Memory Share

[ubbe]

[ Ubbe's young in the memory. He's with his brothers. Sigurd and Ivar had been fighting and Hvitserk had been egging them on -- so he'd carefully picked up Ivar from his wagon and sat him on his lap, urging Sigurd and Hvitserk to sit down with them. ]

I've got a story about Thor to tell you!

[ It's probably a story they've all heard before. After all, Floki makes it his business to tell them all the stories of the gods. Ubbe's not as much of a storyteller as Floki but it's starting to get dark and their mother is drunk and passed out already -- not surprising anyone at all.

Once he managed to convince the older two of his younger brothers to settle down -- Ivar not given a choice being that Ubbe's physically holding him (and there's no axe to hit him with) -- he begins.

What follows is the tale told only in the way a young boy can about the god Thor. A giant had stolen his hammer, Mjolnir, had been stolen by a giant who refused to give it back unless the most beautiful goddess Freya agreed to marry him.

Of course, Thor could never stand for this and despite what mockery it could make of him he dresses as Freya and travels to the lands of the Giants. He pretends to take part in the wedding but once Mjolnir arrives he takes it back and with one mighty blow he destroys the giant!

It's not the best story for settling down children as it's exciting and a humorous one. ]

Comments

[ragnarsson]

I got to learn that.

[His eyes brighten.]

He was in the city I was in before I was here. He came from right around the time you were born, I think.

[ubbe]

[ Ubbe is confused to say the least. ]

That sounds impossible.

[ But then again... ]

I suppose all of this feels impossible.

[ragnarsson]

It brought in people from our world, but from different points in time. His pet priest was there too.

[Ivar had been too young when Athelstan was killed to remember him, but he had grown to love Athelstan in the time he got to know him.]

I have learned very little in life is impossible when it comes down to it.

[ubbe]

Athelstan...?

[ How strange. Ubbe had been old enough to know Athelstan, to even mourn his death a little. ]

It changed you.

[ragnarsson]

That's the one. I thought of killing him at first.

[No surprise there. That's like Ivar's knee-jerk reaction to anyone he doesn't like.

He smiles.]

I hope you mean for the better.

[ubbe]

Of course you did.

[ Ubbe almost sounds amused and well, he is a bit. ]

I think so. You haven't told me I am not your brother again.

[ragnarsson]

[He looks off to the side when Ubbe mentions that. Ivar will never say that he was wrong in doing something. His pride won't allow him. But he can compromise.]

I didn't really mean that. I said it only because I knew it would hurt you.

[ubbe]

I know.

[ Ubbe knows Ivar possibly better than most anyone does after all. He could see through Ivar’s civil war sized temper tantrum but it had made it no less destructive and bloody. There was still so many dead in Ivar’s wake. But Ubbe couldn’t exactly begrudge him. It wasn’t his nature. What he says is close enough to admitting wrongdoing for Ubbe.. ]

You will always be my little brother even though you are a fool sometimes. I will never want to fight you.

[ but he would never be able to side with Ivar if he thought he was wrong either. It was a painful thing. ]

[ragnarsson]

[That was the problem with having an older brother who knew him so well. Most of Ivar's lies and bullshit techniques didn't work on him. It forced him to be honest, something Ivar has never been great with. Honesty made it feel like everything inside of him was transparent and on display for all to see.]

If being foolish led to me becoming king, than I will continue to be so.

[He's stubborn and clings to his ideas like that.]

[ubbe]

You become king but you are more alone than ever.

[ Ubbe knows what it must be like if Ivar did not have all of his family around. He knows what kind of king Ivar would choose to be. Ivar would be nothing like their father, or their mother. ]

[ragnarsson]

Does it matter? Everyone leaves me one way or another.

[Nevermind that Ivar was stuck in a self-fulfilling prophecy of not wanting the people he cared about to leave him while simultaneously pushing them away until they got sick of his bullshit and left him for good.]

[ubbe]

[ Ubbe actually looks exasperated and frustrated then and it comes out in the heavy sigh and the barely restrained tone of his voice. Even Ivar can try his tempter at times. ]

It matters because the only reason everyone leaves is because you make it impossible to stay! You put me in an impossible position and refused to listen or respect me or conceive of the notion that I just might know more than you do. You are still young and you are smart but you are not and you will never be infallible. You need to learn that before you lose everything, Ivar.

[ragnarsson]

[That seems to hit Ivar right where it hurts. He knows Ubbe is right. But he also is too proud to admit it. There's something intrinsically broken in Ivar that makes him push everyone away to keep from getting more hurt than he already is.]

And what did you expect me to do? You were too passive to be making the right decisions. I had to be the strong one and you just couldn't handle that!

[Indeed, the war he'd wanted had already lost him two of his older brothers. He would keep going until he had burned all bridges.]

[ubbe]

[ Ubbe is well aware of how what he said impacts Ivar. He hadn't said it to hurt him. He'd never intend to but if Ivar never faces the truth he'll never stop making the same mistake over and over. Ubbe refuses to see Ivar as broken, he's stubborn but he can be better. They can all be better. ]

I expect you to listen to something aside from your anger and bloodlust, Ivar. If you had listened to me you would have known that I was not being passive. I was being patient. If you could have been patient I could have kept our family together.

Your anger makes you strong but it also makes you very weak, Ivar. You become a blind man stumbling in pit after pit.

[ragnarsson]

[The infuriating thing is that Ubbe is telling the truth and Ivar just doesn't want to hear it. He'll admit he's wrong when Ragnarok rolls around.]

You couldn't handle the fact I was a better leader than you. You acted like the Saxons would give us land if you asked nicely. Look how well that turned out. It was always just a matter of time before you left me.

[As if it hadn't been Ivar who had driven him to it.]

Anger has what's gotten me this far in life. [He would have perished long ago if he hadn't used the fire inside of him to keep himself going.] I won't let go of it now.

[ubbe]

[ it is extremely rare for Ubbe to lose his temper, especially when it comes to Ivar. There were countless times he should have lost his temper with Ivar but he had always held tight to calm because someone had to be an adult, someone had to fill the void. Ubbe always had to fill that damned void.

But Ivar wasn’t a child even if he was determined to act like one still when it suited him. ]

That is a ridiculous bedtime story you tell yourself, Ivar. I am a better leader than you because I can accept when I make a mistake. If you do not accept your mistakes you cannot correct them. You will never be the King our father was if you keep on like this. Isn’t that what you want? To be like him? To be better than him? Then you have to be better than this childish view of the world, Ivar.

I knew they might not give us the lands but they certainly wouldn’t have if we hadn’t asked! If you do not give people the chance to do right by you then you are doing wrong by yourself and by them. You are selfish and you care nothing about our people, Ivar. You don’t care who you hurt. And you should. You are capable of more than this.

[ the anger hasn’t dissipated and he slams his fist into a hard surface as if it could rein it in. Ubbe usually wouldn’t talk as much either but he desperately wanted Ivar to listen. ]

I did not leave you, Ivar. You left me when you abandoned our father’s legacy and tore it in half.

[ Ubbe sighs deeply then. ]

If you do not learn to be more than just an angry boy, you will never be anything but a boy pretending to be a man.

[ragnarsson]

[It is a rare occurrence to see Ubbe actually get angry and even more so to see that anger directed at Ivar. Well, he'd poked him long enough, and now he got what he wanted.

Ubbe's words don't just bounce off of him. His brother knows just what to say to make him listen, but that doesn't mean Ivar will admit he's wrong. Instead, it just makes him angrier. He hears "You will never be the King our father was" and what he interprets it as is the same thing he's been told his whole life: that he's unworthy to continue Ragnar's legacy because he's defective.]

If you're so great of a leader, then why am I king, and you were forced to run? You have Father's compassion, but none of his drive. That makes you weak and you will never get what you desire until you learn to stand up for yourself. Until then, you'll lose everything you care about.

[Is he talking about the cost of the war now or their family? Or both?]

Maybe I've made mistakes, but I've gotten exactly what I wanted thus far because I pushed beyond my limits. You can't say the same.

[They both needed some of what the other had. Ivar lacked compassion and Ubbe lacked the single-minded nature that pushed Ivar.]

[ubbe]

Ivar, you are the one that is losing the things you care about. You might be king but are you not more alone than ever?

[ragnarsson]

It's been worth the cost. Something you'll never understand.

[Then the video stops with an abrupt suddenness. Ubbe's touched off too many nerves for Ivar to continue without saying something he regrets.]