*Hey, you guys, wanted to tell you a little random something… Last chapter everyone was kind of giggling about Emmie making wedding plans for herself and Loki. Thought I'd tell you a quick little anecdote… my aunt (the woman who married my uncle) had a file on her iPad of wedding plans even before my uncle proposed to her. We found out about this and thought it was hilarious… so that was kind of the inspiration for the whole "I haven't even proposed yet, and you have plans for our wedding?!" thing. My aunt is awesome lol

Ask Emoki 8

I traipse through the empty halls of the Helicarrier, singing the lyrics of Revenge and Its Thrills under my breath as I look at the papers on my clipboard. Today's going to be very interesting.

I reach a door on my left and stop, pulling out a card and sliding it through the slot. A small beep signals the room unlocking, and I pull the door open.

I find myself in a small room, furnished only with a bed and a dresser. Emmie and Loki sit next to each other on the bed, arms crossed and resolutely not looking at each other.

"Hello, you two," I greet with a grin as I let the door swing closed and I lean against the wall.

"Hi," Emmie says drily. "Normally, I think we'd ask why we're back in the room I was contained in on the Helicarrier for most of Twisted Minds Think Alike, but I think it's getting redundant to ask."

I nod in agreement. "Yup. But actually we're here today for one of the fan questions, too. Like the last Ask Emoki…." I trail off to see if they have any reaction to the mention of last Ask Emoki. They don't even twitch. "…the setting has something to do with one of the questions we're answering," I finish. "So anyways. We've got a lot to get through. Ready to begin?"

They nod silently.

"Great," I consult my clipboard. "So… we've got several questions from M0rbidF0x. But before we get to the actual questions, she wanted me to say… 'Okay, first of all, I want to give everyone a virtual slice of chocolate chip cheesecake that I made last night as an offering of forgiveness in advance in case I anger either of you (which will probably be the case).'" I look up to see that Emmie and Loki now each hold a small paper plate of chocolate chip cheesecake and a plastic spoon. Spoons because it'll be just a tad harder to hurt someone with than a fork, though I'm sure that in a pinch, they could make do with even a plastic spoon.

Loki takes a bite of the chocolate chip cheesecake. He chews slowly, as if taking in the taste and considering it. "…Not bad. But virtual food is never as good as real food."

I roll my eyes. "She couldn't send real chocolate chip cheesecake to you, Loki. At least she sent some virtual chocolate chip cheesecake. Be grateful."

Emmie snickers. "Pfft. Us. Grateful. That's a good one." She takes a bite of the cheesecake and then looks at me innocently as I glare. "…So what were her questions?"

I sigh and read out from the paper again. "She says… 'I have quite a few questions here that I thought of, and I think that I'll start with the easier ones and work my way to the serious ones that might make you want to murder me.'"

"…That doesn't sound too promising," Loki deadpans. Emmie shakes her head in agreement.

"Actually I like her questions," I say fairly. "So… ready for the first? She said she's doing easier ones before the harder ones."

"Yes, read the first question," Loki sighs as he takes another bite of cheesecake.

"Right," I sigh. "Here we go. 'Alright, here's my first question to Cold-blooded Murder: When you two are being forced to do oneshots or when you guys were still doing TMTA, did Loqi have a script for you guys to go by or did you just do whatever the heck you wanted with the scenario she gave you? Or did she give you a script and you completely ignored it? That seems like something you guys would do…"

"Actually, it's kind of interesting how we write the stories," Emmie chirps brightly.

Loki nods. "It is, actually. See, Loqi with a Q usually has a general idea for what she wants to happen in a oneshot or a chapter… sometimes she'll have a few key lines she wants us to fit in, or a direction she wants us to take a conversation in."

"And usually we'll just fill in the blanks of conversation and thoughts," Emmie finishes. She grins. "But sometimes we don't like to cooperate."

Loki smirks. "Yes… Sometimes Loqi with a Q will have a certain line she wants to fit in or a certain direction she wants a conversation or scene to go, but we refuse to cooperate."

"They make it very difficult to write a scene sometimes," I agree.

"Just because we start saying something awesome that leads into a whole different direction than she wants to go…" Emmie nods.

"Or because we don't like a line, or we don't think it's 'us.' We get stubborn and then… kind of go on strike," Loki chuckles. "So then we'll just not do anything, refusing to actually make some of the scenes in her head happen, for whatever reason we come up with."

