Oh Great. Another One. [Aoife]

[Richard de Calys]

Richard had missed the simplicity of jobs like this. All he had to do was go to Mercia, find some information and then go back to Camelot. There was nothing that could possibly go wrong. There were no perilous lands to cross, no formidable foes to defeat and absolutely nothing to do with magic. He was almost tempted to take longer with this job and fully appreciate it, and he would have done, if it wasn't so damned cold.

He rubbed his hands together, trying to generate some heat from the friction as he watched Mercians go about their daily business. Were they not aware of the temperature? His mind wandered back to his home, a million miles away, and probably filled with sunshine and warmth and...quite a bit of wind, but that didn't matter because at least he'd experienced daylight.

It was a rather rare occurence, but he wasn't actually sure what information he was supposed to be gathering. Something along the lines of the Mercian army, but that could mean anything. The Mercians had one. Right. Next job. He sighed into his hands, still attempting to keep some feeling in his hands. When that didn't work he pulled his cloak tighter around himself and just resigned himself to the fact that he was probably not going to be able to feel his extremities soon.

After a few moment's consideration he decided the best thing to do was to find himself someone who knew what he wanted to know. This could probably take some time, he'd met a Mercian before and she hadn't been the friendliest of people, or the easiest to understand. Well, there was no time like the present, so attempting to pull his cloak even tighter he set off in such of someone useful, but not with high expectations.

Tagged: Aoife de Archer
Timeline: A few months after Stubbornness Can Only Get You So Far

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife de Archer was bored, there was no other way of describing it. She was stood in the middle of the day’s activities with absolutely nothing to do. Her father had been quick enough to suggest she accompany him whilst he got some armour fixed or something equally as irritating and boring. She sometimes mused that her father probably wished that she was actually her brother, so he could teach her about the ways of war. She was a girl, so the most she saw of his fighting was watching his armour being mended; great. She groaned outwardly and swung her legs off the side she was sitting on at the armourers. Bryce looked across at his daughter and raised an eye brow at her,

“We’re nearly done.” He said, starting to get irritated with his eldest child. Aoife raised her eye brows straight back at him and crossed her arms,

“You said that two hours ago.” She pointed out and pressed her lips together. The man repairing his armour looked up and tutted against the roof of his mouth. Bryce took the hint, even if Aoife didn’t. Bryce was still in his Mercian army uniform, so he took his daughters hand, and led her outside. It wasn’t that busy outside, and Bryce couldn’t spot anyone who was particularly shifty looking. He put a few gold coins in Aoife’s palm and ruffled her hair,

“Find something to do for an hour or so, I’ll come and find you when my suit’s ready.” He kissed the top of her head and left her in the middle of the marketplace on her own. Aoife frowned slightly, and pocketed the coins. Well, at least she had got out of that horribly stuffy shop, that was something, and she could probably find some ribbons to match the dress she was working on as well. Her eyes lit up, perhaps this wasn’t a wasted afternoon after all. She looked around, not noticing anyone in particular, and looked around as people much taller than herself passed quickly. It irritated her she was so young, she already felt double her age in everything but her size. She wasn’t straying that far from where her father had left her, not because she was worried about wandering off, but because this was where the action was after all. She wasn’t in danger after all, she knew most of the faces around here. Apart from one, Aoife noticed a tall man, who was holding his cloak around his shoulders like it was the middle of winter. She frowned slightly, it was quite a mild day, and if Aoife could be bothered to carry her cloak she would have done. However, it was less effort to just keep it around her shoulders. Casting the man a rather confused look, she continued to walk about the market place, almost absent minded, she was determined not to make this a wasted afternoon.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard should probably stop being so obviously affected by the cold if he wanted to not stand out so much, then again, these Mercians could probably spot a southerner a mile off, and that was before he opened his mouth. Reluctantly, he let go of the cloak and immediately regretted it, but he was Richard de Calys, he could deal with a little cold, hopefully. He was still trying to find someone who looked like they could be helpful, but it wasn't going well so far. This was supposed to be an easy job. At least with his less savoury customers there was usually some mysterious contact he could just find. Here he was just left to his own devices and just finding random people to stalk for a while to see if they were any help.

