Loki was clutching a blanket in his hand, hesitating a bit. The best way to cause a commotion was to set a fire. Not that the Fairy Palace had smoke alarms, but from the window, one could see it, and someone would timely come to stop it. However, he wasn't too fond of using flame magic, plus if Thor came late, being in the fire was quite bothersome.
Suddenly, Loki sensed something, and with a wave of his hand, a teleportation portal appeared, and the other Loki ran in, the Evil Loki from this universe.
Evil Loki waved at him, "I'm back to grab something."
Loki watched him rummage through boxes and asked, "What are you looking for?"
"The crown, have you seen my crown?" Evil Loki asked, "The one made for my 400th birthday, with the radiant gemstone embedded in it."
"Didn't you dislike that crown?" Loki frowned, as he certainly knew himself best, "You thought the gemstone was clunky and crude, not at all delicate, felt the craftsmen were fooling you, and complained to Thor for a long time because of it."
Evil Loki said while rummaging, "Was it just complaints on your part? I directly burned down the Dwarf Royal Court, which made Thor have to run to another dwarf civilization in the cosmos to craft me a crown..."
"You burned down the Dwarf Royal Court???" Loki said in shock, "Didn't Odin care???"
"Odin wanted me to apologize, but Thor wouldn't let him. Besides, it was the dwarves' fault to begin with. If they hadn't made the crown so ugly, why would I... Oh, found it."
Evil Loki pulled out a crown, a very heavy, silver one, with a radiant gemstone as large as a palm in the center, dazzling under the sunlight, surrounded by many small, colorful gemstones, all sparkling.
"What are you going to do with this?" Loki asked.
"That's none of your business." Evil Loki replied, "My brother hasn't found out you're a fake, has he?"
"Uh, I don't think so." Loki wasn't too sure, as he had already realized that he seemed a bit too well-behaved, not at all portraying the arrogant demeanor of the Evil Loki.
"That's fine then." Evil Loki waved his hand, "I'm off."
With that, he walked through the teleportation portal and left. Loki wanted to ask him something, but he left the next second. Loki was about to chase and ask, but then the door was knocked.
"What the hell? Why are you knocking?" Sif asked incredulously, standing behind Thor.
"He insisted I knock." Thor said, "I told you he's gone mad."
"Come in." Loki said.
"'Please'?!" Fandral also widened his eyes, "Did I hear wrong, he just asked you in with 'please'???"
The group pushed their way in, and Loki was also a bit surprised. He saw Sif and instinctively wanted to call her "Your Highness", but managed to hold it back.
"What's wrong?" Sif instead looked creepy, then turned to Thor and said, "Why isn't he looking at me? Shouldn't he look at my face first, then at my hair, and then smirk sarcastically?"
Thor glanced back at Sif, couldn't see what was wrong with her, and just as he was about to say something, Loki said, "Do you have any business?"
"Hiss..." Fandral took a sharp intake of breath, "Aren't you supposed to tell us we dirtied your chamber and demand us to get out?"
"Then why would I let you in here?"
"To scold us, of course."
Loki was at a loss for words. He felt that to avoid being discovered, he should act a bit fiercer, so he said, "Then it's not too late for you to leave now."
"Everyone out!" Thor waved his hand, and the four of them went out.
Loki couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly: Seriously? You're leaving for real? So you came in just to hear Evil Loki scold you? Are you sick?
Then he heard the four of them whispering outside: "He's definitely gone mad, not acting."
"I think so too, it's probably because he's been locked up for too long."
"He's never been treated so unjustly since he was a child."
"Thor too, if Loki had really been driven insane by confinement, he'd just be upset on his own afterwards."
Loki was speechless with emotion. This universe's Thor and Loki, both mad, he didn't even know whom to scold at this moment.
"Uh, well..." Thor stammered, "I really didn't mean to lock you up for too long, the confinement is lifted, you're free to leave."
"What?" Loki was a bit incredulous.
"I know you've always been upset," Thor said, "that's why you've been keeping me at a distance. If there's anything left to explain, I really am just worried about you."
"I think you should worry about your brain instead." Loki said the most aggressive words he had since he got here, "Is your mind sound, Thor?"
"You see, whenever you're happy, you stop calling me 'Your Majesty'." Thor shrugged, "Alright, you win again. But I have to remind you, no matter what you're planning next, I won't let you succeed. I'm not the same as before."
Loki had no energy to deal with him anymore. He planned to check on the World Tree situation; if he could let his universe's Thor gain some of the World Tree's power, that'd be perfect.
"What are you doing?" Thor asked, looking at Loki holding a tray of sauce, "Isn't that your crown? Why are you prying off the gemstone?"
"Mind your own business, come help me." Loki said while prying the radiant gemstone off the crown, "How on earth is this thing embedded? Why can't I get it out?"
