Third Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[bitch_prince]

Seven days of imprisonment on the island, and the oddness had started to fade, not to blankness, but to some strange background patchwork of dangerous madness. Arthur found that he was starting to get bored along with his unceasing concern, and that was downright intolerable

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[blondecanary]

A small kitten came padding into the room, looking for somewhere to hide, and headed straight for the back of the sofa.

"Camille! Camille! Oh, come on, please? Don't do this." Dinah ran into the room, and paused, looking around in exasperation, then blinking. Cute guys everywhere. "Hi," she gave a little wave, working on not blushing. "Did my cat come in here, or did I miss her?"

[bitch_prince]

"If your cat was the white creature that just shot through the room like hell was on its ankles," Arthur replied. He knew her name, didn't he? "Then it's behind the large... chair.. thing."

[blondecanary]

"Sofa. Or couch," Dinah said automatically, shooting him a not-unfriendly glance. "Hey, Arthur. Settling in?" She walked over to the couch and crouched down, peering underneath. "Camille, cut it out. We talked about this. Galliano is not going to eat you."

"Meeeeww."

[bitch_prince]

"I think Merlin has about everyone in this castle asking me that," Arthur said, dryly. "Yes, I'm doing fine."

[blondecanary]

"You know, some of us would ask anyway," Dinah said, extracting the squirming kitten from under the couch, then sitting on the floor, and hugging her close. "We're just weird like that." She grinned at him. "And glad to hear it. I'd hate to think anyone wasn't getting some fun out of this place."

[bitch_prince]

"'Fun'," Arthur repeated. He gave the syllable a moment to settle. "Is still a bit of a big word. Although I suppose at least so far, I haven't had to deal with any long, boring speeches."

[blondecanary]

"Do you have to sit through them at home? Ribbon-cutting ceremonies? Parades?" Dinah's smile grew more mischievous. "I told Merlin that's all princes do around here, mostly. He said you'd go insane if they tried to make you do that."

[bitch_prince]

"Only if we have visitors," Arthur said, "Which is, thankfully, quite rarely."

[blondecanary]

Camille was purring now, and Dinah was finding it hard not to be amused by Arthur. "Do you get to visit outside of Albion very often? Have to be diplomatic and all... signing-the-treaty and representative?" Dinah stroked her cat's head, then looked around. "What were you doing in here, just sitting?"

[bitch_prince]

"Not outside Albion," Arthur said. It had at least become clear to him that many folk did not know the world he did, but the specifics of it were still a bit... difficult. "But the surrounding kingdoms. Sometimes."

[blondecanary]

"Wait, so, is Albion a continent?" Dinah asked, frowning. "With lots of kingdoms inside it? Merlin wasn't real specific." She might have turned a little pinker on that name. "He around... somewhere?"

[bitch_prince]

"I was told that your people refer to Albion as England," he offered, "Which I believe is a name I've heard in the past, but..." Arthur made a fine sort of 'who cares' motion. "Merlin's off to deal with his tasks."

[blondecanary]

"Ooohhh, of course. Duh. I should have guessed that. So there's Wales, and Scotland, and Ireland, and... something else, probably, that I'm forgetting. Although I guess the names would be different." She gave him a curious look, then blinked. "What does Merlin have to do, if he's done dressing you," which still struck her as funny, "and he doesn't have to cook for you?"

[bitch_prince]

"Cleaning my clothes, taking care of the horses, bringing me whatever I request," he said, easily, "The usual servant work. Why?"

[blondecanary]

It took Dinah a second to figure out what about that had struck her as odd. "I just didn't think there'd be that much to do. There's so many modern appliances, I'd think it'd all be done really fast. Plus, it's the weekend. Everybody gets weekends off. Well, in most jobs." Camille mewed and batted at Dinah's chin, and Dinah absently stroked her.

[bitch_prince]

"Well, we don't have any of these 'modern appliances'," he said. It might have been a bit harsh. "I wouldn't want him to get lazy."