Is that a knife in your pocket...

[ragnarsson]

who: Ivar and Letha
what: A sparring session!
when: 3/15
where: Training center near the housing
warnings: None yet



Ivar's curiosity had been perked when Letha had said she wanted to spar. He was interested to see what sort of differences there were in their fighting styles. He wasn't going to be going easy on her either because she was a woman or because she was pregnant. If she was good, her skills would speak for themselves. He got up early in the morning, strapped on on his weapons, and rolled out down towards the training center he'd been told about when he first got here.

He brought the ax, sword, and his knives with him, not sure which she has a preference for. The center had its own weapons to borrow, but he preferred his own, knowing every groove and nick in the weapons. He ran his fingers over the edge of his ax. There was a few minutes until the time he'd told her. Enough for a few practice throws. He selected a target and tossed his ax, hitting a bulls-eye. He wheeled the chair over and yanked it out, examining his mark. Not bad, but he could do better. He rolled back into position and took aim once more.

Comments

[burntbridges]

Belatedly she gets to her feet, trying to help him into the stool but relenting easily if he shoos her away. She's far from immune to stubborn pride, and far be it from her to deny someone their indulgence.

"I hate to end it on a tie... but your point is fair, I've done enough reckless things today for the baby's good." Her hair was pulled free a bit during their sparring and she works on fixing it just to give herself something to do. After that last stunt, she can feel her body completely rejecting the thought of another round but she stubbornly refuses to show her fatigue. "We'll have to pick this up later, before it's too far along. Otherwise we may have to wait until after it's born."

[ragnarsson]

He sheathes the sword in a scabbard on his back, letting the pain slowly dissipate. He'll be better in no time at all. The conversation helps him focus on something else.

"Are you hoping for a boy or girl?" He asks. Every Viking wanted sons to carry on their family name, but girls were only valued slightly less. Indeed, women in his culture had more options, being able to become shieldmaidens or wives as they saw fit. That was more than most Englishwomen could say.

[burntbridges]

"Hadn't thought of it." She admits after a small pause.

Women have fewer options than men in the Regis clan, but neither are particularly privileged. No matter what, the baby would be forced into some role the elders deemed worthy, married off to a cousin they didn't care about and forced to make more purebred Regis children.

"I like the idea of a boy... without Aristeo around it might be nice to have a son with his face." Her face turns a bit red; she's not used to making it public how much she really misses him, no sarcasm involved. "The rules are all changed now that I'm here - I'm only happy I won't have to force my family's ideals onto him."

Not like she knows anything but Regis ideals... but she knows she hated how her family brought her up and, young as she is, she's convinced she'll make a way better parent than her mother had been.

[ragnarsson]

"Boys are a lot of work. I don't know how my mother coped with four of us and no husband most of the time." Actually, he knows exactly how she coped, and it was starting and ending the day with a glass of wine most of the time. Not that he likes to remember that. Aslaug had been far from a perfect mother, but she'd loved her children as best she could. Ivar was painfully aware of the fact he'd gotten more attention than his brothers.

"As long as you love them, I'm sure your child will be fine." Thus is the wisdom of a Viking who barely knows what the emotion entails.

[burntbridges]

"Well, as my mother can attest, girls are just as much trouble." She giggles, but she can't help feeling a little bit guilty. All three of her brothers grew up to make the family proud, becoming a record-keeper and a soldier and a baker. And she grew up to be a standoffish housewife who waited far too long to get pregnant. In fact, she barely managed to grow up in the first place.

She's quiet for a moment before her curiosity gets the best of her. "Do you think you'll ever have children?" She.. does not realize the obvious problem with the question.

[ragnarsson]

"I can believe that. I bet you kept your mother on her toes." He hasn't known Letha for too long, but something tells him that she was hardly the type to sit still, fold her hands in her lap, and be the proper lady. No, anyone who raised the dead and wielded a sword was far more than she appeared.

Ivar visibly stiffens up and his hands curl up into fists. She can't possibly know the nerve she's hit with such an innocent question. She doesn't know, he has to remind himself. She can't possibly know. No one knows about his impotency save for him and Margrethe. (Well, and his brothers, but he doesn't know that the slave girl was foolish enough to tell his brother Sigurd.)

"I'd like to," he says, leaving so much unsaid. Women don't look at him the same way they look at other men. They can't see past his legs. He's too different for them to see themselves with him. The only sexual encounter he'd ever had was, in common terminology, little better than a pity fuck which had ended in disaster.

[burntbridges]

The Regis clan doesn't care so much about deformities; if they can raise the dead and procreate, that's all they're needed for. Though, it's honestly surprising there aren't more defects in her family with such a limited genepool.

Still, Letha notices him stiffen. That says a lot, and while she has her own assumptions about what is being left unsaid, she decides not to pursue it. "I think you'd make a good father - your wife would be lucky to have such excitement in her life."

Lucky for her, she hasn't seen exactly how exciting he can be.

