Chapter Text
Morgan bounces in their conjoined seat on the bus doodling on her Etch-A-Sketch as the shuttles rumble surrounds them, acting like white noise. Minh entertains himself via knitting himself a scarf for Norway, the colder climate a definite change from the humid California days.
Morgans’ scarf is already snug around her neck knitted lovingly in a gold and red scheme to signify who her favorite hero is.
Minh just finishes off a row when he feels the ground shift as the rumbling that had been constant before suddenly stops and they slide across a smooth surface.
“We are now reaching New Asgard. If you could be so kind as to stay in your seats until the shuttle comes to a complete stop it would be much appreciated.”
Excited whispers buzz through the air as they reach the town creating an atmosphere of energy that hadn’t been present for ages.
Morgan shakes her Etch-A-Sketch firmly before tucking it back in her violet backpack and zipping it up securely. She scrambles to the side window attempting to sneak a peak of the town before the bus reaches it. He smiles a little at her show of excitement before turning his attention back to his scarf, determined to finish it before their destination.
By the time they depart from the shuttle, Minh has a multicolored scarf tied around his neck, providing him with warmth and an odd feeling of security. Two men that Minh vaguely recognize from news articles are waiting for the crowd at the bus stop.
“Hello friends!” Minh blinks because isn’t he supposed to be fierce as the God of Lightning?
“We welcome our guests with,” Thor not so subtly nudges Loki, “open arms!” He throws his arms out in a show of trust with Loki reluctantly doing the same, but somehow making the gesture mocking of Thor. “Now as we know that some of you have gone long distances in order to be here today,” Some yawns are heard through the crowd, “Me and my brother will be leading you to your rooms to unpack and ‘settle in’ as they say.” Minh looks down to go a scoop Morgan up onto his shoulders and doesn’t see her. Where-.
“Ahh, yes little one?” He hears Thor say from the front of the crowd. Minh makes his way up as he hears Morgans’ voice barely contain her excitement.
“Would Tony Stark be making an appearance today?” He’s at the front now and sees Thors’ brows raise, probably surprised in hearing something so articulate coming out of someone so small. Minh would know to not underestimate her, five dollar bills are nonexistent in his wallet.
“If everything goes to plan then we would be seeing Tony around 5 pm today.” Thor says after collecting himself, looking more amused now than anything. Loki steps forward, intrigued,
“What is your name little mortal?” Morgan is about to answer herself before Minh scoops her up onto his shoulders,
“Morgan.” His voice is grainy and thick from disuse after sitting inside the bus for so long, “Morgan Lee if you wanna get technical.” Loki regards the newcomer with some scrutiny as Thor speaks to him,
“And who might you be fellow guest? Apologies as I have yet to memorize everyone’s name.” Minh shrugs,
“No one could fault you for that.” He holds out a hand but is careful to leave one on Morgans’ leg for support, “My name’s Minh Lee and yes, it does sound kinda stupid but what can you do?” Thor shakes his hand with more than a little concern while Loki tries to hide a laugh at how this mortal decided to introduce themself.
“Yes, well,” Thor turns back to the crowd, “follow me and brother to the castle, friends! I’m sure you will enjoy our scenic views while we walk.” The walk is easy with the ground flat and even. Minh takes a good look around now that where he is fully sinks in. The town borders the ocean making the air pungent with the smell of salt, the gentle winds constant and chilling despite that day being cloudless. He buries his mouth into his scarf, using his breath to compensate the cold.
Minh is glad to catch his breath when they reach the foot of the castle as Thor put it. It wasn’t actually a castle, not by a long shot, it’s more leaning towards quaint cottage/lodge if anything else. However, he guesses it could be called a castle as it seems to the the towns center and hub; a plethora of marketplace stalls surrounding the building with a ivy vines growing across the walls tying the rustic look altogether.
“You lot,” Loki starts as he points to the crowd, “separate how you’d like into the two buildings next to our ‘castle’.” Minh could hear the air quotes, “My brother and I will be supervising a building each.” Loki turns to walk to the left building, a group of twenty to fifteen year olds following behind the attractive god.
“I will supervise the building to the right, friends!” A group of older people in their fifties and sixties follow behind the Thunder God. Minh hums in thought, taking Morgan from his shoulders.
