Trenale Without a Map (Also Nikolay)

[meredith]

Meredith stopped, exasperated, and stared around the rows of cute, surburban housing. These were lovely houses, they really were, they had neatly manicured gardens and neatly painted walls and neatly washed cars sitting in their neatly paved driveways, and it was all very picturesque in a creepy, stepford sort of way.
The real problem was that this wasn't where she wanted to be, she'd been trying to find the frat house, and despite having been there before she'd got herself all turned around somewhere along the way (probably the 'somewhere' when she had her attention focused on a very interesting handheld video game rather than looking where she was going) and now she had no clue where she was.

Turning around, she retraced her steps back out of the little community of Grayle Corp homes, taking off down another street to see if she could luck out and find something she recognised.
At least all this residential area was a very picturesque part of Trenale, if only she actually wanted to be there.

Spotting somebody walking up ahead, she ran to catch up with them "Hey!" She called, as non-threateningly as possible "I don't suppose you could tell me where I am?" She asked as she came to a stop.

[Deleted]

Nikolay was regretting not taking the coach back to the Academy. His leg was in so much agony that putting even the slightest bit of pressure on it caused his knee to buckle and a couple of times his face had nearly met the pavement. His right arm wasn’t faring any better as he held it up against his chest where it had proved to be the least painful position. And his face…well apart from the raw paint he felt just around the bottom of his eye and the busted lip, he figured he had actually been let off pretty lightly all things considered. The eye wasn’t completely bruised but by the end of the day he was sure it would be lovely a purple.
 
Never before had he felt more out of place than he did at the moment, in his shabby clothes, his beaten up look, limping down the lovely picturesque streets of the Grayle Corp homes with his canvas bag slung over his shoulder. Although as out of place as he felt he liked walking down this way, not just because it was a short cut, but because he loved looking at the homes. He saw them as a kind of goal, a place he could one day achieve to live in, or even have his family live in. His mother would love a home like that, Natalya would love a home like that, his father would probably hate it, but would put up with it for his mothers sake. That’s why he was walking. He was saving his money for the important things, why spend of fortune on a coach home when he could walk and sue his money for better things, like saving for his family. If he could just save up enough, work hard enough, then maybe one day…maybe his family really could live there. Although with the way things were back home he needed to make that happen sooner rather than later. If he could convince them to move here, where it was safer, where they could have a better life…
 
He was pulled out of his musings by a voice and slowly turned round to face the direction it was coming from just in time to see a pretty young brunette head towards him, forgetting how busted up he looked. “Uh yeah, you’re in the Avalon estate, on…uh…Lancelot Drive I think.”

[meredith]

Meredith was normally relatively polite, and she would have said thank you for the information - not that it particularly helped her, since she still didn't know how to get back to the Academy from there. That would, of course, have been her next question, if she wasn't now staring at him with slightly wide eyes.

"Um... Are you... are you alright?" Ok, it was a stupid question, he was very obviously not alright, he looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a mace, without armour (well, ok, maybe not that bad, but close enough). "I mean, what happened to you? Do you need medical attention or something?"

She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing in a place like this, looking like that, but then maybe he lived here? She knew well enough that being rich or privileged didn't always make you a nice person, or rather, didn't always stop bad things from happening to you.

[Deleted]

Oh…yeah.

“No, no, I’m fine, honestly,” he said attempting a smile and ending up coming off more of a grimace, “Or at least I will be fine. It’s nothing a couple of bags of ice and some bandages wont sort out, I’ve done it before, it’s not a problem.”

This was not good, but at least she wasn’t running away screaming and calling for the local police force, that wouldn’t have been good either. He was hoping she would mind her own business and after ascertaining that he was alright move along and thus find her way to wherever it was that she was going. No one was that interested in someone else’s life that they would demand to know how they came about these injuries…would they?…the minute he spoke it he thought of someone like that…his mother. She loved to hear everyone’s life stories, about their families, where they were from, what they were doing, their hopes and dreams for the future…yes…there were plenty of people like that out there. He hoped this girl wasn’t one of them.

Aiming to change the subject he asked, “Where is it you’re looking for?”

[meredith]

Meredith frowned, looking visibly torn. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, wanted to change the subject and assure her that he could deal with the injury, but also... well she wanted to help and he obviously needed it. She'd seen plenty of stoic 'tis-but-a-scratch 'manliness' in her time, and she knew from experience that they never actually complained if somebody patched them up.

"I know a little bit of healing magic, if you like...?" She offered eventually, reasoning that he could easily turn it down if he really didn't want any help, but he might just welcome it. She hoped he did accept, since that might help her gain his trust and then she could find out how he'd got the injuries. She was dying to know.

"Oh, I was trying to get back to school, to Tintagel Academy."

[Deleted]

Magic.

Yes he wasn’t quite used to that part yet and whilst he had been warned by his parents and had experienced it first hand (he still hadn’t quite got over Nancy’s shapeshifting thing) it wasn’t something he particularly wanted used on him. He visibly recoiled from the idea of it holding up his hands to her as if that might protect him from whatever mumbo jumbo magic stuff she was about to do. “No, no thank you I uh…I’m fine, I uh, I’m quite happy to heal the slow way,” he said and half smiled half grimaced a bit.

Of course he didn’t want to offend her, lest she use the crazy magic on him in a way that wouldn’t heal him so he quickly added, “Not that I don’t appreciate the help, or the magic. I’m just uh…not used to it yet. It’s…a wonderful thing, I’m uh, just not…quite sure of it yet. But Tintagel Academy, I can get you back there, it’s a bit of a walk though, I can direct you to the nearest tram though.”

