Monthly log post!

[ragnarsson]

who: Ivar and you!
what: Open prompts + some closed ones
when: Throughout November
where: All over the city, outside the walls
warnings: None currently



A. The Proudest Father

Despite his best attempts, Ivar often found he couldn't spend nearly as much time with Winter as he wanted to. It was hard balancing a job, a social life, and being a parent. But he always managed to squeeze in a few hours here and there for his daughter. Ivar absolutely adored his little girl. She was the only one in Riverview who had completely gotten past his defenses, worming her way into his heart.

So he set aside a full day at least once a week to devote himself to spending time with Winter. She had finally grown out of her more fragile state, losing that smallness that being born premature had caused. She'd started to grow, showing a great interest in the world around her. Now she was able to support her head and look up. She'd started softly babbling, though these occasions were still far and few in between, for she remained a very quiet baby.

Ivar was often found on the weekends taking the little mite out to explore the city. Sometimes, he was in a park, softly telling her stories of the gods from his homeland. Or maybe he was out at a store, giving serious thought as to which toy he should buy that she was liking best. He often bragged to just about anyone who was near how wonderful she was. Although Ivar's taste in Winter's outfits could be somewhat...questionable, it was clear he was deeply in love with his little baby girl.

B. Perimeter Guarding

Ivar enjoyed his job immensely. It helped get out the worst of his aggression, always a good thing when his thoughts tended to range close to homicide. He took shifts at random times thanks to having a baby to watch over, so he could be found at almost any time of the day.

He could often be found in a number of spots. Sometimes, he was by the fence, patrolling against any monsters that might make it through. Other times, he hanging around the building, looking for anyone to spar with. And always, whenever there was paperwork due, he was found cajoling and acting his most charming, trying to get other people to do it for him with the excuse that he couldn't possibly do it since he couldn't even read.

C. Horse on fire + Chariot = Awesomeness

After many patient months of trial and error with Skinfaxi, Ivar had finally gotten the Ponyta to accept a harness, reins, and a bridle without burning them into ash. Things had to go much slower with the fire horse Pokemon than with a regular horse, but Ivar merely kept the end goal in sight. Skinfaxi trusted him, so he gradually built the horse's tolerance and strength levels up as he got bigger.

Now full-grown, with long legs, a broad chest, and a thick neck, today was the day he was finally ready to put his pet to the test. He'd taken him to the stables, releasing him from the Pokeball in a flash of light. Gathering up the equipment, he'd hooked up the harness to the chariot. After a few practice laps around the arena, it was time for the final step.

He took Skinfaxi out onto the main street. He started off slow, taking the horse at a slow trot. Things seemed to be going well, so Ivar cautiously took the horse a little faster. Emboldened by his progress, he let the fire horse have his head, taking him up to a canter. Skinfaxi took off like a shot, flames licking across his body and the harness without burning any of it. Cackling like a madman and looking like a scene from Ragnarok, a Viking galloping around in a chariot on fire.

Try not to get run over, people. You'll kill his buzz if you do.

D. Closed To Marco - Sleep Cute

So there were definite perks to living with one's crush. Being able to casually pop in for random, totally-not-a-date moments were definitely one of them. Ivar had suggested that they could watch a movie together, looking casual on the outside while internally feeling like he might combust. Marco agreed and the Viking wondered if he was going to faint from relief.

He'd brought some beers and popcorn over to Marco's room, and really, there was no better excuse to be able to lean in close while lying on his bed, watching an old black-and-white film on a very large TV. Ivar was perfectly content to just let their fingers occasionally touch as they both reached for popcorn. But he'd miscalculated on one key factor. Winter had kept him up most of the night before with some tummy trouble that couldn't be soothed until almost dawn. So the combination of a warm bed plus some food was making him very sleepy.

Pretty soon, Ivar's eyes had fallen shut, and Marco would find Ivar snuggled up pretty well next to him, fast asleep. At least he made a pretty picture while he dreamed.

