Dare to Dream of the Future (closed)

4 September 2020
2:50 pm
On a Friday
Reynir, Prydania

The scene was near-chaos as local police, Knights of the Storm, and the White Guard worked together to keep the press under control on the first floor of Reynir Hospital. Laurids Hummel and Colart Radoslav each doing their part to control the maelstrom of photographers, reporters, bloggers, and, yes, social media influencers. They each knew that word could come down any time.

Tobias felt the tension in his body fall apart into dust as he sat next to his wife on the twenty-eighth floor of the tallest building in Prydania. All the worry, anxiousness, excitement...it all evaporated into a sense of exhausted joy as he looked upon his sons- healthy twin boys- as the doctor handed them to Alycia. Tobias clung to her hand just a bit longer before releasing it, barely able to contain how happy he felt.

“Baldr...Hael…” Alycia said, her physical exhaustion apparent in her voice as she held the two crying babies. Tobias leaned over, smiling at his wife, and then his sons.

“Hey” he said softly, his voice shaking. He had..he had no idea what to say. He had nine months to prepare for this moment and he just….he cried a bit. He wanted to cry more...his mother and father...they would have grandchildren. He had children. Everything...everything felt like a dream. An impossible dream having come alive.

Baldr grabbed it as Hael also reached and Tobias laughed softly, barely believing what was happening.
“Hey” he said again, “your mother and I are happy you’re here safe and sound” he said before turning to an exhausted Alycia, kissing her softly on the forehead.

“Your Grace, Your Majesty” a White Guardsman said, standing in the hospital room doorframe.
“Apologies, but Lord General Hummel has asked if he should start sending press groups up."

Tobias couldn’t even bring himself to get nervous at that, instead looking back to Alyica.
“What do you think love?” he asked.
“Maybe they can wait just a bit longer,” he said as he smiled, looking for his children.

Alycia gave Tobias a smirk as she offered him Baldr.
“The press has waited nine months, they can wait another thirty minutes...we get first dibs on the cuddle train.”

OOC note: co-written with @Zyvun

Tobias held Baldr, looking down at him with a smile across his face. Truth was he could never really see it when people said "oh such and such baby has such and such person's eyes/face/nose/whatever." Babies were...babies. They all tended to look the same. The young king and father wasn't sure if he was having a revelation in this moment. He wasn't sure he saw his own father in Baldr's newborn face, but he certainly brought him to mind. He closed his eyes for a moment to suppress some more tears.

"Mom, dad...you have grandchildren" he said to himself before opening his eyes once more.

"Hey buddy" he said to Baldr as he held him, slumped in a chair next to Alycia's hospital bed. They'd both been there for....God knew how long. It had only been a day or so but it felt like a week.
"Your mom and dad are so happy to see you and your brother" he smiled, before pulling Baldr closer.
"Don't tell your brother" he said in a loud "whisper," "but your mom and dad don't know what they're doing" he chuckled as he looked at Alycia with a relieved grin.

"I mean, unless you picked up something over the past nine months because I sure didn't. And I looked!"
He sighed. He could sit here all day with their children...their children. That still seemed so strange. So...impossible. Yet here they were. He was in no rush to let the press up. He knew it was inevitable, but he just wanted to spend a few more moments with just his wife and children. His family.

21 November 2020
1:04 pm
On a Saturday
Astissa, Norsia

Tobias sighed as he read through his group chat with his friends on Twitcher and set his phone down on a dresser at the far end of Hael and Baldr's room in the White Palace. He didn't even want the thing in his pocket. He didn't want to have to deal with a situation where his country and countrymen were being insulted, and he was kept from saying anything on the matter.
His face lit up seeing his sons in their cribs though. They were stirring from their afternoon naps.

"Hey" he said softly but excitedly as he approached them.
"How are my boys doing?"

They each looked at him with a wide-eyed expression. He smiled and pulled a chair over so he was facing both cribs. Tobias chuckled. They couldn't understand. And of course they'd never remember this, but it didn't matter. He felt so happy just seeing them. He wanted to hold them. And protect them from the vile parts of the world he'd just recently seen a peak into through social media.

"So guys, ever hear about frost giants?" he asked as he leaned forward in his chair, looking at his sons. They gave him a curious, yet clueless, look. Tobias, however, was undeterred, continuing his story as if he had a captive audience.

"They live in Jötunheimr, you see. The giants are really scary..." he made a scary face, but not too sudden. He didn't want to scare them.
"The giants may have been scary but Jötunheimr was this really big and nice place. With a well that had the clearest water, and strong mountain walls that stretched forever..." Tobias smiled as he extended his arms out to either side. Baldr and Hael both seemed to follow his arms with their eyes.

"The Giants though, they knew that in their vast fortresses, in their tall mountains, with their clean streams and wells, that humans could never get to them. So they began to attack humans..."
Tobias got up from his chair and began to stomp around the cribs, keeping his arms at his sides, as he slowly but menacingly leaned over the railings.
"...and we were powerless to stop them!"

He returned to his chair and chuckled a bit as he sat down.
"I guess that's a lesson in and of itself. Sometimes bad people will hurt you. And you need to understand that no matter what...as bad as it gets...people are there for you."
He remembered being only seven, emotionally broken and traumatized, as William would care for him. Do what he could to make him feel happy again...he smiled and leaned forward again.

"But the thing about danger is that...sometimes people fight for the weak" he smiled, again thinking about William. And Stig. And Níels. And Axle. And Laurids. People thought that about him...but he thought about them.
"And in this case..." he continued, "the gods fought for humanity. He thought back to the stories Jörn would tell him.

