[RL with Merlin]

[archicheck]

As soon as class had been dismissed Ariadne hurried to her bicycle and road home to her new flat. Merlin had said he'd be there waiting, but she was still unsure if he'd really be there. Despite her many experiences with the community, and her time spent in dreams, the idea of world hopping still felt fairly strange and unbelievable

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[merlinastrice]

He had just arrived and opened his eyes in time to hear Adriadne call for him. Merlin turned around and gave her a weary smile. "So this is what a flat is," he remarked, taking in the surroundings. It was still far bigger than Gaius' labs and his room combined but smaller than Remus's home and Hikaru's ship.

[archicheck]

She smiles and closed the door behind her. "Yep. It's pretty nice having it all to myself. Of course it's nice to have guests, too."

She moves to a nearby table and drops her bag down on top of it. "You didn't have any problems getting here, did you?"

[merlinastrice]

Merlin shook his head. "Came through here better than when I went to see Remus or Hikaru. How was class?" he asked. "What was it on?"

[archicheck]

"Good. It was history of architecture. We were talking about Baroque."

She paused, suddenly remembering her manners. "Why don't you sit down. Can I get you anything to drink?"

sorry for journal failing >>

[merlinastrice]

He looked around and sat down on a chair. "What's Baroque? And if you'd tell me where the water is, I'll fetch it myself."

<3

[archicheck]

"I'll get the water," she insisted. Before she left for the kitchen though, she pulled a book out of her bag and opened it up to a page with a photo of some Baroque architecture. "That's Baroque. You can look through that while I get some water."

[merlinastrice]

He touched the picture. It seemed so lifelike. Merlin's curiously had him flip through more of the book to stare at structures. "I've never seen buildings like this," he murmured in awe. "How do they make them so intricate? Do they use magic? Is this magic? Making the images seem so real?"

[archicheck]

After returning with two glasses of water, Ariadne took a seat next to Merlin and smiled. She had forgotten for a moment that he wasn't used to the same technology as she was.

"Cameras can take photos of anything and still look real. It isn't magic, though. It's a machine. As for the buildings themselves people make them with their own two hands and different tools." She looked over the photos lovingly. "They're amazing though, aren't they?"

[merlinastrice]

He smiled and nodded along. "They're amazing. Not all of Albion has these sort of buildings. Well, not the Albion I know. Camelot's citadel is quite grand." He flipped through a few more pages. "I'm surprised it's not in here."

[archicheck]

"Well, Camelot was never exactly real here. I'm sure people have drawn what they thought it might look like, though." She thought back on different movies and books that had depicted Camelot. "I bet it's a beautiful building, though."

[merlinastrice]

That earned her a shocked look. "What? But...Camelot's real. I've just come from there. How could it not be real...?" He flipped through more of the book. Some were close or similar to the citadel but none were Camelot itself. "...I think I may need something stronger than water."

[archicheck]

"It's real in your world," Ariadne replied. She understood how difficult it was to except the strange and impossible. "Here it's just legends and stories."

"If you want something stronger, we'll have to go out. I don't have much here right now."

[merlinastrice]

He stared at the pages and then shook his head. "I don't know. It's just been...quite a lot that's happened in Camelot. Again, thank you for letting me come here for a bit. It's nice not to hear Arthur's constant chatter about strategies on how to find Morgana..."

[archicheck]

"We can talk about whatever you want," she told him. "Or nothing at all. It's your break so we'll do whatever you're up for."

[merlinastrice]

His entire body slumps in his seat. "I've met my father and I lost him before I could get to know him," he started off quietly. "And it's so...frustrating that I can't tell anyone he's my father. It's bad enough I can't tell anyone what I can do."

[archicheck]

Ariadne leans back as well, quietly listening and trying to think of just what she could say in response to something like that. Keeping secrets, big secrets, was still pretty new to her. She couldn't imagine keeping something like the identity of her father, or just the way she was a secret from anyone.

"It must be hard keeping it from the people in your own world, but you can tell me as much as you want and I'm sure you have other friends on the community that feel the same way. You can vent as much as you want and we'll listen."