video;

[draumstafir]

[ for those familiar with reynir by now, he's still got that generally friendly air about him with the video starts, though there's something around his eyes that gives him a slightly weary quality as well, if you're looking for it.

but then, everyone's been a bit stressed lately, which is rather the point of this post. ]

I guess there's a neat little, um, program I think it's called? On these bracelets that people have been using to share music and stuff from their home worlds, and I think that's really nice! Being able to learn about other worlds, other people's lives... it's really important some times to just take a moment and enjoy those things, don't you think?

I don't have any... copies or whatever of music from back home, but I wanted to share something anyway. To show my appreciation for all the new things people have told me about or shown me since I got here. So I thought I'd sing an old lullaby I grew up with!

[ reynir has a pretty average singing voice overall, though there's an androgynous quality to his tone as he sings a song first in icelandic and then in english: ]

Sleep my little love,
Outside the rain is weeping.
Mommy keeps watch over your gold,
Old leg bones and a little treasure chest.*
Let's not stay awake through dark nights.

There is much that darkness knows,
My mind is heavy.
Often I've seen the black sand
Scorching green meadows.
In the glacier rumbles deadly-deep cracks.

Sleep long, sleep tight,
It's best to wake up late.
Hardship will teach you soon,
While the day becomes night,
That the people love, lose, cry and mourn.

Comments

video;

[channellings]

[reynir looks tired. offhandedly, klaus wonders if it's because of everything that's happened or if there's something else weighing him down as well. better to not ask on a public network though, so he considers the ‘lullaby’ instead.

this is supposed to help you sleep? yeah, uh, he doesn't think so.]

You have a pretty nice voice, but I gotta admit, that would not be helping me sleep at all. [the slightest cringe as he hates how it sounds, yet he's just wanting to be truthful!]

Like, I've got no idea how you could? This lullaby has the words of stuff you hear in horror movies. [a moment's hesitation then:] Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude or anything!

video;

[draumstafir]

[ reynir hates feeling useless, hates the sitting and waiting game. if he'd had any more confidence in his magic than he did he probably would have gone out after klaus and emil and lalli against his better judgment, but even reynir had known he was just going to get in everyone's way.

and so he'd stayed back in asgard and waited. and worried. even keeping busy hadn't managed to quiet his mind for long. ]

Maybe it just feels different in Icelandic? They're all kind of like that one, honestly.

video;

[channellings]

[there's absolutely nothing wrong with knowing where you'll help best and if reynir felt like staying behind was just that, it's good he knows his limits. besides, it wouldn't have done to have him come along and get injured (or worse), too.

unfortunately, it doesn't feel like the best place when so much can be worried about.]

Perhaps! For what it's worth, it did sound better in Icelandic.

video;

[draumstafir]

[ knowing he'd made the right choice and accepting he'd made the right choice were somehow actively different in reynir's head unfortunately. he's working on it. ]

I think most songs tend to, honestly. Things always get lost in translation, or just sound awkward with different words in general.

video;

[ikols]

Not enough content about dying in your sleep or trolls beating you into Valhalla.

[ It's a really nice lullaby, in fact. Loki's compliment is there somewhere. ]

video;

[draumstafir]

[ the prompts a laugh and smile from reynir as he shakes his head at loki. ]

My mom wanted me staying home tending sheep, the last thing she was going to do was encourage my love of the epics.

[ikols]

Didn't you have anyone else to sing you a variety of lullabies?

( video )

[enflame]

( Maybe it's because he's not recently been in the cheeriest of spirits, but the strange lullaby doesn't bother Emil as some others. The Icelandic version is lost on him, though rather soothing, but the second go around in common is understood.

Despite it being a video feed, Emil isn't visible; he was in bed already, but his eyes closed to absorb the song while his cuff is aimed at his ceiling. )

I have no idea how that comforted you as a child. ( Maybe not the most positive thing to say to this vulnerability, but even though Reynir has gained a modicum of respect from Emil, the keyword is modicum. But...eh. ) Do you know any others?

( video )

[draumstafir]

[ considering their history, the simple fact that emil is choosing to start a conversation with reynir himself is more than enough for him, honestly.

and klaus has already weighed in his own opinions on the song, so reynir can hardly act surprised about emil's after that. maybe it's just a cultural thing, he's never thought there was anything strange about the songs himself. they were practically a staple in his town. ]

Well there's Móðir mín í kví kví.

My mother in the pen, pen
don't you worry for, for
I shall loan you these rags of mine
rags of mine to dance in
I shall loan you these rags of mine
rags of mine to dance in.

That one's about a woman who got pregnant out of wedlock and wrapped her baby in rags and abandoned it to die. Later when she was telling another woman she didn't have anything to wear to a dance, a child's voice started singing this song from under the the sheep pen and she went mad.

