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❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐈𝐗 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪᴛ's ғɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ʏᴏᴜ &
ᴍᴇ, ᴍᴇ & ʏᴏᴜ, ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴜs &
ᴏᴜʀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ sᴛᴇᴠᴇ ꒱　


❝ MAYBE I SHOULD GET YOU
GUYS A DO NOT DISTURB SIGN
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT ❞

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The words 'loom status elevated' rang through the Temporal Room on repeat, a fitting soundtrack for the discord that was currently going on. O.B. was hunched in front of one of the monitors with Casey, freaking out over his inability to fix anything. B-15 stood on the opposite side of the room, watching things deteriorate from her end. Mobius, Jimin and Loki had been filled in on the worsening condition of the loom and things currently weren't great.

"So, how do we get in?" the god asked.

The response Ouroboros gave them was less than optimistic. "Without He Who Remains' temporal aura, I don't know."

"Well, how much time do we have?" B-15 asked.

O.B. moved around the room as he checked different machines, his speech rushed to try and convey everything he needed to in time. "It's stable right now but the branches Dox pruned are growing back. So if we can't get in there and increase the diameter of the Loom's intake ring enough to boost throughput and clear that knot of unrefined time. . ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jimin cut across him, feeling her headache starting to reform. "Slow down. Talk in English, please."

The Asian man took a deep breath before he explained, "we need to scale the Loom's capacity to manage all those new branches, otherwise it will fail. And the T.V.A. will be destroyed. And we're all gonna die."

"There has to be another way," Loki insisted.

"We can hack into the system," Mobius offered.

Ouroboros didn't appreciate this suggestion and replied sarcastically, "really? Oh, that is such a relief."

"No, no, no," the analyst corrected him. "I'm wondering."

"What?"

"I think he meant it as an idea."

The loom outside rumbled dangerously, causing them to look towards the shuttered windows. "Can we?"

"No. We're all gonna die still."

Hunter B-15 tried to calm the man's frantic behavior by stating, "no one's gonna die. There has to be a viable option."

"What about Miss Minutes? Can she open up access to the Loom?" Casey asked.

Loki nodded. "Miss Minutes. What about her?"

"Would she even want to save the T.V.A. though?" Jimin wondered.

The god frowned. "Why wouldn't she?"

She shrugged in reply. "I mean, she's an all-seeing AI clock, so she probably knows what's happening right now and could do something about it, but she isn't. Maybe she wants a fresh start. A clean slate."

The men glanced uneasily at each other before Mobius shook his head. "Doesn't really matter if she would or wouldn't help; she's AWOL right now anyway. How are we gonna find a little rogue cartoon clock that doesn't wanna be found?"

The ominous groaning noise grew louder as a sound similar to metal tearing resonated through the room. Loki glanced towards the source anxiously. "I'd say the sooner we find her, the better."

As they walked over to Casey's monitor, the analyst said, "we know Miss Minutes sent information to Renslayer and then we never saw her again."

"The two hits we had on the TemPad trace," the Hunter agreed.

"We find Renslayer, we find Miss Minutes."

"That's gonna be an awkward reunion," Mobius commented. "Face-to-face with the woman who tried to kill us."

"Well, maybe she got it out of her system. Let's focus on that cartoon clock."

✧✧✧

Jimin dressed once again in era-appropriate clothing, though this time she did so reluctantly as wearing a suit wasn't feasible. The puffed sleeves and opera gloves definitely weren't her usual style, plus the long skirt was slender around her legs and restricted her movement. She frowned grumpily as she studied her reflection in the mirror. Even on her most in-depth S.H.I.E.L.D. assignments, she'd never had to wear such a stupid-looking dress. At least the ones they'd forced her into had had some movement ability.

When she emerged from the dressing room, Loki was already waiting, though Mobius had yet to appear. She saw Loki's amused, teasing smile from a mile away and she pointed a stern finger at him. "Don't even start. I'm not in the mood."

