Just a Jolly Jape [Gwaine & Iwan]

[Torrin]

Torrin was bored, and when he was bored he was restless and annoying - he'd been told many times. Normally when he was bored he'd just shimmy on down to the kitchen, but he'd also been told many times to stop doing that. Apparantly he stole all the food and apparantly he just made a nuisance of himself, which was something he found incredibly hard to believe. Besides, what was the point in being the court jester if he wasn't allowed a little food? He let out a frustrated sigh. Where had all the interesting people gone? The castle was usually full of people, and yet for some reason he seemed to be completely alone and wandering throughout the grounds. He needed a feast or tournament or any event where he'd be expected to perform, something other than his usual antics, something that would actually require a little effort. Instead he had...boredom.

How he hated being bored. His mind always wandered and that was never a good thing because usually it wandered to her. Her who he hadn't spoken to for three years, and that was completely fine because he didn't want to see her anyway and he was completely over it, had moved on - not that there was anything to move on from anyway so that was all fine. This was why he didn't like being on his own. When he was with other people he had an audience, he had a distraction. Right now he just had...himself. And that was hardly any fun at all.

He wandered out into the courtyard and sat down at the top of the steps. Right, he would sit here until he found something to amuse himself with and he wasn't going to think about anything to do with her. He was going to think about...how blue the sky was today or how he really needed a new pair of boots. Well...this was much less boring...


Tagged: Gwaine & Iwan
Timeline: Series 3-4 gap

[thegwaine]

So far Gwaine had really done little that could be hailed as productive during his day. There hadn’t been any training this morning, so he’d done a little practise on his own with a bow and arrow. He was never going to use the thing in a battle, but it was his weakest area, and needed work. He was tired of being shown up at the archery contests and constantly coming last. Really, he would need to be training at this for years for it to make a real difference. He had used a bow in his youth, but that was another lifetime ago. The session today, in itself, had gone quite well. At least his shots were starting to get more on target. The poor serving boy who had been helping him with the targets was getting a little more confident that he was going to escape Gwaine’s sessions without being shot by accident now. In fairness, Gwaine had only shot him once in the arm, and he had apologised. The boy was still here wasn’t he?

Now Gwaine was bored, which was never a good thing, well for anyone but him. There was little to occupy himself with either, most of the knights he was familiar with were on guard duty or on patrol. As much as he wanted company, he wasn’t going to go and work extra shifts just to find someone to talk to; that was a level of desperation that Gwaine hadn’t sunk to just yet. He was on patrol this evening and he didn’t intend to extend his stay up in the ramparts. Gwaine ran through a quick list of things to do in his head, and ruled out the tavern without hesitation. He’d turned out for an evening watch half cut once before, and it had been the most horrific experience of his life.

He then had an idea, which was brilliant and only half formed. Grinning to himself, Gwaine picked up his pace to the courtyard, and ran his hands through his hair. At training yesterday Sir Iwan had been his regular smug self, and Gwaine had vowed to get him back, well, now was the time to take action. Not in a violent sense of course; there were better ways of pulling one over on Iwan. Gwaine hadn’t really had time for many pranks since arriving in Camelot, but perhaps now was the time to start. As he walked up the steps, he noticed Torrin sitting not far away from him, it was as if the spirits were helping him along. A jester would surely not say no to a prank? “Torrin, aren’t jesters supposed to be merry?” He asked with a grin, crossing over to the man and winking, “I shouldn’t worry, I know just what will cheer you up.”

[Torrin]

The day was still so young and yet Torrin had nothing to entertain himself with. He briefly considered trying to find someone to annoy but that would involve moving and he really couldn’t be bothered, besides, no one was as fun to annoy as she’d always been. Urgh. He had to stop this. He had to stop every line of thought with some comment about Lady Vivian. She wasn’t coming back. And even if she was, she’d be throwing herself at Arthur...the only consolation he had about that was she was under the influence of an enchantment – not that that made it much better anyway. He sighed. So much for not thinking about her...but it just...it angered him. Arthur had been enchanted as well, but he’d had Gwen and that was fine. They were fine. But Vivian didn’t have anyone so she’d just continue...

