I just want a moment where arthur is the one who says something so unbearably stupid that it legit stops alfred in his tracks for a second and makes him reconsider entirely a fact that he wants believed wholeheartedly to be true. Like, als thought process is okay arthur said that wait that doesn't match my inherit knowledge is my inherit knowledge wrong let me go back a little farther, until it circles back to wait is arthur wrong is that what happened all in the span of like 30 seconds and al just dead ass stares arthur down and arthur stares back just as confused
You know I actually think this probably happens a lot. Like... Arthur, being over 1000 years old, probably just has some dumb misconceptions about how things work (particularly as regards to any scientific discoveries), that he would consciously know are incorrect, but they’re still floating around in his brain from all the years that they were once accepted fact.
If Alfred’s just having a chat with him, he might slip unconsciously, either because the particular accuracy of the discussion is not important or he’s relaxed or something, but in these moments, he’ll just say something that’s wholly untrue, like idk classifying personality issues with interpersonal relationships by the humors (and not in the 2020AD ironic way ;P) or referring to the Sun as a planet like astrologers of old, etc.
And like.... if Arthur is pretty far into that kind of headspace and Alfred tries to correct him with modern knowledge, he might actually argue with Alfred about it until he snaps back to the present day.
It’d be very interesting when the misconception pre-dates Alfred’s existence and Arthur would be like “Don’t be ridiculous, you were there!” or something and Alfred’s like “No, I actually wasn’t.” and then Arthur just stares at him confused and a little lost and Alfred stares back, mildly concerned and a little bereft as their literal age gap (560+ years) kind of sits in the middle, amorphous and wobbly.
