a birthday surprise
Who: Elisa [Evil Queen], Neil [Caterpillar], Luke [Eldest Billy Goat], Harrison [Tweedledum] and NPC Gabe [Cheshire Cat]
What: Elisa gets a fun birthday surprise!
When: Wednesday evening.
Where: Elisa's bakery, then a random boutique on the West Side.
Status/Rating: Complete log/PG for innuendos
The bakery had been closed up for a while, the lights were on in the back but out in the front of the store they were off, and the sign on the front door was turned to 'closed'. At the back of the bakery, she was putting everything away and actually going to go home for the evening early for once. She locked up all of the money and then went to grab her things and make sure that everything was turned off and cleaned up. Finally she turned down the refrigerator that held everything, so that it was cool for the night. With just about everything ready to go, she looked down at her watch and wondered what she was going to do now.
After all it was her birthday, at least for a couple more hours, and she wasn't exactly tired. Maybe she'd just get some food and go to a movie.
Acting was something that Harrison loved to do. He had pretty much grown up doing it. It kept things interesting. So when Neil asked him and Gabe to help him surprise Elisa for her birthday, he was more than happy to comply. He even went to insane lengths to make his and Gabe's costumes 100% believable. He even bought a cigar. He and Gabe arrived at Elisa's bakery just before closing time and watched for signs of movement inside. Giggling, he opened the car door and stepped outside, feeling more and more like Horace and Jasper from 101 Dalmatians or something.
He tiptoed to the bakery door and peeked inside the window just in time to see Elisa checking her watch. Suppressing another giggle, he took a deep breath, straightened up and kicked the door open. "Alright," he shouted in his best American mobster voice, "this is a stick-up!" He raised his purple super soaker and aimed it at Elisa, giving her a tough face. Inching toward her, he tried his best not to notice the smell of tasty treats and let out a snarl.
"Come with me," he said, his accent almost completely hidden. "Da Boss is waiting for ya."
When the door crashed open, Elisa jumped about a mile, letting out a bit of a yelp and really, she'd probably been just about to zap Harrison one when she saw it was him. He was damn lucky that she recognized him before just blasting off with some of her magic. Her eyes were still wide though, and she was giving him this very confused incredulous look, "...... What??" she kind of stared at him.
"What on earth.." she shook her head a little. Why was he dressed up like a pimp? Oh no wait, a gangster. She hoped it was a gangster, and not a pimp or she might be in trouble. "The.. boss?" she almost snickered. "A stick up.. and I'm.. supposed to come with you. I suppose you're not going to take no for an answer?" she asked.
Damn, Harri thought. She recognizes me, doesn't she? Maybe I should've shaved... He gently tapped the tip of the water gun against her arm as he shook his head. "No, no nos for answers!" he said, somehow managing to keep up his gruff gangster speak even though he was slightly let down that she knew it was him. "You're not supposed to come with me. You have to come with me." He nodded and smiled a bit, keeping the unlit cigar tight in his mouth.
"Da boss doesn't like to be kept waiting," he continued, trying to gently nudge her toward the door. Even though he was playing a vicious gangster, he didn't want to accidentally hurt her or anything. "There's a car outside waiting."
Oh right she was supposed to play along. She put on her best scared face, which wasn't too hard since he'd really scared the shit out of her knocking down the door like that. She hoped somewhere in the back of her head that it wasn't broken. Ah well. Being poked with the.. gun? What was that thing? Ah well. She swallowed a bit and nodded her head a little, "Um.. okay.. can I .. lock up then?"
She went and grabbed up her keys and her purse finally and was nudged towards the door before she had a chance to protest. "Okay okay.. I'm goin.. I'm goin.." she told him a bit playfully. "Just let me lock the door.." she followed him outside and then actually flipped off the lights and locked the door behind her. "Do you know what the ... Boss wants with me?"
Harrison pretended to think about that, actually puffing imaginary smoke with his cigar. "I guess you can lock up. But quickly! And only because I don't want anyone to steal your goodies. That would be mean." He cleared his throat as he watched her lock the door, making various amusing faces that he thought gangsters would make: raising his eyebrows, crinkling his nose at her, etc. He probably looked more amusing than scary, but he wouldn't know that unless she laughed. He didn't know he looked like a twelve year old on Halloween.
When she asked about 'da Boss', he gave a passive shrug, still puffing away on the cigar. "I don't know what da Boss wants, but I know that he wants me to bring you to him, so I'm gonna bring you to him. Is that alright with you?" He asked this in a voice that was worlds different from the usual cheerful Harri voice, and it kind of scared him.
Continuing to gently poke her in the back with the super soaker, he followed her out to the car and opened the passenger-side door. "I got her, Big G," he told Gabe before gesturing for her to get in.
Hell she didn't even know who the Boss was, though she had her suspicions. There was only a couple of people she knew crazy enough to do something like this. "That's.. just fine.." she told him, blinking slightly at his words but followed him towards the car and then climbed in. That's when she saw Gabe in the back seat and Luke in the driver's seat, glaring. She scooted all the way over so that Harrison could get in too. This whole thing was kind of exciting in a weird way, even if they were playing some kind of weird game for her birthday.
