surely you have heard the story of

[valdyr]

WHO: Ubbe Ragnarsson
WHERE: Inn by the fireplace!
WHEN: Evening of 2/20
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: None! (Please warn for adult content or anything triggering)

---

Almost every evening since arriving, Ubbe goes to the hall most call the "Inn", which is somewhat appropriately named given most go in to gather and prepare food and eat. But the Viking goes for the fireplace and for the warmth it brings. He spends hours there, staring into the flames while it takes him back to many evenings at the Great Hall in Kattegat.

One thing he remembers well is how loud and busy it is when everyone comes together with men and women and children celebrating for many different reasons. Most times, it was the return of their people from successful raids and to feast and drink to the ones who had died glorious deaths in battle and earned their way into Valhalla to drink with Odin and Thor. They gathered to celebrate weddings and births and to honour traditions like Jól and Ostara.

It was a place that brought back a flood of memories for the displaced Viking.

Tonight, Ubbe remembers the stories told around the fire in the middle of the longhouse. The ones overheard by the men and women, their travels and the riches they came home with. The ones Floki would tell with such great enthusiasm and intensity in his eyes. It was the way he laughed while telling them that always seemed to make the tale a little scarier than it should be. But mostly, Ubbe remembers the way his father, Ragnar, told them to him and his brothers when they were young boys. His voice always seemed to bring life to them better than anyone else and that makes him smile.


[ Feel free to catch Ubbe quietly reminiscing or smiling in memory! Then sit down and let him tell you a story :) ]

Comments

[valdyr]

What Ubbe has come to find being there over the last month or so, is that there many people who prefer to keep to themselves when they aren't contributing to the settlement. But, then there has been a number of new ones that have arrived by way of the fountain and they had been settling in, just as he had been doing.

The Viking gives a nod that rolls into an easy shrug. "What sense is there in being angry over things I cannot change? I have what I need here. Don't you?"

[connatural]

Leaning back against the stone skirt of the fireplace, settling in comfortably there. It's an easy place for her to sit, see the door and the room, and soak in the warmth before she heads back out.

Ashley pauses to consider that, head cocking to one side. "Not entirely. Physically? Yeah, I've got enough, but I don't need much," she admits. "Emotionally, not so much." It's the honest truth without letting herself wallow in how bad it is without her mom there. "Already seen some of the stunts this place can pull, so not sure I'd call myself content either, but I'm not angry. Not over being here."

The jury's still out on those reasons that include her father. That's another story.

[valdyr]

While he listens, Ubbe can't really say he sympathizes. He's a man first, Viking second, but even still, emotions for him tend to be pretty basic and there isn't much that he left behind in Wessex that he can say he misses besides proper drink. And both he and Thor were fixing that.

"Not much one can do about that," Ubbe mentions idly with a small shrug. That was the obvious part. "And so we wait now to find out what these "Observers want from us."

That might be the most infuriating part in all this and he's sure everyone would agree.

[connatural]

"If they want anything at all," she points out, settling in comfortably, head canting to one side as she looks up at him. "I mean, wouldn't be the first time the entire experiment is just to see what we do, not that we do something in particular. Even with the kidnapping and weird future videos and all," she adds, still not sure what to make of the ability to do it, though she has her own theories. Shrugging even as she says it. 'For some I think it starts to become a thought of if we care, so long as others aren't harmed, or that they get back where they belong."

[valdyr]

It's a thought that makes no sense to him, really. Why bring them here for no reason. Even in talking to Leonardo during the first few days of being there presented an idea that they were cloned could make sense - if someone of his era could wrap their head around it. An absurd challenge for sure.

Ubbe gives a considerate nod as he looks from the fire to her.

"Do you care?" he asks, suspecting she does given her earlier answer.

[connatural]

"I care about taking care of those that need it," she says, meaning it despite knowing that there's many that don't need it, and a lot of others that would never admit if they did need anything. "I care that, if there is a life to get back to? We can get those that need to be back to their lives," she says, shrugging because there's so many what ifs. "Whether we're who we were or not though," she says, edging around those things many talk about, if only for the sake of others but she knows what she believes. She has reasons, knowledge of her life, and there's no reason to believe otherwise. Not for herself. "And if there's not a way? I care... You know, I care about the people of this village. We're all abnormals here, in one way or another, and I think we need one another to get through this." She was raised to be there for others, to help the underdog through so long as they weren't out to harm others for no reason. Ashley can't see any reason to do anything else here for as long as she can.