The Deck, Sunday Morning

[bitchprince]

After spending a full day keeping Rhys busy (and running him through his swordcraft training, and dealing with his still-abominable tracking skills, which had also ended in a lesson, god help him) getting fifteen minutes to himself while the boy entertained himself elsewhere seemed like the greatest kind of luxury.

Not to say he wouldn't check on Rhys soon enough again, because Arthur was nothing if not dedicated. Right now, though, he would collapse in this seat on the deck with a glass of water and a small plate of cheeses and bless the silence.

Rhys could be out here any minute again. He was somewhat faster with his food as a result.

[[ open to all, including kidlets, woo ]]

Comments

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

Dani wanted to explore this place a little more, and he was sure his mom wouldn't let him do it alone. So it was a lucky thing that she'd been exhausted from yesterday; it was easy to slip away from her while she slept.

He didn't feel like exploring much before he'd had breakfast, though, and he knew where his mom kept her food in the common room. This meant that he had a Pop Tart, two vanilla pudding cups, and a spoon when he showed up on the deck.

"Cheese and water?" he wondered aloud, eyeing Arthur. "Weird."

[bitchprince]

Arthur blinked.

What?

Arthur squinted down at the boy and, in a vast display of maturity, said, "Please. You're not even supposed to be here. You're weird."

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"Am not," Dani snorted, flopping down into a deck chair with his snacks. "And you talk funny."

[bitchprince]

"No, I thought we'd just established that that would be you."

... Honestly now, Arthur, you were nineteen.

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"I'm not weird, and I don't talk funny. I'm awesome," Dani replied. He was allowed; he was only nine. ...But God help his mother once he'd actually get to be a teenager.

"Who are you, anyway?"

[bitchprince]

"I'm Prince Arthur Pendragon," Arthur said, through a vaguely bitchy smile. "And I am not weird. Unlike you lot, I just have a proper accent. Whose offspring are you, then?" Please don't say his.

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"Mom and Dad's," Dani said idly, before taking a bite of his Pop Tart. "What's up with all the princes and princesses here?"

[bitchprince]

At least not his, then. That was a damned relief.

Arthur shot him another look. "Eat your breakfast," he said, "You're asking stupid questions. Always a bad idea on an empty stomach."

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't a stupid question," Dani mumbled around another mouthful. Such manners. "Some girl here claims my mom's her mom, and that she's like, a princess of the universe or something."

Princess Royal of the Known Universe, actually, but as if Dani paid attention to annoying little girls enough to remember all that.

[bitchprince]

Arthur might have actually felt tempted to side with Dani if he knew Leto was the girl's father. As it was, he just rolled his eyes. "Then you man up," he said, "It's only a weekend. If we all let irritating women get the best of us, we'd never get anything done, would we?"

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

Dani actually looked thoughtful for a moment. Well done, Arthur.

"A samurai can't waste time arguing with girls," he decided then, nodding. "A ninja can't, either."

[ofamillion.livejournal.com]

When his daddy said they could go outside, Levi hadn't wasted anytime before bounding down the stairs and out the front door, leaving his father in the dust.

Upon spotting someone nearby, he changed paths and climbed up the deck, waving excitedly at Arthur. "Hi hi!"

[bitchprince]

Arthur was an awesome father figure. He learned from the best.

... Well, the worst. Which meant there really was nowhere for him to go but up, technically speaking. "Exactly," he said, "You just have to show her you're above it."

[bitchprince]

"Hello," Arthur said, squinting. "Whose child are you?"

He was going to make damn sure that he didn't have anyone else running around the island.

[ofamillion.livejournal.com]

"Mommy and Daddy's!" Duh, Arthur, duh. "Whose are you?"

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"She wanted to challenge me, though," Dani shared, going for one of the pudding cups next. "Dunno what she meant, but Mom said she couldn't, anyway."

[bitchprince]

"You know, when someone asks you that question, they're asking for something a little bit more specific," Arthur pointed out.

[bitchprince]

"Of course not," Arthur said, in the interest of communicating stupidity chivalry to the next generation. "She's a woman. You don't want to put her in a situation where she could get hurt." Beat. "Unless she's already coming at you with a sword, although even then you should take care."

[ofamillion.livejournal.com]

"I answered you," Levi told him, bouncing around Arthur like a hyperactive child would. "'M called Levi. Who are you?"

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"I dunno, she said something about getting a-- Christknife?" Crysknife, Dani. "But I could totally take her on. I'm Ichiro the Great."

And smug about it, too.

[bitchprince]

"Be nice to her," Arthur told him. "They can't stand that. And don't let her goad you. That's the important thing. You don't have to take her on as long as you remember all that."

[bitchprince]

"Prince Arthur Pendragon," Arthur said, smoothly, "And next time someone asks you that, give them the names of your parents. There are many of them about."

[ofamillion.livejournal.com]

"Hokay," Levi said, not really bothered by Arthur's orders. He was a kid, they went in one ear and out the other unless they involved food, games, or doggies. "I'ma King! That's higher than a prince."

[bitchprince]

"If you're a king, I'd imagine you have a steward," Arthur said, paused, and retraced that sentence. "...King by title or by surname."

If the latter, he suddenly was very well informed about why the child was so irritating.

[ofamillion.livejournal.com]

"Um." Levi didn't exactly know the meanings of a few of those words so he was just going to go with his usual answer when presented with options. "Bof!"