Paint it on, cover every inch

[ragnarsson]

Who: Ivar, Rhys, Dodger, and others
What: Ivar gets a move on some personal projects
Where: A and B: one of the nature domes. All over the place for the others
When: Over the course of the week
Warnings: Body horror with morphing, mention of human sacrifice

A) Penance

Ivar's been quite subdued ever since talking to his sister. She'd put the fear of the gods into him and with good reason. Though he doesn't feel bad about the actions he took in sacrificing the woman he masqueraded as Lagertha, he now is afraid he's been cursed by the gods.

So he's in one of the nature domes, having selected a rock just a little bit smaller then a boulder in size. He's got a pick and a hammer, so anyone who happens upon him will find him deep in concentration as he carves Norse runes out onto the stone. Occasionally, he stops what he's doing, takes a step back, and looks over his work with a critical eye before he resumes again. Any offers of help will be sternly rebuffed. This is his task and his alone.

B) Practice

Other times, he can be found off in the treeline, having strung up a few targets all over the place. It's been a while since he practiced his skills and Ivar's hardly one to let himself get rusty. It had taken a very long time to get as good as he was and he'd just as soon die as let those skills wither away and die.

He's got his axes and knives out. With unerring aim, he throws them one at a time at the targets, hitting the middle nearly every time. When he hears someone coming up near him, he pauses for a moment before turning, and throwing the weapon right at the person walking towards him. Don't worry, he never actually hits anyone, but it's close enough to graze someone's skin. Just don't flinch or it might take off more then that.

C) Pierced

Shortly after the fight with Jack, there would be a rather conspicuous sight dragging itself to Dorm Dome 1. There was a large alien, reminiscent of a lion, bull, and hyena, but bigger then all three animals put together bleeding all over the place and limping badly as it made its way into the dome. Due to a combination of claws and hooves, it made a curious sound as it went along. Click-click-clop. Click-click-clop. Ivar had won the battle, but he'd hardly escaped unscathed. He'd been burned, stung, shot at, whacked with a wrench, and he wasn't sure what else with what had been up the sleeves of that prime annoyance's sweater.

When he was almost to the beds, his strength finally gave out, and he sank down, lying on his haunches. He needed to demorph before he passed out. Much as he liked this form, he wasn't fond enough of it to want to be stuck in it permanently, and he needed to heal from all these injuries. Before he did that, he was just going to lie here for a minute or two. Anyone who came upon him was going to see the badly-injured alien lying there, panting slowly while it got blood all over the floor.

D) Plod Away - For Rhys

After his fight with Jack, Ivar's leg braces had been snapped into so many pieces that there was no hope of ever repairing them. R.I.P. He was quite mad about that, but killing Jack had been worth the loss of mobility. He was back to using his wheelchair full time. Fortunately, there seemed to be someone here tech-savvy enough to create a new pair for him.

So he went off to talk to Rhys. When he found him in one of the domes, he didn't bother with any greeting or small talk. "You said you could make me a pair of braces. I hope for your sake that you are confident in your skills." With no people skills and an ominous sounding oblique threat in there, it was going to be a small wonder if Rhys decided to actually help him.

E) Puppy - For Dodger

This version of Dodger was different then the one Ivar had known. Just how much he wasn't yet sure of. He was starting over at the beginning with this idiot and wasn't that a galling thought? He'd have to spend a whole other year training him back to Ivar's standards. Such a waste.

But there was one thing that Ivar was sure hadn't changed about the man. If he didn't still like dogs, then he'd clearly changed for the absolute worse and Ivar would have to write that off entirely. The mutant's fondness for man's best friends was one of his only redeeming qualities. So Ivar morphed into his husky form and trotted off, following the scent of the man until he'd tracked him down in one of the domes. He doesn't approach him right away, instead letting the dog instincts follow interesting smells until it brought him close to the man.

Gods, but that chemical smell of the drugs coming off Dodger was awful. It was like breathing in the scent of something slowly dying. When he finally seems to notice Dodger, he goes up to him with a wagging tail and happy smile on his furry face, the epitome of a friendly dog that didn't have a human mind with devious thoughts inside. He fully expected a warm welcome.

