What Has Tintagel Ever Done For Us (OPEN TO ALL)

[Della Miller]

One of the newcomers seemed incredibly nervous, and even in her tipsy state she couldn’t help but feel bad for him, especially…especially when he mentioned a scholarship. That was how she had gotten in this mess. Well that and for some ungodly reason blurting out about straw into gold…gods, she would have forgotten about that long ago were it not for the weird dreams…point was, here was a nervous young man who was clearly being thrust into this place with no idea why.

She might have to find a way to help him, somehow…gods only know she would’ve liked that kind of help.

…and was it just her or was one of the other newcomers staring at her. By the time she moved her eyes towards him he seemed to have moved on…but her eyes narrowed slightly. He was way too young for her, or at least looked it (who could really tell around here), and if he tried anything she was going to have to kindly get him to back off. Joy.

Merlin was clearly concerned with her…and yeah, maybe he should’ve been. She never really had it together, but now it probably looked like she really didn’t. Which wasn’t true. Right? She totally had things under control, except for the Panic problem. But she could figure this out, she was sure of it…even if he didn’t want her anywhere near him right now.

Hell, with all this talk about bringing the school back, it’d give her an excuse to stick around and try to sort this out. “I can’t imagine we’d do worse at running this school than those who did previously. When the best headmaster a school had was the god of thieves, that’s just goddamn sad, but the fact is the one before him was a murderous dictator who liked to be called "Her Royal Viciousness". No way we can't do better than that. Plus we know what to expect and if any of the newcomers, “ she motioned towards the girl and two boys, “somehow decide they want to stay, we could probably help them.”

…although do you really want to be near this school more often than you have to? she thought, but hell, it was too late to back out now, wasn’t it?

"So yeah...volunteers to clean up. Because this place looks like we should be finding a sleeping princess here somewhere and I've dealt with enough rescue missions that involve True Love's Kiss, thank you. I'll go anywhere you see fit...oh wait, how's the library?"

[William Fenris]

The school was being re-established, the school was going to be safe soon and open. Good. He watched as the older bearded human seemed confused by his letter, which brought a worried look to his face, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Oh....I thought, maybe the headmaster sent it --- but I guess there isn't one at the moment then? A headmaster?" He asked Merlin this, as though Merlin should know. He did seem in charge after all.

He listened to everyone, watched as everyone was interested in him and his letter which made his hunched back unbearably worse, whilst avoiding Buttercup's eyes. He was starting to worry that the wolf might know his truth.

"All I know is, I don't want to go home, I'd like to stay here...even if this letter is a fake, and I can't go to school. If that's okay? I'll help clean up too..."

[Hermes]

Hermes sat with an all too pleasant smile on his face as people discussed this and that around him. Nothing was really all the relevant to start out with. He was here to see who had shown up and, perhaps, make certain they didn't make any decisions that didn't suit him. So far he recognized two of them, both of which he was glad to see. He was particularly glad to see Della had turned to drinking until she started ragging on him right to his face. Ok, so she couldn't have known it was to his face since he was such a brilliant trickster, but still. She didn't say his name so he probably wouldn't have even noticed it if he wasn't here. That made him feel like it was more shady. Della was smart, she probably knew he had a chance of showing up if she mentioned him. On top of the negative words, she didn't want to see him. Rude. Hermes stared at the table to avoid looking annoyed right into her eyes. He wouldn't forget this when he came up with a wonderful plan to reveal himself. Still, this was the part of the reason he had come back undercover anyhow. He didn't want to deal with irritating feelings about how people may have considered him a poor leader and all that.

"If I recall," Hermes said, keeping his tone light despite his annoyance. "He wasn't only the god of thieves."He couldn't help, but clarify. Sure year he liked to steal stuff, but he also had domain over maps and crossroads, travelers, messages and other things of fine repute. He wasn't all bad.

Hermes couldn't help but turn his gaze on the nervous man as he mentioned the headmaster again. He wanted to stay. That was good. He was pretty handsome despite his nerves. One of the girls had mentioned that they both work on sending people home and cleaning the place up. Hermes did not want anyone to go home. What kind of fun would that be?

"I think we all can agree that getting the school back up and running is our first priority. Clearly the school wants help. Who knows if it will even let us leave before we provide it." He interjected, thoughtfully. Hermes actually had no desire to clean anything, but he'd say he would if it meant keeping more people here.

[Giselle]

Giselle perked up at the mention of cleaning. She enjoyed cleaning. It was very cathartic and with so many hands the school would be clean in no time! She was quite confident in that. "Oh, I'll help clean," she volunteered. "I don't mind at all. And I'm sure I can get some of my animal friends to help. They don't seem to mind the work. Isn't that right, Buttercup?"

