nexus_crossings | (no subject)

(no subject)

[OOC: Pretend this was posted after the first day of spring.]

It's not Thor's doing that the Nexus is sunny and cool, spring beginning to rear its head in those places of the multiverse that experience such things at all, but he's enjoying it regardless. With a raven on each shoulder and Stormbreaker disguised as a walking stick in his hand, he's venturing into the market to browse for seeds and seedlings to bring home to Norway. Looking for fruits and vegetables, mostly, or useful herbs for medicine or seasoning, but he is not immune to the allure of beautiful flowers, especially those that might remind him of his mother's garden.

He's already got a small bag with several seed packets in it before he makes it halfway down the row of vendors' stalls, and a tiny plastic pot of buttery yellow flowers tucked in the crook of his prosthetic arm. It doesn't feel like quite enough, though. The greenhouse and fields serve as a good distraction, hard work to keep his mind off that craving for what he's not permitted to have, but there's only so much he can do at a time.

"What sort of hobby is good for taking up time and thought? Especially something that can be done indoors."

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Thor has never been much of a reader, and it shows on his face. In his defense, most books he's had cause to open in his life have been of the nonfiction variety, and often quite dry. "Oh. Um. And that's... interesting?" He's never really Gotten it, himself. Help him understand, please.

Minoru shook his head and chuckled to himself. Once Isamu really got started, it might be difficult for Thor to get a word in edgewise.

“Oh, absolutely! Of course, the thrill of discovery when a new book is opened pales in comparison to learning something new from its contents and cataloging that knowledge alongside your current understanding of a topic or situation - either bolstering it or challenging it.”

Unfortunately, those dry non-fiction books are probably the ones Isamu adores.

Oh no. He's one of Those. Loki had sometimes been the same in his youth, extolling endlessly on the lessons he'd extracted from the library tomes he'd found, all while Thor tried not to fall asleep. Had fallen asleep, in fact, on more than one occasion. That usually earned him something squishy under his pillow later, or something of that sort.

Now, as an adult, Thor slightly regrets not having much of a head for books. Well. Only a little.

"You don't say." He's making an effort to sound interested enough to be polite. Is it working?

Oh yes. He is definitely one of those. But without any of the magical powers.

“I most certainly do. While most of my reading this week has been on the topic of phytochemistry - various phenolic compounds, vitamins, amino acids and the like - the events of Valentines Day has me learning more ancient Greek in my spare time. At least the roots and stems, not necessarily the full vocabulary...”

It's not that Thor isn't intelligent, nor that he is uneducated. On the contrary, Odin's sons had enjoyed the finest tutors the Realms had to offer, building the knowledge base and skills needed to lead a nation and understand the needs of the citizenry. But the human understanding of science has developed its own language to the point where even the Allspeak doesn't always know what to do with what it hears, their concepts of the universe different enough as to not have a straight translation.

It's an obstacle Thor had run into often in speaking with Jane, having to work to develop the proper vocabulary between themselves to understand each others' interpretation of the world around them and uplifting the Midgardian ideas about astronomy and cosmology. But it had been a common ground sought for love of one another, and the desire to connect with someone he cared about. Whatever science is beyond that, Thor does not recognize, and though his eye doesn't quite glaze over at Isamu's explanation, it's close. "Valentine's Day, that's about courting, isn't it?" he asks, trying to latch onto the one thing in all that that he recognizes.

Edited 2021-03-14 18:07 (UTC)

Minoru, meanwhile was snickering in the background. He’s been exactly where Thor was now, almost every day of the week. Isamu always had something on his mind that took an advanced degree just to understand. But brothers would be brothers, he supposed.

“Ziggy made me a Valentines Card in Anthean.” Minoru tried to translate. “That dialect is really similar to ancient Greek.”

“While I have yet to engage with Mister Newton on the exact evolution of their language among early human societies, yes, essentially Greek, as it is spoken, is an offshoot of Anthean. Albeit, the two use radically different alphabets in their written form.” Isamu noted. “Which makes understanding the language both easier and harder at the same time. Extremely fascinating.”

