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[pietistic]

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video

[storradr]

Priest! Did you know that your Jesus Christ was not a Christian?!

[pietistic]

He was the Messiah of the Jews.

[storradr]

He was Jewish, yes? Do you not pray to him?

Phone call

[ragnarsson]

[There's no greeting when Athlestan picks up. Just a question.]

Where are you?

[He's not entirely sure why he's calling Athlestan. Maybe because the priest is from his world, knows Ragnar, and thus knows exactly why Ivar will be so upset. His voice sounds somewhere between furious and like Ivar is trying to hold back tears.]

[pietistic]

[ Athelstan had been at the house and had come downstairs to a mess of broken chairs, knives in the wall and a bloody Ragnar. But by the time he gets the phone call, Ragnar is gone and Athelstan is trying to clean up the mess. He'll still need to make dinner for Gyda at the very least. All he wants to do is get nice and drunk.

The thoughts of dinner and drinking are forgotten when the phone rings and it's Ivar on the line when he picks up.

He starts to answer honestly but then he for reasons he's not sure he can quantify yet fibs slightly. ]

In my art room. [ Which is one of the small buildings behind the house not too far away. ]

Are you alright?

[ragnarsson]

No.

[Ivar is about as far from alright as it is possible to get. He's hurting in a way he never has before. But then, he's never been this angry with his father before.]

Can I meet you there?

[He'd gotten a fair distance away from the house, which was good, since he had a grand idea of torching the whole building, but he'd go back if that's where the priest was.]

action~

[storradr]

It had been hours now.

Ragnar returned to a dark house, one dim light on in the kitchen. Even so, he could see that the knives had been taken out of the walls and, he wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure he'd bled all over the floor. It had all been cleaned up. Athelstan.

He made a mental note to thank him in the morning. Gyda didn't need to see any of that.

It struck him that he was still a mess, caked in dry blood, the injury on his palm still open. He was pretty sure there were bandages, or at least some linen, in the bathroom upstairs. He dragged his hand over his face and headed up the stairs as quietly as he could, flicking the light on in the bathroom and swinging the door just shy of shut. He dug around in the space under the sink, looking for anything that he could wrap his hand with. Tucked in the back, he found a roll of gauze and did his best to wrap his hand up. It was his left hand at least, making it slightly easier.

He caught his reflection in the mirror and made a face. He looked like absolute shit. The tiny knick in his ear had bled profusely, so there was a trail of dried blood down the side of his neck that made it look like he'd been majorly injured despite the cut being barely visible. His tunic was also stuck in the dried blood on his shoulder, though that cut looked to have closed up. It was just easier to leave his tunic for now, if he took it off it would likely reopen the cut on his shoulder and he didn't want to deal with it.

With his palm wrapped up, he just thought 'good enough' and was ready to slink into the spare bedroom. He didn't want to deal with Athelstan right now... if the monk was even still there.

[pietistic]

Athelstan had heard him. At first he thought Ragnar might come to their room but he doesn't. He polishes off the bottle that he was currently nursing. He's drunk, too drunk. He doesn't usually let himself drink so much but after that fight, after hearing Dodger's name and then Ragnar just leaving...

Then to have to deal with Ragnar's crying child. It's not as if Ivar had handled the situation brilliantly but it is not as if it sounded that Ragnar had been around to show him any better -- not that Ragnar is much better at handling situations anyway. He stumbles as he gets out of bed and follows the sounds of Ragnar. He doesn't push into the bathroom but waits outside of it until Ragnar is done.

"I see you didn't die."

[storradr]

"I do not want to talk right now," The words were out of his mouth practically before he saw who he'd run into, tone terse but carefully controlled.

Of course, it was Athelstan. Who else would it be?

He rolled his eyes at the monk's 'concern' and turned to walk away from him, heading towards the spare bedroom.

@dodger//audio

[smokedout]

[This is out of the blue... it also comes at around ten o'clock at night, and by the raspy tone of his voice he probably isn't very close to sober even by Dodger's standards.]

I'm bored. What are you wearing?

[pietistic]

[ Lord give him patience for he has none left. ]

None of your concern.

[smokedout]

Why, is it 'nothing'?

[He lets out a huff of laughter, sounding almost teasing.]

What's got you in a knot. You had fun last time, didn't you? [He pauses.] Or are you just pissed I never called you back after?

@dodger//video

[smokedout]

Are you proud of yourself?

[Dodger's voice is hoarse and raspy - almost difficult to understand, from the way he's managed to strain it. He's breathing heavily, but more importantly... his face is splattered with blood, and his eyes are remarkably dull. They already had a sort of distant quality to them, but now they're entirely numb and listless. Even his accusation is just words, with no emotion behind them.]

See, I always figured... if you were gonna execute someone, you should be there to look at them when it happens. Ragnar was there. Wonder where you were.

[His left arm is shaky, nearly useless, but he hopes it up for Athelstan to see. There's not an inch of skin left on it, all the way to the shoulder, and his makeshift attempt to bandage it just to stop the bleeding did exactly fuck all to either staunch it or hide the gore.]

That drug was half alcohol, you fuckwit. It was a party drug. I told you exactly what it did, and you drank it. [His eyes barely move, but they're staring unblinking at the camera as his useless arm flops back down.] And now my dog is dead. I hope you're fucking happy.

I hope this was worth it.

Re: @dodger//video

[pietistic]

[ The video from dodger is a surprise but the contents of his words and how he looks are even more so. He's almost perplexed but he's seen what Ragnar's done to punish people before, heard other tales. But this he hasn't seen and... Its never been his fault. There's a feeling when he looks at the damage that Ragnar had gone too far and he doesn't see why. It had all been Athelstan's fault after all. There was no need... ]

Why would I be happy? [ None of the pieces of the message seem to make any sense together. ]

Ragnar did this to you? [ This is not what Athelstan wanted. He just wanted Dodger out of his life and now he felt a twist of compassion for him. ]

[smokedout]

Ragnar and his son.

