Leah Allen (leahallen) wrote in shadowlands_ic, @ 2017-11-12 19:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | adrien green, leah allen |
Who: Leah Allen and Adrien Green
What: Chivalry isn't dead
Where: London, near Miss Lydia's
When: October 25th 1888 (backdated big time)
Ratings/warnings:
Adrien could see the tension in the young woman’s shoulders before he ever saw her face.
The reason was obvious -- the man walking next to her, his tone wheedling, his arm attempting to snake through hers. “C’mon,” he begged, “give a poor lad the time of day, Vic, have mercy?” He tossed one hand over his heart. “My hand to god, I can’t breathe without you. Give me one more chance?”
When Adrien drew alongside, he could see a familiar flush of cheeks behind the broad hat -- it was Vicky, from Miss Lydia’s, looking decidedly uncomfortable at the young cad’s enthusiastic attentions.
It was a tricky line to walk -- he knew he risked sullying the young woman’s reputation further via association -- but the times were such that he didn’t care to risk leaving her alone with him. He raised an eyebrow.
“Miss?” He asked, bowing his head a little and catching her eye. “This young man isn’t bothering you, is he?”
In times such as these Leah would take all the help she could get. Harvey was a repeat client at Miss Lydia’s, but he’d been getting a bit too fixated on her and had been banned after getting drunk and roughing up another of the girls. She hadn’t expected to run into him again, much less outside the Academy.
So the doubly unexpected coincidence of Adrien’s arrival was a godsend as she snatched her arm away from Harvey’s. The smell of alcohol on the cad’s breath was strong enough she wondered how the young man could stand.
“I believe he was just leaving, weren’t you sir?” She raised an eyebrow at the young man in question, clearly hinting he should take the opportunity to leave now.
Harvey turned to look up (...and up) at the tall vampire who’d just appeared alongside them, blinking, and then frowning in sudden disbelief. “Who’re you?” He said to Adrien, his voice sullen. “Who d’ you think you’re tryin’ to be?” He tipped his chin Vicky’s way. “You couldn’t afford her,” he sneered.
At that, Adrien’s eyes flashed in a sudden and quick anger, and he moved quickly (too quickly, really -- very nearly too fast to see) so that he was standing facing the man instead of walking beside him, so quickly Harvey didn’t have time to adjust, and bumped into him.
His look was sharp, and is voice doubly so as he leaned towards the surprised Harvey, and said, very clearly, “Leave. Her. Be.”
Harvey had been about to complain, to argue, but he paused, a deer in headlights, staring up at Adrien, his face pale.
Adrien leaned a fraction closer, his teeth extending just a fraction. “Now,” he added.
Harvey blinked, and then turned on his heel and walked briskly in the opposite direction.
The tension drained out of Leah as she watched the man disappear down the street, and she turned toward Adrien with a grateful smile. “Thank you.” She wished she could pretend she didn’t know who he was, but it would have been very rude to not thank him for his help and acknowledge his presence.
Honestly if Adrien hadn’t come along she wasn’t sure what she’d have done. Hit Harvey and scream for help perhaps? Then he’d have blabbed about Miss Lydia’s and surely it would have gotten into the papers. Her reputation would be ruined and she’d be on the next airship to New York and then on to California to start over.
Adrien nodded. “It’s nothing at all, Miss Vicky,” he said, his eyes glancing back at the retreating figure before looking down at her, a thoughtful frown on his face. “I might… that is to say,” he added, a little awkwardly, “if it would be welcome, I might walk in your direction for a ways. In case he gets up his nerve again.”
Leah almost corrected him on her proper name, but thought better of it at the last second. It was safer he not know her true identity, the fewer who knew the connection between her real identity and Miss Lydia’s the better.
She glanced back in the direction Harvey had departed and then turned a thoughtful gaze to Adrien. Having a black man escort her might set tongues wagging, but there was no one in these parts she had to worry about and his strength would come in handy if there was trouble. “It would be welcome. Having you walking next to me would make me feel very safe Adrien, thank you.”
He would’ve understood if she’d asked he walk behind -- as it was, he nodded his head and fell in beside her, his hands in his pockets, his gaze ahead. There was a certain delicious irony there -- he was seen as a predator on many different levels, after all, and a quick ghost of a smile flashed across his face as they started walking again.
“It’s no trouble, really,” he said, carefully pitching his voice low, keeping his eyes straight. “Been awhile since I’ve been round,” he added, quietly. “You and the rest of the musicians keepin’ safe?”
“We have.” Leah nodded, her voice equally quiet. The recent events with the Whitechapel murders had everyone anxious and concerned to say the least. Harvey’s unexpected appearance just amplified her own worries, and her strengthened her determination to get away from depending on the Academy for sustenance. “Miss Lydia has arranged for extra protection at the Academy, and we’re all a bit more alert these days. We all wonder, because they haven’t caught whoever was doing it.” At least it seemed like whoever was doing it had stopped.
