2014.02.05 - Shopping For Volstagg

Brooklyn has its share of swanky spots, and Driggs Avenue is a perfect example: fancy but not ridiculously over-priced. The store is peppered with random, unusual eateries and vintage, thrift-trendy clothing stores: a literal breeding ground for hipster kids with too much disposable cash to congregate and gawk at each other. Today is no exception, especially since the sun has managed to penetrate the winter wind, and it's actually not all that cold.

Tabitha Smith, a frequent shopper here, might've just been another face in the crowd had she not been attracting the attention of random stoned hackey-sack hippies--seven of them had gathered around her and stared like they just saw God. Except it was just Tabitha: she was tossing up eesy-weensy little time-bombs up in the air, making them crackle and pop like firecrackers, playing the trick off like 'magic' rather than her mutant power. While distract, she also happened to be picking their pocket.

Volstagg arrives at the mall a little dazzled by it at first. True, he's been to a mall before, but they're always strange places for him. He draws notice almost immediately, given both his size, and the fact he is in his Asgardian gear. He's alone, and looks around a bit as he makes his way through the food court talking to himself, "Let's see... if I were a tailor, where in this place would I find my shop?"

Eddie doesn't often come to this area of town when not in costume, but even he needs to get new clothes. And while this isn't his usual style, a friend told him one of the stores is having a 'sale' on the superhero-themed gear he's so fond of. Having purchased himself a new Flash-logo shirt, he's still in a good mood from this past weekend's date, despite the rest of everything going on. The sound of Tabitha's crackling and popping draws the teen's attention as he walks along with a bag in hand. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved Green Lantern t-shirt, he frowns when he sees Tabitha and her bombs. Of course before he can go over to investigate, another new arrival catches his attention. Eddie jumps: he wasn't expecting to see any Asgardians at the mall! "Oh b-boy..." he trails off, still worried about everything going on with Loki, and the potential war.

Tabitha considered spending another twenty minutes bedazzlering (Sorry, Alison) and ripping off hippies, but felt her belly a-rumblegrumlin' so, she stopped her little performance and walked off. The crowd looked disappointed, but quickly went back to staring at the ever-floppin' hackey-sack. She strutted up to her most favorites hotdog stand, but caught a glimpse of Volstagg, noting his odd clothing. And beard. Her ULTIMATE HIPSTER alarms went off, and she made a frantic, arms-flailing mad dash over to greet him. "Yo Buddy! Where'd you done nab yer duds at?" she asked, smiling awkwardly.

Volstagg looks down at the mortal woman and smiles, "My duds?" He then remembers a bit of human slang... "Oh, you mean my raiment? Well, I had this made personally by Eingarn, the finest tailor in all of Asgard. Though I have been informed I need to find more 'mortal' clothing... Wouldst thou know where I should look?"

Some other time, Eddie might have quietly tried to slip away. But with Tabitha's running at Volstagg and flailing like that... he got a bad feeling about what might happen, so he follows after Tabitha. Overhearing the conversation, he blinks. "Th-that depends what kind of clothes you w-want to wear, Volstagg. Something casual or formal or s-s-something else," he says.

Tabitha just about fell over cracking up at Volstagg talking about mortals and rainments. "Hell yeah. I can find you some clothes. You're talking to the right person," she said, pointing her thumb at herself as if to prove the case. Then Tabitha took a squinty-faced expression, spending a long five seconds looking him over. "I could see you rockin' some hiphop-Addidas with a old-timey vest!" she declared, raising up her arm in excitement. She took a few paces towards the nearest clothing shop, and then stopped in her tracks, looking back, noticing Eddie standing behind Volstagg. She didn't like her important fashion work getting interrupted, and scowled at Eddie.

"Follow me, Ren Faire!" she shouted to Volstagg, "The names Tabitha, by the way."

The big man's eyes light up as he sees Eddie, "Hello! I went to your place earlier, but you were not there." Granted it is the place he has moved out of, but Volstagg isn't exactly in the loop much of the time. "Join us," he says, "I have a most awesome suit--like from the grey stories on the picture box,--but my Lord and Lady thought i should have different clothes as well." He moves to follow, Tabitha. "I am Volstagg, Lion of Asgard."

"Y-yeah...you mean Thor and Sif didn't tell you?" Eddie asks, unaware that his adopted parents don't even know he's left. The scowl from Tabitha just gets a frown in reply, Eddie nodding to Volstagg right after. He follows along if only to help keep Tabitha from dressing Volstagg in crazy things. "It is a good idea to have m-more clothes," he agrees.

Tabitha stepped into the doorway of the shop, which had one of those little ringy-dingy bells whenever someone entered or exited. Tabitha, however, didn't enter or exit, but just stood there... which made the bell continuously sound ad nauseum. She completely ignored the shop owner and customers inside pleading with her to Step Inside.

