maskitheclown: (Default)
maskitheclown ([personal profile] maskitheclown) wrote2010-09-19 03:37 pm

Sanity is overrated

This was supposed to be just a Viking!Bob picspam. But as I was arranging the pics I kept thinking about the Viking!Bob/Bard!Patrick fic that I'll never have the time to write, and decided to sort of summarize it here. With photos. (Majority of the photos are click to make bigger because I reduced them all to 300px W, but they're not particularly revolutionary anyway :) )
*


At first I thought I'd have Pete be the king, but I just really wanted him to do the lyrics. So I put him and Patrick muscially together. And the court goes to Gabe. (Hey, people who settled in Ireland came through Spain, your argument is invalid.)


It starts in Ireland, year cca 1000, where Pete and Patrick travel around with their other artsy friends and stay in courts in exchange for songs, as they did back then. (See, I know that huge book on the history of Ireland would come in handy some day)
*

Gabe, with his wife Victoria and their boytoy William, is their BFF king with whom they spend most of their time.


They have crazy parties together and mostly they're not in war with anyone because they are surrounded by friendly lands aka people who drink just as much.
*

In Vikingland (I dunno, somewhere) Bob is a farmer (as most of them were). Though his biggest love is playing drums (which internet assures me Vikings had). He lives on a farm and every autumn, when all the other farmers kill some animals because they can't feed them, Bob tries to save all his.


He lives alone, which is very unusual for vikingland but for obv reasons I don't want his whole fing family there. Same goes for Brian.


He's friends with Spencer and Brian.
*

Spencer came to him one day because he wanted to learn to play drums too, but his main job (aside from farming, duh) is shoe making :)


Spencer also lives with his, um, farmhelps, Jon, who's pretty awesome with animals, and Ryan, the little viking that could. Ryan helps them... lift heavy stuff.

Um, no, wait, wrong one...

There. Much better. ...

Bob is skeptical. But Spencer is an awesome drummer so he doesn't care. (This is a good place to mention, Vikings didn't much care if you were gay, they even had gods who were homosexuals, as long as you got married and reproduced. If you tried to avoid marriage, you were penalized *snicker* ... Ehm, anyway. Also, tops they were ok with, bottoms they mocked. This doesn't happen in my story. I mean, they do keep it private, because I can only relinquish so much realism, but they don't get called on not reproducing and no one is mocked for bottoming omg.)


Back to Spencer and Bob. So now sometimes they have drum-offs that the whole village gathers to listen to.
*

This is where my only-somewhat-good knowledge of history doesn't kick in.
Vikings did have slaves, and they did get them via raids amongst other things.
But I think Bob would flip if he had a slave, so it's gonna be a series of unfortunate events :P 

Say that after a really sucky winter, the king wants to go loot a bit in Ireland and decides to attack Gabe's land.


Normally that is a sport for the rich, but they need extra rowers and they recruit Bob, amongst others.


Bob is not happy because he needs to start working on his farm but Brian says he'll look after it until he's back. (their raids lasted a few days or weeks, I'm going for days)


Meanwhile in Ireland.

Gabe is totally not prepared for what's coming and in the end that's a really good thing because it's what ends up saving their lives (like I'm actually gonna have them killed, wut).


Vikings take all their valuables, whatever that may have been back then. (Bob waits - in my head leaning on the ship and having a smoke - as the others loot, he doesn't give a shit.)


When they do come back though, they have some slaves with them.
I want it to be Brendon and Patrick, not only for OTP purposes but also for totally realistic reasons that are too depressing for this spam
*

Pete tried to come with Patrick but they wouldn't let him :((


Anyway, while on the ship back, Patrick is being a massive dick towards everyone and the king's posse are planning to just throw him overboard.


Bob stops them, and they say fine, whatever, he's your responsibility now.


Bob asks him really nicely to please shut the fuck up and not get them both killed.


Patrick mainly listens. He glares a lot and pouts, but then Brendon is scared shitless and Patrick takes care of him so he makes it into Bob's vikingland alive.


The second they are there though, they drag Brendon away, and Patrick explodes all over Bob, and not in the good, life affirming way.


So Bob tells him to calm down and goes to see what's going on and yeah, they are giving Brendon away to the highest bidder.


He doesn't have a lot, and Brian and Spencer and Ryan certainly don't but they all pitch in together and manage to buy him.


Patrick has no idea why he thinks that's a good thing.


Brian is officially Brendon's owner, but as soon as the purchase is made Brian frees Brendon, because they could do that. All the vikings collectively headdesk but there's nothing they can do because their legal system is mainly honor-based. By which I mean their most valuable "possession" is their honor.


