nexus_crossings | The Wheel Turns, The Sun Rises

[OOC: Follows this prose. Posted early for ease of slowtags, but takes place in the spring. If you can't tag into this for a few weeks but still want to, feel free to tag late, I don't mind. <3 ]

Winter is slow to leave the shores of Norway, but here in the Nexus, the turning of the season is far more apparent. Snow has given way to mud and damp, squishy grass, bright green buds blossom on trees and bushes, and birds sing in the trees.

A less melodious pair of voices squawk from the crook of Thor's elbow. The god of thunder is seated on one of the park benches that overlooks a running path, the sunlight shining off his loosely braided hair, gathered at the nape of his neck. He is still dressed against a chill in a soft woolen sweater, but his attention is less on the cloudless weather than he is on the little creatures he holds. Anyone who comes close enough might be able to catch a glimpse of baby birds just beginning to grow their first plumage, ugly and wide-mouthed as they beg for bits of food.

As eager as they are to gobble up the smallest scraps of meat he's feeding them, Thor is rather glad that his prosthetic fingers do not feel any pain of those little sharp beaks jabbing at him. There's a fondness in his eye as he gazes down at them, but he's troubled also, a quiet thoughtfulness that doesn't leave when he looks up. "How important do you think names are? What power do they actually hold?"

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"Not many get to name themselves after they've grown," Thor says, though surely she already knows that. "Doesn't stop some of us from having very fitting names anyway. How'd you decide on yours, in the end?"

"It was a dream actually." Katiri admitted with a small smile. "The details are fuzzy but it came at a time when things had been rather difficult for me. I...had been finding it hard to adjust to my new life." Her expression was wistful as she recalled the memory. "I remember waking up and thinking of the name 'Kat.' Even saying it felt right. I remember feeling that whatever I dreamed about was really important but I couldn't remember it."

"She had tears in her eyes and I wanted to comfort her." Luce added quietly, seeing almost a shy but fond embarrassment flit across his Guardian's face. "So I added 'teary' after Kat and it kind of clicked."

"Yeah, tiri was a better spelling so I use that." Katiri said drily as she affectionately pushed Luce away with a hand. He chuckled audibly.

What an odd way of coming to your name. It's a fairly alien method to Thor, whose culture has been steeped in meaning and symbolic importance since long before he was born. But maybe there's something to be said for picking your own name, something to represent who you've grown into rather than who your parents hoped you'd be. More personal, somehow.

Besides, dreams tend to hold a certain importance, even those that don't carry the weight of prophecy behind them.

"Well, if it works for you," he says with a small smile. "It's a good name. Suits you well enough. You're wise to listen to your dreams when they're trying to tell you something."

Katiri smiled openly at the compliment. "Thank you." She inclined her head for a moment. "Guardians are blessed with the Light of the Traveler, an ancient entity that continues to protect humanity. On the rare occasion, messages can be conveyed through dreams and visions. Warlocks like me tend to work with Light the most directly and dedicate themselves to its study. As a result, we can be sensitive to such things, so depending on its nature, we never dismiss a dream."

She gestured with a hand. "I get the feeling that names have a deeper meaning in your culture. How so?"

He nods a little. "I've seen it slumbering over your City, just the once. It was... a sight to behold." He'd had bigger concerns at the time, though, so he hadn't had much time for sightseeing or questions. "How can you tell if a dream comes from yourself, or the Traveler?" His own visions work differently, granted by the Norns, but he knows how a dream of prophecy feels and it is unlike those of lesser note.

"Asgardian names all have at least one meaning, usually one that we come to embody or represent. Mine means thunder, and it's that which I'm best known for, my strongest magic. My mother Frigga's meant beloved, and she was both Allmother and the goddess of hearth and motherhood. I don't know if the names themselves shape the paths we walk, or if they're fated to us, but both the names we are given and the names that we earn are important to who we are." He considers for a moment, and gives her a small smile. "In Aesir, your name would mean something like cheerful trust, I think."

Katiri looked over with curious interest. "Oh? You were at the Tower?" She herself had brought Palmer over for a visit and he'd gotten a chance to meet her fireteam. "The view of the Traveler from there really is nice. I find myself gazing upon it often." As someone who could sometimes be a little bit of an insomniac - she always tended to find the nearest rail to watch the view when she couldn't sleep.

The Warlock listened as Thor explained Asguardian names. It made her wonder what her first name was - from her first life. She wondered if it had influence on her current life. It was an interesting concept to consider. She smiled a little at the possible translation of her name.

"Cheerful Trust." She mused, sounding it out. "I like that a lot."

"Briefly, yes." There's something quiet and pensive about the way he says it that will probably hint it wasn't really a social call. Thor knows that a Ghost might take years, decades, even centuries to find their chosen Guardian and raise them, and it's been less than one year since Steve's body was taken to their Tower and still no word. He can afford to be patient, knowing as he waits that the day might never come at all. But he still misses his friend, all the same. "Maybe I can visit under better circumstances, sometime."

He'd thought she might like that interpretation of her name. It's not exactly the same, but it's close enough. "It certainly suits you."

The Wheel Turns, The Sun Rises

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So sorry for the long wait <3

No worries!