#Vikings and prejudice

[tyrannuspitch]

thinking about odin losing his eye.

the thing is, it's heavily implied that he lost it in the fight with laufey. it's an open wound in that scene, and it's surrounded by gouges that look forceful, not like a willing sacrifice on odin's part... but it's still not an entirely typical battle wound. it's easy to see how an eye might be damaged in the course of battle; it's harder to see how an eye socket might end up fully empty while its owner still stands.

it could be that laufey was trying to get to kill odin by getting to his brain through his eye, but he didn't manage it, and the eye was just scooped out when he pulled whatever pointed weapon he used back.

but it could also be that, at some point, laufey had odin pinned down, and he chose to do something painful and punitive rather than finishing him off straight away. (and even that he comes close to recreating this in the climax of t1.)

which, to me, seems to imply that odin and laufey's hatred is a very bitter and personal one... and also that there might be an old bond buried underneath it. laufey had the chance to kill odin, and he didn't make sure to take it... and later, odin has laufey pinned, and he doesn't choose to kill him either.

this moment also has multiple echoes among odin's children: loki (allegedly) gouges out a man's eye on an altar in the avengers, in a moment where he is notably imitating both laufey and odin, and representing their similarities. hela gouges out thor's eye in ragnarok, and hela is representative of many of odin's forgotten crimes, which could suggest that this was an asgardian move first (and would certainly make sense with their association with ravens!)

so perhaps:

laufey chose to take odin's eye specifically because odin had done that to others himself; it's a symbol of vengeance, hypocrisy, and symmetry.

at least a little of the love in loki and thor's love-hate relationship is also an echo of their fathers.

we could even take this further, and say that the sacrifice in the loss of the eye could even be the death of odin's relationship with laufey... and perhaps taking in laufey's unwanted child was partly a reaction to that loss.

hmmmmm

[bargainsleuthbooks]

The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery) by Claudia Gray #ARC #BookReview #NewBooks #JaneAusten

There's a new mystery featuring Jane Austen's characters' children. I thoroughly enjoyed #TheMurderofMrWickham, would it be the same for #TheLateMrsWilloughby #NetGalley #ARC #BookReview #Jane Austen #newbooks #MrDarcyandMissTilneyMystery #vikingbooks

Catherine and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their eligible young daughter Juliet out into the world again: the last house party she attended, at the home of the Knightleys, involved a murder—which Juliet helped solve. Particularly concerning is that she intends to visit her new friend Marianne Brandon, who’s returned home to Devonshire shrouded in fresh…

[thebaldergatescandal]

re: blackstarion

once upon a time I had a OC in world of warcraft, she was an undead, she was bleach white (with messy purple liberty spikes), she had been very intentionally preserved in undeath to be a bit doll-like, she was an action girl in contrast to that, but I went along and eventually realizing I was leaning too heavily on the white/pale=innocent trope, and I didn't have to be and I tried some designs where she was all over bog-mummy ebony instead (with messy purple bantu knots), and you know what, that was more fun to draw, and didn't really add or detract from what had become by then the major themes of her character.

(moving on from a limited set of aspirations while also genuinely mourning them(drama), trusting people who shouldn't be trusted (comedy), and making big explosions)

Experiment with the way they don't need to be default white.

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

a list of some autumnal movies/series 🍂

i am nothing if not an organised little goblin who can not stop themself from making a good list. this is just in case you want something with that fall vibe but can't think of any. just close your eyes and point somewhere on this little list, or even put the numbers in a generator and go with whatever the result is ♡

winter | spring | summer

🥧 ‧₊˚ ⋅ movies ⋅˚₊‧

nosferatu (1922) 

rosemary’s baby (1968)

halloween franchise (1978-)

friday the 13th franchise (1980-)

an american werewolf in london (1981)

a nightmare on elm street (1984)

ronja rövardotter (1984)

clue (1985)

princess bride (1987)

dead poets society (1989)

when harry met sally (1989)

hocus pocus (1993)

addams family values (1993)

interview with a vampie (1994)

the craft (1996)

the first wifes club (1996)

the scream franchise (1996-)

halloweentown (1998)

practical magic (1998)

you’ve got mail (1998)

the blair witch project (1999)

sleepy hollow (1999)

chocolat (2000)

amelie (2001)

the lord of the rings franchise (2001-2003)

scooby doo (2002)

pirates of the caribbean franchise (2003-2017)

north & south (2004)

pride and prejudice (2005)

the descent (2005)

the devil wears prada (2006)

el orfanato (2007)

the edge of love (2008)

twilight (2008)

julie & julia (2009)

jennifer’s body (2009)

dorian gray (2009)

coraline (2009)

true grit (2010)

the cabin in the woods (2011)

the odd life of timothy green (2012)

the conjuring franchise (2013-)

what we do in the shadows (2014)

the riot club (2014)

as above so below (2014)

the age of adaline (2015)

the witch (2015)

mary shelly (2017)

murder on the orient express (2017)

get out (2017)

a quiet place (2018 + 2020)

the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (2018)

on the basis of sex (2018)

knives out (2019)

little women (2019)

the gentlemen (2019)

emma (2020)

ammonite (2020)

the dig (2021)

the batman (2022)

🧦 ‧₊˚ ⋅ series ⋅˚₊‧

gilmore girls (2000-2007)

outlander (2014-)

anne with on e (2017-2019)

queens gambit (2020)

moomin (1990-1992)

a discovery of witches (2018-2022)

virgin river (2019-)

supernatural (2005-2020)

shadow and bone (2021-)

vampire diaries (2009-2017)

stranger things (2016-)

the chilling adventures of sabrina (2018-2020)

once upon a time (2011-2018)

vikings valhalla (2022-)

peaky blinders (2013-2022)

downton abbey (2010-2015)

poldark (2015-2019)

dickinson (2019-2021)

killing eve (2018-2022)

ghost files/buzzfeed unsolved (2016-)

critical role (2015-)

lucifer (2016-2021)

the walking dead (2010-2022)

criminal minds (2005-2020, 2022-)

i’ll be gone in the dark (2020)

buffy the vampire slayer (1997-2003)

how to get away with murder (2014-2020)

the good fight (2017-2022)

american horror story (2011-)

teen wolf (2011-2017)

[undiscovered-horizon]

Hello there :) please could I request something for Vikings with a female reader if possible. Where the reader (a shieldmaiden) meets the ragnarssons for the first time after being taken in by Ragnar when her parents are killed, and they start developing feelings for her later on? 💙

Hey! Thought that making this into headcanons/preferences would be the best format, message me if you want a full work where I elaborate!🌺

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀

Vikings preference: Falling for a shieldmaiden taken in by Ragnar

Bjorn A little rough around the edges, at first - you're a complete stranger, after all. Maybe he criticizes your posture one day and you're more than willing to make him prove his 'superiority'. Whether you win or lose is not as important as the sole fact that you were a challenge for him, although he might not outright admit that. Despite being a shieldmaiden and Bjorn having witnessed your abilities first-hand, he still perceives you as a woman first - the burden of upbringing, one might say. Because of that, he often tries to fight your battles for you, both on the battlefield and outside of it. Most of the time it's small things: bringing you this, giving you that. He definitely might come off as overbearing at times but there's no malice in his heart - Bjorn genuinely believes he's doing the right thing. The downside is that even your stern words might not knock off his habits (the two of you fought numerous times about his overprotective attitude). That protective side of him comes out especially strong during cold winter months when he needs to be extra sure that you're well-fed and warm. In his hot and cold attitude, you find irrefutable proof of his affection. After all, what else if not love could bring warmth and care out of a man known for his dauntlessness and reserved attitude? Bjorn puts his fondness into words in a very peculiar manner: suggesting your possible gains. In other terms, he hints at all the goods you'd have and the shortages you wouldn't suffer if he could have your hand. See that pile of wood that's going to last you for at least a month? Or the furs on your bed that are just enough to stay warm on a freezing winter night? Without half-truths and subtext, Bjorn assures you that he could provide you so much more. Although 'could' should be read as 'wants to' - a desire he's determined to fulfil only if you agree to be his.