Turns out this wasn't actually getting him anywhere. He ran a hand through his hair, he was supposed to be good at this sort of thing but instead he was just wandering around aimlessly hoping some information presented itself. He'd managed to find himself in a rather busy market and well, as he was there, it seemed like a wasted oppurtunity if he didn't practice his skills, besides, practice makes perfect. He'd managed to get himself quite the small fortune by the time he'd turned the corner and found an armourers. A grin found its way onto his face. Excellent.

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife handed over a gold coin for a few ribbons from the man at the stall. She had got a few thrown in free because she'd smiled in the right way. She might only be young, but she was already learning how to play people. Aoife knew she had enough money to buy the ribbons outright, but why do that if you could get a few for free? That meant she had more ribbons, and her coins were still in her pocket. Smiling sweetly at the man again, she stuffed her ribbons, apart from one which she began to weave around her fingers. Pressing her lips together, she looked around, looking for something to amuse herself with.

She began to plait her hair with the ribbon woven inbetween her curls. She sighed softly, why was everything around here so boring? Her father had only dragged her away from her daily tasks so that he could have some company on the ride here. It was rather selfish of him really, she had so many other things she could be getting on with. There was a feast coming up, and her dress simply had to be perfect before it if she could even think about showing her face in court.

Looking round, she spotted the man who had his cloak huddled round his shoulders. He looked more relaxed this time, but Aoife was still watching him with interest. He didn't look like he was from round here, he didn't even look Mercian. Frowning, she snuck up on him, confident in her abilities to not be seen; she was quite small after all. The man was heading towards the armoury, what on earth could he want from there? He wasn't wearing any armour! Her logic was perfect of course. She watched him hovering around the armoury, and snuck up behind him with her arms folded; eye brows raised. "What are you doing?"

[Richard de Calys]

Ah! A small child. Richard looked down at the girl, not quite sure what to say. He hadn't expected anyone to be paying that much attention to him, least of all a small person such as this, and so he hadn't thought of a suitable excuse yet. Luckily he had a fool-proof plan: when it doubt, ignore the question. He bent down so he was at her level and just looked at her for a moment. She had that Mercian look about her, but then she would, wouldn't she? "Are you lost?" He looked around, trying to see any onlooking parents but found none. "Shall we go and find your parents?" It was probably rather obvious that he wasn't the best person to be dealing with children. They were as bad as women. He just didn't know what to do.

The girl was looking at him rather expectantly, probably still awaiting the reason for his being there. She had her arms folded and her eyebrow raised in pretty much the exact same manner as another Mercian female he'd had the...pleasure to meet. It was obviously an automatic Mercian response, and his Cantian sensibilities didn't much care for it. He narrowed his eyes at her. This was not what he wanted to be doing today, this was supposed to be his nice job! But no, the fates were against him and he was now stuck with this child. Of all the people for her to talk to, it had to be him. How fantastic.

[Aoife de Archer]

The fact the man had to bend down to speak to her annoyed her slightly. She didn’t like anything which emphasised her height. She had a sort of complex about it, and she already didn’t particularly like this man. His accent wasn’t Mercian, in truth she had no idea what it was. Aoife had never been further than the Mercian borders, and that was the way she like it. “Who said I was lost?” She replied very quickly, her arms still folded as she glared up at the man. She wasn’t quite sure why she was glaring; oh well, she was young and could get away with it. She was playing up her Mercian accent just to make sure he knew that she was from here, and therefore not lost. Though Aoife was young, she was quite sharp, and she knew this man was not from Mercia. “Aren’t you the one whose lost?” She asked with a smug smile, she was sure that she was right, and that this man wasn’t from Mercia at all.

Aoife finished tying off the ribbon in her hair, and looked across at the man. “I know where my parents are.” She replied sharply and kept her arms folded. She couldn’t understand why this man was just standing here on his own. There were so many more things he could be doing with his day than just standing here, being boring. Why were adults so boring? She never wanted to reach an age where she just decided to be boring, just like everyone else. Frowning slightly, she knew her father wouldn’t approve if he knew what she was doing. But he didn’t approve of much that she did, so that was just fine wasn’t it. “What are you doing?” She asked, leaning to look past him to see if anyone was there. There wasn’t, which made it worse and meant Aoife was already confused about what this man was up to.

