Woods Surrounding Camelot, Wednesday Morning

[bitchprince]

After the feasts of a few weeks back, Arthur had fallen into the routine he preferred above all. Training, training, and more training, interspersed with some talks about minor adjustments in grain dispersion and the occasional audience for the public, as well as the odd hunt.

But he was hunting for something else today; he was hunting for contact with Fandom, or rather, his friends both on and off it.

As it turned out, having his old routine back made his thoughts about the island far kinder than they used to be.

[[ for phone calls, yes! ]]

Comments

[thatsamilkshake]

Not that Francine was touched that he wasn't at all concerned. Perish the thought.

"People went missing too," she said sitting up a bit and tucking her hair behind her ear and out of the way of the phone. "And woke up in... a couple different places, I guess, but a bunch of us were in this little abandoned town that we couldn't get out of. There were monsters there too." In more ways than one.

[bitchprince]

It wasn't like 'What happened to Francine and Katchoo' had been about the fourth question out of his mouth. Nope.

"Right," he said, blinking over at the trees on the other end. "How did you--" He aborted half-sentence, and corrected himself. "Cracks in reality, they said."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It was a lot like that other Fandom, I think," Francine said, which was as much a direct reply as it was a description of the town. "Except we were really there, not just dreaming about it."

[bitchprince]

"Sounds... disturbing."

He kicked back against the tree.

"Katchoo informed me you'll be off the island in three weeks. I suppose there's no way to speed that up."

Very matter-of-factly, for an internal freak-out.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Speed it up? I just got back. It's the first time I've felt safe in a week."

[bitchprince]

"The island isn't safe, though, is it?" he said. Lightly.

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's a thousand times safer than where I was," Francine countered. Then, as one of the less horrible memories surfaced, she snorted. "Azula thinks I need to know how to use a projectile weapon, though."

[bitchprince]

"It sent you there," Arthur countered, in turn. "Don't be an idiot." A beat. "Don't let Azula teach you anything."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I don't think Fandom sent me; I think something came and took me." Because there was a big difference there. Really. "And I don't think Azula was offering. Just complaining that I was walking around without a weapon, and then when I did grab one, it wasn't weapony enough for her."

[bitchprince]

"They said cracks," Arthur said, flatly, "Because of the island. Don't make stupid excuses." Always so kind to Francine's self-esteem, he was. "I'll teach you how to use a weapon properly. Preferably something small. Maybe a crossbow."

Or something else Francine would be unlikely to injure herself with.

[thatsamilkshake]

Like a candlestick? She'd managed not to injure herself with that. Granted it didn't count as a projectile weapon.

"At least those don't go boom and make loud noises." Francine + guns /= OTP.

[bitchprince]

"And anyone should be able to learn how to use one in a few weeks' time," he said.

He was being nice. Most people got the basics in a single week.

[thatsamilkshake]

"So I should be able to avoid killing myself with one by the time I'm about thirty-five?"

Your niceness, Arthur, though rare and precious: it is unnecessary. Francine's got the self-awareness issues covered on this one.

[bitchprince]

He smiled a bit at the phone. "Roughly that, yes," he said, good humor bleeding into his voice.

[thatsamilkshake]

"That'll be something to look forward to, then." Unlike leaving the island, which she really wasn't. "So what's tried to kill you lately?" Because please, like she was the only one who ever got attacked by giant bugs.

[bitchprince]

"Nothing in particular," he said, lightly. "Our enemies have been lying low of late, although there's been sightings of more druids out in the woods.Most of them are women and children, though."

And boy, was he hoping Uther would take that as a reason not to attack them.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Why would Druids want to kill you?"

Mind you, Francine's knowledge of Druids extended to 'wear robes, hold some kind of ceremony at Stonehenge every year, tend to get a bad rap in 1970's horror movies and a lot of documentaries made about how they're nothing like you see in 1970's horror movies.'

[bitchprince]

Arthur blinked.

"They're sorcerers. People of the Old Religion."

[thatsamilkshake]

"...So is Merlin?" Though no, not exactly. "Well, the first part. Are they really the killy kind of enemies?" Yes, she actually just said that. "Or just the 'not allowed to be alive' kind."

Look, politics hard. Politics that involved not directly insulting Arthur's father, harder.

[bitchprince]

"Sometimes."

And that was all he had.

"They are flaunting the laws of Camelot in public."

[thatsamilkshake]

"By being there at all." Francine wasn't arguing; if anything her tone was one of not entirely comfortable understanding. Merlin said there were magic users who had tried to kill the king, or more importantly Arthur; if she thought they might have had their reasons for the first, she wouldn't say so, but the second made her worry. "I hope things stay peaceful," was all she had.