Robin & Marian

[Marian Cooper]

Marian was looking out over the water when he sat up, so she didn't notice how close he got until she felt his breath tickling her cheek, and she turned her neck to look him in the face as he looked about ready to kiss her; she rolled her eyes and was about to shove him away when he pulled back on his own. Good. She still hadn't quite forgiven him for the last time he'd kissed her, using it only as a pretense to get her dagger so he could hold her hostage. She might be enjoying the sight of him right now, but she was in no mood for any kissing for the time being.

It was true, Marian had never tried to put on buckskin pants when they were wet. "I'll have to take your word for it, Tightpants." She commented, looking back out over the water and hoping he didn't notice that she was blushing. Apparently, that whole 'noble upbringing' hadn't been entirely lost on her after all. "Take your time." If he enjoyed lounging about in the nude, who was she to stop him? Besides, he was probably only trying to make her uncomfortable, and even if he was succeeding, Marian was going to do her best not to make him aware of that.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

Robert did notice she was blushing; and he was rather enjoying the reminder that while she talked big she was still new to this all and still innocent to the games big kids played. While he rather like it; the idea that she was untouched, it did make him realize that he wasn't the man that was meant to break that. His life was going to end one of two ways; a public hanging, or an stab in the back. Either way he wasn't going to risk ruining anything for her.

Because, damn her, he was growing to like her and like their little run ins. He wanted them to happen more and more; and she was on his mind more then he cared for. She would be his weakness if he let her keep crawling under his skin. That blush--damn that blush--told him everything he needed to know. About everything.

He looked out over the water for a moment; while he made up his mind. In order to protect her, and him self; it was time to end this game between them. "I think I will take a walk. I sent one of my men to deliver a ransom note; but your welcome to leave any time. Just do me the kindness of not leading him back here." He stood and took his pants with him as he walked closer to the darkened tunnels. "I will leave the horse for you." Which was a damn shame but since he stolen it from the sheriff; if she returned with it then the sheriff would know that he had not let her go willingly.

[Marian Cooper]

Marian noticed the decidedly solemn change in his tone as he got to his feet, and she couldn't help but wonder what had changed. She looked up in time to see him disappearing into the tunnels...so he was taking a walk through darkened tunnels without any pants? Marian had a feeling that would only end in tragedy, and she wondered why he was suddenly so serious; usually they were all teasing and bluster, but for once, he seemed to be serious. Marian just didn't understand why.

She looked back to the water for a moment, kicking her feet in the water as she considered what he was doing, and why...maybe it would be better to stay away from him. But Marian always wanted what she couldn't have. She got to her feet and followed him down into the tunnels, picking a path and using the walls to keep herself from tripping over anything as the light from the pool faded away and she was walking blindly into the tunnels. She had no idea where she was going, though, and as she got deeper into the tunnels, she realized why that would be a problem...there was more than one path.

"Robin?" She called, somewhat hesitantly, into the darkness. She was loathe to ask him for help, but she was lost...she wasn't even sure that she could find her way back on her now. "Robin!" After wandering in the dark for a few more minutes, she called for him again, somewhat more desperately. Was this his plan? Leave her here to die? Somehow, she doubted it, but then, she didn't know much about him.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

Robert put his hand on the wall to help him find his way. He knew how many openings to skip before turning down the one he wanted; so he could find the other little cave with a bit of light. This was the one where they stored the gold and other things they stole when they did not want the other men finding it. He dug though the clothing trying to find something to wear. The only thing he could find was a clean shirt that was made for a man thrice his sides.

Putting it on, Robert rolled his eyes. It came down to his knees but he looked like an idiot in it. His pants wouldn't be ready until they dried; but at lest no one would be seeing him dressed like this. He was draping the wet pants over a chest when he thought he heard a faint sound. Robert moved a bit down the tunnel, putting hand hand out on the stone all to mark his path as he did.

He paused near the end of the tunnel to see what he heard but after a few seconds he turned to walk back. That was when he heard it clearer; his name being called down one of the tunnels. Damn her hide! She only had to walk back the way she came to leave! How hard was that! "Marian!" He yelled out, knowing the tunnels and echos would make the voices turn. You never knew where they were coming from! "Just keep talking, I will find you! Stop walking though! Some of these tunnels dead end and some just drop off into water." She could fall into the water, and not see where to come up at. She could drown. "Keep talking!"

