[James] This Is Where We Are

[Lily Waters]

For these last couple days Lily had been running around the whole of Nottinghamshire like a blue-arsed fly. First the visit to Locksley (and the mud incident she'd rather forget) and now here to Nottingham. What did the Sheriff want with Merton bread anyway? Surely he had his own bakers. Unless they were being lazy and buying in bread. It was business, but an awkward job for Lily.

It wasn't as if her Pa could leave the bakery to deliver it; he didn't quite feel she was responsible enough yet to run it alone. And too much of a fire hazard. So until these orders stopped, Lily had to play delivery girl. Whatever happened to people coming to get their own bread? This was the worst part of her job.

No, that was a lie. The worst part of Lily's job was trying to find the place she had to deliver to. She'd made it to the castle, that was the easy bit seen as how it was the large stone building in the middle of Nottingham, but she did not know her way round the castle. She feared that a guard would find her and her presence would cause an adverse reaction. Who's to say that they'd believe her if she told them why she was there, they may not even know about this bread order.

She finally made it to the kitchens without running into any guards, but there was no one there - save a boy about her age. She dithered on the spot for a moment, not really sure if she should tak to him or not. Was anyone expecting her? The weight of the bread making her arms ache made her decide. She dropped the basket - a little louder than she possibly should have, as it made her jump if not anyone else - and wiped her floury hands on the front of her dress (a mud free one).

"Urm, excuse me?" She bumbled over her words, feeling more nervous than she possibly should have in this situation. He was only a boy, what harm could he do? Lily was fairly certain she'd seen him around before too, at the market in Nottingham. "I have the bread order?" She posed as a question, feeling rather uncertain about the entire thing.

(ooc - ahhh! Alsa, I keep making posts for you! Urm, sorry?)

[James Blythe]

(OOC: Yes because more posts upset me </sarcasm> *noms*)

James had been pondering his situation for a good ten minutes now, and still hadn't come to a decision. There was an illness running around the castle at the moment, and it had taken out the majority of the kitchen staff for a good week thus far, making it necessary for the castle to start importing food from other sources. As it was, he'd been lumped with extra duties on top of his other extra duties and now had to figure out how he was going to get the bloody stove working if he was to make something to eat for the nobles. He didn't really want to have to explain why they were having cold meat and bread again...

Not that they'd be having even that, if the food didn't show up sometime soon. He scratched his head a little. What was a guy to do? He wasn't any good at cooking, never having needed to in the first place, and everyone was just as busy as he was (even if he didn't seem it right at that moment in time), so it wasn't like he could go ask around for help. He sighed slightly. Maybe he'd go ask Caden what he'd do - the man always seemed to have a cool head.

As he spent a few more moments contemplating where the steward might be lurking, a loud thump from behind him made him jump out of his skin and turn around in fear. He fought down the urge to yell "I'm working honest!", nearly biting through his lip, and was more than a little surprised to find himself confronted by a girl he wasn't entirely sure was from around here. He visibly relaxed - he wasn't going to get into any trouble, thank God. He hated it when he risked that sort of thing, but it would teach him for lurking and spending too long thinking. He was always better at doing than thinking, anyway.

"Er, hi," he replied, a little nervous himself. He didn't talk to people outside of the castle staff and a few of the marketeers, so his social skills left a little to be desired, and it didn't help that this new person was also pleasantly female. He was always worse around girls, whether he knew them or not, and had a feeling he was about to make an idiot out of himself.

"Bread?" he asked stupidly, blinking for a moment and realising that at least one problem was solved. "Oh! Bread!" he exclaimed. Yep, see, stupid. He berated himself a little. "Um... Have you been paid for it yet?" he asked, unsure how to go about this himself - he'd never had to do this before, and he certainly didn't have any money on him. A servant with money? What a funny idea!

[Lily Waters]

(ooc - *iz nommed*)

Lily relaxed as she saw this serving boy relax, for a minute there he looked like he was going to yell at her. She did not like being yelled at. When her Pa yells at her it scares Lily senseless, but he can yell very loud. And her Pa only yelled when he was really upset and he'd alway cry after, apologising for snapping. Her Pa had this knack of scaring her then breaking her heart straight after. "Hi." She said with a smile, the boy sounded nervous and she just wanted to show him that she wouldn't bite.

