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Post by Griff Aubert on Aug 4, 2011 20:45:44 GMT -5
Griff was trying to remain in control of the conversation, but it didn't help when she was making valid points and proving him wrong. That was just inconsiderate. "I remember every detail," he replied in an authoratitive tone but there was a badly suppressed smirk betraying his inner thoughts. Regardless, he continued with an air of superiority. "I was merely humouring you." She had kissed him first that night, so his argument was a valid one. He was rather impressed with himself, but then he usually was. After all, he was a very impressive person.
It occurred to Griff, as she mentioned, albeit fleetingly, Merica, that they didn't actually know that much about each other. They knew each other, that part was easy, but her entire history was quite a mystery to him. He wanted to press her further, but there was something in the tone of her voice that suggested it would not be a good idea. When she had spoken of her father earlier there had been both anger and bitterness in her voice, and it would hardly do to upset her - especially as he was currently sat in a tree. So he just nodded and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek and said, because the atmosphere needed lightening: "Maybe you could teach me how to make one, then I could find myself a nice rich wife." Well, that was his plan anyway.
He laughed softly and scratched his neck and tried to think of something grand to say, some terribly impressive answer that would sweep her off her feet and hopefully out of her dress. In the end he went for simple because it had always worked before. "I came to see you. I found myself missing you." |
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 23, 2011 19:10:43 GMT -5
At Caitrin’s speech Griff looked surprised: his eyebrows raised and his mouth fell open slightly. He had thought he’d been doing rather a good job at seducing her. It was one of his many talents, and he didn’t much care for being told it wasn’t working. Not that he actually believed her, not while he sat in a tree with her. It was just a slow seduction, that was all. He was working the charm slowly, but it was definitely working.
Off the top of his head he could think of several young women who would leap at the chance to be seduced by him – which, incidentally was the reason they never were – so it was just...well, it was implausible that Caitrin would not want the same. That would mean that he was losing his touch, and that was equally implausible, nay, it was impossible. As he was constantly having to remind himself in Caitrin’s company: he was Griflet Aubert, complete charmer and all around fantastic human. “Oh hasn’t it? Is that why you couldn’t keep your hands off me at the feast?” He smirked at her, eyebrows still raised. Her reply should be interesting.
She was right in that he had attempted to seduce her before. He wasn’t counting their last meeting as a seduction, as there had been little need for persuasion, but he had certainly made a move in the forest. Irritatingly, she had not fallen for his charms straight away, but then if she had he wouldn’t be sat in a tree with her. He would be in a tavern finding the next Caitrin. He caught himself, mid-thought, and smiled, just to himself and realised what a stupid thought that was. He wouldn’t be finding the next Caitrin, because there was no such thing. She was incomparable. For a few moments he was simply sat there, looking at her, smiling because it seemed so ridiculous that he was sat in a tree, talking about seducing her, but there was nowhere he would rather be, and he just felt happy. So absorbed was he in his thoughts that he didn’t realise she was speaking for a few moments, but his attention was immediately grabbed by the term ‘love charms’ and he tried not to laugh because surely Caitrin was the last person to be handing out such things?
He stifled his laughter and tried to keep an expression of seriousness. He pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, and nodded. “I see...” He noticed her blushing slightly, which amused him even more, “so is that what brought me here?” He teased and it occurred to him that it wasn’t the first time he’d used a line like that to a woman. The simpler ones were always being taken in by spells and charms and how he’d found his soul mate. But he quickly banished such thoughts, because his past conquests where neither here nor there and all that mattered right now was the beautiful, fantastic woman next to him.
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 21, 2011 15:35:09 GMT -5
Her flirtation was ruined by the warning of her father. In Griff’s experience fathers were always something to be weary of, and Caitrin’s was certainly no exception. Perhaps he was even worse, considering that Caitrin was quickly becoming more than just a fling for Griff. It also occurred to him that with a father came another inheritance, making Caitrin even more appealing than he had first thought. He could therefore probably cope if it meant more money and land.
As she spoke of her father Griff noticed the evident anger in her voice. Well, he more than noticed it; it almost hit him in the face. She was never very subtle, and clearly this was no exception. He himself had never had a good relationship with his father. Corneous had always expected more from Griff than the young man was willing to give, and throughout his childhood was constantly being reminded that his older brother was a knight of Camelot, why couldn’t Griff have such aspirations? Well he did have aspirations, thank you, he thought bitterly. Just not the ones that his father had chosen for him. When he had finished his internal rant he was unsure what to say to Caitrin. This was the first she had mentioned of her father. Did she want empathy? Room for her anger? He chose to remain silent, because he couldn’t offend her that way, but nodded his acknowledgement.
“Oi!” He exclaimed, more out of shock than annoyance as he just about managed to stop himself falling out of the tree. He had been patronising, but it had only been in jest, and even so, she nearly pushed him out of the tree! That was just being overdramatic. He resisted the urge to make some comment about her being too sensitive but then he would definitely be pushed out, and probably break a limb or do.
He couldn’t help but inhale deeply to smell her when she rested her head on his shoulder. It was strange, for some reason, quite unknown to himself, he was almost nervous. He shouldn’t be nervous, he shouldn’t be anything but his charming and seductive self and the feeling that he was not solely his charming and seductive self was a disturbing thought. Caitrin was just a woman, a fling, a conquest. This was not the first time he was having to tell himself to get it together and stop being so damned emotional. He didn’t become nervous around women, he didn’t feel his skin tingle when they touched him, and he certainly didn’t develop any feelings for them. But then Caitrin came into his life and he was having to rethink everything. He ran a hand through her hair because he wasn’t sure what to do, but that seemed as good a thing to do as anything else.