[Marian Cooper]

When she finally heard him reply, Marian perked up, heading towards the sound of his voice...then stopped abruptly when he told her that some of the tunnels just dropped off into the water. Okay, apparently wandering the tunnels looking for him was a really, really bad idea. She stopped, leaning back against one of the stone walls, feeling rather useless while she waited for Robin to come and find her. "Robin," she called, not sure what she should say to help him find her.

"You know, I think this dress you found for me is too tight...I better unlace it a bit so I can breath..." She called, playing with the laces on her dress but leaving them done up...it wasn't quite that tight. "Why is it that you have a lady's dress stowed away here anyways? I mean, it might be worth a lot, but who would you sell it to? The women rich enough to afford something like this can afford to have their own dresses made. Or did you just have fun forcing the noble ladies to undress at the point of an arrow?" She didn't expect answers, as she was trying to help him find her, but she was curious. Why steal clothing?

"Unless it's some kind of fetish...do you like to wear dresses? Or maybe you just like to have the boys in your band wear them. This cave seems like a good place for a tryst late at night...That's it, isn't it? You and your thing for boys who dress like girls." She was just kind of ranting now, and she wondered if she teased him too much, would he just leave her to die? Or would he try harder to find her just so he could shut her up? Well, she hoped he'd go for the latter, since she didn't feel like dying in a dark, dank cave.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

She'd be lucky if the first thing he did wasn't drowning her! "For your information, we stole the chest. It's not as if we have time to sit there and wonder what's in them! We take everything." He yelled back to her, trying to both keep track of where he was going as well as were her voice was coming from. "You're awful hung up on my taste in sexual favors. Keep going and I will think it's on your mind for more then one reason." The bit about the laces had made him pick up his pace but when she started mouthing off about little boys he'd slowed down.

Robert noticed as well she called him Robin; his outlaw name. He was growing more use to it but he was more used to hearing it from whores and angry guards rather then from girls like her. He wasn't sure if he liked it; or if he wanted to tell her to shut up. Still; it was better for her to call him Robin rather then something more personal like Robert when around the sheriff especially.

He knew he was getting closer to her; when her voice got clearer. Robert made his foot steps slow so he could sneak up on her. He was barefoot; so it was easier for him to get a feel for the ground and move with out stepping on anything. When he got close enough he could hear her breathing he stopped for a few moments, so she could talk more then reached out to grab her and yell boo or got ya or something. His idiot body betrayed him however; for as he reached out he grabbed her shoulder and turned her to shut her up the only way he knew how. He kissed her. So much for staying away from her; at lest until he got her out of here.

[Marian Cooper]

Marian smiled when he tried to rationalize his possession of a woman's dress. The she couldn't help but laugh when he questioned why she was so interested in his preferred brand of sexual pleasures. "Oh? And what would that reason be?" She had to ask, wondering why he'd think she was so obsessed with it; originally, it had just been a really good way to tease him, as he seemed to take great offense at being accused of liking boys, and it had become something of a habit. Would he assume it meant she wanted him? Oh, he probably assumed that when a woman blinked at him too many times it meant she wanted him, bloody egotistical bastard.

"Robin? Are you cominmmmffh!" She started to ask, but was cut off when he suddenly grabbed her, and he was crushing his lips against hers, and she was blinking into the darkness as he kissed her. After a few seconds, her shock wore off, and despite the rapidly forming ideas that indicated that she should kick him, or punch him, or find another way to shove him off, instead she found her hands reaching up for his shirt, knotting her hands into the fabric and using it to pull him closer.

After a moment, she pulled back breathlessly, leaning back against the wall again, taking deep breaths. "So...you don't like boys." She murmured softly, giving a little chuckle before she stretched her arms out to wrap them around his neck.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

"Just. Shut. Up!" He muttered softly before reclaiming her lips; planning to stop the words that she seemed to amused in using again the only way that seemed work. He wasn't sure why she was hung up on that idea that he liked boys but he knew if she wasn't a virgin that he would push her ageist the wall and prove to her just how little he really did like boys.

It was his mental reminder that she was indeed unsure to the games he liked to play that caused him to break the kiss and force his hands to let go of her. Oh damn her for being who she was and damn him for letting her get under his skin. He put his palms flat on the stone wall behind her, but left her arms around his neck while hid forehead came to rest on her's. If he didn't get her out of her soon, he was going to prove just how far he'd come from being the gentlemen he once was. You didn't take virgins against the cold stone walls; and after watching her bathe there wasn't a chance of holding back.

