Time-sensitive question how flirt girl

[pirateangelbaby]

It's been some time since Thor has sought the Nexus for advice. Which is not to say that he's not a regular visitor, but he's felt relatively assured in his day-to-day life enough to feel that he has a good handle on what he's doing with himself, or at least that his struggles are routine and need little guidance to overcome. Today, apparently, this is not the case.

One might be forgiven for assuming the glass bottle in his hand is beer at first glance, but on closer inspection it seems to be a cream soda instead. It's not what he wants, but just having a drink in his hands seems to be a comfort, making it easier to think. The little picnic table is off to one side off the main Plaza, its benches warmed by the summer sun as it overlooks a small koi pond. Thor's one good eye stares through the glinting fish rather than watching them, lost in thought.

What's he supposed to do now?

Is this even a good idea? What happens once a few decades pass? What if he decides not to risk it, and she leaves? Should he even be seriously considering putting himself through this again? He doesn't even know his own heart yet, what if he ends up stringing her along without meaning to?

Those are the questions he keeps to himself, but there are more yet to ask. He picks at the soda label with his prosthetic fingers, metal lightly tapping against the glass.

"How do you realize when you're in love?" Not quite getting to the point, but Thor is honestly not even sure where to start on this one.

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[itmeanstruth]

Now that his ankle had healed, Minoru was getting in a few good laps around the plaza. Which put him in the right place at the right time to hear Thor’s question.

He ran back around, vaulting over one of the nearby benches.

“I didn’t.” He answered, chuckling to himself. “Well, not at first. It took me a couple weeks before I realized Ziggy was flirting with me, and Isamu pretty much had to spell out for me what interest in someone felt like.”

Not that he really believed him at the time. It honestly took Minoru a lot longer to realize it himself. It was something he had to seriously think about for a minute.

“I guess I really realized it… well, after Hiroki disappeared.” His voice was softer, far more serious. “I didn’t care how overwhelming his empathic powers were, I just… I had to be there. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Throw rocks at she.

[telekinesis_kills]

Danny's not sure why he's wandering toward the koi pond in the Plaza -- he was never one for watching fish (never really had the time for quiet activities like that, even as a child). Maybe the Nexus was nudging him into the right place to overhear Thor's question. Deciding not to fight the happenstance, he slides onto the bench and sits across from the big man.

"I knew it when I started to think about living life with him, and the idea of him not being there was... not something I wanted to contemplate."

[pirateangelbaby]

Thor's frown only deepens, his hands still idly peeling off the corner of the soda label. "You wouldn't do that for a dear friend?"

That doesn't seem right to him, but he's never really had reason to put these feelings into actual words before. That has always been more Loki's strength than his own, and his romance with Jane had been whirlwind enough that little needed to be said about it at the time.

[pirateangelbaby]

Sometimes, talking things over with a stranger can be more valuable than with a friend. Thor's not sure which way's better, but he's not about to turn down a chance to figure it out. The picnic table's rather small, and he takes up a good deal of space, but there's room enough for someone else.

There's a light frown creasing his brow, his one-eyed gaze focusing on the stranger now sitting across from him. That answer strikes a chord, and probably not for the reasons that Danny intends. "What if you knew it would be temporary?"

[telekinesis_kills]

"It's all temporary," Danny replies, in a matter-of-fact tone. "We never know how long anything will last. And when I die again, I want some good memories in my head when I'm flashing back through my whole life."

He rests an elbow on the edge of the picnic table, then shrugs that one shoulder and leans his head in his hand. "Life's hard enough without actively denying what could make you happy."

[itmeanstruth]

“I would.” Minoru nodded quickly. Because he had. “But this… this was different. Maybe some of it was how sensitive I was to Anthean empathy. But some of that power was Ziggy just projecting my own feelings back toward me and I’d never felt anything like that before. Ever.”

He was being completely honest there. Ziggy was his first relationship. Making this very hard to explain.

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

Dor's ears perk up at the sound of the bottle and then scents the air before padding over his son softly cooing and babbling at the sight of the fish and such genly in his bjoin strapped to his chest at the moment. Dor smiles down at their eldest and rubs his check gently against his head as he carefully comes over to sit nearby the other blonde. With a warm but empathic look.

