EVENT: Suddenly Standing At The Beginning With You

[Shini]

Avalon, a place of magic and wonder, where dreams come true. It was a school for those extraordinary destinies, where they could learn the skills needed as even destiny needs a little push sometimes. It existed for years until a great magical storm was unleashed upon it. In the blink of an eye all that was at Avalon was moved to the sister school of Tintagel, a move so great yet so subtle that many of the students were none the wiser, and life resumed as usual.

For a time all was peaceful, but unfortunately that time was short lived. The power of the portals had become outside of Trenale and an invading force laid siege upon the land, determined to harness that power for themselves. A resistance rebelled, but traitors in their ranks aided the invaders, and in the end their foes were too great. They overpowered the resistance, reached the portals, but before they could lay hands to them something tremendous happened. See, it wasn't just Tintagel that held magic, not the people within its walls. The surrounding land of Trenale was a magical place in its own right, and at the last moment it was the land itself that fought back. There was a blinding flash of light, and then everything was gone. All visitors had been returned to their home worlds, and the invaders... the less said about them the better.

For one hundred years Tintagel slept.

Time moved differently in the outside worlds. A year here was ten years there, but whether a year or ten there was no way for the displaced Avalonians to contact their friends. The portals had simply disappeared... until, one day, they reappeared without warning. Not just where they'd been before, but in new places, alternate worlds and places they'd never been before.
From all over the multiverse, people were drawn to the portal, like they were announcing their return, and one by one people were pulled in and expelled...

here.

The courtyard in the centre of Tintagel Campus.

The surrounding area was silent, it seemed that everybody was being brought here specifically, to the centre of the school. It would become clear the buildings around them had been abandoned for a very long time, the courtyard paving was cracked and overgrown, a tree had sprouted in the fountain, and everywhere they would look, ivy and other crawling vines had taken over the school buildings.
The rest of the city was the same, there was no sign of habitation anywhere, the place had been completely abandoned until now.

There's no sign of how or why the portals suddenly decided to start bringing people back, and nobody there to greet them when they arrive.

Welcome to the mystery. Welcome back to Tintagel.

----

OOC notes: Please choose one character to be your first character back. Other characters can be pulled through or choose to go through the portals 'later', they are welcome to have whatever conceptions they wish of what is waiting for them on the other side, but until player actions start getting the school back up and running, the place will still seem overgrown and abandoned.
This is a free for all group thread, so have your reunions and investigations as you wish. If you want anybody to leave the group and go off to start their own thread, feel free, but most things will take place here.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Go crazy!

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin was in his office sorting through a pile of documents to prioritise the ones Arthur actually needed to care about when it happened. It was like a drop in pressure, or a change in the air, it was a difficult feeling to describe for someone who didn't have magic but he felt the portal reappear.
It wasn't long after that he felt the pull, the lure calling him towards it, and out of sheer curiosity he gave into it. It had been so long since they had left Tintagel, or rather, been sent away from it, and while they had rebuilt their lives after the war and settled into the governing of Albion, there was something...unfinished about the time at Tintagel. It hadn't been allowed to come to a natural conclusion, and however much their story had moved on, Merlin wanted to see the place, even if it was just one last time.

It seemed the place wanted to see him as well, because no sooner had he reached the portal than the pull became stronger, too strong, his feet were almost sliding across the floor. He lost his balance, tumbled forwards and -
- and fell onto broken, mossy paving slabs that looked strangely familiar. He pushed himself to his feet with a frown, wiping the dirt from his hands on the hem of his shirt, and took in his surroundings.
This was definitely Tintagel, but it definitely hadn't looked like this when they left.

"Is anybody else here?" he called out.

[Gaston]

There was nothing that got his adrenaline pumping better these days than a hunt. A real hunt - the kind of hunting he was really renowned for was a waste of time these days, as all the girls in the village too easily allowed themselves to be caught. There was no chase anymore, no excitement. But killing innocent creatures so he could decorate his walls with their antlers? That would always be a thrill like no other. He'd always enjoyed the hunt, the anticipation, the chase, the smell of fresh blood as his bullet met its mark... but these days it was even better than it used to be. Perhaps that was the lasting effect the war had had on him - he had been an excellent soldier and an excellent killer - but he couldn't get away with killing men like he could back then.

