( Open )

[pietistic]

who: Athelstan, OTA
what: catch-all
when: Throughout March
where: Around the City
warnings: n/a

( A. Park )

Often enough, Athelstan can be found in the park. He finds it a relaxing place to be and often he's sketching but every once in a while he is reading as well. Most often the books he reads are religious in nature, very often simply the Bible. He's been trying to read the newer versions than what he is accustomed too and not quite sure that he likes them all that much.

He's not particularly seeking out company in the park but he won't say no to conversation or questions about his drawings or reading materials. If someone settles nearby him he's very likely to greet you politely.

( B. Library )

It doesn't take long for the library to draw Athelstan's attention. He had had access to many texts when he was staying in Wessex with King Ecbert and when he had chosen to leave it was them that he found himself missing more than anything. Now, there were countless texts that he could look at and read and none of them that needed him to work on them. It's almost strange to think of reading for leisure rather than part of a job.

He's yet to discover fiction, really, sticking to religious texts for the most part and some historical accounts that he had found. Often he sits in the library for hours at a time reading through a new text or wandering the aisles in search of nothing in particular.

( C. Wildcard )

[ I'll match tenses and styles! Feel free to hit me with your best shot or hit me up via PM or on plurk at poetanarchy if you want to plot something or want a specific starter. ]

Comments

[pietistic]

Athelstan had long since stopped thinking about whether things were proper or not due to gender. His time around Lagertha had been most insightful and he had stopped thinking about what might or might not be right for a woman to do.

"I work at the farm, as they recommended, and also a bit on my own. It is not much different from what I have known back home. What is it that you do?"

[wit_and_sword]

"Perimeter guard," She answered, pleased, but more grave on the matter. She never expected that sort of duty to be glamorous, of course, but it was still a matter of duty she took seriously. "Sort of like what I did back home, but that is less about patrolling and more whenever anyone took a journey to some place."

The last part she said with a slight smirk, but not entirely mirthful. Anyone who went out back home needed a weapon or some sort of guard; to go without was almost asking for an attack.

"What sort do you do on your own?"

[pietistic]

Athelstan nodded slightly. He knows quite a few Perimeter guards. He thinks it is fine work, but he wouldn't find himself suited well for it. He's much more comfortable with the farm work and the time he spends doing art. He doesn't know much about what Elizabeth is referring to in her home but it doesn't seem an odd thing that protections are needed for travelers and the like.

"We have a small farm as well and I do spend a good deal of time drawing and the like. It is not really work... at least here it is not."

[wit_and_sword]

"You were an artist back home?" She watched him as he drew. Perhaps it wasn't the most lucrative work, which would explain working on a farm. Still, she could see why he might take it that way, perhaps as a hobby or a way to earn pin money; just something to stretch and exercise the mind.

"We had a drawing master back home, but father did not see the point in employing one for regular lessons." Not as much as some wealthier families. Oscar Bennet never saw the point in such frivolous lessons and refused to spend the money to pass them onto his daughters. "Though, when we trained in China, one of the calmest lessons was in calligraphy, which they see in of itself as an art form."

Admittly, not one she excelled at either, but certainly more so than drawing.

[pietistic]

"I do not think that it would have been what is most people's idea of an artist. I was a monk and I worked in on illuminations of the Word of God," Athelstan explains, though, perhaps it doesn't mean much to Elizabeth but he doesn't assume as much -- after all she doesn't seem to be from such a modern time that it would have been completely unknown as he has come across with some others.

"Anything can be an art if one approaches it as such," Athelstan said with a small smile.

[wit_and_sword]

She smiled at his words. "No? But before the plague, there were men who spent a good deal of money traveling to the old catholic monasteries and other sites just for a chance to see the art."

Nowadays, people traveled to Asia to learn the deadly arts; traveling to other continents was rare for the expense and need for protection.

"You sound like my former master, the shaolin monk, Pei Liu. He once told me and my sisters that Kung Fu did not just refer to the deadly arts, but to any skill that requires time and effort to perfect."

[pietistic]

Athelstan smiles slightly. "I assure you no one would have spent any money to see my work, I was but from a humble and small monastery." He is not exactly what sure what plague she refers to and he wonders what it is that afflicts the world after this time has passed.

"What is shaolin?" Athelstan questions, which is not the only term he hadn't understood but perhaps one would explain the other.

[wit_and_sword]

"The Shaolin monks are a sect of Buddists in China, they believe that the only way to truly be at peace is to set aside worldly desires and wants, and that balance is achieved with a healthy body as well as a clear mind."

All paraphrased of course, she doubted he would be in the mood for a lecture, but enough so that he might get the idea.

"Since I was eight, my father insisted my sisters and I travel there once a year to study. Historically, the monks began training in combat not just for the discipline, but because of how their temple was located and prone to be attacked by some of the enemy armies."

The buddist monks did not hold the same as Christians; an area might be sacred, and a monk's soul might be enlightened, but that did not guarantee protection in the hear-and-now.

[pietistic]

Athelstan smiles at the description. A lot of it sounds very similar to what life had been like in the monastery before he was taken by Ragnar. He wouldn't have minded if she had gone on more. It's all quite interesting to learn and he's always curious about things. Of course, combat is certainly were similarities definitely ended between the different types of monks.

"It is very interesting," Athelstan said, tilting his head as he thought about it. "I have not heard of such places before."

His travels had been contained to Europe.