all_inclusive | You got a new horizon, it's ephemeral style.

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You got a new horizon, it's ephemeral style.

The sharp edge of shock and white static thrum of continuous fear upon arriving at the Nexus hotel had begun to fade, mostly because Darcy was five shots of Patrón into her demise and moving fast. It had been a conscious choice when she realized that she was a long, long way from home with no way back to just get so drunk she didn't give a shit, and it was an official success. Darcy had long moved past complacency and, thanks to the Patrón, was now inching towards the level of boisterous that would have her table dancing, if she thought this place was of the sort of calibre that could handle a bitchin', interpretive rendition of "Disco Stick." Since it probably wasn't that sort of place and Darcy didn't care to be escorted out of the hotel and onto some planet she had no working concept of, she was keeping her ass still and settling for occasionally humming.

She'd tried a door for the first time ever that day in search retail therapy and had actually found some boots to pair with her jeans that looked like they could fend off an alien invasion or whatever the fuck had been the catalyst behind landing her in the Nexus, though she assumed, as always, it was on either Jane or her boyfriend. Since she'd mustered the nerve to go shopping mostly because it was too ~~abysmally~~ pleasantly warm on the Nexus grounds for the clothes she'd been wearing in Norway, she'd felt she'd done enough for her day and could reward herself by basting in checked worry and booze. The hotel had given her a phone that worked as long as she wasn't trying to call anyone she needed to call, and the sheer level of frustration involved in being defeated by technology had been enough motivation to skip dinner and head straight for the drinking. She felt a little light-headed, but the blissful fog of approaching ignorance was definitely worth it.

She waved one of the waitresses over to order a sixth shot, and upon recognizing she had yet to truly speak to anyone she hadn't stopped to ask for help, Darcy turned sideways in her chair, fluffed her hair, and gave the room in general a slow look. She thought about smiling to make herself look welcoming, but since she'd be smiling at no one in particular and was no doubt drunk enough that all the muscles in her face wouldn't cooperate at the same time, she held off.

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"It's a realm between realms," Thor explained, though he was not sure if it would do any good with Darcy as drunk as she seemed to be. He laughed, heart lightened by her company. Jane's friend was nothing if not good natured and full of mirth.

"A place to rest and celebrate. When did you arrive?"

"Oh," Darcy said, then blinked a few times. "Well, right, okay." She picked up her shot and tossed it back, pleased that the tequila no longer even burned, then turned to look at Thor. "But did you bring me here? Did myuh-myuh uh, do something to gravity? I'm supposed to be in Norway right now with Jane!" She tapped her hand on the table top in thought. "I'm supposed to be mad at you, too."

Darcy was currently drunk enough to be forgiving, and she also found it far more difficult to be angry with Thor while looking at Thor because... Well. Because.

"No, Mjolnir did not bring you here," Thor said mildly. "And Jane is here as well, we have both been here for several months. We can travel back and forth with ease. She will be happy to see you."

Thor lived to make Jane happy and he didn't think anything could make her happier than seeing a close friend like Darcy.

Darcy gave Thor a look, mostly because he was talking like a crazy person again as Darcy well knew that Jane hadn't been anywhere but Norway for months, mopey and sad and depressed because he hadn't come back for her as he promised. Still, Darcy was drunk but not so drunk she couldn't notice the irony of things, and she would've sworn this place couldn't have existed either, if she hadn't wound up here. There was also the matter of the last time Thor had spoken of things that sounded impossible, everyone including both she and Jane had initially thought him batshit crazy, and every single thing he'd said had been proven true.

"Ah shit," Darcy said with a sigh. "I was hoping this was one of your crazy Viking spaceships or something. I would've been forced to compliment you on your taste, as this place is top notch." She pointed to her shotglass. "Good tequila, too."

She was happy to see Thor, and would be happy to see Jane again as well after a few days of thinking she was never going to see her friend again. Lifting her foot, she gently nudged at Thor's chair with a grin. "It's good to see you, Odinson. Still all muscley" Had she already commented on that? Ah well. It was definitely worth mentioning again.

"I still train for battle," Thor said, somewhat dubious. Darcy had her own way of interacting with others and it was something he did not think he would ever fully understand. "Even though there is peace for the moment, it is but a fragile peace. But no, this is no ship. It is an inn, a crossroads between the realms. I daresay even Heimdall knows not how to get here."

It was something he needed to ask Sif about, when it occurred to him to do so, but for now he was more concerned with ensuring Darcy's well-being. "What were you doing in Norway?"

"Well if Heimdall can't find us, we're all screwed," Darcy said, though she hadn't the slightest of ideas who Heimdall was. It sounded vaguely familiar, like perhaps something Jane might've mentioned when recounting some of the tidbits Thor had told her in New Mexico, but Darcy was too drunk just then to sort through the details. "But I'm glad everything is at peace. I heard your stuff was all messed up back in New York, though we've only seen a little bit of it."

She lifted her hand to signal the bartender for another drink, then turned back to Thor. "We were working in Norway, if you'd like to call it that. They name kids after you there, did you know that?"

Thor could not help but laugh at the idea of children being named for him. Thor was a common enough name in Asgard but he had not been aware that many people in Midgard carried the name.

"Is that so? And are they all worthy of my name or are their parents just giving their children a great glory to aspire to?"

"I dunno," Darcy said with a shrug, though she was grinning at Thor because Thor had laughed, and she was drunk enough to have her mood brightened by a crinkley-eyed, pretty smile. "All kids are precious and magic and gigantic fucking assholes to me, so maybe give them a few years."

It was then that a tidbit of information he'd spoken of earlier came floating to the forefront of her mind, finally falling under her attention and taking hold. "Did you say you and Jane go back and forth between here and home easily? How the hell does that work?"

