video;

[ifhebeworthy]

[The screen of their communicators flickers to life with a fluorescent glow. Initially, there's only a hint of someone there-- thick red fabric, chain mail, a hammer.]

I had prayed to come to good tidings. Greet friends, and assuage fears. To bolster thy strength with mine own.

Instead, I come here haunted by past misgivings I thought requited, by a name all too familiar to me. If you know him as well, I would like to speak to him.

[It doesn't sound like a request. The image swings up high to a broad faced man with long blonde hair. A winged helmet. His eyebrows are drawn down across a brow rigid as though it were carved from stone.]

To my friend.

Comments

[ifhebeworthy]

What have to you apologize for, Peter? That you placed your trust in a man you stood beside and called friend?

[He looks frustrated.]

No, in your place I may yet have done the same.

[shutterbugged]

[ Well, there's no real reason for him to keep wearing the mask now; he tugs it off, brushing a hand through his hood hair in a semi-successful attempt to straighten it out. ]

"Peter." Huh. I don't know what part of the timeline you're from--or if we even are from the same one, for that matter--but when I'm from that's a first for me.

[ He smiles. Good effort, a little wan. ]

I meant more the "getting my tuckus soundly trounced," but there were warning signs I should have noticed a lot sooner. I guess I just didn't want to see, because...

[ Beat. ] It really wasn't him, you know. He got brain-jacked. By another version of himself, so I don't know how much that really excuses him, but the guy you really want to hammer into dust is gone already.

[ifhebeworthy]

[He shakes his head.]

Against impossible odds, lesser men would crumble. Instead, you fought with a warrior's spirit. Wear your loss honorably, your boldness remains intact.

[shutterbugged]

...Thanks, Thor. I think I needed to hear that.

[ Not that he hasn't been told as much already, several times, but none of the tellers were people he'd hero-worshipped since he was a kid barely out of the wrestler's ring. ]

So, I meant to ask: when did you get here, anyway? And what's the latest from back home? It's been six years, I've heard tidbits but I'm really hurting for some gossip.

[ifhebeworthy]

I died.

[Well, that was abrupt. He seems to be taking it rather well.]

This was not the great hall of Valhalla that I had expected, truly.

I think it's more like seven times?? damn son

[shutterbugged]

[ Wow. So much for changing to a lighter subject. That went terribly. ]

Oh. Uh. That's a real bummer, I'm... sorry for you and your family's loss?

If it makes you feel any better, I totally died and came back one time and I'm not a god of anything, so--I figure your chances are pretty good, even if you do get Ported home again.

Or maybe it was twice. Maybe three times, if we're getting technical? Let's say two.

[ifhebeworthy]

What is done is done, Peter. I have no regrets. To defend that which I cherish, I would gladly give my life as payment.

[Technically he had a clone after he died, too, Pete!]

[shutterbugged]

I get it, believe me. I just wish you hadn't had to prove it.

[ Beat. ] Still betting you twenty bucks you're gonna come back, though.