Comments

E

[smokedout]

It's notable that Dodger smells different from his previous incarnation - the drug smells are there, but fainter with a more pronounced cigarette smell. He even seems to be drinking less alcohol. And instead of being a barfly, he's taken to strolling around the marketplace and idly window shopping.

Despite his love for them, Dodger doesn't know much about dogs. What he does know is that dogs who are this friendly off the bat tend to be dumb as hell, or else used to getting handouts. For a few moments he just stands there, regarding the dog with his head tipped to the side. Then he crouches down to Ivar's level, and offers his hand to sniff. His hands smell like blood, despite being apparently clean. And if the dog seems receptive, he'll reach out to scratch his neck and check for a collar.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar gets a stronger whiff of the scents coming off Dodger when he kneels down. Interesting how he smells a little bit different then before. He sniffs his hands and then hesitantly licks them. He's not sure if it's animal or human blood, but either way, he's drank both before, so it hardly bothers him. Dog brain just wants attention right now, so he's hardly concerned with other thoughts.

Dodger will find no collar on the husky, but he looks far too clean and well-fed to just be a wandering stray. He paws at Dodger's knees, cocking his head to the side in an almost mirror image of what Dodger was previously doing. He looks expectant for either more petting or treats. Either will be acceptable.

[smokedout]

No collar means no name... but from the looks of him, this seems to be a dog who belongs to someone and has broken loose. Now that he thinks of it, he doesn't think he's seen any dogs here before... maybe this dog counts as a person to the Sphere. Probably not. That would be stupid.

"Don't have anything, buddy." He mumbles, scratching behind Ivar's ears before getting up to walk away. The dog's great and all, but the last thing he needs is someone else's dog deciding he's a food source.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar enjoys having his ears scratched, but then Dodger gets back up. Wait, he's leaving? No, no, no, this simply will not do. The husky follows Dodger, tail curling high up over his back, and then flops onto his feet before flipping over so he's on his back, paws up in the air. He looks up at him with big pleading eyes, a slight whine to increase just how pitifully cute he looks.

No one could resist a dog this adorable, could they?

[smokedout]

Aaaand... the dog is following him. Alright, so much for leaving it where it was. Dodger pauses for a few moments, staring at him again and considering his options. If he pets that belly, he's never going to get rid of this dog. That's a heavy contract to get into when he doesn't know its training or temperament.

He glances around the area; there's a group of people chatting nearby. He slips his feet out from under Ivar (carefully, of course) and moves away again, walking close to the group. If the dog still wants to follow him after being offered alternative sources of attention, he guesses he doesn't have a choice in the matter.

[ragnarsson]

The dog's instincts are momentarily distracted by the new smells and sounds of the group of people, but Ivar has a task in mind, and so he follows Dodger after giving a cursory sniff to satisfy his curiosity.

As he follows after Dodger, he starts in with a series of sounds, howls, yelps, and grumbles, that most definitely sound like he's telling Dodger off for trying to get rid of him Huskies are a willful lot and determined to get their way. It really makes the perfect morph for Ivar.

[smokedout]

Dodger turns on his heel and continues walking backward, giving the husky a look of mock frustration. Really, this dog is gonna bitch at him for not cuddling it? What a dick.

...Honestly, he can't even judge and he knows it.

He lets out a huff and stops walking, crouching down again gesturing as if he has a treat. "Alright, c'mere." He can't argue against a dog, so he guesses he'll have to pet the belly.

Penance

[unknownmoirai]

Her approach was slow, soft and careful. She wasn't trying to hide but she wasn't trying to disturb him either. They'd only spoken through the odd devices implanted in their head but she knew Ivar on sight. What she didn't know was what he was doing. There were some rites that she knew of that involved writing symbols into rocks but she hadn't seen those practices on Earth before.

She paused, leaned against a tree and watched him work. After a few minutes she spoke. "Excuse me. I hope it's alright if I ask but what are you doing?" Her voice was sweet, kind and earnest in its interest.

She was wearing one of her new outfits and she wasn't planning to get it dirty. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to have clothes without dirt or blood stains on them.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's still early in the process of carving the runes into the stone when Angel approaches him. First thing is to carve out the name of the woman he's sacrificed, Ingeborg, so that it will not be forgotten. There's still a few more letters to go. ᛁᚾᚴᛁᛒ are already carved onto the rock. He starts on the sixth letter of her name: ᚢ while he speaks to Angel.