At this the wolf opened her eyes to look up at Giselle. Then she gave a slight "whuff" and closed her eyes again. Giselle smiled around at everyone. She didn't mind at all if the school only brought her back to make the school clean again. Someone needed to get the job and she didn't mind at all. In fact, she rather liked cleaning. And there was so much cleaning to be done before she could get back to her studies again.

[Merlin Emrys]

"So I think we're all agreed?" Merlin asked, looking around for any sign of dissenting voices. The only disagreement seemed to be with each other, and Merlin found himself giving the young man an odd look when he defended Hermes. That particular administration had been one of the worst, given that his deputy head had been Loki of all people. Or gods.
Still, they were agreeing on the important matters.

"We'll clean the place, get the school set up, and find the portals for those that want to go home. You may be right that the portals might not be working, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out and get people home before their absence causes any problems." he couldn't help but think of Arthur, he knew there were plenty of sensible people left to look after Camelot, but it would be good to know they had a portal to at least communicate with those sensible people, even if they weren't going home right away.

"Did anybody have anything else they wanted to add while we're all here?"

[Judy Hopps]

Judy listened to everyone else, glad to hear that they were all more or less on the same page. Some clearly wanted to stay here more than others, or were at least happier about being here, but they did all seem to think that they needed to clean the place up. Hearing so many people in agreement had Judy swelling slightly. It felt like home, even if everyone here appeared to be hoo-mans.

"We should probably focus," said Judy, nodding. "Like, if there's some place the portals are stored, we need to make sure to clean that,' she started counting off on her paw. "And we've got to get the library cleared. That'll give us lots to work with research wise,' she nodded to Della, who'd already mentioned. "And food." She tapped her paw. "Shouldn't we set up some sort of sign up system? That way we're pulling our work into areas."

She looked around, wishing that there were a whiteboard or even a chalkboard or something. "Because if we all just leave here going our separate ways, we won't accomplish much. But if we can focus and get organized and work together..." Judy trailed off, glancing back at Merlin. She found herself reaching up, petting her too small ears. "Err, sorry. Didn't mean to, ah, take over or anything. I just... think we should make sure this place is great. For those that need it," she glanced at Will, who seemed to be the most in need out of their little grouping.

[Della Miller]

...oh that poor boy definitely needed to be protected. "Nonono, listen, this school used to take anybody, I mean, look at me, and I fail to see why we need to stop now. Like...trust me. We won't send you home if you don't want to go..." Gods, who knew what this kid was dealing with back at home. All Della could think of was how she should've found a way to keep Panic away from the Underworld or wherever he had been for the past ten years, but she didn't and couldn't, so like hell she was going to fail this far less nervous, but probably no less tragic kid. And just...yeah. Despite feeling like she belonged there, Della was more than aware she was far too ordinary for this place. She was friends with Merlin and Alyss, for gods' sake. She wasn't the stuff of legends like that. Only thing special about her was a stupid slip of the tongue she still couldn't explain. Everything else she forced herself to know because of this place, it wasn't what earned her a spot...seriously, why was she here? Why, if she couldn't even help the people she loved?

Fortunately, before she could start rambling to herself about her inadequacy, one of the unfamiliar faces piped up about Hermes, and she narrowed her eyes. Admittedly, she ALMOST felt bad for calling him that. Despite everything, she had respected the god, almost considered him a friend...probably stupid...still, at the boy's insistence on defending him, she answered, "I know that. I knew him...doesn't mean I was thrilled at him being Headmaster...", just as an idea started to sink in...because who would've really defended him? And this boy kept acting like he had been here before, and while she would fully acknowledge she didn't know EVERYONE, she doubted she'd have forgotten that smug little face...

...you know what, she wasn't going to touch that one. If her budding theory was right, she just was not. Going. To. Touch. That. One. Least of all while still tipsy. Nope. She didn't need this.

Instead to glanced towards the new girl and....damn. She was intense about this for someone who was never here before... "No, go ahead...Merlin even said, if you wanna add anything...seems like you know what you're talking about."

[William Fenris]

"It did? It would? I really don't want to go....if that's okay with you all...."

Will felt a little under attack in the moment that everyone seemed to want to tell him about his letter, about the school. His eyes just fell to it again and fell quiet, listening carefully as everyone had someone to say. He wasn't good in groups, not like a wolf should be.

That and someone mentioned gods, and his only god was Fenrir. He had a lot of things to get used to here. 

"I --- I um ---"

He wanted to offer his help, but there were too many voices, too many other personalities clashing over him, so he decided to be quiet, and stay that way, watching as others spoke instead. 

