FDR Campfire, Saturday Morning

[bitchprince]

Arthur's dreams last night had been full of strange images of old, powerful wolves and golden lion cubs that he chose not to consider further. It was Morgana who got the nightmares, not him; he'd always slept fitfully and where needed.

Still, they had instilled a sudden restlessness in him, and rather than turn to the salle as he generally would, Arthur's travels brought him no further than the campfire that morning. He had no meat left of his last hunt, nor any furry fish to roast, so instead he sat down by the edge of the pit.

He did have some dried meat, and a few more dates he'd nicked off Leto earlier (well, not nicked. Commandeered. Requested, maybe, with implicit permission). They'd do for breakfast until Merlin showed up to get him enough for a proper one.

[[ open like a campfire! ]]

Comments

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

It was unwise. It was unnecessary. It was... like a lifeline, and Fiona promptly headed to the fire. When she saw who was sitting there, she almost left but she decided to sit anyway.

If he ignored her, she'd just enjoy the fire. If he was polite, it might be helpful. If they started arguing, well, at least she'd get it out of her system before meeting with the principal.

She considered tucking the silver rose and the sapphire away until she was going to leave, but decided against it. Whatever was her motto of the day, apparently. Let the dice fall as they may.

[bitchprince]

Oh, it was her again. "Morning," Arthur called, out of sheer bloody politeness. He promptly took care of any urge to say more by chewing down on a date.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"Morning," she replied, no longer quite so cheerful. Her hand clenched around the jewel at the end of her necklace for a moment til she made herself let go of it.

[bitchprince]

At least that was slightly less disturbing than the other day. That put Arthur more at ease. Less puzzling, less of a tax on his mind, the whole nine yards of it. He was not going to say anything else. He was just going to sit here and go about his business. He was...

Noticing all the clenching.

It was a sheer feat of breeding (and masculine instincts, probably) that caused him to say, "You all right?" despite every intention to the contrary.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She shrugged eloquently. It was a quick, tight movement. No, she wasn't but she was trying to pretend she was.

"I have a meeting with the principal."

[bitchprince]

Which was fine with Arthur. Dealing with emotional women wasn't... really his strong suit.

"The Lady Zoe is fair," he contributed, "Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll be fine."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona's head bobbed up and down but it was clear that she wasn't quite so sure she'd be fine.

"How's your morning?" she finally got out, unwilling to let Arthur be the only one with manners at the fire.

[bitchprince]

"It's been fine so far." All... few hours and couple-of-dates of it. Which anyone could probably read off his face. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

It could be said that Arthur spent a lot of time waiting for out-of-the-ordinary around here.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

That got a soft laugh.

"No moose. I guess that's a good omen."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin was very cheerful this morning. So much so, in fact, it ought to be illegal.

"Good morning, Arthur!" Oh look, he had cookies to give him for breakfast.

[bitchprince]

"At least the moose were benign," he said, "The island's seen far worse omens. Harpies, for example."

At this point, the idea of harpies invading almost seemed like a relief.

[bitchprince]

"Merlin," Arthur greeted him. Not particularly kindly. "What took you so long? Were the posters really necessary?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well... how else were we supposed to inform people of it?" Merlin asked very slowly.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"Harpies?"

She'd never heard of such a thing, which is really no wonder.

"What do they do?"

[bitchprince]

"Well, putting them up where Morgana could see them was hardly the smartest idea you've ever had," said Arthur, who never particularly bothered to consider it when his points were kind of pointless. He did have points!

[bitchprince]

"They're half-women, half-birds. Feathered creatures wielding the sharpest talons and dullest insults," Arthur said, with due consideration of dramatics. "We managed to cast off their assault a few months back."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Oh." That took the cheer down quite a bit. "I had forgotten about that."

[bitchprince]

"No, really, Merlin," Arthur said, glad his point had gotten across, and bitchfaced at him. "Did you." He eyed the pit. "I had to tell her."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin kept his mouth firmly shut about that. "I'll speak with her."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Oh. For some reason, she felt as if she should have known that.

"No, um, no half-goat people, though, right?"

This was one of those things you just checked when you're Fiona.

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot her a funny look. "I've yet to meet any half-goat people," he said, slowly, "But it sounds like they'd have trouble getting around."

Half-serpent, half-leopard people, on the other hand...

[bitchprince]

"Fortunately for you, she took it well," Arthur continued, steadily, "But if anyone else from Camelot turns up, I trust you'll remember to watch what you're doing before someone comes after you with an axe."

This was not exactly confidence-inspiring.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Of course she took it well. Is exactly what Merlin thought but did not say. "Yes, sire," Is what he did say.

[bitchprince]

"This is not very confidence-inspiring," Arthur told him, frankly. "...Did you get breakfast?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin held out the cookies wordlessly for him. Someday he was going to learn that keeping other people's secrets would probably end up getting him killed, but he was simply going to remain mum on it for now.