Successive Battles [Tag GSers]

[Alfie Todd]

Todd, awoke from a deep and dreamless sleep. He didn't remember actually falling asleep, but he assumed that, as he had his eyes shut, and a blanket on, that he was. He tried to sit up, but when he moved, a jolting pain shot down to his leg. "Ow, how could I forget about that?" he said to himself, though not so quiet that anyone else there couldn't hear him, as he remembered the events of the day just gone.

Lying back down again, Todd looked around, taking in his surroundings. Basically, there were a lot of trees, and rocks, and leaves, but mostly trees. He also looked around to see if Saffron and Archibold were still there. Who knows, they could've left him in the night. Saffron seemed the type to do that. Although, she did eventually help him out, even if it was after much tormenting.

Todd's mind wandered back to his family. He wondered how they were getting on. No doubt better now that he was gone. His father always threatened to kick him out when he came back from the pub after a night with the little amount of friends he had. Usually he came back with a black eye, or some other form of injury. Only a couple of times had he actually come back drunk though. He never had enough money to get the amount of alcohol needed to get drunk. Bah! Who needs them? Certainly not me, he thought to himself.

Todd pulled back the blanket that was covering him, to get a better look at his leg. His trousers had been cut back, probably to get a better look at the arrow. Todd assumed Archibold was the one who actually removed the arrow. If it was Saffron, she wouldn't have bothered to drag him back to wherever he was now. She probably would've yanked the arrow out and then left him. The make shift bandage wrapped around his leg was already soaked with blood. Calling out to anyone that might be there, Todd said "Urm, what do I do now?"

[Regina Apple]

Seen as how there'd been a young man in her bed, Gina had taken the liberty of comandeering Gavin's bed for a place to sit. This was after she'd gone back out hunting though. She'd watched Josh fix his leg up. It was delightfully disgusting. All the blood and everything. She'd nabbed the arrow head, maybe she could turn it into a necklace or something. But after Josh had finished, Gina's grumbling stomach reminded her of why she'd shot in him the first place.

Her hunting trip wasn't all that sucessful the second time round either, at least this time she didn't bring in wounded deer-boys. She managed to bag a couple of rabbits. Which of course, she dumped on Josh - to see if he got the hint to make her something out of them. So far, there was nothing. She was considering doing a John and just eating them raw, but last time she'd resorted to that she was violently ill. Had John not gone pansy, she would have felt a new bout of respect for him. But, facts were that he had gone pansy and therefore Gina felt no respect for the great bear. His loss, someone else's gain. Regina didn't respect easily.

She'd rested for the rest of the afternoon, drifting in and out of sleep. Gavin's bed was qute comfy. I should stay here more often. She thought to herself. She was just waking up from another nap when she heard Todd muttering to himself. God, if she were him she would have slept for at least three days - just for the free bed. Though, she may have needed to sneak around to get food while the rest were alseep. He'd lasted until early evening. Weak. She did chuckle to herself, this story was going to tickle her for years to come. Even if as soon as Gavin and Wellsy got home there was going to be a huge arguement about why she brought him.

Regina watched Todd through half open eyes, seeing him inspect his own leg. Should she defend him and try to make the guys let him stay? He would be a fine addition. He had attitude, the right sort of thinking (putting a knife to someone's throat was always an effective way of proving oneself) - but he was just a kid. So was Wellsy really. But Todd seemed younger. Gah! She was going soft! She could feel it. Soon she'd start finding flowers to put in her hair and wearing skirts. Regina never wore skirts. Not unless they were very short and she was doing it for a good cause.

"What do you do now? You wait. Wait to see the fireworks. The rest'll be back soon." Gina strained her ears, was that a rustle of bushes she heard? It was hard to tell sometimes. Most of the time it was that pesky wind tricking you, but other times it was outlaws returning home after a long day of being outlaw-y. "I think that's them now." She shot a grin over to Todd before yelling into the bushes, "Eustace? Is that you?" He was going to be so pissed. Not only was she calling him Eustace, but there was a randomer in the camp. Maybe if he was pissed, in the other sense of the meaning, then things wouldn't be so bad. Gavin was nicer when drunk.

