Tinkerbelle's laughter quickly filled Regina's ears, and the brunette turned to see her bouncing up and down in her green slippers with her hands clasped tightly together just in front of her mouth. Her cheeks were rosy with excitement, and her knuckles had turned white from the sheer force of pressing her fingers together.
Regina released a shaky breath. "Are you sure you're right about this? I mean…" she paused, but only for a moment. "Are you really sure?" Her shoulders slumped forward dejectedly before she promptly straightened them out.
"Yes! I'm positive." The green fairy giggled with excitement. "Oh! If only Blue could see me now!" She unclasped her hands so that she could move forward to shove Regina even closer to the door. "Now go! Hurry!" Her hands met the white fabric of Regina's long silk nightgown, urging the queen to enter the pub that reeked of alcohol and men who had done without a bath for far too long.
"I'm going!" Regina hissed. She took another second to stare through the fogged window on the top of the door, and then she wrapped her hand around the hollow, rusting handle of the door, and, without wasting another second, flung it open.
The door swung open quite suddenly, having been lighter than she had expected it to be. It rattled the walls of the bar, and every person with a mug of beer turned just as quickly to look at her. Some, she knew, recognized her, and when they went forward to kneel before her, she sighed in discontent. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her little fairy friend floating around the small light fixture that hung just above her head, watching in anticipation. She straightened her posture and marched through the small crowd of drunks with her head held high before she situated herself at an empty stool at the counter in the back.
Rather unexpectedly, she felt a small weight on her right shoulder and twisted so that she could see Tink, arms crossed and faced red. "What are you doing? I said to talk to him, not sit on your ass in the back of a pub and wait to be served a pint!" The glowing green girl shrieked in her ear.
"I'm sorry…I just.." She didn't get a chance to finish before Tinkerbelle cut her off.
"You're nervous!" The fairy claimed rather loudly. She quieted, however, when the queen shot her a mean glare over her shoulder.
"I am not nerv—"
"Can I get ye' anyth'ng to drink, Y'er Majesty?" asked a portly looking woman across the counter. She looked enthralled in the young royal's conversation with the insect on her shoulder, and it visibly showed in her wide eyes and toothy grin. Her question was redundant. The queen obviously didn't need anything more to drink.
Regina paused. "Uh, yes. Rum. Lots of rum." She watched the woman leave with a curious expression on her face, but when she turned back, Tinkerbelle had disappeared. Instead, the seat next to her had been filled with a man in a green shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and skin coated in a fine layer of dirt as he handed another woman behind the counter a gold piece and his mug for beer.
"Missing your friend, huh?" She heard. "Fairies are known for leaving you high and dry." He muttered before he stuck his hand out. "Robin."
Regina took his hand in her own, and she saw it. The small, and yet distinctive tattoo sat prominently on his arm. "R-Regina." She finally managed to choke out. When the man lifted her hand to his lips and placed a single kiss upon her knuckles, her breathing nearly stopped, and the room started spinning.
"And what would a beautiful, noble woman such as yourself be doing out here in the dead of night?" Robin questioned her. "You certainly didn't come for the alcohol. There's far better places to go for that than here."
"No, I guess I didn't," she smirked. "A…friend…dragged me out here. Although, judging by the fact that you just stole my bracelet and managed to empty my sack of coins into your pocket, I think it is probably time for me to go." Regina grinned, gesturing to his hands slipping the generous amount of gold coins into his satchel. She rose from her stool, reached into her other pocket, and shoved three gold pieces onto the counter to pay for her drinks before she swiftly exited the pub, her dressing blowing behind her while she walked.
Robin Hood sat—stunned—in his stool in the bar whilst his comrades in crime hooted and hollered from the wooden table that sat in the middle of the floor. They all raised their beers, glass clanking, and in one case the mug broke and alcohol showered over the Merry Men. The scene seemed to move in slow motion, and as his face heated, he realized he could not pull his eyes away from the swinging door at the entrance to the tavern.
It was the first time he had ever been bested by anyone!
Nevertheless a woman!
He jumped from his seat to follow Regina out of the filthy place, but as soon as he set foot onto the muddy ground, his heart sank. The alley was empty, and the only things to occupy it were him and the barrels of wheat and rice that lined the rotten walls of houses up and down the street and casted shadows along the ground until he could no longer see what parts of the ground was dry and which were soaked in water and mud and horse manure.
Sighing dejectedly, he turned and re-entered the bar, where he knew the people and the people knew him, and there was no mystery, no adventure. Only thieves who stole from pretty ladies without a second thought.
I'm so excited for the direction the show has gone, and I would just like to say that I freaking called the fact that Robin had the tattoo. I called it. I called it. I freaking called it! I'm hoping that this will be more than a one-shot, but I guess it kind of depends on the responses I get:)