A Clash of Worlds (Taliesin&redblood)

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Adrian almost cursed as Paris showed how simple it was. Of course he should have figured that the arrow pointing down would do that but he had not even noticed the directional buttons in his agitation of the weirdly placed letters. He sighed softly and started scrolling down, reading with increasing irritation as it was obvious now that there had been many authors on this page and some were by far less reliable than others. "What kind of idiocy is this?" He growled softly. He was aware these people thought his were barbarians but to see it used in practically every sentence was starting to grate on his nerves. It made him itch to do something and he quickly stood up, walking away from the machine before he destroyed it and started pacing.

He kept his hands carefully closed and reminded himself that he was a master mage and had no excuse to let his energies fly free as soon as he got a little irritated. He had to be a good example and not alienate Paris. Despite himself though he could hear the faint crackle of energy trying to build and raised a hand, letting a tiny ball of lightning form before crushing it in a shower of harmless sparks. He closed his eyes and sighed softly, letting the tension flow out of him before turning back to Paris and smiling wirily. "My apologies…I let myself be bothered by their verbiage. It won't happen again." He did not move back to the computer however, he felt it was wise to take a break. He would try to master the machine on his own and try to find more reliable encyclopedia's to gain his knowledge.
 
Paris could see how the irritation was growing in Adrian while he read the letters on the screen. He didn't care to read it himself though, as he knew too well what must be written on there. Just as he were going to suggest that they searched for something else, or maybe tried out some games, Adrian growled and started to pace. The young prince didn't really know what to say as he hadn't expected that kind of reaction. After all, they both knew what awful perceptions both their countries had of each other already.

He waited for a little while to see if his friend would calm down on his own, and he did. Even after Adrian had explained himself and seemed to be in a better mood, Paris could still not make himself smile. "You shouldn't apologize. It's the people that listens and believes in those stupid rumors without checking their facts whom should apologize. No one wants to be portrayed as uncivilized." He said, defending Adrian's emotions and people. Then he sighed slightly before he continued.

"The internet is a great place to get facts from, but if there's not enough facts on a certain topic, then people will fill it with fiction instead. Your people have been so closed off from ours so people couldn't get the information they yearned for, thus creating rumors that would make up for everything they didn't know. Eventually people will just accept any rumors as a fact if it's presented as one." He was quite embarrassed over also defending the other side, even to the degree so he started to blush and turn his eyes away. But he also wanted to get it out there, as he knew a lot of people that did that very thing even though they were decent people.

"Anyway, we should probably do something else for now." He said as he turned off the computer screen, but let the computer itself be on.
 
Adrian was even more annoyed with himself that he had upset Paris so much as well. He should have known that having knowledge of something did not necessarily prepare you for dealing with it. He appreciated that Paris was trying to cheer him up. Somewhat at least, he wasn't quite sure what Paris was trying to do with the rest of his speech but he found himself rather distracted by the fact the other prince was blushing and ended up tuning out most of what he said. He really wanted to reach out and touch those cheeks, which must be just a bit warmer than everywhere else right now.

It was really hard to remind himself to take it slow and not scare Paris off because it was unlikely he would get a second chance. Short of using magic and that sort of thing…well that was no good. Risky at the least, flat out dangerous at best. "Yes...that was a fascinating lesson but you hardly hunted me down simply to spend an hour explaining one simple device to me." He shook off his annoyance and smiled sweetly at the other prince. "That is certainly a job for others, though you were most patient with me and I appreciate it greatly. I am not used to having trouble with that sort of thing…" Now he had the faintest blush on his face.

He was proud of his academic brilliance in his own country, becoming a master mage so soon in life. It was hard for him to admit that he could not just 'figure it out'. Or well, he probably could have some of that but he had so little frame of reference to work from that it may have taken him 10 times as long to figure it out. He rubbed at his cheeks awkwardly and turned away to study one of the flowers. "So what would you like to do then, Paris?"
 