[Gavin Bates]

Gavin was having a fairly bad morning. He'd gone to town with Simon to do a bit of thieving, and that had been bad enough – he didn't like Simon, even if he had come to accept that the man was here to stay (and that grated on his nerves like little else), and working so closely with him had seemed like a bad idea. And it was – the disaster he had predicted to himself when they'd buggered off that morning. They'd argued a lot, not stolen much, and both had come close to the end of their tempers. Gavin was unsure about Simon, but he'd had the urge to stick a knife in the younger man's stomach and twist it a few times for good measure.

Another thing annoying him was the sudden consensus that Hanton and Forrest were no longer part of the gang. While he wasn't exactly happy that Hanton and Forrest had disappeared, seemingly for good, he was also sort of relieved. It meant things could finally be done, no worrying and waiting for the two men. Gavin had also decided he didn't really like this leadership stuff after all. In the very least, if he had to do anything like that, then the gang was going to be getting down to some messy business.

So, he'd gotten up early (something he hated), he'd failed at stealing with a man he didn't like, and he was unofficial leader of a gang of cutthroat, nagging, and occasionally useless thieves. Joy.

He'd headed back to camp, making sure he was a good few feet away from Simon, and grumbled to himself. What little of a haul he'd made was in his purse, clutched tightly in his hand (he didn't trust Wellsy not to take it). Right now he could really do with hurting someone – he'd probably end up arguing with Josh, or maybe he'd have a fight with Apple, that was always good...

”Eustace? Is that you?” he heard filter through the trees from just ahead, and stopped for a moment, looking back at Simon questioningly. Recieveing no reply, he shrugged and walked forward into the camp to be greeted by a sight that made his blood boil and made him forget about the odd name.

Another man was in Apple's bed.

He fought the urge to run over and stab the young man lying there, looking confused, and sought out the woman in question instead, finding her in his bed. Shaking his head to dispel the confusion that abounded from this sight (and the thoughts accompanying it), he stalked over close enough so he could have a go.

”Who the hell is this?” he shouted, waving a hand at the man in Apple's bed as if he weren't there. It had to have been Apple who brought him back – he didn't think Josh was stupid enough to do that again, and since the guy was in her bed, it insinuated it was her fault. He didn't like this – strangers in the camp, knowing where they lived; they'd have to move again, and he so hated that! It was such a hassle scouting out a good place to camp... Without waiting for an answer, he turned round and made his way to the boy in the bed, glaring down at him in a menacing fashion and reaching for the hilt of his dagger. It would be so easy...

”Why are you in Apple's bed?”

[Joshua Rayne]

Josh wasn't sure he was really comfortable playing the role of doctor for this lad, Gina had called him Toddy, but knowing his name didn't really help matters, especially while he was passed out. It wasn't like he was really an expert, patching up one arrow wound and any of the scrapes the Greensleeves managed to get themselves in (and really it was surprising they never got hurt worse than a few shallow injuries) didn't exactly qualify him for the job. But Gina had brought the boy to him when he was hurt, which made Josh feel pleased that his fellow outlaw must think he was useful for at least one task around here.

It wasn't like she exactly praised him on a regular basis, quite the opposite in fact she seemed to go out of her way to tease him about being girly most of the time even though he wasn’t, and so the fact that Gina had brought her new pet back to him when she needed help made Josh feel appreciated. Then again it could just be because she knew he was a pushover and would help her with anything. None of the other outlaws would have been nearly so willing to lend a hand, in fact Josh was betting that both Simon and Gavin would be spitting mad about the whole thing. As if they wouldn't already be in a bad mood because they'd spent almost the whole day alone together.

All this had been running through Josh's head as he carefully eased the shaft of the arrow out of Toddy's leg. It wasn't exactly an easy task, he had blood all over his hands already which was making his grip all slippery and he was trying not to get any splinters in the wound because then he'd have to dig them out so they couldn't fester and get infected. After that it was only a matter of washing the wound and bandaging it up as best he could. The only material he could find was a shirt Hanton seemed to have left behind, it was reasonably clean though.

Gina went out hunting again and Josh busied himself building a fire to cook whatever it was she came back with, hopefully not another wounded boy, there'd been quite enough of that for one day. He also checked on Toddy occasionally, slightly worried that the wound was still bleeding, if he couldn't get it to stop he'd have to consider sewing it up which was an equally unpleasant task. He was grateful that the lad hadn't woken up though, because he really didn't want to have to explain what was going on. That task could be left to Gina, the kid was her responsibility and Josh wasn't entirely sure what she'd said to him already.

