Kings Crossing

[Chai High Tuba]

A chance meeting between two young kings.


Featuring Le Iron Chef and Chai High Tuba.
Please don't post unless invited.
In the universe of Sola Fide.

[Chai High Tuba]

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxoWhen Arthur awoke, it was to the blazing sun overhead and something crawling into his ear. Jerking his head from the dry earth, he brought up a hand to fling an errant bug away from his face. When he attempted to open his eyes, the brightness of the landscape around him forced his eyes back shut instantly. He shifted to a sitting position on the slightly sloped ground he sat on and hung his head low. What had they gotten up to last night? He recalled a great quantity of ale, but could feel that it no longer rested in his gut. There was a taste of something else on his tongue, sitting in the corners of his mouth and burning the back of his throat. So, something a bit harder than ale, then. Finding the willpower to open his eyes, the king blinked away the harshness of daylight and tried to get a feel for his surroundings.

xoxoA lot of green meant he had taken off wandering again. The sound of birds and the lightest footsteps of some larger creature told him that the area he had found was at least semi-remote. One of Phillip’s forests, then. Summer in Ulstead was a fairly moderate affair, not nearly as extreme as winters, but the air was humid from coastal borders. He could feel a fine layer of sweat already formed on his forehead, which he now rubbed idly to soothe the imminent hangover. His cousin, prince of the realm, was nowhere to be seen. He imagined the Prince would turn up later, either in whatever town was nearest or in the castle. He could take care of himself. Thoughts like these helped Arthur when he took his sweet time just thinking about getting up. Waking up in the wilderness after a night out was by no means new to him, but it was the first time he had not been able to recognize something as soon as he awoke. He remembered horses from the night before. It was a long way off he had gotten. Fantastic. After rubbing idly at the large scar that intruded upon his forehead from underneath his hairline, he leaned back and attempted to stand. The angle of the hill beneath him worked to his advantage, making it somewhat easier to push into a standing position, but it took away such helpfulness when he wobbled and began to lean too far forward.

xoxoWith all the grace of a king with too much alcohol in his system, he landed flat on his stomach and just barely saved his nose from being crushed by turning his head before an outcropping of rock. Something told him he had been laughing when he climbed this blasted hill. He had a bad habit for making his own life miserable that way. As he attempted to pull himself up, something gurgled at the back of his throat. His whole body paused, poised for impending sickness. The next couple of minutes were lost to the sight and sound of vomit. When he had finally coughed out the rest of it, he sighed rather loudly with the confidence that he was alone.

xoxo”Alright,” he spluttered. ”Okay. Okay.” With each word, he got himself further from the ground. He planted his feet underneath him finally then walked with poorly measured steps downhill, awkwardly avoiding the mess he had made seconds before. The king was a royal mess. Sporting a black eye and a few notable cuts and bruises, it was fair to say he had seen his fair share of trouble the night before. His clothes were drenched in sweat and the straw-colored hair on his head stuck up at odd angles. Looking to all the world like a drifter rather than himself, he walked through the forest with only a vague idea of what direction to go in. The road, he told himself, had to be nearby. If there was one thing he was familiar with, it was retracing his steps and suffering through whatever poor decisions he had made the night prior. With Phillip, it was just normal. Well-mannered they might be on their own, but they were an infamous duo. Muttering a prayer that sounded more tongue-in-cheek than truly caring, he tried hard to keep a growing headache in check while looking for the way out of this situation. With any luck, it would not take long.

[Silence the Sniper]

█ ███ ████████████████████████████████ ( TWO SOULS ) ████████████████████████████████ ███ █
F O R E V E R xI N T E R T W I N E D x I N x A x D E S T I N Yx G R A D U A L L Y xD E S T R O Y I N G xT H E xW O R L D

This was a new area, well, somewhat new in the young boy's mind. His friends who had taken him in surely knew their way around the kingdoms and even showed David a trick here and there which was helpful in times when he was alone. It was summer and well, the boy was drenched in sweat whilst the trio walked along the path. Home was where your bottom set and that was the truth. Usually for money they would perform acts of humor for the people and other than that, his friends usually had good tongues to get whatever they wanted for free, especially with inn maidens. Drudging behind an finally stopping at a great oak, David dropped his belongings and dropped to the ground. "Man! This is a pretty long trip in the summer," he said and earned chuckles from the two men. "Well, we're almost there but we can take a break," one of his friends said with a laugh. Rolling his eyes in a jest, David laughed lightly and sat up. "Where are we anyways?" David questioned. "The kingdom of Ulstead," his other friend replied. Ulstead? That was northwest of the Pridelands. David knew that much at least from the books he used to read in his father's library.

