There were hundreds of natural disasters that occurred without warning - hundreds and only three people were reading through the files.

Freya had given up on coffee runs hours ago, and was currently fast asleep next to Loki at the library table they'd commandeered. Both were in similar positions, their arms cushioning their heads on the harsh wood. Mobius looks up from his file, eyes heavy, he sees both his help asleep and gently taps the table.

"Hey?"

"Hm?" Freya looks up with sleepy eyes

"Come on, let's take a walk,"

A walk meant food - something Freya was grateful for. She found herself sitting in between Loki and Mobius at a cafeteria table, an orange mug holding a warm tea, and a green plate displaying a coffee cupcake. Both men next to her had attempted to squash their long legs under the small table, and as a result, all their legs were somewhat entwined and touching.

"By the way, at your desk, that magazine?" Loki suddenly speaks

"Yeah. The one on jet skis?"

"Yes! Why do you have that?"

"Because they're awesome," Mobius chuckles, and Freya rolls her eyes smiling

"I suppose they are," Loki shrugs

"Yeah. You know, some things... Actually, most things in history are kinda dumb, and everything gets ruined eventually. But in the early 1990s, for a brief, shining moment, there was a beautiful union of form and function, which we call the jet ski, and a reasonable man cannot differ,"

Loki glances at Freya during Mobius' speech, and notices her mouthing along with him, clearly having heard this before, she winks at Loki.

"You ever been on one?"

"No... No. I think a TVA agent showing up on a jet ski on the Sacred Timeline, that would create a branch for sure,"

"We could always find out," Freya proposes, taking a bite of cupcake.

"No, we couldn't," Mobius shakes his head

"It'd be fun, though," Loki smiles

"Yeah, it'd be really fun..."

"So, why read about them?"

"Just helps remind me of what we're fighting for."

"I mean, you really believe in all this stuff, don't you?" Loki asks doubtfully

"I don't get hung up on, 'Believe, not believe.' I just accept what is,"

"Three magic lizards -"

"Time-Keepers," Freya corrects softly

"...created the TVA, and everyone in it..."

"Right,"

"...including you two?"

"Including us," Mobius nods

"Every time I start to admire your intelligence, you say something like that,"

"Okay, who created you, Loki?" Mobius retaliates and Freya watches the two talk as she eats, very entertained

"A Frost Giant of Jotunheim."

"And who raised you?"

"Odin of Asgard."

"Odin, God of the Heavens. Asgard, a mystical realm, beyond the stars. Frost Giants. Listen to yourself..."

"It's not the same. It's completely different!"

"It is the same!

"No, it's not!",

"Yes, it is!"

The two argue back and forth "No. It's not the same."

"It's exactly the same thing! Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous,"

"Are you two trying to make me depressed?" Freya questions, and Loki smiles ever so slightly

"Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose," Loki scoffs - so does Freya "'Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real."

"Fair enough. You believe it's real, Freya?" he turns to the woman who's shocked to be included.

"It's my job," she shrugs

"Your life is your job? Gods that's sad,"

"I know right?" she says sarcastically. It was sad, but she couldn't say that, not in the TVA. Maybe in some far-off timeline about to be destroyed, she could.

She wasn't like Mobius. She couldn't just believe in what the TVA told them, she was curious, and often defiant, she felt the itch inside her, that told her something wasn't right, to question the world.

"So everything is written. Past, present, future. There's no such thing as free will?"

"Well, I mean, you know, it's an oversimplification..."

"So, in fact, in a way, you, Freya and I, here at the TVA, we're the only ones who are actually free,"

Well, if you asked Freya, no. They had no freedom in the TVA, they had a job to do.

"Where are you going with this, Loki?"

"How does it all end?"

"That's a work in progress,"

"Oh, those lazy Time-Keepers. What are they waiting for?" Loki taps an invisible watch and Freya laughs.

"Au contraire," Mobius corects " No. Because while we protect what came before, they're toiling away in their chamber, untangling the epilogue from its infinite branches,"

"Ah, I see. So, when they're finished, what happens then?"

"So are we. No more Nexus Events. Just order. And we meet in peace at the end of time...Nice, right?" Mobius glances to Freya who looks rather glum.

"Only order?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"No chaos? It sounds boring."

"I'm sure it does to you,"

"You called me a scared little boy!"

