riverviewlogs | Forgive me, hearer, I cannot stay

She feels a bit safer, having asked Athelstan to brief Ragnar on the fact that "Cinna" is not a Mercian fortune-teller, but in fact the mother of Ivar's child. She'd like for this meeting to happen later, when she's figured out exactly how to turn her hair dark... but maybe it will help that she's currently albino, she doesn't know.

She announces herself with a knock on Ragnar's door, but... her attention strays quickly, and by the time one of them answers she'll be petting one of the goats, speaking to it like a baby. "Hello! Oh, you're simply gorgeous, I could steal you... which one of these is your mummy? Or did he buy you this small? Oh, you're so lovely, yes you are..."

Now if only she could learn to show this much affection for her actual human child.

Edited 2018-02-25 01:15 (UTC)

Athelstan is still not sure that this is the wisest thing. He does think that they need to know Letha better and he wants to help her -- so long as she is willing to put in the work on herself. She seems so, perhaps, he knows that Ragnar still has a lot of hesitance about the whole thing but he said he would give her a chance and he would behave if nothing else.

He had spent a good deal of time cooking the dinner. Gyda was out, having knowing vaguely that there was going to be a dinner and that Ragnar was not particularly happy about it. Athelstan comes to the door shortly after the knock but it's clear that Letha is already distracted. He waits a few moments before clearing his throat.

"Would you like to come in? You can bring a baby goat with you if you like. They're a good pacifier for Ragnar."

He doesn't care if Ragnar heard that or not.

Like oaths, hospitality was one of those strangely emphasized values. Being a bad host was worse, in some cases, than taking another person's life... especially if that person was a slave. So, despite being very unenthused about the prospect of meeting Letha. Not only had she lied to him on their first meeting, but he'd also heard plenty of terrible things about her from Ivar himself.

After a moment, Ragnar trailed after Athelstan, walking up just in time to hear what he'd said, which earned the monk a discreet jab to the ribs.

"Welcome to our home, Letha," He stated in a tone which could almost be mistaken for welcoming. Almost. His emphasis on her name, however, was blatant.

"Can I really?"

She's not waiting for Athelstan to reconsider that - she takes the smallest and fluffiest goat she can reach, and gathers it into her arms like a teddy bear as she walks over to greet Ragnar with a bright smile.

"I must apologize formally for the confusion - I used a pseudonym while in Norway, and chose to keep it here to spend some time detached from Ivar. It was childish, I'll admit, but I believe it was smarter than barreling head-long into his life after so long apart." She offers a gesture somewhat like a curtsy, except that she can't lift her skirt up with her arms full of goat. "And while I admit I knew who you were from the beginning, I must make it clear that I never meant any harm in my deceit. I have far too much respect for you to try and trick you without good reason... and I'm very grateful that you've allowed me to see your home, it is really quite lovely."

Despite the obvious care taken in choosing her words, she does mean all of it and it's accompanied by a charming and genuine smile. Though, out of sheer curiosity she can't help adding:

"Have you learned yet if my reading came true? Is Athelstan the man you were fated for?"

Athelstan nodded to Letha's question and ignored the jab to his ribs, though it almost drew another smile from him. He watched the two of them carefully and stayed quiet as if he was trying to make sure that Ragnar would keep his word about behaving. So far, so good, as good as he could ask of Ragnar anyway.

The question she poses has him raising an eyebrow at Ragnar before he's retreating further into their home to make sure everything's ready to be served on the table they had. Of course it is but he figures that Ragnar and Letha have a few things to get out of the way.

Letha's dazzling smile is met with a fairly stony expression from the Viking.

"Mm. Convenient that you have decided to apologize now... when we are caring for the child you abandoned," Ragnar pointed out coldly, ignoring both her compliments and her questions. Athelstan was not only naive, he tended to be deeply sympathetic as well. It was something Ragnar had always admired in him, but that didn't mean those qualities were wearing off on him in the least bit.

"The table is through there. Just follow Athelstan," He stated begrudgingly, closing the door behind her before heading into the kitchen and dining area himself.

"I cannot help the timing of my apology, Ragnar." She replies pleasantly, with a bit more edge than she need to. "The past cannot be changed, we can only seek to improve our future."

She does notice that he's ignoring her... and she wonders if it's simply to be stoic, or because her reading caused something unpleasant. Well, no use worrying over that now. She allows herself to be led over, awkwardly standing by the table until Athelstan is nice enough to pull the chair out for her; even after her time in Norway, she still hates the impropriety of seating herself.

"Will it be alright if I feed the goat?" She asks innocently, as it bleats in the general direction of food. "I haven't the faintest idea what's healthy for them..."

Athelstan isn't particularly surprised that Ragnar's behaving the way that he is which doesn't make anything about this at all easy. He waits until everyone's seated before taking his own and he shakes his head at the question. "Not inside," he says with a smile and then glances at Ragnar with an expression that says 'you're not playing nice.'

