- Love, Interrupted -
(might wind up going 18+ one day, but not on this one, sorry. i'd like to make an adult story good.)
Summary: Robin and Maid Marian's honeymoon is cut short from a prankster court jester, revealed to be a recently escaped Prince John...
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"Darling, I simply could not have imagined a better afternoon!"
"I know, dear, I know, neither could I."
Nothing could have been the perfect setting than Oliveton Hill, an extended field of grass and flowers; it contained very little trees, but it's premiere highlight was the long, glorious flowing stream carried through an assortment of large rocks. Each rock was smoothly cut, almost as if a painter had handcrafted itself, finely sculpted by nature itself. Robin had never been here before, but it had been something of legend due to it's quiet - away from it all - feel to which it had. It was all quiet, no sounds from anyone or anything but the wind itself, sun grazing upon it all from above. With no one to bother them either, far away from the castles and towns by a long stretch, this was going to be quite a delightful getting together.
They had a blanket laid down on the grass, laid out with various foods of which they had packed along for the trip-- including a pot for some scrumptious soup! They had prepared everything from their own delicious vegetables, handpicked and freshly taken care of, amongst other good treats bought from a previous town's market stop along the way. Robin definitely liked the carrots, in particular, and the loaf of bread his vixen wife bought was certainly going to go good with it. All that being said, they could be here for hours, enjoying the serenity of it and sharing poems of their night together... with love, and passion, like any other.
Of course, there was one slight wrinkle to this plan.
Prince John escaped captivity by a bit of sheer dumb luck and a few handy friends in the form of other criminals. It was only natural he'd want to go after the very fox who had done him in the first place, and he wasn't going to take any prisoners!
Well, that was to say he would've taken any prisoners if he actually had a prison for which to put them in, but that's beside the point. He was a free man now, an outlaw in the way of the heroic Robin Hood fox himself - and even if he couldn't hurt him, he was going to antagonize him any chance he got. But how to do this, and with what?
Sneaking in carefully through the bushes farther away, he watched with a crudely made telescope on Robin and Marian.
"Marian," Robin spoke eloquently, cradling her hand gently. "You'll never believe what I had just seen along the way. While you were assembling our things, I went exploring for just a moment to see what lay beyond the beaten path.And then! There it was, haha! The way the stream cradles around the rocks, if you look closely, it's almost as if you can see your future!" Robin didn't think it could have such an effect, but he could've sworn on his little squirmish to see if any part of it was safe, one glance into the water running down the hill and into parts unknown and yet explored had given him a vision of the sort. His grin widened, excited, and hoped he could take her to go see it.
Maid Marian found herself surprised. "Now Robin, it isn't like you to be so easily amazed-- I'm afraid I don't believe in magic."
"Me neither, but trust me, this was certainly for real. We haven't aged a bit!" the fox cheered. "You still look as beautiful to me as you've ever did, Marian. Nothing the years can do will ever take apart my enchanted beauty."
As the fox cuddled beside his love, Maid Marian kissed her husband on the lips, and embraced him warmly. "And nothing could ever take away my dear, silly, Robin Hood... Nottingham's most wanted-- now taken." The two giggled for a moment, sharing another kiss, their tails waving together in harmony. For a short while, they finally rose up, hand in hand, and made their way away.
It was a discussion that allowed Prince John to make his move, bawking at their silly romantic interludes and sticking his tongue out at their foolishness. Magic, bah! At least he got to see years ahead of their future, certainly not the minutes that were to come. With a peppermaker in hand and a few other items at hand, namely for sake of seeing the two embarrassed and shaken from the experience, he waited for the two silly lovebirds to depart ways before wanting to creep up against their food. Most of it was already completed and eaten, but not one fo the pieces of meat they had left behind. With no one to stop him, the nefarious feline made his move... and sprinkled pepper all over the food. To add insult to injury, he had also taken some of the flowers with the most pollen that they could have, and strewn them about all over their campsite. He'd plan on making more later, once he had seen if this would work, and managed to save up more on his little sneezing-inspired pranks.
