A Little Amusement [Robyn]

[Philip de Calmot]

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Having just finished his deliveries, Philip de Calmot was walking back through the castle, more than a little annoyed that his business there gave him a status that was little above that of a common servant. He was a noble and as such should not be expected to leave in such a way. As far as everyone was concerned, however, he was simply a merchant, a tradesman. Pip was trying to ignore the attitudes of such servants – he supposed they could not be expected to understand the situation; their inferior minds were not well-enough equipped. He brushed such thoughts out of his mind, he would be out of the castle soon enough and in the company of people who understand that he was to be shown respect.

He would not, however, soon be out of the castle. As he walked through the servant’s quarters he thought he heard music. Pip was, by his nature, rather curious. He liked to know exactly what was going on, so it was no surprise that, on hearing the music, he headed towards where it was coming from. With his deliveries already made, he had nothing else to occupy his day with. Besides, he might find someone fun. He approached quietly, not wanting whoever was there to see him. He might be disappointed and, having been seen, forced to engage in conversation. That sort of thing would not do, so it was with great effort to remain unnoticed that he found himself peering through a half open door. A small smile formed on his lips.

From where he was concealed, he could see a woman playing the lute, or at least he thought it was a lute. Whatever instrument it was, was of no concern to him. She appeared to be alone, and that was the main thing. He resisted the temptation to make himself known, instead he just stayed in the doorway, watching her and trying to decide whether she was worth his time.

Tagged: Robyn
Timeline: Series 3

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[Robyn Lester]

Playing and performing in Camelot was the highest accolade any carney could think of, and Robyn was well aware of that fact. She didn’t need Raven to remind her of this and call them all and especially her to discipline. The feast where they would perform was only a few hours away, and slowly Robyn felt a little bit of stage fright creeping up on her. Not enough to be pacing the room, biting her nails, but enough to try and grab her lute again, finding the need to a bit more rehearsal. She had played the lute for as long as she could remember being able to hold one and grab all the strings with her fingers, but ever since her injury, she had needed to learn it again in a new fashion. With her little finger missing, she was missing out one possible note in every chord and had to compensate for that with quicker change of fingers.

Some songs were easier to compensate than others, and especially the quick ones, dance music and the like left her often enough with quite the predicament, endless cursing and cramping fingers. Sometimes it could even happen she forgot she had one finger less, and then suddenly a note was missing. For the new fingering to become an automatism, she’d have countless rehearsals still ahead of her.
After a while however, Robyn could feel her fingers tiring, and she knew she had to do something easier now to not exhaust her potential before it was time. Therefore, she decided to train her voice a little as well, choosing a song she might be able to sing later, in front of the crowd.

”Come ye bearer of the Rose's Cup
Favour of a Queen
Come ye bearer of the Rose's Cup
Join your voice with me

Harpers, pipers, fiddlers all
Come and gather near
Come and join the voices of
The Bards of Ealdormere…”

She had been closing her eyes for a moment, trying to emerge fully into the rhythm and the harmonies of the song, but while she was playing she thought to feel a slight draft of air coming from the door she had left ajar, and as she opened her eyes, she found herself eye in eye with a man she had never seen before. Her fingers slipping off the strings in surprise, she gave a gasp, but recovered quicker than she would have imagined, blessed be long years of training to be spontaneous! “I didn’t expect my command to be followed so swiftly. So, what are you? Harper, piper or fiddler?”

[Philip de Calmot]

Pip could not say for certain how long he had been watching the girl, the timing of these things hardly mattered. He'd been watching her for long enough, head tilted slightly to the side, a faint smile across his lips. He would be quite happy to let her entertain him for a moment or two, after all, he had nothing better to do. As he continued to watch, his gaze began to drop to her hands, working with such precision as she played the lute...he quickly stopped himself, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Self-control was in order. One...two...three...he opened his eyes again. It was only a few seconds before he was spotted. She looked...almost embarrassed at first, but quickly managed to compose herself. Pip was mildly impressed.

“I didn’t expect my command to be followed so swiftly. So, what are you? Harper, piper or fiddler?”

