riverviewlogs | Have you had enough? (Closed)

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Have you had enough? (Closed)

who: Ivar and Dodger, later on Eddie
what: Brawling in the street
when: 5/19
where: A seedy street in the city
warnings: Language, violence, bones breaking, stabbings, and graphic impalement of an eye.

If there was one thing Ivar never did, it was let go of grudges. The last time they had met, Dodger had insulted him in just about every way possible, and then beaten him soundly in a fight. Ivar had killed men for far less than what Dodger had done to him. He'd spent the past month waiting patiently for an opportunity to present itself, working on the techniques he'd learned from others in Riverview in the meantime. Ragnar had always said to beware the fury of a patient man. Dodger was going to learn the truth of what his father had said.

Finally, he was ready as he would ever be. He knew Dodger had powers. He also didn't care. Powers or no, Ivar still had his mind. He had a plan in mind, taking what he had already seen of how Dodger operated, and how he could take the other men down. He waited until Dodger had gone down a side street, alone as he would ever be. The one thing about being in a wheelchair is that Ivar didn't have the advantage of stealth. So he simply pulled out a knife and threw it at Dodger's shoulder to announce his presence. "Guess what? It's later. I'm going to make you bleed."

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Ivar woke up slowly and painfully, the stab wounds in his chest and throat only newly healed. His ribs had been loosely bound. They would need to heal on their own. He sat up cautiously, making sure not to jar himself too much, and cause more pain. Wherever he was, the lights were too bright and there was an odd, antiseptic smell. Ivar felt like shit, but mainly, he was just mad Dodger had gotten the better of him in the fight.

He squinted at the figure sitting in a nearby chair. He was still a little out of it due to pain meds, so he wasn't sure who was there or where he actually was. "Is this Valhalla?"

Eddie couldn't help it - he'd stayed in the hospital, waiting for Ivar to wake up. Of course, it's partly because he wants to be around to maybe get a statement in the aftermath of the fight he stopped. But more than that, it's because he knows the kid and because he hates being in the hospital, himself, especially being there alone. No one deserves to wake up alone and hurt in an unfamiliar place.

So when Ivar stirs, his eyelashes fluttering a little, sitting up with obvious effort, Eddie sits up in the chair.

"Hey, hey, relax. Lie down. You're safe now." he says, his voice a little rough because he's tired. He's been tired for a while now, and he's still got Ivar's blood, and Dodger's blood, all over him.

"This isn't Valhalla. You're still alive, just in the hospital. And you need to rest."

Ivar recognizes Eddie straightaway, blinking blearily as he listens. There's a dim, barely there memory of someone talking to him while he was bleeding out. He supposes that must have been Eddie. He feels awful tired, but not in a way that makes him want to go back to sleep. He's in too much pain for that.

Despite Eddie's words, he doesn't lie back down, instead fixing him with a bright blue stare. "What happened to the other guy?"

He has to know what happened to Dodger. Already in his mind, he's plotting how to get back at the sadistic mutant. Next time, he's going to take more than just his eye out. But none of that shows on his face. For all intents and purposes, Ivar is just an innocent kid that got caught up in something over his head.

The way Ivar keeps sitting up is a little unnerving, because Eddie knows he must be in an incredible amount of pain - he remembers being shot, more than once, in the chest, in the arm, bleeding out on the floor, and he knows how much it hurts to wake up in the hospital afterward.

Painkillers or not, it hurts, and he's a little weirded out by how clear-headed Ivar seems to be (he vaguely remembers something barely coherent about ice cream when he'd first woken up).

But it's good. It's definitely good that he's not dead. Not hurt worse.

"He made it, and I didn't get to take him in, so he's at large."

Eddie's expression is a little dark, his mouth pursed, brows furrowed, "I was hoping you could help me by giving me a statement in a bit, when you're feeling better. Do you need water or something?"

Ivar's a tough little son of a bitch as most Vikings tend to be. But there's a strength to him, fortitude that even others among his people don't have. He's had to fight his entire life, making him tough with sheer rage and spite. He hadn't even cried out when Dodger was stabbing him to death, only spitting defiantly in his face.

There's a steely sort of anger in his eyes when Eddie tells him what happened to Dodger. "What a pity." At least he was now sans an eye, so Ivar didn't feel entirely like the fight had been a waste. Next time, he'd be prepared better. He told himself Dodger was going to be the one bleeding out. But not before Ivar showed him all the bits and pieces of himself he was going to chop off.