This was for her birthday, right? Ah well, she'd figure that out when she got there, she supposed. She looked down at herself and wondered if she was appropriately dressed to see the Boss. "Just don't hurt me.. I'll do .. whatever you say.." she tried not to make it sound as bad as it probably could have been.
Elisa really didn't have to move that far over for Harrison to fit. He closed the door hard enough to make the car shake and pretended to flick ash off his cigar. "Burn rubber!" he exclaimed before Luke sped off toward their meeting place with Neil. Harrison was clearly having a lot of fun. He hoped it was fun for Elisa too. He took off his hat and flipped it around in his hands. His thick black curls were slicked back on his head. He really had spared no details. "Are you frightened?" he asked Elisa. Do gangsters say 'frightened'? he wondered. "Cos you should be. Da Boss is the meanest, toughest, baddiest baddy this side of the...coin." He smiled a bit again before 'hrumph'ing and sticking the cigar back in his mouth.
"We're not going to hurt you," he said. "We'll leave the hurting to da Boss. Though don't try any funny stuff or I might have to use this." He tapped the water gun against her shoulder and a drop of cool water fell out of it and onto her. He gasped softly. "Like that, only all over and not accidental." He nodded again, oblivious to the fact that his Tweedledum was showing now.
Once they had reached the specified location, he got out of the car and gestured with his gun for her to come out with him. "C'mon." Gabe got out of the car and collected his matching purple super soaker and they stood side by side, looking as menacing as two Wonderlanders could look.
Now that she was settled, she could focus. This was some kind of car. "Wow.. this car.." she looked around a bit. Oh right. Frightened. "Just .. a bit.. you're both.. very scary with those guns.." she was going to try her hardest not to flirt, but that usually meant she was having fun too. And she was, she just wasn't trying to show it. Stay in.. character or something. Not that she even knew what character she was supposed to be.
"I'm .. quite sure the Boss is.. very mean.. that's probably why .. he's the Boss, right?" she shivered slightly when he shot water at her and wiped it off her leg. "Careful.. you wouldn't want to make the Boss angry by hurting me before he gets a chance would you?" this whole thing was kind of amazing really. And they definitely had pulled out all the stops. She was highly impressed.
Carefully, Harrison held the super soaker up to her side. "I'm not hurtin' ya," he said in a taunting voice, squeezing the trigger on the water gun so that another drop fell. "I'm just preparin' ya for the real pain that da Boss'll bestow upon you-- ya." He tried not to laugh. He was almost positive that gangsters didn't say 'bestow.'
Luke was driving remarkably safe and slowly for a supposed gangster getaway driver. But then, this car was probably worth more than he made in a year. No, no probably about it. Definitely more than his annual salary. It was damn fun to drive, but he was a little high-strung to begin with, and he wasn't accustomed to driving in New York City. He'd gone over and over the route before he drove. There were probably other ways to get from the bakery to the final destination, but in the city, Luke had a habit of learning one way to get somewhere and taking that way each and every time, for fear of getting lost.
He winced a little in for Harrison's sake. The guy was trying, anyway. He resisted the urge to speak to Elisa, and instead limited himself to an occasional menacing look in the rear-view mirror.
Luke drove the car to the old meat packing district in the far West End, and parked the car in front of an old, but not so run down boutique, between Washington and Gansevoort on Little West 12th. http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/meatpacking/wash.shops.jpg
Elisa got out of the car once they arrived, looking around a bit nervously, after all she didn't know what was going to happen or really even where they were. Harrison and Gabe escorted her out of the car and led her into the building, taking a flight of rickety stairs up to the third floor. She wondered exactly what was going on, but as they got up the stairs, she finally understood. Behind a door, they found Neil, seated at a table set elegantly for two. He wore the same cut of clothes as his 'lackeys', with a fragrant, white gardenia in the lapel of his pinstriped jacket.
Harrison tried his best to stay in character when he saw Neil waiting there. "We got her, Boss! She was in da bakery just like you said!"
"Thank you, Louie," Neil said, his ordinary Scottish accent gone, replaced by a tough, New York one. "You and Diamond Gabe can go now. Wait fer us downstairs."
After the door closed behind Harrison and Gabe, Neil rose from his chair and gestured with his hand to the seat opposite him at the table. "Happy birthday, doll face."
Harrison nodded at Neil and gave another glance in Elisa's direction. He intended for his gaze to be sharp or menacing, but his big, brown doe eyes could never be menacing. "Right, Boss. We'll be downstairs." He pretended to take another long drag on his cigar and flicked some imaginary ash for effect before turning on his heel and leaving with Gabe. The smell of the tasty treats in Elisa's bakery made him really look forward to the promised snacks Neil had for them in the other room.
She smiled a bit and went over to him, "Thank you.. are you sure this is birthday dinner or am I really in trouble?" she teased and slid into the seat across from him. "You really .. went out of your way.. thank you.. it's fantastic.. those two crack me up.." Oh wait, was she still supposed to be in character? Ah well.
It was difficult for Neil to keep in character himself, as a smirk twitched upon his face. To see Elisa beaming over his gift, made it all worthwhile.