ragnarsson | IC Inbox

The drinking hall by the barracks. I will see you soon.

[Ragnar was already heading in that direction and had a table, a pitcher of ale, and two glasses waiting when Ivar arrived. He looked like his usual self, the small cut in his ear was still visible, though it was almost healed and gone, and, knowing Ivar, he'd likely see the subtle, well hidden, signs that Ragnar was feeling stressed and worn out.]

[Ivar arrived, taking in his father's appearance. For a moment, he flashes back to the sight of seeing his father after he had been gone for ten years: how he seemed to have lost some vital spark that kept him going. He had seem so worn out. But Ragnar has years to go before he reaches that point and still has plenty of life left in him.

He poured himself a glass of ale, drinking it partway down before he spoke. Ivar always had a very expressive face, and while his eyes are trying to look hard as ice, there's something very vulnerable in his gaze, sadness that has yet to lift.]

You got me. Say your piece.

[Likewise, Ragnar also had a carefully neutral expression. He hadn't poured himself any ale yet, waiting until Ivar had done so before he reached for the pitcher to fill his own glass, drinking unhurriedly before setting it down.]

Now that you have had some time to let your temper cool, I wanted to speak with you.

[He had some ulterior motives where this conversation was concerned, but that could wait.]

You are calm now, so talk to me about Dodger. Obviously, you were concerned and angry enough to do what you did. I am sure you had a reason.

[Now that he's not throwing what was essentially a temper tantrum with knives involved, Ivar can at least give fair warning as to why he was upset and worried about his father getting involved with Dodger.]

I've known him longer than you and I can tell you he's like a fire. He burns up whoever he touches. He cares for no one but himself and is set on a path of self-destruction. His goal seems to be to take as many people with him before I finally get around to killing him.

[This last part is simply stated as a goal like anything else Ivar has set out to achieve. He looks down. The hand on his glass tightens and it visibly creaks under his strength.]

I hated him initially because he's like everyone else who's ever looked at me and saw nothing. Just though I was someone weak and useless. I made him hurt badly enough to be scared of me. Now it's because he seems set on finding ways to hurt me. Not physically, you understand, because I always come out on top whenever we fight. He wants me to hurt emotionally.

[He finally looks back up to Ragnar and there's a vulnerable look on his face, something almost no one would ever see but the few people Ivar counted among his family.]

That's why I was worried about you. I know you well enough to know you'll keep going down the road of your own self-destruction well enough without any help from him.

I have never seen that side of him. [He looks annoyed, with himself, with Dodger, with this entire situation.] Part of me suspects that was so that he could keep me around to use against you. [Which only reinforced what Ivar was saying about him.] He denied that. Of course.

[He really isn't sure if he can believe Dodger. He'd been on the fence, until this morning.]

He hurt Athelstan. [Just saying the words seemed to make Ragnar look that much more drained. He paused and took a drink.] He will be alright, but... It is unacceptable.

He needs to learn that he should not do something like that again. That there are consequences.

[He pulled his phone out. And opens a message from Dodger that had come in about an hour ago. He played it "Do you have a free minute? I wanna tell you something, I- need to the first person you hear it from." and then slid his phone away.] He does not know that I know yet.

[Ivar has to bite his tongue to keep from telling his father how much of a fool he thinks he's been. He's been playing with fire and now someone's been burned. His whole body stiffens up when he mentions Athlestan.]

He hurt Athlestan? [Whether Ivar wants to admit it or not, the priest had been worming his way past his defenses. He'd been a good listener and sympathetic towards Ivar without ever falling into pity or condescension. He felt the fury he'd been holding onto towards Dodger grow larger.

He's going to break the glass he's holding for sure if he keeps holding onto it, so he lets it go, gripping the edge of the table instead.]

You know, I've been thinking about skinning him alive for days now.

[There was that unstable look in Ivar's eyes now, the one that showed there were cracks inside his mind, driving him ever closer to insanity. He was usually better at hiding it around Ragnar, but not when he was getting this angry.]

[Ragnar nodded solemnly, quiet, contained fury behind his eyes. Dodger literally could have done anything else that didn't involve hurting his family and Ragnar would've forgiven him.

He tilted his head, silently contemplating Ivar's suggestion.]

That would... hurt him physically. [He pressed his lips together in a thin line.] He seems to like that...

[But Ivar's idea was all they really had right now.] He hates losing to you, I know that much. [It honestly felt like nothing they could do that would hurt Dodger as much as he'd hurt Athelstan.]

[He doesn't envy Dodger at all right now. Ragnar's wrath could be a terrible thing. Though he'd been too small to remember it, Ivar had grown up on stories of what Ragnar had done to King Horik and his family when his own was threatened.]

He didn't seem to enjoy it too much when I took out his eye or being shocked by a bolt of pure lightning. Even he has a limit to his pain level.

[And Ivar is just crazy enough to keeping pushing and find out the pain level on his own. He pauses before he goes on, not knowing how Ragnar would react to the next part.]

There is one other thing he's afraid of. But I don't think you'll like it. I once threatened to take him by force. He was terrified because I think it's happened to him before.

[Ivar waits for Letha to make the first move, wanting to see what she's learned in her time away. It was a lot different being in a fair fight as opposed to holding a knife to his throat when he was in a blind rage.

