Fun and Games (Elenora)

[thegwaine]

The evening was going unnaturally well in Gwaine’s opinion. Not that he was being too pessimistic about these things, but something usually happened at one of these feasts. There was always something that went wrong at these sorts of occasions. He had thought when the entertainers decided to strap Arthur up and throw knives at him that it would all go downhill from there, however they were all still here and now that the feasting was all done the nobles were all mingling about in the hall, whilst dancing and music took place. Gwaine watched the dancers with a grin on his face; his eyes as usual following the most beautiful women of the court. It was his way after all. Grinning, Gwaine broke away from his fellow knights, deciding that he had been neglecting the fairer sex for some time now. Gwaine continued to watch the ladies who were dancing, most of them seem engaged, or uninterested in anyone but their partners which was disappointing to put it lightly. Sighing, Gwaine ran a hand through his hair, it was sometimes hard to attract attention in a place where his reputation was so well known. That was one of the problems with staying in one place, when he had been a nomad he had been able to disregard a reputation as soon as he had stepped out of that village or kingdom. Here his reputation hung about him like a bad smell, so he had toned his actions down somewhat, though not completely. He was still allowed to have some fun.

Walking around the hall, Gwaine let onto one lady he would have nothing to do with this evening, Lady Caitrin was the wife of one of his close friends, Griff Aubert, and he knew his charms wouldn’t be well received by her or her husband. He bowed to the lady who laughed at him, and waved him on. She knew what his intentions were that evening, and had no time to humour him it would appear. Blowing her a mock kiss, Gwaine continued on his way, uplifted slightly. Lovers were one thing, but you could never replace friendship. Speaking of which, where had Merlin got to. No, Gwaine had to focus, this was about finding a woman to charm, to make sure he had not yet lost his touch. He sometimes feared that women would wise up to his tricks, and even start using them against him. He shuddered at the thought, in other kingdoms he had always been so fresh and new; here he was just Sir Gwaine, and he was always here. Some called him a peasant knight, it was a title he wore with honour; after all, he knew the truth about his background. If individuals sought to judge him on his status then he would let them; actions spoke louder than words, and he would be the one protecting their necks and land, not the other way around.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the thoughts, Gwaine looked up and his eyes were struck by a beautiful brunette who he was only slightly familiar with. He was sure her name was Elenora, or Nora, or something like that. One of the knights had once pointed her out to him, though he could not remember which it was. Running a hand through his hair, Gwaine approached the woman with a confidence that came easily to him and bowed to her, “Forgive the intrusion my Lady, but a beautiful woman should not be alone at such a busy function.” He drew up and grinned at her, “Or at least, that is my opinion.”

Tagged: Lady Elenora
Timeline: During the feast for Arthur’s birthday in ‘The Wicked Day’
Time of Day: Evening
Location: The Great Hall[/color][/size]

[Lady Elenora]

The Prince's birthday was in full swing and Nora was glad that the Prince was having a good time with his father. It was a great sight to see the joyous looks upon the King and his son's faces during the festivities. Though, it was times like these that Nora found herself thinking about her sister.

But, she wouldn't think about that now. She was here to celebrate the Prince's birthday and have a good time. Not to stand here all alone, thinking about her dear sister and her father and how ill he was. If only someone would ask her to dance. She loved dancing, but was not entirely good at interacting with the opposite sex. For some reason when it came to that she would get so nervous and end up making a fool of herself.

And it was at this precise moment that she saw one of the new Knights, Sir Gwaine approach her. He bowed and greeted her and Nora was shocked. Shocked that he would find her beautiful. More than that, shocked that he would approach her in the first place seeing as there was plenty of young ladies that were far more beautiful than her.

Nora then realized that she had not responded to him yet. Smiling nervously, Nora replied, "You exaggerate kind sir, I'm not beautiful." Then she winced inwardly as she realized what she had said. No doubt, this gentleman would be interested in speaking to a lady who did not think much of herself. So she quickly added, "That is, I do not consider myself as beautiful. Not when in the room with so many other beautiful ladies."

[thegwaine]

Gwaine was always one to try his luck at occasions such as these. Well, why not? Feasts were to be enjoyed after all, and it was nice to enjoy one without worrying about the threat of invasion, or worrying that some of his fellow knights might not return from one of their current missions. As it were, the knights were all safe for now, and the recent reports had been positive, so there was nothing to fear in the near future. He enjoyed the variation in society which feasts brought with them. He was surrounded by some of his closest friends in this room, and of course, he was also surrounded by the prettiest faces in Camelot. Gwaine took a few moments to look around the room, to see if any of the regular visitors had any visiting relatives, or if there were any new faces, but he could not see any that he had not seen before.

