Memory Share; "Don't you know who I am?"

[ragnarsson]

[Watch here! TW for gore.]

[You watch the battle of York from a high tower. Your tactics of guerrilla warfare have been paying off. The English are dying by the cartload, trapped in the streets as they fall into traps or are herded into narrow alleyways. There's a longing within you, a desire to participate in the battle. You really shouldn't. There's not much you can offer as a pathetic cripple. But to hell with it. You're going to earn your place in Valhalla properly.

You're galloping along the street, full of exhilaration and adrenaline, when an English soldier strikes out with the wooden butt end of a spear. There's no way to avoid it and you are knocked from your chariot, stunned on the ground with the wind knocked out of you. But if he thinks a cripple lying on the ground is easy prey, he's got another thing coming.

A good friend once taught you what to do in circumstances like this. So as soon as the man draws in for the kill, you flip over, and knock his feet out from under him. It isn't too long before he doesn't have a face left with the way you slam the axe into his face over and over again. The warm blood splashes up and coats your face.

You swiftly crawl until you have your back up against something. The English soldiers come in a rush. So, they want to take you on? Bring it. You scream at them like a demon from one of their Christians hells. They stop, unsure and terrified of what they see as some barbaric madman. One shoots an arrow and it misses. Cowards. None of them would be able to face you in a fair fight.

You can hear the Viking warriors coming up behind you. They stop as well, waiting to see what will happen. There's an uneasy stalemate as the English soldiers are too cowed to continue moving forward. Suddenly, it breaks, with the two sides clashing once again. The memory ends with you laughing insanely as the battle rages all around you in the freezing rain, as you watch your brother cut down a number of English soldiers while a Christian bishop the does the same to your own warriors.]

Comments

audio; un: alfred

[devilsandangels]

You were such a pain in York.

[ragnarsson]

[Ivar merely laughs and gives a sharp, fierce grin in reply before adding on in a teasing tone.]

You're only saying that because you lost.

[devilsandangels]

Aethelwulf lost.

[ragnarsson]

Semantics, semantics. [He airily waves a hand.] You all might have stood more of a chance if he had actually let you plan instead of trying to match wits with me.

[It said something about Aethelwulf's dumb jock mentality in that he was continually upstaged in the war against the Vikings by a mere sixteen year old teenager.]

[devilsandangels]

[ Alfred's quiet because he won't speak too much ill of Aethelwulf. He might not have been his real father but he had never treated Alfred badly despite the rift between Aethelwulf and Judith and his death had affected Alfred just as deeply as it had Athelred.

But Aethelwulf was deeply flawed in many ways. ]

He didn't know that he was in a battle of wits and I was still barely more than a child in his eyes.

[ragnarsson]

I was the youngest of my brothers, but they still saw wisdom in my cleverness. That your father didn't see yours shows why your side lost.

[But there's no gloating or speaking of what he wished to do Aethelwulf had he had the chance, which likely would've involved boiling him alive in a cauldron of hot oil. Ivar knew the pain of losing his father all too well.]

[devilsandangels]

Maybe. Maybe it was how it was meant to be.

[ragnarsson]

Do you believe it was fated then? As we believe?

[He's curious after speaking with Heahmund upon how the Catholic church viewed such a thing.]

[devilsandangels]

I believe in God's will and that he has a plan.

[song_of_fire]

[Gods he's so similar to the Dothraki and with the sort of blood lust befitting a sellsword. He didn't bear Daario's elegance, but might have been at home with Belwas. Her Unsullied felt nothing and it was clear this man enjoyed conquering. It didn't seem to be a simple battle, more like sport.]

You have no fear of death.

[ragnarsson]

[He stares for a moment before answering at the woman on the screen. She is remarkably pretty, so fair that she goes past the point of looking like a Norsewoman and more like a Valkyrie or servant of Frigg or Freya.]

Of course not. Death in battle in a glorious affair, one to be celebrated and long remembered, and sure to take you straight to the gates of Valhalla.

[song_of_fire]

Valhalla? Your afterlife?

[Save for that, it is almost as though he is speaking for her Bloodriders. She could easily imagine these words from Rakharo or Jhogo.]

Did you conquer the city in the end?

[ragnarsson]

Yes. A paradise for warriors where we shall feast, drink, and fight until the last and most glorious battle of all.

[The young Viking warrior sounds almost dreamy at the thought of it all.]

We did. It was already conquered at that point. The English were just trying to take it back. One of their many attempts. They failed every time.

[He's pleased as can be as he brags of what was done. It was all due to his strategies that had let the Vikings keep York.]

[song_of_fire]

My bloodriders call Valhalla "the night lands". The grass sea parts and the horse god claims those warriors for his starry khalasars.

[It sounds similar enough, a place where the strong ride forever and are hailed for their heroism. She almost wishes she had the same blind faith that her bloodriders had.]

What would you do if you held a city with a large port and you are being assaulted by sea, but have no ships to fight them?

[He seems well versed in battle, enough that she's curious how he'd face her predicament.]

[ragnarsson]

Not many of our gods take the form of a horse-- [Loki was the only one and a mare at that, but then, Norse mythology was really frigging weird sometimes.] --instead, there is Odin All-Father and Freyja, who take half of the warriors to each of their halls.

[He thinks on that for a moment, hands lacing together as he considers a strategy.]

Do you have warriors that can swim? I would create a distraction, then send out a legion in the dead of night either wading through the waters or on rafts. Soak their ships with oil and then set them alight with fire arrows. That will even the playing field very quickly.

[song_of_fire]

I have heard of so many different gods, not simply among the Dothraki but others. There is the Great Shepherd, the Many Faced God, the Drowned god, the Old Gods, the Seven. I imagine yours might have been mentioned.

[Or some like his. They almost sounded like the Seven.]

Some. My advisers think I should use my dragons.

[ragnarsson]

Indeed. I have heard of others, and acknowledge them, but I only follow the true gods I have been taught of all my life.

[He's not quite at the level of being a zealot, but he is rather devoted to the Norse pantheon.]

You have dragons? [Do tell him more.] I would advise using them only if no other options are left. Such creatures are like holding onto a wolf by the ears.

audio - un; Angel

[unknownmoirai]

Why were you fighting?

[ragnarsson]

Our army had taken over the city in fair combat-- [Though whether attacking a city with stealth and slaughtering all within when they were at church could be called 'fair' is up for debate.] --but the English were trying to drive us back out again. If that happened, we would've lost our main base. So we fought.

[unknownmoirai]

Oh.

[She still doesn't get it.]

But why? I'm sorry. I suppose I never really understood fighting.

[ragnarsson]

[It's okay, Angel. Ivar's used to explaining to people at this point in his life how foreign the mindset of his people can be.]

Fighting is what the Norse live for. We fight for honor, glory, and to please our gods. If a whole people can revolve their lives around fighting, then we are it.

[unknownmoirai]

I would say you are very skilled at that then.

[It's not a bad way to live but she's a pacifist which is why she struggles to understand why he chooses to fight.]

Do the others think as you do? Those you are fighting?

[ragnarsson]

Thank you. I do try.

[Beneath his usual sarcasm is genuine pleasure. He has worked hard to become as good a fighter as he is. It certainly wasn't easy.]

The English? No. They have the hearts of sheep and follow a weak god. They deserved what they got.

[unknownmoirai]

You sound a lot like my sister.

[It isn't a compliment exactly. It's confusing. Inesa doesn't talk about her sister all that often, at least not in detail. Alex knows the most and that's due to her sister briefly appearing in the Sphere.]

Would you... maybe explain it more to me? I admit, I don't understand her much either. But she hurts people. I wish I knew why.

We disagree about many things.

[ragnarsson]

I seem to be reminding people of others they know quite a bit as of late.

[It usually wasn't in a complimentary way either with the way Ivar's entire personality tended to run.]

Where I am from, the strong survive and the weak will perish. To do that, we Norse fight to stay on top instead of being stepped on by those who seek to do the same. I always swore I would do anything it took to live and live well at that. So I kill and hurt people to accomplish that goal.

[His voice goes a bit quieter.]

I learned I am much different then most in that I enjoy this. It's not how most people are. A very good friend once tried to teach me otherwise, but he never quite succeeded in teaching me how to care.