10
THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
ROUND ELEVEN WILL OPEN ON FRIDAY THE 17TH.
ROUND TEN
closing at 5000 comments
Please read the [rules] before commenting!
ASK-A-MOD
PROMPT FORMATTING:
Alphabetize pairings. They will be archived that way!
Put [RPF] before RPF prompts.
Put [Crossover] before crossover prompts.
Please use this format: Steve/ ( Read more... )
Everyone more or less accepts this. They're not surprised that they're more popular with these groups than others. The only exception to this is Thor's fanbase. No one expected Thor to attract such a huge following of little girls.
Girls under the age of ten absolutely love Thor. They love his flowing blonde locks, they love that he is a prince, they love that he travels to Earth on a rainbow bridge, they love his outfit with the cape and the giant winged helmet, they love that Thor's nephew is an eight-legged pony. Thor is every little girl's dream. And Thor absolutely loves his fanbase right back. He visits the Girl Scouts and helps them earn badges (although he's confused as to why there's no "Fighting Gloriously in Battle" badge), he allows Disney to use his image so that they can make animated cartoons with him as an honorary "Disney Princess", etc. etc.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Just throwing this out: Can Thor also encourage young girls in STEM fields, inspired by his Lady Jane Foster?
Reply
:D
Reply
Reply
Thor assumed that he would never be as adored in Midgard as the other Avengers were. They praised him and cheered for him and a few even gave him slips of paper bearing their phone numbers, but he had no devotees. Aging people shook Steve's hand and told him he would "make America great again", whatever that meant. Lonely young people of all shapes and sizes approached Bruce in various states of awe. Natasha's presence rendered hordes of young men speechless. Young women followed Clint around, brandishing toy bows and arrows and reminding him of his "unending awesomeness". But no one did such things for Thor. He did not blame them, though. He was not of their realm and as an outsider, he would have to settle for being enjoyed, not admired.
Then he appeared on The Today Show.
The other Avengers went, too, of course. Steve and Tony spoke to the highest ranked anchors inside the studio, but Thor elected to stand outside with the crowd. Miss Pepper had shown him a few episodes to help him prepare for this, and Thor had found the inside segments silly and inane. He much preferred the moments when they showed the crowd outside waving their signs and gleeful shouting. He still preferred it in person. He strode around at the edge of the blocked off chunk of street, shaking hands and giving high fives to people who leaned over the metal fence.
Thor was in the middle of giving a series of high fives to some young men when a small someone tugged on the edge of his cape.
He looked down. A little freckled-faced girl twisted the small clump of cape in her fist as she peered up in blinking awe. Her pale red hair streamed out from underneath a winged plastic helmet as her own red cape flapped in the wind and she swung her own small Mjolnir in her other hand.
"Hello there, little one," Thor said, smiling down at her.
Her face broke into a huge grin. "You're the best thing ever."
"Why, thank you!" Thor crouched down to her level. He reached out through the fence's metal bars and brushed his fingers against her cape and helmet. "Where did you find such fine armor?"
She giggled. "My mom and grandma made it." She pushed to cape back to reveal a blue sweatshirt with silver embroidery. "I wanted it to look just like yours, but they said putting metal on it would make it too heavy for me. I'll put some metal on it when I'm older."
Thor chuckled. "I'm sure you will. But this fits you very well for the time being."
"Thanks!" The girl turned and pulled out a few sheets of paper. "I made these for you."
Thor took the papers from her. They were drawings, all done in brightest crayon. Some were of him alone, some featured all of the Avengers, and one featured Thor with a taller version of herself floating over Midgard. She'd written "Thor and Helena Save The World" at the bottom.
"And you are Helena?" he asked. "That's a pretty name."
She laughed. "Thank you. Me and my sister Vivian got old-lady names 'cause Mom thinks they're chic."
"Helena!" Her mother pulled her back from the fence.
"That's what Dad says!"
Reply
Helena stepped up to the fence again. "It's homemade."
The anchorwoman leaned forward, teetered in her zebra-striped heels. "And your helmet?"
"My best friend Kylie got two of 'em somewhere and she gave me the other one. We wear 'em together 'cause Thor's the best Avenger."
"How much were they?"
Thor held his hand in front of the microphone. "It matters not." He looked straight into the camera and imagined the prying eyes leering at their television sets. "Her garb cannot be purchased for silver or gold." He ran his fingers along the edge of her cape. "Devotion runs through every stitch and love binds the hems. These tweeting magpies cannot replicate or buy that. And now I would ask your indulgence to allow us to continue conversing."