He goes for the knife she's aiming at his chair, deflecting it with his own before he brings it around in a smooth arc, aiming it at her wrist.]

Thank you. I think.

Maybe not. You do realize Norsemen eat sharks, right?

Mm. [He nodded thoughtfully, pausing to take a slow drink of ale, obviously deep in thought and trying to weigh all their options out.

Ragnar didn't seem to react at Ivar's second suggestion, almost like he hadn't heard him until his gaze flickered up to meet Ivar's, eyes dark.] It is what he did to Athelstan, so, in this case, he would deserve it. It would be a just punishment.

... But he would burn you. And we would not want that. ... We could use something...

[He didn't relish any of this. In fact, it made him hate Dodger more that he'd forced his hand. In his mind, he had to take revenge for what he'd done to Athelstan. It wasn't a choice.]

I can have him meet me by the farm. You can stay out of sight at first. Bring whatever you feel you will need.

it's a compliment. believe me. ;)

dude sure. lots of people eat sharks. and sharks eat lots of people. as someone who's personally been eaten by a shark, they're well-equipped.

[With someone else, it might be smart to stab their wrist to make them jerk backward, but Ivar's bracers are too tough to make that worth it. Instead, Letha digs her knife into the buckle of once of his bracers, blade tilted to shove it backward rather than try cutting into it.

With her lean strength, that won't give her much time before he breaks her hold and leaves that hand exposed, so she's quick to aim her other knife at his face, banking on him flinching or trying to deflect her so that she can fake out and slice the fabric of his pants, just above the knee - careful, of course, not to do any real damage to his leg.]

There's something I can get that might help. It's a collar that turns off his powers and shocks him when he tries to use them.

[They'll have them at the police station. Ivar might normally not be able to get one on his own, but nobody was going to notice a little black squirrel sneaking in and snatching one away out the window.

If it wasn't already clear to Ragnar, his son would have done absolutely anything that his father asked him to do. Ivar was completely devoted to him in a way he wasn't with anyone else. The fact Dodger had hurt Athlestan was just more motivation for the unhinged young teen.]

I'll meet you there.

[And then Dodger was going to wish he'd never been born.]

[Wait. What?]

You got eaten by a shark?

[Ivar tries to deflect the knife coming towards him and so Letha slices through the fabric of his pants. He looks down at it with a moment of surprise.

Then he grins fiercely at her. She's learned some things in her time away. But there's still more to learn. He switches the knife to his off-hand and pulls out the axe with his right hand. Axes are a longer ranged weapon and he slices right at her chest with it, unwilling to pull his blows simply because they are sparring.]

kinda. I was a dolphin at the time, it bit me pretty much in half

Assuming you survive this meeting with my father intact, you have got to tell me more stories about this war you were in. Every time you just blithely mention things like this, it makes me intensely curious.

[The ax is something she can see coming easily - and after so much time around Vikings, she's gotten a very good grasp of how much space they take up. She pulls back her knives and brings up her foot to the bar between his chair's foot plates, kicking him backward as the axe comes close enough to fray the fabric just below her chest.

Taking a moment to catch her breath she grins back at him, mimicking the one he'd given her.]

You should have been quicker - you might have gotten a nice view out of it.

[But of course she's not spending too long within throwing range, she likes her head attached to her shoulders. Instead she skirts around him in a quick scurry, trying to see if she can manage getting behind him. Mostly, she wants to see how long it takes him to wheel around and face her again.]

[Tch. Cheeky little scamp, isn't she? Of course, she might just be saying that to distract him. While Ivar might have things that distract him in battle, a pretty girl has never been one of them.

The last time they fought had been a long time ago. He hadn't been used to the mobility the wheelchair provided back then. Now he was much better at it. There's a harsh scraping sound of the wheels on the floor as he quickly turns the chair, almost fast enough to tip him over, but not quite. He folds the axe in closer to his body, a defensive move that can easily turn offensive again.]

[It is impressive, that by the time she's got her bearings again he's facing her and her plan of attack will no longer work. She pauses and blinks, almost in a sign of acknowledgement that he's deflected her.

It takes her a few more moments before she thinks of a new plan and moves forward, this time moving to grab his ax arm by the wrist - her plan being to use the momentum from him drawing back to pull herself around and end up behind his chair, grabbing onto the handles. Honestly, she has no idea whether that will work, but if she's learned anything from training, it's mostly been to ignore risks more than she already did.]

[ Athelstan had spent quite a bit of time searching out the right materials for the gift he wanted to give Ivar. He'd seen the way the other had taken an interest in his sketch of Aslaug before and since then he'd had the idea to do this. Once he discovers the right materials that he feels would fit Aslaug and practices in the style long enough that he's satisfied with his work...he began on a painting of Aslaug. She is young and beautiful in it, of course.

There's no signature, the habits of his time in the monastery remaining but it's likely clear who the gift is from. ]

man, the list just goes on and on. I have almost died in so many unique and thrilling ways.

We..we should talk. [Gyda's voice sounds stiff, like she's trying to work more nerve then she has in the first place.

[Ivar takes a while to respond to Gyda's message. He's been avoiding his sister, not because he doesn't care, but because he feels guilty. He should have protected her better. It was his job to make sure she stayed safe. He was sure she blamed him for what had happened at it didn't blame her.]

...Must we?

IC Inbox

and to action~

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Delivery

no subject

Voice message

no subject