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]

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.”