First Ax [@the.boneless, video]

[ragnarsson]

[It's clear whoever is using this device is unused to it. The picture shifts around for a few minutes, and Ivar's face furrowed in concentration is seen several times before he finally realizes that it's on. He's sixteen, has blue eyes, and oddly enough, blue sclera as well. There's also an ax tucked at his side. He points the phone he's using outward, showing that he's in the kitchen, seated on a chair. His voice, when he speaks, has a vaguely European accent.] I have figured out what these do.

[He shows in turn the fridge, the sink, and the stove. The last one had caused a few burnt fingers, but hey, he'll survive.] But I still have no idea what this does. [He turns the device to the microwave. He's been playing around with the buttons, and while he's been able to turn it on, he hasn't yet realized food is supposed to go inside of it.] Anyone care to enlighten me?

Comments

[pundemic]

Sort of. Not really. It's complicated.

[So, so complicated. She shakes her head.]

I mean, I know what they are and all, but it's not really the sort of thing I spend a lot of time using. Are you from earlier? Before Microwave?

[Yes this is now definitely a measurement of time to her. Fuck that AD/BC nonsense, she has now coined Before Microwave.]

[ragnarsson]

I think I'm before... everything here.

[Not really that much of an exaggeration. He's still getting used to the idea of electricity, let alone how the phone and appliances around here work. But he's smart. He'll pick everything up before too long.]

The calendar the Christians use had the year as 816.

[pundemic]

Holy shit.

[Yep she just sort of blurts that out. Then she says it again more quietly, for good measure.]

Holy shit. Seriously? That's so cool. Can I ask you questions? What was it like?

[ragnarsson]

Very different from here. Things are a lot simpler, at least in how you work them. I came here from the field of battle in England. My brothers and I captured a king and blood eagled him.

[If Ellie values her stomach contents remaining where they are, she won't ask what a blood eagle is. He says this all very matter of fact, as if teenagers go riding into battle and execute kings is the normal standard of things.]

[pundemic]

[She raises an eyebrow. Considers asking. And then just decides she'll look it up later on her own. (Once you've seen someone cutting up a human corpse as a food source, you sort of fumble your metric for what's worth losing your lunch over.)]

Sounds rough.

[Her tone is sympathetic. She can't really see war as being that different no matter the era. Like everything, you learn to live with it.]

Did he deserve it? The king.

[ragnarsson]

Battles and raids are what Vikings live for.

[Their culture was very different from anything else the world had ever seen or would ever know. Violence and death were just ways to please the gods and earn greater glory.]

He murdered my father. He deserved everything he got. The best revenge was hearing him scream and watching the light fade from his eyes.

[pundemic]

I know a little about Vikings. Not-- you know, a lot, but. Did you guys really wear those helmets with the horns?

[It's not like she was writing history reports or anything. But some things of the past survived just by dint of being so culturally ingrained they couldn't go away, and that was one of them.

-- Also, okay, enjoying killing is a tiny bit up there on her Creep-o-Meter but you know what? As far as reasons to have that enjoyment, getting revenge on someone that killed your dad is probably up there. She won't judge.]

I see. [A beat.] Sorry about your dad. For... what it's worth, I hope it brought him peace. Or-- beer or something. In Valhalla, right?

[is she remembering right. she has no idea.]

[ragnarsson]

What? No. We drink out of horns, we don't wear them on our heads.

[The idea sounds absurd and it reflects in the tone of his voice. Where had that come from?

Ellie is right to have a Creep-o-Meter around Ivar. He's definitely not the most stable individual here in Riverview. Part of that is his culture, but most of it is that Ivar is just a psychopath. His father had been one of the only people he ever cared about and now he was dead.]

He's resting easier now in Valhalla. The Seer said it was so. No doubt he's one of the more famous warriors there. One more king to go and my revenge will be complete.

[pundemic]

[Wow, it sounded so badass. What a shame. She'd sure run from someone wearing horns. (Okay, probably not, but still.)]

Jeeze, doesn't pay to be a king around you. [that'sajoke.gif.] What'd he do that made him so famous?

[Part of the issue with being so disconnected from history - even more than a normal kid her age - is that when presented with the chance to rectify it, she's voracious. This is like... walking through that museum in Boston. Seeing all that shit from what Joel later told her was the Civil War, but having no context for any of it. It sucks, losing that.]

[ragnarsson]

Only when you kill my family. I've got a queen I have to deal with once I'm done in England.

[Such is Ivar's life. He just had the bad luck of both of his parents dying close together in violent ways. At least it gave him purpose.]

His name was Ragnar Lothbrok and he did things no other Viking dreamed of. He was the first one to discover England and raid the countryside. He became Earl and then King when those jealous of his power tried to attack him. Then he went to Frankia and raided Paris, which had never been taken till then. Even later on, when everyone thought he was a has been, he still proved there was something left to him.

[pundemic]

[She feels like there's some sort of... moral line to be drawn in the sand, here. But at the same time, she understands that history was different. How different, exactly, from dealing with the Infection? Killing people because they didn't give you a choice? Some things she's had to take as necessary. It sounds brutal, but at least he's not lying about it. Pretending to be something he's not.

She can appreciate that.]

Well-- you know, leave some for the rest of us.

[That is also a joke. That's what happens when she's faced with hard things, she jokes. Total kidder, ha ha.]

He sounds like he accomplished a lot. I bet you're really proud.

