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Now that the timelines were allowed to branch freely throughout space and time, no one could have seen it coming: the great blast on energy that rocketed down into the Grand Canyon.
From the near-distance of their photo-op spot overlooking the scenery, Loki lowered his smartphone and glared at the billowing smoke in the near-distance. A couple dozen tourists and families screamed as they ran past, back to their vehicles to speed off to safety. He ignored them.
"What's going on?" Frigga piped up. At six she was still stubborn enough to maintain her photogenic peace-sign pose, even as Mobius lifted her from his shoulders and planted her on her feet, resignation in his eyes.
"Probably an alien invasion," he sighed, straightening to squint to the horizon. "Guess that marks the end of our vacation, hun."
"Absolutely not," Loki said defiantly, echoing their daughter's boos. He deposited the baby carrier in Mobius's arms along with the smartphone, sparing a moment to caress the laughable tufts of golden locks on the napping infant's head, before taking a step back to frown at the exasperation in his partner's face.
"It took us forever to get this week off from the office, Mobius. I am not stepping back onto those drab carpets a mili-second sooner. Let me take care of this."
"Yeah, but..." Mobius huffed, and the furrow in his brow and the slant of his lips finished the rest of his counterpoint.
Loki could already feel his expression softening. Damn this man.
"I'll be careful." He took it all in - his husband and children, the stuffed toys and the minivan and the absolute, infuriating domesticity of it all.
Now he had something worth coming back to, and told Mobius just that as he dropped to plant a kiss on his daughter's forehead.
Mobius, despite all the worry in that dear face, managed a smile. "Way to go on that cheesy hero one-liner, babe."
Loki winked back at him cheekily as he rose, a dagger materializing into one hand, and one of Mobius's pruning sticks in the other. "I'll be back before you know it."
He stepped backward, and vanished in a flash of green.
---
The green flashed again, this time a streak high above the billowing smoke over the canyon. A small, lanky silhouette soared downwards, their upper limbs poised for battle.
Mobius could only imagine the war cry his husband and mother of his children let out, as the speck disappeared behind the overlapping mountains. Instead, all he got were the distant roars of a singular, but no doubt massive, alien invader.
He pressed his lips thinly together, and gestured for Frigga to follow him to the hood of their rental minivan. Thereupon he propped the baby carrier, angling his body against the side to prevent accidental slips. After a quick look around to ensure no wandering eyes were in the area, he slipped out his tempad from his inner coat pocket.
A few quick taps on the screen, three rings, and his call was answered by a familiar face sprung up in a three-dimensional projection.
"Auntie Sylvie!" Frigga cried happily.
Normally, the blonde would have been more reciprocal to her goddaughter, but in this instance she seemed to have noticed the atmosphere. "What did Loki get into now?" Sylvie's eyes narrowed into slits.
Mobius smiled apologetically. "Alien invasion. He could use the backup."
Sylvie groaned, and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Momentarily, she let out a frustrated puff. "Where and when?"
Thank goodness - no need to do any sweet-talking this time.
"Grand Canyon on Earth." Mobius swiped the screen, and it dinged pleasantly. "Sent the timeline ID, land coordinates, and time to your tempad."
Sylvie pointed at Mobius accusingly, fingertip flickering as it overlapped the void point of the hologram sensors. "You're lucky you're my favorite," she deadpanned.
There was another flash of green in the distance of the canyon. A petite silhouette fell from the sky, green magic erupting from their hands. The unseen monster roared again, but this time sounding like it was going through a struggle.
Mobius sighed in relief, shoulders sinking, as his daughter gasped in delight. She hesitated, though, in seeing her godmother's projection still glowing, and promptly tackled Mobius's arm to shove her face into the tempad.
"Is that you?" she demanded, eyes wide. "But how?!"
Sylvie smiled fondly at the child. "That's me, give or take an hour from my end." She gestured with a bottle of beer, and glanced to Mobius who raised an eyebrow in silent question.
She clicked a feature, activating the sensors on the opposite side of the tempad to showcase a two-dimensional look of the interior in a semi-bustling cafe. She lowered the camera and presented a half-eaten plate of spaghetti.
At the corner of the screen, Mobius noted no one seated on the chair across her, and its lack of a table setting.
"I'm having lunch," Sylvie explained as the projector flickered back to her head, seemingly ready to take a swig of her drink. "No offense to your husband, but I intend to take my own sweet time. Also pretty sure I won't be doing any favors if I get indigestion in the middle of the firefight."
"Dang. And here I was, ready to treat you." Mobius pouted then, very casually, lit up. "Can you stick around until dinner after? There's loads of space in the car - we rented out a pretty big minivan."
Sylvie paused with the bottle against her lips, startled by the invitation.
"We can play games in the backseat!" Frigga added hopefully. "Cooper's too little to play with me yet. Pleeeeease, Auntie?"
To sweeten the deal, Mobius propped his chin on top of his daughter's head and waggled his brow with a smile.
Sylvie rolled her eyes and took her swig. Yet when she lowered the bottle, the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her.
"You're going to regret this," she warned, propping the bottle on the off-screen table and replacing it with a fork to wave menacingly at the camera. "Dining with the goddess of mischief? I can and will order every expensive thing on the menu."
"I'll be disappointed if you didn't."
"Gonna seduce the wait staff."
"Sign me up as your wingman."
"Might set fire to the restaurant."
"Go ahead, the weather s'been chilly these days."
Sylvie barked out a laugh. "I'll hold you to it," she declared, the conclusion of their shared inside joke.
Mobius purposely did not tell her that 'dinner' was actually getting take-out from a local fast food chain (that Frigga and - surprisingly - Loki had taken a liking to over the trip), and dining at a picnic stop for a predicted meteor shower. It was supposed to be a romantic affair, especially once the kids dozed off. Loki was going to be pissed now that would go all out the window with the extra company.
Mobius could not bring himself to care, though - not when he was already so grateful to their guest for ensuring said husband would make it out of danger in one piece in the first place.
Plus, he enjoyed Sylvie's company. Loki did too, despite all the bickering. Mobius decided, later on over dinner, to manipulate the conversation into getting her schedule locked in for the entirety of the next family road trip.
Sylvie's disembodied hologram head wobbled as she manipulated her tempad, the other flipping her hold on the fork to poke at her pasta. She made a show of stuffing the food in her mouth and speaking with her mouth full - a vagabond, through and through. "Is that it? Anything else you need from me, or...?"
"No, no, I'll let you go. See you soon, favorite," Mobius said fondly. "Fri, what do you say?"
Frigga, just as dramatically, blew a kiss to the tempad. "Bye Auntie Sylvie! Love you!"
Sylvie smiled through a mouthful of pasta, a warm and precious thing after the life she led, and flickered out of the call.
It only took a few more minutes before there was a loud cry and a familiar shimmer floating upwards over the canyon - the successful pruning of a giant monster.
Nearby, there was a familiar flash of green. Two weary figures stepped out, their hair awry and clothing stained by the red-dust of the canyon.
Mobius breathed a sigh of relief and, picking up the baby carrier, followed after his rushing daughter to greet them.