“Is that all you have to seduce me with? You’ll have to try a lot harder to do it again.”
Ah, a challenge. Griff could do a challenge; he was good at a challenge. He could hide behind it and stop himself being such an idiot. He smirked, challenge certainly accepted. His hand left her hair and hovered slightly before he used his middle finger to lightly trace her bottom lip. He was concentrating far more than he should, seeing as he was more than used to touching a woman’s lip. After what he believed to be an adequate amount of time had passed his finger dropped to her throat, softly running along her skin, feeling her pulse flutter. Eventually his hand found her jaw line, thumb brushing her cheek and he leant towards her to speak into her ear: “I haven’t even started to seduce you.” He nipped her earlobe with his teeth and then leant back, biting his lip and waiting for her response with more than a touch of cockiness.
Telling him that she should have drowned him probably wasn’t the best thing to do, as now he was just rather put out. He had been being charming at the lake so definitely hadn’t warranted a watery death. “I suppose I should be grateful? I can swim, you know.” He wasn’t the most fantastic swimmer in the world, although he would never admit to be anything but an expert in anything, and he didn’t particularly like it, but he was fairly confident that he would have been able to survive, should she had attempted murder. He was still glad that she had resisted that temptation, although it did occur to him that it probably would have actually worked to his advantage. No woman would be able to resist him while dripping wet.
He followed her finger and saw the basket at the foot at the tree. He was rather intrigued. “I could never annoy you!” He said with a tone of put upon offence. “Seduce you, however...” he smirked, but then dispelled any such thoughts from his mind. Now wasn’t the time for that sort of thing. Besides, he was genuinely interested in these charms she spoke of. “I’ll have you know I’m very helpful! And rather interested in your charms, as I’m sure you know.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 19, 2011 8:06:41 GMT -5
An uncle and a father. How wonderful. No doubt said father would be even less hospitable than Rouland, although such a thing was hopefully impossible. It would be hard enough trying to seduce Caitrin under Rouland’s watchful glare, let alone her father. Knowing Griff’ luck he’d be even better at catching the pair of them in compromising positions and would be the origin of Caitrin’s quick-temper. Well, meeting the family was going to be fun fun fun. He tried to remain casual however, because it wouldn’t do to let Caitrin know that he was now dreading the prospect of being alone in a room with Rouland and Mr Caitrin, she’d only tease him about it. So he shrugged and replied: “Well you know me, I can handle anything.” He smirked after realising that his speech could have a double meaning.
He nodded at her mention of his art, but it was more a nod of acknowledgement rather than one of agreement, the sort that royalty were so practiced in when they had to pretend to care about the common folk. It was definitely an action full of his own sense of superiority, or rather, his put on sense of superiority. “Well it is only natural, little one.” He replied and patted her head – he probably shouldn’t have done that, she’d probably slap him – and tried to keep a straight face but his own amusement prevent such a thing and he started laughing at his own joke, as well as preparing himself for any oncoming slaps.
He instinctively put an arm around her as she shuffled closer, and noticed how nice she smelt and that he probably hadn’t thought that about a woman with such sincerity. But then, he hadn’t done anything with a woman with such sincerity before. “Yes, well, that was just me seducing you.” He grinned, it had, at least in part been trying to seduce her, it was usually his sole ambition whenever a young woman was around. However, at the time of calling her fantastic it had been completely sincere, but she wasn’t going to know that because she’d only tease him about it – as she was doing now – and end up with an ego large enough to match his own, and that would never do.
“Well there’s always fishing.” Griff suggested with a grin. He knew full well that Caitrin was expecting something inappropriate when he prided himself on never being inappropriate in front of young women. On the contrary, everything he said was always appropriate to both the woman and situation. As soon as he finished speaking he realised that Caitrin would probably declare that fishing was her favourite pastime and demand that they find the nearest lake. Even if she didn’t like fishing at all she would make him do it just to annoy him. “Although I’m not sure I trust you enough, I’d only end up drowning.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 18, 2011 14:09:30 GMT -5
“I would endure a lifetime being humiliated by Rouland if it meant I could spend even a second in your company.” It wasn’t a complete lie, or perhaps it was, but there was some truth rooted in it, so that was the main thing. Apart from the obvious logistics that after spending a lifetime there wouldn’t be a second left. Even so, it was the thought that counted, so while Griff was in no way prepared to spend any amount of time with Rouland alone for only a second with Caitrin he could easily endure the memory of his humiliation in order to spend time with her now. It was practically the same thing.
She was rolling his eyes, so he narrowed his. If she was mocking his poetry then she clearly knew nothing about art. He’d just discovered himself to be a literary genius. She should be falling at his feet, but metaphorically, as she’d only fall out of the tree and injure herself. “Well exactly.” He frowned, pulling his mouth to one side as he thought, “Nothing rhymes with ‘exactly’. Exactly...so tax me?” He shrugged. Being a poet wasn’t fun anymore.
