metalogs | i lie awake and watch it all

Entry tags:

i lie awake and watch it all | open

Who: Jane Foster (

accretions)
What: Settling in, getting a job.
When: late October - early November?
Where: Sunset Falls, Excelsior
Content Warnings: will update as needed!

1. i'll be the calm, i will be quiet [sunset falls | closed to thor]

[Honestly, even though she asked about Thor pretty much as soon as she figured out how to, Jane puts off seeing him for a few days. It feels weird to be alive again and now that she's stopped to think about it, she's not sure if it won't just be awful for him. He did watch her die, after all. That much she remembers, even if everything else is a little unclear.

Heimdall greeted her in Valhalla, but then she was falling out of the sky. She doesn't have an explanation for how it happened, which is more than a little frustrating, but it doesn't feel like the sort of thing that she can ask about in public. Saying "hey, so what are the mechanics of coming back to life" is just going to make people think she's crazy. It feels crazy, if Jane's being honest with herself, so it took her a few days to mentally sort herself out. Plus there was the off chance that Thor had moved on—it's only been a few minutes for her, but coming back the first time felt like that too. Five years went by between the Snap and her coming back, but it was like no time passed at all and it could be the same here. At least that time she understood why and how she'd come back. This time... well. She feels a lot more unmoored than she really wants to let on.

In the end, though, she makes her way to the house where someone said he lived. He hasn't come to find her either, so Jane assumes that nobody told him. Which is good, she thinks, because this is one of those things she'd like to do on her own terms. Taking a deep breath, Jane presses the doorbell and waits.]

2. it feels like thousand eyes [sunset falls | open]

[Once that's done and over with, Jane turns her attention toward the second most important matter: money. The obvious tack to take is, of course, science-related things but honestly? It's been a while since she actually did anything but science. Being Mighty Thor was kind of appealing for that reason alone. She loves being Doctor Jane Foster, but it feels like this is a chance to get out of her comfort zone a little bit. Whether or not that's where she ends up is another matter, but still.

That's how she ends up in the Sunset Falls Public Library. Libraries are good hubs of a community, in Jane's experience, and it's sort of right there. Fortunately or unfortunately for her, depending on the point of view, she ends up in the library on a Thursday and the locals assume she's there for the occult group's meeting. Which means she is currently being stared at blankly by the group's leader as she tries to explain herself.]

Oh, no. I just wanted to see the library. I don't really, uh. That is to say I'm not a practitioner? Of the arts?

[Help. If she keeps talking she is absolutely going to offend one of these people.]

3. i am the storm so wait [excelsior | open]

[Yeah, okay. She should probably stick to science. Fortunately for her, everyone is quite upfront about the fact that if she wants to do science? She should be in Excelsior. Even after being cautioned about the fact that they aren't exactly friendly or welcoming to metahumans, Jane figures that it's not unlike being a woman in STEM in the first place: people don't want you there and you just have to stare them down until they accept you aren't going anywhere.

Besides, apparently they're working on space travel and if there's anything Jane feels extremely confident about it's her knowledge of the movement of objects through space. Wormholes are her personal area of expertise, but she's dabbled in other forms space travel. NASA tried to recruit her constantly.

The trick is just... learning how to navigate the city itself.]

Sorry to bother you, but I was directed here because I'm an astrophysicist back home. I'm looking for... Ursula Baz?

[She has no idea if this is a well-known name or not, but Atomight gave it to her as someone who might have use of her skills.]

4. i can't control withering wonders [wildcard]

[if these don't work for you, feel free to get in touch so we can work something else out! i'll also match format, so reply however you want and feel free to hit me with whatever if you have an idea. jane's technically still living at the diadem and using her powers to get around, so location doesn't matter much. otherwise hit me up on plurk (flyingthesky) or discord (flyingthesky#0332) to hash something out!]

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[Mayuko was in the library stacks when Jane arrived (because if that occult group is hyped every normal meeting, imagine what the post-October 31st vibe is like). So she catches Jane's protest as she heads to a staff station with books to mend in her arms.

She sets her stack on the nearest table and approaches the leader, library ID badge displayed.]

Mr. Antares, really! All of the members who registered for today's session are here, she's... she's likely visiting town, you know.

[The leader nods slowly. New metahumans often come through, getting a feel for the eastern hub city. There has even been an influx of people moving in, recently! He checks the time; the group had better set up the meeting room in order to time their ritual to the conjunction, but if the two ladies would like to observe--

Mayuko defers (since she's still on the clock), then glances at Jane.]

Maybe some other time? I came to research something, actually.

