( CLOSED ) | even the sun sets in paradise

[swordproof]

WHO: Six and Thor
WHAT: Mourning
WHEN: Backdated to before the return of the 'dead'
WHERE: Thor's room
NOTES: N/A, but discussion of death?

Six had been a member of the party sent to look for the missing group and she had been one of the first to return bearing the bad news. She had known little of most that she had been sent to search for, but she knew one of the names - Loki, who was to be married, Loki, who's wedding she was invited, Loki, the brother of Thor.

Thor, who she has begun to care for, just enough.

It does not take her long to make her way to his room, the route familiar from the last time she had ventured there. She is not sure what she might say when she gets there, when she is finally able to take his hand and offer some kind of comfort. Yes, she has been through this suffering before (not the loss of a sibling, but something similar) but words have never been her strongest suit. She is better with a sword, with a target to hit, with something to focus on, not... This.

But she is willing to try. She hopes that will be enough.

Standing outside his door, she breathes out for a moment before her hand lifts and she knocks, once, loud.

"Thor? It is Six."

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[swordproof]

Let him take her strength, she thinks. Let him rest on her; she is strong enough for them both. She has always been strong; one of her few merits, something she can cling to even now, so far from home. She can be strong.

For now, Thor should be doing something to ease his burdens, but Six cannot place what that might be. It seems so far from her mind, so distant from what she knows, that all she can do is force herself to breathe and be there at his side, offering what comfort she has in her hands, the tenderness she has never been adept with.

"I did not know my sister when she was young," Six admits quietly, reaching to touch the wound, thumb pressing into the skin. "I do not have those memories. Not pleasant ones of youth, or games, or soothing nightmares. I am glad that you have those of Loki; that you might carry them with you, no matter how far apart you are."

Even death cannot take memories.

[thorndergod]

He didn't know she had a sister. He doesn't think her here, though, as there are no Rifters that are her match, which means Six understands what it is to be separated from her sibling. It gives more weight to her being here and her words. The memories are his forever, there are things of Loki that will never be gone, and it is not Thor alone that remembers him. Those are what he needs to hold on to.

This too, though. Her hand is warm on his arm and he reaches up to graze his fingers along the back of it. The last time he wanted to kiss her he'd gotten news that he's taken some time to deal with, but right now that little bit of elf blood seems inconsequential. Thor leans in to lightly kiss her, a bare brush of his lips, as much question as move.

[swordproof]

Six is not used to being a source of comfort - no one has relied on her for this before. Even Adrian had kept himself above it all, distancing himself despite their love to protect her studies. This is different, she thinks. She wants Thor to rely on her, to accept her, to feel safe. She wants to soothe his hurts even if her magic could not fix this. She wants...

The kiss surprises her.

For a moment she’s clearly shocked and uncertain, hesitant, but then she tilts and leans and presses bask into it. She’s sure her inexperience is obvious, but she doesn’t truly care; she wants this. It’s a sharp and sudden realisation. She wants this intimacy, and she leans forward into the kiss, offering permission and asking for more.

[thorndergod]

He pauses when she hesitates, feeling a sudden spike of fear that he's gone and set this on fire too, but the fear makes the relief and joy all the better when she leans forward. Thor wraps his an arm around her to cup the back of her head as he kisses her again.

Now he takes his time, opening his mouth a little to nibble at her lower lip, feeling some of the stress start to fade away enough that his expression is a little warm by the time he pulls away to search her eyes. Thor genuinely likes her, he's realizing. She's strong and powerful and compassionate and gentle, mage and warrior, and beautiful on top of everything else.

It feels terribly selfish to enjoy this when he's just lost his brother, and when Alexandrie has just lost her fiance, but he thinks he needs this anyway. "You are a blessing," he says quietly.

[swordproof]

The kiss is more than she had imagined it to be. When she had pictured it before it was the kind of thing she had seen the other mercenaries so - quick, rushed things with no meaning, all passion and intensity rather than true affection or warmth. Six had never seen herself on the receiving end of something like that, not when she’d been so afraid of the very idea. Such raw lust - it has seemed so uncouth, so frightening.

This is much better. Thor’s hand is gentle on her head, against the hair she loathes so. The scrape of his teeth against her lip is exciting rather than alarming and when he leans back to look at her she appears dazed more than anything else, soft and flushed, her eyes taking a moment to adjust and look up to see him.

Glad for this, Six reaches and places her palm against his cheek, careful.

“I am no such thing,” she admits softly. “I am simply a woman who does not wish to see you suffer.”

[thorndergod]

He's not sure he's ever been looked at like that before. There's a quiet, radiant sort of trust in her eyes and he knows he's never going to care about her bloodline again. She's not of a high house and she's not fully human and it's entirely inconsequential. All he wants is to keep being looked at like that, by her.

"I do not think I can suffer with you here." It sounds cliche to him, but he means it. The pain isn't gone but it's bearable. Manageable. Breathing is hard but he's doing it. Though he'd much rather still be kissing her than focusing on breathing.

Thor gives her the smallest smile, a tentative glimmer of a thing. He isn't alone here, not alone with his loss and not alone in the South.

"I think my mother would have liked you." She'd loved a qunari as a son, she certainly wouldn't hold Six's heritage against her, not once she'd seen Six the way Thor has.

[swordproof]

Intimacy is still a new thing for her - something that she is adjusting to after years of being alone and isolated. Sitting here, close to Thor like this, feeling his skin against her hand and the warmth of his body so near his own... It is a touch overwhelming. She hasn't felt such a desire for something so soft and so tender for years. It's novel and it is frightening.

"Then I will stay with you for as long as I can," Six promises. If she can ease that burden if she can take away some of his suffering, why should she ignore him? Why should she do anything else but sit at his side and offer him her hand in friendship and tenderness - and more, it seems, than all of that?

Leaning forward, she touches her forehead to his.

"I do not remember my mother," her voice is soft. "But I think she would be pleased to know you."