[Richard de Calys]

The only thing worse than children, in Richard's opinion, was children who asked questions that he either didn't know the answer to, didn't want to answer, or where just rhetorical and asked in a rather smug tone. If there were going to be any rhetorical questions asked in a smug tone they were going to be asked by him. He was the adult here after all. It seemed his avoidance technique had gone and backfired on him and he was back to where he started - not having any clue how to deal with her. He just wanted her to go away so he'd be free to continue with the job. Wasn't there something she should be doing instead of asking him stupid questions? Apparantly not. "I'm not lost at all, thank you very much." He replied with more than a hint of annoyance. The last thing he needed was small girls trying to seem cleverer than him - it just wasn't going to work and would get tiresome very quickly.

Well, Richard thought dryly in response to her statement about her parents, why don't you go and find them then? And leave me to what I was doing? He was still cold, and tired, and not enjoying this as much as he'd expected and she wasn't helping at all. It was a sad day indeed when Richard de Calys was getting quite so irritated by a child. It was almost embarrassing. Before he had a chance to reply to that - not that he could think of anything to get rid of her anyway - she was back to her first question of what he was doing. What he was doing was none of her business. Honestly, he would never be pestered so much in Cantia. The children there were far too busy to go around interrogating people. "What I'm doing is none of your concern, child." He said with what he thought was a sense of authority. He patted the top of her head, "Now run along, I'm very busy."

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife was almost having fun with this man, because he clearly didn’t want to be having this conversation. She kept her smug grin on her face as she watched him. Aoife wondered where he was from, maybe he was from Camelot, or Gwent or somewhere like that. She hadn’t really come across people from other regions before, she was quite content with her Mercian lifestyle for now. “Are you sure? Because you don’t sound like you’re Mercian.” She pointed out rather proudly she was after all quite proud despite her age, “You look like you’re lost, you’re standing outside an armoury without any armour.” She could be wrong, but he was acting oddly as well, why was he snooping around here anyway?

Patting the girls head was completely the wrong thing to do, and showed the man didn’t know her at all. Aoife’s cheeks burned, and she half chocked, how dare this man treat her in such a way. He didn’t look like he was a peasant, but she wasn’t going to be treated in such a stupid way by anyone, even if they were of noble blood. Definatly, and with the true de Archer flare, she stepped up to the man and raised her eye brows at him, “Do not call me a child.” She snapped back, honestly she was a teenager now, why did no one appreciate that, “Don’t you know who I am?” She was a de Archer, and she had family all over Mercia. Family who wouldn’t stand to see her treated in such a way by an outsider she was sure. Maybe he had heard of the de Archers’ and if so, she would want to be treated with some respect. She was Mercian after all.

[Richard de Calys]

Of course he wasn't Mercian. Did the child know nothing? How could anyone with his stature could not possibly have been from such an arctic wasteland as this. Silly girl. He was rather offended that she was having to question where he was from, and even so, why was that akin to him being lost? He knew perfectly well where he was, sort of, it was just what he was doing, rather than where he was going that was posing a problem. "That's because I'm not." He said with a rather irritated tone. "And I'm not lost. I want to speak to the armourer," he gestured towards the entrance to the armourers with his hand, "Hence the location."

She clearly hadn't appreciated his patting her head, and he had to press his lips together to keep from smirking. Her reaction was certainly amusing. He tilted his head to the side and looked at her curiously. How old could she be? Thirteen? Fourteen? Something like that. Maybe she wasn't a child but she was no adult either. "And what would you have me call you?" He asked ever so slightly patronisingly. What was the point in speaking to children, sorry, non-children, if you couldn't be a little condesending? It was so much nicer to be able to talk to someone who he didn't want something from, and therefore didn't have to be singing their praises in every sentence. With her, he could be as rude as he wanted and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Don't you know who I am?"