"Marian, I--" He started to say something he knew he'd regret before Robert changed his mind. "--I need to get you out of here." Before he lost all honor. Robert however, was unable to lift his head from her's at the moment. He had been a good boy and not let his hands travel; but he had to wonder if she'd undone the laces. "If you really did undo that dress, now's the time to do it up again."

[Marian Cooper]

Marian let her eyes drift closed while they kissed, more than willing to shut up if it meant he was kissing her. She could feel the heat building in her center, and it felt good to have him pressed up against her, her fingers tangling into the short hair at the nape of his neck. She didn't want him to stop. But he did anyways, leaving her gasping for breath as he took his hands off her, opening her eyes and looking up to where she knew his face should be, but wasn't in the darkness.

She let the wall hold her weight while she struggled to catch her breath, still holding on to him even though his hands weren't on her anymore, feeling secure in knowing where he was in the dark as long as she was touching him. She smiled when she felt his forehead come to rest against hers, his breath hot against her face. Her heart sped up when he said her name, waiting for him to finish his statement, but when he did, it didn't sound right. He was sending her away? Now? That didn't sound like what he had intended to say when he started speaking, and he hadn't moved away from her.

After a moment, Marian decided she didn't care what he 'needed' to do, and tilted her head back so that she could kiss him, bringing her lips up to meet his somewhat tentatively. She didn't know what he meant when he said that she needed to leave, but she knew that she didn't want to leave...not right now, at least. She found one of his hands on the stone wall and pulled it down gently to the laces he was so obsessed with, letting him feel for himself that it was still done up...at least for now.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

Well that bloody well went as planned. Robert was trying to be the gentlemen he was raised to be and she was set on making his act like and untried little boy. When she started kissing him again; he knew he could handle it as long as he kept focused on who she was and where they were. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to stay focused when she tasted like heaven but he could do it. It was her other actions however that were going to brake him.

He felt her reach up for his hand and he almost refused to let her move it. Robert knew he was stronger but he decided that he was more curious then afraid of what she was up too. As she pulled his hand down, his fingers skimmed her collar bone then lower to over the exposed skim to come to rest on her laces. Robert wasn't sure if she was answering his question or inviting him further but he knew that if he stood half a chance and walking away it would be here.

Dipping some of his fingers into the bodice of the dress he gripped the top as if he might try to pull it down or rip it off before breaking the kiss; but not pulling away. "Let me be blunt. I am the furthest thing from a saint, and have spent the last few hours getting wound tighter thanks to your public bathing, little blushes, and that damn mouth of yours that I just want to keep busy doing something else. I am not sure if I am a hair's breath from strangling you or lifting up up against the wall behind you and taking you. When I said I needed to get you out of here; I meant it needed to be now if you had any chance of getting back to the castle tonight!"

[Marian Cooper]

Well, he wasn't pushing her away right now, for which Marian was extremely glad. She let go of his hand once she had moved it down to her bodice, wondering if he'd take that as an invitation and not even caring if he did. She lifted her own hand up to rest on his shoulder as she felt his hand close over the top of the dress, his fingers brushing against her skin right before he broke the kiss. He didn't move away though, remaining with his body so close to her she could feel the heat coming off of him.

But instead of tearing her dress off, he started to speak; she gave a satisfied little smirk that he wouldn't be able to see when he admitted how much she'd wound him up over the last few hours, that had been the goal. So he did notice her blush...damn. She'd have to work on that. How did one control blushing, though? She would just have to find a way. She wasn't too worried about him strangling her; if he wanted her dead this was probably a good place to murder her, but she had a feeling he liked having her alive...even if she did make him crazy.

As for the other option...Marian wasn't sure how she felt about it. She knew very well that this wasn't exactly conventional, but she had to admit, neither she or Robin really fit the 'conventional nobility' mold. She didn't really believe that she needed to leave right now...maybe if she wanted to get back before the sun rose, but what did it matter if she arrived back in the early morning instead of the late night. "...don't you want me?"

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[Robin Of The Woods]

Robert felt her take his hand; and he forced him self to turn and lead her out of the darkness. He walked slow enough that he could make sure she didn't trip or find some sort of trouble to get in. The last thing he needed right now was to have a reason to touch her. His self control was thin; and the last sin he wanted on his record was that sort of force. His mother would die of shame and his sister would suffer for it as well.

Once they got to where they could see the light up ahead he stopped walking. Robert was still naked and didn't want to go out where she could see his expression, or anything else. "The horse is out side. Take it and go." He didn't mean to be as brass and blunt as he was sounding but it was best for them both right now if she didn't ask for a good bye.