Paris felt relief as he was fairly certain that the prince had calmed down, and probably understood the points he had tried to make. Unknown to him though, Adrian had barely heard any of his rambling. The small blush on the prince's cheek told Paris a lot. His friend was probably understood most things where he came from, but once in another country with completely different things from what he was used to, he became embarrassed over his lack of understanding. Paris would probably have felt the same coming to Adrian's country.

"Well..." He did hesitate slightly before he answered Adrian's question. "I would love to learn a bit about your peoples magic... If you don't mind it of course." The tales that spoke about the magic from the nature people had always said that those whom turned away from nature had lost their magic. Which meant that there must still be some left inside of them, even though they didn't know how to use it. But believing that he one day would be able to use it was just childish wishes for Paris, he didn't mind being magicless for the rest of his life, as long as he could just learn about it, how it worked. He knew how a computer worked, he knew how a camera worked, he knew how most things in his own world worked, and if not then he could fast figure it out. But magic was a mystery.
 
Adrian had a feeling he knew what the answer was going to be even as he had asked the question. He didn't bother to hide the pleased grin as he moved forward and clapped the other man on the shoulder gently. "Of course I don't mind. You've already seen how badly I will start rambling on the subject." He chuckled and took a seat on the edge of the bed, once again making that idle twirl of his hand and now there was an illusion of Paris this time, which proceeded to walk through the air towards its larger clone.

"Of course while I can try to explain it there is no guarantee that you will be able to actually use anything I teach you. There is enough magic in all people to allow the use of set spells, like in the ring I gave you, but few people have not just a large store of their own magic but the ability to draw it out of the environment. And then that group is even more limited by those who can control it. Magic is…" He paused for a moment. "like emotions. Using magic is like walking a tightrope of letting your emotions flow yet having perfect control over them." He cringed a bit at the thought of his loss of control earlier. "It's a very multifaceted process which is why we mages tend to involve our bodies into our spells. It's easier to control something if you are using your body and visualizing control of it through your physicality. Using spells purely through mental exercise, while possible, is very hard and can be even somewhat dangerous. And of course with everything practice makes everything easier."
 
He wasn't certain what he had expected. Maybe something like, 'magic is the secret of my people and I cannot teach an outsider'. Somehow, magic seemed to be such a wonderful and dangerous thing, teaching a country which sees them as barbarians didn't seem very wise from a neutral point of view. Anyone else would probably have some ill intentions when asking such a question, but Paris was simply curious. And his friend was as eager as him it seemed.

The smaller version of the young prince took him by surprise. Once again mesmerized by the illusion he almost forgot to listen to Adrian's words. But somehow he were able to get his mind back on track before he lost any information he was given. If he could understand his friend's words right, then he could use magical items if he knew the right spells. But to use the magic without any help from said items, you needed to be born with that gift. Well, in that case he was most certainly doomed, non of his people had been able to use magic for hundreds of years. How big was the chance that he would just because he happened to be curious about it?

"It's probably a good thing that I'm not able to use magic then. I'm awful at controlling my emotions." Somehow he had backed his way to his computer chair and seated down as he studied the illusion in front of him and thought about the information he had been given. "You must be quite amazing Adrian, since you're able to control it so well." While the sentence before had been a little bit of a joke, the latter was only words of admiration. It seemed like magic was something awfully hard to control, so unlike a computer where emotions were unnecessary for it to work. All you needed was the information and a functioning computer and then you were ready to go.

"Though it does seem very different from what I imagined it to be." He then confessed. "In all the stories I heard, at least those that spoke of the good from your people, they always said that you drew magic from the four elements, that you were so close to nature that it granted you powers. I guess that was just fables after all." He wasn't less impressed because of it. If anything it made him even more impressed because the source came from the mages themselves. Though he did miss the touch where people had a close relationship with nature which then granted them gifts. He did certainly read too many fairy tales.
 
Adrian was used to being praised for his magic and had been anticipating some sort of compliment perhaps but for some reason when Paris called him amazing he got all sorts of flustered. He once again brushed awkwardly at the red on his cheeks and quite without his realizing it a little illusion of him had now joined the illusion of Paris, and looking equally embarrassed. He had too much control to actually lose the illusion altogether but it was becoming clear what he said about while you could be very good at it practice was still an important factor to keep your magic from going awry.