Even though Camelot had been his home for over a year now, he did not know everyone by name, but he knew most by their face. He was quite bad at names, but he had only had a small circle of acquaintances for so long that remembering names beyond his band of knights had become somewhat of a task. Gwaine made a special effort though for the women of the court, and had not yet made a mistake with a woman’s name once they had been introduced. After all, it would be incredibly off putting to the woman in question if he were to get her name wrong on the second meeting.

The woman that Gwaine had just spoken to was somewhat unknown to him. He had seen her around court before, but he had not yet spoken to her, and now that he was he couldn’t believe she had not caught his eye before now. He frowned a little at her as she told him that she was not beautiful. Gwaine shook his head, and took her hand, placing a small kiss on her pale, and rubbed the spot with his thumb before releasing her, “There are none more beautiful than you my lady.” He looked over his shoulder, and then back to her, and decided to have a little bit of fun with her. “I doubt you could name a single woman in this room that I believe to be more beautiful than yourself.” He cocked a little grin, “I am Sir Gwaine by the way, may I have the honour of knowing your name, sweet lady?”

[Lady Elenora]

Nora began to blush furiously as the knight took her hand and placed a kiss there before telling her that she was indeed beautiful, more than the other ladies in the room. She had trouble believing that!

"Umm well if you say so." She tried to smile up at him, but found it hard as her heart was beating so fast. This knight surely knew how to set a woman's heart racing. He then cocked a little grin and introduced himself as Sir Gwaine. Oh, Nora had heard about him. She had heard that she had saved the Prince's life twice before being banished after attacking some knights from another kingdom. But now Arthur was taking over his father's duties he had knighted him. Along with some other commoners.

He then went on to ask for her name and Nora introduced herself, "I'm Lady Elenora, but most people call me by my nickname Nora. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Gwaine." She smiled, before curtsying lowly.

"I have heard many stories about you." Nora ventured to say in an attempt to start a conversation. She just hoped that it was a good one.

[thegwaine]

Gwaine suspected that this lady had been devoid of attention from the opposite sex. It was just a suspicion he had, perhaps Lady Nora was playing coy just because that was her way, but he felt like there was something else there. When women knew they were beautiful they played up to that image and enjoyed it completely. Nora seemed to be uncomfortable when he complimented her which was something that he had come across before, just not in Camelot for some time. Perhaps she was like Gwen and another man held her attentions, in which case he should probably stop soon and admit defeat. She seemed quite pleasant anyway, and she was smiling so he couldn’t be doing everything wrong could he? Perhaps she was just shy. That sounded more plausible.

He didn’t put this thought into every woman of course, but Nora seemed quite sweet and he had no intention of hurting her or of leading her on. Gwaine grinned at her and looked her up and down. She certainly was beautiful, there was really no mistaking that but she obviously didn’t know just how beautiful she was. How was a Lady like this not already married? Gwaine couldn’t understand it. “It is a pleasure to meet you my Lady.” He said softly, placing a kiss upon her hand; grinning as he pulled away from her. He cocked an eye brow as she told him that she had heard many tales about him. Gwaine was quite intrigued; he had no idea he had been making a name for himself here in Camelot. Hopefully they had left all the bad bits out, not that there were many of course. “Stories my Lady?” He asked, stepping slightly closer to her, “What kind of stories?”

[Lady Elenora]

“It is a pleasure to meet you my Lady." Sir Gwaine said to her softly before placing a kiss upon her hand, causing her to blush furiously. Really! It was ridiculous how much this knight managed to make her blush in such a short amount of time. Nora just prayed that she would not make a fool of herself as she tended to do when in company of the opposite sex.

“Stories my Lady?” He then asked, stepping slightly closer to her, “What kind of stories?” Oh god! Nora thought she had said the wrong thing and her cheeks grew redder, if that was possible. Then she noticed the teasing look upon his face and realized that he was teasing her.

