I made this a continuation from my previous Ivar prompt which can be read here. Though it should still make sense if you don’t ;-)
You’re passing a horn of mead around the fire when one of the shieldmaidens from another kingdom proposes a salacious game from her homeland. She sets before you Ubbe, Bjorn, and Ivar and tells them to close their eyes and not to move no matter what happens. She instructs you: “choose one of them to slap, one to lick, and one to fondle.”
You blink and shake your head, thinking that it’s a good thing you and your friends have been drinking all night. Your once large party has now turned into a small one as the evening went on, and now it happened to be the wee small hours in the morning, where in the past, you’ve been known to make a bad decision or two. And as only the gods knew, you were about to make big one.
At first, you have no fucking clue what to do and spend many moments mulling over scenarios in your head. Two of the brothers have partners and you are not sure how to handle that, even though neither of the women are present for your little after-party.
You walk over to Ivar first, thinking he should be a pretty easy decision. He definitely deserves to be slapped. First for attempting to beckon you like some servant earlier, and then for tossing a blackberry into your drink and splashing mead in your face. You even raise your hand in the air to do it ... but for some reason, you cannot bring yourself to. There is something about his expression, even though his eyes are closed. Before this game, he’d seemed strangely relaxed, as if he was enjoying being included, but now? He seemed nervous ... almost as if he expected to get the slap. What others might perceive to be the choice for the person on the bottom of the list.
You take your hand down and shrug, acting as if you are still painfully undecided and move on from Ivar, prompting some giggling from your friends. Ivar frowns, sensing that you had been in front of him but are now gone, and he is not sure what is happening. You decide this is a good thing ... keep him guessing.
You then step over to Bjorn and give him the slap you meant for Ivar. He turns his head to the side and grins, teasing that if you knew what was coming, you’d work on your follow-through a little more. You look to the side, perplexed, not sure what he’s alluding to ... but you brush it off, thinking it must have been Bjorn’s tenth cup of ale talking.
Next you come upon Ubbe and grin, thinking there was no way you’d do this sober. You pick up his hand, bend down, and lick his palm as if you’d just been to visit the old seer. He jokes that there could be a new man in your future, someone very near to you who can’t seem to shut up about you. He then chuckles smugly as if he knows something that you don’t.
You knit your brows together in confusion at Ubbe’s prediction, but then move back to Ivar, noticing that his nostrils are flared and his cheeks are red, as if embarrassed. He has to know what’s about to happen, what was obviously chosen for him, as he must have heard the slap across Bjorn’s face and also figured out what you had done to Ubbe.
You think about what you’d wondered earlier that night, after you and your friends had decided that Ivar was the Ragnarsson with the best hair ... at how you imagined running your hands through his longer locks. You decide ... why not? You thread your fingers through his hair, nails running along his scalp and you think perhaps you hear a soft moan on his lips, but you cannot be sure. His hair is so soft, just as silky as you imagined, and you can’t help but smile like an idiot. Somewhere in the background you can hear his brothers drunkenly teasing and cheering the two of you on. Ivar sucks in a breath and holds it, letting you do what you will. The mead has made you brave, or perhaps stupid, and you take a seat in his lap, sliding your hands down the back of his neck, to his shoulders, and then his biceps. You give them a good squeeze and gasp at the hard muscles you find. You are impressed. Very impressed.
What in the name of Valhalla is he hiding under there?
You are suddenly hit with the desire to see for yourself.
“Od-in’s beard,” you muse. “Am I in trouble.”
He finally releases the breath he’d been holding, opens his eyes, and suddenly all you see is blue. “Yes,” he says with a single nod of his head, his eyebrows raised. “You are.”