#like is that dog now some stray wandering camelot?

[fluffypotatey]

I remain to this day fucking IRATE that we are told multiple times that Arthur owns dogs and yet we never see them. Particularly because I know waaaay too much about medieval hunting practices and the kind of dogs he would've had and I am salty.

Show us the doggos, COWARDS.

i guess....i guess you could say....they forgot to....let the dogs out?

[gremlinbehaviour]

The Griffin by the Dumpster

Modern with magic au written for mini @mercelotweek day 6: jobs/work

Read on ao3 or below

Lancelot was riding alone today, since half the Camelot Police Department was out sick with some kind of magical illness, and he'd been called over investigate reports of a creature wandering through one of the more densely populated neighborhoods of Camelot. No one would tell him exactly what it looked like, which made him suspect that it may be magical in nature. Many citizens of the kingdom were very superstitious when it came to magic since the Purge, and would only speak of it in veiled references such as the Fair Folk, which could include any sorcerer or warlock as well as proper fairies, and 'those things of the night.'

That second euphemism was the one that bothered Lancelot now as he pulled his squad car over to the side of the street in the area where the sightings had been reported. He made sure to radio in that he was exiting his vehicle, as was procedure for any officer working alone because of the recent retaliations by magic users against police, and began to search the area. Beginning with the street he'd parked on and then heading down the alleyways, he investigated the areas behind dumpsters and down dead-end lanes looking for evidence of any sort of strange creature. He held his gun in one hand and his flashlight in the other, crossed at the wrists to steady his shaking hands. He had a bad feeling about this creature, even though he had yet to encounter anything but rats, alley cats, and a stray dog. But the fact that he'd largely run into them in that order made it feel like the world was working up towards something big.

He wasn't wrong.

"Oh shit!" Lancelot shouted as a beast the size of a horse rounded a corner into the dead end alley he had wandered down. It had an eagle's head, which suddenly reminded Lance of his childhood fear of birds. Was that blood gleaming on its beak? The rest of its body was no less terrifying. It had a lion's torso, and massive wings sprouting out of its back.

Lancelot, unlike much of the department, wasn't trigger happy, and in fact was an animal lover, but the thing screeched at him and charged forwards so of course he shot at it. He was a good shot, a result of perfectionism and many hours spent practicing in the shooting range, and the beast jerked as the bullets hit it dead center. But that was all it did. Six clumps of lead to the chest barely slowed it down, and Lancelot turned to run. But it was a dead end, and he panicked for a half second as he realized he was trapped.

"Up here!" Someone called from above. He looked up to see a young man hanging off a fire escape, his hand extended. He looked too skinny to support Lancelot's weight, or much of anything at all, but he was his only chance, so the police officer dropped his flashlight and gun and took a running jump, reaching up to grab his arm with his free hand. To his surprise, the man caught him and yanked him up onto the metal grating with surprising strength. They both collapsed down onto it as the beast took flight, swooping above their heads up over the tops of the building and to somewhere else in the city.

Lancelot hauled himself to sitting at the same time as the stranger, and they both spent a second assessing each other. The young man was scarcely more than a teenager, with dark shaggy hair and wide blue eyes, but there was something about him that was strangely unsettling, but not in a bad way. He was smiling, though it faltered a little when his eyes drifted down from Lancelot's face to his uniform.

"You saved my life," Lance breathed, extending his hand a second later. "I'm Lancelot."

"Merlin," the boy said, shaking his hand with a firm grip.

"Merlin, do you know what that creature is?" Lancelot asked. He would have to radio in that he'd confirmed its presence and then escaped, and he would like to have a name to add to his probably incomprehensible description. The other young man, however, just gave him a suspicious look. It took the police officer a second to realize why someone wouldn't want to admit to knowing the name of a magical creature. Magic had been illegal for twenty years, and even admitting to knowledge of it could carry severe penalties. "I promise I'm not trying to entrap you or anything. I just want to stop this creature from hurting anyone."

Merlin stared at him hard for a moment. Even in the dark alleyway, Lancelot could see that his eyes were a piercing blue. He did his best to look trustworthy and sincere.

"It's called a griffin," the teenager admitted after a moment. "It's been hanging around for a few days, but luckily it hasn't hurt anyone yet."

Lancelot found that hard to believe, given that it had already almost killed him, but he found that he trusted this gangly kid. He had saved his life, after all.

"Do you know where it might have gone?"

"I think it's been nesting in the abandoned factory on 43rd street. But since it's a magic creature, my uncle thinks you would need magic to kill it."

Lancelot sighed. "Well, I don't have magic, but maybe a headshot will do the trick. I have to try, at least."

"Do you?" Merlin asked. "Shouldn't it be, I don't know, animal control's job to deal with it?"

"Oh sure, let's send the dog catcher with a net on a pole after the horse sized, probably man eating magical creature," Lancelot sassed back with a smile. He stood up and started climbing down from the fire escape. "Merlin, thank you for saving my life and your help."

"You say that like this is goodbye and I'm not coming with you," the younger man said, scrambling down to the alley ground after him.

"I can't take a civilian on a call with me."

"You're not taking me anywhere. If anything, I'm the one taking you there. Do you know the best way without alerting the griffin you're there? Because I do, and the main entrance is padlocked."

"Well, unless I wanted to arrest you for trespassing, I suppose I can't stop you," Lancelot said as he picked up and reloaded his gun before returning it to his holster. In truth, he was the opposite of disappointed about Merlin accompanying him. He always enjoyed working with a partner, even if they weren't armed and couldn't really provide much backup. "Alright, lead the way."