"I called you a lotta thing,"

"You did. You're wrong, though. You see, I know something children don't,"

"What's that?"

"That no one bad is ever truly bad. And no one good is ever truly good,".

"Scared little boy..." Freya mutters, visions of her mission with Mobius earlier in the week appearing.

"Yes, it was quite patronizing," Loki turns to her "I thought it was a bit too far, actually. If you were there, I'm sure you would have defended me–"

"You're very clever," Freya grins, standing suddenly and walking out of the room.

"I know!".

Mobius had caught on to Freya's idea very quickly, running after her as Loki trialled behind "The Variant left something behind at an old crime scene. A cathedral. A candy box. An obvious anachronism. I gave it to Analysis, but they couldn't find anything real," Mobius explains while Freya picks up the box of evidence from the bookcase.

"Why does that matter?"

"'Cause now we have two variables. Apocalyptic natural disasters and..." he waist for Freya to search the box, she pulls out a blue bar.

"Kablooie!" she yells triumphantly, the librarian shushes her

"What's that?"

"Candy. Do you have candy on Asgard?" Mobius asks

"Yeah," he shrugs "Grapes, nuts."

"No wonder you're so bitter."

"Wait until I introduce you to chocolate," Freya mutters "Oh, I can just ee you with a pack of Love Hearts," she grins and Loki raises an eyebrow

"Love Hearts?"

"Love Hearts," she nods

"Guys, focus please," Mobius groans.

"Okay. Kablooie was only sold regionally on Earth from 2047 to 2051. All you gotta do is cross-reference that with every apocalyptic event. I'm gonna give you half. And let's make it a competition, see who finds it."

"Sure. Why isn't Freya working?" Loki turns to the woman in the seat next to him.

"It's her nap time, she gets cranky without it," Mobius teases, sitting down.

"I get cranky!"

"Yeah, but I like her,"

"Haha, he likes me, not you," Freya sticks her tongue out at Loki who matters bout it being childish, Mobius sees his smirk.

"You wanna bet something?"

"Yeah."

"Gentleman's bet. Yeah, let's play for pride. Okay. May the best man win. Go!"

As the two men scoured through files, Freya had returned to her small apartment to lie down - Mobius promised to call her when they found something. An hour later, her Tempad beeps and Miss Minutes pops out of it.

"Mobius is calling sweetcheeks!"

"Ugh!" Freya groans and covers her eyes, she picks up the tempad but it stops, she receives a message from him seconds later 'Alabama, 2050. Meet me at Renslayer's office'.

She stands, grabbing her blazer from the bottom of the bed and slipping it on, pocketing the tempad - even the TVA hadn't invented skirts with pockets.

Freya reaches the office in record time and sees Loki sitting outside, he glances up at her. "Don't tell me you're going in there like that?"

"Like what?" she looks down at her uniform - it looked better than usual.

"It's unprofessional," he stands and walks over to her, first buttoning up her top button, then redoing her tie, Freya stays still, looking up at his concentrated face, a soft pout forms when he ruins the tie and re-tries. She should be running into the doors as quickly as she can, but she lets him tuck the tie into her skirt's waistband.

"That was unprofessional," she scolds

"You're not ruining this chance for me,"

"What chance?" his eyes meet hers, but he doesn't respond, god, he was so much taller than her, and her neck was starting to hurt.

The doors to Renslayer's office open, and the two don't stray their eyes from each other.

"God, you can cut the tension with a knife," Mobius sighs

"We're flirting,"

"We are not!" Loki's head snaps to Mobius to defend himself.

"I win!" Freya shouts and Mobius shushes her

"She wants to talk to you!"

"We weren't having a staring contest!"

"We were!" Freya exclaims, walking into ren slayer's office

"We were not!"

She slams the doors.

"Hi Renny," she grins

"I told you not to call me that," Ravonna looks up from her paperwork

"Hm," Freya walks up to the desk

"Whilst out on this field mission, the variant is still your responsibility. It is Mobius's operation, he handles everything. You handle the variant," Freya stares at her, she was talking quickly, but sternly "Got it?"

"Got it," she nods "Quickest meeting we've ever had,"

"Things go faster when I don't let you interrupt,"

"Smart," Freya leaves the office

"Freya!"

"Yep?"

"Don't fuck it up,".

"For all time," Ferya smiles sarcastically

"Aways,".

She'd fucked it up. She'd fucked it up so much.