It was indeed a fair trade, especially as he hadn’t actually paid for the ale. Not that he’d say anything to Caitrin, he rather liked not being pushed out of a tree. He simply nodded, preferring not to elaborate, instead continuing to compliment her. He was well practiced in distracting women with pretty words. “Well it is a pleasant tree,” he replied, tapping the branch he was on as if to demonstrate just how pleasant a tree it was, “And I find myself in more than pleasant company,” he smirked, “I might even go so far as to say fantastic.”
He was still smirking, only now it was caused by her reaction to his fingers. He didn’t know she was ticklish, he’d have to remember that and use to his advantage. Often. At her words he followed his gaze, eyes landing on the sight of Rouland’s estate. It looked even larger from a height. It hadn’t occurred to Griff quite how much money the man hand, and, with any luck it would soon be Caitrin’s. It was then, looking out at the estate, that he decided that he’d quite like to own such an estate and would do all in his power to enable himself to do so. “I can think of several enjoyable pastimes.” He replied, and his eyebrows rose suggestively.
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 17:27:49 GMT -5
In answer to her apology he merely shrugged dismissively. It wasn’t Caitrin’s fault and he would rather forget about the whole ordeal. He felt embarrassed enough as it was without her reminding him of it. All it had done, well apart from show him to a fool, was to confirm that he was still unable to cope without his blasé attitude and over-confident pretence, and he definitely didn’t need a reminder of that. “It doesn’t matter.” He replied and hoped that would be an end to it. Caitrin had apologised and he had accepted, so surely there was nothing more to be said and he could forget about it all.
He was quite pleased by her reaction to his climbing the tree. See, he could be just as impulsive and disregarding of social norms as she could, as evidenced by his poetry recital whilst standing in a tree. Seeing as he’d just made up the poem as he went along he was quite pleased with how it turned out, maybe he could become a poet. He was sure someone would pay good money for such beautiful verse. As well as making him rich and famous and loved throughout all the land, it also seemed to have had a positive effect on Caitrin, which was the whole point. All in all, it was a poem well penned.
It made him stupidly happy, happier than it should do, to hear that he did indeed have hope that there would be something between them, something more than an interrupted kiss outside in the dark. “To give me hope is to give my joy, to make me feel like a man, and not a small boy.” He laughed at his poetry, because he thought himself that good, and because it was a stupid poem and because he was just damned happy at the moment. And why shouldn’t he be? He was in a tree with Caitrin.
“I met a man in a tavern.” He began to explain, “He told me the rough location and I got him a free ale.” The less said about that ale was probably for the better. His skin still tingled when she touched him; he turned his hand over so his palm was against hers and started tracing patterns against her hand with his fingertips. He would probably annoy her by continuing with his rhyming, but he was enjoying himself. “Well when boredom strikes the best place to be is clearly sat in the sunshine – sat in a tree.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 15:57:31 GMT -5
Griff was surprisingly pleased with her reaction. She’d never been this happy when he’d appeared before, but then their last parting was a lot better than their first – even she would have to admit that they’d been making progress, which is an even better situation now that Griff had seen Rouland’s house, and hopefully part of Caitrin’s inheritance. He had already decided that he could quite comfortably live in such a house, so much for Lucan and his stupid job. It was a mercenary view, but he was practically starving. And anyway, he’d already established that they were making real progress, so it didn’t matter that he was thinking mainly of himself.
“Well I am famed for my observations.” He replied, still looking up at the tree. His neck was probably going to hurt soon, so the sooner he could get her down the better. He attempted a smile at her next words, even if she was making fun of him. He had been put into an awkward and unwanted situation which he thought he’d handled rather well or maybe not rather well, but not as badly as he could’ve done so he deserved some recognition for that.
His face fell slightly when he was told he had disappointed her, but he quickly composed himself so she wouldn’t notice. Oh wonderful. He’d forgotten about both the poem and dead animal. Luckily he was used to thinking on his feet. With the agility of someone who was used to climbing up various vertical objects to reach women he managed to pull himself up on a thick tree branch and using his rather impressive – he was told as much often – upper body strength pulled the rest of his body upwards so he was able to get his legs over the branch and join Caitrin. He looked around him, trying to work out whether he was in danger of dying or not, but then it would be a very him way of dying if it was in pursuit of a woman. He grabbed another branch above him and used that to get himself on his feet. He tested his balance, just to make sure he didn’t fall and die, and then, still holding onto the branch outstretched an arm towards Caitrin. “Oh Caitrin, with hair so fine, to see you I have climbed this vine. Your beauty, like Helen, could launch a thousand ships,” here he smirked, “especially when you shake those hips. So tell me, truly, do I waste my time, or can I hope that you’ll become mine?”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 14:19:32 GMT -5
During his last meeting with Caitrin a number of things happened. Firstly, he'd become stupidly jealous of a man who was dancing with her, secondly, she'd kissed his hand, thirdly, he'd been an idiot and messed everything up but that was alright because...fourthly, there had been lots of intimacy and lip biting, which was always a good thing, and then Rouland had to go and ruin everything and turn Griff into a blabbering idiot. But even that wasn't too bad because Caitrin had said that she hoped they would see each other soon. It was with that in mind that Griff was now travelling to her uncle's lands (and praying that he was away) to surprise her.
He'd managed to get directions from a man he met in a tavern who had hopefully been sober enough to tell him the right way. Well, it was too late to turn back now, and if he was in the wrong place he'd hopefully find someone who could help him. Hopefully someone blonde and petite, it'd been a while since he'd had a blonde. Not that that was going to happen, not anymore. Still, flirting wasn't going to do any harm.
