Third Floor Common Room, Tuesday Afternoon

[bitchprince]

After completing his go at Gun Club, Arthur returned to the dorms only to realise he didn't much feel like dealing with Leto yet. He'd come up with a proper revenge later. Right now, he craved a chance to sit somewhere, to fight off the sense that was dawning in the wake of yesterday's upset. He sat, and idly considered the Teevee.

Maybe she's just afraid to lose a friend, Merlin had said, and while Arthur was not going to stretch as far as to call her that aloud, he had to admit that the expression on her face had... seemed...

It was easier, dealing with sorcerers, when all you did was distract Father and find them quick shelter elsewhere. Here, there was little escape from them. No matter what he did, they would remain, and the honest truth was that he bore them very little ill will.

Wasn't his father. He'd seen too much damage caused by it not to be wary, but...

Of course, that made him think of Liir. He wasn't going to let thought of his conduct around him make him cringe.

So he sat. Subdued. Thinking.

[[ open common room! ]]

Comments

[bitchprince]

"I thought so."

Arthur rubbed his forehead.

"Very creative," he said, for the sake of adding something positive to that. "So why watch it like that?"

[lovemykilt]

"It's more fun than just kinda passively watching stuff." Priestly shrugged. "Sometimes you get weird sentences out of it and stuff. Sometimes I'll put it on mute and leave it on one station and make up my own dialog, too."

[bitchprince]

"Again," he said, "Very creative."

Arthur hadn't even gotten a handle on the workings of normal television-watching, but that wasn't going to let him slip up and show a bit of weakness, no. "Might make plays a bit more lively," he offered.

Arthur tended to like the plays that had a lot of blood in them best.

[lovemykilt]

"Totally. Nobody's really written much of anything new in fiction since . . . well, possibly since your time. At the very least since the 70s."

Shut up, he's sixteen. Arthur's time and the 70s are totally equatable.

Priestly paused on a station that appeared to be showing a period drama with somewhat incongruous music and hoodies. It looked fairly medieval. . . . "You wanna try it?"

[bitchprince]

"It's not as if you can beat reality," Arthur said, and sort of squinted in the direction of the Teevee. It was playing games with his mind, he was sure of it. "Although epic poetry makes a good second."

Again, Arthur liked the ones that had a lot of blood in them.

"Thank you," he said, "But I think I'll give it a miss."

[lovemykilt]

"Sure you can. At least, in this century." Priestly shrugged. "And hey, don't knock it till ya tried it." He started flipping the channels again. "I take it you're not a big fan of your time period's media and entertainment offerings?"

[bitchprince]

"It really depends," he said, "As I said, epic poetry can be quite good, especially when sung."

[lovemykilt]

Priestly frowned at that. "Like . . . opera?" He pursed his lips, then started flipping through the channels at higher speed, clearly looking for something.

Stupid MTV not usually playing music anymore . . . ha! He found a video. "Or more like that?"

[ooc: first link: youtube. Second link: Lyrics. Song is "Mariner's Revenge Song" by the Decemberists.]

[bitchprince]

"A bit like that last one, but less painful," Arthur said, wincing a little at just how shrill the man's voice was. He looked at the Teevee, and then back at Priestly. "'Fill the horn with foaming liquor, fill it up my boy, be quicker,'" he recited, "'Hence away, despair and sorrow; time enough to sigh to-morrow.'"

[lovemykilt]

Dude, that was totally a drinking song. Priestly could get behind that.

"Definitely not opera. How 'bout . . ." He considered and rejected many of his usual punk songs. He was getting the feeling that Arthur wouldn't appreciate a song that involved shouting at high speeds that much. "'Drink, drink, this song is so great, drink, drink, 'cause it's never too late to drink, drink, to no big surprise, but what words rhyme with buried alive? What words rhyme with buried alive?'"

[bitchprince]

"If you can't think of them," Arthur said, amused, "Then I'm hardly the one you should ask."

Sure, it lacked finesse, but the song did sound like it needed a toast, so he toasted the air with a non-existent drink.

[lovemykilt]

"Hey, I didn't write it, man, I just sing it." Priestly raised his own non-existent drink. "Got any more of these poems of yours?"

[bitchprince]

"That was hardly the whole poem." Arthur's expression was still distinctly amused. "'Like an hurricane is he, bursting on the troubled sea. See their spears distain'd with gore, hear the din of battle roar! Bucklers, swords, together clashing, sparkles from their helmets flashing.'"

Arthur may have gotten into it. A touch.

He took playing with swords very seriously.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly snorted softly. And now he saw why Arthur was into this stuff.

"Gotta love that gore and roaring."

[bitchprince]

"Indeed," he said. "For glorious deeds of valor from men long past. Although you've managed to make me thirsty."

[lovemykilt]

"Glorious deeds of valor, eh?" Priestly wracked his brain for a 'glorious deeds of valor' sort of song.

He didn't know a whole lot of those.

"Oh, I know:
They met on the battlefield banner in hand.
They looked out across the vacant land.
And they counted the missing, one upon one,
None upon none.
The war it was over before it begun.

Two little kings playing a game.
They gave a war and nobody came."

Okay, so maybe it was an ironic sort of glorious deeds of valor song.

[bitchprince]

Arthur stared at him for a moment.

Then his poor attempt at a stoic expression failed, and he started laughing.

"What kind of a ridiculous tale is that?"

Very amused.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly shrugged, wearing a smile of his own. "I dunno, man, the whole 'valour of glorious deeds' or whatever didn't really stick around? Most of the war songs I know are ironic."

[bitchprince]

Arthur simply shook his head. "War isn't worth anything if there isn't a good cause, something more than bloodshed," he said, "I agree, but... that doesn't render the art worthless."

He paused. "Still, two kings alone, without their armies- they can't have been very good."

[lovemykilt]

Priestly looked over, not bothering to contain his surprised, slightly impressed expression. "Yeah, I'm thinking their subjects didn't really respect 'em a whole lot."

[bitchprince]

"A real leader makes sure his people know he'll carry any burden they do," Arthur said, leaning back against the couch. "I don't think this war had any support in reality."

[lovemykilt]

"True. I actually had kinda a similar conversation with your friend Merlin. If a king or a president or whoever should only be eating well and playing games and stuff if the people he or she's ruling get to, too."

[bitchprince]

"Very insightful," Arthur said, dryly. "And if the people go to war, so should their king," he continued, with a nod. "Nevermind that no just king would be eating while the people are starving."

This... might have been a big blow-up point between him and his father.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly broke into a grin. "Man, exactly!" He offered his hand. "I owe you an apology, man. After the whole drunk thing, I totally had you pegged as just an arrogant asshole."

[bitchprince]

"After the whole 'drunk thing'," Arthur said, dryly, "I had you pegged as an idiot. I guess some apologies are warranted."

He looked at Priestly; looked at his hand. Took it, and shook it once. "I suppose this proves..." he paused. "Something."