black_guard (black_guard) wrote in nevermore_logs, @ 2020-08-18 22:04:00 |
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Current mood: | aggravated |
Current music: | "Comply" by Sara Kendell |
Entry tags: | guy of gisborne, robin hood, the saracen |
WHO The Saracen + Guy of Gisborne (with a cameo from Robin Hood)
WHEN Tuesday night
WHERE Dinner?
WHAT Meetings part 2, Gisborne is onto you!
WARNINGS Slaps, some roughing up, bruises and a distressed Leila
Gisborne’s eyes honed in on the hunchbacked old lady loitering outside the building he’d last seen Amara. He tapped his fingers against the side of his patrol car, watching as she weaved in and out of the alley with her buggy full of trash bags. He suspected she lived under a bridge somewhere with a mattress made of cardboard boxes and tin cans. What was she doing with bags of trash? He narrowed his eyes, the large sack-like coat sweeping the ground. It was at least five sizes too big, and easily could have been a trash bag itself. His eyes went upward to see the dark clouds forming overhead, and if this city was lucky, that rain would wash that trash right down to the harbor where it belonged. She nearly ran that buggy right on top of another pedestrian, chattering with a string of unknown words and smacking her bags of trash. Gisborne’s brows creased as he questioned smacking her with the bumper of the patrol car. He did bleep the lights but the old bag was probably hard of hearing too. He was just about to roll out of his patrol car when he saw Amara walk out of the same alley, his eyes narrowed again. She wasn’t coming out of the apartment building, which he instantly took note of. She’d called him once, the first time and they’d talked for some time, but after that they’d gone unanswered except for the last, and would that have really been considered an actual call back or a bored girl who didn’t remember him---that made his blood boil because he was not used to being forgettable when he had clearly made his mark known. He let those lights bleep again, this time warranting a reaction from Leila who pretended to jump. She knew he was there, he’d been there a number of times, and better he still think she lived there than anywhere else. She walked towards his car, putting on that fake smile and acting like her life had been way too hectic to meet up with him (and even that wasn’t a far stretch from the truth). He however did not return the smile, and what little change she saw in his face was not pleasant. She had to somehow sway that, and the other pair of eyes on her were of that old woman who had settled in on the steps of the building, a giant human crow looking out at the pair with those beady little eyes that were behind glasses also too big for her face. “You’re not busy now,” Gisborne said curtly, as if it was no longer an option for her to play shy and coy. “I’m not,” Leila said, feeling that rush of uncertainty. She’d stepped into the viper’s den now, she could not back out, and not with other eyes on her. She’d rather they keep this out in the open, she did not trust being in any private places with this snake. “Get in the car,” Gisborne insisted, which she instantly looked around and pretended to feel nervous (and maybe she actually was, this felt like cheating no matter how much Much had understood the circumstance). Her hand stayed on the door handle, not ready to open it. “Where would we be going?” She looked like a skittish little bird, head wobbling side to side and around. What the hell was she waiting for. Gisborne’s mouth turned into an evil grin. “I’m off in ten minutes, you could get yourself ready for dinner.” He told her where he'd wait just outside the apartment, and she realized she was less prepared than she’d like. She had no actual apartment there, and she had no change of clothes. She gave him a soft smile and took her hand off the handle. “I’ll be right back,” and it was there she met the hunchback old lady----who was no hunchback at all, but the old woman followed her inside, muttering away and pushing her big trash buggy inside, which was also quite strange. It was there that the old lady’s identity was revealed. “Robin?” Leila said in a hushed voice once inside. Out of that big bag of “trash” he pulled out some shoes and a dress for her, his finger against his lips. If she gave his disguise away it would be bad for them both, and he was making sure she did not back out. She’d told him earlier that day she’d see Gisborne, and he was putting her in a position that she couldn’t run from. With the Sheriff back now, she needed to speed this along. “Don’t fail me now,” he insisted, always able to tug at her loyalty. When she went to the bathroom to change. The dress went just above her knees and flared out, with a pair of red heels that showed her legs, it was not a look she wanted to give that snake, but she put on a little lipstick and shoved the old pair of clothes back into Robin’s trash bag. “I want to know what you find out.” Robin whistled as he rolled his big cart back outside and down the street. When Leila came outside her heart skipped a beat but not because she was excited, she planted that fake smile again and went back to the car where Gisborne looked her over. She went to open the door, and he chastised her. “Back seat,” he said, as if he was punishing a child for not answering him when he wanted. Leila bit her tongue and opened the door, flinging her hair off her shoulder as she got inside. Suddenly, though she was not a date, but a criminal, she questioned whether or not he would actually take her downtown to the precinct first. He did indeed take her to dinner (of which half of the meal she had to pay for), and as she twirled the pasta around on her fork she was reminded of when she and Much went on their first