Work Text:
It was a peaceful afternoon in the Evermore Castle. Only a handful of wispy clouds dotted the blue sky outside, allowing ample light to shine through the castle windows and casting the interior in a cheerful glow. The castle workers were going about their daily routines, from replacing linens to preparing dinner to patrolling the grounds outside. Nothing much was happening at all, so it was the perfect chance for the royal family to catch up on some work and rest between the hectic nights facing down monsters in Memory Lanes. Last night in particular had been a doozy. Roland's memories had been put on full display, showing everyone his life, his mistakes, and… Will. A few secrets were spilled, a few monsters were beaten, a few… issues were addressed, and at the end of it all, the fifth High Higgledy was born.
Roland glanced up from his paperwork to the Higgledy in question. Rannygazoo was perched on the desk, having some sort of conversation with Tove. Ever since they woke up that morning, the Higgledy had stuck to him like glue, unlike everyone else. They had, surprisingly enough, left him alone instead of bombarding him with the questions that they no doubt had. Roland figured that Leander had asked them to give him some space, like they had given himself and Evan some days before. That suited Roland just fine. He was in no mood to elaborate on what all the missile and death talk was about. Plus, it gave him time to catch up on work and enjoy the quiet afternoon.
“Hey, Roland?”
Or not. Ice seeped into Roland's veins at the thought of having to explain what everyone saw last night. He braced himself for the worst, looking up at the source of the voice.
Tani was standing in front of his desk, eyes shining with curiosity. She cocked her head to the side as she began to speak, “So, I know Leander said to wait for a bit and ‘allow Roland time to process the ordeal’-” Tani put on a stiff voice as she raised her fingers in air quotes- “but I just can’t wait any longer!” She leaned forwards onto the desk, eliciting an angry series of “hig piggles” from Tove as the fur from her cape went into the little Higgledy's face. “You said you were almost as old as the Boss back in your world, right?”
Roland relaxed and nodded, a small smile coming onto his face as the cold grip of dread left him as fast as it came. “Ah, that depends. How old is Batu, again?” Some movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned to the doorway just in time to see a flash of red and a tail disappear behind it. Looks like he had a little eavesdropper. Roland let out a small chuckle and called out, “I know you're out there, you may as well come on in.” Evan peered around the corner, ears ever so slightly tilted down as he sheepishly made his way over to Tani. Lofty followed suit behind him, though he didn't look nearly as apologetic, and following him was Batu, Bracken, and even Leander. Okay, that was… quite a few more eavesdroppers than he was anticipating.
Tani shook her head and crossed her arms, snickering. “Told you he'd figure it out. What did you think was gonna happen?”
Evan stared at the floor, an awkward smile plastered to his face. “I… well…” He took the edge of his cape and began to fiddle with it. “I will admit I was somewhat curious, and you said you were already going to ask him, so…”
Bracken nodded, grinning. “So we decided to hear it for ourselves! It's much easier for him to only have to say it once.” She placed her hands on her hips, not sorry in the slightest for eavesdropping. In fact, she looked almost proud of it.
Rannygazoo rolled his head back, the scribbles that made up his eyes narrowing in what had to be the Higgledy version of an eye roll. Roland couldn't help but mentally agree. He let out a sigh, though the smile still pulling at his lips betrayed him. “I see. And what was that about giving me space?” Roland sent a pointed look towards Leander.
The Junior Chief Consul adjusted his glasses and found a rather interesting spot on the wall to look at. “I was… merely keeping an eye on them. I did warn them against this course of action, but they refused to heed my words.”
“Uh-huh. Well, if this all so important to you-” Roland stood up and stretched, walking over to the other side of the desk- “I guess I've got no choice but to answer, don't I?” He leaned back on the desk, amusement making itself clear on his face.
There was a moment of disbelief before Tani cheered, the rest looking at him in a mixture of surprise and delight.
Batu guffawed. “And here I thought I'd need to pry it from ye myself, curse ye!”
Roland shrugged. “You already know the jist of it. Besides…” He thought back to Will, how he never said what he needed to, how the distance between them, both physical and emotional, ended up hurting the most important person in his life. Roland had ended up doing the same to his wife, years ago. “...I should start being a bit more open.” He shook his head, clearing the melancholy thoughts. “But I may have jumped the shark on guessing Batu's age. Batu, you're…”
Batu puffed up his chest, as if he was boasting about winning a medal rather than talking about his age. Maybe age was a symbol of pride in the Sky Pirates’ culture? “43, turnin’ 44 by the end o’ the season.”
“Guess I was wrong. I was 48 back in my world, which means…” Roland couldn't help the smirk as he eyed the Sky Pirate Chief. “I'm older than you, Batu.”
The group went silent in shock- though Batu looked a touch indignant, as well. Roland couldn't blame them. If the shoe were on the other foot, he doubted he'd be able to reconcile someone who looked just barely out from being a teenager with being over twice that age. Lofty was the first to recover, violently shaking his head. “Cor, now there's surprisin’! ‘Course you don't half act like an old man, so it en't too out there…”
Bracken huffed, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. “Even if you say that, I can't picture you all... old.” She looked him up and down, looking for all the world as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
“Believe it or not, it's the truth. In fact…” Roland thought back to the memory version of himself, locked in an eternal cycle of meetings, too busy thinking ahead to notice what was right in front of him. Even if what was right in front of him happened to be himself, 28 years younger. “...You've already seen me that old. Remember the old guy we met in the Memory Lane, the one talking about all those meetings? That was me.”