E. Closed To Thor - Come On Donkey

When he'd asked Thor if he wanted to go hunting something large with sharp teeth, the god had seemed all too willing. Time for some good old-fashioned family bonding time, Norse style. Things had gone according to plan at first when they traveled outside the walls. It wasn't too long before they found something with many sharp teeth. Actually, it seemed to have several mouths filled with sharp teeth, plus more limbs than seemed to be the normal and several eyes where they shouldn't have been, but that was all the better for trying to kill it.

The battle was wonderful, going back and forth. The trouble came when the beast swiped at Ivar with one of its many paws. He'd managed to scoot out of the way by sliding out of his wheelchair, but the creature had followed through on its attack by crunching the chair to pieces with its large bulk. Ivar didn't even really think anything of it until the monster lay in a dead heap.

He crawled over to where his now destroyed chair lay. He prodded it in hopes of salvaging it, but the thing had been busted into about eight different pieces. There was no way it was going to work again.

Ivar frowned, looking over to his uncle with a resigned expression on his face. "This could present a problem." Crawling all the way back to the city was not going to be a pleasant experience.

F. Closed To Bucky - Gun Control

Since experiencing the ex-assassin's memories, Ivar had quite a bit to mull on. It was the tying off point for a lot of what he'd experienced with his friend over the past seven months. The vague answers he gave, the repeated warnings to stay away (which Ivar had naturally ignored), even that bizarre period of time where he'd been a different version of himself all started to fall into place. He now had a clearer line of where Bucky had been and who he had become.

Perhaps he was right. Maybe he should stay away from him, for Winter's sake if not his own. He knew in a fair fight Bucky could easy kill him. But Vikings held no fear about death. Valhalla was where he was destined to go, but not a moment before he was ready. So, rather than do the smart thing as he was warranted to do, Ivar did exactly what he wanted to instead.

He went sniffing around for Bucky in one of the hideouts he had around the city. The art of tracking down someone who didn't want to be found was a lost art to most modern people. It required patience, a lot of skill, and a little bit of luck. Ivar thought he'd found the right one when he stumbled across the right building that had blankets bunched into a makeshift bed and more than the usual amount of trash around. He looked for Bucky, knowing he was probably already being watched. "Are you around?"

Comments

[advanced]

Bucky was becoming used to the fact that there were some people here who could track him down. They wouldn't be able to if he had a whole world in which to escape, he knew from experience that he could evade even world governments who were specifically searching for him with all their resources, but here? Here he was trapped just like the rest of them, forced into this one tiny city.

He could leave, go back through the portals, but he wouldn't. Being found here was much less dangerous than being found at home, he'd not seen any evidence that the remnants of HYDRA had made it here and so the danger of the Soldier being unleashed was lessened in Quarantine.

Still, it sent a slight tingle up his spine whenever someone did track him down, which is why he was watching Ivar now from the rafters, hidden in the gloom up high. When he saw who it was, though, he dropped down a few feet away, knees bending to absorb the impact with practised ease.

"Wasn't sure I'd see you again."

[ragnarsson]

Ivar waited for Bucky to make himself known, head whipping around as soon as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure whether Bucky was happy to see him or not, but then, his emotions were never the easiest to read. "I'm not going to abandon you that easily. You're stuck with me now." He grinned, a genuine look of happiness rather than the smirk that so often was found on his features.

"I brought lunch." He leaned around to where he had hooked a bag from one of the local sandwich shops through the handles of his wheelchair. There was the occasional advantage to using the device to get around and having a place to hold things was one of them. He pulled out three different sandwiches, some bags of chips, and a few sodas. Yes, he is in fact looking out for Bucky in his own way. Better this way then having to steal food from vendors like a homeless man.

[advanced]

That smile struck him harder than any harsh words or blows could, and he's reminded all of a sudden how many good and generous people are in the world. Clark did this too, and Ellie, people proving that despite all he's done and what problems they might have, that they can forgive and understand.

