fh_trips | The Crown Princess - Monday [Ship/Princess Cays, Bahamas]

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spring break 2009: crown princess cruise

The Crown Princess - Monday [Ship/Princess Cays, Bahamas]

Early in the morning, the cruise director came over the loudspeaker announcing the port of the day and some on-boat activities of interest. Those paying attention would learn that from 9am until 5pm, the Crown Princess would be docked in the lovely Princess Cays, Bahamas where guests were welcome to participate in glass-bottom boat, snorkeling, or beach excursions for a portion of the day. Adults were encouraged toward the Sanctuary on the Sun Deck for a more private way to relax away from the teens.

[OOC: The Princess Bridge Cam is fantastic. Cabins Post | Star Deck | Sun Deck | Promenade Deck | Cays Cruise | Snorkeling | Beach]

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"He hasn't done anything worth writing songs about yet? Awww." Dinah frowned, pulling her toes out of the sand. "He rescued people in the stories, I remembered that much. Some Lady of... shallots?" She shook her head. "So what are the songs from Camelot about? Ours are a million things. Love and fighting and sometimes stuff about food."

"Old stories, legends... nothing terribly new. Most stories are told many times."

Dinah grinned teasingly. "No wonder you watch Darkest Night, even if it is a terribly cheesy show. Even Tony admits that."

"It's like watching a new play every week," Merlin said with a grin.

"It is, kinda," Dinah reflected, reaching for her water bottle again. "I hope you like the one I'm going to be in as well. I brought my script along, but I've been avoiding it in favor of silly romance novels."

"You're reading romance novels?" He hadn't even known people wrote those. The ladies at court would be so thrilled to know that.

"I wanted something to turn off my brain!" Dinah defended herself, laughing. "It's at least got a mystery in it. Two dashing heroes in love with the beleaguered heroine. A murder. Lots of silly rich people." She grinned. "My life will never be that kind of exciting. Thank god."

"It sounds a bit funny, really."

"How so? I mean, they must have stuff like that back at Camelot. Don't they?"

"No books just for fun," Merlin replied, shaking his head as he lay back on the warm sand. "Just ones of heraldry and history."

"Wow. So, plays-- how often are those put on?" Dinah thought she remembered something about wandering players in the Middle Ages, like the minstrels. No new music, no new books, no new plays or the equivalent... Now she was really feeling spoiled.

"Sometimes when we have visitors to the court, they bring new minstrels and plays along with them," Merlin replied. It was always a bit exciting when that happened.

So, not all that often. "I take a lot of things for granted," Dinah said, lying back and putting her shades back on. "Stuff I could live without but don't want to." She yawned a little, then sighed. "Hinata made me think about that too. Names. Titles. Stuff."

"What about names and titles?" Merlin asked, turning his head to give her a curious look.

"She's from a country like our Japan, which has this huge reputation for formality and respect and being really serious about both. Like, duels and ritual suicide serious." Dinah turned her head to squint at him through her shades. "So, if you're friends with someone, but they're younger than you, you might call them one thing, but if they're the same age, something else, and if they're older, something else. And if you don't do all that, you're being rude." She frowned. "And even people who are dating might not use first names for months. It made me think of you and Arthur, and wondering what I missed there."

"Only nobility have titles of any sort," Merlin said with a shrug. "But it's not everything. There are just rules that are always followed when interacting with them. Those never really change."

"Like what?" Dinah frowned again, and shook her head. "Aside from calling Arthur something like Your Royal Highness. I just... yeah." She made a face. "Barbara would call me on being rude. I just can't do it. He's Arthur."

"No, Dinah, he's not. He's the crown prince and next to be king," Merlin replied patiently. "You may not have to, not anyone else here, but to any citizen of Camelot, he's not just a person. He's going to be the one to keep villages from being destroyed in war and feeding his people when famine strikes."

Dinah sat up and took off her sunglasses, scowling as she thought about that. Because she knew that. Which seemed more important to her than being the king's son. She almost had this, she knew it. It was slipping away from her like the strikes with the eskrima sticks against Arthur had that morning. But she was close.

Wait. Almost. "Commissioner Gordon." Who was just... "Uncle Jim." Not really the same. But. Okay. "Maybe? I think. I sort of get it."

"It's not just an obligation," Merlin said, trying again. "It's more that... we're putting our faith in him and it's just respectful."

Coming from the most insolent servant ever.

You'd have to know New Gotham to know what 'Commissioner Gordon' meant to some people. But it was the same thing. Batman. Commissioner Gordon. People who kept you safe.

Oh, she was never gonna explain that comparison to Arthur. His ego would explode.

Dinah did blink at that last comment though, and grinned a little. "Soooo giving him a rat to eat, that's respectful? I would've done it too, but..."

Merlin covered his face slightly to hide the amusement. "He's still a prat. But he's our prat."

Dinah fell over laughing because wow. Memories of Helena bitching about her father's absence in one breath and complaining she couldn't live up to his legend in the next, and Barbara carefully critiquing certain adventures and yet, her role-model was still Batman. Commissioner Gordon, and the press hating him and holding him up as their only hope and... yeah. There were prats. And there were your prats.

When she got her breath back, Dinah said, "Merlin? I get it. I can't explain it very well. But I won't ever make fun of you for it. Or question it again." She grinned a little wider. "He's not my Prince Arthur. Or my prat. And never going to be. But I do get it."

Edited 2009-02-23 23:53 (UTC)

"Well he's not mine.

"More than he's mine," Dinah pointed out. "Same home. And you support him and work for him, and he just is. I think." She sighed. "Hi, I'm Dinah Lance. I suck at words. Maybe you noticed."

Re: Beach Clamshell [2/23]

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