Feeling her confidence rise within her she teased him back, "Only that you managed to encounter the Prince on one of his journeys, saved his life, got injured. Returned to Camelot to be treated, amassed a huge debit at the tavern, sent many ladies aflutter before getting into a fight with some knights, resulting with you being banished from Camelot. And yet I bet this was not all..." she winked at him hoping to hear whether all of this was true and more about his life story. About how a man such as himself ended up in Camelot and becoming a knight.

[thegwaine]

Gwaine was quite impressed with how easily the lady was blushing. That was all down to his particular charms of course, it was sometimes just too easy really. Gwaine was slowly working his way through the court, and he was surprised that most of the beautiful ladies hadn’t been locked up by now. He had been in Camelot long enough for his reputation to circle about the place. He grinned, and whipped his head back; his hair gracefully following suit. The ladies loved that kind of a move, he’d been told so on various occasions. Gwaine had been finding the female attention quite suitable here since deciding to remain in Camelot. The ladies of the court certainly kept him busy.

Oh, now she surprised him somewhat. Gwaine had been expecting some story about his flirtatious ways, or how he went about stealing the virtue of young noblewomen. Neither were true, but they weren’t the traits he wanted to introduce himself with. He would rather the lady in question found that out for herself, if she wanted to that was. Gwaine wasn’t in the habit of forcing women to do things they didn’t feel comfortable with. It wasn’t in his nature at all.

“That, my Lady, is only the start of the story.” He winked at her and found himself grinning. “It’s all true, yet somehow, I’m still here.” He gestured to his person with both his hands, and he couldn’t help but feel a little smug. He was quite proud of being a knight, he had been a little sceptical about the whole thing at first, and of Arthur as a ruler, but he’d come to appreciate Arthur as a friend and as a royal. Though he still had strong feelings about the nobility, Gwaine saw himself as an intermediately between the nobility and everyone else in Camelot. “If you have the time, I could fill you in on the other details...” He wasn’t going to bore her, but neither was he going to force a story upon her.

[Lady Elenora]

Nora did not miss the way Gwaine grinned at her, before whipping his head back, causing his glorious hair to swing backwards and forwards. She had a feeling that he did this to every woman and made them go weak in the knees. And she was no exception! She was positively growing more giddy the more he spoke to her.

“That, my Lady, is only the start of the story.” He winked at her then before flashing her a broad grin that certainly made her knees weaken even more. If that was possible. "I bet," She managed to get out before he mentioned to her that it was all true and that it was still here after all. Further proving his point by gesturing to himself. "You're lucky then," she laughed, tipping her head backwards. Then he mentioned filling her in on more details and Nora smiled nervously wondering if he meant privately.

"Indeed, I am very intrigued to hear your whole story. If you have the time that is..." She answered him confidently, which was odd seeing as she was never this confident. Not usually. What the hell was happening to her?

[thegwaine]

Though Lady Elenora was playing right into his hands, he had no desire to take advantage of the lady’s affections. He merely wanted to enjoy them for what they were, and perhaps they could part tonight as friends. Sometimes, Gwaine was so intent on conquering the women of Camelot that he forgot that sometimes they made good friends as well. Of course he was good friends with Gwen, and Lady Caitrin, but both were busy with their own matters most of the time. Women were often more blunt than men, and he respected them for that. That philosophy didn’t work for everyone of course, but as a rule of thumb it did. She was very beautiful, and he didn’t want her to think that was the only reason that he was speaking to her. It was how she had grabbed his attentions, but now he was quite enjoying her personality. Gwaine couldn’t quite believe that they hadn’t met before. He was being quite sentimental tonight, perhaps he had had too much ale.

He was lucky, he knew that. He had experienced some things that even the most learned of travellers would never dream to experience. Gwaine had enjoyed his life as a nomad by and large. There were sometimes when he had felt lonely, and that he needed company, but for the most part he had loved it. Gwaine nodded, “I am indeed very lucky my Lady, that I carry some very happy memories with me.” He carried around some not so nice memories as well, but he had no intention of bringing down the mood. Especially when there was a beautiful woman involved.

The fact that she had given him permission to ramble on about his stories was really a fault on her part, not his. She didn’t know what she had unleashed, but she would soon find out. “Well, I was a nomad for many years, I left my home as a young boy and travelled across Albion. Right as north as Mercia and the northern lands, and as far south as Glouchedon and the narrow sea.” He grinned, the narrow sea was named as sometimes another island could be seen beyond it, though Gwaine had never crossed it. He liked his feet on land, rather than on water. “I met Merlin and Arthur in a tavern brawl, where, if it weren’t for me, neither of them would have gotten out with their lives.” He waved his hand, she knew most of the rest, well sort of, “I am not boring you, am I my Lady?”

[Lady Elenora]

“I am indeed very lucky my Lady, that I carry some very happy memories with me.” Nora smiled at that, but did not miss the hint of the man having not so quite happy memories. She wouldn't ask him about it though, he didn't seem the type of person to talk about sad memories or experiences.

She listened with a keen interest as he went on about what he did before he encountered Arthur and his man-servant Merlin. She giggled as she said that if it wasn't for him, neither of them would have gotten out with their lives. "Well then they owe you a great debit. But I guess that has been given, seeing as you are now a knight," She told him a little flirtatiously, making Nora wonder how on earth this man managed to bring out this side to her. Usually she was nervous and just made a fool out of herself.

Then he asked her if she was boring him and Nora's head fell back as she laughed. "Indeed not, Sir Gwaine. I'm enjoying hearing your tales and would love to hear more." Nora told him eagerly, before she continued to explain, "My father, Sir Anthony was a knight and growing up he would tell my sister and I the most fascinating tales that has has gripped to our seats." It was true, there were times when her father would gather around her sister's bed and hear his tales battling bandits and all kinds of magical beasts. It was the best part of her days really, hearing her father talk so openly and animatedly.

[thegwaine]

Gwaine was a man with more than a few tales to tell, but he decided to tailor his tales to his audience, as he doubted that the Lady in front of him would appreciate his tales of wooing women, and drinking most of Albion out of its ale. No, from the sound of it, she didn’t appear to have travelled out of Camelot very often, or at all. Gwaine was sure of the fact as she seemed so curious about everything beyond the borders’, if she had visited then she would have given him a little input. That, however, wasn’t the case, and so Gwaine had to assume that he was right.

He had never really thought of debts owed, or debts paid. He would have rather run away after he woke up in Merlin’s bed. That sounded worse than it actually was. Gwaine grinned to himself, but shook his head. It had never been about paying debts, or keeping an even score. Gwaine had never been that kind of man, and he left out the part when he had convinced himself that he would have not helped Arthur if he had known about his royal background. It had taken a long time for Gwaine to water down some of his views, and even now he struggled in some areas. “It was never about debts, I just happened to always be where I was needed.” It wasn’t said in a harsh tone, he was being gentle, yet setting the

He was glad to hear that he wasn’t boring her, and that she didn’t want to run a mile quite yet. Not that he ever had that effect on women, but still, it didn’t hurt to at least act like he was a little humble some of the time. Those times were few and far between, but still, they were there. Gwaine ran a hand through his hair, listening as she told him of her father. So she had grown up with her head spinning of tales of other lands, which was quaint in a way. “I fear my tales probably won’t be as interesting as tales that your father told you.” He shrugged a little, sometimes the tales of a parent were irreplaceable. “My life was rather repetitive before Merlin and Arthur appeared in it. Though there are a few tales I can spin for you.” He would have to rack his brains, but he was sure he could cope.

[Lady Elenora]

She realized that she may of offended him when he said that saving Arthur had never been about debits. "Indeed. I was only jesting," Clearly Nora need more practice in that, she thought to herself, "I can tell that you did what you thought was right. No wonder Arthur knighted you," She complimented him, hoping that he would understand her meaning this time. God, she went from being flirtatious to possibly offending in seconds. No wonder she was still unmarried!

And it was at times like these that she wished her sister was with her. She would have known how to act and what to say. Unlike her.

“I fear my tales probably won’t be as interesting as tales that your father told you.” Sir Gwaine shrugged a little, and Nora went to reassure him, "Indeed not. I love hearing tales of different places and different people, their lives." She explained to him with a hint of wish-fullness. She found being a noble boring at times. She would love to be able to travel to different places and meet new people and learn about their lives. But she could not, especially with her dear father being ill and him and the estate needing close attention.

“My life was rather repetitive before Merlin and Arthur appeared in it. Though there are a few tales I can spin for you.” He went to say and Nora once again found this gentleman so interesting. How he could be confident and charming one minute and doubt his fascinating life.

"I do not believe that for one minute," Nora disagreed with him, "I'm sure your life before Arthur and Merlin appeared in it is far more interesting that my life." She smiled up at him, hoping that he would tell her something, some tale of his life before he appeared in Camelot.