“Torrin, aren’t jesters supposed to be merry?”

A familiar voice brought him out of his thoughts, which was quite lucky and very welcomed. He really did think about Vivian too often so the distraction was more than needed. He looked up to see Gwaine grinning at him, and found himself rather envious of the man. He might be being a little over dramatic (he was a jester after all) but he really did miss the days when he was as carefree as Gwaine was (or at least as carefree as he made himself out to be). He just swanned about in the castle making fun of people and performing tricks and that was enough. What did Torrin do now? He moped, well, he moped when he wasn’t performing or rehearsing. It was hardly a fitting pastime for his profession. Despite this, he managed to grin back at Gwaine. “I like to go against the trend.”

“I shouldn’t worry, I know just what will cheer you up.”

The young jester raised a questioning eyebrow. Did he actually want to know what Gwaine had in mind? Knowing the knight it could be absolutely anything, then again, whatever it was was likely to shake him from this rather melancholy mood he’d fallen into. “Oh?” He wasn’t prepared to commit either way at present, nor was he going to stand up. That would be a waste of energy if Gwaine proved to be a disappointment. Instead he just leant back slightly so he could see his friend more clearly without having to strain his neck looking up. “And what’s that then?”

[thegwaine]

Gwainewas actually quite proud of this plan of his, and he was sure that it was going to work. Hardly any of Gwaine’s plans ever went strictly to plan, but this could be the day that everything went right, and it would of course have hilarious consequences. It could be viewed as a little mean of course, but what was a little torment and teasing between friends? Well, they weren’t friends exactly, but they were colleagues. It might even brighten Iwan up a little. Actually, if his plan worked out, this would do anything but lighten Iwan up and Gwaine would be running for his life. Still, it would be fun all the same. Gwaine whistled to himself as he approached Torrin, he knew that this plan would need two of them for it to work, well, Gwaine could probably do this by himself, but he liked to think he could have an accomplice who would help cover his tracks and enjoy the prank with him. He wasn’t exactly sure what they were going to be doing yet, as silly as it sounded even messing up Iwan’s chambers would probably earn them a death penalty. Of course all of the knights had lodgings within the castle of Camelot, and then some of those had lodgings outside the city as well, in their manors. Gwaine just had his chambers within Camelot, and he was content with that.

Somehow, Torrin never looked as perky or cheerful as Gwaine imagined him to be. Jesters were supposed to be cheerful, and make everyone laugh. Though Torrin did just that at the functions he was employed for, he just seemed sad and reclusive outside the feasts. Gwaine had never really given it much detailed thought; he never liked to intrude in the lives of others. Well, he never meant to, but he always ended up doing just that. “Well you’re a jester, so cheer up man.” He could order him if he liked, Gwaine was a knight after all, not that Torrin would take much particular notice of that particular command, especially if it came from him.

He was disappointed at Torrin’s lack of enthusiasm, and frowned; tilting his head slightly. Gwaine raised an eye brow at him, “You could sound a little more enthused.” It was hardly like Torrin was doing anything of interest while he was sat here on his own, “I have a little prank planned, for a certain Sir Iwan.” He winked, if Torrin wanted to know more then he was going to have to ask as Gwaine wasn’t giving away the details of his master plan if Torrin was just going to be boring and disappoint him.

[Torrin]

Torrin resisted the urge to glare at Gwaine – it would only prove the knight’s point, and he was bigheaded enough already. Instead he grinned up at the man, trying to look a lot better than he felt. He doubted Gwaine care about his emotional wellbeing, but he didn’t want questions asked anyway. No one knew how he felt about Lady Vivian, and given that it was a hopeless and pathetic and embarrassing and just plain unwanted venture, he decided to keep it that way. “I am cheerful.” He replied, still grinning. “Why, if I were any more cheerful I would be positively happy.”

