409/How Many A's Are There In 'Svartalfar'

How Many A's Are There In 'Svartalfar'
Date of Scene:	10 March 2020
Location:	Norway
Synopsis:	Thor shows Kitty a place of his past, one of both beauty and battle
Cast of Characters:	Thor, Kitty Pryde

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Thor has posed:
    Kvalvika beach, in Norway is one of the truly most beautiful places in the world when the weather is right. When is has slipped free of the talons of Winter, fleeing its grasp and embracing the sun, it is a place that shines and gleams with such brilliance that it almost can seem like a place entirely alien. It's tall cliffs, the emerald water, the purity of its white sand. It all comes together as realistic implementation of an ideal that might give even a god's mind a moment of introspection.
    Then there is the flash of rainbow brilliance, a beam of energy rushing through from the sky, illuminating the water and the sand as it glows, flashes, and then withdraws. Once it takes its leave it leaves its mark upon the sand, some burnt, some turned to glass, and two figures there in the sun's light, one tall, one not. The man known as Thor lifts a hand to his brow to shield his eyes and smiles a little.
    "This is where we were." A smile twists his features, "When I was young."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde's eyes are still skyward at the retreating rainbow-hued beam of energy. She thinks to herself, "I just know Hank is going to ask me for details. Doubt he's ever traveled through an Einstein-Rosen bridge before." She doesn't call it that to Thor though, just turns her eyes back down upon the beautiful coastal panorama before them.

"Wow," Kitty says quietly. "Admittedly, when I think 'gorgeous beaches', Norway isn't at the top of my mental list." She reaches over to brusher her hand gently over Thor's side for a moment before stepping away from him into the sand. "Though perhaps I'll have to revise that," she says.

Kitty walks down nearer to the water's edge, pausing before the ribbon of sand where the waves are washing up. She turns back towards the Asgardian then, the sun on the water behind her seeming like a halo of light surrounding her. "I imagine it looked far different then though?" she asks him. "What brought matters here? Or was it chance?

Thor has posed:
    "I have..." Thor looks sidelong to Kitty, quirking an eyebrow as he turns. Dressed in his armor, long cape billowing in the slight breeze coming in off the ocean, he tilts his head curiously and smiles. "E'er felt a connection with this place. Even before it became the battleground when our forces met against the Svartalfar."
    His armor clicks faintly as he moves, the small plates and leather cuirass curved close to his broad chest and bound tightly yet leaving his arms mostly free. He motions upwards, to one of the tall mounts that dominate their view to the East. "Up there is where we arrived so long ago. Where mine father established our camp which grew as more of us arrived."
    He motions with Mjolnir then, gesturing to the ocean, "The Svartalfar, they had such ill plans for the people of Midgard. They had released an eternal Winter upon the the land. And when we appeared..." He shook his head, "So many were starving, falling where they stood. It seemed as if the Dark Elves would conquer without having to raise a hand."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty turns to gaze out to the sea as Thor gestures to it, after having shaded her eyes to look up where the mighty camp had once stood. The young woman walks slowly back up towards Thor, the breeze blowing at the strands of hair that failed to make it into her ponytail. Shifting about those locks that frame her face so often.

"I can believe the sea frozen over. And the bone chill of that cold," she says as the sand squeaks softly beneath each of her footfalls. "I felt it once. Though on the other side of the world. I was in Japan a few years back when the Casket was on Midgaard," Kitty tells Thor.

She looks down, giving a wry smirk. "Training. Training in an unnatural winter, swimming a frozen river where a certain elder X-man pushed me of the mountain into," she says. After a moment she concedes, "For my own good." Kitty arrives back at Thor's side, turning to look back out at the water. "Though it would have been the end of all if you hadn't stopped them," she says, frowning a little and shaking her head.

Thor has posed:
    "It is safe for now, kept under lock and key." Though the Thunderer does not say where, she likely can guess. He nods as she mentions the frozen over ocean, what it must have been like then. "In the tales some like to say we appeared and with a wave of our mighty weapons the war was over, but it was not so." His head tilts to the side, "Though I know why mine father presents it in such a way."
    His lips turn up slightly and then starts to walk down the beach, his boots digging into the sand and slight puffs of it lifting upwards with each step. "We were here for five years..." He lifts his head, pondering, "Six? It took time, to root out their strongholds, to find their plans, to counter them. And then to finally bring them to battle. Several times."
    He gets a small smile, "It's here where I learned to sail, to use the wind as power. Most of your people imagine we are all experts at such, but no." A gesture is made, hand motioning outward, "I had a crew for a time, and we were fast friends. They were good people. Though Loki, he earned his name trickster from the..." His lips turn up slightly more, exasperation in his voice but affection, "The time we spent with our friends."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The sound of Kitty following Thor across the sand comes a few moments after. Approaching him, but before she moves into his sight comes the feeling of her hand gently upon his back. She moves beside him, that hand drifting across his lower back, and then upwards. A soft, soothing touch. Not just exploring it seems, but soothing the question on the young woman's mind.

"You were not at odds when you were younger?" Kitty asks. "I mean beyond the rivalry of brothers? The... animosity that exists today, that led him to New York... he wasn't that person in those days?" Kitty asks Thor quietly. "What happened that divided you so?" she asks, the gentleness of the young woman's voice suggesting she suspects just how painful of a topic she might be pressing upon with her question.