"Jægdar fought for our people" he said with a nod.
"He would go on to grant a powerful sword to Æschere, but before that he slayed many giants who terrorized humans. He fought against the devoured moon, under the blackest skies. The Giants would try to kill him too, and they enlisted Dviin. Who was a perversion of Jægdar's role as god of the hunt. But it wasn't enough, because Jægdar along with his brothers and sisters slayed the giants who brought harm to our people."
He stretched an arm out and pulled back with the other to mimic Jægdar's bow and arrows.

"We followed him, even when we crossed the great northern sea and came to Prydania. And we revere him, through our symbol, the stag. Even if the new God replaced the old ones" he grinned.
"But he's always looked out for us....even when things looked really bad." He smiled wide at the thought that his sons wouldn't live through what he had to, before he got a bit melancholy and the reality of what he was trying to escape caught up with him.
He got out of his chair and sat down between the cribs, looking side to side at his twin sons.

"I don't know what the world will be like when you're older" he said softly.
"I know what kind of world I want for you two but time will tell..." he sighed. He felt a lump in his throat, that was only really dislodged when he realized his audience were two two month old babies.
"Maybe no one will be saying the things they say now, when you're both older. I hope not...but if they are, be proud of who you are. You're sons of a Norsia, and sons of Prydania. And never think being either is bad" he smiled, and let his head hang a bit. He got overwhelmed just a bit, before raising his head up.

"There's always going to be giants out there, boys. But it's ok...because there are always Jægdars too."

Tobias stood, and picked up each baby in his arms.
"There we go..." he said softly as they cooed and gasps softly. He brought them to a couch set in front of a television in the private residency area of the Palace, only setting the kids down long enough to switch on the television to the pre-game show for that night's slate of hockey games. He grabbed them both again and lay down the couch, holding his sons close to him.

"Now we're going to see why the experts are all wrong, because this is the year the Eyjamenn break the Cup drought, I know it" he chuckled, kissing each of them on the head as he held them close, watching the hockey show flicker across the screen...

21 November 2020
9:25 pm
On a Saturday
Astissa, Norsia

Alycia and Tobias set Baldr and Hael to bed, as Alycia kissed her husband.
"I need to get to bed love" she whispered.
"It's been a long day. But you stay up and watch the rest of the game. I'm sure Stormurholmr can make up that 4-1 deficit" she teased. Tobias laughed and kissed his wife again.

"You're too kind to me, honey."

She smiled as she turned, leaving the room, leaving Tobias standing over his sons in their crib.
"You two are tired, your mom's tired. Leaving me to watch my team get beaten all by myself" he said with a smile as he shook his head, noticing his sons were already falling asleep.
"Fine, I get when I'm not wanted" he chuckled. He turned to leave the room when he saw his phone on the far dresser. He'd set it there when he first came to see Baldr and Hael that afternoon. He'd set it down so he didn't have to read that nonsense from Twitcher. Much less his friends all demanding he do something. As if he could!

He sighed as he picked it up, and made his way into the living room. He lay down on the couch, stretching a bit, before opening his phone up. He saw the Twitcher app, but went to the RÚV one instead. He really didn't want to look at Twitcher. So he made his way through the news, and jumped to the sports tab, checking the stats of the other two games. Miðland and Keris were tied 1-1. Býkonsviði was up 3-2 on Haland. And here were his Stormurholmr Eyjamenn, losing to Alaterva 4-1...he sighed. Three goals in one period was possible, right?

He kept the volume lowered. He didn't want to wake his kids. And that made it easier to be drawn to his phone. He closed the RÚV app and instinctively hit the Twitcher one.
"Ugh" he winced. He felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He didn't WANT to see more people disparaging Prydanians, but he was here now. He saw that his group chat had new notifications and he rolled his eyes. He felt he should at least get caught up on what had happened in the past eight and a half hours before reading his friends' opinions on it all.

"Daily Statistics" he grumbled.
"Here's a statistic, you fokkandlit*," he said looking at François-Louis Villault's Twitcher profile picture.
"Your Royal family's part Prydanian."

So he began scrolling from "last read," but smiled soon after he started reading again. He saw someone he didn't think he'd see, but in retrospect was obvious who would say something.
"Thorbjörn" he said with a smile, and gave him a like. Those were anonymous. He couldn't say much, but he could like Twitches to his heart's content.
"Yeah, Thorbjörn, tell 'em" he said to himself.

He continued to scroll through the feed, his earlier apprehension melting as he saw that the earlier chorus that had gathered around Villault was being drowned out. Both by Prydanians in Saintonge and by other Santonians, standing up for their new countrymen. He set the phone down on the couch and put his hands up, over his nose in a point pointing to his forehead. He closed his eyes and breathed deep, as his heart fluttered a bit. He was overcome with emotion for a moment before he began to laugh softly. He was an idiot. He'd given his sons great advice...

"There's always going to be giants out there, boys. But it's ok...because there are always Jægdars too."

...but he'd failed to keep it in mind himself. He chuckled to himself as he cried slightly, smiling. There would always be Jægdars to fight for people who needed it.

Tobias grabbed his phone. He couldn't interject into this discussion but he could still say something. And hope people understood. He paused to think, before nodding. He knew what to say. And soon, after just a moment of hesitation, he hit "send." It was out there, in the world. He felt good having read that. Having seen the response that xenophobic clown get some blowback. He shook his head. He couldn't comprehend such people, who only seemed to like trying to hurt others.

He sighed, switching his phone off. He didn't need to see one more period of his team losing. Tobias turned the television off, making his way to the bedroom.

"Oh, not watching the rest?" Alycia muttered.

"No" he replied, kissing her behind the ear as he got into bed. "I want to be with you."
He held her from behind, drifting to sleep.

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*fokkandlit= a Prydanian swear/insult. Please translate on your own, as we don't want to run afoul of PG-13 standards here