(Untitled)

[captainannie]

Who: Annie (Captain of the Thieves) and Murdock (Aladdin)
When: Last night. :/ I lose at putting threads up.
Where: Annie's bar in Jersey.
What: Annie wants to 'thank' Mudock for the 'lovely' gift.
Rated: R-ish?

Comments

[thatrapscallion]

Oh god oh god oh god. Murdock was practically on the verge of hyperventilating as he was led by two of Annie's meanest looking thugs up towards her office. He had been making as bold an effort as possible at calm and machismo - he'd even tried engaging the men in conversation, but that hadn't amounted to much. Instead he'd spend most of the trip trying to will his palms to be less sweaty and trying to recall every episode of Sopranos he'd ever seen, as well as all three Godfathers. If she excuses herself to go to the washroom, run!

Of course, as he was gestured through the door and into the office, Murdock drew up all the bravado he could muster (which was considerable) and adopted a leisurely, diplomatic smile. "Miss Miranda." He greeted formally, dipping into a lavish bow. "This invitation brings honour to me and to my family." His tone was rife with theatricality and confidence, though his words clipped enough to show that he was covering up no small amount of nerves.

[captainannie]

Annie arched a brow at the overdone bow, and tried not to laugh out loud as she threw a look at her two associates that were just standing at the doorway. "Mister Varletti..." she said rather off-handedly, motioning for him to take a seat in the chair on the other side of her desk. With a wave of her other hand, the two burly men stepped out of the door and shut it behind them.

Without another word, she idly twirled a pen between her fingers, her body language showing just how calm and in-control she wanted to appear. She let her eyes glance over his frame before settling on his own, and for just a moment, she gave him the smallest of small smiles. Just as quick as it appeared, it was gone, and she tossed the pen down on her desk so she could reach into her bottom drawer. With hardly any bravado, she pulled the hat that he had delivered to her, and placed it atop the desk

[thatrapscallion]

Murdock took the seat he was gestured to quickly, settling into it with an exaggerated effort at a blase posture. He crossed one leg across his knee, then shifted for the opposite, a thumb resting on his chin then pulling away, and so forth. Despite his efforts at irreverence, he could scarcely sit still.

He leapt upon Annie's thin, brief smile like a hungry animal, returning it with a most roguish grin of his own - only to wipe it off his face in a near-panic as her smile disappeared. He cleared his throat and instead made a show of looking dour and serious, all business and no play. Of course, when the hat was placed on the desktop, he could scarcely resist a humble smile. "Oh, don't tell me you already have one..." He said playfully, though the humour in his tone likely fell flat in the intimidating office.

[captainannie]

Annie tossed a glance at him over her shoulder as his voice rang out in what she assumed must have been an attempt at a joke. No. That was not a joke. What she had planned... that was humor at its best.

"No, no, I don't. I'm certain I don't have anything like that." She took a few careful steps towards the closet behind her desk and opened the door, to show a man bound and gagged to a chair, and looked rather beaten and bloody. "Do you see this man, Mister Varletti?" Of course, the man was one of Annie's goons, that had let her take a few hits to his face and pour some of the pig blood on him to make it look worse just to mess with the kid that thought he was so smart.

"This man lied to me." Annie walked around the back of the chair Murdock was in and placed her hands on his shoulders, lightly massaging him, while talking, "I figured since the two of us were so closely related, you might be willing to give me advice as to what I should do with a liar." She leaned down and let her lips brush across his ear, "I know that you

[thatrapscallion]

Murdock seemed both relieved and emboldened by the reassurance that the hat was a unique gift - he finally settled into his seat more comfortably and stopped shifting, with a smug little smile. Of course, this reassurance was exceptionally short lived, as Annie quickly proceeded to open the door to her closet. At the sight of the beaten man within Murdock all but leapt to his feet in a panic, barely managing to force himself back into the seat with every muscle in his body seizing up in fear. "HOLY--" he began, only to quickly cover it with an awkward coughing fit as he struggled to remain calm about the whole situation.

He pounded a fist against his chest as the coughing subsided, his eyes darting from Annie to the man to the desk in front of him. "Ah, excuse me, it's just... Er, the idea of someone lying to you makes me so, ah, so mad I could just choke..." he gives his throat one last feeble clearing before sneaking one further glance at the bound goon, matching fearful look with fearful look

[captainannie]

Annie continued her gentle massage as she whispered, "But, you see, the trust has been broken. How can I ever trust him again? Relationships are built on trust. Respect is only shown through trust. How am I supposed to function as a business woman when people keep lying to me?"

She sighed lightly, and one hand of hers let go of him and reached into the back of her pants to pull out a gun with a silencer and pointed it over Murdock's shoulder at the man. "You don't think I should get rid of him? You don't think that I should make him an example for anyone that messes with me? How am I supposed to be able to trust anything that comes out of his mouth?"

Annie's mouth turned up in a small smirk, "Of course, you could help him. You could save him." Annie paused, and ran an idle hand through Murdock's hair. "His blood will be on your hands. I know you would never lie to me... and all I want is the answer to one little question, seeing as how you're the assistant Arabic Librarian

[thatrapscallion]

"But... Well, maybe you don't have to trust him again?" Murdock's voice actually seems to have raised an octave, not to mention increased in speed as he begins a bout of nigh-hysterical rambling. "Maybe if you let him go he can go far, far away and never ask you to trust him again, thus never requiring you to place trust in him that could be broken. When you think about it, the end results are almost the same as ohdeargodinheaventhat'sagun..."

As the gun came to rest alongside his neck Murdock's head craned away reflexively, and he began to do something that seemed very much like hyperventilating. Truly, he deserved credit in this moment for maintaining moderate control over his bladder. His eyes were finally torn away from the bloodied closet man, and instead locked in a wide-eyed, sideways stare on the gun as though it were a live cobra. Little beads of sweat were beginning to trickle down his temples.

"Morgiana?" He repeated incredulously, "I can tell you where Morgiana is! It's in Little Arabia, I think, over on West Third.

[captainannie]

"Wrong answer

[thatrapscallion]

"OH MY GOD!" Murdock shouted - or rather, tried to shout, but the sound died as a croak in his throat. The blast from the gun was ringing in his ears, but he scarcely noticed - his eyes were transfixed on the bloody, motionless man bound in the closet. If not for the gun still hovering just over his shoulder, it seems clear that he could have already leaped from his chair - and possibly the window - by now