The Pirate And His Sea

Chapter 12: How Thor Met Him

(This is not my chapter and the credit of the characters goes to their respective authors)

Thor loved his friends. He really did. They were intelligent, funny and confident mortals... But that was just it.

They were mortals.

Sometimes, as a demigod, he found himself oppressed by the concerns of his friends. He was not yet used to their problems, which seemed so small to him. Little things like due dates or appointments slipped his mind because time held so little worth to a race that lived for eons, and jobs and chores had never been relevant to him because he was prince. He didn't have to worry about working for money or keeping the house clean.

Here on Midgard, with his beloved Jane and her friends Lady Darcy and the man of science Erik Selvig, all these things were important. He wasn't used to it, and sometimes he just needed to escape. So while his Lady Jane was sleeping peacefully in their bed, he slipped out the front door and with a whirl of Mjolnir disappeared into the night sky.

Thor had discovered a haunt that pleased him several months ago, just shortly after finding his way back to Midgard. It was on the eastern side of the country, far by a mortal's standards, but with Mjolnir and its powers of flight he arrived within an hour. It was a small inlet by the coast, where fresh ocean air rushed over the rocks and met with the trees and the dull roar of the waves was a soothing background. He settled on the shore, enjoying the smell that brought back memories of his home of Asgard and the waters about the city, and watched the moon make its journey across the sky.

It, surprisingly, took him ten minutes to realize he had company. He would later admit that he only realized he was not alone when he heard a muffle curse and the thump of something hitting the ground, but he liked to think that he felt the man's presence as he approached his back. Startled at the noise, he whirled about and saw a man sprawled on the ground, several feet behind him and face in the damp sand. He was dressed in the dark trousers often called 'jeans' by the mortals and a sea-green cotton shirt that draped loosely over muscled shoulders. A bag was by his side, its flap misshapen by something inside it.

Of course, Thor's warrior training took over, because this man had been sneaking up behind him (quite successfully) and he could be dangerous. Leaping to his feet, he brandished Mjolnir and darted forward to snatch the man's bag from him. Tossing it behind him, he faced the man down warily.

"Who are you?" he boomed. "For what reason did you attempt to sneak up on me?"

The man groaned and lifted his head. Sand stuck to his black hair, and he brushed the filth from his face before glancing up at Thor. Bright green eyes met Thor's, and they would have reminded him of his brother's if they hadn't held more sea-like qualities and the spark that all mortals had. Something crawled along his skin, the sense of something-not-human unsettling the Asgardian prince even more. The man blinked blearily, looking rather harmless, then let out a put-upon sigh and got to his feet. The fluid grace he did so made Thor shift in his fighting stance, ready for a fight should this skilled man attack him.

The man scrubbed the sand from his hair and smiled abashedly at Thor, green eyes glinting in the moonlight. "Sorry, I didn't quite think; I was just surprised someone was here, that's all. Then I tripped on some log, and well," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

The answer would have reassured Thor and confirmed his suspicions that this man was just another Midgardian who had wandered astray, if he hadn't known better. Lie, his senses told him.

"Do not lie, mortal!" He said sharply. The uneasy skitter along his flesh seemed to deny mortal and he fought back a shiver. Mjolnir glinted and he tightened his grasp and raised it slightly.