With a Smile and a Song (Phoebus)

[Snow White]

Snow had been wandering. She was curious of her new surroundings. It appeared to mostly be a school. At least the places she had visited appeared to be a school. She had never seen such a place for education. Princesses weren't required much schooling. Particularly princesses that were not well liked by their Queens. It was a lot to take in and some of the strangers she had met were quite odd and wearing unusual clothing. Her little heart raced when she passed by a couple of woman wearing pants. Perhaps they were warriors of some kind. Snow didn't much leave the castle grounds and she knew there must be a lot about the world she did not yet know. Most of her friends had been animals or little men, after all. In fact, the only other man she had met in her life was a prince who sang to her from her window. That had been quite overwhelming. She hadn't seen him since. She quite wondered if she would see anyone she ever knew again. She had no way of knowing how to get home after all.

"Oh no no, this won't do" Snow frowned gently and placed a hand on her heart. She was working herself up into quite a melancholy fashion. She needed something to keep her mind off of things. When she had run through the forest and had a lot of fear in her heart, she found cheer in cleaning up the dwarf's little cottage. Luckily, Snow looked up and found herself in a rather abandoned looking part of the school. For some reason it had fallen into disarray. Well, she may not be able to fix the fountain, but she would at least sweep up and give it a fighting chance. Oh, but she didn't have a broom. Perhaps a nearby friend could help.

"Excuse me" she called, placing a hand on her cheek in hopes of amplifying her little voice. Right on cue, a few birds flew over to twitter around her head. "Oh hello!" She giggled. "Could any of you find me a broom?" They flew off and she waved at them as they went. The birds were always so sweet to her. It wasn't long at all before they returned, a deer and a few squirrels in tow. With combined efforts they brought her a broom. She thought it looked strange, more put together than any broom she had seen. However, a broom is a broom and she thanked them sweetly.

She began to hum as she swept near the fountain then sang as the birds chirped along.

"With a smile and a song,
life is just like a bright shiny day,
your cares fade away,
and your heart is young..."

[Phoebus]

Leaning against a windowsill in a quiet corner of the courtyard, Phoebus had been content to watch people come and go for a while, taking things in and trying to work out how this place actually existed. He had always considered himself a fairly logical person, but no amount of logic or common sense would explain the things he'd been encountering here. Merlin had said - seriously, Merlin! He'd actually met THE Merlin! The myth, the man, the legend. Substantially younger than the stories had always described him, but, hey, Malory hadn't been there, had he? He was allowed to make some mistakes. Anyway, Merlin had said that they might be able to figure out how to get him home at some point, but, honestly, Phoebus was starting to think this might be somewhere worth staying for a while.

Particularly if all the women in this place were as attractive as Elaine and the girl across the courtyard from him just at this moment. Weren't too many beautiful ladies in the French army, after all. He was about to head over to her, see if she happened to be a damsel in need of some assistance, when she started talking to animals. "Oh great, a crazy..." He muttered, leaning back against the sill. Except... where those animals bringing her a broom? What was this place?!

And now she was singing. This was too much. Pushing himself away from the sill to stand upright, Phoebus made his way over to her, needing to know how she'd got those animals to do that. Obviously magic, but still. It was weird.

"Erm, excuse me," he cleared his throat, hoping not to startle her. "Two questions: 1 - why are you sweeping outside? 2 - how did you get those animals to do that?"

[Snow White]

Snow considered herself quite sane. She was sweeping because the cobblestones around the fountain could hardly be seen they were covered in so much dirt and weeds. It was a pretty fountain, even of it wasn't working. It deserved to be seen in its best light. It never occurred to Snow that she may not be able to help make it cleaner. It never occurred to her that it would just get dirty again. Of course, if it did, she'd simply come back and clean it again. Snow liked things nice. She liked things to as pretty and clean as the lace on her dresses. She'd made a new dress today. It was all blue and fairly flowy. Her puffy sleeves had white designs on them that she'd spent sometime creating. She'd only been her for a day, but there was no time to rest. In fact she hadn't been feeling all that tired lately.

She started when the man spoke. She jumped and spun around, her dress belling out as she did so. She raise a hand to her red lips, slightly parted in shock. "Oh!" she said, but he did not appear to be a monster. He was just a man. She felt flustered and nervous. The last man she had met snag to her and it was quite forward and alarming. This man was not singing. He was asking her questions.

"Oh, well even things outside deserve a helping hand!" Snow said, addressing the mess about her. She swept outside by her wishing well nearly everyday back home. She missed her well, its echo made a lovely conversation partner. "And these" Snow said, leaning her boom against the fountain and leaning down to scoop up a chipmunk with both hands. "Are my friends" She smiled, using a finger to stroke the little creature's head.

[Phoebus]

They were here friends. Well, obviously. Phoebus realised he was staring and blinked a few times, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. This place was really going to take some getting used to.

