[Post Avengers: Endgame]
"Let's get the sun shining on you again, then. For Loki."
"How?"
"We'll work on it. I'll be in your corner, you won't be alone."
"Thank you, Esme."
"Anything for...Anything for you, Thor."
Esme is one of the last Asgardians...
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For the first time in a while, Esme felt like she could breathe again. Yes, seeing Thor in his altered state was a little tough to swallow, but seeing him again brought her back to the better times they had shared, even if they had been adventurous and very dangerous.
Curtesy of Thor, he drove the two of them into the nearest town. Esme didn't venture often unless she needed to shop for supplies. For a time, she had tried to see if she could make it in the social world on Earth. She had quickly found out how much of a struggle it was.
The sun had set, bringing on dusk. The two got themselves parked and strolled through the town. Esme wasn't entirely familiar with everything, but she had a better idea than Thor did of this place. Those that walked by stole glances at them, rather out of curiosity, or possibly envy. Esme couldn't understand what they would have to envy them for, if anything.
Humans would not envy what Esme and Thor had been through, separately or together.
"Let's stop for food," Thor told her. She merely nodded in agreement.
As they passed many bars, Esme had a feeling they would land themselves in one of those places. The last time she had seen Thor, she couldn't remember the last instance he hadn't opened a beer to chug away.
"This town is rather quiet," Thor noted softly.
"It's what I like about it. It's nothing like New York, that place is way too loud for me." Her preferred place was countryside, or by a lake. Someplace that wasn't bustling with obnoxious melodies of car horns or curses by humans. While her current residence was near a forest, it was good enough for Esme.
"What, you didn't like our trip to New York?"
"That was not a trip, that was a mission." Esme recalled getting a location on Loki, Thor asking for his father's permission to send them to Midgard to retrieve the God of Mischief. That had been a dangerous adventure and an eye-opener for Esme into the true personality of Loki. "And no, who would like a trip that involves fighting aliens raining from an open hole in the sky?"
The two settled for a little mom-and-pop restaurant soon after, the topic of the Chitauri invasion of New York dying in the air. While Esme could recall the few good blips in that mission, she remembered most of what was bad about it. Loki had wanted to wage war on Midgard, and she couldn't understand why. She didn't care about humans at the time, what did they ever do for her? But Thor being the advocate he was about humanity appealed to her to help save Earth.
Needless to say, everyone involved got a few battle wounds and scars when everything was said and done.
"No beer?" Esme asked, surprised when Thor had ordered water when the server had come to ask about drink orders.
"Things have changed, so I feel I should change along with them, for the better."
Esme smiled. "Good for you." She messed with her utensils on her napkin. "Still awkward."
