The Stables, Sunday Late Afternoon

[bitchprince]

Arthur had not been looking forward to the idea of heading out in this weather, but he was a man of duty, and he did have... some concerns in regards to the health of the horses and the dog. He also wasn't sure how long their food would hold out.

Sure, he could've asked Merlin to do it, but... Yeah. They were his horses, and his dog, and if something did happen to them he'd take it rather personally.

(Which was not to say he had a soft spot for them or anything. No. None of that)

He wrestled open the door to the stables and shut it quickly, petting Bryn over the head as she came at him. Soon enough, he was by the horses, cradling the head of his own and checking for any signs of frostbite.

Thankfully, the stables were still relatively warm.

[[ open, sure ]]

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[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat came into the stable in a gust of wind and snowflakes. "Blood and ashes, it's cold out there," he gasped. "Not Borderland cold, but bloody close."

He walked over to his own horse. "How are you holding up, Pips? Brought you an apple..."

[bitchprince]

"I was wondering who that runt belonged to," said Arthur. He shot Mat an amused look across the stable.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat laughed. "That's part of his charm," he said, patting the horse fondly on the nose. "He doesn't look like he'd leave you in the dust until he does."

[bitchprince]

"I'm sure," he said, giving his horse another pat on the neck. (Listen, the horse had fangirls.) "Holding up all right in the cold?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it's not so bad once you get used to it," Mat replied. "I managed to feed half of the dorms last night with rabbits I caught. You'd think these people had never hunted before."

[bitchprince]

"You managed to get some rabbits in this muck?" Arthur asked, making a vague noise of approval. "Might actually be an idea for the day." A beat. "And most of them haven't."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"It was a bit of luck," Mat said. "I crunched a tree branch underfoot and scared some out from their hiding place."

These sorts of things happened when you were Mat.

"Dinah seems to think that your one lesson in hunting would save her from starvation." He didn't bother to hide his amusement.

[bitchprince]

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Dinah," he said, "Is a decent woman, but she has the mind of a child. How did this come up?"

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"She recognized what I was cooking from a trip with you," Mat replied, "and the conversation progressed from there." He pulled another apple from his pocket and offered it to Pips.

[bitchprince]

"Well, she never learned from me," he said, shrugging, "I was simply gracious enough to let her have some of the catch last time. I really do wish they had better game around here." He dumped some feed into his horse's trough.

Brynmor was finally, blessedly giving up on her spell of cowardice to start sneaking towards Mat.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"What do you prefer?" Mat asked. "There's no challenge in rabbits, to be sure."

He crouched down and held out his hand for Brynmor to sniff. "Does she hunt?"

[bitchprince]

"Deer, stags, anything unusual that doesn't come with a curse," Arthur said, tilting his head. "I'm working on it. Merlin insists on pampering her." Which was clearly ruining her.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Not the blue deer then," Mat mused.

[bitchprince]

"Not the blue deer," Arthur agreed. "Not that one of those hides wouldn't make for an interesting jacket or a tablecloth, but I'd rather not risk it."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Which leaves us rabbits," Mat said, making a face. "Is the mainland better?"

[bitchprince]

"I haven't managed to organize a trip yet," Arthur said, thoughtfully. "We should do that once the storm dies down. Bring Firekeeper while we're at it."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat frowned. "Who is he?"

[bitchprince]

"She," Arthur said, lightly, "Is a girl who thinks she's a wolf. Completely insane, but disturbingly competent at the art."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"That...is not the strangest thing I've ever heard," Mat said, "but it comes fairly close. Wait. Is she the one with the wolf following her around?"

[bitchprince]

"That's the one." Beat. "She's quite all right, for someone who's completely out of their mind. Anyway, we'll run into some trouble with the local hunting regulations, but I'm sure an agreement can be reached."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Enough coin makes most trouble disappear," Mat said with a grin.

[bitchprince]

"Like I said," he replied, moving over to give Brynmor a slight tug on the collar, "We can discuss it with the local council."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Before or after we've hunted?" Mat asked. "It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot him a quick look. "Before," he said, "We keep to the law."

Lawful good blah blah blah.

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"But these aren't necessarily our laws," Mat argued, mostly just to argue.

[bitchprince]

"No, but we are guests in this land," Arthur lectured, "It wouldn't suit us well to openly defy the authorities."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"If we are such terrible hunters that we get caught, we deserve the wrath of their authorities," Mat declared.

[bitchprince]

Arthur took a deep breath and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "No," he said, "That would be openly disrespecting this-- Republic. I won't do that."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

"Very well," Mat said. "Let me know if you need coin. It comes easy to me."

[bitchprince]

Arthur shot him a quick look at the perceived insult. "Thank you, but I'm quite comfortable myself."

[bloody-luck.livejournal.com]

Mat almost started yet another round of "but why don't you gamble" and thought better of it. "As you say," he said instead.