Oh Great. Another One. [Aoife]

[Richard de Calys]

It was rather amusing, Aoife telling him to be mature when she was anything but. He was well aware that she thought she was mature, which perhaps made her all the more annoying. Hopefully she'd tire of him shortly, and then their paths would never have to cross again. Now there was a comforting thought. He'd go back south for a bit, see the sun again, feel some heat, enjoy the company of normal people. That was something to look forward to, some motivation to not smash his head against a stone wall before the evening was out. "I am. I'm behaving exactly as I wish, just like all royals." There was more than a hint of bitterness to his tone. He knew precisely how royals acted, selfishly and without any regard for others, why should he be the exception?

He rolled his eyes at her words. She really was an impatient little imp, wasn't she? He supposed, being a noble and a female and incredibly annoying, Aoife was used to having her own way. Well, she wasn't going to get it now. Richard really didn't have any problem with giving her the damned list, except her attitude towards it of course. If she'd just been patient, polite even, then he would presented it with enthusiasm. But his stubborn nature was getting the better of him, so Aoife was going to have to live without the list. "Hasn't anyone else told you I want doesn't get?" He paused, they probably hadn't actually. "Maybe not, eh?"

Richard would have laughed, if the memories of Caitrin de Archer weren't quite so distressing. The very idea that it was him who couldn't leave her alone! It was quite absurd. Clearly Aoife knew nothing of her aunt, well, that was probably for the best. Caitrin would be a corrupting influence and the girl was bad enough. "She wanted my shirt because, I presume, she found me irresistable." He replied dryly. The shirt, rather regretably, had been burnt. She'd made it smell like girl. And it was completely ruined by the blood stains, but mainly it smelt like girl. "Do you know anything about your aunt? If you did, you wouldn't be questioning her...inappropriate behaviour."

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife did not believe for a moment that Richard was acting like a mature adult, or how the royalty should be acting. The royalty of Mercia always appeared to be mature and act how everyone expected them to act. Richard was doing anything but that. She folded her arms and raised her eye brows at him; she was so much more mature than he was, she should be the one with royal blood; not him. At least she knew how to act. “The Mercian royalty act properly. Not like you.” She gestured towards where the king, queen and princes were in attendance. They always looked amazingly regal and proper; not like Richard at all. She looked him up and down, he didn’t even dress like royalty, so how could he say that he acted like them? “My father says that the royalty have to act as the public expect them to, but you aren’t doing that.” Aoife knew she was right, so she wasn’t going to let Richard away with this.

Now he just really wasn’t being fair, after all, he had offered her a list in the first place. If he hadn’t wanted to give her a list then he shouldn’t have offered it to her. So it was Richard at fault here, not Aoife. She had just wanted what was due to her, and nothing else. She frowned at Richard, “You shouldn’t promise things you can’t give.” As she was now certain that he had no such list to give her. It was more than a bit annoying. After all, he was supposed to be giving reasons against her family, so she had a right to know if nothing else.

Aoife wondered if her Aunt was actually blind as to find Richard irresistible. She snorted, and covered her mouth with the back of her hand rather swiftly to stop herself laughing further. Again, she looked Richard up and down, and smirked a little, “I highly doubt that, my Lord.” She had no idea why her aunt would want Richard’s shirt, but she was sure it was not because she found him irresistible. Aoife shrugged softly, in truth she had heard very little about her aunt before now. Her father had mentioned her Aunt Caitrin from time to time, but nothing which would give her a grasp of her character, “I must confess, I have never met my Aunt my Lord. And my father does not speak of her much”

[Richard de Calys]

If their roles were reversed and Aoife was the stranger loitering about in his kingdom, Richard would have given up long before now. He would have found something much more interesting to do with his time so why couldn’t she just do the same? How long was he going to have to put up with her for? And, more importantly, why couldn’t she just accept that he was royalty? He shouldn’t need to prove himself. His uncle was the King of Cantia – a kingdom far superior or Mercia, a kingdom that had actually seen the sun. Out of curiosity, he looked over to where the “proper” Mercian royalty were sat. They didn’t look that impressive, but maybe the people were simpler here and therefore easily impressed. “Well, my uncle, the king, says royalty can act as they wish.” That wasn’t entirely true, well, it was true that royalty did whatever they pleased; they just pretended they were always doing the best for their country.

