(un)changed

“Competitive for seats.” As if that explained it entirely. Which–for Jude–it did. He grinned warmly as he finally remembered to step back some so that Koschei could come into the house. “Do any of you lot ever win wha’ver there ‘s to be won in all tha’?”

Koschei still wasn’t sure they were the same, after all, it wasn’t like people had children just to get them into that one last spot at the best uni. “I don’t think there’s really anything to win, to be honest,” he replied with a sigh, following Jude’s backward steps into the house. There couldn’t be a baby here, right? You couldn’t cross your own timeline. 

Mae’s eyes were still on Koschei. “Not in a way that made me lose sleep,” she answered finally. “I always figured it was somethin’ a bit more abstract rather than literal.”

Koschei got the feeling that he was getting under her skin or that she was making fun of him. Not that that necessarily made him want to change the subject. “Theory in and of itself tends to abstract.”

“Sounds a bit like uni admissions…Jus’ a bit more cut throat.” From what he’d looked up and been told that kind of comparison wasn’t that far off the mark. “Don’t like the gap to be minded, do they?”

“How are they similar..?” They didn’t seem very similar at all to Koschei. Granted, he had a very limited knowledge of how Earth education worked from when Drax had camped out in some academy for a few months, but that had never stopped him from presuming things before. “The Houses are competitive with each other, so it looks bad if they have empty seats.”

Her lips twitch up as she watches him survey the walls around them with a critical gaze. “That it ‘s. An’ not bad amounts of it at that.” She was quite content where she was. “Names don’t always have to make sense.”

What was the point of a name if it didn’t describe something? That was kind of their purpose, wasn’t it? “I suppose,” Koschei replied simply, still looking around. “You never wondered why it was named that?”

“No, the Time Lords- Well the ones that run things around here keep stuff from all the places they send expeditions. It’s sort of like the Vaults, but less…” Theta hesitated knowing that place was not a happy discussion. “..Haunted. It’s where I got some of my first globes. Can you believe they were going to get rid of all of that? It’s not too far from the Academy though.”

Koschei shrugged. As long as it wasn't going to be Theta bent over a bunch of ancient foreign flags for hours and hours on end, he could probably find something that caught his attention. Either way, it was worth it to get out of the Academy for a while. "Lead the way."

“I don’t have a reason to lie about the name of the place that I work.” Again she shrugs. “Never really thought to ask. Just kind of accepted it an’ went with that.”

Koschei took a moment to look around. There wasn't anything theoretical about the place at all. It was all standard technology for the time period and nothing was virtual or holographic. "I guess money is money," he replied off handedly. "Even if it makes no sense."

“I know. The uh…Looms ‘s ‘ow the lot of you do tha’. Whenever you do.” Lucky for Jude he had looked up the hows and whys for them a long while ago. “Do they always stay full or do people cycle ou’ of them?”

Koschei had to admit he was impressed that Jude knew what he was talking about. Of course, with Winter as a mother, that wasn't really that surprising. "Well, if someone dies, that spot becomes open. They usually try to fill it right away, though. Or if someone deserts or is exiled."

Cue him raising an eyebrow and looking more than a little amused while not looking the least offended. “No more after tha’.”

"We don't.. have children like that," he offered as an explanation and nodded gratefully in response. "Most of us don't have children at all. Most of our Houses are full."

Koschei frowns slightly, taking a moment to be sure he understood her words. Because he sure didn’t get what they meant. “We’re what?” 

“In Theory.” She pauses to motion to the building they were in. “’S called Theory. So…in Theory.”

"...Really?" What were the chances that the place was called Theory? It was kind of an odd name, wasn't it? "Why?"

“You know that’s not even slightly true,” he replied with a smirk of his own, rolling his eyes. “You have to be more subtle ~ “

“You never liked me for my subtly.” Theta was grinning as he grabbed Koschei hand, tugging them both to their feet. “I think I know a spot where they still stash the stuff that comes back from missions. They’re too clever for their own good.”

"Yeah, because you don't have any." Koschei let himself be pulled up with a groan, dusting himself off where he had touched the floor. "Where did they go? Please don't say Earth."

Jude offers up an encouraging smile that he couples with a small nod. “No’ too bad at all, ‘onestly.” He clears his throat before adding, “I ‘ave a younger brother an’ sister too.”

A small fit of laughter bubbles over her lips. “’M sorry. It wasn’t about what you said so much as the irony of it since we’re in Theory.”

Koschei frowns slightly, taking a moment to be sure he understood her words. Because he sure didn’t get what they meant. “We’re what?” 

“That’s true. But to be fair you an’ I only really chatted about once.”

Koschei hums in agreement, sipping at the steaming coffee before nodding. “It’ll get easier in theory.”