date, how wonderful that had ended. Gisborne did most of the talking, as she did her best to ask questions here and there that would give her some answers to his plans. With the Sheriff back in town, how did that make him feel. She inquired about his bravado and how he seemed not scared of much at all, adding a little smile and playing it up. He spoke about the new corporal, how the man had a terrible drinking problem, which some of his own influence, he intended on shoving right out of the position so he could take it. Gisborne had done well to keep his reputation pretty clean at work, those slip ups with Robin and his men, well, they had yet to besmirch his name, and that would benefit him, but talking with such a pretty face with wine, it had given him some loose lips. The dinner was nearly over when her phone buzzed and she glanced at the name. Oh bollocks! She’d forgotten to swap phones, if he saw any of the names in her contact list he would know. Immediately, Leila grabbed her phone and stood up, “Just a moment,” she said quietly, “My mother has been sick, I won’t be but a minute.” She walked towards the front entrance and pretended to talk when it had been a message from Much. Why on earth that silly man was putting googly eyes all over inanimate objects and sending her the pictures was beyond ludicrous---but and it made her heart flutter. It was just a picture, something ridiculous that she honestly needed to see and give her courage to end this date with Gisborne----only Gisborne had other ideas. He stood when she came back to the table, napkin tossed aside as he handed her her portion of the bill. “Oh,” she said surprised, taking another swallow of her wine glass that was about to be carted away by the wait staff. She needed a little bit more, but she’d promised herself she would not get wasted in front of this arsehole. She looked back at that glass as it was picked up and they walked towards the door. The street lights outside seemed so bright in the dark now, she didn’t quite even know she was getting into the passenger seat of Gisborne’s car until the door shut behind her. Leila paused and blinked, watching him without a word as he cranked up the car and started back down the street. “Where are we going?” She said in what felt like slurred speech. One glass. She had only had one glass, and one glass was not enough to make her feel so dizzy. “I’m taking you back to your place.” He had, she blinked again and they were parked right outside the apartment building, and her hunchbacked old friend was no longer there. Gisborne helped her out of the car this time and led her inside the main stairwell where she looked up. “Thank you for dinner---” Leila insisted but he was helping her upstairs and she refused to go. If she could not find her room he’d know she did not live here. “I’m curious to know what your place actually looks like,” and that was Gisborne fishing himself for information. He’d already felt stood up and questioned her reliability. He’d dealt with many lying women before, and something made him feel off around her. The drug he’d slipped in her drink was to get her to relax even more. He’d let her in on a lot of things he hadn’t meant to say, because she was quite a master at getting him to talk. That was a feat in itself, was it not? So, he simply wanted to know where his “date” lived. She started back towards the stairwell and he pressed her forward as she stepped up to the second floor. “It’s just down the hall,” and she fiddled with her keys, hoping against hope she could play off the key breaking? Maybe the locks got changed? She was going through her fuzzy mind to figure out the best out, and honestly it was making her heart race a little faster. They stood in front of room #234 as she tried to jam the key into the door only to wake up the actual tennet. “Who the fuck are you!” The man yelled, waving them off, and Leila laughed and insisted it was the next door. She tried again, the key not able to even go into the hole, and now she wondered why she hadn’t thought ahead and staged this up properly. “The key must be wrong,” she said, trying another key, and another and eventually Gisborne grabbed her keys and jerked her arm. “You don’t live here do you?” He said in that same dark voice he’d had earlier. What was going on? Why couldn’t she get it together? She felt so out of it and had no idea of an escape plan. So she did the only thing she could think to do and took off running down the steps and out the door----only she felt herself jerked back again and swirled around under the stairwell. Gisborne’s hands were tight around her arms and he pressed her into the wall. “Amara, is that your real name too?” Her eyes were wide. Had he figured it out already? Where had she messed up? His eyes narrowed at her, hands on her face as he pinched her cheeks together. “Say it, say your real name.” Maybe the boys all thought Gisborne was a lackey, a dumb boy who was not nearly as perceptive as the rest of them, but on his own, as Stutely had figured out, he was far more in tune with his surroundings. It was only when Gisborne had other figures to contend with that he lost his intimidation. His fingers smeared that coral colored lipstick across her mouth. “I. Will. Find. You. Out.” he said, nose in her face as he pinched her cheeks, the hand around her arm just as tight. She was still staring at him with big eyes when when that hand raised and smacked her across the cheek, and Leila in a way so unlike her just took it, telling herself she was keeping up with the face she was trying to portray---except now Gisborne had just smashed it with very little. She had in no way known what to expect, if he’d have tried to physically assault her, beat her, but he left her there as she slid down to the floor. |