He was Richard de Calys. He could promise whatever he wanted – in fact it was something he did very often, he just usually had his fingers crossed at the same time. She looked annoyed. Maybe that meant she would leave him alone...hmm...he was starting to think being left alone was just wishful thinking. There had to be some way of getting rid of her. Maybe if he tried being more annoying she’d storm off. “Won’t give,” he corrected and tapped her nose. “I could give you a list, if I so wished. It’s a thing in my capability. I just don’t want to. So I won’t.”

If only Richard was making all the Caitrin-related comments up. It wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed thinking about but it seemed Aoife was not going to let this go. She really was the most irritating person he had had to endure in quite a while. But then she was a de Archer. This was to be expected. “I’m not surprised.” He replied and folded his arms across his chest. Did they really have to go into all of this? Hmm. Obviously they did. He looked down at the girl, lips pressed together and unsure what to say. She obviously wanted some kind of information about Caitrin. Right then. What exactly was he supposed to say? He didn’t know Caitrin that well at all and he certainly didn’t like her. He sighed. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife was starting to wonder if Richard was always this grumpy. Perhaps that was why he didn’t live at home, she couldn’t imagine it being pleasurable to be around someone who just looked like they were irritated by everything all the time. She was sure it wasn’t her that was solely having that effect; he had looked like that the first time she had met him. Aoife just rolled her eyes at him; she was quickly realising that she was never going to get a mature, and proper answer out of Richard. He was just being silly because he could, and she was not being dragged down to his level. If anything she would keep her head raised high, and keep the moral high ground. “That’s not a proper answer.” She protested, “If you could do anything you liked, then why would you stay here? You obviously don’t like it.” Richard was just incredibly annoying, and confusing and he kept contradicting himself. Aoife was starting to get tired of this. She had come here to show off and enjoy herself, not let herself be dragged down with Richard.

Now it seemed that Aoife was destined never to get her list. She wasn’t even sure that she had ever wanted it, but it was the principle of the thing which mattered to her more than anything. He had asked if she had wanted a list, and now he was refusing to give her one? If he hadn’t intended to give her anything he shouldn’t have brought it into conversation really and that was the end of that. She didn’t appreciate the tap on the nose either, and she batted his hand away stubbornly. “I don’t think you could have given me a list.” She said quickly with a shrug. Richard had probably just made the whole thing up, and she was more annoyed she had wasted time trying to get the list out of him more than anything.

Aoife tilted her head to the side a little, not sure whether Richard was jesting with her or not when he asked her what she wanted to know about her Aunt. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to know, in truth. They had never met, and would probably never meet again, so there wasn’t much bother there. “How did you both meet?” She asked with a twinkle in her eye, as she was more interested in Richard than her aunt, in truth, as something had obviously happened to make Richard despair her Auntie Caitrin, and she wanted to find out what.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard was becoming very, very close to smashing his head against the nearest wall. She was the most insufferable young girl he’d ever had the misfortune to meet, and for some insane reason, she appeared to think him the most fascinating thing in the world – or at least the most fun to annoy. What had he done to deserve this? Aside the stealing and the kidnappings of course – although that was only twice and both times had gone horribly wrong and hadn’t really been kidnappings anyway so life could hardly hold that against him. Usually, he was an honest man...honest to himself anyway. And really, anyone who was foolish enough to fall for one of his schemes clearly deserved it. Unlike him, he definitely did not deserve to have to spend a single second of his life in the girl’s company. “One of life’s mysteries, isn’t it?” There was no way he was telling her the real reason for his being here – for one thing she would probably alert the authorities and his pride wouldn’t let him tell her he didn’t actually have a choice if he wanted money.