Ubbe The one who actually talks to you first, with no expectations or prejudice. Even if he did have those, he's capable of looking past them and making a fair judgement only after getting to know you. At first he's a little uncomfortable with the situation and your person because you're kind of like a sister but not really? That apprehension doesn't last long, however: he's a little too smitten with you. To his own surprise, your presence makes the long absence of his father a little easier to bear - Ragnar didn't leave on a whim, he had a reason to do so and it was a good reason. If the other Ragnarsons treat you with malice, thinking of you as the sole reason they had to grow up fatherless, Ubbe is always ready to step in and de-escalate the situation. In some way, he's similar to Bjorn in expressing his affection in the sense of being protective. Ubbe perceives you as a woman, a woman he loves to be exact, and only then a warrior, despite getting a taste of your skills on his own. Just like his half-brother, he'd try to do things for you, deal with the mundane burdens of everyday life; he only cares about you. The thing that sets them apart is Ubbe's willingness to stand back - once he knows you can stand your ground, he lets go a little, although reluctantly. Another thing is that he already acts like your husband despite being yet to earn that title: always being in your vicinity, fighting any men who try to woo you, thinking ahead and gifting you anything you might need in the near future. Whenever his training alongside his brothers, Ubbe tends to tease them saying that you're better than them. Whether that is true or just brotherly spitefulness is yet to be determined. When the moment comes and Ubbe confesses his affections, he's very straight-forward, telling you how much you mean to him.

Hvitserk Curious and fascinated - you're pretty and courageous. Even if you end up rejecting him (a possibility he doesn't think is realistic), you seem like a great person to be around. He's friendly from day one. Keeps hinting at his romantic interest in you through smooth, sublime and yet unambiguous remarks, so there is no doubt about his intentions. In an attempt to spend more time with you, Hvitserk offered to join you in training. Clashing swords and breadth-of-hair ducks were not enough to stop his flirting (you had this growing suspicion that he's also unnecessarily touchy - not that you were one to complain). The only difference from his daily sweet talk was that with a sword in his hand, Hvitserk's words became vividly more explicit. Some of them caught you off guard but once the surprise washed away, you realized you had nothing against those generous offers becoming true. Even if his brothers are also interested in you, he doesn't see them as a competition or a threat of any sort. His approach wouldn't be a surprise to anyone who had even once seen you two together - there was no chance any other Ragnarson could sweep you off your feet. Truth be told, you knew Hvitserk's feelings before he told you, although it should be clarified that he didn't explicitly confess his affections: during a quite intimate moment, in bed and under furs, he suddenly asked you to marry him. Relationship-wise, out of all the Ragnarsons Hvitserk is the one to treat you the most equally to him.

Sigurd Begins to be interested in you simply because his brothers were. Then he noticed your ambivalence towards Ivar and how much it was pissing the youngest brother off and Sigurd was instantly on board - he might yet find an ally in you. Out of the Ragnarssons, he is the most invisible brother and so he didn't quite expect to pique your interest. To his surprise, you're the one to accost him, asking about living in Kattegat and the family reputation he has to hold up. Not to mention all the prince's responsibilities he has to suffer. From your own words, Sigurd learned that, just like him, you're not one for big crowds and front rows, preferring to stray from the eye of the storm that so often seemed to emerge around Ragnar and his sons. He finally found someone who understood his perspective and not only that - they shared it. The two of you are often disappearing somewhere together and the general population of Kattegat quite quickly catches on but you and Sigurd care little about those rumours. Definitely spent hours upon hours coming up with a wax poetic ballad about you. He put himself in one of the verses describing his growing fondness for you. Luckily for him, he won't have to change the verse about the shieldmaiden loving some guy named Sigurd back.

Ivar Acts like he doesn't care and tries to make himself believe that mainly because deep inside he had immediately dismissed the possibility of you being interested in him. You've heard stories of course but a certain degree of scepticism is a trait of a good warrior - it keeps you level-headed. Once when you were sitting on the pier, enjoying a moment of solitude, Ivar approached you only to ask about his father. After all, you'd spent more time with Ragnar than he did, even if he wasn't your actual parent. While sharing stories about the famous Ragnar Lothbrok, Ivar noticed that you're neither apprehensive nor fearful of him. In a way, it upsets him - he found himself in a situation where he doesn't have the upper hand. But this surprising and wholly unwelcome vulnerability didn't backfire. Truthfully, the longer you talked about the legend of Ragnar Lothbrok, the more Ivar wished you would stop talking about his father and simply talk about yourself. Except for his parents, you were the only person whose presence he didn't completely detest and Ivar was yet to make an opinion on how that made him feel. He definitely hates seeing you interact with his brothers as he naively thought that he was the only recipient of your sympathies and it's exactly that lack of exclusivity that makes him go out on a limb and make less-than-ambiguous remarks that you happily reciprocate. Sometimes, when he can't sleep at night, Ivar climbs onto his father's throne and dwells on various fantasies of glory and bloodshed. In those dreams, there's always a place for you - a brave and beautiful shieldmaiden that rides into battle by his side and gives birth to his children, who go on to become kings, emperors and conquerors.

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

The most annoying thing about the Rings of Power boycott is people ignoring why there's one in the first place.

No, actually, it's Not irrelevant that Good Omens, The Boys, Vox Machina, The Wheel of Time, The Expanse, Invincible, Vikings and everything else on Amazon's platform didn't get boycott too.

It's actually Very Significant that those shows didn't get this level of backlash.

Because people didn't decide they suddenly cared more about Amazon being evil than they did about these stories.

They decided "Amazon is evil" was a good excuse for their prejudice.

Because heaven forbid People of Color exist anywhere white people don't want us to.

[dresshistorynerd]

Dress History Corner Navigation

Welcome to the corner of the interned where I nerd about (mostly) Western dress history! This is the post I will update with all my more structured and researched articles. I have the same navigation on my blog, but it's only for the browser so I figured it would be useful to have navigation that work for the app too.

Some basics

An Introductory Timeline Of Western Women's Fashion

How I do my research into dress history

Dress History

Lacing in Western Fashion History

Dress Etiquette Thorough Western History

When Did It Become Acceptable For Western Women To Wear Pants?

When Did Skirts Stop Being Acceptable For Western Men To Wear?

Is Lingerie Going Backwards - A Rebuttal

The history of showing your boobs for fashion

Victorian Era

A summary of different kinds of corsets

Historical Finnish Clothing of Modern Period

Victorian Dress For Every Occasion - 1890s Edition

1890s Day Dresses

American Civil War era (1861-65) ball gown

Regency

Debunking the common narrative about Beau Brummel - The whole modern men's fashion is not the fault of One Guy

Gender non-conforming Regency styles

18th century

The Colonial History of How Cotton Became the Most Important Fabric

Mantua And It's Variants

Northern Italian countryside fashion in late 18th century.

Working Class Clothing In Late 18th Century France

Early Modern Era

Deep Dive into 15th and 16th Century Working Class Fashion in Western Europe

Medieval Era

Late 14th to Early 15th Century Bohemian and German Men's Fashion

Construction of Men's Hose

Codpiece

Construction of the French hood

Iron Age

Viking and Crusader Age Finnish men's dress

Historical Sewing

Sewing Medieval Bathhouse Dress

Historical Costuming

History of the Fantasy Corset

Met Gala 2022 Costume Commentary

Pride and Prejudice 2005 Costume Analysis

Ranking Men's Costumes in Renaissance Period Dramas - Part I: The Bad

Ranking Men's Costumes in Renaissance Period Dramas - Part II: The Good

Textiles

Hemp's properties

Sustainability

How to see through the greenwashing propaganda of the fashion industry - Case study 1: Shein

The Real Cost of the Fashion Industry

Architectural History

History of Sauna and Steam Baths

Historical Queer Figures

Julie d'Aubigny

History

Palestinian History Between Great Powers

European History Is Not White

Tag Navigation

#answers

#resources

Primary sources

#primary sources

#extant garment

#photograph

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#fashion plate

Pinterest Boards

Victorian Fashion

[procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics]

timetraveling!vikings + modern tv/movies

Summary: how timetraveling!vikings characters would react to modern tv/movies

Notes: took a while for me to write this, but i still hope everyone enjoys :)

Taglist: @leithdragon @demon-of-the-ancient-world @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie @alicedopey, @ivarlover @levithestripper @batmandallyboy (hmu to be added!!)

based on this request | Masterlist | requests are OPEN!