“Which would you like to go to Morgan?” Morgan considers the options: Thor would be nice to be around as he’s nice to everyone, but with Loki she could have the possibility of seeing some cool magic. The latter opportunity became far too tempting as she ends up hurriedly dragging him towards the house that Loki is looking after.
In the end, they got themselves situated in a room up on the second floor. It was a room in the top left corner of the floor and it faced the back alley of the building. Not the most scenic view, but they couldn’t snatch the other rooms fast enough. And if Minh remembers correctly, he’s not allowed to make his housemates move via physical force; ie punch them.
“This carpet’s so soft, Minh!” Morgan exclaims, rolling around on the area rug in the middle of the room, “I also get my own bed!” She pushes herself up and jumps into the plush mattress. If they ever needed to rent a room, they usually share a bed as it’s cheaper and they usually only hang around the place for about a day and drive home at night. As this trip is experimental for New Asgard, all expenses are paid for as long as you’re willing to participate.
“Am I too hot to cuddle?” He’s woken been up in the middle of the night to see Morgan hastily crawling out of the steaming blankets to sleep on the floor. He knows for a fact that his body acts as some sort of space heater for others, he just doesn’t know why his body gives off so much heat in the first place. Morgan nods at his statement while setting up the bed to her preference,
“I wonder if Loki would be willing to show me some of his magic! I’m sure it’ll be amazing!” Minh hums in agreement as he places Matilda, his small stuffed elephant, onto the bed with a soft jingle,
“He seems to appreciate others with wit and intelligence.” He gets up and squats down to eye level with Morgan, “Which you have a lot of.” He ruffles her hair fondly with a smile before heaving her up into his arms, “Got the bed to how you want it?” Morgan nods happily,
“I can’t wait to finally meet Tony Stark today!” She breaks off into a yawn at which point Minh sets her back onto the bed and takes off her shoes.
“Take a nap and I’ll wake you before Mr. Stark comes.” Morgan smiles dopily before drifting off into dreamland. Minh entertains himself for the next hour by unpacking the rest of their luggage from each of their suitcases and carry-on’s. He goes to the dressers at the foot of each of their beds and gets to work organizing them into the different drawers. This menial task takes him fifteen minutes to complete; doing it so often at home has trained him.
He placed Morgan’s backpack against her bed knowing that it holds her Etch-A-Sketch, her favorite snacks, her Walkie Talkie, her Wet hairbrush, a few of her hair accessories and ties, and her orange-shaped water bottle. He helped her pack it after all. While Morgan’s suitcase mostly contained clothes and bed items as she had insisted that she had to take both Mr. Wiggles and Teddy Rosevelt along with her galaxy comforter; his suitcase mainly consisted of necessities though half of it is taken up via his body pillow as he usually enjoys caging himself into his bed at night.
He sets Morgan’s bathrobe and towel on top of the dresser along with a bottle of lotion he had brought despite her protests. On his dresser, he sets his bathrobe and face towel along with his tub of body cream, face moisturizer, I scented body soap, and dandruff shampoo. He had forgotten about that shampoo once and he’d woken up to a pillow full of dead skin. Not something he’d forget again.
Seeing as he has thoroughly unpacked their suitcases, he pulls out his body pillow and sets it on the bed and looks inside his own yellow backpack for something to do. He pulls out his laptop, his sketch pad, his pencil case, his pink water bottle, his Walkie Talkie, his copy of Island of the Blue Dolphins, a heavy duty first aid kit, and his orange-shaped water bottle that’s actually filled with orange juice which he sips from.
He has plenty of options to burn through the next half-hour, he’s just indecisive. Horribly indecisive. He finishes off his orange juice and places it to the side. Finally, he decides to take his sketch pad and a pencil to map out the house. He finds the exercise oddly soothing, helping him settle into new settings easier.
Putting everything back inside his bag, he’s careful to open the door as quietly as he can before side stepping outside and closing. Walking around he finds that all the windows in the hallways all have white painted shutters, drawing a sketch of them inside his pad and then writing the amount of them underneath the sketch. He does the same to the sturdy doors, the paneled flooring, and the ceiling lights. Minh checks his watch and is pleased to find that it’s time to wake Morgan up from her nap.