It was now Richard's turn to look at her with raised eyebrows. Such a proud little thing she was. How was he supposed to know who she was? He was the one with the name and the reputation, she was probably just the daughter of some unimportant Mercian noble with a high opinion of herself. It was quite sweet really, the pride she obviously had towards her family name, but it didn't make her any more interesting to him. "No, I do not, and I cannot see what difference your name would make to me." That was sure to annoy her - good.

[Aoife de Archer]

If this man wanted to speak to the man in the armoury, why was he still standing outside, not going in? Aoife wasn’t completely convinced by the man’s story in any sense. After all, he hadn’t looked like he was in a hurry to go to the armoury. Aoife might be wrong, however, but she was certain that she wasn’t, and she wasn’t going to budge anytime soon. Instead, an idea came into her head, “Well then why don’t you go in to the armourers?” She asked him and raised both her eye brows straight away. She gestured to the door, if he had come to talk to the man, then he could just go straight in couldn’t he? “Where are you from then?” She asked him rather quickly, there, he wasn’t from Mercia so where had he come from?

Aoife would have thought that what she wanted to be called would be blindingly obvious. This man was clearly just ignorant, or perhaps he was just stupid. That wasn’t completely unbelievable. “By my noble title, I am a Lady after all.” She said rather elegantly, and in a more refined accent than her usual one. She even raised her chin a little bit. Aoife was proud of being a noblewoman, and she was proud to be Mercian, and this man was mocking both of those things. “And what can I call you?”

Aoife couldn’t believe this man was so stupid. Did he not know the power the de Archer family had in Mercia? Well, primarily in the army, but still, they were a noble family who demanded respect more than perhaps some of the other Mercian noble families. Aoife wanted to laugh for a moment at the man’s ignorance. “My name is Lady Aoife de Archer.” She curtseyed in quite a low manner, as she wasn’t going to lower her standards just because this man seemed incapable of realising high status when he saw it, “Have you heard of the de Archer family?” She asked with a smug smile, well, perhaps he would now apologise for his foolish mannerism of treating her in such a way. Then again, perhaps seeing as he was not from around here he would not know who the de Archer family was. It was his problem if he did not, seeing as the de Archer’s were hardly ignored within Mercia, especially in the army.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard was becoming more and more annoyed by the girl. What difference did it make to her whether he went into the armourers or not? Surely she had better things to do than watch him? He hadn't realised he was quite so interesting. He would have thought of some reason why he wasn't just going inside instead of wasting his time talking to her, but she'd already moved onto her next line of enquiry. "I'm from Cantia." He replied rather dismissively. He doubted she'd heard of the place. No doubt his answer would be met with more questions and he really didn't have the time, or the effort.

A lady? Richard rolled his eyes, in title only it seemed. If she wanted to be called by her title so desperately then maybe she should act in a way a lady should. Besides, he was royalty, he could speak to her as he wished. Maybe he should point that out to her, it seemed she did love a hierarchy. It might even put her in her place. "I could do that," he replied nonchalantly. "But only if you promise to call me Your Highness." She, no doubt, would have something to say about that, and he was fairly certain her reaction would amuse him. Something told him that she wouldn't much care for being in the company of someone with a higher status than her. Hmm. This could be fun.

Had she just said she was a de Archer? As in Caitrin de Archer? Richard groaned. He should have known - ginger, angry, Mercian, of course she was a de Archer. It was just his luck that he should find himself in the presence of yet another one. The only consolation was that he highly doubted she would be able to get him out of his shirt. No, he'd learnt the hard way what happened when a de Archer woman got hold of your clothing and it definitely wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat. "Yes, I have heard of the de Archers." He ran a hand through his hair. Clearly he wasn't allowed to escape them. "I had a run in with a relative of yours - Caitrin." It hadn't been a pleasant experience - Caitrin's inappropriate advances, being kidnapped and tortured, having his clothes stolen... He subconciously pulled his cloak around him a little tighter. As far as he was concerned the sooner she left him alone, the better.

