Theodore Roosevelt A-1, Monday Evening

[thatsamilkshake]

Full of marshmallows and good company, and with her bed finally cleared off of crap junk important things that she desperately needed to bring to the cabins with her, Francine was relaxing on said bed with a book.

No, not That Book. That Book was hidden in a very safe place where no one would look for it even if they knew it existed.

Under her pillow, shut up.

The book she was reading had a burly brooding bearded man and a well-endowed lady on the cover, and wasn't a dingbat's guide to anything. Except maybe purple prose.

[OOC: This one's for the Ears. And possibly the BFF if she cares to snort from the other side of the wall. OMFG campfires are exhausting!

Comments

[thatsamilkshake]

"....WHAT?" She might still have been thinking about That Book. And trying desperately to pretend Arthur hadn't seen the cover.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

That was an odd reaction. "...the prince?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Oh. Uh." Slight flailage. Oh so slight. "See there was this book that was that one, the one about flowers, totally for homework, and Arthur came by while you were gone and I thought he might have said something about... nevermind."

Way to sound sane there, Francine.

"I'm not beautiful or Irish and Arthur's not from the desert." And also I'm fairly sure he thinks I'm either crazy or an idiot. "I think you're pretty safe."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"A book about flowers?" And if Arthur tried anything, he'd... do something.

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Yes?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Okay, Francine wasn't acting normal at all.

Okay, she was, but it was still odd!

"Are you certain you're alright?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Yes?" Don't look at your pillow, don't look at your pillow, don't think about why pillows just seem to be a bad bad thing to think about in general...

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Smooth Francine was smooooth. "What's under the pillow?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"What pillow?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"The one you're looking at," Merlin replied kindly.

[thatsamilkshake]

'Shifty-eyed' would perhaps be an appropriate term. "Um. A bed?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just gave her a Look.

[thatsamilkshake]

"A book on flowers?"

It's really a pity Francine had been skipping around in The Book due to the necessity of slamming it shut and burying her head under a pillow after every four pages, and thus hadn't read the bit about Open And Honest Communication being kind of important for the entire ...flowery topic.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"May I see it then?" Merlin asked slowly. So as to not startle her.

[thatsamilkshake]

You know that fairy tale about dogs with eyes the size of ... those things that Merlin's ears were the size of? Francine's eyes were about the size of Merlin's ears.

"No! I mean...it's a special book! For girls only!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"About flowers." Merlin was dubious.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Yes? Um. Special flowers. It's a whole..." Insane spiral of LIES, and for what? So she didn't have to show him that she'd bought a book on-- oh, right.

Clearly, what she needed was a distraction. "Heeeeey, waitaminute!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Special flowers," Merlin repeated slowly. "...What?"

[thatsamilkshake]

What, What, What, she was supposed to actually have a what?

Oh thank God, she actually did have a what. A what that had slipped her mind in the move to the cabins and the mass consumption of marshmallows, but nonetheless a completely legitimate what. That just happened to make an excellent distraction.

"You're Merlin."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Why was nothing making sense at all today? Did he hit his head this morning?

"...Yes?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine shook her head. "No, I mean... I was talking to my mom last night -- she wants pictures of you by the way -- trying to explain about how you work for a prince named Arthur, and then I mentioned your name and she said really? And I said haha, yeah, right, isn't that weird, because Merlin and Arthur, just like in the stories." She shook her finger in his direction, like it was his fault she'd taken this long to put it together. "Merlin and Arthur. From Camelot. And you do magic."

To her credit, at least she lowered her voice for that last part.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well. Yes. I do," Merlin said, looking around nervously. "But I'm not that person from those stories. I'm me."

[thatsamilkshake]

She stared at him a bit like he was crazy, now. "But they're about you. Even if they got it wrong, you're not just a guy named Merlin - you're that Merlin. You're famous!"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin just ducked his head a bit. "No, I'm not! I mean... I can barely figure it all out most of the time!"

[thatsamilkshake]

Which made her feel just a little bit guilty for flailing at him, yes. "Sorry. It's just weird. I didn't know know I was dating somebody who's a ..." Francine waved a hand. "Big damn deal. You should've heard my mom going on just over Arthur being a prince."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well, he's Arthur." Merlin sighed and fiddled with the bedspread. "He's who ought to be the important one."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Maybe to some people," Francine said, giving him a bit of a smile. "You're the important one to me, though."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

That got her a small grin and a Merlin--yes, the Merlin--leaning over for a kiss. "And that's enough for me to be happy."

[thatsamilkshake]

That distraction was actually so distracting that Francine forgot what she was supposed to be distracting him from.

"Am I still allowed to be impressed?" she asked with quite a bit more of a grin, afterward.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"If you like," Merlin replied, nodding oh so seriously. "But don't let Arthur hear you be. He'd never stop taunting me about it."

[thatsamilkshake]

"He never stops taunting you anyway," Francine pointed out.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"If he stopped the taunting, he'd be forced to do something crazy like respect me," Merlin said dryly.

[thatsamilkshake]

"He could do both, you know." Not that Francine was saying he did necessarily, but they weren't mutually exclusive.