Earth’s your home now too. That is what finally gets Thor to raise his head and look at Steve, instead of staring down at his hand. “Asgard is not a place,” he murmurs, something that the others have no doubt heard him say more than once since his home was destroyed. It had been a mantra to keep them all going, the final parting advice Odin had given before he had stepped beyond Thor’s halved sight, a promise that they had saved what had mattered most.
Thor has rather a lot more trouble believing that, now. But he does not know what else to cling to. Some of Asgard yet lives, and it should be enough. Maybe if he keeps telling himself that, it will one day be true again.
Self-study is not unknown to Asgard, though apprenticeships and tutoring were more the norm for most subjects. Having to learn an entirely new trade is a weighty undertaking, and they will surely need all the help they can get. A pang of guilt nibbles under Thor’s ribs that he had not even considered the Nexus library as an option. No, the only thing he has accomplished in his recent visits has been to stock up on his own supplies, and nothing more. “There is, isn’t there?” Which means he should probably get some PINpoints to be used by those who need access, and some way to track who has left the settlement, in case something happens. Without Heimdall to keep an eye on things, it is nerve wracking enough to watch the fishing ships sail out past the horizon. That is part of the reason why Thor tends not to watch them go, as if not seeing it means it isn’t happening.
Though they have not spoken of it recently, Thor recalls several conversations with his shieldbrother in the glory days of the Avengers, where they had discussed a little of Steve’s struggles reintegrating with Earth life after his long sleep. Strange as it had been at the time to consider seventy years long enough to cause such drastic changes, he’s since seen just how quickly the tide can turn and sweep away all solid ground. If anyone will understand how it is to have lost everything, then it would be Steve, though he had ‘died’ a hero, rather than dooming trillions. “What... would you have done,” Thor asks, hesitant and quiet, “if the Avengers had never been needed?”
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Thor has rather a lot more trouble believing that, now. But he does not know what else to cling to. Some of Asgard yet lives, and it should be enough. Maybe if he keeps telling himself that, it will one day be true again.
Self-study is not unknown to Asgard, though apprenticeships and tutoring were more the norm for most subjects. Having to learn an entirely new trade is a weighty undertaking, and they will surely need all the help they can get. A pang of guilt nibbles under Thor’s ribs that he had not even considered the Nexus library as an option. No, the only thing he has accomplished in his recent visits has been to stock up on his own supplies, and nothing more. “There is, isn’t there?” Which means he should probably get some PINpoints to be used by those who need access, and some way to track who has left the settlement, in case something happens. Without Heimdall to keep an eye on things, it is nerve wracking enough to watch the fishing ships sail out past the horizon. That is part of the reason why Thor tends not to watch them go, as if not seeing it means it isn’t happening.
Though they have not spoken of it recently, Thor recalls several conversations with his shieldbrother in the glory days of the Avengers, where they had discussed a little of Steve’s struggles reintegrating with Earth life after his long sleep. Strange as it had been at the time to consider seventy years long enough to cause such drastic changes, he’s since seen just how quickly the tide can turn and sweep away all solid ground. If anyone will understand how it is to have lost everything, then it would be Steve, though he had ‘died’ a hero, rather than dooming trillions. “What... would you have done,” Thor asks, hesitant and quiet, “if the Avengers had never been needed?”