The Preserve's edge: Sunday morning

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

The temperature had dropped drastically overnight, to the point Galahad was just waiting for it to snow. He'd stoked the fire up as high as he could, and coaxed Gawain to lie down (not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination - Trenor was a very irritated horse) next to it.

Between the warmth of the horse, the warmth of the fire, and the warmth of the half-naked bard at his back, it was almost comfortable.

If he ignored the pricking of his conscience. True, the woman had been infuriating: quite mad, insulting, and she'd tried to steal his horse, but... He blew out a long breath, watching it curl in the air and sighed. Gawain, the real Gawain, would thrash him when he heard.

[ooc: so very open, yes.]

Comments

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

The first thing that registered to Chaucer was that it was cold. Very cold.

The second thing was that it was not entirely cold, so he moved towards that warm thing for a moment until he remembered, suddenly, the company he'd been in for the past few months. "...you are not going to use the word 'fong' as a verb for this," he mumbled, eyes closed, "I refuse."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Since I don't know what a fong or a verb is, I'm not likely to use either," Galahad pointed out, looking down at his companion with some humour.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

Ah. That would be the third thing that registered.

Chaucer opened one eye. "Feel blessed, my friend, truly blessed. Is there any of that rabbit left?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"As it happens, there is. Not as much as when you went to sleep, but enough to make a good breakfast." He pointed to where the leaf wrapped rabbit was sitting, tucked away, safe against predators, under his armour. "Only you'll have to move to reach it."

[doubleohblonde]

Intrigued by this strange new world, where neither the Church nor the Authority seemed to hold much sway, Asriel was taking advantage to the opportunity to explore, Stelmaria as always close by his heels.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Very well, very well," Chaucer muttered, pulling away from the only available source of warmth to clamber to his feet. "I will suffer for my sustenance." He padded towards the armor, then paused halfway there. "You don't know what a verb is?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"No. Is it anything like a fong?" he asked. "We had best find you some shoes today, or you won't have your toes for much longer."

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"A verb," he simply replied, making the last few necessary paces before bending down, somewhat awkwardly with the coat still hanging off his frame in a complex set-up that didn't appear to involve his arm. "To dance, to walk, to sleep..." Chaucer rifled through the armor, finally managing to lift it to find the food underneath. "Ah, to eat!"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Good morning to you, sir!" Chaucer called from where he was seated, then paused. "...and your animal... What brings you to our humble neck of the woods?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Galahad found himself getting to his feet quicker that he expected when Gawain flung himself up and off the ground, snorting and wide-eyed at the Scary Cat. "Easy, easy, Gawain," he soothed, stroking his nose to try and block the scent.

His sword was in reach, Chaucer was close enough to defend, and so he simply nodded at the newcomer's beast. "Is that a hunting cat?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Galahad shook his head, watching his strange companion. "You make little sense, but I told you that already. How can each of those things be one thing all together?"

[doubleohblonde]

"Morning," Asriel nodded, cheerfully. "Curiosity, more or less."

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"A verb implies movement," Chaucer declared, picking up the meat before padding back to where he came from. "Action! It's fairly simple, really." He sank down next to Galahad with his prize.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Always a fair compulsion," Chaucer established, then eyed Stelmaria again. "It's not going to eat us, is it? Because that would be unfortunate."

[doubleohblonde]

Pointedly ignoring the horse, Stelmaria groomed a forepaw. "Stelmaria is my daemon," Asriel replied, dealing better with these daemonless people now he'd gotten over the shock.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"So why not simply say the movement?" he asked, adding more wood to the fire. "It would be much less confusing."

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Because it's not a movement, it's a word, isn't it?" He tore off part of his breakfast with his teeth, pausing to chew and swallow before continuing. "The fair art of the word. Verbs, nouns, adjectives... one must know them all to juggle."

He took another bite. "Mm! This rabbit is excellent, for its temperature."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Trenor shook his mane at her and snorted, stamping one hoof in clear warning. He'd had just about enough of everything.

Galahad smiled. "We might make a fighter of you yet," he told his horse. "And that wasn't an answer to my question, friend. A daemon could be a hunting cat or a pampered pet, or something else entirely."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He shook his head, dismissing it all. "Bard's magic, and so I will leave it to you to worry about. I'm far more interested in breakfast other than rabbit and finding something for your feet."

And in seeing if any of his comrades had appeared in the stable overnight. "Think you can manage on your own for a short time?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm certain I can muddle along," Chaucer said, invested mostly in his rabbit. He hadn't eaten in a while, which had all been William's fault, really. "For the time. And if anything does attack, I can always feed them Wat."

He nudged the dog with his foot.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"A plan indeed." He rose to his feet and clapped Chaucer on the shoulder. "I will return."

Galahad moved out into the field through the morning mist, making his unhurried and watchful way to the stable.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Good man," he called after Galahad, then returned his full attention to the rabbit for a minute or two.

That's when he smelled it.

"You really are universally disgusting, aren't you?" he asked Wat, rhetorically.

Nana exhaled the dogly equivalent of a sigh.

[doubleohblonde]

"I assure you, Stelmaria isn't interested in people that way," Asriel replied, as Stelmaria flicked her tail in amusement.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

The stable proved to be empty of his fellow knights, but not of other things. Boots, for one, which he took with barely a pang of conscience.

And grain, for another, which would serve both Gawain and himself equally well for breakfast. A metal bucket, and water from a spigot in the wall, and he bundled up his prizes and made his way back.

"Boots," he said triumphantly, dropping them next to Chaucer, "and breakfast for all of us except the dog."

[doubleohblonde]

"A daemon is simply a daemon," Asriel replied. "She's neither pet nor attack animal if that's what you're worried about."