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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"I wish I had been there to see it," Thor says. "Banner has never had much of a backbone and Hulk has had far too much of it." Fortunately, it seemed they hit a pleasant middle ground -- Banner was willing to make his own somewhat scary choices and the Hulk seemed more amendable to being reigned in when the situation called for it.

"Probably one of the Midgardians I miss the most right now." He and Jane were right there at the top of the list.

"I'm grateful to know he lives." In whatever future Valkyrie helped shape, she fully intended to keep it that way. Meanwhile, if it was truly too late for the man that sat beside her, at least she knew he would be in good company...or what remained of it. "When we meet again, I may even hug him."

Thor opens his mouth to say that he definitely would, but then he remembers how things were like those final moments after Thanos' death, how they all stood, somehow together but alone. When he does, a hug suddenly feels completely inappropriate and completely necessary all at once. Had he not been with River that day he's still not sure what would have happened.

"I'm sure he'd like that," he says, smiling lightly. "We should invite him to come live in our sovereign nation when the time comes for it."

“Shall we offer dual citizenship, then? If Midgardian suitors become a popular thing it would only make sense.” When considering repopulation, they’d need all the help they could get,

"I like the idea," Thor says, pointing a finger at Valkyrie. "Honorary citizenship for those who have earned it." Bruce, Tony, and the rest of the Avengers, naturally.

"We'll have to decide on a flag," he says. "Midgard loves flags, apparently."

Valkyrie nodded upwards. "You know the policy talks are coming, right? You're about to become the first king in Asgardian history to set a precedent of co-habitation with another realm."

"I've thought about that," Thor says. Not much since he arrived here, though. But before, when they were on The Statesman, he thought about it a lot, especially after he spent time with his people, whose names he made it a point of learning on the ship.

Regardless of his feelings about the throne or taking it, he was responsible for all of them.

"Loki and I talked about it, back on the ship, but not nearly enough. I thought we'd have plenty of time to figure it out."

“If you think about it in a sense, we do.” Though in the absence of their people proper... “What else to do to pass the days? I don’t fancy wallowing.”

"Prepare for what's to come. Pick up various life skills. I'm learning some magic from somebody." Could what he was learning from Corbie be described as magic? "Sort of."

"Catch one's own food." For as much agency as they seemed to lack, Valkyrie fully intended to grasp independence where she found it. And putting her energy towards the hunt took her mind off the idle consumptions of spirits, if only slightly.

Valkyrie shoved the last piece of meat between Thor's lips. "I'll also accept you learning magic over learning to lie."

Thor latches onto the piece of meat with his teeth and leans his head back to let the entirety of it fall into his mouth.

Thor levels his head to look at Valkyrie as he eats his jerky.

"I promise I'll behave from now on," he says, breaking between every few words to chew on his snack. "And this week, we have a meeting. Iron things out about the future of Asgard." Not something he particularly wants to think about, but Valkyrie's right. It needs to be done, even if there's a chance there are no other Asgardians when he returns back to his rightful time on Earth.

"My room." Valkyrie nodded dutifully, heartened to hear Thor's resolve. "I'll clear my evening."

"Monday?" he asks, reaching for his bottle as he rises to his feet.

"The days are all the same to me, so we'll say yes." Valkyrie replied, standing with him.

"You need more things to do. It will help you keep track of the days."

Thor's busy schedule was likely the reason why he was able to keep track of the days himself.

Valkyrie merely shrugged, walking in step with him towards the building. "I went from a planet where time was lawless as the rest of it to a spaceship in orbit of absolutely nothing. Forgive me if my perception's a bit askew, Your Majesty."

"I know what you mean." Thor claps his free hand on her shoulder.

"I spent three days on that planet and it might as well have been three lifetimes."

Val's experience was probably the opposite, but that didn't change the fact that Sakaar had something going on with its wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff.

"Knock on my door when the time comes. I'll request my roommate to put on tea." Even when the spirit was being stubborn, she could be amenable, and tea was appealing enough to her to translate into hospitality. Occasionally.

"For the record, I may know how to make it, but that doesn't mean I drink it." Tea, that is. "If your ghost is going to be offended I don't partake, I wouldn't bother with that request."

Thor didn't know all the details, but he did know that Valkyrie and her roommate were not exactly boon companions.

“For the record, I don’t drink it either. But I am trying to stay dry for the important talks.” Valkyrie opened the door. “Or simply long enough for get the important bits written in stone.”

Val has a point.

"Earl Grey no milk, then," he says, passing over the threshold. He might not drink tea, but he knew enough about it. He'd learn to make tea for Jane just as he learned to cook for Tony now.

"You have any preferences?" Just in case he ever runs a meeting.

"Nothing floral." Valkyrie followed him inside. "If I'm to enjoy flowers, I'll go outside to do it." She may have emphasized a few words through partially grit teeth, considering her room's dedication to the cloyingly fragrant.

"Not crazy about the Krazy Dazy?" Thor asks with a smile. He had thoroughly critiqued the Hulk's room back in Sakaar after a spat, but he'd gradually warmed up to his new room, despite its tremendously more obnoxious design. That might just happen when you live somewhere long enough, though, Thor supposes.

"Your room, loud as it may be, doesn't reek of flowers the way mine does. I would offer to meet in yours if not for your dearly beloved." Valkyrie shrugged. "Unless you don't mind him being privy."

"I don't have a problem with it." Tony knew more than any other non-Asgardian about the fate of Asgard and her people. He may have not divulged all the details of Thanos' attack on The Statesman in as much detail as he had with Loki, but he knew enough.

Thor glances over at Valkyrie. "What do you think of Tony, anyway?"