Woods Near the Citadel, Camelot, Friday Morning

[bitch_prince]

He hadn't... ventured out into the forest as far as he had last time, but Arthur could scarcely motivate such a trip to his father. This far, he could still explain as a need to stretch his legs a bit - it had gotten him a vaguely indulgent sigh and a wave of the hand.

It wasn't strictly that he was worried - it was just that the last time he'd

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[thatsamilkshake]

The thought going through Francine's mind when the name popped up on her phone as they waited for the portal to take them from New Gotham to London was pretty much a constant loop of not telling him about getting kidnapped, not telling him about getting kidnapped, not telling him about getting kidnapped...

Let's see how long that lasts, shall we?

"Hi, Arthur!" Well, it was a little too cheery, but neither 'kidnapped' nor 'hostage' appeared in it.

[bitch_prince]

"Francine, good morning."

Arthur wasn't squinting at the phone yet - tone carried only so far over the phone, and despite a year of working with one he was still occasionally a bit off. (Besides, who was he to judge one level of stupidly cheerful over the other?)

"I trust this call finds you well."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Totally! Completely well and utterly undamaged!"

See? Not suspicious at all!

[bitch_prince]

... That was less easy to ignore.

"That's... good to hear," he said, letting that pause fall in a very convenient location. Was there a reason she shouldn't be, then?

[thatsamilkshake]

"Well, why wouldn't we be, with a bunch of superheroes to r--protect us?" Fudge. Divert! "What've you been doing? How many evil wizards attacked you this week?"

[bitch_prince]

"None. It's been full of bloody council meetings," Arthur spoke, narrowing his eyes. At the phone, yes. We never said he was intending for it to have any real effect, but he was allowed to narrow his eyes in the forest when no one was watching. "What were you just about to say?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"....." FudgefudgefudgeotherwordthatstartswithF. "...relax? With... us?"

[bitch_prince]

"Francine."

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Or...rescue? But they were really really polite kidnappers and they never fired their guns! ...at us."

[bitch_prince]

"You were kidnapped?!" What? "Francine! What did I tell you?!"

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Not to get kidnapped?" She didn't think he'd ever specifically said such a thing to her, but it seemed like a given and also it meant she didn't have to acknowledge any more likely suggestions he meant, like Don't Go Places With Dinah.

[bitch_prince]

"Not to go out into the crime-infested wastes," he said. And Francine was geting the mild version of this lecture. Fear fo Dinah.

[thatsamilkshake]

"It wasn't the crime-infested wastes! It was the Policeman's Ball!"

[bitch_prince]

"Yes, the Policeman's Ball," he said, dryly, "With all the criminals. Apparently."

[thatsamilkshake]

"And all the police!" Who... didn't really fare very well against the criminals.

[bitch_prince]

"Well, they can't have done a very good job if you got kidnapped," said Arthur, who was... already working out new guard rotations in his mind to prepare for an eventuality like this.