Ragnar

Ragnar loves TV

ESPECIALLY reality tv

Lives for the drama

Heartbroken when you tell him it’s scripted

Never recovers

Big on Euphoria (is team Maddy, obviously)

Lagertha

Freaked out at the TV

She’d rather experience all that stuff herself

Does like watching a movie sometimes, but it can’t be too sci-fi

Beats up filmbros if they come at Pride and Prejudice

Aslaug

She loves true crime

Sits down with a glass of wine she can periodically sip

Shakes her head at narrators that are boring

If you say true crime is lame, you’re banned from eating from her charcuterie board

Yes she makes them herself, yes they are perfect

Bjorn

Freaked out by the TV

Once he calms down he starts to like the mcu (derogatory)

‘there’s just too much wokeness’

Stfu Bjorn

Ubbe

Adores sitcoms

Especially modern family and derry girls

There’s just something about them

It’s totally not the non-toxic chaotic family vibes

Tunes in for them on weekends

Hvitserk

He really likes the Mandalorian and the Witcher

It’s totally not the gruff warrior unexpectedly adopting a young child

(please someone write this fic with Hvitserk)

He demands a baby yoda plushie

Cries whenever adoptee gets separated from dad

Totally does not live on the found family tag on ao3 (ofc he reads fanfic he’s not uncivilized)

Sigurd

One word: FLEABAG

Religiously (haha) watches this show

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a god amongst men

HAIR. IS. EVERYTHING.

Also cries for three hours after watching everything, everywhere, all at once (same, and also, this movie is so good)

Ivar

HE IS NOT AFRAID OF HORROR MOVIES, GOT IT???

HE’S A MAN AND A VIKING

Screams at jumpscares, throws the snacks in shock

Loves the BCU (what is that you may ask? The Barbie Cinematic Universe, obviously)

Deeply relates to Raquelle in Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse

Don’t tell him you know he watches it or you won’t wake up tomorrow

Helga

Watches baking shows with Hvitserk

They have a whole ritual around it, and they never EVER miss it

Not even when there’s major events going down

Power outage? You bet Hvitserk has a fully charged powerbank to livestream the show with his mobile data

Helga bakes the treats from the prior week and eats them while watching

Floki

Watches the weird conspiracy shows that run at like 11pm

Fully believes them

Get him away from the TV

Like literally. He already is a flat earther, you don’t need to add to that

[gerec]

Hi! I have always adored your rec. Do you have cherik period fic rec? :) thank you <3

Anon if you're still hanging around (and I hope you are), I have some wonderful period fic recs for you! This fandom has an abundance of great aus, and it's pretty impossible to rec them all on one list. I'll do my best to give you a good mix of different periods and hope you find something there to enjoy :D

Here is a post that has a number of great fandom classics! (sorry a couple might have been removed from ao3 but most are still there) terrible with the brightness of gold by brawlingdiscontent

The war is lost.

With the futures of his people and his children at stake, former Crown consort Charles of Normandy awaits the arrival of England's new master, the fearsome Viking warrior, Erik Lehnsherr. (Inspired by 11th century historical events)

First Impressions by sirona

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a spouse -- or the nearest set of curtains to hide behind, if you were to believe Mr Charles Xavier. Little does he know that he himself will soon put test to that very truth.

let's pretend I'm holding your hand by primetime

"Shaw is King, Charles is his royal consort and Erik is a Knight/Lord. Shaw is sterile but his kingdom can't find out, so he asks Erik to impregnate Charles. He doesn't know Erik and Charles are in love. Regency AU."

Roses & Cinnamon by TurtleTotem

Charles Xavier lost more than his leg in the war with Napoleon, and the man he's just pulled out of the water has ghosts of his own -- especially when Charles's involuntary projected hallucinations prove catching. Raven, meanwhile, faces the choice of whether to marry respectably or run away with a carnival fortune-teller.

Pride & Prejudice - Rip it from my hands by Synekdokee

“Say you forgive me,” Erik whispered, his breath warm against the skin of Charles’ neck.

Charles stood quietly by the window, looking past their reflections out into the yard.

“You made your feelings quite clear,” he said, stepping away from Erik.

Erik grasped his wrist hard, refusing to let Charles walk away.

“Please.”

All the King's Man by Pookaseraph

In an effort to get out from under the thumb of his step-father, Charles chooses to become a courtesan for several minor nobles in King Erik's court. It is not long before he attracts the eye of the young king, and the Cardinal who holds the young king's ear. Charles spends months working to secure his place as King Erik's favorite and to regain his father's title of Merchant Prince. Charles hopes to disprove the old adage that once you enter the king's bed, you have nowhere to go but down.

The Marriage Bargain by kianspo

Erik Lehnsherr had made a fortune manufacturing steel in Europe. When he wished to expand to the New World, he discovered that no one would do business with him unless he was affiliated with one of the First Families, the creme de la creme of the NW aristocracy. When Lord Marko holds an auction to give away his 14-year-old stepson's hand in marriage, Erik sees his chance and takes it. He has no interest in Charles himself, but now that he has him, can they make it work?

A September as Sunny as Spring by Black_Betty, ikeracity, keire_ke

Charles Xavier was part of a famous vaudeville act before an accident cost him his career and his ability to walk. He's pulled together a new life as a musician in Hollywood, but is finding it difficult to navigate his feelings for his old friend and partner, Erik Lehnsherr, the most sought after matinee idol of their generation.

Famous film duo Frost and Lehnsherr are two of the most well-known and admired mutants in the public eye, having built their fame and fortune on silent film blockbusters.When the rise of the new "talking pictures" phenomenon threatens all their careers, they must band together to try to prove that their days of stardom are far from over.

And a couple by me for your consideration:

The Master of Charlton Park by Gerec

On the brink of losing his ancestral home, omega Charles Xavier agreed to do the unthinkable; he would sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his family, and bear a child for a married alpha and his mate.

But Charles never expected that alpha to be Erik Lehnsherr, with whom he shared an impossible love and undeniable passion.

All of You and All of Me by Gerec

Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto is King of Genosha, forty-three and the veteran of countless wars against the British Empire.

Charles Xavier is his new husband, in a marriage arranged by the King of England as part of the peace treaty between their two kingdoms.

Logan Howlett is Charles' long time friend and bodyguard, in a secret love affair with the married Prince Consort.

[otwdfanfic]

Oh and also 7 so you can indulge in talking about your ocs (the beloved beans)!! <333

I ended up busy all day yesterday so I decided to add some little drawings to spice up my reply <3 I'm gonna resist yapping about Baldur and Cato for this one, and I'm gonna save our sweet Bjorn and Eret for later yaps. Instead I decided to focus on some other dragon hunter OCs!

People who have read OTWD might remember Sikka for her antler hood or nadder spear, but under the hood she's got incredible tattoos called tunniit. Tunniit are part of the Inuit tattooing tradition that Eret’s tattoos were inspired by. In real life they’re typically seen on women, and these days a lot of women are getting them again to keep their traditions alive, so I decided that based on Eret’s I would give each northern tribe their own kakiniit that identify their tribal affiliation and family. Since our httyd northern tribes live in the Arctic between Greenland and Russia, I figure the tradition probably spread from Greenland! The forehead portion is similar triangle shape for everyone in Sikka’s tribe and represent antlers (there might be variations in exact design based on the family). The chin portion represents one's individual role or honors a family member. Sikka's represents a herder tracking the hoofprints of a reindeer, and her mother had the same. She belongs to the Reindeer Tribe of Reindeer Valley, near Griselda's Fortress and was only 16 when she joined Cato's crew (she's ~21 in OTWD). Griselda refused to hire her at first bc her mother had ended up in a terrible, fatal conflict with one of Griselda's top men that caused controversy between her tribe and the hunting operation, but Cato insisted on giving her a chance. He's extremely proud of her skill and loyalty, and she loves him like a brother, so betraying him in OTWD was not an easy decision. The moment he realizes Sikka's abandoned him is when he decides our heroes have really got to pay, bc he hasn't just lost a payday or even his second chance with Gustav but also his horned shadow. I'm SO excited to see her again in Into the Polar Night, she's going to have a very important role and I think it'll surprise everyone. Hopefully it won't be too long before I post a playlist for her <3

The other two OCs here will only appear in Gustav's short which is tentatively titled How To Hunt Your Dragon LOL

