mjolnir_retriever | (no subject)

Thor happens to be both! :D

Anyway, he sets them both down. On their feet and gently, even, and takes a step back as a gesture of trust.

(It's trust backed up by the fact that he's freakishly strong, fairly fast, and has an X lurking in the crowd as back-up, of course. But he would like very much to have the trust justified, all the same!)

"Let us start again," he says, because Thor is at least good at being magnanimous in victory.

"I'm Thor, Odin's son, and I have sworn my services to help guard the safety of everyone in this meadhall."

Oh, fine.

Miguel is good at looking gracious in defeat--or something. Anyway, after sidling back up to stand with Tulio again, he lifts his chin and looks tolerably regal. (--or something.)

"A fine, noble calling," he allows.

"Quite," Tulio agrees.

Thor waits a moment.

"...And you are?"

Okay, Tulio at least introduced himself earlier, but possibly he'll give a different name now! Let's see. And blond guy was too busy playing his lute(?) and then posing.

Oh. Right.

"We are Miguel and Tulio." You've heard of them, right? No? Sigh. "From Spain," he adds, less dramatically.

So it actually was his name. Half a point to you, Tulio!

"I am from Asgard," Thor supplies. "Not on your Earth."

Sometimes it's weird to be where not everybody knows your name and face! He gets that.

"We are all the Landlord's guests, here. Outside rank and history doesn't matter. All are guests alike, under that hospitality. You understand that impersonating Bar authority in order to defraud fellow patrons is neither honorable nor allowed."

"It was worth a try, though," Tulio mumbles, mostly for Miguel's hearing.

"And it's not as if we--" Ehhh, there's probably no point in arguing. He clears his throat. "Can we throw ourselves upon your mercy?"

Thor could argue that it breaks the rule about outside business, and will if he has to! If he doesn't have to, however, he's going to rely on come on, guys, you know better rather than opening the door to rules lawyering.

So he smiles faintly.

"You can. It's a first offense, and you're new."

"Dishwashing or cleaning stables?"

Tulio looks to Miguel. Neither? Neither would be good.

Really, though, they're not bad at all compared to some punishments they've been threatened with.

Hey, yeah, where's the stocks? The flogging? The branding? The public hanging?

This place is great!

Er, ahem. "...Staaables? We can do stables?"

Big Shiny Thor Son of Odin seems like the kind of person to ask what you want and then give you whichever you didn't pick.

"Dishwashing it is," says Thor cheerfully, thus proving that Miguel's assessment is on target.

"Tonight and all tomorrow. Your supervisor will choose what breaks are fair. Come, let me introduce you to your duty stations."

That also means to the waitrat who will be supervising them, a sturdy piebald matriarch with eloquent scolding squeaks and a brandished wooden spoon for any slacking off.

Well, that could be worse. But Tulio is much too narratively aware to say that.

In fact, he makes sure to sigh heavily, just in case Thor decides they aren't sufficiently distressed by their punishment and require more.

Yes, yes, sigh, dishwashing, so terrible, so much worse than mucking out stables. Sigh.

and omg is that a magic rat holding a little wooden spoon?

Miguel winks at her as soon as Thor's back is turned. This place is amazing.

It is. Her name is Buttercup! And she's a formidable taskmistress.

So she doesn't wink back, especially after Thor has explained to her why they're sentenced as they are.

(But charming her will probably result in extra-large lunches on their breaks, if not any lighter workload.)

Anyway, it doesn't really take long to cover here's the sink, here's the soap, here's how you work a faucet, Daisy will show you the rest, Mistress Daisy I leave them in your capable paws.

--Oh. One more thing.

"You will, of course, return all your fraudulent proceeds to their prior owners."

Tulio's face falls. "But-- but--"

"We already gave back some..." Come on, not taking that kid's money should get them off the hook for the rest, right?

Sigh.

"...We will of course return all our fraudulent proceeds to their prior owners," he grumbles down at the floor, scuffing his foot against the corner of the refrigerator. Darn it.

"I'm glad we agree."

Aren't we all so glad that we do!

He tips a friendly wink at Buttercup and Daisy. "Enjoy your new assistants." And with that, in a glitter of armor and a manly muscular space disco viking stride: Thor out.