Exploring ~open~

[donjavier]

Javier walked into the Grand Hall, his French boots clacking on the wooden floorboards. He grinned sheepishly at the size of the room, it had to be at least ten times the size of anything he‘d ever seen before. Now this was the life! It was empty at the moment, save for a long table down the middle, but it’s splendour and sheer size was a little overwhelming. He supposed they would dine here tonight. He laughed softly to himself. He couldn’t help but find it funny - here he was, a fisherman, staying at one of the grandest castles in all of England. And none of them new they were being tricked!

He’d arrived at the Castle three days ago, but had yet to see the whole thing. He‘s wanted to explore, but had had little opportunity to venture out of his room. Today, he‘d been wandering aimlessly round the corridors until he ended up here, quite by chance. When he was younger, he’d loved exploring things - there’d been a derelict Castillito near where he’d lived back in Spain, and it was rumoured El Cid had stayed there, once. He and his brothers used to play El Cid y Jimeno Garcés, and he always wanted to be El Cid, but they made him be Babieca. Now look at him! Not quite Lord of his own castle, but definitely getting there.

He took a few steps further into the room, gazing around to soak up every inch of it. He reached out to run his hand along the sable and he strolled slowly down the room. If only it wasn’t so cold over here! The English must get through forests of trees in just one winter. He was amazed this notorious Robin Hood still had somewhere to hide.

[Aida Benn]

Aida had been sent to the kitchen for some warm milk for her mistress and had been in the greatest rush. Though the Lady Liselle was considered kind, Aida was a semi perfectionist and had to get it there on time. She had half walked, half run to the kitchens and back, hoping not to spill as she got the milk to the rooms, but once there, Lady Liselle had left. Aida gave a sigh and sat down on her bed with a huff. Her hair had spilled out in the front and she swiped back a few strands with her hand before standing up again. She would have to return the milk to the kitchens. Aida shivered as she walked back down the hallway to the kitchen. She was a wearing a dove gray dress that was simple, though a little too low cut for winter. It was the first thing she had put on this morning, and the rooms had been warm compared to the halls. If it wasn't for the fact that Aida hated milk, she would have drank the whole thing for warmth.

Once out of the kitchens, with the knowledge that Liselle didn't need her, Aida wandered into the Grand Hall. She knew it would be warm in there as usually there were other people and a nice fire roaring just in case the Sheriff walked in. He seemed to enjoy the luxuries of life and living in the castle meant Aida sort of enjoyed the as well. It was nice, though she missed her cozy home with her mother and younger siblings. Now her mother was dead and her siblings were far away with their aunt and uncle. Aida had a choice to live with them too, but she thought it would be better to work until her father came back. She didn't want to be a burden. But perhaps it wasn't so good working as her marriage possibilities were slim. Her father was already a poor lower noble with barely any land, but now she was considered just a maid from some peasant family. She couldn't be mistaken for a castle maid though with her confident air and the ability to read and write.

As Aida was walking, she came across another man. He seemed to be a rich noble, though his clothes seemed foreign and his complexion was darker. Quite handsome to say the least, Aida's eyes were drawn to him from curiosity, but curiosity killed the cat and she tried to turn her attention to something else, but to no avail. It was rude to stare though and she suddenly occupied herself with staring at the fire.

[donjavier]

Javier was only alerted to the presence of another person in the room when he heard a floorboard behind him creak. He didn’t turn round immediately, he didn’t want whoever it was to think they’d startled him. If it was a noble, they might become suspicious. If it was a maiden, it was far better for him to keep cool. Jumpy men were no fun.

At length, he turned round. He was pleasantly surprised by his company - a young lady, a lower noble, or perhaps a rich peasant, he guessed, from what she was wearing, was standing gazing into the fire. She wasn’t especially beautiful, but pretty enough. A brunette, unfortunately. Javi had had enough of dark haired women in Spain. In England the hair colours were so diverse - he longed for blonde, or red. One of the maid at the castle had a shock of fiery hair, which more than made up for her plain features. He had winked at her just that morning when they had passed in the corridor.

But he should probably be focusing on the maiden at hand. He stepped up to her slowly and deliberately, wondering vaguely why it was she was so interested in the fireplace. Perhaps she was simple. Unlike some of the nobles he had met, he preferred his women to have some intelligence - there was nothing more boring than a dull woman, even if she was a beauty. He had yet to meet anyone like that, not in Spain, nor France, nor England. Still, he lived in hope.

“Fire” He commented as he approached, turning to follow her gaze into the flames .“How interesting.” He meant the comment as a joke rather than an attack - what his voice lacked in sarcasm, it made up for in jest. He turned back to grin at his new companion, and swept her a bow “Don Javier de Valencia” He in formed her, keeping eye contact. This should prove a passable distraction.

[Aida Benn]

Aida looked up when the man approached and spoke to her. He had a foreign accent which was a little unexpected. Who knew the Sheriff and Nottingham could attract such colorful characters? Still, she smiled at him. “Yes, terribly interesting,” she said with a smile, though her voice held a hint of boredom and annoyance. Her annoyance wasn’t directed at the man though. But all of her ill mood and boredom disappeared when he introduced himself. “Lady Aida Benn,” she returned. “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” she added. So, maybe Aida wasn’t a lady, but a lady’s maid, but the man had given such an introduction, with some title in front of his name that her simple one in return would sound just that: simple.

