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There's a lot of noise coming from the Asgardian Embassy, up on the roof— it looks like two burly fellows are having a fistfight, stripped down and wearing rugged trousers and boots.
On closer inspection, they're not just a pair of rugged youths. Both men are huge, easily over six feet, and with muscle to spare. And they're hitting each other with the sort of bone-rattling force that can be /heard/ even by human ears from some distance.
"Blast you, Thor! I'll whip you yet, pup!"
"Old man," Thor grins, stepping back and bringing his fists up into a wide posture, a peculiar martial form. "Admit it, your age no longer is enough of an advantage— and my youth is still going strong!"
"Bah!" the older fellow snorts, flicking at his grey-streaked beard— and he flings himself at Thor again.
There's an exchange of blows and Thor hits the other man with a straight cross, and hard enough to send him flying across the garden.
"Had enough?" the big blonde fellow crows.
Lara-El is flying along over the city, as she's so wont to do, when she hears the sounds of a vicious fistfight in the distance. Angling to fly over in that direction, she comes to a hover over the large, ornate mansion that's become the Asgardian Embassy… and watches, from above, as the two large men fight. Realizing that it's more a friendly brawl than an actual -fight-, she would just leave… but, well, how often does a woman see such fine displays of muscled masculinity without shirts on? She remains, for the time being, to simply watch.
Then one of the men is sent flying… and rather than let him simply crash wherever he lands, Lara swoops down to catch him, her intent to set him back on the rooftop where he and his large, blonde opponent were sparring.
Just before the older fellow would scrape across the roof— which looks very heavily reinforced— and hit the ground, Lara's timely intervention proves to save the day!
The big fellow yelps and wriggles in surprise, and once he's on the ground, he skitters away from Lara and digs his heels in for a fight.
"Oye! Lass, what brings you to the Embassy?" Thor inquires, clapping his friend' shoulder to steady him. The two fellows exchange a glance, and Thor beckons Lara to land.
"Come, take some ground and relax. If you thought we were fighting in earnest, 'twas merely fun and play we're at. This is the Embassy for Asgard," Thor proclaims. "What is your name?"
Lara holds up her hands at the one man's apparent readiness to fight, trying to show she's not here for that. Then, Thor invites her to land, and she does, saying, "At first I thought such, but watched and came to see that it wasn't a battle in earnest, but done for sport. I merely didn't see the need to let anyone hit the ground as hard as it seemed you might… such a landing may well have damaged the lovely building itself, after all", directing part of her exlanation to the big man who'd been flung away by the other's punch.
"I'm known as Supergirl", she then says, turning to say that specifically to Thor. "I'm unfamiliar with the nation of Asgard", she adds, her expression turning to one of momentarily puzzlement, which she seems to mentally shake away. She does offer a sort of half-bow, although she doesn't move so as to make herself unable to see either of the two men she's just met.
"…Supergirl?" The two men exchange a look, and Thor smiles tolerantly at her, clapping the other fellow's stout back. "Well, Supergirl— welcome to Asgard, such as our lands on this world. Asgard is not a nation, but a Realm— the Realm Eternal. We are the watchers and protectors of the Nine Realms, guardians of peace and order. Midgard— Earth, as you call it— is one of those Realms. We custode Midgard from harm, until such time that Earth is ready to join our nation as a vassal world."
The older fellow returns two huge steins of mead— frothing with at least sixty ounces each— and with a nod at Thor, turns to leave. Thor offers one mead to Supergirl, still wearing a fighting kilt and low boots only, and hoists the flagon at her. "A drink, to celebrate your arrival!" he toasts, and chugs down several great swallows of the sweet brew.
"Who taught you the language of Themyscira?", wonders Lara aloud, posing it as a question. "… and I have heard of a place known as Asgard… but from where I come, it was… myth and legend, not an actual place."
The mug of mead is accepted as Lara speaks. She doesn't seek to insult the man by not accepting his offer of drink, but before taking a few swallows from it, she asks, "May I inquire to your name?" Then, after her drink, she adds, "This… is quite good", of the mead.
"Hah! My manners slip from me," Thor says, laughing at himself. "I am Thor, Prince of Asgard," he tells Supergirl. "And I am well pleased to meet you!"
"I speak not the language of Themyscira— this is a land I am as yet unfamiliar with," Thor admits. "But nay, Asgard is a real place, as real as any other realm. The Realm Eternal, and the Gold Palace floats upon a disc of water and light, suspended among the stars. 'tis a glorious land— safe and strong. Mayhaps a land Earth might become, in a mere score of centuries," he offers.
"'tis Mead you sip— much like our recipe, but made of Earthly means. Asgardian mead is far too much for most mortals to bear without dire consequence," he remarks, hefting his stein at Lara. "But the ceremony 'tis what matters, not the drunkenness."
