hadriel | video;

Entry tags:

video;

[ It's been a little while now, since Floki arrived in this world. He's had a lot to deal with, emotionally when it comes to the Gods here. Believing that any interaction, involvement or acknowledgement of them is a direct insult to his Gods, the real Gods!

It's also taken him a while to get used to the communication devices. Floki is fluent in Runes, one of the lucky and knowledgeable Vikings that managed to teach himself how to communicate through them. Floki could read and write, understand and create tales through this means, yet the phone device he was given? This was all new and strange.

So, here he was. The first appearance over the network sat in what looked like a beautifully crafted, ornate wooden Viking boat. The head was of Fáfnir, the mythical Midgard Serpent. Floki slumped against he neck of the dragon, a smirk-like sneer pulled over his lips. He placed the phone on the side of the boat, freeing his hands so that he was able to pick up a rather large wooden statue he'd handcarved himself. ]

May the Alföðr himself, bless my boat.

[ Raising both arms to the sky, fingers twitching in random movements, a strange chirp of a giggle left his lips before he stroked the statue with one hand, a gesture of praise with his other, moved down his forehead before kissing the knuckle of his thumb. ]

The true Gods should be pleased to see someone still worships them. I shall be blessed a bountiful life so long as I reject these false deities... And you should all be wise too, turn your back on their lies, for Odin is forgiving of the ignorant and blind but not those who will turn their backs in blasphemy.

[ Turning his head aside, Floki spat at the ground as if he was so disgusted in what he was saying, disgusted that people here fell for the glamour these so-called Gods had them under. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Feeling her move away, Floki turns to watch her. Still, on his knees, he shuffles a few feet closer before pulling himself back up and taking a seat upon the chopped logs off to the side. He scratched under his beard, tipping his head aside and watching her touch his boat. ]

She's not finished yet. I can make this one bigger yet, there is still time and wood that calls to me from the silence of the forest.

[ His eyes move from her face and back to the boat a few times. ]

Do you like her? ...

I do.

[She doesn't hesitate to say it. It's impressive work, and even more so that it was made by only one person. And it represents such hope, such relief, really. Maybe she won't have to be trapped here much longer.]

Law and I have been lamenting the fact that seemingly nobody here was able to build a ship that could leave the islands behind. I'm glad your work is so beautiful. I would love to set sail in a craft like this.

[Though she'll leave Law to judge the actual quality of it.]

[ To her words, especially the ones complimenting his work, Floki stood up with a spring to his step, took to her side and offered his hand. ]

Would you like to board her?

[ He would help her inside if she wanted to stand and walk along its deck. Floki would be happy to tell her all of the marvellous things he had already done, yet the way she spoke of Law, he assumed she might not understand or appreciate it as much as him. ]

Give me a few more days, a week at most and she will be worthy of the open seas. If there is a way to escape the Gods here too, she will be the ship that takes us on our journey.

Please.

[She takes the offered hand and hops up onto the ship. She takes a moment to pace up and down it, pleased. No, it's no galleon, it doesn't have multiple decks like the one she rode to Hafeld on, and it looks like it will require a lot more rowing to power it than that one too, with its single sail. No beds, either, which doesn't bother her any, but it must be difficult on the mortals, given their need for sleep.]

So this is the sort of boat you and your people take across the seas to go to war? How long are your usual journeys?

[ Floki follows behind her, curiously watching her face, to try and see if she is truly pleased. Had he known he was going to be building a ship for a Goddess, he would have made it even more beautiful and worthy of her eyes.

Her question pulled him from his staring. Floki wrapped an arm around a huge, sturdy mass right in the middle of the ship. ]

It is but one, of my very own design. See, the hull will larger, deeper and the oars are to be fixed so to help the men. The slates below are not nailed to the bulk of the ship either, they are plated against one another, so they slide in reaction to the waves of the sea. It stops the boat from crashing into larger waves and see how the wood here is as smooth and curved, like a woman's body from the thighs to the back?

[ Floki pointed to the parts of his ship he was talking about. They might not have seemed much to the untrained eye, but every little detail was unique and what truly made his ships the best, the ones all Vikings sort after. ]

We could be gone to sea for weeks, no, even months at a time.

[She certainly seems interested. Pleased, well - it's a lovely boat but she knows so little about what makes for a good vessel that she doesn't know whether to be happy or not. It's clearly very skillfully made, she's just not sure if it really does have what they'll need.