"Of course they are, how silly of me." He said, trying not to laugh. Seriously, someone had to be having him on here, right? This girl was cleaning the outside, and talking to her friends, who apparently were wild animals who understood what household cleaning items were, how to find them, and bring them to this strange girl.

"You know it's just going to get dirty out here again, right?" He asked, wondering if that was a stupid question. Probably, all his questions since arriving seemed to be stupid. "I don't suppose they'd know where to find a tankard of ale, would they? I could really use a drink."

[Snow White]

Snow giggled when he called himself silly. It had been a pretty silly question, but she would never tell him so. Of course the animals were her friends. They were everyone's friends if you were nice to them. Animals had always been drawn to Snow White since she was very little. She'd never really questioned it. If animals were not following someone around she assumed that that person did not enjoy their company like she did. Why in the world someone wouldn't want animals surrounding them at all times, however, was beyond Snow. Still, she was in no place to judge. Some people were hunter's after all. A huntsman had saved her life, but she wouldn't imagine he had too many animal friends. This man looked like he could be a hunter. A groundhog hopped out of the way to make way for his seat. Snow felt nervous. Not all hunter's were nice, either.

She blinked her eyes and wiped her pretty pale face clean of worry in favor of a sweet smile. He was speaking again and it would be rude not to listen. She gripped her broom with one hand and brushed a bit of dirt off her bodice with the other. "Well then" Snow laughed again, a cute tittering sort of sound. "I'll simply have to clean it again." Snow cleaned the courtyard outside her room everyday. It was one of her favorite activities to pass the time. The man moved on to Ale.

"Oh..." Snow raised a hand to her cheek as if she had just heard something dirty, but was trying to play it off like everything was fine. Men drank ale. She'd heard of the term before, but tasted it or even seen it. She had heard terrible tales of men getting drunk and becoming quite strange. This man was making her more nervous by the moment. Still, she was a hospitable person to a fault. She couldn't very well deny a request when they had first met. Snow looked up at a few of the larger birds. "Would you be so kind?" she asked an Owl. It gave out a low hoot and took off. Snow turned back to the man and smiled. She was careful to keep a healthy distance between them.

"I'm Snow" she said with a curtsy "Snow White."

[Phoebus]

He wanted to point out to her that she could quite easily spend her entire life out here, sweeping away, until she was old and grey and turned into the dust she was working so hard to clean - but Phoebus couldn't bring himself to do it. She seemed far too sweet and naive and innocent, and he wasn't entirely sure how she might react to being told her efforts were entirely futile. He wasn't sure he could deal with someone having an existential crisis on him - he'd spent a lot of the time since he arrived pretty close to one himself, and had a sudden image of the pair of them just sitting on the stone next to each other, hugging their knees and rocking, while her animal friends hovered around them bringing them various cleaning materials.

No. Definitely better to let her just continue happily sweeping away, thinking she was making a difference, than to incite a total metal breakdown.

Her reaction to ale was infinitely better though, after her apparent initial shock at his request. He watched her turn to an owl and ask it, very sweetly, if it would help, all the while not entirely believing that the bird would manage the request. He was pretty certain he was going to continue to be thirsty for a little while yet.

He smiled as she curtsied to him, snapping back into soldier mode as he bowed and placed his closed fist across his chest. "Phoebus de Châteaupers." He introduced himself, before reaching to take her hand and bow over it, placing a light kiss on her fingers. "It is a pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle. What brings you to this strange place?"

[Snow White]

Snow watched him bow and smiled. She appreciated a gentleman. Perhaps he wasn’t so terrifying after all. He appeared to have very good manners. She felt guilty for judging him at all. He was well put together and men may often drink ale here. That was no indication that he was a man of low moral standing. She had to remember that she wasn’t home.

By the time he took her hand and kissed it her opinion of him had completely shifted into the light. She pulled her hand away gently and placed a hand on each cheek. ”Oooh” she whispered, fluttering her eyelashes and looking bashfully at the ground. She felt like she should have been blushing, but no blood rushed to her pale cheeks for reasons unknown to her.

Snow clasped her hands together and tucked them beside her chin, grinning sweetly at him. ”It is very nice to meet you Prince Phoebus” She said, assuming he must be royal to have such good manners and be so handsome. She lowered her hands and brushed her dress a bit nervously. ”I suppose I don’t know what brings me to such a strange place. I simply woke up here not to long ago.”

[Phoebus]

He chuckled as she addressed him as 'Prince', and shook his head. "I'm not a Prince, my lady, just a simple soldier." He couldn't help but smile at her blush. It had been a long time since he had come across someone so clearly naive and innocent, and he couldn't help but wonder how someone like this got by in life. She'd be eaten alive in Paris.