For once, his own lips quirk up in return and he's still smiling as he reaches out to take one of the sandwiches.

"I guess you have your answers now, huh?"

[ragnarsson]

"I finally do." He knew Bucky probably would have never told him, at least not in the detail he had seen, but he was glad to finally understand what made his friend tick. Ivar could better see why he reacted the way he did to certain things and why he was so strongly fucked up in the head.

Ivar bites into his own sandwich, a Dagwood creation with lots of layers of meat and vegetables. He swallows, talking around "I finally get why you didn't want people to see that. The last person I wanted here to see my memories saw some things I would rather have kept private." Surprisingly though, mutually seeing each other's memories had caused Dodger and Ivar to form another one of their uneasy truces. He wasn't sure how long this one would last, but at least it meant Ivar didn't have to worry about leaving Winter an orphan anytime soon.

[advanced]

"Have they kept them private after seeing them."

Bucky brushes past any further talk about what Ivar saw inside his head or what it might mean, because it touched so deeply on topics that he could barely consider just in his own head let alone out loud. Better to focus his concern on Ivar and if his deep dark secrets might be making their way into the public domain.

The kid was unstable enough as it is at the best of times, having the extra aggression of someone knowing about his private moments couldn't be making it any better.

[ragnarsson]

"I don't know. If Dodger's smart, he'll keep what he's seen to himself." Truth be told, Dodger hadn't even fully told Ivar what he'd seen in his head. Ivar could only make educated guesses based off what he'd let slip.

"He acted pretty weird about it. He came up, talked me like we haven't tried to kill each other for months, and then took me to a gun range." Now's probably the point in the story where alarm bells would start going off in Bucky's head, though he needn't have worried. Ivar didn't easily break his word once he'd given it to someone he respected and cared about.

[advanced]

Bucky's brow draws together a little at the mention of a gun range, but he doesn't immediately jump down Ivar's throat. He doesn't know anything about Dodger, other than knowing it's who Ivar nearly killed a while back, but anything that forms a truce has to be a good thing... right?

"Yeah? I didn't think you were going to a gun range again?"

It wasn't an accusation, more a quiet question.

[worldsaway]

It had been a good fight, but Thor regrets not being a little more vigilant throughout it. He's aware that Ivar can hold his own in battle, but Thor feels obligated to protect him. Even if he's skeptical about his lineage and even if he's most certain that Ivar is completely mortal, Thor considers him his nephew. It disappoints him to think he let his nephew down, but it can't be helped now. At least he's alive.

"It can be rebuilt." He says plainly. He knows well enough that acting too sympathetic or apologetic could be extremely insulting, and he isn't about to treat Ivar like a child.

"Come, I'll carry you back." Thor crouches, patting his shoulder as a way to invite Ivar up onto them.

[ragnarsson]

Merely being able to spend time with Thor was enough for Ivar, no matter what the circumstances were. For all that Ivar liked to put on a tough front, this was still the longest he's ever been away from his family back home. Being able to be around the gods here that he considers part of that helps the ache of homesickness sometimes.

Ivar frowns when Thor offers to carry him back. He's quick to answer, perhaps a little too quick for comfort. "No. That's alright. I can make it on my own." The fact that means he's going to have to crawl all the way back to the city is not lost on either of them. It's definitely not a practical solution, especially when Thor is willing to carry him. Really, Ivar has only ever trusted his family when it comes to carrying him.

But Ivar has a peculiar, prickly sense of pride and he also doesn't want to appear weak in front of his uncle. Thor is either going to have to talk him into this or just pick him up despite his protests.

[worldsaway]

"Don't be ridiculous." Thor says, he's not mincing words. "I'm not going to walk away while you crawl. It will do me no harm to carry you."

And he means it. He really wouldn't feel right having Ivar crawl beside him. Manly pride or not, it seems ridiculous for him to struggle in such a way when Thor can easily help him.