"Yeah," Emmie laughs a little. "It's fun when we go on strike. Loqi with a Q gets so mad at us for not cooperating…"

"It's not funny when you do that," I snap irritably. "And yes, it is totally and entirely their fault when I get writer's block. They call it going on strike. I call it writer's block."

"I call it getting the day off, actually," Emmie smiles in a feigned friendly manner. "Honestly, we don't even get sick days… I think we deserve a day off every once in a while."

"Or a month," Loki mutters under his breath.

I glare. "Yeah. The day off. Right. You two spent many a day just sitting here in this room, staring at each other and refusing to do anything."

"Yeah," Loki grins. He pauses. "Wait, is that why we're in here? Because so much of the story's action takes place in this room? Where we did a lot of the story's writing?"

I nod.

"Oh," Emmie says thoughtfully. She looks around the room fondly. "Yeah… we had a lot of good times in this room. Good times." She thinks for a moment and frowns. "…Also, some not-so-good times." She looks down at her plastic spoon thoughtfully, then looks critically at Loki.

"Ahem," I cut in before Emmie can devise a way to turn that plastic spoon into a weapon.

"Yes. Anyways," Loki says quickly, catching the wheels-turning-in-her-head look Emmie has. "To sum up the answer to that question… we're given a general idea, direction, and perhaps a little structure, and we fill in the blanks of the scene."

"Good," I look back down at my clipboard. "Ready for the next question?"

"As we'll ever be," Emmie shrugs, licking a bite of cheesecake off her spoon like it's an ice cream cone.

I clear my throat. "' 2nd question, for Cold-blooded Murder: What do you think the plot is for the sequel to Twisted Minds? Any ideas? Or are you two just trying to delude yourselves for as long as possible into thinking that Loqi isn't making one? OR has she already talked to you guys about what the sequel is about already?'" I look at them and give them a stern look. "And I'm not allowing for any spoilers to be published, so watch it."

"Oh, of course, almighty author," Emmie says with feigned reverence.

Loki scoffs. "Well, the sequel. We don't… really know what's going to happen. I know that it's going to have to do with that very last scene in the epilogue with what The Other said to Thanos. And, ah… Loqi with a Q has been writing—"

"Drafting, really," I correct him.

"Right. She's been drafting a few scenes," Loki nods. "So we've been running around and doing a few random scenes that remain unfinished…" he sighs. "So no. I'm not sure how it all is going to go."

"Me, neither," Emmie admits. "Like he said… we know what's going to be happening in a few disconnected scenes… but we haven't been allowed to see her notes or plot outline in the Sequel Stuff folder on her laptop."

"Tony's seen it," Loki says thoughtfully.

Emmie nods thoughtfully. "…So he has… any idea where Tony is? Can we go jump him and beat him into submission, forcing him to tell-?"

"No," I say flatly, not even letting her finish the sentence.

They glare mutinously at me.

I just smile. "Yeah, anyways," I say briskly. "So you don't really know what's happening in the sequel. Vague ideas."

"Yeah," Emmie sighs. "Vague disconnected scenes…"

"Though it shall officially be called Absence Makes the Heart Grow Twisted," I add. "That's all the spoilers I'll give. Plot is still under a little development, and I'm drafting some scenes. I'm kind of hoping to finish writing my fic Banditry before I start posting the sequel here, though…" I scratch the back of my neck and look down critically at the clipboard. "Okay. Next question?"

"Go ahead," Loki nods.

"' 3rd question, for Cold-blooded Murder: In this scenario, both of you guys are tied to chairs (which are melded to the floor) for 3 hours in separate rooms. During those three hours, Loqi and the Avengers can come in and say/do whatever they'd like to you guys and you can't do anything about it. How would you cope throughout the three hours?'" I read out.

"Three hours? That's nothing," Loki sneers.

"And the Avengers and I can come in and do whatever we want to you," I add significantly, quirking my eyebrows at them. "I dunno, sounds kind of inviting…"

"Um, you do whatever you want to us anyway," Emmie points out. "Honestly. I had absolutely no say in getting put into a cupcake costume. Really. Kept in a chair to the floor doesn't sound too bad…" She tilts her head. "Hmm… how would I cope…"

"Sing a loud and obnoxious song as loud as you can to stave off whatever they're doing?" Loki suggests. "Since insults probably will be ineffective…"

Emmie grins. "Sing a loud and obnoxious song? What, you mean like…" She takes in a deep breath and shout-sings at the top of her lungs. "I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES, EVERYBODY'S NERVES, EVERYBODY'S NERVES! I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES, AND THIS IS HOW IT GOES: I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODDY'S NERVES, EVERYBODY'S NERVES, EVERYBODY'S NERVES! I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES, AND THIS IS HOW-!"