He gave up on somehow brushing the blush away and sat straight as if he was not feeling very self-conscious at the moment. He just left the little flustered illusion of him fluttering around and did his best to pretend it wasn't there. "Well, magic is the most natural thing in the world so I can see how they would think so, and perhaps in older times my people believed that but since then we have refined our understanding of magic." He wasn't feeling nearly as eloquent at the moment as he had been before. "Magic is a force that is in all things, there are simply some people who are more able to sense, draw on and manipulate that force." As he spoke he felt the blush finally start to ease and the illusion him plopped down in midair and seemed to be panting from exertion. It was a sign of what he had been hinting at as well but did not come out and say because he didn't feel the need to be embarrassed anymore. Things made by magic could take on personalities and lives of their own, like the illusion of him had. "I am sure in its own way it is as your technology. I hardly know where to start."
 
Paris barely noticed Adrian's blushing as he was watching the new illusion that had appeared. As he didn't know about the fact that their illusions could take on a personality or a life, he assumed that they simply were as a computer, programmed by the one creating them to do certain things. Which made it's actions just the more mystifying as he was pretty oblivious of Adrian's feelings so far.

"I agree, it's hard to find a starting point when everything about it comes so natural to a person." He replied. Even though magic did exist naturally in everything, and technology only was a bi-product by humans, both was still things their people had grown up with, things they could understand easily without having to question how it could be like that.

A knock on the door disturbed their conversation. Paris first thought about ignoring it, and pretend like they weren't there. But after sighing slightly he answered. He couldn't be that immature when he still wasn't done with his duties. "What is it?" He asked without opening the door or telling the other person to come in. Thus that person stayed on the other side of the door.

"His highness, the king, requires your immediate presence." The man said from behind the door.

"I'll be there shortly." Paris replied and waited with saying another word until he head the footsteps disappearing in the hall. "Damn it, I thought I might get a little more time before they noticed." He complained before looking back at Adrian. "Seems like our lessons will have to wait for a bit. What about we meet after supper? If nothing unplanned suddenly happens then I should be free. We could just watch a movie or something." He did completely forget that Adrian probably didn't know what a TV was. Or at least would have very little experience with one.
 
Adrian took Paris' moment of distraction to make a demanding gesture at his rogue illusion. It flailed briefly in response before seeming to shrink in on itself and zipping over to sit on his shoulder and slowly sink back into his body. He was a bit disappointed their time was up already but at the same time he was feeling a bit unsettled and displeased with his actions thus far and thus could admit to doing with a break as well.

But first, curiosity had to be satisfied. He could hardly agree to something when he didn't even know what it was. "A movie?" The phrasing used implied it was some sort of show…but that would not be the kind of privacy that they needed. So it had to be something else. There was so much new vocabulary he needed to learn. He shook his head and waved the explanation off. "No matter, I am sure it is a good idea whatever it is. I can imagine the king does not appreciate being made to wait. I will retire to my rooms for now." He moved towards the door. "I have no intention of leaving in the near future, there is no need to rush." He smiled reassuringly at Paris.
 
Paris felt kind of bad for forgetting about Adrian's lack of understanding for his world. But it didn't seem to bother the other man too much. While he would have been happy to give a quick explanation, Adrian had already waved it off. Well, a surprise was always funnier. He could only imagine how his friend would react to such a thing as a TV. Maybe it could be compared with their illusions. Speaking of which, where had they gone to? Paris hadn't even noticed when they had disappeared.

"And if you do, then I hope my parents trusts you enough to let me come with you." He replied with an innocent smile as he stood up from the chair. His parents wouldn't let him go to that country as long as they didn't know anything about it. But if Adrian could assure them that it wasn't a dangerous place, then maybe they would let him go for a small amount of time.

"I'll come over to get you after supper. Don't look up what a movie is before then, I want to surprise you." He said, hoping the curiosity wouldn't be too much for his friend. He closed the door behind them as they walked out of the room. "See you later." He then bid goodbye and did a small wave with his hand before he hurried through the corridor. Adrian had certainly been correct, the king wasn't much for waiting.
 