The anchorwoman's tanned face turned pale. "I-well-yes, of course." She stood up and turned to other members of crowd who were more than happy to preen and jabber for her, but the camera still fixed on Thor and Helena.
Thor took her hand and smiled. "Helena, I am extremely honored to have earned your and Kylie's admiration."
Helena laughed. "Thanks! But we're not the only ones who think you're the best. Like every girl in our class loves you a lot!"
"They do?"
She nodded. "Yup. Some of the girls fight about who gets to marry you."
Thor blinked, then chuckled He never would have imagined Midgardians arguing for his hand, even the young ones. "Do you join them?"
"No! That's dumb!" Her red hair swished back and forth as she shook her head. "Who thinks about getting married when you can run around fighting monsters and aliens and save the world and stuff?"
"A few people, I imagine," Thor said, thinking of Tony and Pepper embracing after the end of every mission.
Helena's mother put her hands on the girl's shoulder. "Okay, okay. Let's calm down."
"But it's a stupid thing to fight about!" Helena protested, waving her toy Mjolnir above her head. Laughter rippled through the crowd around her.
Reply
"Of course not. It is not conducive to tossing and turning," he answered.
Her mother glanced down at the top of Helena's helmet. "See? What did I tell you?"
"But mine's not metal! Not yet! I sleep fine in it!" Helena told her. The other onlookers glanced at her mother with worry and confusion.
"I am so worried about the cape," her mother whispered loudly, motioning toward her own neck.
"I see." Thor looked back at Helena. "When armor is over-used---"
A fat finger tapped his upper arm. A stout man in a headset stood over him, furrowing his brow.
"Mr. Odinson, I mean Your Highness...Majesty...Excellency...Your Grace, we need you inside. We're experiencing some technical difficulties and our producers thought your presence might entertain the at-home audience while we resolve the issue."
Thor pulled himself up to his full height and the headset-man's hands shook. "If that is what they require, then I must go. Helena, we will finish our discussion when I return."
"Actually, they want the girl, too ," the headset-man said.
"Excuse me?" Helena's mother clutched her daughter to her side.
The head-set man shrugged. "I know it's a lot to ask, ma'am, but our ratings nearly doubled when we started running footage of them."
Thor held his hand out once again. "Madam, the choice is entirely yours. And Helena's." Then he turned back to the headset-man. "Whatever their decision, I shall go."
His cape billowed out behind him as he went to find the door to the studio.
Reply
"I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna do it!" Helena exclaimed. "But Mom says I have to be on my very best behavior."
"I am sure you shall be." Thor grasped her hand and led her forward, toward an empty maroon leather chair. "And perhaps we might finish our discussion."
He sat down in the maroon chair and listened to the cushions deflate as Helena climbed onto his lap. They faced a small, slim, thin-haired man in gray suit. Thor recognized the anchor from the episodes he'd previewed with Pepper. Matt Something-Or-Other, if he recalled correctly.
Matt leaned forward and began to speak. "Look who's come to visit---"
"Sir, if you will give us just a moment, that would greatly obliged us," Thor told the anchor. Then he placed few red hairs behind Helena's ear. She smiled and put her arms around his neck. "Helena, I want you to listen to me very carefully."
"Mmmkay," she giggled.
Thor held up the end of her cape for her to see. "Armor, however fine it may be...armor does not last." He moved his right arm forward so the silver scales glinted in the garish lights. "One day, mine will wear out and new armor will be forged. That is why you must save yours. That is why your mother worries for it. Your armor is her gift to you. A wonderful gift. If you never take it off, it will wear out long before its time." As he spoke, she took off her helmet and stared down at it. Thor tipped her chin upward. "Save this armor for your darkest days, so that when you put it on, the glory of Asgard and all of its warriors will give you the strength and grace to carry on for many years to come. Can you do that for me, Helena?"
She shrugged and nodded. "I think so. Does this mean I can't wear it to bed?"
Thor simply laughed and hugged her. He spied her mother standing next to one of the cameras, mouthing "Thank you".
Thor looked back at the anchor. "Alright, Matt, you may commence."
Reply
"Hi!" Helena waved to the cameras.
"So, Hannah, was it? What's it like, getting to meet a real prince? And a god?"
Helena bounced up and down. "I'm HEL-en-uh. And it's awesome! He's even way bigger than me and my friends thought! And he's way nicer---my friend Samantha said he'd be mean 'cause all famous people are secretly mean, but me and Kylie said he'd be nice and we were right!" Then she looked up at Thor. "Hey, aren't your other 'Venger friends s'posed to be in here?"
"Yes, they are," Thor answered. He squinted into the shadows and glimpsed sparks flying out of Tony's suit at the very back of the room. He and Steve were covered in some horribly thick, light-colored liquid. "Oh, I see them now!"