[This is probably not the place for her, given that it definitely has a very "Loki" vibe, but well. Thor is here and that's worth something, isn't it? Even if every seems to be some kind of magic-type. So she shouldn't piss these people off too badly.

Also she really does need to research something. Which is why she then turns to Mayuko and sighs.]

Sorry, um. Do you... know where I could find a tome on resurrections?

[Does Jane want to be reading about that? No. But it keeps happening to her and if she researches it, then she might be able to understand why. To figure out the mechanics of it.]

Resurrections... It wouldn't surprise me if we had a how-to manual squirreled away in the stacks. Sunset Falls being attached to the Underworld, evidently....

[At least Mayuko is human again to be able to sigh in mild frustration. She is still shooing non-resident ghosts out of her house. She waves Jane after her to the reference desk.]

Or do you need materials ABOUT resurrection?

[The Underworld? Like Hell? Hell is real? Jane blinks uselessly for a few seconds before answering. This place is... so weird. She understands why Loki seems to have settled down here.]

About, please. I just came back and was hoping to learn about the process.

[Mayuko gets Jane's confusion. Five years ago, she would have boggled at the idea of someone being revived. Reincarnation, sure, maybe. But not coming back as the same person.]

Hmm... well, it's not common. I'm not sure whether there are unaligned individuals with that power, and if the guilds keep that level of healer on staff, I haven't heard about it yet. As for the Confluences, they vary from month to month; I don't know if there's been any studies organized yet. But we can always check!

[Mayuko directs Jane to the reference desk, as she wakes the catalog computer up.]

[Presumably Jane didn't just, you know, approach the guy with the big robot tentacles right away with no reaction to that! Nonetheless, Otto happens to overhear from nearby. Not being in astrophysics himself, he doesn't recognize the name, but he's lived here long enough to know a lot of the local companies. He's also not terribly inclined to let a newcomer wander the city alone - not in this climate.]

Excuse me - I couldn't help but overhear. Do you know where she works?

[You know, Jane's had a weird couple of years. Between nearly marrying a demigod and meeting aliens, she sort of just. Looks at this man's big robot tentacles when he approaches, blinks twice, mouths "what the fuck" to herself, and then figures what the hell. If Tony Stark can have a super suit, what's a set of giant tentacle arms? Not her first choice, but maybe people in this city are just like that.]

Um, let me just— [She pulls up the information she was sent and squints at it.] NewSpace. They're working on private space travel, it sounds like?

Ah, them.

[Otto's no fan of the kinds of people who finance such work, but as far as the employees go - you gotta do what you gotta do.]

They're a couple more blocks this way. [He nods ahead.] I'm going in the same direction, I can walk with you part of the way.

That would be great, thank you so much.

[She's not thrilled about the idea of working for worse Tony Stark, but well. Needs must. It's not like she's going to try and get a job... what? Being the god of thunder? She can even hold the form for more than an hour.]

So, um. Are you a robotics specialist? Your. [She gestures at all of him.] Prosthetics? Are very advanced for human interfacing.

[It's not her area of expertise, but she tries to keep up with the latest scientific advances and she's never seen biomechanical enhancements that are quite as intense as his.]

Oh - yes. I work at Adaptech, in neuroprosthetics. Not quite like these, this was a...personal project.

[Otto eyes one of the actuators, somewhat ruefully.]

I was actually a nuclear physicist, back home, but I thought this was a good time for a change. New world, new life! [He waits a beat before adding:] That, and they don't like to let unknown people from other dimensions into their nuclear facilities.

[He's joking! He didn't even try lol]

[Fortunately for Otto, Jane is extremely a scientist and cannot distinguish between a mad scientist and a regular one on account of those are the same thing, actually. She nods along to his explanation and then snorts a little inelegantly.]

Sounds like when I asked about wormhole tech. I thought I could try to get us home and was politely redirected to people with a lot of money and zero sense.

[She's hoping if she makes a spaceship for them then they'll let her touch the wormhole generators.]

Yes, they'll do that. Especially here in Excelsior - for all their worrying about dangerous metas, they're certainly not enforcing many lab safety standards.

[Which is a particular irritant to him, of late! His own workplace is better, though of course, if it hadn't been he'd have just dragged them into it.]

You've got experience in that field?

[Between his all black attire and rather dramatic appearance, Sephiroth may look like he belongs in an occult group, but he is in fact wearing a library employee badge.]

Are you really going to invite a layperson to your first meeting since Halloween? I hope you brought the tarp this time. Dolores will fine you for the stains.

