text | day | 004

[lonelynotforsaken]

[ LO431Y | TEXT | 004 ]

alive
free
jet and kk with me
ben cuming w wtr
ty evry1
when btr ill find spot 4 base
wtr n food
have 4 ne1 who needs
mayb a few
will work on it
not simulation

[Just to be clear for... someone. The fact Shaw was murdered and came back is cementing in his mind that this may be some pseudo or hybrid fear domain, though.]

Comments

[sharktrash]

She still has the pelt. Maybe you're softer than you think ;)

So you had warriors under your command? Did you organize raids?

[meadqueen]

[Maybe not soft on the wolf as much as soft on the warrior, but she can't say that for various reasons]

Yes. I'm the Raven Clan’s strategist, so I dispatch scouts and raiders and handle correspondence and other local matters for the jarl and war chief.

[sharktrash]

Whoa that's amazing. Sounds like youre really important
Did you ever raid yourself? Got any stories?

[meadqueen]

My father took me on my first raid when I was sixteen. We’d planned to raze a village the Wolf Clan had built in contested territory - the Wolves liked to reach beyond their grasp, and they'd keep anything you let them hold.

My axe spilled wine for the ravens that day, but I took an arrow in my left calf and my father was not pleased about it. I, on the other hand, was delighted to have a scar like a real drengr until we got home and the healer had to pull it out.

[sharktrash]

[ Are his eyes sparkling a little as he reads that? You'd bet. ]

Yeh the healing part usually sucks but hey, you get to have a badass scar right?
Did your people win that battle? What did you do with survivors?

[meadqueen]

Oh, you’d best believe that for a long time, I made sure every girl I was hoping to impress saw it.

;)

[Thanks for teaching her that one, Squalo]

We did win. None of the warriors were left alive and we burned the village to ashes, but villagers who did not wish to fight us were permitted to flee. We wanted Kjotve to know it was the Reindeer who’d bested him.

[sharktrash]

[ Oh no that's precious! Even if he's feeling a little sting of disappointment at what he perceives to be her indicating that she prefers women. Oh well!.. Still a badass viking he gets to chat with, and he'd rather know now than later. ]

Bet that worked wonders ;)

Nice. Let them live and spread the message, right? That surely had to drive the point home. Did Kjotve try to reciprocate?

[meadqueen]

[Don’t worry about that, she's married anyway.]

It turned out he had bigger fish to fry and so did we. We traded raids back and forth with Kjotve for a few more years, but when the Raven Clan tried to lay claim to our territory to launch their own strike against the Wolves, I was called to the strategist’s table, and that was a war that we could not win.

[sharktrash]

[ That's fine, marriage is a sham anyway. :) ]

I'm sorry to hear that. What did you do?

[meadqueen]

[Oh absolutely, but it's hard to do anything about that when you're both married to the king and in love with his sister :( ]

We fought the Ravens for four years with the Wolves at our back, but after a poor harvest in the fourth year, I knew we would not survive a fifth raiding season. I advised my father to negotiate passage through our territory with Styrbjorn Jarl and he agreed.

Styrbjorn was war weary as well, I think. He had very few demands. In the end, the Reindeer maintained their independence, a warrior of the Raven Clan slew Kjotve in single combat, and I sailed to Fornburg to ensure the peace would last.

[sharktrash]

[ Oh. :( They don't have an arrangement for that, do they?.. ]

Not the worst way it could have gone. You made sure your people persevere, right? Your father must be proud.

Single combat, that's when two warriors fight on behalf of the entire clan, correct?

[meadqueen]

[She assumes the sister doesn't feel the same way, so it's just been this really pathetic pining situation. Five years of this]

She challenged him on a matter of honour. He’d slaughtered her family, denied her father Valhalla, so she had a right to do so. After he was dead, the Ravens routed the rest of the Wolves save Gorm Kjotvesson, who fled across the sea to Vinland.

It was the best outcome for everyone, but sacrificing my own freedom was difficult.

[sharktrash]

[ That's rough, buddy. :( ]

Is it customary to have such a matter? Or does it simply make the challenge more likely to be accepted?

What happened to you?

[meadqueen]

For the most part yes, whoever considers themselves the wronged party will issue the challenge. Refusing then is essentially both admitting wrongdoing and displaying cowardice so the potential damage to their family’s honour prevents it.

As part of the negotiation, Styrbjorn Jarl requested me as a war prize for his son, as he was concerned that once the Wolves had been defeated Sigurd would once again turn his eyes toward the Reindeer Clan in search of further glory. I agreed, and three weeks later we were wed. That marked the official end of the war.

[sharktrash]

Can't you just choose to solve a conflict that way, even if there isn't a wronged party?

Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. That's kinda messed up.

[meadqueen]

I suppose you could, but a duel to the death to decide what colour to paint the longship sounds a bit frivolous.

It is the way of things. I have it easier than many, Sigurd is a good man.

[He's not a great husband, but that's a different matter]

[sharktrash]

If that's the only issue at hand, yes. I was thinking more like preventing an all-out battle between two factions, or a destruction of a settlement.

Well that's good. But are you happy with your life?

[meadqueen]

Ah yes, I suppose so. These things all seem to become issues of honour in one way or another.

[”Are you happy with your life?” Randvi has never been asked this before, and it hits her like a punch in the stomach]

I’m proud of the choices I've made. There are things I wish were different, but it's like that for everyone.

[sharktrash]

Makes sense.

[ He doesn't realize just how punch-y that question was. He thought her situation sounded like a bummer, assuming she maybe wanted to keep raiding or whatever -- actually, why would being married prevent her from that? -- but he'd believed her when she said she likes her husband well enough. ]

Maybe you can change them, eventually.

[meadqueen]

[Oh, she isn't lying about having lucked out in the arranged marriage department. Sigurd is only a couple of years older than her, and treats her with kindness and respect. He just also likes to leave her behind with all of his responsibilities but none of his power while he chases some divine vision she doesn't understand or believe in, and she's barely seen him in the last four years]

Maybe. When things are settled and I've fulfilled my responsibilities I'd love to raid again, or even just explore with the scouts.

[sharktrash]

[ Well. That leaving her with all of his responsibilities thing kinda sounds like what Xanxus does to Squalo, so he could relate if she mentioned it. ]

I hope that happens soon!

In the meantime, I guess you get this shithole for an adventure.

[meadqueen]

I’m trying to enjoy it while it lasts. This is the longest I've gone without having to do paperwork in five years.

[sharktrash]

Glad to hear someone's having a good time here at least ;)

With your experience this must be a walk in the park huh?

[meadqueen]

I was lucky to find access to food, water and shelter early.

It does remind me a little of roaming the mountains as a young girl, but there are a lot of things here that I wouldn't understand without help.

[She’d be just as dead in that cell as anyone else. Maybe more because she doesn't know much about drones]

[sharktrash]

Luck is a skill, too. But I get that. Hey, that's why teamwork is important :)

[ pls team up with him,, ]