She is promptly tackled to the ground by both me and Loki, who desperately clamp our hands over her mouth.

"No more!" Loki begs.

Emmie flails her arms and legs to get out from under the two people on top of her, shouting something in protest. "Loki! Loqi! Get the hell off!" she cries. "I'm done singing!"

We climb to our feet, and Loki starts to hold out a hand to help her off the floor. Then he catches the little smile from me, and he hastily stuffs his hands into his pockets, leaving Emmie to clamber to her feet on her own, shooting the two of us a glare.

"Well, screw you, too," she says bitingly.

"…Save it for when we're tied to immovable chairs for three hours," Loki advises. "Yes. Sing just like that… only… make sure I'm nowhere near to hear it."

"Another strategy might be to just stare at whoever's tormenting you," Emmie says thoughtfully. "…And just mentally imagine them with their guts spilling out over the floor. Or their eyes bleeding. Or their heads being severed. Or—"

I clear my throat. "…Let's move on."

"Fine," Emmie sighs, seating herself on the mattress again. "What's next?"

"Here starts the serious questions," I warn, consulting my papers.

Loki and Emmie exchange a very adorable sympathetic grimace to each other, but I hold back my comments.

"' 4th question, for Emmie (However, Loki, you have an optional question after Emmie's): As you most likely know, Loki lost his moth- *coughs suddenly* Ahem, I mean FRIGGA, already in the TDW movie and will most probably be losing her again in the sequel to Twisted Minds. Do you feel bad for him or feel sorry for him at all because of this, seeing as she's pretty much the only person that cares for Loki and gave him the time of day? And Loki, since you've kinda lost her before in the movies, does the knowledge that you will probably lose her again bother you a lot? Again, this is an optional question for you as I mainly wanted to hear Emmie's answer, so you're welcome to skip this,'" I dictate.

Emmie stares at me, slack-jawed. "W—wait! You're kidding me!" she looks to Loki disbelievingly. "You lost your mom?! And you didn't tell me?!"

Loki sighs and crosses his arms. "…Technically, I haven't lost her yet in this universe… but since I'm evidently omniscient of all the other alternate universes, yes, I have lost my mother. Or I will lose Her sometime in the future, and I am aware of it. So just go ahead and scoff or whatever it is that you're going to do. Just get it over with."

Emmie blinks, her mouth still hanging slightly open. "…Uh…"

"Eloquent," I comment.

Emmie quickly snaps her mouth shut, and her green eyes flash when she looks at me. "Shut up—I'm just—just trying to—" She breaks off and shakes her head. "…That's just…"

Loki frowns slightly at her speechlessness, giving her a queer look. "…Just… what?"

"Got a little sympathy caught in your throat there, Emmie?" I inquire sweetly.

"No, stupid! I'm just-Next time give me a spoiler alert before you spring something like that on me!" She crosses her arms over her torso almost-protectively, and she glowers around at us. "I haven't been to future alternate universes where shit's happened that I don't know about! Next thing I know, you're going to be telling me that Tony Stark gets rid of his arc reactor or blows up all his suits or something."

Loki opens his mouth to say something, but I shoot him a sharp look and shake my head meaningfully. He clamps his mouth shut again obediently with a sigh of disappointment.

"But, um, Emmie…" I say soothingly.

She lifts her head slightly and purses her lips.

"Would you mind answering M0rbidF0x's question?" I coax.

She frowns. "…What was it again?"

I smile wryly. Evidently the news of Loki losing his mother has really thrown her for a loop. "Do you feel sorry for him at all, seeing as how she's the only person who ever gave him the time of day and cared for him?"

Emmie shifts uncomfortably and glances at Loki. He raises his eyebrows at her questioningly. She sighs and pointedly looks away. "…No. I don't feel sorry for him," she says flatly. But something in her demeanor and manner says something else.

"…Emmie?" Loki murmurs quietly.

