maskormenacelogs | Pull point plot!

[ He'll take that as actual permission to finally enter, which he will, and he'll be sure to place the knife down on a shelf even higher up than the one Miles had mentioned. ]

Of course. Lead the way?

[ Excuse you. Miles promptly squawks and tries to bar the way. ]

Hey! You forgot the cookies!

Those ones? Who puts cookies by the door? [ Gaia, maybe he's going blind right alongside going grey. ] You have my apologies.

[ As well as cookies, as Nicolas is going to pick the box up and offer them to Miles. ]

[ Miles instantly forgives the trespasser, then. And even offers him one magnanimously while stuffs at least two directly into his mouth. ]

Good. Oughta be.

[ Cookies fix everything, obviously. Which means he's definitely accepting the one offered to him. ]

I don't suppose I could have my passport back now? [ aka the movie known as North by Northwest. ] I think it was meant to go to Greg.

-- Oh, yeah. Here you go. Gregor's in his room right now, I think.

[ He's blatantly making that up, but it's not such a bad guess given everything else that's going on, surely. He offers the DVD back to Nicolas amiably. ]

[ He's pretty sure he's never even been to that part of the house, but they're all mostly the same, right? ]

I'll just go find him, then. [ He'll take the DVD back and gesture with it to a spot behind Miles. ] Up the stairs?

Uh huh. [ Miles waves him off, already wandering away to find a hiding spot for the rest of these cookies. ] I'll tell him you're coming.

[ At this point, Nicolas has to wonder if he shouldn't have offered an actual name, but...

Too late now. He's already off, heading up the stairs! Enjoy the cookies, little guy. ]

...I sure hope he doesn't understand what a step ladder is.

[ For the sake of his knife, if nothing else. ]

[ Knocking on Gregor's door elicits a weedy fourteen year old, overtall for his height and with floppy black hair standing in the doorway.

He doesn't immediately recognize Nicolas, which causes him to shift his weight to his other foot as a sign of nerves, and his voice comes out soft and quiet. ]

Yes?

[ And he wouldn't blame anyone for not recognizing him. He's older, hair and beard both shot through with grey, but at least trimmed back to something sensible, unlike his former self. A vaguely military-like uniform has since replaced the one set of clothing younger Nicolas always seemed to wear, throw in the greens scarf, some rings, well...

But he's clearly not the only one who's changed here.

Nicolas frowns at Gregor for all of, perhaps, five seconds before looking up towards the ceiling and speaking to the air, ]

Am I really the only one who got old? How is that fair? [ Not that he expects any answer. No, he just sighs and looks down again. ] I don't suppose you remember what this was for, do you?

[ He asks that, holding up the DVD case. ]

[ He got older? So he's younger normally? Gregor tries harder to recognize him, since he's acting like he knows him, but accessing his adult memories is quite difficult for him and this doesn't spark anything.

He peers at the DVD case, squinting a bit. ] ... Is that a 2D holovid recording? [ he asks doubtfully, in dim recollection. Then: ] Um, Lady Cordelia is also older, so it wasn't just you.

A 2D holovid? I... [ This conversation feels very familiar? ] Yes. That is one way to describe a DVD. [ Assuming holovid meant holo-something or other video. ] I have a vague recollection of planning to bring it here, but that's seeming like a terrible plan at this point.

[ Whoever he was planning to watch movies with, they certainly aren't here anymore. At least, the correct versions of them. He'll just have to hang onto it, shuffling it over into the same hand as the cookie Miles had given him. ]

She is? [ Which one was-- ah, of course. The nice woman. The mother. ] Well. At least this is going both ways, whatever it is. [ And then, with a curious tilt of his head, he asks, ] You have no idea who I am, do you?

[ A question that's asked with a quiet laugh, at least. He's opting to find this ordeal humorous, not irritating. ]

[ Gregor looks at him uncertainly for a second, but the laugh encourages him to admit, ] Not really, no.

But I wouldn't mind watching something, if me as an adult thought it was a good idea. [ Ordinarily Gregor would rather hide in his room than deal with strangers, especially adult strangers, but he's trusting his older self's taste, here. ] You'd just have to put up with Miles joining us. We probably couldn't keep him away.

[ Notably, he says this without the annoyed tolerance of most older siblings. It's just Gregor matter-of-factly informing him of their fate. ]

It wouldn't be the first time he has, but this film may be a bit much for him right now. [ The last thing they need is Miles wanting to go visit the very top of Mount Rushmore or any of the other nonsense the movie in question makes seem possible. ] Maybe if it were a Disney movie...

[ Except no one here's going to know what those are, either, so moving on!

