Room 303, Saturday Morning

[bitchprince]

He'd been putting this off due to Merlin's transformation, the zombies and the resulting fall-out and everything else involved with it. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding it forever, and with finals being next week, Arthur had to get to it.

The idea of throwing himself into the hands of some foreign magic didn't sit well with him. The rest of his classmates had, however, and as a TA... well, he'd gone through all the reasons why he was doing this.

It all came down to this morning, and Arthur was giving the potion a half-disguised foul look as it sat there on his desk, clearly taunting him.

[[ for two, please! ]]

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[future_sandworm]

Leto wasn't exactly thrilled about the assignment either, and he had been too busy to give it much thought lately. Noticing Arthur's glare, he asked: "What are you thinking?"

[bitchprince]

"The finals are next week," Arthur said, and it would've been a mutter if that hadn't been unprincely, "If I don't take the potion now, I'll fail my other responsibilities."

And that was clearly never an option.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"At least it's not the one that's a week," Merlin said quietly, bustling about the room. Oh yes, he was bustling now. Too much nervous energy over magic that wasn't his.

[bitchprince]

"Yes, well, I believe someone took care of that." Okay, that was a dry unprincely mutter. "If anything goes wrong, it's essential you take me to Sir Minsc."

[future_sandworm]

"I took the potion one too," Leto said. He had never considered the whole week one. It seemed like overdoing it.

Also, he felt it was unnecessary to stay with the subject of Merlin being a bird right now.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

For altruistic reasons, Merlin was sure.

He glanced over at Leto once before answering Arthur. "I'm sure he must have some sort of... antidote if that happens."

[bitchprince]

"He claimed he did," Arthur told Merlin, more than happy to ignore Leto for once. He got up off his bed and padded for the desk. "Keep an eye on the whole..."

Pause.

"...Thing."

[future_sandworm]

Leto glanced at Merlin, hoping that he would have sense enough to contact Ghanima should something go wrong for him.

He was not going to ask.

He had kept the potion in one of his bags, and now he dug the bottle out, weighing it in his hand.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Or lock him in the room for the weekend and be done with it. You never could be certain.

"It's not painful," Merlin offered, reaching over to unconsciously brush lint off Arthur's jacket.

[bitchprince]

Since there was nothing off about that, Arthur didn't notice it. He picked up the potion and studied it. "That's reassuring," he said, in that way that implied that he really didn't care.

Even if he did. "Here goes, I suppose."

[future_sandworm]

Leto shrugged and opened the bottle. He found himself hoping for an animal that would not be small enough to lock in a cupboard.

He emptied the potion bottle, making a face at the bitter taste.

[bitchprince]

"Make sure there's clothing ready tomorrow night," Arthur instructed, made a valiant effort not to pull a face at the potion, and slammed it back in one go.

He did make an equal face at that. Ew. "That's disgusting."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Of course, sire." Since they'd already learned from that one.

Merlin took a careful step back, watching them both carefully.

[future_sandworm]

Leto coughed and fell to his knees, feeling something in his body move. His ancestors were concerned and he felt them clearly. He shut his eyes, stretching long on the floor, and when he looked again he had golden furry paws.

[bitchprince]

"It's a bit like Gaius--" Arthur continued.

On the next, he was rather curiously lacking in vocal chords. His hands hit the floor - or something else, then. This had been a stupid, ridiculously stupid idea, putting himself in danger like this with only Merlin to be counted on, but he couldn't have backed down, and--

When he opened his mouth, you could distinctly tell that he had some vocal chords again.

Noisy, noisy vocal chords.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin winced, covering his ears. "Arthur!"

Lions. Of course.

[future_sandworm]

That was a little unnecessarily noisy, wasn't it? Leto fixed his blue eyes on Arthur and yawned, shaking his head. Then he looked at Merlin.

[bitchprince]

Arthur returned him a fixed, royal stare that communicated just how little he cared.

And then turned to groom his side.

Apparently vanity didn't fade with an animal transformation.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Which was a bit disturbing if you asked Merlin. "Couldn't have been something small, of course."

[future_sandworm]

Something lockable in a cupboard, perhaps?

Leto got to his legs and walked around the room, taking in the new scents.

[bitchprince]

Arthur, meanwhile, simply threw Merlin a lazy look, as if to say, And you couldn't have been less of an idiot, could you?

He was feeling a bit hungry, so he padded up to the boy and eyed him.

... Wait. He was a fucking lion.

Watch the knowledge dawn. Watch the lion blink.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," Merlin said, not unkindly. He reached down and patted Arthur firmly on the side. "I hope you both ate before this."

[future_sandworm]

Leto decided the rug was a good place to lie down. He stretched out and yawned again, looking at Merlin. What? Wasn't he supposed to get food?"

[bitchprince]

The guttural growl Merlin got in response clearly communicated roughly that same idea.

And then Arthur turned his neck, mighty (okay, growing in, still) mane and all, and growled at Leto in turn. Merlin was part of his territory, thank you.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Well, Arthur would. Because he hadn't locked him in a bloody cupboard.

He watched them both warily. "If you two get into a fight, I won't clean up the room."

[future_sandworm]

Arthur got a growl in return, because, well, what did he expect?

Get into a fight? Why? Leto blinked at Merlin. At least he wasn't ruining anyone's private property. Yet.

[bitchprince]

And Leto's growl was followed by a stern look and a baring of teeth. Until Arthur got bored of that, anyway. He batted one paw at Merlin's knee. That about voiced his opinion.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Taking a step back, Merlin rubbed his knee. "Careful!" That had hurt, damn it. Lions were not weaklings, after all.

[future_sandworm]

Leto was getting bored. He had been bored before this, but being a lion made him worse at controlling it, and he had fewer options of distraction.

He eyed Arthur and Merlin, shaking his head and letting out a long breath.

[bitchprince]

Was that lionesque eyerolling at Merlin? Why, yes, it was. He was a girl.

Arthur had also completely forgotten about Leto. Being in this form did horrible things to his attention span.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just sighed. "C'mon then. Let's get you something to eat."

[future_sandworm]

Leto took that to include him to, so he walked up to the door and pushed it.

[bitchprince]

At least Merlin knew his duties like a good female servant girl.

Leto, on the other hand, got another growl thrown in his direction as Arthur climbed up to his feet.

...There was a lot of power in this body. That, at least, was familiar.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just gave Leto a look. "You can hunt for your own." Not his duty!

...if he looked hungry, he'd give him some food. But he didn't have to like it!

[future_sandworm]

What about hospitality? Leto shook his head again. He could probably find someone who would feed him, if he couldn't find his own food.

[bitchprince]

Arthur seemed to be pleased with that whole exchange, which led him to stalk ever happily past Leto, through the door, where he paused and threw a look back at Merlin as if to say, Are you loitering again?

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin sighed again and opened the door for them both. "Don't run off."