taxonomites | forma • [ holo : arrival ] • hwílum and tówearde cwén

Entry tags:

forma • [ holo : arrival ] • hwílum and tówearde cwén

"This isn’t the castle...what has happened?"

Shock. Pure and utter shock and a shiver are what go through Guinevere when she realizes she's not in the corridor of Camelot she meant to turn into. She grabs at her wrist, looking down when she notices the cool metal there. This was no part of the castle she'd seen before… but she didn't remember being taken away. It must be the work of magic, though this was no magic she had seen before.

She steps forward, examining the object on the pedestal that almost demanded her attention. The Tablet was an odd thing indeed. She didn't quite understand its purpose and poked at its interface for a few moments before shifting her attention.

"Merlin?....Gaius?" She yelled out into the echoing room as she approached the walls, palm first. "Where in the world am I..."

Up until then she was able to maintain that semblance of stability, but when no voices returned her call and she slipped down to the floor and let the tears flow unchecked. It reminded her of being in the dungeon, locked away and kept all alone away from everything with nothing to look forward to but an execution.

"Morgana...Arthur. Anyone!" She says through the sobs. "What is it you want of me? I have nothing of value… I am just a servant."

She hangs her head, fiddling with the Tablet in her lap. Everything about this place is so foreign to her, it’s hard to calm herself down and think. But then she remembers Morgana, one of the strongest people she knows, and thinks of what she would do in this situation. It helps her to take a few deep breaths and stand up off that cold metallic floor, shoulders back and chin up. The regal strength of a lady of Camelot; she would need to thank Morgana once she saw her again.

"My mistress is Morgana, Ward to Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot. My mistress and my king do not take kindly to kidnapping, but I assure you they will come for me." She said into the cold room, keeping a tight seal on the nerves that threatened to make her voice shake. Her hands clutch the fabric of her dress and the tablet at her sides, her eyes glassy with the fear she tried to suppress.

[ ooc • notifs are going slow for me so sorry for any delays ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Guinevere?"

The familiar voice coming from his tablet is unmistakable of course, but it's been just Arthur and Morgana for so long now that he hadn't expected anyone else they know to show up. The sight of Gwen's hologram is both welcome and unwelcome at once - welcome because Arthur likes Gwen and unwelcome because he doesn't like the fact that she's been kidnapped.

"Arthur!"

To say she has waited to hear his voice is not entirely untrue. She had believed the others when they informed her Arthur is there as well, but until she sees him with her very own eyes on the Tablet it was just a hope that she tried not to dwell on.

"Morgana told me that you were here." She says with a weak smile.

"So it seems she's beaten me to it," he returns the smile, only faintly subdued, because of aforementioned ambivalent feelings about people he likes being kidnapped.

"Has she explained everything yet?"

"Some things, yes. I do not believe all my questions are easily answered." Her smile fades some as she thinks on Morgana. "I do not with to plague her with too much. I worry for her health."

"There is very little here that's answered easily," Arthur agrees, rubbing the back of his neck. "And the answers often sound like the talk of madmen."

His smile fades to match, at this point. "Yes, she's been gravely ill of late. She's recovering now, though. No doubt seeing you will be the best of medicines for her. You have been missed."

"Then we will have to make some sense of the madness."

It's times like this that Guinevere (and any citizen of Camelot for that matter) would look to Arthur for a solution to the problem and a way home. The issue of their being placed in Taxon, however, is something that eluded all those it captured, the prince included. That wont stop her from looking to him for some sort of solution or, at the very least, as a pillar of stability in a place that left her more frightened than she would like to let on.

"And her nightmares?" She takes this opportunity to find out from him what Morgana most likely will not tell her. "Have they plagued her while she has been here untreated?"

"I know she was seeking treatment for them from a physician, but it turned out that the medicine he was giving her was making her ill."

The face Arthur makes as he says this indicates his low opinion of the physician in question. "She hasn't mentioned them to me since, but you know how secretive she can be about such things." Well, maybe Gwen doesn't, as Morgana's confidante, but she can certainly be secretive with Arthur.

"I take it she's going to escort you back to the Royal Chambers?"

He knows she's been inseperable from that bench outside the Sanctuary for the past few days, after all.

She gives a slow nod with an ever worried expression. She'd seen the darker side of Morgana's illness, saw how it had affected her when the draughts from Gaius became less and less useful against them. That alone made her weak, pale look make perfect sense to her. Gwen was not going to let a single physician quell her hope, though. "Perhaps there are others here who may be able to help with them..."