He'll offer the younger Gregor his free hand. ]

Nicolas Demidov. Former employee, it would seem.

[ As long as this is going on, anyway. He can hardly work for some tiny space emperor. ]

[ Gregor stares at this hand for a long moment -- if you think ImpSec is overprotective of their adult Emperor, that's got nothing on their child-emperor, who was immediately kidnapped shortly after being crowned, and it's lead to a complete dearth of bodily physical contact with anyone not on the trusted list.

Eventually he does reach out and shake his hand, though his grip is light and he's a little awkward about it. Smooth politician he is not, yet.

Out loud: ] Is it still former? My Lord Regent is here; I'm sure he'll take care of things. [ Said with no regard for his cover and with unthinking assurance that Aral Takes Care of Things. ] ... And if you have any other, um, films, maybe I could get Miles to sit still with them.

[ Someone hasn't figured out how TVs work yet. ]

[ Now there's one thing the poor kid will have to practice, but Nicolas isn't going to be the one to tell him as much. ]

Aral? [ Probably the easiest of the names to remember, even after all these years, considering what it had reminded him of before. Still, he'll have to shake his head. ] It isn't about you and Miles being children now, not really. If I'm stuck as I am now, it just isn't possible for me to stay on as a mercenary of any kind, that's all.

[ Merc, body guard, security... whatever. ]

Other films... Not on hand, but I could find one on the TV, if you really do want to watch something. Those things have about five-hundred channels.

Oh, are you sworn to someone now? [ Gregor asks, in what he thinks is logically. He distantly recalls Nicolas discussing royalty but always in an abstract, third person sense, so the reverse does not occur to him.

Then he's diverted by this other train of thought. ] ... TV? Is that what that is, a 2D holoviewer?

[ Of all the things he could actually remember... He considers how to answer that, for all of a few seconds, then decides to give Gregor yet another of his vague answers. Some things never change, it would seem. ]

Something like that. [ It counts when you're sworn to care for a bunch of other people, even if that hadn't been what Gregor had meant. He won't expand upon it, either, since the topic's already been changed. ] A 2D holoviewer? Yes, that sounds about right.

[ He looks back towards the stairs. ]

If you mean the big, flat screen down there.

[ Gregor isn't quite the steel trap he is as an adult, but certain things stick out to him nonetheless.

He accepts this vagueness-- mostly out of a familiarity that, at fourteen, people feel free not to tell him things and defer to Aral on what he's allowed to know-- and follows his gaze down the stairs. ]

Yes, that. I didn't realize we could watch things on it. [ Dolefully, ] Miles keeps shrinking us to wander around the game room's map when he gets bored. This would be a lot easier. [ Don't be fooled; Gregor has thrilled in his adventures thus far. But they are tiring. ]

Does he?

[ Something he'll have to keep in mind for later, although he's liable to forget it once this ordeal is through. Moot point, in the end, but he doesn't know that. Still, Nicolas can't help but chuckle some at the image. Wandering around game boards... ]

Then you're in luck. I'm sure there's a few channels that play nothing but cartoons, all day long. He might like those.

Edited 2016-04-02 04:01 (UTC)

[ That's not a secret for adult Miles, just embarrassing, so it doesn't come up much.

Gregor shakes his head a bit. ] Is there a military history feed? He'd be more likely to sit still for that. We could look, um... if you don't find that boring. [ He sounds doubtful. Gregor does not expect most adults to find entertaining Miles interesting. Miles, for most people of all age groups, comes off as highly irritating and demanding. ]

[ Asking for military history over cartoons? Nicolas has to think on it for a few seconds, then he turns back towards the stairs, waving Gregor along. ]

Boring? No, can't say that I do. [ It's not like he would abandon the poor kid without at least showing him how the television works. ] There should be a few history channels. I wasn't making it up when I said five-hundred channels. America has a TV channel for just about anything.

[ #justVorthings, honestly. Though Miles in particular is especially bad about it.

Gregor trots after him, following down the stairs on light feet. ] We just use the 'net to access different feeds on our holoviewers.

... He'll probably just show up if we sit down and turn it on. [ Since Gregor's not sure how to handle his links very well, and sending messages cold seems dicey. He might send it to everyone, and that would be embarrassing. ]

You'll have to tell me if your feeds are anything like our channels.

[ Inquiring minds want to know, but how much different could they be in the future? Aside from being 3D, he supposes.

Anyway, it's down the stairs, on which he's about as noiseless as Gregor is, despite being heavier for sure. He even skips the one step with the highest chance of squeaking. Then it's onwards to the living room, where Nicolas will find the remote and turn the TV on.

It's on some news channel currently. ]

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