"...You have no idea how fierce he looked, he was like a beast that had lost its mind. Even in the direst situations, I've never seen Thor like that. He looked completely insane, no, not just looked it, he was mad..."
Loki sat on the sofa, speaking rapidly, his English losing its usual precision, tinged with a Nordic accent. This was unimaginable for Loki.
Loki's self-control was exceedingly strong; he could precisely regulate every expression, every tone, and every word he uttered was after careful consideration.
Loki mastered almost all foreign languages, not just languages on Earth, but many obscure languages in the cosmos. He wasn't just able to communicate, he could speak them as fluently as his mother tongue, with not a hint of an Asgardian accent.
But now, he couldn't care less about all that; he just wanted to pour out everything he had to say. If Ancient Norwegian wasn't so obscure, and Asgard didn't use a mutant version of it, which so few people on Earth could understand, he would certainly have spoken in his mother tongue right away.
Shiller placed a hot cup of coffee in front of him, then sat across from him, quietly listening to his outpour. Although not a professional psychiatrist, he occasionally dabbled in psychological consultation, though his style differed from Greed's, or rather, from most modern psychiatrists; he leaned towards the classical.
Psychology is a very young discipline, but it wasn't that people in the past didn't classify certain behaviors under psychology. For example, going to church to pray and confess is equivalent to ancient psychological consultation, especially going to the confessional to confess to a Father, mirroring modern psychological consultation processes exactly.
In the near-modern era, this behavior increased, with many lawyers and private detectives also taking on the role of a psychiatrist. Those lawyers specializing in divorce cases mostly listen to clients' complaints, analyzing their emotional patterns, and look for exploitable loopholes.
In modern psychological consultation, there's a lot of communication between doctor and patient. Doctors meticulously inquire about patients' feelings to understand their inner world and thereby help them.
But the more classical method is to quietly listen to the other person speak, like a Father, without much communication. The judgment about their current mindset comes mainly through what the other person is saying and how they are saying it.
Greed's method is more like the former; he tries to understand the client's situation through questioning. Arrogance, on the other hand, leans towards the latter; listening to whatever the other person says and understanding them solely by listening.
Loki babbled on for a long time, noticing Shiller didn't respond, so he tentatively asked, "Did you understand? Was I speaking too fast?"
"No," Shiller shook his head, "Your expression is excellent."
"Then I'll continue." Loki was evidently full of a desire to vent and repeated many memories with Thor from long ago, like how Thor looked when he got angry, what it was like when they argued, and the most severe situations in some aspects.
Due to the immortals' incredibly long lifespans, there was much to recall. Loki spoke for half an hour and only barely got started, but Shiller never showed impatience, listening very attentively.
Loki had to occasionally confirm that Shiller was indeed listening because he was so quiet, never interjecting or asking for key points, appearing almost distracted.
"Yes, I am listening." Shiller had to emphasize repeatedly, "You were at war in Libra at that time, and because of issues with star ship deployments, Odin scolded him. He mistakenly thought it was one of your tricks and lost his temper at you..."
After several back and forths, Loki realized Shiller wasn't humoring him, but genuinely listening and remembering everything clearly. No matter when you asked him, he could explain the before and after clearly.
In the end, Loki felt embarrassed to continue, thinking if he went on, he'd fill the memory bank of Shiller Tower with too much useless junk. After all, problems Asgardians had a few centuries ago in some star system didn't seem to matter to Shiller.
He was also a bit tired from all the talking, so he stopped and took a sip of water. Shiller crossed one leg over the other, resting his hands on his knee, and waited until Loki finished drinking and calmed down before saying, "The Thor in this universe indeed seems mad, it's not your fault."
Loki gestured for him to continue, prompting Shiller to add, "Your brother is much better than him; he would never behave like that."
Loki continued to gesture, and Shiller remained silent. Loki turned his hands over, leaned forward, and reached out slightly.
"Your plan has no problems," Shiller continued, "if there's a flaw, it's probably just bad luck, but everyone has times like that. No need to overthink it."
"Isn't this a bit..." Loki didn't know how to evaluate it, "Is that all? You're not going to analyze either my or Thor's mindset? Or the process of the entire plan? Possible improvements?"
"I know what you're thinking, wondering if because I don't charge, I'm glossing over things." Shiller shook his head, "I'm not here to judge right or wrong, I am here to provide reasonable forgiveness and comfort based on your thoughts."
Loki opened his mouth, "This doesn't seem quite right?"
"Each person's psychological consultation style is different," Shiller's tone remained slow, "Greed's style is more aggressive, while mine leans towards the traditional."
"A bit too traditional." Loki remarked, "If I wanted comfort, I'd just have gone to Thor. I just want to know what's wrong with this universe's Thor..."
