Boots clicked against the stone floor, and Nnoitra had taken his eye off the servant, just to look around at the decor they were passing. Exactly why people wanted to live in large castles with USELESS things surrounding them, was beyond Nnoitra. Glancing back at his companion, he caught something that appeared like a look of confusion, before the servant quickly looked away again. Was he intimidated? Well, he wouldn’t be the first, even with how casual Nnoitra was around people, he was still FEARED by most. Was that a very small smile he saw? It would’ve been more polite of him to actually enjoy Nnoitra’s joke, but, oh well. Instead, he got words almost SHOT back at him, in what he’d certainly called a ‘ snappy ‘ way. A servant with some guts? Nice. There really was nothing worse than those who would cower before him. They were so BORING!
The two of them turned to the right, and that small half-grin the other was wearing, was reflected ten-folds upon Nnoitra’s own face. Big, white teeth showed behind thin lips, which pulled into a proper grin, and then —
❝ Yer Grace? ❞ Now, he was actually laughing. His laugh had never been a nice thing to listen to. Hoarse and just a little bit cold, but it was still genuine. Ah, he liked this servant— Merlin, was it? He definitely appreciated a man with humor. Nnoitra was a rather gloomy person, possibly because he was constantly surrounded by DEATH, but that didn’t mean he was robbed off the ability to enjoy himself. And, of course, he was in a generally GOOD mood right now, seeing as there was a tournament approaching. ❝ Yeah, ya kinda gave off that impression, Merlin, but now I take it back. Yer just bored, I bet. ❞ It couldn’t be much fun, being a servant.
❝ Wha’ do ya do ‘fer fun ‘round here? ❞ They probably wouldn’t be happy with him roaming the castle on his own, but he was already determined to go on an expedition. It wasn’t every day he was in a castle after all!
The longer he lived in this castle, the less and less attention he paid it, often taking it rather for granted. Gods, he lived in a castle and it wasn’t that he forgot that fact, but it could admittedly be difficult to properly appreciate in his position. But when he really stopped to think about it, he would never deny just how magnificent it was. Even if most if not all of the decor was rather useless.
Of course, that didn’t mean he suddenly started to enjoy being a servant. Some days it wasn’t so awful. Some days, he might daresay, were even good, but Merlin would have liked to be doing something else. Something that left him with even just a small sliver of dignity left in him. He couldn’t really picture himself doing anything else, though, and his choices were slim to none.
Merlin thought on his toes. Some people may have called that guts. Most seemed to call it stupidity. Merlin liked to call it charm. That charm at least seemed to be leaving the other man satisfied with his company. The boy had yet to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Oh -- Oh. But then he was laughing.
He couldn’t seem to help the way his smile tightened, a touch more strained than before as he rolled his gaze to the right and away from the other man who clearly was not a fan of formalities.
“I might be the wrong person to ask,” he told him, flicking his blue eyes back to him. “I’m the bored one, remember? Most fun I can recommend is the tavern.” Which Merlin, of course, frequented far too often for Arthur’s liking.
