oh, piled fathers, soft sighing daughters

[futurarex]

Date & Time: December 29th, afternoon of
Location: the streets of the city
Characters: Arthur Pendragon + Arya Stark (which means a direwolf, too!)
Summary: in a land of displacement and a time of kidnappings, the strolling of one young prince takes him right in the path of a girl and her wolf. this will end super well. just your standard run of the mill random meeting log!




With precious little to do in the city besides train and wait for something to happen, Arthur often finds himself--well, they are not walks. Walking implies a certain amount of leisure, and there is little leisure in his walks. It's more like a patrol, the way he might patrol Camelot when tense. He doesn't don his full armor--perhaps he ought to, given Morgana's presence in the city. But there is little that armor would do to save him from sorcery, when all was said and done, and he will not look a coward.

So he goes out only in his tunic and ringmail and gloves, his sword at his side. There is rarely a threat that he sees--things to be wary of, perhaps--but today is different. Today he sees a wolf.

A wolf, the largest he's ever seen, moving through the streets as if it belongs there. Arthur stops short, first, his hand at his sword--a better weapon than no weapon, but if he must face a wolf, he'd prefer to do so with crossbow or spear. But it does not matter; he has no time to waste on wishing. A wolf cannot be permitted to stalk the city, making prey of all that it sees, and so he draws his sword and moves after it, as quietly as he can, scanning the street to see where it's gotten to--

Comments

[innominata]

She gives him a hard look before relenting. "What sort of place you mean?"

[futurarex]

At least she seems less likely to set her wolf on him--but still, Arthur does not relax or take his hand from his sword. "I realize this is a stupid question to ask, and you aren't going to answer honestly," he says, dryly, "but where do you make your home now?"

[innominata]

She smirks. "A building."

It's the truth.

[futurarex]

His mouth thins. "Ha ha," he answers, dryly. "Are you sure you're not some court jester? Some building where; which building."

[innominata]

"An abandoned one. In the city." Her smirk widens. She can do this all day.

[futurarex]

Arthur makes an actual audible noise of disgust and folds his arms over his chest, his hand temporarily leaving his sword. "Since you're content to be insufferable, should I follow you and find out, or will you just tell me so I can help you?"

[innominata]

"Won't," she replies airily. He might have let go of his sword, but she only counts how many steps she'd need to take to get him within knifepoint. The wolf could cross it even quicker; she'd crunch his face off before he got his sword out. "You really want to help, you don't need to know where I sleep."

[futurarex]

Right, that's a fair point, because he doesn't need to know. It's more that he wants to know, especially as she's outright refused to tell him, and he still doesn't take kindly to outright refusal.

But eve though she's right, he's not about to admit that. Instead, he rolls his eyes, as if he's just given up on her, as if she's too hopeless for anything else. "Then if you refuse, you can at least answer questions of it. Are there other people nearby?"

[innominata]

A shake of a head. "They're all afraid."

The reason should be obvious: it hasn't taken eyes off Arthur yet.

[futurarex]

Yes. The wolf. He spares it half a glance--but there is little sense in fear. If the beast wanted to attack him, it would surely have done so already.

"And you truly do not see the danger in that? Not because you could be attacked--" He holds up a hand to stop her inevitable protest. It's a possibility, no matter how she will surely insist on her own capabilities. "More because, should something happen, you will be alone and remote and impossible to reach."

[innominata]

She looks at the floor. For once, there's no argument.

[futurarex]

That silence holds, at least for a few more beats, as Arthur studies her. Really, he was expecting more backtalk; this sudden quiet softens him. Just a little. He's not some woman, swayed by poor innocent kids, but he's not heartless, either--and beneath all his snark and sourness, he would actually prefer to see this girl helped. There's no sense in kids dying in the midst of whatever war they've been dragged into.

"If you tell me somewhere to find you, I would see you warned of any danger. That's all."

[innominata]

"Couldn't you do that with the tablet?"

[futurarex]

He glances toward his own tablet--dormant now, but ready to spring to life with a single touch--and he gives her a thin smile.

"You're skeptical of everything and everyone, but you trust these flimsy devices that they've given us? Stupid. They're as liable to break as anything else."

[innominata]

Eyes narrowed, she mentions a building close by. One of many she had stayed at and wasn't planning on returning to.

"Can I go now, ser?"

[futurarex]

"There?" He glances at it, unimpressed. "Not very choosy, are you."

And she might be lying. The thought passes through his head--she'd suddenly become quite agreeable, and children lie--but why would she?

"If that isn't it, you'll only be doing harm to yourself," he tells her, but he snorts and accepts the answer for now. "One last thing. What's your name?"

[innominata]

"Cat."

[futurarex]

Cat. And she reminds him of a cat, wary and angry.

"I am Prince Arthur Pendragon, of Camelot. Should you have need of any help, Cat, I would offer mine. Even if I have no wolf."

[innominata]

She starts. " You're a prince?"

[futurarex]

He's used to having people start when they find out his true title--and he's still more used to people here starting when they hear Camelot, which always (perhaps foolishly, perhaps vainly) makes his chest tighten a little in pride. Camelot gains great fame as a good and fair kingdom.

But this seems more a case of the former recognition of title and less of Camelot. "I am, yes. Crown prince and only heir to my father's throne."

[innominata]

"Aren't princes s'posed to be surrounded by people?"

She snickers suddenly. "What would happen if you caught lice walking around here? Can princes scratch?"

[futurarex]

She's jumped from indifference to outright laughing at him, which is not appreciated. Not the sort of reaction you want when you've just revealed that you're a prince.

"Of course they can scratch," he answers, somewhat snappishly, "but I'm not going to catch lice, because I'll have a wash tonight. What sort of question is that? And they're frequently surrounded by people, but there are far too many people in this city for my liking anyway, so here I am."

[innominata]

Oh no, she's having fun now. "So what would happen if you started scratching and your crown fell off? Would you have to get a new one because it touched the floor? If people laughed, would you have your guards take them out?"

[futurarex]

Why is this amusing. And why is he being laughed at. It's difficult for Arthur to taking teasing at best--some scruffy girl mocking him for something that isn't even funny is greeted with even less humor.

"It's a crown, not a piece of food," he tells her, somewhat stiffly. "If it were to fall off, I'd put it back on--but it wouldn't. And people wouldn't laugh at me, either--you're being ridiculous."

[innominata]

"Is it 'cause they're too scared of what you'd do?" Her tone remains just shy of mocking. "Do you execute a lot of people?"