Picking back up where he left off (Open and Closed prompts)

[ragnarsson]

who: Ivar and you! +some closed prompts
what: Someone's back from his canon update. Someone might be more angry and crazier than ever.
when: Late February-Early March
where: All over the Quarantine
warnings: Ivar is Ivar. 'Nuff said.

[If you want a closed prompt, feel free to PM me or shoot me up on Light_shade]



I. Back and ready to roll

It's only been a short time since Ivar left Riverview, but for him, it's been two years. He's missed a lot about living in a more modern era: the convenience of modern lights, being able to have hot water whenever he wanted it, his wheelchair, and the food. So he's catching up on two years of deprivation, which means he can be found all over the city, doing various things. He's at a different place for lunch and dinner almost every night. Being without pizza and burgers this long is a pure travesty.

He also gets back into the swing of things with the Perimeter Guard. His skills have only sharpened in his time away, so he can be found training, gleefully bashing in a monster's head, or coming from these various activities sometimes covered in gore.

Anyone that he's missed will find a more emotional Viking than normal. He's missed his friends and family an awful lot in his time away. Though he'll never admit it, he's learned to appreciate what he has just a little bit more. However, it also seems like something else happened while he was away, for Ivar seems to be keeping his guard up and his hard shell around him more than ever, like he's trying to keep himself from getting hurt after it's already happened too much.

II. Catching up with his daughter

Ask Ivar what the number one thing he missed the most and it would be his daughter. He thought about Winter every single night he was gone and it ate away at the Viking terribly. His biggest fear was wondering if the same amount of time was passing in Riverview as it was for him. Was he missing out on two years of Winter's life? He'd been relieved to find only two weeks had passed.

It seemed that Winter had been rather fussy and upset while he was away if her draining life from those that had been taking care of her was any indication. It drove home again to Ivar that he needed to find a way to help her control her powers better. Maybe he'd been spoiling her just a little too much, even if she still just was a baby. But any thoughts of discipline were driven out of his head in favor of spending time with her.

He took her to the park dressed in one of her cutest outfits, letting her play around on the grass as she chased after the butterflies, one of her favorite hobbies. It was clear how much Ivar loved and had missed his little girl just by the way he looked at her.

III. Morphing time

It's been a while since Ivar has been able to properly morph. He hadn't had a whole lot of time to himself back home, and when he did, he usually had more pressing matters on his hand than practicing his shapeshifting skills. Besides, if anyone had caught him, the Vikings would have thought him some sort of unnatural being, a witch or the like, and might have contemplated the idea of burning him alive. So while there's been the occasional foray out as a dog or squirrel, they haven't been frequent.

So now that he's back in the city, he's back to his usual morphs. So there's the occasional dog, cat, squirrel, or more extraterrestrial creature roaming the city. For those that know it's him, he'll gladly approach them, and chat while in animal form. For those that don't know it's him, he's up to his usual tricks of spying on the unknowing populace to find out what he can.

Comments

iii ofc

[smokedout]

It's been two weeks of loneliness and self-torture, without even the comfort of picking fights with Ivar. He'd kept sort of hoping he'd run into that great dog again, but the dog seems to be missing as well. A fact that Dodger doesn't really connect; it's a big city, and maybe Hati just found other people to be around, or his parents are keeping better track of him. But Dodger has taken to carrying treats in his back pocket, on the off chance that he sees him again.

Dodger looks haggard when he finally spots him; he has a new undercut and spiffy clothes, and that really should make him look younger, but the bags under his eyes are worse than ever and the bandages on his wrists seem thicker and more worn. He has a split lip that hasn't healed yet, and another bad bruise on his brow that suggests he's gotten in yet another fight. His eyes light up when he spots the husky; though he's too tired to really grin, he gives him a warm smile all the same as he walks over and reaches to pick the dog up. It's a slow movement, so that if the dog rejects it he can just reach up and ruffle the fur around his ears instead.

"Hey, buddy... I missed you, where've you been?"

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's not sure how to react upon seeing Dodger. Their relationship has always been so complicated and two years away has done nothing dim his hatred or resolve any of his feelings towards the man. He notices the way he looks, but Dodger always seems to be in some state of having just gotten out of a fight. The human part of his mind doesn't know what to do, so there's a brief look of husky discontent as he flattens his ears back, looking at Dodger with something approaching disapproval.

But the doggie instincts recognize him as a nice human and just want to be told he's a good boy, so the look soon fades as he's picked up. Really, this is familiar territory for Ivar. Most of his early childhood was spent being carried around until he got both independent and strong enough to want to crawl around under his own power. His tail wags and his head rests by Dodger's ear, which he gives a snuffle to. He can smell all sorts of interesting things coming off Dodger, including the treats in his back pocket, which make him wriggle around and contort himself, trying to find some way to reach them.

[smokedout]

Dodger laughs quietly, rubbing his scarred hand over Ivar's back and scratching his fur affectionately. It's notable that instead of having the skinning fully healed, he actively chose to leave the skin choppy and warped, adhering just a little too well to the contours of his muscle.

"You can smell the treats, huh? Hold on, I'll let you have some."

He carries Ivar for a bit, shifting every so often to keep him from spilling out of his arms. And all the while he decides to talk to him because honestly, the best thing about dogs is that they don't judge you.

"Been a rough few weeks, wonder where you were... see, this asshole I usually hang around disappeared for a while, I haven't seen him back yet but he should come back soon. Unless he got himself killed. But if I haven't managed, that kid's gotta be fucking immortal, right?"

There's a strange sort of affection in his voice; it's not the sick obsession he reserves for Ragnar and Reaper, but instead a sort of gentle nostalgia. Ivar reminds him so much of his brother, it's hard to say he really wants him dead no matter what he told Shigeru about it.

"Fucked up another relationship... big surprise. Iunno why I can't manage to say I'm sorry when I fuck up." He sighs. "Wish I was a dog, you fuckers don't have to worry about asking before you hump someone's leg. No one punishes you for doing dumb shit just 'cause you feel like it... alright, this is a good spot, yeah?"

He sets Ivar down gently on a park bench, and slumps beside him before retrieving the treats from his pocket and offering a handful to him. They're bacon and peanut butter flavored with some oatmeal for texture, and shaped like little stars.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar looks at the scarred arm. Looks like Shigeru hadn't healed him up all the way this time. He's more amazed that he managed to remake the tattoos this time too. He tries to look around to the other side of Dodger's head to see if he regrew the ear yet as well.

He listens as Dodger talks. While the dog part of his mind just wants to be sympathetic, the human part is listening intently. He's surprised to hear himself mentioned with such affection. Guess Dodger likes him better than he thought, even after all he's put him through. Ivar wonders which relationship he fucked up this time. Maybe with Ragnar? Seems like he always clung to people around him before he screwed things up with them. That wouldn't surprise him in the least.

Ivar gnaws on the treats. His human mind would find the combination bizarre, but a dog's tongue finds them delectable. He swallows them down, licks up the crumbs, and being a dog, looks around for more. He wriggles close and lays his head in Dodger's lap, looking up him, whining softly like he understands why the man is so disheartened.

How come he can't be nice like this all the time? People might actually want to be friends with him if he wasn't an asshole who pushed everyone away. Of course, Ivar had a lot of experience with that himself, especially with the way things had gone with his brothers back home. It was hard to change once you were set in your ways.

[smokedout]

The ear is in a similar way as his arm; just like he's missing his fingernails, he's missing the outer edges of his ear shell. Most of his ear is there, but it too is scarred and warped.

Dodger lets out another chuckle, pulling out a few more treats and this time teasing him by waving a treat in circles around Ivar's head before letting him have it.

"Chances are I should just move on... I set Ragnar's kitchen on fire, really doubt he's itching to take me back now." He tips his head back, idly pulling out another treat and just letting Ivar have it. "Fuck knows how many times Shigeru and I are gonna try and kill each other before we give up. He'll give up, I mean, he's got Genji, he doesn't need me. And then I'll be alone. Again."

His jaw clenches, and he pauses with a third treat still in his hand before wiping his eyes with a short laugh, "Fucking look at me, I'm turning into a pussy. Benny's probably rolling in his grave, huh."

[ragnarsson]

Ivar follows the first treat, muzzle going around and around as he watches. He chomps down on it, still listening intently. He's half-tempted to blow his cover right then and there just to give a lecture to Dodger on just why he keeps fucking up so badly, but it's far more fun just being the dumb dog he can confide in.

He chomps down on the second one, still listening. Really, Dodger? At this rate, the only person left in the city he'll be able to talk to is Ivar, and the Viking hates him half the time. He licks the crumbs off Dodger's hand.

He eats the third one, but Dodger's talk gets his brow crinkling in worry. Ivar whines again, sitting up, and putting his paws on Dodger's shoulders so that he can sit up and lick his face. The dog part of his mind just wants him not to be sad anymore and who can be sad with a dog enthusiastically licking them?

[smokedout]

Again, it almost seems like this dog really understands him. And it's not like he can start crying when he's the victim of a vicious kiss attack. With a watery laugh, he reaches up to ruffle Ivar's fur around his ears before yanking him upside-down to cradle him in his lap like a baby.

"Seriously, how do your parents let you out of their sight? You're fucking precious." He leans down to bury his face in Ivar's chest fur, before leaning back up and just rubbing his belly.

"Thought things were finally looking up for me... fuck knows I don't deserve Ragnar, but he made me feel like I could be something better. Like there was.. hope, y'know, of fixing myself up and just being- happy." He grimaces. "If I'd just taken that instead of- fucking around behind his back, fucking with Ivar, fucking with that Christian, if I'd just listened to him none of this would've happened." He laughs bitterly. "And how... fucking pathetic is it to miss Ivar right now."

[ragnarsson]

How is it Dodger's nicest self only comes out around dogs? Well, he is right, he'd make a far better dog than he's made a human being thus far. Ivar would go so far as to say making the change permanent might do him wonders. He's got his ice-blue eyes wrinkling up as Dodger rubs his belly. Maybe this is the real reason he doesn't reveal himself to Dodger. There would be no more pets and Dodger definitely knows how to pet a dog right.

While Ivar still hasn't forgiven Dodger for what he did to Athelstan, they'd gotten justice, and so that was all in the past, especially since he'd been gone for so long. And really, he can definitely relate to clinging to Ragnar as a source of stability and comfort. Isn't that what Ivar himself had done, especially after Ragnar had seen potential in him? He can't fault Dodger for that.

Then he has to go and say he actually misses Ivar. Aw, Dodger. The self-destructive mutant really does have a heart. He reaches up, pawing at Dodger with his front leg after he says that. Ivar makes a note to actually try and be civil with his sometimes-enemy when they meet up after he's human again.

[smokedout]

The poke to his face makes him laugh, and he ruffles up Ivar's fur again before hugging him tightly.

"You're so fucking great, Hati. Hope you know that."

Too bad Brink is never going to let him bring home a new dog... but since when did he start letting a dog-shaped computer mother him and boss him around? He groans softly, and sinks back into the bench as he continues to scratch Ivar behind the ears.

"Your parents should be careful... one of these days I am just gonna take you home."

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's tongue lolls out of his mouth as Dodger scratches him behind the ears. No matter what he is otherwise, the man has a talent when it comes to petting dogs. Hmmm, now he's talking about bringing the dog back to Dodger's place. That might actually have some benefits that Ivar could see. Maybe he could finally acquire the man while he slept, though doing it with Brink in the room could be difficult. He'd just have to wait and see.

Well, his job as a good dog is now done here. Dodger had seemed pretty down in the dumps when Ivar had found him and now he seems a lot happier. He leans up and licks Dodger on his face one more time before he hops down from the bench. Ivar's got other places to go before his time is up and he has to demorph.

He makes a mental note to be a little nicer to Dodger the next time he sees him in human form.