The summer breeze came rustling some of David's hair. The young teenage boy had run away from home almost a year ago after some crazy incidents happened, especially with his Uncle telling him he killed his father. This made David's smile fall. Thinking about it, he got up slowly and looked at the ground with his brows knitted. "Hakuna Matata," he heard the phrase being said and perked his head up. Yeah...that was right...Hakuna Matata. It meant no worries. David had just worried for so long that he had to forget it. He had to put the past behind him and that's exactly what he was doing. It wasn't his responsibility anymore to be King of a kingdom. He was free finally and he was going to definitely take advantage of this! "Hakuna Matata," he said back with a massive grin and started to rummage through his pack. No water. Darn.

Tipping his waterskin, a couple of drops emptied. "Hey! I'm going to go and get us some water," he told the two older males and went to grab their waterskins as well and started through the woods. For sure he knew there was a creek or a river near by. The air was a bit cooler there and well, he'd find his friends again no problem. Hopping over a couple of big rocks and finally at the bottom of a hill, David found the small creek trickling with clear water. Just what he needed! Kneeling down and letting the water flow into the bag, a sound caught his attention causing him to freeze. He usually was told to be careful of bandits, mercenaries and thieves. Now he was in the presence of someone he didn't know. Setting the waterskin off to the side, David closed the opening up and set it between some rocks just in case this thief wanted something from him. At the sounds of vomiting, David cringed a bit. Well...maybe it was a sick thief? Maybe a town drunk at the most, he had encountered those guys too much and they were usually hostile and maybe this one was going to be hostile as well.

Hand on the hilt of his sword on his hip, David started towards the sound and listened to his stop and heard rustling. This guy just wasn't having a good day. Watching a young man appear, David stopped and saw him stumble around, obviously coming in his direction. Great. Taking a couple of deep breaths, David stood out from the brush he was in and stared at the young man. "Don't come any closer," he warned the male. David would do anything to protect his friends and who knew if this man could do something. Having more experience than his friends in combat, David usually came to the rescue when they were being mugged basically. "A-are you alright?" he asked the male who looked as though he had lived on the streets for years. Sweat drenched, reeked of alcohol and his hair was greasy obviously having not been washed for a while or had alcohol spilled onto his head. Man, this guy just seemed like he loved getting himself into trouble...and lost for that matter. "Do you need help?" David asked him cautiously not knowing if the man was truly hungover or acting.


ooc::


XXXXXX

[Chai High Tuba]

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxoArthur picked his way through the woods without much worry. Perhaps it was the recklessness that came with recovering from sickness induced by drink, but nothing else would have affected him so much - at least, not by his reckoning. With his head spinning and every ray of light worsening the ache in his head, smaller details fell to the wayside. Any wildlife that had been nearby disappeared long seconds before he came trampling through the undergrowth in areas. In hindsight, perhaps he would feel a bit of remorse for upsetting the peace of the place, but at the same time, who was left to care? Just as the thought crossed his mind, something flashed in his vision, brighter than any other light source since. Cringing, he brought up a hand to block out the shine from sunlight on water just a short length ahead of him. It might have been a relief, but before he had time to process the significance of water in his current state, something else took his attention away from it. A voice to one side. Young. It came across as firm, but a youthful tone gave him away. The king jerked his head toward the sound with a look of thinly veiled annoyance.

xoxoTo his vague surprise, the young voice was attached to a boy with a fair amount of height to him already. His initial warning had at least been halting, but his next sentence did not carry the same commanding air. In his somewhat blurry vision, Arthur could at least pick up that he had the look and bearing of a drifter. His clothes had seen better days, anyway. He held a hand to the hilt of his blade, and at least looked like he knew how to use it, but the king was apprehensive as to whether or not the boy would follow through with any threat he issued. Perhaps that was the way of it, really. Why attack needlessly? Still, never could be too cautious. At least he had good enough form. The concern of the lad was all but lost on him. The older man did not hide his look of appraisal, though of course it was clouded by the haze of the night before. There was a soreness in his body that he was still attempting to figure out. Needless to say that any more trouble was unwelcome. After finishing up the last of his thoughts, Arthur shifted from his hunched posture to one of slightly broader bearing. He straightened his back and neck, squaring his shoulders at least somewhat while turning to face the lad downstream directly.