Adrian actually paused on his way out the door, schooling his expression to not reflect his shock at that statement. Truly, he did not know what was going on in this prince's mind. If nothing else it seemed like he was doing all of the work for him. Since Adrian didn't really ever intend to return home it didn't matter but still…Paris was too sweet. Or something. He shook his head and chuckled. "I doubt I could get your 'computer' to work on my own anyway, so you need not worry." Though he had been considering trying to do so before Paris asked him not to.

He watched Paris hurry off before looking around with a sigh. He had no idea how to return to his rooms. Luckily, he could fix that. He raised his palm to his lips and blew softly. A silver mist floated off his hand and glided down the corridor, leading him through the maze of corridors without any problem. A few people stopped and stared as he passed by and he simply smiled and waved as if this was an everyday occurrence. Of course for him it was.

When he arrived back at his room he dismissed the mist and fell back on his bed with a sigh. He was not tired but he felt rather drained for such a short period of interaction. Perhaps it was because Paris was so…he didn't even know! He hadn't expected to like the other prince so much and the fool boy was so sweet and innocent he was practically walking into Adrian's hands. Which he should be happy about but instead was just feeling a bit confused. And he absolutely hated feeling confused.

He ran a hand over his face and frowned up at the ceiling, finding himself drifting off after a short while and content to let it happen.
 
The day ran by smoothly. Paris was scolded by his mother for disappearing and leaving his poor adviser to take care of his guests, his father let the subject go and simply ordered the prince to return to his duties. After some hours of interaction with the guests, he had to leave for a real meeting, though it was mainly his father that did the talking and thinking during it as Paris only was there to learn.

During supper, he was finally able to think of other things than politics. His father did try to bring up the topic a few times, but was mercilessly ignored by Paris. Or rather, Paris nodded and smiled sweetly but didn't hear a word, and his father eventually gave up.

Then finally he got time to relax. There was no people to bother him, no one to tell him what to do, just him and him. At least for some minutes as he didn't want to let Adrian wait for too long. After a very fast power nap, Paris rose from his bed almost fully recharged and ready to go. With the hectic schedule he sometimes had to follow, power naps was the only way to get through the day without making the brain explode.

He went to Adrian's room, while still not having figured out which movie they should start with. A horror was probably not to recommend as the first movie for someone whom didn't even know what it was. A comedy might be hard because of all the pop-culture references in them. Fantasy maybe? Oh well, he had until they got to the cinema room before they had to decide. Usually he was content with watching movies on his computer, but it was nice to have a big couch and an even bigger screen when you were more than one person. And they did have a popcorn and a soda machine in there, which gave it bonus points.

He knocked on the door as he arrived. " Hey Adrian, ready to go?"
 
Adrian started and almost slipped off the bed at the knock, muttering a curse as he realized he had somehow slept for several hours. His robes were a wrinkled mess and Paris was right there. He rubbed his face and took a couple of annoyed breaths before calming himself. This could be a good opportunity in fact. "Ah, yes." He came to the door and opened it, looking a bit sheepish as he motioned Paris to come in. "My apologies, interacting with that woman seemed to have worn me out. I ended up sleeping this whole time."

He shut the door behind Paris and moved over to the closet which had been stocked by the servants earlier that day. "I'm afraid my robes are in a terrible state from me sleeping in them. Give me a moment while I change into something a little more presentable." He pulled out a deep purple suit with silver embroidery and some dark blue robes. "What do you think? I've been quite fascinated by the suits your people wear everywhere but this has not been fitted. Perhaps I should just wear my usual outfit?" He wanted Paris opinion but even more so he would use this opportunity to find out more interesting things about the other prince, like his sense of modesty. Adrian himself had none and often used that to his advantage and amusement.
 
Paris was quite surprised when he heard that Adrian had been asleep that whole time. Hours had passed since their meeting. Maybe it felt so shocking because he himself had such a hard time getting back to his usual sleep schedule if he fell asleep for hours during the day, thus he always made sure to not sleep for extended periods of time before a certain time in the evening, no matter how tired he was.