"Shut up," she mutters. "It just… totally threw me off. I didn't know you… damn," she bites her lip and still doesn't look at him. "Loki, I…" she seems flustered beyond belief. "I'm s—" She cuts herself off and closes her mouth, shaking her head again and falling silent. She opens her mouth to say something one more time, but it's quickly closed, and she says nothing else.

I smile faintly. I know what's happening. Emmie's just not able to properly express her sympathy for the situation. Maybe if she were just a bit better at actually expressing her emotions, she could actually tell Loki she was sorry for him. As it is, though, she just sighs and brings her knees up to her chest, affected far deeper than she wants to let on. And Loki just smiles bitterly and shakes his head as he looks at her. He probably wanted to hear her say it. Too bad it's not going to happen, because they're both too guarded.

I clear my throat a little bit. "So… Loki? Your part of the question? She said you're welcome to skip it, but does the knowledge that you're going to be losing your mother again bother you?"

Loki scoffs disdainfully. "As opposed to what? Being nonchalant and not caring that I know my mother will be dying in a fiction that I'll have to participate in? Oh, no," he says sardonically. "Doesn't bother me in the least. I'm just fine with it. Grand idea, if you ask me."

I sigh at the dry and caustic humor, but know there's nothing more to expect from him. "We have just one more from M0rbidF0x, but it's a very long one. Just for Loki. Ready?"

Loki shrugs.

I pretend to not notice that Emmie and Loki have scooted just a few inches closer to each other after the last question as I glance down at my paper. "Okay… long question. Here we go. '5th question, for Loki (and no, you may not skip this one): This is another scenario like the 3rd question, but more serious. Before I give you the scenario though, I'd like to say now that you can only choose one of the two options I'm going to give you and you may not change their outcomes or any of the variables that lead up to that outcome. That being said, here is the scenario and your choices…"

"This does not bode well," Loki observes resignedly. "Very well. Go ahead. But let it be noted that whatever the scenarios are, I would always be able to find a way out of it. Just to humor M0rbidF0x, I shall pretend that I'm capable of sticking only to given options. Proceed, Loqi with a Q."

"Alright," I nod. "And here's the scenario… 'As a result to being subjected to the Tesseracts energy once again, Emmie's mind has been messed up even more than what it was. She is now even colder and more psychotic than before. She has lost any humanity she might have retained and all of the control she might have had over her murderous urges. On top of that, along with her human side went any affection she might have had for her mother (if there was any) and any love she had for you is long gone.

"You know, however, that S.H.I.E L.D has developed a serum that will reverse the Tesseract's effects. But they cannot get close enough to her to administer it and S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't want to take the chance that it might not work. Here are your choices of action:

"Choice #1: You go along with her and follow her where ever she goes, but you basically do nothing to stop her or help her get back to her semi-sane self except for a few failed attempts of talking her into seeing reason while she continues on with her killing spree. After a month of this, she will be hunted down and killed by a S.H.I.E.L.D agent for her careless behavior, but you will be able to escape capture.

"Choice #2: You manage to steal the cure and administer it to Emmie and it reverses ALL side effects of the Tesseract's energy and wipes all of her memories of the time she spent as the Mastermind Murderess, allowing her to return to a mostly normal life as the goody-goody Emmie she once was without any personality disorders or conflicting personalities. With her return to her normal self, she also develops a deep-seated and unbending hatred for you despite your hand in returning her to her original self. This option also involves you escaping S.H.I.E.L.D's clutches.

"So those are your options. It's kind of a lose-lose situation either way you go. I'd like to reiterate before you make your choice that you can NOT change any outcomes or variables. This means that if you pick option one, you can't force her to love you again, make her go back to being your Mastermind Murderess, save her from death, etc. And if you pick option 2, you can't make her be evil and murderous again, make her love you, make her LIKE or TOLERATE you, etc. You also can't create any of your own options, even if you wouldn't do any of the things my options listed if the situation were a real one. It's one or the other; no changing, adding, or creating anything,'" I finally finish and look up at the two of them.

They stare at me, looking stricken.

Loki's face hardens, and he's the first to speak. "I wouldn't ever—"

"Nope," I interrupt. "Wrong answer. One choice or the other."

"But—"

"Nope. Talk it out and figure out what choice you'd make," I cut him off again. "Choice one, she turns eviler and hates you and dies. Choice two, she turns good and hates you, but lives."

"She hates me in either scenario!" Loki objects.