Then he was set the task of skinning the rabbits Gina came back with, as if he hadn't done enough for her today. He was just getting down to the unpleasant part of running his knife under the skin to work it away from the flesh underneath when Toddy woke up. He left Gina to deal with it, if the lad was up and talking then he really didn't need any attention for now. The quiet of the camp was destroyed as Gavin and Simon stormed back in (but seriously when were the too of them not stomping about the place, they seemed to be in constant foul moods). Josh really did think Gina was slightly suicidal, giving Gavin the codename of Eustace wasn't going to help matters at all.

He hurriedly set the rabbit down and wiped his hands on his trousers adding more bloodstains to the ensemble, he really needed to find some new clothes. Things were going worse that Josh had expected, Gavin already had his hand on his dagger. "Don't you dare stab him G- Eustace." He warned, remembering the codename just in time, Toddy probably thought he had some kind of stutter by now, he wasn't very good at this secrecy stuff. "I've already patched him up once today."

Josh wasn't entirely sure where this bravery had come from, he usually tried to avoid antagonising Gavin. It wasn't even like he had any loyalty to Toddy, he was Gina's injured boy and Josh already had his own to look after. Simon really did cause a lot of trouble for him. Nevertheless he found himself standing half between Gavin and Toddy which was really the worst place to be right now. It wasn't like Gavin would have any qualms about going through him too if he did decide to stab the lad. He just had to hope Toddy didn't say anything to anger the enraged outlaw further. The only problem was if Gina had taken a liking to him he probably had a right gob on him.

[wellsy]

Simon dragged his feel along the ground, scuffing up leaves as he did so. It was making a fair amount of noise - enough to get a couple of thieves noticed by anyone listening, anyway - and he half wanted Gavin to turn round and yell at him, just for kicks. He was being moody and childish, but by that point he didn’t care. Having spent a whole day with the man, he was in no mind to e tolerant. At least now they were nearly back to the camp, so if he did piss Gav off too much, hopefully there’d be someone to save him from getting stabbed, or at least provide enough of a distraction for him to make a getaway.

And to add insult to injury, the self-styled new leader of the Greensleeves had taken all the loot. Of course, Simon couldn’t be trusted with it, he’d probably ferret out at least a quarter of it for himself, but it wasn’t like Gavin would deal it out fair and square either. Simon could hear it jingling tauntingly at him from where Gavin was walking a few paces ahead of him. And then he heard something entirely different.

“Eustace? Is that you?”

Gavin turned to look at him questioningly, to which Simon responded with a half-scowl that said “how the hell should I know?”. Gina was up to something, that was for sure, but he was dammed if he knew what it is. He’d decided long ago that trying to fathom the depths of women’s minds - especially women like Gina - was an all together lost cause.

However, what she was up to - or rather, who - became apparent when the camp came fully into view. There was someone in her bed. Well, that wasn’t going to go down well. Simon knew all to well what happened when people got brought to the Greensleeves’ camp, and it wasn’t pretty. He probably should have sympathised with the newcomer, what with them having been in the same situation, but oddly enough, he found himself siding with Gavin, who’d just flipped his lid and started yelling. Simon didn’t want some randomer muscling in on his territory.

And then Josh had to go and defend him. What the hell was he playing at? Patched him up? You weren’t supposed to go around helping idiots who got themselves injured. Granted, Simon had no idea of what’d happened , he was just extremely pissed off at what had happened, especially that Josh seemed to be siding against him. “Yeah,” he chimed in, stepping further forwards to join Gav “Who the hell is this?” It felt totally wrong, agreeing with Gavin, especially after the day they’d had, so although he was probably singing his own death certificate, he couldn’t help but add, “But I don’t think I want to know what he’s doing in Gina’s bed.”

[Alfie Todd]

Todd had only just woken up, and was already really confused. Suddenly there was an angry guy yelling at him, asking him why he was in Apple's bed. "I was dropped here after being shot in the leg by her," he pointed at Saffron. "And who the hell is Apple?"

