Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Christmas at ground zero!"

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Will Stutely ([info]sly_stutely) wrote in [info]nevermore_logs,
@ 2020-06-23 14:49:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:guy of gisborne, robin hood, will stutely

WHO Will Stutely, Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne
WHEN A few days after this
WHERE Brooklyn, an abandoned dockside warehouse
WHAT Robin mounts a rescue
WARNINGS Violence, references to torture

The last time Bill's captor had left him, he'd secured the cuffs to a railing above head height. It was low enough, just, that if he stood perfectly straight against the wall with his arms fully extended, the chain still held a little slack in it. But the moment his shoulder slumped or his knees weakened - the moment he gave in to the pull of exhaustion - he'd feel the raw bite of the metal around his wrist and fresh pain would lance down his arms and back, jerking him back into wakefulness.

His captor remained a terrifying enigma, nameless, vicious, utterly impossible to predict. He'd disappeared without another word that first night, leaving Bill cuffed to a pylon and yelling obscenities to his retreating back. He hadn't returned until long after the sun had risen and begun another descent, long after Bill had shouted himself hoarse and discarded as hopeless every one of his desperate escape plans.

That visit, Bill had made the mistake of asking through cracked lips for a drink. His captor had paused, seemed to actually consider the request for a couple of breaths. Then he'd smiled nastily. Next thing Bill knew, a cloth bag was being pulled taut over his head, his shoulders were pinned, and he was drowning in an ice-cold flood of water.

Bill had not asked about food.

The questions were always the same. Which one was he? What was his name, his real name? What did he know about Robin Hood, about the old country, about the others? Mad, incomprehensible questions. Every answer he gave was the wrong one, and every wrong answer earned him another beating, another dousing in water.

As the days had blurred into each other, he'd felt himself growing delirious. Green curled at the edges of his vision. Sometimes he imagined coarse rope, rather than metal cuffs, gnawing into his wrists. Sometimes the rope was looped around his neck. And once, once his captor had seemed to loom over him clad in the most bizarre Halloween costume, a hooded thing of horse hide, with ears and mane sprouting from the crown. A laugh had bubbled out of him unbidden at the sight of it, and earned him another broken finger and a couple of cracked ribs.

And that jittering, buzzing sensation at the base of his skull, the one he'd tried for weeks to drown out with drink and schemes and action, now it thrummed through him with a persistent, urgent rhythm.

In these moments, in the silence between his captor's visits, Bill realised there was a melody to it. If he strained his mind toward it sometimes, he could almost make out the words.

His lips moved with the effort and unthinkingly he began to mumble along. "Tidings of... tidings... no, wait... hey down derry derry FUCK--!" His foot slipped, the cuffs bit deep, and the melody slipped away from him in the wash of pain.

"Fuck," he hissed.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-24 04:46 am UTC (link)
Gisborne. Just like that, his captor had a name. Bill could have laughed. Watching him now, cupping an injured hand and shouting wildly at shadows, it seemed barely conceivable that this was the same man who had starved and tortured him for days on end. Being able to put a name to him seemed to strip away the last of his menace. Not a cop, dirty or otherwise. Not a mobster or a madman. Not a tormentor conjured from the depths of hell. Just... Gisborne.

Then there was movement in the shadows and a figure resolved, and Bill felt the shape of another name resolve itself.

I' wist from Robin Hood.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-24 05:02 am UTC (link)
Gisborne had two sides. The side that desired to have recognition, respect, and the ability to have power over others. The other side was easily erased when other's kicked him off that high horse. Hood was that magnetic force that pushed him flat on his arse, and he hated scrambling around like a snake that had no escape.

He should have come more prepared for this as he stared at the arrow shoved right between his eyes. "You bloody maggot," Robin hissed from under the hood, stepping back towards the chained man, keeping his arrow ready. He stood right there in front of Will as a barrier. "Give me the keys..." He demanded. If Guy thought he wouldn't shoot that arrow right through his neck, he was gravely mistaken.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-24 05:23 am UTC (link)
Bill's breath caught in his throat.

He knew the name, of course. Everyone knew the name. His captor -- Gisborne -- had spoken it often enough during those endless interrogations.

And yet, he'd never really heard it, had he?

