potentially resizing plot

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor chatting idly with Bar, Mjölnir set on the ground nearby, while he looks out amusedly across the bar.

He's often one of the larger people in a room. But today, it seems, that's more true than usual.


[OOC: Thor is not transformed, nor going to be. But kid-shaped people are welcome to come talk to him if they like!]

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[cutting_edgex23]

X steps past Mjölnir carefully, levering herself up onto a barstool so that she can stand eye-to-eye with Thor.

Or, you know. Closer to it than she would while sitting, small as she is just now.

"Thor."

Beat.

"You are not tiny. That is good."

[mjolnir_retriever]

Standing up she's pretty close! Closer than she is while standing on the ground as an adult. Thanks, Milliways barstools.

"I am not," he agrees, amused.

"But you, my friend, are like one of your students."

Probably less breakable, though.

[cutting_edgex23]

"They are teenagers," X says, with a lack of expression that is new, and related to this smaller body. "Most of them."

"It is not the same."

[mjolnir_retriever]

...Uh.

"On your team of Little League?"

He didn't think so, but maybe he's less good at human ages than he thought? It's definitely possible.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes."

She blinks.

"The youngest on the team are thirteen. Now."

Thor can be forgiven, probably, because X's appearance doesn't age. He can have no way of knowing how much time has passed for her in her own world.

[mjolnir_retriever]

Huh.

Well, okay!

"Has it been so long, or were they so old when I met them?"

It's not a big deal, but now he wants to know for a reference point against all the humans he runs into here. He already knows that both time and aging don't work for them the same ways as for Asgardians.

[cutting_edgex23]

X has to pause for a few long moments. Time is not her best skill.

"It has been years."

A pause.

"I do not age. Much."

[mjolnir_retriever]

It's not Thor's best skill either, although for very different reasons. He has a perfectly reasonable and accurate sense of time for an Asgardian, but that means it gets kind of vague in the grey areas between "a few months" and "a year or so" and "a few decades."

Anyway: huh.

Weird!

"Much less, for me," he supplies.

"A difference of Milliways, rather than one between our realms."

[cutting_edgex23]

"It is likely," X agrees.

"I am bad at keeping track."

She tilts her head a little, studying him intently.

"You are okay? And your world."

[mjolnir_retriever]

X's familiar intent look, from a small child's body. It's a little odd, a little disconcerting, but he's certainly seen weirder. And it's very clearly X, no matter what her form, so it's an easy adjustment to roll with.

"I'm well enough."

This is the part where his mun has to decide how this thread fits into Millitime, tra la.

"And Asgard, as it has been. I have been here some time. While I am, the time there doesn't progress in any case."

It's handy! At least sometimes.

[cutting_edgex23]

X does not bite her lip, because she gave herself that tic, and this body doesn't know it.

"It is because Loki is here. That you stay."

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor nods, once.

He makes no apology for this. (Or for much else, to be honest. But definitely not for this.) Still, his body language and mood is a little heavier now.

"For now."

Maybe not for too much longer. Camping out indefinitely here, cut off from everyone at Asgard as if all this were entirely separate, is not ideal. It isn't his longer-term plan, and never has been. That's not what brothers against the world means. But in the very short term, it seemed the best course.

[cutting_edgex23]

"You know he will leave," X offers.

She shifts position, using her weight and her hands on the bar to slide her stool a little closer to Thor's.

Then she leans against him, a small weight, even with her adamantium claws. Smaller now because of her child's size.

"Eventually. I do not know if he will be okay. I know he is not. Yet."

[mjolnir_retriever]

"I know."

That's... to both. Quiet, and heavy.

He leans back, just a careful little. She's so tiny, right now. But she's always tiny next to him; that's not what matters.

"I must return too. For many reasons. But I would have him be as well as I can."

He would have him be wholly well, wholly okay, wholly happy, Thor's brother back again without any of this bitterness and betrayal between them. Unlikelihood -- impossibility -- doesn't change the wishing.

[cutting_edgex23]

"I will help," X says.

It's a promise.