The smile on his lips grew, and he leant further into the door, head resting against the door frame. Something was telling him this was not going to be difficult. He briefly considered answering that he was a fiddler - there were enough connotations there, but he changed his mind. The girl seemed rather confident, it would be interesting to see just how far that confidence went. He pushed himself away from the door, walking a few steps up to her, his smile now turning into a smirk, "Which would you prefer?"

[Robyn Lester]

Some people might be averse to distraction shortly before an important performance. But Robyn was definitely not one of them. She had nothing against meeting some new people and distract herself a little from her stage fright. She only had to be careful she would not get caught up in the encounter and miss the show. That had never happened of course for real, since she always put the Raven Pack first – like she had learned from an early age – but there was no one who could demand her time before that. Robyn liked her independence very much. Had Raven been her father, or had her father been anywhere present in her life, these things might have been different, but this way Robyn had always had more freedom than any other woman she had ever met. She wouldn’t do anything just because she could, of course, but the lack of a bad conscience could be quite invigorating sometimes.

"Which would you prefer?"
Robyn felt a slight prickling in her stomach as she watched the man approaching on her. He had that creeper act down to a tee, she had to give him that unbegrudingly! What of it was façade and what was reality? Did he want to impress her, or were his intentions in this moment truly as shady as he wanted to make her believe? Robyn was no coward, but right now she wished she knew where the rest of her pack was. She’d never tell them she relied upon them in any way, but right now… she might just feel a little less uneasy. But then she gave herself a mental slap and told herself to wise up. There was nothing here she couldn’t handle. If she wasn’t confident, she would simply PLAY confident enough and let not show that his strategy was having any effect.

”Oh, is it make-a-wish day?” she asked, smiling up at him. “That comes quite unexpected of course, but I shall tell you what I’d prefer. Male harpers just rub wrong with me, too effeminate, fiddlers are nice and quick with their hands… but it’s the pipers who have the longest breath.” That was mainly her big mouth talking and though she knew how heavily suggestive her words were, she was more doing this for the sake of the words themselves than actually willing to put action behind any of her words. He might be testing her, she had no idea as she couldn’t see into his head, but if he was, she would return the favor… and see how brash she could be without him backing away.

[Philip de Calmot]

The girl didn't seem to fazed by his sudden appearance, but then she was clearly an entertainer of some sort. She was probably used to meeting new people and was therefore hard to surprise. Annoyingly, he couldn't tell whether the tone of her speech was caused by a nerves or just her nature. Personally, he hoped it was the latter. Unnerving her would not do, not so early in the game. He needed to step back a little, let her come to him, not the other way around. He resisted the urge to tilt his head again, that would probably unnerve her more.

"A piper it is then," he replied with a smile and a friendly tone. "Although I must confess I have never picked up the instrument," he lowered his voice, there was a glint in his eye and he leant in forward, "You won't tell anyone, will you?" Hopefully his humour would relax her. It was certainly no fun if she was already cautious around him. No, that wouldn't do at all.

He stepped back again, giving her more space. She was alone so he took her to be an independant sort, and therefore she would probably appreciate a little more distance between them. Oh how he enjoyed finding new people, slowly - or not quite that slowly - working them out, working out how they worked. It was what he was best at, a talent he was rather proud of and took great pleasure in practicing.

[Robyn Lester]

Had she been overreacting? All of a sudden, Robyn couldn’t anything about him that surpassed normal friendliness and maybe a bit of cheek. Where had that creeper attitude gone, this suggestiveness? Had she only been imagining it, more startled by his sudden appearance than she wanted to make herself belief? It could be possible, but then Robyn was most of the time able to trust her intincts… Right now however they were telling her that he was taking it down a notch, allowing her the personal space she needed, and that was all she wanted. Maybe he would be nice to talk to, he had shown some reasonable wit already, so that was a start. It would probably be best to tone her own loud mouth down a little as well, so they could maybe find an easier balance, if that was what they were heading for. Actually, Robyn had not the slightest idea how to estimate this man, and while that was slightly unnerving, it also intrigued her. Had she maybe happened on a freelance actor? Someone who used his skills in daily life instead on stage? But then… she might also just give him too much credit, he might be nothing but a normal, witty man. And he probably was.