[That seems to be enough to distract the leader into flagging down one of his members to go get said tarp. Sephiroth looks to Jane.]

It's best to be firm with them.

[Phew. She's going to have to get better at dealing with these types of people if she's gonna frequent here. Normally, she'd avoid the place on account of Loki is here and in general Jane just finds life to be better when she avoids him. Thor is here too, though, which complicates things.]

Thank you. Actually, could you point me toward your books on bringing people back from the dead?

[Wait. Wait, no. That's not how she should word that.]

Not like that! I'm not trying to bring anyone back. I came back.

[The initial phrasing of the question does have him raising his eyebrows. Raising the dead, and she doesn't want to join the occult group?

But at her clarification, he starts to lead her away from where the occult group is setting up.]

I don't know how... informative you'll find them. Was it the Confluence which brought you back from death?

[It takes her a moment to place the term. It sounds like something from back home, some alien invasion or something. In a way, though, she guesses that's kind of true.]

This time, yes. Does that happen often?

[Maybe she's going about this the wrong way. Maybe she should be talking to primary sources.]

[Often? He doesn't think so. He ran into more people in his previous world convinced that it was the afterlife.]

I may have heard of it once before, in this world. But it hardly seems impossible, given their interdimensional nature, and the existence of afterlife realms.

[ too bad, because the library is the haunt of his not!boyfriend and thus, a place loki visits from time to time. ]

Yes, Dr. Foster. I doubt anyone will mistake you for that.

I don't know. I've come back to life twice in two years and I've got a sick magic hammer so.

[ you know how you do, like, a pencil flip? jane absolutely tries to do something similar with mjølnir and just barely manages to not straight up drop it on the floor. ]

You are... never gonna let me live that down, are you?

[ there's a shadow of real amusement there, deepened along the lines of his face. ]

Well. I've seen worse.

What do you mean, you've come back to life twice?

Well, when half of the universe got wiped out by Thanos I was in that half so then I came back when they... unsnapped us, or whatever we're calling it. And then I died again of natural causes, went to Valhalla, and now I'm here.

[ she shrugs. it be like that when you're a superhero. ]

[ something cold trickles down his spine. loki dismisses it. ]

You have to die in battle to reach Valhalla.

[ jane looks down at the weapon in her hands, running her fingers over it and not saying anything for an almost uncomfortably long moment. ]

You asked why I have Mjølnir. I thought... I thought it could cure my cancer. It didn't and I lost the battle against it.

[ which counts, apparently. she's as surprised as anyone about that. ]

[ and it was a battle worthy of valhalla. yes, loki could see why the doors opened for her . . . and not for him. not that he ever expected them to, but he had hoped, maybe —

but what was he hoping for? they don't let frost giants into asgardian heaven. he knew that. he knew. he was just . . . being childish. sentiment. loki clears his throat. ]

Mjolnir never had that kind of power. Thor should have told you.

[ in fact, it's baffling that he didn't. ]

He did, after he found out. It's not like I could be like "wow, Thor, haven't seen you since I broke up with you because we were both too busy saving the world to talk to each other and by the way I have cancer."

[ she didn't really want to tell anyone in the first place, least of all someone jane thought she'd left in her past. thor wasn't on earth when she picked up the hammer and by the time he was, the fact that it wasn't helping was already apparent so she didn't ask. she knew what he'd say, because he said it when he asked her to put the hammer down. to give them a chance.

on some level, jane can admit that she wanted to be selfish but the cost benefit analysis just didn't make sense for that. she was already dying. nothing was going to save her, and at least when she was being mighty thor it felt like something was in her control. ]

[ quietly. ]

You could have. He would have done something.

[ or at least tried to. thor would have done anything. after all, and his stomach curdles sourly, he helped the avengers bring her back. ]

... It was already too late by then.

[ she has a theory about the aether and what it might have done to her, what it might have meant to hold something she wasn't meant to twice, but that's too much to dump on anyone. ]

Your turn. I said something emotionally vulnerable, now you tell me about how you tricked death into skipping you again, because last I heard you died for real.

[ partly she's asking because she's miffed about his death being fake the first time, but mostly she's asking because... well. that's a friendly thing to do, right? and she should probably try to make friends with him, if she's going to be hanging around thor. ]

[ his expression is tight. ]

I did not trick death. I came back through the power of another. If I had, I would be on Earth, not existing here.

[There's a teen boy off in the corner who's not necessarily a part of this group, but certainly looks like he could fit in. Same as he doesn't necessarily know this woman, but he could probably guess who she is.