Ragnall is the quartermaster of the Goregutter, the first hunting ship that Gustav and Cato work on, and he's essentially Gustav's boss despite not being much older than him. He manages the ship and deck for the captain Harald Bloodaxe, who handles the business side like choosing where to port and hunt. Ragnall does hunt dragons but he doesn't manage the dragon hold where they're kept, that's up to a slavic man named Wyrmhart (Cato's boss). His mother was the witch Skuld, and he grew up working whaling boats in Thunderhead Bay, and some of the men grumble that he practices witchcraft. He's strict but generally fair, and likes Gustav just because he's a high quality sailor relative to a lot of the hunters. On the other hand, he despises the mainland vikings who are converting to christianity and their christian Saxon neighbors, so he's particularly prejudiced against Cato, who barely even speaks fluent norse at this point (if he'd bother to ask, he'd learn that Cato isn't a christian, but you know how prejudices are). Ragnall is pretty important to the overall OTWD series for a few different reasons actually, so I can't wait to write his story. I think everyone will find it shocking and fun hehe >:)

Siraj is the 19 year old son of an extremely wealthy trade lord from Marrakesh who pays to bring a lot of Griselda's cargo through the Mediterranean. He's apprenticing under Harald and Ragnall to learn the ropes (literally) of sailing and managing a trade business because his father wants him to have practical knowledge before taking over the business, since he's been raised in a very privileged and comfortable life. He went to university in Marrakesh, so he speaks multiple languages and really boggles Gustav's mind with his knowledge haha. He's really sociable and is Gustav's first friend on the Goregutter, they have a fun gang of friends. The only thing he's not involved with is the actual dragon hunting, since that has nothing to do with running a trade empire. He does go home after his time on the Goregutter so he isn't involved in the plot of ITPN or TOTG, but I imagine that he keeps traveling all over the Silk Road and making friends everywhere before taking over his dad's business.

Whew that was some MAJOR yapping but I'm so glad for the chance to talk about some of my dragon hunters. A lot of the hunters are just background people to me, like the background Berserkers, and I don't really consider them OCs, but these three definitely are <33 my actual reaction to this ask:

[tyrannuspitch]

been thinking about worldbuilding and. oh my god guys. i know it's a throwaway joss whedon line, but even so... i think bilgesnipe might be jotun wildlife, not asgardian.

what do we know about bilgesnipe?

they have an insulting-sounding name, which at first glance inspection doesn't make much sense. normally, a "snipe" is a small game bird. this could just be a sort of joke, like a tall man nicknamed "tiny", but it could also imply that asgardians see these creatures primarily as things to shoot at. (fun fact: the word "sniper" actually comes from the amount of skill it takes to shoot snipe! bilgesnipe definitely aren't small targets, but they might still be hard to take down.)

meanwhile, "bilge" means the bottom of a ship, and the water that gathers inside it. this might imply that these creature live somewhere dirty... or that they tend to try to sink ships? (let's also remember that asgardian ships often travel the air, not the sea.)

thor summarises bilgesnipe as: "huge, scaly, big antlers". this doesn't precisely match the jotun creature we see in t1 (which i've taken to calling a dragon, for lack of other terms), but it's close. that creature is the size of a whale, with hairless, leathery blue skin and spines down its back - which could easily lead to the misconception that it was scaly. between this creature and the jotuns themselves, massive size and tough skin seem like they might be typical traits of species from jotunheim.

thor calls bilgesnipe destructive and repulsive, and uses them as an example of "uncivilised" behaviour. this reflects asgardian attitudes towards the jotun people, but it's an unusual level of animosity to hold towards an animal - especially considering that aggressive megafauna, even "exotic" ones, are often valorised by hyper-military cultures (all those european coats of arms with lions and tigers...), unless they're frequently in direct opposition.

so what is this opposition? IRL the mediaeval norse has an ambivalent relationship to wolves, because wolves preyed on their livestock. but bilgesnipes have antlers, which, at least on earth, are a herbivore trait. deer/etc can be aggressive when competing for mates or defending their young, but the danger is simple enough to avoid if you just stay out of their way. they're rarely seen as monsters for it...

but large herbivores are very often domesticated as beasts of burden - horses, donkeys, llamas, camels, elephants, and in the arctic, reindeer. and, depending on social context and the hardiness of the animals themselves, some of these beasts of burden go on to be used in warfare.

we already know that jotuns have domesticated large carnivores for military use (or maybe, originally, hunting) - specifically, they run down enemy foot-soldiers like prey on command. it's not a stretch to say there might be other species jotuns use for other military purposes.

SO. specifically. i think bilgesnipe could be giant jotun war-deer, trained to rake and crash low-flying enemy ships ("bilge"-snipe), and to stampede enemy armies ("destroy everything in their path".)

of course, the phrase (idiom?) "battling like bilgesnipe" itself could very easily refer to some natural phenomenon like rutting stags, as a metaphor for hypermasculine competitiveness, rather than anything about the animals in a real military context... but the way thor describes these creatures and the extreme negative attitude he takes to them still feel like something more to me. (and it's just more fun that way.)

(and finally, since it didn't flow above: thor assumes that midgard has, or at least knows about, bilgesnipe. and yes, this could be read as implying they're a completely everyday animal to thor, and therefore asgardian - but i would argue it could also go the other way: they're an exotic-but-familiar creature to him, like lions to a european, and he's carelessly conflating his "lesser realms", like a european thinking lions live in "the jungle".)

[reviewinghiccup]

RIDERS OF BERK | HTTYD SERIES | A CLOSING

Hey guys! Sorry for the week long hiatus, I had so many unexpected events to deal w that no time could be had for updating this blog.

^ me the whole week tbh ANYWAYS! I do think that we can announce the winners of Part I and Part II of the Polls! [Unless something changes in 4 hours and a day! HAHA! Which, might be safe to say it wont.]

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

RIDERS OF BERK POLL (1) - Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man

RIDERS OF BERK POLL (2) - When Lightning Strikes

Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man was a landslide win. I mean, I get why. It showcased that tender relationship between Stoick and Hiccup, it played w Hiccup's confidence and identity and realising the gifts that make him different is what makes him great. And Stoick also learning to put aside his traditional prejudices to appreciate Hiccup's uniqueness.

When Lightning Strikes was another strong win. It dealt w the village's strong impudent views, Hiccup's resolve to save Toothless, Stoick finally standing up for Toothless and Hiccup. Though, Thawfest and Breakneck Bog tally slightly behind with an almost equal number of votes.

The thing these 4 episodes have in common is that it deals w intricacies of family ties and relationships. Hiccup and Stoick, Hiccup and his mother, Hiccup and Toothless, Spitelout and Snotlout. They play around w the theme of togetherness and acceptance. To live and let live. And I get why that hits.

Admittedly, I thought that Animal House and How to Pick Your Dragon would garner more votes for the 1st round of Polls. Those were my honourable mentions for 1st round but I get why Heather Report came in second. It was the fire test of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship and much more.

And for the 2nd round of Polls I was banking on Thawfest to win. Haha! Regardless, I am just so glad that many of you took part in these polls and have continued reading and sharing my work.

If you guys are new to the blog and want to read up on all my reviews, you can find them all here:

Episode 1: How to Start a Dragon Academy

Episode 2: Viking for Hire

Episode 3: Animal House Episode 4: Terrible Twos Episodes 5 & 6 : In Dragons we Trusts | Alvin and the Outcasts Episode 7: How to Pick Your Dragon

Episode 8: Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man

Episode 9: Dragon Flower

Episodes 10 & 11: Heather Report

Episode 12: Thawfest

Episode 13: When Lightning Strikes

Episode 14: What Flies Beneath

Episodes 15 & 16: Twinsanity & Defiant One

Episode 17: Breakneck Bog

Episode 18: Gem of a Different Colour

Episodes 19 & 20: We are Family

HAPPY READING!

[moonchildreads]

small town

Chapter 18 - I Know There's Something Going On

IN THIS CHAPTER: Pride and Prejudice, viking braids, and Dottie is forced to come clean [5.9k]

WARNINGS: vague foreshadowing but honestly this one is pretty cute

A/N: i'm back, friends!!!! i noticed that the extras i thought i had scheduled to pop up while i was gone ended up nowhere? i don't know what happened lol i'm a grandma when it comes to these things but i'll post them eventually! you'll get one more recipe and a playlist for the inconvenience. thank you for waiting for me so patiently, this chapter picks up right where we left the previous one. enjoy!

masterlist - prev - next | playlist

I know what you think and what's in your mind So darling, look, why pretend

Saturday, May 24th - 1986

As soon as one Eddie Munson rang the doorbell on that overcast Saturday afternoon, Auntie Rachel and Aunt Mary Elizabeth immediately perked up. The Hellfire teens had hung out for far longer than they’d originally planned to the previous night, leaving the women to retreat to their shared guest room before they could talk to their niece about the very evident candle she was carrying for the eldest boy in their friend group. Still, they’d discussed it between themselves plenty to make sure they were both on the same page before any conversation took place, reaching a fairly reasonable conclusion: Eddie seemed to be a really nice guy, but he needed to be observed more to figure out his intentions before encouragement to proceed was given to their niece. Nobody needed a repeat of Junior Prom ‘85 and the events that followed, least of all Dottie.

