smokedout | [IC] IC Contact [Riverview]

[Oh, he so wishes he could have been there to see the look on Dodger's face when he realized the cupcakes he'd anonymously sent him were poisoned. But sometimes revenge was a dish best served cold. And as Ragnar had always said, beware the fury of a patient man.]

Enjoy the cupcakes?

[He sounded so innocent. No way could such an angelic teenager ever do something as heinous as poison someone he hated.]

[Of course the cupcakes came from Ivar. Of fucking course, why would he expect anything different? Seriously, maybe he wouldn't be so paranoid if shit like this didn't turn out exactly the way he thought it would.]

Loved them. [His voice is still a bit raspy, from throwing up the cupcake he'd eaten before he'd managed to get medical attention. And above that, he's coldly collected. Almost as if they're having a friendly chat.] How about you come over? I've got a couple leftovers to shove through that hole I put in your throat.

I'll have to pass. Maybe next time. [He says this all in a very casual tone, as if they're actually friends, instead of two men who had already attempted to murder each other now multiple times.]

You honestly ate them? [It sounds like Ivar is just barely containing laughter. If Dodger or anyone else had ever wondered what it would take to get the young warrior to crack up laughing, this was it. Attempted murder.] I knew you were stupid, but clearly I overestimated even your feeble mental capacity.

[Wow, this kid has even more of a death wish than he already knew. The next time they meet, Dodger's going to make a point to burn him alive.]

Riddle me this, kiddo - how'd a guy as smart as you end up losing to a dumbass like me, twice in a row? [His tone is still even, but it's starting to gain a sharp edge.] And how is it your half-baked plan to kill me just wasted an evening while I got you cooped up in that hospital bed for a week? Hm?

[Some call it a death wish, Vikings see it as having a lack of fear about the whole concept of death in general. Can't be afraid when the afterlife is one big preparation for the most glorious battle of all.]

Every great military leader has lost a skirmish or two, especially to those who get lucky. Maybe you'd know that if you'd ever fought in a proper battle instead of just brawling in the streets.

[He's just going for all the cheap shots tonight. It's all about just pissing Dodger off. Easy enough when they're this far apart and words are all they can use for weapons.]

I will give you the answer to that question when you learn how to see out of your right eye again. Have a plan to regrow that yet?

[That actually gets a lazy chuckle out of him.]

Don't need to - I've kicked your ass twice with one eye and I can do it again.

[He hasn't even bothered to get an eye patch; a glass eye wouldn't be out of the question, but he likes watching people's expressions when they've been talking too long and he opens his right eye.]

I'm thinking next time, I'll grab you in the night... bring you to one of empty floors, break your arms, char every inch of your skin. The medicine here's pretty advanced, I bet I could keep you awake for it... so I can cut you open with that ax of yours and we can both see if you've really got a warrior's heart.

[With the tone he's taking, it's almost like a seduction. It's been way too long since he properly tortured someone... and just thinking about ripping the kid apart is cheering him right back up.]

[That finally gets Ivar to burst out laughing. As if a Viking warrior could be threatened by such paltry descriptions of torture. He comes from an era where men were still crucified, made to hold red-hot iron before being allowed the mercy of death, and boiling oil was poured to scald victims alive during campaigns.]

You say the sweetest things. It'll take a lot more than that to scare me, little man. I've blood-eagled a king and I'd dearly love to get the chance to watch the light die from your eye.

[He doesn't miss the sound of that tone, not with them solely on voice. Ivar is sadistic and psychopathic, but he's never found much use for needless torture unless there's an actual purpose to it. Even taking out Dodger's eye out was all about making the man hurt because of what he represented to Ivar.]

You're missing the grand picture, sweetheart. Why bother watching someone die when you can watch them cry, and beg and whine for you to kill them, and what them keen into a knife on the off chance that you might hold it close enough to set them free from their pain.

