InsaneJournal

Who: Rarity/Rachel and Roland
When: Early September
Where: Street
What: Random Encounter and being saved from a sleeze bag
Raints/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete



Popping out of work for a cigarette was usually frowned upon by Roland himself, but sometimes, a man just needed to smoke. As he lit a Camel between his lips, Roland stared at the flame for a moment, then released the thumb tab to put the kindle out. He let the nicotine fill his lungs as he pocketed his orange Bic. People passed him, hurrying their way up the steps of the building that Roland worked out of. They carried their briefcases and adjusted their neck ties. One of the things Roland liked about his job was that he could wear something comfortable and his clients seemed to be comfortable with it.

Something else caught Roland’s eye as he let smoke curl up from the corner of his mouth. A man and a young woman were talking. The man stood a little too close, at least for Roland’s comfort. Roland wasn’t certain if it was his field of work or just his lineage that gave him the eye for trouble, but it was there and it was in this girl’s road. For now, Roland only watched, but he couldn’t help the tickling feeling in his stomach that told him he’d need to move soon.

Rachel’s shoes weren’t made for walking this fast, but she couldn’t shake the dude who’d started attempting to flirt with her at the coffee shop. First he’d asked her name, he’d said he liked her sweater (though it wasn’t really a sweater but a shirt, thanks) and then commented about how short her skirt was. Puh-lease. What a sleeze bag. Rachel was polite to him, which may or may not have been the right thing to do. It seemed to only egg him on.

After collecting her iced coffee, she left the coffee shop with him right on her tail, and turned down the road, which was lined on either side with big buildings. There seemed to be people still out and about, which was a good thing. At least, for Rachel. Hopefully nothing would come from this … stalker. But he was making her feel nervous, and she was walking quickly, ignoring his calls out to her of “hey, beautiful,” and “slow down and talk to me for a minute.”

As she walked, he continued to follow. Well, so much for a smoke break. Roland crushed his cigarette out in a nearby smoker’s post, then went casually down the steps to where the man was following the woman. He fell into step beside the woman and said, “There you are.” As if he knew her. That was his game plan, but truth be told, he would have rather introduced this man to his fist. He could use a good fight.

Rachel turned at the sound of the voice and for a moment her heart thundered. Was this guy with the first guy? Was this some sort of… ambush? But her eyes met his blue ones, and there was safety there. She had no idea how she knew it, she just did. She was suddenly relieved. The cavalry was here. Thank God, she thought as she gave him a smile. “Here I am,” she said, turning to loop her arm through his. It was only awkward for a second. “I was looking for you.”

The guy who’d been following her (no doubt waiting for her to walk down a dark, secluded alleyway so he could really make his move) looked disheartened by the gesture.

Good. She was going with it. Or was it good? Roland still had a taste for putting his fist to the guy’s face. Or his gun. He licked his drying lips and stared the stranger down. The man looked away immediately, as most often did when the gunslinger’s less tempered side was showing. “You found me,” he said simply, his eyes never leaving the stranger’s.

The man put up his hands. Roland might have been grinning just then as it reminded him of surrender at gunpoint, the look of someone just before Roland gave them their death, palms forward, eyes up, wide as saucers. “Sorry,” the man said. “I didn’t realize-”

“I should have mentioned,” Rachel said shaking her head a bit as she glanced over at the sleezy stranger. At least he was backing down, thank God. Rachel really didn’t want to have to try and fight him off. Especially not in these boots. “Anyway, it was nice meeting you.” She said, then turned to walk off down the sidewalk with Roland. She had her fingers crossed that the other would just… walk away. Please, just walk away. Just walk away.

Walk away, the stranger did. He stared at Roland for a while, walking backwards until Roland was out of sight enough to satisfy him. Then he turned and walked in a hurry toward his next destination, which would have been hell had Roland had his way. Roland tracked him until he ducked into a building, then the gunslinger turned to the girl. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Once the man was out of sight, and Roland seemed to relax just a bit, Rachel unlooped her arm through his and breathed a deep sigh. “Yes, I’m okay. Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened…” She realized that she was starting to panic now instead of a few minutes ago when she was really in danger.

She didn’t need to finish. Roland knew what would happen. It wouldn’t have been out here, out in public during the day, but he would have possibly waited for her so that he could heal his bruised ego. “Did you know him?” the gunslinger asked.

“No.” Rachel was breathless, shaking her head. She lifted her hand to run over her hair--it was something that she could control. She could straighten her hair, which would straighten her life. Something that she desperately felt the need to do at the moment. Strange men threatening her, other strange men saving her from being threatened, it was definitely not what the fashionista was used to. “No, I was in the coffee shop and he just started following me out of the blue. I shouldn’t have been so polite to him, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Roland frowned. “Some men take politeness as something else,” he said, speaking derisively. His fading blue eyes were squinted in the direction that the man went for a while longer before he looked back at the girl again. After a moment’s thought, he took out his wallet and handed her his business card from it. “I run a security agency,” he said to her. “If you ever need any help, just give us a call.”

Rachel nodded. She reached a hand up and accepted his business card, turning it around so she could read it. “Roland,” she read his name aloud, nodding once more. “I will.” Her heart was still thundering, though her mind wasn’t playing tricks with what could have been. She was now trying to figure out how she was going to protect herself next time. And being mean to everyone she met wasn’t the answer. “Thank you. I mean it. Thank you for everything.”

She was still distressed, anyone would be able to see that, even Roland. It would be decidedly incompassionate to leave her alone just yet. “Where were you heading?” he asked as he pocketed his wallet again. His gun was strapped to the inside of his boot, as it always was these days. He would have felt better with it at his hip, but he hadn’t needed it earlier, sadly enough.

"My car," Rachel explained, motioning. It wasn't far down the street, they could see it from where they were standing. She'd been nearly home free, then again, the car might have provided the creepy guy a place to do his creepy stuff? "I just want to go home now."

It was clear to Roland that she just wanted to go. If her car was close enough, he could stay where he was and keep an eye on her, so he didn’t offer to walk her to the car. He just nodded in response and gave her more room to breathe. “Long days and pleasant nights,” he said out of sheer habit from another world, somewhere that had moved on. This place had not moved on, but it mattered not to the gunslinger; it was the most proper good bye he could offer.

Rachel turned to him and did her best to smile. It was a little forced, but thankful. "Thank you." She said it softly, then turned to walk to her car. As she moved quickly, she glanced around in an almost paranoid way. She clicked the button to unlock the car doors, and let herself in with one last glance to Roland on the sidewalk.