Raising her eyebrows slightly, Robyn smiled up at him, and shook her head. “That’s too bad. But then, there’s always a first for everything. Maybe, if you just took one up and tried, you might prove to be a natural talent.” From Robyn’s point of view, they were more talking about the real instrument now, but of vourse that view could be altered by anything she had said. It either came with the general subject, or it was just in her blood. “But don’t worry”, she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “my lips are sealed – at least on that aspect. No one shall know of this except you and I.” She might have added as well that being their ‘litte secret’, but for once Robyn restrained herself from speaking everything that flashed up in her mind. Maybe he had unnerved her a bit after all, however unintentionally, so that she now was a little more cautious about her words and what direction they could take. Knowing her, however, a speedy recovery was almost a given.

“May I ask you what brings you here?” she ventured on. “Are you in any way involved in the fesitivities? Even if it’s not as a piper?”

[Philip de Calmot]

Ah, that’s better. She seemed more relaxed now, smiling, things seemed to be going better. He just needed to keep his distance for a little while longer. She was certainly not helping herself, not that she knew that of course. She was giving Philip far too many opportunities, not that he was going to protest to that. Although perhaps he would have enjoyed himself more if there was something a little bit challenging about her – other than simply having to step back a few paces. “Perhaps what I need is an education...” He replied, the suggestion less than subtle. He was interested to see how she would react, he couldn’t quite decide whether she was easily fazed or not. Maybe she just needed a little push... Her words brought a smile to his lips; honestly, she wasn’t making it any harder, was she? “How ever can I thank you?”

Fortunately, he wasn’t one to give away his emotions so although her question served to irritate him, he didn’t show it at all. He would never be happy about the fact that he had to make money, and he definitely wouldn’t be happy about telling people – unless he was trying to make a sale, obviously. It was embarrassing, to say the least, to introduce himself as a noble and then a merchant. His fingers twitched slightly, trying to ignore the irritation so he could continue the conversation. “Wine,” he replied simply once his fingers stopped. “I’ve just made a delivery. And you,” he continued to divert attention from his trade, “Must be the entertainment.”

[Robyn Lester]

Now this was not so innocent anymore Robyn realized, one of her eyebrows quickly darting up in amusement and a tint of surprise. She just could not measure this man, she had no idea what went on behind his forehead and those eyes that still eyed her with an unreadable expression. Robyn didn’t feel threatened anymore, but she didn’t feel completely safe or at ease either, like she normally felt with ‘neutral’ strangers. She was an open person and didn’t have qualms with people until they showed her a reason to, but this… this had started to become a weird state of in between. He seemed to want to stay around for a little, though, and Robyn didn’t feel inclined to tell him to go and leave her in peace. She already was thinking about anything but the oncoming performance, and that could only be a good thing, right? It helped her to keep her nervousness at bay.

He became even more obvious when he talked about an ‘education’ he lacked, but Robyn wouldn’t give him the satisfaction about dropping the act so soon. This game could be carried equivocally until the cows came home, as far as Robyn was concerned. There was nothing to say against a battle of wits as long as things were kept in good fun.

“Oh I’m sure there would be many willing teachers out in this world, if you really put an effort behind searching”, she pointed out with an all-too-innocent expression on her face. He then wanted to know how he ever could thank her?! Well, wasn’t that an open invitation to anything, and he surely had meant it that way. The question now only was how Robyn wished to deal with this. He probably thought himself quite the catch, and that might not even be too wrong. But if he dangled a bait in front of her mouth it didn’t mean she had to snatch at it and swallow it.
Hissing lowly, she gave him a skeptical and slightly sassy look. “Oh, now you’re entering dangerous ground, my friend. Jugglers often ask for favours as payment, and they collect them at the worst time possible… never issue a blank check to a juggler girl.”

She would have expected many things from him, but not a wine merchant. It was a surprising revelation, but a rather positive one. “Oh, so apart from us you’d be the most wanted man for this feast tonight”, she exclaimed with a laugh. “Or maybe you’ll even rank before us, depending on how good your wine is”, she teased. She had no doubt for this feast they would have ordered the best of the best, which also made her proud in a way, thinking that the Raven Pack had been accepted for it. She wouldn’t mind a little bit of wine herself, but then she would not get what the high folk drank anyway. Probably not even if she said pretty please.