What was more confusing, was everyone seemed to have four names. Archibold kept saying G- somebody, which could've been a stutter, or him forgetting someone's name. At least he was standing up for him. He was even standing between him and 'G- Eustace'. Unfortunately that meant that he knew what he was capable of. Todd could see that Eustace was already reaching for his dagger. Todd glanced down to his where his own dagger was strapped around his waist. He considered drawing it, but thought better of it. He was in no fit state to start a fight, not when weaponry was involved.

Then there was somebody else at the camp. Another boy, who was unfortunately siding with Eustace, and not with Todd. He also didn't know why Todd was there, but to be honest, neither did Todd. From the little time he had spent with Saffron the day before, he figured she wasn't going to help him easily. But then she did, and it would've surprised him if his mind wasn't elsewhere. But 'arrow in leg' was too much of a distraction to read people.

"I'm sorry, but it's Saffron's fault I'm here. She shot me in the leg." Todd looked between Archibold and Saffron, hoping to get some backup before he had another form of sharp thing in his other leg, or across his throat. "Besides, I was a bit out of it before we even got here.

[Regina Apple]

Regina have Gavin her sweetest smile as he came into her face. He was livid! And was that jealousy she saw in his eyes. There was another man in her bed. She really should be fearing for her life, but Gina was enjoying herself too much. "That's ToddAlfieTodd." She said as unhelpfully as possibly. Ticking Gavin off was a death wish, but Gina placed enough faith in him for him to not kill her. She still remembered the Gavin from a couple nights ago. "Don't you hurt him Eustace! He's my pet." She called after him. After a moment she followed him to gather round Toddy's/her bed. She'd get a better view from here, if nothing else.

It was good to see Josh side with her - after all the knicker cracks Gina would have thought she was the last person he'd side with. He was crap with codenames though. Was it really that hard to remember to call Gavin Eustace? Gina really hoped that nickname would stick. How funny would that be?! "You don't want to undo Archibold's good work would you Eustace? It's so pretty." She grinned at Gavin, knowing that she was pressing many of his buttons. But Todd was ruining her tale! he was telling it all wrong. Yes she shot him, but he forgot to mention the funniest bit; the bit about him pretending to be a deer.

She hid a grin as Wellsy sided with Gavin. Now this was an odd picture! She gave the younger outlaw a look, "Now Terrance, what are you insinuating?" They were going to kill her anyway, why not just make it more entertaining? She was so going to be stabbed on three difference occassions after this: Gavin, Todd and Wellsy were all going to want a piece of her. Wellsy, because he just liked to stab things; Todd, cos she shot him; and Gavin, because she had another man in her bed! (And she was calling him Eustace.) So bringing Todd here did do some good. All the more reason to keep the kid.

"Yes, this is all my fault. Toddy here was hiding in a bush being all deer-like and yes I shot him. But he forced me to bring him back to camp. He said if I didn't his witch ma would curse me and all those what I love." She paused a moment before adding, "Now you guys would have be ok, but I wouldn't have been. And I like living thank you." She folded her arms in a huff. So long as Toddy didn't pipe up, they might believe her. Josh wouldn't, but he was already on her side and if he really wanted Todd to stay, he would keep his gob shut. Actually, if he wanted to stay Josh would keep his mouth shut. It would be no great hardship for her to introduce Josh to her knife. "Besides, he was blindfolded when I brought him here. I vote Toddy stays."

[Gavin Bates]

Gavin's first impression of the boy, was, naturally, one of being a weakling. He was lying in Apple's bed, for God's sake, injured. That had to be fairly bad. And then he was just more aggravated by the fact that Josh, of all people – little Josh who cooked dinner and brought home his own boy once upon a time – was trying to defend the lad. So what if he'd patched the kid up – why did Gavin care? He liked to stab things, and he liked to annoy Josh. That was just a match made in heaven, and Josh had led him right to the best way to do it. He allowed a vindictive smirk to appear on his face.

”Aw, wouldn't that be such a shame?” he replied sarcastically, placing a hand on Josh's shoulder and shoving him out of the way. He didn't wait to see if Josh stumbled or not, and instead walked closer to the boy, kneeling down in front of him and scrutinizing him a bit. Gavin was a bit surprised to find Simon agreeing with him – heck, he wondered if Hell had frozen over – and he turned slightly to nod at the man. A temporary truce, then. He could live with that. Maybe. He rolled his eyes at the second comment, though. Typical. Gavin was probably the only one who would care why the boy was in Apple's bed – it was taking all of Gavin's self restraint to not drag the kid out of the bed right now and drag him out of the camp or something.