"We go through the doors," Thor explained. "They're more or less like what Heimdall does, guarding the gateway, only these doors seem to have no guard preventing travel to and from. I could show you, if you wanted? There is a door to Asgard."

Thor frequented it with Sif whenever he had the opportunity and it was nice to be able to check on his realm and know his people were still healthy and hale within.

"Asgard?" Darcy asked, surprised. "Or just doors in general? Where do these doors lead?"

She was wrapping her mind around the apparent facts of this place far more easily than she might've anticipated while sober, but that was a good thing. Besides, the whole door situation did lend itself to making her travel between Norway and the Nexus more logical.

"Everywhere, this place seems to be a hub for a great many realms, more than I knew ever existed. Would you like to see? I could take you through one."

Darcy seemed drunk, yes, but there would be no way harm could come to her. Thor had only drunk one pint and Asgardian tolerance was much, much higher than that of a human. There would be no threat to her.

"Right now?" Darcy asked, though her face was brightening in dawning understanding of the fact that she was being invited out on an adventure with Thor. It was entirely possible that it was all one giant trick and he'd actually be taking her through a door and throwing her to a basement full of cannibal aliens or something, but Darcy was just then too drunk to contemplate things not going her way. Also, if shit went south her taser was in her purse.

"Hell yes I want to go," she said, fluffing her hair and then pushing herself up onto her tottering heels. "Where are we going?"

"I could bring you to Asgard to see what very few Migardians have ever seen," Thor said, laughing a little at her enthusiasm. Darcy had always had a lust for life that he could appreciate, being possessed of it himself.

"We will feast at my father's table and I will show you the realm. Does that sound amenable to you?"

"Amenable." Darcy repeated, then shook her head as though doing so would make her situation any more or less real than it currently felt. "Fuck yes, that's amenable! Is it packed to the brim with big, muscly, hunky guys like you?" She looked down at herself, attempting to decide if the outfit she'd found quite cute earlier was suitable for dipping herself into a vat of Asgardian hotness, and then decided it would have to be. "Are we going now?"

"We can. I can take you to see the army training," Thor said, laughing a little at her enthusiasm. "Most of the men in my army are brawny just as I am. Hopefully that too will be amenable."

"Hell yes," Darcy said, grinning wider at his apparent amusement and laughter. "Why wouldn't that be amenable? Next you'll be asking me if it's cool that they're half naked and sweaty why they work out." Darcy put one hand on Thor's considerably larger one and gave a gentle tug, which was hilarious in itself.She could never hope to move Thor unless he wanted to be moved. "Don't hold out on me, dude."

"It is usually advisable to train in as little as possible when first starting out so the only thing you are concerned with is the heft of the sword," Thor teased, pulling her along to the door that led back to Asgard.

"I suppose that these fresh recruits will not be in full armor as of yet since it will make it difficult for them to learn how to wield a broadsword." Once they reached the door home, Thor opened it for her. "After you, my lady."

"Does that mean they'll be prancing around in tiny, Asgardian underpants?" Darcy asked as she patted down her pockets to find the phone the hotel had issued her. She'd surely be getting some pictures of whatever Thor took her to see on Asgard, but honestly the more nudity that was involved the better.

When he held the door open for her, Darcy took his forearm before going inside. "Don't you lock me in here without you," she said. "They might revolt and strap me to someone's sword before he goes to battle.

"No, I will not be locking you in here," Thor said, frowning a little at the implication that he might. While it was true that Asgardians could be temperamental, that was mostly his brother and not him. He happened to like those of Midgard and considered Darcy, especially, a friend.

"Come, let me show you my home. Few Midgardians have ever seen the splendor of Asgard."

"Well I just want to make sure you're yourself and not some weird, freaky, robot version of Thor," Darcy said, thinking in that moment that an alternate version of Thor was entirely likely. Who wouldn't want to look like him for a while, anyway? If Darcy woke up in Thor's body she probably wouldn't leave her room for days, and it wouldn't be out of depression.

...Had she said all of that out loud?

"Anyway, I'm super pumped to see all of Asgard. Its splendor, too," she tacked on, then grinned brightly. "Thanks for asking me, by the way. They'll be cool with me being here now, yes?"

"I'm not aware of any other version of me," Thor assured her. He would not discount it entirely because there was no sense in discounting anything until he saw it with his own eyes but he did not think it was something that existed.

"You are my guest. You will be honored as any guest of the royal house should be."

"Well thanks," Darcy said with a wide and easy grin. "I do look forward to seeing what your Asgardian food is like. In addition to the dudes, of course."

Upon passing through the door and into what was presumably Asgard, Darcy craned her head back, momentary sobriety making a leap to the front as she took in all that was beautiful and grandiose and utterly alien about Thor's home. "Holy shit!" She exclaimed, ever the very vision of eloquence. "Not bad."

"I do not think I've ever heard anyone describe Asgard as 'not bad,' before," Thor said, unsure if he should laugh or question it. Darcy had her own way of expressing herself and it was unlike anything else he had ever experienced.

"What would you like to see first?"

"Not a bad thing about it!" Darcy said, grinning and gave Thor a friendly and teasing and also very light punch on the arm. She didn't want to shatter her fist, after all, especially not when he'd promised to feed her and she needed both her hands for food. "And we can start wherever you want," she continued, reaching in her pocket to pull out her phone. "Is it okay if I take some pictures of some things. Or!" She stepped in close to his side. "We should take a selfie!"

Thor frowned. He knew the term self, of course, but he had no idea what the word selfie meant and if it was something he should engage in or not. Still, Darcy had never done any harm to him or those of Asgard and he imagined anything she wanted to do was fun-loving and harmless. "A selfie." he said, more of a statement than a question.

"Where do you propose we should hunt these selfies? I have never seen such in Asgard."

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