The women took it upon themselves to keep an eye out for the kids throughout the day, which proved to be quite hard when they relegated themselves to the quiet solitude of Dottie’s bedroom, books spread out on every available surface and barely exchanged words for the Aunts to eavesdrop on. The teens worked in organized patterns: Eddie would review his Sociology notes while Dottie put the finishing touches on her final AP Research paper, she’d go through her Calc worksheets again as Eddie read up on his Latin vocab lists. They would put one subject down and move to the next one every half an hour or so, rarely interrupting each other’s concentration unless it was to ask for a pen or a glass of water that was just too far out of their own reach. Auntie Rachel was the first one to waddle her way up the stairs after too many minutes of apparent silence, only to find Eddie sitting on the windowsill with half of his body outside, a Biology textbook propped open on a cushion to keep it within his view while he smoked. Dottie was lying on her front on the circular rug, matching Psychology questions to their answers written on flashcards spread out around her. Rachel offered them snacks, they declined politely, and she went back down with exhausted defeat settling in her bones.

At around four, the women were starting to get antsy. James was strangely nonchalant, bustling around the house doing random chores that had been neglected all week without paying any attention to the teens upstairs, and Rachel had had enough of the mystery.

“What if you bring them cookies or something like that? Prompt them to talk to you,” she suggested to Mary Elizabeth who was lying on an armchair while rubbing circles on her belly.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. They really are studying very hard, I mean, the door is wide open and you can’t even hear them whisper.”

“Do you think they’re hiding something?”

“Like what? Do you think they are dating in secret?” Mary Elizabeth snorted. “James would know.”

“Would he?”

“Rach. James always knows. He reads her like she’s an open book, that girl can’t lie to her Dad to save her own life.”

“I just… she’s different, you know? It’s only been a few months but she’s not the Dorothy we sent away in January.”

“She’s growing up, Rach. We’re just gonna have to accept that our baby isn’t really a baby anymore. And if she likes this boy, well, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I don’t want her to get hurt again,” Rachel gave up trying to hear anything from the doorway and sat on the couch near where her friend was sitting.

“What are you two gossiping about now?” James asked, coming in from the backyard through the kitchen.

“Do you trust that kid?” Rachel said, straight to the point.

“Eddie? Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He hasn’t given me any reason not to.”

“Jamie.”

“Rach.”

“What Rachel wants to know is if Dottie is safe with him,” Mary Elizabeth translated. “Has he said anything? Is he interested in her?”

“He says she’s important to him.”

Before they could inquire further about what that meant, the teens in question came bounding down the stairs, Eddie carrying a small book in his hands. Dottie waved a paddle hair brush around as she talked about an intricate hairstyle she’d seen in a magazine, the boy looked at her with interest as he followed her to the kitchen. They moved around the island together like a well-oiled machine: he got two old enamel mugs from a cupboard and set them on a big wooden tray while she filled a snack platter with various pieces of fruit, nuts, and assorted cookies and crackers. Eddie opened the fridge to get a large jug of apple Kool-Aid and a jar of creamy peanut butter, setting them in front of her before retrieving a big spoon and offering it to Dottie. She scooped a big spoonful out of the jar and put it in a little bowl next to sliced green apples, swatting his hand in warning when he tried to sneak a few grapes from her creation before it was ready to be consumed. He recoiled like he’d been mortally wounded, and she wheezed, offering him the used spoon instead.

“We’re gonna go outside for a bit!” Dottie announced, her voice carrying through the overpass window into the living room.

“Okay! You need anything?” James asked, already knowing her answer.

“No, we’re good!” she turned to Eddie, who was carrying the heavy tray with ease. “D’you need help with that?”

“I’ve got it. Just open the door for us, princess.”

“For fuck’s sake, he calls her princess?” Rachel muttered, making Mary Elizabeth laugh.

In the backyard, Eddie settled the snack tray on a wrought iron patio table and sat on the very edge of a lounger. Dottie filled their mugs with artificially-flavored apple juice and stood next to him sipping quietly, enjoying the warm breeze rippling through the blades of grass that were getting longer and longer every day. He let his head fall to the side, resting it on her right hip, her right hand falling to his shoulder where it stayed gently applying pressure. He let his eyes close and enjoyed the calm of the moment; there was no rush, no expectations to do anything other than simply keep breathing. It was only when she moved to retrieve the hair brush from the table that he moved from his position, opening the book he had been carrying since they came downstairs. Quickly, he found Chapter 19 of Pride and Prejudice’s first volume and began reading out loud.

The next day opened a new scene at Longbourn. Mr. Collins made his declaration in form. Having resolved to do it without loss of time, as his leave of absence extended only to the following Saturday, and having no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at the moment, he set about it in a very orderly manner, with all the observances, which he supposed a regular part of the business. On finding Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth, and one of the younger girls together, soon after breakfast, he addressed the mother in these words: “May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair daughter Elizabeth, when I solicit for the honour of a private audience with her in the course of this morning?”

Eddie used the full extent of his Dungeon Master’s skills when reading the classic romance book he desperately needed to finish before his English Literature final on Monday. The voices and characterizations that poured out of his mouth allowed him to concentrate on creating a full world, internalize the words he was speaking into existence, and, most importantly, to not get distracted when Dottie’s deft hands began brushing against the nape of his neck while she untangled the knots in his unruly curls. When she’d shown him the fancy braids she’d seen in her magazine, he’d immediately offered his long locks for the experiment, more than happy to lend her his head to try a new skill on. She perched herself on the lounge chair behind him, sitting on her own bent legs but keeping her knees bracketing his hips from behind. He stopped between sentences to gather a couple of snacks into his hand, occasionally raising a pretzel or a grape at her to nibble out of his grasp while her hands were buried in strands of his hair. If he hadn’t been trying so hard to ignore how close her lips came to his fingertips each time she accepted a treat from him, he would have repaired on how bold the gesture looked like to the two women that were spying on them through the kitchen window.

“What are they doing?” James asked, putting the kettle on the stove.

“She’s brushing his hair while he’s reading out loud,” Rachel said.

“They look so cute together,” Mary Elizabeth said, ever the romantic.

“Get this,” Rachel turned to James with a raised eyebrow. “He’s feeding her.”

“Her hands are busy!” Mary Elizabeth defended her niece. “You need both hands for a braid.”

-You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to dissemble; my attentions have been too marked to be mistaken. Almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life. But before I am run away with my feelings on this subject, perhaps it would be advisable for me to state my reasons for marrying - and, moreover, for coming into Hertfordshire with the design of selecting a wife, as I certainly did.”

The idea of Mr. Collins, with all his solemn composure, being run away with by his feelings, made Elizabeth so near laughing, that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther, and he continued:

“He’s a fucking idiot,” Eddie said, pausing his reading to take a sip of his juice before he lifted the cup for Dottie to drink as well. “He cannot be this goddamn blind, she’s never gonna marry a fuckin’ priest.”

“Look at how long his speech is though,” Dottie laughed, twisting strands of his hair into complicated patterns. He put the mug down and flipped to the next page.

“No fuckin’ way!” he said, and immediately kept reading, interjecting each sentence with hilarious commentary about Mr. Collins’ stupidity.

“God, they are adorable,” Mary Elizabeth giggled, cracking the window open a bit more so they could listen to Eddie’s narration.

“And this happens every weekend?” Rachel asked.

“Every day,” James corrected. “They’ve been hanging out after school every single day since the beginning of May. Sometimes they have other friends around but it’s mostly just the two of them, either here or at his house.”

“Oh, that boy is smitten,” she said.

“You are too hasty, sir,” she cried. “You forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.”

“I am not now to learn,” replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, “that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even a third time. I am, therefore, by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.”

“This can’t be real,” Eddie said, lowering the book again much to Dottie’s amusement. “He can’t be this fuckin’ dense! Do girls really do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say no when they really wanna say yes so they don’t look easy.”

