One of the Men

[Thor]

Thor felt the good natured pat from Red as he walked by. Thor turned from the guard who stood, unable to find a response that would save face without causing him bodily harm. He walked toward the large building with a similar, if less ornate, design to and Asgardian Mead Hall, following his comrade. The building had a sign hanging from it with the words mess hall scrawled across it in white chalk. Thor walked slowly just to see the other recruits go out of their ways just to keep a space between themselves and him. One of the recruits, the one Thor had thought of as the others' whipping boy, did not make any special consideration for Thor. He walked fast with his head down as if to avoid drawing attention, yet he looked at each of his 'comrades' as he passed with a burning anger. He looked at Thor with the same quiet hatred he looked at each of the men with. Thor knew it all too well. It was the same look that He used to see on the face of his brother every time another kid knocked him down. It was the look of one who doesn't know what they hate more; their own weakness or the strength of others. It was too late for Thor to save his brother, but perhaps he could save this one from the fate of his brother. 

Thor walked slowly enough so that those that hustled to the front could easily surpass him, but just fast enough to beat the slower recruits to the building. Thor saw the small, overly bruised and scraped recruit at the front of the line. He saw the bigger recruit that had tried to bully Red the night before and his horde of cronies walk up and step in front of the younger smaller recruit. Thor lifted his hammer to throw it. He looked at the hammer, at the wooden construction of the building around him, at the weak human flesh of the big man. Thor lowered his hammer. He got in line. The food wasn't fit for a king, but it was hardy food. A thick stew and a chunk of bread. It would keep them full and give them the calories they would need while sparing and working through drills. Thor got out of line with his tray and headed straight for the table the big man and his friends had taken. 

They were joking and being generally rowdy enough to not notice Thor's approach until he was upon them. He slammed his tray down on the table. The entire group looked at him but Thor only looked at the leader. He picked up the big man's stew, poured it into his own bowl and put the bowl on his head. Thor took his bread, dipped it into the stew, took a bite and watched the big man turned more red by the second. Thor waited for man to open his mouth to yell. Thor slammed the big mans head down against the table with a violent crack. "Remember this the next time you and yours think of cutting in front of a line I am in."

With that Thor picked up his tray with the now doubled portions of food and looked for the bright of red his companion's head. He found him sitting with the battered recruit. Thor walked over and sat down. He tossed the second un-bitten hunk of bread onto the smaller recruit's tray. "Eat. They will try to break you harder today for the fact that you are sitting with us."