Thor had never been one for quick thinking. Lightening reflexes, quick jabs, and flight feet, yes, but his mind often took quite some time to catch up with a problem that was presented to him. Not that it had ever been a problem before as he'd almost always had Loki at his side whispering in his ear the potential outcomes, strategies, possibilities that laid before him, and eventually, when he hadn't been so dumb to dismiss it all outright or formulate his own idiotic plan based off a completely incorrect summation of Loki's data, it had trickled through and prompted him into actions and ideas that were at least half manageable. But right now, even with the stresses that were being placed on words, Thor blinked at Loki in confusion, "Of course they are. It's what we've all been taught," Thor said. "Since we were younglings. Most of us know no way other than the warrior's way: strong, direct, frontal assault. But you adapted, brother. You did what none of the rest of us could," He said quietly as he dropped his eyes to Loki's hand and smiled lightly.
"With the Bifrost destroyed, your actions are the only thing preventing Asgard from being overrun by Frost Giants. Without Lefauy, without the casket, and with Jotunheim in ruinings, they won't be bothering us for a long time," Thor said quietly, his eyes still down turned. "And yet, they're celebrating me," He said quietly, turning his eyes back up to Loki with a heaviness in his gaze that had never been settled there before. Guilt, uncertainty, doubt, none of it had ever existed in Thor's psyche before, and yet, as an open book, all of it was laid clear to bare. "When all I did was cut off our access to the other realms entirely. Hardly a praiseworthy action."
The mood had grown maudlin far quicker than Thor would have liked even if it had been his own fault, but one to snap back from things quickly, Thor's contemplative expression slide slowly into a devious smile as he shifted his arm to wrap around Loki's neck and pull him down into a headlock and ruffle his hair. "Ye gods, I have missed you."