Ladies just want to have fun [Caitrin & Isabel]

[isadora]

Isadora usually enjoyed parties and events where she got to mingle with other nobles, but today's affair was of a particularly dull variety. Maybe it was the company, or maybe it was the entertainment, or maybe she was just tired...but tonight had been a truly yawn-worthy affair. Not that Isadora would yawn, of course, that would be dreadfully rude and a princess was nothing without her manners. If not for manners, she likely would've excused herself ages ago.

She stood idly by, clutching her goblet of wine and sipping perhaps more indulgently than she should, but what else was there to do? At least the wine was good, she reasoned to herself. She couldn't remember what exactly this party was even for; some noble or another had done something of note, but honestly, when she'd received the invitation she hadn't really paid much mind. Isadora had other things to consider at the time, but she'd decided she could use an opportunity to unwind, and it could never hurt to keep up appearances.

Gazing out into the crowd, Isadora was just mulling over the idea of feigning a bad stomach in order to excuse herself from the rest of the night's so-called 'festivities', when she noticed that her cup had run dry. Catching the eye of a servant, she held up her cup and nodded meaningfully, and within a moment he had refilled her cup. Well, perhaps she'd give the evening a little more time, in case something else were to arise.

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Tagged: Caitrin de Archer & Isabel de Massard
Timeline: During Season 3
Location: Banquet Hall of Camelot Castle

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin couldn’t imagine that her boredom was matched by anyone else in the room. Looking round, she bit her lip. She had been sure that Griff said he and Lucan would be here tonight, but neither were. Of course she could occupy herself without her lover by her side, but she had been looking forwards to seeing him, even if she would never tell Griff that. Well, she never liked to make things too easy for him; he wouldn’t like it if she did. Caitrin hadn’t even asked her Uncle to come with her today, as she had been expecting to spend the evening with Griff. Her Uncle didn’t really think very highly of Griff, then again, he didn’t think highly of any man who tried for her hand. She supposed it was just the way he was.

Draining her goblet, Caitrin walked around the room, trying to see if anyone or anything could occupy her while she waited for Griff; that was if he was going to come at all. She would hate to think that she was going to be spending the whole evening on her own. A few men were trying to catch her eye; she just flashed them all a grin and continued on her way; she had no interest in them. Not anymore. She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she only had eyes for Griff now. Grinning to herself, she tried to spot a servant who had a full jug of wine. She had already passed one who professed he had none, which was irritating.

She eventually spotted such a servant filling the goblet of a noblewoman who Caitrin did not recognise. Caitrin was not a shy woman, so wasted no time in walking up to the woman as the servant finished filling up her goblet. Caitrin gestured for the man to fill her own goblet, and he complied straight away. As he did, she smiled at the woman in front of her, “Forgive me my Lady, but I don’t think we have been introduced. My name is Lady Caitrin de Archer.” She inclined her head to the woman in question as a means of respect. It was very rare that Caitrin didn’t know someone at court, so she wondered just who this woman was. “Are you enjoying the festivities?” She asked, as she waited for the woman to introduce herself.

[Isabel de Massard]

Isabel had no idea why she was in Camelot again. She was fairly certain she remembered thinking that she would never come back here, and yet here she was, in the banquet hall of all places. She looked around her and sighed. There was not one man of any consequence here. Well that was just brilliant, wasn’t it? That was the only reason for her being here so her plan had failed, yet again. She wasn’t used to her plans failing at all. This was why she had determined not to be in the kingdom again. She would have thought that a kingdom as important as this would have a few nobles worth her time but no, they were either already married, far too poor or far too obscure.

She looked behind her shoulder. Oh Jesu. There was a rather large and red-faced noble smiling at her, or at least trying to. He’d been doing that all night. Did she look like she wanted his attention? Did he not realise that her actions of moving as far away from him as physically possible was not her “playing hard to get” or whatever nonsense he’d obviously gotten into his head, but was, in reality, simple a desire of hers to be away from him – very away from him. She wouldn’t mind such attention if he was about twenty years younger, a few foot taller and no longer the size of two people. Alas, he was not. So she was going to continue to run away.

Avoiding him would be so much easier if she knew someone, but Isabel was not the most social of creatures. She didn’t make friends easily. Usually this wasn’t a problem, she preferred her own company anyway, but in situations like this a friend was called upon, a friend that didn’t actually exist. She started looking around the hall, her desperation hidden from her features, until her eyes landed on a young red-haired woman. They had never met before, but Isabel was sure the woman in question was Caitrin de Archer – her reputation more than preceded her. She was talking to another woman but Isabel was desperate so she didn’t much care for decorum. She made her way to the pair, casting a last look at the man who was still staring at her. Obviously he didn’t care much for decorum either. “Please forgive the intrusion, but I’m in desperate need of conversation. I’m being followed.”