Bob tries to do the same for Patrick but since he didn't pay for him (and now couldn't, not without risking becoming a slave himself) the other vikings are basically "either you take him, or we will."


Bob promises that he'll save as much trading products as he can so he can buy and free Patrick as soon as possible, but there's nothing he can do right now.


And, even though Brendon is free, he needs to be with someone or he'll go into debt and become a slave again, or he'll die. Swimming back to Ireland is not an option.
He ends up with Brian. (I'll give you a moment to imagine that clusterfuck.)
*

Bob takes Patrick home.
Home in Vikingland is just one room and Bob tells Patrick "you sleep there, I sleep here, if you kill me in my sleep I'll kill you back."


His hands are all bloody from the rowing and he's not a happy puppy, and then Patrick finds his drums and starts messing with them and Bob kinda wants to kill him anyway.
Except Patrick isn't just messing with them, he's actually trying to figure them out.


Bob cleans his hands and Patrick stares at the drums a lot.


Mostly, Bob wants to go to sleep, but he has to get the chickens to their coops and feed the goats (oh yeah, GOATS) and water the fucking veggies so he takes Patrick with him to show him.


Patrick is not impressed.


So, life for Bob doesn't exactly get easier. Because now he still has to do everything around the farm, mostly himself, and he also has to make sure Patrick doesn't escape or kill anyone. And he didn't even want a fucking slave in the first place.


Patrick spends a lot of time being a total asshole. (and hey, for good reason)


Bob tolerates it up to a point. Like, he doesn't care if Patrick does as little as he can get away with, as long as it doesn't affect Bob personally.


Patrick only sees Bob pissed once, but he doesn't really want to do it again. So he starts trying to keep his mouth shut.


Only by that point Bob doesn't really like it when Patrick doesn't talk. (spot a trope, yeah)


And then one day by accident Patrick finds out how other slaves are treated and for the first time since Bob stopped others from throwing him off the ship, Patrick is actually scared.


So he starts cooperating because he has clothes and food and a warm place to sleep on. And that way they might actually have enough to free him sooner.


In the meantime, Brendon and Brian and being super awkward together.
*

There's some drama with Brendon becoming BFFs with S/R/J and Brian thinking that maybe Brendon would want to live with them but Brendon just wants to play music with them and is in crush with Brian.


Also in the meantime, Gabe is rallying all the crazy motherfuckers (by which I mostly mean The Used) that he knows, and is planning a raid of his own.
**
*

Alas this was post St. Patrick so there are no snakes around to bite him. Maybe one comes from the past. Or from Egipt.


One day Spencer, Jon and Ryan come to visit Bob and they play all the cool instruments. Ryan plays a lyre!! (he'd fucking love it and you know it). Jon plays one of the blowing instruments. Because I can.
*

And Patrick sings. You know how this goes.
*

When they are all gone he talks to Bob about Pete and Pete's awesome poetry and Andy and Joe's crazy instruments.


Bob feels bad for him.


They kiss. (There needs to be a photo of this... but there isn't :( )


Things are weird. But at least Patrick is talking again.


He's somewhat less passive aggressive, but Bob likes it anyway.


Oh and btw, Bob would really like to touch peens with Patrick.
No, really.


So, I don't know, life goes on, and they kinda like each other, get to know each other, and they end up having sex, yay. Bob is funny and sweet and Patrick is prickly and brilliant and they somehow work.
And it's good, within the parameters of Patrick being a slave and Bob being his owner, which are pretty sucky parameters to be honest. It might not mean much between them, personally, but it does mean there's a LOT of things Patrick can't do.

There's angst.


And Brendon sometimes holds Brian's hand when it's just the few of them together.


He seems pretty damn happy and Patrick doesn't want to but he envies him sometimes.


And Bob knows it, and there's more angst.


So of course, because I'm nothing if not dramatic dammit, two things happen at once.
1. After the harvest Bob does the numbers and figures out he has enough to properly purchase Patrick.
And since the next local Thing (big assembly where they make decisions and pass laws and such, The Thing is its real name) is coming next week, he decides to do it then.
He lets Patrick know and he's happy that Patrick is happy but he's also sad because after the Thing there will be trading ships going away and Patrick and Brendon will probably be leaving with them.


And 2. the day of the Thing comes and Bob has just bought Patrick and is about to free him when (SUSPENSE) Gabe attacks.


Only they just have one ship and the Vikings are really not impressed.
Gabe prefers to talk anyway.


So they all come off the ship and start TALKING and Patrick hugs Pete a lot,


and Bob feels sucky but he knows he has to free Patrick before anyone does anything stupid (because if you killed a slave that didn't count as murder and being in public like that was bad)


so he tells them all to shut up and he frees Patrick and then he goes home because he's sick of all the talking.