"Come. It will be like a backwards hug." Thor reaches for Ivar, trying to pull him up. He seems to feel as if Ivar is putting on airs, just trying to be polite.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar still has a rather stubborn look on his face. He doesn't have much in the way of dignity, but what little he does has is making him dig in his heels regarding this offer of help. It stems from the part of him that is just eternally pissed-off that he can't walk around like a normal man. Thor's words just make him grumpier.

Ivar doesn't resist as Thor tries to pull him up. Trying to struggle against the strength of a god would be like trying to struggle against a grizzly bear: an exercise in futility. "Has anyone ever told you that you are annoyingly optimistic sometimes?" Really, it's like trying to reason with a Golden Retriever.

[worldsaway]

"I've been told I'm a lot of things." Thor says, blandly. He hoists Ivar up and allows him to shuffle as he pleases before he tucks his arms under his legs. His hammer is hanging from his wrist, at the ready if necessary.

"Has anyone told you that you're a stubborn arse?"

[ragnarsson]

"I'm sure you have." Then Ivar mutters something too low to hear but that distinctly has the phrase 'great giant lump of a god' in there. He gets himself situated on Thor's back, bending his knees so that he can properly sit like he's riding a horse, something he's never been able to properly do given the atrophy of his leg muscles. Honestly, this is better than most of the times someone has to carry him around. Thor won't tire out as fast.

He grins at the question. "Many times and proud of it!" He punctuates this by thumping his uncle companionably on the shoulder.

C

[bunnyblock]

Yeah, it might be one of those days where someone really isn't keen on getting run over by a chariot. I mean, sometimes it might feel like a good day to face Ragnarok face-on, but this guy is German, not Nordic, so seeing a chariot of fire barreling towards him does not remind him of anything quite so mythological, but rather...

Dropping the armload of wiring and tools he'd been carrying to the side, Noiz has to do quite the dive to get out of the way so he isn't run down in a dash of blazing glory.

It's his clothing that gets torn up a little from the sudden skidding dive, a few bits of loose rock and dirt that draw a few long scrapes along his arms and cheeks as he sits up with QUITE the irritated look moving over the guy's face.

He's not usually one to raise his voice, but...

"Are you insane?!"

[ragnarsson]

Ivar is tearing down the street at full speed when Noiz is forced to dive out of the way. He doesn't feel the least bit sorry and wouldn't even if he got trapped under Skinfaxi's hooves, which are ten times harder than diamonds. The idea that Noiz just narrowly avoided being seriously injured doesn't even register with the Viking.

He can hear that he's being yelled at, so when he reaches the end of the street, he makes a U-turn, and tears back down the street over to Noiz. He stops his Pokemon so suddenly that Skinfaxi rears up on his hind legs, letting out a piercing whinny. He has only one response for that question, hyped as he is on adrenaline. "Possibly!"

oh my god ivar

[bunnyblock]

That... isn't the proper response to something like that. Even someone emotionally and socially stunted as Noiz knew that when someone asked you if you were insane, you didn't give a positive answer like that.

Either way, once the other has the (decency?) to drive the flame-ridden horse back to where Noiz had been sprawled out, the willowy hacker is going to get to his feet, not bothering (or seeming to notice) the new but mostly superficial wounds that dotted him here and there.

Instead, he's going to opt to stare at the viking, and then the hell horse he'd ridden in on.

"...You could kill someone like that."

Strangely, despite seeming annoyed, Noiz doesn't seem angry about it. Mostly... his eyes cast down to where the 'diamond crushing hooves' had driven right over his tools. They're bent beyond all repair.

"...Or break something."

LOL pretty much everyone's reaction to him

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's crazy is showing right now in full effect. Usually, his insanity only flows when killing, but the chariot ride has done enough to make the Viking quite unstable.

Ivar waves a hand flippantly. "If someone is stupid enough to get run over, too damn bad." Which shows precisely how much Ivar cares that he's nearly killed Noiz and put his tools out of commission. As far as he can see, Noiz is still alive, so he shouldn't be complaining.

