WHO: Thor and Thalia WHAT: Random encounter WHEN: Recently WHERE: at a store WARNINGS: None STATUS: Closed and Complete
Thor had been out for a flight, as he was wont to do sometimes, and had just been enjoying it. The city was not a large one though, and Thor found that eventually, he grew bored from it. There was not enough space, enough air, for it to be fun after awhile. And so he looked landward.
Thor landed, smiling, as he looked around the park. To one side, the woods stretched, receding in dark mystery toward the dome. Nearby to the other side, a large store stretched, and he was reminded that he needed groceries soon. He shrugged as he lifted Mjolnir. “Thank you, my friend, once more, for your service.” And he placed it at his hip.
He turned, then, and headed toward the store.
***
...which Thalia was just heading to as well. Spotting, him, she stopped and offered him a wave.
“Hey Thor.”
She hadn't talked to him since his return, but the big beefy guy was hard to miss.
She herself was pretty memorable, once anyone had met her. Long, dark hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a force of personality that better befitted a big beefy guy than a short, slimly muscled woman.
***
“Thalia! It is good to see you.”
He clapped a hand on her shoulder, gently, and smiled widely.
“How have you been, oh thunderbearer?”
His grin was warm and welcoming. She had made an impression on greeting him. He was truly glad to see her.
***
Thalia was strong, but the clap on her shoulder nearly sent her staggering. Big, beefy guys and their big, beefy hands.
“Doing great,” she said cheerfully, once she got her feet back from under her. “How're you settling back in? I haven't seen any major thunderstorms lately so I guess you're doing okay?”
***
Thor grinned at her, glad to see her. She was a warrior and a good person, he felt.
“I am… doing better. Slowly but surely the blight of early days is passing. For which I am glad.” Some small bad things were possibly ahead, but he steadfastly was not thinking of such.
“I am finding myself settling in, finding a possible career, and enjoying learning a new life.” He nodded. He truly had begun a new life here.
***
“A career?” Thalia lifted her eyebrows. Somehow she couldn't see the Norse God of Thunder on some sort of career path. She had a sudden vision of him in a business suit and behind a desk, where his big, needy knees kept ramming into the desk, and she had to stifle a laugh.
“Where are you working?” she asked with a relatively straight face.
***
Thor grinned at her. “Not the way most think of it, perhaps. More something I would have done back home, had I not been young and impulsive.” He shook his head as he briefly remembered those days. Ugh.
“I am a brewer, working at the Off Broadway Taproom. Tis my intent to perfect my ambrosia, both the alcoholic and nonalcoholic kinds, and to open my own brewery where a closed one now stands.” He smiled as he nodded.
“And possibly a smithy in the back. It has been too long since I raised a hammer for ought but war.” He longed to hear the clang of it again.
***
...yeah, okay, she could see that. And although Thalia was no fan of alcohol, she had to admit it made sense for Thor to do that kind of thing. The beer place must be counting their blessings right now, too.
“So is the taproom suddenly getting a lot more lady customers?”
He wasn't her type, but Thalia definitely knew how attractive the dude was.
***
Thor smiled to her, glad she was taking his words well. He laughed at her question. “Aye, a little. Not as much, yet.” He chuckled. He had noticed such, but he did not pay it much mind, anymore. “I have been contributing many recipes to the kitchen as well.”
He grinned at her. “Otherwise, life here has only gotten better.””
***
“Uh huh,” Thalia said skeptically. She was pretty sure that if women knew Thor was working in a brewery, they’d stampede over to be served by him. She left him to his illusions, though, and let him change the subject.
“Yeah? How has it gotten better?”
***
Thor sometimes did not really notice that. He used to, all the time, but he had changed, a great deal. He smiled, now, as she asked, and nodded.
“Aye, from heartbreak and loss, to joy and hope, this year has run, and I find myself faced with hope for brewing new drinks of a unique kind, hope for the care of a beautiful woman, and hope for the return of a good friend.” His smile could split the sky as he spoke, full of the feeling inside him.
***
“That’s great,” Thalia said. She wasn’t one for flowery language, though she was well aware of Thor’s penchant for it.
Since they had both been heading into the store, she pulled open the door as she continued the conversation. “So no more cause for giant lightning storms?”
***
Thor laughed and shook his head, stepping in and then holding it for her in turn. “Not at all. There have been darker moments, but as yet… no reason for thunderstorms. I apologize for that, again. The shock was sudden, and harsh, and caught me sadly unprepared.”
His eyes echoed earlier sadness for a moment, then he shook his head.
“Madison Valley has been bringing many firsts for me, for good and ill.”
***
“Yeah, that's pretty much a thing,” Thalia agreed as she stepped in. “Madison just likes to screw with you in general. I guess it's a matter of enjoying the good whole you can and not sweating the bad.”
Easier said than done - she had personal experience with that - but that was the general idea, anyway.
***
“Exactly! You are wise for your years, friend Thalia. This place is blessed to have you.” He nodded, smiling a little.
“I've not ahead managed such a thing, but it is wise, nonetheless.”
He wanted around the store they we're now in as he got a basket. “What brings you here, this day?”
***
“Out of Tupperware,” Thalia explained, using the term to refer to food containers in general. “I seriously don't know where they all go, because we buy a ton of them and they keep going missing. Probably to the same place socks go.”
She considered the baskets, then picked one up after all. Just because she was here for something specific didn't mean she wouldn't pick up other things while she was there.
“What're you here for?”
***
“Food stuffs, herbs for ambrosia making, mason jars and large containers for ambrosia storage and mixing, vinegar and silver polish for Mjolnir, and a few other things.” He grinned ruefully. Upkeep did take a bit of work..
“General groceries, more or less, I suppose it is said.”
***
Thalia's ears perked up at one of the things on his list. While it was a long shot that his ambrosia was the same as theirs…
“You make ambrosia? Like...the healing kind?”
***
Thor nodded.
“At it’s fullest strength, aye. It will do so. In lesser strengths, it is a refreshing agent, or an alcoholic drink. I have also crafted a version that has had the alcohol strained out, and still packs the kick of it, and some of the rejuvenating properties.”
He nodded, curious at her reaction. “You have it in your world, as well?”
***
“Yeah, but it's different for us,” Thalia said, a little disappointed. Demigods were sturdier than most people, but they still got banged up. Ambrosia was their quick-fix elixir, but it sounded like what Thor was making wasn't really the same thing. It was probably to be expected, though. They weren't even from the same pantheon, let alone the same world. Drinks didn't work the same way.
“Ours will pretty much burn us alive if we drink too much, but in small doses t heals us. I ran out of mine a long time ago.”
***
Thor listened, curious,“Ah. Full strength Ambrosia would kill a human, most humans, anyway, but not burn them, that I know of, and I do not know how it would treat Demigods.” he shook his head.
“I fear I do not know how close to yours this could be.”
***
“It's okay,” Thalia said, resigned. “Figured. Oh well. We’ll just have to try not to kill ourselves here.”
A much easier task without monsters trying to eat them at every turn.
“Anyway…” she pointed her thumb down the aisle she needed to go. “Gotta get my stuff. Take care of yourself, big guy.”