[isadora]

She was sipping her wine when another noblewoman followed her lead and had her own cup filled by the elusive winebearer...it seemed Isadora wasn't the only noble who was only remaining at this dull affair for the wine. She returned the lady's respectful nod with one of her own, smiling at her introduction. "A pleasure, Lady Caitrin. I'm Isadora Theirin, princess of Gwent." She had not attended too many events in Camelot lately, so it was expected that she would not know everyone present. She wasn't entirely used to people not knowing who she was, however.

Isadora considered her question for a moment, wondering if she should bother to answer diplomatically, before she decided that Caitrin appeared to be as entirely disinterested in tonight's event as she was, and she gave a slight sigh. "I regret that I find the whole thing to be rather blasé. I don't suppose you've fared much better this evening?" She asked hopefully, starving for a bit of entertainment. She needn't have asked, however, as another young woman approached with a rather intriguing dilemma.

Isadora leaned back slightly to get a look over the girl's shoulder at the source of her apparent desperation, and bit her lip to keep from smiling. "All is forgiven...you do seem to be in a rather troubling predicament." There was amusement in her voice despite her best efforts to be sympathetic, she felt for the young noblewoman, she did, but she couldn't deny that there was some humour there, too. And she was glad of it. "Has he been after you long?"

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[Caitrin de Archer]

Even as the cupbearer filled her goblet, Caitrin couldn’t help but steal another quick look at the room, to see whether she had missed Griff’s face in the crowd. Her quick glance had given her nothing; he still wasn’t here. This being the case, she turned back to the woman in front of her, and gave a soft smile. Perhaps tonight was a night for female company, rather than her usual male company. Caitrin had few friends in the court, women didn’t like other women who stole the attentions of their sweethearts. It hadn’t earned her any favours in the past. She did have close male friends though, such as Griff, Celyn and even the Prince himself. It struck her as odd that Isadora was a princess, not because she didn’t look the part, but because Caitrin hadn’t known of her. Being from Mercia, she had only grown up with their royal family, and those of the northern kings. In Camelot, she knew of some royal guests but she was not in the capital enough to know of them all. “It is a pleasure to meet you, princess.” She had no idea how much formality Isadora would want, but she would rather be invited to be less formal, than presume it.

Caitrin was a little surprised at her bold answer, though she wasn’t sure why that had been her reaction, on reflection. The royalty were after all usually the boldest members of the court, and she had been anything but impolite with her words. “I regret to say I have not, no.” It had been a disappointing evening of sorts, she had been looking forwards to seeing Griff, and enjoy their usual banter. As it were, feasts like this one appeared to be losing their appeal somewhat. There had been quite a few reasons to celebrate since the Lady Morgana had been found, and they had certainly made up for the lack of celebrations which had ensued while the King’s ward had been missing.

She would have said something else to Isadora, but they had already been joined by another noblewoman. This woman was also unfamiliar to Caitrin, she made a mental note there and then to pay more attention to her female counterparts, and not just the male ones. She was a creature of habit though, and probably wouldn’t change her ways anyway. Casually, she looked over at the man that the woman was speaking of, “I shouldn’t worry too much about him.” Caitrin turned to the blonde woman, “He’s harmless, though he can be a little,” She paused, trying to think of the word, “Forwards.” She chuckled, “But it sounds like you’ve already figured that out for yourself.”

[Isabel de Massard]

Apologies about the delay

Thankfully, the two women appeared sympathetic to her blight; otherwise Isabel wasn’t sure what she would have done. Well, probably stormed off somewhere in as ladylike a fashion she could muster. There was a hint of humour in the brunette’s voice, something Isabel would have found irritating if she weren’t too relieved at having escaped the nobleman. It was a ridiculous situation. She shouldn’t be having to run away from unwanted attention. She should be too preoccupied with wanted attention. The evening definitely wasn’t going to plan, something Isabel really really didn’t care for. Honestly, all she wanted was one incredibly rich an influential nobleman to secure her fortune and position, but asking for that appeared to be the same as asking for a miracle. That was supposed to have been the easiest part of the overall plan, but it seemed the world had other ideas. Anyway. Internal lamenting was not getting her anywhere. “Thank you, my lady. I know it is rather rude of me.” Isabel replied in a well practiced tone. “Far too long, my lady.”

She smiled at the red-haired woman, although she wasn’t sure whether she approved of the woman’s tone. Perhaps Isabel was just being overly defensive – it was in her nature after all – but there seemed something...somewhat arrogant about the way the other woman spoke of the man. Well, if she wanted to be arrogant about having his attentions, then he was all hers. Luckily, Isabel was well used to hiding her thoughts and emotions, especially in front of other nobles. It was a trait she’d had since childhood. So she kept smiling and laughed a little. “Oh I’m not worried, not about him anyway.” If she had wanted to, she would have been more than capable of making sure the man never troubled her again, but unfortunately she couldn’t do that without causing a scene, so running away had seemed like the more appropriate thing to do.

