EVENT: Suddenly Standing At The Beginning With You

[Panic]

The cold final words of his dark and powerful companion still rang loudly in his ears when he stumbled onto cracked pavement. Having been acutely aware of being in the presence of other since his creation, Panic froze for a beat. His hand were shot out in front of him, ready to catch himself should the wind blow too hard. He didn't look up, but starred at the ground near his feet for a total of three beats while several thoughts raced through his head. I'm not alone, He thought, the agonizing sensation of eyes watching him gripped like a noose around his neck. I recognize this ground, was the thought that came next. Panic had spent a lot of time staring at the ground in life. The shape and texture of these particular bits of pavement and earth clawed at his heart as a thousand old memories ached inside him. However, someone had let the ground change a bit since he'd last seen it. It was older. Like him.

The third and final thought to crash into Panic's mind was that he had orders and he had rules. Standing here frozen like an idiot did not qualify as exemplary in either of these categories. So, slowly, with much effort, Panic eased himself into an upright position. He locked his hands carefully behind his back and squeezed them til his knuckles where white. He was as pale and sickly looking as ever, but he controlled his expression to display something close to calm. An old twitch came back in the form of a few rapid, hard, blinks, before he was able to carry his blue eyes from person to person. He recognized very few of them, making friends what never his forte. Still, he knew where he had seen the few he'd seen before. Tintagel. If the ground hadn't been enough of a clue, he was now certain. Still, he couldn't be sure if this was some kind of illusion or not. Everything was just slightly left of center. Everyone wasn't quite the same as before and the school appeared to be overgrown and under kept. His eyes lingered on a few vines before he saw her.

Della. His eyes rapidly blinked a few times again and then darted to the ground. Della? No. She was gone. He was never going to see her again. This was the mantra he'd been chanting in his head for ten years. This was an illusion. It had to be. Just another cruel trick. He had to follow the rules. He was being watched, certainly. On his left hand a dark ring felt like it was cutting into his skin.He adjusted the way his hands were gripped together to make certain it was hidden.

[Naveen]

So there were clearly several people standing around being quite worried about their new situation. It had been years for everyone, and this time the transportation seemed to be a little more abrupt than it had necessarily been in times past. People yanked from their homes, deposited somewhere both familiar and not, seeing faces they hadn't seen for years. Ah, but that wasn't even considering the mystery of it all, now was it? The simple fact that not even the one who would become synonymous with magic could determine precisely what happened, or why time flowed awkwardly for everyone. Yes, awkwardly, because apparently some people just left and others were now a decade older. Read the other threads. God.

Right, so Fate could have intervened at this point. Perhaps dumped the wise wizard Gandalf onto the scene. Or delivered a certain queen known for her quick thinking (or even a new icy one that's not really all that different; Fate clearly has a type). Or we could add another to the growing number of familiar faces by dumping the knight errant onto the scene.

But apparently Fate has a sense of humor, because instead...

"Hello all you wonderful people!" A complete strange, grinning like an idiot (not a bad description really) sauntered up toward the group, deftly stepping around some rubble. A nice pair of brown slacks covered his legs, while a vest and rolled up shirt covered his top. The hand not currently waving was holding a guitar in a loose grip. And his face split in a bright smile. "It is good to see people here! I did not think there would be quite so many, but I suppose that word of my arrival has of course proceeded me." He stopped just short, looking at the gathered people. "You are all looking very serious," he looked to the pajama wearing one (Mumble, Fate is so sor--) "This one looks very sad. And those clothes are just..." Naveen clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Who is in charge here? Because I seem to have lost my bags. Is it you?" he pointed toward the one with the gun (Gaston, unless everyone's packing, but it's definitely Gaston he's pointing at). "You look very much in charge. And quite handsome, I must say," Naveen chuckled, before looking around. "Actually, besides the pajama one, we are all a very handsome group, no?" Naveen kept smiling, already starting to bob a little. Clearly at least someone was happy to be here. He did at least glance over at the nervous blonde one who'd arrived only a few moments before. He seemed quite taken with the girl. Naveen probably would have said something, but really, he'd done quite a lot, and god-moding is just so passé.

[Merlin Emrys]

Arthur's response was not actually as helpful as it might have first appeared, it could be true that more time had passed between him stepping through the portal and Arthur following back in Camelot than it had here, but it could also be true that Arthur's version of 'incredibly late' was 'you weren't there when I wanted you to be', and thus could mean anything from twenty minutes to three seconds, depending on how stressed he was at the time.

And then Gaston and Arthur did their Gaston and Arthur thing and Merlin had to resist the urge to facepalm. He wasn't surprised by the way they chose to celebrate their reunion, but really, couldn't it wait a little longer?
At least Della seemed to be on the same page, and Merlin found himself nodding.

"It seems that way, wibbly wobbly is probably the best way to put it. One day I thought it would be an interesting thing to study, but, well, life doesn't always work out the way you intend." he shrugged, his tone was actually a little fond - to be honest, who'd have thought that all those years ago when he became Arthur's manservant that he would end up in love with the prat? His closest advisor? Instrumental in stopping the persecution of magic users in Albion? If you'd told him that at the time, he'd have laughed in your face.

"He is," he confirmed to Della with a sigh "And I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but he is actually a very good one."

And then something strange happened. Someone new arrived. Someone with apparently no ability to read the tone in the room. Or courtyard at least. But then, Tintagel had always been full of that kind of person.

"Okay," he said "So, the portals are dragging people back, more time has passed here than anywhere else so far," he turned to Naveen "I don't believe we've met, my name is Merlin, have you been here at Tintagel before?" it could be that Merlin just didn't recognise him, the school had seen a lot of people over time.

"Either the portals are malfunctioning or there's some purpose to us all being here."

[Gaston]

Gaston seriously considered changing his tackle/pin of Arthur into a bear hug, but caught himself in time. That would have been a mistake of epic proportions, one of which the consequences didn't even bear thinking about. No, no, better to stick with the jovial violence, he didn't want Arthur, or anyone else for that matter, thinking he had softened with age.

He was especially glad at his decision at Arthur's next move. His perfect hair, so expertly grown, styled, and pulled into the perfect ponytail with just the exact right amount of quiff, ruined in a second by Arthur's huge great man hands. "Arghh!" He roared in frustration, attempting to pull Arthur's arm from around his neck and failed, noticing instead that Arthur's move had left him completely vulnerable.

With a quick punch to Arthur's side - hard enough to wind him but light enough not to do any real damage - Gaston managed to pull himself from Arthur's grip and deftly leap to his feet, hands immediately smoothing and fixing his hair. "That's Captain Frizzy-Hair, thank you very much." Gaston said pompously, puffing out his chest and flicking dust from his red Captain's jacket.

His eyebrows raised as he heard Della's question and Merlin's response. He turned back to Arthur with an incredulous look on his face. "You're a King now?" He scoffed at Arthur, before bending into a highly elaborate and mocking bow - one leg stretched forward, his right arm crossed against his chest and his left arm held high above him as he bent low at the waist. "God help Camelot!"

He was still mid-bow when the newcomer arrived. Straightening up and picking up his gun to hoist onto his shoulder once more, and looked at the stranger, an eyebrow raised. He straightened his shoulders and smirked at Arthur as the stranger addressed him as the leader, wiggling an eyebrow in a mocking way at his identification as leader of the now King. His appreciation for the stranger increased further at his acknowledgment of Gaston's undeniably good looks.

"I like him..." He stated, grinning at Arthur. "Who is he?"

[Della Miller]

This time when someone arrived, she was so distracted by the sheer level of immaturity that she didn’t notice right away. This someone was so quiet that she had enough time to respond to Merlin; “Well, I’ll take your word for it, Merlin,” and it was only because she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye that she even realized they had another newcomer and…

Her heart could have stopped right there. You would think that the moment you were hoping for coming would come with your reflexes being ready for it, yet she was frozen for what felt like hours as she processed that this was really happening. Nothing else that was going on around her mattered, not the sudden arrival who seemed a bit too full of himself, as she tried to decide if she was hallucinating…but if we’re going to apply logic to Tintagel (which is probably ill advised, but it was all she had)…if none of these guys were an illusion, that meant neither was he…

Which meant…which meant a smile crept on her face.

“Panic!” she finally cried out, and in a much more joyful voice than the last time she did that (never ever think of the war again, not when it’s what got them into this mess where it was ten years before they saw each other again). She raced to him in a way her teenage self would have certainly scoffed at, but that little pretentious nitwit could go home and rethink her life. She was THIS close to throwing her arms around him but she realized that he looked just as jittery as always, and gods, after all this time, he probably would need a minute to process all of this…still, her hands found their way to his arms, as she took him in through eyes like a sun shower, bright yet teary.

“Gods, you’re here, you’re alive, I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW there was a chance!” The urge to hug him increased but she stopped herself, refusing to cause him more discomfort than he already had, but…he had to know. He had to know. Breathless, she held up her left hand, revealing the ring he had given her before the world went to Hell.

“See? I told you I’d make it out…and I never gave up on us.” I wanna marry you, Panic, she wanted to add, but again, he seemed overwhelmed as he often was. She could give him a second to breathe…

Now she COULD vaguely hear what was going on, now that she was waiting for Panic to realize it was going to be okay (at least…she hoped so…because it looked like her theory of everyone being sent to their homes was correct, which meant Panic was likely in the Underworld this whole time….but no, she wasn’t going to jump to conclusions, they could figure this out….), and…yeah, who the hell was this? She already was wary of him because he complimented Gaston. Like, no, do not encourage him New Guy.

Seeing as Merlin was the only one making sense right now, she turned to him. “I’ve got a feeling it’s for a purpose…” Or at least it’s helping mine…getting back with the people I belong with… Her gaze turned back to Panic, and she smiled again. "Gods, if it weren't for how bat guano crazy it was around here, I wouldn't care why..."

[Panic]

There was the slightest sensation of relief when another newcomer gladly took the attention off his hands. From his left, he felt the crippling pressure of eyes reduce as they took a keen interest in whomever decided that this was apparently a party for him. Panic didn't look up, but guessed he didn't know him. He didn't recognize his voice. Panic usually remembered people pretty well, even if he had only seen them in passing. Even the tiniest of interactions tended to leave him with some sort of emotional scar. Conversation continued and it seemed he had gotten away with remaining unnoticed. This wasn't uncommon for Panic. The demon hardly ever made a sound and had a natural way of blending into the shadows. Perhaps she...but no, he could still feel her on his right, her eyes on him. Perhaps she'd forgotten about him? Moved on, he hoped. His eyes remained locked behind him, his body stiff and upright, this is eyes remained down. He tried to focus on what the other were saying, looking for a clue as to why he was here and all the while fearing that his unnamed master would command something of him.

"Either the portals are malfunctioning or there's some purpose to us all being here." One said. Panic thought it must be the later. His companion knew that they were going to open somehow, although if the school was choosing people, Panic found it very hard to believe that the school would choose to bring him back. If it was looking for help or something of the sort, he was about as useful as a wet noodle in a sword fight. The was a split second where Panic thought maybe he could take a breath, Della hadn't made her move and everyone else was busy with something else. Then it happened.

Panic jumped and let out a sharp gasp when she shouted, but he didn't turn to look at her. His hands gripped harder behind his back. Don't, don't, don't he thought. The dark bronze band around his right wrist grew hot and began to squeeze him. He knew what it meant, this was not allowed. He figured it wouldn't be. He could see her running out of the corner of his eye and thought maybe he should run too, but his thought process ran too slow to remember how to use his legs before she was upon his. he still didn't look, but leaned away slightly. Perhaps she got the hint, or thought better of her actions, but he wasn't out of the woods. She put a hand on each of his arms and he shuttered visibly. For a brief moment ten years melted away. His hands parted from behind him. The burning that had crawled up from his wrist and into his whole right arm seemed to fade in the light of her warmth. His thoughts centered and quieted, everything seemed slow motion in comparison to how his mind usually worked. He turned his head to look at her involuntarily. His blue eyes blinked at her brown and he parted his lips at thought he might speak. However, no words came. She was filling the silence anyway, though even her words seemed distant and irrelevant next to her fine and perfect face. She'd aged, but only gotten more beautiful. He only tore his eyes away from her when she raised her left hand and a flash pulled his attention. Dumbstruck and derailed, Panic took a long moment to realize what he was looking at.

A ring. The ring. The ring Panic had given her before they were pulled apart. Agony on many different levels came rushing back to him. His heart burst and shattered for the ten years they'd spent apart. Guilt hit him like a freight train to think she'd never given up when he'd given up within the first year. Then the burning he'd been ignoring reached an unbearable point. Della turned to address someone else and he felt his body return to his control. His heart and head picking up speed. By the time she turned back his eyes had turned brown to match hers, a frighteningly familiar defense mechanism. The burn had reached his chest now and he could barely breathe. In a sudden, sharp moment, Panic stumbled backwards away from his love. Wincing and sweating he tried not to cry out as he flexed his right hand, hoping the pain would soon cease. As soon as he'd backed away, his wristband loosened and fell dormant. Looking as though he'd just been in a war of his own, Panic jerked his head toward the bearded Wizard many had been addressing for answers.

"Can we go back?" he gasped, desperately.

[Cazaril]

It had been a long time since Cazaril had been in the presence of actual magic. Long were the days that he'd watched Morgana, after revealing her gift struggle with powers against her will. Now, it was a memory from long ago in a land he couldn't quite forget about.

Struggling to live in Chalion was his most recent past time. He had been a tutor, and a bodyguard and over the last ten years had established himself again roots that had been otherwise stolen from him.

Now, at least, in the last couple of years he'd settled. He had a hovel of his own, money of his own, and students that came regularly for lessons. It was comfortable. Not really home anymore, but comfortable.

That was all about to change. A flash, and Cazaril's body was torn from his reality and into another one. He was now older than the last time he'd been here. He was no longer the sprite-ly eighteen year old that magic had transformed him into, but almost back to the man he'd been when he had ended up in Camelot.

So arriving in the courtyard, dressed in his Chalion tunic, a face of morning stuble that needed to be tended too, cloaked ready to leave for the day but still looking tired was now turning to look around him. He he was certainly surprised to see familiar faces about him, but they were still coming into focus...

"Oh, this was not what I was hoping to happen to me today..."

[Naveen]

Oh, there was so much going on that it was just making Naveen all the more excited! (though not quite in that way yet; give it time; there are many beautiful people here after all). There were questions and apparently a mystery to be solved (this amused Naveen, though he didn't really care so long as he didn't have to marry anyone in a hurry). There was just so much to respond to!

First things first, clearly respond to the handsome leader sort who happened to be armed. That was just good manners: "I am Prince Naveen of Maldonia! Brought here by the wings of Fate and a magic man who was quite good with cards! Clearly I am here to help liven up this most dead looking place," Naveen looked around for a while, nodding absently. "But I am most definitely liking all of you as well!" he snapped back to the important people. "Particularly you, most strapping and handsome man. Why ,with you, I might not need to beat off the ladies---"

Panic? The word made Naveen jump for a moment, forgetting that he probably should be responding to the bearded one's direct question. He instead twisted to look at the sort of disheveled looking woman. "Why are we panicking? I am no threat or--" he quickly figured it out. "Oh, oh, his name is Panic. My new friend," he nodded to the poor nervous blonde, "your parents must have hated you very much, no? But I see that you are most taken with this beautiful woman! Perhaps you would like to move to somewhere more quiet, eh?" Naveen moved over to nudge Panic. "You nervously striking man you! Getting one of the only women here, bravo!" He nodded again ,and probably would've kept speaking, but there was yet another new person to arrive, which just made Naveen all the more excited, particularly since this was another dashing young man (though Naveen was also hoping that they did not have to fight for attention. He was very pretty, and he very much did not want to get in a duel with the man with the gun or the bearded man or the strange man in the pajamas who looked about to break down or really most of these people. Maybe the nervous blonde one, but Naveen was pretty sure that would be far too much work.)

[Mumble]

There was so much happening all at once. Too much, it was all too much. Mumble put both hands over his face and tried to take a deep breath. Dimly, he was aware of someone saying something about his clothes, and he dropped his hands so they were only covering his mouth, frowning over the tips of his fingers, then lowered them completely.

"I didn't dress for the occasion," he said softly, too confused to be indignant. "I was in bed. I didn't...I didn't know we'd all be here." He was perplexed, mostly because up until this guy had showed up, he had vaguely recognized the rest of them even if they'd never spoken. Now there was a newcomer, and that made him all kinds of anxious. When it was just all people from school from before, it was making at least a little sense, like...maybe he would be seeing more people, specifically one person, showing up soon.

But now there was this guy, and Mumble's sleep-deprived, weary brain was going full speed thinking up all the worst possible reasons that he might be there. What if some people had come back, but some people hadn't, and the portal had sucked in the wrong people instead? What if this guy had taken Andy's spot? He was working himself up into a near-panic, and he looked around, eyes round and wide, suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable in his bare feet and pajamas.

"We have to find out where everyone else is!" he blurted out, nigh hysterical, his voice cracking slightly. "We can't just stand here, we have to see if...what if they're out there, and...I just need some shoes."

[Giselle]

Giselle watched everyone interact with interest. Though it was very difficult to hear that everyone else seemed to have been away for years. She has only been away for days. Everything was still so fresh in her mind about the terrible war. But, as she looked around, it seemed that time has passed differently here too.

As more people appeared Giselle felt determined that they really must do something. They couldn't all just stand here. The school was such a mess. She wanted to roll her sleeves up and jump right into getting the place looking nice and clean. And if she was going to do that, then she was going to need a little help. She looked off into the trees and have her musical little call. And several moments later a small group of cropped has risen out of the trees and landed close to her. "Hello friends. I'm Giselle. It's very nice to meet all of you." A great raucous rose in response and Giselle had to wait until it had died down to speak again. "Could someone find this man a pair of shoes?" She asked, pointing over at Mumble. "And perhaps we could get some water." A few of the crows flew away. The rest looked at her expectantly.

Giselle turned back to the rest of the group. "Perhaps before we figure out why were all here we should figure out where we're going to be sleeping. I don't mind sleeping in a tree of course, but I'm sure that the rest of you don't want that. And some of us," here Giselle have a significant look at Panic, "might want to rest sooner rather than later." She also gave a quick look over at Mumble. "I think we can get everything sorted out soon!"

[Dimitri]

“Sorry, fellahs, looks like this is my lucky night.” Laying his cards on the table, a clear winning hand, Dimitri smiled at the three other men.

They did not smile back.

Pulling on his coat, he started to gather up his winnings, stuffing them into his pockets and talking the whole time. “I really hate to run, but the missus, she gets really upset if I stay out too late. Women, right?” Of course it was all a lie, there was nobody waiting for him, nobody that cared when he came home, or if he made it home at all. Just a cold bed in his small flat he could barely afford to heat.

To be entirely honest, pretty much everything he had told these guys tonight was a lie, starting with “I don't know, I'm not very good” and ending with “tomorrow I'll give you a chance to win it back.” Settling his hat onto his head, he stepped away from the table.

The men did the same.

“Now fellahs, you don't have to walk me out, I'll be fine,” he said in his most charming voice, starting to back toward the door.

The men advanced toward him.

Aw hell. In the blink of an eye Dimitri turned and bolted for the door, vaulting over a table in his way while the other men rushed around it, one of them crashing into it. Dimitri didn't slow. Pushing through the door and out into the freezing Russian winter, he slid into a change of trajectory and took off around the corner of he building down a long narrow alley. He had only made it half a dozen feet when he slid to a stop, eyes wide and a gasp on his lips. At the end of the alley there was a very distinct glowing light, and he felt it deep in his bones, his soul, his heart. He felt that pull, but his first instinct was to take a step back. Too many memories washed over him in a rush; good ones, bad ones. Why? Why now? Why here? Four years had passed, and now this? He could turn around and walk away, but it felt like a magnet drawing him closer. He couldn't go back there, not after what he'd done, after what they all thought he'd done...

He heard shouts behind him, the men, all much larger than him he had noted, getting closer. A certain pummeling, or and uncertain reunion. Maybe he didn't like what was inside sometimes, but he did quite like his face, and as miserable as he was he didn't have a death wish. Hell, maybe he deserved whatever lay through that portal.

“Geronimo...” Making a mad dash for the portal he dove inside, rolling into a summersault and skidding across the cobblestones to come to a stop sitting on his ass, hat askew. Pushing it back out of his eyes, he looked up at the fairly decent sized group that was already assembled. Some familiar faces, some not, and one in particular that made his body stiffen. He was probably on bad terms with everyone, but none so much as Arthur Pendragon. Maybe he should have stayed behind and accepted the inevitable ass kicking. “If we were going to have a reunion, someone could have at least cleaned up the place first.”

Always lead with a joke.

[Arthur]

As Gaston drove the punch into his side Arthur let out an ‘oof’ and released his grip on the Frenchman. It had caught him off guard more than hurt and he laughed as he too got to his feet. It was that moment that something changed for him, because he had been about to do something that he had suddenly realised he couldn’t. He was about to call for his ever present right hand man in regards to such tussles, his little minion he could set upon his foes whilst Arthur got his breathe back…however…said little person…was not here. Which was when for the slightest of moments, there was a slight panic in Arthur’s eyes, a bit of tension came into his muscles and his look turned that little bit more serious as he looked around the courtyard.

However he tried to push it back down, ignore it for the moment and enjoy this impromptu reunion with his friends. There would be time to sort these things once they got back…’if’ they got back.