"A full suit might be a bit much for tonight though. We mainly wear suits during parties, or work, or.. any time when we have to make an official appearance. Most people don't wear them when they're just going to have fun." He explained, though it did differ from case to case. In his case, as the prince, he had to make sure to always be presentable. Only when he knew he had a day to himself could he actually just lazy around in a t-shirt and shorts. But for those with more spare time or a job that didn't require suits, Paris lazy clothes became more of normal everyday clothes.

"But I do not mind if you want to try it on. Even though it hasn't been fitted yet, I'm sure it will suit you." He quickly added, just so that Adrian didn't believed it was a taboo to wear a suit without having a meaningful cause for it. And since Paris still had his white suit with golden decoration on, he did not have much to say about the matter. In difference from most other people, the royal families default was other peoples sabbaticals. "I should probably wait outside then while you get changed." He then added.
 
Adrian nodded to himself; that made sense. He wore mage robes all of the time because he was royal and to advertise his status as a mage. In fact he honestly would not know what to do with wearing casual clothes. That was the nice thing about his robes is they were quite comfortable so he rarely felt any disservice at having to wear them all the time. "Hmm…" He put the suit back for the moment; he would save it for a special occasion when it was in full form. "Ah, no no don't worry about me." He grinned at Paris as he set the new robes on the bed. "I do not mind you being here, I change before my brother all the time."

His robes were a bit of a cross between a toga and a dress and thus came off much like one. He kicked off his slippers and shucked the robes over his head in one smooth motion. Interesting enough, he wore nothing beneath the robes so while he took his time getting his other set of robes on over his head he was completely naked in front of Paris, all lithe and lean muscle. You would expect most mages to be fairly soft and a fair amount tended to be but magic tended to keep a person skinny and as a prince Adrian led a pretty active lifestyle and performed in many sports, including fencing. The robes added quite a bit of volume to his person.

The robes then slid over him all at once and he proceeded to straightened them quickly. "See, there we go. So what are these movie's you speak of?" He strode towards the door as if nothing had happened.
 
Maybe Adrian didn't have anything against it, but Paris did. He had never been in the same room as someone whom were about to change their attire, and no servant had helped him change his own clothes for years. Slightly embarrassed, he turned his head away. Though from the corner of his eye he got a glimpse of Adrian's naked body, which only spread the already existing blush on his face. The only thing that kept him from turning his back towards his friend was the fear of offending or hurting his feelings.

Then finally the embarrassing moment was over and done with. It was completely unnecessary for him to become so flustered, after all they were both guys and it wasn't like Adrian had something Paris hadn't seen on himself. But apparently his body didn't agree with his mind on that matter.

"How to explain it. Movies are ... a projection of sounds and images that has been put together to make a story." He tried to explain as he started to show the way towards the movie room. There was so much to be said about it, but most of it would probably be hard to understand if he hadn't seen a movie in action first. "It's probably easier to just show you. Just remember, nothing that you'll see in the movie is real." He then continued. He remembered his grandfather telling him a story about the first movie ever made. It was a black and white movie that only showed a train moving towards the audience. Apparently the audience had been so frightened so they jumped out of their seats. And that hadn't even been in 3D. Of course that had been long before his grandfathers birth, and his great great grandfather hadn't gone to that first premier. Most people didn't know if the story was true or not, but it was a funny story. A story he probably would tell Adrian after his first movie experience.

He opened the door to their small cinema room. A big flat TV was put up on the wall, and a couch that could be moved to the side was a bit away from it. The popcorn machine and the soda machine was in the other end of the room, and a big bookshelf with video games and DVDs was occupying the whole west wall. "Take a seat." Paris told Adrian with a sweet smile before he went to pick a DVD. At first he had thought a lot about what he should choose, but now he decided to just take something at random. They didn't need to watch the whole thing, once Adrian knew what a movie was they could always change to something better.

Then he put the movie into the DVD played and turned it on. Somehow he had been able to take one of the harry potter movies completely at random. Oh sweet irony.
 