He turns to her, and for once, his ice blue eyes aren't full of fury, though they are no less intense. He shows her the carving tools he has. "I am making amends for offending the gods." It's the simplest explanation he has for why he's carving out a story into the rock before him.

[unknownmoirai]

She didn't know a lot about the Gods or their ways but she wondered why he had to ask amends. Wouldn't it be better to change the part of yourself that the God's don't approve of? But also, why did the God's have to approve? She had a lot of questions.

"Do you mind if I talk to you while you work? I don't want to interrupt but I wanted to ask you a little bit about it."

A beat.

"Only if its alright. I can speak to you later if that's easier."

[ragnarsson]

She seems very unsure of herself, though Ivar doesn't know if that's her natural personality or just because she's around him. He's honest enough to admit he tends to have that effect on people. The Viking shrugs a little as he goes back to meticulously chipping runes out of the stone.

"Stay if you like. You won't bother me, and if you do, I'll tell you." He carves out another rune. Two more to go. He starts in on the next: ᚱ, one that looked familiar enough to the English letter to make it clear what it was.

[unknownmoirai]

Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled as she watched Ivar carve out his runes. "Thank you." She really did prefer if people were upfront with her. She was awful at reading social cues and never wanted to intentionally upset someone.

"How will this help you be forgiven? If you do the same thing again will you have to ask for forgiveness again or are you going to try to stop? Isn't trying to do better enough?" She leaned against the tree and watch him, her questions spilling out of her without much pause in between them.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar is still pretty prickly with Angel, but yet...there's something sweet and kind about her, something he doesn't see very often. She reminds him a bit of a doe, some graceful creature he'd see out in the woods. Much as he'd do upon seeing such a deer in the woods, he does his best to tamper down his anger around Angel to keep from frightening her.

He explains as he continues to chip away bits of stone. "There is a balance to things in the world. I sacrificed a woman who was unwilling and the gods took offense." The 'happy' memory that had been so recently on the network. "By making sure she is properly remembered and then offering a blood sacrifice, it will hopefully appease them, and allow the curse they put on me to be lifted. They prefer actions being done to just simple thoughts about doing better."

C

[burntbridges]

Given everything else that's happened here, it isn't exactly surprising to see a creature she doesn't recognize. In fact, for all she knows, this could be an animal from her world that she's simply never run across. It's shocking to see it in such a poor state, but it isn't scary for a second.

Letha hurries over and sits in front of the creature, legs folded neatly under her. She hesitates briefly, before running her fingers over the creature's fur, trying to pinpoint exactly where all of this blood is coming from.

"Oh, you poor thing... who did this to you?"

[ragnarsson]

Ivar should have known Letha would like him in this form. Her Gothic sensibilities had always led her to liking the most peculiar of creatures. Sprig was a prime example when he had last seen a version of her, that odd little gluttonous Pokemon who looked like a huanted tree stump. Even with one that likely could have taken her head off with a single swipe of his paw or chomp of its saber-teeth, she was ridiculously fearless.

He closed his odd, almost pupil-less eyes when she pet the ruff of the creature's mohawk, giving a deep-sounding rumbling noise in response to the question. Yes, he had been horribly hurt and now someone needed to fuss over him to make him feel better. Hmmmm...maybe this whole debacle had an upside to it.

[burntbridges]

She shifts her fingers down to scratch his chin, assuming from his looks and his rumbling purr that he must be something close to a cat. She can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt such a creature... it's absolutely gorgeous, even in its injured state.

"Now, if only I knew how to heal..." She lets out a soft, self-deprecating laugh. "Someone really didn't like you, did they?"

Her other hand is still tracing his fur for wounds, and she manages to find a chunk of wood still jammed into his skin. That gives her pause... how did someone even do that? Well, she's going to try and pull it out. She honestly isn't sure if that will make things better or worse.

[ragnarsson]

Ivar's still got his eyes closed when he feels Letha grab hold of a giant splinter stuck in his skin. He's too tired in spirit to consider what she's about to do until she's already yanked it out. That gets him to let out a roar full of pain, mouth full of teeth and dried blood open wide. Ouch. That had hurt. Letha's nursing skills leave much to be desired.