Lara looks confused. She takes another pull from the stein in her hand, her other hand falling to her hip. "I hear you as if you speak my native tongue… and, now that you tell me you do not speak it, I can almost hear… and even see… you speaking otherwise. It worried me, for a time, as none from my homeland would teach the language to a non-native." She steps to the edge of the roof, to look down from there. "I suppose it must be some magic native to your home, then?", she asks, turning to look back over her shoulder at Thor.
"'tis the Alltongue," Thor explains, following along and examining Lara with some interest. "Not language at all— not language as you know it, at any rate. A form of magic common only to my people, where we speak our thoughts plainly and you hear them however you are best suited. A tree would hear the whisper of leaves, a mute would see the language of fingers. Most useful, isn't it?" he says, with a wide, boisterous grin.
"Indeed it is, for I've used three different languages and, yet, you seem to have understood me equally well in any of them", Lara replies. "It certainly makes first meetings happen with more ease, although, in my case, with some early confusion", she adds with a grin of her own. She takes another swig of mead before continuing. "The Asgard of which I know… the tales I heard called it a place of gods, the likes of Olympus itself… although, of course, different."
"Aye, we gods dwell upon that realm," Thor says, easily. "Upon Midgard's fertile soil we stride among mortals and offer our power and wisdom. I beckon the thunderstorms and rains to my whim; my father, Odin, is Lord of All, and reality itself bends to his will. Mother Frigga, warrior and hearth-warmer alike. We have been known by many names and our worship has waxed and waned through the aeons."
"Olympus is a different place altogether, but we are well acquainted with those ancient and noble fellows," he assures her. "Allies off and on throughout the years, though at times intemperment instead of steadfast. Still, Zeus is one I'd call a friend, and I have exchanged friendly blows with Hercules and other sons of Olympus."
Lara arches up an eyebrow. "Those of Olympus walk openly in the world, here?", she asks, clearly surprised by the news. She purses her lips a moment, as if in thought, then shrugs her shoulders as if in response to herself… and takes another drink. "You're here to protect Earth, then… Midgaard as you called it? From what?"
"I know not what passes in Olympus of late— but it would not surprise me," Thor concedes. Still bare-chested, he listens to Lara's question, and nods at her. "Aye, 'tis the name we hold for Earth, given in a time before humans had begun recording their history to paper. But, 'tis your world, and I suppose ancient habits will break eventually," he grins.
"'tis strange to speak to you— most mortals stand alike, but you are apart from others. A sense of magic about you that I cannot quite place, and you fly under your own power as well. Mortals have strange talents in these latter years, but you are unique in my experience so far. From… Themyscira, you said?"
Lara nods and, as if wanting a moment to think, takes another drink. "I'm from Themyscira, although not from this world's Themysicra. I'm of another time, likely another reality. I was born in the year 2063, and my world was threatened with annihilation along with many other worlds of other realities", she says as she looks about to find a place to sit. "I was caught in an explosion at the end, as I and my friends and allies fought to destroy the device that was being used in such manner… and I found myself in what I thought the past. However, there are… differences… and these differences make me think I am in a completely different reality, not merely a different time."
"2063? Nearly a century ahead," Thor remarks, looking mildly surprised. "I know little of the travels of time; 'tis forbidden magics save for Odin himself, and used only with the greatest foresight in the most dire of circumstances. I can but say that I enjoy this universe immensely, and hope you find some solace in your companionship here, such as it is. Does this 'Themyscira' exist in both realities, as you have yet found?"
"I believe it does… yet I have not attempted to visit it here. While I know the way used in my reality, should it even be the same way in this one… I would be seen as a stranger", Lara says, before lifting her stein to drain what's left of her mead. The idea that her one home is a place she can't go to clearly disturbs her.
"My condolences, friend Supergirl," Thor remarks, gravely. "'tis I'm sure a most trying experience to find yourself adrift with no familiar markers. Sailign the night sky without the proper starts to orient is a jarring experience."
"Still, perhaps all hope is not yet lost, and a way to this land can be found?" he asks ,offering to relieve her of the stein.
"Supergirl is the name by which most know me, but those who -are- friends, call me Lara", says the woman. "As for a way to Themyscira… as I said, even if the way I know would admit me or if I could find another way, should it not… I would be a stranger there, seen as a trespasser, an invader."
"Then it shall please me to call you 'Lara' and 'friend'," Thor booms. He offers her a handshake that turns out to be a clasp of the wrist, and grins at her with a fearless gesture of goodwill.
"When I say way, I mean not only paths, but the tools for navigating them," he explains. "Or routes you did not know, and guides who you might not have ever met. There is /always/ a way, for a stout and determined heart," he tells Lara, nodding at the young woman as encouragingly as he can.
When the handsake is offered, Lara responds… her own grasp aiming for the wrist, rather than the hand. "I know there is always a way, Thor. I merely wish not to cause trouble and strife that can be avoided merely by my not going there", she says. "Perhaps if I were to meet someone from there, without actually going, I might prove myself worthy of being invited to go. I can only but hope for such, because… it would pain me greatly, perhaps more than causing trouble, to be treated as an invader to the place in which I was born."