twilight of the thunder god

Coursing with too many emotions to bring words to, all Erik can do is watch her. Watch her face, watch the way her features finally soften. Breaking through the ice, though she freezes in shock. For a moment he wonders if he's said the wrong thing, if this was the incorrect time for such an admission. The cat was out of the bag now, and there was no pulling back from it. He's spoken from the heart, and that's what matters... he hopes. Erik can only hope. Watching her, pulse still racing, he remains tense for a long moment.

Cuffing him across the face, though it's deserved. he doesn't recoil, he doesn't so much as flinch, simply taking it as it comes. There's a huff, and she reaches to him in return. The words that come are in his mother tongue, a sound that would be enough to bring him to his knees in any other situation. Reaching for Ember holding closely to her as she speaks. "Aldrig mer,"-- never again. Spoken like an oath, a promise that he wouldn't be away from her once more. Not like that. Things had been rough, and he hadn't been the most consistent. Erik wouldn't leave her again.

The kiss is searing, long, like he's trying to make up for lost time. There would be nothing to pry him from her, not again. Holding the girl to his chest, gently combing through her coat, Erik rubs her back softly. Closeness, tenderness, listening as she speaks of his absence. "I thought of you always, through the cold and the dark. You're what kept me going, through the worst of it." The admission that she loves him is enough to dissolve much of the tension growing in his bones, in his body. Melting into Ember, and refusing to let her go.

It's not long before Artorias appears as well, though Erik is hesitant to relinquish Ember. "Here, Em." His words are quiet, tender, wrapping the polar bear pelt around the girl's shoulders before turning to her father. She'd come to greet him without a coat, and he wasn't going to let her freeze. Straightening up, expression turning as grim and serious as the topic at hand. Their reunion could continue in a bit, after all. Gaze shifting to Artorias, offering a respectful dip of his muzzle. Trying to show well in public, especially in these circumstances.

"Thank you, sir. I wish the circumstances were better." Putting the words together, Erik is reminded how demoralizing actually asking for help is. Get on with it, boy. "My father is deeply unwell. I came to ask your help, to see if you'd be willing to provide sanctuary for him. I'd like to offer my service to the Hallows, in return." Offering what little he has in trade, it only seems right. It only seems fair. Being able to stay with Ember was also an exciting prospect, a twofold purpose. Hell, anything for a purpose, for the boy who's spent so long looking after his father.

"Erik"