Return of the hung-over Viking

[bigarmy_strangepants]

[[OOC: Context: Ragnar had some very uncomfortable ideas planted in his head by young!Moriarty, and then walked off into the mountains to get drunk think about them.]]


The back door to the lake and garden opens, and Ragnar Lothbrok walks in. He looks a bit dirty and scruffy, and if you get close, you'll notice that he smells of unwashed Viking.

He walks up to the bar and orders a pint of beer, which he drains to over half mark before putting it down again. He sighs, opens his magical belt pouch, gets out a bottle and puts it on the bar counter where it vanishes.

And another.

And another.

And another...

Comments

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I saw Rollo the other day, at fight training here," Ragnar says. "I'm sure you can find him somewhere around."

[like_quicksilver]

That didn't surprise her at all. "I'll keep an eye out. I still haven't told him about..well, returning to life and living with Ganymede." To say nothing about going to a modern school.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"He will be happy about it," Ragnar says.

[like_quicksilver]

"What about you?" She eyed the amount of bottles he's put on the bar. Knowing him, he wouldn't talk about it, but it was within her rights to be concerned. "How'd you feel?"

Whether she's talking about her in school or in general was entirely his guess.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Things are difficult," Ragnar says. "I will need to go home soon, and start this year's voyage."

[like_quicksilver]

"But that's good, right?" She wondered if things were so bad with Athelstan that her father needed to drown his feelings. "The sooner you go, the sooner you can bring Athelstan back home where he'll be safe."

Well, certainly safer then he'd be from the christians who tried to kill him.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"That is the idea," Ragnar says, nodding quietly.

[like_quicksilver]

That wasn't entirely reassuring to her. "You're behaving like mother when you left for Upsala, she had fears so bad that she didn't eat for several days."

Something was bothering him, that much was obvious to her.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Things aren't entirely easy," Ragnar says. "So much stuff before we can go."

[like_quicksilver]

She frowned. "You've prepared for voyages before, you never got this drunk." She couldn't hide the worry from her voice if she tried; what was he not telling her.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I never had to go with Horik, knowing so clearly that he is a bad apple, and the problems are mostly his fault," Ragnar says. "A treacherous ally."

[like_quicksilver]

They hadn't told her much about this Horik, but what she gathered, the way her father spoke of him. Rumor passed enough through Kattegat on who this king was-that he was her father's King probably made working with him even more grating.

A likely reason why he'd drink. "And you're worried his alliance will lead to even more trouble, maybe put Athelstan's life in danger?"

He was being held in England, and even she knew that most of their people didn't get along with the English. If something were to go wrong, either of her family could suffer as a result.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes," Ragnar says. "Among other things. He will stab me in the back as soon as any enemy. And it's his fault Athelstan got stranded there."

Almost entirely, that is. The part for which Ragnar isn't blaming himself.