If Aoife thought he was going to fall for that one, well, she clearly didn’t know him at all. If he set his mind to it, if he could be bothered, yes, he could give her a list. But he couldn’t be bothered and anyway, it was his turn to annoy her. So, no matter what she said or did she wasn’t going to get one. “If you say so,” he returned her shrug and resisted the urge to pat her on the head. She hadn’t like the nose tapping, so she’d probably appreciate head patting less but giving in to that particularly temptation would have been more than a little childish of him.

How did they meet? Well, it probably wasn’t the worse question she could have asked. He was expecting something about her reputation or some more comments about how she obviously hadn’t stolen his shirt. He wasn’t sure exactly how he should answer it though, how much information he should give her. The de Archers were a strange lot and he doubted her father would approve of such gossip but then there was the hope that if he just answered her questions she’d have enough of him and go away. “Her uncle paid me to find her,” he said simply, “She’d run away and I was supposed to take her back to Camelot.”

[Aoife de Archer]

Richard, for the most part, just made Aoife want to scream and tell him how stupid and immature he was and how she deserved to be higher than he was, in status and in actual height. She was so much more mature than he was, and she would probably appreciate being related to royalty more than Richard ever would. Was he not aware that it was a privilege? Honestly, the man just reeked of ignorance and Aoife was tiring of it, could he not just give her a straight answer, or at the very least what she wanted to hear at least once. Obviously that was too much for Richard to bear. Aoife sighed inwardly, but would not let anything pass from her lips, she could hardly keep up her argument that she was the more mature here if she decided to pout and sigh at him every time he made a ridiculous answer. If she did that, then she would be doing most of those things most of the time anyway. She wasn’t even sure why she bothered with Richard really, true she enjoyed the sensation of knowing this was annoying him far more than it was annoying her, but still, it was hardly her ideal way of spending a feast. She was supposed to be talking about the latest arrivals at court, and watching the most eligible men in the room, not arguing with an upstart duke from another kingdom. “It isn’t a mystery, you’re just being ridiculous.” She retorted, making her accent a little more refined upon her delivery, holding her chin high, determined to establish her maturity.

The list, it would appear, was never going to be in her grasp, so Aoife decided to cut her losses and just ignore its existence in the first place. Instead, she decided to move onto the next part of the conversation; after all, why would she have wanted a list of things that Richard thought were wrong with her family? They all would have been wrong and ill judged of course, so there would have been no point in even reading such a document. In fact no, she would have wanted him to write the list just so she could have refused to read it. Yes, that was what she would have done.

Aoife’s face must have shown her shock, why on earth would her Uncle have had to pay someone to go and fetch her aunt? It was a scandalous thought! She looked on at Richard, slightly confused about quite a few things regarding what he had just said. Aoife couldn’t really understand why her aunt had thought that running away would be a good idea, no noblewoman in their right mind would pull such a stunt; especially not Aoife, “Why did he ask you to bring her back?” She asked a little puzzled.

[Richard de Calys]

If she thought he was being so ridiculous why didn’t she just leave him alone? It was obvious she was annoyed by him – hopefully more so than he was by her – so surely the obvious course of action would be for her to storm off somewhere and make comments to her friends? They’d all marvel at the fact that she’d been talking to someone like him in the first place – the suave, handsome foreign gentleman – but that she’d manage to sufficiently outwit him (because obviously that’s what she’d say) and then the little band of equally annoying teenagers would be in awe of her and Richard would finally be rid of her. Obviously he was fully aware that he was the best company she was likely to have all evening but that didn’t mean he had to like that fact. Such was the disadvantage of being said suave, handsome foreign gentleman. “If you say so.” He replied with the hope that this would be an end to the conversation and their time together.

Oh was she surprised? Richard had become rather desensitised to the expression, which was a shame really because shocking people used to be so much fun. And then it just became...ordinary, like right now. And that was just...depressing. Ho hum. Such a problem would not be solved at present. And besides, he wasn’t one to dwell on the negatives; otherwise that particular door would never be closed. So he pushed all that aside and focused on the present. Unfortunately the present was still an annoying teenager but he couldn’t have everything. He shrugged in response to her question. He’d never understood why Lord Rouland had gone to such lengths for Caitrin. Good riddance had been Richard’s thought on their departure, and he assumed it was the same for everyone – apparently not for her uncle. “Another of life’s mysteries. Presumably he enjoyed her company, no idea why. Or he had something to gain financially...he wasn’t forthcoming with his motives.” Rouland had never said and Richard had never asked – those were the rules, but obviously Aoife wouldn’t understand (or accept) such a basic concept. So he was in for a headache...

