Evie's Day Out
When Thor got to his floor, he saw that Loki and Evie were having an animated conversation about magic. He smiled when his daughter turned and ran up to him and jumped into his arms, “Daddy, is your meeting over? Did Mr. Fury leave already?”
“Yes, Petal, Fury has left already. And now that he is gone, we are going to take you an outing to see the city,” Thor tells his daughter.
She smiles brightly at him “Oh, that sounds like so much fun, where are we going?”
“Anywhere you want to go, little one.”
Evie thinks for a minute. There were so many things she had never done before, and now she had the opportunity to see anything she wanted with her new family. But Evie decided that what she wanted to do was go to the zoo.
“Can we go to the zoo, Daddy?”
“Of course we can, Petal. I'm sure the others will not have a problem with that. JARVIS, will you inform the others that my petal wants to go to the zoo, please?”
Right away, Prince Odinson.
JARVIS informed everyone about what Evie wanted to do and so everyone dressed accordingly. Everyone met downstairs, and Tony and Pepper went in one car with Happy to distract the press while the other loaded up in another vehicle and headed out in the opposite direction. Once Tony lost the paparazzi, for now, he and Pepper met up with the rest of the Avengers and made their way to the Bronx Zoo.
Evie, Loki, and the Avengers got out of the vehicles when Pepper and Tony arrived. They made their way across the parking lot with Evie holding on to her Daddy's hand. They arrived at the ticket booth, and Tony bought all-day passes for everyone. Evie's eyes widened when they entered the zoo; she had never seen anything so beautiful. The first thing that Evie saw was the Bison exhibit. Her eyes widen at the sight of the animals; she started pulling Thor towards the exhibit.
“What are those?” Thor asked.
“Those are Buffalo, or Bison, Daddy. They used to roam the United States by the millions,” Evie informed her father as she stared at the majestic animals grazing.
Tony walks over to Evie, “That's right, Evie, how did you know?”
“Oh, I love animals, Tony. I've read about loads of different species. When Aunt Petunia would let me leave the house, I would go to the library to read.”
Tony nodded, noting that Evie said when her aunt would let her out, but he didn't say anything. They stayed watching the Bison for a while then moved further into the zoo; the next thing that they saw where the Sea Lions. There was a large crowd watching the Sea Lions swim and do tricks, so Thor picked Evie up and put her on his shoulders so that she could see over everyone else. She laughed and clapped along with everyone else at the Sea Lions' antics. Evie was even allowed to give them some fish.
Evie, Loki, Pepper, and the Avengers slowly made their way through the entire zoo seeing every exhibit. When they saw the birds of prey, Clint took Evie from Thor and started telling her about the individual birds. He even took her to see the aquatic birds and Sea birds. And so it went, every time they would get to an exhibit that one of the Avengers like they would take Evie and tell her about the animal.
They stopped for lunch after their Treetop Adventure, where they could climb and use the ziplines. Clint insisted that he help Evie with the ziplines. All they could hear was Evie screaming in delight as she zipped through the trees with Clint as the others followed.
As they continued through the zoo, Thor noticed the reptile house, “Tony, is that where they keep the snakes.,” Thor asked.
“Yeah, big guy, did you want to go in?”
“Yes, I love snakes. There was this time when we were children that Loki transformed himself into a snake. And he knows I love snakes, so when I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and was like “BLEGH! IT'S ME!” And he stabbed me. We were eight at the time.”
Tony, who had Evie on his shoulders, stared at Thor horrified; he turned to face Loki, who was laughing, “You stabbed Thor?”
The look on Tony's face made Loki laugh harder until he noticed Evie had the same expression. He cleared his throat, “It's was a little wound, nothing serious.”
“I can't believe you stabbed Daddy,” Evie said.
Thor let out a booming laugh, “It's alright, Petal I got him back. That was just the way we played.”
Evie's brow furrowed, “You guys are violent.”
“We're boys, Petal, that's the way boys play.”
“Maybe on Asgard,” Tony said.
“Oh, please, I have seen your American Football,” Loki said.
“Yeah, but we don't stab each other,” Bruce added.
“It would make it more interesting if you did,” Loki said.
It was Pepper who intervened, “Okay, let's not talk about stabbing and go to the reptile house.”
“Yes, let us go,” Thor said and took Evie from Tony.
He set his daughter down, and they walked into the reptile house together. It was dark and humid, and Thor loved it. They made their way through the reptile house looking at different animals—Monitor Lizards, crocodiles, chameleons until they finally got to the snakes. Evie was fascinated with all the different species of snakes there were in the house. She stared at each of the snakes, and they stared back at her. Thor smiled, “Do you like the snakes, Petal?”