She was filled with dread when he blinked at her. She'd known this order was too good to be true. Why would Nottingham Castle order bread from Merton? Merton was out of favour if anything, yes Lord Merton was a kiss-ass, but Lady Daine? It seemed no one in power actually liked her. Which was a shame, she used to be so nice when they were younger. Not that Lily had really known her, yes Lady Daine used to play in the streets until their nurse Maggie came to fetch her, Lily had never really had to confidence to go over and play too. She was a year younger after all.

But he seemed to suddenly remember that she was supposed to be here. She sighed and relaxed, unaware that she'd tensed up again. "Yes, bread." She chuckled nervously. She pushed the bread across the table and moved round herself so they didn't have to yell across the kitchen anymore. It was a big kitchen too! The biggest Lily had ever seen. Well, the only other kitchen she'd seen was her own, but that was beside the point. Her Pa had been to the castle kitchens before once, he'd described it as impossibly warm because the stoves were always on. Today they weren't, which seemed odd to Lily. This was a kitchen.

"Urm, no. I've sort of been avoiding people who'd have money. I was, uh, sort of scared of them." She admitted sheepishly. Lily had the feeling she was going to talk this poor boy's ear off, she had a habit of doing that. It didn't matter whether she was nervous or not, she just talked and talked and talked. And the worst thing about it was she always said things that should be kept quiet, like saying she was scared of the castle employees.

[James Blythe]

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to attack him like a rabid animal. He didn’t know why he’d gotten that idea in the first place, but he had. He just didn’t do strangers, he was a bumbling fool around people he knew so he was positive that this was going to be utterly disastrous. He grinned sheepishly as she pushed the bread across the table and wondered what he was expected to do with it, really. Was he supposed to inspect it or something? The most he’d ever done with bread was serve it and eat it, and the sense of responsibility that was falling on his shoulders right now was weighing too much for his liking. He mentally berated himself. It was only bread!

He watched as Lily inspected the kitchens and wondered what she was thinking about. Apart from being scared of people, apparently. He knew the feeling, sort of, but they weren’t going to whip out a sword and go “Aha! STAB!” unless you weren’t supposed to be there, and Lily clearly was. ”Eh, they’re not that bad, just a little moody,” he ended up replying, and it was true. Especially when they were tipsy.

For some reason, he felt the need to introduce himself. She seemed like a nice sort, and he’d like to have a new friend if he could. ”I’m James,” he offered, nervous, and searched for a way to elaborate a bit. ”Um, are you from Nottingham or one of the villages?” He honestly didn’t know about the bread order, and was just going with it – why would anyone let him know that they were going to get something delivered? He wondered who had ordered the bread in the first place – must have been one of the nobles, sick of waiting around for the servants to fix it all. And a good thing, too – they would never have managed it.

He rubbed the back of his head; he ought to be getting her payment if she was scared, surely she’d want out of here, but an idea was starting to form in his head. It was probably a bad idea – most of his ideas were – but it might be worth a shot and he really wanted to not upset anybody. ”Er, this is gonna sound kinda silly, but you don’t know how to make the stove work, do you?”

[Lily Waters]

Over her initial fear, Lily began to lighten up. She really was too trusting sometimes. She was fairly certain that the fellow who'd helped her out the night before - Josh was it? - was a less than savoury character. But he'd been so nice to her, and this serving boy appeared to be the same. Lily was an optimist through and through. Unless she had reason to doubt, she'd be friendly. Like she'd been with Kate as well. Now that was someone she really needed to see. Not that she'd get a chance, what with going from one side of Nottingham to another with all these bread orders.

"Moody is enough to scare me." She said with a slight smile. "Especially when they are moody with swords." She stabbed the air for a moment before giggling. She was such a moron, but she was having fun. Well, now she was at least. Wandering the corridors hadn't been so fun. Lily had a bout of respect for the Lady of Merton; how could she come down these corridors so regularly? They were just so creepy! And Lily got the impression that the ghosts of every man hung by the Sheriff haunted the corridors. They were unnaturally breezy. It seemed that her skirts were constantly being whipped about when she'd walked down those corridors.

There was something about James' nervousness which Lily found rather endearing. He was rather cute all round. Cute for being a bit bumbly, and well the other sense of cute. "I'm Lily." She fought the blush rising on her cheeks. She couldn't be thinking like that aroud him! It would only lead to her blurting it out or something; she was that moronic when it came to things like this. "I'm from Merton. My Pa's the baker there, so I get to play delivery girl." She said with fake enthusiasm.