He looked over at Gaston as he proclaimed himself Captain Frizzy hair and smiled. Yes, for now he could just enjoy this moment with…yes…he was going to think it…his friend…

…but there was no way in hell he was actually going to say it. That would be too far. Still, he really had to fight down the urge to just step forward and give the big dumb brute the man hug of his life…no…he would wait until they were a little drunker before initiating that.

“Yes I am a king,” said Arthur in a mock imperious tone, “your bow requires more work peasant.”

However as the newcomer spoke he looked around at him and raised an eyebrow. Oh dear, what a poor, poor, poor judge of character. And of course, Gaston was loving it. Arthur smirked and said, “Yes, so do I, he’s going to be very popular with the girls. I mean he’s young, good looking, they’re going to be all over him.”

Out the corner of his eye he saw Della having some kind of reunion with a nervous young man. He seemed somewhat anxious but Della was capable, she would have the young man feeling better in no time, he was sure of it. Besides his attention was pulled in another direction again when Caz arrived. “Caz,” he said delightedly, “you made it…do you know if anyone else has-”

Which is when Arthur could not help but laugh as the newcomer started to hit on Gaston, oh this was going to be good. Arthur was just about to suggest that he and the boy in pyjamas head off to find him some shoes when someone else arrived.

He turned around to look at them.

Dimitri.

A million different thoughts started whizzing through his head at once as he looked down on the Russian who, in his usual way, decided to crack a joke. There were a million unanswered questions however one stood out against all the others.

Why?

At lot of time had passed since he was last here but that question had stuck with him throughout it. At the moment he was prepared to welcome Dimitri back into the arms of the rebellion, that was when the fool had betrayed him. Why? Why then? Why him? Why not take out more? Why did he wait so long to show his true colours? Why did he choose poison? Why not a knife? WHY?

However…it wasn’t any of those questions that came to mind now. No. It was another one.

There had been a lot of time for Arthur to mull this question over, a lot of time, as he dealt with his father’s death, as he learned how to be King, as he worked tirelessly to help Gwen win her lands back, as he committed himself to the man he loved and as he watched his son grow. Yes. There was a lot of time to think about what had happened, and that question that haunted him.

Arthur walked slowly towards Dimitri, only stopping when he was right in front of him, looking down at him.

Then he held his hand out to him…to help him up.

Arthur wanted answers, and he would get them, by any means necessary.

[Merlin Emrys]

There was a lot going on and one or two of their re-assembled friends were beginning to panic - admittedly one of them was Panic, so that was sort of agiven, but Merlin was inclined to try and help people so he wanted to make sure everybody remained calm.
Leaving Arthur and Gaston to their own devices for a moment, he turned his attention to Panic and Mumble, although Giselle also seemed to have the right idea of getting things sorted out.

"Thank you," he said with a smile at the chipper princess "Hopefully they'll be able to find some shoes, and maybe more suitable clothes for Mumble, that would be a good start. We're going to have to take a look around the place and see where we can stay if we need to, most of the buildings look fairly intact and I'll be able to use magic to provide shelter and warmth if we need it, so that part should be easy enough. In terms of getting home..." he glanced over at Panic, though he couldn't help his gaze straying briefly to Arthur - he would want to get home, and soon, it wasn't that Gwen couldn't handle the kingdom, she was more than qualified, but Arthur had other responsibilities now, ones he took to with great enthusiasm, and he'd want to get back to make sure he was safe.

"We'll find the old portal room and see if the portals are working in return. If they're not currently I'm sure they will be soon enough, it's likely the school wants people here, after all, it was effective enough at getting rid of us all when it didn't... Maybe we should form groups, we can assign jo-" he trailed off at a familiar voice, turning to see Dimitri.
Merlin remembered very clearly how it had felt when he thought he'd lost Arthur, and it was a difficult thing to forgive. Arthur, on the other hand, had been such close friends with Dimitri that Merlin knew he felt the stab of betrayal, so when the king moved towards the newcomer, Merlin held his breath, waiting to see what would happen.

The offered hand was only half a surprise, Merlin had been around to see Arthur mature the last few years home in Camelot, and he knew the man was capable of making reasonable, logical decisions. Still, he also knew how Arthur felt about the way things had been left, and he was still Arthur. Apparently, right now, the responsible king was winning out... he wasn't sure whether or not he hoped that would last.