He opens his eyes back up, looking at her balefully. She's lucky he's as fond of her as he is or she would be in serious trouble right now.

[burntbridges]

"Well I can't leave it there, can I?" She huffs softly, pressing her hand over the open wound until the blood scabs. All the while she keeps scratching his chin and rubbing the fur on his cheeks, trying to break down some of the dried blood.

At least, she decides, if she hasn't died yet then the creature must understand that she's trying to help. It certainly seems docile, and she appreciates that greatly. Perhaps, for now, she should just keep it company. In the state it's in, she can't even be sure it will survive. She coaxes Ivar's head onto her lap, careful to keep those fangs in a spot where they won't poke her, and runs her fingers through his mohawk.

"It's going to be alright... I'll stay as long as you need."

[ragnarsson]

Ivar makes a harrumphing noise that sounds an awful lot like 'Hmph' in response. She could have just left the giant wooden splinter where it was. He's not sure what had caused him more pain, having it stuck in or getting it yanked out.

Despite his pain and the fact he's slowly bleeding out all over the place, he's reluctant to demorph. Letha is never this nice to him when he's in human form. Come to think of it, no one is as nice to him when he's in human form as they are when he's an animal. This says something about his personality. He'll be forced to change back eventually, but for a few more minutes, he's just going to allow himself to be fussed over by a pretty girl he'd once cared deeply for.

D

[10milliondollars]

Rhys happens to be in his work space, sitting in front of a desktop computer and working at the coding for Ivar's legs. He doesn't expect the man to barge in suddenly, demanding leg braces.

"I said I'd build you legs, not just braces," he says without turning around. "They'll be better than any braces some hack built for you. Only thing is, they take a longer time to build. And you'll have to part with the organic ones." He's sure that won't be a problem.

[ragnarsson]

There a minute twitch that runs through Ivar's jaw at the thought of having legs, real legs instead of the crippled ones that have done nothing but bring him pain (literally) for the last twenty years. To be able to walk, well, that's always been a dream of his that he had resigned to never happening in reality. Getting rid of the ones he has now, he'll do that in a heartbeat.

Then he remembers something that might put a crimp in things. "Hypothetically, how would a pair of robot legs affect someone who was a shapeshifter?"

[10milliondollars]

Finally, Rhys turns to look at Ivar. "Shapeshifting? Uh...I think that's probably more of a question for Dr. Laurie..." He wasn't aware that was a thing. Not here, anyways. That'll likely present a hell of a challenge.

"Wait, what happened to your old braces? Why are you in a wheelchair?"

[ragnarsson]

"Yeah, well, I'd better ask her before you get too much further. I don't need to accidentally destroy them shifting into another form." He'd never thought to ask Marco about these sorts of things when he got these powers, but then again, the idea of bionic legs hadn't really been something he thought would ever come up.

He looks unhappy at the mention of his braces. He misses them. "They got broken when some idiot picked a fight with me." Then Ivar grins, a psychotic-looking one that says exactly how much he is lacking in a sense of empathy. "He lost." Ivar didn't elaborate further. No one ever walked away from a fight with him alive if he could help it.

[10milliondollars]

"That'd be a good idea. For now, I can switch my focus to a new pair of braces. That'll be easy enough." The possibility of building robotics to fit a shapeshifter fills Rhys with a new fire. It's a bigger puzzle, something he can actually pioneer instead of simply improving on others' work.

And the idea of shapeshifting itself...

"So...Have you always been a shifter? Or was it another play to make your legs work?"

[ragnarsson]

"No, it's a form of alien technology that was given to me by a former boyfriend." Ivar chuckles, sounding fond. He misses Marco sometimes, the way he was both turned on and terrified by some of Ivar's behavior. "Guess he must have liked me a lot to share it."

Then he explains further. "Morphing, as he called it, doesn't heal anything wrong with your DNA, only injuries that you currently have at the time, since it resets the DNA to the way you were the last time every time you shift your form back and forth. He gave it to me so I could be pain-free for a while if I turned into something else." Being in constant pain was one reason why Ivar was such an asshole all the time. Anyone else would've been at least a little grumpy if they were in his position.