11th Spark || [Action/Text]

[tiercelet]

[A rustling of nearby leaves wakes him, and he sits up in his sleeping bag, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. The quick glance at his Gear tells him it's about 3:00 AM in the morning, and much too early for even him and Arthur to be up and about. At the thought of Arthur, Merlin turns toward the prince, smiling...and promptly freezes when he sees the

Comments

[Action]

[of_france]

[France wakes up at the sound of movement in the camp, pulled from some sort of nightmare about mud and... something he doesn't remember. He looks around, disoriented and still only half-awake.]

Who's there?

[Action]

[tiercelet]

Just me, Francis. [He pauses, swallowing a few times in hopes of making his voice steadier] Go back to sleep.

[Action]

[of_france]

[France blinks, squinting slightly in the darkness as he looks around.]

Merlin? What's going on? Why're you awake?

[Action]

[tiercelet]

Francis.

Francis, Arthur's gone.

[text]

[miniworth]

[Miles is... awake, actually. He'd been asleep, but jolted awake by Merlin's first text. He'd glanced at it drearily, but his tired mind didn't register the message before his head fell back on Ken's bed, and he was sleeping again.

However, at the next message, however, his mind flashes back to the first, and he rereads both before, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he responds: ]

Mr. Pendragon..?

[Text]

[tiercelet]

It says his number isn't in service any longer

He's gone home

[Text]

[miniworth]

Him, too, huh.

[The second message comes a beat later.]

I'm sorry.

[Text]

[tiercelet]

He's back in Camelot where he belongs. I could tell he was homesick anyway

[video]

[primaduelerina]

[ screw texts, Asuka got woken up by that first one anyway and had a few hours to rouse herself enough for the initial annoyance to fade and concern to set in. Merlin wouldn't have just sent that to the whole network normally, she's confident of that.

So when she gets the second text, she abruptly switches to video. She's not as put-together as she usually is, but that's what happens when you're traveling on the road and you haven't been awake all that long. Even Croissant's asleep, though he's moving in his sleep like he's chasing something. ]

He returned?

[Video]

[tiercelet]

No, he's still...missing. [Then, his brain catches up] Oh, you meant...

Yeah, he's gone back to Camelot.

[Video]

[primaduelerina]

...

[ not saying anything, though she's nodding to indicate she's heard. ALSO MAY BE RADIATING CONCERN. ]

[Video]

[tiercelet]

[This face. Also not sensing the concern in his state of mind]

[Text]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning had been woken by her egg twitching, so she was already up as the text went off. Arthur? The one who'd gone missing as she was on her way back up from Cherrygrove.]

Your friend went home?

[Text]

[tiercelet]

He did. That's what it means when a Gear number no longer works right?

[Text]

[soggypastry]

That's the way it seems to work. They go back and it's like the Gear is destroyed.

[Text]

[tiercelet]

Then yes. He's gone home.

[text]

[conscionably]

again?

[Text]

[tiercelet]

He's really gone. Last time he accidentally damaged his gear, but this time I get this message:

Error: This number is no longer in service

[Text]

[conscionably]

at least he's where he's supposed to be.

1/2

[tiercelet]