milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Father Harman is sitting at a table, with a stack of books and tea. So far, so usual.

He looks up when the door opens, either of them -- as if he was waiting for somebody.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sinric comes in from the garden, carrying a basket of freshly picked cherries. Last time they spoke, Sinric wasn't overly friendly towards Father Harman, but that was so long ago.

He offers the priest a small smile and bow.

Father Harman doesn't carry grudges. Not unless you are a vampire.

"Hello, Sinric," he says with a friendly smile. "Cherries that blossom do bear fruit, don't they?"

"They have, and bountifully so." He comes over and offer Father Harman the basket of cherries. "It seems strange that they are the same cherries I dance under the blossoms of so many years ago."

Harman takes a few cherries, eats one, and neatly spits out the pip, depositing it on the saucer of his teacup.

"Milliways does strange things to one's own time line," he agrees. "How many years ago was this spring for you?"

"More than three years." He admits, splitting and pipping a cherry with a sharp nail. "I seem to be travelling a slower path than some of my friends."

"You are from their past, aren't you?" Harman says. "And catching up with them, eventually."

"I will, eventually. Via a much longer path to reach them." He doesn't quite meet Harman's eye as he pips another cherry.

"You know that already?" Harman guesses.

"Oh yes. Their past is my future. And I have far to go to reach the place and time Ragnar remembers our meeting."

"That would be somewhere in Scandinavia?" Harman says.

"A trade port in Jutland." He nods. "Far away and many years from now. Perhaps that is why I go so long without finding the door to here - to reach them faster by travelling the longer road."

"It must be very irritating and disorienting for you," Father Harman says. "When did you return, this time around?"

"It is at first." He nods. "It takes a while to get back into the thinking required for time here."

"Two weeks ago. It's been good, to sleep in my bed here and spend time with my friends again."

"I'm sure it is," Father Harman nods. "Where did you travel while the door kept you out?"

"From Sino Empire to Nippon. And from there to the Vengi Empire. I think the names you might know them by are China, Japan, and India."

"It's in southern India, isn't it?" Father Harman says. "That is quite some journey for somebody who started out in Byzantium, and will make it to Scandinavia and France, later on, from what I heard."

"Indeed it is. With a large and busy trading port."

He smiles and ducks his head. "And many places more on my way, I hope. I would very much like to see the Mediterranean on my way."

"You'd re-enter the former Roman empire through Egypt or Palestine, most likely, as you are using the silk road of the seas, as it's known in my time," Father Harman muses. "Travelling over the Mediterranean would be the most obvious route towards the west -- Italy, or France."

"That is my hope. The culture and structure of the empire of my youth was born from Rome. I would love to see it's birth place."

"It is mostly in ruins, in your time," Harman says. "But still impressive."

"I'd imagine not all of it is in the state of glory it once was but I'd still like to see it."

"And I am sure that you will," Harman says.

Beat.

"Do you happen to have seen Ragnar Lothbrok lately?"

"I have." He cocks his head. "What makes you ask?"

"I talked to him on Sunday, and now have a few follow-up answers for him," Harman says. "But I didn't catch him yesterday or today, so I'm asking."

He cocks his head curiously but don't pry. Not unless Father Harman wished to tell him what it was they spoke of. "He may have gone out riding on his motorcycle. He likes to fish or hunt in the mountain, sometimes going for some days. I'm sure he will return in time."

Edited 2016-09-11 13:29 (UTC)

"Well, then I will keep looking for him," Harman says. "He will turn up at some stage, most likely with salmon or something like that."

It's not as if time would pass in his own world while he is here, after all. Father Harman can wait a few days to deliver the books he wouldn't entrust to the bar, seeing that he can't know who would be with him when Ragnar gets them, and Athelstan wondering why Ragnar gets given books about psychology aimed at older children (because of his reading level) might be quite a bad thing.

"I can let him know you're looking for him when he returns, if you wish?"

"Thank you," Father Harman says. "That would be helpful."

Sinric gives him a small bow and offers Father Harman a handful of cherries before going back to the bar to sort out those to leave for Rae.

{ooc: fade there? Thank you.}

"Thank you," Harman says again, and starts eating some cherries.

[[OOC: Thanks for the thread! A miracle --- Sinric didn't get furious at the priest for once!]]

{ooc: thank you. And they managed it...this time}

[[OOC: There can always be a next time when they don't...]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only