“Hm,” Adrien replied quietly. “Right about that. Don’t suppose you’ll breathe easy until they do.” He paused, and bit his lip a little, and then looked over at Leah.
“If I ask you somethin’, can you keep quiet about it?” He shrugged. “Mr Allen and Miss Lydia know already, I just mean among the other girls.”
Leah glanced over at him, curious about what the vampire could possibly want to know. But if her father and Lydia knew about it and hadn’t told her, then it couldn’t be that earth shattering or something she needed to worry about.
“Of course. I won’t tell the others.” She raised an eyebrow as they walked, waiting for him to ask whatever mysterious question he wanted to ask her.
“Has anyone been by to look for Kaya since she left?” Adrien asked, his voice low. “Anyone new?”
It was a risky question to ask, but he hadn’t gotten word otherwise, and who knew what could’ve slipped under the watchful Miss Lydia’s eye?
Leah’s brow furrowed. Someone looking for Kaya? Sure the werewolf was exotic compared to all the pale Europeans at Miss Lydia’s, but most of the time she was hiding out in the kitchens than working as a ‘Musician’. And why was Adrien asking?
She eyed her companion thoughtfully as they walked. He and Kaya must have some kind of relationship going on, and it was wonderfully crazy. A werewolf and a vampire, talk about star crossed lovers!
“We have new people coming in now and again, Adrien. But I haven’t heard anything about new men being especially interested in Kaya, no more than usual anyway.”
Adrien caught her eye briefly and nodded. “Good,” he said, quietly. “You hear of anyone askin’ after her, especially anyone American, you do me a favor and tell Miss Lydia?”
Kaya’d been out of the Academy for a few weeks now - long enough that hopefully, her trail would be reasonably cold, and anyone expressing an interest would be seen as unusual. He was hoping that while she had a very real reason to fear attention, that she’d be able to ride out this particular storm, and the Stahls would be dealt with -- or go back to whatever hole they’d crawled out of.
He looked over again at Vicky -- the young blonde woman carried herself with a confidence and poise despite her recent brush with the unwelcome suitor, and had a calculatingly intelligent, frank expression on her face that he wasn’t expecting -- whenever he’d caught glimpse of her at the Academy, she was usually laughing and flirting with a customer.
Adrien had never been her client, but Leah knew he’d only ever seen her at Miss Lydia’s before now. So the brief look of surprise that crossed his face as he regarded her was of no surprise at all to her. Would he be even more shocked to learn she was a university graduate? She reached over and patted his arm, as if to forgive him his patronizing assumption. He’d seen what she wanted him to see and nothing more.
“I’ll be sure and let her know that you were concerned about Kaya. It might help if I had a little more information so we’d know what to look out for.” Between her membership at the Osiris Club and the glamour Una had provided her she doubted she would need the Academy much longer, but she’d make a point of letting Lydia know what was going on.
The pat on his arm earned her another brief look of surprise.
“They’d be American,” he replied, a little cautiously. “Southern vampires. White folk. Might be tryin’ to hide the accent.” He paused. “I appreciate your assistance in the matter,” he added, a little awkwardly. “I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”
“It’s all right Adrien.” She assured him. “I’ll make sure she’s aware. Kaya is one of us, and the Academy looks after its own.” She may despise the necessity of a place like Miss Lydia’s, but she was proud of what her father and Lydia had done between them. The horror stories the other girls had told left her in no doubt that the Academy was one of the bright spots in a dark business. She’d be damned if she let a bunch of puffed up colonials hurt one of the Academy’s people.
A small flash of a smile briefly appeared on Adrien’s face. “Good,” he said. Kaya didn’t tend to talk extensively of her time before the Academy -- she didn’t need to, he could connect the dots easily enough -- and while he didn’t necessarily understand it in full, she’d found a community there she hadn’t been expecting, one she didn’t have from her own kind. It was good to hear that community went both ways. “I’ll tell her you said so,” he added, tipping his head her way.
“Please do.” Leah smiled. “If she ever needs help, or if these American Vampires give her trouble, make sure she knows she can come to us.” She was speaking as Gabriel Allen’s daughter and with an authority that ‘Miss Vicky’ wouldn’t have, but it didn’t matter. In another few months she’d likely be done with Miss Lydia’s as a ‘Musician’ between the various efforts to make it unnecessary for her. But as a matter of family honor it would always be important to her, and as she’d said before the Academy would take care of its own.
“And if you ever need me to make a personal call,” Adrien replied, tipping his head back in the direction of the hapless suitor, who was (thankfully) long gone, “you let me know.”
He wasn’t a violent sort, or at least, he did his best to try not to be, but there were always exceptions, and Harvey was one.
A true smile spread across her face as Leah beamed at Adrien for his gallant offer. “And here I thought Chivalry was dead. Thank you Mr. Green, I will definitely keep that in mind if the need ever arises.”