[meredith]

Meredith was a little surprised by his obvious distaste for the idea, but then she reminded herself that until very recently, she'd have gotten a similar reaction, or worse, anywhere in Camelot. Just because magic was an every day thing for her and her family (it was, after all, sort of how she'd been born) didn't mean it was like that for everybody.

"Don't worry," she smiled "My dad was a bit freaked out by magic the first time he realised Merlin could do it, you're not the only one."

"As long as I can get to somewhere I recognise I'll be fine, I don't mind the walk." she added with a cheerful grin.

[Deleted]

“Merlin?!” he said his jaw almost dropping to where his feet were, which wouldn’t have been all that surprising considering the hits it took last night, “as in the Merlin, the wizard. I thought he was just a legend-…but then…magic is real so…that, that is amazing, your dad knows Merlin?!”

Nikolay smiled, and for the first time in a long time, in actually managed to look like a proper one, or at least it would have if his lip had been as busted up as it was. He even managed to laugh a little and said, “I think anyone would be a little freaked out if a person just started doing magic, but surely he should have expected it from someone called Merlin.” 

He shifted his shoulders so the strap of his bag was a little further up, wincing as he did so and said, “well then just follow me. I’m Nikolay by the way, Nikolay Pavlovich.”

[meredith]

It had been a while since anybody had reacted so strongly to either of her fathers, so Meredith was momentarily taken aback - it was actually quite rare to meet people from a timeline that managed to include them. It was sort of fun though, and she had to hide her smile as she nodded, trying to work out the best way to tell him.

"Well, see he didn't know about any of the legends," she explained in the meantime, which was technically the truth, one usually didn't know about the legends you were in.

"Nice to meet you Nikolay, I'm Meredith Pendragon." Perhaps that would do it, if not she could try and explain it a little better if he asked.

[Deleted]

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” he said waving his hands in front of him as if this would clear the confusion, “So…your dad, he knows Merlin, and he didn’t know he could do magic…and your second name is Pendragon?!”

The smile on his face couldn’t have got any wider…well possibly it could have but at that present moment in time it was still a little busted up but it was doing it’s damned hardest to get wider. He ran a hand through his hair and said, “This is too much. Your dad is Arthur Pendragon, the Arthur Pendragon and he knows Merlin…oh my god…”

He laughed a little but the smile dropped from his face somewhat and a pure look of disbelief crossed his face, “I always thought they were making it up!…Did Arthur and Merlin come here? To Tintgael?”

[meredith]

Yep, that seemed to do it. It was actually quite amusing watching how excited he was getting as he figured it out. She didn't go out of her way to attract attention or be the life and soul of the party (the way Tristian did) and nice as she tended to be to people, she wasn't what you'd call one of the popular kids, so it was actually nice to get just a little bit of that sort of attention, just once in a while.

"Who? Your parents? Well no, they weren't, my parents definitely came here to Tintagel."

Of course she didn't mean to just drop that little revelation in there, she was usually a bit more careful about explaining her parentage, it tended to confuse people more than a little. She realised as soon as she'd said it, but hopefully he wouldn't realise right away and she could explain it a little more delicately.

[Deleted]

“This is amazing,” he said, smiling quite happily at Meredith, “I owe my mama and papa one big apology.”

His brow creased in confusion despite the fact that he was still smiling and he continued, “It just goes to show how wrong the legends get it some times. You know, cause it says that Arthur and Guinevere never had a child, and yet here you are. They get quite a few things wrong, you know? Like my mum she…she…”

He blinked a couple of times before he quickly dropped into an awkward bow and said, “Your highness.”

[meredith]

Well, she had hoped he didn't get it right away, but it still felt sort of awkward to have to correct him - she'd maybe been hoping for something a little more subtle, that maybe she could get away with not explaining it. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her parents, she loved them dearly, but some people were terribly rude about it.

At least he broke the tension she was feeling by bowing to her and making her laugh, she waved her hands at him to stop. Even at home she didn't like all the bowing and scraping.

"You don't have to bother with that, not here, I'm not the type to stand on ceremony," she explained "And uh... well Arthur and Guinever did have a child, but that's my brother, Tristian. Gwen isn't my mum."

[Deleted]

She was laughing. Was he doing it wrong? He had been practicing his bowing, after all sometimes they did go and visit royalty. There was some rich Russian woman that their mother had dragged them round to see at least once a month and he had learned how to bow properly. Although Meredith soon put his fears to rest as she explained that she didn’t bother with such things. Which was nice, really nice, it was good to meet a down to earth royal.
 
His brow creased in confusion and he said, “But if Gwen isn’t your mum then…oh…right…I see.”
 
A mistress. Well, that was an awkward topic of conversation.
 
Moving on.
 
“Tristian, he must be your brother, half-brother then,” said Nikolay only stumbling over his words a little, “I’ve heard about him. He’s uh…very stylish.”

[meredith]

Meredith suspected he probably didn't see, not the whole truth at least, but she just nodded along for now. He seemed happy enough to change the subject, and maybe she should just let it go... except she felt sort of guilty for hiding her parents, because she wasn't ashamed of them. Not that there was exactly a moment for it, she didn't think it would work to just go 'oh by the way my mum's actually a man who changed himself to a girl just to get pregnant'.

...She'd explain it at some point.

"He'd be glad that's the first word you thought of," she rolled her eyes, some days she liked to say Tristian was all style and no substance, the most annoying part was that it simply wasn't true, he also had a lot of substance. "He makes an effort to always look perfect."