Take me back

Roskva

This time, Thor was taking a long shower.... A very, very long shower.

His mind was a mess, sometimes it was a whirlwind of thoughts and fears and sometimes it was just weirdly empty as he would look at the drops of water gliding down the bathroom wall without actually seeing them.

He scrubbed his own body as clean as he could muster... Not just once, not just twice... Only when he had soaped himself through and rinsed three times did he admit it was perhaps starting to get a bit ridiculous.

Finally, as clean as Thor could possibly become, did he venture out of the bathroom and into his bed room where he grabbed a pair of jeans... Only for them to not fit over his gut.

Thor closed his eyes, embarrassment rising within him as he put the jeans aside and went for a pair of sweatpants he could pull up over his stomach, then a big shirt which could somewhat hide his gut.

Finally Thor reached for a pair of scissors and... Trimming was not enough, he cut off a large chunk of beard. It was disgusting anyway, it was a relief to just cut it away. Then carefully he started to trim his beard, just like had done in Asgard.... It had seemed so real! Just half an hour ago, tops, he had trimmed a beard, though the other one hadn't been quite as bad as this one... It was so real.

As Thor came back into the living room, Valkyrie was standing there with a young red haired woman, basically just a girl, honestly, the poor thing was shaking all over as she was clutching a pair of scissors.

"It's okay," Valkyrie spoke softly to the shaking girl. "King Thor, this is Roskva. She's been cutting people's hair when the need arises."

"I'm not very good!" The poor girl exclaimed. "I just... I used to do it for my mother, that's all! I'm not a real hairdresser."

Thor tried to give her his best calming smile. "I am sure you will do fine," he assured. "It can't be much worse than this, can it?" he asked, lifting up a dread.

"It... It's not that bad," Roskva stammered. "My king." She quickly made a curtsy for him.

Thor sighed deeply. "I am hardly any king," he pointed out. "Just a foolish man who doesn't know what to do with himself. Please," he asked. "I need help with this mess, will you help me?"

Roskva swallowed, then nodded, and Thor sat down on a chair allowing the shaking girl to approach him. "How.... How short?" she asked.

"As short as you need to make it," Thor said in a kind voice. "I do prefer it long but... It is more important to get all the knots out. Besides, it'll grow out again."

Roskva nodded and then the cuts started, lumps of hair fell to the ground, big dreads, then Roskva reached for a brush and started to brush it.

Unlike Loki, Roskva was extraordinarily careful. She would reach forward a hand and would manually try to untangle any knots with her fingers, whenever she accidentally made a pull she would start apologizing profusely until Thor calmed her down in a kind voice.

For all of that time Valkyrie was sitting in a chair in the corner just casually observing them.

"Wow," Roskva breathed.

"What is it?" Thor asked.

Roskva blushed deeply. "Your hair... It's so thick and soft," she admitted. "And it looks like gold."

Thor smirked, amused. "I inherited my mother's hair," he informed the girl. "A shame it is to be wasted on a big burly man like me, isn't it?" he asked.

"It suits you, my king," Roskva stated.

Thor hesitated. "How are you holding up, Roskva?" he asked. "I mean, here at New Asgard?"

"It..." Roskva halted. "It's hard," she admitted. "My father was a warrior, he was one of the first to..." she halted. "My mother stayed behind to buy my sister and I time to flee from Hela. I was really scared when Thanos came to the spaceship, when he divided us up into two groups... I am an awful person, but I was so happy that my sister and I were placed on the same side."

"No, that's not awful," Thor assured. "You did nothing wrong... Your sister is here, yes?"

"She turned to dust," Roskva whispered and Thor silenced. "I.. I'm sorry." The girl's voice broke.

"No," Thor replied. "None of it is your fault. I was meant to lead you, to protect you... I failed. I'm sorry."

Roskva was quiet, slowly she lowered the hand with the hair brush.

"If there's something I can do," Thor breathed.

"That's the hard part, isn't it?" Roskva asked, Thor didn't even need to look at her to know tears were falling down her face. "There's not anything anyone can do. Not even you."

Thor closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, my king."

"No." Thor shook his head. "Everyone has suffered greatly, everyone here lost someone. Are you at least being taken care of?" he asked.

"Aye," Roskva informed. "Everyone is so nice, we all eat together every single evening. We all help each other... It's nice."

"That's good." Thor smiled lightly.

"Aye," Roskva agreed. "It is."

And that... was pretty much the end of their short conversation, as the girl kept fixing Thor's hair in silence.

As Roskva left Thor was looking at his new image in the mirror with much shorter hair going to below the ear, it was a bit awkward but it would grow.

"You do clean up nice," Valkyrie commented as she walked up behind him.

Thor was quiet.

"My king?" Valkyrie asked.

"It was... so real," Thor breathed. "I thought I saw him... Saw them. But how could that even be possible in the first place?" he asked.

"Thor."

Thor turned to Valkyrie, worry was painted all across her face. Clearly she was lost for words.

Then suddenly, Thor thought he heard it, in the back of his mind, a voice.

" Hey!"

Thor groaned as he held his forehead.

Valkyrie blinked. "Thor, are you all right?"

"Aye, I just..." Thor sat down as the voice seemed to grow louder.

" Come on, mighty Thunder god. This is no time for lazing around!"

Thor hissed as he was sitting on the bench, he grabbed his head, then he squinted his eyes shut.

Thor could feel a pair of strong hands having grabbed his shoulders, then Thor opened his eyes and right in front of him was a pair of green eyes belonging to a god of Mischief yelling right into his face.

"THOR!"