14533/Discordants: After the Battle

Discordants: After the Battle
Date of Scene:	28 March 2023
Location:	Central Gardens - Atlantic Starport
Synopsis:	Zatanna and Thor speak after the battle at the Starport.
Cast of Characters:	Thor, Zatanna Zatara

---

Thor has posed:
    There is the sound of the world yet it does not reach him.
    The silence is more felt than perceived. Footsteps move across rubble and tile, boots leave their print in the dust and mire of debris. There is celebration. Bright faces, alive eyes. People rush past him in that silence, their features laughing. Some slap him on the back or shoulders. Soldiers. Warriors. Amazons. Sailors. Asgardians. Wakandans. None can fault the brightness in their eyes. For they are people who had met death and walked away alive. The only proper response to that is to celebrate life.
    Which is what they were doing.
    But in that chaos of celebration there was still loss. Fallen. The eyes of the Svartalfar are alternately filled with such feelings of betrayal, hatred, loss. Yet some see freedom and that energy can be seen in their stance.
    Yet Thor.
    He has his own selfish desolation that he is lost in. Even if it is only for these few stolen moments during the heights of such victory. The hammer in his hand seems to look at him as he looks down at it.
    Then the world returns to life as he hears a voice.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
As Malekith's blood spreads across the cracked marble floor, celebration erupts around them. Zatanna still stares down at the crazed marble where she last saw Jane. Someone, an Amazon that she may have met at one time, slaps her across the shoulder, unbalancing her; she looks up, swallowing the iron taste in her mouth and attempts a smile.

She wills herself to look at Thor. Was his last act what caused Jane to disappear from this realm? Or? She feels as caught in that last moment as a fly trapped in amber. Too much happened at once.

With the unerring instinct of a homo magi favored by Persephone, she was knows where Jane has gone but not why. She has not been given that knowledge. The only question that matters to her at the moment.

"Thor?" she lifts her hand, gesturing to the bloody weapon in his hand, unable to voice her question.

Thor has posed:
    She can see it.
    That moment he turns, head tilting just so. Then the instant recognition dawns. That visible shift in his features as he turns away from his thoughts. Instead turns to the here and now. To what is needed. He is armored in strange gear and curious clothing, black and crude in nature in some ways, with dark gloves and that ragged eyepatch. His right hand tenses slightly then the hammer finds itself looped upon a rough looking hook that juts out to the side from his belt, likely a place where other weapons had once been.
    He turns to her and she sees that easy smile though it doesn't reach his good eye. He lifts his chin slightly and says simply, "Zatanna."
    A few steps carry him in her direction and he seems to feel and hear the cheering then, wincing slightly as if the loudness infringed upon his thoughts. Yet he adjusts almost instantly and nods to her, "It seems I have missed much. I returned as soon as I could."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Unwanted the hackney image of an old soap opera comes to her. "John!" Marsha!" John!" An inappropriate laugh wells in her throat and she chokes it back. Exhaling hard, she pushes herself back into the moment, knowing she will revisit the moment that she nearly committed suicide, again and again. And, in her hesitation, let Thor murder Malekith. A rightful killing considering all the death he wreaked, and yet, magic doesn't take righteousness into the balance.

She swallows again, acknowledging the unspoken need to join the world whether they are willing or not. She gulps another breath.

"Welcome home," she closes the distance between them to lay a tentative hand on his shoulder, murmuring, "we will find her, you know. Strange and I."

Thor has posed:
    "Mmm," A sound is all he summons at first.
    He then smiles slightly and nods, "Indeed. We shall." He rests a hand on hers, his eyes going from her face to their hands. Then he turns and steps to the side, taking a deep breath. He says over his shoulder. "But such forces were bound in her. I fear there may be a price she must pay, or some weight will be pressed upon her spirit. We will do all that we can..."
    He lets those words hang there, then he knits his brow. A hand lifts as he points at her, "I..." His face then pinches and he says simply, "I need to know what has passed in my absence. Before I can set one foot before another. Tell me what you can, and perhaps in those words we can find some salvation shared."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Her throat is raw from unshed tears, Zatanna swallows and nods as he pats her hand, replying, "We will. Count on us."

After a pause, "There is always a price. Those who reckon such things might think it fair but not the rest of us poor mortals. If we are worthy, perhaps we will know and help her."

She catches a glimpse of his face as he turns away. "Too much. But," then gazing out over the rotunda, watching the wounded being tended to and the dead being counted and carried away, "I'll try."

"Malekith, tested the waters, after you were taken away. Some were certain you were dead. But Sif and others, never doubted you were alive." Focusing back on him, "How -did- you survive that attack?"

With a wave of her hand, telling him to tell her when he can, she continues, "He tested spells, gathered the dead to power his magic, culling people in different parts of the world. Until three days ago. Was it only three days ago?" A line creases her brow as she tries to recall. "He attacked again. But, SHIELD, yes, SHIELD," she nods twice. "Found them, tracked them and a battle was fought in the South Atlantic. You saw the rest. Today."

Thor has posed:
    A slight nod is given, the tall Asgardian's hands resting on his hips. His good eye distances. He mulls over the words given by her and listens. Shaking his head once when she asks of what passed for him. Though she gives her brief recall to him and he nods at that. Eyebrows rise at the mention of SHIELD then his head tilts slightly as if accepting that that was not infeasible.
    "It is good that Midgard was able to endure, seems I came at a good time though I am sure you and yours would have been able to handle matters..."
    His brow knits. He looks away, then back to her and answers her earlier question. "When Malekith cast his spell on me I was..." He lifts a hand, gesturing to the side, fingers flaring as if imagining himself tossed to the four winds.
    "I believe it was meant to steal my fate from me, perhaps in some way of spell-weaving it would have let Malekith kill me. But Mjolnir..." His eyebrows lift as he rests a hand upon the ancient Uru hammer. Yet his expression is not... pleased. "Mjolnir often acts as it feels it should. I awoke. Elsewhere. Unknowing of myself. I met like souls and we traveled. Eventually I made it here once we..." He takes a deep breath.
    "Once we found my fate." He then shakes his head, "There will be much to do. What do you see before us?" Yet she can tell as he looks across the tableau of chaos and mayhem that is the Starport... he is already gauging and judging where to put what efforts.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"What do I see?" Zatanna takes a quick breath and closes her eyes, suddenly aware of how tired she is. Massaging the place above her heart, her eyes open and she looks down, but not before two Amazons pass close by bearing a shrouded figure stained with blood.

"There are many loose threads to this," she makes a flat, circular motion, encompassing the Starport, "that I don't understand. You say you were sundered from your fate? Who can cut the ties of fate but the Fates themselves, I ask you?"

Shaking her head in wonder at that notion, she sighs. "Malekith said something before...before the end. Did you hear it?" She looks closely at him for a reaction. "He said he could not stop what was happening if he tried." Her hand rises to her throat, "I wondered at that moment, did he mean stop Jane from being taken or all of this?"

Thor has posed:
    A deep breath is taken as Thor lifts a hand and finds himself resting it on the back of his neck, his gaze distanced. Then he looks back at her and takes a deep breath. "We shall unravel it as we can." He turns and starts to walk toward her, a hand resting on her shoulder for a brief moment.
    "Come, let us see what aid we can be. Then I have... much to do." As he says that he gives her shoulder a squeeze, then moves past. For there will be much effort needed to put the Starport in a state of... peace, if not repair.