Dreams of twisted oaks and clashing steel, visions of hangmen's nooses and familiar faces in strange garments. Fragments of memory so disjointed they felt more like a sort of madness. Now they were all swirling to the surface, and a cold tremor gripped him, but he couldn't look away.

He stared transfixed at the back of the stranger who wasn't a stranger at all. Robin.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-25 02:31 am UTC (link)
Gisborne had turned from captor to captive as he pulled the keys off his belt. He reached out his arm, that arrow not once moving as Robin instructed him to toss them to the ground at his feet or he'd shoot him in the face. The jangle of keys hit and splayed out at Robin's feet, and just to keep his word, Robin did shoot an arrow that nicked the tip of Gisborne's ear, giving Robin the opportunity to grab the keys. He stepped back slowly, finding the one to release the parched and broken man from his shackles. He helped the man to his feet, and whether or not Will recognized him, Robin knew exactly who it was. "Stutely, can you walk?" He asked, giving him the moment to breathe as Robin took those same shackles and forced Gisborne to another piece of railing with an arrow to his back. Robin linked the shackle around his wrists and threw the keys a far enough distance that he couldn't reach. There were of course the curses and grunts as the big black-haired villain could not jerk his arms free. He would eventually, but not before Robin left with his fellow outlaw.

Robin put Will's arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble out of the warehouse.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-25 03:11 am UTC (link)
The hooded man turned to him, and all at once the furious beat that had been building in his skull these weeks seemed to diffuse.

Will -- Will, he was Will -- choked on a sob.

He staggered as his hands slipped free, nearly fell on the spot as the shackles that had forcibly kept him upright for the past hours were removed. But Robin was there to catch him, there to offer a shoulder, and this time he did not fall.

Gisborne's shouts and curses followed them as Robin guided Will back toward the light of day, and in that moment the sound was better than the sweetest music.

"Rob," Will croaked, half-giddy. "Hh... hey Rob. The song. I remembered it. How it goes."

His singing voice was hoarse, but it echoed in the warehouse, carrying back to where Guy struggled against the handcuffs. "'O stay, o stay', Will Stutely said, 'Take leave ere you depart; you ne'er will catch bold Robin Hood unless him dare you meet!'"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-25 03:30 am UTC (link)
Robin had had little to smile about these days, but that ballad Will attempted to croak out was exactly what this ol' boy needed to hear. He grinned, patting him lightly on the back. "Good to see you too, mate." It did the archer good to feel the adrenaline rush and do what he was good at: escaping difficult situations and helping someone else in need. It was the closest he'd felt to being part of the gang in weeks.

Robin added to that ballad with his line, "Oh ill betide you, that you so soon are gone; my sword may in the scabbard rest, for here our work is done."

He helped him to a nearby bench as they walked a few blocks away and Rob was able to get him a bottle of water and a sandwich.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-25 04:33 am UTC (link)
Somewhere along the walk, Will's hoarse laughter had died and he'd grown silent.

For one heady moment, everything had been as it ought. Robin Hood victorious, Gisborne thwarted and satisfyingly humiliated, the Merry Men... not quite all together, but near enough, alive to fight another day. This was what he'd missed, this was what he'd ached for even when he'd had no inkling of what he had lost.

But adrenaline didn't last, and by the time Robin helped him to the bench, Will was swaying with the effort of staying upright. Exhaustion dragged at him, but he couldn't give into it yet. Passing out would be a shitty way of thanking Robin for saving his sorry arse.

When Robin returned, Will drank greedily, fumbling the bottle in his stiff hands. The right one was near-useless, three fingers bent and swollen from Gisborne's ministrations. God, he must look like shit. Probably smelled something like it, too, the looks people were throwing him.

He looked down at his feet, suddenly unable to meet Robin's eyes. "Thanks, mate. Saved my arse again."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-26 02:32 am UTC (link)
"We'll get you cleaned up once you have your strength." Rob sat there content to stay there as long as he needed to gather himself. There was no rush, not unless Gisborne managed to tangle himself away from those shackles.

"No need to thank me mate, you'd have done the same for me." And that was how Robin valued his band. Each and every one of them were a piece to what made "Robin Hood". It was not him alone, he was well aware of that. No man left behind.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-26 02:53 am UTC (link)
Will continued staring at his feet, forcing himself to take small bites of the sandwich.