He frowned slightly at her story. "You just fell asleep and woke up here? How odd." He muttered. So far everyone he'd met had been pulled here by some magical force, he wondered if the same had happened to her, and she'd just... slept through it. She must be a hell of a sleeper.

"That must have been quite frightening, Mademoiselle Snow, to wake up in a strange place all alone?" He asked, with genuine concern. "Nothing... untoward happened to you, did it?"

[Snow White]

"A solider" Snow repeated so he knew she understood the clarification. Snow had never met a solider before. She had always pictured them as rough and unkind due to their unfortunate occupation. She didn't like to dwell on a solider's job, but she had to wonder how such a sweet person could go out into battle? He had manners at least, so perhaps he was a kind of different solider.

Snow blinked away her thoughts as Phoebus spoke again. "No not asleep, that's not right..." Snow said, suddenly feeling quite odd. It was like another voice in her head was trying to tell her a secret that she couldn't quite hear. Except it was something she already knew and had lost somehow. Had she fallen asleep or was it something else. Snow couldn't hold onto the train of thought and then felt guilty for saying something so silly at all. "Oh well, I suppose I must have fallen asleep" She giggled.

"Oh yes it was a bit frightening" Snow said, wide eyed and nervous. It was a very odd experience, of course, but her expression soften into a smile as she continued. "But I've met friends and I feel much better now." Snow paused, thinking on his last question. Had something bad happened to her? "No..." she said, but she wasn't quite convinced. "No, I don't think so" She said, feeling once again like she was missing something.

[Phoebus]

He frowned, a little confused at her change in thought and sudden backtrack. As she spoke he watched her - he was pretty sure something not great had happened to this girl, but she either didn't understand it, was repressing it, or couldn't remember it. He wondered if she might have amnesia, and whether there was a doctor here that might be able to help her. He remembered that Lancelot had mentioned being a medic, and wondered if maybe he should take the girl to him, see if he could do anything to help.

"It's good you've made friends here..." He said carefully, watching her. "Everyone needs good friends to take care of them. Perhaps we can be friends too, Mademoiselle Snow." He didn't know what it was, perhaps it was the total naivety that gave her a sense of vulnerability, but Phoebus felt the need to protect this girl, that she'd need taking care of. Of course, his in built need to rescue damsels in distress had a lot to do with these feelings as well.

"Mademoiselle - are you sure you're alright? You don't seem entirely sure... perhaps I could take you to see the medic?"

[Snow White]

"Oh, yes" Snow said, hold her face and looking bashful as he spoke. "I would be very pleased to call you my friend" She grinned, giggling a bit. "After all, you can never have to many friends" She said, leaning forward and raising a finger to emphasize her wisdom. The birds twittering around her seemed to agree and chirped their approval. Phoebus then touched on her uncertainty and Snow felt a knot form in her stomach. Snow didn't much like to dwell on unpleasant things. Though she couldn't quite decide why, this made her feel unpleasant.

"Oh no no" She insisted. "Please don't fuss" She said, waving a dainty hand at him. She felt a strange desire to stay as far away from a medic as possible. There was nothing wrong with her, after all. Thankfully it was in this moment that the owl she'd sent away returned. He had a dark glass bottle in his talon and, with a bit of difficulty, flew over to Snow. She took it gratefully. "Thank you, friend!" The label on the bottle said Ginger Ale. That was right, wasn't it? Snow grew closer to Phoebus and offered it to him.

"I hope this is right" She added, shyly. "I'm afraid my friends and I are not very familiar with Ale."

[Phoebus]

He really wasn't sure if this girl was for real, or if she was having him on. Surely no one could actually be this pure and naive and innocent? He appreciated that the people in this place had all apparently stepped straight out of storybooks, but this girl was something else. How had this girl survived so far like this? She would have been eaten alive in Paris.

He frowned slightly at her refusal of a medic - he really was concerned about this girl, and he was tempted to drag her to see the medic. She was small enough that he would have had no trouble sweeping her up and carrying her. But he resisted, allowing her to trust her own instinct. "All right, if you insist." He said quietly. "But I really do think you should get yourself checked over. Just to make sure everything's definitely alright."

He glanced up as he saw a bird returning, a bottle in it's talons, and smiled. Ale, thank god. He needed a drink, this place was just too weird. He wouldn't have been surprised if half the residents were borderline alcoholics. It seemed that it was probably the only way to get your head around everything.

He took the bottle from her with a smile, the smile fading as he looked at the label. "Ah. Not quite what I was after..." He started, before looking up at her and giving her an awkward smile. "But, ale is ale, right? This one's probably better for me anyway, so... thanks." He inclined his head to her, before glancing at the owl that had brought it and giving it an awkward salute. "And, er... thanks to you too."

He knocked the cap off the bottle on the stone of the fountain and brought it up to his lips to drink, before pausing and offering the bottle to her. "Erm... would you like some?"