He had found a rather large looking house, one that looked like an important sort of house so assumed it would be Rouland's. He was heading towards it when he noticed a tree, which wasn't particularly interesting in itself, but it became decidedly more interesting and rather appealing when he came closer and realised that Caitrin was sat in it. He smiled a stupid smile, embarrassingly and quickly wiped it from his face. He'd had enough of being an idiot in her presence. He'd had enough of being an idiot in general.
His horse, for once, stopped when he told it to, under the tree so Griff looked up, just watching her for a moment before making his presence known. "My lady!" He called with a grin, "You appear to be in a tree." |
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 13:25:59 GMT -5
Griff wasn’t sure whether or not he should laugh at Rouland’s comment. He opted for not as it was a reaction that would probably result in less pain and hopefully less embarrassment. He was becoming more confident that he wasn’t going to be punched in the face, but even so, he was going to take the risk.
At Rouland’s next words he swallowed and tried to stop looking so bloody scared because it really wasn’t an attractive feature, and he wasn’t supposed to be scared. He was supposed to be cocky and confident and inappropriate. Such things were rather difficult in front of Rouland however. He scratched his neck, one of those annoying habits he had that let people know he was nervous. He cleared his throat again, because if he hadn’t his voice would probably have been cracked and squeaky and that certainly wouldn’t have helped. “No, my lord. I do not take you for an idiot at all.” He really shouldn’t be so proud of himself for managing to speak coherently, but he was.
And then Caitrin held his hand, and everything felt alright again. He squeezed her hand, appreciating the gesture; although small it was managing to make him feel a hell of a lot better given the situation. He looked at her briefly, flashing her a smile, to let her know just how much she was appreciated right now, before looking back at Rouland and hoping the situation would instantly get better. It sort of did, in a way, but not before Griff was made as uncomfortable as humanly possible as Rouland spoke in his ear. But they were leaving, and as much as he didn’t want Caitrin to leave he really really didn’t want to be near Rouland anymore.
He waited until Rouland declared that he and Caitrin were leaving before acting on the man’s words. He nodded courteously in acknowledgement of his words and then turned to Caitrin. He was probably taking quite the risk in being so open and intimate with Caitrin in front of Rouland, but for some reason he found himself not caring just at the moment. He was still holding her hand so he kept it, bowed and kissed her hand, squeezing it again. “My lady, I hope I have the pleasure of your company soon.”
He turned to Rouland, not particularly looking forward to conversing with him, but it was a necessary evil if he was to escape the man’s presence. “My lord,” he bowed, lower than he had done to Caitrin, “It was certainly a pleasure meeting you.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 11:56:17 GMT -5
Griff smiled and leant back on his chair. There was an infinite amount of answers to this question, and he was more than certain he could bore Lucan with exactly what his idea of a woman was, but they didn’t have time, and Lucan couldn’t afford to be picky so there was no point filling his brother’s head with ideas that would never amount to anything. “Well it’s certainly not Maria Howard. A real woman wouldn’t be so desperate, or obvious, or miserable, come to think of it.” He left it at that because his brother did not at all seem in the mood for discussing women, which was a shame. Griff was left rather perplexed by his brother’s next words. Did he really have so little self-confidence? In that case, he definitely needed Griff’s help. “Oh cheer up.” He patted Lucan’s arm in what he hoped was a sympathetic manner. “The right woman is out there, you just need to find her. And learn how to talk to her.” He grinned, “Come on, stop being depressed. It’s boring.”
Griff sighed and rolled his eyes. He had no idea what exactly it was that Lucan expected of him. He had already made it quite clear that he had no talents whatsoever (apart from seduction and charm, but they were more innate qualities rather than talents) so he could hardly become enthralled at the prospect of being stuck in a boring job he wouldn’t be able to do. “I do take it seriously!” He was acting like a spoilt child but he didn’t care. “I just can’t do anything so you’ll excuse me for not being ecstatic at the thought of hard work and failure.”
He snatched the purse far more eagerly than he should, it was hardly the action of the son of a duke, but he didn’t have anything, expect the clothes on his back. It was not a time to be vain and well-mannered when you’re practically begging. “Fine, leave me.” He said bitterly, holding the purse tightly. “I’ll just sit here. Alone. It’s fine!”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 11:39:25 GMT -5
Griff had been wrong when he thought he couldn’t feel any more uncomfortable. Very, very wrong. He still couldn’t tell whether Rouland was just messing with him, or if there was going to be physical violence involved, so he was trying to be on his best behaviour and not come out with some very unhelpful comment about how he was in fact finding her body temperature through her lips as that had been proved as a prime body temperature finding out spot, or something like that, he hadn’t got that far in his explanation.
He clapped his hands together and grinned nervously. It wasn’t rare that Griff got nervous, but when he did it was horribly obvious and usually horribly embarrassing. “Yes, well...it’s a new field...the erm, the lip thing. But she’s fine, hurray...” he put his arms up, hands in fists, celebrating Caitrin’s apparent well-being, why he did that he didn’t know, but it had felt like a good thing to do at the time. In hindsight it really wasn’t. “So, isn’t that...good.” He really, really wanted to run away now. He was quite sure that he couldn’t possibly make a bigger fool out of himself – something that was definitely a rarity and not at all to his liking, where had his cool, casual and cocky self gone? It seemed to Griff that he had been abandoned and was now reduced to babbling like a fool, at least it was coherent, or he thought it was coherent; he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying.