"I like him. Even though he is confusing. A lot."

She turns a bit, moving to give Thor a side-armed hug. Quickly.

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor laughs, low and soft.

"He is."

It's so, so true.

But he's glad. He's glad she likes him. His friends should like Loki; Loki should have noble and steadfast friends here, and everywhere, as he has them at home.

"Thank you, X."

"How are you, my friend?"

Besides tiny?

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am okay. Staying here until I am not small anymore."

She exhales, very quietly.

"I do not feel like killing people. Back home."

And someone would think they could take advantage of her new, smaller size. She knows it.

[rosetintedbubbles]

Steven is walking around the Bar with his bubble pulled in close to him and a look of severe concentration. The close chairs and tables make a fine obstacle course for practice getting used to the size of his shield, but it's kind of tiring. Time for an ice cream sundae? Always!

And there's a new person at the Bar! Or at least someone Steven doesn't know! He rolls up to a stool, dissipates in a sparkle that looks a bit like scattering butterflies, and jumps up on to the seat next to the (very large) stranger. He looks up (and up, wow this person is really big), grinning. " Hi! I'm Steven! Are you getting ice cream too?"

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor has been watching this progression, and the power involved in it, with interest.

Because Thor is Thor, it's a very genial kind of interest, and he grins back readily at Steven's introduction. "Hello, Steven. I'm Thor. I wasn't, but perhaps I should. What kind do you recommend?"

Thor likes new food tips! He's had ice cream a few times, and liked it, but only a few.

[rosetintedbubbles]

HMMM. Important issues! Steven frowns for a moment, then:
" Chocolate Blueberry Durian Douple Scoop! With Sprinkles!"

Ta da! There it is! " The ice cream doesn't have the right smell really, but I like it a lot!" That people should of course get ice cream is just self evident, right?

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor isn't totally sure if Steven was ordering for himself, for Thor, or for both of them. Possibly Bar wasn't either, since the dish appeared between them.

With two spoons. Well, okay, sure, that's an indication! It's teeny for a platter, but Steven is a kid. And possibly human? Unclear so far, though the power indicates maybe not.

Thor has a spoonful, gravely. (Avoiding the sprinkles as much as polite. He doesn't hate them or anything, but he doesn't really see the point in crunchy wax. Though these ones are at least extremely colorful!)

"I like it," he proclaims, with the definite stamp of An Odinson's Judgment Passed.

Actually, the crunchy wax bits are kinda spicy, which at least makes them more interesting inexplicable crunchy wax pieces! So that's cool. (The spiciness is artificial coloring. They will not taste spicy to human tastebuds.)

[rosetintedbubbles]

Steven beams. " It's my favorite! Pearl says it's weird, but Pearl doesn't always understand food. --What's your favorite?" Clearly these are the important issues!

[mjolnir_retriever]

"I've gotten that impression," he agrees, amused.

Assuming it's the same Pearl, and all. But she definitely seemed the type -- and, you know, species -- to not properly understand food. (Poor thing. Food is awesome!)

The question is one to think over seriously, though.

...But not for too long. Thor's a decisive man. "Mocha," he announces.

He hasn't had too many flavors of ice cream, but Bar did eventually make sure he knew about this particular coffee variant. He approves.

[rosetintedbubbles]

Oooh!
"And can we have a mocha please, Monsieurette Bar?" Steven's never sure where to look with her. He ends up sort of waving at space.

...There is a pause.

And then two cups of mocha, one fairly large and one very, very , very child-sized , appear.

[mjolnir_retriever]

"It comes in ice cream, too," Thor informs him, because Thor's understanding of caffeine and its effect on kids versus adults is pretty vague. Bar can be trusted with this stuff better than him!

Anyway, thanks, Bar! He has a swig.

Admittedly, it is better with -- hey, thanks again, Bar! (This thought process occurs as he sets the mug back down, and its level of liquid nudges up very slightly, as if perhaps someone had magically teleported a shot of rum in.)

"It's coffee and chocolate. A drink of Earth."

Steven's is probably mostly chocolate.