"Yes, though their being here is another oddity within itself," she says with a hint of the smile returning to her expession. "Though I have been told you wish to assemble a city guard?"

"We must hope so," he agrees, with a fairly pronounced frown. He would try to get in contact with a doctor himself, but that would inevitably end in Morgana yelling at him, which is never helpful.

"Yes, I have been trying to make arrangements," he nods in answer to that question, looking rather rueful all of a sudden. "Though most of my applicants so far have been either women or magic users, which... isn't exactly ideal."

"We will, and she will be well again," she tells him softly with a faint smile. At times her optimism is lost on her own worry, but she can at least hope it will be of use to others.

Gwen's expression turns instantly unamused with Arthur's comment and she replies almost sternly (or as stern as Guinevere is capable of). "You should not be so put off by women and magic users if they wish to fight and prove worthy of your cause. We are not in Camelot anymore."

She lowers her head after getting that little rant out of her system, and attempts to save some face in the situation though she does not regret a word of it.

"...My lord."

Well well well. Arthur's eyebrows shoot up at that, in a surprised fashion. He's used to being spoken to like that by Morgana, but it's quite a different thing to get it from Gwen. He's not sure whether he feels affronted or impressed. He respects her enough not to pull rank on her, however.

"I never said it stopped me from letting them try out, Gwen. Only that it's not what I'm used to." And now he's raising an eyebrow at her. "Am I to expect an application from you? I recall you were quite handy with a weapon when we took on Kanan."

She catches that surprised expression of his and wonders if he recalls the much more critical and elaborate yelling she did at him in her recent memory.

"The battle at Ealdor was many months ago," She says, watching his reaction closely. "Any benefit I had from training then is surely lost."

"...many months ago?" He frowns in confusion for a moment, not understanding how that could be, until, of course, he remembers that Taxon brings people from different points in time.

"So the last time we spoke was not when you were nursing me, after the attack from the Questing beast?"

Of course. She's not entirely sure if she's relieved about him having no recollection of the whole jousting tournament ordeal. It will be easier for her to forget the whole thing herself this way, which is all she wanted in the first place, but the thought of it doesn't put her at ease.

"N-no, some time has passed for me sense then. You had fully recovered and just returned from a trip to the North country. Morgana informed me that we may not recall all of the same memories."

"Oh." Arthur looks a little perturbed by that. The thought of being somehow behind the times, not knowing what's happening, is a worrying one. There is one advantage to Gwen being slightly ahead, however.

"Has anything else happened of note? Aside from the trip to the North country, I mean? Is my father well? Is Camelot safe? Merlin hasn't burnt the place to the ground yet?"

What hasn't happened, she asks herself upon hearing his request. He seems eager for details, and it is apparent that with so much time between them there would be significant events going on in the kingdom. It is Camelot, after all. She couldn't deny him some of the details.

"Actually, Camelot was nearly destroyed because you replaced Merlin with an untrustworthy man," she says with no irony in her voice whatsoever, to be sure he believes what she's saying. "Aside from that and a very...very eventful jousting tournament, your king and home were rather safe."

She pauses a moment, considering whether further detail is necessary but decides she's said enough. "That is all I'll say. Wouldn't want you leaving here and having an unfair advantage."

"A servant of mine nearly destroyed Camelot?" He's quite aghast by that news, though he's glad to hear that apparently everything worked out in the end. "Well that's... good to know," he nods gratefully, though his expression quickly turns into something like his habitual roguish smirk.

"You know I always have an unfair advantage, Guinevere." Because he's ~Arthur~, of course.

"See the things that can go awry when you are cruel to poor Merlin?" she says, very matter-of-fact. "You'll do well to remember it."

His comment and his smirk get an eye roll out of her, but the smile she's trying to suppress is unmistakable. She is not immune to it, as much as she'd prefer to be at moments like this. "So you do not need my help with that then, do you?"

"'Cruel'?" He repeats, looking very indignant. "'Poor Merlin'? I am not cruel-- has he been telling you sob stories?" Lies and slander, clearly.

"No, I suppose not," he grins, looking pleased with himself. He knew he could get a smile out of her, even if she's trying to hide it. "Well, I shall see you when you get here, then?"

"Oh, no, not at all. He speaks very highly of you," she says lightly; somewhere between joking and seriousness. "And of polishing your armor."

You win this round, Arthur. "Of course. I will see you then."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

forma • [ holo : arrival ] • hwílum and tówearde cwén

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]

[ visual ]