Helena stood up on Thor's lap while Steve and Tony waved at her. Steve grinned, Tony scowled. "I see 'em, too! Did they spill some cake batter or something?"
Matt jolted again and his face looked pinched. "Ah, yes, our at-home audience learned that robot suits are not meant for cooking."
Thor chuckled. "I could have informed you of that."
"Really? Tell us about that, Thor." Matt's expression calmed.
"One evening shortly after I returned here to Midgard, our colleague, Hawkeye, dared the good Man of Iron back there to prepare a proper feast using only his iron suit. To put it simply, Matt---"
"Everything exploded?" Helena asked, throwing her arms up.
"Yes." Thor reached up and helped her sit back down.
She sat back down with her back to the camera. "Do they do that stuff a lot?"
"Yes, they certainly do. They are fond of what they call 'prank wars'."
Helena's brown eyes grew wide. "Do they prank you?"
"Oh, yes. Iron Man is especially fond of tricking me. He convinced me to watch a most horrible film called The Room, among many other ridiculous things ."
"So did you get him back?"
Thor glanced up. Tony was jerking his finger in front of his neck. "Yes, I did. What do you think I did?"
Helena paused. "Splashed pink paint on his suit?"
"No, but I must remember that for the next retaliation. I taught him something he thought was a traditional Asgardian ballad. But instead, I'd simply mixed up the lyrics of the Earth ballad "Call Me Maybe" and sang them to a tune from my childhood. He never suspected. And Hawkeye recorded the entire sequence. I believe he put it on the YouTube, but I am not quite certain. Either he or the good Man of Iron would have to refresh my memory." Thor winked at the camera. He could see Tony waving his arms wildly now as a female crewperson wiped the batter off of his suit.
Helena's face turned red with laughter. "You guys are crazy!"
Reply
She tilted her head to the side. "What are you talking about, mister? Everybody does silly stuff like that. I put maple syrup in my sister Vivian's hair 'cause I thought it would work like shampoo you could eat." She shook her head. "It doesn't."
Her mother winced.
"That's very interesting, Helena. I can't imagine what your mother thought of that," Matt said. The crewpeople laughed. "You know, Thor, since we started broadcasting you two from outside, we've gotten hundreds of messages from mothers all across the country telling us how much their little girls love you. We've even gotten a few pictures." Thor imagined they would show a few of the pictures from the Facebook or wherever in the cyber realm the crew found them to the television audience. "Now, I'm guessing that's not the demographic a tall, strapping, courageous warrior like yourself would hope to attract?"
"No, I did not. I did not expect to attract any demographic of admirers, as you say." Thor picked up a few strands of Helena's hair and began to weave them together.
Matt folded his hands in his lap. "Why not?"
"My colleagues are the heroes of this realm. I have learned much since I first arrived in this country's vast desert and I have even become a proactive embassador for my realm, but the people of this one do not owe me their love or even their reverence. I certainly would never demand it. But I am as happy as I am surprised to receive it in whatever form it takes." Thor wrapped the strands' ends around the first finished braid and began a second one. Helena tried to turn around to see what he'd done, but he gently nudged her to face foward. She sighed and did so.
"So you're not at all disappointed or worried that you might be an Edward Cullen for the preschool set?"
"Not at all. I do not sparkle in the sun, for one thing."
"'Cept your fishscale arms do," Helena pointed out.
Thor finished off the second braid and began a third. "You are very right, Helena. Nothing escapes your notice."
She bounced again. "Thanks."
"All I can tell you, sir, is that I welcome any affection this realm can give, no matter who gives it." He twisted the three braids together. "And one must always respect the power and courage of little girls. My friend Sif taught me that long ago."
"Who's Sif?"
"She's this awesome black-haired lady from Asgard who fights everybody with a gigantic spear," Helena blurted out. "She could kick the Army's butt."
Her mother laughed and cringed.
Reply
"Internet." Helena grabbed her braids. "Whoa. Warrior princess hair."
"Is that a good thing?" Matt asked.
"Yeah 'cause I'm gonna be a warrior princess when I get bigger," she said, swinging the braid in front of her face.
"Will you join the Avengers if they have any openings then?"
"Yup." She grinned up at Thor.
"We'd be very glad to have you, Helena," Thor told her, enveloping her in another hug.
"Cool!" She let go of the braid, jammed her helmet on her head, and raised her plastic Mjolnir up towards the ceiling. "For glory!"
"For Asgard!" Thor answered.
"And there you have it, folks," Matt said with a smile. "We'll be right back after these messages."
Reply
Leave a comment