[ barton snatches at his lapel, and loki carefully raises both hands, a gesture to say that he's harmless (or at least means no harm), to make sure they're both in sight, not doing something sneaky or magic. look, no daggers up his sleeves, no green wisps of energy drifting between his fingers. ]

I don't, [ he says, soft but calm, trying to project some sort of trustworthiness even knowing that it's an impossible uphill battle. he'd done terrible things for too long. every loki--almost every loki--has, from timeline to timeline to timeline. he's watched them all. ] I'm also a prisoner here. I'm supposed to be.. elsewhere, in another type of.. prison. [ that's what yggdrasil amounts to, in a way, doesn't it? a prison he'd willingly gone into, but it's one he technically shouldn't have been able to leave. not without destroying the multiverse, anyway, and that's inconceivable.

but again, barton knows none of that, and he's not sure it would matter if he did. ]

I know that you can't trust my words. I wouldn't, either. [ he hesitates, then nods toward the rest of the gathering, still keeping eye-contact. ] You're not well, though, and I know that you have friends here. Stark, at least, and Banner. [ how friendly are they all, really? it depends on the time, the timeline, and he's not sure yet which version of barton this is. still, they have to at least be more trustworthy for the man than loki himself is. ] They can explain things better, I'm certain. Or-- Mobius might be able to help, if I can find him. [ allmother, where is mobius when you need him? ]