Why was Rouland still talking to him? Surely he’d been made to suffer enough. He was quite certain that Rouland was more interested in humiliating Griff than attacking him, so at least that was something. But then he didn’t much care for being humiliated either. He tried to compose himself so he gave himself a mental slap (something he was always doing in Caitrin’s company, it seems), cleared his throat and told himself quite firmly that he was going to stop being an idiot. “Well, as you can see,” for some reason he was presenting Caitrin to Rouland with almost jazz-hand gestures. He didn’t know why. “she’s quite well, so my services are no longer required.” He tried to walk away again but was stopped by Rouland’s words. Clearly his humiliation was far from being over. Wonderful.
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 17, 2011 9:19:12 GMT -5
Griff rolled his eyes, still smiling. “That’s the last time I pay you a compliment if you’re going to behave like this.” So much for him being the one with the massive ego.
At her comment, he looked off into the distance, furrowing his brow and pressing his lips together as if trying to remember just how many women he had run after, in the dead of night, to a freezing garden. There had to be at least one. He’d fallen into a freezing river whilst running after a woman, but that didn’t count and he probably shouldn’t mention that in front of Caitrin. It would probably ruin the moment. “Do you know I think you’re the first, but then any other woman would’ve jumped on me in the forest.” His cocky grin was back and turned out to be quite hard to maintain when she was kissing him again, but he struggled through. He was good at cocky, even when his mind was occupied with other things; at the moment his mind was very occupied with other things. Or at least it was.
Griff copied Caitrin’s actions of jumping back, and almost losing his balance in the process which would have been horribly embarrassing but hopefully neither Caitrin nor Rouland noticed so it was probably all good. He had known enough fathers to know that they shouldn’t be around when he was trying to seduce their daughters, and even though Rouland was Caitrin’s uncle he was pretty sure he could cause him quite a lot of pain. Like most sane people, he didn’t particularly like pain so he made sure to keep his distance and told his legs that they should be well prepared for running.
Despite Rouland’s laugh Griff was still uneasy. Normally fathers – or uncles, whatever – were not quite so cheerful when he was around, and he was therefore quite unsure how to react. For all he knew Rouland could be genuinely amused, or he could be about to punch Griff in the face. Either way, he was feeling quite uncomfortable. And Rouland was drinking. Brilliant. Well. He couldn’t really see this ending well, so he opted for blind denial and reminded his legs that they’d better be ready otherwise they might end up broken. “Erm, funny thing actually. You see Cait here ran off and erm...well I was worried for her safety, being the gentleman that I am,” the hand gestures probably weren’t helping, but they were going to continue anyway, “well, I had to make sure she was alright and well...” he laughed nervously, “So how are you enjoying yourself? I see you’ve got some wine, there, good, good thing wine. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to spill it so I’m just going to,” he clicked his fingers and pointed to the entrance of the hall, “go back inside and...not be here...”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 14, 2011 15:31:39 GMT -5
Of course Griff had kissed hundred of women and most of them had been enjoyable. None of them however had made his head spin quite as much as Caitrin. He had on many many occasions told himself that the whole thing was quite ridiculous and no sane person could develop such feelings in so short a space of time, let alone someone like him. But here he was, getting goosebumps when she touched him. And it occurred to him that it probably didn’t matter how long he’d known her, whether it was five minutes or thirty years the only thing that mattered was how she was making him feel.
It was probably going to ruin the romantic atmosphere, such as it was, but Caitrin was teasing him and giving him an excuse to be cocky at the same time so it would be a crime to ignore it. “Well clearly you’re not as amazing a person as I am.” He smirked. And then she licked her lip and kissed him again and his brain stopped working. His hands started exploring her body, feeling her curves and warmth and trying to pull her as close to him as possible. His head was filled entirely with thoughts of her, how she felt pressed against him, how she made him want to be a better person, just for her. It was an entirely new experience for him and something he never wanted to lose. Because he was beginning to feel...something, something indescribable, something that seemed to make everything better, simply because she was there. He would have voiced such opinions, or at least attempted to, but she started kissing his neck so being attempting to be romantic really wasn’t his major priority anymore.
He looked down at her before speaking. She looked so small and delicate, which amused him as she was probably the least delicate woman he knew and would probably slap him for suggesting just a thing. He smiled, a genuine smile, a smile filled with relief and yes, he was happy that it was him out there rather than the other ‘noble’ but it was mainly because she was glad he was there. She was glad he was there with her, no one else. That was all that mattered. “I’m glad too.” He replied; it wasn’t the most exciting or passionate of answers but there was nothing else he needed to say. |
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 11, 2011 16:36:38 GMT -5
At Caitrin’s reply he raised an eyebrow and smirked and couldn’t help but asking, with more than a hint of flirtation, “Oh so it would be me on my back then? I should have suspected as much.”
He was sure he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and a strange tingle as her fingers touched his skin. Of course he’d been in situations such as this thousands of times before, never giving it a second thought and simply behaving as he wanted, but this was different. He liked Caitrin and was sure he had some sort of feelings for her – he must do, why else would he be showing such incredible self restraint? – so although he had spent however long it was charming and yes, alright, seducing her, he was finding himself reluctant to actually do anything. He wanted the situation, them, to advance because Caitrin wanted him, not because he’d managed to charm her. It was all new territory and horribly confusing and the only possible conclusion he could come to was that he must be developing genuine feelings for the young woman.