He runs a tongue over the inside of his mouth. It feels dry as a bone. Now that Eddie's mentioned it, he's parched. "Water would be nice." He's clearly not going to be resting easy anytime soon, not now that he's awake again. He's got plotting and planning to do. Most of all, he's got to convince this cop that the fight wasn't his fault. Avoiding punishment above all else is currently his priority.

Eddie had no doubt about how tough Ivar is, honestly. Knowing he's a Viking and also that he hasn't been able to walk since birth, Eddie is definitely smart enough to put two and two together and realize exactly where that preternatural fortitude and certainty and calmness comes from. It's also not hard to understand where that anger comes from when Eddie admits that he hadn't been able to take Dodger in.

"He teleported off." Eddie says, and if it comes out a bit defensive, it's probably because the idea of that anger being directed at him was a little scary. For a moment, he reconsiders his earlier appraisal of how unbalanced the fight between Dodger and Ivar was.

But it doesn't stop him from grabbing some water when Ivar asks for it. Leaning over, he scoops up the pitcher and pours some into a cup with a straw, hands the cup over to Ivar and hovers for a moment, to make sure he can drink it okay.

"Want me to tilt your bed up so you can sit without having to hold yourself up? I remember being shot, and sitting up was the last thing I wanted to do."

Ivar's eyes are filled with blue fire when he hears what happened to Dodger. "Of course. He's a coward. Probably went off to lick his wounds like the dog he is." He's as furious as someone as hurt as he currently is can be. Every injury throbs with pain, reminding him of his failure to kill his enemy.

"I'm fine like this." The words come out forceful but exhausted as he snatches the water away from Eddie's hands.

Ivar gets very tired of fighting against people all the time, afraid to let his guard down around even those who have the best of intentions in mind for him. But he's too used to the other shoe dropping eventually and being hurt again. No one was ever kind to him just because they wanted to be. There was always an ulterior motive to why.

Ivar is angry, that much is obvious, but at least this time it's very clearly directed at Dodger and not himself. Something about that anger makes him very glad that he's not the one it's directed at, doesn't envy Dodger for when Ivar catches up with him again.

"Probably, but not before threatening me just for trying to keep him from dying." Eddie says, shrugging, "Trying to keep him alive long enough to be locked up, but still."

After Ivar snatches the water away from him and starts to drink it, Eddie leans back in his chair, watches the boy as he sips at it. It's obvious he's had a hard life, that this isn't easy on him, that he doesn't trust Eddie, but he's so obviously in pain, struggling, that Eddie can't help himself.

Without a word, he picks up the bed remote, pushes the button to bring up the top half of the bed until it's there, just an inch behind Ivar's back, so if he crumples back against it, he'll still be sitting up, not lying on his back, vulnerable.

A Viking's fury was never a pretty thing to be in the way of. Ivar was going to plan carefully, learn from his mistakes, and then strike again. He didn't suffer his enemies to live for very long. Well, at least he'd proven something to Dodger. He was no weakling that would be defeated easily. He was a warrior.

"I wonder if that man has any redeeming qualities whatsoever?" Ivar muses. As far as he can see, Dodger is about 100% pure asshole, made up of snark, arrogance, insults, and a lot of alcohol. Even Ivar can get along with some people. He just chooses not to.

Ivar's just going to pretend he doesn't notice what Eddie's doing fiddling around with that bed remote. After all, he's still got his prickly sort of pride. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life. Not many people would." Whether that says more about Ivar's cynical view towards people or his own low self-worth is up for debate.

"Doubtful."

Eddie says it with a rueful smile, his head tilted a bit as Ivar muses about Dodger. As far as Eddie's concerned, Dodger doesn't seem very redeemable, and he's really looking forward to the day he can slap handcuffs and a power suppressor on him and throw him in jail. Once he's done with the remote, he drops it, and ignores it just as thoroughly as Ivar is, following the teenager's lead with that one. After all, he knows Ivar has his pride and it's very true that a Viking's wrath is terrifying - the last thing Eddie wants is that turned on him because he's too coddling.

When Ivar thanks him for saving his life, he smiles a bit, shrugs. He recognizes the cynicism and the lack of self-worth; Eddie might not have a lot of the former, though he is pragmatic, but he definitely has the latter trait.

