milliways_bar | (no subject)

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He falls into a chair with a creak of aged leather and the clink of buckles against wood, this hobo in leather and wool and too many years.

He'll order tea in a minute.

First he's going to enjoy being somewhere Dave isn't. Somewhere Horvath isn't.

He imagined this all being... easier. Or at least more straight forward. And involving fewer duels in bathrooms.

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"Oh, Shiva wept and double Carthaginian hell," Autor exclaims, his blush firing up anew. "No, I meant if the age would be a complicating factor in any relationship that we might have, and--hey, I am not a child, okay? You are... This is... This is terrible."

"Well, not by my time's standards, but in the time I'm living now, you certainly are." Balthazar points out cheerfully. "Of course, in my time, you would have had a pile of children already, so either way you're in trouble."

"What? What? I-I'm not old enough to think about having children," Autor gasps. "I'd be an awful parent." Time spent playing dragon adventures with two-year-olds notwithstanding.

The urge to satisfy his curiosity starts itching. "What time would that be?" he asks, all flailing nearly evaporated. Nearly.

"You have heard of King Arthur?" Balthazar asks idly. He remembers the king... sadly, he remembers very little of what he's sure historians would call the glory days. There was so much deception and death at the end that whatever was good about it has mostly disappeared over time.

Autor straightens up. "Yes, of course," he says. "Do you mean to say that you lived during his time--and that he was more than a myth?"

"Of course he was more than a myth - do you honestly believe a myth could leave such a resounding impact?" Balthazar snorts disbelievingly.

"Well, no," Autor says, suitably chastened. "That makes sense. Were you one of his wizards? You're not Merlin, are you?"

"No, and no, emphatically." Thank you, he has much more class than his master. And his master had a bit of a twisted sense of humor. And no fashion sense whatsoever.

And as for the original question... his master may have been a master manipulator and one hell of an ass for not warning him that the Prime Merlinian wasn't going to come for over a thousand years, but at least he was worlds more moral than anyone of the Pendragon line.

Autor senses a disturbance in the Force. Balthazar seems to be... a little annoyed, the boy notices, and so he decides to avoid the subject of wizards and Merlin all together.

"Still, King Arthur's time! Where heroes and legends abound, and apparently everyone had a litter of children by the time they were seventeen," the boy says. "Thank you for telling me. You didn't have to."

Balthazar shrugs, sipping his tea.

"Well, you had to have kids as soon as possible, seeing as you were bound to be dead of something or other by your mid-thirties." Plague, famine, war... all very present realities in his original where and when.

Autor's tempted to get him to stop talking about reproductive duties, but this is the most Balthazar has given away about himself, and the boy isn't about to tell him to be quiet.

He'll just have to suffer the blush.

"Wars and plagues and such?" Autor says. "I assume you can be killed, since you're not immortal. What's behind your longevity?"

"What's behind yours?" Balthazar asks in return. "Perpetual teenagerdom - I'm not jealous."

The zits must be horrendous.

Autor hesitates. He probably shouldn't tell him. But what's the harm in it, he reasons? It's not like Balthazar can change anything about Autor's life--and the time stop is over, besides.

"I lived the same day over and over for about a decade. I thought I was losing my mind," Autor says, looking away. "I was the only one who knew."

"I will live until I've completed my master's last wishes." It isn't the same day over and over, but it's amazing how certain themes repeat themselves.

Endlessly.

"Will you tell me what those are?" Autor asks, and wonders how to answer it himself.

"Why did you relive the same day for decades?" What? Balthazar knows how to negotiate.

"Someone else was in control of my life," Autor answers, a little uneasy. "Someone powerful. The time stop effect has ceased now."

"I must see the sorcerer who defeated him and threatens the safety of all mankind dead or destroyed." Merlin never put it like that, of course - that's the condensed version.

Merlin tended to be a bit more... verbose.

"Are you a sorcerer, then?" Autor asks, tilting his head. "I'm not."

"I am." Now Balthazar sounds distinctly amused as he teases another piece of cinnamon roll free.

Autor blinks, furrowing his brow. "Why are you amused?"

"Where can you go from there?" Balthazar asks, curiously.

"I suppose I could just start lobbing questions at you and see what sticks," Autor says, pursing his lips. "Like, do you use a wand? I don't. When did you start using magic? I haven't yet."

"Wands are for wizards, and after I was born." Balthazar raises an eyebrow at him - why should he offer informational answers when Autor isn't offering any real info to counter?

Autor grins, seeing what he's doing. "That's cheeky. You're right; the meaningful answers I could give don't line up to the questions I'd like to ask. Do you have any questions of your own that you'd like to answer first, or should I figure out some way to tease out relevant information from you?"