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife knew where Cantia was, well ish, well she had certainly heard about it before now; maybe. She wasn't about to admit her ignorance in front of the man so she just nodded stiffly, "Do you not have armourers in Cantia then?" She asked with raised eye brows, no one would come that amount of distance (If Cantia was that far away) just to get armour. It was perfect logic for Aoife.

Aoife was quickly getting the feeling that this man was mocking her. Why on earth would she call him a royal? He didn't look, or dress, or even act like he was royalty. If he was royalty he would have people to go to the armourers by himself, he certainly wouldn't lower himself to go on his own. Then again, the Mercian royal family could be unconventional sometimes. Aoife knew that her Uncle Jeffrey often went hunting with Prince Oliver, and that they were close friends, though Aoife hadn't personally met the Prince. "And why would I call you your highness, you don't look like a Royal?" She challenged, she knew she was being intelligent with her retorts, because it was obvious he was becoming annoyed with her. She liked having that sort of power sometimes. "You haven't introduced yourself properly." She pointed out, she had gone to the trouble of curtseying and everything and he couldn't even be bothered to return her actions; typical.

Oh. So he had heard of the de Archers'. Aoife shouldn't have been as shocked as she was, but she hadn't really expected him to know who they were seeing as he was not from around here. Caitrin? Aoife racked her brains, "You mean my Auntie Caitrin?" She asked wearily, after all she had never met her aunt, she had never had any reason too, "The one who lives in Camelot?" Yes, she was sure she had got this right. Her father had mentioned one of his sisters had been sent to live in Camelot because Aoife's grandfather, Payton, could no longer cope with her. "A run in?" She repeated, rather interested now, she hadn't heard of her Aunt, so she was quite curious to see what she had done to Richard.

[Richard de Calys]

What was the girl's obsession with the armourers? He would have thought she would have more sense to think that he was in the area when he needed one, rather than travelling all this way - practically the length of Albion to find one. "Of course we do," he resisted the urge to add "silly girl", it was rather a struggle. "I know this might sound hard to believe, but I didn't come all this way for an armourers. I happened to be here when I needed one. Is there anything else you need to know, or can I be on my way now?" She'd probably only think of more irritating questions now, how wonderful.

Why would she call him Your Highness? Well, because his uncle was a king. Surely she had enough intelligence to work out that must mean he was royalty. He might not look like much at the moment (he really did need a new cloak, he'd had this old thing for a month at least) but he still had the elegance and stature of royalty. Those things were not so easily lost by a few years wanderings and sleeping outside. She did have a point though, he had not introduced himself properly. That could easily corrected though. He dropped into a bow - not too low though, he wasn't that eager to make a good impression. "I am Richard de Calys, my uncle is King Edmund of Cantia." When he was at his full height again he crossed his arms against his chest and gave her a questioning look. "Happy now?"

Caitrin was her aunt? Well that explained a lot. No doubt Caitrin had taught her well in the ways of irritating nice young Cantians. He was slightly put out that she wasn't aware of what had happened. He had hoped Caitrin would be complaining about her time with him for at least a few months. "Yes, a run in." He repeated, not exactly sure how much information he should divulge. "She was trying to run away," he explained, his tone still one of irritation as he remembered those few days with Caitrin. He didn't want to tell her everything though, she might start to question what he was doing again if he told her he'd been employed by Lord Rouland. "I happened to be in the same inn as her so I took her back to Camelot."

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife could tell the man wasn’t wearing armour, and that he wasn’t heavily armed, so why would he need an armourer? He wasn’t dressed to look like he was a knight, and Aoife just found herself not trusting him at all. All his clothes just pointed towards him being some oddly dressed nobleman, and he was clearly just arrogant because he was playing up a rather refined accent. Aoife didn’t really like him at all, so she decided to make it her business to annoy him as much as possible. Her father was only just in the armourers if the man turned nasty. “What do you need the armourers for?” She now asked with a smile, though she forced the smile onto her lips.

Was Richard just teasing her? She folded her arms to show him that she wasn’t impressed with his words. In her mind, he was just bluffing. Nothing about him said he was royalty. Who would hide the fact they were royals? It made no sense to her. She would have loved to belong to a Royal household, you would get everything you ever wanted, and more. “You don’t look like you’re a Royal.” She pointed out with a smirk, it did however amuse her that he bowed to her. “Are you being serious or not?”