xoxo”Greetings, friend,” he spoke, tone even. He had had plenty of practice sounding composed when he was clearly not. ”Your statements appear to conflict - do you mean to offer aid or keep me at a distance?” He gave only a beat of pause before waving a hand to dispel the question. It didn’t matter. He didn’t need help. This was fairly routine in a visit to Ulstead. Once or twice a trip. But again, as he attempted to carry on, he became aware that he did not exactly know where he was. For a moment, he weighed the idea of asking the lad for help. Clearly he was offering. But this could easily have been a ruse, too. He looked like the kind you would not trust on a regular day. King or not, it would be foolish to think that he could handle such a man alone. Who knew if he had company? After a second of standing in one spot longer, he turned and began to walk again. He slipped down the bank of the small creek on one foot, just barely saving himself with the other on the opposite bank, then crossed the water altogether as if he had meant it to work that way the entire time. With an air of uncaring that could only come from having been there and done that, he nearly walked away from the brief meeting. Unfortunately, dragging ones feet in unfamiliar forested areas never went over well. One might have seen it coming a mile away. One jutting rock was all it took to knock Arthur off balance. Moments later he was on the ground again. He swore.

[Silence the Sniper]

█ ███ ████████████████████████████████ ( TWO SOULS ) ████████████████████████████████ ███ █
F O R E V E R xI N T E R T W I N E D x I N x A x D E S T I N Yx G R A D U A L L Y xD E S T R O Y I N G xT H E xW O R L D

David thought about the man's question and then thought back to what he said. Oh well, he could see where the male was coming from and bit his bottom lip in thought. Hearing the shuffling of feet, David looked up quickly and blinked. He was already on the move? "Wait!" David yelled out and started after the male. Watching him cross the creek, David followed after him, large feet making the water splash up onto his pants. "You're a mess and you think you can get far like this?" David asked the other male and just as he said that, the man was on the ground again. Shaking his head, David walked up beside him and hoisted the male up easily. Dusting him off, David looked him up and down and smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, drunk wanderer," he teased playfully and stuff out a massive hand for a shake. "Name's David, David Lioncourt," he introduced himself thinking nothing of it. Wasn't a grand name after all ever since his Uncle took over and nearly killed everyone.

"If you're going to Prince Phillip's castle, you're heading in the wrong direction. If you're going somewhere else, well then I suppose you're on the right track. Please, at least let me help and wait for this to pass over. You're not going to be getting very far stumbling and falling," David chuckled. "I have two friends who'd watch over you. We're not killers, I promise. I'm the one protecting them most of the time," David said making a gesture to where his camp was. "Although if you plan to hurt us I won't hesitate to kill you. Kindness can be a gift to those who receive it in a polite manner than try to stab someone int he back and take their goods," he grinned. Not much of a beat around the bush kind of boy, David loved to get to the point and wanted things simple instead of dragging on and on for hours.

Looking at the male up and down again seeing how horrible he looked, David's eyebrows raised up as a skeptical smile painted his features. "So, what do you say? Help or would you rather trek around in the forest for hours?" David asked lightly.


ooc:: i finally got something out, so sorry for the wait chai! i've been swamped with papers D:


XXXXXX

[Chai High Tuba]

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxoFace down in the dirt and grass, Arthur had enough to reorient himself from where he had been, but it took more time than he would have liked. In a surprising turn of events, loud footsteps encroached upon his resting spot and large hands hoisted him back up to a standing position. Looking visibly perturbed by the second sudden change in altitude and the continuing presence of the hands, he could only let himself be dusted off before he was offered one of the hands to shake. Though he disliked admitting it, he had to tilt his head back a fair way to look the man who introduced himself as David in the face. Was this how Guinevere and Aurora felt? It was at once embarrassing to be so diminutive in comparison. To make matters worse, his head was two inches away from blocking out harsh sunlight that set off another headache. He closed his eyes with an annoyed exhale and attempted to focus on what the man was saying instead. He could almost swear he had heard the name Lioncourt before, but he could not place where. In any case, he said it without the gravitas of a man who held himself with importance. Arthur placed his hand in David’s, offering a firm shake of the hand before listening to what the vagrant had to say next.