“Of course not!” Dottie swatted his head lightly. “Maybe insane ones do, but no one would say no to the guy they like literally proposing to them.”

“Well, maybe not if they proposed but… imagine you liked me and I asked you out. Would you say yes or would you play hard to get?”

“I am physically incapable of playing hard to get, Ed. You know this,” she said, willing her hands to stay still at the implications of his inquiry.

“I actually don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. Answer the question, Ms. Bennet.”

“Are you Mr. Collins in this scenario?”

“I’m whoever you want me to be, princess,” he said, flirting with the peace of someone who already knows his affections are reciprocated even though they hadn’t discussed that part of their relationship. Soon, he thought.

“I wouldn’t play hard to get anyways,” she admitted, lowering her butt to rest against her heels. “That’s just dumb to me. What if you say no and the other person moves on and you miss your chance because you were too prideful to say yes in the first place?”

“Pride and prejudice. That checks out,” he said, and thankfully dropped the subject in favor of reading the next line in the book.

“He’s smart,” Rachel admitted.

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“He’s trying to see how she’d react if he asks her out. Getting a baseline before he does it.”

“Ooooh, that is smart,” Mary Elizabeth said, munching on a cracker. “I like this kid, he’s setting himself up for success already.”

“I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.”

“You are uniformly charming!” cried he with an air of awkward gallantry; “and I am persuaded that, when sanctioned by the express authority of both your excellent parents, my proposals will not fail of being acceptable.”

“I hate this fucking guy,” Eddie said, grabbing a piece of green apple from the bowl and dipping it in peanut butter.

“You haven’t read the worst bit yet.”

“It gets worse?” he asked, mouth full of apple.

“The man really wants a wife,” Dottie shrugged, tying the braid and standing up to look at her work from the front. “I don’t hate it, but it looks less viking and more Rapunzel than I intended it to look like.”

“What if you do two small ones instead of a big one?”

“You’re gonna look like those boxer girls.”

“That’s kinda badass.”

“Yeah, but I wanted viking for our last session,” she pouted, taking a sip of her mug. “I think I’m gonna do half a braid only, but start here,” she tapped his head just above his bangs.

“I trust you,” he smiled at her, patting her hand before returning to his snacks. “But what you did the other day looked really good too if you wanna redo that one for Friday.”

“I’m gonna try one more time and if it sucks, I’ll go back to the regular braids.”

“You do that. I’ll be here,” he joked, lifting the book again to his eyes.

To such perseverance in wilful self-deception Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and-

“Okay, can we stop spying on my daughter now please? Coffee and tea is done,” James said, carrying the mugs to the living room. “Besides, he’s gonna be here all weekend, you’ll have plenty of time to observe the poor kid before you leave.”

“Can’t believe you’re so… unbothered by it all?” Rachel said, still standing near the window while Mary Elizabeth closed the glass pane once again. “You’re really not concerned?”

“Just look at them, Rach. What is there to be worried about?” he said, sitting down at the table and stirring a spoonful of sugar into his coffee.

Both aunts turned to look at the teens one more time, just in time to catch Eddie lifting a piece of green apple covered in peanut butter to Dottie’s face. She bit half of it gently, savoring the treat, and he shoved the rest of it in his own mouth, licking his sticky thumb without a second thought, like indirectly swapping spit was something they did regularly. The women looked at each other with raised eyebrows and even more questions brewing in their minds. Maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about in regards to Eddie himself, but it was clear that whatever was simmering between them was about to reach boiling point and there was no telling what would happen to their perfectly balanced friendship once the water started spilling over the edges.

In exchange for not spending Friday together as they usually did, Eddie ended up staying for dinner with Dottie and her very curious Aunts. James ordered Chinese food and when they all sat at the table, passing styrofoam containers and filling their plates up, Eddie realized he had never really done the whole family dinner thing in a very long time. Wayne often worked during holidays, the extra hours bringing much needed money into their empty pockets, so he wasn’t used to spending many meals in company of adults. The table talk revolved around college, namely, what kind of things James, Rachel, and Mary Elizabeth would get up to when their friendships were barely blossoming between early morning classes and freshman ragers. When the food on the table began dwindling, the conversation turned to the teens and their all too near future. Eddie was reluctant to admit that he had never considered higher education; he didn’t want to seem immature or undependable in front of Dottie’s extended family, but Mary Elizabeth quickly put his worries at ease. Her own brother was a carpenter, deciding to go into it after picking up basic skills in high school, and now lived a comfortable life in Georgia with his wife and two kids. There was no sure path to follow after high school, everyone was winging it and however said they weren’t, should be considered a liar in her humble opinion.

“Besides,” Dottie began, grinning at him. “Eddie’s gonna be a rockstar anyways. He doesn’t need to go to college.”

“Maybe we’ll get our big break in Indy. You think there’s gonna be a lot of agents around?” he chuckled.

“I’ll call them myself if they don’t show up on their own.”

“You know, I’m starting to think you just want to get commissions as our manager,” he joked.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to being a famous band’s manager. It’d be like being your babysitter, and I kinda already do that for free. Might as well get paid for all my hard work.”

“You wound me, princess,” he clutched his chest. “I don’t need a babysitter, I can take care of myself just fine. Gareth on the other hand…”

“What Gareth needs isn’t a babysitter. He needs an exorcism. I honestly thought Jeff was gonna strangle him yesterday, like, he cannot possibly think you’re all gonna agree to put two Anthrax songs on the setlist.”

“We close with Metal Thrashing Mad sometimes but it really fucks up Jeff’s throat so I don’t think we’re gonna do that one. Also, I kinda already decided our closer and I get dibs as the frontman, so.”

“What are you closing with?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” he shook his head. “It’s a surprise.”

“You can’t keep secrets from your manager, that’s illegal.”

“Gotta read the fine print before you sign any contract, bug,” Rachel joked. “So what are you two gonna do all summer, then? Just band practice?”

“Donny said I could cover for his sister in their family restaurant,” Dottie said, pushing a piece of chicken around her dish. “She’s pregnant and can’t carry the trays anymore, so they need a new waitress for a bit. It could be fun, he’s gonna work there for the summer too so we’d always have the same shifts.”

“That sounds very fun!” Mary Elizabeth beamed. “I was a barista for all four years of college and I really enjoyed it.”

“You worked at the tiniest café on campus and the owner let you take all the leftover muffins home, of course you enjoyed it,” Rachel scoffed.

“Didn’t hear you complaining when you ate my muffins. What about you Eddie? Any plans for summer?”

“Uh, maybe? I’ve been thinking about asking Thatcher for a job after graduation, the owner’s cool.”

“What’s Thatcher?” Dottie asked, mouth full of rice.

“Thatcher Tires? Near 8th?”

“Uhhh…”

“We take that road to go to my place literally every day.”

“I don’t pay attention to the streets when you’re driving. I trust you to know where we’re going and I focus on the music and the snacks.”

“So you want to be a mechanic?” asked Rachel, wanting to get back on her Figure Edward Munson Out mission.

“Dunno actually,” he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I take Auto Repair and it’s the only class I’ve gotten an A in this year so… maybe I’d be good at it.”

“You fixed Donny’s car that one time, I think you’re already pretty good,” Dottie recalled.

“He just needed a new battery, it wasn’t that hard,” he shrugged like it was nothing.

Dinner progressed without any fanfare but the fact that James was pretty much unbothered and already used to the teens’ interactions enough to not pay special attention to them was unexpected by both Rachel and Mary Elizabeth. He and Eddie talked like they’d known each other for years, seemingly having inside jokes already, much to Dottie’s annoyance. It was noticeable to anyone that paid a little bit of attention that Eddie wasn’t used to the level of acceptance he so frequently received from the eldest Burke, and it was bittersweet to see how often he seeked for his approval: the boy clearly held a lot of respect for James, and beamed whenever his efforts were recognized, like when the man mentioned how Eddie had helped fix Dottie’s bathroom lights the week prior. Of course, the praise had been intermingled with him lightly mocking his own daughter and her irrational fear of changing light bulbs, but still, the kind words towards the fidgety boy were there.

