I’d Look Better in Red (Caitrin)

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"Go ahead and ask then" he folded his arms and gave a look as though he wasn't bothered. He'd best start digging that hole now, because he'd never hear the end of it from Arthur.

Lord Rouland? Merlin had never really heard of him, and the fact that Caitrin now was saying that he mainly kept to his estate was probably the reason why. "Oh, right" he nodded, "He's not the type of person who enjoys mingling with people he's never met then" he chuckled slightly. Merlin knew that some of these functions could be very dull and had he been born a noble, he knew that like Rouland, he'd keep to his estate as well. "Representing the family then" he smiled when Caitrin announced she made up for Rouland's absense. "I would have thought that you would be bored at court events?" Merlin didn't really know what made it appealing. People had mixed feelings on the subject.

At least he hadn't made her feel uncomfortable with the whole father thing. “My father couldn’t look after me at home, so he said I could live with my Uncle, or he would arrange another marriage for me in haste.” A typical nobleman/daughter scenario then. "At least he gave you the choice instead of just arranging a marriage - I suppose that's some relief for you?" Whether it was or not was another story. He didn't know whether Caitrin would have like to have been married instead of coming to Camelot or not.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin folded her arms as well, and mirrored Merlin’s actions. Though she wasn’t sure if she could be bothered to ask Arthur directly about this, she would keep this little nugget of information for when she did speak to her friend. She wouldn’t seek him out particularly to speak about this one thing, because that was quite sad really wasn’t it? “Fine, I will.” She replied confidently with a grin on her lips.

Now she couldn’t exactly tell Merlin what made court life so interesting to her, because no doubt he would disapprove, as most men of a certain mindset did. She was using her status as a free and eligible noblewoman to good effect, and she had suitors practically dripping from her fingertips. It was empowering in a way, but none of them yet had been enough to tempt her to even think anywhere near a proposal, or even past the first embrace. They were all nice enough, but they weren’t different enough for her. They were either wrapped up in their own self importance, or they were little bits of nothing who had been thrown at her by their fathers, hoping to improve their stance with a Mercian alliance. Caitrin knew their game, but that meant she could play it better than them. She might appear the airy, fairy noblewoman, and she certainly knew how to appear just that. However, when it came down to it, she knew exactly how to get what she wanted from others, and out of life. She wanted to marry someone who excited her, and who at least loved her for her, not because she was a Mercian, or because of her dowry. She knew it was dreamy, because arranged marriages were as common as anything, but it was a dream nonetheless, and it was her dream. Her Uncle seemed to have given up throwing suitors at her anyway, which she wasn’t complaining about. “Court life has its advantages.” She said with a suggestive grin, perhaps Merlin would know what she was getting at, but if he didn’t then it was his loss.

Nodding, Caitrin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “It is a relief, yes.” Well, that was until another marriage was arranged, or another suitor was thrown in her direction. Half her life was spent running away from, or at men. It was a strange life, but one Caitrin de Archer was well used to.

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"Good" he replied back challengingly and appearing uncaring about the whole thing now. Perhaps if he acted like he wasn't really bothered, she would hopefully forget the whole thing and let him leave in peace. She could run and blab to Arthur for all he cared, but Merlin wasn't about to let her have an upper hand in this game of wit.

“Court life has its advantages.”

Merlin smirked at this, oh yes sooooooooooo many advantages - he knew by the look on Cait's face, what she was getting at - but also decided to play a little dumb as well. "So which is it? the boring conversation, the food or the fact that you can drink as much wine as you want?" he joked, knowing full well that Caitrin would probably knock off a whole long list of others things that she liked at court. Men? More Men? Knights? Wait...they were men too. Apart from that, Merlin really couldn't think from a noble's point of view about how advantageous court was - as a servant he only experianced being told what to do and that was it.

It appeared that the subject of arranged marriages was quite an awkward one. Apparently it was a relief to Caitrin so that was good to hear. "You seem like the type to go against the rules and marry who you wish." he smiled, "Is your Uncle now giving you greif about the whole thing?". By the sounds of her Uncle, he seemed like the type of man with many morals - and Caitrin had hardly said that many things about him.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Though Merlin was pretending to be rather careless about her going and asking Arthur, she strongly suspected that he wouldn’t want her to. After all, he had been quite defensive about the fact earlier, and now he was just simply letting her away with it? That didn’t sit right with Caitrin. She wondered what this secret was that it mattered so much to Merlin. Well, she would find out soon enough wouldn’t she? “Well I’m glad that’s settled.” She said rather smugly and crossed her arms across her body. No way would she allow Merlin to feel like he had the upper hand in this situation. Who was he after all? She was a Mercian noblewoman, and sometimes that counted for something.

Court life had its advantages for a variety of reasons, but she wasn’t about to sit here and tell Merlin just how free she was about her moral’s. After all, those things were kept behind closed doors. She’d had plenty of men in her guest chambers over the past years, many more than most women would have in a lifetime, but that was between her and them. Most of them were probably married by now, and she was still here, still doing what she did best. “I suppose I just enjoy sampling what is on offer.” She mused rather brilliantly and winked at Merlin before getting up from her seat and pacing across to her dresser. In his haste, the boy had knocked over her circlets, so she set about setting them up again. She would have to pick out one to go with her dress for dinner later after all.

Smirking, Caitrin nodded at Merlin’s words. Her earliest memories had been of her being shouted at by her father for using one of her brothers wooden swords. Of course girls weren’t supposed to join in with boy’s activities. She’d eventually managed to convince her brother, Jeffrey, to teach her archery but that was as far as she got in Mercia. She didn’t need to learn anything else really did she? It wasn’t like she would ever be able to use it. “Well, why do you think my father was so quick to get rid of me?” she asked with a wink, and finished placing her circlet’s in order, “My Uncle was giving me grief about it, yes. He wants me to pick a suitor, I’m not getting any younger you see.” She pulled a face, “So I decided to come here until he quietens about the subject.”