"Jobs." he dragged his gaze away to go back to what he was saying "Split up maybe, some of us check the portals, others arrange shelter, maybe some of us can take a look around and see if there's any clues, or if the portals are dropping people anywhere else, so we can bring us all together..."

[Della Miller]

Della had spent a long time being oblivious to Panic’s feelings, and maybe it was the time she spent as a proper girlfriend, the investigative experience under her belt, or just maturity, but that wasn’t the case this time. She could see him trying to avoid her gaze at first, but she wasn’t surprised by that. She saw how he was looking at her, seeming so lost and sad, and really, why wouldn’t he be. Those weren’t terribly concerning…and in fact, her concerns became slightly more focused on their newcomer who decided to inform Panic that his parents had hated him for naming him that. Her eyes might as well have become burning daggers. There were a NUMBER of scathing remarks she wanted to say, but again, maturity came to the rescue and reminded her that perhaps picking fights with people wasn’t the best course of action right now…

…nor…nor was having an emotional reunion in front of everyone when her fiancé wasn’t exactly known for handling being the center of attention…

Swearing at herself in her head, she turned her gaze back to Panic….and you might as well have grabbed her heart with a freezing cold hand. His eyes changed to match hers…it had been even longer than ten years since that had happened…that was a habit from their earlier years, before he started feeling comfortable around here…and…and he was in pain, she could SEE that, and her first instinct was to rush to him and figure out what was wrong, but the thought occurred to her that…that this might have been because of her somehow…

My gods, what have they done to you? she wanted to whisper…but….no…no, they couldn’t do this here. Hopefully she could convince him to talk to her in private, that was one thing this Prince Naveen had right, they…they needed to figure out what was going on between them now. Especially if Panic was asking if they could go back…What did I do to you?

Fortunately it seemed that her fellow redhead wanted to help Merlin take charge…to be honest, she was impressed. She wouldn’t have pegged her for the leader type, but what she was saying made sense, and she wasn’t going to let her prejudgments make her ignore that. Plus it was pretty clear she had some sort of magical connection with animals, and she was concerned about Panic’s wellbeing in a practical well. She mouthed a “thank you” towards her, managing a smile despite the fact her heart was breaking and she didn’t even quite know just how bad this could be…because it could be really bad. She knew that.

So no, she had to focus on different things before she dealt with her personal life…although as she was about to talk to Merlin, she noticed his gaze had shifted towards Arthur…who was offering his hand towards someone she THOUGHT she had seen a couple of times back during school but couldn’t place his name. Merlin seemed nervous about this…which had her wondering just what exactly the man had done. She’d have to ask later, but if Merlin wasn’t going to verbally address his worries, nor was she.

“We should probably be in teams, no one should be alone right now. If there is some purpose to all of this portal business, we can’t be sure if things are safe right now. I’m more than willing to look for clues and/or new people, if anyone cares to join me. Clue hunting’s sort of become my thing…” Then she lifted up her AD52. “Plus I’m armed, so that’s a plus.”

[Naveen]

Yet again, there seemed to be quite a lot going on and most of it didn't really seem to involve poor Naveen all that much. He was beginning to suspect that these people did not have their priorities straight... well, beyond getting some of them shoes. That did seem like the sort of thing they should be focusing upon right now. But after that, they really should be more concerned with Naveen and making sure that he was comfortable. Naveen supposed everyone was quite shaken up by the whole transportation magic that seemed to have put them into this new place, so he was willing to overlook it for the time being.

This didn't make things any less confusing for him though. "It seems as if we have yet another new person--ah, that you all know...' Naveen paused for a moment, before looking around ."Are these two perhaps ex-lovers of some kind? Or mortal enemies? Because this gesture of getting up seems rather important..." Apparently everyone was going to ignore that sexual tension. And the other sexual tension. Really, there was a lot of sexual tension, and it wasn't all coming from Naveen! Or the other burly man who clearly radiated sexuality from every pour of his most magnificent being. And didn't the blonde one say something about being a king?

"Yes! We should do the looking about, for I am sure there are people who do not know who you are or where they are who would be very confused by everything that is going on right now," said Naveen, nodding as if he, well, understood what the hell was going on. "Perhaps we should let people go and work out some of this tension, yes? Clearly some of us are in need of alone time," he not-so-subtly pointed at Arthur and Dimitri... then Panic and Della. See? He was very observant. He should be getting credit for that! And volunteering! And not pointing out that they were all leaving him very much confused.