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Out of thin air, another ethereal blossom forms.
The magus sighed before tossing yet another flower from the edge of his prison, watching it float gently to the ground to be lost among thousands of others. As it was in that moment, life was quiet. It always had been, and always would be. This was his curse, but he supposed it wasn’t fully a curse — at least the view from the tower was nice.
It was no wonder he decided to spend a large amount of his time at Chaldea nowadays. After thousands of years of the same old landscape living through the same old tales, the same sunrise and sunset, the same everything, every day, any sane being would desire a change of pace; especially one with a personality like Merlin’s. He could only stay cooped up for so long without becoming ridiculously bored of the same daily routine. One could only derive so much joy from masquerading as an internet idol and catfishing a certain somebody.
The projection there wasn’t hard at all. Avalon generated a near endless supply of mana, after all. If it didn’t, he would barely be able to function — the amount of mana he expended on a daily basis would make any proper Mage weep. Sitting himself down in the center of his stone tower, he went through the usual motions.
He knew someone who probably needed the company anyway.
—
You’d think Dr. Roman would learn to stop spilling his coffee at the surprise bursts of flowers.
At this point, even though he certainly wasn’t fond of the hybrid’s frequent visits, the doctor had grown all too used to the appearances during his day. This didn’t make it any easier to ignore the overly dramatic entrances Merlin insisted on. At this point, It felt like the Caster was just watching him all the time, waiting for a moment where he was walking with a hot mug full of coffee. He wouldn’t put it past him - Romani was fully aware that he truly had nothing better to do. Damn that clairvoyancy. Nobody with a hobby for pulling pranks on others should be allowed to use that ability.
At first, he thought the visits were out of pure boredom. Now after all this he knew that they were not only due to that, but apparently an instinctual desire to ruin his productivity. Whenever Merlin popped in, the amount of work remaining on his desk at the end of the day seemed to double. However, as much as Romani would love to kick the magus out of the command center, he wouldn’t want to unleash this chaos on Chaldea. Within a few minutes, the whole facility would be destroyed. He could almost picture the disaster now.
Though as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he didn’t hate Merlin’s visits. It was nice to have soneone to talk to about certain things. His past life, magecraft, all of the things that he couldn’t really hold a conversation about just seemed to naturally come up when Merlin was involved. He wondered if that was some sort of hidden skill. Even though the Caster was irritating to no end, he did make an engaging conversation partner.
He wouldn’t quite say he looked forward to the visits, but he definitely didn’t dread them.
—
And in a burst of flowers like so many times before, the magus of flowers appears in the command room.
“Did you miss me?” he asks the only one listening.
The doctor says nothing, but his heart says yes.
Merlin smiles — the question was rhetorical.
The doctor resists the urge to comment “Welcome back,” the magus offers a “Thank you” to a statement unsaid, the rayshift machines hum steadily in the background, and the command center once again feels a little less alone.