He held his hands up appeasingly. "I wasn't going to say anything." He came closer to her and swept one of her hands up with his. "I was only going to tell you how ravishing you look."

Then, like a proper Prince of Asgard, he leaned down and placed a brief kiss on the back of her hand, his lips just brushing her knuckles. If he had done the gesture to any lady of Asgard's court, he might have been rewarded with a flirtatious giggle or a shy blush. Jimin, however, saw the mischievous twinkle in his eye as he bent over her hand. She yanked it away from him with a scowl. "If you do that again, I'll slap you. I know I look ridiculous."

He straightened, fixing his 'wrinkled' (though not an inch of fabric had been moved out of place) clothes. Loki removed his hat from his head with one hand, holding it over his middle as he gave her a slight bow. "My apologies, my lady."

Her glower only became more pronounced. "Knock it off. I changed my mind; you're the one who looks ridiculous."

The god winked at her as he placed his hat on her head. "I'll be anything you want me to be, my lady."

"Save the theatrics for someone who cares, Loki," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

He chuckled, unfazed by her lack of enthusiasm. "Ah, my lady, you wound me with your indifference. I thought you might appreciate a bit of charm."

"Charm?" Jimin raised an eyebrow. "You call that charm? It's more like someone whose obnoxious behavior is about to earn them an ass-kicking."

"You two ready to go?" Mobius called out, all but sneaking up on them. The pair jumped apart, once more having gotten closer in their argument than they'd realized. The Asian woman yanked Loki's hat off her head and thrust it back at the god. Meanwhile, the analyst was giving them an entertained look, as if he'd heard more than he was letting on.

"Men," Jimin grunted in irritation. "Honestly. I swear this is why I like women more. Can we get on with it?"

"I was waiting for you two," Mobius replied with a nonchalant shrug, not giving her a chance to respond as he opened a Time Door.

✧✧✧

After they couldn't figure out why Ravonna went to Chicago, Illinois in 1868, their next stop was the same place almost thirty years later. Carnival music reached their ears the minute they stepped through the portal. The distinct rumble of people's voices overlapped with children's shouts of excitement. Bright lights glittered from rides and amusement buildings, advertising all kinds of oddities. Loki looked around in surprise. "This can't be the same place."

"Yes. Yes. How could I have forgotten? Chicago World's Fair, 1893. The White City, Edison, H.H. Holmes. Yes! Hot air balloons." Mobius nodded happily.

"This makes more sense as a destination," Loki said in confirmation.

"Definitely," Jimin allowed, looking around. She didn't think she'd ever get used to time travelling, especially not to places she'd read about in history books.

The god glanced over at the analyst. "You're saying they went to 1868 by mistake, then went twenty-five years ahead because this is where they wanted to be?"

"No, no. I wouldn't describe Renslayer as accident-prone," the gray-haired man corrected him. "Plus if she has Miss Minutes to help her, there's a purpose to them going here earlier. We just gotta figure it out."

The Asian woman was still taking in the scene around them, her head turning this way and that to see everything, but Mobius' words made her think. "Have you guys ever seen Back to the Future or The Hot Tub Time Machine?"

"What's a hot tub?" the Asgardian asked, answering her question for her (though she could've guessed his response.) Mobius merely shook his head.

She let out an exasperated sigh that, once again, her pop-culture references went misunderstood. Jimin glanced over at Loki, wondering, "have you ever even seen a movie? Do you even know what that is?"

"Of course I know what a movie is," he replied, a little offended. "I'm well aware of your primitive storytelling devices."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you've never seen a movie. Well, if neither of us is dead before all of this is over, we'll have to fix that. Anyway, the reason why I asked is because they're both about time travelling. More specifically, they're about the grandfather paradox."

"I don't know those movies but I have heard of the hypothetical." For Loki's benefit, Mobius explained, "it's a concept where a person travels back to a time before their grandfather had children and assassinates him, making their own birth impossible. What does it have to do with Renslayer?"