”Right,” Gavin said, shaking his head and frowning. ”Who the hell is Eustace, and who the hell is Saffron?” He stood up, ignoring the kid's excuse for a moment, and looked at Apple, raising an eyebrow. ”What the bloody hell are you playing at?” He knew the woman liked games, but he didn't get this one. He didn't get most of them, actually, because they were usually so complex that she was the only one to understand them.

”You shot him in the leg?” he laughed, finding it immensely funny. How had she managed to mistake him for a bloody deer? He was little, yeah, but he didn't look like a deer to Gavin. He really wanted to slap her, though, for these stupid bloody code names. He'd figured it out now – she was trying to confuse the boy, have a game with him while she had the chance, but Gavin was not in the mood for it. He watched as she stalked over to him and the boy, and felt a small surge of jealousy. No way. He'd only recently dealt with one man going after his Apple, and he wasn't going to put up with more competition.

”Would you quit it?” he asked. He was just not in the mood for her lying, and she knew he didn't believe in witches and that sort of thing – he didn't believe in anything unless he could touch it, taste it, feel it. And he'd never come across a witch, so he didn't believe her. He raised an eyebrow, and looked to Simon for some backup on his next comment. ”Who the hell said that was an option? It were hard enough when he appeared,” Gavin argued, jerking a thumb to indicate Simon, ”Without you pulling a bloody Josh and bringing a pet home. We're gonna have to move, whether or not he stays. Which I don't reckon he should.”

[Joshua Rayne]

Gavin seemed entirely unimpressed with Josh's warning, it didn't even make him pause, in fact it only seemed to encourage him to make a move against the injured Toddy. Josh yelped as the outlaw reached out and shoved him backwards, the move was so sudden he didn't even have time to appreciate that at least he hadn't be stabbed by the man. He stumbled backwards half a step, his foot catching clumsily on a root and fell with a thump to the floor. The dropping sensation in his stomach was unpleasant, as was the jarring feeling of his arse connecting sharply with the ground.

What stung more than being pushed over was the way Simon was siding with Gavin. Josh had thought that he of all people would be understanding about bringing a newcomer back to the camp considering the way he himself had joined. He shot Simon a wounded look, his lip sticking out in a small pout and then turned a glare on Gavin, not that Gavin could see it because he was too busy leering at the kid and generally being antagonistic. Josh got gingerly to his feet and hovered behind Gavin, far enough away that he was out of reach of another shove but close enough that he could try to step in if the outlaw decided that his dagger really was going to be the solution.

It seemed that the story was slowly getting sorted between the irate bunch of outlaws. Josh kept his mouth firmly shut, not wanting to provoke another attack on his person or make things more confusing by adding another voice to the mix. Gina really wasn't helping matters at all, she kept changing the story, adding something ridiculous about a witch which couldn't possibly be true and would only annoy Gavin further. And there was the whole giving everybody codenames thing, if she wanted Toddy to stay then why didn't they all need confusing and hard to remember codenames?

"Hanton and Forrest have left now though." Josh said, completely forgetting to give them codenames and finally working up the courage to pipe up once more as Gavin began to complain. "So we can probably handle a new member." Again he couldn't be sure why he was siding with Gina and the lad, perhaps he just didn't want to see the boy stabbed. Being shot was quite enough. Besides he'd been under the impression they were patching him up then sending him on his way, not recruiting new talent. The life of an outlaw wasn't a fun one either, he turned to Toddy and shot him an inquisitive look. "Do you even want to stay?"

[wellsy]

Had Simon been the type, he would have rolled his eyes. Apple was up to one of her tricks again, and with the mood Gavin was in, it didn’t look like the best time for her to be messing about. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, though, she was always up to stuff like this, although this was the first time she’d brought a stray home. Gavin would not be happy, especially given where said stray was.

He was beginning to feel a little guilty about being such a hypocrite, when Josh shot him a hurt look. He immediately rearranged his features back into their usual angry scowl. He wasn’t going to let his friend get away with such a betrayal. He was the one Josh was supposed to care for, not Gina’s new pet.

