strangetrip | [EP] Just chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool

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[EP] Just chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool

Unlike others at the Inn, Clarice didn't get a ghostly visit and she was very much okay with that. She had enough ghosts in her head without visits from home telling her how much she screwed up or will screw up or whatever. Even though the weather had been mild, the sunsets coming later meant that spring was on its way. The nights were still freaking chilly but it was warm enough out now to enjoy the pool. At least a heated one and if it got too cold there was always teleporting to her room. Alcohol helped to keep you warm, too and since the pool had a bar, it was win/win.

Clarice did a few laps in the pool while she waited for her lunch to be delivered. As she came to the end of one lap, she saw Molly with a plate of food. "Perfect timing." Clarice said as she pushed herself out of the pool to eat the chicken and fries with her Manhattan. "Thanks!"

There was a quirk to her lips when she pulled the cherry out of the drink and popped it in her mouth to make a knot with the stem. It was a fun reminder of Thor and she made a mental note to see what he was up to.

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"Tell me about it. I can't physically teleport distances, but I can do it in a lot of jumps so it doesn't wear out my body. Only being able to go so far chafes." It beats being hunted, but it still chafed.

"How far can you teleport?" Thor asks, still idly twirling his umbrella.

"The furthest I've teleported back home was twenty miles but I won't do that again. I almost died. My body couldn't take the distance, it tried to shut down."

Portals had opened up all over the Underground, opening and closing without regard to who might be near. Luckily no one had died, herself included.

"Normally, the furthest I'll do is about ten to fifteen miles. At the inn, I can only go from one end of the barrier to the next."

"Why did you try to teleport so far?" Thor asks. He can only imagine two reasons why someone would do so: testing their limitations to find out where they were, or some sort of danger. He's not sure which is more likely here.

"Sentinel Services were going after a family. It was either that or everyone would have been captured." Her hand absently went to her neck where her mutant inhibitor collar had been when she first arrived. Then with a huff, lowered her hand, ignoring those memories.

"And no one wanted that. Would I do that again to save everyone? Yeah, I probably would."

"It's because you're a protector," Thor replies matter-of-factly, as if this says everything. "On Asgard, it was said that those who developed magical talent were most gifted with the magic that was the truest reflection of themselves."

He's not sure if Clarice agrees, and her powers are hardly Vanir or Asgardian magic, but between her magic and Loki's, the saying rings true to him.

Clarice's lips quirked, "I'm a protector if I like you." That was the truth, if she didn't, she didn't really care what happened to you. "So having the ability to teleport probably goes with that. I teleport you out to help or me out to get out of the way." Amusement was clear in her teasing tone.

Thor chuckles at that. "Protecting some people is still better than not protecting any at all," he says. Clarice's attitude probably isn't entirely uncommon. "There are some people even I wouldn't protect."

"Yeah?" Clarice asked with amusement. Sure that there were probably more than just some. "Want to elaborate?" She teased him with a smile.

"Like my sister," Thor says, wondering if he'd include the Grandmaster in that list. It's then that he realizes he would even protect him.

"Well, from what you've told me about your sister, I get it." Clarice took another sip of her drink, then grinned at Thor. "Though I am surprised that you aren't tempted with your brother."

She did like Loki, but with all the 'tricks' he played on Thor, she probably would have teleported him to the edge of a cliff, if only to teach him a lesson, if it had been her.

"I didn't do much to protect him after he attacked Earth a second time," Thor says. It's true, though; their mother had done far more to advocate for Loki's life than he had. "I returned him to Asgard to face punishment under Asgardian law instead of Earth law; depending on who you ask, it might not seem much of a mercy."

"Eh, to be honest, you did the right thing." Clarice responded easily. "Earth doesn't deal with different well. And if he attacked Earth, they really wouldn't have handled that well. He would probably have been dropped in to the Mariana Trench and never seen again."

"You're probably right," Thor says. "I was hoping that when we returned to Earth, my clout might be enough to shield him, but he doesn't think it will be enough. He refuses to live in disguise, too."

Thor glances at the window. "It's annoying."

"Why is it annoying?" Clarice asked him curiously because honestly the only time in her life that she'd felt comfortable in her own skin, was at the inn.

"He has said that if we settle on Earth and he still lives, we probably won't ever see one another again," Thor says, frowning. "He refuses any disguise entirely. Even temporarily."

"Why wouldn't you see each other again? Because of what happened before?" Clarice knew that people had long ass memories and held grudges a really long time. "He doesn't really have to have a disguise. He can always say that he just looked like the other guy. Now, if you go around saying this is my brother Loki, that might give it away." Her lips quirked. "He can always live in the underground with me and other mutants."

Not that they were from the same world, but the offer was still open.

"You try convincing him of that," he says. "Once he's decided he knows what's right it's impossible to change his mind."

"No wonder Loki and I get along. We share stubborn." Clarice laughed. "So who wins when Loki stubborn, meets Thor stubborn?"

"Lately, usually Loki," Thor says, smiling thinly.

"Cheer up. I bet you'll be able to out stubborn him in no time here." Clarice teased him.

"He definitely has the advantage," he says. Had Loki not died, Thor might have had an easier time holding his ground.

"One more round?" he asks. "I'll tie another stem for you."

He promptly pops a cherry into his mouth in promise.

Edited 2019-04-28 02:18 (UTC)

"You're on, and I'll tie a stem for you." Clarice grabbed a cherry to do just that with a wink at her friend.

Thor somehow manages to mostly hold a grin as he pulls the stem from the cherry with his teeth and begins to work his tongue around it. When he's finally done, he's managed to complete the task even faster than he did the first time.

"Now drinks," he says, pouring out one for his friend, and then himself. "You'll need to tell me what you've been up to since the last time we've met. You haven't said much about yourself this entire conversation."

"You means besides same shit, different day?" Clarice laughed. "Nothing really, besides finding that cave that I told you about."

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