Before she could walk away however he had one last thing to make clear. "Next time I am trapped in a cell; don't help me." Not that he wasn't grateful but he was fighting a war that he could only lose. He wasn't dragging her down with him. "Just stay clear of me." Because next time he might not be a gentlemen.

[Marian Cooper]

Robin stopped when they could see a flicker of light on the horizon, and Marian stopped with him, looking up at him. Getting the horse and then finding her way out of the woods shouldn't be a problem, she was a decent rider and she knew this part of the woods, even if she had never known these caves were here before. His voice was tightly controlled, and she didn't have to guess at what he was restraining himself from. She nodded, even though he wouldn't be able to see it; she didn't foresee good things from drawing this out any longer.

She dropped his hand and turned to go, but before she could take a step, he was telling her not to help him again. She looked up to where his voice was coming from, where his face would be. She supposed that she couldn't expect anything else after what had just happened, but she wanted to see him again. She bit her lip after he told her to just stay away from him, she was glad it was dark because then he wouldn't be able to see the hurt on her face. So if she wouldn't give herself to him, he wanted nothing to do with her?

She thought about his request for a moment, remaining silent. Fine. If he didn't want to see her anymore, she wouldn't go looking for him anymore...but despite her rising anger, it still hurt. But first, she wanted to hurt him, too...or maybe just torture him a little bit more. Without taking another second to think about it, she moved in closer to him, and standing up on her toes so she could reach, she put her hands on his --still bare, she only noticed now-- shoulders and kissed him forcibly. Then, before he could react, she dropped back down onto her heels, turned and practically ran from the cave.

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[Robin Of The Woods]

When Robert felt her hands on his shoulders he started to reach up to remove them but before he could she was kissing him. He froze in effort to not drag her back into the darkness; and by the time he started responding to the kiss she was running! Damn her! Again! He walked forward to make sure she got on the horse--one he HATED returning to the sheriff--and headed in the right direction before he backed into the cave and went to dive into the cold water again.

The next week was hell. A fun sort of hell; but hell never the less. They'd found the trader but instead of pointing him out Robert decided to bring him closer. Make sure he only got the information they wanted to get back to the sheriff. After a few days of bad information his so called trader arrested instead of paid and today he was meant to hang.

It was barley dawn; the light just creeping up into the sky as Robert stood in the shadows on the inside courtyard of the Nottingham's castle. He was standing there staring at the large wooden display that would be used to hang the man that had betrayed him for a hand full of gold. He just stared at it, his mind a million miles from where he was. Robert wasn't worried about being caught; the only ones up this early were the builders that were still building the scaffold and some farmers bringing in their harvest to pay part of their taxes. A few guards watched the outside of the wall but no one bothered to heavily patrol the inside.

[Marian Cooper]

Marian found the horse outside, as promised, and after making sure it had rested up enough since they'd rode it here, she mounted up and spurred it into a hard gallop; better to get away from here quickly, she figured. By the time she arrived at the castle, dirty and sweaty and without any shoes, the sun was up in the sky and the Sheriff was just arranging to have the ransom sent out to buy her back; needless to say, he was pleased that he wouldn't have to hand over the gold. As she'd expected, he asked what she was doing down in the dungeons to begin with; she fluttered her eyelashes and told him how she had been searching for him, and when she'd gone down to the dungeons, she'd caught the bandit in the process of escaping. He didn't question her any further, for which she was glad, allowing her to go up to her room for some rest.

The next week was hell. After her second kidnapping, the Sheriff had decided that she clearly needed more protection, and it gave him an excuse to keep her on a very short leash, something she never enjoyed. The worst part about it all, though, was that Marian couldn't even bring herself to bother defying him. It used to be her favorite pastime; now it just seemed childish, and pointless. Maybe she should just marry him so she could get on with the exciting prospects of being a wife and mother. No, she wasn't quite that depressed.

Waking before dawn, she watched as light crept over the horizon slowly, yawning. Usually, she slept through the morning and into the afternoon, but since she hadn't been sneaking out by night, she found herself using that time to sleep instead. As the sun spread light over the castle, she noticed there was something going on in the courtyard...oh, right, there was to be an execution today. Beyond learning that it wasn't Robin who was to swing by his neck today, she hadn't bothered to learn much else; but maybe watching a man hang until dead would be just the thing to get her spirits up. Marian dressed quickly, then headed down to the courtyard. There weren't many people about, so she wandered through the courtyard somewhat aimlessly, before she found a place where she could lean against one of the walls and watch the builders work.

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