One Silver Piece - [Action / Voice]

[arturius]

[Arthur jolted awake, shivering. His first thought was his sword, immediately reaching for it, only to find snow waiting for him. He soon realized he was half naked in the snow. Not good. It must have been an enchantment. His sister's doing, no doubt. All he had to his name was simple pants and a strange book. After yelling for Merlin for a bit, he gritted his teeth, tightened his jaw, and picked a direction. Fortunately a small abandoned outpost wasn't too far away. Inside he found some spare clothing, some food, and a map.

His first stop was the smithy. He had intended to request a weapon, hoping to find some loyalty to Camelot. But after discovering the recently claimed sword in the stone and no staff present, he simply took the weapon back. Far be it for him to deal with thieves. The shirt of chainmail was most likely his as well. He took that back in short order as well, pulling it back on. This was no doubt a town of thieves and sorcerers. They must have abandoned him in the snow, figuring he would freeze to death. Well, they thought wrong. He would be getting to the bottom of this.

And what better place to find bandits than a tavern? He had no gold on him, but he figured he would rectify that problem once he had found his attackers. So sitting down at the bar, he slapped the bar, and ordered a cold tankard of mead, while carefully surveying the occupants in the bar.]

[Voice] (after his time at the bar)

I am Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot. If there are any other citizens of Camelot still loyal to me, speak up. There are important matters to discuss.

((ooc: so for the record, if you want to action it up, he can be found at Good Spirits or later, in the plaza during his voice message))

Comments

[herotypical]

...Don't sweat it. This one's on me.

[arturius]

... thank you, then. [Taking a drink, feeling a bit better about it. He may be king, but he's not above accepting people's charity.]

[herotypical]

You can just write the IOU out to Buffy Summers. Esquire.

[ she doesn't even know what garners a person an 'esquire'. she's just rolling with the noble punches, here. ]

[arturius]

[She gets an amused eyebrow raise. Sorry Buffy, but you are not a man of high rank.]

And you'll receive one in due time. [But he can't just go giving out his identity, can he? Not when enemies of Camelot could be anywhere.] I'm Gwaine.

[herotypical]

Hi...Gwaine.

[ camelot had tripped her memory; she knows who's standing before her. sitting before her. whatever. ] You didn't happen to come across a book when you woke up, did you?

[arturius]

Oh. I did. [He had forgotten all about it and tucked it away. The snow had been more pressing at the time. He retrieves it, setting it on the counter.] How did you know?

[herotypical]

...We all do. Here. Let me assign you a little light reading, huh? Like I said, tending bar is only my day job.

[arturius]

You're going to tell me what to read now, are you? [A barmaid. That can read. Oh, that's rich.]

[herotypical]

Oh, fine. Fine. Here's little old me just trying to helpfully provide you with some answers. I don't get paid enough to put up with back-sassing like this.

[ is she joking? WHO KNOWS.

well -- we know. it isn't that she doesn't get paid enough; it's that she doesn't get paid at all. ]

[arturius]

No please, by all means, help away. [He wants to see what happens. Really.]

[herotypical]

Well? Hand me your journal. And do your best not to freak out.

[arturius]

I don't think a book is going to freak me out. [But here. Sliding it over.]

[herotypical]

[ oh look. he's adorable.

buffy turns the book around and flips through a few pages until she finds what she wants. raine's guide. then, tapping the page once, she spins it back to face arthur. ]

This'll clear up some questions. I hope.

[arturius]

[It's a book. That talks. And with moving pictures. His expression is shock, turned to suspicion.]

Sorcery? You want me to rely on magic for answers?

[herotypical]

That depends entirely upon the answer I'm trying to lead you to. Practically by the nose. It's not like we've got a postal service, here. We rely on what we've been given -- as suspiciously given as it might be.

[arturius]

So you have no trouble trusting what's been written in a magical book? One given by the people holding us here? I'd taken you for being a bit smarter than that.

[herotypical]

They gave us the book but they didn't write this guide. A close personal friend of mine did. A...better woman than me. A great woman, really. One of us who's been here the longest.

[arturius]

[Still very skeptical about this. But.]

Fine. I'll have a look at it, then.

[herotypical]

Believe me, you're better off reading it than not. Even if you don't want to accept all of it.

[ like the parts about how kick-ass she is. ]

[arturius]

Well it would seem there's not much else to do. Especially if I am as trapped as you claim.

[herotypical]

Here. [ her tone gentles. ] I'll pour you another drink while you read.

[arturius]

[Oh. Drinking material. That will help. He'll read on until experiments.]

... these experiments sound like enchantments. Are they really that frequent? [That's almost as frequent as- well, let's face it, life in Camelot.]

[herotypical]

Enchantments. Spells. Whammies. Call them what you want -- they're bad news. And frequent enough to cause havoc while still being infrequent enough to delude you into living a normal life when they're not happening.

[arturius]

Well, in that case, I feel at home already. It's like being in Camelot.

[herotypical]

Minus all the hunky knights. [ a beat. ] Sometimes.