xoxoIt was always humbling to be told that you were wrong. In the presence of Merlin, though the wizard at times tried his hardest to be encouraging, it was not hard to be wrong a vast percentage of the time. Years of learning and a spark of intuition had helped immensely in the case of the king, but even he felt like a child before his mentor. In this situation, when he was being corrected by one who was hardly more than a boy, he struggled to take it well, but even in his weakened state he had to concede that if someone claimed to know better, they probably did. Was he being to trusting? Maybe, but he was not in the mood to entertain conspiracy theories within his own mind. If it was to be his fate to die at the hands of cutthroats, so be it. Underwhelming beginnings often foreshadowed underwhelming conclusions. A hint of tragedy would be the only marker here. In that moment, he allowed himself to accept that. Rest was tempting. Again David switched between welcoming and threatening. He supposed it was safe to do so. There was a moment of perceived suspense when Arthur thought to lay his cards on the table and admit to who he was. Ultimately what stopped him was curiosity, though there was also an understanding of disbelief and shame. Certainly the lad would not believe the first person to walk up and tell him he was in the presence of royalty. It did Camelot no good to try and carry himself as a king now anyway. What really got him, though, was wondering how bad it would be for him not to know. Was it a test? A joke? At that point, Arthur had not thought that far ahead. He simply wanted to see what would happen.

xoxo”Fine then, David,” he sighed. ”Arthur Penn. Take me to these friends of yours. I place my trust in you.” There was a hard edge to his words that could only mostly be played off with excuses of drink. He could be intolerable in times like these.


[[Dude, you’re totally fine! I definitely know the feeling — this semester is kicking my a**!]]

[Silence the Sniper]

█ ███ ████████████████████████████████ ( TWO SOULS ) ████████████████████████████████ ███ █
F O R E V E R xI N T E R T W I N E D x I N x A x D E S T I N Yx G R A D U A L L Y xD E S T R O Y I N G xT H E xW O R L D

A grin set forth upon David's expression as he made a gesture and saw the man stumbling. A sigh escaped as the male took it easy as they trekked back where his friends had set up a spot to relax in. "I think you'll like them. They love to jest and eat, but who doesn't," David said and on the way back picked up their water skins and slung them over his shoulder. Taking the easy route back, the sounds of his friends laughing was a sound that he loved to hear and every so often looked back to the hungover male behind him. "Hopefully you're hungry, no doubt they have some food cooking right now. Plus, you might need it to fill your stomach and some water instead of alcohol," David told Arthur with a matter of fact voice and moved some branches around and came forth to the side of the road where his friends were laughing and sure enough, cooking some meats they had with them and making up a silly dance.

"Who's that?" the one sitting on the ground asked as the taller one looked back and let out a scream of terror and jumped back. "Hey! It's okay, this is Arthur Penn. I found him stumbling around in the woods. He's hungover, so I think we should do him some good and give him some food and water," David said and watched as the two looked at each other and nodded slowly. "Well as long as we're not being killed," the one sitting on the ground laughed. David chuckled and gestured for Arthur to follow him closer and plopped on the ground.

"So, what do you do for a living, Arthur?" David asked curiously and turned the meat over on the fire. Looking up to him, he took a water skin off his shoulder and offered it. "You need some in your body after that much sweat has escaped," he said and pointed at Arthur's drenched tunic with a smile. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, just makes for some light conversation." "Yeah kid, whatcha doing out here anyways? You making your way to Prince Phillip's kingdom or just meandering about with no place to go like us?" the one sitting down asked curiously.


ooc:: sadly they don't have names because i never know if people are going to take them or not Dx


XXXXXX

[Chai High Tuba]