He's home feeding the chickens when he hears Patrick talking to someone and coming closer and turns around just in time to hear Patrick say something like "and this is my home" and point at his house.


Pete and Bob stare at him a lot because wtf.
*

Patrick blushes and doesn't look directly at Bob and Pete kisses him on the head and leaves them to talk while he abuses the goats.


Bob and Patrick make up and make out and there totally are "I love you"s because I say so.


That night there's a big party, because vikings are good hosts even with people they previously robbed, and Bob would like nothing more than to stay at home having sex with his free new boyfriend thank you very much, but there has to be music and he is the drummer. So they play, Spencer, Ryan, Jon and Bob; Patrick sings Pete's poems and Brendon plays several instruments and sings Ryan's poems and The Used are setting things on fire mostly.
**
**
*

At the end of the night, everyone is sleeping everywhere, but Patrick sleeps next to Bob, for which there's also no pic.
*

My favorite ending is that Patrick just stays, no "I'm gonna go with my people" and big goodbye only so he can jump of the ship and swim back to Bob, none of that. He just stays and Brendon stays with Brian and Pete really likes Viking!lady Ashlee who btw is the king's daughter so no way could that go wrong.
**

And if they ever want they can totally visit Gabe's magical kingdom all together.



Super sideline note: they can all understand each other, yep. Because they speak the queen's english, IDC. :P

(basically everything I mention up there that doesn't have a disclaimer, has been fact-checked, it's just possible that the fact I checked were wrong. Feel free to let me know :) )
 

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 09:43 am (UTC)(link)
it's lovely to ponder, anyway. :)

i mean... i have an icon and everything!

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 09:46 am (UTC)(link)
It is. It's one of my favorite AUs to sink into these days :)

It's only logical a fic should follow! *g*

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 10:20 am (UTC)(link)
well, i would happily hear any random snippets! even if they're not complete, or 'proper ficlets' or even 'not!fic'. just ideas and thoughts would make me smile. :D?

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 10:31 am (UTC)(link)
*g* I might have some of those. Will see what I can put to "paper" :)

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
This was after Patrick saw what happens to most slaves. Vikings were really not nice to them.

--

Bob was out weeding the field, which was the single most boring job there was on the farm. Swing the hoe, hit shallow, try not to destroy the food and most importantly, stand in an incredibly awkward position for a really long time then try to walk. Over and over again.

But, it would be dark and cold soon again, so working in the sun was the good part of the day. He did sometimes miss the sweating and the pain in his back during the long winter nights, but the nostalgia usually passed when the pain refused to go away.

Bob stretched a bit, trying to think of anything but the pain. And Patrick. Pain and Patrick were a no. Maybe he should just count the fucking weeds.

He was just about to start a new row when he saw Patrick walking toward him with that determined "I have something to say to you!" stride. Bob sighed.

But when Patrick got to him, he was wheezing and his eyes were wild but he didn't say a word. He just crouched two rows away from Bob and started plucking. Bob was happy to just let it go, no questions asked, when he remembered that Patrick didn't know anything about fieldwork, and just in time to see him pluck a baby bean. He cringed.

"That's not really..."

Patrick glared up at him.

"We need that."

Patrick looked at the plant in his hand and pushed it back into the ground. Bob appreciated the effort but he wasn't sure the entire row should get the same treatment.

"Hey, look," he started gently, because Patrick still looked more than a little frantic, "why don't you get another hoe and I'll show you what to do and that way you can help me instead of not helping me."

Patrick stood up and looked around, then went for the smaller tool Bob had in reserve. It would do. Bob showed him how to use it, and which plants not to destroy, and Patrick seemed to grasp it pretty quickly.

They worked in silence. Bob watched Patrick's anger get diffused by the work and sweat start tricking down his face. He still bent down every now and then to re-plant something he shouldn't have pulled out, but it wasn't as often as Bob thought it would be.

Patrick was just finishing his first row and Bob was half way down his third, when he couldn't just wait for Patrick to break the silence any more.

"So what brought this on?"

Patrick shrugged.

"Not that I mind. It's just, sudden."

"Yeah, well, we have to do this, so we can get me free, right? And with me eating half of your food, you need all the help you can get."

"That was true a week ago too."

Patrick looked at him sharply but then looked back down just as quickly and continued working. Bob put his hoe down and walked over to where Patrick was meticulously chasing a bug that crawled from under the ground. Bob put his hand on Patrick's arm and felt him flinch slightly, but he stopped swinging and they both watched the bug escape into another tiny crack.

"What happened?"

Patrick stared at the ground for a very long time before he said, "I met Elisbet."

Bob took a deep breath. "Fuck."

