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

[ragnarsson]

Ivar raises a hand in greeting after he glances up to see whose talking to him. He's still keeping one eye on Winter. The grass around her has begun to wither a bit as she's stayed in one place for a couple of minutes. Really, he's got to get her back on track with controlling her powers.

"Woof woof!" Winter says, excitedly pointing in the direction of the dog. Ivar shows some reluctance in letting her approach, but that's more because he doesn't want Winter to use her powers on the animal. Ivar's rather fond of all animals. He shows much more regard for them than he ever does for human beings.

Ivar picks Winter up and sits her down on his knees so she'll look up at him. "Be nice to the dog. Nice," He repeats for emphasis, hoping she doesn't try to drain the dog of life energy. He would prefer his daughter not to go around killing people's pets, even accidentally. Then he wheels over to them so Winter can get a closer look. She holds one hand out, patting the dog perhaps a little rougher than necessary on the head.

[billyrocks]

The withered grass doesn't escape Billy's eye, but he files that away for later. Jina barks twice in reply to the baby's babbling, tail wagging faster and tongue hanging out of her mouth.

"Remember, no licking." Billy warns her. He'd rather Jina not slobber over the baby's nice clothes.

When Winter's close enough, though, Jina merely sniffs at her curiously, committing her scent to memory like she did with everyone else. She doesn't even seem to mind the rough petting. Perhaps because one of her favorite games was to jump against Billy and he would playfully push her down each time, so Jina could take some roughhousing.

This is also Billy's first time seeing Ivar in his wheelchair (he hadn't really gotten a good view during their last video conversation). So that's what the "Boneless" in his name was for. Instead of asking about that, though, Billy softly jerks his head in Winter's direction and says, "Cute kid. Are you watching her for someone?"

[ragnarsson]

Winter is very happy to have a fun new source of stimulation. She laughs as she continues to vigorously pet the dog with the raking grasp that young babies her age have. Ivar relaxes a little bit, though he keeps one hand on the little albino to make sure she doesn't suddenly get startled into using her powers. He never knew what might set her off.

"No. She's mine." Never mind the fact that Ivar was sixteen when she was born. Thanks to some time-trickery that had gone on with him being home for two years while only two weeks passed in the city, he's eighteen now, but he still looks rather young to have a seven month old daughter. He strokes her pure white hair affectionately. "I missed her a lot while I was away."

[billyrocks]

Jina just sits there and takes the rough scratching, closing her eyes when Winter's fingers get near her face. Whenever she needs a break from the petting, she simply shakes her head and offers herself up to Winter's eager hands yet again. Billy also kept side-glancing at Jina to make sure she didn't too excited, though his eyes zoomed in on Ivar as soon as he gave his answer.

"Really?" he breathes. "Is she adopted, or is she of your blood?" A pause before he adds, "Not that it matters. I'm just asking." Because Billy doesn't think he's met anyone else who could claim they had a child during their stay here. Ivar looks rather young for that, too, but it's none of Billy's business to say who can and can't have a child. It all makes him wonder what's the longest period of time that anyone's ever stayed in the Quarantine. (How long would he be able to cheat death?)

Upon seeing the way Ivar dotes on his daughter, though, Billy's eyes soften. "I can see that. How much time passed for you back home?"

[ragnarsson]

Winter giggles as she pets the dog, occasionally pausing to stick one of her hands in her mouth, before removing the saliva-covered appendage, and continuing to Jina. She's oblivious to anything else going on around her.

It's a good thing Billy quantifies what he means because Winter not technically being of his blood is a major sore spot for Ivar. Letha is quick to bring it up whenever she wants a way to hurt him. "Adopted. She's the daughter of my ex-girlfriend and her husband, who was pregnant when she got here. She needed a father, so I claimed her as my own." Ivar had never once hesitated when it came to stepping up and be in Winter's life. He knew all too well what it felt like not to have the presence of a father in his life.

"Two years. A lot happened during that time." Family ties had been broken as Ivar pushed his brothers away, but at the same time, many of his ambitions were finally coming to fruition.

[billyrocks]

Ivar's answer to Billy's question gets a small smile out of him and he casts another glance at Winter. "That's a really honorable thing to do." He means it. "Most people don't like the idea of raising kids that aren't theirs."

He offers the fingers of his free hand to Winter, curious to see if she'll pay him any mind or keep focusing on Jina, who gently pushes the top of her head against the baby as an affectionate gesture.

"Did you manage to accomplish what you wanted during that time?" he asks.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar looks like he's full of pride at Billy's words. "I knew I had to do it. Children need fathers. But it was the best decision I ever made." Winter looks up temporarily to Billy's fingers, patting them to see if they're more interesting than the dog, but ultimately, she goes back to Jina.

"I established a permanent base in England and defeated the English at every term. I took the spoils back with me to Norway, including a priest that I made my slave. And then I defeated the usurper who took the throne of my mother, which made me king." Notice how casually he just dropped in the middle there that he'd made a person his slave. In Ivar's defense, this was a very common practice back then.

[billyrocks]

The fact that slavery was common practice during what people called the "ancient times" is not unknown to Billy. In fact, it had still been going on in Korea when he was growing up, though Billy had heard gossip that being a nobi wasn't so bad. It never really mattered to Billy--until he found himself a servant to an impatient master upon coming to America.

Billy tenses slightly at the word "slave," but remains calm. "Usurper? So you were born a prince?" he asked.

[ragnarsson]

One of Ivar's few redeeming traits is that he wasn't at all a cruel master to the man he'd made his prisoner and slave. In fact, the reason he'd done that was to save the man because he respected his fighting skills just that much. Warriors, no matter what side they were on, were acknowledged in Viking culture.

"Yes. My father was King Ragnar Sigurdsson, the most famous Viking king in the world." He says this all very proudly, almost in the childish way that young kids have when they brag about how cool their parents are. "My mother was his queen, and she was killed by his first wife Lagertha, who wanted the throne. I decided to take back what was rightfully mine."

[billyrocks]

"Can't say I've ever been in the presence of any royalty before," Billy remarks. "Should I start calling you 'your Highness?'"

It's said as a joke, because the Master had made titles into something like bitter taste in Billy's mouth; something he'd rather not address, which was why he chose to stay silent most of the time back home while letting Goody do the talking.

Meanwhile, Jina sits down, putting some distance between herself and Winter, but then she's throwing her head back to let out a bark, as though trying to communicate with the small child.

[ragnarsson]

There's a short bark of laughter from Ivar. "Don't you dare. I never mention it if I can help it." Generally, he only did it when he was trying to impress someone or have it be known that he was powerful enough to become a king.

When Jina moves away, Winter tries to wriggle down, and away from Ivar's arms. He didn't let her go after the dog, which left her instead giggling at the dog's antics from afar.