Gathering Post - 5/7-5/15

[lcrpg_npc]

 

WEATHER || LONDONIST || BBC NEWS

(Rather than write the same vague drivel, here is a pretty gif to inspire you, a link to the weather for the week, and a link to londonist, a great resource for all things London related. As always this post is open all week. Tag in, tag others, check back often!)

Comments

[utterly_mysterious]

"Please just drive," Angelique asked, breathless and rushed as she tugged the door shut, and slid with her large handbag to the far side of the cab, away from the sidewalk. Her hair was damp and her mascara rather smudged, and now that she was sitting in the warmth of the cab, she realized how chilled and wet her dress was. Shivering, she started trying to gather her hair back so it would stop dripping down her shoulders. "I'll figure it out in a moment, just..."

Nervously, she glanced through the cab window at the tall, imposing figure bearing down on the cab with a sharp, angry stride. "Oh god. Go, please," she urged the driver. Not frightened, not really, but urgent.

[taxi_d]

D didn't hesitate. He'd been in enough situations similar enough that when she said to go in that particular way, well, he went. No questions, no hesitating, not even a word until he was in traffic and two blocks away from the blokes on her tail.

"Alright, miss," he said. "Think we're clear. Is it safe to go home or should we just drive around a bit while you collect yourself?"

He didn't mind either way, so long as she could pay.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique dared a glance out the back window, and breathed a small sigh of relief. Her hair was still a mess, but she dug a clip out of her back and clamped it up in a twist on the back of her head so she didn't drip all over the driver's back seat. She still looked like a drowned rat, she was certain, and she was glad of the evening's gloom and rain to wrap her in shadows.

"I'd be grateful if we could take the long way," she sighed, rummaging for a moment before producing a card with her address on it. Or, rather, the address of the 'boarding house' where she lived and worked. The card had nothing but her name, address, and phone number, nothing to give away the very illegal brothel it actually was. Unless, of course, you already knew. "I made sure they left me with plenty of fare," Angelique added tartly.

[taxi_d]

"I make it a policy to not charge women on the run," Davey replied as he took the card and looked at it. The long way began with a right turn instead of a left and then on through an amber light.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I mean to say...you don't need a hospital or anything..."

[utterly_mysterious]

"Gracious, I should hope not..." Angelique began, before she realized what he meant. "Oh. Oh, no, nothing like that. I'm wet and I'm cold but he didn't hurt me. I didn't give him the chance."

As if to prove her point, she produced a mirrored compact from her bag and checked her mascara. "He just wanted to bring a friend on a date, and didn't bother to ask if I was interested. I told him he should date the friend if he was so keen, and he didn't appreciate my suggestion."

[taxi_d]

"I don't imagine he took to that suggestion too well," he replied with a bit of a laugh. "Not to be nody, miss, but was that a date...or a, you know, date?"

[utterly_mysterious]

"That depends," Angelique responded, looking up to the rearview mirror with arched brows, "on if we're driving by a police station on our long way 'round. I'm not interested in spending the night in a cell for something I didn't even commit." At least, not that night.

[taxi_d]

"Not at all, miss," Davey replied. "I'd never play judge and jury. Just curious, mostly, about what sort of twat would bring a friend on a date when the lady wasn't expecting it, is all."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique considered it for a few moments, then returned her attention to powdering her nose and cheeks. "In that case: exactly the sort of twat you're imagining. He thought he could talk me into a buy-one-get-one arrangement. Instead, he bought two and got none."

[taxi_d]

"Then he got exactly what he deserved," Davey chuckled. He slowed to a stop at the next light and looked back over the seat.

"My license back there says David but you can call me D," he said warmly.

[utterly_mysterious]

In many places in her life, Angelique was careful not to allow her work to come to light. Perhaps D was a little more understanding than, say, a wealthy club owner, or the half-brother of the Home Secretary. She smiled at him in the low shadows when he turned. "You may call me Angelique. It's a pleasure to meet you. My knight in shining taxi cab," she added, with a hint of dryness, because he had probably heard that one before.

"So, I'm having a profitable night. How about you?"