Sinric the Wanderer

"I'd have said burn-out, too," Ragnar says, moving his hand over Sinric's back, then Athelstan's side. "It's a good thing you have to study very long to be a nurse or a doctor, too. People who can't deal drop out in time."

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The touches are just comfortable, at this point, so much he doesn't think about where they could be leading.

"Yeah, I guess. And everybody does time in the ER before they qualify."

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"I'm very glad it was a path I didn't take." Sin sighs, pressing a lazy kiss on Athelstan's shoulder, draping his arm over Athelstan's hip to stroke the curve of Ragnar's thigh, equally lazily. He's content just talking and touching, being well behind sated for one night.

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"Did you consider it?" Ragnar asks.

He cranes his head to kiss each of them, just light affectionate touches to their lips.

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"It would have meant staying in one place for a very long time..."

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"Exactly. I have studied some medicine, mostly as part of my neurochemistry degree but not much more than that. It would never be a life that suited me."

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"Amazing that you managed to stay put long enough to get those degrees in the first place," Ragnar nods.

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"Could you maybe do it by correspondence?" Athelstan says thoughtfully. "Online, or something, so all you'd need is an internet cafe."

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"Mostly I studied by increments. That's why I have so many degrees. I'd start something, get the wanderlust and have to defer for a couple of years then come back to it later."

"Except for ethno-musicology. That was a field school that took me all over Europe so I never felt stuck and ran."

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"Your professors must have either loved or hated you," Ragnar grins. "There you are, being totally brilliant, and then you just up and left, to come back after a few years and go 'can I go on, pretty please'?"

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Athelstan leans into their arms.

"But then, you'd come back with interesting stories to tell. And you did finish."

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"International law took me four attempts to finish but each time I came back with some rather interesting case studies to put to the class. I think my Latin teacher took my vanishing act the hardest. He was desperate for me to graduate so I wouldn't be his student any more and he could fuck me without risking his job."

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"What degree was that Latin class for?" Ragnar asks.

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"One of the medical ones? A lot of medical words are Latin."

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"It did help for those but I took that and ancient Greek primarily as part of a history degree. It's amazing how much understanding Roman expansion can help you navigate half the cities in Europe. Once you can see how they were built, the rest makes perfect sense."

Sin smiles nostalgicly. "And I was fascinated by it. Enough to flatter an old professor into wanting me so I could spend more time in his personal collection of original texts."

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"That is not something most old men are used to be flattered over," Ragnar says.

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"I hope he saw your brains as well as wanting you", Athelstan says with another squeeze of his hand. "But I admit, I'd do a lot for some time in a collection like that."

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"Oh, sweet Athelstan. Never whore yourself out for books. You're worth more than that." He kisses Athelstan's cheek. "He enjoyed my company for several reasons but my ass was very high on his list. He was a surprisingly kinky old sod but that was just fine with me. I enjoyed his company too and for more than just his library."

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"And so that's how you got another degree," Ragnar says, grinning.

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"Are you still studying at all?" Athelstan asks. "Or just informally?"

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"Hey!" Sin leans over Athelstan to smack Ragnar's arm. "I never asked for or get credits I didn't earn. I may have scored higher because of the extra study I did in his library but not the extra-curricular activities."

He snuggles down back behind Athelstan, apologising for squashing him with a kiss to his shoulder. "Not at the moment. I have stopped off at a university for a while to see if there's anything that interests me. There's a course in First Nation shamanism I've considered but it's not a formal thing."

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"Ow!" Ragnar says, but he's laughing.

"I guess I deserved that."

Beat.

"Who teaches that course?"

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"You must have met real First Nations shamans in your travels", Athelstan says thoughtfully.

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"Damn right you deserve that." Sin can't help but giggle, failing to stay serious.

"I try to. I feel very connected to the spiritual side of the land. In fact the course is being taught by a friend of a friend of the people who run the retreat we're going to after the festival."

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