Obviously he wasn’t as convincing as he thought. Why did Gwaine care anyway? Presumably he was after Torrin’s assistance, not confirmation of his emotional wellbeing. But, perhaps he did need to make a little more effort. Who knows, by pretending to have fun he might accidentally have some. The likelihood of this certainly increased as Gwaine spoke again. A prank? It had been a while. A genuine smile found its way onto his lips – a rather mischievous one at that. Torrin knew all the knights rather well – or rather knew of them all rather well, not all of them were so talkative as Gwaine. Sir Iwan would certainly not appreciate whatever Gwaine had in mind...which of course only increased the temptation. “What, exactly, do you have in mind?”

[thegwaine]

Really, Torrin could be as miserable as he wanted to be, it wasn’t going to change Gwaine’s mood in the slightest. Now he had concocted his little idea, nothing and no one was going to be able to put him off completing the task. Most of his time was spent winding Iwan up, he was fond of his fellow knight, but he was just too easy to wind up and Gwaine enjoyed it far too much. He wouldn’t get away with it with any of the other knights, but he was sure that deep down Iwan did think of him as a dear, and close friend. Which was why he was still breathing. Gwaine almost laughed at the thought, the only reason Iwan hadn’t killed him yet was because the charge of murder probably wouldn’t sit well with him. Plus, Iwan was far too honourable for anything like that.

Gwaine raised an eye brow at Torrin and folded his arms at him. The jester always looked bloody miserable lately, Gwaine looked the man up and down, wondering if he should ask him what was actually wrong, or whether that would be seen as over stepping the mark. Gwaine knew Torrin from around the castle, and from the odd ale in the tavern, but it didn’t feel like he really knew him “Somehow I doubt that.” Gwaine reflected and frowned, “Anything you want to get off your chest?” He asked, a little more casually than he meant to. Gwaine wasn’t very good with considering the feelings of others when he hadn’t had a drink.

Rubbing his hands together, Gwaine took a few dramatic steps up towards the castle, and turned round to grin at Torrin. Really, if he weren’t a knight then Gwaine was convinced that he would be the perfect rival for Torrin in the art of being a jester. His ideas were just too good. However, he had to think of a more dramatic way of describing the prank, because ‘we’re going to mess up his room’ sounded too petty, even for Gwaine. “We’re going to mess with his head a little, you know what he’s like. I was thinking we could start with his room…”

[Torrin]

Obviously his tone hadn't been at all convincing, but not even he was depressed enough to talk about his troubles to Gwaine. Torrin wasn't one to discuss such things anyway, but certainly not to Gwaine. Besides, there was nothing either of them could do about it. He just needed to man up and move on with his life, which, as annoyingly cliché as it was, was far easier said than done. So no, there wasn’t anything he wanted to “get off his chest”. He actually wanted to just mope around for a bit but that wasn’t an option. “I’m fine.” He told Gwaine in a tone which he hoped would either convince the man or let him know that this was something that definitely wasn’t going to be discussed. Either way, it should stop any more questions about his life.

Torrin watched with mild amusement as Gwaine started rubbing his hands and striding up the steps. The knight was almost as dramatic as he was – almost. He was actually quite interested in hearing what the plan was – hopefully something distracting. What he wasn’t expecting was the next sentence to come out of Gwaine’s mouth. They were going to...what? Mess up Iwan’s room? Somehow Torrin had been imagining something a little bit more...impressive. Yes, Iwan was all for organisation and he would be annoyed if he went to his room to find it out of place and disorderly but even so. Was it really worth the hassle? It certainly wasn’t worth all the build up.

The young blonde was unimpressed. “Yes...we could do that.” He replied and started tapping his fingers against the stone steps as he tried to think of something else to do, something more fitting for his abilities. “It’s certainly an option but do you really think it’s enough? Iwan will probably enjoy straightening it all out again.” Now that he’d said it, the idea cemented itself in his mind. Iwan would love the thought of getting to reorganise everything, he’d probably spend an entire day doing it. Well...it would keep him occupied enough for Torrin and Gwaine to have some real fun. “But you know him better than me.” He shrugged, he could be completely wrong, it wasn’t terribly likely but it was a thought.