But as he says, and as Ivar had told her before, a craft like this can serve well for a long time. She'll have to see it to believe it.]

Months! We may need it. What is your people's custom, then, for long journeys on a boat like this one? How do you sleep? How do you stay comfortable? Or is it simply not a concern?

[ Floki wandered around his boat. In his mind's eye, he was picturing his friends from home, all taking their favoured spots in the boat. He would be over there, Ragnar at the other end, Thorsten and Björn there and there.

He rubbed his beard and smile a longing smile before snapping out of it and answering her questions. ]

A Viking is comfortable no matter where he is, so long as its out to sea. But for your comfort a sleeping quarter could be back, at the back and below the boat. In the belly of the ship, like the beating heart of a Dragon.

We would talk salted meats, cheese, bread. Mead, water and thickened blood clots mixed with oat. We fish and hunt when we near land, stopping to camp if the land is close. You could live out to sea on a boat a bit bigger than this.

[She nods, as he describes the quarters. She doesn't need them, but as he describes them, they do sound appealing. Being able to get away from the others into some sort of privacy is appreciated, and besides - Floki's people might be tough enough to get by without somewhere to rest, but they won't have that luxury here. Most of these people are soft and unused to months of rowing. She'll gladly work a slave to the bone to get what she needs when they're easy to replace, but here, these people need to be strong, well-rested, and of good morale to get her to her goal.]

Your people sound very impressive. I'm not sure the ones here are so used to that amount of work, and sleeping in the open - but they may have no choice. We'll simply have to pick the best to come along, and they will have to get used to it. You'll need ways to collect water, too, and an appreciation for fish! We may not come near land for a long time.

[ Floki didn't really like the idea of other people who he didn't know, using and living on his boat. Hopefully, she wouldn't want to set sail in any hurry just yet, let Floki get to know some more people here, see what he thought about them. ]

Te-hee, you're impressed by my people? Yet you have only known two of us? Thank you. But yes, it might be important to process through the best and even then we might not get what we need.

[ Floki smiled a little, he was well aware of what was needed for a long journey. He also knew how to find or collect drinkable water despite taking plenty with you. He had no doubts in his own abilities, but he doubted every single person he'd met here so far. ]

They sound impressive,

[she repeats, with a smirk. Hard to judge based on only two, he's right - although what he says matches up with what Ivar had told her, of their violence and tenacity. It's at least an indication of how they think of themselves, if not how they are in reality.]

Most of the mortal creatures here have never experienced the sort of hardship that you and your people seem to regularly endure, if you speak the truth. I look forward to seeing it with my own eyes.

Is that a challenge? To impress you? Te-Hee!

[ That was true, it was hard to judge by just meeting two, however she had met two of the best. Ivar the Boneless and Floki the Boatbuilder, two names that would have tales and fables told about them in years to come. ]

It is true, I doubt many if any of the other men here even have a single calloused finger between the lot of them.

We shall need to toughen them up. If they are to crew my precious Angrboða.

It can be.

[Said with a shrug. The name of his ship catches her attention, as he talks and as she continues to look it over, with all its beautiful woodwork.]

Angrboða? What does that mean?

[ Floki will gladly take the challenge up then! He liked having a reason to be. ]

Angrboða... The one who brings grief ... She-who-offers-sorrow. She was a beautiful Giantess.

[ And also the name of his departed daughter, Odin rest her soul. ]

A fitting name for a ship that will take a new Goddess into the unknown.

It's a beautiful name.

[And she certainly smiles at him calling her a goddess once again - but offers no humility or any attempt to downplay it, naturally.]

You have giants in your world too, then? What kinds?

[Have they arrived recently? She wants to ask - but she'll wait for his answer first.]

[ Floki smiled as she complimented the name he had chosen. Though, when she moved onto her questions, he dipped around the side of her, tracing fingers over the grooves he'd carved into the wood. ]

Yes. Frost Giants. They dwell in Jötunheimr, and try always to enter Asgard. Naughty Giants.

[ He actually liked the Giants, though others were often scared off by their size and history of being violent and boarish. ]

Frost Giants! I've never seen one myself, but we have those as well in the nearest material plane. Absolutely massive, from what I've heard.

[Isolationist, though, and those who see them are either welcomed guests or targets of their wrath, with little in between. Once certainly isn't likely to stumble across them on accident, with their homes on tall, remote mountaintops.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject