We had to ask Heimdall where to go.
Let's backtrack.
When Thor said that he wanted to go on vacation, he said his main goal was to head to the Midgard serpent to battle, and then hit a villiage or two that prayed to him for help. However, he also said that because I was coming with, that we could see something i wanted to see.
And so, of course, I chose Wakanda.
Unfortunately, I underestimated how fucking hidden the City of wakanda actually is.
We have been looking around where I thought wakanda was located for roughly 3 months now, and still cant find it. So, of course, despite all the fun we were having together, Thor and I decided to call for Heimdall to get us to where we wanted to go.
And so here we are, surrounded by wakandans holding vibranium spears and shields as we stand with our hands over our heads in surrender.
We could win, probably, but it wouldn't be pretty, and that's not what we're here for.
"People of Wakanda, we are not here to attack! We are simply... tourists from another planet looking around mi- ahem, earth! I am Verdandi Odinson, of Asgard, and mthis is Thor Odinson, of Asgard. We are something of Princes on our world, so please know we do not mean harm.
The Wakandans all looked around at each other and one of them whispered something to another, nodded, and walked away.
Ten minutes of standing later, and a tall, regal man walked forward through the guards who intercepted us on the outskirts of the city ofthe golden city, whose people have yet to create a barrier to hide it from the world.
The Wakandan man is clearly in his mid-forties, at least 6 foot and has a strong build- likely due to his consumption of the heart shaped herb. As he steps into veiw, he quickly regards us and narrows his eyes.
"I am told you are otherworldly... tourists... what does this mean? And if you mean no harm, why do you carry weapons? Especially the big one, Thor was it? Why carry a hammer that radiates radiation?" The king asks plainly without inteoducing himself, much to my interest.
"You are the King, I presume? The Black panther?" I say, earning a curious glance from Thor and a panicked look from the king. "No need to worry, we truly mean no harm. I wish to stay here and learn your culture. Perhaps get my hands on a small, gifted amount of Vibranium. I mean to earn your trust, and to that goal you can take my weapons." I say, and Thor gives me an astonished look, seeing as how usually i would never simply hand someone my weapons, "dont try and get Thor to give you his hammer though, its special."
"Hm... how do you know about us? About the Black panther specifically?" The king asks.
"Let's just say I have knowledge of the future and leave it at that." I say, leaving Thor dumbfounded.
"Is that related to your divinity?" Thor asks curiously, and I nod. He then seems satisfied, but I can see he'll want answers later.
"My, what an incredible gift you have! Hm, tell me, what do you know of my city? If you tell me, I may just let you inside our Golden City." The king says, but not without protest from his men, who he quickly silences.
"Well, I know that it survives for a long time thanks to Vibranium. I know you guys eventually develop cloaking tech and hide your city from the rest of the world, I know the names of some of the future Kings, and some important people that your country produces 1500 years into the future. T'challa, for example. Or Shuri, his sister." I say, and the King seems satisfied with that.
"Hm. Very well. I will allow you inside our city. I am Sonsi Wosokha, the king of Wakanda and the Black Panther. Follow me. Men, seize this one's weapons." The king commands and I follow after him.
"Thor, just leave Mjolnir here." I say, and Thor shrugs, dropping the hammer on the ground with a heavy thump.
"Is he not worried someone may steal it?" The king asks, only for Thor and I to smirk.
"Please, be my guest." Thor says with a smirk, only for every single soldier to fail to lift the hammer.
"It is magically enchanted. If mjolnir deems your unworthy, you cannot lift it, no matter how strong." I say, and the king lifts his brows before walking over to the hammer and lifting it with almost no effort.
"Hm. Interesting. It is a very well made weapon." The king says, and i cant help but gape at him as Thor laughs at my face and summons Thor back to himself.
"You are a trustworthy man, King Sonsi. Mjolnir's blessing alone tells me that. Come, show us the city a man of your heart and character leads and protects." Thor says with booming laughter as he puts his arm around Sonsi and walks forward with the King, who is bewildered the large man is touching him so carelessly. The guards try and get Thor to release him but he simply ignores them. They give up after Sonsi laughs and waves them off.
-
"Welcome to the Royal palace, the ancestral home of the Black panther and his family." Sonsi says, only for us to hear children running down the stairs.
"Papa!" Three children all say at the same time. The youngest cant be older than 7, the middle no older than 12, and the oldest looks about 17. All three come down the stairs with wide grins as they take in the sight of their father, a sight that warms my heart.
