shineonloki:

beyond the smog / steampunk & magic thorki au

Everyone knew that the world was dying; it was covered in a thick blanket of pollution born from the machines that kept it spinning. In a desperate attempt to find a fabled relic, capable of restoring what was lost, the king employs Loki Laufeyson- a notorious airship captain. Accompanied by the skeptical prince, Loki sets out on an impossible voyage that is destined to fail. 

Thor pulled a hazy memory from deep within. It was of him sitting on his mother’s lap within her greenhouse, the warmth of the sun filtering in and making the leaves hanging around them glow like fire. In her palm was a mound of dirt and with a whisper, a tiny green sprout broke from the soil. He couldn’t remember her voice now, a realization he tried not to dwell on, but he knew she had told him the source of her magic— the Tesseract. It was an object of unfathomable power, hidden in the realms by the Goddesses. It had the ability to give unrelenting resources, something the dying world needed desperately. But, it was just a legend told to children, giving them hope as their lungs filled with smog.

I have such a weakness for these 19th-century AUs that use pictures of Hemsworth from In the Heart of the Sea and Hiddleston from Crimson Peak. But then, I have a weakness for the 19th century in general.