She's Been in Prison For Years.
Name: Lauri
Challenge: Chocolate Chili 17 (abandonment); Cherry Chocolate Chip 1 (curiosity); Dark Chocolate 20 impotence.
Toppings & Extras: Chopped nuts
Word Count: 657
Rating: PG although there are allusions to rape and violence.
Notes: This AU is what might have happened if Ransome had left Felicity with his sister. This is not pretty, and it wasn't easy to write.
Felicity stared at the stone walls surrounding her trying to ignore the rough wood plank boring into her backside and the iron manacles cutting into her wrists. She was trying even harder to forget what she'd done just a few hours ago, but the blood that painted her hands, clothes and face made that next to impossible. She heard the door of her cell scrape against the stone floor, but she didn't look up.
"Felicity Ostin?"
Now she looked at him, a marshal his badge said. His shoulder length dark hair was braided Native style, and his features marked him as such. He sat down backwards in the chair he had brought in with him, crossing his arms over the back.
"Yes."
"So tell, me, Felicity, what causes a beautiful woman like you to become a whore and a murderess?"
"Self-defense is not murder."
"No one is going to take your word that it was self-defense, it was all I could do tonight to keep them from lynching you before the sun came up."
"Does it really matter if they hang me tonight or a few months down the road, Marshal?"
"Well, if you manage to get a decent public defender, and he can get a jury to believe it was self-defence or a fit o' passion, you might just go to prison rather than dangling from a cheap rope."
"I almost think I'd rather die, Marshal."
"Well, you're not dead, not yet anyway, and I happen to think that facing that mob on your behalf deserves some sort of reward."
"And just what do you think would be appropriate?"
"Well, to start with, how about you answer my question, you're obviously a lady of breeding and intelligence what turned you into a whore?"
"There's a long story and a short story, Marshal, which do you want?"
"We've got plenty of time, Felicity."
She sighed and shifted in the seat.
"I suppose it started when I was two and my mother died. The war was almost over, but my father was still away. My aunt lived across the street from us, and so she wrote my father and took me in. Father wrote back, said he couldn't raise a daughter on his own, and that he was going to the territories to start over. My life was fine. I was loved, well cared for. Yet, I couldn't shake the doubt that plagued me, why did my father abandon me? After finishing school I decided not to doubt anymore. I took my inheritance and headed out here to search for my father. Unfortunately, I couldn't find him, my funds dwindled away faster than I imagined, until bandits decided to help themselves to the last of it, but it wasn't enough to satisfy them so they took my virtue as well. They left me to die, and I probably would have but I wasn't so lucky. I was found a day later by the owner of a local brothel found me. He took me in and offered me a job. What other choice did I have? A year or so later my employer died, and I was on my own. I wandered about halfheartedly still looking for my father. Mostly trying to earn enough to live. Last night I arrived here, and made the stupid mistake of turning down Marcus Devon. Tonight he tried to take me by force, and when I fought back, he pulled a knife on me. When it was done the knife was in his ribs, and the good townsfolk were knocking down the door to get me. And here I am. That's the short of it."
The Marshal nodded thoughtfully, then he pulled his key ring from his belt. He unlocked her manacles. Felicity looked up at him confused.
"I really don't think they're necessary. Well, I'm almost satisfied with my reward."
"Almost?"
He nodded locked the cell door, and undid his belt. "Almost."
Challenge: Chocolate Chili 17 (abandonment); Cherry Chocolate Chip 1 (curiosity); Dark Chocolate 20 impotence.
Toppings & Extras: Chopped nuts
Word Count: 657
Rating: PG although there are allusions to rape and violence.
Notes: This AU is what might have happened if Ransome had left Felicity with his sister. This is not pretty, and it wasn't easy to write.
Felicity stared at the stone walls surrounding her trying to ignore the rough wood plank boring into her backside and the iron manacles cutting into her wrists. She was trying even harder to forget what she'd done just a few hours ago, but the blood that painted her hands, clothes and face made that next to impossible. She heard the door of her cell scrape against the stone floor, but she didn't look up.
"Felicity Ostin?"
Now she looked at him, a marshal his badge said. His shoulder length dark hair was braided Native style, and his features marked him as such. He sat down backwards in the chair he had brought in with him, crossing his arms over the back.
"Yes."
"So tell, me, Felicity, what causes a beautiful woman like you to become a whore and a murderess?"
"Self-defense is not murder."
"No one is going to take your word that it was self-defense, it was all I could do tonight to keep them from lynching you before the sun came up."
"Does it really matter if they hang me tonight or a few months down the road, Marshal?"
"Well, if you manage to get a decent public defender, and he can get a jury to believe it was self-defence or a fit o' passion, you might just go to prison rather than dangling from a cheap rope."
"I almost think I'd rather die, Marshal."
"Well, you're not dead, not yet anyway, and I happen to think that facing that mob on your behalf deserves some sort of reward."
"And just what do you think would be appropriate?"
"Well, to start with, how about you answer my question, you're obviously a lady of breeding and intelligence what turned you into a whore?"
"There's a long story and a short story, Marshal, which do you want?"
"We've got plenty of time, Felicity."
She sighed and shifted in the seat.
"I suppose it started when I was two and my mother died. The war was almost over, but my father was still away. My aunt lived across the street from us, and so she wrote my father and took me in. Father wrote back, said he couldn't raise a daughter on his own, and that he was going to the territories to start over. My life was fine. I was loved, well cared for. Yet, I couldn't shake the doubt that plagued me, why did my father abandon me? After finishing school I decided not to doubt anymore. I took my inheritance and headed out here to search for my father. Unfortunately, I couldn't find him, my funds dwindled away faster than I imagined, until bandits decided to help themselves to the last of it, but it wasn't enough to satisfy them so they took my virtue as well. They left me to die, and I probably would have but I wasn't so lucky. I was found a day later by the owner of a local brothel found me. He took me in and offered me a job. What other choice did I have? A year or so later my employer died, and I was on my own. I wandered about halfheartedly still looking for my father. Mostly trying to earn enough to live. Last night I arrived here, and made the stupid mistake of turning down Marcus Devon. Tonight he tried to take me by force, and when I fought back, he pulled a knife on me. When it was done the knife was in his ribs, and the good townsfolk were knocking down the door to get me. And here I am. That's the short of it."
The Marshal nodded thoughtfully, then he pulled his key ring from his belt. He unlocked her manacles. Felicity looked up at him confused.
"I really don't think they're necessary. Well, I'm almost satisfied with my reward."
"Almost?"
He nodded locked the cell door, and undid his belt. "Almost."