“Oh, yes, Daddy. When I was younger, I had a garden snake for a friend. We used to talk for hours.”
Thor and Loki looked at each other, Loki kneeled next to Evie, “What do you mean you talk with the snake, Little One.”
“Yeah, the snake's name was Ahktar, he said that I was a Speaker. I didn't understand what he meant; I thought it was just another freakish thing I could do.”
“Can you understand other, snakes,” Thor asked excitedly.
“I don't know, Ahktar is the only snake I ever talked to.”
Loki took Evie by the hand and led her to one of the exhibits were there was a King cobra. The snake had been agitated by some kids tapping on the glass and was coiled in a strike position. Its hood fully displayed. Loki's eyes narrowed at the children, and he walked over to them.
“Don't you know you should not aggravate a poisonous snake?”
“What's he going to do, he's behind the glass,” One of the kids snarked,
“Perhaps he is, but that doesn't mean he cannot get out.”
Loki casually waved his hand, and an illusion of the snake appeared in front of the children causing the children to shriek and run away. Loki started to laugh and vanished the snake. He then beckoned Evie over.
“Uncle Loki, that wasn't very nice,” Evie scolded.
“No, it wasn't, but it was entertaining, besides it was not right for them to be irritating such a majestic animal.”
The snake relaxed, Too bad the human cannot understand me; I would get him my thanksss, The snake said.
“The cobra said thank you, Uncle Loki.”
The cobra's head snapped towards Evie in surprise, A Ssspeaker! Child, you can understand me?
“Yes, I can understand you just fine,” Evie said.
This is wonderful, I have not spoken to a Ssspeaker in such a long time. What is your name, Child?
“My name is Evelyn Thorsdottir, what's your name?”
I am called Ventus. It isss nice to meet you Evelyn.
“It's nice to meet you as well, Ventus, you're from India, right?”
Yesss, I am.
“Is it nice there?”
Very, I have not been home for many years. That was the last time I spoke to a Ssspeaker.
“Are Speakers common in India?”
Yesss, they usually are magical people, Ventus tilted her head to the side, You must be a witch, Evelyn if you can talk to me. But that is not all you are; I can sssmell that you are different from other witches.
Evie smiled, “I am a witch. My mother was a witch, but my father is Thor, the God of Thunder,” Evie explained.
Ventus nodded, I have heard of him, the humans talk about him and the other human that sssaved the cccity. Ventus explained, Ssso then you are a demigod, no wonder I can sssmell power on you.
“You can understand humans?!”
Ventus laughed, I have been alive a long time, Little One, I have learned several languages, it passes the boredom.
While Evie is hissing at the Cobra, Thor and Loki are watching her fascinated. Thor looked at Loki; his brother smiled at Thor, “She's a Parselmouth. It's a rare gift among the wizards of Midgard,” Loki explained.
Thor nodded, suddenly Evie turned to him and smiled she grabbed Thor's hand and pulled him towards the snake, “Ventus this is my father, Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard, and this is my uncle Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard,” Evie said as she took Loki's hand.
Ventus bowed, It isss an honor to meet the father and uncle of little Evelyn.
“She said it's an honor to meet you both.”
“Tell her the honor is ours,” Thor said.
“She can understand you, Daddy, Ventus has learned human languages. She said that it passes the boredom,” Evie suddenly got this mischievous look on her face, “Ventus, would you like to go home?”
The snake shook her head no, Thank you for the offer, Little One, but I have heard that my people are in danger in the wild, I think it would be safer for me to remain here. Though it would be nice if you could come to see me once in a while.
“I would love to, Ventus. I'll try to come back as often as I can.”
“What did you say to her, Petal,” Thor asked.
“I asked her if she wanted to go home, but she said she was safer here.”
Thor and Loki nodded, “Come along, Petal, say your goodbyes. We need to continue with our tour,” Thor said.
“Okay, Daddy. I need to go, Ventus, it was nice meeting you.”
It wasss nice meet you asss well, Evelyn, please be sure to talk to the others, they too would like to ssspeak with you.
“Okay.”
And so it took Thor, Evie, and Loki two hours to leave the snake house. Evie talked to every single snake there. They were so happy to speak with her and were excited to find out that she would visit them again.
Once they left the reptile house, Evie and the others continued seeing the rest of the animals in the zoo. By the time they got back to the Tower Evie was dead on her feet, Thor carried Evie to her bed, he took off her shoes and tucked her into her bed. He kissed his daughter's head and let her sleep until it was time for dinner.