"Asgard? That some kinda football team?" she asked Volstagg, waiting for him to catch up to her. "This place specializes in genre mix 'n match, so you're in luck. Mash-up clothes from the 80s are totes coming back in style." Tabitha clearly took a special, personal delight in this fact. Seeing Eddie follow, she decide this must be a friend of her new friend, so she extended out her hand to greet him. "Looks like you could use a new outfit too," she said, eyebrowing his clothing dismissively.

Volstagg grins, "We did play football once, though it was not just Asgardians. I was on Team Awesome!" He says this with pride. He then nods, "Alright." Maybe due to the fact he is a little confused by what she just said. He then tells Eddie, "I have not had the chance to talk with them at length lately, I may have missed the news."

The bell going off gets a sigh from Eddie and he gives Tabitha an expectant look, waiting for her to go in. "It's another world," he explains Asgard. The style talk goes over his head too and he shrugs. "Oh..." he trails off in reply to what Volstagg says, still a bit worried. Tabitha's comment on his clothing gets a sigh too. "I hear that a lot."

With Volstagg's totally-irrefutable consent, Tabitha whooshes into the store at her top running speed, scanning the isles and quickly plucking various items from the racks and dropping them over her right arm. One item, she holds up for a moment: it's a dark green, pin-striped wife beater with leather patches. "Too small," she says, sliding it back on the rack. Like an A.D.D.-riddled squirrel, she scuttles about the store collecting clothing, much to the fixed-gazed apprehension of the shop owner, whose head swished back and forth as he tracked her, looking like someone watching a tennis match.

Volstagg enters the store and watches Tabitha start to rummage through the clothes available for sale. He then looks to Eddie, "I think this may be more of an adventure then I was anticipating."

Eddie just stares as Tabitha goes rapidly around the store. The power booster nods to Volstagg though. "She m-might be umm...unstable," he remarks quietly. "She's got some kind of power s-s-so be careful too."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Tabitha is standing in front of them, suspiciously eyebrowing Eddie. "Who you callin' unstable? You're the one talking about 'other worlds'." She turns to Volstagg, "Annnnnnyways, my man, I found 'zactly what I was talkin' about." She holds out a crisply cut, large, thick-cotten fancy vest, complete with a frilly red handkerchief in its pocket. In her other arm is a large-sized, long-sleeve dress shirt with thin, white racing-stripes along its seams. "You're gonna be the hottest dude on the field. All the cheerleaders gonna jump yer bones!"

Volstagg raises an eybrow. "Cheerleaders? And this vest will make them jump over me?" He does understand the question of his home, however, and lapses into his version of 'teacher mode', reciting the realms. "There are nine Worlds, you see. The world of mortals is Midgard--is in the middle.  Then there is Asgard my home, and Jottenheim land of the giants, Vanaheim..."

Eddie jumps when Tabitha is suddenly there, still frowning. "There are m-multiple worlds. Dimensions and planets," he says. The clothing Tabitha picks out gets an arched brow but no comment from Eddie. "Cheerleaders are p-p-people at sporting events that cheer on and encourage their team without play in the g-game themselves. They're most commonly women," he explains.

"Yeah, yeah," Tabitha says, handing Volstagg the two clothing items she picked out. She started to give him a nudge, pointing over to the changing room in the back. "Try 'em on! And oh..." she pauses and slides a grey-checkered tie from a nearby counter. "This too." Assuming Volstagg will follow her directions, she turns to face Eddie, smiling. She steps in a little closer, lowering her volume slightly. "Nice science bro. So, what's his deal? Sounds like he's traveled all over Europe, rattling off countries like that."

Volstagg smiles to Billy, "Oh, still why would they jump over me?" He then takes the clothes and disappears into the changing room. Small rooms and Volstagg are not a good combination, and all sorts of clanging and banging noises can be heard. He eventually walks out and smiles wide. "How do I look?"

Eddie watches Volstagg go and then looks to Tabitha. "It's n-not science. He's really from another dimension," Eddie replies with a shrug. When Volstagg comes back out in the new clothes, Eddie blinks. "Umm, you look alright," he says. He doesn't know much about fashion.

Tabitha turned back around to face Volstagg, her facial expression looking all 'No-We-Weren't-Talking-About-You'.

"WOOOOO, baby!" she squawks out enthusiastically, seeing Volstagg--secretly a little surprised that the outfit actually fit. She does a walk-like-an-Egyptian-like dance about twenty-feet over to the cash register, the store owner looking at her with a scornful glare. She slides forty-dollars (recently acquired from a buncha hippies) across onto the counter, turning back to Volstagg to say: "This ones on me, Volsy."

