With Mjølnir in hand and wearing his Asgardian forged armor, Thor was confident that he could take down any threat that might cross his path. Cautiously alert, but not afraid, he trudged through the jungle, keeping his ears and eyes out for… well… anything... friend or foe. The last time he checked his phone, he saw a whole bunch of messages of people in much worse shape, some actually falling prey to these creatures called dinosaurs. He’d seen some flying things on the shore, but they looked a lot like dragons to him. There were also a lot of funny looking birds waddling along the beach, that didn’t look like they’d be a threat to anybody, and now in hindsight they could’ve been good for a meal.
Food wasn’t his primary concern, however, neither was his own safety - his goal was to locate others, whoever he might find, although his siblings, including the newest members of his extended family from last week (El and Stevie) were naturally high on his list. Where exactly he was going, he didn’t really know. All he did know was to move forward because remaining idle in one place on the shore wasn’t part of his nature.
Allison was able to get into a clearing on a higher level of ground, but the memories of what happened right before she found herself waking up with everything of hers lost was shaking her legs enough, she wasn’t sure if she could climb any higher. She wasn’t a climber at all, actually. Never gone hiking of any sort, rock climbing, definitely not. She was a city girl through and through.
At least she could be assured that she wasn’t the only one of the Derleth crew that was out of their element. She was, however, physically alone right now.
Allison stood up a little taller, tilting her head at the sky, hoping to find the streak of lightning Loki had told her to look for.
How vast was this realm? Impatient that he hadn’t seen anybody yet, he stopped and pulled out his phone. Others had posted since he last checked, but he focused only on the one that mattered to him, right now. Scrolling through Loki’s post, catching up on what was newly written, he came across something that made him go, “Oops.” Loki told Allison to look for his lightning and to follow that. Yes,Thor had said that’s what he’d do, back on the beach, but he’d been so distracted that he never got around to doing it. Should he do it now? Maybe he should do it now. If somebody was looking for it, yeah… he really should.
Looking up, he found a spot where the jungle canopy overhead wasn’t as thick, being able to see sky through the branches. Thor then raised Mjølnir high over his head. Thunder started rumbling as dark clouds formed over that one area. Lightning then crackled in multiple branches, causing a spectacle that could be seen for miles, and frightening the wildlife away. It lasted several seconds, and had scorched a hole through the trees where the lightning came through. Thor lowered his hammer and frowned. What now? Wait, and hope it had been seen.
Even though she was looking for it, Allison had not realized it was going to be as close as it was. She stumbled, falling to her knees for a moment when the lightning struck, causing the ground nearby to shake enough. Christ, she thought.
Well, no, not Christ, that was definitely Thor. Once the ground stopped moving, Allison straightened up again, looking in the direction of where that had come from, which was easy to detect considering how many small creatures were running away from it? She took a risk when she yelled out “Thor?!” in that direction as well. If anyone was going to take her by surprise again, it would probably be distracted anyway.
Climbing off the ledge as carefully as possible what with most of her skin exposed, she started in the general direction of the smoke and scent of burnt leaves.
Thor heard his name being called, and he twirled around to face that direction. The voice was very close, but strong, which was a very good sign. “Who’s there?” It sounded like a woman, so he followed his question with another, “Allison?”
He began marching toward the voice, using his strong arms to push aside the vines and underbrush, but stopped and grinned when he saw her heading his way from a distance. “YES! It worked!” He recognized Allison from around the campus, especially at the parties, but hadn’t really interacted with her much before.
Proud of himself, and also relieved, he continued clearing a path to get to her. He noted her distinct lack of clothes, but didn’t gape or comment about it, because if that was how she wanted to look, then alright.
“Oh, thank god,” she said as he approached, and then realized the unintended pun in that statement. She folded her arms over her chest as well. Sure she may have worn swimsuits this skimpy before but this attire wasn’t exactly with her consent.
And it was very drab to begin with. “I’m so glad you’re here. Did you know that we can die easily in this world? And then you come back to life except you come back to life without your clothes and you have no idea where they could be.”
Thor’s expression fell when Allison’s words sunk in and he realized… she was in her underwear… and so that meant? She had died and experienced this first hand, and this wasn’t some fashion choice. Eyebrows furrowed, he thought for a moment, and then detached the cape he wore from his shoulders. Stepping forward, he held it out and wrapped it around Allison and asked in a deep, concerned voice, “Are you alright? Do you need me to find your clothes?”
He would’ve offered to find the body, but the way he chose felt less… traumatic.
Allison would be grateful for that for many days to come, she thought, as she took the cape and pulled it over her shoulders. “I don’t think you’re going to make it back here if you try,” she said. “When I woke up, nothing I was standing around looked like anything I was near before.” Which had meant she’d obviously woken up at another point on the island. But then again, she barely had much time to familiarize herself before she was being attacked by something.
