The Stables, Thursday Afternoon

[bitch_prince]

After a fruitless morning spent throwing himself repeatedly at the end of a road (and shouting things at it, and demanding things of it, which as it turned out wasn't very effective) Arthur finally gave up on that avenue of things and guided his horse back into the stable. If he hadn't been antsy before, he certainly was now

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[thatsamilkshake]

So, fresh-baked snickerdoodles and no answer when Francine knocked on her boyfriend's door. No Merlin in the common rooms or his boss' place either. She could just sigh, wander back to her own room and eat them herself, but there was the chance he was down here polishing ... something. Armor or tack or for all she knew, Arthur's horse.

The combined smell of snickerdoodles and horse was ....interesting, Francine supposed, as she looked around. "Merlin? Are you in here?"

[bitch_prince]

"Francine."

Her presence jerked Arthur out of his thoughts, and he looked aside to find the source of her voice.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Not-Merlin," Francine answered as she followed his voice over. At least she had a ready-made excuse to flee when if the conversation ended up in Awkwardville like... every other conversation they'd ever had. "Is this your horse?"

[bitch_prince]

"Yes," Arthur answered, automatically. Then added: "Merlin's... indisposed at the moment."

Yeah, even he was wincing internally at how that one sounded.

[new_to_liirness]

Liir wasn't actually heading for the stables of course, but if Makejoy wanted to go there to chase mice, he certainly wasn't going to fight her. She'd gone on her walk, behaved herself quite well after the madness of Tuesday, and she deserved a little fun.

He was surprised to see Arthur there, but thankfully Makejoy behaved herself around him, gave him a glance, and headed off for the much more useful mice.

"Good day," he said, though from all appearances, it wasn't.

[bitch_prince]

Oh, terrific. Lose one wizard, the rest comes out of the woodwork.

"Liir," he said, after a slight internal war on whether he actually cared enough to respond; he'd settled on a compromise that involved keeping his attention disinterested and squarely on the horse as he said it.

[new_to_liirness]

"Arthur," he replied with a hitch of breath; no fear, just withheld amusement. He knew the other boy's name as well, after all.

"What're you doing out here?"

A few squeaks had Makejoy racing past him and outside.

[bitch_prince]

...

Arthur glanced from the horse to Liir, back to the horse, and then back to Liir once more. "I'm in a stable and I have a horse. Clearly," he said, "I'm knitting."