But a stag nearly twice his size? That was fair game, and just as exhilarating.

He had left LeFou behind with the baggage - the man was clumsy as an ox and would scare the beast away before Gaston got anywhere near - and had slowly but certainly followed the animal's trail, barely making a sound as he tracked through the undergrowth. He was close, he was sure of it. Reaching an enormous, ancient oak, he slowly knelt by the thick trunk, cocking his shotgun and resting the butt against his shoulder.

The magnificent stag stood proud and tall, head raised and ears alert, turning his head with quick, sharp movements as he sniffed the air around him. His ears continued to twitch as he lowered his head to graze on the lush, green grass at his feet, unaware of the predator hiding in the shadows of the trees, unaware of the gun barrel aimed perfectly between his eyes. As he tore blades of grass from the earth and chewed them slowly, he began to relax, his fear of his environment fading, oblivious to what was about to happen.

Slowly moving his finger over the trigger, Gaston took a long, slow breath in, readying himself for the thrill of the kill.

And the stag bolted.

"Hell and damnation! Those antlers would have looked fantastic on my wall!" He muttered in irritation as he slung the shotgun over his shoulder and, pushing aside the undergrowth that had hidden him so well, he moved into the clearing, wondering what had spooked the stupid animal. It certainly hadn't been him - he had been executing the hunt perfectly. "Had the perfect spot, upwind, stupid beast had no idea I was there..." He continued to mutter as he felt a breeze blow through his hair, quickly getting stronger as he felt an odd sensation - one he hadn't experienced in years...

Without warning, Gaston felt an inexplicable pull, and his feet left the floor. Within a second, he fell onto the ground with a thud, and sat for a moment as he tried to work out what the hell had just happened.

Hearing a voice, he expertly and acrobatically launched to his feet, swinging his gun from his shoulder and pointing it in the direction of the voices owner.

His eyebrows raised as the owner came into view.

"Oh bloody hell, of all the people in the entire goddamn universe, it's the bloody servant. What, have you spent the last ten years stalking me?" Gaston growled, without lowering the gun. "I told you before, this," He indicated himself, "is not for you."

"And that beard is hilarious."

[Della Miller]

Sometimes she could still hear the clashing of swords, or the bursts of magic. What she couldn’t always remember was which sound came from which side. She was fairly certain that lack of clarity was why she had started crying out for friends to show her any signs of life in the first place…

She lifted her head up with a start, and it didn't take her a very long or hard look to realize that she had fallen asleep in her office again...right on her laptop no less. There was an array of completely incoherent letters going down numerous pages. She wrinkled her nose and proceeded to press the "undo" button as many times as it took before she got back to the latest adventures of Elise...the first book had been doing all right, after all, so why not...why not go back, right?

Why not go back...her gaze moved towards her left hand, where in the midst of the shadow, there was a little jewel from her ring that managed to catch what little light was in the room right now, most likely from the moon at the window. It's not as if the person who gave her this ring was the only thing she missed...but gods, that was a big factor...when she wasn't helping clients or writing, she was looking for a way back, partially because of him...she even explained to her father the other day; "It's not that I think it's hopeless if I don't get back to him...I just know I owe us closure if I'm going to even try to move on."

But...honestly, she was pretty certain she wouldn't even if she was given that chance...

It was the fact that the diamond was glowing brighter that snapped her out of her second daze. With a gasp, she glanced up, reaching for her AD52 that she had hidden in her desk...and it was just as well, because she recognized what was in the center of her office for what it was...

It couldn't be that easy, could it?

Her heart pounded as she lifted herself up, gripping her gun as she moved forward, through the newly glowing shadows in the room...and despite the fact that she knew damn well this could get her killed (why else go in armed), she stepped forward...

And somehow managed to fall onto something really mossy and cracked, she was FAIRLY certain one of the cracks on the slabs cut her. With a wince, she stood back up...only to see two familiar faces...one of them was an old friend, just the sort of person she was hoping to see on the other end of that portal...annnnnd the other was a reminder of some of the reasons her teenage self didn't appreciate this place as much as she did now. Kind of hard to appreciate a place where you watched a friend die at Prom, and wouldn't you know it, the same bastard who did it was now pointing a gun at another friend.

