[Introduction] "We're all Kyoto-bound...."

[bnans_r_good]

Kyoto, 1336: The time of Ashikaga Pretenders of the Empire of the Rising Sun, also a good time for some autumn foliage-viewing. The three of them, he, Rose and Jack, could use a vacation, and despite the unsettled climate, the Emperor wasn't above throwing a party to mask the intrigues. He loved a good intrigue: all the better to find what the

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[only_paul]

For a change, Paul will not be found in the library. For once, he will in fact be out in the kitchen, rummaging methodically through a cupboard, looking for coffee. He's slept in (much too late to his taste) and needs, pretty badly, to have some caffeine in his body, along with food.

Coffee first.

Then, toast.

And maybe eggs.

But coffee, really, is a priority.

[bnans_r_good]

"Could always 'ave a cuppa tea," a cheery, slightly fruity baritone might suggest, and someone holds a red Twinings tea tin around a cupboard door. "Good thing on a cold morning, or most any time, for that matter."

[only_paul]

The worst is, he even kind of sounds like the Doctor Paul knows, except a bit more, yes, fruity.

But isn't he loony anyway?

"You know I need caffeine, Doctor," Paul replies, his head still in the cupboard. "But here's some Earl Grey if you want some."

He puts the box on the counter without stopping, he's a bit sleepy and rather focused.

Must. Have. Coffee.

[bnans_r_good]

"Bit of a busy tea first thing in the morning, so many additives, but it'll do," he says, taking up the box, studying it, sniffing it even before opening it and taking a teabag from it, flicking it into a mug waiting on the counter. "Told that Earl Grey he'd come up with a busy tea, but he went on with it anyway."

[only_paul]

The way he speaks isn't quite as usual, and Paul turns, to give his colleague a better look.

And blink.

"Oh. I'm sorry I was so familiar," he says, visibly embarrassed, "I thought you were someone else."

[bnans_r_good]

"Quite all right: heard another version o' me has been about, one with a different face," he says, easy-going, and friendly. "Met a friend from my world I'll meet someday. Met 'im a bit ahead o' schedule. Worrisome, muddlin' schedules. Good company, though.

"And who might you be, that I'm meetin' again for the first time?"

[only_paul]

This is kind of brain-breaking (again.)

So Paul responds as well as he can.

Might be a bit blank.

"... Paul."

Pause. He adds his last name.

".... a historian, I guess."

[bnans_r_good]

"Well, hello again, Paul [Redacted] the historian!" he says, beaming. "Noble profession, historian, but hard to get all the details down proper-like, unless you've *been* there."

[only_paul]

"So I'm told," Paul replies. He's just staring. That's exactly what the other called him. Paul the historian.

".... you really sound like someone I know."

[bnans_r_good]

"I probably do: been told another me with a different face has been to call 'ere," he says. "Not one who's ginger, not yet." He seems a bit miffed that this isn't the case. "Might change the face, but some things about me remain the same."

[only_paul]

There's a certain hesitation in Paul's tone.

".... I see. So.... you don't remember me?"

Well, that's a bummer.

[bnans_r_good]

"Sadly, no: I've not yet become the me you've met, not yet anyway," he says. "Hope I'm good company to you then. Do my best to be good company now, given 'alf the chance."

[only_paul]

Paul nods, though he looks put out.

"Thanks. I'm grateful - it's kind of sad to see a friend gone, though."

Pause.

"... because you don't coexist in the same plane, do you?"

[bnans_r_good]

"Not impossible: I've met other faces of mine before past and present, but that was a long time ago," he says, musing a bit. "I was much older back then, or one o' those faces was. Seems like the longer I live, the younger I'm getting."

[only_paul]

"That reminds me of a story, by F. Scott Fitzgerald," Paul muses. "You've read the Case of Benjamin Button, I'm sure..."

[bnans_r_good]

"Read the book, met the man: bit of a fast type, but he lived in a fast age," he notes. "Wondered where 'e'd gotten the idea for that one."

One of my own favorite F. Scott stories...