[Dodger doesn't consider this type of torture meaningless; he considers it a form of science, exploring anatomy and psychology from a hands-on perspective. Breeding results for the purpose of satisfying his endless curiosity. Testing out new ideas, theories and tools on people he happens to have a reason to test them on is what he lives for.]

I don't wanna watch your lights die out, Speed Racer. I want to see you begging like a dog, eating out of my hand and thanking me for the privilege. Then I might let you die.

You must be an idiot to think you'd ever get me to beg for my life from your pathetic hands. You think it would give you power over me? You'd never get the satisfaction you crave.

[Any Viking could withstand torture for a good amount of time. Ivar's sheer spite and rage made him even tougher than most ordinary Vikings. If he hadn't cried out when Dodger had brought him inches from death, he never would.]

I wonder if you'll still feel that same way when I blood eagle you. Have you ever heard of it? A Viking death so painful it's only ever been performed on two people in living memory. A knife is heated until it is red hot in a fire, then driven into your skin and muscles of your back, so that it can be pulled away from your bones. Then the axe is employed, hacking into your ribs, and shattering them. If you're still alive at that point, your lungs are ripped out of your back and lain across your shoulders so that they look like wings. Hence, a blood eagle.

Keep whispering those sweet nothings, kiddo.

[That's not a bad idea... it would be fun to try that out, but it's a good point about keeping the victim alive. It would be a shame if they died before he managed to get them into their full glory.]

I've got one for you. Personal favorite of mine - someone ties you up to a chair so you can't move an inch, with your head tipped back. Blindfolded, gagged, unable to get any information about where you are. And then cold water drips down, drop by drop, down your face. [He lets out a low chuckle.] Brains do crazy shit when they've got no information to deal with - fuck knows what goes on in your head when you're stuck like that, but you leave a man isolated for long enough and he'll do anything to avoid going back. And I do mean anything.

I only learned from the best. You should have seen what my mother did to traveling Christians when she got creative.

[Hence where the idea for making a man carry around red-hot iron had come from. Aslaug had made many terrible decisions as a mother, but encouraging her son's psychopathic tendencies until they were a full-blown psychosis was one of the worst.

His voice sounds flat and almost uninterested when he answers Dodger.]

Sounds boring. I can think of at least five better ways I could find to deal with someone I hated.

I guess you just can't appreciate the finer parts of torture. I guess I'll just have to teach you some time...

[His voice has turned into a lazy purr; Ivar may be bored, but Dodger is having enough fun for the two of them.]

You don't have to be scared, Speed Racer, I'll teach you to fear me. Just keep in mind that I know where you live, and I could drug you whenever I wanted to. Or anyone your sick little mind gets attached to.

What a vivid imagination you have. As if I'd ever be afraid of a barking dog like you.

[He'd always known that he was sick in the brain, that there was an essential part of him missing that other people had. Looks like Dodger had it even worse. Now there was something he could work with.]

Sorry to disappoint you and your delusions, but there's nobody that I care about.

[Not entirely true, but he didn't need to give Dodger anymore ammunition against him. If he came anywhere near those Ivar had formed attachments to, Ivar would find a way to rip his spine right out of his back.]

And I'd remember knowing where I live goes both ways. You truly have no idea what I'm capable of when I put my mind to it.

[ At some point when Adam knows Dodger will be home, he sends his new invention to announce itself. If Dodger doesn't hear the light banging of metal hitting his door, he'll be able to catch a note slowly sliding under it.

RoboLampyr activated. Try it out.

It's in Adam's handwriting. If Dodger opens his door, he'll find a little friend hovering there expectantly. It looks rather shoddy given this is Adam's first robot, but it seems to have all the components to get the job done.

It can fly, it's painted to blend in, it has a needle-point stinger that will inject fluid from the bulb in the back, which is currently empty. It's also remote-controlled, which means Adam is nearby controlling it and watching Dodger's reaction. ]

[The RoboLampyr is actually first greeted by the barking of a dog from inside of Dodger's room, followed by a robotic voice calling to him.]

Master. Someone is at the door.