"I didn't..." Patrick's fist clenched on the top of the hoe. "She's not even..."

"I know."

"They don't even feed her."

"They feed her."

"Well the feed her shit!" Patrick shouted into Bob's face before he flinched and looked down again.

Bob's fingers twitched on his arm. "Don't do that."

Patrick ignored him stubbornly.

"Have I ever treated you like that?"

"No," Patrick almost whispered, "but you could."

"But I wouldn't."

"It doesn't matter!"

And Bob let his hand fall away because fuck, if that didn't matter, than what did.

He heard Patrick take a breath. "Not like that. It matters. But if you ever decided to change your mind, there would be nothing I could do."

Continued...

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"You could punch me," Bob smiled at the memory and noticed Patrick blush and his lips twitch a bit, like he was fighting a smile of his own. Then he continued, "But there's nothing I can do to make this better. Even if I promise to never treat you like that, I can break my promise without fear, because my honor isn't bound to what I do to you."

Patrick nodded. He looked so lost and hopeless that Bob wanted to hold him close and tell him everything would be okay, even if he knew it wouldn't.

"But I do. Promise. For what it's worth."

The silence was long and Bob had to look away from Patrick's bowed head. He gazed over his field. It looked strong and fruitful this spring, more so than any before. Like the Gods themselves were helping them. He would keep his promise. Both of them. All that mattered was that he knew it.

"Thank you."

He looked back and saw Patrick smiling at him, his eyes bright and determined, like he knew it too. The pull to touch him became even stronger and Bob shifted on his feet to stop himself from reaching out.

"So," Patrick broke the awkward moment, turned to point at his clean row, "how did I do?"

It was good. Better than expected. Bob nodded. "Would be better if you weren't standing on a bean now."

"Fuck!" Patrick jumped and pushed Bob out of his way to stand on neutral ground. "Stupid plants. They all look the same you know! I bet you could probably eat the weed too if you wanted to."

"Sure, you do that," Bob threw a muddy bush at Patrick and went back to work, and this time when Patrick joined him, he was humming a song Bob didn't know.

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:32 pm (UTC)(link)
*FLAILS*

oh my god. this is just... so perfect. and awful! poor patrick! he would hate that so much. and what can bob SAY? but he means it! and patrick is standing on a BEAN!

*hands*

love it.

:DDD

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeess :)

He would hate it. Even if it was the most perfect situation imaginable, he would want a damn choice.
And Bob, he can't even say anything because he COULD break any promise he makes :( And it's like, hey, we just met a few weeks ago, when my friends were enslaving you, but now you need to trust me with your life, kay? Gah.

Beans are awesome! :D
Edited 2010-09-20 12:36 (UTC)

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)
does he know how brendon is getting on? does brendon realise how dire things could be?

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I think Brian and Brendon come over often. Especially in the spring since the sun still sets really early and they have a lot of free time, and it's better to not get Patrick off Bob's land much.

And I think Brendon maybe has a better idea of what slaves are usually treated like because he can go out and has seen some of them. (But not a lot, because they are farmers, so I don't think many of them own slaves really, it's mostly the richer ones.) He was really worried about Patrick but Brian told him Bob would never treat Patrick badly and Brendon has visited enough to know Patrick is eating and being his sarcastic self. And more than once he ends up being the one to comfort Patrick.

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
i like that :)

and brendon would be more trusting, but more knowing at the same time.

brendon comforts patrick? ♥ :DDD

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] maskitheclown.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 01:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee :)

Yeah, whenever I think about writing Brendon it's with a bit of innocence. I have no idea if it has anything to do with what he's really like but I can't get rid of it. And in this situation I think he would be more weary but also more able to trust Brian and Bob.
And with Patrick I always had the feeling that his fame (going back to real life for a sec) made it possible for him to meet a lot of people, and some of them disappointed him muchly. So, (fic) he has a harder time just accepting that people don't have a secret asshole side waiting to come out.

Yeah, I think for instance after he met the slave Patrick would tell Brendon about it and Brendon would admit to knowing and Patrick would feel free to panic over it, despite Bob's promise and despite mostly believing it. Brendon would hug him and tell him everything Brian said about Bob and promise to kill Bob if he ever hurt Patrick (Patrick wouldn't laugh because he would believe him) and then he would sing Three Little Birds (or whatever the equivalent of it was) to cheer him up.

Re: Continued...

[identity profile] mrsquizzical.livejournal.com 2010-09-20 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
(had to go to bed last night so missed it then)



i love when someone a bit more innocent or w/e is in the position of being a safe place for the 'stronger' person. this is gorgeous.

thank you so much for indulging me!

any time you have any other thoughts you feel like dropping my way i'd love to hear them. :D