Torunn’s life drastically changed within a few short days. She kept thinking she’d close her eyes and wake up in her bungalow at home with her foster dad and brothers. However, each day in Goodland proved her wrong. She wasn’t sure how she felt about everything; mostly, she felt like she was in a permanent state of awe. She’d never been around so many people or so far from her family. She was glad James was there at least. He brought a sense of normalcy to a totally abnormal situation.
Then there was Thor.
Torunn didn’t know what to think of her alternate universe dad. He was kind and clearly trying to make her happy, but he was a stranger. Granted, her own universe’s dad was a stranger too. It was just a lot to emotionally unpack. Still, she appreciated Thor looking out for her in such a crazy place, which is why she joined him in the living room as darkness set in outside. She wasn’t sure what questions to ask or how to get to know him, but she’d try since he was acting so kindly toward her. “Um.” She cleared her throat. “Hi. Busy?”
Thor had been excited to see Torunn’s words on her first day there, if only because she was here and being in Goodland (with him, or not) was still a step up from what he knew about her homeworld. His relations with Torunn on the first go around where strange to say the least, but that did not stop him from trying again. He was better prepared, he told himself, though he wasn’t entirely sure that was true either.
Thor had been looking over his scroll, it was a strange bit of something that he didn’t quite understand, but he’d grown used to that feeling working with Tony and Bruce over the years. At least this thing didn’t have buttons that would cause damage if he pressed them. He had been amusing himself with this thought when Torunn approached him.
With a grin, he quickly tossed the scroll away, only haphazardly rolling it in his haste. “For you, of course not.” He told her honestly, “Is everything alright?”
She noticed the haste in which he tossed the scroll, which leant credibility to his words. It also made her feel like she needed to say something clever now that she’d disturbed him, but what? “You said something about showing me something from our world?” Torunn wondered if that was rude. She didn’t really worry about whether she was rude or not at home. No one really cared, except Tony occasionally, but usually only when she and her brothers were too mean to each other. “If you still want to, that is,” she added.
“Oh, yes!” Thor said, his eyes widening a little bit with excitement. He had cherished the gift that the entity had been kind enough to give him when he arrived. He hadn’t been in the best mind set, and the gift of his mother's amulet (along with the support of his friends) had been instrumental in helping him adjust as he did.
He stood, gesturing for her to take a seat on the couch while he retrieved the item he kept in a small wooden box in his room. He sat down near her, and slid open the top of the box, revealing the Asgardian made moon pendant. “This was made by the finest craftsmen in all of Asgard,” Thor said proudly, “It was made for my mother, Frigga, the queen of our people and it’s mightiest witch,” He smiled fondly when thinking of his mother. Her death, the death of his whole family, their whole planet hit him with one solid punch, and for a moment he struggled to move on. But he did, and he smiled.
“Our Asgards might be as different as our Midgards are,” He told her gently. He knew they were, by virtue of the fact that Asgard still stands in her time, but he didn’t feel the need to bring that up. “When I first got here, the Entity gifted it to me to remind me of home, and I give it to you with the promise that I will do my best to make this your home.”
Torunn’s eyes widened as they regarded the beautiful pendant. She never thought she’d see something so pretty, never mind get a chance to own something so lovely. “Thor,” she whispered, “no, it is too much. This is your mother’s! I couldn’t…” Her voice wobbled, partly in anxiety and partly because she was so touched. She, nonetheless, couldn’t help touching the moon ever so gently. “It is truly beautiful,” she added.
“It is yours!” Thor said happily, “It is not the right color for my complexion anyway!” He laughed at his own joke. “I want you to have it, you are my blood, and you are her blood. She would want you to have it, I think.” His mother was a kind woman like that.
“I could put it on for you if you would like to wear it.” He encouraged, not wanting her to give up the pendant.
Torunn bit her lip, but nodded. Her hair hung in a ponytail, but there was a lot of it and it masked her neck so she pulled it to the side. “Thank you,” she said, not quite sure what else to say. Thank you didn’t seem like enough for such a beautiful and sentimental gift.
Thor moved around her, to put the Asgardian pendant around her neck. It took him a few moments of playing with the clasp to actually get it attached, but when he did, he stepped back and he admired his work. “Short of my weapons, it is the only piece of Asgard I have.” He told her, “And now I have you, which is better than any piece of metal from a planet anyway.”
He settled back onto the couch, “There are lots of fun things to do here, you know. There is a bouncing park, and an arcade, and well-- they aren’t here now but I will show you how to play video games when we can, if you want.” He didn’t know what to do with Torunn, but he wanted to figure it out. He wanted her to be happy here for as ever long as she was there.
“A bouncing park?” Torunn had no idea what that meant, but she was touched that Thor obviously wanted to spend time with her. She prayed for that in her reality and now here she was with a version of her dad. She was afraid it was too good to be true.
“Um, yeah, I’d like to do those things,” she said. “If you’ll show me how.” She felt dumb for not knowing how to do everything he mentioned, but she was confident she’d learn quickly.
“Yes!” Thor said with maybe a bit more excited than he should have, he had only been introduced to them here in Goodland, but he thought they were very fun. “Tony and Peter took me to one when I first got here and my… friend Darcy works at one sometimes. They have ….” He paused, trying to remember the word trampoline, but deciding to move on regardless. “They have tramples and they are like tarp that assist you in flight. You bounce on them and sometimes play dodgeball. It is a very enjoyable time.”
“Video games are an indoor thing. I played them a lot on Midgard after a very serious battle.” His face twitched slightly, but he pressed on. “My friends and I would stay inside for long periods of time and entertain ourselves with them. You will learn, I like racing games a lot. There is one called Mario Kart and he drives on the bifrost but they call it Rainbow Road.”
The words all sounded foreign to her, but she nodded, eager to enjoy something Thor wanted to do. “Then I would like to help you race on the Rainbow Road and go bouncing.” She touched the necklace hanging around her neck, still marveling at its beauty. “I should check in with James,” she continued, although she really just wanted time alone to process the gift and everything they discussed. “I will be back soon.”
Thor beamed, proud at the idea that she would be spending time with him. He didn’t know how to be a father yet, but he had seen Tony do it for months now, and he thought that if he could do the same thing, than maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He nodded, when she said that she wanted to go check on James. He could tell that there was something else, but he knew that if he pushed her now, it might not seem well.
“Good night, little one.” He smiled at her.