Yeah I know, I heard it.

I can't open the door, you'll have to check who it is.

Yeah, gimme a second.

Understood.

[When he opens the door, the dog - a malinois with a purple collar - rushes out to sniff their new friend. Dodger reaches to grab the dog by the collar, and it obediently sits with its tail wagging while Dodger investigates the RoboLampyr. Sure, it's pretty amateur, especially compared to the technology back home or the dog he's somehow acquired, but... still impressive, and definitely useful.]

Scanning. This does not seem to be an AllMate.

No shit, buddy. [He glances around to look for Adam, before his gaze settles on the firefly again.] Does this thing have a microphone?

[ Adam comes out from behind a corner once Dodger asks his question, controller in his hand. It's small and subtle but has a variety of different buttons on it ]

Nope. Didn't seem useful since you can't be too far away from it. It has a video camera though, mostly just for recording results.

[ He moves it to inspect the dog. ] Hey buddy. [ That's definitely not to Dodger. ]

[The dog turns to Adam, panting welcomingly, and that robotic voice greets him - clearly from the dog, even though his mouth doesn't move.]

Hello. Are you a friend of Dodger's?

Shit, yeah... this is Adam. I want you to uh... disable your security protocol if he comes into the room, alright?

Understood. Please to meet you, Adam - my name is Brink.

[Behind Brink, Dodger just gives Adam a sort of "I don't know, just roll with it" shrug.] So.. alright, it can fly and inject the stuff remotely, right? How durable is it?

[ He feels like this dog completely overshadows his invention, but he'll have to ask Dodger where he got it later. It seems rude right now. ] Uh, nice to meet you too.

[ Back to business because talking to a robot dog is weird: ] I swatted it around a bit and it's been able to bounce back fine. It's mostly made out of junk, so it won't be hard to recreate now that I have the schematics down.

[ He makes it fly up to Dodger's line of sight, then it turns around as if modelling. ] It should only feel like a light prick, and it has a few different speeds so it can get away fast if needed. Crashing it into a solid obstacle while going full speed would probably break it.

[Hey, Dodger appreciates it. Brink is useful, but he's far from sneaky, and he can't fly or inject people with things.

Dodger looks the robot firefly over, swatting at it a few times and seeing how quickly Adam can get it to dodge, but being careful not to put too much force into it. After a few of those he's satisfied and plucks it out of the air, unceremoniously sticks its injector into his arm to test the sharpness. He doesn't even wince, and just nods in satisfaction as he releases the bug to reassert itself.]

Good for a first try. Could stand to make it smaller, but that'll make it harder to maneuver, yeah?

Where are you? If you take an entire day to get back to me like last time, I'll be gone.

[The response happens almost immediately, actually.]

what do you mean you'll be gone? what's happening?

[Aw, that's sort of sweet. Having just finished a large concert despite coming out of the hospital only yesterday, Eichi had given it an hour of resting before he started contacting people. But he's still in his outfit.]

I've just returned to my mansion, if you'd like to meet me there.

tenshouin what the fuck is going on??

gimme thirty minutes.

[He's not even waiting for an answer - he just wastes a couple of teleportations to get to the mansion faster, leaving him sweating and out of breath from the exertion by the time he actually gets there. He takes a few minutes to cool down and catch his breath, before seeking Eichi out.]

[It might be a little hard to find Eichi in this huge mansion, but he's in the library currently, reading over a letter one more time before he sets it back down on a fancy little coffee table. He's got the left side of his hair slicked back still, and his purple shirt is open more than he normally would allow it to be. Chain necklace, a chain from his belt, he's clearly in an outfit he's performed in.]

I told you to call me Eichi, didn't I?

[He opens his mouth to argue, but... fuck it, his worry is still overtaking as sense of pretending he's detached.]

Just tell me what's going on, is your- why aren't you in the hospital if something's up?

[IC] IC Contact [Riverview]

Voice; set towards the end of Prijata

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text; un: whiterose; 8/27

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