There she was again, talking too much. But James seemed more worried about the stove. Which was fair enough - what would whoever was in charge say about it being off? Lily'd heard rumours that food was constantly being made in the castle kitchens, to please the Sheriff and his nobles. It was oddly empty in the kitchen. "It's not silly at all. You're lucky you're talking to a baker's girl, I could make a stove work before I could walk." Slight exaggeration there, but oh well.

She walked over to the stove. Crouching down in front of it, moving the wood and coals about a bit. Now all she needed was a match. Had she been wearing her apron, she'd have found some in her pocket. It was always good to keep matches in your pocket, just in case the stove fire decided to die. She looked up to James asking, "Do you have any matches?" Once she got the fire lit, all she'd have to do was get the flames roaring. The stove was very similar to theirs at home.

(ooc - how do you work ye olde stoves? :S)

[James Blythe]

(OOC: No idea ^_^;; Lots of wood?)

Lily didn’t have anything to fear from James – he was pretty dense at times, and couldn’t really hurt a fly even if he wanted to. And he didn’t get out a whole lot (especially at the moment) so it wasn’t like he was going to change any time soon.

James had to agree, moody with a sword was a little bit dodgy. Sir Guy, for example, had been known to get a little bit violent when something had gone wrong, and more than one man had died from his rage. But James made sure to stay out of Sir Guy’s way, so he didn’t really count. He laughed as she stabbed the air – he wondered what it would be like to wield a sword, and if she had. Probably not, she was a peasant too, but it was a nice thought.

”Sounds alright to me,” he replied, a little wistfully. It would be nice to be out and about in the sunlight, travelling and meeting new people. Him? He had to stay in the corridors, in the dark, scurrying around like a rat to look after people when he’d never get any care himself. He didn’t mind this, he wasn’t as bitter as he sounded – it was his lot, it was his place in life. He’d just like to meet some new, friendly faces for a change. The ghosts got tiring after a while.

Lily was pretty when she blushed, he idly noted. He wondered if she could get the make up, like the noble women did, and if she used it. Then she’d have a permanent blush, all across her cheeks.

”You really think you can get it to work?” he asked, a little bit nervous as he watched Lily walk over and start fiddling the stove. For some reason he seemed to think it was going to come to life, on fire, and swallow her whole, then spit her out like a roast pig for the noble’s dinner table. He’d clearly been listening to too many ghost stories lately.

He looked around the kitchen, wondering where matches would be kept. He didn’t have any himself – he’d never needed them before today – and spotted some on a unit across the room. He scurried over, grabbing a couple, and took them to Lily, smiling as he handed them to her. ”These okay?” he asked. And then a thought struck him. ”So did you make that bread too, or was it just your pa?”

He’d never heard anyone call their dad Pa before. It was kind of sweet.

[Lily Waters]

(ooc - ahah, wood P:)

James laughed at her little act made Lily grin, possibly a little too big. She was easily happy. The prospect of a new friend brightened her day up immensely. It meant she had something to think about on her way back to Merton, and something told Lily that she'd be thinking of James after that as well. It came back to her, at that moment, that James had been on her mind before. Just seeing him in the market had triggered off all these scenarios in her mind before. She blushed a little, but if he asked she was going red from the exersion... or something.

"It's not so nice when it's dark, wet and muddy like last night." Lily was amazed that she'd not only made it back alive to Merton, but her Pa hadn't killed her for not coming home all night. Maybe the site of her covered in mud and still very soggy was enough to back up her story. She, of course, left out the John detail. She wouldn't have liked to see him take that one. "I wouldn't be surprised if I was still wet!" Last night at Locksley had no been fun, no sir-ee.

Had she known that James thought her pretty when she blushed, Lily would have blushed more fiercely. Not to please him, but purely for a normal human teenager reaction to his words/thoughts. "Uh-huh. Trust me, I live in a kitchen." She looked over her shoulder and made a sort of shrugging movement. "Well, kind of live in a kitchen." It was true, sometimes it seemed that their house was their kitchen. Her Pa had fallen asleep in there on more than one occasion.

She arranged the wood and coals while she waited for James to return with the matches. "Perfect!" She said when he handed them to her. It took her a couple attempts to strike them, but they eventually took. After that she held them close to a smaller piece of wood until the flame got to close to her fingers, then she flicked the match in and started with a new one. It only took a couple matches to get the fire going. Once it was burning to her satisfaction, she stood - getting that odd sensation of her legs waking up again - and shut the door. "Should stay lit now."