[Aoife de Archer]

Aoife had run out of ideas on how to make Richard speak and she frowned and folded her arms. She had really wanted to know what he was doing here as nothing quite made sense about him. He said he was part of a royal family, but he wouldn’t even greet the Mercian royal family, he had then said that he had been paid to bring her aunt back to her Uncle. Why on earth would a royal be in that position in the first place? What would it have mattered to Richard unless he was interested in her Aunt’s hand in marriage, which it was clear he was not. Aoife just could not make Richard out and it was starting to annoy her. Usually she was quite good at figuring out others and she was disappointed that she was failing at the moment. She had nothing to say back to him, she would probably think of a reply later tonight, or tomorrow, when it was no use. She didn’t yet have the maturity to continue a conversation like this with a man like Richard. Perhaps in a few years she would fair better with Richard, that was, if they ever met again after tonight, which she wasn’t sure that they would. She quite liked Richard though, he was annoying and everything else that went with it, but he intrigued her and she really wanted to fulfil the itches of her curiosity.

That wasn’t what she meant and she knew that Richard knew that. Really, he was very good at dodging questions. She sighed, feeling once again like she was the more mature one here. “I meant why did he ask you specifically. What would you gain from it?” She realised she had to word her questions better if she was going to get anything out of Richard. As she asked her question though the music had begun to die out, and she felt herself groan internally as she knew exactly what that meant; the evening was drawing to a close. She looked around the room; her parents were still speaking quickly to a man Aoife wasn’t familiar with, so she probably still had a while longer to bend Richard’s ear. “Will you stay in Mercia long?” She asked hopefully, wondering if she would see Richard again after tonight. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her father looking across at her. She knew that she was going to be grilled for conversing with Richard, but she was having too much fun to care.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard sighed; he was beginning to feel resigned to his fate now. No matter what he said or did, Aoife would always have another question because obviously he was so terribly interesting. Personally, he didn’t see how he could be. Surely she knew by now she wasn’t going to get anything out of him? Anyone else would have just given up by now, but no, Aoife was as stubborn as her aunt, and as full of herself. She really had no cause to be. Stubbornness was not a trait to be valued, neither was the ability to annoy with every word – yet another thing she shared with her aunt. Seeing as the two had never met, they must be traits shared by several of the de Archers. What an incredibly irritating family they must be.

Her question gained her a raised eyebrow. Really? What did she think he would gain from such a task? Obviously it was the knowledge that he had made someone’s life better, and that warm, fuzzy feeling people were supposed to get when they did a good deed. The money hadn’t come into it at all, really. He chuckled slightly at his own thoughts. He couldn’t remember the last time he did anyone a favour, or rather when he did anyone a favour and didn’t expect to have it returned. Richard wasn’t in the habit of doing anything unless he could gain directly from it. His little adventure with Caitrin was certainly no exception. He was still rather annoyed that he hadn’t been paid more than the agreement – he had suffered. He’d been molested. Surely that was worth a few extra coins?

But, he digressed, and Aoife was no doubt awaiting an answer – an answer that would only lead to more questions. The only comfort was the knowledge that the evening would be over soon, and he could leave this damned kingdom. He could go south and all would be well. In answer to her question he raised his hand and started rubbing his thumb against the fingertips of his index and middle fingers. “For money obviously.” What else would compel him to spend three days in the company of Caitrin de Archer? The girl was a fool, but then that was hardly new information.

He detected the hope in Aoife’s voice as she spoke. He didn’t like it at all. Was there really something about his conduct that said he’d really love to stay in Mercia? He could have already left if someone wasn’t asking mindless question after mindless question. He gave her a look before replying. “I’ll be on the road south by the end of the night.”