It had terrified him, when he'd first realised he was forgetting. He'd done everything he could to hold onto the person he was, filled a notebook with long missives to himself, searched every corner of the prison library for books on English folklore.

But there'd come a point... There had come a point where it had just become easier to forget. Nobody had been coming to bust him out of prison. Why would they? He'd been the one stupid enough to get himself put inside. The Merry Men didn't need him. They hadn't needed him for a long time. There was a reason people remembered Will Scarlet and Little John and Friar Tuck and not Will Stutely. He was past his prime, a liability to everyone including himself. Why not just let the inevitable happen?

That was the day he'd burned the notebook.

Forgetting had been like losing a limb. But it had also meant losing the shame of his own failures, at least for a while. Now that shame burned hot again.

He rubbed his face with his good hand, pinched the bridge of his nose. He still couldn't look Robin in the eye. "I fucked up, Rob."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-26 03:32 am UTC (link)
"We've all been there, mate." But there was more to this. There were plenty of his gang that were smaller than others, their stories didn't quite shine as bright, but as long as Robin was around, he would carry that weight. "You might look like an old swine's arse at the moment, but you most definitely far from it." Those wounds would heal, but he wondered if Stutley would. He nudged him with his elbow. "What's got you so twisted?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-26 04:00 am UTC (link)
Will gave an ugly bark of a laugh. "Apart from the fact that I blew up my life, left you all swinging in the wind and got myself caught by fucking Gisborne, of all people?"

He ran his hand down his face, over the rough stubble, wincing as his fingers caught the edge of the cut Guy had made. "I..."

He couldn't say it. Couldn't admit to Robin, of all people - Robin who trusted him and put weight on his judgement - how badly his own mind had turned on him, or how in the end he'd almost welcomed it.

"I lost myself for a while. Got my head messed up right and proper," Will said at last. Not a lie, but not the truth either, at least in the way Robin would take it. (Robin who saved your ungrateful skin, you pathetic coward.) But it was the best he could manage right now.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-26 05:32 am UTC (link)
Robin put his hand on Stutely's shoulder, a soft squeeze. "Don't beat yourself up over it, old man." He smiled and let his hand fall away. "I've been there myself, many times." He didn't know quite the effect this had had on Will, but he in no way wanted him to keep it to himself. Robin was an a-class idiot with deeper feelings, he wasn't brushing it away, but he was not going to sit and chide a man that had lost his head. Shockingly, tearing himself away from his own problems to focus on playing savior, it had done him good. Mentally, he still had a few screws rattling around, some deep regrets, some frustration, and the growing concern that The Sheriff and Guy were continuing to push his followers around on a board like a game of chess. So far, Robin had the latest checkmate.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-26 07:16 am UTC (link)
Will fell silent again, head bowed by the weight of all that he couldn't bring himself to say.

He was an old man. He was slower on his feet than he used to be, couldn't afford to be as reckless as in the Sherwood days. But he'd never been the quickest of the Merry Men, or the most charming, or the best shot, or the fiercest brawler. He was just sly Will Stutely, whose fox cunning Robin could always rely upon. Sensible Will Stutely, who could be trusted to see trouble approaching and keep his brothers from flinging themselves at it. Solid Will Stutely, who could shoulder any task he was given.

If he wasn't that, if they even thought--

If he didn't have his wits, he was no use to any of them.

Of course Robin wouldn't think that way. Robin always led with his heart, for both better and worse. But the words stuck in Will's throat all the same. Just the thought of their faces, if they knew; how they'd look at him. Will could take a lot of punishment, but to see pity enter his leader's eyes, to see doubt there-- it was more than he could bear.

He stared at his broken fingers, waited for his breathing to even out.

"Where, uh. Where's everyone holed up these days?" He asked hesitantly. "Only, it's probably not safe to go back to mine. Gisborne knows where I live now."

Knew where he lived, and what name he went by, and the fact that he was an ex-con, and that was gonna be a problem, but one that could wait for another day.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-27 12:14 am UTC (link)
Robin had his own demons and secrets. Will was not under interrogation, Robin was in no way going to force it out of him if he wanted to keep it to himself. He knew, much like himself, in time he'd talk when he needed to.

"I'm staying with Little John, Gisborne found my old place, and---" Robin was the one that found himself silent and trying to form his words around the situation. The rest of the gang already knew at this point though, it just hurt to think about because everything felt wrong with Marian gone, "with things the way they are with Marian right now, I needed somewhere else to go." Robin wasn't good on his own.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-27 12:46 am UTC (link)
That was unexpected enough to briefly jerk Will out of his self-loathing spiral. "Wait, Marian? What's happened with Marian? She alright?"

It had been over a decade, he remembered uneasily. How much had changed since he'd last seen the crew?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-06-28 04:38 am UTC (link)
Robin hung his head, his arms on his knees as he clasped his hands together. "I kicked her out." He hoped that didn't turn his newly rescued companion from running off again. The band was dispersing into different things, and Robin had not felt like he was in control for some time. Ever since Marian let that bomb drop, Robin had lost his senses.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-06-28 04:47 am UTC (link)
Will was expecting calamity, some kind of attack or terrible misfortune that had befallen the crew when he hadn't been around to help stave it off. He wasn't expecting the words that came out of Robin's mouth. They didn't compute. For the first time, he looked up, staring at his leader in disbelief.

"You bloody what, now?" There was no recrimination in his voice, just pure confusion.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-01 03:01 am UTC (link)
Robin released a sigh, not exactly in the frame of mind to be putting this out there, Marian should be telling her secrets, which were quite frankly no secret anymore. Maybe if Rob said it, it wouldn't make his blood boil.

"She had a thing with Gisborne at some point. A long while ago, nothing recent---" but there was still bitterness in his voice, and maybe, just maybe he should have punched Gisborne in the face for good measure.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-01 04:02 am UTC (link)
That.

That, also, was not the answer he'd been expecting.

If Will had slept more than an hour or two in the past few days, if he was operating at full capacity, if the bruises and breaks Gisborne had taken so much pleasuring in inflicting weren't so fresh, his first thought would have been to question it. Once he'd worked his way through the fog of pain and exhaustion, it would probably occur to him that Marion had never been anything but loyal, and Gisborne had never been anything but a snake, and something was definitely missing from this picture.

But while his brain stuttered, all he felt was a sick wave of disgust and disbelief.

"The fuck are you talking about?" The words came out harsh, incredulous. If this was a joke, it was a fucking perverse one; that was all he could think. "You're having a go."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-05 09:39 pm UTC (link)
Robin rolled his eyes upward and looked at the sky. That same sky that in the woods was so much brighter and vast. In the city sometimes everything looked entirely too small.

"I'm saying, she betrayed me." That was something that would take time. Robin might feel back to his old self, but there were some scores to be made, and tying Gisborne up was not the way he would leave it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-06 12:18 am UTC (link)
That one didn't compute either. Betrayed? Bullshit. Bullshit Marian would turn traitor. What the fuck was Rob saying?

"Nah," Will shook his head slowly, trying to ignore the throbbing ache behind his eyes. "Nah, mate, you're gonna have to explain that one to me. What happened, exactly?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-08 01:05 am UTC (link)
"She slept with Gisborne, what is there to understand?" Robin's tone was a little biting, as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "That rugged bastard got his hands on her, and she let him." He clenched his jaw, still unsettled at that. Gisborne would choke on his own blood one day because of that.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-08 01:38 am UTC (link)
They were going around in circles now and it was doing his head in. "Bruv, I've been bashed around the skull a bit the last couple days, so you might have to spell it out to me. What happened? Cos I've known Marian a long time, almost as long as you, and last I heard she hated Gisborne as much as the rest of us."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-08 02:28 am UTC (link)
"I can't answer that, Stutely. Only Marian can explain it to you. The bastard has been a bloodhound on her back for years." He just never thought, ever, that she'd see anything in that man but the disgusting vermin he was. "It happened," and it hit him so hard. She might as well have punched him in the gut and let all the air escape his lungs.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-08 03:09 am UTC (link)
Will set his mouth in a hard line. He was trying to get this, but Rob was making it difficult. "If you don't know what happened, then why are you jumping to—" He bit off the words, shook his head. Tried a rephrase. "Traitor is a bold accusation, Rob. Especially if you don't got all the facts straight."

And the facts, from where Will sat, were beginning to look slippery. A bloodhound on her back for years, Robin had said. Maybe it was just a turn of phrase, but it set him uncomfortably on edge. How long had Gisborne been pursuing Marian? What had he been doing to her? And why hadn't Will twigged to it?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-08 04:13 am UTC (link)
"I have all the facts I need Stutely. She slept with Gisborne. She told me herself. What is there to explain?" Robin was losing his patience and he wasn't exactly good at expressing things properly.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-08 04:22 am UTC (link)
Will's patience was fraying at about the same rate as Robin's, and now it snapped. "Gee, I don't know, Rob, maybe if she wanted to? If she did it to hurt you or rat on us or for some other reason you didn't bloody bother to find out? Or how about if he fucked with her head the way he fucked with mine? Thought about that possibility?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-08 04:36 am UTC (link)
Robin was ready to punch the air, a tree, or Gisborne's face. Robin played hero, he'd done his good deed, but he wasn't exempt from being a total prat. "Why can't even one of you be on my side."

Robin huffed standing up as Stutely managed to ask the right questions. "No!" He raked his hands through his hair and over his face. "I didn't think Giz was all that good at playing mind games." But he was, because he was more complex a villain than just the same old cutout.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-08 07:34 am UTC (link)
So the others had been against Marian's ousting, too. That spoke volumes more than any of Robin's addled attempts so far to justify it.

Will raked the fingers of his good hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, he is, mate. He is. He recognised me well before I twigged on him. He saw I was in a shit place and he used it, and soon enough I'm strung up in a warehouse being tortured. Just cos he's not as smart as he thinks he is, doesn't mean he ain't smart enough to stick the knife in where it hurts."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-08 11:53 pm UTC (link)
"I thought he was always just a daft prick." Robin sat back down with a growl of disapproval. He wanted to stay angry, and his loathe for Gisborne was still paramount. "What did he say to you, that worthless wanker." Robin gritted his teeth and popped the string of his bow as if he were about to shoot another arrow into the night.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-09 01:01 am UTC (link)
Will shook his head. He couldn't go there, not yet, not with Rob – and besides, Robin was deflecting. "Doesn't matter. Point is, you don't know what happened with him and Marian and you didn't ask. Use your bloody head, Rob, for fuck's sake!"

He drained the rest of the water and set the bottle down at his feet, wincing as his bruised and aching body protested. Another thought struck him then, and he glanced sideways at Robin. "And not for nothing, but what you're doing now? Turning on Marian, cutting her off cold? Might just be the exact result Gisborne wanted."

Will didn't know that, not really. He had no more idea than Robin what had happened, or why. But it was true their enemies only benefited from them being divided. And, more to the point, telling Rob that his sulking was playing into Gisborne's hands might just get him to bloody cut it out, if only out of pure spite for the man.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-09 03:47 am UTC (link)
It was a matter of pride. Gisborne had not only slighted him, but had pressed Robin into a corner and poked him with his accomplishment. Marian for Gisborne was his accomplishment and he'd bested Robin. He'd bested Robin. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"For a guy with so little to say earlier, you certainly have a lot to say now." That was a jab but the defeat in his voice also proved he was right. Robin was not yet emotionally able to show he was weak to any of his men, he never could.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]sly_stutely
2020-07-09 04:59 am UTC (link)
Will snorted, twitched a crooked smile. "Yeah, well, for a clever lad, you can be a proper berk sometimes." He said it without any real irritation. He'd spoken his piece, and that was enough for now.

The exhaustion was bearing down on him now. Where had Rob said he was staying? Had he said? "Might be best if we continue this elsewhere, hey? State I'm in, we're like to get done for vagrancy."

(That, and he was in increasingly desperate need of first aid, a shower and passing out, and not necessarily in that order. Robin wasn't the only one who was good at deflecting.)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]stealn_ur_richz
2020-07-11 03:39 am UTC (link)
Robin snorted and picked up his bow. He would have had a smart remark but instead he gave Stutely a reassuring grin. Robin would get there on his own, he'd find his way.

"Yeah, mate," he held out his hand for Will, helping him to his feet as he grabbed his elbow and put his arm back around his neck. They walked a few feet and Robin stopped, "You know Little John might be a big help about now," Robin was small compared to both of these men, he'd showed off his skills and had Gisborne twisted and tied up for a while, but now Robin needed the help.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -

Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs