Weekend Entertainment #1 - August Test Drive Meme

[havetubawilltravel]

Happy August! It's an app_this_plz weekend, and you know you've got characters you want to try out.


H O W T O P L A Y:

-->Reply to this post with any character, new or old, you wish to app into Milliways.
-->Scan the post and respond to any characters you'd like to interact with.
-->Milliways members: feel free to respond with your applied characters or post them
--> Have fun! Post is open until Monday's DE and/or until the next Test Drive Meme!

Comments

[witchfinder_general]

"No, sorry," says the stern, middle-aged man in black sitting at a table with books and a steaming cup. "No Father Cuthbert here."

[athelstanthescribe]

"...but he must be." Automatically, he bows his head in deference to the older man. "I was going to his rooms."

[witchfinder_general]

"You ended up somewhere else entirely," the man says. "Where and when is the monastery that is home to you, Brother Osric, Father Cuthbert, and the room you were going to?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Lindisfarne", he says quietly. "In the year of our Lord 793."

[witchfinder_general]

Oh, that Cuthbert!

"The Holy Island of St. Aidan," Father Harman nods. "I've visited."

Pause.

"But about 1200 years after your time."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan brightens visibly at that. "The holy island survives? For 1200 years?"

[witchfinder_general]

"How would you sink an island?" Father Harman says. "It's not been a working monastery since the 16th century, but the priory and church are still standing."

[athelstanthescribe]

"God could do many things, but... if the buildings are no longer consecrated...?"

[witchfinder_general]

"It doesn't make them less special or significant, even though there are no longer monks there," Father Harman says. "And the old church from your time, replaced in later stages, is still the parish church for the island. Worship almost uninterrupted, from your time to mine."

[athelstanthescribe]

He considers that with wonder in his eyes.

"Thank you for telling me so, Father. But how can it be that we've ever met?"

[witchfinder_general]

Father Harman smiles, realising that despite the many centuries between them, the monk has recognised him as a priest. Some things may never change.

"Because of this place," he says. "People from many different times and places, even worlds, can come here, through the magic of that door."

[athelstanthescribe]

"A miracle", he says under his breath, glancing at the door. "I never dreamed..."

[witchfinder_general]

With a medieval man, disbelief is not so much of an issue.

"You could call it that," Father Harman says. "Welcome to Milliways, the bar at the end of the universe."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Such a strange name." After a moment, he looks sheepish. "Forgive me. My name is Athelstan."

[witchfinder_general]

"Welcome, Brother Athelstan," Father Harman says. "I'm Father Pearse Harman, of the Jesuit order, which didn't yet exist in your time."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Would you tell me of it?" he asks immediately, ever eager for knowledge. "And more of this place."

[witchfinder_general]

"To explain the Jesuits," Father Harman says, "I would have to start with the military campaigns Christendom started against the muslims in the Holy Land, the true shape of the Earth, and several church schisms. Do you really want all that confusion?"

Pause.

"But I should tell you about this place."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I have travelled", he notes, "to many places. But what is history for you, it's true I might not understand. There is so much to learn, I know."

[witchfinder_general]

"Well, if you have travelled, then you will know about the Moors in Spain," Father Harman says. "So that is something you can relate to. Well, some time after the year 1000, Christendom mounted a number of military campaigns to the Holy Land under the pretext of making the pilgrim roads safe, and in the course of that, several military orders were founded. That was the first step toward our order, you might say."

[athelstanthescribe]

"It arose from one of those orders", he says slowly. "And Jesuit must derive from Jesu."

[witchfinder_general]

"It does," Father Harman says. "And no, it didn't exactly arise from one of those orders, it was rather that some centuries later, when the church was in a bad shape during a great schism, a badly injured and unlucky Spanish knight asked himself what real soldiers of Christ would be like, and then he found some companions to become just that. Our speciality has always been learning, philosophy, missionary work, and understanding different cultures."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan nods, admiring. "And you still abide by that?"

[witchfinder_general]

"We do," Father Harman says. "We run schools in many parts of the world, and try to be at the forefront of discussion within the church."

Pause.

"But the entire church wouldn't be there in the way it is without the Irish monks, and those from Iona and Lindisfarne. You preserved Christianity at a time when all Europe was pure chaos."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Lindisfarne is a sanctuary", he agrees earnestly. "And a centre of learning. I've been taught several languages, to better spread the word of God, and the art of the scriptorium."

[witchfinder_general]

"That is good," Father Harman says. "You are one of those to whom I owe the survival of my faith. Thank you for your work."