You guys wanna know my favorite-ever fic?

It’s not on Archive of Our Own, and it’s definitely not this shit. It’s a published novel by the author Madeline Miller, and it reads like a dream. Better than a dream. I’ve heard it said that in the Viking days, a bard would actually come to someone’s mead hall or whatever and actually sing stories. You know Beowulf? People didn’t read it. It wasn’t published. There weren’t printing presses and also people probably couldn’t read anyway. So they all gathered together and listened to a guy literally sing the story. And I think that’s beautiful. Imagining a bunch of burly Viking dudes back from a day of pillaging, all cuddled up by the fire listening to Hrothnar sing for a couple hours. It’s too cute.