Aoife couldn’t hide her shock at her Aunt’s actions. She had run away? And presumably that meant she had run away from Camelot and not from Mercia. Well that made sense in a way, Mercia was a lot better than Camelot and Aoife wouldn’t have been able to understand it if her Aunt had run away from Mercia, rather than Camelot. However, it was still a silly thing to do. Women couldn’t just run off could they?! Aoife didn’t like the sound of this Aunt straight away, she just sounded very different, but her father didn’t have a very high opinion of her either, which was why she was hardly mentioned. “Why did she run away?” Aoife asked curiously, “But it’s a silly thing to do.” She quickly added. Aoife smirked straight away though, as a thought occurred to her. If her Aunt had been brave enough (or stupid enough more like!) to run away, then why would she have just let Richard take her back? That seemed like a stupid waste of time, especially if her Aunt had taken the trouble to run away in the first place. “So she just went with you, just like that?” Aoife raised her eye brows; this man wasn’t very good at lying was he?

[Richard de Calys]

What a stupid question. Then again, he should have expected as such. For all her smirking and eyebrow raising she wasn't the most intelligent of people. What did she think he wanted at the armourers? The fact that he didn't actually want what most people did wasn't the point. She didn't know that, she hadn't even assumed. "What do I want at the armourers?" He repeated her question while trying to think of answer that would satisfy her although he had a feeling nothing would. "Armour and...stuff. What do you think?" Well that was a brilliant answer. At least she was going to question whatever his reply was. It was better than coming up with some grand excuse only for her to disbelive it, and alright, it was a lie so it was fair enough that she didn't believe it but even so, it was none of her business what he did or where he went. Richard de Calys did not answer to annoying young girls, especially northern ones.

Richard rolled his eyes. If he had a hat for every time someone said he didn't look like a royal...actually, he probably did have a hat for every time someone said he didn't look like a royal. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about this. Yes, he did. Gosh, he didn't realise quite how many he had. Anyway, his hat collection, wonderful as it was, was neither here nor there. His heritage was being questioned and he wasn't going to stand for that. "And what do royals look like? They don't always go around with a crown." He was well aware that his attire wasn't exactly best befitting of a man of his standing but that wasn't the point. Royals didn't walk around with a sign declaring their status. "Why would I lie? Clearly I have nothing better to do than stand around trying to make young girls believe I am royalty." He was being rude, far more rude than he usually would be, but she was just so damned annoying so it was justified.

She seemed shocked at his words. Surely Aoife knew what her aunt was like? Hmm. Maybe not. She was obviously after more details, curious thing that she was. How much exactly should he tell her? If she didn't know that much about Caitrin he definitely wasn't going to mention the more inappropriate behaviour. "All I know is that there was some trouble with her family, hmm, fancy that, someone having trouble with the de Archers..."

Why was she smirking at him? Was she trying to imply something? Just the thought of what she might be implying was enough to cause Richard some serious discomfort, and rather a bit of embarrassment. "It was either that or stay on her own, completely defenceless. And if your smirk is trying to imply something you can stop it right now." Brilliant. Now she was chastising a child. That was something he'd never imagine himself doing, which, incidentally, seemed to be a theme with these de Archer girls.

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife shrugged, she didn't really have a set image of what royalty should look like. Richard just didn't seem to fit any convention though; the Mercian royal family looked like they were royalty. However, maybe that was because Caitrin was used to seeing them every so often, she had only just met Richard after all. "I don't know, you just don't look like royalty." She shrugged, she couldn't explain it, he just didn't look like he he was of a higher status than herself. "What type of armour do you want from the armoury then?" She asked smugly, "You aren't wearing any after all."

