And You Are?

[Sir Tristan de Braose]

Tristan frowned slightly at her off the cuff remark about having a sword under the table. Although he took that with a pinch of salt as she seemed to be saying it more or a joke than seriously. Although he would probably see why she would have a sword, if she did, as working in a bar was quite a dangerous job. Men of all different status' came through here, drinking their fill of wine and ale until they got so completely drunk they couldn't see straight. Tristan knew that when you were that drunk, emotions got the better of you stirring reactions that a normal, sane man would not even consider. Fighting was just one of those ways that one chose to vent that anger leaving it down to the barman or barmaid to sort out the mess.

"It's ok. The pay isn't great and I'm constantly getting hit on, but there isn't much I can do. I enjoy the fights though."

Getting hit on. The thought brought a smile to Tristan's face as this was what he had been doing almost all evening. Whoops. He could tell that it aggrivated her which brought him to the conclusion that he himself probably aggrivated her. He instantly decided to pull back his compliments and speak to her as he would speak to anyone else. All the while without offending her or putting his foot in it which he had a tendancy of doing.

"Well I can imagine observing fights can be most entertaining. I know when I'm watching men compete it can be quite fun to watch. Especially when I'm not actually the one getting beaten to a pulp" He laughed, automatically assuming that this was all she would be doing. Watching the fights rather than actually being in them. It didn't even occur to him to ask, as he didn't want to overload her with all sorts of questions about herself. If someone did that to him he would be most annoyed. He also knew that it was easy to tell he didn't get out much. On an ordinary day he would not normally immerse himself in conversation yet day after day of isolation had resulted in a need to speak to someone. Anyone. And it just so happened that Nellie was actually interesting.

"I wish I had such a job as this one. It wasn't my choice to be a soldier I had it forced upon me. What I would give to live my life as you do rather than having so much expectation resting on my shoulders." He said, providing this women with a rare insight to his life in which he never normally gave. He never opened up to anyone, and in saying this he surprised himself. He cleared his throat to shake off what he had just said and smiled.

[Nellie Bell]

Nellie grabbed his former ale glass and cleaned it out while he sipped at his water. Then she heard his next sentence, and she was laughing and shaking her head before he even had all of the words out. The last thing she meant was observing a fight. Usually, if there was a fight in the bar there were one of two things going on. One, it was between her and another person, usually drunk. Or, two, she had decided to get herself involved in a fight that really didn't have anything to do with her, but she couldn't just stand around and do anything about it. She looked at him and said with great amusement in her voice, "I didn't mean observing a fight, Tristan. I meant participating in them. I find fighting to be quite enjoyable," she said and winked. She figured that after seeing her little performance earlier with the drunken man, he would have figured that out. It was understandable though. Most girls weren't usually big on watching fights, much less being in one.

Suddenly though, Nellie noticed a change in Tristan's facade to a more somber mood. She listened kindly to his explanation about his profession. About how he never really wanted it, about having so much pressure on his shoulder of people's expetance to do what they're exptected to do. Even as she listened to the sadness in his voice and the ache he felt for the life she had, she couldn't help wishing she had that feeling back. She knew it sounded crazy, but she would give literally anything to have her family and former life back. The pressure of being a princess, the weight of an entire kingdom on her shoulders, everyone looking at her, making sure she doesn't do anything wrong. But even if she wanted it back, she could identify with how he felt, and for the fifteen years she was submerged in it, she felt the same way he did. She smiled at him soflty and said, "Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone." The calm, philosophical side of Nellie was a rare sight to see, but when it did come out, it was surprising but gave her a definite kindness to her.