All she had seen were teeths as her last sight, and the thought of them again made her shudder slightly. “But thanks, I appreciate it. Maybe it’s better to just… move on, make some camp somewhere.”
Thor carefully watched Allison’s expression to see how she’d react, expecting her to break down, but there wasn’t a single tear. With his hand still resting upon her shoulder, he did feel the shudder, so he knew she was trying to stay strong. In a way, that was good… they weren’t in a safe enough place for that sort of thing, although Thor wouldn’t have blamed her. He didn’t know much about Allison’s background, but the first thing he thought was, This is a fighter.
Thor looked around, taking in their immediate surroundings, estimating their situation. Finding a safe area was important, as well as locating a fresh source of water. The dense canopy of leaves overhead made it difficult to check the sky and find the position of the sun, so he just picked a likely direction, and with a curt nod of his head he guided Allison, “This way.”
He wasn’t confident, but he could sure fake it, especially now that he felt that he had somebody under his care.
“At home, my parents… mostly father… insisted I be trained in all matters of battle and survival in the wild. In case of emergencies.. I went through the instruction because it was fun, but never thought I’d actually need to need it.”
In all honesty, Allison thought that anyone who was able to overcome a lot of shit in Derleth, especially the terrifying aliens that ripped you apart and only used sound to find out, was a fighter. But they had all been through their own shit in their own worlds so maybe those were the kinds of people Derleth liked to just pick to bring over into this world.
Allison tugged at the cape closer, making sure she wouldn’t accidentally step on it as she followed his lead. “That’s cool. I assume he did it because he cared about you and wanted the best for you.”
“Probably,” he said with a chuckle. “But more likely because heir to the throne, and I need to learn responsibility” He used his best impression of Odin he could, which was pretty bad, repeating the phrase that was often told to him. He laughed at his own silliness, not taking it very seriously. “Father wants the best for Asgard and her people, that’s the natural position of any ruler.” There were no hard feelings of anger toward his parents or feelings of being deprived, this was how he was raised, it was normal. “Which is why I’m in no rush to become king.”
He looked down at Allison, “What of you? What is your life like?”
Her father was most certainly not like that, she thought, but she couldn’t help smiling at Thor, as he talked about his. Quite often, Allison would have wished for a normal childhood and a father who had actually wanted to be their father, not make an army of child soldiers for the sake of fame.
“Uh… my life was not like that. But of course, I’m not royalty in my family or anything. Our father adopted me and a few of my siblings. We all had some sort of superpowers that he thought would be useful in protecting people in our world. He raised us to be heroes basically.”
Adopted! Just like Loki! Thor smiled when his mind made that connection. He knew that the Lokis he met in Dereth both had problems with their adoptive dads (Odin, All-Father) but still didn’t stop his automatic response of happiness. “Superpowers? That’s amazing. What is your special ability?” He couldn’t recall Allison ever displaying any extraordinary skills, so maybe hers was less showy.
The more Thor thought about it, he came to the conclusion, “In a way, the way you were raised is similar to mine. We were trained from childhood with the end goal of serving others… you and your siblings as superheros, and me as a future king.” This introspection wasn’t made bitterly, just spoken as a matter of fact. “How many brothers and sisters do you have? I grew up an only child.”
Allison was successful in not showing any bitterness in her own smile that was still on her face, any strain at all, because she had a feeling they were definitely not. Thor seemed like he grew with love in his life from his parents and siblings; Allison, not so much. “Mental manipulation,” she said, feeling a little weird when she said it aloud. Wasn’t really the most ethical of powers, when you could control someone with a few words. “I could get people to do and think of whatever I want them to.
“I’m not sure if our father knew about our powers before he adopted us but somewhere we all have them and he had us since we were babies. I have one other sister and five brothers.”
Thor thought he heard a twig snap behind them and quickly looked over his shoulder ready to go on the defense if necessary, but as he carefully stared at the foliage, he determined that nothing was there and that they were still safe… relatively speaking. And though he was on alert , he was still able to give attention to what Allison was telling him.
“That is some very powerful magic,” he said, impressed by the description of her power. “I can see many instances where that could come in handy.” He smiled, imagining how much free ale he could get if he had that ability… how easily he could exploit it… and how dangerous it would be to have such control. “Does it work on dinosaurs?” he asked, trying to make a joke.
“So many!” Thor was pleasantly astonished by how large Allison’s family was. “You’re very fortunate, indeed. “You must tell me all about them… I know no better way to pass the time.”
Allison laughed, wishing that it really had worked on anything but humans. “Unfortunately not,” she said, having also tensed up slightly at the sound of the snap. God, she wished it actually worked. Maybe it would have been less of an ethical dilemma in general if she was able to convince animals to do her bidding instead. Imagine, instead of rumoring a bank robber to shoot his colleage in the foot, she rumored a dinosaur to pick him up and toss him out the window.
“I will tell you all about them, Thor. Once we get to a safer spot.”