Aoife wasn't sure she liked the sound of this Aunt. In truth, she was less than ten years older than her, but Aoife felt like she was a lot more mature than her Aunt ever would be. For one, Aoife would never dream of running away, because she knew better than that. It was dangerous for a woman on her own, and her Aunt had clearly not appreciated this when she had run off. Was she just stupid? Aoife had never met her, but she could see why her family didn't like her very much, she didn't exactly give off a good impression. "I've never met her, but my father doesn't like her very much." Aoife shrugged, Richard already had met Caitrin so he would have his own opinions wouldn't he? Maybe he didn't like her Aunt either, it certainly didn't sound like he did. He seemed quite gossipy to Aoife, after all, he was speaking quite freely about the woman in question. Bryce, Aoife's father, never spoke about anyone so freely, which was why she was rather in the dark about her Aunt Caitrin.

She continued to smirk with him. "No one has trouble with the de Archer's, everyone else finds trouble with us." Her words sounded quite mature, but she had once heard her father say words to that effect, so they mirrored his sensibilities. Aoife wasn't quite sure what sort of trouble everyone made with the de Archers. She let out a short giggle, even though she was trying to act mature, and found her efforts were failing slightly, though she didn't care. "What does she look like then, my Aunt?" She asked with another smirk. Maybe Richard had fancied her Aunt, and that was why he had taken such an interest in her. What other explanation could there be? If she was ugly she doubted Richard would give her two thoughts.

"Are you going to go in then?" Aoife asked, gesturing to the armory, "Or do you just want to stand out here all day?" She folded her arms again, but this would show if the man was telling the truth really. She looked Richard up and down, knowing that this afternoon was already gearing up to be quite interesting, so long as she didn't let Richard too far out of her sights.

[/blockquote]

[Richard de Calys]

Richard was beginning to feel like he was going round in circles. Yes, he was royalty, no, he didn't look like it, that might have something to do with his father losing all the money and his being disowned by his stepmother and then being forced to make his own way in the world. He was just putting that out there, mentally, of course. And then they were back to the armourers. For a girl she had a rather unhealthy obsession with it. "Why would I need one if I was already wearing armour?" Aoife Logic and Richard Logic clearly weren't one in the same. He didn't know why she was looking so smug about it, it was a stupid thing for her to say.

She certainly was related to Caitrin de Archer, that much was obvious, and despite never having met her, as she pointed out, the stubbornness was clearly in the genes. Part of him wanted to come across another de Archer...maybe a male one, just to see what they were like...of course he'd have to steal something from him, just for being a de Archer, which to Richard was a perfectly valid reason for being pick-pocketed.

Was she still banging on about her wondrous family? Richard had zoned out for a moment or two, thinking about stealing purses from unsuspecting nobles but managed to catch something about trouble and de Archers and it all sounded very pretentious and that was coming from Richard de Calys. "What does she look like?" He repeated, surely she'd seen some unflattering likeness in a portrait or something, hmm, maybe not if Caitrin really was the black sheep of the family. No wonder she'd been so desperate for his attention when they'd first met. "She's...tall...red hair, fair skin...tolerable to look at I suppose, if you like that sort of thing..." he shrugged, "She's female what more do you want?" He was probably the last person that should be called upon to describe the fairer sex in any great detail.

"Yes, I am going to go in." He replied with a definite tone. "I would have gone in there a lot sooner if you weren't pestering me. Well go on then," he started waving his hands at her, "Shoo." With that he turned away from her and walked into the armourers that had been so of interest and was glad to finally be rid of her.

[Aoife de Archer]

Well, the night had arrived and of course Aoife was looking her best. She had been looking forwards to his feast for weeks, mainly because it meant an evening away from her siblings, and the house in general. Her brother and sister were just irritating really. Her brother was the apple of her parents eye, so of course Aoife was just left on the sideline most of the time. Indeed, she was only here tonight because her parents loved to socialise. She hadn’t left her father, Bryce’s side just yet, mainly because she wasn’t supposed to. Young women weren’t supposed to be at these things without a chaperone apparently. Aoife just wanted to have fun, but clearly her father just wanted to treat her like she was still six. She wished he would just treat her like a Lady of the court. He wanted her to act like one, but he never treated her like one.

