Castle of Loch Ness

[Apollymi]

According to Arthur variation was an important part of diet. Technically Guinevere couldn't argue against this point at all... even so, the man did seem a bit too obsessed with it as an idea. Whatever the case, he'd soon be abandoning his thoughts to comment on, flying bison? Of all the things he took issue with, she was a bit surprised by the innocence of this choice. Another laugh escaped her. "Yes, they fly, some can be domesticated, used as pets by some of the more nomadic humans. But... even they use them for milk and cheese and meat. They can be a bit rough to take down when they are over-level but a single hunt of one can feed a small village for a season, so it might be worth trying," she mentioned. The occasional flying bison was taken down by her father's hunting parties in the past, and they always had meat to eat during the winters of Zuria. There was actually a huge celebration around slaying such a creature, and it was celebrated around her birthday every year. "If big game isn't your style though... it'd be pretty easy to take down some wild boar. Even low ranked hunters can kill quite a few in a short amount of time. It doesn't have yield that is exceedingly high but... they can be gathered with relative ease..." she said giving her suggestions on the matter of game. "Adding those two to the fish would give the sort of variety you are looking for. I am sure fowl is pretty easy to come by as well..." she said with a gentle nod.

While Emilia directed and took care of smaller detailed work, using the chivalrous nature of the knights to avoid physical labor for the most part. Cador and Merlyn continued having a rather cheeky conversation. A scoff escaped Merlyn at his words but Emilia chuckled before averting her gaze and going back to direction maybe she wasn't supposed to be listening. "I feel like I should be offended Sir Cador that you're calling me old~" mentioned the white haired sorceress though she'd made no physical movements she was actually still working. As imaginings of what the other rooms should end up looking like, happened within Emilia's mind she was making sure to make those appear that way. "I haven't lifted a finger and I've done a great deal. I also don't mind... I mean I thought about doing all of this before we reached this place, but I saw a future lecture in it and decided I'd rather not... so this extra work is on you, Sir Cador~" she mused with a narrowing of those eyes beneath her hood. "But here I am, accommodating for the human element, bring a little magical spice to these mundane activities," she said there was actually a pout present on Merlyn's face. No one was giving her any credit the furniture wasn't talking or anything at present. "Besides, I might like the term guardian. Dream Guardian... yeah. I'd take that one~" Merlyn finished with a wistful air about her. All to the continued suppressed giggles of a still directing Emilia. Ah, at least someone liked her jokes aside from Cador. It was quite strange, Merlyn had assumed she'd have a harder time winning the girls over after the last adult woman they'd met had been such a psycho.

[Bloodedge]

"Domesticated. Flying. Bison," Arthur repeated. Guinevere had obviously been in this world for quite some time, but he hadn't. The thought of such a thing was absolutely ludicrous to Arthur, even after seeing and felling multiple mythical beasts during his journey. "I seem like I'm overreacting, don't I? I just can't wrap my head around the idea of a bison with wings. I mean... imagine a group of those things being kept behind a fence," he said, thinking he'd gone a bit far with the thought process. Whatever the case, he could move on without much of a mental struggle. "Anyway, that sounds like a great start. Maybe we can hold off on the bison unless there are a lot of people left here, but fowl means eggs. I'd like to get something together for everyone's dinner tonight, if possible. It shouldn't take much," he said. Little did Arthur know, Hector and Dagonet were currently sending a solid dozen or two stragglers from within the village, toward the castle. The people en route seemed very hopeful for the future, after receiving the word of a seemingly-honorable knight, and having their spirits lifted by the jester. There would be more mouths to feed than Arthur initially thought─

Merlyn would take offense to being called old? How laughable. By Cador's approximation, the sorceress was downright ancient. "Oh? Well if you're going to take offense, be sure to take matters up with my official representative. As you can see, I'm quite busy at the moment~" he quipped. Onto this extra work as Merlyn put it, Cador soon found himself employing the use of a Quasi Spirit to enhance his physical attributes by a great deal. If there was so much to do, he thought he may as well do it with incredible ease. The Spirit Knight found it trivial to take the heaviest tasks unto himself, leaving Sir Elyan with the lighter lifts. "Oh look, Dream Guardian. You've given me a wonderful idea! Why bother with the mundane quality of human effort, when I could use magic?" he asked rhetorically, moving an entire bed about with a single hand. All the while, he wore the snarkiest of grins. "This is all fair game, isn't it?"