The food is rather simple, meat and vegetables and there's a choice of alcohol or water -- since he didn't know what Letha would prefer to drink. "Sometimes the best way to improve the future is to own the past mistakes."

"No. Of course not," He said flatly in regards to the timing of her apology.

He'd opened his mouth to also tell her not to feed the goat inside, but Athelstan beat her to it. Goats were simple creatures, when you put things in one end, things tended to come out the other as well. And nobody wanted that in the house.

Ragnar took a drink before starting to pull the meat in front of him apart, not using any utensils. Forks weren't a thing yet where he was from and even if he had been exposed to them in Riverview, they would still strike him as a little pointless. In between bites, he alternated vaguely annoyed stares between Athelstan and Letha.

Letha, who had been just about to offer the goat a leaf from something, immediately pops it in her mouth instead when Athelstan tells her not to. See, she can be a good kid. The goat protests, but getting shushed and petted seems to work well enough to dissuade it.

While Letha can appreciate silverware, she's always had a startling appetite for her size, ever since the Riverview portal fished her out of that space between death and whatever unknown is beyond it. Choosing to coincidentally never be looking up when Ragnar glares at her, she goes about ripping her own meal up and eating it with a pace that seems to imply she hasn't eaten in years. This, and also systematically pushing the goat's head back whenever it tries to sneak a sample of the greens.

"I do have to admit, it's a bit like meeting a legend... one of the first nights Ivar and I spent together, he told me about your capture of Paris. I can tell it to you if you'd like." She laughs softly. "I don't mean to flatter you like my false prophecies did. But your son truly loves you, and I must admit I'm happy to know you live up to his image of you."

She glances at Athelstan.

"He never mentioned you, though, before I left. You mentioned that you knew him as a child, didn't you?"

She's probing, more than anything - if either of them choose to speak she will close her eyes as she listens, practicing the new ability she's picked up lately. She'll be able to watch bits and pieces of whatever memories they focus on, even hear parts of them if the memory is strong enough.

Athelstan eats less heartily than the other two, mostly he does find himself anxious about the two of them and the awkwardness weighs on the meal and on him. It is after all his idea that they would do this. He is starting to second guess whether it is helpful to anyone that is involved.

"He was likely not old enough to really remember me," Athelstan frowns. He doesn't know exactly whatever it is that happens to him happens -- Ivar's alluded to enough that he knows that something bad must have happened before Ivar was really very old. He remembers Ivar, as a very young baby and toddler that was constantly under Aslaug's supervision, and she was not very fond of Athelstan for more reasons than he could likely count. He did not mention that much. After all, there is still plenty that Ragnar doesn't know.

He glances at Ragnar then before turning his attention to the food, not particularly keen on being the topic of conversation especially in this manner.

"Time is a strange thing here."

"I would prefer you did not," He really couldn't put into words what the difference between prophecy and simply being told his future... interpretation, vagueness, the chance that the prophet had misread things. But being told the events that would transpire as easily as someone could tell him about past raids felt... unwise somehow. Like he was tempting fate. He still hadn't asked Ivar what the boy's mother's name was. He simply knew it was not Lagertha.

Ragnar's gaze flickered over to the monk before returning to his plate, not wanting to think too much about the reasons that might be behind Athelstan not being around as Ivar grew older... while Ragnar had been. It was likely nothing good.

It was obvious that Athelstan wasn't exactly keen of this topic either.

"Apparently I lived up to expectations only in some areas. In others, I failed miserably... According to Ivar," She hadn't been here while Ivar had been screaming and throwing knives at him earlier that month.

He's quiet a moment, staring a hole through Letha for a stretch, "What is it you expect to get from this, Letha? Ivar has left so you are chasing after those who are close to him?"

"It certainly is." She answers Athelstan, with a nod of understanding to Ragnar.

If she knew how things would be going in Riverview the night she left, she would do things very differently. And perhaps that would be tempting fate to make her new future much, much worse.

As the two of them speak, she closes her eyes and casts her attention of each of them in turn. The images are jumbled at first, but she manages to tune in on a few... a sickly baby Ivar wrapped in furs, a cold-looking woman that she assumes is Ivar's mother and, as she turns her attention to Ragnar's memories, she sees a scene in this house. Ivar losing his temper, throwing knives, yelling at Ragnar. She purses her lips as her eyes open... she couldn't focus in quite well enough to know what it was about, but she makes a mental note to ask Ivar what happened.

"Ivar hasn't left, he's coming back." Her tone is a little too snippy, and she clears her throat before her expression softens, "I... didn't have much of a plan, if we're being honest. I just wanted to talk to you, about- letting me care for my daughter while Ivar is away. I know it would be going against his wishes, but I believe as her blood mother I have some say in her life, and I want- a chance to prove that I can do better than I have."

Forgive me, hearer, I cannot stay

For Ragnar and Athelstan

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject