InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I. AM. CANADIAN. "

Meg Bennett (dont_need_a_man) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-05-04 18:04:00

Entry tags:

!closed, meg bennett, stephen hart

A gift.
Who: Meg Bennett and Stephen Hart (anyone else is welcome also)
When: Late in the afternoon.
Where: starting in Complex D first floor
What: Meg said she wanted to get Stephen a weapon, so he wouldn't have to fear the bad things that came. She's a girl that lives up to her promises, and delivers.
Rating: PG so far.
Status: Incomplete.

Meg wasn't entirely sure which flat was Stephens, though she did know he and Nick did not share one. She did know that they were both from building D... Which was a good bit from her own, but it wasn't that far from the shop she'd seen on her walk with Nick. And to be honest she was wholly more comfortable with walking than she was taking one of the transports. Now that the reptiles were gone, she felt a touch more safe-as safe as one could feel in a strange place almost a thousand years after your birth.

She wore the simple denim breeches that had been in her closet, and a simpe button down long sleeved blouse, in a blue gray to bring out her eyes. She felt under dressed, so used to wearing gowns and the like she hardly felt proper. But she'd seen so many of the local women dress this way, so she knew she it was just how she felt rather than how she looked. She had tamed her long curls so they weren't completely wild.

Might as well start at the bottom, it was the most logical place to start after all. It was her thought as she climbed the stairs to the first floor. Nick's flat was easy enough to find.... She strolled down the hall a little ways, reading the name plates on the doors, she was about to give up hope when she came up to the final door. She couldn't help but smile as she read the name... She just hoped it was the proper Stephen and not someone else. She wasn't sure of his surname. What was the worst that could happen? She rapped lightly on the door with her free hand. The sword she'd chosen, along with a smaller dagger, wrapped together with a sword belt-each in a leather hilt, in the other.

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-06 12:17 am UTC (link)

He closed the door after her, turning to watch as she shifted the weapons in her grip, "I don't think it's too bold, no, and thank you very much." He nodded when she said about odd things happening, then gestured towards the living room. "Go ahead and sit down, and put the weapons down as well. They look heavy," he told her, intending to follow after, but he paused when he reached the kitchen door.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink? I have some fruit, and I can put on some coffee if you'd like?" He absently pulled the sleeves of his jumper down over his hands, making sure to cover up as many of his scars as he could before Meg could see them. He wasn't ashamed of them, not really, no matter what Cutter thought. He just wasn't comfortable with people seeing them when he wasn't anywhere near being used to them.

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-06 01:05 am UTC (link)

The flat didn't seem a whole lot different from her's. So when he directed her to the living room she went as if she'd been there before. Though instead of taking a seat she unwrapped belt from around the two sheathed blades and lay them across the couch. "Oh no I'm fine, though I am tempted to take you up on the coffee. I've only had some once." She turned just enough to see him tug his sleeves down. She noticed a self conscious act when she saw one. She had done everything she could to keep Guy from seeing her own scar.

She was a bold girl, and even if she had her own to worry about she didn't like to see other people fret. So as-bold-as-you-please she brought herself to stand before him. Lifting his hand she pushed back the sleeve so she could see them for herself. "You shouldn't hide them so... You earned them gallantly, and bravely. They should be badges of honor, not something to be hidden away." She wasn't going to bring up that they had been earned in the worst possible way she could imagine. She offered him a little smile before her finger traced over one of many. "If you had done such..." She paused unsure how to continue, shaking her head she moved forward. "King Richard would have given you the highest honors." She wanted to say he would have most like been buried with the great kings of old, but she hadn't wanted to bring on unwanted memories. "Even though I did not know you... I am proud of you Stephen. You should be proud of you too."

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-06 11:45 am UTC (link)

"I can make co-" he said, trailing off as Meg came over and lifted his hand. His left hand, of course, since it was the one with the worst scarring. Half of his hand had been torn off, one of the creatures grabbing his ring finger and little finger and then pulling so hard that he'd lost those fingers, half of his hand and wrist and part of his ulna. He could remember getting that scar. Sometimes his hand ached along the tear-lines but he couldn't work out if it was real pain or just a very strong memory.

He watched as she ran a finger along the overly-sensitive skin and tried not to snatch his arm back or flinch in any way. Part of him was back in that room again, watching as his arm was pulled apart over and over again, while the rest of him struggled with the simple task of acting normally. He flexed his hand once Meg was finished, and then balled his fist to try and snap out of it. "Thanks, Meg," he managed to say, then forced himself to look up at her again.

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-06 09:26 pm UTC (link)

Her smile wavered, even though she could say all those things, she couldn't help but want that none of it had ever happened to him. She looked away from him as she attempted to bat away the sudden onslaught of emotion. Lashes fluttering, she bit her lower lip hard to keep it from quaking. She wasn't an emotional woman by nature. But she had grown to care about him and Nick a great deal. "You are the bravest man I have ever met. And even so, even if it would mean that I never met you, or Nick... I wish neither of you had to go through such..." She let out a slow breath, shaking her head, she had no gory details-she had her imagination which was all to vivid.

Clearing her throat she turned back to him offering a wavering smile. "I wont put you out farther. I just wanted to deliver our compromise." It was easy to put up a brave front on the message boards. But in person when you could see the emotional etched... It was much harder. She glanced back to the couch.

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-07 01:54 am UTC (link)

Why did people think he was brave? He shook his head as Meg spoke, even though she wasn't looking in his direction, and slowly took his arm back. He covered the scars up once more and then folded his arms in front of him. "I'm... I'm not brave, Meg. But thank you for thinking it."

He tried to smile back in response to her small smile although it probably wasn't all that effective, before shaking his head once more. "You're not putting me out. You walked all that way carrying what looks like a fairly heavy sword, so I'm not letting you leave here without some coffee at least."

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-07 03:33 am UTC (link)

Normally she wouldn't even think of showing anyone her scar. She even covered it from Guy's eyes. His declaration, not being brave, had her pulling her blouse from where it was tucked into her denim trousers. Unbuttoning the last few buttons so that her stomach was exposed. It was indecent she knew, but... she was no innocent maid anymore. Her cheeks colored faintly, as she exposed the thick wide gash that covered the most of her stomach, above her naval. "I gave my life for someone I cared for too, would you say I was any less brave? I know it hurts... I know the memories are... worse than mine. And I know you had to be scared. But that doesn't make you any less brave." Releasing the edges of her shirt she let it fall to cover the scarred over wound. "I'm proud that I saved his life, even though I was terrified as cold began to take me. I'm not sure how, and I don't want to know all the details, but I know you went in for Nick, you gave your life for his. If that isn't knighthood worthy I don't know what is." There was nothing he could say to her that would ever change her mind, especially after talking to Nick.

She glanced back at the couch yet again, they hadn't been all that heavy. "The walk was nothing, I used to walk from Nettlestone to Nottingham weekly. The only time I rode my old mare was if I wanted to go farther than Locksley." She paused turning to face him in hole, she wouldn't let the melancholy wash over her any longer. "But if drinking coffee with you would make you happy, then I'll have some."

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-08 11:58 pm UTC (link)

He couldn't work out where the conversation was headed as Meg started undoing her blouse from the bottom up, but then he looked down and saw the scarring on her abdomen. "Jesus, Meg..." he said softly, then looked away. At that moment, it seemed like everyone in this bloody place had scars or had died in some horrific way. Claire, Meg, himself, even Cutter... oh, shit. Cutter would have scars... He hadn't even thought... But then Meg was talking so he stopped thinking about Cutter for the moment and paid attention to what she was saying. "I... I'm not saying you weren't brave, no, but... I just, I, I can't... I'm sorry, I'm not..." he stammered in response, wrapping his arms even tighter round himself. He could hardly talk to Cutter about what had happened, there was little chance of him being coherent about it to anyone else, not even Jenny.

He nodded when she said she'd have coffee with him, and turned to start making it. "I don't think I've ever been to Nettlestone," he admitted as he looked for the coffee, "but I've been to Nottingham quite a bit. It's got some good pubs."

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-09 02:59 am UTC (link)

His decliration as he looked away from her made her blush brighten even more so, but it did not shame her at all."Then make me understand why. I want to know why you're not." She doubted there would be anything he could say that would ever lower her view of him. There was something about him and Nick that just struck a cord with her. She had almost instantly liked both of them, and that was saying something as she had disliked men with a passion before she'd been brought face to face with Guy of Gisborne. With a sigh she shook her head slightly, her curls tossing slightly. "I thought handsome men thought better of themselves. Make maids and matron alike weep at their feet, and offer up all sorts of sinful things." She was teasing him only slightly. And in a round about way she was complementing him. She wanted to lighten the mood. She dreamt of death enough to be beyond tired of it.

When he said Nottingham had good pubs it forced her eyebrows up. "Does it? I only knew of one... And a house of ill-repute. M'Da said if I didn't take a husband that I'd end up in it." She snorted softly. Though now that she knew what it was like... It might not have been a bad choice. Though some how she doubted all men were alike, in that field. "Does the castle still stand?" She bit her lip for a moment thinking her next question over, weather or not she truly wanted to know the answer or not. "Did King Richard ever... come home?" She couldn't help but ask, being one of his champions in her own way, she had to know.

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-09 10:18 pm UTC (link)

"I'm sorry, but I'd really prefer it if we didn't talk about what happened," he replied quietly, keeping his head down as he opened the jar of coffee. Thinking about it was bad enough. His hands were shaking, so he gripped hold of the edge of the kitchen counter and tried to will them to stop. He was not going to fall apart in front of someone he'd only just met, he refused to do anything like that. The stupid post on the network was different; by the time he'd stopped acting like a complete idiot and pulled himself together, everyone would have read it anyway, so there was no point in deleting it or locking it away. Taking a deep breath or two, he couldn't help but smile very slightly at the teasing tone in her voice. "Next time I see a handsome man, I'll be sure to let him know that's what should be happening."

He took his hands away from the counter after that and glanced at them. His left hand ached, as usual, but the shakes seemed to be gone. He sorted out a mug for himself while Meg talked about a brothel in Nottingham, then looked over his shoulder at Meg. "What way do you take your coffee? I have milk, but no sugar. The castle's still there, yeah. And King Richard?" Stephen paused to think. He was far more of a pre-History man, but he still knew bits about the monarchy in England at various different times. "He came back, yeah. And then left the country as soon as he could. He was King for about ten years, but he only spent a few months in England the whole time. Not the best way to rule a country, really."

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-10 03:05 am UTC (link)

"Okay, but if you ever need a... Well I can't say an unbiased ear because I happen to think very highly of you and Nick already. But if you ever just want to sit and have someone listen... To whatever it is you want to say... I'll be more than willing, and I'll keep my big mouth shut the whole time. I promise." She noticed his knuckles turned white as he gripped onto the counter, as she leaned her hip against the cabinet just inside the kitchen. She wouldn't judge him for falling apart in front of her. His experience was horrific, anyone that did she'd be happy to give a black eye. "Yeah well whisper it to the man in the mirror next time you see him alright? I'm sure he needs to hear it every now and then."

She was watching him, worried over how he was handling being returned to life. "In my coffee? I'm not sure anything was in it the first time I had it, so I don't know." She watched him mull over her question about the King. Her brows shot up at the news. "Was Prince John ever removed from the throne?" How would Robin or Guy take that news? Guy had been a changed man before he had come here.

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ikickdinosaurs
2010-05-18 08:58 pm UTC (link)

He said nothing about her very kind offer, but his smile grew a tiny bit and he even managed a nod when she told him to talk to the man in the mirror. He'd tell Nick first, though, he decided. He quickly made two mugs of coffee, both black and then handed one to Meg. He wrapped his left hand round his own mug and let the heat work on the pain before he answered Meg once more. "Actually, he was crowned King when Richard died. He wasn't popular at all, though. All the barons made him sign the Magna Carta which limited his power by law, and... yeah, I think it was him, he lost the Crown Jewels in the Wash when he was trying to escape from the French or something like that. He ruled for almost 20 years and then died of dysentery. Apparently, he ate too many peaches."

[OoC - omg I am so sorry this took ages]

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dont_need_a_man
2010-05-18 10:40 pm UTC (link)

She was glad to see him smile again, even if it was the smallest bit. She took the offered drink, happy to have something to do with her hands-both encompassing the mug. She brought the mug to her lips, and blew across the hot coffee before she took a cautious sip. Unable to help the light shutter that coursed through her, she'd forgotten that it was quite bitter, though she tried to hide that fact from Stephen. Lowering the mug as he spoke her jaw dropped. All that work, all that fighting... "Bloody hell, it was all for nothing..." Even if he had limited power, he still had the throne. For twenty years! Realizing what she said, one hand drew away from the mug to cover her mouth, eyes widening when they dashed to his face. "I'm sorry that was very rude of me."

(OoC: no worries shug! I lost my muse for Meg for a little bit anyway)

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