File #006 voice;

[unfringed]

Loki! Loki! We did it! HaHA! I knew we could do it. I only electrocuted myself once. Where are you? Come find me immediately!

Also whoever told me Loki wasn't real, you're a liar and liars never prosper. [Hrmph, so rude. It's almost enough to dampen his excitement at finishing one of his projects - almost. He's been working as apothecary, but it isn't the same as making something so new as an energy shield.]

...

There have been a lot of birthdays lately. I suppose it makes sense. Summer does tend to make people horny.

Happy birthday to all the May babies!

Comments

[unfringed]

[He jumps.] What? No, nothing. Nothing at all.

...and perhaps I should correct myself. There is only one feasible path.

[complicatedliar]

Ah, that is a much more accurate statement.

[He files the other thing away for later poking. No need to rush right now. He'll have all the secrets in the end.]

And this is a feeling I share. Some paths must be traversed completely if one wishes to survive.

[unfringed]

...If we wish to survive.

The entire world. Not just our world. All worlds. We have to survive.

[complicatedliar]

Ah. That sounds like a tricky situation.

[unfringed]

[It is. He's tried everything he can think of to stop the worlds from falling apart. He's almost killed himself trying to make himself smarter, nearly killed Peter doing it, and now the only hope they may have is for Walter to let Peter go, let him die to save the worlds.

How could anyone ask a father to do that?

Watler shook his head violently, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples. He couldn't think of this, not now. The worlds were still pulling each other apart and here he was gallivanting around with a Norse god? What was he doing? What was he thinking? He had to get back to the problem. He had to find a way to solve it. It was what he did - he solved problems. Even if he hadn't been able to solve Bell's problem, he could at least try to save the world. He had to get back. He had to--]

I have to go home!

[complicatedliar]

We all do, Walter.

Be calm. Be calm.

[unfringed]

No, you don't understand!

[He turned and tried to grab Loki by the collar, desperate.]

He'll die! I have to save him. I have to do something to save him and I'm here instead!

[complicatedliar]

[Loki might like Walter, but he's not about to take that sort of nonsense from any human. He catches hold of Walter's wrists in a deceptively laconic motion. He is very, very strong.]

Time does not pass in a linear fashion in our home universes, Walter. Calm yourself.

[unfringed]

[He would normally pull away, but he's too panicked to think straight and almost folds under the pressure.]

But it will come to pass, whether it's now or later. Please... [He can't let Peter get into that machine. The very thought of it robs him of everything he has.] He's my son.

[complicatedliar]

There is no such thing as fate.

If it has not happened yet, your universe may well branch off from the timeline you know of. Something may still be done.

[unfringed]

But there are such things as consequences. This is my punishment...

I tried to think of everything, but I couldn't-- I failed. [He looks up at Loki.] Have you seen worlds fall? Is it possible?

[complicatedliar]

The universe does not punish, Walter. The universe does not care.

Yes. [A slight shrug.] All things are possible.