[Apollymi]

The fact that Arthur seemed so astonished by the idea of flying bison was a hint at the fact that he truly hadn't been in this world a very long time. He seemed to be aware of this fact by virtue of his speech which only made a casual giggle escape the white haired lass, as he qualified what he thought that creature was. A bison, as they'd known it in their former world, with wings... being kept behind a fence. She supposed if she thought it was something like that she also would have been in wonder. "Hm, I think you have a very wrong idea about what that animal looks like," she said clearing up her mind. "I feel like I should show you so you don't get confused," she mentioned. A second or two after the thought, she opened her hand... it'd been mentioned on several occasions that Guinevere was a mage, now would be one such showcase of ability as she made a scale model of a flying bison out of ice within her hand. It contained a certain extra magic which made it imitate its own movements and looked like a strange cross between a real buffalo and a manatee, with a arrow like marking on its head and 6 legs with three toes each. "This is a flying bison... they fly based on wind magic and live in herds. Their calves are pretty weak and can't fly yet, but when the creatures are fully grown they would be the equivalent of... 10 tons? Yeah, that sounds about right..." she said of the measurement of such a creature. Obviously it was obvious why such a thing could feed the masses. As for the people left, she was sure they'd have an accurate count pretty soon, give all they were doing already, she felt it fine to leave Arthur to the cooking if he was going to be so anal about it.

In the meantime, Merlyn was having a very similar idea. And in credit to her usual antics she was currently creating the kitchen to the sort of specifications that Arthur would most enjoy. She'd call it a gift to him, and watch as he likely warily accepted such a thing. At the same time, she entertained Cador's words which came as more chiding towards her current tier of laughably pouty behavior. "Oh, I'll be sure to... I'll file a complaint!~ Besides a lady is only as old as she feels~" she said with mock indignation. Of course, Merlyn was so old, impossibly old even... and before recent times, unusually lonely... not that any of that mattered at present. She'd never put such a bummer on other people. All the while Emilia kept laughing periodically while trying to cover it. Cador had taken to calling Merlyn the Dream Guardian and even spoken of the use of magic to replace the use of human mundane work with magic. "I mean... a bit of extra magic use would be good for all of you. It will at least help the group at large identify the differences between conditional and activated magics~ Consider it another gift!~" she mused as if this was the only reason she did such things. Magic was soon to be a great separator between groups and making sure everyone had a good combination of skills was part of her job as a Navigator. The group had to reach the end of this great journey and every step should be memorable. "And it's definitely fair, unless you wanted me to just make the furniture move itself. But I am sure that would have gotten me a lecture..." she stated as if it was a completely sound way of thinking.

[Bloodedge]

He had the wrong idea about flying bison. That much was to be expected, but Guinevere had the ability to show him exactly what he should have been envisioning instead. That little showing of ice magic created a visage that was... so very far from anything he could have thought. The thing looked like Cath Palug went through a breeding session with Odin's horse! "Why does it need so many legs?!" he wondered aloud. Nevertheless, he could understand why it fed so many. Ten tons of meat was enough to feed an entire kingdom, yet Arthur would soon come to understand that one of the smaller flying bison might be necessary for the people they would be feeding this night. First though, there was something he had to take care of. A thought had crossed Arthur's mind on their journey to Loch Ness, and it was abruptly returning to his mind here and now. "Ah! I appreciate the show, but I just remembered; there's something I should be looking for! Care to join me?" he asked, stepping away while extending his left hand in offer.

