EP - tiny!Emcee

[i_am_your_host]

The door works in the strangest of ways.

So when a certain someone is holed up in his room, his younger self, his much, much younger self, enters the bar.

Small and pale and undernourished, the elfin ten-year-old boy (who could be mistaken for even younger than that) is dressed in secondhand school clothes from a distant era: knickerbockers and knee socks, a cardigan and cloth cap. He stares at his surroundings with large brown doe eyes.

Has he been here before? Perhaps in a dream? Why does it feel so familiar, when the door shouldn't have led here at all?

But this is a pub, and the little boy knows pubs. He goes up to the counter, peeking over it on tiptoes, to look for the barman. But there is none. How odd.

Even odder is the glass of milk and the plate of cookies that suddenly appear out of thin air.

This must be a dream.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric watches the boy with a little smile, his eyes flashing gold a moment as he recognises who the boy will become. He comes over, all swishing silk skirts and silver ankle bells. "Whatever you desire, you need only ask. The bar will provide."

[i_am_your_host]

The boy, standing on tiptoes with his fingers curled over the edge of the bar, turns his head when he's addressed. And then he drops back down to his heels, his eyes going a little wide. Though his expression is schooled, his eyes betray a sharp but quiet intelligence and curiosity despite the cherubic face.

"But I don't have money."

He's also very practical. And slowly learning that he doesn't have to beg or steal anymore.

[thewidewideworld]

"Nor do you need any." Sinric reassures. "No payments are needed. Not by the young."

He orders a pot of tea and it appears in a lovely silver service with elegant painted glasses. "Would you like some?"

He gestures to the comfortable seats by the fire, carrying the tray with practiced grace.

[i_am_your_host]

He's never seen anything so beautiful. This person must be rich.

"Mama Lily says I shouldn't drink cold things and hot things at the same time or it will upset my tummy."

But he accepts the offer to sit by the fire, carefully carrying his milk and cookies over and making sure not to spill anything when he sets them down on the coffee table.

[thewidewideworld]

"A woman of wisdom." Sinric nods, pouting his tea. "My name is Sinric. What name may I know you by?"

[i_am_your_host]

The boy sits demurely on the edge of the couch, and then remembers to take off his cap.

"A pleasure to meet you, Herr Sinric," he says with a small smile, his cheeks dimpling slightly, as he holds out a hand to shake as he'd been taught. "My name is Hansel."

[thewidewideworld]

"Welcome to Milliways, Hansel." His eyes flash gold as their hands touch, Sinric's lips twist in a warm smile.

[i_am_your_host]

The boy sees the flash of gold in Sinric's eyes and does a sort of double-take, wondering for a moment if it was just a reflection of the firelight. He's not sure what to make of it, or Sinric's seemingly knowing smile, but he bobs his head in a polite nod.

"Thank you."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric leans back, sipping his tea. "Is Mama Lily your protector?" He asks politely, studying the boy's face.

[i_am_your_host]

Hansel picks up his glass of milk. Mama Lily says milk is important for children and makes sure he has some every day.

"She..."

He doesn't really know what she is?

"Yes? I suppose. She let me live in the same house as all of her ladies. She gives me food and a place to sleep, and she says that soon she'll teach me how to read and write." His soft, thoughtful features brighten with a faint smile. "She's nice to me. And so are the ladies. They've never had a boy live with them before."

[thewidewideworld]

"I understand." Sinric nods. In his time, the boy would have been expected to work too but he knows it's different for this young man. "And in exchange you help them where you can?"

[i_am_your_host]

He looks at him a little questioningly. In exchange? If there's an exchange, Hansel isn't aware of it.

"Well, I guess I do help with chores. I sweep the floors and help fix the beds and tell the ladies they look pretty."

A pause as he takes a sip of milk.

"It's a brothel," he adds for clarification. It's a straightforward statement.

[thewidewideworld]

"I understand." Sinric says gently. "I grew up as a palace pleasure slave. But I'm glad they treat you well."

[i_am_your_host]

He blinks and frowns, so full of questions.

"What's a pleasure slave?"

[thewidewideworld]

"A whore who is owned, not paid." He explains without shame. "I belonged to a powerful man who thankfully loved and cherished me. I warmed his bed, entertained his guests, and pleasured him and those he bade me to."

Sinric shrugs elegantly. "It sounds quite terrible but it wasn't. I was gives an education to rival any prince and lived in the most beautiful palace in the world. And I was valued and loved. Few free men could boast the same."

[i_am_your_host]

Hansel absorbs this information, connecting it with the way Sinric presents himself, how he speaks, his manners, even his clothes, the tea set, and choice of tea. And he passes no judgement, even if it all sounds strange to him, like a fairy tale.

"But that isn't what you are now?"

[thewidewideworld]

"No, it's not." Sinric smiles, impressed by the boy's sharpness. "I'm a free man and wanderer. I do as I please, going where fate and the wind send me. Mostly I make my living as a singer, or trading rare goods."

[i_am_your_host]

He processes this, too.

"That sounds like fun," he decides with a small smile. "Maybe I could do that. But...maybe when I'm grown up. I like having a home for now."

[thewidewideworld]

"It can be. But not having a place to call home can be hard. I have come to call this place home as it is the only constant I have. And here I may find my friends who are scattered through space and time." He makes an expansive gesture, taking in the bar.

[i_am_your_host]

"It seems to be a good place for a wanderer," he says thoughtfully. "You have everything and everyone here, but you can still travel and come back to it whenever you want."

[thewidewideworld]

"At least when the door is kind. Although it's easier now the tree is part of the bar. It's another path I can travel along. Not an easy one but-" He shrugs,

"What of you? What do you wish to do when you're grown?"

[i_am_your_host]

"The tree?" he asks quizzically.

And then he shrugs at Sinric's question, a delicate movement of his thin shoulders.

"I don't know. I...haven't really thought about it."

A formerly homeless child with no parents doesn't have much to aspire to. Or the hope to consider that there's more beyond finding the next meal and surviving the night.

[thewidewideworld]

"It's difficult to explain but as the bar is attached to the world by the doors, other worlds are connected by the branches of the world tree. I have- abilities that connect me to the tree. Once, in a moment of desperation I used the tree to reach this place and now the roots reach here as well."

He smiles fondly. "Learn everything people can teach you. Learn to watch and read them. That will give you a great advantage than you know."