driftfleet | action and video.

Who: Thor + you
Broadcast: yes, video
Action: First Breath and Blue Fish
When: January 3rd - 4th

closed to Natasha.

[It takes some time for Thor to calm down enough from the shock of his memories to even think about what to do next. He had effectively chosen one thing of importance - Loki - and firmly shoved everything else to the side for hours. To take stock of the rest of it, look his own glaring mistakes in the face, was too much for him at the outset. But Thor isn't selfish at heart. There's only so long he can take focusing on himself before his mind turns to others.

He has to review what he knows from those last shattering moments on Earth with a grim objectivity before he gets in touch with the others. Once he does, it's easy enough to put together some of the pieces from his conversations with Natasha and know she's the one to call.

Not call exactly, but text.]

Can you meet me in the Space Bar?

[He briefly considers saying something else, bracing her for what he wants. There's no way he can think of to put that into text, though, so he doesn't. Once it's sent, he heads over to the Iskaulit to wait.]

action - first breath.

[Thor hadn't exactly been subtle when he came hurtling through the First Breath the night before, running straight through the ship in full battle armor before shutting himself in Loki's room. And that's where he stayed for a long time.

He does eventually come out though, rubbing tiredly at his face and heading into the kitchen. Thor's been here enough times to know where everything is. After a few moments of staring blankly at the countertops and cupboards, unreality threatening to unmoor him, he shakes himself and smacks the coffee pot onto the stove.

He'll be there for a while, drinking coffee at the bench and gazing vaguely at some fixed point on the wall. Still in full cape and mail sleeves. The bone-deep exhaustion in his face might have something to do with it.]

action - blue fish.

[Thor returns to his own ship during the day, knowing abstractly that the Fleet is due to depart this world soon. In the past he would prepare for this, restocking the food supplies and ensuring everything in the armory was locked back into place and accounted for. That was when the ship had more crew, and he hadn't yet become captain. Still, it needed to be done. Regardless of how unworthy he feels when he enters his own bedroom and sees the captain's bed in there.

Thor can be found stacking up crates in the cargo bay, checking through the fridges and freezers, and doing systems checks. Later on, he opts to sit on the top of the ship, watching the snow fall in silence.]

video.

[It's not the sudden reappearance of the short, jagged hair Thor used to sport or the incongruous brown eye where his eyepatch usually is that most dominates Thor's face when the video switches on. It's the weariness etched in hard lines all over him. There's no mistaking it, regardless of his otherwise composed demeanour. He merely nods at the camera before he starts, gruffer than usual.]

For those who knew her, Riona Cousland Theirin has left the Fleet. She was here for over three years, so I know she will be missed by many of us.

[There's a pause as though he might say more, but decides against it.]

The captaincy of the Blue Fish has fallen to me in her place. If you have any questions about that, you can bring them to me. [Thor shuts his eyes briefly, shaking his head.] Or... anything else.

[No doubt there might be some. He switches off the feed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah.

[Even if, in Thor's experience, doing the best he can hasn't been as effective as he wanted it to be. Turning the glass in his hands, Thor looks to Natasha again.]

Because we may be here for a long while yet.

[It's a long time to sit on knowledge of the end of the universe as they know it.]

We could be. [Which means they can't even fix it, they can't even take steps to fight or... or to find out what's next.]

It's all waiting. At this point, there's a good chance we'll be waiting until something else like this happens. All that waiting, then—

[Then that uncanny memory skip, where two things seem to happen at once retroactively.]

[It's enough to make Thor grit his teeth, fingers tight around the glass. He had already spent a year in this place waiting to go home and get back to his people - now he has to wait to go home and avenge them. Find whoever's left. The frustration of it all still hasn't quite left him, despite the layers of shock smothering it for the time being.]

Then a burst of something more from home, whenever it suits them. [Norns, he hates the Atroma. Even despite the fact they've brought Loki back.] I hate it. There has to be something we can do.

[Here, and there. What that is yet he hasn't turned his mind to. But Thor isn't about stopping in his tracks forever. He simply can't.]

There will be. Eventually, there will be. We just have to watch for the opportunity.

[She has to believe that. There's always a moment, an opportunity. Not necessarily to undo what happened, but to do something.]

Be ready when it happens.

[It's not the easiest thing to believe, in the face of everything. Just because it isn't easy though doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. Thor smiles a bit then, more natural than before.]

You know I will be.

I know. [She nods. What else can they do? Neither of them is the kind to lay down and quit.] Hey... come here.

[He pauses for a moment, not knowing exactly what she means. But he slides off the bar stool to stand next to Natasha all the same.]

[Look. She's not entirely sure if this is the right answer, but she's going to do it anyway—she slips her arm around his waist, giving him a one armed hug.

She sort of wishes there'd been someone around to do that for her after she remembered.]

[It's unexpected, especially from Natasha. Theirs had never been a particularly close relationship back home, Natasha too reserved and Thor too constantly in and out of their lives to really have that kind of connection. In the Fleet though, that's changed bit by bit. And right now they stand here the only two Avengers who know how bad things are going to get.

So there's barely a pause before Thor is hugging her back, exhaling heavily.]

[It's different. The kind of thing she'd normally do for Steve or Clint. But she took the risk, and when he returns the hug, she relaxes a little.

It sucks, Thor. It really, really sucks.]

[There's no measurement big enough to describe how much this sucks.]

...thank you.

[He says it before he lets go, grateful that Natasha is here and understands. She may not know the whole story, not from his side. But she knows how it ended and that matters. It's one less person he has to explain it to.]

You're welcome. [She lets him go slowly, letting her head rest against him an instant longer.] I wish it were better.

But if you need anyone to talk to...

[He smiles a little at the offer, but it's hard. Talking feels so self-serving, sometimes. It isn't anything he's accustomed to. Yet Lup's lecturing also sticks in his mind and he has to concede that doing this by himself isn't working very well.

And they have nothing but time on their hands.]

Okay. But know that it goes both ways.

[He's aware now of how much Natasha shouldered on her own. Fairness is in short supply but he'll have to seek some out somewhere.]

[It's not her way to speak up about thins like that normally. That's not likely to change. Still, it's touching to have the offer—to have someone else who does know.]

I'll keep it in mind. Maybe I'll even take you up in it.

[But just having the offer is nice.]

But, well. This is also good.

[He gestures at the bar to make his point.]

Yeah. It is. And I can definitely use another drink.

[Who can blame her? Cultivating functional alcoholism isn't ever the right answer, but sometimes it's a very reasonable answer.]

action and video.

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