[He grimaces as he lets his arm fall limp again, his expression still as numb and cold as ever. He had felt indifferent to Athelstan, right up until Ivar's knife had split open the first finger. Now, he just wants him to suffer in ways his scattered brain can't currently fathom.]

Go ask them. They'll be happy to brag. They did it all for you.

[storradr]

Ragnar had walked Gyda halfway to her school, despite her protests. The walk was mostly for him, though he wasn't about to admit that. The cool morning air helped clear his mind and by the time he was done cleaning out the stalls and making sure the goats were fed and watered, he was feeling relaxed and level headed.

He'd slept on the couch last night and hadn't seen Athelstan all morning, so coming inside and hearing the shower running made him smile softly. He headed up the stairs and paused on the other side of the bathroom door, hesitating. There really wasn't anything worse than the feeling of rejection, which he'd just received the previous night.

Still.

The moment of hesitation was short lived as he quietly pushed the bathroom door open, disrobed, and got in the shower with Athelstan.

"Good morning," He said quietly as if they were simply passing one another in the hallway.

[pietistic]

It was frustrating that Ragnar hadn't went to bed the night before. Athelstan had ended up sketching for hours until he'd fallen into a restless sleep at the table in his art room. He'd woken up with sore and stiff muscles, an aching back. Still, it's more sleep than he would have had in an empty bed. It's strange after years of sleeping by himself that Ragnar making a choice not to join him would keep him awake and upset.

He hears the door open, rustling movements and he almost asks what the other is doing but he hadn't by the time Ragnar comes into the shower. He feels flustered in his surprise that the other joined him here.

"Morning, how was the couch?" Athelstan questions, possibly sounding a little less than pleased.

[storradr]

To Ragnar, sleeping on the couch the night after their argument had been second nature. When Lagertha was frustrated with him or something he'd done, he'd always been banished from their bed. He'd assumed, without asking, that the same punishment would apply with Athelstan and he was oblivious of the even bigger rift it caused.

He can't help but smile impishly at the look on Athelstan's face when he unceremoniously joined him under the hot water. Without asking, he got the soap and cloth and lathered it up, slowly moving the cloth over Athelstan's chest like it was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

"Not as comfortable as the bed, I am sure," He hummed, still assuming that's where Athelstan had slept and that the monk was still a little angry at him from the argument and not because he hadn't joined him in bed.

@necromantica // audio

[burntbridges]

Do you have some free time today?

No, wait- you probably don't remember me. My name is- Cinna. We spoke over the network a while ago, but it was in wri- in text. Anyway. I need someone to talk to, and I know you're someone that might understand... the complications of it.

[pietistic]

[ It's an odd message to receive and it unnerves him a bit but he's far too compassionate to turn someone down who apparently needs his help. ]

I have time.

[burntbridges]

Thank you... I wouldn't blame you for denying me, really.

I- need to give you some backstory before I can properly talk about my problem. When I came to this world, I was pregnant with my first child. I can't return to my world, so I tried putting my husband behind me and I found someone new. He was with me when my daughter was born, and... I thought of him as her father. I suppose he did as well.

I mentioned the last time we spoke that my mind likes to tell me horrible things... I thought it would be best to remove myself from my daughter's life, to escape and make myself a better person. I tried to leave this world, and I was gone, for- a year. I left my daughter in my boyfriend's care, but I didn't speak to him. I knew he would stop me, and now... now I think I should have given him the chance.

Anyway, I'm back now, and... he doesn't trust me anymore. He won't let me near my daughter, he won't give me any chance to redeem myself, he's seeing other people, and... he left the world himself now, but he left my daughter with his family instead of with me. And I don't believe I could retrieve her without getting myself hurt, or- killed.

I know none of this is your business, but I- I needed someone's advice. Or at least someone to- listen.

Action

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar had just showed up at the house when he realized Ragnar was gone. He didn't really have to say anything to Athelstan, just the presence of the priest was enough to settle his nerves. He kept fiddling around with a knife, a gesture that was like the comforting way a child would hold onto a favorite toy.]

And you're sure he didn't tell you where he was going?

[If anyone would know the inner workings of Ragnar's mind, it was the priest.]

[pietistic]

[ Athelstan has contemplated trying to find a suitable half-truth to tell Ivar that would comfort him but he can't think of anything. Ragnar hasn't really done anything like this to him before, there's always been...something. This was without a word, without a look, a gesture or anything at all.

It leaves Athelstan more than a little puzzled, but there is little time for him to deal with his own feelings about it.

He gives Ivar a small smile. ]

I am sure but I am sure he will be back soon.

Action

[ragnarsson]

[After yelling at his father, Ivar had avoided the house for a few days, but he couldn't stay away forever. His family was there and he needed them, as much as it galled him to think of it. To distract from his current woes, he brought over a movie to watch with Athelstan.]

I am told this movie has something to do with religion and demons.

[Oh, Ivar, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. Shortly after it begins, the pagan teen becomes oddly interested in it, leaning forward as the mention of demons starts.]

[pietistic]

[ The exposition of what the movie is about surprises Athelstan for only a moment and then he decides that he is not at all surprised that Ivar would bring something like this. Ivar is curious, in a way, not the same way that Ragnar is but still...

Athelstan settles to watch the movie but it's quite unsettling from the get go to Athelstan. He hasn't watched very many things. The concept of movies is still strange to him. ]

This is not real?