Adrian was quite pleased with his experiment, Paris was as sweet and naïve about that as he could have expected. It made it quite hard not to pounce on him right then and there, just because his behavior was so cute. Thank goodness he had more control than that. He was also quite interested in these 'movies' and that helped. Paris' explanation left him thinking of an illusion, though of course it obviously would not be one. "I am familiar with illusions…" He sat on the couch and watched Paris curiously. There were other interesting boxes, one of which seemed to contain some sort of food but his curiosity was greater than his hunger. A fool hardy move for a mage but then curiosity always was.

He watched in silent fascination as the movie started. His head tilted more and more to the side as it progressed and once they were properly at school his brow was furrowed with consternation. "I thought you said your people had legends about us being close to nature. This is…" He didn't even have words. It was all wrong. Who needed some silly sticks to do anything? At best they were hampering their magic. It also was obvious that it picked up in the middle of the story and there were some evil flying ghost things about and he had only a minimal idea what was going on.

He should be more fascinated by the process itself, and he was to a point. The fact that there was no mage who had had to spend much time crafting this illusion was interesting. A mage would probably be near unconscious after casting such a detailed illusion for a long period of time but nonetheless he simply equated it with an advanced illusion and was not particularly amazed. He didn't give Paris the satisfaction of freaking out about anything that happened anyway. Of more concern was the fact that his stomach was starting to grumble audibly and if he didn't eat soon things were not going to go well for him.
 
Paris laughed lightly at the comment. "Well, this movie is quite old, it's from a time when we didn't even know that your people could use magic. When it comes to movies they usually use three different types depending on what kind of magic movie they want to make. First we have the ones that use the forces of nature, usually that are in the kind of movies that also have ghosts and vampires. Then there are the ones where they have to use items to channel their magical powers, wands is the most used item for it. Magical circles are also a big theme. And then there's some movies that just uses magical powers without explaining how it works in any way. So it's simply just based on fantasy world and has very little to do with actual mages in our world. It's like a fantasy book but in sound and picture." He explained before he was stopped by a somewhat interesting sound coming from Adrian's stomach.

"Hungry?" He asked and could barely contain the laugh that waited to be unleashed from within him. But somehow he were able to hold it back, though his face did show clearly what had almost happened. "You haven't been able to eat since you slept all day, right? Don't worry I'll make some popcorn." He told him as he took the remote control and paused the movie, before he jumped off the couch very casually as he usually did when he were alone, and went for the popcorn machine.
 
Adrian was baffled as to how they got things about magic so wrong. He supposed since they had apparently lost their ability to do magic a long time ago they had to make up different things to fill in the holes. Still it seemed rather silly and ridiculous. What was most ridiculous though was his stomach. He put a hand over it and gave it a frustrated glare but was hardly going to say no to some food now that Paris had noticed. "I can't believe I napped all that time…I really only intended to lay down for an hour or so and then the next thing I know you're knocking on my door." He put his arm on the edge of the chair and leaned his head on his hand. "I am going to be awake forever tonight as well unless I spell myself to sleep." He tried not to though, it just felt weird putting himself to sleep and slightly risky as well.

"Mmm…" Adrian sniffed the air as his stomach grumbled again. "This popcorn smells good. What is the purpose of the other box?" Everything was boxes to him, though eventually he would pick up the right terms to use.
 
Paris chuckled, so it hadn't been baffling to only him then. He gave the soda machine a fast glance, even though he already knew what Adrian was speaking off. "It's a machine that contains cold drinks. When I were small we used to have only one kind of soda in it, I were kind of picky as a child. Now we have four different kinds, which is the max capacity. Not because we need more either way." He explained. Four was far more than was needed, especially since he was the only one using it. His parents did sometimes now and then watch a movie in there, but non of them liked to drink soda. His mother preferred tea over everything else. Except for water, tea was pretty much the only thing she drank.

He put the popcorn into a bowl and took it to Adrian, he had been careful with the salt as he wasn't sure how his friend would like them. Personally, Paris was overly fond of salt when it came to popcorn and usually used way too much when he made them for himself.

"If you can't fall asleep, then you'll just have to stay awake the whole night through, and the whole next day. After that you'll sleep like a baby." He said as he took half a hand full of popcorn and started to eat one at a time.
 
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