PSL: For Hermann

[not_kenway]

Ratonhnhaké:ton had left Hermann safely in his locked up apartment, sleeping off the massage and hopefully getting a decent night's rest without his body screaming pain at him.

he slipped back into his routine. Late nights out on rooftops, sleeping not really enough hours to get up and train and get on with his day.

He didn't contact Hermann. He didn't know when Hermann would be comfortable with seeing him again, so he would wait for him to make contact.

Comments

[orthogonal]

"Which raises a multitude of interesting questions that I am going to assume all end in, 'this is just our way', so I won't ask them." Hermann stated dryly, as he started taking out supplies.

"I would, and ... two bears but only one hit you. Huh." Now that was a new one on Hermann.

[not_kenway]

Connor vanishes back to the bathroom to finish dressing. He keeps talking, voice raised just enough to be clear. "Yes. If they had both hit me, I doubt I would have got back up again."

He had had to bind it shut and limp his way back home in a sorry state to get sewn up properly by Ellen.

[orthogonal]

Hermann let himself have a huge sigh of relief when Connor left to put some clothes on - and felt guilty for it. Clearly this was something that was going to have to be discussed as well. "Well, I am glad they did not both hit you at the same time, otherwise we would not be having this conversation."

[not_kenway]

He had put on shorts! That counted.

Far more importantly, he'd been armed.

"Clearly, no." He came back out, wearing jeans and sliding on a loose tee.

[orthogonal]

Clearly it did not.

He cleared his throat again, before he sighed. "Connor, I have to be frank with you. You wandering around without clothes is a cultural thing, yes, and not a subtle hint?"

[not_kenway]

"... a subtle hint?" Connor just looked confused at the statement. "Of course. You are not accustomed to states of undress. I apologise. I spend much time at sea where modesty is a luxury."

[orthogonal]

Hermann let out a breath he had not known that he had been holding. "As I suspected, a cultural confusion. In our time, if a man wanders around half-naked in front of another person, more often than not he is looking for a sexual encounter."

[not_kenway]

Connor looks vaguely horrified at the idea. "No, no, I would not make such an overture. I would simply ask."

He's a product of his people and time. He would be upfront, but never make an overture without clearly establishing what they both wanted. "In our culture, a body is not inherently an invitation, nor sexual. Unlike the colonists, we do not find exposed skin wicked and tempting."

The colonists are weird.

[orthogonal]

"Oh, thank goodness." Hermann let out a deep sigh of relief, because that straight forward method sounded absolutely perfect.

"Well, in my culture ... when someone is comfortable enough around you to be naked, they either want you to acknowledge they want to have sex with you -- or they are simply that comfortable." Germans were an odd bunch, he'd admit that.

[not_kenway]

"I am that comfortable." It's an easier way to put it.

He starts helping with putting groceries away, or at least spread out on the bench.

[orthogonal]

Hermann gave a quiet, pleased smile, before he started to organize the groceries - which needed to be refridgerated, which could stay out. He glanced up at the other man.

"Now, you never said, but is there any kind of food that makes you ill?"

[not_kenway]

Connor starts putting away the things that need to go away.

"No. Achilles said I had a stomach like a cast iron furnace."

[orthogonal]

"Well then good, you'll enjoy the German food I shall be cooking."

He beams, pleased at that, as he started to take out frying pans and the like.

[not_kenway]

"I do like German cooking." There were a lot of German migrants in the colonies, their food at appealed more than the English fare had.

"A nearby village had a..." He tries to find a word in English, and realises there is none. "Hm. Man-wife? She made sausages like the Germans did, with local meats. They were always heavy and filling."

[orthogonal]

Hermann took out his frying pans, so he could start on the sausages and the potato pancakes. He frowned briefly, arching an eyebrow at Connor.. "Man-wife? What is a man-wife?"

[not_kenway]

"I do not know the English word. I do not know if there is an English word." He hummed softly while he thought about how to explain it. "She is a woman who has a man's body. If there is war, she will take up arms with her brothers, but in peace, she is one of the women of the tribe."

[orthogonal]

"Aaaah yes, I know this word. She's a trans-gendered person. Someone who is a woman within a man's body." He nodded his head, pleased to know that such people were accepted in society - or at least in the tribes - in Connor's day. "Did she make potato pancakes as well?"

[not_kenway]

Not just accepted; there was a special place for them. Connor shook his head and then huffed, pushing his hair back from his face. "No. Not those."

[orthogonal]

"Well, then you are in for a treat." Hermann stated with another crooked smile. "My mother used to make these for my brothers and sisters on every Jewish holiday."

[not_kenway]

Having finished putting things away, Connor hopped up onto the counter to sit and watch what Hermann was doing. "You are Jewish?"

[orthogonal]

Hermann nodded his head, smiling up at Connor. "I even have the yarmulke to prove it. Of course, I only observe the High Holidays and the Sabbath ... I am usually too busy to go to synagogue."

[not_kenway]

"I know very little of the Jews and their culture. Achilles is Christian, as are all my neighbours at the homestead. The Jew colonists keep to themselves in the towns."

In other words, he has no idea what yarmulke or synagogue is. Or the high holidays.

[orthogonal]

"Well, then we shall have another thing for me to teach you, then, if you wish." Hermann said with a firm nod. "And you can tell me of how you worship, as well."

[not_kenway]

Connor swung his legs idly, watching what Hermann was doing for a little bit. "It's not about worship." He didn't really understand their 'worship' as it was.

"It's just about understanding where we fit in the natural and spiritual world. Giving thanks for what we have and what is given to us. We give thanks to the plants and animals who provide us food, to the spirits of the trees and rivers for wood and water. We listen to the messages sent from the spirits in our dreams and do our best to do as we are asked. We try to do more good than evil."

His village had been insular, from the colonists and from the other clans in the tribe. Their beliefs had differed a little. They had a direct connection to the spirits, and a Great Mother spoke through the relic to them.

[orthogonal]

Hermann raised both eyebrows at that, before he looked thoughtful. "Hm. It is not something that I could get behind, I am afraid, but it does sound fitting for you. It is too ... loose, for what I consider a divine plan. But then again, I believe God speaks through numbers and programming, so there you have it."

He started to peel the potatoes in the sink, and once that was done, he began to shred them with a grater he had brought with him.