"Well, make sure you include that in your complaint letter. The receptionist should relay any information of importance to me immediately, but... I think I'll take that nap before any business is taken care of. I'm sure that's alright with you," Cador offered as response to Merlyn. True, magic was of great use when performing menial tasks such as redecorating this old castle. Cador began considering what he would do with his own bedroom when the major work was done. Actually, where would his bedroom be? That was worth a few moments of thought as well, though it wasn't important just yet. Even if they had only barracks, the overall atmosphere of Loch Ness would be vastly superior to that of Zuria. Hell, Cador would rather sleep on stone than in the same building as Kolin. "Is the great Merlyn afraid of a lecture? With you treating these little tasks as gifts, I would think better of you," he said in jest while a sofa was moved into place against the wall. "You have an eye for design, Emilia. But... are we quite done moving furniture around? It's not that I'm tired, but I'd hoped we could move on to something else by now."

[Apollymi]

The little ice creature in her hand seemed to show off what the thing known as a flying bison actually looked like. Arthur seemed pleased but also stunned by the number of legs it maintained. "Yes, I also wondered that before... there is a legend about how they walk on clouds instead of actually flying so the need the extra legs to balance themselves. But I feel like that is just people from our world trying to apply logic to magical creatures..." she said with a gentle nod. With its creation appreciated she closed her hand and the ice creation shattered into snow like dust back from whence it came. What was more, Arthur thanked her for the imagery and claimed that there was something he should be looking for. Guinevere's brow rose... what could he be looking for? Well, she was apparently invited to find out. "Of course, I haven't anything on my list... and I am curious about what you're looking for~" she mused, she easily took that extended hand of his, willing to follow his lead while he looked for whatever it was he sought.

At the same time, Emilia seemed to reach maximum satisfaction with this front room. She took in the whole of it and tried to imagine doing the other rooms with this much vigor. She didn't know if her good will in the moment would last so long. "Right right, I'll make a note of it. And be sure to give that receptionist a piece of my mind as well. She should know the kind of man she works for. The kind who would sleep and leave her to suffer the rage of a disgruntled customer~" Oh the joke in this case was going quite far, but amusement was why Merlyn was still living so close to happily. Ah, but there was the matter of her fear of potential lectures. "Fear is a strong word, I find them lacking in fun. No one likes being lectured, Sir Cador... especially not a lady~" she mentioned with a knowing smirk beneath that hood of hers. Still there was a comment directed towards Emilia who seemed to chuckle a little. "Um, yes, this room is as complete as it needs to be. I just wanted it to be homey because it is likely the easiest room to finish..." she mentioned with her fingers slipping around some strands of her hair in a most nervous gesture. "I suppose it would be time to move on to some of the other rooms, for functionality sake. This room, the kitchen, baths and bedrooms have to be livable. Everything else can be worked on as needed," she said as the standard of homemaking. Merlyn would speak up in a second. "I took the liberty of taking care of the kitchen, the baths were reasonable to start with and are cleaning themselves," she mentioned in a haphazard manner.

[Bloodedge]

"A legend, huh? I guess that's what happens when rumors get magical," Arthur said nonchalantly, hardly having the will to think much on how others viewed flying bison. To him at least, they seemed to be a very... interesting visual concept. He wouldn't mind keeping one as a domestic creature, actually. Maybe they were even a friendly sort of beast, unlike the ones he'd encountered thus far. If not, perhaps any attempt to tame one would end the same way his claim of Cath Palug did. He'd find out one day. First, his interest was taken by a great necessity. Guinevere accepted his hand and followed along, and Arthur proceeded to traverse the halls while looking into every room along the way. "I'm King Arthur, right? There are a few things I need if I'm actually going to be calling myself that. I've already got Excalibur and a few knights~" he said with joy. Surely there was at least some semblance of what he sought from his sister's time in Loch Ness. He was positive the proper thing was taken with her, but maybe he could find a prototype or something laying around. "I might not have any luck, but I'm hoping~"