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxoThe way to the road was an experience in and of itself for Arthur, who was beginning to think about how soft that patch of grass had been back the way. Would rest there have been wiser than following a stranger? Perhaps. Still, he was resigned to his fate, whatever it was. Attempting not to think too terribly much, he navigated the underbrush and knolls of the forest while trailing behind David. It was his fortune that the lad was large enough that he was never out of sight. Handling the environment with relative ease, his younger counterpart was at once a bit of a mystery. Young, merry, without fear of using some muscle, he was the kind that seemed the kind to do a country proud. But he was out on the road? He must have had one hell of a story for that. Just as he paused to wonder about it, the king felt something churn in his stomach and his throat constricted slightly. His body was already nearly spent, yet his stomach was still holding out the hope to be entirely free of substance before the morning carried on into the next phase. He tried to control the stress of it by stepping more lightly, being a bit more gentle, but it was almost pointless. When the road was in sight, he took a moment to remove the excess in his stomach before gathering himself again and joining David on the road, where his comrades were easily visible. He glanced at them warily, gauging their responses before David soothed their fears. Already he could tell that the two were not nearly the fighters their young friend seemed to be. He made a note of it, but avoided letting it completely color his own perceptions.

xoxoThe man raised a hand as he was introduced, attempting to signify that he was no threat. Apparently he looked as bad as he felt, for the two remained a bit leery for the first few minutes. They eased up at David’s approval, however, which he noted as a bit odd as well. Was it brawn that placed the lad in a position to soothe the others that way? Or was it simply that he misunderstood a collective for a hierarchy? Arthur squeezed his eyes shut, stopping before his head began to spin again. When invited, he sat with the trio. He could hardly think of anything, so he avoided speaking until he was spoken to. In another time, he might have been more genial, going so far as to ask where they were coming from, where they were going, even, but he hardly felt alive at all until water was passed his way. Quickly he took to it, consuming no small amount of water. His body did not welcome back the fluid readily, but he soldiered through the experience of a tightening stomach and throat as he passed the water back toward David. He could not express his gratitude, but tried nevertheless.

xoxo”My many thanks,” he muttered after stifling a belch. So eloquent. ”I, ah… Sheep.” The word slipped out as he tried to think of a way to legitimize why on earth he was out in the wilds. Formulating lies had never been a talent of his, as Gwendolyn often pointed out, but it was considerably more difficult when he could still hardly think straight. The water would take some time to have an effect on his mental processes, though his body was nearly instantly better for it. Wishing he had not been thinking entirely aloud right away, he attempted to elaborate as to what he meant.

xoxo”I raise sheep. Made some coin in town, celebrated… Now I’m here,” he shrugged tiredly, not trying hard to be convincing. Too much effort. Beside that, the smell of meat and the sound of hooves in the distance was distracting him. He glanced briefly down the road in the direction he could see, wary again.

[Silence the Sniper]

█ ███ ████████████████████████████████ ( TWO SOULS ) ████████████████████████████████ ███ █
F O R E V E R xI N T E R T W I N E D x I N x A x D E S T I N Yx G R A D U A L L Y xD E S T R O Y I N G xT H E xW O R L D

The trio exchanged glances curiously at the word of sheep. "Sheep?" Kyser asked curiously and David laughed. "Dressed like that? Surely you do something else?" he asked and looked at the attire of the male. Now David wasn't the smartest grape of the bunch, but he knew no sheep herder ever dressed like that. "Much too uncomfortable to be chasing sheep in garb like that, even if it is soaked with your sweat and alcohol." "The boy's right there. You might want to try something a little more appealing like, squire!" Acel said and gave a nod of his head in approval that that would have been Arthur's job. Shaking his head, David patted the hungover male's back. "We don't judge, trust us. We live going from place to place, we are given coin because of this," David said and dug around in his shirt.

"Not here," Acel stated swiftly and looked at Arthur and back to David before bringing the bigger male up and towards a tree away from where Kyser and Arthur sat.

"Look, David. You can't go and show everyone what gives us coin, he could be a thief and we don't know. You have to be more careful." David had forgotten and nodded his head. "Oh yeah. Well, he's probably gonna ask about it again, but can't we show him? I can take him if he tries anything!" David said confident in himself. Acel shook his head. "We don't want to be starting fights in the Tennesley Forest or outside of the castle walls of Ulstead. We need to be neutral and out of trouble," Acel told the young male like a father would. "Okay," David said with a nod and the two went back.