It was also very noticeable, however, that as much as James’ acceptance meant a lot to him, it also made him nervous and jittery, which is why the ease in his back and forth with Dottie made his true feelings towards her much more evident to the women at the table. The way he was always offering the last bite of everything to her only for Dottie to cut said thing in half and share it with him, how their head movements were in sync with the other’s, and how in tune they were with what the other was thinking before words had been uttered was astonishing to witness. Whenever her cup was empty, he was refiling it before she could even ask. If his leg started bouncing anxiously, she’d merely rest her fingers on his knee, the cold tips coming into contact with the skin under the rips of his jeans before he was subdued again. They had their own spoons, but they still shared bites from each other’s ice cream tub with the excuse of trying different flavors, they leaned into one another when they laughed, they moved around the kitchen while doing the dishes with merely taps on the waist to signal oncoming traffic.

Mary Elizabeth had been the one to get Dottie to eat her first meal after the disaster that was Junior Prom ‘85. She’d picked her as her flower girl when she’d married Johnny, Dottie had been the one to pick Rosie’s name, and her Aunt had never missed a single school function in the entirety of her academic career. Rachel had picked a heartbroken Dottie up from school before the bell had rung the first day of senior year. She’d taken her to buy her first bra when she was 13, she’d taken her out along with her sons for burgers and milkshakes the day her divorce came through, and Dottie had accompanied her to many work events since she could tie her own shoes. Both women had seen that kid go through the unimaginable, and as her late mother’s best friends, they took her well being seriously and guarded her with the utmost care and love. They owed it to Maggie to make sure her Dorothy was okay, that she was healthy, and happy, and thriving. So when it was time for Eddie to go home, they watched from the living room as the teens said their goodbyes, promising to meet up again the next day for their final day of cramming. Eddie vowed to finish Pride and Prejudice that night before bed, and Dottie told him she’d pay for food on Friday to celebrate their month-long efforts. They hugged, and it lasted longer than any friendly hug had the right to last. He kissed her crown, and she watched him leave from her front lawn until he disappeared down the street.

Dottie climbed up the stairs to her bathroom to take a shower, James retreated to his room, and both Aunts waited until the sound of the water hitting the tub had stopped and the upstairs hallway lights had been turned off to waddle up towards the soft yellow and sage green sanctuary that was their beloved niece’s bedroom in search of the definitive answer to all their most pressing questions.

“Okay, bug, time to spill.”

“Jesus Christ! Can’t you knock first?” Dottie screeched, holding her pajama shirt to her chest, heart racing.

“I changed your poopy diapers more times than I can count, seeing you in your bra isn’t gonna kill either one of us,” Rachel said, sitting on her desk chair.

“Come on, she’s a woman now! We should give her some privacy,” Mary Elizabeth reasoned, but undermined her own comment by sitting at the foot of Dottie’s bed.

“What’s going on?” Dottie asked warily, pajama shirt now safely on her body.

“You tell us.”

“Huh?”

“Sit down with us, baby,” Mary Elizabeth patted the bed; Dottie climbed next to her. “You really like Eddie, don’t you?”

“W-what?” she sputtered, the tips of her ears starting to burn. “Why would you say that? We’re just friends!”

“We weren’t born yesterday, Dot,” Rachel smiled kindly. “We saw you two today. It’s really obvious you like him, and believe us, it’s even more obvious he likes you too.”

“No, no, that’s not- We’re not- We’re friends. We’re not dating.”

“Oh, we know. That boy gets surprised every time you even look at him, he’d combust if you ever kissed him.”

“Oh my god, we’re friends!”

“Baby, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush on a friend,” Mary Elizabeth said, hand coming up to rub reassuring circles on Dottie’s back. “You’re both young, you have fun together. It’s okay if you like him.”

“I don’t like him,” Dottie insisted, staring at her rug. “I just… fuck, I really, really, really do not like Eddie. And that’s terrifying.”

“I’m sorry, bug, we’re not following.”

“I don’t like Eddie,” she said again, putting extra emphasis on the word “like”.

Rachel and Mary Elizabeth looked at each other in confusion. What did she mean by that? She clearly did like him, she looked at him like the sun shone out of his ass. There was not a single cell in Dottie’s body that didn’t scream “Eddie!” every time he so much as breathed near her, why was she trying to deny it? She liked him, she liked him so much that… maybe…

“Oh, baby,” Mary Elizabeth immediately wrapped her arms around her niece. “Are you in love with him? Is that what you mean?”

“I’m gonna ruin everything!” Dottie babbled, hiding her face in her hands, tears bubbling up to the surface. “He can’t know! He’s gonna fucking hate me if he finds out!”

“Dottie, honey, what are you talking about?” Rachel came up to sit at her other side, joining the hug and grounding her. “Why would he hate you?”

“He asked me about it. He asked me if I liked anyone at school and I lied, I said I didn’t. And then he said he didn’t like anyone either, but that can’t be right because Chrissy Cunningham got him a really pretty tie for his birthday and I just- how am I supposed to compete with a cheerleader?”

“Okay, okay, back up. Who is this Chrissy girl?”

“She goes to school with us. She’s really nice and she has a boyfriend, but she’s like, fucking perfect. Half the school is in love with her. Shit, I think I am in love with her.”

“But Eddie told you he doesn’t like her?” Mary Elizabeth asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes, as in he doesn’t like her?”

“I told him she was really pretty, and he said he doesn’t see her like that. And told me he thinks I’d be good friends with her, which he’s right about because when I talked to her she was so kind and we like the same music and everything.”

“And he’s friends with her?”

“Yeah, kinda. They hang out at school sometimes but that’s it. Her boyfriend is an asshole so no one knows they are friends, he’d freak out if he knew.”

“Okay,” Rachel breathed out and looked at Mary Elizabeth over Dottie’s head. She nodded in encouragement once. “Bug, I don’t know anything about this other girl but the Eddie we saw today worships the ground you walk on. We’re not saying this because we love you and want you to be happy, but because we have eyes and see how he acts around you, and we’re sure he likes you back.”

“And besides,” Mary Elizabeth continued. “-what does this girl have that you don’t, huh? He spends all this time with you already, do you really think you have to compete with anyone for his attention? He’s giving it to you freely, baby. He likes you.”

“I’m gonna fuck it up. I know I am. It’s gonna be like Tyler all over again and-”

“Dorothy, look at me.”

Mary Elizabeth’s stern tone wasn’t one she used very often, but it was imposing enough to leave no room for anything else to be discussed. Dottie looked with wet cheeks at her sweetest Aunt, all dressed up in her baby blue cardigan and flowery dress, and saw fiery eyes and a deep set frown. She held her gaze even though she desperately wanted to look away. Rachel watched them in silence.

“Eddie is not Tyler,” Mary Elizabeth began. “This Chrissy girl is not Jeannie. Your Hawkins friends are not your New York friends. If you keep waiting to tell him how you feel, he’s gonna slip through your fingers because you assumed that the boy you’ve been saying is one of the best friends you’ve ever had for months now, was an undercover asshole all along. If you think he’s capable of being like Tyler, why are you still friends with him?”

“He’s gonna get tired of me. They’re all gonna get tired of me and I can’t- Eddie’s the best thing that has happened to me. He’s so, so special. I love him, and I can’t lose him. I’d rather just pine after him until I die before that happens.”

“Listen to us,” Rachel said. “You’re not gonna lose him. You don’t have to do anything right now, okay? Just think about it and maybe come back to it when things are clearer. After finals are done and graduation is out of the way. Anyone would be lucky if you loved them, bug, and just because you loved Tyler and he didn’t know what to do with that, that doesn’t mean Eddie will be the same.”

“And if he is? What do I do if he breaks my heart? And all our friends have to pick sides and they choose him and I’m all alone again?” Dottie asked, tears staining the neckline of her pajamas.

“If all that happens, they never deserved you and we’ll be here to support you no matter what. But we’re telling you that’s not gonna happen. Trust us, okay? We’ve been around the block a few times.”

Dottie looked around her bedroom while she wiped her face and tried to calm down her frantic breathing. There were signs of her boys everywhere: in the pictures pinned to her corkboard above her desk, in the colorful earrings hanging from their holder next to the mirror, in the mixtapes on her bedside table. In the gray blanket at the windowsill seat, and the photocopied notes in her backpack, and inside her wardrobe where her Hellfire t-shirt was carefully folded. She had to trust that their friendships were genuine. That if she’d confessed her love for their leader and it wasn’t reciprocated, they’d still choose to stand beside her. She had to trust that Eddie wouldn’t hurt her, even if he didn’t feel the same about her. But what if he does?

