Another serious conversation

[st_ratagem]

The hunting trip had been a good idea. It had taken Loki the better part of a day just to collect enough gold, adulterated and not, and refine it into purity sufficient for real jewelry. Crafting the ring itself had taken almost eighteen uninterrupted hours, and the end result still wasn’t exactly... fancy. Mostly matted to brown, so that the gold shine was all in the decoration and inside the band. Lack of sleep was probably the reason he’d taken an extra hour or two to inscribe something partway between a poem and a spell on the inner band.

No, the ring wasn’t especially fancy, but it was actually heartfelt, which was unusual for anything touched by the god of mischief.

Once it was done, though, he could only wait for Valkyrie to come home and see what openings he could find or make to actually... ask.

She’d been gone two nights, this was the third day. During the day, Loki went through his usual clinic hours and activities, but early evening found him settled in front of the fish tank with a book that he was pretending to read. Waiting.

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[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie's lips pressed against Loki's and the rest of her body followed. Chest to chest and seated on his lap, the weight and pressure of the ring was most keenly felt. It was heavy, somehow. But it was good to feel its weight.

She parted from his lips but not the rest of him, settling her own weight atop him to simply breathe and be. She thought that he smelled far better than her loud enough for him to hear.

[st_ratagem]

"I haven't been wandering the wilderness with Thor for several days," he murmured in response to the thought, though he was very far from minding her scent. "But if it distresses you, how lucky we're in a bath. We can actually wash you instead of just sitting in the water, if we want."

[st_allionofdoom]

"If we must." Valkyrie lazily drew back brandished the minty-scented shampoo bottle like a weapon, pouring it over Loki's hair generously. "I got back in the habit after taking up with you."

[st_ratagem]

"Somehow the idea of you living in your own filth is entirely believable," Loki teased, then stole the bottle and treated her hair with it. She had told him he could wash her hair, after all, and it seemed more than a little off that he was the only one being cleaned in her bath. "I'm pleased to be your excuse, I suppose."

[st_allionofdoom]

"It's still My Highness' honor to wash my hair." She twisted his long locks into one, gathering them at the top of his head and then letting it all wash away with a spritz from the shower head. "And the rest of me, if he so desires."

[st_ratagem]

“Oh, my honor certainly.” Loki massaged the shampoo into her scalp and finger-combed it through the rest of her hair. Any excuse to touch her was a good one, though he didn’t actually need excuses. “But is it my Valkyrie’s pleasure?”

[st_allionofdoom]

"Silver tongue, golden fingers." Valkyrie repeated, tossing her head back indulgently, giving Loki's hair a little tug as she did before coating her hands in soap to run down his shoulders and arms. The muscles she felt there tightened and relaxed as he continued his meticulous work.

[st_ratagem]

Translation, probably: yes, more so if he talked. Out of some perversity of spirit, he stayed silent while he finished washing her hair, just enjoying her soap-slick hands on his skin and her hair sliding between his fingers. Beautiful and his.

Once the shampoo had been rinsed out completely and he’d opted to massage her neck and shoulders briefly before getting back to the business of alleged hygiene, then he said quietly, “I love you. For the record, in case I don’t say it aloud often in future.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Humming, Valkyrie’s shoulders rolled in rhythm with his fingers.

“And I, you.” Her voice began soft, but then rose to proclaim it to Loki and the universe they swelled within itself, “I love you. Never forget.”

[st_ratagem]

Intellectually, he’d probably known. Brunnhilde, unlike him, would see no reason to marry without love; her agreement was in itself a declaration. But it still seemed momentous: this woman loved him, and said so, without needing manipulation or tricks. “I won’t.”

He didn’t bother with soap when his hands started to trace muscles and stroke her skin, memorizing details he already knew. Actual washing could come later, or not, because the priority now was simply enjoying her. “And I know you won’t.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Back to simply basking in the presence of the other? Valkyrie had no qualms. She turned and leaned back in her chair of a fiancé, relishing the pleasant relative coolness of his skin against her back. "You'll have to refresh my memory regarding traditions." She remembered emotion more than ritual, barring the swords and the sheer length of it all.

[st_ratagem]

"The most lengthy and complicated part is generally the negotiation of the marriage contract." Loki traced her ribs and bent to kiss her shoulder. "Not so much for us. You have no dowry, I have no property, we've no current inheritances to settle for the future. My only family is Thor, with whom you're already aligned." All the advantages of the match were personal and emotional, which was more than enough. "The details of the ceremony would depend on how much ceremony we want."

[st_allionofdoom]

"The question is how much weight His Majesty will want to throw around in regards to ceremony." Lacing her fingers over Loki's, her chest shook in laughter. He, no doubt, would prefer an appropriately grand show for his own wedding even if Stark seemed reserved. "Myself? I could go all out."

[st_ratagem]

"White dress, fancy hair?" Loki laughed along with her. "Make sure there's enough honey mead to only drink that for a month?" It would be a lot, given her capacity. "Sacrifice a pig? Prepare for the wedding by running nude to a sauna with your attendants and switching yourself with a thin branch?"

He nipped her earlobe, mostly to put his voice right next to her ear. "It's our wedding. Thor needn't get a say. For me... it's the dues paid to be your husband. If you want all out, we'll go all out."

[st_allionofdoom]

A giddy shudder ran up her body (helped especially by the mention of a switch and copious drink) and Valkyrie pressed back hard against Loki as her imagination stirred.

"Call me perverse, but I'm fully prepared to assert myself to this god-forsaken universe. On both our terms." She nudged him with her elbow inquisitively, though she had a hard time imagining Loki wouldn't enjoy running amok for a day. Or a week.

[st_ratagem]

"Could be fun." And not just for them. How many others in the Inn might welcome a week of festivities, where 'festivities' could mean 'drunken insanity'? It would break up the monotony. "Though I have to say using a switch on yourself seems like something of a waste." There were, after all, other options available.

[st_allionofdoom]

"Who says I'd be using it on myself?" She gave Loki's thigh a just-hard-enough smack with a squeeze.

[st_ratagem]

Loki groaned, both for the smack of her hand on flesh and for the mental image. "I love when we think alike." The switch was definitely in. If the sauna was necessary, it too - the pleasure would outweigh the discomfort. "I'll see about stockpiling honey. I've got a significant stash already, but not mead."

[st_allionofdoom]

“You’re such a traditionalist. I never knew.” She teased, scraping a line up with her nail from his inner thigh to his knee. “Now you’ve gone and gotten me proper eager.”

[st_ratagem]

“Have I?” Loki didn’t bother to argue the ‘traditionalist’ charge, while he shivered at the nail-scrape - it was true, in certain circumstances, and in this one he wanted matters as unassailable as possible. “Are you sure it’s not just the promise of liquor and switching? Because I’m sure we don’t need to wait for the wedding for that.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"We'll keep each other in suspense." Just another bonus to look forward to as part of the wedding process itself. Valkyrie tapped his knee as she idly imagined the day itself, eyelids resting at half-mast.

She could live like this forever. That thought--that feeling--was quite present in her mind. And then, she let herself believe for a moment she could.

"Thank you."

[st_ratagem]

Fifteen hundred years essentially alone - allies unreliable at best, enemies at a word at worst, constantly on guard, too conscious that displays of real feeling were nothing more than an invitation to attack - had rendered the idea of doing it again a horror. Loki hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d tried to explain that death seemed the best option, months before. It had already been too much once.

This future, though, with at least one unshakable ally, peace and what Loki tentatively identified as happiness settling around them? It was entirely possible fifteen hundred years wouldn’t be enough. Looking forward didn’t hurt, when they could fundamentally stay right where they were. “Thank you. My love.”