After a moment he responds. "Well, it can vary from person to person..But I suppose one way to tell. Is if you would put their needs or life before your own if it came to that. Or barring the need for that extreme sort of measure think at least how your actions affect them one way or another?"

He murmurs softly at his son and holds his finger up for Gawain to grab onto, as he babbles softly, "Dadadada. " Though his eyes seem to be drawn toward anything shiny on Thor and watching the movements of the fishes.

[pirateangelbaby]

It's a good argument, but Thor still shakes his head. "I wish it could be that simple."

It's honestly only one of many things he's dwelling on, the whole mess too complex to distill down to a single question. "I don't want to be without any of my friends. The people I care for are all precious to me. Yet I already know I will outlive many of them, should I die an old man."

He takes a swig of his cream soda, a gnawing regret buried deep that it isn't something stronger.

[pirateangelbaby]

Thor's sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing the gleaming black metal of his left arm. That's likely shiny enough to catch a baby's attention.

He smiles faintly, but his brow is still creased, troubled. "I'm the Allfather. Putting my people's needs before my own comes with the job. Not just Asgardians, but every citizen of the Nine." Therein lies some of the trouble - the woman in question isn't exactly one of his subjects, but if her life was in danger, he would no more hesitate to come to her aid than anyone else.

[pirateangelbaby]

Ah. That explains some things, and Thor's expression clears just slightly as he takes a drink from the soda. "Empaths are cheating," he grumbles, though not in a malicious way. "So this 'Ziggy' knew before you did, then?"

[telekinesis_kills]

Danny has enough self awareness to know that his own views on mortality and the loss of friends are not going to be welcomed here (It only took one instance of being choked up against a wall for Danny to learn that lesson.)

"I might not be the best person to reassure you about these things. People have died around me ever since I was a child, and I had to learn... to make myself not care. Or maybe... not care so deeply." Danny sighs. "Fulfilling my function was always far more important than what I felt about anything happening around me."

He gives Thor a wry, sidelong glance. "That's another way I knew that I was in love. I couldn't make myself not care about him.

[pirateangelbaby]

Not caring about people in his life is unfathomable to Thor, even despite his own recent losses. He looks appalled by that admission, both understanding and pity in his gaze. But there's something else in there that gives him pause. "Your... function?"

[telekinesis_kills]

Danny blinks at the question, then mentally reviews what he just said, and laughs out loud. "Oh, jeez. Sorry. That... that probably made me sound like a robot or something. Bloomberg would have a field day with that one." Danny shakes his head.

"My whole immediate family works for the government, in various agencies and roles. My parents are spies, and when the agency found out that I had metahuman powers, they pressured my parents into letting me be trained. So I've been... pretty deep in black ops and espionage my whole life. It leaves a mark.

"But, uh... this isn't about me, really. You're concerned about outliving your friends and... and someone you love?"

[albtraum]

Oh, the topic of love. A favorite. Mind, it preferred the topic in ways of longing and heartache, but what can you do. Just so happens that someone had fallen asleep nearby and there's quite a bit of shadow under a large oak tree nearby. Which was where this creature crawled up from to lurk.

"If you're asking this question, mein freund, I think you are." It could answer how it had known, but Albtraum preferred to keep those stories to it chest. Besides, it sounded that Thor was asking for more than just to hear other's stories of love.

[itmeanstruth]

“I think inanimate objects knew before I did.” He echoed a line his brother had used a few times.

It wasn’t wrong, though.

Empaths might be cheating, but it wasn’t just the feelings of romantic attraction that Ziggy picked up on. There was confusion as well, not to mention feelings of avoidance and disgust associated with Minoru being asexual and sex-averse. He probably wasn’t making it easy for an empath to get a read.

So it was hard to say exactly when Ziggy knew. But it was probably a safe bet to say it was before Minoru did.

[pirateangelbaby]

"It would've been fine if you were a robot," Thor is quick to add, only just slightly defensive. Nothing wrong with robots, even when they're people.

Ah, now this is more familiar territory. Thor's been on modern-day Earth long enough for the term metahuman to be known to him, though the circumstances of the stranger's 'function' is uncomfortably reminiscent of what the Sokovia Accords had wanted to accomplish. Thor's gaze sharpens a little, looking his tablemate up and down. Someone like Natasha had been, maybe.

