Check-In: Not-Mother Hen

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty sat at the bar with a cup of coffee and her notebook, watching the 'welcoming committee' make themselves busy. Liz was here, as she'd promised Kitty she would be and Kitty gave her a quick smile of encouragement.

One of the worst things about Check-In Days was that you never knew whether it'd be a whole long day of no one arriving, one spectacular fall from the ceiling and dropping dead after another, or anything in between. It made it hard to know what to do with yourself. After awhile, you got used to it and just kept on with whatever you'd do otherwise, and know that if you didn't step up for a new arrival, someone else would. But for someone not used to treating it like a responsibility to be here, especially someone with Liz's anxious need to be perfect at it, Check-In Day could be emotionally exhausting.

So Kitty made sure to have milk warmed for hot cocoa and her plans for the obstacle course handy in case Liz needed something to do with herself. Otherwise, she was working on a modification of Cerebro to see if she could start detecting new arrivals.


[ooc: Regular check-in day gathering post. If you want Kitty, ping me.]

Comments

Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor closed his eyes for just a second as the reality of what had happened began to settle in. And when he opened them, he was somewhere else.

Whatever sorrow, whatever anger he felt at himself quickly transformed into vigilance. Thor's hands tightened around the grip of Stormbreaker as he turned around, eyes narrowing as he circled the patch of sandy earth beneath his feet.

He was sure of it. This was one of Thanos' illusions. He was using the Reality Stone. He hadn't really left; he waited until they had their guard down, then manipulated their perception of reality while they were still vulnerable.

Malekith had used it before. It'd been called the Aether then. He'd used it poorly. He knew Thanos would use it correctly. This?

Thor could feel the sun beating down on him. He could feel the breeze knock the sand against his legs. Everything about this place felt real.

This was using the Reality Stone to its full potential.

"You're a coward!" he shouts, though he sees no one. He's sure Thanos can hear him from wherever he is. "If you want to fight, let's fight. No illusions! No tricks!"

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

Sunny's spear training has progressed to the point that he's considering a mock battle for her and Molly, each at the helm of a different group. He's out marking terrain, spear at hand, when he hears the bellow of someone calling out an enemy.

Immediately, he's alert, ready, and trotting toward the voice of fury and frustration. He allows himself no conclusions about who, what, why--that will dull his ability to respond to the actual situation as it presents itself.

When he sees the fully armored not-quite-a-giant, looking around wildly, Kash let his spear arm relax enough that another warrior should see he's not offering threat but prepared to defend. "Oi! Who are you calling a coward, man? Most people need to meet me before they start hurling insults."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor spins around and his eyes quickly focus on the man standing in front of him. Even after years of dealing with Loki's illusions, he isn't sure what to think here. Is this man Thanos in some other guise? Is this some illusion he's cobbled together to manipulate him? Thor isn't sure, and the vigilance he feels registers on every line of his face and in the crease of his brow.

"What kind of trickery is this?" he demands. He shifts his leg, but doesn't yet narrow the space between him and the other man. He's all too ready to move the second he senses danger.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

This man is probably a new arrival and, therefore, more dangerous now than he would ordinarily be. Still, he's not immediately threatening Kash, so Kash remains at a relaxed alert.

"Wish I knew," he answered honestly. Although what he'd do with the information now was a lot different than what he'd have done with it when he first arrived. "But whatever you think it is, it's probably not."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's body doesn't relax at the answer. He still doesn't entirely believe this isn't one of Thanos' tricks.

"What is it, then?"

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

"All right, look."

Making an open show of the movement, Kash rests his spear upright. It's a clear statement of intention not to attack that a guy in this kind of armor is bound to recognize. Whether he trusts it or not is a different story. But Kash has magic if he doesn't. And it's not like Kash trusts him either. He's just a little more confident of the terrain.

"The truth is, I don't know what's going on here any more than you do. A year ago, I was in the same position you're in." Almost exactly. "Looking for the giants I just defeated and the dragon I hadn't yet and the woman I was doing that with. She showed up a few months ago, pregnant, with my kids, and I still haven't figured out how we got here."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

What was this?

This was starting to feel less like something Thanos would come up with. He might have been in it for the long game with the Infinity Stones, with wiping out half the galaxy, but he wouldn't toy with him this long, or in this way.

It wasn't his style.

"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about, but I am getting out of here right now."

Thor lifts Stormbreaker into the air and he's engulfed in a pillar of light --

-- which promptly vanishes and reappears a scant 10 feet away from where he stood. It dissipates, leaving Thor slightly further away from Kash and more confused than he was about fifteen seconds before.

Thor turns and looks at Stormbreaker, befuddled, then gives it a tap with the butt of his hand, the way someone might give a malfunctioning remote.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

Kash knows better than to get in the way of a big dude with a warhammer who thinks he's going somewhere. As long as this guy isn't trying to hit him or anyone else, he'll let him try.

So he watches when the guy lights up like a sacred flame, adding magic to his inventory of what he knows about the threats this guy can offer, and he's about to Send to Z about taking a flyover to see if they can find him, when he reappears, ten feet over.

Kash stifles a laugh. "Yeah. Should've warned you about that," he calls out. "You can travel four hours in any direction, but there's no 'out of here'."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"No," Thor says, and that word basically makes it law.

"I ventured to Nidavelli to have this hammer-axe crafted by the Dwarf King Eitri. It was forged from pure Uru melted down by the heat of a dying star."

He looks at it with the same look he gave Hulk when he announced that they were friends during the Contest of Champions and the Hulk thusly proceeded to shatter his shield and send him flying.

"I am leaving," he pronounces. "You will watch me leave. And you will be impressed."

