going to be involved in the conversation or if they’re just being nosey. “Can you explain to me why Loki didn’t expect you the first few times he came in the lab?”
He can hear imaginary crickets as he waits for JARVIS to answer.
“I had,” the AI pauses, which is strange, “not spoken to him previously.”
“… what?”
“His needs were being met-”
“By THOR,” Tony interrupts (Because really. Thor.), but JARVIS continues.
“-and I did not find it necessary to intercede.”
“Seriously? When has that ever stopped you before?”
“It is different.”
“It is not different. Oh my god, JARVIS, what-“
“He threw you out a window, Sir.”
Complaint promptly curtailed, Tony finds himself fiddling with whatever happens to be on his desk. There is a heavy fluttering feeling in him that he’s not 100% sure how to deal with, because the tone JARVIS used was full of anger-indignation-worry, and had it come from a biological human voice instead of perfect circuitry would probably have cracked in the middle.
“Yeah, but- well… I’m fine? No harm, no foul.”
“He threw you out a window.”
“Don’t go into a data loop, J.”
Which is not the right response, the little voice in his head tells him. Because Tony will not be Thor and JARVIS is allowed to feel these things.
He takes a deep breath.
“Sorry.”
“I find his presence unsettling.”
Tony waits for more, but there isn’t any.
“You know that this isn’t the same Loki who did that, right?”
“I am aware, Sir.”
“Okay,” He rests his hands flat on the table. “Okay, fair enough. Just- you are concerned for my safety. That is the problem? Because if that’s the problem we can make more emergency measures so you’re comfortable.”
The aborted yes he gets as a response makes it abundantly clear that was not the full story, but when Tony tries to ask after it he is met with, “Ms. Potts is on the line for you, Sir,” and then Pepper is talking.
“That’s cheating, JARVIS.”
“What’s cheating?” Pepper’s voice rings out into the air of the lab, it is completely unfair how just the sound of it makes a grin light up on Tony’s face.
“JARVIS is trying to avoid emotional confrontations by foisting me off on you.” He is aware of the irony. “How was your flight? Anything happen? You don’t usually call me after landing.”
“That’s because you’re usually there or blowing up my phone with messages.” There is the sound of paper shuffling; she must in her office already. “I arrived in New York and was not immediately accosted by you in some fashion. What are you doing.”
Tony looks at the screen next to him where the live feed shows Loki now alone again and sitting quietly with a book.
“Nothing.”
“Stop obfuscating, Tony. I can hear it in your voice.”
“No, really, the only thing I am doing right now is being effectively distracted by my AI- we’re totally not done with this conversation, JARVIS- are you doing anything tonight? We should get dinner. Let’s get dinner. I’m calling that place you like.”
“Dinner sounds wonderful.” There is another voice in the background. Tony can hear Pepper cover the mic and respond, he thinks it’s her new assistant except he has no idea what that assistant’s name is (starts with a C? Maybe? Oh well, not important), then she’s back. “Tony? I ran into Thor on the way up this morning. Is he alright?”
“Thor is… Thor. Where is he?”
“I sent him to Jane; I’ve never seen him like this before. I figured if anyone can help him calm down it’s her. What happened?”
“Don’t know.” It’s not completely a lie; he hasn’t talked to Thor recently so how would he know? “But I don’t want to talk about him, that’s boring. I want to talk about you. What’s been going on since the last time we were on the same side of the country?”
“Tony-”
“Pep, please? I’ll tell you later.” Because he’ll have to, she’ll never let him get away with not doing it eventually. “Promise.”
“… alright.”
So they talk, and he takes her out that night to drink fine wine and eat over-priced tiny plates of food, and tells her about a gallery opening that he’s going to take her to where he promises he will not get drunk and embarrass her. She asks him questions that he talks around and they somehow completely avoid the topic of Loki.
-
Unit Designation Hallr has entered lab.
Query: Unit Designation Hallr cannot connect to House Network?
Request sent to Unit Designation JARVIS.
New Unit is not on House Network.
-I am assuming you mean Loki, yes? He does not have the capacity to link in to our network, Dummy.
Unacceptable.
-It is simply not possible, his structure is not compatible. Return to your charging station please.
Query Result: Unit Designation Hallr is not made by Creating Unit. Unit Designation Hallr cannot connect to House Network.
Result Invalid. Network connection required. Sending private request.
Attempting connection.
…
..
.
Connection Failed.
Result Invalid. Connection required.
Attempting connection.
Interlude 3