( 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 tilts his head curiously at the other's comment. It seems a bit too direct to be without some experience behind it which makes him a bit curious though he does not decide to question it just now. He idly traces the binding of the book that he had in hand and continues to study Ronan. He is a very interesting young man from everything he has seen of him thus far. There's a soft laugh at the follow up and he rubs his thumb over the scarring on one of his hands from his own crucifixion.

"Sacrifices are not always metaphorical, even for Christians. Christ's pain on the cross was not a metaphor. Our sacrifices on Earth are very often very real."

He exhales softly. There's some hesitancy before he speaks again. "When you look past some of the exterior and really listen to the stories of their gods, the Vikings are not so different from us."

[somnioergosum]

"I was talking about transubstantiation versus killing someone, then drinking their blood but okay. If you wanna be like that, I still prefer ours. Less dead people. I mean, unless you go the martyrdom route." Ronan stretched back like he was posing as a saint in one of those medieval paintings. All he needed as a dozen arrows stuck in his chest. He made an awful gagging sound before resuming a less dramatic posture.

"Yeah, I know they're people. Some of them are also psychotic fucking murderers. Pretty damn hard to get past the whole unrepentant killer thing." Which, admittedly, Ronan had more or less forgiven before. That didn't mean he automatically absolved everyone.

[pietistic]

Athelstan has seen Christian violence as he has seen Viking violence. He's seen the brutality of King Ecbert, of King Aelle. They were not really any better than Vikings -- perhaps they were worse in that they pretended that they were. He looks perplexed briefly by Ronan's dramatic antics and he shook his head.

"Perhaps, by your time things are different but in mine, there were just as many unrepentant killers among the Christians. Men are weak, they seek power and search for it in whatever manner they have. I have seen Christians massacre just as badly as I have seen of the Vikings, they felt no remorse either. Perhaps it is not our religion that makes us better or worse than someone else," Athelstan says simply, there's a tired look in his eyes for a moment.

"Do you think that in the time of Vikings that Christians were repentant of killing? I was crucified by Christians. They were more brutal to me than any Viking has been."

[somnioergosum]

Ronan was a little biased in that the only vikings he'd met were ruthless murderers and at least one of them was a psychopath. But he was distracted by Athelstan admitting to having been crucified. He leaned forward.

"Seriously? Like actually getting nailed to a cross crucifixion?" He didn't seem as disturbed by this as he should, but this was the sort of thing that took time to process. It was one thing to grow up surrounded by the imagery and symbolism and another to confront its reality. "Why?"

[pietistic]

Athelstan isn't particularly surprised by Ronan's sudden fixation on his admission. He's been around Vikings too long for such a thing to strike him as too odd. No one has really asked him about it. He's never really told Ragnar what happened and in Wessex -- everyone that had known him had already known what had happened. Too many people thought something greater about him for it.

"They said I was an apostate," Athelstan sighs. "I thought I was going to die. I was supposed to."

God had other plans, or at least King Ecbert had.

[somnioergosum]

Ronan's sharp blue eyes were fixed on Athelstan. "So why didn't you?" He thought of several possibilities involving a rescue or plea for mercy on his behalf. He hoped it was something suitably dramatic.

Of course, there was a different meaning to that question. The existential one people so often asked, "why me?"

[pietistic]

"The King of Wessex told them to take me down," Athelstan says. It's a complicated thing. At the time he hadn't understood why Ecbert had done so but he had learned it had more to do with Ragnar than anything else and then he had also realized that somehow the King had decided they were kindred spirits.

[somnioergosum]

Ronan leaned back in his seat, settling in. "Yeah, why am I thinking you're not telling me the whole story? Come on, spill."

For someone who hoarded his own secrets, he was all too eager to press for details. It never mattered if a subject might be a sore spot. If Ronan really wanted to know it, he'd ask.

[pietistic]

In truth, Athelstan isn't completely sure he does truly understand what had motivated King Ecbert that day. There's a long silence in which it is clear Athelstan is contemplating how to explain. It's not exactly a secret but it all seemed strange even now but he found himself grateful all the same.

"I think that he thought that I was like him and perhaps in a way I am. I was curious and I wanted to know everything that there was to know. I had an open mind. After I had healed and some time later... I had returned to my work illuminating the Word of God and then he showed me a precious store of documents from all sorts of cultures and religions and I then set to translating them for him. I think that is why he saved me, he knew somehow that I could help him with his quest for knowledge."

[somnioergosum]

"So you were saved from the cross because you're just that much of a nerd." When he looked at it that way, having been a giant music and dance nerd in his younger days wasn't so embarrassing. Though it hadn't saved his life either. Not yet.

Ronan shook his head, banishing the memories of those dark days. "So you stayed with him?"

[pietistic]

Athelstan raised a brow at the word 'nerd'. It's still a new one. "Is that what they call intellectuals now?" he asks curiously.

There's another pause and then Athelstan shakes his head. "Well, I did, for a while. The Vikings returned home without me, Ragnar had already left because Kattegat had fallen under attack and his family was in danger..." Athelstan smiles sadly. He still wonders what life would have been like had he not insisted upon staying with King Horik to help translate with the Saxons. "Later, Ragnar came back to Wessex and I had a choice. I chose to go home to Kattegat."

[somnioergosum]

Ronan thought back to his attempts to teach Ragnar the basics of slang. He decided against repeating the discussion. Plus, it was true. "Yeah, you can say they get called that a lot."

Funny Athelstan should bring Ragnar up next. He could understand that kind of loyalty. Or maybe he couldn't. If it was a Stockholm's thing-- he was pretty sure he wouldn't get that.

"So, how'd that turn out?"

[pietistic]

Even if Athelstan had learned what Stockholm's was he wouldn't find it to apply to him -- especially not after spending years away from Ragnar. There was a sense that God had had a plan in bringing Ragnar into his life and life had never been abusive or bad with the Vikings -- if not difficult at first.

"It is home but then I ended up here and Ragnar is from my past," Athelstan looks thoughtful for a moment. "It's strange and interesting to see him so young again."