But before he can pursue that line of thinking further, the topic shifts and recenters, and he's quick to shake his head. "Someone who loves me," he corrects, though there's a note of uncertainty in his voice. "It's... complicated. I didn't know until just recently. We've grown close over the last few years, and she is dear to me."

[pirateangelbaby]

Mysterious unseen voices are rarely a good sign, and Thor's absent distraction becomes focused rather suddenly on the origin of the speaker. He can't see them clearly enough to know if it's just someone perched up in a tree, or something more... supernatural. Spirits abound in the Nexus, and he's run afoul of his share.

"It's not like that," he protests, a hint of wariness in his voice. "Unless being confessed to means you must feel the same in return."

[pirateangelbaby]

Thor grunts a little in assent of that answer. When you're dealing with empaths, fair enough. The idea's always made him uneasy, but fortunately it's not a factor here.

"You said your brother had to tell you what your feelings meant?"

[albtraum]

It's just there chillin' in the oak tree shadow, really. Perhaps eventually a face might become more clear; some outline of a body. Not particularly human looking. As for the topic at hand? Aaah, well then. That's another matter. And to that, Albtraum hums.

"So what is the problem, are you unsure of your own feelings? If not, it's a matter of honesty."

[pirateangelbaby]

"Among other things." It's the question upon which the others rest, though, so arguably it's the most important, if you ask Thor. He doesn't look convinced by the stranger's claim though, peering at them skeptically. "You think it so simple?"

[albtraum]

Albtraum thinks a moment, finger pointed upward as if just about to speak, then some silence, and finally, "ah-- this complicates things." Yes, if Thor was so certain the feelings were not returned then Albtraum believed it was simple. Difficult, sometimes. But simple. Tell the truth.

"Most experiences love in different ways, but you know." That finger taps the side of it's head instead now before dropping. The creature moves forward just a touch, but not enough to come into the sun. "You know because the air feels stifling and electric all at once when they're near and all you want to do is breathe it; you know because you want--their attention, their care, to give attention, to give care--more than anyone else. You know because you think of them more than others, and dream of them more than others, and the idea of losing others hurts but losing them is unbearable."

[pirateangelbaby]

Thor is silent for several moments, digesting that. He has felt love like that before, a romance that had burned quickly and brightly, and burnt out all the faster for it. This is not that, but... is a fire any less a fire if it slowly builds from a spark?

"But must that be all at once?" he asks at last. "Not all love is at first sight, surely. The woman who loves me did not realize it herself, not right away."

And therein lies his greatest difficulty. She had to be lead to the realization, over a matter of weeks. He's had barely a day to examine his own heart on his own.

[albtraum]

What can it say? Its a thing of extremes. But it's experience is even further than what it described. Was this all love? Of course not. Though it thinks that in some ways it manifests as such eventually. Varying levels of the aforementioned afflictions, at least.

"Nein, it can be..." Albtraum hums, "slippery, I think. One day is friends as always, and another, and another, and then one day when they say goodbye hurts just a little and you think to yourself, 'how wonderful would it be if they stayed just one more hour?'" A moment passes, "what harm is there in finding out?"

[pirateangelbaby]

At last, this is what seems to speak true to Thor. It has been years since he and the woman of his affections met, a friendship built slowly but dearly, until her presence in his life has become all but a permanent fixture. "Yes! That's it exactly," he exclaims, pointing toward the still-mysterious figure, momentarily forgetting his wariness in the moment.

What harm is there in finding out? Well, now, we're on to the second most important question Thor is puzzling over. "That's what I want to know too," he agrees, stroking at his beard. "I suggested going on a date and she... did not react well. The idea frightened her," he adds, still bewildered over it.

[albtraum]

Well, it's sure been some time since Albtraum's pulled that amount of excitement out of someone else unless you consider screaming a form of enthu--you know what, nevermind. It's glad to have... helped? Bizzare, but it can't help have an affinity for the speaking point of love and speaking of. Fear-- What a fountain of delight you are on this day, Thor. These are wonderful topics.

"yes," oh, how wonderful. Albtraum, at least what can be seen of the creature, gesticulates ever dramatically. "Love and fear are very closely related, you know."