Now that she had been saved by the two women, she realised that she had yet to introduce herself. They probably thought she had no manners at all. Not only did she interrupt their conversation – although it was rather an emergency – she then proceeded to talk to them without an introduction. “Sorry, I’ve only just realised I did not introduce myself. Lady Isabel de Massard.”

[isadora]

The prospect of something more interesting than the bottom of her wine goblet had brightened Isadora's spirits some, and she shook her head when the woman apologized again for her rudeness. It was certainly against the accepted rules of etiquette, sure, but at least it made for something interesting to talk about, and given the dryness of tonight's event, she was willing to overlook that. "Think nothing of it," she reassured the blonde again, a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth.

"You poor thing!" She exclaimed sympathetically, before Caitrin explained that he was nothing worth worry about. She must be more familiar with the nobility of Camelot, and Isadora wondered if this particular nobleman was inclined to this sort of behaviour often. How dreadfully shameful! "Does he often salivate over young women like this? He ought to be ashamed!" She added, somewhat appalled that a noble could be so uncouth. Then again, perhaps it was to be accepted. Some of these country nobles got to court so infrequently, they were little better than the peasantry.

At Isabel's introduction, Isadora smiled slightly. She didn't seem to have an abundance of manners, but at least Isabel was breathing some life into what could otherwise be a dull affair. She inclined her head respectfully. "Lady Isabel, I'm Isadora Theirin, and this is Lady Caitrin de Archer." She asked, looking between the two women with a smile.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin smiled at their new companion, and then let her eyes flicker back to the man in question. She had been in the woman’s position enough times, some men just really did not know the meaning of the word ‘no’ and seemed to think that rejection was actually encouragement. It was nights like that made Caitrin glad that she was able to put off suitors like that, and lock her door from the world at the end of a feast. It wasn’t surprising that the man had gone after the blonde woman, Caitrin supposed, though no doubt he would find some other object of desire before long; men always did. She took a sip of her wine, trying to rid herself of that thought, as it would be hypocritical for her to think such whilst waiting for Griff to arrive. If he was going to arrive of course.

Nodding at Isadora, Caitrin let her eyes dart to the man, then back to the women in front of her. “He does.” She confirmed, taking another small sip of her wine, “He has trouble with the word no, or at least he has in my experience.” That was a night she would really rather forget; anyway moving on. Caitrin did not recognise Isabel’s accent, which was not an unfamiliar thing for her really; she often had trouble placing accents. As Isadora introduced her, Caitrin inclined her head towards Isabel, “It is a pleasure to meet you, my Lady.” She chirped off the rehearsed line before returning to her drink with a smile.

“Are you residing in Camelot, Lady Isabel?” Caitrin asked politely, as she could not recall seeing the woman at court, but then again, Caitrin was never really looking for the women of the court at feasts, so it was not unfathomable that she had just slipped past her unnoticed. She hoped it was not the case though, as it would hardly set the right example. Caitrin then turned to Isadora, curiously, “I must say, I have never been to Gwent, are the customs much different to those practised in Camelot?” Perhaps one of them would recognise she was not from the kingdom by her accent, of course Caitrin was Mercian by blood, and had lived there most of her life, so she had the rare skill of knowing the customs of two kingdoms, incredibly in depth. An education most noblewomen missed out on.

[Isabel de Massard]

Isabel inclined her head towards Isadora, and then to Caitrin as she learnt their names. It was rather rare for her to be meeting women, normally she was either far too busy having found some rich man, or the women had noticed her being far too busy and so refused to talk to her. Not that Isabel cared much, although now that she was in the company of two noble women this was an excellent time to observe their ways. There was no such thing as over prepared, something Isabel lived by, but there was definitely such a thing as wasted time, and that was something that annoyed her to no end. This conversation was, therefore, not just going to be an exchange of pleasantries and polite conversation, but a sort of revision, a chance to brush up on her socialising skills.

She nodded at Caitrin’s question, “Indeed, Lady Caitrin. I have only been here a day or so, but I visited once before a year ago.” And what a fun filled experience that was, Isabel thought dryly, remembering her last experiences of both the kingdom and that idiot prince. Then again, he was better than other princes she had the pleasure of meeting, but only marginally. Her mind was wandering again, an annoying habit she had yet to overcome. Luckily, Caitrin had turned to their third companion and didn’t seem to have noticed Isabel’s attention had waned a little. Nevertheless, she looked to Isadora, her face full of polite interest, despite not having any clue what question was about to be answered.