[Hermes]

Hermes felt like the situation would be winding down any moment now by the way Merlin was speaking. They hadn't done much but decide that they need to clean to school or whatever. Hermes was hoping so more intense decisions would be made, but simply being included at the table where anything was decided was better than nothing. At least he had the information now. He logged in away for use in the future. This place made his powers a bit different. It was more challenging to get the information that he needed to set traps and have fun, but that was a bit of the excitement. He know what he was getting on that front when he had stepped through the portal, there wasn't much use in complaining about it now. He was thinking about trying to steer the conversation back to the headmaster dilemma in hopes of putting his two cents in on that matter, but He'd seen several suspicious eyes on him when he'd defended himself. The was perhaps a small error that could be worsened by bringing up such matters again. Best just observe for now and try his hardest to keep a decently low profile. This was asking a lot of himself, but he was certain he could do it.

"Hermes, sir, I hate to bother you in a meeting, but that Harpy from Minnesota has called nineteen times now about- "Not now" Hermes mumbled to himself, trying to focus on where the conversation was going next. One of the women was speaking more on cleaning up and Hermes tried to keep the distaste out of his face as he listened. Hermes did not want to clean anything. He would if it meant keeping people around and possibly gaining more people, but he did not enjoy the idea of him, a god, being forced to clean. He couldn't very well say no if everyone else here was going to help. Ugh.

"Are we paring off then?" Hermes asked casually. "I'll help wherever I'm needed" he said with a charming smile. Being considerate was a lot of work.

[Mumble]

A door slammed closed somewhere, in one of the halls to the outdoors, and some particularly soggy footsteps preceded a pair of late arrivals. Mumble had been planning to come to this meeting, on time, of course, but it turned out that carrying a mermaid up from the lake was a bit more difficult than he'd anticipated. He shuffled into the room, looking exhausted and still pretty damp from rolling around in the lake with said mermaid, and set Andrina down on the end of one of the couches before collapsing onto the floor at her feet. Well, not her feet, because she didn't have those, but he sat on the floor where her feet would have been if she'd had them.

"I'm sorry we're late," he said, utterly out of breath. His sweater was dripping a little still, and smelled like lake water, his jeans were stuck to his legs, and as he pulled off his shoes, water dripped out of those as well. "We got a little held up. Someone forgot to give my gi-...fiancée a set of legs."

He sat back, reaching up to take Andy's hand, giving her a reassuring smile. They'd just wait until the meeting was wrapping up and then he would talk to Merlin about the legs and everything would be alright.

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin smiled at Judy, there was something about her industriousness that reminded him of an old friend. He wondered if he would get to see Cimorene again, or if she'd moved on to bigger things. Judy seemed to have a similar organisational streak, even if she was a bit more pushy about it.

"You'll find that locating each other is easier than you'd expect in a place like this, especially for those of us who have a little magic on our side," he grinned "But if you'd like to stay after the meeting we can discuss creating a sign up sheet and station for people to clean specific areas, if that's something you'd like to run?" delegating jobs seemed like a good idea, especially when there was so much to be done

"You're all free to leave just now," he turned his attention to the room at large "But if you want to discuss anything particular feel free to stay and talk for now. This dorm building has been cleaned up so anybody who doesn't have a place to stay feel free to come here. If you want to help out with anything or keep up to date with what's going on, I'll make sure to keep notices up both here and in the courtyard, so check there for what's going on. Thank you all for everybody who's volunteered to help out."

When mumble arrived with Andrina...well, not so much in tow as in arms, Merlin nodded to him.
"I'll fill you in on everything in a moment Mumble, and we'll see if there's anything we can do about the leg situation..."

[Andrina]

Andy was infinitely relieved to be set down. She kept holding her breath as Mumble carried her, holding tight and willing herself to be lighter and easier to carry. She felt guilty that he had to do this, despite the fact that she knew full well that he wanted to. She felt helpless and useless without her legs on land. She didn't want to be a burden. Yet, these thoughts were overpowered by the security that she felt in his arms and the certainty that he was doing this because he loved her, not just to be nice. It was a stupid thing to dwell on anyhow. They were together, they were headed toward a solution, they were going to get married. She could deal with the awkward guilt of having to be carried around. Besides, she was being carried by Mumble. She got to hold on to him. She never thought she'd be able to do that again. Unlike him, she'd given up.

She tried to push that out of her head as Mumble crumpled to the ground beneath her and began to speak. Andy took a look around the room. She only recognized a few. The woman with the flask she seemed to think she'd seen around and she was pretty sure the man at the front with a beard was Merlin. They both looked older too. Not as old as the school. Andy would have had to have been blind to not notice the overgrown nature of many of the buildings on the way. What exactly had happened here? Was it all because of the war?

