This will be a slice-of-life type of series comprised of some scenes I cut from previous fics, fleshed out to be somewhat cohesive as I continue to expand the universe.

Will be slow to update, particularly for the next couple of months, as I'll be participating in some fic exchanges in another fandom and finishing some still-in-progress WIPs/requests.

Meanwhile, thank you for reading!

Twenty minutes later than expected, Mobius finally manages to extricate himself from the absolute mess which is the weapons testing wing construction, and makes it to a very belated lunch break in the new cafeteria. New, meaning shiny streamlined tables and remarkably comfortable chairs, but empty vending machines and nowhere near enough fresh food selection to make a lunch break anything but a necessity.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," he mutters, as he drops a puny little salad and can of lukewarm soda on the table and slides into the seat across from Loki. "Casey's basically climbing the walls about the weapons testing safety protocols."

Loki flicks a hand, and condensation forms suddenly on the soda can. "With good reason, I presume."

Mobius pops the soda tab and toasts him in gratitude. "Oh yeah. But it's always something, and anyway he should be asking you about magical warding, not me."

"Would you like me to stop by and evaluate the situation?"

"Could you? I dunno anything about this sigil business and I really don't have time to learn. I'm just as likely to have them accidentally broadcast our location across the Void, as I am to approve a basic sound dampener."

"Of course."

"The only thing I really care about is making sure nobody loses a limb, particularly if we're experimenting with technology derived from an infinity stone. Anyhow, I should've told him I had lunch plans instead of just letting him vent about the engineers. Hope you weren't waiting long."

"Not at all," Loki replies readily enough, though his sandwich sits more than half-finished. "I too was waylaid by someone climbing the walls. But in my case, literally. The external south-facing wall, to be exact."

Mobius stops in the act of mixing the salad, and looks at him with well-founded wariness. "Should I be concerned?"

A brief laugh. "No, I don't think so. Though I believe I have now acquired a paradoxical dual title as the god of mischief and ruiner of fun, for your young guest. It should not happen again, and I believe he just wanted to star-gaze in relative peace and quiet." Loki nudges a small sealed pouch across the table. "By the way, why does this new cafeteria offer the choice of only two sandwiches and one subpar salad for midday break?"

Mobius fairly pounces on the small packet with a look of mild worship. "Because it's not been a priority until now. Most of the task force still heads back to Central for midday break, I just don't usually have the time. Or I've hit the limit for trips between. I think Octavia decided to have someone make a supply run every couple of days to have something on-site? I dunno, I never really gave it much thought. Guess maybe I'm the problem there."

"It would at least explain why I was handed a solitary packet of salad dressing as I left the Central hub and told to deliver it post-haste," Loki says, much amused. "You need a project manager, Mobius, if you can't break away for a half-hour once a daily cycle."

"Oh, don't you start." Mobius stabs a forkful of lettuce and one solitary cherry tomato with a little too much enthusiasm. "I know I need one. I'm working on it."

"Are you?"

"Slowly working on it," is the muttered addendum. "I've been a little busy with a certain little side project, you know."

"Fair point." Loki pokes a little unenthusiastically at his own unfinished lunch. "Can I be of any assistance?"

"Not with that. You've already taken a big thing off my plate with the council meetings, I just need to figure out what I can delegate in Phase Two without burning O.B. out." Mobius glances up, and cocks his head slightly in question. "No one's giving you trouble about that, are they?"

"My council presence? No, not at all."

"Uh huh."

Loki shrugs, with a look of mild mischief. "Perhaps because I am on time as a rule, and I'm given to understand you were not. Ever."

Mobius kicks him good-naturedly under the table, but doesn't bother denying it out loud. For a few moments, there is only the distant muffled clamor of construction and the electrical grumbling of a nearby empty vending machine to keep them company.

Finally, Mobius sits back, setting his fork in the bowl, and gestures across the table, where Loki is currently staring at nothing in the middle distance. "Okay, you've been all broody about something for almost two days, now, I can't take it anymore. What's wrong?"

Loki absently toys with his water glass, rotating it slowly. "I have done something. Something which I thought was the right thing at the time. But I have realized after a brief conversation with Judge Willis an hour ago, that my thought process could be wildly mistaken."

"Something, meaning…?"

"Something you might be unhappy about, and in which I might have overstepped."

Mobius hums, non-committal, but isn't particularly concerned. Boundaries are not a Loki's strong suit at the best of times. "Well, why don't you tell me. I'm sure it's fine."

Loki sets the glass back down and returns to fidgeting empty-handed, elbows on the table and eyes downcast.

"Loki?"

"I've been in contact for some time with the former Judge Renslayer," Loki blurts out, and finally glances up at him with obvious apprehension.

"…What?"

"I have absolutely no intention of betraying you, you must believe that."

"It honestly didn't cross my mind," Mobius reassures him, but his brows are knitted. "But can I ask why you decided to deal with her now?"

Loki sighs, and absently picks up the glass again, gesturing frustratedly with it before draining it completely. "Because you have not, Mobius. And by all accounts, you've known her whereabouts for more than twelve months."

