A... British New Englander in King Arthur's Court?

[howtheyshine]

It will be, he decides, for a "weekend." A quick trip to make sure other-John-and-Arthur are okay, to help them if they aren't. It scares the shit out of him and he debates bringing his John and Arthur, but that... seems like it could end badly for the Arthur part of the group. Edwin isn't sure why he has that particular conviction, but he trusts it.

So popping back to his timeline, he tells John, is to find the Charlie there and heal him. Get him home if he needs the transportation. It's not a lie! It's just not the whole truth, either.

He doesn't introduce himself when he finds Charlie sputtering blood in the middle of a field in Spain. Just fixes up that injury and takes them both to New York, before leaving Charlie at the address of a 'friend' that John mentioned. It's a church, not a house, but Charlie should be safe enough either way.

He's preoccupied during the whole undramatic rescue, searching this plane for the feel of his other-brother, but he gets nothing until he stops looking for place and starts looking through time on a whim.

Then, Charlie and the one-armed priest Edwin brought him to are treated to the vision of the weird teen boy in the corner frowning into the air, muttering, "What in the fucking--" and vanishing without finishing his sentence.

It's raining. It's soggy with rain, where he blinks back into existence, and his loose sweater immediately feels ten times heavier. Not that it matters, really, but it's not pleasant. Which is why he dries it with a thought and nudges the rain to fall around him instead of on him.

He squints through the gray and starts walking, following the feel of his familiar-unfamiliar family, until he sees two figures through the downpour.

Two!

Edwin grins, almost saves himself time by teleporting the last thirty feet, then realizes that will probably startle them both, badly.

"John! Arthur! I-Is that you?" He's jogging toward the shapes as he talks. "It's--it's Edwin, uh, Yell-- Yedwin-- I mean, I was Yellow, but I picked a name. I told John."

He wipes damp bangs out of his eyes, those still wet even if his clothes aren't and the rain is now leaving him alone.

"The body! It worked! You got it!"

Comments

[greatoldjohn]

No. Part of being partners is... if I can let him choose, I should. Even if I don't like it.

Arthur tells him about his dreams, after all. It's not as if Arthur is alone with his dreams or his nightmares. But he can't expect that to continue if he does something like that, if he doesn't let him share it.

[howtheyshine]

Edwin looks at Arthur, worry lines wrinkling his forehead for a minute. Does he really not understand still, is he really that far off from getting it the way he wants to, the way he should?

I've... never really had a partner. Not like that.

A heavy homesickness settles in his chest and that, somehow, is even stranger.

He changes shape without thinking about it, shifts into the form of a leggy half-grown gray fox and trots over to try and climb on John's lap.

[greatoldjohn]

John will happily gather him onto his lap, still amazed at the joy of physicality, of physical touch. He'll start petting Edwin's fur, more out of wonder for the feel of it, and then as a matter of comfort.

Well, if you're joining us here, you're going to be part of... part of the team. And being part of the team is similar.

They should have told Charlie before they did. He wonders if things would have gone better if he had. He wonders a lot of things about what happened.

[howtheyshine]

He stretches luxuriously, gives a yawn and a little yip.

Yeah. I-- I would like that too. Back h... home, I'm on the team. And I have my dads, and they've been introducing me to their family. I can't wait for you to meet my dads.

[greatoldjohn]

...dads?

Yeah, he's got no context for that as a thing. No context for how that could be.

[howtheyshine]

Another yip as he scrabbles sideways so he can roll over and sit up, still on John's lap.

Yes! Jedao is my first dad, he adopted me, and then he got married and now Hakkai is my dad too. Jedao was the first person to be kind to me other than y... you?

That's going to get confusing fast.

[greatoldjohn]

Yeah, yeah it is.

And who, or what, is he? How did you meet?

[howtheyshine]

Whargarble where to even begin?

Well, when I first got to the barge, I had no idea where I was or what was happening. Arthur and uh, y... The other... pair...? They didn't even know I existed apart from-- from us?

Okay now he's really confused.

Anyway, uh, I was exploring, and I came out on deck and... the view from the ship, John, it's like swimming in galaxies. And for us, seeing the way we can... sometimes we still just go up and watch the sky together when everyone else is mostly asleep.

But, right, Arthur was on deck, and I... he panicked when he realized who I was. I... I pushed him down a steep set of stairs, and I broke his neck, and I killed him. People... people on the barge don't stay dead, wardens, they come back after a certain amount of time no matter what, but inmates the Admiral needs to get a request.

Some other wardens took me to Zero, which is where there are cells that can contain pretty much anything. It feels... awful in there. Not for everyone, probably, but it felt awful. Jedao heard about what happened, heard about who I was, and he came and got me out and talked to me. He understood so much, because he was made from someone else, too, a partial version of them that no one thought was good enough.

[greatoldjohn]

There's a long pause before this John has to ask-

Did he know that other John?

[howtheyshine]

The fox looks up at John and cocks his head, confused.

Yes.

He almost elaborates on how well, but decides that's not a currently relevant detail.

I don't- I don't think John asked him to, though.

Did he? Would it matter? What difference would it make? Only now he's wondering about it, so clearly there's some part of it that makes him want to know.