“What!?” Tani shouted, looking at Roland as if he had suddenly grown two heads. Behind him, the Higgledies tried to stifle their giggles. “Flippin’ heck, why didn't you say something? We could've teased you about how wrinkly you were!”
Evan looked curious, tail tip twitching side to side as he brought his hand up to his chin. “Roland, was that really you? You looked so… different!” Old, he meant old.
Roland nodded. “Of course, would I lie to you?” A snort from Batu. “Don't answer that.” Roland hummed, trying to think of a way to give them solid proof. Otherwise he'd be hearing questions about it for the next month. Maybe something tangible, some sort of picture, or… oh, that could work. With a thought, his wallet appeared from his arms band in a small burst of solidifying light. It bore a scorch mark here and there thanks to the incident with Longfang, but thankfully remained intact. Roland flipped open the wallet, ignoring everyone's questioning gazes. The plastic card slid free easily. “Well if you need more proof, here.” Roland held out his driver's license to Evan, who gingerly took it as if it was made of glass.
“What is it?” Evan flipped the card over, running his fingers along the smooth plastic.
“It's my-” actually, introducing Bracken to the concept of cars would be a bad idea- “it's a form of picture identification. So that people can know that you're you.”
At his words, the rest of the group crowded around the young king, all trying to get a view of Roland's license. Lofty, who was too short to see the license normally, hopped up to cling to Evan’s shoulder so he could see. Evan inspected the photo for just a moment before his eyes widened in recognition, everyone else following suit as they got a good look at it. They glanced up, then down, then back up again in perfect sync, comparing the 20 year old in front of them with the aged man in the photograph. Roland stifled a snicker at the scene, while Tove wasn't so gracious.
Tani was the first to break the cycle, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she oh so “innocently” asked, “Hey, if you're only a couple of years older than the Boss, how come you're already all grey?”
Evan snapped up to look at her, almost shaking Lofty loose and causing the kingmaker to scowl and mutter something under his breath. Evan’s attention, however, was elsewhere. “Tani! You can't-”
“Now listen ‘ere,” Batu interrupted, “A bit o’ silver's nothin’ to be ashamed of. We can't all age as gracefully as ol’ Batu!” He let out a short bark of laughter, and Roland was sure that if Batu were closer, he'd get clapped on his back so hard that it'd leave a bruise.
“Perhaps it was stress that caused Roland to age so quickly?” Leander suggested while pointedly not looking at Roland. So that's how this was gonna be, huh? Leander continued, “Roland does have a tendency to take on more than he can healthily handle. His memory self was quite busy, after all.” Leander’s tone remained carefully neutral, but Roland just knew the man was enjoying ragging on him.
After a moment of consideration, everyone murmured hushed sounds of agreement and nodded. Roland glared at Leander, who was now closely inspecting the license as if it could shield him from the Chief Consul's disapproval. Coward.
“Hey, in my world it's perfectly normal for people to go grey in their forties. And you're hardly one to talk about my work ethic, Leander.” Leander stiffened, but otherwise did his best to ignore Roland. Bracken let out a soft snicker. “You too, Bracken.” Roland smiled as she sent him a glare.
“Well,” Evan huffed, “ I think that Roland looked perfectly fine for his age!” He puffed out his chest and gave the rest of them his best disapproving look, though in Roland’s opinion, the effect was greatly diminished since Evan had a smirking Lofty hanging off of him.
Lofty let out a cackle, eyes narrowed in amusement. “Aye, and llapacas can fly.”
Evan tried to turn his head to look at the kingmaker, but found it too awkward and settled for crossing his arms and glowering in Lofty’s general direction instead. “Lofty! You shouldn't say things like that, it's impolite!”
Lofty waved a hand in a lazy circle "Ah, pish posh. The dab gave up his right for me to act polite when he gone and called me a monster insteada introducin’ himself all proper-like!"
Evan's tail began to lash back and forth. "That was almost a year ago, Lofty! He knows better now… right, Roland?" The young king looked back towards Roland, eyes wide in anticipation.
Roland coughed, averting eye contact with Evan in favor of watching the two Higgledies perched on his desk. Tove was currently sticking his tongue out at Lofty, while Rannygazoo was making a rather half-hearted attempt to stop him. Well, that certainly didn’t shed the best of light on Roland. It wasn’t that he disliked the Kingmaker, per se, he just knew that Lofty would hold this over him for the next few months if he said anything.
“Um… Roland?” Evan had a nervous grin on his face, ears twitching as he fought to keep them in a neutral position. Lofty’s eyes narrowed even further, smug grin turning downright predatory. Everyone else had, rather smartly, elected to stay out of this. Bracken and Leander pretended to try and decipher the English on Roland’s driver’s license, while Tani and Batu did their best to avoid even so much as looking in their general direction.
In the interest of dodging several months of torment, Roland made the executive decision to… change the subject. He took his weight off of the desk, stalling for just one more moment as he cracked his back. “Well…” Roland started, eyes locking onto the doorway, “I think it’s about time for dinner. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and tell Floyd to start things up.” Roland swiftly made his way to the door before anyone could protest, disappearing around the corner. The two Higgledies followed him, though Tove made one last face at Lofty before getting dragged off by Rannygazoo.
Behind him, the sound of Evan’s sputtering was drowned out by Lofty’s cackling.