"She hasn't made a move against the TVA in five years."

"And yet, she is the most dangerous loose end for said TVA, right now. More so than any variant of He Who Remains. Because she is on your very doorstep here in the Void, and, well…because I believe you may have a blind spot where she's concerned."

Mobius drags a weary hand over his face. "It's been a matter of putting out the biggest fires first the last few years, but I take your point. I just…haven't really had the time to deal with it."

"The time, or the heart?"

"Both, I guess."

"She is your friend."

"Was my friend. I think." Mobius shakes his head, hands rising and falling briefly in a helpless shrug. "I dunno if that was ever even real, to be honest. There was a time I thought so, but it's not like I have a whole lot of experience in personal relationships. She certainly chose a side, in the end, so maybe that's just wishful thinking."

"Not necessarily," Loki replies quietly. "I have been in contact with her eight times over an approximate period of three weeks."

"Why?"

"Because the child you've brokered a tentative truce with has confirmed she knows the precise location of the satellite hub," Loki says soberly. "And she well knows how to play the long game, Mobius. You've all been in danger for far too long, permitting her relative freedom of movement in such a place."

"Shit." The rare expletive is proof enough that Mobius both knows this is true, and hadn't really had exact knowledge of how bad the situation was. "So you, what, reached out to her to try to mediate somehow?"

"Not at all," Loki replies, deadly serious. "I initially reached out to inform her that the Void Hub is protected, by me personally. And if she so much as stepped foot on either TVA premises, I would know, and I would ensure it to be the last action she took against the organization."

"Loki…"

"I stood by and watched her command your death without flinching, Mobius!"

"She was doing her job."

"I do not care." The empty glass hits the table again with a loud thud. "Among all the many things I have forgotten over the centuries," Loki adds, with more control, "I will never be able to forget that moment. I will not allow it, not again."

"You can't just go around eliminating people without due process," Mobius says, more gently. "You're not any better than she was, if you do that. I know we've made some huge mistakes, but the TVA has always at least tried to have some kind of judiciary oversight. Otherwise, having judges would be pointless."

"I'm aware of that. I had no intention of actually moving to the extreme unless she forced my hand; and even then, actual elimination would be a last resort."

"Well, good."

"But I do not require the technology of a Tempad to create a Time Cell. And I have zero qualms about permanently incarcerating her in a frozen horror loop of her own design."

"That's dark, Loki."

"It's a fate far kinder than she was willing to deal to you, or any of the misguided agents she killed in the TVA itself, while in pursuit of Victor Timely," is the swift retort. "But for your sake, Mobius, that was not the outcome I hoped for."

Mobius sighs, and scuffs a foot absently against the table leg. "Let me guess, she told you to get lost."

"Actually, no." Loki shrugs, at his incredulous look. "We have engaged in several conversations with minimal hostility and semi-productive dialogue."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"I am not unsympathetic to her," Loki muses, almost to himself. "Despite her actions, her end goal was not dissimilar to ours: to restore order to the timelines, and protect the TVA."

"Hell of a way for her to do that," Mobius mutters.

"Believe me, I harbor no good will toward her person. But the fact remains that she is as much a victim as anyone else in the organization." Loki leans back, arms folded lightly across his chest. "More so, in some ways. He Who Remains preyed upon her romantic affections, in addition to her skill set. Then wiped her memory of the former completely, once she had served her purpose in winning the war begun by him.

"She was a tool, Mobius, nothing more; and had her memories – very personal memories – deleted without her consent. Just as the rest of you did, but with a personal element she had been blind to until relatively recently. As if those memories meant nothing."

"She was just another cog in the machine."

"Exactly. I would not show her undue mercy for what she's done, but it must be acknowledged that she too is a victim of He Who Remains, and the regime he set in place."

"Guess I'm still a little bitter about the whole thing," Mobius says, looking thoughtful. "And avoiding dealing with the problem for that reason."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I simply see much of myself in her, and can acknowledge that resemblance without absolving her betrayal."

"How so?"

"I was going to eliminate Sylvie if it came to that, Mobius. To restore order, to maintain what control could be had at the End of all things, to make the only choice I thought could be made, despite the personal cost. You cannot fail to see the parallels, surely."

Mobius snorts, almost bitterly. "Order replacing chaos. The big picture approach."

"Precisely. And besides this…" Loki looks down at the table again. "It had crossed my mind that perhaps you would be happier forgetting I had ever existed, you know."

Dread seeps into Mobius' expression.

"I did not act on that thought," Loki hastens to add, with complete earnestness. "On my mother's life, I swear it. I have not and never would alter your memories in that way, without your consent."

"I believe you."

"But the thought did occur to me, how much easier it might be, thus. How much simpler the solution, if one is unaware of past failure. So I can in the abstract, at least, understand why He Who Remains took the actions he did.

"And if I had done the same, if I had wiped your memories and simply reset the Loom failsafe? Restarted the machine with its agents completely unaware of the work that had gone before? Who knows. Anyone might do what Renslayer did, if betrayed to that extent by someone they cared for. I for one could not truly blame them."

