Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Evening

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Tony had the DVD for Harry V and a box full of doughnuts from J, GOB, because he couldn't think of any good reason to not have doughnuts for dinner. He put the movie in and flopped down on the couch with the remote.

[Open! Because OMG the 4th floor CR is full!]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I've been kicked out of my room for the evening," Merlin informed him seriously. "My roommate was loathe to explain why, but here I am."

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"He wouldn't tell you why?" Curious. "Did he have someone coming over or did he just want to be by himself?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"He promised to explain later," Merlin said with a shrug as he sat down in one of the chairs.

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"Huh. Who's your roomate?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Cal Ste--" Merlin scratched his neck as he tried to sort that one out. "I'm not actually sure how you pronounce his last name."

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"Oh, I think I know him," Tony said. "If it's the guy I'm thinking of. He was in the last play we did." He considered. "He doesn't seem like the type to do weird secret things in his room alone. But I guess you never know."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'll know in the morning," Merlin replied. "Tonight I'll probably just see if Lord Leto and Arthur are willing to put me up."

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"You can crash on my floor if you need to," Tony said. "Or there's also the couches in the common rooms."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep that in mind," Merlin promised, sounding very grateful for it. "I don't think I'd feel comfortable sleeping by the Tee Vees yet."

...they were still a bit odd

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"They don't bite," Tony smiled. "They don't really do anything but sit there."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"How do you turn it off?" Merlin asked, peering at it like he might bite him still.

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Tony picked up the remote near him and pointed to the power button. "Push this," he said. "Actually, see the symbol on it?" It had a circle with a line through the top, kind of like a Q that had been turned nearly upside down. "That means it's the on/off button. A lot of things use that symbol and it always means it's what turns it on or off."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Right." Merlin could feel his ears turning red as that seemed so painfully simple. "Thanks."

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Tony gave him a sympathetic smile. "There's nothing wrong with not knowing stuff," he said, remembering Henry give him a similar speech. "It's not like you could know, with where you came from. You'll pick it up pretty soon."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin nodded and cleared his throat. Trying to be very casual as he looked over toward Dinah. "She mentioned you did some magic for her. How-- how does it work?"

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"'The spell guides the wizard. It is the wizard who manipulates the energies. With time and practice, the wizard will find such guides unnecessary,'" Tony quoted.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin stared at him for a moment. "Does that make sense to you?"

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"Sort of?" Tony smiled. "I have this whole set of instructions. I'm still trying to figure them out."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"There are instructions?"

He never got any. Just... a cryptic dragon who turned out to be playing him for a fool.

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"I knew another wizard," Tony explained. "She had to go home before she could teach me anything, but she put together a bunch of lessons for me."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"What sort of lesson plans would they be?" He had just learned as he needed it so far.

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"There's a bunch of stuff about theory and energy manipulation," which he'd mostly skipped, "and the rest is mostly actual spells. Like, so far I can call stuff to my hand and put up protection wards. And I tried water purification, but I can't do it right yet."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just nodded, thinking about his book. "Perhaps it just takes practice?"

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Tony nodded. "Probably. The Come To Me spell is the one I'm best at and it's the one I've worked on the most."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Come To Me spell?" Merlin couldn't help the grin over that. "Is that what you say?"