Her eyes landed on Eddie’s birthday mixtape that he’d left behind on her dresser. He had the idea that since she’d picked the first song already, he’d pick the second one, and she’d pick the third one, and so on and so forth. He’d shown up that day with his song already recorded onto it and asked her to play it instead of telling her what he’d done to the tape. Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul was first, but she barely paid any attention to it, anticipating his choice with sweaty hands. As soon as the first notes came through, she knew which song it was before Paul could even begin singing. Oh! Darling played from her tinny speakers and while she hadn’t made the connection at the moment, she was just now coming to terms with the fact that maybe her Aunts were right and Eddie had been waiting for her at the finish line all along. Oh darling, please believe me, I’ll never do you no harm, Paul McCartney crooned, and Eddie’s heart had been singing backup vocals to him for what felt like forever without her noticing.

Rachel and Mary Elizabeth hugged her, dried her tears and encouraged her to think about it in the near future once more before leaving for bed, but there was no need for them to do so anymore. Dottie could see everything clearly now, and for once, she found that through the sheer terror of leaping out from the cliff she had been standing on for so long, there was firm hope that Eddie would be at the bottom, ready to catch her before she could crash and burn. She just needed a bit more time to gather the courage before jumping, but if the strong winds hitting her face were of any indication, her run towards the edge had already started.

taglist (comment below or shoot me a dm if you want to be added!): @munsonology @kurdtbean

[wishesofeternity]

"In a literal sense, the Vikings are of course people of the past, dead and gone—but at the same time they inhabit a curiously haptic kind of prehistory, one that appears to return whatever pressure is applied to it. Many have been tempted to put their fingers on the scales of hindsight and imagined that the impulse to do so came not from themselves but through the revelation of hidden truths buried by time. Medieval monks and scholars reinvented their pagan ancestors either as nobly misguided forebears or as agents of the devil. In the manuscript illuminations of Romance literature, with a kind of Orientalist prejudice, they became Saracens, enemies of Christ depicted with turbans and scimitars. In Shakespeare’s England, the Vikings were taken up as violent catalysts in the early story of the kingdom’s greatness. Rediscovered during the Enlightenment as a sort of ‘noble savage’, the figure of the Viking was enthusiastically adopted by the nationalist Romantics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Searching for their own emerging identities, Victorian imperialists scoured Scandinavian literature looking for suitably assertive northern role models, expressing the manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxons through their Nordic cousins. The logical end of that trajectory came a century later, when the Nazis appropriated the Vikings in pursuit of their racist fictions, elevating them as a spurious Aryan archetype; their modern successors still plague us today. Elements of the broad Pagan community now seek a spiritual alternative that draws inspiration from Viking religion, with Tolkienesque flavourings added to a cloudier Old Norse brew. All these and many more, including today’s academics and the audiences for historical drama, have taken the fragmentary material and textual remains of the Vikings and recast them in moulds of their choosing. At times it can seem that the actual people have almost disappeared under the cumulative freight they have been made to bear."

- Neil Price, “Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings”

[racefortheironthrone]

Given that a lot of the backlash against Viking glorification centers on them owning slaves, why don't we get a similar backlash against Medieval Christendom for owning slaves too (before and after the Vikings, even into the Italian Renaissance). Isn't there a pagan prejudice under this? I find the idea that Christians never owned slaves, or never enslaved fellow Christians, a more toxic unexamined idea by comparison. Something the Last Kingdom doesn't tackle.

Fuck off with your whataboutisms in defense of slavers. The owning is bad enough, but it's the slave trade where the real evil lies with the Vikingers.

Yes, Medieval Europeans (I find their religion irrelevant) did own slaves...thanks in no small part to the Vikingers, who sold them slaves on a trans-continental scale. Who do you think supplied the markets of Constantinople known as the "Valley of Lamentations"? Why was Dublin the biggest slave market in the world in 1000 CE?

The Vikingers were bastards, full stop.

[therealvikingstrash]

To the anon who needed to distinguish themselves from the previous one and decided to be nasty with having no background information whatsoever:

Did I hit a nerve on your own shortcomings in fandom? Boo- fucking- hoo. I'm not sorry.

The way I talk to people depends on how people talk to me. How they treat me. If someone assumes I'm a slotmachine for fic and gifs, I will treat them accordingly. Also, you didn't see the other anons, which influenced my tone.

If someone is nice, I'm nice. (You can check it out in my #vtrash answers tag btw, I'm not lying)

With me, you always receive the energy that you sent out. And this one was wack. Three anon asks within a couple minutes of each other and the tone was absolutely NOT okay. It also sounded like this person wanted to start some discourse and I'm not here for that bs.

Let me ask you this: if someone hits their dog over and over and over and one day the dog snaps, who's at fault? The dog for snapping or the owner for abusing it repeatedly? In this equation I'm the dog and I moderately snapped. I didn't even bite, but you make ME responsible? Weird way to out yourself as not being able to understand action and reaction.

Look, the really disgusting person is you, because you think telling someone the truth and giving them a reality check is being mean. Also, did you forget this new feature tumblr has where they can trace back who sent the anon? Not your smartest move.

Either way, I think social media warped your mind and you assume people aren't allowed to be people anymore- aren't allowed to express their emotions. We can't be upset by upsetting things, we can't be mad or angry when people make us angry, can't be sad, cuz god forbid you show any signs of feeling down, then you're crazy and toxic.

No, no, we all have to be these perfect little hollow dolls who never say "fuck" and always stay polite, even when other people are nasty. Upholding a MASK that isn't your true self at all costs. Kinda fucked up and dishonest, if you ask me. Screw you, I don't want to be like that. I've always been kind and quick to give out advice when needed, or words of encouragement to literally everyone who crossed paths with me, but was stabbed in the back multiple times. And for what? Fuck if I know. Was it jealousy all along or were those people just downright evil? I don't fucking know.

But I won't ever be that way. I'm a truthful person and I will always tell people what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. I'm not a fucking coward who hides behind anon.

This anon needed to know that they should put some fucking effort in fandom in order to have people create more 🤷🏼‍♀️ in this specific case me, but it goes for every other author and artist who's made to feel like an art and fic-slotmachine.

And yeah, I am of the opinion that the Vikings fandom specifically could do with more people reading, commenting, reblogging, sharing creations in order to NOT die.

Wow, what a bad, bad person I am for having such thoughts and saying out loud what basically every creator already knows. How cruel to hold people accountable for their refusal to take part in a fandom they claim to love. It's a fucking team effort to keep a fandom alive, in case you didn't notice, you dunce.

But funnily enough, for the longest time the only people on this team who actively tried to keep the fandom flowing with creations are all the same:

@vikingsbigbang - that's me and @tlkvikings (that was public knowledge btw)

@vikings-archive - surprise, surprise: me

@vikingsevents - also @tlkvikings and I

And of course the Vikings Server on discord that I created and am modding with @tlkvikings as well, to somehow get a cohesive community going.

Why did we never brag about it, you might ask? Why did we never advertise it? Put our name to it for credit? Because we just wanted to get this fandom going without any prejudice. To keep it engaged and running. We didn't want people thanking us specifically. We were happy when people engaged and showered one another with love at events we just gave them the opportunity for. We basically created opportunities for everyone, that's all. And we didn't ask for anything in return. Even after the very same fandom demonized and hated us. Yeah, that sounds like I'm a horrible, awful person, you're right.

But it's so much work, with nothing in return. The occasional "thank you" if we're lucky, but that's it. If only more people would at least engage in those opportunities to create and share, that would be enough, but even those rates have been going down. No one even THINKS of who runs these blogs (like they aren't run by people who can get exhaused, overwhelmed and discouraged) and how much work it is to keep up.

OF COURSE my own blog isn't posting new stuff all the time. Like, wtf do you think I am? A fucking god? Fuck no. I'm not online all the time, I have a life too, you know. It should be obvious that someone who has done so much for the community will get frustrated when people only ever ask for more.

We're basically the backbone of this fandom and in return not so long ago a group of people ran a smear campaign against us (slid into peoples dms and told lies about us, sent disgusting anons, made call-out posts full of lies, tried to doxx another friend of ours FOR OVER A YEAR and I'm still here) while the whole fandom watched and didn't help at all, our art gets stolen, our works ignored and THEN people ask FOR MORE?! And you think it's not an appropriate reaction to give someone a moderate fucking reality check? Be for FUCKING real, you cunt.

I can assume you're in the vikings fandom too, since you said you saw the post due to the tag, so I'm hoping you will see this as well and feel ashamed of yourself for not even using your brain for a fucking second.