Eventually, Bryce found himself deep in conversation, so he waved his eldest daughter away. Aoife, who now wasn’t happy about being forced away from adult conversation, began to walk around the Mercian court. It was a very colourful affair, and anyone who was anyone was here; it was the way of course. This was where all the deals were made, for wars, marriages and property. Aoife wished she had more to talk about. The women just looked down on her like she was still a child, and the dancing hadn’t started yet so she didn’t have a chance to show off the new steps she had been practising. Overall this was going to be quite a boring affair in Aoife’s opinion.

She had the ribbons in her hair which she had bought two days back in the market. She wondered what had happened to Richard, as soon after he had left her father had taken her home. She had been quite enjoying winding him up. She had asked about her Aunt Caitrin that evening over dinner, and had just been met by irritation by her father. Aoife had only said she had heard gossip down on the market about her, but Bryce had replied with ‘That is of little surprise’. Aoife didn’t really understand, but she wished her father would just be simpler about these things. It wasn’t hard to just make things easy once in a while. Pouting slightly, her eyes ran across the court. Her friends hadn’t arrived yet; that was disappointing. Maybe she could take a walk out in the castle gardens, that would be a fun pastime anyway. As Aoife went to leave, she noticed a man lingering around the door to the great hall and a smirk went across her lips straight away as she approached the man. “Did you find what you needed at the armourers?”

[Richard de Calys]

Richard liked feasts, as he imagined most nobles did otherwise they wouldn't bother with them. He liked socialising, even if he only made passing acquaintances, he liked watching how wonderfully stupid some people were, but most importantly he liked the fact that most of them were far too drunk to notice him stealing everything he could. Coming here tonight had been rather a good move - luckily for Richard the Mercian guards were not above a little bribery so he had no problem getting in, and once he was he'd made more than double what he'd paid them. It was turning out to be a very good night indeed. Having found himself a goblet of wine, he stood back a little from the main gatherings, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself and also wanting to keep a close eye on things. There had been far too many occassions like this where he had been forced to leave in rather a hurry, and he would rather like to keep both shoes on his feet tonight.

Unfortunately, his good mood was not to last. He'd just noticed that damned de Archer girl. It seemed there was never going to be a moment in his life without a de Archer. How wonderful. Maybe she hadn't seen him, hmm, that wasn't likely. Knowing his luck she was already making her way over to him...ah, yes. Right on cue. This was when he needed someone else with him, or at least someone he vaguely knew so he could be otherwise engaged. But no, he had to be polite and sociable. She was rather short though...he could just pretend he hadn't seen or heard her? That would be rather childish though, and she'd probably just hit him or something. "Yes, I did." He replied, not quite looking at her. He wasn't going to go out of his way to make conversation with her.

[Aoife de Archer]

Richard wasn’t being particularly sociable, but that just made things more fun for Aoife. It meant she was already annoying him, which was quite funny as she’d only just arrived! It was quite strange for someone to be that annoyed with a child, but perhaps Richard was just in a constant bad mood. Aoife had just assumed he was in a temporary bad mood last time, but no, it seemed to seep into the atmosphere tonight. However, Aoife didn’t have anything else to amuse herself with as the dancing hadn’t started yet, and neither had the actual feasting. She didn’t mind that much though as she wasn’t that hungry just yet. “What did you get?” She asked, putting her hands behind her back and she began to rock on her heels with a wide smile. He couldn’t run from her in here, it would look silly if he ran out of the hall because of a child wouldn’t it? If he did then Aoife would just laugh at him anyway.

Hmm. It was hard to make conversation with someone who obviously didn’t like you, and if Aoife was any less stubborn than she was then she would have just given up, and decided that it wasn’t worth it. However, Richard’s reaction was just funny, so Aoife was keen to continue whatever she was doing. In her opinion she wasn’t being annoying, she was just being her so she couldn’t understand his problem. She settled on her earlier opinion that he was probably just always this grumpy, “Were you this grumpy with my Auntie?” She asked curiously, seeing as he seemed to be the only one in Mercia who would speak with her about her Aunt. She didn’t really care about her extended family, but talking about her earlier had obviously hit a nerve with the man, but she wasn’t sure why. “What are you doing here tonight? Are you here for the dancing?” She asked quickly, really if he wasn’t going to make conversation she would just come up with more questions for him; it was common sense really.