riverview | First Ax [@the.boneless, video]

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First Ax [@the.boneless, video]

[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?

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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.

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

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.

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.

[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.]

[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.

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.]

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.

My name is Ivar The Boneless.

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

[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?

[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.

[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.]

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.]

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.]

Hard. When I saw all my brothers doing everything first, I was always left trying to catch up to them. I was always trying to prove I could do anything they could, be with any woman they were with, be better with any weapon than they were.

[There's a lot of insecurity lurking right below the surface in Ivar. Sometimes, he thinks that Sigurd was right, and that his whole family only felt pity for him. Why else would they pay him any attention? It couldn't be because he was actually good at what he pushed himself to do now, was it?]

On the other hand, I definitely got more attention from my mother than any of them, so that was nice.

[That statement gets a rueful little upward tick to her mouth, and she covers it briefly with her hand. Voice or not, some expressions can just carry. She tries not to be envious of other people - and she doubts Viking life was really any better than the one she's got anyway - but having a mother. That must really be something.]

Well... you're here first. Before any of them. So think of how much you can rub their faces in that later, right?

If they believe me. Telling them I ended up in a different world and they might decide I've finally gone crazy...well, crazier. [He's not known for being particularly stable.]

But if they show up here, at least I'll be better adjusted than them. [He knew exactly what they would do if they came through the portal. Swing their weapons first, kill everyone, and ask questions later.]

Well if they don't believe you they'd be pretty shitty brothers. Isn't that what family's all about?

[She has such an idealized, romanticized version of it in her head. When she thinks of brothers she thinks of Henry and Sam, who would have done anything for each other. Who did do everything for each other.

It still stings.]

They aren't always the nicest. But then neither am I.

[Most brothers didn't make at least one murder attempt on their older brother just because he insulted him. Sigurd and he had a special relationship.]

I don't always like them, but I'm obligated to love them.

[As much as Ivar was capable of loving anyone. He was so different then everyone else in his way of thinking and even feeling something for anyone else was a big deal.]

[She wrinkles up her nose.]

I don't think that's fair. You shouldn't feel like you have to love people that don't deserve it.

[Family isn't an excuse for anything. But then again, she'd let Joel get away with murder, wouldn't she? So maybe she's a hypocrite.]

Well, they care about me, and I don't deserve it all the time. [He could be awful mean to them when he put his mind to it.] Just because a person does terrible things sometimes doesn't mean you stop loving them.

[His father had abandoned him for ten years. Ivar should have hated him for that. Instead, when he'd come back, he'd found Ragnar an easy person to care about. Maybe it was just part of his natural charm or maybe Ivar was just that desperate to have his father be part of his life. Either way, they'd grown close again in a short amount of time before he'd been cruelly ripped away again from the teenage Viking.]

I dunno, you seem like a pretty decent guy to me.

[I mean, there's the whole murdering people thing, but Ellie's view of morality is a bit skewed at this point. Killing for revenge, or to survive, those are things she has an intimate understanding of.]

I think there's a difference between people who do terrible things sometimes, when they have to, and people who only do terrible things. I mean, I have no idea what your brothers are like or whatever, so... you know.

Clearly, I'll need to change that opinion.

[Ivar says dryly. He's not a very good person in any sense of the word. Part of it is being a Viking and part of it is just his own cruel nature.]

There is a big difference. It just seems like not everyone sees it that way. The English and the Franks call us barbarians, but it's not as simple as all that. We just do what we must.

First Ax [@the.boneless, video]

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