First sign of madness (Tristian)

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith and her horse galloped into the stables, both obviously tired out, Meredith's face was flushed and breathless and filled with sheer delight as she tugged on the reins to bring the horse to a stop.



"Good ride," she told the horse, whose name was Dis (short for Tardis) cheerfully, patting it on the neck before jumping lightly down to the ground. She seemed to be alone in the stables, which was how she liked it, so as she shed her helmet and riding jacket and lead the horse into his stall, she was chattering away to him in a conversational tone.



"It's so much nicer to ride in leggings, don't you think? I'm sure you prefer it to all those heavy skirts draped over your back, much more weight and so much warmer, it's easier to jump without them isn't it?" she dropped her things in the corner and started to remove the tackle "Not that it's ladylike to jump, of course, or to gallop, but I'm sure you enjoy both those things just as much as I do. Come to think of it, it's probably a holiday altogether for you whenever we come here, no heavy plate or mail to deal with, no flowing cloaks getting in your way, everything is much lighter and easier as far as you're concerned, isn't it?"



She continued to ramble on about the other things she enjoyed about Tintagel as she rubbed Dis down lovingly and topped up his feed, completely oblivious to the fact she was no longer alone.

[Tristian]

Well had this not been quite a lovely surprise.

He had come in here merely to check out the stables, considering bringing his own horse here (Mercedes, of course), when low and behold he had the good fortune to bump in to the most handsome of handsome stable boys. Or rather, stable men. A few flirtatious comments there, a few moments sizing each other up trying to figure out if their suspicions about each other was right, one brief awkward pause where they both thought they had got it entirely wrong, and then BANG, straight into the hay for a make out session.

Tristian, loved Tintagel.

The stables had been empty except for him and…what was his name…Daniel? He forgot, and he was enjoying the moment so much, that it took a moment to realise that there was someone else here. Someone…whose voice he recognised…

He immediately pulled away from…David…maybe? And brushed himself off, ‘shh’ing the other guy when it looked like he was going to protest to this sudden end to their session, and hissed, “If you sneak out now I will,” he whispered in the guys ear.

You’ve never seen a stable boy move so stealthily and quickly.

Tristian cleared his throat and stepped around to the other stall.

“Meredith, I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise that you won’t do to Dis what Merlin did to Archimedes,” said Tristian, leaning against the side of the stall, “it didn’t end well for him and it won’t end well for you.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith jumped so much at the sudden sound of Tristian's throat clearing that she almost startled the horse. She composed herself, pretending she was just settling Dis and she was completely fine herself (was it better or worse to be caught by someone you knew when you were talking to yourself?) and turned around to look at him.

"Don't worry," she replied airily, albeit a little forced "I understand Dis perfectly well without needing him to talk... besides, I'd worry that if he could talk he would complain about all the riding we do and I think I'd like to pretend he enjoys it as well." she smiled slightly.

"...What are you doing here?" she asked, noticing he wasn't exactly dressed for riding "And is that... Tristian is that a piece of hay in your hair?" she leaned in a little to look.

[Tristian]

Tristian reached up quickly to snatch the offending piece of hay, a look of panic on his face as he started to run through all the lies he could use for why it had been there. He flicked it off to the side and then continued searching for any other bits of hay that might have attached themselves to him.

“I was just stopping by to ask about maybe stabling Mercedes here,” said Tristian taking a few steps towards Dis, “you’re not the only that likes to go out for a ride every now and then.”

His thoughts flashed back to only a minute ago when he believed he was going to be having a nice ride but quickly shoved them out again. Those were not the kind of thoughts to be having in this moment. Clearing his throat again and quickly removing another bit of hay from his sleeve (damn that cashmere sweater!) he continued, “and like you were telling Dis here, it’s probably a lot better than back home.”

Tristian reached into his pocket and pulled out a few sugar lumps, he passed on to Meredith and then held his hand out to Dis.