Mobius swallows hard. "Why are you only now telling me this, Loki."

"Because she wants to meet with you, on neutral ground," is the quiet response.

Mobius stares at him, wide-eyed.

"I have given her additional clarity on several matters, and she does appear open to further discourse. She's known your location and daily habits for at least six months, Mobius," Loki adds, when the skepticism is clear. "And she has been observing you and the work you've been doing, from a distance."

"Well, that's not great."

"I agree. But if she wished to cause harm to your new TVA, she likely could have found a way to do so before now. I legitimately think there could be a potential alliance formed between you. And she has forged connections with we know not how many variants, in the Void. We may need every advantage we can lay hands on."

"You're putting a whole lotta faith in the words of someone who's proven she can't be trusted."

"You put the entire multiverse in the hands of someone who cannot be trusted, Mobius," Loki replies quietly. "If anything, my own betrayals make hers look quite tame by comparison."

"It's not the same thing."

"How so?"

"You're my friend."

"So was she."

"She pruned me," Mobius says dryly. "You planning on doing that, too?"

Loki shrugs, unperturbed by the irritation. "The similarities have their limit, obviously. But she has good reason to despise He Who Remains, Mobius, and all of his variants. The enemy of my enemy might very well be my friend."

"And you think she's not leading you on?"

"I am a liar, Mobius. I know a liar when I see one. And I do not believe she is lying to me. She is still quite angry, yes, but I believe the intervening years may have tempered that anger with wisdom."

"She wanted to be the one at the top. Only one person gets free will, the one in charge – one of the last things she said to me. She wants to be that one in charge."

"I have made clear to her that is not an option, under any circumstance," Loki says flatly. "I will eliminate her myself, before I allow her to harm the timelines or anyone guarding them. I believe I've made my position quite clear in that respect. She receives no third chances from me."

Mobius swallows.

"And she is not a fool; I believe she could be convinced to adopt a lesser, more attainable goal, provided she receives the deserved credit for that role. And is not a variant reformation program part of your Phase II plans?"

Mobius blows out a slow, thoughtful breath. "It is, yeah. But I don't know if I can ever trust her again, Loki. For sure, the Council isn't gonna trust her again for a long time."

"Both they and you would be foolish to do so without reservation," Loki agrees, not unsympathetically. "But I would counter that she could be a powerful ally to have on-call, if nothing more. And we may well need her skill set, in the years to come. Bureaucracy is only as effective as those who maintain and carry out its terms."

"True."

"And in some ways, she is the best of both of us, insofar as character traits go."

"How do you figure that."

"She has the ability to see the bigger picture and act accordingly, independent of personal bias. She has proven herself willing to sacrifice all for the cause, however incorrectly placed her allegiance might be. And she has burned most of her bridges behind her, meaning she would need to work incredibly hard to regain any amount of trust from those of us who know the truth. That gives us the advantage, particularly if she has any ulterior motive."

Mobius frowns. "I know how to read between the lines with you, Loki. You're saying she's expendable."

"I am saying her loyalty is hard won, and even harder re-won, but that it might be worth looking into," Loki corrects him. "But if you must phrase it in such tactical terms, then yes. I certainly would not prioritize her safety over yours, now or ever. And I will not apologize for that."

"Not asking you to, I just…I dunno."

"The choice is yours," Loki says quietly. "Say the word, and I will banish her to a Time Cell at an undisclosed location, far from here."

"I don't want that." Mobius shivers. "We try to stay away from those cells anymore, at least ones that are powered by unpleasant memories. Unless there's no other option. It's just kind of inhumane."

"Then if you so wish, I will wipe her memory once more and re-insert her into the timeline. She will live the rest of her life on a branch, blissfully unaware of the TVA and its machinations. It would be more merciful than a Time Cell."

"I think that's a bad idea. Keep your friends close and enemies closer, you know?"

"I would tend to agree." Loki shrugs. "But there are limited options then, for her future. You cannot continue to be ambivalent to her presence, Mobius."

A dismal sigh. "I've been doing that so far just fine," he mutters.

"But you can't indefinitely."

"I guess not."

"For what it is worth, I have also demonstrated to her, in detail, how wrong she was to assume you were incapable of stepping into a leadership role in the TVA," Loki adds after a moment of tense silence. "I believe in this matter, she could be swayed by you, specifically."

The salad is shoved aimlessly to one side, and Mobius sighs. "What do you think I should do?"

"Whatever you believe is right."

"What if I have no idea what that even is, anymore."

"That is somewhat terrifying, as I am certainly no paragon of morality. I was relying upon your moral compass, here."

Mobius snorts, and then chuckles. "I suppose everyone deserves a second chance, huh."

"No," Loki says quietly. "Most of us do not, did not, deserve one. Extending it despite that precise fact, is what has always made you different, Mobius."

"Well, I'm not going to meet her alone, you have to come with me. Where even is neutral ground, in this case?"

Loki's eyes glint with a razor-sharp edge of mischief. "I was thinking Midgard. Oklahoma, to be precise. In the mid-1980s."