Aida wasn’t the type to care about titles and whether she was of lower birth or rank, but for some reason she could feel like she had to impress this man. It wasn’t that she wanted to, but just the way he looked and acted seemed like his interest could be held for only so long. She would not have liked if he left feeling completely unsatisfied. Who was she to suddenly want that? Aida realized how out of character she was acting. Perhaps the Lady Liselle really had ruffled her feathers.

Looking away from the man, she turned her attention back to the fire. Dying a fiery death was not ideal, but Aida found herself suddenly contemplating it. She slowly reached her hand out toward the fire, though she was not actually going to stick it in there. She did have more common sense than that. She looked back at Javi, her dark eyes sparkling with intelligence. She was no dumb brunette who had no thought behind her pretty face. On the contrary, she had too many thoughts.

“Do you think it is all that terrible, burning?” she asked, knowing how that could sound insane, but she was tired. Still, she didn’t want him to think her crazy. “I sometimes wonder that a person could drive you to desire death. I am afraid I might know such a person, though death is the least attractive option,” she added with a small smile, though there was more sadness behind it.

[donjavier]

Javier raised an eyebrow at the maid - she seemed not to have understand his ironic tone. The English seemed to have a very strange sense of humour. Perhaps the girl was just simple. She introduced herself as a Lady though, so he presumed she must have some education, if very little wit. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He replied, deciding it best to play civil. 'Bastian had drummed the polite greeting into Javi's skull after he got fed up of the half-Spanish half-English bastardisation he'd used to use.

When the strange girl stuck her hand out towards the fire, Javier reflexively grabbed her arm to pull it back “¡Dios mios!” He exclaimed, slipping back into Spanish “¿¡Ha perdido su juicio!?” He was beginning to think she really was unhinged. He was torn between walking away right then and staying to look after her. Had he been back in Spain, he’d have immediately jumped to the latter conclusion, but things worked differently over here. He needed to lie low, keep out of trouble, and god knows what his conversation with this deranged Lady would lead to.

The talk about burning removed all thoughts from Javi’s mind that Aida could possibly be sane. Maybe she was a lunatic who’d slipped into the castle under the pretence of being a lady, although surely the guards would have known her if she had been. He shifted his feet slightly, trying to move away from her without her realising. God knows what a dangerous madwoman would do to him if she thought he was disrespecting her. She had asked him a question, but he doubted she was looking for an answer - there were probably little people in her head answering it for her.

Even so, her words did seem to strike something with him. Of course he knew of people who could drive you to desire death. Preferably their death, but his would work too. But she was right, death wasn’t the best option. Dressing as a noble and running away to a foreign country was much better. “Es possible” He murmured, talking to himself more than the girl. Perhaps he was going crazy too.

[Aida Benn]

Aida's eyes widened when she realized how insane she might be coming across as. She also was shocked by his sudden grabbing of her hand. "I was not going to burn myself," she said calmly, her voice stern as she looked seriously at him. "I am not crazy." Even though she couldn't understand Spanish, she understood the meaning. Perhaps she was going insane, but she would never try to kill herself. At least not by burning. Perhaps this was just one of her off days. She really didn't know why she was here anymore. This castle could drive a person insane, but it would not break her. She was too strong for that.

"Now, if you would like to slip back into English so that we can converse in a language I can understand, then maybe I wouldn't have to stand here staring at the fire," she said with a smile on her face as she turned to look at the man. Handsome features, though not her type. Of course she was still looking at men, though she had not seen one she quite liked yet. Maybe that was why she was unmarried and a servant to the mistress from Hell. Or maybe because she couldn't love again. And then of course there was the possibility that she really was insane. The latter was too much for her to deal with. She was quite sane.

[donjavier]

Javi smiled slightly at Aida’s insistence of her own sanity. It was as if she’d read his mind. Then again, those who were truly insane were always the most likely to claim they weren’t - maybe she was just paranoid, but Javier decided to humour her “Of course not, Chiquitita”, in what he hoped wasn’t a patronising tone. The girl was pretty, if crazy, and he didn’t like chasing pretty girls away. Although maybe it would be a good idea to chase this one away from the fire. He turned and walked around the room, his boots making a surprisingly loud noise on the floorboards of the large hall. He looked back over his shoulder, and inclined his head with a smile, beckoning her to walk with him.

Javier laughed at her comment about talking in English “Maybe if you spoke Espanol, then you wouldn’t have been staring at the fire in the first place” it wasn’t the best of replies he could have given, he was still cursing the knock his wit had taken by having to be translated into another language, let alone another culture. The English had a strange sense of humour, especially the nobles he’d met so far. In fact, a few of them seemed to have no sense of humour at all.

“You live here?” He asked conversationally, gesturing to the hall surrounding them as he continued to pace around it. He wanted to find more out about the strange girl, and whether she was a resident was probably the best place to start. Then he’d know if he could seek her out again, of she proved to be interesting, or plan how best to avoid her, if she did turn out to be crazy. Or worse, boring.