"My children, I am nearly finished with work for today, but I came to show these two men around. Kids, this is Thor Odinson, and that is Verdandi Odinson. They are visitors from another world!" The king says with a happy grin, and the three kids all look at us with awe and curiosity.
"What planet do you come from?!""how far away is it?""how did you get here?!""do you guys have a spaceship?""Why is your skin so light?""I like your eyes!""Is your hammer heavy?!"
The two youngest ask rapid-fire questions and quickly overwelm both Thor and I, only for Sonsi to step in, chuckling, telling them to wait till dinner to ask their questions."These two are our guests this evening, children. Calm yourselves until tonight, when im sure they will be more than willing to answer your questions. Now, Verdandi, Thor, let me introduce my three children- My youngest son is M'Goka , my oldest daughter is Imwi, and my younger daughter is Nesdeh. My oldest son is Usim, who is probably in the lab working with our head scientist. Now, let us head to the council room, and i will introduce you to them." Sonsi says, all three children nodding when their name is said before running off to do other things. Sonsi then begins walking towards what I assume is the direction of the council room.
-
The council meeting was beyond annoying- filled with a bunch of old idiots who just sat there and complained about how Sonsi was breaking tradition by allowing us inside the City.
However, after they managed to piss off Thor enought for lightning to come from his eyes in anger, they quieted down enough to listen to Sonsi, who vouched for us and took responsibility for us.
After that, there were other matters to attend to that were all boring king stuff, politics and random nonsense that the king mostly ignored or gave a small comment about. He clearly didnt like his job at all.
Not that I blamed him at all. I think after Thor witnessed that his desire to be King lessened a little. Not that he would ever be King. My plan was to make Hella the queen, but that is for future Verdi to figure out how to convince Odin.
Why? Because none of Odins sons are qualified yet to be King of Asgard. Baldur died. Thor wont wanna be King in the future(if the timeline follows the MCU at all), and Loki, from the looks of things, will be the king of Jotunheim if he manages to kill Laufey.
Wait... how could I forget about Angela? Does she actually exist in this universe? Well, not that it matters, she never has interest to be queen in the comics, so she's off the table too I guess.
-
After the coucil meeting, Sonsi brought us around the City, two Dora Milaje warriors following close behind. Im actually super interested in fighting one of them...
Had Thor rubbed off on me? When did I become a damn battle maniac?! Shit.
Whatever, cant change myself now. Maybe it's just an Asgardian trait? Do we just crave battle naturally, or are we just more capable of becoming 'addicted' to battle than others? An interesting discussion to have with Father one of these days I guess.
"Sonsi, is it possible that I could have a sparring match with one of the Dora Milaje? I have heard and seen a great many things about their prowess, and I wish to test the rumors." Sonsi gives me an amused look before nodding in agreement.
"Some of the Dora Milaje warriors even give me a hard time sometimes, even with my armor on, so I imagine you will have a fun time. You give me the feeling of a strong warrior, inexperienced, but strong nonetheless." Damn he clocked me dead on... am I really that readable? I should work on that.
"Haha! You certainly arent wrong about that! My brother took his first kills only a few months ago, so believe me when I tell you he is inexperienced. A strong warrior, yes, but desperately in need of experience." Thor says and I nod in agreement, trying to put the images of the Dead warriors out of mind.
"So, do one of you ladies feel up to a fight with me?" I ask the Guards behind me, turning on my heels mid step and walking backwards smoothly. They both give me a curious look as they raise one brow, but they both nod nonetheless.
"Every one of the Dora Milaje would be happy to crush your ego." The warrior on the left answers, and a shiver goes down my spine at the baddass comment. They really are so fucking cool.
"Sick. Also, Sonsi, any chance I can hang out with your scientists at some point? I've always wanted to see how they do things." I ask as I turn back around.
"You will have to talk with my oldest son about that, even I get yelled at if I walk into his lab unannounced, so I imagine he wont be too keen on strangers just waltzing in. He can be rather bullheaded sometimes." Sonsi says with an amused smile on his face, and I raise an eyebrow.
"He talks to the King like that? I get he's a prince but..." I say, and the King simply laughs off my comment.
"I was too soft with him since he was my first and gave him too much freedom. Now, he's turned into a bullheaded stubborn man, not to mention he's the smartest person I know and can out-argue me all day long. I can never win an arguement with him, and I hate to throw around my authority as king with him because all that will do is build resentment. Dont want my son to hate me, especially since one day we will be reunited for eternity in the ancestral plains." Ah, I imagine that's a fair point, considering it's a real place. I can see his perspective, and it seems Thor agrees with him as I notice him nodding in agreement.