She wiped her sooty hands on the corner of her dress before answering James' question. "These were baked by my Pa. I was in Locksley last night on another delivery, nd Pa only serves the freshest. But I can bake too. I prefer making cake though." She added, in a way that suggested it was this big secret. Something about James made her feel at ease - even if she had all these teenage things going on at the same time - and that she could just be herself, which was, to be hones,t a wee bit childish at times. Lily was one of those people who just liked to have fun.

(ahah, I know I called him Josh before, but that was pre-Ann dubbing him John P:)

[James Blythe]

James didn’t have such a hot memory for faces, so unfortunately he didn’t remember seeing her in the markets before – but then he had been doing all sorts of errands, fetching food for the lords, haggling prices on wine, demanding that the butcher get the good meat out this time and not try to trick Vaysey else there were going to be some guards coming a-knocking. But he definitely liked her grinning, it was nice to see someone so happy. This wasn’t to say the castle was a miserable place all the time, but it wasn’t so common for people to genuinely be happy.

He felt a little bit bad for her, then. ”What happened? Are you alright?” he asked. He hadn’t seen outside of the castle last night and didn’t have a clue what the weather was like at the moment, actually. He’d have to go have a look at some point, remind himself that the sun actually existed still.

James just nodded as Lily reassured him and managed to do in five minutes what he’d been trying to do for a few hours at least. Of course, he had no idea what he was going to cook or how to cook it, but even he could do some broth or something, surely? And broth always went well with bread. What he wouldn’t give for Naomi to not be ill right now… He practically jumped Lily anyway, giving her a hug in thanks for making the stove finally work. He wouldn’t be cold now, either, so long as he made sure it didn’t go out.

Realising that manhandling this new person was probably a very bad idea, James backed away quickly and turned bright red. ”Uh, sorry, thank you!” he mumbled, quickly, and settling down as Lily told him about her dad and her cake making. Was that a secret? Or an admission or something? It sounded fun, anyway. James could be pretty childish, too, as he’d just demonstrated fairly well. ”I wish I could bake a cake, it always looks like fun but I’ve never got time to find out how to do it,” he replied, sounding a bit unappreciative of his circumstances, he supposed. He’d much rather be a baker’s son, that sounded like fun, instead of a castle servant – it was dark and depressing, and Lily was currently the sunshine in a very bad and otherwise dreary day.

[Lily Waters]

Whenever Lily went to the market she was there to amble - nine times out of ten. Now she was lder, sometimes her Pa let her go alone to fetch various items, but most of the time he went with her and did all the work - leaving Lily able to gawp at every sight she saw. Sometimes her Pa's overprotectiveness annoyed her to screaming point, but she understood why he did it. He'd lost one of the important girls in his life, he didn't want to lose the other. Though it meant Lily felt younger than her seventeen years - but she did it enjoy it, sometimes. Being a 'delivery girl' made her feel grown up, which she was also enjoying. And in those few thoughts, Lily had tied her mind in a knot.

Lily waved it off, though she was touched by his... intrigument? She wasn't sure what emotion James was going for there, but she liked it. "I got lost in Locksley last night; in the rain; whilst going in a straight line. I was fair soggy to say the least." Her clothes were still dripping when she left for the castle that morning, and they'd been by the oven! She ran a hand through her her hair, she could have sworn it was still damp. Last night had put Lily right off the rain, not that she'd liked it much before.

Finding the large work surface, Lily propped herself against it and smiled at James' bemused expression. He couldn't light the oven, that meant he probably couldn't cook either - and his face said the same too. She wasn't expecting him to hug her though! She was surprised and it felt like her stomach had taken a turn for the worse. It was all twirly and quite nauseating. But it was good though, and she hugged him back.

The hug was short lived - to her dismay, Lily was enjoying that hug! It amazed her that someone could smell so good, even though they didn't smell like freshly baked goodies - her most favourite smell ever. "No problem." She blushed. "Hugs are good." She gave him a quirky, shy smile - she liked James a lot. He was cute, funny and left a delightful sensaion in her stomach.

"I could teach you." Lily offered. Cake was easy - flour, eggs, suagr, butter, yeast(/ye olde baking powder) and a drop of milk bunged all together, mix it then put it in a tine and cook. All that's left after that is to decorate it - and that's it! Though, Lily doubted he needed cake right now. Probably something more savoury was in call here. "Or I could help you make sommit else - I can cook. I mean, I live in a kitchen." She grinned at the boy before her - he too was her sunshine after a bad night.