“So, what have you been up too since you came back, other than talking to yourself that is,” said Tristian.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith frowned at the panicked look on his face, wondering what he could have possibly been doing that had got hay on him and made him look so worried... or maybe he was looking so worried because he had hay on him, that seemed like a legitimate possibility for Tristian, he was not really a fan of looking even the slightest bit less than perfect. Still, it didn't explain how the hay had got there in the first place...

"It's a good stable, they take really good care of Dis," she nodded her recommendation "and you're probably better off bringing Mercedes here than finding another horse who will perform to your exacting standards." The two of them had managed to find horses that suited them perfectly, Dis was just as wild as she was, and Mercedes was just as perfect as Tris.

"Just the usual sort of thing, catching up on our shows..." she shrugged off the question "How did you get the hay in your hair?"

[Tristian]

“I do not have exacting standards,” said Tristian, knowing himself that this was huge lie, “Mercedes was simply perfect when I was given her. She certainly doesn’t go tearing off over fields just because she feels like it. She has class.”

Tristian smiled at Dis and rubbed his nose, “you’re wild, but you do have a lovely coat.”

He walked over to the side and picked up another one of the brushes, standing on the opposite side to Meredith he started helping her brush down the horse. He paused on slightly when she asked her other question.

He looked at her over Dis’s back.

“It’s a stable…there’s lots of hay…perhaps it fell on me,” he said.

Normally he lied quiet easily, especially with Meredith…so why was he fumbling his words like this?

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Tearing off over fields when one feels like it is fun and there's nothing wrong with it," Meredith said defensively. Okay, so sometimes Dis' wild spirit caused her frustration as well, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to defend her horse when somebody else wanted to pick on him. At least Tristian followed it up with a compliment for Dis, and he was helping with the grooming which was good, he was always better at it than Meredith was - in every way.

"Perhaps," she agreed, but there was a frown on her face, it didn't seem likely - after all none had fallen on her, she wasn't sure she'd ever got covered in hay except after she'd been mucking out the stable or she'd fallen over in it and- oh. my. gods.

"Tristian..." she said slowly, sugar sweet and mischief in her eyes "Did you fall over?" of course that must have been what happened! No wonder he was trying to cover it up, he was always so composed she could only imagine it would have been hilarious.

[Tristian]

“No I did not fall over,” said Tristian frowning, crossing his arms over his chest.

No, because falling over would have been a perfectly normal thing to have done and would in fact be an excellent excuse for why he had hay all over him, however his mouth had started speaking before his lying brain had caught up with him. Meredith had given him a perfect opening and his own damned pride had got in the way.

Internally cursing he said, “I’ve just been here a while, I’m sure I brushed into a stack of it or something, I did not fall.

Well he had a little when he had pushed…damn…what was his name again?...anyway, that guy back into the pile of hay, but it had been a controlled fall, very elegant. However he couldn’t tell her that. Said stable boy whose name he could not remember sauntered back into view behind Meredith offering up a wink to Tristian as he put one of the saddles on the stands.

Tristian ignored him and continued, “I think you are clearly mistaking me for Eddie…or Gaston Jr…or Lorelei…or…you.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

It was probably good for Tristian that Meredith was not fooled by his entirely truthful denial of her accusation. He was so very offended by the concept of it that she assumed he was just overcompensating for the embarrassment of it.

"Suuuure you didn't," she said smugly, her expression overly innocent "He didn't fall, Dis, you heard him, and of course you believe him, don't you?" she asked the horse conversationally, scratching behind one ear.

"I don't fall!" she protested "I'm not clumsy, I just get... overenthusiastic sometimes. Or I engage in dangerous situations in which anyone would fall and therefore it's perfectly reasonable."

[Tristian]

Tristian laughed and she too started to get defensive, and went back to brushing Dis’s coat.

“Whatever you say little sister,” said Tristian, “although I would remind you of the feast just last year for Gaston Jr and Jenny’s birthday where you managed to spectacularly stumble down that staircase, just as the cake was being brought out. What was the dangerous situation on that occasion?”