Andy's attention was torn back when Mumble corrected his speech to include the word 'fiancee.' Her heart did a leap and she smiled, looking a little embarrassed by the joy it brought her in front of a room of mostly random people. She reached down and readily grabbed his hand as he moved his toward her. She felt red in the face as she smiled back at him lovingly. Andy had once sworn off love. After all this time it still felt odd to display it in front of a crowd. She wasn't opposed to attention, but she didn't love the idea of getting it from their engagement. It felt a bit like an intrusion. Still she smiled, because she was too happy to let her anxious heart take over.

[Judy Hopps]

Judy looked to the older redhead as she said to go ahead, and she likely would've started up, technically ignoring the lanky fellow behind her (who she would not be ignoring later), but there was this whole mess. The sight actually had Judy flailing and jumping for a moment. "What happened to that fish!?" she yelled, eyes gaping. Somehow there was a poor fish who had only been half-transformed into a hoo-man, which looked like something out of a pure horror movie to her.

Everyone else seemed completely okay with this? Something about magic? Judy was about to freak out anyway, but she realized that they'd mentioned something about pairing off and a list.

"Right..." she said, trying to refocus on the task at hand and ignore the abomination of nature. "The sign up sheet is probably the best bet," she turned to point. "We can set up a board with all the areas listed and let people pair off. That way we can get good groups together and make sure to clean up the school in a sensible, together fashion. We can star the areas that need the most work. I"ll put it up after everyone leaves,' Judy nodded, flashing another nervous grin before looking back at the fish-abomination. Could someone do something about that soon, please?

[Della Miller]

Her heart was breaking by this point, gods, he was so nervous and clearly just wanted to belong and if she were any drunker she’d definitely be crying right now. “You don’t have to, promise, we’ll figure this out and are more than happy to have new students, kid, don’t you worry, okay?” She would’ve said more, but it was clear he was getting overwhelmed…gods, was he just like…he kind of was, wasn’t he? At least in terms of how nervous he was. At least he could string sentences together, but…gods, that was heartbreaking. She needed to do something, she needed to—

Thennnnn came the guy carrying in a mermaid that was apparently his fiancée. If this wasn’t Tintagel she’d be wondering who the hell spiked her drink.

And…the hyper efficient newbie called her a fish. Was…was that offensive to merfolk? She really didn’t know much about merfolk now that she thought of it. That sounded like something that would be offensive…and wait, furthermore, who sees a merperson and assumes something bad happened to a fish?

"...I...I'm guessing you've never seen a mermaid before...or even heard of one..." Della let out a low whistle, checked her flask for any extra drops. There were none…damn. It was really tempting to run off by this point, since she was pretty sure her threshold for madness was wearing thin...

“Yeah…yeah, I’ll…I’ll sign up when the sheets are ready…” she mumbled. "You know...I think I will go, Merlin. I'm not helping much and this is getting ridiculously awkward..."

She slipped out of her chair and offered two thumbs up to everyone she was passing by in order to get out of here. “So…see you later, we’ll…” She pointed towards Merlin. “We’ll talk soon. Definitely.” Then she turned towards the younger boy. “And you. If you need someone to talk to, I’m all ears and I’m usually around, ‘kay? Whenever you’re ready. No pressure.” Her eyes glanced towards the smirky newbie…yeah, she had her suspicions, no comment there or she’d voice them and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the fallout of that. Then to the rest of them: “Good luck with the wolf, good luck with the mermaid, good luck with that mild faux pas and…yeah. Bye.”

She turned around, hoping that there would be no more reasons to stay, at least until she got her brain back together.

[Naveen]

"Why hello everyone!" said a reason to stay. Naveen, as per usual, was barging in precisely where he was not welcome and most likely not really invited in the strictest possible sense. He had his guitar strung over his body, and his face was split into a wide grin.

"I'm sure you all remember me," he said, bowing. "I am Prince Naveen, of Maldonia! And i am here to play you a new song at the request of our Headmaster. It is called 'The Best Man for the Job,' and it is an original composition. I rushed it, but I think it is quite good."

Naveen strummed his guitar a few times, getting ready, ignoring everyone else and any and all noises that were coming, not to mention the protests. In reality, most people were probably just staring at him at this point. He started bobbing as he sung;

"Oh he's the best man for the job, the best man for our job, to lead us all and make us not a mob, he's the best man for the job! ~" he strummed and all but pranced about the gathered people, again, ignoring the stress and the well meaning planning and the boards and pretty much just doing whatever the hell he wanted. "He cleared out the office and set up shop! He's fought his way to the top. He's the best man for the job, our Headmaster Gaston~" Naveen strummed. "Gaston will do what it takes, make no mistake. He'll throw you out a window, don't you know, he's the best man for the job, our Headmaster Gaston~

Yes, the song continued. Please don't make write more. It's physically painful.