It was as much a surprise to Griff as it must be for Caitrin that he was being completely sincere with his words. He did think she was fantastic and beautiful and funny and charming, even if she was stubborn and appeared to spend most of their time together angry with him. But then he didn’t really mind that because if she was angry then all of her attentions were on him, and he rather liked that. He put a hand to her face, caressing her cheek softly with his thumb and while looking her straight in the eye replied simply, “Of course I do.”
He shivered slightly, though whether that was Caitrin’s doing or simply the cold was a mystery to him. He didn’t really care though; he was far too occupied by Caitrin’s lips against his so he closed his eyes and kept them closed longer than necessary. His lips still tingled, so he kissed her back before answering her question. “I would answer that, but then your ego would be as big as mine, and where would that leave us?”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 11, 2011 15:05:20 GMT -5
Griff found himself matching her smile at her words despite himself. He was still convinced that it was far better not to be himself and he was feeling slightly awkward and unsure because he’d let anyone this close before, let them see even a glimpse of his insecurities, but somehow Caitrin was making that seem all right. He found himself mirroring her earlier action and kissed her hand; it seemed like the best thing to do and hopefully it would further cement his apology.
She could be telling the truth, or she could be being really stubborn but Griff would rather not take the risk so he just took the cloak from her. It seemed the best option as far as self-preservation was concerned. Although he himself was quite cold he didn’t put it on but slung it over one arm casually. It occurred to him that it would probably smell like her now; clothes had a tendency to do that no matter how little time they had actually been worn by a new person. It seemed rather useless now that it wasn’t being worn by her but by now he had far more important things to occupy himself like Caitrin telling him that she wanted to dance with him and that she liked him. Progress was being made! He managed to suppress a smile, because that was not the sort of thing that he allowed himself to do. “Well it’s only natural.” He shrugged nonchalantly, finally being able to fall back on his arrogance properly rather than force it to surface. She could hardly say something as obvious as ‘I like you’ and not expect him to take it as an opportunity to be a narcissist. Of course it wasn’t helping that she was biting her lip yet again, but thankfully he had enough self-control to remain aloof rather than jump on her. Besides, the ground would probably hurt.
He didn’t reply to her words about the other noble because he decided if he didn’t reply or acknowledge him that he didn’t exist, so all would be well. He did, however, feel a tad smug due to her reference about his own partner. It was true that she hadn’t asked him for another dance but Griff hadn’t been bothered, rather uncharacteristically, as he had been far too occupied with trying to dance with Caitrin. And anyway, women didn’t ask to dance with me! Cuh!
Instead of pointing this out to her as he had thought that much was obvious he just shrugged, and then smirked because sometimes it was far too easy to be inappropriate around her and she should probably choose her words more carefully. “Oh don’t worry, I’ll have you on your back soon enough.” He winked at her and waited to be amused by her no doubt humorous and over dramatic reaction.
He managed not to laugh when she said riding amused her. Really, she was just asking for him to be inappropriate now. And then she was stupidly close to him and he could feel her breathing and he was sure she was looking at him in a way she had never looked at him before. He put an arm around her waist, pulling her even closer so they were actually touching now. “You, I find you amusing. I find you,” he paused to brush a hair behind her ear, “fantastic.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 10, 2011 17:33:02 GMT -5
Well. That was a question and a half. There was only one reason why Caitrin wouldn’t want to know him but it was something he would rather not mention. At all. So, at the risk of sounding like a horribly cliché he simply replied “You wouldn’t like what you found.” It wasn’t a satisfactory answer at all and Caitrin would only ask him more questions and demand more answers but it was the most she was going to get out of him no matter how hard she tried.
Griff raised an eyebrow at her next words because although she was laughing he couldn’t be certain whether she was joking or not. There was probably some element of anger in her voice; he’d learnt that there normally was with her. And of course there was truth because she appeared to be right about these sorts of things, irritatingly so. But he was telling the truth himself. He did like her and she wouldn’t want to know him, hence his problems. Without realising it he found himself shrugging and taking her hand because clearly she would understand everything going on in his head if he was holding her hand and looked at her in the eye, again, because that was clearly going to make everything alright and said, with a lot more sincerity than he knew was possibly at present: “This is me being clear: I like you. A lot.” His eyes dropped to the floor and he bit his lip. This was a lot harder than he expected and he felt like an idiot and God knows what Caitrin would say because it sounded ridiculous and self-indulgent but he couldn’t help it. “But you wouldn’t like me. I don’t like me.” He shrugged again, trying to make everything casual and probably failing. “Anyway. It doesn’t matter.” He looked up at her for a second time. “And I’m sorry...for everything. I really am.”
She was holding out his cloak to him. He wasn’t sure whether he should take it or not, it was clearly meant as some sort of statement but at the same time he would have preferred her to stay warm rather than righteous. “Keep it if your cold.” At her words about another nobleman he narrowed his eyes – was she trying to make him jealous? Or grateful? Both? Whether she wanted to or not she’d made him jealous. Back in the hall he had decided quite firmly that no one should be allowed to dance with her but him and now there was another man trying to sabotage that. “Why did you stay with me then?” He asked rather petulantly. If she was going to make a point of telling him of other offers then he was going to make a point of reminding her she stayed with him.
