The Bonding Continues

[chaseandoldlace]

Who: Chase Stein and Uther Pendragon (again, yes)
What:  The Morning After
When: Mid Morning
Where: Around the castle grounds
Rating: Chase has a bit of a potty mouth
Status: Closed/ Complete

Comments

[chaseandoldlace]

"Wow, and you've been here how long? Gotta get you with times, bro."

It was almost a shame that Chase recognized the particular way in which Uther observed his surroundings; seeing things clearly for the first time, without that vague, happy alcoholic haze. There were weeks, when things were particularly bad a home, where he'd steal a few six packs from the house and escape to The Hostel for the duration of however long his parents would fight. By the time he was fifteen, he'd timed it down to the day. He knew exactly how long to disappear for things to die down, even if it meant the beating of the century when he got back.

Even for how insane things had been since killing his parents, he could actually say he enjoyed being sober.

Most of the time, anyway.

When Uther asked him to order, he chuckled a little.

"Bacon is a necessity, mounds and mounds of bacon. Sausage. And Belgian Waffles with fruit. Tater-tots. Coffee..." He was going for a range of tastes, the same way they did when they first brought Klara to the 21st century.

"You're lucky this isn't the first time I've had to acclimate someone to the future. Few months ago we brought a little girl from 1907, about a hundred years ago, to this time. She caught on pretty quick. Do you have television at the castle?" Chase hadn't seen a cable dish, but there was nothing wrong with starting small.

[pendraeg]

"You've done this before?" Uther sat back contently; the food would come to him, all arranged by someone else. He hadn't had that luxury in a long time. Merlin did a great deal of the cooking (though Uther could, after a battlefield, campfire kind of fashion) but Uther brought home the raw ingredients most of the time. He liked supermarkets, despite the plenty. Well, he liked the little supermarket in Aternaville. It was...manageable, and strangely enjoyable.

Chase ordered, and the waitress came back with the coffee almost immediately, pouring the steaming black liquid into sturdy ceramic cups.

"No television, but we have computers." He smiled with self-satisfaction. "When I use emoticons, it turns Arthur skittish as a colt on a windy wash day."

[chaseandoldlace]

"Yeah, few months ago, thanks to another one of the 'rents little toys we ended up about a hundred years in the past. Stumbled into a real clusterfuck with that one. Turned out Gert's parents were there at the same time. Long story short we ended up bringing Klara back with us. She's a little younger than Molly, not by much. She had powers too--she could talk to plants and make them grow. That little potted rose in the Stein Bus? That's for her in case we got backed into a corner. Saved my sorry ass more than once." There was more than a hint of amazement in his voice as he spoke of the girls, which turned into amused credulity when Uther mentioned having computers in the Castle.

"So wait, you're telling me you've had internet access but still haven't bothered to learn how to drive?" He shook his head. "Man did I pick the right stable to break into last night." Wrapping both hands around the mug, Chase closed his eyes contently before taking a long, slow sip, bringing his head up suddenly when a thought hit him.

"Jeez, that means the twins probably haven't seen a single Disney movie. That is not cool. That was a mandatory part of Klara's 21st century education."

'The Mouse pretty much rules the world anyway, as Gert used to say.'

"And, I'm curious," he added, taking another small sip of coffee and setting it down. "why does it weird Arthur out that you know how to chat online?"

[pendraeg]

Uther sniffed at the aromatic drink. "I do not know who installed it. I suppose it came with the advent of electricity and plumbing." He took a tentative sip and winced. People drank this voluntarily? It was like steaming hot medicine.

"It was a complete mystery at first, but I took to it quickly enough. Perhaps that is the reason it bothers Arthur. Though I think it was the faces, specifically, that caused the reaction. It always takes him longer to respond when I use one. I do not think I took to the computer when I was...old."

[chaseandoldlace]

"Try it with cream and sugar, goes a long way." Chase said with an amused up-turn of the mouth, planting the sugar dispenser and cream bowl in front of Uther when he winced at the coffee. "There's about as many flavors of that stuff as there are types of beer, so don't judge it too harshly."
Not that Chase himself was very picky, as long as it didn't taste like the tar pits he spent the last year sleeping over, he was happy.

He listened intently as Uther decribed his forays with the computer and his eldest's reaction to them--from the sound of it Arthur was having a hard time reconciling that 'young' Uther was more willing to adapt (however superficially) while as an adult he had refused to adapt much at all. Strong shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.

"So Arthur still wants to think of your little bit of the park as Camelot. Let him. There's a whole world out here that he's missing, doesn't mean you should too." Driving was a good start, then the occasional bar, then the real fun: paintball, arcades, IMAX. Uther would be the very picture of a modern medieval king in no time.

Besides, if what Uther said was true and there was no telling when he'd make it back to his own time and/or dimension, Chase had the time to spare.

"So what else of the 21st century are--woohoo, bacon!" Their waitress brought what was the equivalent of a small feat to the table: stacks of waffles, plates of savory smelling meat and potatoes.