Skinfaxi ducks his head down, long muzzle snuffling lightly at Noiz. He's a shy beast, not prone to being overly curious, but at least he has more manners than his master. "He likes you, I think. Say hello, Skinfaxi." The horse wickers softly, large, black diamond eyes blinking down at Noiz.

[bunnyblock]

"I don't think it's a matter of stupidity." He delivers his own line flatly, sticking Ivar with an expression that matches it in tone almost perfectly. It's not as if Noiz was diving in head first to uncoming traffic--said traffic being the giant hooves of a fire-laden horse. (A horse which is snuffling oddly and bobbing its head oddly.)

At the very least, his things can be replaced, so his usual lack of feeling anything more than inconvenienced is going to get Ivar off the hook with breaking his shit. Lucky for him, isn't it. Because as the viking speaks, his attention is pulled off the wreckage and onto that horse that apparently 'likes' him.

Horses were big.
Too big. He liked his animals small, and able to be held in your arms, thanks.

"...It's on fire." He'll point out, a little dumbly. "How do you even ride it without scorching your clothes."

He's not greeting your horse.

[ragnarsson]

"Of course it is. People shouldn't be in the middle of the street unless they want to risk getting run over by cars and such." That's Viking logic for you. It's never Ivar's fault, it's always the other person who causes things to happen.

The fire horse dips his head down to be at the same height as Noiz, blinking at him with mild, patient eyes. Be nice, now. It's not his fault his master is possibly a nutcase. "Skinfaxi will never burn anyone he truly trusts with his flames." He leans forward, scratching the horse lightly on the rump as if to prove his point. Ivar loves his Ponyta very dearly. "I've raised him from the time he was a small foal, so he has complete trust in me."

D.

[brightline]

It's kind of like a date, which is both totally awesome and totally weird at the same time, because Ivar is not only a dude, but also kind of Marco's roommate. After the whole soulmate thing and then the dreamscape kissing thing, Marco's been feeling a little weird around Ivar. Marco can't quite decide if it's worrying or kinda exciting, but some part of him is aware that it's a crush or something like it, while another part is working its hardest on denial.

Denial or not, Marco does his best to get cute for the movie night. Gets his hair kind of in order, ponders over his clothing choices and picks a T-shirt that clings a bit, a pair of jeans that's maybe a bit tighter than he'd normally wear for comfort. Picks up the laundry off the floor and makes things half-decently tidy in his room. By the time Ivar shows up, he's feeling pretty good about things, and it's a lot less awkward than he was worried about. Ivar's surprisingly easy to talk to considering how different they are.

But halfway through the movie, when the popcorn's gone, Ivar stops commentating on the plot, and it takes one of Marco's jokes hanging for a half-minute for him to realize that Ivar's drifted off. When he shifts a bit, Ivar rolls over closer, pressing against him, and Marco can't help but smile to himself. Ivar looks weirdly peaceful like this, eyes close, face at rest, and Marco gets totally distracted for a few minutes, just looking at him.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's drifted off into a nice, peaceful sleep. If he's relaxed as he sleeps, it's because of where he's fallen asleep and who he's with. If he didn't trust Marco as much as he did, he wouldn't have been able to do this. His breathing slows and evens out. The Viking teen looks quite calm as he dreams, a stark contrast to how he usually looks when he's awake.

He's pressed up against Marco and one arm just sort of slips over Marco's body, drawing him a little closer while he's still asleep. It's a semi-conscious reaction, given that Marco's warm, smells nice, and Ivar is of course head-over-heels for him. Oh, he's going to mortified when he wakes up. Or very happy. Maybe both.

[brightline]

It should probably bother him more than it does, the way Ivar snuggles up against his side and throws an arm over him. Or, actually, it should probably bother him at all but it totally doesn't. Ivar is warm and comfortable and Marco decides in about three seconds that he doesn't want to wake him up.

