A Rather Comfortable Wall [Idris]

[Deleted]

Tristan was drunk again. It didn’t take much, and he should really know better because tomorrow he would feel like he was dying, and Kay would be annoyed but at the moment he didn’t care because his body seemed to have collided with a wall, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. He groaned at the wall. Nothing happened. He was already getting a headache and just wanted to sleep, but couldn’t remember how to make his legs work. So he stood with his forehead pressed against the stone, eyes closed and breathing heavily. It was rather quite comfortable, once he got used to cold stone and a pounding headache. He could probably fall asleep there, wherever there was.

Pushing himself from the wall, almost falling over in the process, he looked around his surroundings. A corridor. Hmm. That was very helpful. With another groan he fell back against the wall, forgetting that when his head hit the stone it would be painful. “Ow.”

He was far too tired and far too drunk to find his bed, and well, the wall was as good as anything so he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.

[Idris]

Idris had just got her weeks’ pay, it wasn’t much but she’d heard that the rest of the servants went down to the local inn after they had been paid. She clutched her blue cloak around her shoulders and shivered a little bit. The castle kitchens were incredibly warm and adjusting from that heat took a while. She could see night had fallen through the castle windows, and decided to make her way as quickly to the inn as possible.

“Ow.” She paused and looked around her,

“Hello?” Idris called out, slowly walking towards where she’d heard the shout come from. She looked around her; where was a knight or a guard when you needed one? “Hello?” She repeated and heard a slump in the distance. For a moment she checked herself, deciding to forget about the voice, she was sure whatever it was the guards would deal with it.

Well that was the plan until she tripped over the person who had cried out.

She went straight over, cushioning her land with her hands and managing to scramble so she was sitting, rather than lying sprawled on the stone floor. She squinted in the dim candlelight, but from what she could see it was a man, one who heavily reeked of ale. She half laughed at her own clumsiness then turned her attentions back to the man. She’d dealt with drunk men before, but she’d never tripped over one.

Idris placed her hand on the mans shoulder, thrusting it back and forth slightly to wake him up, “Hello? You alright there?”

[Deleted]

“Hello? You alright there?”

He had been having a nice dream, or at least not a bad dream. But now someone was waking him up. Why would they do that? What sort of person went around bothering people who clearly wanted to spend their time against a wall? He tried to ignore whoever it was - it sounded like a woman. If he just stood still with his eyes closed maybe she would think he was still asleep and leave him alone.

She wasn't. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and turned his head to face her. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light so he could now see the young woman properly. "I haven't been alright in...six months?" He replied, attempting to shrug in a nonchalant manner. With far more energy than he had predicted he turned around so his back was now against the wall. "But that's what ale is for."

He regarded her curiously, he was sure it was late, or very early. Either way it probably wasn't a good time for young women to be wandering around dark corridors. "Surely you should be asleep instead of worrying about someone like me?"

[Idris]

Well at least he wasn’t dead, that was the first worry over and done with. She wouldn’t want to trade places with his head for any amount of money in the world; by the time his hangover kicked in he’d have wished he was dying rather than suffer that agony. She raised her eye brows,

“Six months? Can’t have been my fault then, I’ve only been here a few weeks.” She smiled sympathetically as he turned himself over so he was sitting the right way up, with his back against the wall. She turned her head slightly to right and bit her lip as he voiced his worries about her being about in the castle this late at night,

“Only just finished work haven’t I? Not all of us can finish while its still light.” Her legs were falling asleep so she shifted her weight and decided to get up so she was staring down at the man, “Are your chambers far?” She asked, looking up and down the corridors for any help; typical usually the corridors were teaming with guards but as soon as she needed a bit of help they were on their break!

“Never mind me getting to bed, if you don’t get some sleep the guards’ll have you sleeping on hay in the dungeon if you don’t shift soon!”

[Deleted]

Her smile was not matched, he wasn't in the mood for humour, instead being rather confused as to why she would think it was her fault. His head hurt too much to think about it, anyway, so he didn't reply. Besides, he didn't know what to say anyway. He'd never been good at talking to people, and being drunk and tired just made his speaking abilities even less impressive.

