[GP] SNOW DAY

[st_ratagem]

Thor and Loki got an early start, because there was a lot to do. Almost two weeks to the day since their first small-but-successful experiment with snow, Loki was confident that he'd improved enough for a bigger experiment. Still snow, because Thor wanted it and it did seem like a decent way to try something big-ish without causing Loki unnecessary grief with the other residents. (It was an arrival day, so there would perhaps be some grief with any new arrivals, but that was entirely acceptable.)

It was before dawn when they went out into the grounds. Thor called up clouds and loaded them with water so they hung low and heavy, covering the sky so that the sun, when it rose, wouldn't ruin the event. Loki took his frost giant shape and staff (now very familiar to his hand) and concentrated on dropping the temperature. Just around the Inn and grounds, but that was enough to be serious effort.

When the snow first started, the flakes were big and wet, and melted as soon as they hit the ground, which was still on the warm side. As they melted, they cooled the ground. After an hour or so, the flakes were smaller and more powdery - real snow, not glorified slush - and they were starting to stick to the ground.

By mid-morning, the Inn and grounds were covered with a thick layer of snow, and it continued to fall.

***

Meanwhile, indoors and inspired by the snow, Hurley and Xavin decided to try and make cookies. Cooking together was fun, since neither of them exactly knew what they were doing apart from 'follow the recipe', but since the point was 'try to make cookies' they ended up with a lot of cookies. Sugar cookies, gingerbread, all kinds.

There was no way they'd be able to eat all of them.

Instead, they loaded them onto trays and hauled them to the cafe, then brought out various frostings and candies for decorating. This had been completely intentional. Completely.

Comments

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"The first of many," Thor says, with his usual bravado. "I haven't been as good of a brother to him as I could have been. I'm trying to make up for it now."

Thor turns Tony's hand around and kisses it on the knuckle.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Think I should sweet talk him into erecting an ice block? I wanna try Mark 50's hand at sculpting." The first sculpture would be himself, in all likelihood. But he would branch out.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"You can ask, but it took a lot of nagging just to get him to do this." Thor waves an arm out at the scene. "Maybe you can persuade him during your next lunch date."

Were they still doing that? Thor wasn't sure.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony shrugged. He could always call in the favor, but it seemed too precious to use just for that. He lightly wiggled his fingers in Thor's grip, turning to take a seat right on Thor's waist.

"You're gonna wanna summon the weather theatrics for your Christmas gift."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor lets out a light oof as Tony claims his waist as his chair.

"What do you mean?"

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Trust me." Tony tossed a wink down towards the larger man. "It's finished and wrapped up nice and pretty in my lair."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor grins up at Tony. He could be impossibly cute at times, and when he looks down at him and winks, Thor just wants to pick him up and squeeze him.

He somehow manages to resist the temptation.

"I don't really need an umbrella, you know."

He'd still love any umbrella Tony gave him, though.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"You underestimate me." An umbrella? Tony tapped Thor's lips with his gloved finger in a light reprimand. "This gift...it comes from the heart." Near-literally.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"You're enjoying this," Thor says. Two can play that game. "I'm almost done with your gift. You'll want to make sure you have the right technology around to use it."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Don't I always?" Tony grinned, eyes shining competitively and with affection.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor reaches up to Tony's face and gives him a few idle pats of the cheek.

"I look forward to seeing what you came up with, Stark."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Oh, I get ‘Stark’ today.” Tony gave him a playful blink. “Am I in trouble or something?”

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"Stark is starting to feel more like a nickname than your actual name."

Thor had called Tony "Stark" for so many years that it felt more like his name than Tony. But now, things had changed and a few months of calling the man by his given name had made the name Stark feel strange on his tongue.

"But to answer your question, no. If I were angry, I'd call you Anthony Edward Stark, the way you humans do." Thor taps the side of Tony's face affectionately.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Christ.” Tony bent over, rubbing his forehead at the mere thought. “I’d sooner you smack me upside the head hammer-first.”

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"What part do you object to? The Anthony or the Edward?"

Had Thor been asked to call Tony by his given name a few years ago, he almost certainly would have called him Anthony. A few years in space after the Battle of Sokovia had softened him in a way that nothing else had in the over millennia before it. Those visits with Tony probably helped, too; he slowly developed a sense of humor after hours of Tony Stark-esque quips. Everything was not nearly as formal as it had been.

So it was not Anthony, but Tony.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Yes.” Tony lifted an inch only to fall back down on Thor petulantly.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor let s out another little oof at that, but offers no words of protest.

"I wouldn't mind it if you used my middle name," Thor says instead.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony tossed up a hand, gesticulating his shock. "You've got a middle name."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"No, but I wouldn't mind it if you called me by it." Middle names weren't exactly a thing in Asgard.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"We should all be so easy going." Tony batted his eyes. "Sparkles."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"No." Thor reaches up and presses a finger against Tony's mouth. "The last person who called me that was overthrown by his own people in a revolution we started."

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Shaking in my boots.” Tony cupped the back of Thor’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “You and names lately, Big Guy. But you brought Thor Stark on yourself.”

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'll take Thor Stark over Sparkles," he says. "Or Point Break or Big Guy or Blondie or Pirate Angel." Not that Thor has been keeping track of the litany of nicknames he's been given over the years; he accumulated plenty of them even before he came crashing down to Earth when his father cast him out. Plenty of the ones he'd acquired since then had been given to him by Tony himself.

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“I’ll stick with mine.” Tony nudged his large fingers against his own cheek. “Call me Metal Man sometime for old time’s sake.”

Re: Thor & Iron Man

[st_ormbreaker]

"I prefer Man of Iron," he says. "But I'll call you that the next time the occasion calls for it."

When that occasion was, Thor wasn't entirely sure. But he's sure he will know it when it happens.

"You enjoying the weather? I'm not sure how long it's going to stick around."