Instead, he scoots a bit closer and rests his chin into his arms, watching the TV as the movie keeps running, dark eyes on the screen. At least, he does for the first three or four minutes, and then he's looking back at Ivar. Ivar, the vicious bloodthirsty musclebound Viking who looks like some kind of angel when he's sleeping, his expression peaceful, his face relaxed. Rachel looked like this when she slept too, he'd seen it on a dozen overnight stakeouts and watches around campfires in the butt-end of nowhere. Calm and peaceful until something woke her up with a start and she went into battle mode. Terrifying and kind of hot at the same time.

Marco wonders if that's what's going to happen with Ivar too.

[ragnarsson]

The teenage Viking stays asleep until almost the end credits, sleeping soundly with only a few shifts to remain comfortable. Ivar wakes up slowly, feeling warm, comfortable, and safe where he's at. Then confusion runs over his face as he realizes he's neither in his bed nor is he alone. His eyes are barely-open slits for a single moment as one hand eases a knife from the sheath inside his vest.

He snaps awake and rolls over, knife at the ready to stab someone with. Fortunately, as soon as he shakes of the grogginess of sleep, he remembers where he is, and what happened. He blinks as he looks down at Marco beneath him, acutely aware of how close their bodies are together. The knife hovers somewhere in the region of Marco's kidneys, a devastating blow if he actually had gone through with it.

Then he rolls off of Marco and back to the side, indeed feeling a combination of mortified and happy. He's still pressed up against the smaller Animorph, and no, he doesn't intend to go anywhere. To cover for his moment of viciousness, he turns back to the screen, where the closing minutes of The Creature From The Black Lagoon are playing. "So what happened? Did the monster kill them all?"

[brightline]

Marco's pretty much forgotten his thoughts about whether Ivar's going to wake up in battle mode by the time the Viking wakes up, because he's too busy thinking how cute he looks sleeping like that. So when Ivar seems to snap awake, rolls Marco over abruptly, and lies on top of him, Marco screams, shrill and startled more than actually afraid.

Instinct almost has him morphing gorilla, fight-or-flight responses kicking in, but then Ivar goes still and looks down at him with those pretty blue eyes and a knife at Marco's kidney, and Marco relaxes into the bed. Lying there, looking up at Ivar, his hands on either side of his head, Marco just smiles slightly, his heart still beating hard, his breath coming fast and shallow, head spinning with the aftershocks of a complete and total adrenaline rush.

When Ivar rolls off him, Marco rolls onto his side, blinking rapidly, trying to calm himself down. It's funny...at some point in his life, Marco would've been scared crapless by that, he would've lost it and wanted to get away from Ivar as fast as possible. But the way his eyes had looked...it just reminded him of Rachel, and Marco had always trusted Rachel. He can't help feeling like knowing Rachel the way he had sort of extends to knowing Ivar, on some level.

"I have no idea, because I was totally not watching the movie. I was too distracted by you being way too cute. And then terrifying. But still cute. Adoraterrifying?"

[ragnarsson]

Ivar lies there for a moment, trying to sort out his own thoughts. He'd half-expected Marco to struggle or run out. The fact he hadn't speaks probably to whatever he experienced in that war back home. He rubs his free hand over his face, trying to process everything that just happened.

"You're a little strange." Not that Ivar's complaining. A sane person likely would have bolted out of the room by now. He props himself up on one hand, sliding the knife back into his vest. The other hand goes to playing around with the ends of Marco's hair sticking up all artfully tousled. He presses a kiss to the back of Marco's neck, spooning him close up. "I could have killed you, you know." He says this very casually like he hadn't come close to doing it right then and there.

But he hadn't. Despite the way he kept pushing limitations, both the ones set for him and the ones in his own mind, Ivar never really wanted to hurt the people he cared about. On the occasions when it did happen, it was because he lost control. Even with knife in hand, he'd still been in complete control of his mind.