"I'm just saying that maybe whatever important, historical figure that's here now was alive back in 1868. Maybe she gave them a tip that would influence the rest of their life. If she travelled back in time before they were too old, she could change the outcome of events so that something else never happens," Jimin said. "I mean, we still have to figure out what it would be, but at least that would explain why she went back to '68."

"Well, if they're here, we'll have to start by looking. A little good old-fashioned legwork. Clues, bread crumbs, that sort of thing."

The agent's eyes caught on a boy that was passing by them, shouting out newspaper headlines. If there was anything odd going on with a futuristic clock or time travel, it would surely be in there. She abandoned the men who were still talking about how to best track down their targets to approach the boy. "Hey, can I get one of those?"

He handed her a newspaper, which she exchanged for a few coins. She returned to the duo, her eyes scanning over the articles. "Guys, I think I found something." The brunette pointed to the front-page report: Ghost Clock Continues to Haunt the Midway!

The gray-haired man nodded approvingly. "What do you call that?"

"Bread crumb," Loki answered.

"Exactly. Good work, Jimin."

✧✧✧

Almost an hour later, they still had no luck. However, they were less hungry as they walked through the Chinese arch with popcorn in their hands. "We've been to Chinese Pavilions, Bulgarian Curiosities."

"A not-so-brief detour for refreshments, yes," Loki stated drily.

"Yeah. The Cracker Jack concession stand is a high-traffic area. It was necessary and logical to go there," Mobius reasoned. "Jimin agrees with me, don't you, Jimin?"

The woman's attention had been solely focused on her snack, so at the sound of her name she looked up with a confused expression on her face. Her hand was fisted in front of her lips, having just delivered them another handful of popcorn. She'd been caught mid-bite, her cheeks bulging slightly from shoveling it in her mouth. "Hm?"

The sound caused Loki to glance over at her, taking in her unusually clueless expression as she was caught off guard. His features softened at the sight of it, his lips curling into a faint smile at how natural she looked like this. Not wearing the stern expression of a soldier or the analytical look of an agent but just. . . human. Well, he thought, rather fondly, more like a rabbit with her cheeks puffed out like that.

She swallowed quickly, some of the kernels scraping against her throat harshly as she coughed out, "oh, yes. Definitely necessary. Have you tried yours?" This question was directed at the Asgardian.

The analyst sent the god a 'see, I told you so!' look, but the point no longer mattered to Loki, who thought it was now worth the detour. He carefully tried one piece of the Cracker Jacks, as Mobius called them, and grimaced. "It tastes like ash."

"No, it doesn't."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Can we get a move on? We aren't sightseeing."

"I'm not sightseeing," the gray-haired man argued. "We have different styles. You're a man of action, which is fine. I take a more slow, deliberate, cerebral approach because I see everything. I notice everything."

"You haven't seen when you got some Cracker Jack on your chin."

Mobius wiped his face to clean the remains of his snack off of it. "So damn sticky."

As he walked a little further ahead, the Asgardian grasped Jimin's arm lightly to stop her, causing her to turn and look at him. He tapped his lips. "And you've got popcorn all over yours."

Feeling a little embarrassed for the first time in a long time (she didn't know if she'd ever let her guard down this much at work), she brushed her hand around the area the god had indicated. "Did I get it?"

He shook his head (even though she had) and reached forward, his hand hesitating just inches from her face. "May I?"

When she nodded, his hand came to rest gently against her cheek, cupping her face with his whole palm. Her breath hitched in her throat at the feeling of his warm skin against hers, her eyes widening at the unfamiliar sensation. The pad of his thumb brushed against her lips in a way that made her forget how to breathe. The rest of the world fell away and for a few seconds— far too short for either of them— the universe wasn't disintegrating before them.

Jimin's mouth parted slightly at the motion, her heart skipping a beat in her chest. Loki's gaze dropped to her lips, which were surely free of popcorn by now, but he didn't let her go. She could've sworn that he was leaning in, and, for once, she knew that she would let it happen. 