[What he chooses to focus on, to tell her, is in and of itself sort of revealing. She'd have said... oh, she loved him, she wanted to kill the fucker that took him away, but maybe that's just how Vikings were. In cultures where death is common, maybe deeds mean more than emotion.]

[ragnarsson]

[Vikings operate on a completely different system of morality than anyone else in the world, or indeed, in history. Violence and death ran their lives, giving them purpose and meaning. Fighting and raiding was just another way to please the Norse deities. Besides, what else was Ivar going to do? Settle down and become a farmer? That had never been in the cards for one of Ragnar's sons.

Part of the reason he focused on Ragnar's deeds was because that was all he had known of the man for such a long time. He'd abandoned his family for ten years, leaving him only with a few fuzzy memories from his childhood to sustain him. Legends about the man were what he had clung to in his absence. Finally, when he had come back, Ivar had finally seen what it was that made him so special. There's notes of both sadness and fond memories as he continues on.]

I am. He was the only one to ever believe in me, tell me I could accomplish things. Everyone else has only ever seen me as being useless or someone to be pitied.

[There's a hard note of fury as he spits out the last word. If Ellie learns nothing else about Ivar from this conversation, it's this one thing. Never pity Ivar. He hates it above everything else.]

[pundemic]

[She either hasn't seen or hasn't noticed his little leg problem, and the strange blue tinge to his eyes isn't enough for her to think it's anything too far out of the realm of 'normal' to be worth that level of vehemence. Maybe it's a camera filter or something. So she just sort of gives him a blank look.]

Why would anyone do that? You seem pretty capable to me. I mean-- killing people and taking apart microwaves and all.

[ragnarsson]

Vikings don't think you count for much if you can't fight. And since I can't walk, no one ever thought I'd be much more than a burden. Just a cripple to be looked down on.

[And that's the reason Ivar always seems a little angry. He's forever battling to prove himself in a society that's already judged and found him wanting.]

Only my father and my brothers ever knew there was more to me than what was on the surface.

[pundemic]

Oh.

[Honestly, she hasn't really... met a lot of people who have disabilities in her time. The Boston QZ wasn't exactly huge, and it's not like a people constantly struggling on the edge of survival are very compassionate when it comes to those that can't contribute equally to the meager society. Not only that, but with any sort of medicine being as scarce as it is... well, more humans have died from infection in the last twenty years than anyone's ever cared to count. Those with injuries or sicknesses either recover or die. Those born with an illness or disability... well. Depends on who they've been born to. Anyone who survives has to be strong.

But she doesn't really have it in her to pity anyone for any reason. Compassion is different. She simply nods.]

That sucks, dude. But it sounds to me like you can fight just fine, so-- fuck all those other guys, right? Bet you showed them.

[ragnarsson]

[He waits for her reaction, watching her closely for any negative signs. When he doesn't find any, something tense in between his shoulder blades loosens up a little bit. She seems like someone who already knows the score of life. She doesn't find him lacking the way his people do.]

I did just help win a battle. So you're right. Fuck them all. [He pauses, brow crinkling as he tries to decipher her slang.] What did you mean by 'That sucks, dude?' [The familiar twenty-first century phrase sounds strange to his ears.]

[pundemic]

[A bit of a laugh. Right, hip lingo. Guy's already dealing with culture shock, she doesn't have to go and make it worse.]

Oh, it's-- it means it's shitty. Like, a bad situation, but you make the best of it, right? And dude is just a person. Anybody's a dude. You, me. That weird guy down the street who yells about roosters.

[ragnarsson]

Got it. Doubt I'll be using it anytime soon. [Though some of the phrases he uses will sound surprisingly modern. Just because his culture is antiquated doesn't mean that their vocabulary skills were.]

[pundemic]

Nah, it's cool. Use what you're comfortable with. But if you ever need a translation for modern lingo, I'm your girl.

[She pauses, and then.]

Ellie, by the way. My name.

[ragnarsson]

My name is Ivar The Boneless.

[He definitely takes the prize for creepiest yet still appropriate nickname.]

[pundemic]

[That is definitely a creepy nickname. Ellie is not quite sure what to make of it, because to her it sounds like a cruel play on his disability-- but then again, why would you announce yourself like that? Maybe some things need to be reclaimed.]

Do I seriously have to call you that every time? Because that's a mouthful. You gonna get mad if I just call you Ivar?

[ragnarsson]

[It was exactly for that reason that he tended to introduce himself with that nickname. His father had meant it in a moment of despair and it was a little cruel, but over the years, Ivar had come to own it instead of the other way around.]

Go right ahead. Just be glad I don't make you address me by my full title.

[pundemic]

[That gets her to laugh a little.]

That used to getting your way, huh?

[It's honestly pretty hard to 'make' her do anything, but she doesn't feel the need to trumpet that from any rooftops.]

[ragnarsson]

I'm the youngest of five. Of course I'm used to getting my way.

[Ivar is definitely aware he got spoiled by his mother with special treatment. Being both the youngest and disabled meant he got the lion's share of attention. Youngest Child Syndrome applied to him in all ways.]

[pundemic]

Oh man, really? What's that like?

[She always wondered how her life might have changed if her mom had lived, if maybe she'd have had a little sister, or brother to look after. How much would it have impacted her view of the world? So she is definitely all ears, here. It sounds like at the very least he doesn't hate his siblings, so. a+ there, bro.]