"…I hate you now," Emmie points out with a wry smile.

Loki throws her a dirty look, and her smirk fades. "…Not in the same way," he rolls his eyes. "When you come down to it, this question is really just what I would do if Emmie hated me. Would I want Emmie to live or die if I knew there was no way for any semblance of our relationship now to exist?" He frowns and sinks into thought. "It's really a question of selfishness, really, if you think about it."

Emmie simply sits silently and waits, looking at him patiently.

"So… the first option," he says slowly, "Is the self-serving and selfish approach. It's the 'if I can't have her, then no one can' attitude. Which, under a lot of circumstances, I might choose… Emmie, though, is the person who I couldn't stand actually knowing what happened to her. In this first choice, I would have a very clear knowledge of what happens to her: she dies. I'm not very fond of the certainty of that." He pauses. "The second choice is really more of a 'I'm happy as long as she's happy' approach. And knowing that she could be happy with hating me isn't very inviting. Because it's not even a hate I can actually properly share in. Then again, though, she has a hate I can't share in in both scenarios. Now, the issue being that if she hates me either way, what do I care if , if she's not my Emmie?"

Emmie lifts a single eyebrow. "Since when am I ever 'your' Emmie?" she asks delicately.

He throws her an unimpressed glare. "…Face it, Emmie. You are my Emmie. You certainly aren't your mother's Emmie, and I doubt Fury would take ownership of you. And you're too dependent on other's to be your own. Therefore, I claim you as mine."

Emmie looks vaguely offended and baffled by this line of thinking. I just hide a smile.

Loki's already returned to his ruminations, talking to himself more than us and asking himself what he would do, as if he's forgotten we're even there. "But if you weren't mine, would I let someone else take you?" He looks at his hands as he laces them together, as if searching for the answer in the creases of his palms. "…I'm not sure. Your mother loves you, Emmie. She'd be overjoyed if you were to revert back to how you used to be. And you'd be happy, But I just might be spiteful enough to choose choice one just out of selfishness." He steeples his fingers. "Maybe. But I don't think so." He takes a deep breath and bows his head. "…I think I'd administer the cure and allow SHIELD to take her for their own little perfect angel again. She could live with her hatred of me. And I could live with it."

Emmie narrows her eyes slightly and gives him a careful look. He's still looking at his hands, as if they had really told him his answer.

"At least then," he says quietly. "After I escaped SHIELD, I could imagine what she might have done with her life." He shakes his head. "…Actually, no. I'd administer the cure and then after I escaped SHIELD, I think I'd just try to forget."

It looks like Emmie's measuring his words and his countenance, taking in his demeanor and attempting to calculate it. She can't quite seem to figure it out, so she shakes her head and sighs.

Loki seems to be broken out of his reverie by her sigh, and he looks up at her. Then he quickly looks away again, focusing instead on a blank spot of wall.

"…So you wouldn't at least let me die doing what I loved…?" Emmie asks half-teasingly.

He reaches out and shoves her shoulder half-playfully with a smirk. "If you're going to die doing what you love, you're at least going to get killed by me instead of some half-witted unworthy SHIELD agent. They wouldn't be able to provide you with a worthy death."

I facepalm. "Oh, god. Really? Are we going all Spartan and discussing what makes a beautiful death?"

"Hey, I love the movie 300!" Emmie protests. "So much… violence…"

Loki snickers

I just shake my head. "Well, that's all of those questions. You guys ready to go?" I'm half-hoping that they'll want to stay behind for a couple of minutes to talk or whatever it was they did after I left last time, but no such luck.

"Yup; let's go," Emmie jumps up.

"We've spent plenty of time in this room again," Loki agrees, standing up and stretching

I shrug and open the door again, ushering them out and into the hall of the Helicarrier.

Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: This was a bit of an odd one, to me… I couldn't quite figure out exactly what kind of mood I was going for here, but some of those questions were extremely complex. I think I can honestly say I am accomplishing more of the ways Emmie and my Loki's minds work in these Ask Emoki's than I did in the actual TMTA. Anywho, I've still got some more questions to answer…. So I'll be answering those. And I'm working on some more actual oneshots… you know how long it's been since we had a chapter that wasn't Ask Emoki? It's been a while. Not that I mind ;)

God , it's going to be weird to go back to writing the actual 'fics' after this XD

Still accepting questions if you want to ask them. Please favorite, follow, and review.