st_ormbreaker | (no subject)

(no subject)

It couldn't be anything important.

That's what Thor decided first. If he was going to lie to Valkyrie, it was going to be over something pointless, something trivial. Something that didn't matter. The first lie is a small one -- a message sent to her from his notebook:

I need to talk to you about something.

Truth be told, Thor had nothing of significance to talk about. The two of them chatted enough that there generally wasn't anything new to discuss about their day-to-day. The one truly significant thing he had to talk to Valkyrie about he had done so shortly after arrival, and even then he didn't feel particularly inclined to give out anything more than just the essentials -- then or now.

Pool Bar, one hour.

The Pool Bar was unoccupied this time of year. During the spring and summer months, you'd find people there all hours of the day, making their own drinks to suck down as they lay out at the pool's edge. Winter made the location less appealing. It was private, the perfect place to discuss something important.

That is, if Thor had something important to discuss.

Thor is sitting at one of the tables in the pool bar, notebook open, two bottles pulled from the bar's shelves: a Johnnie Walker and a newly-discovered malt scotch he'd pulled from the shelf based on name alone (Highland Park Valkyrie). It felt appropriate somehow.

Thor idly writes in his notebook as he waits, brows furrowed with thought.

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"Fine." Valkyrie stood and pulled an about face, striding back towards her room. "I'll find out in no time, Your Majesty."

"Good," Thor agrees, sliding the tips of his fingers in between the pages of his journal. "It's important that we know how he feels about it."

As soon as Valkyrie is out of sight, he abruptly shoots Tony a message.

Edited 2018-12-07 01:16 (UTC)

Ten or so minutes went by, and Valkyrie was striding back into the pool bar area, boots clacking the frosted tile as she approached and pulled up a chair beside Thor.

"Reporting back, Your Majesty."

Thor is in mid-swig when Valkyrie returns; he quickly swallows then sets the bottle back down on the table.

"The verdict?"

"Verdict. Right." Valkyrie nodded, pressing a single finger between Thor's eyes with her free hand. "Your falsehoods need practice."

"Ow," Thor says to her finger-press, though the weight of Valkyrie's finger is hardly as punishing as her words.

Still, much like a dog who has just attempted a newly-learned trick, Thor is desperate for approval.

"You believed me until you talked to him, though." There's an unspoken right? there at the end of the sentence, and if Valkyrie can't hear it in his voice, she can probably see it in his eyes.

"I didn't say one word to him." Valkyrie almost pitied the man. Almost. "Got hungry. Went inside and grabbed the deer jerky we made out of our catch." She pulled a plastic bag out of her broad coat pocket and set it on the counter for her king to partake of. Consolation.

Thor's expression is heartbroken.

"You knew the whole time?"

"I...almost thought you might be serious until the part about wanting my assessment." Valkyrie's lips tightened into a not-quite smile.

"Why wouldn't I want your assessment?"

Thor reaches into the bag of jerky and pulls out a slice. He chews away at it, his gaze never leaving Val's face.

“It wasn’t that.” Valkyrie reached into it after him, plucking out a piece. “That you wanted it for such a ridiculous name. It reeked of, how one of the children here puts it, shenanigans.”

Thor can't argue with that. It was a ridiculous name.

"If you knew, why did you goad me like that?"

Valkyrie blinked innocently--as innocent as Thor had attempted to look during their earlier exchange. "Play a foolish game, win a foolish prize."

Thor chews away at his jerky, frowning. "I've already given it up, you know. Reformed myself. Loki was the one who got the lying gene." Despite not being able to actually inherit it from their father.

"I couldn't stomach another liar on the throne." Valkyrie chewed on her own piece. She said it humorously enough, though the underlying sentiment was true. "Quit while you're ahead, Your Thor Starkesty."

"Done and forgotten about," he says. "I figured out of all the people here I could try to trick, you'd be the hardest one."

"Points for ambition." Valkyrie waved another piece of dried meat at him. "I'm not forgetting the name, I hope you know."

"What, do you plan to use it against me?"

Thor pops the rest of his jerky into his mouth and chews away.

"No. I just won't forget it." It would truly be a memory she'd recall every time she was lacking a smile in her life.

"I'm glad it's bringing someone joy in their life," Thor says, reaching for another piece of jerky. "I wasn't lying about the whole name-and-fiancee thing, though. 'd be weird to go back with someone else's surname when they're on the verge of marriage with somebody else."

"And you're fine with that?" Valkyrie leaned her forearms on the counter, fingers tapping the bag idly.

"Well, he'll be dead, possibly." Probably. "Or not, if we're able to change things. In any case, I don't want to spend whatever time we have here agonizing over consequences."

"I can't say I wouldn't do the same." Flickers of memories played in Valkyrie's head-- her Valkyrior sisters. If she had arrived at place where she could see them alive...

"And you said you weren't lovers back home. What changed?"

"Other than circumstances?" Thor stops chewing and thinks. "I'm not sure. Back home, he had Pepper and I had Jane. I wasn't around nearly enough." That could put a damper on any relationship, no matter how great the chemistry.

The more that Thor thinks about it, the more positive he is that his initial hunch was the correct one.

"It has to be that. Circumstances."

"So it could have been anyone." Valkyrie turned the piece of meat over in her fingers, warming it. Her breath was visible in the cold air.