"Hey, Loki, there's something—" Mobius broke off, finally taking in the sight of the pair, who startled out of their bubble. "Damn, I did it again, didn't I? Sorry, guys. Maybe I should get you a do not disturb sign or something like that."

The Asian woman jerked away from Loki, shooting him an annoyed glare for a good measure, which was met with a helpless 'what did I do?' look from him in return. "Forget it," she grumbled. "We don't need a sign, since there's nothing going on. What did you want to show us?"

What Mobius wanted them to see was only a few feet away: wooden statues of Odin, Thor and Baldur. Loki stared at them, clearly displeased. "This has to be a joke."

"Does it make you homesick?" the gray-haired man teased him.

"No," the god said quickly. "It's completely inaccurate, first of all."

"What, you don't think that looks like Odin?"

Jimin studied the carved figures in front of them. She glanced at the Asgardian next to her, the only reference she had, and decided that Loki was right. The sculptures were flat and lifeless compared to the flesh-and-blood man beside her. Although she had never seen any other gods in real life (apart from a brief glimpse of Thor at the end of the battle), she thought the rest of Loki's family would have more life to them than a simple wooden statue.

Loki obviously wasn't done expressing his distaste for them. "It's embarrassing. It's a crass generalization. I mean, you can't reduce an entire culture down to a simple diorama. Such poverty of imagination."

"Worse has been done to entire cultures," the Asian woman said, her voice too quiet to be heard above the noise of the fair. However, Loki caught her words with a god's sharp hearing and glanced over at the brunette with a frown, wondering what she meant as he was not well-versed in Midgardian history.

"Is somebody feeling a little left out that they're not up there?" the analyst asked, continuing his lighthearted tone.

"No. And why'd they include Balder? No one's even heard of him."

Mobius shrugged. "Sure they have. Balder the Brave."

"Well, I sure haven't," Jimin countered, mostly for Loki's sake. (She had heard of Odin's other son; her father had made sure to teach her as many subjects as possible and Norse mythology had been included.)

Loki looked over at her, sensing her lie, but seeming to appreciate her support. Mobius patted the god on the arm. "You know, sometimes I forget that you're one of them. You are one of them. Blows my mind."

As he walked off, Jimin cast the Asgardian a sidelong glance. There was an odd expression on his face, something torn between lingering dismay and wistfulness, despite his earlier denial. Petulantly, he mumbled, "Thor's not that tall."

The brunette laid a gentle hand on his arm, bringing his attention over to her. "For what it's worth, I prefer the real thing."

With that, she followed Mobius' footsteps away from the statues, leaving the god to stare after her. Loki remained rooted to the spot, his gaze fixed where she'd gone to join the other man. Even though she had conveyed the sentiment casually, almost as if it didn't mean anything, it still stirred something unfamiliar within him. He had always prided himself on being detached, immune to sentiment, but there was a softness in his chest that he couldn't ignore.

His mind replayed the moments they had shared, the subtle gestures of support, the unspoken understanding. Although she remained just as prickly as ever, there was a certain underlying gentleness, her sharp words almost taking on a teasing tone instead of just a plain insult. Loki shook his head, attempting to dispel the confusing emotions. Yet, as he looked back at the statues of Asgardian heroes, he couldn't escape the realization that he cared about her well-being, perhaps more than he wanted to admit.

✧✧✧

They determined that the best place to find a trace of Renslayer or Miss Minutes was in a theater where Victor Timely was giving a performance on temporal marvels. When they neared the building, Jimin slowed as she watched the crowd of white people stream inside. Out in the fair it was easier; there was space to run, people were distracted by the festivities and didn't give much thought to other fairgoers. Inside, however, was a contained room that consisted of mostly white men.

"I don't think I should go in," the brunette said, stopping before the door.

Loki turned back to her, confused. "Why in the Norns wouldn't you?"

She looked at the analyst beseechingly. "Mobius?"