Stifling his own sneeze, he immediately left, but not before stubbing his toe from a nearby rock - ready to watch the display of what may come.
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The vixen and her fox returned, and the effects had taken place almost immediately as the pollen and parts of pepper had been strewn into the air. Whatever the magical creek might've predicted, it certainly was far from this! Robin reacted a little bit to the pollen, but had been able to fend it off as best as he could-- Maid Marian, sadly, her nuzzle was not so lucky. She froze into place, cross-eyed nearly, with her hair pointed into the air and had begun to sneeze in fits...
"Ro--Robin I think something nasty is in the ah---ah---air, here!" she struggled to speak, rubbing her nuzzle furiously. "I don... I dnn...dnn....dn..."
Prince John, very far away, stifled a laugh. This was priceless! Robin was struggling to find a means to prevent such a sneeze, and wondering where he had packed the handkerchief. In an amusing twist, Prince John had taken it away as well, leaving the couple a bit helpless. He had to wonder if this was going to last long, especially with how his laughter was getting louder from the hilarity of it all, but not right now. Slapping his knees, he tumbled over on the ground, clutching his chest.
"Ro--AaaaCCHHTCKNNT! AAAAACCHHHNSNXXXTT... AAahhhaccnnssfffpbbt!!"
The vixen stifled a sneeze, her legs crossed while standing, as if she could release a bunch of them. Her sneezes were feminine, and at first glance one probably felt they were acute little things. However they did somewhat blast a bit-- such as wich Robin, in one instance while getting close, had felt his hat flown off just a little bit onto the ground. "Marian, you're sneezing! This isn't quite right, at all, there wasn't much of this before!"
"Well there is no, Roaban-- HOO--HAAACCHHOO!! AH---AHHH---AHHHH---AAACHOOO! HaaeEEAAACXHNNXXSTT... NNNeeAAACCHHOOO!! HEEEAACCHHOOO!!"
The pollen scattered all over, trying to get into Robin but the hero was clearly good at being able to avoid it.
Maid Marian had tried her best to protect the food, but now the pepper had done her in. The pepper in the food had made her itch worse, Marian was trapped now, and couldn't help but sneeze more. She sneezed in triples, before her nose finally subsided. Robin was lucky enough to find a handkerchief, a stray one amongst the scatteed, unfortunate trap, and Marian santched it away from him. She wasn't mad at him, this could have all been an accident. Eventually the couple recuperated, with her sneezes finally toning themselves down... Robin cradled her with an arm across her back no matter what, and rocked her gently to calm down from the mess.
"Forgive me, Robin, this is not how I expected to go!" she confessed, but Robin reassured her.
"You're asking me, darling, I didn't see this coming. As far as I was concerned this was all quiet and still - you don't suppose this was planted here, pardon the pun? Flower pollen and pepper certainly don't just appear out of the blue, you know. I'd say this was some kind of trick."
"Heeeachooo! HeeeeeeAAACHHUUU.... heeeacchoooo...." Marian sneezed, cleaning her nose. Each sneeze shot her tail straight up, body hunched over almost as if she was ducking to avoid something being thrown at her. Robin tried not to giggle himself at the rather peculiar way, but comforted her nonetheless. Her recent fit were in quick succession: "Hiichii! Hichiiioo! Hiiichiii! Hichi-hichi-hichi----HiiiCHIIIoooee...."
Robin shook his head. An evening like this wasn't nearly ruined, there could have been a lot of other disasters, but comforting Marian seemed to make the situation a little bit better. As such, he brougher her closer in his arms.
This, naturally, did not please Prince John, who continued to watch. What was all this? You'd think having their food scattered and most of the picnice sneezed away in some form would've made them unhappy! Alas, true love couldn't have been broken down this way, and the heroic Robin had gotten away with another subtle victory-- one for which John would have to think again on the next outing.
"Oh, Robin... where would I be without you?" Marian asked her love.
The heroic fox kissed her on the lips, hand under her chin. "...'A tissue' less than today."
