Mind your own damn business. [He snaps irritably. Who is this woman anyway?] But I'l tell you that it has nothing to do with living here. This is far better than where I was before. I've just always been this way.
[His anger is his first and best defense mechanism. It's what keeps him from getting hurt when he feels things too deeply and what has sustained him all these years of people looking at him as less than nothing.]
[Ivar snorts softly.] I have more than just a little bit of temper.
[He's well aware of how much anger he has within him. It's far more than any normal person should have, let alone a teenager who isn't even seventeen yet.]
Ivar The Boneless. But I suppose you already knew that.
So did I. (She took it out on everyone. Being in the Guardian Corps had been a reason to fight.)
I recognized your username; I wasn't sure about your real name.
It's nice to meet you, Ivar. (The Boneless part seems...cruel? She's not sure she will use it.) So what should I make of this Dodger character? He seems like he carries a lot of baggage. That shouldn't really matter if he's not a threat to others.
Dodger. I assume you saw him acting like a whiny child on the network. Now he's a subject I could go on for an hour about.
[He doesn't sound fond when he says that. It's just because things are complicated between them. He'll have to get someone to write a book on it sometime.]
What I can tell you is that Dodger thinks he's smarter than everyone else because he's been through a lot and experienced a lot. His powers also make him very arrogant. He didn't take me seriously at first because I couldn't walk. But now he knows I'm more dangerous than he will ever be. I'm probably one of the only people in this city he genuinely fears. At least some of the time.
He didn't impress me. (Moping over a birthday at his age? It's silly to her. Also, assuming everyone hates him is...juvenile too. She would expect that of a moody teenager; not a grown man.)
So that's where the "boneless" part comes from? (Wow. Whoever named him sucks.) What are his powers? If I end up in a fight with him, I'd like to not go in blind.
(In all likelihood the only reason she would challenge him to a fight is to knock some sense into him.)
It certainly isn't his personality that makes people continuously willing to sleep with him.
[He was handsome enough in a scruffy dog way, even Ivar would admit that]
Yes. It was meant to be a cruel nickname, but I wear it as my own now. [Blame his father, who hadn't been particularly thrilled that his youngest son was born a cripple.] He can create fire, teleport, turn invisible, and is stronger than most people. Though he tends to forget about all of them in the heat of battle.
If I have to suffer with knowledge of him, you have to as well.
[Though really, he's not sounding quite as abrasive as he had at the start of the conversation. Ivar's like ice: it takes him a while to thaw out towards anyone.]
I don't know about god-like. He just thinks he's better than everyone else.
[Wait. What?] You killed a god? [Now Ivar is impressed.]
He says that, and I'm sure he means it too, but he'll also go on about how he's smarter than everyone around him. No one can ever possibly understand him because he's just been through so much and experienced everything there is to know.
[If this was video, Ivar would be rolling his eyes. Dodger's little ego trips were only one of the many reasons the two of them would never be friends.]
I'm still impressed. Our gods can be killed too, but it takes monsters big enough to wrap around the whole world and break any chain to do so.
An act like that would get old fast. I've never met anyone who is impossible to understand. Even the gods have their individual personalities and goals.
(Not that they are legitimate presences anymore.)
I'm not a monster as far as I know. I was a knight...then they called me "savior". It was my duty to collect souls.
I knew a guy like that. He thought he could fix everything himself and that I should just trust my sister in his care. (Like hell will she ever do that.) Every time he pissed me off, I punched him.
[Ivar arrives at the center with his axe and knives ready to go. He's a bit more wound up than he usually is before sparring with someone. The last time he pulled a knife on Letha, things hadn't gone well. He was afraid he might lose control.]
[She isn't denying it - she's learned some humility, at least in terms of her fighting skills.
When he shows up she's already hard at work with knives of her own, held backward like fangs as she drills herself through dodging, rolling and striking with quick, sharp movements. Her hair is up in braided pigtails, to keep it away from her face, and her crow pin is placed neatly on top of her bag to keep it safe.
When she spots Ivar she stands up properly, all bright smiles as she greets him with a wave. And then she stumbles a bit, still dizzy from rolling about.]
How has your week been? I feel like I haven't left the house nearly enough.
It's been interesting. I was offered a power by someone recently and accepted.
[He's been spending most of his free time since then turning into animals and mastering their instincts. He'll elaborate more if Letha asks, but right, now he hasn't been telling too many people about his new morphing ability.
He pulls out one of his knives, flipping it around his fingers before letting it settle in a forward position. He uses the knife with an ease that shows just how long he's been using the weapon for.]
[Her eyes brighten at the prospect of seeing something new - sure, she's sad they never got around to teaching Ivar necromancy, but it isn't like that couldn't still happen.
Letha flips one of her knives to try and show off, but just barely catches it without hurting herself... and decides not to do that again, instead just shaking her shoulders to get herself ready. And a moment later she dashes forward, aiming one knife at Ivar's chair between his legs, and keeping the other ready to block him if he attacks in turn.]
[He knew this was coming sooner or later. Frankly, he was still mad at his father, but at the same time, he missed talking to him. So his voice is carefully neutral when he answers.]
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