“We almost figured out what it said. But Ziggy had to fill in some of the meaning. You know, the stuff books CAN’T tell you.”

Thor has never heard of Anthean, but there are many languages across the universe that he hasn't personally encountered, so that doesn't surprise him much. He's still grasping for something he can relate to in here, and while it's not a perfect comparison, he thinks he has some idea what the last part means. "Oh yes, of course. I learned to speak Groot when I was a youth. It's something you can't really learn from a book at all. It's all about inflection and, er, pheromones."

“Fascinating. I theorize that Anthean, when spoken, relies heavily on empathic emotional connections between members of their species to enhance understanding. Exactly the opposite of - forgive me, I am unfamiliar with Groot, did you say?”

You have Isamu intrigued, Thor. Though, honestly, when it comes to learning new things, Isamu is very easily intrigued. (Minoru, meanwhile, just shook his head, grateful that they didn’t have anything perishable in their cart. Just plants.)

“And... pheromones? In place of or in addition to facial expressions?”

At least the boy is now asking him questions instead of just rambling. This is something Thor can process a lot easier. "Well, they're treefolk, so it takes a greater importance over what their face is doing," he explains. "It's kind of necessary, though. To the untrained ear, anything they say just sounds like 'I am Groot.'"

Isamu, it could be said, has two basic settings - 'highly inquisitive' and 'walking encyclopedia.' Sometimes, there was literally no difference between them.

"I have never encountered such a language before. What, per se, makes for a trained ear? I am curious how the pheromones come into play given that humans, at least where I am from, have no functioning vomeronasal organ with which to process pheromone signals. And the olfactory system is woefully under-developed." he paused briefly, and then asked, "Are you human?"

One day, Thor hopes to find out why humans look so similar to Asgardians that they can be so easily confused. "No, I'm Asgardian," he answers, lifting his chin a little in a pride that he's beginning to feel again. "I know of a human who's learned enough to get along though. Tone conveys a lot, you see."

"Ah, I have met one other of your species thus far, and even then, only briefly." Isamu nodded, recognizing the term. To be fair, he confused that individual with a human upon first glance as well. Asgardians DO look very much like humans.

"Wait, wasn't that the wrong number you accidentally texted a pickup line to?!" Minoru snickered.

"He was seeking to impress a chaotician, so it worked out in my favor. Thankfully." Isamu rolled his eyes at his brother, blushing slightly. "Extremely embarrassing situation. Not at all the physicist I was attempting to impress."

One of the ravens perched on Thor makes a mocking sort of chuckle, shuffling down the expanse of his shoulder.

"Huggan," Thor scolds him with a smile. "Manners."

There are several of Thor's people who have spent time in the Nexus, so it's hard to tell which one it might be. Just because Loki comes to mind first does not mean it's the case here, so he hesitates to assume. "I courted an astrophysicist once, several years ago."

Minoru snickered. “I don’t know. I think the bird’s on to something there. That was REALLY funny.”

“I was fortunate that the affected individual remained unfettered by my unsolicited advance - which was actually for an astrophysicist, coincidentally - and remained a paragon of politeness. He even found the wordplay in the line amusing, and wished to use it for himself.”

The chance of it being the same astrophysicist was impossibly slim. The chance that Isamu was unknowingly talking about Thor’s brother, however, was far far greater. (Because it was.)

That's an awful lot of words to convey a rather uncomplicated idea, if Thor is parsing all that correctly. Thor gives a look to Minoru as if to silently ask, 'is he always like this?'

"How fortunate for him, then."

Minoru snickered to himself and nodded with a gentle shrug. He was used to this, having literally lived with it all his life.

“Come on, bro. As exciting as this conversation is, we still have to pick out a plant for Mantis’ housewarming gift. And probably a new one for the living room too. The one by the window isn’t doing so hot... or maybe it got too hot...”

Isamu sighed.

“I suppose you are right.”

He turned toward Thor. “I would be quite interested in learning more about Groot linguistics at another time, or simply more about Asgardians in relation to humans.”

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