"Put that gun down before you hurt somebody," she snapped, utter contempt in her voice. It was tempting to add, And unless Merlin's completely lost his sense of taste, I don't think you need to worry about him stalking you... but honestly, the less she spoke to him the better.

In a complete 180, she shot a grin at Merlin. "Not that I don't think you can manage that... gods, it's good to see you..." And her gaze moved around the ruins they happened to be in...but despite everything, it was pretty clear where they were. Exactly where she had hoped they'd wound up, even if it was a shame it was so poorly taken care of, you'd think they'd been gone for far longer than ten years...

...wait...magical worlds DID tend to have time work differently... had they been gone longer than ten years?

Well...even if they had been, there was no mistaking it. Rook...we're home... she thought, shaking off the pang of loss before she turned back towards the men. "I guess you haven't seen anyone else, huh?"

[Merlin Emrys]

No sooner had he started speaking than he registered the thud behind him, and he turned around to find a gun pointing at his face. His hand had already flicked up with the intention of blocking the attack with magic (and thank goodness he knew what a gun even looked like), but he lowered it, recognising the man behind the gun just as Gaston recognised him.

Gaston, who of course immediately threw in a rant about how it just had to be Merlin, and mocking his beard, which he thought suited him rather well thank you very much. Okay, Arthur didn't like it, and Gwen could never decide if she was sure about it or not, but he thought it helped make him look a little more distinguished, helped separate the servant from the advisor - only apparently not well enough. He had to remind himself that Gaston had no idea how his position had changed, neither he nor Arthur had managed to find any way of contacting their friends from Tintagel over the years since they left, most of them probably didn't even know Arthur was king now.
Speaking of Arthur, he hoped he could find a way back to him soon. Perhaps if the portals bringing them here were working, the portal room in the main building would be working to take them home as well.

"Your feelings are entirely mutual, trust me," he commented dryly. Could it not have been anybody else pulled through? One of his actual friends? Or at least not the boorish, brainless Gaston. Before he could disillusion Gaston of his idiotic ideas, there was another familiar voice and Merlin turned to see Della smiling at him. Thank gods, it was not just him and Gaston.

"Good to see you too," he smiled "Just the three of us so far, but something tells me we might be expecting more company..." He glanced back at Gaston.

"Understand what's going on yet?" he asked almost mockingly "We've been pulled back to Tintagel for some reason."

[Mumble]

It had been a particularly rough day for Mumble, but most of them were, at this point. He had gotten a cease and desist letter from some museum in Denmark who claimed his persistence amounted to harassment, which he thought was unnecessarily harsh considering he had only visited their mermaid exhibit twelve times and out of those had only kept them after hours five times with his multitude of questions. He'd just started to think maybe he was onto something, but apparently he was no longer welcome there. Sleep had been hard to come by lately, too; tonight he was lying there trying to think of ways he could get back into the museum without them recognizing him. There would have to be a disguise involved, unless he could talk someone else into going for him, and he just didn't trust anyone else with the mission.

He pulled his pillow over his face and made a strangled sound of frustration into it. It didn't help that his parents were hounding him to do something with his life; they didn't even care anymore if it was singing, they just wanted him to do something. He was teaching some dance classes at a nearby community college, but that was only part time and barely enough to cover his rent, so his parents were still sending money every now and then and they were growing increasingly unhappy about it. It's not that we don't want to help you, we're just worried about you, his mother had said. Well, she was right to worry. Mumble was in a dangerous mental state, an exhausted spiral that had been pulling him downward for the past five years and threatened to shatter the last remaining bastions of his sanity.

His parents also had no memory of sending him to a magical school, something Mumble found utterly perplexing. How could they not remember? It had been their idea in the first place, their insistence that if he couldn't learn to sing naturally, maybe he could learn magically. When he tried to explain it to them, though, it sounded ridiculous even as he said it. Magical singing, indeed. Here at the end of nearly five years of searching, he had begun to question his own memory, had begun to wonder if maybe he'd suffered some kind of accident that no one was willing to tell him about, maybe he'd been in a coma or had suffered some head trauma and his mind had filled in the missing and most traumatic bits with memories of a magical place, of a mermaid he had loved, of a relationship he had spent so much time and agony building. The specifics were so bizarre, though, he almost couldn't blame his parents for doubting him. Magic. Blackmail. A war.

If you're going to San Francisco...