The gray-haired man only looked blankly at her, either not quite as well-versed in history as he claimed to be, or maybe he just didn't see the problem. Either way, his lack of response gave the god time to come to his own conclusions, and his expression became understanding. "Is it because we have to see He Who Remains? I'm not thrilled about it either, but if you're scared—"

"There are worse things than He Who Remains in that room," Jimin interrupted him, causing Loki to look at her as if she were crazy.

"Worse—?"

"There are worse things for me in that room," she clarified. "Here's a quick history lesson: we're in 1893, not even thirty years after the civil war ended— a war that was essentially fought over the color of a person's skin, in the watered-down version. You two are white males, you'll be fine. Illinois sided with the Union which is why I haven't been accosted in the street, but in there—" She pointed to the building. "as an Asian, a woman no less, I won't be as welcome, so I'll wait outside."

To her gratification, Loki looked outraged. "I should've taken over this planet sooner— at least then the merit of your usefulness to me would have mattered above anything else. If there are narrow-minded fools in there who can't appreciate individuality, they deserve a lesson in humility."

Jimin's expression softened at the god's unexpected support. She appreciated his stance but remained practical. "Teaching them a lesson won't change anything; these problems still exist in 2012. I just don't want to cause unnecessary complications. I can handle waiting outside; it's not the first time I've faced such situations."

Her insistence only seemed to make him more displeased— though not at her, of course— and he shook his head. Taking her by surprise, he reached out to grab her hand before he tugged her determinedly towards the entrance. "No one should dictate where you can or cannot go based on outdated prejudices. If these mortals are unable to comprehend diversity, perhaps they need a god to show them the error of their ways."

Jimin sighed, realizing that convincing Loki otherwise might be a futile endeavor. She allowed him to pull her inside, relieved to see that the interior was dimly lit. Mobius followed close behind, keeping an eye out for anyone who might try to stop them. Although he hadn't been as vocally incensed as Loki had been, the agent's words had reminded him of the side of history that often went forgotten, especially for him, a white man who could navigate any era of time easily. 

They stayed out of sight as best they could, sticking to the wall as they found a spot towards the back of the room. There was a steady murmur of voices and the clink of glass as people were served drinks while they talked. On the stage, a quartet played cheerful music above the din, adding to the lively atmosphere.

"I think she's here," Mobius decided.

"You think?"

"Well, I don't know. She does like a good drink. And so do I." It only took them a couple minutes of searching before the gray-haired man stated, "there she is."

Loki immediately drew back to get out of her line of vision. "Don't let her see you."

The music ended shortly after that and the audience clapped politely. The theater lights dimmed even lower as everyone's focus turned towards the stage. Curtains drew back to reveal the lit platform with a futuristic-looking device on it.

"Is that the Loom?"

"I think so," the god whispered back.

A man appeared then, silhouetted against the backdrop. He began to speak in a slow voice, carefully measured to grasp the audiences' entire attention. "Time is everything. It moves. . . through each and every one of us. It shapes our. . . lives. Our. . . futures. But perhaps we can shape. . . it."

The main spotlight turned on, illuminating the man's face in clear view. It was, of course, He Who Remains, although a variant of the one they'd met. Loki let out a tense breath as he recognized the presenter. "It's him."

Jimin glanced up at him, hearing the faintest of tremors in his voice. There was a flicker of unease in his eyes as they stayed trained on the stage. She was standing close enough to the god that she felt him tense next to her as he remembered the events that had happened at the End of Time. She squeezed his hand, which she realized just then that she was still holding— but even once she was aware of this fact, she didn't make any move to pull away.

"Who?" Mobius asked.

"He Who Remains."

The man on stage continued to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen. Don't be shocked. . ."

"What? You made him sound like this terrifying figure. He. . ."

"He is," the Asgardian murmured.

". . .when I tell you that time is the future of. . . energy."

A loud voice sounded from the crowd, scathing and doubtful: "and just what would you know about the future, boy?"

Unlike Loki's fear at the revelation of the presenter before them, Jimin had only felt certainty as their hunch had been confirmed. Now, though, as the heckler sneered out the word boy like it was an insult— which, in this time period, it was— she stiffened. Her hand tightened around the god's and, perhaps uncharacteristically, she shifted closer to him. But then again, she was just a mortal. If things took a turn for the worse, he, a magic user, was the best option for a protector, so really it was just a logical move— or so she told herself.