And now he was even more confused. She was becoming annoyed because he was apparently being misleading while she was being angry, accusing, hurt and then flirty all in the space of about five minutes. Well, he might as well just go along with it. “In that case,” he began and stepped towards her so their bodies were almost touching, “you must tell me,” he continued and looked her up and down, “what you find amusing.”
In response to her question concerning the likelihood of someone marrying her Griff replied thus: “Off the top of my head, three reasons:” he held up three fingers and counted each item off as he went, “you’re stubborn, you’re angry and,” he said the last with an almost pitying expression, “you can’t really dance.” He patted her shoulder with condolence. “Oh and you’re ginger. But,” he continued with an air of authority, “I think you’ll find I have women falling at my feet.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 10, 2011 15:59:48 GMT -5
Her words were said with such simplicity that Griff couldn’t work out what she meant by them. Obviously she meant what she said – they didn’t know each other, but he couldn’t work out if there was something else that she was trying to say, something underneath that he wasn’t seeing. He puzzled her. That was new. He’d always thought himself to be fairly obvious, well, not fairly obvious because he was always in the midst of a performance, but even so, he’d always thought that performance was fairly obvious. It was therefore troubling that Caitrin found him to be a puzzle; clearly he wasn’t doing as good a job of hiding himself as he thought he had and every so often the performance wavered.
He could hear her footsteps as she came closer so he closed his eyes and breathed as deeply and slowly as he could to try and focus on something other than her. She wasn’t helping the situation if she was going to be so damn close to him.
And then she made everything worse and told him to help her get to know him so he screwed his eyes shut and tried to stop thinking. And tried to stop himself from speaking. But, as he was learning he wasn’t good at doing what his brain was telling him to do. “You wouldn’t want to know me.” He replied with an almost laugh because the situation was absurd and his actions were absurd and he should be doing anything, anything in the world except what he was doing now and so reminded himself, rather firmly, that self-pity was not attractive and if he was going to stop being himself he needed to start caring about that sort of thing. “Besides, from experience I’ve learnt women love a mysterious man.” It was a rather weak reply but he was starting to feel less like his real self and more like his pretend self, so that could be a good thing.
In reply to her question he simply nodded. He could trust himself to nod without making anything worse. She was angry with him, that much would be obvious to the blindest of people, and he couldn’t really blame her. Even so, her words stung a little and he wanted to argue with her, to prove that he really wasn’t what she thought of him. “Is that why I followed you here to make sure you were alright?” He asked accusingly. “Is that why you’re wearing my cloak? If I really was that kind of man (which he was, but that was not the point) then surely I would be spending my time with the first woman that took my fancy rather than standing out here with you.”
It was safe to say that his words were not putting him in a better light but he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself anymore so he didn’t really care. He was irritating her, something he knew how to do. He shrugged and grinned, “What’s wrong with fun without responsibility? It’s far better than responsibility without the fun.” He cocked his head and simply because irritating her was making him feel better he added, “You do approve of fun, don’t you?”
Well that was charming. He wouldn’t be that bad to marry. And even if he was he hadn’t offered and she was jumping to conclusions. He folded his arms, feeling a lot more in his comfort zone now that they were arguing. “Who said I’d have you? And, between you and me, I don’t think staying single is going to be an issue.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 10, 2011 14:01:48 GMT -5
“Oh don’t be such a spoil sport.” Griff said in almost sulky tone. He had only been joking with Lucan, well, only half joking because it would be hilarious to try and teach him about women, so now he was determined to do just that. “Don’t you want to enjoy life? And before you say anything else about Maria she is neither here nor there. What you need is a real woman.”
He was rather enjoying teasing Lucan about what little experience he appeared to have with the fairer sex, but then his brother had to go and be serious again and ask about his mother. Griff wasn’t sure what his mother thought about the past events at all. He hadn’t had much time to speak to her before he left but she’d probably cope. Griff waved a hand casually, “As long as she’s got dresses and...earrings she’s fine.” In truth he didn’t really care and didn’t want to dwell on the topic longer than absolutely necessary. Lucan and Elaine had never got on so he’d rather not bring on a rant or whatever it was Lucan did when he was angry.
Griff sighed. He wasn’t going to stop Lucan from trying to ‘help’ him. He didn’t want a job. That was the last thing he wanted. And, as he kept trying to remind his brother, he didn’t actually have any skills to acquire one. As far as work was concerned he was useless, but that hadn’t mattered before so he’d never bothered with it. Now however was a completely different story. “Oh fine.” He was sulking again, like a five year old but he didn’t care. “I promise to try and start a new life and spend my days bored out of my skull doing some mundane job in order to serve the greater good instead of enjoying myself.” He replied melodramatically, and then, for good measure added and equally sulky “Happy now?”
The self-pitying was starting to annoy Griff. There was only one person who was allowed to bore others with their own feelings of self-worth, or lacking self-worth and that was Griff himself. “Oh snap out of it.” He replied in a harsher tone than he had intended. “You haven’t failed anyone. You’re a knight of Camelot!”
