Disclaimer: Joss is the boss. Duh.
Characters: Thor/Jane Foster (this chapter)
This is sort of kind of for The Beckster, since I had the idea and didn't know what else she'd like. Happy Holidays!
"Explain to me again: How does this large poultry fit into your celebrations?"
Jane is torn between laughing again and rolling her eyes in frustration. Here she'd been hoping to spend a nice Christmas evening among old and new friends, catching up with Darcy and being introduced to everyone on this Avengers team she's tactfully been kept out of almost eight months ago. Instead, she's spent a good part of the last hour trying to explain the concept and history of Christmas to a Norse God, and if for some reason that sounds like fun, believe her when she says it isn't.
Not that she's not happy to spend more time with Thor. She's very, very happy to spend more time with Thor. But it's just her luck that the only Avenger she has a relation to is completely clueless as to what's happening and what the purpose of this celebration is. Apparently, the rest of the team hadn't done a fantastic job explaining it.
"It's called a turkey," she illustrates patiently. "You cook it up with lots of vegetables and bread inside, and then you eat it."
"Like a traditional feast, then?" Thor asks.
"Something like that, yeah. Except you make it sound so formal. Really, it's just a lot of conversations with food in your mouth and people shouting to pass the gravy. It was mostly good fun, though, as a kid."
Thor laughs at that. "Ah, then it is indeed rather like a feast. I should like to partake in this tradition."
"Well, I'm sure there'll be turkey soon," Jane ventures. She'd reason that turkey for this many people is hardly practical or easy to pay for, but this is Tony Stark and those are two restrictions his world is just not bound by. "So, you don't have anything like Christmas back on Asgard?"
"Verily, we do," Thor replies. "The festival of Yule is celebrated in a similar fashion during the wintertime on Asgard. The symbolism is rather paralleled as well. As a matter of fact, your tradition of the Claus bringing presents to children in his chariot drawn by deer spawns from one of our own, of the Lady Freya who would distribute gifts and good fortune to those deserving. And Loki was often up to his old tricks with the mistletoe-you do have this on Earth, yes?"
Jane nods. "Yeah, we do. And that's . . . mostly right." Then something occurs to her. "Wait, if you have Yule on Asgard-which is essentially the same thing-why do you need me to explain all this?"
He smiles disarmingly. "I enjoy listening to your explanations, Jane Foster. You have a very riveting way of describing the memories you attribute to this celebration from your childhood. And your voice is very pleasant to listen to. Please, continue in your recounting."
Jane, blushing slightly, decides she can put up with a couple more questions about Earth's holiday traditions, as long as that's the kind of reaction she's getting.
FIN