Sir Cador was relieved to hear that they were done with the present room... though that relief disappeared quickly when Emilia mentioned moving to other areas of the castle. He'd almost forgotten how much work went into castle upkeep, and nearly dreaded coming along. Why was it a bad idea to have Merlyn magic her way through everything? The Spirit Knight rubbed his face and sighed, even seeming to drag his feet. "Right. Castles are more than a few rooms, of course. Well, Merlyn has done the kitchen, beds have been put in their respective rooms already... I think it's best to leave bedroom décor to whomever owns each room, no? Besides..." Cador's speech halted just briefly as his gaze lifted. The people of Loch Ness sent by Hector and Dagonet were arriving at last, taking their place in wait within the castle's would-be throne room. It seemed they were given specific instructions, which Cador could only assume were to find the new king in charge─ or perhaps something a bit... more specific, while simultaneously being less so. Time would tell. "I think we have a fiefdom to tend to while our king gets his bearings."

[Apollymi]

Well, what Arthur said was indeed true, and it wasn't as if this was really a thing which should have been an original thought. "Yeah, magical rumors are at least more interesting than regular ones. Way better way to spend one's spare time~" Guinevere said. And she meant it. She'd rather spend her spare time, trying to think about why flying bison actually fly than most other things that could be discussed. Anyways, they were on the move, with Arthur checking every room they came across. Surprisingly enough, none of the rooms seemed to be in serious disrepair. Perhaps this had something to do with Merlyn. "It looks like someone has been hard at work..." she mused gently only to still not understand what the lad was looking for. He claimed he needed to find something perhaps a prototype to help him be King Arthur. His logic being that he already had Excalibur and a few Knights. "Well, sure a few things are necessary to call one's self a king but... you seem to be looking for something very specific~" mentioned Guinevere. She had no idea what he was getting at or why he was playing at coyness but she supposed there was a no harm in his fun in this moment.

Ah, at the same time it seemed the Spirit Knight was finally catching on to the lesson of the day, castle upkeep was annoying. Though that lesson wasn't for him necessarily, Merlyn did know if she'd done everything herself he would have lectured her about her lack of human sense. So... here they were, with her still doing a great deal and no lectures taking place. Sweet victory for the white haired succubus. At the same time Emilia was considering Sir Cador's words. "I mean that would be fine, but shouldn't we check them and make sure they have at least the basics?" she said softly. "Not to worry Emilia, I made sure they had the basics... and are habitable comfortably at base..." Merlyn mused, which seemed to make Emilia quite happy. "And yes there are people. People fall outside of my general purview I'll leave that to you guys and finish up~" Merlyn mentioned. She truly had no intention of directly interacting with the general public, it could have negative outcomes after all. Instead she'd finish up the rooms and make sure all was well within the castle.

[Bloodedge]

Onward and onward Arthur went, never failing to inspect a single open area along his path. What he sought would be obvious the moment he stumbled upon it. He did, eventually, see something that caught his eye. He realized he hadn't been very specific at all, but his mind was racing. There was so much to be done before dinner, and he wanted this particular thing dealt with before the others gathered. Ah, but this was going to require a bit of moving... and piecing together. Either way, there it was. Large, circular, and on its side, was a segmented table that seemed meant to accept another layer on its top. Ah well; it would do for the time being, if he could actually get it put together. "There! The last thing King Arthur needs before he can be called King Arthur, right? Can't have Knights of the Round Table without, well, a Round Table. Think it can be pieced together and dragged down to the courtroom?" he asked, already on the move to lift a segment or two. Surely this was just an early draft for the Round Table, or maybe even a discarded part of the final product. What was with the missing piece? It was obviously replaced if nothing else, considering he'd found it closer to the back of the castle.

