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.

Comments

[st_ratagem]

"And now here we are." Well past camaraderie. Loki leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. It wasn't likely that he'd get a better opening, even if Brunnhilde being naked in the bath wasn't exactly ideal.

Well, she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't exactly romantic, and this was better than dithering about it. "Marry me."

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie looked up to the man perched close by. The duck softly wheezed where it’s beak hit the edge of the tub.

[st_ratagem]

"I'm not talking to the toy duck, dearest." Loki flipped a hand at it dismissively, keeping his eyes on her.

[st_allionofdoom]

Mouthing something unintelligible, Valkyrie pushed up straight to sit, hair resting flat over her shoulders.

“Marriage.” Proper marriage? The question was written on her face.

[st_ratagem]

"Yes." Questioning wasn't a no, and that was a good sign. It also wasn't a yes, but Loki had expected a certain amount of skepticism. Only a fool took the god of mischief at face value, and Brunnhilde wasn't a fool.

He was glad he'd thought to have a ring on hand to prove his seriousness as he pulled a folded piece of silk from over there and moved the cloth to display the ring.

Simple gold, matte so the design and edge gleamed bright, and the line of runes on the inner band showed dark. "Marriage.'

[st_allionofdoom]

The 'how' and 'where' and 'why' remained unasked. She looked to the ring, the golden etchings and the of the runes that made distant memories prickle at the back of her consciousness. The water rose to her collar and she reached somewhere behind her to shut it off.

'Yes. She thought, putting all of the brothers' awkwardness into a context. 'That makes sense.'

That makes sense.

The idea of marriage to this man? However unexpected, on the basest of levels, it felt right. Her shoulders loosened and sunk towards the water. Even as the reality closed back in on her, she gave herself space to think.

If she said 'yes' now, what would change? Titles, surely. Something in herself.

"How long...?"

[st_ratagem]

"How long what?" Loki watched her carefully, tuning in to her feelings as best he could. Uncertainty, certainly, but shaded positive. Maybe. "How long has this been pending? A week or two, though I may have started considering after our day at the beach."

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie hummed, clearing her hair away to fall smoothly down her back. “So have I.” She drew up, slipping a hand behind Loki’s neck to draw him into a long and lingering kiss.

[st_ratagem]

Loki kissed her back, enjoying the intimacy while also trying not to be pulled off his perch into the water. "Is this a yes?"

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie sunk back into the water—nodding for Loki to join. “There’s room enough for two.”

[st_ratagem]

Not an answer at all, but regardless of what it ended up being, she wasn't angry or upset to have been asked. Loki pulled back just enough to strip efficiently, setting the ring on the pile of clothes to make sure it stayed safe, then slid into the water with her and pulled her into another kiss. There was no real rush, and if she needed time to think, well... this would certainly keep him occupied.

[st_allionofdoom]

Finding a home in his chest, Valkyrie ran her hands through his long locks, slicking them back with water. Somewhere, the ducky piped up again and Valkyrie settled atop his lap.

“You’re handsome.” With his face opened up, Valkyrie was free to admire the sharp features he boasted. “But you knew that.”

[st_ratagem]

"Mmm." He was satisfied with his face, and used to it... and yes, he was attractive enough to have been able to use it to his advantage on more than one occasion. But Valkyrie was one of very, very few people who looked at his face like she enjoyed looking. "Never more than when you say so."

[st_allionofdoom]

“Silver tongue. Golden fingers. You know.” She grinned, twisting his hair at the end and framing her palms on the sides of his neck before sliding them to rest on his shoulders. The green of his eyes lit up his face and for a moment she felt certain she could see into his head the way he could.

“...You asked His Majesty for his blessing, didn’t you.”

[st_ratagem]

"Closer to permission, but yes." He flashed her a quick smile, not the least bit embarrassed, and stole a quick kiss. "I felt it was important to at least gesture at all the forms." Thor was king, the head of his family, her liege lord. At least one side needed to make the gesture. "Predictably, he wasn't willing to take the matter seriously."

[st_allionofdoom]

“I can see his face. I saw his face when he thought I wasn’t looking.” She assumed it had everything to do with Thor’s own wedding sooner than anyone else’s. It was surreal even discussing it as they did. The rings that sat nearby, Loki’s solid form beneath her, a king that had granted his blessing to a union to her, a proper Valkyrie—

“It’s not just because of what we discussed at the beach, right?”

[st_ratagem]

"It's not." That she'd missed her chance with Ròta was sad, but the sad story had only begun his thinking. "It occurred to me, first, that I couldn't really see a difference between this," Loki slid his hands along her thighs under the water, to emphasize their current closeness, "and what marriage might look like in this place."

A shift brought one hand up to stroke her cheek. "And then I remembered that knowing how you feel means knowing when you're afraid or uncertain." Fear of loss, fear of pain, fear that she'd set herself up for a lot of both. Uncertainty about time, about him. They were both semi-frequent undercurrents "So I thought I could make myself and my position less of a question, even if there are things I can't promise."

[st_allionofdoom]

The touch brought a little shiver up her spine. Valkyrie had been thinking many of the same things from the moment he said it. Marriage effectively wouldn't and couldn't change much about their current arrangement by nature of where they were. The physical impossibilities of what he couldn't promise were well established, but it brought more questions to mind. She closed an eye as a finger brushed her lashes, angling her chin up.

"What are you promising?"

[st_ratagem]

“I’m not going to disappear, if I have any choice at all, and I will fight to get back to you on those occasions. No matter the circumstances.” And he was willing to annihilate worlds to get what he wanted. “I’m with you as you’re with me. And,” he gestured and one of the rings floated back to rest in his palm, where he displayed it so the runes inside were clear, “there’s this.”

Mun þú mik: man ek þik: Unn þú mér: ann ek þér

[st_allionofdoom]

Loki's words--both those spoken and inscribed--replayed in Valkyrie's head. Then, her grip on him loosened...not because she intended to let him go, but because she'd realized there had been a pressure on her grip that had kept it tighter than it needed to be. For all the peace that she'd made with her past, the future of uncertainty had cultivated dread.

Valkyrie took a deep breath and was struck with the changes that had been wrought since her first night at the inn and all the changes to come.

"Right." She released her breath and smiled in a way that said, 'I know you'd only be offering if you meant it.' "Binding across dimensions."

[st_ratagem]

Oddly, the relaxing of her grip and that smile put the first real crack in the base of Loki’s confidence. He’d expected a ‘not yet’ at worst, but the not-exactly-relaxation and understanding smile felt like the beginning of a refusal somehow. The start of an I understand, but....

It twinged, but he didn’t let it grow. There would be space to react later, when it was certain either way. “Yes. Here, back home, in any other universe we find.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"And all that said and I'm here unsure of what to offer in turn." She admitted with a chuckle, cracked as it was.

[st_ratagem]

"Brunnhilde." He let the ring float back to the pile of clothes, freeing his hand so he could cup her face, willing her to understand what he said next. "I don't have to evade or hide from you. I can touch you without worrying what it means, I can sleep without worrying what you'll do. I could hand you every knife I have and know you won't turn them on me except in fun. You're safe." Safe was vanishingly rare in people, and even Thor wasn't as safe as his Valkyrie. "More than that, you know what I am and you still smile when you see me. And that's all just part of what you offer me already."

[st_allionofdoom]

Loki's words and his will shone through--possibly the brightest and clearest they ever had. She sunk into his hands, cupping his long fingers in hers as she leaned in to claim his mouth. No further words would do the sentiment justice.

[st_ratagem]

Still no answer, but when he could slide their joined hands to the back of her neck to pull her closer and deepen the kiss, it didn't matter. There was no way this passion was a flat 'no', and anything else could be worked with. And when they were skin to skin like this, he could work with anything.