"Dwarven craftsmanship, trustworthy." Thor just said this, but had no intention of helping; he went to deliver sauce to others. Loki couldn't help but look back at him frequently.
"Why... can't you just come over and help me?"
"So many people are waiting," Thor said, "Besides, I can't see the important role of you prying off this gemstone."
"I just want to pry it off, won't you help?"
"Then take your time prying." Thor went to get another tray, "Cold turkey doesn't taste good."
Loki stared at him wide-eyed, as if he did something very unreasonable. At this time, Sif seemed to notice his predicament and walked over, saying, "Isn't this the crown you dislike the most? Last time you wanted to toss it out of the window into a black hole..."
"None of your business! Get lost!" Loki turned around and went back.
Sif was a bit surprised, but still smiled and said, "Who piqued your temper this time?"
"You damn ugly black-haired witch..."
Before he could finish, a "crack" was followed by a Thunder Strike, accurately striking Loki while not affecting anything around him.
And this lightning was the opposite of "all bark and no bite," not very bright nor loud, but it knocked Loki to the ground, taking him a long time to get up.
Thor walked over, squatted beside him, said, "I take you as my brother and didn't expose you, so you'd better regard me as your brother and show some respect to my wife."
"You... cough, cough, cough..." Loki wasn't visibly injured, but it hit him hard, leaving his entire body paralyzed. He couldn't stand at all and coughed on the ground for quite a while, not sure if it was from anger or pain, his eyes reddened.
"I no longer think there's anything wrong with black hair," Sif looked down at him and said, "I even prefer to believe you don't think there's anything wrong with black hair either, because you yourself have black hair, Loki, with what mindset are you mocking black hair?"
Loki glared at Sif's back, struggled to stand up, wiped the sand off his face, but found Thor already among the crowd, chatting and laughing with others.
He looked at the crown in his hand, the gemstone was a little loose, but he lost his patience, so he directly went to Selina at the bar, shoving the crown into her hand.
Selina's eyes brightened seeing the huge gemstone: "Wow, this is so shiny!"
"Ignorant human," Loki couldn't help but mock, "Give me your advice quickly."
Selina put the crown away, leaned on the bar, and said, "Go find Jane Foster."
Loki's eyes widened, but before he could angrily speak, Selina said, "Your current goal is not to challenge Thor's bottom line, because you can't bet on whether he'll settle scores with you, you can't afford the consequences."
"Your goal is to make slight amends, even just for the arrogance of sneaking out, so at least Thor won't be so mad." Selina continued, "Actions speak louder than words, given your relationship, helping him once would reduce the possibility of him settling scores with you by at least half."
Loki gradually calmed down and said, "You want me to help him deal with the possible threat from Foster?"
"I'm not asking you to kill her," Selina emphasized, "That would only treat the symptoms, not the cause. You need to find a way, before someone with malicious intent approaches Foster and gets her to speak ill of Thor, to get Ms. Foster to say good things about Thor."
"Are you saying I can use hypnosis...?"
"Can't you use some legal means?" Selina was somewhat exasperated, "Try not to act so much like an Evil God, alright?"
"But exactly what legal means could make Jane Foster speak well of us?" Loki spread his hands, "Haven't I already told you what she's been through?"
"Then let me ask, if she wasn't a hopeless romantic, why didn't she bring up breaking up during Odin's first 'test'?"
Loki was a bit dazed, Selina sighed, "Things reached that point, both were responsible. If it were me, before 'test' hit the ground, my slap on Thor's face would mean I was unskilled; God does not deserve to test me, no one does."
"You have a point," Loki's eyes twinkled, "If I remind Foster of past events, would she help us?"
"At least she wouldn't likely harm Thor, which is already enough," Selina said, "And you resolved his public opinion crisis, he'd owe you a favor, wouldn't he?"
Loki nodded and then said, "Alright, I'll give it a try."
After speaking, his figure disappeared.
At this time, Shiller had already arrived beside Sif, and said, "Do me a favor, madam."
"What's up?" Sif was seasoning a roasted beef leg.
"Go find Ms. Foster as Sif of this cosmos, help her recover her memory, remind her you saved her life, and then ask her not to speak ill of Thor."
Sif paused her hand: "Will that work?"
"It should," Shiller nodded, "Ms. Foster already has a new family and children, she may not necessarily speak for Thor due to past feelings, but you're different, you saved her life sacrificing yourself, she'll want to repay that."
"Why would you help this cosmos's Thor, Professor?"
"If I'm not mistaken, those looking to guide Foster's opinion, and who made the seafood overly active nearly slapping me, should be the same group of people."
Sif laughed: "The fish almost slapped me too, I will not disgrace the mission, sir."