[ragnarsson]

He tries to smile, but the emotion doesn't quite reach his eyes. She means well, he knows, but something inside him still hurts at the thought of trying to have any children. "Well, at least I'd be better than my own." For one, he wouldn't abandon any children he had for ten years. He loves his father and always will, but there was also a part of him that hated Ragnar with a passion for just up and leaving his sons without so much as a word of goodbye.

[burntbridges]

"I know what you mean... I liked my parents well enough, but I know many family members I'll be happy my child won't meet."

Like her grandmother. Laurentia Regis is probably the most horrible person she knows, for the crimes of... being rude, and making her marry a cute boy her age. ... Okay, Letha doesn't know what Ivar's going through at all, but she's petty enough to try and relate.

[ragnarsson]

"See, you should've just married an orphan. That solves all problems when it comes to dealing with at least one side of the family. I should know." See, it's better to joke about such circumstances then crying about them. It hurts too much to think about his parents, so he uses humor to mask his real feelings.

Poor Letha. She'd probably run for the hills if she was aware of even half the things that Ivar has done. He's most certainly not a nice man.

[burntbridges]

That gets a little laugh out of her, and... she may be batting her eyes for him a bit. What can she say, it's been a very long time since she's been able to get jokes like that out of someone.

"I didn't have a choice in marriage - the Regis clan always marry their children off to cousins. Aristeo and I had the same family, but... there were nearly a hundred of them, and that was only the ones who were alive." She tips her head a bit, "I've always had a dream of marrying some ragged hero... living alone in exile and fighting for survival. But I suppose that would be less romantic in practice."

She also wants to be blonde. With the same level of thought put into it.

[ragnarsson]

"You married your cousin?" He raises his eyebrows. "That's a good way to end up with a child with nine toes." He glances meaningfully at the bump under Letha's dress. Vikings didn't have a taboo against kissing cousins, but it wasn't exactly condoned either.

"I come from a family of heroes and trust me when I say the reality is a lot harder than the stories make it out to be." He'd learned that from traveling with his father. Ragnar had been the most famous Viking alive and Ivar's fuzzy childhood memories had made him out to be more myth than man until he'd walked back into his life. Getting to see him as a human being hadn't diminished his hero worship. If anything, it increased him by allowing him to see his father as someone with faults and humanity.

[burntbridges]

"My parents were cousins, and I turned out fine." Arguably. "Anyway, the only other option would be marrying a peasant. And that's a perfect way to ensure any children you have will be treated lower than dirt."

There's a little pause as she listens to him, and her shoulders slump. "Hardship is a rare commodity in Thornwell, and not one any sane man would actively seek. But I've found that life can be... boring, without it. Back home I had maids and servants to handle every little thing I might desire, and it left me with so much free time I never knew what to do with myself. And now that I've come here... I'm starting to realize how empty it all was."

[ragnarsson]

Ivar snorts at her comment about turning out fine. He just gives her a look and says, "Of course you did." Because raising the dead is a perfectly sane hobby for a proper young lady to have. He didn't really have anything to say about marrying a peasant. Nobility was equaled with might in the Viking world. If you wanted a title, you went out and killed whoever had it.

"You know what they say about being careful what you wish for. You just might get it. I always wanted a more exciting life. I got it at the cost of my parents." Life certainly had become more interesting since Aslaug and Ragnar had died. But it didn't replace the hole in his heart left by them. He would have given anything to have his mother stroke his hair one more time or receive a hug from his father.

[burntbridges]

"I suppose I got my wish. I ended up here... alone, without my family or my husband." She gives a small shrug, "But I have a job to work for, new places to explore and new people to meet. I never had any of that back home."

And with that she turns to him, watching him with open curiosity. "What would make a man that's lived like you do want more excitement?"

[ragnarsson]

"My father. He was the most famous Viking of them all. When he went exploring, he discovered new lands that no one had ever found before. He raided cities that had been impenetrable up to that point. He became Earl and then King when he started out as just a humble farmer. I wanted to be like him, make my own stamp on the world."

There's love and affection when he speaks of Ragnar. Ivar had come to adore his father in the short time he'd been back in his life. He was the only one to ever take a chance on his crippled son, seeing past the exterior to the strength that lay beneath. For that, Ivar had turned his keen mind towards revenge when he died. He wouldn't be satisfied until all of England had been raided.

[burntbridges]

She's a little jealous of that sort of affection; mostly of the fact that he can feel it. Her parents were good to her, if strict, but nothing worth bragging about.

"My grandmother was the head of the Elder Council in Thornwell. That's... a bit like being Earl. But as much as she liked my father, she was never very fond of me. If I was ever in her shoes, I'd do everything very differently."

No, she wouldn't, because she'd be old enough to understand why Laurentia did the things she did. But she'll never know anyway.

[ragnarsson]

"I think that's all we can do. Imitate the best part of our parents while putting our own stamp on the world."

It was rather introspective for someone as young and violent as the Viking was, but Ivar had learned a lot from watching people, and figuring things out in his own head. His father hadn't been perfect and Ivar had known it. But he'd make his own way in the world and do properly as a son of Ragnar Lothbrok should.