Pet. That seemed right. He felt like Josh was his pet, even though it had been Josh who rescued him, not the other way round. Quite soon after he’d found out about Josh’s wife and family, he’d gone and purposely robbed them out of spite. Although Simon’s drinking and stealing were far from normal behaviour, his fixation about Josh was probably the most deviant of his characteristics. Forcing himself not to act on his rising anger, he turned back to look at the boy in Gina’s bed.

Si let out a snort of laughter at the revelation that Gina had shot him in the leg - the boy did look like he was in a bit of distress. That just re-affirmed his idea that girls should not be allowed in their camp, although part of his thought Gavin just kept her round for entertainment purposes. Then again, given the way she acted half of the time, it would have been easier just to get rid of her. And she’d just called him Terrance. He raised an eyebrow at her, but was prevented from giving any response by more of her incessant chatter.

“Stay?” He spluttered, when his brain finally processed what the hell she’d said “He’s not bloody staying!” although he was glad Gavin was on his side, he couldn’t help but feel a little angry at his comment about how Simon had joined the Greensleeves. He shot another look at Josh, which he’d intended to be hurtful, but fell into an open mouthed stare when Josh asked the newcomer if he wanted to stay “I don’t care if he wants to stay or not!” Simon protested incredulously “He is not. Bloody. Staying!” He finished through gritted teeth.

[OOC - sorry for crapness -.-]

[Alfie Todd]

Alfie was well and truly confused. There were too many people, with too many names, talking all at once. That and his leg still hurt from before, so that was still playing on his mind. He caught Saffron calling him her 'pet'. That kind of stuck out in his mind. Her pet? So being shot in the leg by some strange woman makes me her pet does it? he thought to himself, not daring to say it out loud, in case the one person sticking up for him turned against him. Then there would be no hope for him.

Another thing that he heard Saffron saying, was that his mother was a witch. She was really testing his patience, first the pet thing, and now this! Todd was about to retalliate, but then remembered why he was even in the forest in the first place. He might've even played along with the witch thing, but it looked as if no one else believed her, so it would be a pointless effort.

And that Eustace person, whatever he was called, as he didn't actually know who Eustace was, or Saffron for that matter, was really starting to get on Todd's nerves. He was annoying Todd with his sarcastic comments, rather like Saffron did just shortly after she shot him. Plus he seemed to be really peeved Todd, even though he had done nothing wrong! It wasn't his fault Saffron shot him, and he didn't asked to get dropped in her bed, which just looked like a rock to him anyway. Todd had no say in anything, mostly because he was nearly unconsious. So, for doing nothing, he was getting the anger taken out on him from some obviously jealous guy.

Saffron really surprised him though, when she 'voted' that he should stay at their camp, and join their gang, he assumed. When Archibold asked him if he actually wanted to stay, it threw him off guard a bit. He was all a bit too confused, and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around him. He assumed that the others wouldn't want him there, what with the way they greeted him and all. "Urm, I haven't really thought about it," he stammered, feeling a bit empowered by everyone, especially Eustace, kind of giving him the evils. One injured lad wouldn't put up much of a fight against a gang of outlaws. "I haven't really go anywhere else to go. I can't go home, the guards would be looking for me. And I have no other relatives to go and stay with. So I'm kind of on my own."

Todd hadn't actually told anyone why he was in the forest. To be honest, he hadn't had the chance, and no one had asked him, so he just never brought it up. He only realised what he said after he said it, and waited for questions to arrise about why the guards would be looking for him. By the sounds of things, these people didn't miss much in a conversation, so they would almost definately pick up on that. He didn't really want to get into the details yet, so he tried to steer the conversation back onto the situation. "So, what do I do now then? Can I stay?"

[Regina Apple]

Gina gave Gavin a look which said, 'you behave' after his sarcasm. Not that he heeded, because Josh's bum suddenly became friends with the floor. She found it very hard not to laugh, but Regina was already in enough trouble as it was and if she was to get her own way she would have to play nice. Who was she kidding? With that thought she let out a sharp burst of laughter before becoming serious again. Well, as serious as Gina could handle - which wasn't very. It wasn't as if it was her job to be serious - more stab things and not think - so she was doing very well to have even the tiniest iota of seriousness.