"Sorry about that, Arthur," Acel stated and waved his hand as Kyser continued to cook. "Are you hungry, Arthur?" David asked curiously as he pointed to the meat cooking. "I make the best grub anywhere!" Kyser said with a barrel chested laugh that could have caused an earthquake. Grinning, David nodded his head happily. "He does, I was surprised at first too," he said low to Arthur and received a gruff from Kyser. "I'm only joking, Kyser," David and laughed and shot up. "Oh! Forgive me, I totally forgot. The one cooking our food is Kyser Amadeus Panteon and the other man who loves to swindle gold is Acel Lachance and you know me," he said with happily. Plopping back down next to the hungover male, David took a swig of his water and made a funny face from the alcohol still around the mouth piece. "Other than what you said, what do you really do? You live in Ulstead or just visiting like us?" David questioned him.


ooc::


XXXXXX

[Chai High Tuba]

x

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxoThey didn’t buy it, not for one second. Unimpressed by his own lack of ability, Arthur pushed a sigh through his nose - a mistake, for sure - and looked back at the road. Hooves, he knew. Someone with a horse? Horses? A hunter, mayhap, or someone who would be of no consequence. He shook his head and let it hang low, holding a cold hand to the back of his neck as the others carried on. He let out a faint chuckle at the mention of squires. Ironic how it came up that way. Merlin’s livid expression came to mind immediately. Surprised, however, that he had simply not thought of that lie before they did, he nodded in an accepting way. Sure, he could admit to that. It wasn’t really a lie anyway. Young Galahad would still be surprised at his dishonesty, but the boy could stuff it for all he cared right then. Abruptly, the tone of the conversation changed as David made mention of earning coin with thanks to… something. He seemed about to share that knowledge when one of his companions - the smaller of the two - piped up and halted any such business. Again, he let out a faint laugh. Clearly he was not alone in trying to remain secretive. That was acceptable. He doubted their relationship would develop past their status as mutual drifters.

xoxoWhen the two walked off to the side, he and the larger man were left alone for a short while. They said nothing, but in an attempt to break down the wall a bit, the young blond smiled to the man easily and shrugged lightly. The others were not gone long, and it was at that point that they were all introduced. Kyser and Acel. With names like those, he wondered where they were from, but chose to let the questions die before they hit his tongue. Again, he knew it would be best to let them remain largely unknown. It was almost safer for all of them that way. He could avoid serious association and they would never need to get involved in what were clearly his years of misadventures and unfortunate accidents. Of course, after the incident with Pelinore, everything else seemed quite tame. Idly shaking his head to remove the thought, he smiled at the moment where it seemed like the others were joking. He had missed what they were saying, but got the gist of the ribbing. These guys had clearly been together for long enough to develop a healthy, jovial rapport. What had initially been a lack of willingness to communicate evolved into an observation of not needing to interfere with their conversation. He rose his eyebrows just slightly as he was spoken to again, then paused as the question was asked. For just a moment, he fixed David with an appraising gaze again. The lad lacked a filter in some moments, it seemed, so Arthur had to watch what he said, but there were things that he could definitely say now that would not break that code of relative anonymity.

xoxo”Just visiting some family,” he offered up. ”Ulstead isn’t far from home.” The last part might have been just a touch of a lie, for it was no small venture to sail across the channel and trek inland to meet with his cousin, but it was certainly less of a distance than to any of the other countries — few of which he had even had the pleasure of being to. Rather than let this statement hang in the air like the last however, he finally gave in and nodded back to his company.

xoxo”What brings you this way?”

[Silence the Sniper]

█ ███ ████████████████████████████████ ( TWO SOULS ) ████████████████████████████████ ███ █
F O R E V E R xI N T E R T W I N E D x I N x A x D E S T I N Yx G R A D U A L L Y xD E S T R O Y I N G xT H E xW O R L D

Visiting family seemed more like it and David nodded his head. "That's great! At least you're visiting and telling them you're still alive," he laughed and lightly pushed the male some in a joking fashion. It was good to know family still saw each other and took care of one another even during times such as these. He hadn't received word from anyone, heard from his family or friends and never really went up to a royal and said "I'm David Gaspard Lioncourt, son of Richard James Lioncourt, a pleasure to meet you!" That was something he was scared of. As soon as he ran, his Uncle's men were after him to get rid of him and from there on out, David never went near the Pridelands but stayed with his two best friends and in safety. Doing something like that would surely cause the death of him and he wanted to live to see another day and have fun instead of take on the responsibilities of his Uncle and being someone hated by the people. No one knew of his presence throughout the kingdom as he had grown rapidly from a young boy to a tall, scruffy teenager. His appearance would shock even his mother...if she was still alive.