The stable boy continued to sort the straps on the saddle nearby, continuously flicking his attention between the straps and Tristian, catching his eye and grinning. Again, Tristian tried to ignore him, but also couldn’t help smiling, just a little.

“So you and I need to have a very serious talk,” said Tristian, looking over at Meredith, “we need to discuss just what each of us will be feeding back to our parent about our time here. Given that in Tintagel we are both afforded a little more freedom…I think it is important to establish what we…have each others backs on what our parent discovers.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"The dangerous situation on that occasion was that I was wearing a full length gown, which everybody should know, by now, is a thing that I shouldn't be doing." she pointed out primly, sticking her tongue out at Tristian as she mistook his little smile for smugness at having a point that she didn't have the best of arguments against.

The mention of a serious talk had her concerned for a second, but as soon as he continued she relaxed, nodding along her agreement, things could go terribly wrong for either of them with a misplaced word or two, and while she was pretty certain that most of what she did would be just fine with her parents, she also knew that it would make life much easier if she had an agreement in place with Tristian, just on the off-chance.

"I agree, I'm thinking maybe we just be as vague as possible about each other when parents ask?" she suggested "You know like, when they say and how's Tristian I can just be like oh he's good and then change the subject? Like... I haven't seen him much recently because I've been busy with...and then just talk about something I've been doing?"

[Tristian]

He laughed as she brought up the dress, knowing that was the route that she would take. He shook his head and said, “You’re just not trying hard enough, my mother can even fight in dresses like that, so you should be able to walk down stairs in them.”

Tristian was glad that she was agreeing to some sort of arrangement. The last thing he needed was for her to go running of to dad and accidentally spilling the details on something he definitely did not want him to know.

“Agreed, although always mention that I am checking in with you otherwise I will get the ‘why aren’t you looking out for your little sister’ lecture,” said Tristian, “I will also inform mother that you are practicing your ‘princess’ etiquette and not at all tearing off across fields without a riding skirt on. Also, you may inform Merlin of what I am up too, nothing gets back to dad, agreed?”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Yes but that is your mother, and as much as I am a skilled and talented fighter, nobody will ever have her level of poise and badassery in one. And anyway, I shouldn't have to be able to fight in a dress, I should get to wear what I want."

She nodded at his additions to her suggestion, mentally checking them off in her head.
"Okay, you're fine, I haven't seen you much but you always make a point of checking in when you can and last time you did everything was fine, that sort of thing?" if he was going to tell them she was keeping up with her etiquette the least she could do was keep him from getting into trouble for not checking up, especially when he actually did that quite regularly "Thank you. And I'll only tell Merlin stuff if he asks directly and I'm totally sure daddy can't hear."

[Tristian]

“Yes but you want to wear is hardly appropriate for a Princess of Camelot and a Lady of the Summer Country,” said Tristian with a grin, “don’t think I didn’t notice that last hairstyle you wore to the Spring Feast, although I am impressed you managed to make those ridiculous side buns a trend for the rest of the Summer. Mother was very impressed.”

Tristian listened to her repeat back the agreement and nodded, “Good, I am glad that we have an accord on that, now, the important one. Dating.”

There was a laugh from the stable boy, however he then quickly when back to brushing down the saddle he was working on. Tristian ignored him, “I will feed everything back to mother, and we can trust in her judgement to dispense what she thinks is necessary, agreed? And all discussions of my dating life with Merlin or father is strictly prohibited, agreed?”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"What? It was a perfectly respectable hairstyle. It was inspired by ...the... germans. I think. Probably. Either way, your mum was impressed that it caught on? Gaston and I thought it was hilarious," she looked just a little smug about having impressed Gwen. Fashion and style weren't her thing, but she knew what stock Gwen set by them, and doing anything that managed to impress the queen was something to be pleased about, but something fashion related? Doubly so.

"Agreed," she nodded firmly "And the same to you, you can tell your mum because... it's your mum, she probably already knows, somehow. But do not tell daddy or Merlin anything about my dating... or lack thereof, but you know what I mean."

The grooming finished, she started to tidy up around the horse "Is that everything we need groundrules for?"