"The ancestral plain is your afterlife, yes? Ours is called Valhalla, so I share your sentiment. If I ever have kids, I will try my best to make sure they like me. My father has on occasion complained about how his father raised him, and I dont imagine they had the greatest of relationships." Well, yet another thing I didnt know. Living in this universe really lets me get all the tea on unknown parts of the Marvel universe huh?
"Oh! You two must try these, they are simply delectable!" Sonsi says in excitement as he spots a street food stall. I raise a brow as the vendor spots the King and hands him easily ten skewers of well seasoned meats. The smell is fantastic as I am handed a skewer, and I look over to Thor who has already began to devour the meat. He looks absolutely ecstatic.
"Thish ish icredible!" He comments with most of the skewers already inside his mouth.
"Thor, manners, there is a king present." I say before looking over and finding Sonsi also devouring his first skewer with similar gusto to Thor, causing me to shake my head in amusement and take a bite of my skewer as well, and I immedietly admit it's the best meat I've ever eaten.
"Holy shi-" I mumble before devouring my skewer with similar speed to Thor and Sonsi.
We spend the next 25 minutes laughing and devouring the ten skewers of meat.
-
"Alright, Verdandi, are you ready to lose?" The first Dora Milaje says as I square up with her in a large sparring arena. Her confidence is actually a little terrifying, considering each Dora milaje can back up said confidence, but I am not deterred.
I'm not exactly a weak human anymore am I?
"You wish. I cant wait to win my brother some money!" I say, knowing full well he bet some gold on my victory.
"Ha! You wish Verdandi! I bet against you!" Thor comments from the sidelines, causing my mood to drop immediately.
"What the fuck Thor." I say with a deathglare directed at him, causing the Dora Milaje to chuckle a little.
"Poor Verdandi, not even your brother holds confidence in you." Sonsi says, causing me to glare at him next, but I quickly direct my attention at the Spar in front of me as I notice her get into position.
Her stance is extremely well practiced, and I can tell she is extremely dedicated to the craft of spear fighting. I would use a spear... but I lack a second arm that would allow me to use it. So, longsword it is.
No words are spoken as I focus my breathing and take my stance. My sword parallel to my body and my knees bent so my body leans forward slightly. Her stance is firm and grounded, and her spear is low as she stares at me with intense focus.
"Begin!" Sonsi announces and we both approach each other carefully. This will certainly be a difficult fight for me. Her spear gives her a significant range advantage, so I have to somehow bait her into overextending and take advantage of it, or parry a strike of hers and get in close so it is more difficult to manuever her spear.
This would be much easier with a shield.
No such luck. No left arm remember?
The first strike is hers, as she jabs out quickly, and I deflect with my sword, but she is back in defensive position so fast that I cant take advantage.
I then dash forward and activate my predictive eyes, predicting the direction and angle of her next few strikes, dodging out of the way of each, and swinging at her neck with the wooden sword. She dodges deftly.
I try and keep up the pressure, deactivating my eyes so as not to give myself too much of an advantage, but I deactivate them at the wrong moment, as her next strike surprises me.
She closes the distance for a close combat battle.
I smile as close combat gives me the advantage.
Or so I thought, since in the next few seconds of strikes she somehow manages to throw me off balance and throw me to the ground on my back.
With a sudden spear on my neck, I realize I just lost to a normal human.
"Are you sure you didnt take the Heart Shaped herb too? How did you move so damn fast?" I say as I look up at her victorious smirk, which infuriates me to no end.
"I am actually better at close combat than spear-play." She comments, and I huff in annoyance before taking out her now outstretched hand, allowing her to lift me onto my feet.
"Good spar. I look forward to winning next time."
"Ha. With only one arm, that is extremely unlikely." She comments, and I cant help but agree with her. Having only one arm may be a huge hindrance, but I need to learn how to fight at a high level with only one arm. Even once I get a prosthetic, I cannot grow reliant on it. You never know when someone can remove it somehow.
I mustn't grow complacent.
"Haha! I figured having only one arm would hinder you greatly, but why did you not use your foresight? You could've won handedly with it." Thor comments as he claps a strong hand on my back.
"Because I would've won handedly. It feels like a cheat code, and I will never grow as a warrior if I always win." I say, and Thor smiles in agreement.
"Indeed, Quite the noble philosophy. Thor, your brother may turn into quite the warrior one day." Sonsi comments, and Thor nods in agreement.
"I agree, which only makes me want to train harder so he cannot overtake me in strength. I can't very well call myself Older brother if my younger brother can defeat me in battle, the one thing I'm truly great at! Haha!"
We all laugh at his comment and Head in for the next part of the tour.