"I can only analyze you, not him in front of you. This is basic professional ethics. Likewise, I wouldn't analyze you in front of others. You can rest assured."
"But you haven't even analyzed me," Loki said, "that's the part I want to hear."
"For personal reasons, if you don't specifically ask me to analyze you, I won't," Shiller shook his head.
"Why?" Loki asked curiously, "What personal reason?"
"Generally speaking, my analysis is quite accurate." Shiller hugged his knees with his hands, lowered his gaze and said, "Lies don't hurt people, the truth is the sharp blade."
But Loki laughed, leaning forward even more: "What truth?"
"You've long known that those two are not normal," Shiller said, "from the very first meeting you knew, you could terminate the plan, but you didn't. You chose to visit the World Tree's roots as soon as you gained freedom, just to provoke Thor."
"Why would I do that?" Loki restrained his expression.
"You want to understand..." Shiller drew out his words a bit, "want to understand and confirm, who exactly is crazy."
Shiller stood up, buttoning his suit as he said, "You've discovered that in the multiverse, the relationship pattern between you and your brother is rare. Most Thor and Loki relationships are a back-and-forth struggle, increasingly mad."
"You've started to wonder if this emotional, uncontrolled, benefit-ignoring frenzy is actually normal. You want to know what kind of ending this relationship would lead to, whether it's better than now."
"Now you know," Shiller looked down at Loki, "you would be killed by Thor, a failed attempt that frightened you—considering I don't charge—serves you right."
Loki leaned back, slumping onto the sofa: "I'm starting to miss greed."
Shiller walked to the cabinet beside him and picked up his phone, its call interface had been displayed for a long time. He didn't answer the call but turned to Loki and said, "Another visitor has been waiting for a long time, if you have nothing else, you should leave."
Loki immediately sat up straight: "Another visitor? Thor of this universe?"
"I have no right to disclose," Shiller said, "and don't even think about using an invisibility magic to stay and eavesdrop, or I'll tell Thor..."
"Fine, I'll leave," Loki sighed, and with a wave of his magic wand, teleported away.
Immediately after, Thor came in. Seeing Shiller, he was first stunned, then raised an eyebrow and said, "You're the psychiatrist?"
Shiller nodded, "Please, sit down."
Thor sat down, but seemed a bit at a loss. He said, "I've seen a psychiatrist before, back when I was a surgeon because I wasn't sure whether I should confess my identity to Jane, I felt anxious, and then... but it didn't help."
"I'm glad you don't mind seeing a psychiatrist." Shiller went to pour coffee as he spoke, "If you don't mind, you can start from the beginning."
"I'm not quite sure where the beginning is for you guys..." Thor hesitated slightly, "Would it be too long to start from when I met Loki?"
"It's alright, just say whatever comes to mind, I promise I will listen carefully." Shiller placed the coffee in front of him.
Thor's story was longer and more complex, mixed with several emotional experiences and his tumultuous love-hate relationship with Loki, as well as nearly all the major events of Old 616 Earth.
But luckily, Thor soon lost patience in his recounting, and eventually just summarized. He talked about what happened, what he did, and how it ended, omitting all the details.
When he eventually ran out of things to say and his mind went blank, Shiller quietly continued to listen. Thor naturally wondered if he'd zoned out, but when he asked a few questions, Shiller answered fluently, leaving Thor to marvel at his professionalism.
"I've finished, thank you." Thor said, "Even if you can't give me any advice, just listening to me recount all this has made me feel a lot better. The story is so long and complex, I've never tried telling anyone about it because no one would have the patience to listen to the end. I wouldn't even try to recall it myself, I don't even have the patience to remember."
"For some, recollection is a burden," Shiller said, "the more one experiences, the more so it becomes. That you tried to remember and say it out loud shows how strong you are already."
"You really know how to talk." Thor said.
"If everyone holds you to high standards, then someone who praises you just for your ability to recall will seem particularly friendly," Shiller took a sip of coffee, "so it's not that I'm giving empty compliments, it's just that I don't have unrealistic expectations of you."
"That's so true," Thor slammed his cup down, "I don't know why they see me like this—whether it's Odin, Loki, or The Avengers—I don't know why they always have such high expectations of me..."
This obviously led to another round of complaints from Thor, from Odin's high expectations of him, to the demands of the Asgardians for a perfect king, to the responsibilities of the Avengers weighing on his shoulders, he vented about them all.
"Not having expectations of you isn't necessarily a good thing," Shiller said, "for example, my standards for you are based on the average psychiatric patient, you could be a patient here with me too, but if you don't want to end up in a psychiatric hospital, you can't just have the identity of a patient, right?"
Thor paused for a moment: "That makes sense too."