Network; @XXDARK_STARXX

[omniavincit]

WHO: William and WHATEVER STUPID HANDLE YOUR CHARACTER IS USING
WHAT: Breaking in the network.
WHERE: The information...two-lane country road.
WHEN: Whenever you like (pre- or post-event...or lmao during...is fine)!

[ If one of the handles William selected at random from his phone's perplexing contacts list belongs to you, congratulations! That device you slipped in your pocket? Or squinted at in confusion? Or immediately fumbled, if you're William and can't seem to shake your current spell of bad luck?

It makes a noise. ]

FROM: @xxDARK_STARxx

What do the shadows look like to you?

Comments

[ragnarsson]

Wolves big enough to swallow the sun, moon, and kill gods. The world serpent so big it fills the entire sea. Men who turn into wolves and bears and the undead ones who come back to life. Fire and ice giants. You know, usual things like that.

[Norse tales were not cheery in the slightest.]

[omniavincit]

Jormungandr, Fenrir, Skoll, Hati.

They look just as you'd imagined?

[ragnarsson]

Are you Norse?

[Consider Ivar impressed. He was sure there was no one here who understood what he was talking about. Bunch of filthy heathens.]

Just about. I was very imaginative as a child.

[Not much else to do but think when he couldn't move around for most of his life without help.]

[omniavincit]

No. But I grew up with those stories too. I had a book with beautiful drawings.

And I've been between realms.

What's your name? [ He has a guess, but he's short a letter. ]

[ragnarsson]

Impressive. You must tell me that tale at some point.

[If there's one thing Ivar likes almost as much as fighting, it's a good story.]

Ivar Ragnarsson. Ivar The Boneless to some.

[omniavincit]

[ He's all set to demur—he's used to scrambling for an interesting answer to "So what'd you do over the weekend?" It's been months, and his life—the scope of it—hasn't fully caught up with him. ]

I'd like that. In exchange, you could tell me of your exploits.

You carved your name in the ground, didn't you? I thought it might be a spell at first.

[ragnarsson]

I'd be glad to. You're the second person in this place to ask for a story.

[Not that he's complaining. Ivar will gladly tell tales of what happened in his life and that of his family. No one ever dies so long as there is someone around to tell a story about them.]

A spell? What do I look like, a sorcerer? What I wrote down was runes.

[omniavincit]

[ He has a pretty good guess who the other person was. ] They're in short supply. It'd be nice to change that.

I don't know what you look like. [ Might be a little early to start joking with the Viking, William. ] But that's how they started, right? Words were magic.

What do you think of all this?

[ragnarsson]

I am no storyteller, but I can still spin a tale upon occasion.

[Almost any Northman could, considering there wasn't much else to do in the winter besides tell stories and have sex to keep warm.] Words do have power in them, this is true. But they must be harnessed the right way.

I've never heard of a world that looked like this one, not in all my stories. But there appears to be many more then I ever thought possible.

[omniavincit]

[ Maybe he'll think back on this later and the phrasing will give him pause. Right now, though, it's a comfort and a relief—especially in a world where language seems to have been so carefully effaced. ] Would you teach me them? The runes.

Do you think we're still connected to Yggdrasil?

[ragnarsson]

I will if you wish. You are lucky. Most Norsemen don't know them.

[They were not a culture with a great written tradition. Runes were more used as symbols of power then anything else.]

All worlds connect to the great tree. If they didn't, everything would collapse inwards until there was nothing left.