He sat up straight in bed. He could have sworn he'd heard music, but his radio was off. He reached for his phone, but it was silent, aside from a text notification from someone he'd been texting at the Weekly World News. Mumble sighed deeply, rubbing his face with one hand. "You're really losing it, Andrew," he said softly.

...be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Okay, that time he knew he wasn't imagining it. He heard it...well, not loud and clear, but he heard it the way you hear a song playing in the next room, the way music sounds when you're drunk, distant and ethereal. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up slowly. His bedroom door was shut, and he felt a tugging sensation inside of his chest, like the strongest heartache imaginable, like something physically pulling him forward. With one hand, he reached out for the doorknob.

If you're going to San Francisco...

There was a blinding flash of light, the sensation of sudden acceleration, the world shifted around him, and suddenly, he was in another place. The music was gone, and he was standing, barefoot in his pajamas and tshirt, in the middle of the courtyard of a place he knew well. As disoriented as he was, he could have dropped to the ground and kissed it, and probably would have if he hadn't heard voices, looked over, and seen familiar (if somewhat older) faces.

"M-" He clapped a hand over his mouth, suddenly surprised at the sound of his own voice. It wasn't any different, it was just...he felt like he was walking in on something sacred. Joy welled up in his chest, filling up his heart and flooding his eyes with unshed tears. "I knew it," he murmured. "I knew it. It's real, I knew it was real, I knew I wasn't crazy." That wasn't really true; he had definitely started to doubt his sanity, but standing here, the thought of this place not being real seemed foreign and unimaginable. He laughed, a little deliriously, dropping down to lay a hand flat on the ground, and looked back over at the others. "Merlin," he said, grinning broadly. "the beard looks great. Guys. Oh my Guin. I'm back. Have...have you all been here? Where is everybody else?"

[Gaston]

Gaston curled his lip at Merlin, seriously considering pulling the trigger. Was it Merlin's fault he'd lost that stag? Because if that was the case, Merlin's head wouldn't look too bad on the tavern wall either... He opened his mouth to voice this opinion to Merlin, when another familiar voice interrupted him. He turned, slowly lowering his gun and hoisting it over his shoulder, and looked that the woman who had just arrived. She definitely looked familiar... but Gaston had no idea what her name was. All he knew was he had probably hit on her at some point, and from the look of her he had probably had a narrow escape.

He rolled his eyes as the two exchanged pleasantries, looking around at the oddly familiar surroundings. They couldn't be where he thought they were... it was insane - it had been years and there had been nothing, not a single way of getting back to Gwe... anyone. But yet...

His lip curled again as Merlin spoke. "Screw you, servant boy." He growled, hand resting on his gun. "So what did you do, and why have you dragged us back here?" He asked accusingly.

He jumped as another voice entered into the ever-growing fray. "Oh for crying out loud..." He muttered as the new addition greeted Merlin. "What is this, the Tintagel loser reunion? Why am I here?"  He crossed his arms sulkily.  "I was closing in on the perfect kill."

[Della Miller]

Della nodded at Merlin’s answer, that’s what she had figured. “That would make sense…though it makes me wonder why the portals are working now, after all this time. I know those things always had a mind of their own, but then what’s on their minds, you know?” And she let out a laugh at Merlin condescending to Gaston, yes, thank you…and now that she had had a proper look at him, she had to say, proper adulthood had been kind to him. It was just nice to see that he seemed well.

And just as they predicted, another person arrived just behind them. It looked like they were just going to keep getting more and more people, one by one. It was probably wise that she had brought her gun; you never knew if one of the people who returned would be one of the evil ones.

Fortunately, she didn’t get the vibe from this guy…had she seen him around before? She honestly couldn’t remember, and it was a big school, so it’d make sense if she didn’t recognize everyone. This guy was muttering about how relieved he was that it was real, and immediately she felt a whole lot of sympathy for him. There was a reason she kept her search for Trenale only to her father and new stepmother, but those kinds of secrets could get very lonely.

Plus, he was clearly friends with Merlin, and she was big on the whole ‘any friend of my friend is a friend of mine’, so she smiled towards the newcomer too. “Right? It really suits him. And no, we just got here, and I get the feeling people are just going to keep popping up until…well. I don’t know when until. We’re not entirely sure what’s going on other than the portals are working again.”


Annnnnnd there was Gaston again. Could the man please shut the hell up? Her expression souring, she said, "Considering the fact Merlin is clearly as confused as the rest of us, I highly doubt this is his responsibility, and even if it was, you're outnumbered in terms of having a problem with it."

[Giselle]

Giselle had never quite gotten used to the sensation of falling off of stuff. It sent a rush of fear running up and down her body. And there was never a guarantee that someone would catch her or that she would land on something soft. Though Giselle tended to be very lucky in that regard. She always landed on something soft or someone always caught her.

But this time, the sensation of falling seemed to grip her much differently, mostly because she hadn't fallen off of something. She had been at home in her cottage in Andaladia and then, out of nowhere, she felt like she was falling.

She wasn't afraid though, because it was a familiar sensation of falling. And then she landed, skirts all askew and she opened her eyes. She hadn't known that she'd closed them. And she saw that she was back! She was back at school! And she want alone!

Giselle stood, brushing off her skirt, a grin making its way across her face when she recognized the others. " Hello everyone! I'm so glad we're all back at school again. My you all look quite aged for only been away for a week. But I suppose that was changes everyone."

[Arthur]

It was just another round table meeting that had, as usual, descended into Gawain regaling everyone with his latest tale of heroism and glory. Arthur did not exactly mind, it broke up the somewhat serious meetings and brought a little levity to them, besides it was always entertaining to watch the double act of Gawain and Lancelot. The two of them had it well timed these days, he hoped that would not change when Lancelot found out just who Gawain was spending his ‘free time’ with these days.

He glanced to the empty chair to his right again.

Where was she? It was not like her to be late. Well fashionably late yes, but not unreasonably late; Gawain was already halfway through his story and she had yet to appear. No doubt she had been caught up with the ladies of his knights, probably ‘doing the real politics whilst you boys play at soldiers’ as she was fond of saying. However he could really do with her here, looking across the table he could see that a particularly grumpy looking Lord of his was itching for a fight and no one could quell rising tempers like Gwen could. If Arthur was left to deal with it then it would probably just escalate until the two of them were screaming at each other across the table.

That was not the only reason though. When Gwen turned up, that would mean that she would bring her new constant shadow. He smiled as he thought about the little red head that followed in her wake everywhere she went. Hopefully, when the two of them arrived Gwen could take over the roundtable and the two of them could head up to Merlin’s tower and bother him for a bit. There was someone else who was running incredibly late. He was normally here by this point as well, waving some important bit of paper in his face that he just had to pay attention too otherwise there could be war/famine/more war/diplomatic tensions/ WAR! However there was no sign of his bearded face.

He did not like it. He was going to let him keep it for a little longer but then he was going to have to take drastic action…and grow his own. Once Merlin saw his majestic beard he would feel inadequate and shave his off in defeat. He had explained the plan to Gwen. She had not been impressed and said, ‘You’re both idiots.’ To which Arthur had mumbles ‘no he’s the idiot, get it right Gwen.’

He was just about to bring the meeting back to order when he started to feel a tingling sensation…a sensation he recognised…and yet…something that he had not felt in a long time…

Arthur reached to his side and just as his hand closed around the hilt of Excalibur he disappeared from his chair at the Round Table…

…meaning that when he finally landed in the courtyard in Tintagel, he did a roll as fell to the ground, unsheathed his sword, twirled it around at the side (as he was want to do) before standing up in the defensive position.

When you have been surrounded by magic for most of your teenage and young adult life you tend to learn to roll with what happens and be prepared to fight whatever monster was on the other side. Also, don’t kill any unicorns.

The ‘monster’ on this occasion turned out to be the love of his life, someone he thought he recognised, a girl and a guy he didn’t really know and…

“…Gaston?” said Arthur, grinning, just a little.
It had been a long, long, long time, and as much as the Frenchman used to really get on his nerves, as much as they used to fight, argue and wind each other up…he would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed him. The camaraderie, the banter…the cakes.

“Is…is it really you?” said Arthur, and because even if it was the real Gaston he absolutely was not going to put his sword down.

That was just how their friendship worked.

Glancing at Merlin he said, “What have I told you about poking things ‘just to see what happens’? What did you do?”

Then he realised who the girl was and (foolishly) dropped his defensive stance and smiling said, “Della, lovely to see you again.”

Leaving him wide open if the Frenchman decided to engage.

[Merlin Emrys]

More and more people were appearing, just as he had expected would happen. He wondered how many of the previous students were being dragged back, was it everyone? Just some of them? Only time would tell, but it wasn't the only question lingering.
"Mumble," he smiled back at the overly relieved man, feeling more than just a little smug that somebody liked his beard - smugness only growing when Della agreed that it suited him. Ha, take that Arthur.

"This isn't-" he started to defend himself, but Della was already doing it for him. He forgot how many friends he'd had here, it made him feel warm and kind of pleased to be back, however much there was a mystery and possible or probable shenanigans ongoing - probable being more likely, given the nature of the school, maybe Loki was behind this, or Hermes, or one of the other many villains who seemed to be given positions of authority here.

A few more arrivals and another accusation - and, really, his husband should definitely be taking his side in this and not Gaston's, it wasn't like he even had any reason to... okay, okay, there was definitely reason to assume this was somehow Merlin's fault, and yes he was only put out by said accusation because it, for once, was not his fault, and there was no way Arthur would somehow know that, but still! The way Arthur got on so well (ish) with Gaston had always been a little bit annoying considering the idiot frenchman's attitude towards him.

"This wasn't me," he finally stated bluntly "I was dragged here just as unwillingly as the rest of you, and no I haven't figured out why, I've only been here five minutes." he frowned, looking around the overgrown buildings - it was clear more time had passed here than had at home, and what was that Giselle had just said?

"A week? It's been years... for us anyway..." he looked thoughtful "Arthur? I haven't been gone longer than five minutes, have I?" it was hard to tell with portals, there was definitely some time dilation here, but he hoped it wasn't too extreme - it hadn't been the last time they were here, time had passed at the same rate here and at home, so perhaps it was just while none of them were here...

[Mumble]

Mumble was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of his university's courtyard in his pajamas, looking like he hadn't slept in a week (he hadn't), shaved in a week (it had been two weeks), or eaten in a month (he was too exhausted to be hungry much these days). He stepped over closer to the larger group, ignoring Gaston's totally unnecessary insult (he had been called much worse things than "loser" in the last few years).

"Five years," he said softly, quietly enough that he wasn't even sure if anyone else could hear him, so he lifted his voice a little and said it again. "It's been five years. I've been..." I've been so lost. He didn't say that, but the words came to mind, and he certainly felt them.

He swallowed hard, suddenly emotional, and turned in a slow circle, taking in his surroundings. "This looks like more than five years," he speculated. "A lot more than five years. Merlin..." He centered on Merlin, because out of everyone he'd seen so far, Merlin was by far the one he'd actually spoken to most in the time they'd spent at this school. It had been Merlin who had helped him remove the horrible singing spell Redd had cast on him, and as far as Mumble was concerned, that was as good as saving his life.

"Merlin," he said, "Do you...this is magical, obviously, isn't it? Can you...like, sense anything?" It sounded unbearably stupid when he said it, but Mumble didn't care. He was overwhelmed with sudden relief. It felt like he'd been swimming in an endless ocean for eternity, and had just come upon a friendly shore to rest his aching body. It was the first time he'd felt anything like it in five years, and there was nothing in the world that could bring him down from it.

[Gaston]

Gaston simply rolled his eyes and zoned out as they all started to discuss the hows and whys, and instead looked around, taking in his surroundings. The place looked like it hadn't been inhabited in years, decades even. It looked a complete dump, and he didn't know or care why he was here, but he wanted out if he was going to be stuck with no one but the servant and the drips for company. He was on the point of walking away - the place looked like potentially good hunting ground and he was still on edge from his interrupted hunt. The day would be a total waste if there wasn't some blood shed.

He began to turn away when the new girl started talking about the amount of time that had passed. He looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Erm... I don't know about the rest of you, but it's been 10 years since I got pulled back home." He commented, before realising his mistake. "I mean... three. Three years. I'm 25." He glared around the group, as if daring someone to contradict him.

And then the best arrival he could have asked for. He raised one eyebrow as a blonde figure appeared, rolling like an idiot and unsheathing a sword. Despite his absolute uncontrollable joy at the appearance of the sword-wielding loser, Gaston ensured his joy did not show on his face; instead he simply crossed his arms and shook his head as Arthur greeted him.

"Oh Christ, the it's the pretentious ponce. Just what we need." God, he'd missed Arthur. LeFou was good company - his presence did wonders for Gaston's ego - but he had missed his favourite frenemy. "Here to save the day Prince Ponce?"

He smirked as Arthur turned to greet the girl, letting his guard down like a fool. Quick as a flash, Gaston dropped his gun and tackled Arthur, knocking him hard to the ground. "Ha! You're still completely useless! All hail Gaston, defending champion!"

Still pinning Arthur to the ground, Gaston caught the end of Mumble's question.  He laughed out loud, looking up to Merlin.  "Yeah, servant boy, are your Spidey-senses tingling?"  He looked back at Arthur.  "Still can't get your bloody nerdy crap out of my head.  Thanks for that."

[Arthur]

Arthur winked at Gaston and said, “Always. Nothing brings me pleasure than saving damsels in distress, such as yourself.”

He turned his attention back to Merlin and said, “This almost certainly has something to do with you, it always does. And yes you were gone for more than 5 minutes as you were incredibly late for the Round Table-”

Which was about as far as he got before the Frenchman decided to tackle him. He was kicking himself inside as he fell to the ground, the weight of Gaston bearing down on him pinning him to the ground. How could he have been so stupid as to allow his guard to drop. It had been too long, he was rusty in the art of ‘Gaston shenanigans’.

“I never forced you to watch my ‘geek things’ and as I recall it was your suggestion to watch that particular monstrosity,” said Arthur through gritted teeth, trying to push Gaston off him.

This was not working. Dropping the sword (because he didn’t actually want to kill Gaston) he went for the sore spot. No, not the nether regions, there was a bro code after all and men did not do that to other men. Instead he reached up with one arm for a half headlock and used the other to drive his knuckles into his head.

Mussing up Gaston’s hair in the process.

“All hail sir frizzy hair,” said Arthur gleefully, “not so useless now eh!”

Unfortunately, this left Arthur’s sides free and undefended, however, it was worth it just to mess up Gaston’s hair.

[Della Miller]

And then out of nowhere came a couple of new arrivals, one rather chipper fellow redhead she didn’t really recognize and the other…all right, Arthur made it. The thought had occurred to her over the years that she hoped that if the boys had made it back to Camelot (because that’d make sense…mind you, this place rarely did), they were at least safe and happy and had perhaps worked things out. The first two seemed to be correct at least…

And wait just a goddamn minute, did Giselle say it had only been a week?

Oh she should BE so lucky. There would be a lot less alcohol in her system during this time if it had only been a week since she had seen her friends and fiancé. But no, she was given plenty of room to worry, because if she was sent back home, it stood to reason that so did everyone else. Westley and Buttercup would probably be fine, albeit dealing with Humperdinck on their own, the Camelot Lot would probably be fine as well…but Alyss and Panic…those were the ones she had worried about the most. Alyss…if Alyss got sent back to Wonderland while pregnant, almost on the verge of giving birth…sure, she knew her friend could take care of herself, but still….and Panic would have been sent back to the Underworld, and that was if he had survived the war. Sure, he was immortal, but if that army was able to take down other towns, who knew what it was capable of…there was very much a part of her that worried that he had somehow died. Or maybe Hades would have had a hand in it…

But…anyway…”Chances are, time’s worked differently for some people. I mean, time was always a little wibbley wobbley around here, right? Five or ten years for us was a week for her and…” She looked around the ruins again. “Considerably longer for Tintagel.”

Snapping herself out of her more painful thoughts, she shot a smile towards Arthur. “Hey Arthur, likewise. I take it you two have been well! You know, other than the random arrival of portals we all keep falling out of!” And she definitely noticed that he had left himself defenseless against Gaston, and knowing what a violent bonehead he was, she was about ready to pull out her own gun if she had to...that was, until she realized that rather than trying to shoot Arthur, Gaston instead opted to tackle him down, like they were a couple of brothers who liked to torment each other.

It was around the time when Arthur declared Gaston “sir frizzy hair” that she glanced over at Merlin, utterly perplexed and genuinely concerned for the fate of Camelot, and asked, “He’s….he’s not… King yet, is he?”