He Who Remains— or Victor Timely, in this case— only paused for a moment before he answered, "great question. Great question. And the answer is. . . more than you. . ." He stopped again and the crowd began to mutter at his boasting. The Asian woman eyed the nearest exit, which was much too far away for her liking. Then, he finished his sentence with: "might think."

The audience laughed at this tactic, but she didn't relax. Loki was agitated as well, but for a different reason. "We can't just stand here. It's one of the Variants that He Who Remains warned me about. It's coming. It's beginning."

"Look where we are. Does he look like he's about to conquer all of time?" Mobius reasoned.

"I agree with Loki, we should get moving," Jimin whispered uneasily.

"Why should we toil in the dirt for coal and petroleum. . . when the energy of the past, present, and future flows. . . all around us?" Timely wondered. "My Temporal Loom. . . inverts the Temporal Decay of the electricity flowing through it, lowering its entropy, and gathering it into fine threads of. . . power! Which it then weaves into elegant ropes of... voltage. A chaos. A chaos of particles is transformed into. . ." He snapped his fingers. "order. With my device, the wattage Edison uses to light. . . a single bulb. . . can light. . . the whole of. . . Chicago."

The same man from earlier challenged him again: "so you can light a few bulbs. Big deal. You'll need a lot more than that to light a whole city."

The spectators seemed amused by this and chuckled at the comment. Victor only became more passionate about his performance. "Don't misunderstand me, sir. I do not want to light a. . . city." He pulled a lever that made the display behind him change. "I aim. . . to light, to power. . . the entire planet. So, call it a dream." He adjusted another switch on his machine, causing blue electricity to appear. "Fine. Sneer. Laugh it off as pure science fiction. But if it can be dreamed, it can be achieved. Because all science is fiction until it's fact!"

The blue volts magnified in power, crackling across the stage in hissing particles of energy. The crowd cheered as the machine spritzed with electricity. Lights flickered above them, unable to cooperate with so much power. The end of his presentation was met with resounding applause— something that Jimin definitely hadn't expected. He raised his hands in the air in triumph. "Welcome! Welcome to the future, my friends."

A/n: I know that Loki isn't meant  to truly be a historically-accurate show (like a documentary would be), but as a history buff myself, I always get annoyed when important issues are glossed over. Their only reference to racial differences during this time period was the 'boy' insult. I mean, I know why they didn't use racial slurs or anything (I would never while writing, either), but nobody even gave Renslayer a hard time for being a black woman in a room full of whites. 

There's also the point of asking someone 'where would you go in history if you could' and basically all of history is bad for POC, which is what I wanted to portray with Jimin. Since both Loki and Mobius are white men (or gods), they obviously wouldn't be bothered by this, but because Jimin is of Asian descent (specifically Korean), I didn't want to pretend like everything was great like the show did. A quick Google search will tell you that in 1893, Asian people in Chicago didn't have it easy as they were considered  an "inferior and undesirable population, but also as an actual threat to American culture, American government, and even the Caucasian race." (Source: http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinese_exp/introduction)

(This is the history nerd in me— even though it's terrible that these events/beliefs existed, they're still  interesting to learn and important to include/bring awareness to in media.) 

As for Loki, he would 100% be against racism, no questions asked (and not just because he's one of my favorite MCU characters.) Due to his Jötunn heritage, he's also been on the receiving end of negative racial views (hence the whole plot of Thor 1 and Avengers 2012), so he definitely wouldn't stand for it on Earth/Midgard, especially not for someone he cares about.

All that being said, my favorite part of the episode was the Odin and Thor statue scene since I actually lol'ed at it. And yes, I did reference PJO again, though this time it was the scene from the TV show. Basically how it went down:

*the universe falling apart*

Jimin: *casually asks Loki out to a movie*