Why was his brother leaving? They’d only been together five minutes. Surely this ‘long list of duties’ could be pushed aside for a reunion with a practically long lost family member. And besides, what was Griff going to do? It was an altogether ridiculous suggestion, an opinion which Griff immediately voiced. “That is an altogether ridiculous suggestion. What am I going to do if you just leave?”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 10, 2011 13:31:54 GMT -5
There was an anger in her words, but even through this he couldn’t help but sense the promise in her words. She had just admitted she had feelings for him, despite the fact that she didn’t want them, which, although Griff was in a similar position really didn’t make sense to him because why wouldn’t anyone want to have feelings for him? But anyway, that wasn’t the point at all because she had just admitted that and given him hope that even though he was probably going to mess it all up again in the next ten minutes she had feelings for him.
And yet at the same time he was felt with that same self pity that he often felt around her because somehow she always managed to make him realise how awful he was when he was trying to be honest and open. She made him realise that he didn’t like himself and that he wanted to change, he wanted to be someone she would like. There was that nagging doubt inside his head, telling him that no matter what Caitrin said she couldn’t have feelings for him because she didn’t know him. He wouldn’t let her. She knew the charade not the person. And if she saw the person then she wouldn’t like him at all. “You don’t have feelings for me.” He said quietly. His head was turned slightly in her direction, but he was looking at the ground because he couldn’t look at her, not yet. “You don’t know me.”
He did eventually turn towards her because he should probably be facing her as he spoke, hard as it was. He was way out of his depth and didn’t like it one bit. This was completely new territory for him, as he suspected it was for her, and he was completely determined that his uncertainty and confusion and whatever the hell else was going on inside his head wasn’t going to show. He was Griflet Aubert and he was always, always in control of both himself and the situation. But as he looked at her – really looked at her and realised just how beautiful she was, and, he noticed, that her eyes were slightly red and wet – he realised that he had no idea what to say. Nothing he could think of could make the situation any better, and nothing could relieve the pain that was so obvious on her face, or the guilt he now felt as a result.
He wanted to explain everything and tell her how it was nothing to do with her, nothing at all. But it was all his fault, because he could never really work out how to be a person. He’d always messed it up and hid behind chauvinism. And now he was messing up all of this, and it really shouldn’t be a surprise and he couldn’t for the life of him make it all better. So he did what he did best. He hid behind his chauvinism. And hated himself for it. “None of those, my lady, but I rather fancy myself too much of a bachelor.” He grinned, flashing his teeth in that way he did when he was being cocky and arrogant only this time it was a complete and utter fake and something he shouldn’t be doing at all. “I find that I get all the fun and none of the responsibility.”
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Post by Griff Aubert on Jul 3, 2011 15:59:31 GMT -5
Griff could sense the anger in Caitrin’s voice. He hadn’t expected anything else, but it still made him wince slightly to hear. He couldn’t be certain, and he definitely didn’t want to presume, but unless he was mistaken – and it most likely that he was – there was something in her voice, the sound someone makes when they’re trying not to cry, higher pitched and swallowing. He wiped a hand across his face because he was angry at himself and angry at the situation and angry at Caitrin for causing the situation, and then he was angry at himself all over again for being angry at Caitrin. Basically: he didn’t want to be there.
He was still staring out in front of him when she spoke again. Her question just made him feel even worse because now he knew, not only that he’d upset her, but that she was blaming herself. Guilt washed over him, possibly for the first time in his life. His behaviour wasn’t her fault all, but the fault of his own failings and inadequacies. It always came down to his own failings and inadequacies, but usually he did a rather good job of suppressing that side of himself, or at least pretending he was someone else. Yet here was, being reminded of just how bad at being a person he was and not knowing what to do about it and not knowing what to say because he was trying so hard to stop himself from caring, but at the same time not wanting to upset Caitrin, so his first plan wasn’t working well at all and God, he was tired. He closed his eyes because it was far too hard to keep them open. He was tired of the charade and tired of himself and tired of trying to be something he was never going to be.
It was after this revelation that he realised he needed to say something to Caitrin, but the words wouldn’t form in his head. He needed something to say, something good to say that would make her understand that he was trying so hard not to care about her but he couldn’t. And she wouldn’t like it, and some part of him hoped she wouldn’t like it, but at least then she would understand and would stop blaming herself and start blaming him.
“No.” He replied simply because it was all he could say. It wasn’t enough, he knew that, so he brushed his hands through his hair and pressed them into his temples and asked himself why the hell he was doing whatever the hell he was doing. Nothing was making any sense, least of all his thoughts.
His anger flared up at her next words and all he could think about now was the nobleman inside and his stupid bloody face and the way he was touching Caitrin and he felt the need to punch him again. But he didn’t, because there were more pressing matters at hand, like making Caitrin understand what he was doing, when he didn’t understand it himself.
It was at this point that he turned around, and folded his arms against his chest and pretended that it wasn’t some sort of psychological protection because he didn’t do that sort of thing. “Don’t go.” He said. His voice was desperate, more so than he could remember it ever being. “I-I don’t know what I’m doing.” He was walking backwards and forwards horizontally to where Caitrin stood, one arm having been released from his chest, palm pressed against his head as if trying to make his brain work properly. He stopped suddenly, and looked at her, and then after a moment’s pause said “I didn’t lie when I said I liked you. I do. Please, Cait, I don’t want you to go in there and find someone else. I want you to stay here. With me.” He sighed. “But I don’t want to want you to.” He wasn’t making sense anymore, but at least he was trying to be honest. “Because...I’ve never...whatever it is we’re doing, I’ve never wanted it. I don’t want it. But...I like you.” He bit his lip, looked at her and tried as hard as he could to will her to understand.
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