As soon as the plates were in front of him, Chase began to construct his breakfast--he piled some of the bacon, sausage and potatoes atop a waffle, applied a small amount of syrup, and then another waffle.

The result was an awkward tower of breakfast foods which he promptly cut into.

"Nico never let me do this in front of Molly, said my manners were a bad influence. Spoilsport just never knew good food when she saw it." Shrugging again, he proceeded to devour the Leaning Tower of IHOP.

[pendraeg]

Uther added sugar and cream and tried the coffee again. It was another amazing thing, how free modern people were with sugar and salt. But it certainly made the drink more palatable.

He agreed with Chase: there was a whole world that Arthur was missing, and the boy blamed it on everything that he could find to blame it on--the town, the twins, Uther's purported lack of responsible behaviour patterns. And going on solitary walks out of the castle did not count as experiencing the world.

When the food arrived, Uther observed carefully how Chase ate it and followed suit, creating waffle-bacon-waffle sandwiches. Now this food he could get behind. The coffee, while drinkable was, perhaps, an acquired taste.

[chaseandoldlace]

Mouth half-stuffed with waffles and bacon, it was hard for Chase to laugh when he realized how faithfully Uther was emulating him, but his cheeks puffed and he smiled as much as he could manage.

It was almost...well, adorable.

"Woah, woah, slow down." Chase advised after a large, difficult swallow. "Try enjoying everything on it's own first." He reached over, deconstructing the waffle-bacon-waffle sandwich as best he could. "One step at a time, Highness."

[pendraeg]

Uther tried the components on their own, picking up pieces of bacon and waffle with his fingers. The syrup was sticky and sweet and the bacon was crisp and salty.

"Why were your parents so very afraid?" he asked contemplatively, not at all in an accusatory manner.

[chaseandoldlace]

Half way through another eager gulp of coffee Chase choked, swallowing awkwardly. It wasn't so much the suddenness of the question that surprised him but the gentleness of it, the earnestness of it.

On the surface, it was an easy question to answer: the Steins were genocidal maniacs who were powerful enough to keep all of LA under their control. It went without saying they probably weren't very popular, but beneath the surface...

"I guess in a messed up sort of way they wanted to protect me from their other lives as part of The Pride until I was old enough to be inducted into their fucked up little mafia. If any of their enemies had learned about me...I'd be a target." 'Enemies like The Avengers. Man that is fucked up.'

He shrugged sourly. "They had complete control of the entire West Coast along with the rest of the 'rents. I'm sure there were people who wanted them dead just as much as I did." For a moment Chase glanced off somewhere past where Uther could see. When his gaze returned, it had hardened.

"Or I'm over thinking it and they were just out of their goddamn minds."

[pendraeg]

Uther mulled this over, the coffee cup warm in his hands.

"If I were back in my time," he said slowly, "and Eilonwy and Gwydion were with me, I would worry for their safety. I have many enemies, who have dogged my family since before I was born. They killed my father when I was nine; my eldest brother, the gentlest of souls, when I was eleven; and my brother Aurelius, who should have been King, was assassinated only...only recently. The enemy is still at large, and as many alliances as we have made, the enemy has made as many. I live as a warrior, first soldier among soldiers, forever on campaign, but they are but babes. They are vulnerable, and not yet strong. And though I would not hide what I am from them, nor do I wish to expose them to such dangers."

He sipped again, then set the cup on the table. "That is the trouble with enemies. Though you defeat them in battle, they may always return. And it is the trouble with power. To rule is always to be in danger from those who would seize your throne. It is a precarious vantage point, like sitting atop a pile of bones."

[chaseandoldlace]

"Yeah, well..." Chase speared a sausage with his fork, pointing it at Uther before biting an end off. "Not to make it an apples and oranges deal, but I don't think your family made it's enemies trying to destroy the world. The only reason my folks cared about me was because they wanted the ego trip of knowing someone with their genes would be one of the only six people to survive the second coming."

The rest of the sausage vanished from the fork.

"Sometimes I wonder if it woulda been easier to know what they were up to from the beginning, but then we probably never would have stopped them. They cared about us too much and it got 'em all killed."

He smirked.

"How's that for irony for you? My mom had it in her to destroy the world, but when it came to having an abortion? Her exact words to Alex's parents were 'I'm not a monster, of course we're keeping it.'" Chase shook his head disbelievingly. "So I'm guessing you aren't too keen on getting back home what with the twins and everyone after your head as it is?"

[pendraeg]

"It is better for them here, do not you think? It is not only the danger from war, but there is also disease, and famine, and...cultural differences. They are my children, but they are also children of the future. I do not know that they would be happy in my time. Perhaps when they are older, they might be able to understand it."

Uther tried to imagine them in the world he had left behind. "I know Arthur believes we are needed there. But I think I may always have been happier here. Else why would I have children, and a home? To be honest, there is much I left undid that ought to be finished, but I suppose I must have achieved these ends, or Arthur would not have lived the life he remembers. To be more honest...I am relieved to have left them behind."