Thor has posed:
    A breath, what might be a laugh though held. He looks sidelong toward Kitty, dark blue eyes meeting her gaze as the sun shines behind them. "We have e'er been at odds." Then he shakes is head a little, "But you are right. We were brothers, we competed, we quarreled. But we were also, I like to think, friends. We would sit around the camp fire and tell our stories, the times we had together. Some of which your people remembered and remembered well."
    A pause, eyes lifting, "Some I have no idea where they came up with it." But he smiles again as he ponders her question, considers an answer.
    "I thought we were on good terms until we were not." Thor shakes his head, "I fought with my father and he exiled me to Earth for a time. It is possible he engineered that. And while I was so exiled he attempted to have me killed and made a play for the throne. After that... I realized he held such... resentment in his heart."
    He shakes his head and looks toward Kitty, "I think there is still something there, something genuine. Perhaps I am a fool for believing so. But I cannot be but who I am."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The young woman listens to Thor, the wind whipping those loose tresses about her face. Sea gulls wheel in the breeze, a trio of them drifting over to examine the two forms standing on the beach. Looking for a treat to be tossed their way, or just left behind where they might get at it. They call softly down to the pair, or maybe it is to each other.

Kitty glances up but her eyes are quickly back on Thor. "Hmm," she says quietly. "I don't know. To be honest, my instinct is... thinking that perhaps you're sensing it because you want it to be there, rather than because it is there," she tells Thor gtently.

The young woman looks away for a moment. Her hand goes to the turtleneck beneath her sweater, reaching into the neck to pull out a necklace and it settled on the outside of the garment. Her fingers tease over the Star of David. "But I know..." she says, then pauses. Correcting herself, Kitty's tone a little more somber. "Knew... someone, who most of the world thought a terrorist and worse. Who tried to kill me. And who has saved me," she says quietly, eyes dropping to the beach. "So who am I to say that what you sense isn't true?"

Thor has posed:
    For a time those words bring with them introspection, quiet repose as the tall man stands there looking out across the roiling waves of the ocean. Just enough of a rush of water to give them a faint touch of white upon the tips. Silence is there, a quiet shared broken only by the waves, the call of the gulls. And as she stands there, she'll feel his hand rest upon her shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze in support as he says.
    "Perhaps you are right in a way, perhaps we need it to be so. Though..." He looks to the side, his own hair tied back in that loose pony tail he so often wears, "I think they need it to be so as well. Though they would not admit."
    A pause. Then a small exhalation of sound. "But I am the God of Thunder. Not wisdom." He says, and if she catches his eye he'll smile.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The young female warrior's soft brown eyes shine warmly up at Thor as she listens to him, and he touches her shoulder fondly. Kitty gently leans against Thor's side if he allows her, his cloak flapping about them both then as she looks back out at the waves. "More wise than most of the people around here," Kitty tells him. "And someone that I'm grateful for the times we've spent together." she says, lifting her eyes back up to the Asgardian.

Kitty looks at him for a few moments. "Seeing things through your eyes... enables a whole new perspective for me. On... life. On myself. Everything," she says. Her hand upon his back gives another gentle caress. "There's this guy I had pined for since I was just barely a teenager. It's fair to say I was... caught up in his orbit. There was an age difference," she says. And then chuckles. "Arguably, not the largest difference in years in my life," she says, eyes darting about in a comical way rather than look at the man who outdates her by a few centuries.

Kitty looks thoughtful. "I... think I need to start looking at what's before me though. Stop chasing dreams." The brown eyes gaze at the ocean. "Helped to set up two friends. Seeing them get together was nice," she says. For a moment it seems there's more she's about to say, though she falls silent.

Thor has posed:
    A nod is given as he stands there and he does indeed draw her to his side, curling his strong arm around her and looking at the waters before them. He takes a deep breath, just a quiet one as he inhales slowly, large chest swelling, then easing free as he lets it go just as slowly. "That was good of you. To help your friends find happiness."
    He tilts his had to the side to meet her gaze, his smile warm as he murmurs, "And you should seek your own. Freely. Find a soul that you can build around a life. For there is naught else more important."
    That having been said he smiles again, one eyebrow lifting a little as if giving some thought to the future. To hers, to his. His features soften a little as he murmurs, "The time we have known each other, Katherine. It has assured me of one thing at the least. And that is you will have a wondrous future. And I am glad to have been a part of your life."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The arm about her is welcome on many levels, from the warmth it gives on the cool Norwegian beach, to the memories it brings Kitty of her unexpected meeting of the Asgardian, and the friendship that has developed. Kitty looks up to Thor, her smile growing so warm and grateful for him. "You /have/ been a part of my life," Kitty agrees softly.

She returns her head to leaning in against his brawny chest. "You have shown me a lot. Set a standard for the rest of my life, I think," she tells him. "Not that I expect a boy to live up to your example, Thor Odinson. But... I do not think I could settle for someone who does not at least inspire me. Who does not at least remind me of what you've shown me a man should be."

Kitty lets out a soft, warm laugh. "I just wish I could have done something similar for you. I think you had the edge on me though when it came to 'prior experiences'," she says in a light-hearted tone.

Thor has posed:
    A small smile is there and it reaches the Asgardian's eyes. "Come," He says as he squeezes her shoulders gently and then turns to step away, moving further inland as he starts to walk along the beach and toward the great sweep of green lands before them. "Let me show you this land as I know it and few others do."
    And as he says that he will walk with her, as they both move into the future.