She watched Gavin's scrutanty of Toddy. What was he trying to find? Gina half hoped that he was sizing him up, trying to find what she saw in the lad - what was so much better about Toddy than himself. Pfft! As if! She thought silently. She looked around the camp whilst Gavin did his thing. Everyone was watching Gavin. Everyone, all of them. Hanton and Forrest were gone, in their time of darkness who do they turn to? Gavin, of course! No it didn't quite add up in Gina's mind. As much as she wanted Gavin to be their leader (that way when she'd finally convinced him that he loved her she could be second in command and basically Queen) it just seemed a little odd now it was in practise. To be honest, she didn't know Gavin could think that much.

Then he turned on her. She got the butterflies from him just looking at her, and he was so pretty when he was angry, but - alas - she couldn't let her mind wonder onto those wonderful topics. No matter how much she wanted to. "You are Eustace, silly. Are you drunk? I thought you knew that I was called Saffron." She was dead. So dead. "I'm not playing at anything. I've spoken nothing but the truth." Which basically told him she'd been lying her arse off and playing so many games that even she'd lost count. But she was too far in now to stop. And it was such fun.

The shooting seemed to tickle the two that didn;t know, like she knew it would have. "Like I said, it was his fault for looking like a deer. He was the one playing a bush where us big kids hunt." Returning her attention to poor little Toddy, Gina smirked mentally at the attention she was getting. "How is the leg ToddAlfieTodd?" She really should stop, even she'd got the signals in her mind to do as much - but she was in too deep to stop now. Shame really, because she was fair fond of loving. Maybe she'd get away with just a slap. Well, it was a thought.

Rather than retaliate, Gina just smiled at Gavin. That was as close to 'quitting it' as she was going to get. She couldn't help but wince when both he and Simon exploded at her proposition. "It was always on the cards, Gavin." They'd all stopped using the code names now, and it would only confuse Toddy more. "And I'm not pulling a 'bloody Josh'!" She was beginning to get ticked off herself now, he was so unreasonable! Gina had seen a glimpse of what Todd could do, and Gavin hadn't even given her a chance to explain herself.

And Simon. Why should he be denying Todd a place? He'd been in his shoes not too long ago. She shot him a glare and decided to tell him as much. "Hey! You were the one Josh did a 'bloody Josh' on before, why are you denying him a spot in this camp?" Looking back at Gavin, Gina continued. "No we won't. I already said he was blindfolded when coming to this camp. Toddy, could you find this camp if I left you somewhere?" All this defending and arguing her case was giving Gina a headache, and she'd hardly argued her case at all - more confused the situation more than it needed.

It had never occured to her that Todd might not actually want to stay, and it seemed only fitting that frilly knickers was the one to ask. She looked to Alfie, suspecting that the rest of the guys would, waiting for an answer. She felt oddly tall, standing over the kid sprawled out on her bed. If he was standing, he would probably be taller than her; but he wasn't, so she felt huge. "Guards?" She asked, now that sounded interesting and Greensleeves like. Taking a good look at the boy, he really did look like he had nowhere to go. She almost felt sorry for him. She felt like she needed to be his big sister. There was something wrong with her!

And she'd run out of words. Regina Apple had never run out of words for as long as she remembered. She always had something to say; she was the one who always got the last word in. They'd gone, took off, vamoosed! Listening to Todd, she looked to Gavin with what she hoped was a sympathetic look on her face - she'd never really done one before as herself, yeah she'd lied one up, but never actually felt sympathy. So this was what it was like to be Josh. "He's got nowhere to go. And he's like us! People like us need to stick together. Give the lad a chance Gav." This was weird. She was talking reasonably? To Gavin? And about to add a please? Regina couldn't ever recall using please before in her life. So she had to say it in a mocked fashion, else she would have deemed herself broken. "Pleeease?"

[Tristan Ash]

((Hope its okay that I'm joining in?))

All in all, the gang was starting to get on Tristan’s nerves. Gavin’s argumentative mannerisms, Regina’s mind games, Josh’s soft spoken ways and Simon being… well, Simon – all of which had been things that had encouraged Ash to join the group in the first place - were now those things that made him want to tear his hair out. He had been spending more and more time in the villages searching for information and less time at the camp, which was something that had no doubt been noticed. With Hanton and Forrest gone the group was definitely lacking proper leadership and the dulcet tones of Simon’s protests reached Tristan through the forest before he had even realised he was so close to their camp. Managing to catch the drift of the conversation from so far away was an advantage as Tristan could inject himself easily into the flow of things. It was a problem should any of the Sheriffs’ men be passing by, however.