Thor will not be here to witness the look of awe in this man's face when he witnesses Stormbreaker and him in all of his glory, but he briefly imagines it, then lifts Stormbreaker up into the sky. Once again, he's engulfed in a pillar of light --

-- only to resurface right next to Kashaw.

"Come on!" he yells at no one in particular.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

The way he says 'no', Kash is ready to Send to Z again, this time just to have company watching this guy 'impress' him. Then he recalls another big loudmouth (and his enormous trouser snake) and decides to hold off, not because he thinks the guy's actually going to succeed, but... Who knows why?

Maybe it's schadenfreude. Maybe it's the other loudmouth.

"Go ahead," he mutters, tucking his spear beneath his arm and crossing his arms over his chest. "Impress me."

Another burst of light. Another failed teleport. Kash unfolds his arms to do what he's been informed is a 'golf clap'. "You know, my girlfriend could probably fix that thing if it's on the blink."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"I just built this thing!"

Thor frowns down at Stormbreaker. Then he looks over at Kash enviously. Not because Kash had a girlfriend and he did not, but because his hair was long and voluminous and his hair had been shaved off within the last fortnight by a creepy old man against his will.

"Is your girlfriend a famous smith?" he asks.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ingofthehundred]

This guy. Seriously a head case. But it reminds of the Big Guy.

"She's a famous adventurer," Kash decides to say. Because she is. They both are, after Thordak. "She's just an excellent smith."

It's not the question the guy really needs an answer to, which is whether Z can make his hammer work (which...just... he's not going to think about the fact that he just thought of thought), but far be it from Kash to be that helpful.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor is now reasonably convinced that this is not one of Thanos' tricks, though he is not convinced that there is no way out of here. Saying something was impossible was simply saying that you had given up. Thor was not going to give up. The Nine Realms (or what remained of them) needed him.

"Will she need to hold it?" he asks. This seems important.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

River was behind the bar in the Copper Cafe, because.. well she didn't have a reason other than she'd wanted a drink and she had two hands so she didn't need someone else to mix it.

Somehow a drink had turned into sangria, which was why she was currently standing behind the bar diligently cutting peaches into slices.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes a seat the bar, then settles Stormbreaker on the bar next to him. He's pretty sure it can transform into something more subtle just as Mjölnir did, but this isn't Earth and he's wearing armor anyway, so why really try to keep up the facade of normalcy?

"I need a drink," he says.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

She looked up from the peaches, popping a piece in her mouth as she eyed the man. Somewhere in her head she could actually hear Amy whistle, but then Amy had always liked a man in armor that was why she and Rory had kept the Centurion costume.

"You look like you could use one," she agreed, realizing because she didn't recognize him that he was a new arrival. "Do you have a preference or should I just find the highest proof liquor we have and start pouring shots?"

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"Highest proof," he says. "And don't bother with the glasses." Thor's seen a shot glass before. He has no idea how humans consume their alcohol in such wee little cups. Then again, humans seemed to lack the appropriate physiology to consume copious amounts of alcohol. Little cups were probably just right for them.

"You should take one for yourself, though," he says encouragingly.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

"Thank you for permission," not that she needed it. She scanned the bottles, picked out the Bacardi 151 and slid it across the bar to him without a glass. "I'll wait for the sangria to be ready." Which meant she needed to mix it. Back at the peaches she started to muddle some of the slices into pulp with mint leaves and sugar.

"Don't give yourself alcohol poisoning. And if you pass out I'm leaving you where you fall." She wouldn't be able to lift him even if she cared enough to try to move him. She might call for help.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"I do not know if this brings you any comfort, but I am Asgardian," he says. "I can hold my drink."

He peels back the plastic wrapper easily, opens the glass, then tips it towards her in a gesture that's half a toast, half a show of gratitude.

He proceeds to down a quarter of it before finally setting the glass back down on the bar.

"Do you know the man with the pretty hair?" he asks. Thor attempts to draw out the shape of his hair over his own head, letting the space between his hands narrow as they form what he hopes resembles the shape of a braid cascading over one shoulder.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

It didn't comfort her, but she decided if he wasn't worried she wouldn't waste time being worried. She looked up from measuring peach liqueur into the pitcher in time to see the miming of the length of the hair.

"Pretty hair doesn't actually narrow it down all that much," she laughed, but the braid did. "Vax? Or Kash?"

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"The one with the brown hair," Thor says, not sure if it's going to narrow anything down. "I had nice hair like him once."

Thor sighs. It is a long-suffering sigh. He has long-suffered since Sakaar. Still, this particular memory pains him greatly.

"A creepy old man shaved it off, though. It was deeply traumatic."

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

"Kash then," probably. She scooped ice into the pitcher and then added sparkling wine.

"And be grateful the old man only cut off your hair, there are other things that wouldn't grow back nearly so easily." The innuendo was implied.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"What, like my thumbs?"

Thor balls his fingers into fists and wiggles his thumbs. "I agree, wouldn't grow back nearly so easily. Pretty difficult to do things without thumbs, too. Can't really hold anything. Not easily, anyway."

As if to demonstrate, Thor makes perfect use of his perfect thumbs to grip the bottle and lift it so he can have another swig of the fine alcohol she has provided.

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_everybodylives]

That made her laugh as she added the sliced peaches to the pitcher and stirred.

"Thumbs are important." She got a glass and filled it for herself and sipped.

"I assume someone explained where you are?"

Re: Thor - Assigned Threads

[st_ormbreaker]

"Yeah, mostly. Found my room. It's nice. Very colorful. I like the shower. It has a seat in it."

All important attributes for the room he was going to be calling home for the time being.

"Is there anything else I should know, though? Anything that the moneyman may have not told me?"