"You're welcome, though I think you survived mostly based on sheer willpower, honestly. I don't know if I would've made it in your shoes."

Maybe Ivar will let Eddie take whatever is left of Dodger to jail after he's done getting his hands on him next time. Maybe. He's generous, he can save him a piece.

"Vikings don't die easily." Ivar's family especially. His father had lasted for days through torture before finally succumbing to poisonous serpents. His brother Sigurd would take an axe to the chest and continue moving for about two minutes afterwards when Ivar eventually killed him. Besides, Ivar ran on sheer spite and anger. It made for a stubborn will that was tough to kill.

"This will teach me to go down deserted streets by myself. It gave him the perfect opportunity to come after me." Yes, Ivar was going to be spinning this as a case of Dodger starting things. It wasn't like anyone was going to disbelieve Ivar. Sure, he had a terrible temper and a lot of knives, but he'd also come out a lot worse, and therefore much more sympathetic-looking than the teleporting mutant.

Honestly, with the way Eddie's feeling right now, he spends a few seconds thinking he might not mind so much if he showed up a bit late to save Dodger so he could put him away. The thought passes quickly, though, because honestly, Eddie isn't really the type who wishes pain on anyone, with the notable exception of his descendant Eobard.

When Ivar says Vikings don't die easily, Eddie can't help the little smile that curls one corner of his mouth up, and when Ivar carries on, says that he shouldn't go down deserted streets by himself, Eddie's brow raises. Quietly, he waits a moment, considering his angles, and then speaks with just the slightest edge of caution.

"Really? He came after you like that? Sounds like a coward." A pause, and then he carries on, "What is it with you two, anyway?"

Ivar scowls, thinking of the useless waste of space that Dodger was currently occupying. "He's a bully. He's assumed from the moment he saw I wasn't able to walk that I was a weak target." That was truth enough. Ivar's had his fair share of dealing with assholes like that his whole life. People who assumed his physical shortcomings meant that he made an easy target. Usually, it ended with them learning their fatal mistake. As his brother Ubbe had once said, it was better to respect and fear him if someone wanted to stay alive.

"Guess he thought he saw another opportunity to push me around." That part was true enough too, although, it hadn't happened until Ivar had been the one to strike first. But after he'd started things, Dodger had been all too keen to take the opportunity to try and show he was better than the disabled Viking.

When Eddie hears that, that Dodger is a bully who assumes that Ivar is a weak target, that that's why he picks him for this kind of thing, his mouth tightens with disapproval and his brow furrows a bit. If there's one thing Eddie absolutely hates, it's bullies, and the idea of picking on someone because they're in a wheelchair is disgusting, even if the person in question is tough enough to take care of themselves.

Shaking his head, Eddie sighs a bit, "Do you want to press charges?"

Ivar considers the question for a moment. It's tempting to let law enforcement take over, get Dodger on their radar so that he ends up being taken in. But that's not the way Vikings operate. If Ivar is too weak to follow through on fighting his own battles, then he'd just be useless. "No. I think losing his eye was punishment enough this time."

Implying that there was going to be another time to settle the score. "He'll do something stupid again soon enough." Ivar lies back in bed, exhaustion written clearly across his features, his eyes starting to close despite his desire to keep them open. He needs to spend some time healing, regaining his strength. He'll need it if he's going to take on his enemy again.

Eddie can't help it - when Ivar says that, the corner of his mouth perks up for just a few moments before he makes his expression neutral again. As much as he hates a bully, he doesn't want Ivar to think it's okay to go stabbing people's eyes out in alleyways.

At the same time, he can't exactly blame him. He does notice that particular use of words, 'this time,' like there's going to be another, and he makes a mental note of it, to keep an eye on the two of them. The concern is slightly allayed when Ivar says that it'll likely be Dodger to start it.

"I'll keep an eye on him. I did already, but after this? Definitely."

"Good. Glad to know someone's on my side." Yes, even though Eddie is technically on the side of law enforcement, and therefore supposed to be an upholder of justice and all that nonsense, Ivar considers him to be on his side.

He pokes a button on the bed remote, lowering it back down. A great weariness as settled over him. He's survived a near-death experience and it appears that he's not going to be punished despite starting the fight. Eddie seems to have bought his half-lie about Dodger starting things. "I'm going to get some rest now."

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Have you had enough? (Closed)

In the hospital - For Eddie

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