Coming out into the small defensible clearing the group occupied on a normal basis, Tristan’s smoky eyes sought out the familiar faces before him. He hadn’t slept in God only knew how long and after his talk with Alice he was happy to ignore Simon unless the other got in his face first. They were supposed to be a team after all. Not bothering to be introduced or even invited into the discussion, Tristan decided that he needed to shut them up somehow. ”There’s no choice in the matter – for any of us,” he added in case someone on either side should pro0test further. ”He’s seen the camp. He knows where we are and how many we are. How long do you think it would take for him to put two and two together and run to Vaysey?” With a scathing look at Regina who in his mind should have known better, Tristan glanced at each of his associates in turn.

”The boy stays.” Walking over to the young man who was now the newest member of the Greensleeves, Tristan fixed him with a penetrating stare. ”Mind you,” he added for the benefit of the lad, ”Cross us and you’ll wish you were dead a hundred times over before we’re through. Right?”

[Gavin Bates]

Gavin ignored Josh's whining as he fell over, and continued to ignore the man as he did whatever he was doing. He nodded in agreement with Simon, though – the boy was not staying. They had enough trouble with the members they already had, so what help was it going to be, having a kid who didn't know the ropes hanging around? They didn't even know if he had any worthwhile skills, except for apparently being an easy target. Maybe he wouldn't have to dispose of Todd as he'd been considering – the boy might accidentally dispose of himself. That could be an interesting thought... And it might provide them with some entertainment.

He dismissed the thought from his mind quickly. He scowled back at Regina as she called him silly. What the hell was she on, seriously? Had she been eating those funny mushrooms again? Gavin fought the urge to growl. If it was any of the guys, he'd have no problem walking up to them and punching them in the face right now – he was getting that annoyed by the situation – and he settled for rather loudly swearing, standing up to approach Regina in a menacing manner.

”Would you keep your lying bloody trap shut for one tossing second?” he yelled, face turning slightly red. He turned to the others, ignoring the boy's comment about having nowhere to go, ignoring Josh's question asking if the kid wanted to stay, he just didn't give a flying pig's arse about any of it! And Tristan's timely arrival, suddenly taking charge was absolutely not helping anything.

”What,” he hissed, stalking up to Tristan, glad he had someone new to take his anger out on, ”makes you think you have the bloody right to come in here and tell us what to tossing do? Where the bloody hell have you been, eh, pretty boy?” He shoved Tristan in the shoulder, getting up close and personal. He really didn't need this right now, his day was just going from bad to worse. He brought his hand to his forehead, trying to calm down – he needed to, else he'd do something he'd regret. Like try and run Tristan through with a sword, and even though Gavin considered himself to be fairly apt with the weapon, he knew Tristan was a damn sight better than he was. He turned away, brushing his hand up and through his hair, looking round at Regina, at Josh and Simon, and finally upon the kid sitting in Apple's bed, looking so confused.

”Who's to say that's our only option?” he asked, voice low and cold. He dropped his hand, staring at the boy – not glaring, no emotion in his face, a cold, professional stare. He turned his head slightly so he could see Tristan out of the corner of his eye. ”We could just kill him. That'd be the problem solved, wouldn't it?” He looked at Alfie again, tilting his head ever so slightly and letting a small smile slip onto his face, one that suggested he'd love to be the one to do it. He wanted to scare the kid, and scare him good. He knew the others (and by others, he meant Tristan and Josh, and apparently Regina today) wouldn't let him, but it was fun to play mind games with him anyway. He fingered the hilt of the dagger he kept at his side, not his preferred blade but a good substitute nonetheless, and took a single step forward. ”It'd be easy, a slash across the throat. He'd be dead in minutes, and then he wouldn't be squealing to no one. Can't trust people these days, who's to say he won't go running off the moment his leg's better anyway?” he asked rhetorically. ”Better to get it over and done with right now.”

(OOC: smallified the post because it's freaking huuuge...)