His eyes followed her as she stood up. His fringe had fallen into his eyes, but he couldn't be bothered to move it, so as he looked up he could see more hair, than her but it probably didn't matter that much anyway. He had much bigger things to worry about than whether or not he could see a random woman in a darkened corridor.

Not being the best at reading people, especially when he was too busy being absorbed in his own suffering, he couldn't tell whether there was a resentment in her voice when she spoke of her work. It seemed to him like she was making a point about her working all night while he sat around on stone floors. Maybe she wasn't and he was completely over-reaching, but whatever she meant it couldn't possibly be more important than his own suffering. It was probably polite to reply though. "You're lucky, being a knight you don't finish at the end of the day." That particular reply, however, wasn't polite and the opposite of what he was trying to acheive. "Not that I-" he stopped himself, he was trying to rectify the situation, only he wasn't sure how. "I meant, I enjoy being a knight. It's a choice. I wasn't...complaining...am I making this worse?"

“Are your chambers far?”

"I don't know." He replied, sat on the floor, forearms resting on his knees and looking at his feet. "I have no idea where I am." He gestured to their surroundings with one hand. "I just ended up here..."

[Idris]

Idris was not a patient woman at the best of times, but she’d managed to stumble upon one of the only nasty drunks in Camelot. She raised her eye brows at his comments about it being easier to be a knight rather than a servant. Although she knew she had to take whatever she said with a pinch of salt because he was completely drunk it didn’t stop her being irritated. She tilted her head to the side and drew herself down to the mans level,

“You mean it only stops when your too drunk enough to remember your own name. Sir?” Her tongue was sharp and she sniffed back, drawing back up to her full height and folding her arms, “We aren’t too far away from the servants quarters, I could take you there, at least its more comfortable than the floor, or you can wait here for the guards.” She raised her eye brows, at the end of the day she owed this man no loyalties. He’d probably look down at her on a day to day basis so why should it be any different in his drunken state?

It wasn’t even that she particularly hated the fact he was a noble and she was not, it was the fact she was extending some kindness and so far he was rejecting it. He wasn’t so drunk he couldn’t speak, so there must be a part of him which didn’t like her for whatever reason, and she didn’t have any time for any of that nonsense.

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Tristan was rather taken aback by her reply. He wasn't intending to be rude at all, it just sort of happened when his brain and mouth didn't cooperate. And anyway, whether he was intending to be rude or not, she was just being mean. In a rather petulant manner he folded his arms against his chest and glared up at her. It wasn't particularly chivalrous of him but he was too tired, and if she was just going to have an attitude then he didn't see why he should waste his energy.

"Sir Tristan d'Auber." He said, inclining his head, an action that proved to be a mistake and gave him an even worse throbbing sensation. With rather a lot of effort he pushed himself off the floor and managed to stand up, albeit with a little difficulty and a need to balance against the wall. He felt like he was sobering up, he probably wasn't, but it was how he felt and the sensation was putting him in a much better mood, or at least making him more inclined to stop irritating his present company.

He was still leaning on the wall when he spoke, eyes half closed and hands waving about rather inconsistently. "We haven't...um...we haven't done this properly." That didn't quite sound like it made sense, but he was just going to go with it. "My name is Tristan d'Auber. It is a pleasure to meet you...young miss...I would be very...grate-very grateful, yes, that is the word, if you could take me to the servants quarters." He wiped a hand over his face, rubbed his eyes and looked at her, almost for approval.

[Idris]

Idris felt her cheeks get slightly hot with frustration at this man. Really by now she should be trying to seek out some friendly faces down at the inn rather than mopping up after someone else’s good night. She wasn’t getting paid for it! Then again, her mother had always taught her that good deeds bring their own rewards and suchlike.

The man volunteered his name and becoming more irritated Idris mockingly curtseyed and said, “Sorry, I should have asked your name before I pointed out how drunk you were, sir.” She then amused herself by watching him try to get himself up, at one point he looked like he was about to go over and her heart took over her anger as she reached out to grab his shoulder, but he regained his footing by himself.

She stepped back as his hands began to wave about in different directions and he seemed to be thinking hard about something "We haven't...um...we haven't done this properly." He muttered and Idris raised her eye brows, but before she could ask anything he’d told her his name again.

“Mines Idris,” She said slowly, beginning to calm down, he accepted her offer of the servants quarters and she managed a small smile, taking the arm which wasn’t helping him prop himself against the wall and pulled it around her shoulders, “Rest some of your weight on me, you’ll find it easier to move.” As they began to move she stopped slightly, “But anymore wise remarks and I will just leave you, sir.”

[Deleted]

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Idris." Tristan repeated himself. It was half mumbled, but it was much more polite to address her properly. If he had been capable, he would have protested at her taking his arm, but it was almost asleep again and it was highly unlikely that he'd be able to get anywhere by himself, except the floor of course.

They shuffled along quite slowly, Tristan moving quite pathetically and relying on Idris far more than he should be. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a position a knight should find themselves in. If he had been almost fatally wounded in battle that would have been one thing, but being too drunk to look after himself was hardly a way to show off his knightley prowess. Still, he was being taken to a bed and so that had become his priority so he could cope with needing a woman's help.

“But anymore wise remarks and I will just leave you, sir.”

Turning his head to look at her properly, he managed a smile. "Wise remarks? That'd be a first."

[Idris]

She gave him a small smile as he expressed his pleasure at meeting her. She didn’t say anything more, mostly because it wasn’t needed and also because after their rude introduction he was now acting more like a man of his status; despite being too heavy with the drink.

As they shuffled along the corridor she felt him resting more and more weight on her shoulders. Although Idris was physically strong, he was a largely built knight so it was starting to take its toll. However the servants quarters really wasn’t that far so it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

She wondered if he’d be embarrassed come the morning at being helped by not only a girl, but a servant, and she simply couldn’t resist saying something. “Bit of a change from your usual job of helping poor fair maidens and such isn’t it?” She asked, half pulling him along the corridor. She flashed him a cheeky grin, she knew she wouldn’t be winning any favours with him, but she was having fun all the same.

She ignored his comments about the wise remarks and sniffed back, half panting as the exhaustion of a full days work and now the work of basically carrying this knight back to the servant’s quarters was taking its toll. She pushed on through though, the servants quarters was just around the corner.

[Deleted]

The sooner they got to the servant's quarters the better, they couldn't be that far away, could they? It was a stupidly long distance, far further than necessary. They had only been walking a few minutes but it was still far too long. He wanted bed and sleep and to get out of this bloody corridor. Once this latest quest had been finished, he would no doubt be horribly embarrassed that he needed help from a woman, or he would be if he remembered any of it. Right now, however, his one priority was, rather unsurprisingly, sleeping.

She was trying to make conversation with him, and he really wasn't in the mood, but without her he would still be sitting helplessly on the floor. "Not really." He replied with a sigh, the feelings of self-pity he had hoped had left were slowly returning. "I can kill a man, sure, but rescuing fair maidens? It didn't end well." He really, really didn't want to think about any of that, so tried to direct the conversation to Idris. "This is probably routine for you? Helping drunks who really should know better."

[Idris]

Idris was glad they were nearing the door of the servants quarters. The urge to bite her tongue about the knights current position was really becoming too much. As he said he didn't do so well at rescuing maidens Idris knew the time for jokes was over with this man,

"What happened?" She asked softly, not only because she was genuinely interested, but whatever was causing this man to be less of a man than he probably could be should have a good back story to it.

"Routine?" She repeated, half laughing, "It wasn't in the job description, but as long as there are knights like you getting drunk, there'll be servants helping you to get to bed I suppose."

Finally reaching the servants quarters she kicked the door open as both her hands were preoccupied with keeping Tristan upright. She half dragged him into the servants quarters, trying really hard not to wake anyone up. The servants quarters were quite sizeable because the castle had so many servants bustling around at different hours of the day. So everyone needed a free bed. Idris' bed was in the corner, one of the furthest away from the fire. The bed next to it, as usual, was also free. She helped Tristan sit down on it and drew close to him,

"If that's not comfortable enough sir, there is some straw on the floor over there." She curtseyed, "Goodnight sir." She gave him a small smile and clambered into her own bed, only then remembering that she had been intending to go to the inn. She shrugged, she could always go tomorrow.

[Deleted]

Her blunt question caught him off guard and immediately he was confronted by a surge of memories. He sniffed. And then he sniffed again, just for good measure, and bit his lip because he was not going to have a breakdown and burst into tears in the middle of a corridor, and definitely not in front of Idris. It wasn’t working; he could feel his eyes watering, no matter how determined he was that this wasn’t going to happen. He wiped his eyes angrily with the back of his hand, keeping the base of his palm pressed against his forehead. “She married someone else.” He tried to reply nonchalantly, but his voice and body language were betraying him. “But I found alcohol takes the edge of.” He sniffed again. If he hadn’t been so depressed he would have impressed by his ability to not have a complete breakdown, but he was far too occupied with his melancholy.

“Hmm.” He found himself agreeing to her statement as if he knew exactly how she felt and ended up feeling guilty that she was having to look after him. It should be the other way around, but then, as he had already explained he never had been good at rescuing the damsel in distress.

The young knight, who really wasn’t living up to the title at the moment, stood helplessly as his companion kicked the door and pulled him into the room. He was surprised to find how big they were, but then, he reminded himself, there were quite a few servants in the castle and they all had to sleep somewhere. He allowed himself to be taken to an empty bed and was rather pathetically helped to sit down. The whole situation was not doing anything for his self-confidence, but by now he was far too interested in eventually sleeping to care that much.

He shook his head at her suggestion, he was used to a proper mattress with a thick quilt, and despite how uncomfortable his current bed was he doubted how straw could make it any better. Of course when he replied he was much more polite. “I’m fine, thank you. This is fine, better than fine...it’s...” he searched for a word, but he was far too tired to think and ended up just repeating himself in a rather anti-climactic manner. “It’s fine, thank you.”

Before settling down he kicked off his shoes and flexed his toes. No doubt he would regret it in the morning to find his feet had turned into ice due to the lack of heat in the room. Now lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling he allowed himself to think of her before chastising himself, rolling onto his side and succumbed to sleep.

[Idris]

As Tristan failed to find another word but ‘fine’ to describe his temporary lodgings, Idris suspected he wasn’t entirely happy. But it was only for one night, and it was hardly like he’d ever have to sleep here again really. He could go back to his four poster feather bed comfort first thing in the morning. She half felt sorry for him, that the apparent love of his life had gone away and married someone else. But on the other hand, she couldn’t help feeling that it wasn’t like a knight to throw alcohol at a problem to try and solve it. Or maybe she was just naïve. She half thought that if she had been his true love then they would have married, but Idris didn’t know the whole story, maybe it was an arranged marriage or something?

She curled up on her bed, hunched up, in his happily drunken state Tristan might not have been able to feel the cold but Idris sure could. It always seemed colder in the servants quarters than anywhere else.

At least he’d had a love to lose. Idris hadn’t even had that. She’d never really come across any men that hadn’t been mere flirts in her opinion. Then again, she hadn’t ever needed a man for any practical reasons, like some women in the village she was from loved having a man about the house to do all the work and make them feel needed. Idris felt more independent than that, and that if she did have a man she’d want him to be someone who challenged her sharp tongue and made her laugh.

Anyway, she was overcomplicating matters wasn’t she? If she was destined to meet the man of her dreams it certainly wouldn’t be achieved by picking up random drunks from the castle corridors or hiding away in the kitchens. With the thoughts buzzing round her head she let herself drift off into a deep slumber.