Edmund Pevensie (justed) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2018-11-04 08:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, !open, *natasha, edmund pevensie (books) |
Log: Edmund Pevensie and James Potter
Who: Edmund Pevensie and James Potter
Where: Out in Atlantis, during a snowstorm
When: Mid-morning, Sunday 4 November.
What: Edmund saw King Tut, and now he's nine years old again.
Status: Complete.
Rating: G.
Warnings: None.
It was snowing again. It had started to thaw, the Queen becoming more angry with each budding flower and ordering her dwarf to be more urgent with the whip. Edmund had winced with each blow to the reindeer and tried not to wonder when she would take her frustration out on him instead of the animals. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be warm in the Queen's house, wearing velvet robes and feasting on Turkish Delight. That was all he'd wanted, that and just a bit of respect from his siblings, but from the moment he'd told the Queen about the Stone Table, it had all turned into a nightmare. He'd wished he was dreaming; maybe he actually had drifted off during the miserable sleigh ride. The snow was back, full force, and the wind howling as loudly as ever. Was it just the wind howling? He remembered the wolves racing off towards the house on the dam and how he hadn't said a word...
What Edmund could see through the snow did not look like Narnia, or even like Coombe Halt. There were too many buildings, not like Finchley's, but maybe he was somewhere else in London. Maybe it really had all been just a dream. He vaguely remembered seeing a mummy, earlier, and no one had mentioned mummies in Narnia. There were many things about Narnia that no one had mentioned, or at least, Edmund hadn't been listening when they had.
James didn't mind the snow, even if this was more of a snowstorm than he anticipated when he decided to go outside so he could return to find Sirius, something sweet and hot and caffeinated in hand. He used a bit of magic to clear a 360 degree circle around him as he walked, shoulders forward, down the street. It was that thinking that made it easier for him to spot the boy, who looked a little lost. All right, he looked a lot lost.
"Oy, hullo there," James called out in greeting, waving a cheery hand over toward Edmund. He looked a little familiar but not familiar enough to place.
The last thing Edmund was expecting was a cheerful ‘hullo,’ but it sounded as welcoming as a heavenly choir. Moreso. Edmund was a little skeptical of the idea of beautiful, white robed messengers of glory. The Queen fit that description, or most of it, and Edmund wasn't so sure he'd be glad to see her again (even if the robes had been warm, and she hadn't always been terrifying, and he wouldn't mind one more piece of Turkish Delight). All in all, a simple ordinary greeting from an actual human being was a relief.
“Hullo!” said Edmund, teeth chattering. Then he squinted. Or maybe not so ordinary. There seemed to be a bubble around the man where the snow just blew around him. “Are you doing magic?”
James had easily fallen into the idea that he could use magic freely in Atlantis, so the boy's question was slightly jarring, but not enough to drop the charm. Rather, he stepped up in nearer the boy so that the charm would move to encircle them both. "I am," he said. "Clever charm, really. Still cold though, can't keep a warmth charm up at the same time as keeping the snow at bay. Sorry about that. Erm," James continued, "are you … lost?"
It was clever, Edmund agreed. Just being able to see more clearly helped. “A little lost,” Edmund admitted. “I've only seen the a little magic.” Only the Queen's, and he wasn't certain he ought to mention that to this stranger. “Where are we? Do you know?”
"Did you just arrive?" he asked, surprised. No one mentioned on the latest arrivals notification that there were any children - was that something Atlantis didn't care about? James frowned briefly. "Uh - this place is called Atlantis. Didn't you get a debrief before you -?" He stopped, rubbed his forehead. "Wait," he continued, "what's your name then?" He was pretty sure he had seen people mentioning on the network about - what word did someone use? - de-aging? Like an aging potion, he thought, only in reverse.
Edmund had read about Atlantis. “That’s a fairy tale,” he blurted out before thinking properly. Narnia pretty much was a fairy tale with talking animals and dwarves and fauns and magic. Who was to say he hadn’t stumbled through another door like the one in the wardrobe? He hadn’t seen one, but that didn’t mean so much where magic was concerned. “I’m Edmund Pevensie,” he said after a moment of hesitation. Then he lifted his chin and added importantly. “I was with Queen Jadis of Narnia.” His stomach flipped as he said it. An hour ago, he’d wanted to be anywhere else with anyone else, but it seemed safer to claim than not if this stranger had heard of Narnia. Even the ones who called her a witch (which might not be as false as Edmund had thought) had been too afraid of her to interfere.
"Oh, Edmund!" James said, excited that he'd figured out the mystery. Well, he'd been given the answer, but still. "Hey why don't we get inside somewhere, yeah? I can get you some hot cocoa or something hot to drink. Tea? Do you like tea?" He started off, urging the younger version of Edmund down the street. The sooner they could get inside somewhere, the better.
That was the happiest anyone had sounded to meet Edmund in… months really. He was surprised into a tentative smile. Possibly, he should have reminded the man to bow, but he was very cold, and both tea and cocoa sounded too wonderful to pass up. “I like tea!” he said. “But I like cocoa more.”
"Then cocoa it is," he said. He stuck out a hand, realizing he hadn't introduced himself yet, even if the adult Edmund would know who he was. "I'm James Potter," he said. "I know there's a snowstorm but I can help get you inside and supply you with cocoa and we can figure out where you should go next."
Edmund unfolded one arm, reached out and shook the hand James offered, eyeing him suspiciously for some sign of mockery. There didn't seem to be any. If it wasn't quite the treatment due a prince, it was just enough like being treated as a grown up, and that was rarer. The Professor had come closest, but it was more as if the old man acted a bit like a child himself, and so Edmund felt justified if feeling a bit superior. “That sounds all right,” he conceded.
"Brilliant!" James exclaimed. "Let's Go this way. Stay close to me so I can keep the show out of your face." He steered Edmund the other direction, over to where he was pretty sure they would eventually find a coffee shop.