Yet another thing would be a non-issue for the knights and Emilia within the castle, thanks to Merlyn. Cador would be sure to show his appreciation at a later time, and the same could be said of Elyan... though the pair had very different methods of execution in mind. The downtrodden of Loch Ness being present seemed to have saved the group from other labors as well, at least in the physical sense. Most who appeared were in a pitiful state. There were children in need of food, men and women who could barely lift a finger to care for themselves beyond moving about, and that was just the start of it all. Perhaps the castle itself was best left on the proverbial backburner until all of these people were stable? "Sir Cador, I do believe you are the best suited to this," said Elyan. True enough, this was far from the first time Cador of Cornwall had to deal with such a thing. Elyan would take care of any remaining furniture repositioning while Cador did what he could with the civilians. "A hand, Lia? I think a good few of our people here need some healing and stabilizing."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough the lad found what he was looking for. Of course, how could Guinevere not have understood exactly what he was looking for? "Oh, of course... I'd completely forgotten about that, the Round Table is supposed to be a staple of King Arthur. I could see it being moved as such," she said with a nod of her own. Of course, such a thing was necessary, lore dictated it, and though they weren't particularly keen to just go along with lore in every case, perhaps there was nothing wrong with sticking to the goodness of it for the sake of uplifting the people and giving this Arthur a good image. "Beyond that I'm sure such a sentiment would go far for morale boosting. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to move it~" she said. Little did this pair know that the courtroom was already set up with chairs and the like to accept this table at its center. It would be such an interesting thing to see what it would turn out like later. In the meantime, Guinevere was content to help Arthur begin to move this table if it was his aim.

At the same time, Cador and Elyan both seemed appreciative of Merlyn's efforts, Emilia was as well, even as the downtrodden of Loch Ness seemed to be gathering in this place. While the little hamlet itself wasn't in terrible condition, the people who'd ended up here seemed to just barely be hanging on. Elyan apparently thought himself outside of the realm of helping these people currently, instead Cador asked Emilia for her help in healing those who'd made their way here. "Of course, Sir Cador... I'm happy to help~" she said taking up at his side content to begin stabalizing any sent her way. In addition to being good at decorating, Emilia had a happy demeanor and currently her innocence and helpfulness would go a long way in ensuring the transition of these new people. She'd take up post, with the children, looking them over and making friends with them as a girl of her age tended to do. At the same time Merlyn all but disappeared, these people would need to be fed, perhaps she could help make that happen a bit indirectly. As such while care was being taken with these people she went on to search for and appear behind, Sir Dagonet and Sir Hector... knowing they could be most helpful for the next aspect of the plan.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course! Lore aside, I can't see myself hanging out with the Knights of No Table. I'd at least like an ovular one or something," Arthur said in partial jest. Piece by piece, he fitted the table segments together. It seemed all the necessary pieces were here, bar whatever was meant to affix itself to the table's top. Though that was strange, the table seemed more than functional without the missing part. Actually, it would suffice as a point of difference between himself and the first King Arthur of this world. Once everything seemed stable enough, Arthur began to roll the large table toward the exit of this room. "Hngh! That's what I was thinking. Teams work better when they've got something to... represent," he announced, heaving his way through each roll of the massive table. Even though it was quite the struggle, he wouldn't be seeking Guinevere's assistance at all. He'd keep putting force into each movement made to roll the table, until he got it where he wanted it.

Meanwhile, with the help of Emilia, Cador tended to the citizens of Loch Ness. He was sure Arthur would appear eventually, but these people needed more than just to wait around for an announcement from a sudden new monarch. Beyond ensuring the peoples' general health, though, there was only so much even the combination of Cador and Emilia could accomplish. Luckily enough, Merlyn disappeared with a plan in mind to be more useful than any could have anticipated. Her path led her to the likes of Sir Hector and Sir Dagonet, both of whom were still scouring the village for dangerous locations and citizens in need of assistance. The sudden arrival of another presence caused Hector to turn about, grasping at the hilt of a sword that would not be unsheathed. Ah... there was no need for concern. Hector heaved a sigh of relief before Dagonet even realized there was someone else inside the building they presently occupied, then bowed to the sorceress. "Hello again, Lady Merlyn. Here to keep watch? We've almost searched everywhere; things seem relatively safe," he proclaimed. Dagonet, however, offered something to the contrary. "Relatively~ the knight sayeth! Far be it from a hu~mble merrymaker to have fright after fright, having no reprieve even to the hands of the eternal magical temptress~"