A minute later, she's back to where the two are standing. "Another dementia, huh? Alright, prove it. Show me a space rock or somethin'."

Volstagg looks back over to where the changing area is. "I can show you my magical sword," he says, making a motion to go back and retrieve his things. "Thank you very much, fair Tabitha. This is different then my other mortal outfit."

"Who c-c-carries random rocks around?" Eddie asks no one in particular. He shrugs a little as Tabitha pays and falls silent, just listening and watching for the moment.

Tabitha chuckles. "Are you flirting with me? Sorry, but I don't look at magical swords on a first date," she says, playfully elbowing Volstagg in the gut. Stepping back into the entrance way of the shop, hearing the little ringy-bell begin its unrelenting chirp, she stops. "You guys wanna grab a chimichanga cheese dog with chives?" she asks.

Volstagg harrumphs a bit. "I never! I'm a married man!" he declares, but quickly lets it go when she mentions food. "I have not eaten since my brief visit to a food cart on he way here."

Eddie frowns when Tabitha asks about flirting. He nods along to Volstagg's answer, but ends up blinking at Tabitha's food suggestion. "Is that even a r-r-real thing?"

Tabitha directs and walks the two to the end of the corner, where a line-less Fusion Mexican foodtruck waits. "I'll admit you guys're pretty weird. Weirder than me," was what she said before they reached the truck. The attendant gazed up at them with beady eyes, but said nothing. "Give us the special, Dougie. Make it a real steamer," she instructed. Turning back to Eddie and Volstagg, she was all smiles. "Well, I do appreciate a good foreigner to show around, see the sights. How about I take you to the art museum? I heard they got a great new post-post-post-modern exhibit," she said idly, but then her attention got pulled away but some random, refurbished classic car that rolled by, blasting bass-throbbing speakers. "Oh crap!" she said with a manic increase in volume, "Gotta go-agogo!" She slipped Volstagg a piece of a paper, and ran off, forgetting all about her food. Soon, she was out of sight. The note has her phone number.

Eddie just stares, head tilted to the side as Tabitha goes. "N-n-no...I think she was just a rare one," he answers the Lion of Asgard. He hesitates when asked that question, not sure of how much he should say. Glancing around, he frowns. "Well...how m-much do you know about what's going on with Loki?"

Volstagg shakes his head, "Not a whole lot. Just that the trickster has revealed his true colors again. And I have been home visiting the family lately."

"Then you d-d-don't know that despite all the trouble he's been causing here on Earth and all the people he's been putting in danger, Thor and Sif refuse t-t-to stop him and are even stopping other people from stopping him?" Eddie asks, frowning. "And that they're apparently willing to go to war with the Avengers and endanger innocent people just to protect that j-j-jerk."

Volstagg shakes his head, 'Really? Mayhaps they have been ensorcelled. I mean, I understand they are bothers, but still, he should pay for his deeds." He starts to eat, but asks, "Is that why you have left your place?"

"I thought it m-might be magic too but it'd have to be m-magic so powerful that both Odin and Heimdall wouldn't notice," Eddie sighs. He then nods a bit. "Sif w-was acting strange. And since she didn't even care when Loki attacked me. The w-w-way Thor was protecting Loki when Loki attacked people and acted like I d-didn't even exist...I didn't think it was safe to stay," he answers. There's also the fact that he felt pretty hurt and betrayed but he doesn't mention that.

Volstagg nods to Eddie, "Well, there comes a time when we all must head out on our own.' He sighs, "I will looks into things with Sif and Thor. After all, this news does explain some other things."

Eddie gives a wry little smile. "I'm already v-very used to being on my own," he says quietly. He then blinks a bit. "Wh-what other things are happening?"

Volstagg thinks for a moment, 'The trolls are making moves against their neighbors." He shrugs, "I'm not sure who is behind it. I tend to credit it as simple greed."

Eddie nods a bit as well. He takes a deep breath before looking to the sky. "I'll keep my eyes out for any troll attacks here then," he says. "Hopefully it's not the start of something bigger."

Volstagg nods to Eddie and goes back to eating, "Let us hope it is not." He sighs, "I fear all our plates are full enough already."

"Definitely," Eddie replies, only having a small bite of food. "I should g-get going. Billy wanted to meet up with me for some training."

Suddenly! A loud, booming rattle-laden drum beat pierced through the streets. The scattered crowd clutched their ears. The music was a fast, bass-driven dance remix of a Mariachi band, and its source was the same blue-chrome, classic car that'd driven by earlier. This time, however, the driver was Boom-Boom, and she was waving her hand around, cheering. She honked the horn and waved to Volstagg and Eddie as she passed, shouting out: "Yeah! Yeah!!" A moment later, the original driver came running down the road, chasing after his car.