"Traveling. That's all we do. We explore the lands, drink, be merry, you know, like merchants, except we have nothing to sell." A grin crossed David's features. "It's true, we just go wherever the wind takes us!" Kyser said happily and was quieted by Acel as they continued to make food. "But that's all we do, nothing to go back to. We're out own people, we do our own thing. It's a lot of fun! We just like to have fun," David said happily.

For being outcasted from his own home to living with Kyser and Acel after his father's death, David had been a lot more happier. He knew this was how he was going to live the rest of his days but he was okay with that. Something tugged in the back of his mind, but he chose to ignore it and yawned lightly. All the countless lessons, his father urging him to battle other boys his age to become fluent with the way of the blade. Language lessons to speak with those across the seas. So many things a Prince had to do. He wasn't a prince anymore! He was free and he was going to remain free! It was...it was something he did want to go back to. He wanted to be able to play with his dad again and joke around and have fun. That was the day. Ever since he was killed in battle in front of him, David wasn't the same after that. His father had been stabbed in the chest by someone far stronger than he and had his head smashed in. It was something a young boy should have never seen but...that was fate.

"Why were you out here stumbling around? Surely if you were visiting your family you wouldn't be able to stay with them?"


ooc::


XXXXXX

[Chai High Tuba]

x

Arthur Pendragon
The Once and Future King

xoxo’At least you’re visiting them and telling them you’re alive!’ Arthur contained a suspicious flex of his brow as the tall man made the statement, odd in every way. For some reason, the beleaguered king found this statement to be very telling. He kept having to remind himself that despite his size, David was still quite young. What had put him out on the road so early, and why the two men nearly a decade his seniors? The three played the part of vagabond well, but he got the sense that their vagrancy was only partly by choice. His lips stayed sealed shut as they carried on, though whether this was out of politeness or disinterest was still yet to be determined even within his own mind. Watching the young man banter, Arthur allowed himself to believe David for the time, nodding at his statements on fun and freedom. It was an admirable life goal, and one that he would never fully achieve. King at twelve, devoted to the sword long before, he was occasionally envious of those who had time to enjoy themselves. Then again, there were laws against their way of life and from a personal standpoint, he was never completely happy doing nothing, but he could at least respect their views. Looking to the boy, he did get the sense that he was at least happy this way. For some odd reason, he got the sense that there had been a journey to lead him all the way here. More of Merlin’s teachings, making him read far too much into the personalities of others. Other than as a trick in the tavern, it had very little merit outside of court. It was simply that this lad drew him in for some reason. There was much more to the story. Anyone could see that.

xoxoAgain he asked a question slightly more intrusive than Arthur would have liked. This time around, he was prepared enough. They did not believe his lies about his profession, and he was still skirting around his real name and reasoning, but he was almost embarrassed to admit that the next piece of information he had was every bit as true as sunrise. He observed the dancing flames of the morning campfire while he worded his response with some care.

xoxo”The drink is my vice — my mind enjoys wandering, and so too do I under it’s influence.” Poetic. Unnecessarily poetic. He might get a laugh out of Bedivere or Merlin, but otherwise he knew it was a response his knights would only roll their eyes at. He chuckled very softly before looking to the others with a glimmer in his eyes that told stories all it’s own of the roving drunk in soggy quests across the countryside. The king did not drink more than wine within the castle, saving the harder stuff for when the public could not cast it’s gaze upon him. Alcohol took him far too easily, and it was a trait shared by many men of Camelot, an unfortunate affliction most often attributed to weather or diet by physicians. He shook his head after a moment, then sighed, raising to his feet. His head spun, but he attempted to keep the ground underneath his feet through sheer force of will while addressing the three. This conversation, despite it’s comforts, had gone on for too long now. It was time to leave.

xoxo”But I have taken far too much of your time, my friends. Thank you for your kindness.” And with a curt nod he turned and attempted to leave.