Not looking up from his book, he chimes in,]

She's lying. She's a certified expert on these sorts of things. Apparently she taught that wizard man everything he knows.

[As the little club continues to circle her, Loki finally glances up and gives Jane a mischievous grin.]

Perhaps... she thinks herself above you all. She only wanted to see the library, hm? She might even consider this conversation a waste of her time!

Wha—I will throw this hammer at you, Loki!

[She wouldn't. She would not, because it might hurt the books, but it's the thought that counts. Mentally, she's throwing Mjølnir at him. Turning back to the club members she says:]

Actually, he's the one you want. I hear he knows how to cheat death.

[She has no idea if that's true of this Loki too, but it's true of the one she knows so chances are good. It gets most of the club to at least turn their attention away from her, at least. Necromancy is apparently more attractive than just "good at magic."]

[She wouldn't. Or at least he hopes she wouldn't. All the same, his eyes go wide at the threat, and he holds the book he was reading close to his chest.]

Loki...? [He shakes his head, looking to the members for some sort of back-up, though they're not sure who to believe now.]

I know nothing of the sort. Nor am I some god, he... has a theater in town, I think, if he's a friend of yours. Oh! Are you meant to be Thor? Is that- um... mewl... mo... you know!

[The club is starting to think woman with magic hammer is more interesting than seemingly ordinary teenager reading manga.]

[Beck may look like he's going to the occult group with his green and purple costume (without helmet) on and those all-seeing eye designs on the clasps of his cape but he's merely going to check on some books and has some bad timing about the meeting. So it is that he may be about to enter as Jane is leaving - or possibly arriving - and he runs smack into her. Staggering back a step, he looks up apologetically.]

Sorry, I... Sorry about that.

[See, it's not every day that a meta just walks up to you on the street, claims to be a Meta, and asks for directions. David would know, he's lived here for a good long while. But when he pauses because he's being addressed by someone, he wasn't expecting that someone to be someone familiar.

A part of him just wants to reach out to embrace her, but he's had enough disappointments to know he can't just assume that she's, well, the her he knew. Probably not with his luck here actually. So he just smiles at her. He, at least, can be friendly.]

I don't know her personally, but I expect I can help you find her. Guessing you're really new. I'll warn you ahead of time, it tends to be better not to openly admit to Meta-dom unless you need to. People here aren't always so welcoming.

[Jane is right, nobody has told Thor. It's not really anyone's fault though, because as Jane rightly knows when Thor is bored he will immerse himself in any old thing and it makes it difficult to reach him.

And he's bored a lot of the time.

At least now, he's not up to anything grand. He's just watching television in his pajama's, on Loki's couch, in Loki's apartment, when he hears Loki's doorbell ring and he calls out for him.]

Loki? [A pause, no answer.] LOKI? [In his booming, outdoor voice that he has explicitly been asked not to use in the apartment.

No answer. If he was here, he'd definitely be nagging by now. So, Thor drags himself up off the couch and to the door. He's not sure who he might expect to be visiting, but it's definitely... not.. Jane. He opens his mouth to say something, but it feels like all his breath leaves him and so he just lets out an unattractive, hoarse choking noise.]

Jane?

[When he regains his voice, it's terribly high pitched.]

How long have you been here?

[For a moment, all Jane can do is stare at him. It feels different this time and she thought that because she was expecting it, it wouldn't throw her off as much. Her heart still lurches though, because she half thought they might be lying to her when they said he was here.]

A few days ago. It took a while to get here from Michigan.

[Could she have just, like, flown? Yeah, but honestly she was slightly afraid to use Mjølnir for just that. She needs to test her limits first and figure out how much she can physically use it. Luckily there's not really anything Jane likes more than research, so she's already got a pin in that for later.

For the moment, she just anxiously rocks back onto her heels and folds her hands behind her to keep from immediately reaching out for him.]

Surprise?

Michigan?

[Thor asks, but sort of realises he doesn't so much care about the answer part way through asking. Maybe she mentioned it before they broke up, in which case he definitely doesn't want to think about.

His hands fidget awkwardly too, gesturing at her like he's surprised to see her and like he wants to pull her in and hug her or just make sure she's real. Unfortunately, he is also limited by this awkward, self-imposed barrier between them and so he doesn't complete the action.]

Very. Surprising, I mean. I've been here a while now-- and even before that, I hadn't seen you since... [There's just a long pause as he turns to the side.]

Do you want to come in?

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i lie awake and watch it all | open

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cw: cancer

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another 2 sorry

jane's no good very bad day at the library

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2 - with a twist? Let me know if this isn't OK

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