[ he says this all matter of factly, and yeah, even saying the source of the lullaby out loud doesn't seem to make reynir rethink whether or not this song is actually appropriate to sing to a child at night. ]

[enflame]

( Initially, he's still lulled by the gentle singing. Reynir's voice is average, but there's something that's adjacent to comforting about the small a capella and the tune of the song. A lullaby is a lullaby for a reason, after all.

Though, he really could have done without the translation. )

What? ( The focus of the video blurs until it focuses in on a close up of Emil's eyes, squinting at the image he can see of the Icelander. ) Is every song your people write about some sort of murder or macabre tragedy?

( Because in his mind it might explain the Vibe he gets from this guy. )

[Video]

[theprezident]

[ Honestly, if this wasn't too pretty for it, he'd think it was Pandoran. Or maybe Pandorans can be poetic? He supposes he doesn't actually know. ]

Yeahhh, that's not ominous at all.

[Video]

[draumstafir]

I mean-- [ a casual, one shoulder shrug. ]

Aren't most lullabies that way?

[Video]

[theprezident]

No? I'm pretty sure lullabies are meant to be comforting and nice, not ... that.

voice;

[splitinvain]

Well done.

voice;

[draumstafir]

Oh!

[ a little startled, a little shy. reynir hadn't exactly shared the song as a way to perform, simply to, you know, share, so the compliment takes him a bit off guard. ]

Um, thank you.

voice;

[splitinvain]

You're welcome.

Not everyone would be so bold as to share a piece of themselves in such a way.

video

[hikikomori_king]

Thank you for sharing that - the first language, was that your native tongue?

video

[draumstafir]

Ah, thank you!

[ goodness he hadn't gone into this whole thing expecting compliments, he's not sure how to handle it really. ]

And, yes, it's Icelandic.

Re: video

[hikikomori_king]

It sounds very beautiful! Do you think you could teach it?

[ video ]

[lethechained]

[ Curiosity and having recognized him on the video feed are what brought her here, but it's the song itself that encourages her to respond. She's tucked into the corner of her cabin, chair back and walls visible behind her as she considers the camera a moment to be certain it's on before speaking up. ]

… It's very beautiful, [ she begins, with all the sincerity of a genuine compliment that will include a 'but' at the end. That comes in the form of a slight furrow in her brow along with a hesitant, ] And very sad.

[ More so than disconcerting to her, it seems. ]

Are most lullabies that way? I've never heard one for myself before now.

[ She'd recognize some in a secondhand kind of way from other people's memories, sure - but she hasn't experienced one with her own ears before. ]

[ video ]

[draumstafir]

[ reynir beams at namine when he recognizes her over the video, and that smile only gets brighter when she offers her own feedback on the song.

it's an opinion that he honestly happens to share with her, and doesn't feel like he actually has to defend at all, which is nice. especially with some of his friends labeling the song creepy or ominous. ]

I think so. I only really know ones from Iceland, and some people have been acting sort of shocked by the translation so maybe it's not something that every place shares but...

I think the point of songs like these are to warn the child of the dangers of the outside world, but locking those things firmly outside, beyond the walls of the child's room, you know?

[ video ]

[lethechained]

Ice... land?

[ By the tilt of her head and the hint of confusion in her expression, it's not hard to tell she finds the name a bit peculiar. No doubt she's picturing some kind of glacial plane, or somewhere mountainous and covered in snow like that one portion of the Land of Dragons.

Shaking herself out of that mental image, she blinks thoughtfully at the explanation. ]

I think I understand. Like the song's saying that they're safe inside, even if it's just for now.

[ Which makes it a temporary comfort at best. While she can comprehend that-- she doesn't look particularly happy about agreeing, ]

I suppose both ideas are important for children to remember. Bad things happen to everyone eventually, even if there are people who try to protect them.

Video

[ragnarsson]

[There's something not quite as fierce in either his voice or eyes as there usually is when Ivar responds to the post.]

You never told me you spoke the tongue of the Norse.

[Granted, modern day Icelandic sounds like Norse being spoken with a really frigging weird accent, but it's nice to hear familiar words all the same.]

Video

[draumstafir]

[ reynir's certainly not used to ivar being this neutral with him when he's human, but he's really not one to hold grudges or purposefully pick a fight by pointing that out.

instead he just blinks slowly at ivar in surprise, head tilting quizzically to one side. ]

Did I not? That's odd, I mention it to a lot of people. I'm from Iceland. The gods here are the ones I follow-- though, they're an awful lot more young than anything I'm used to, honestly.

[ragnarsson]

Mayhaps I missed it at some point during our other conversations.

[Considering how insulting and dismissive Ivar could be in his abrasiveness, small wonder Reynir never got the chance to mention it.]

Iceland? It is our most recent colony and founded by my mentor back home! [Of course, it had been a bit of a shit show, but for once that had absolutely nothing to do with Ivar. Even he couldn't ruin everything everywhere at all times. He chuckles briefly at the mention of the gods.]

Indeed, I share the sentiment. Slightly awkward seeing my grandfather so young and telling him of all the children he has yet to have.