When Alice saw Robin struggling to carry three overly stuffed bags of shopping through town, how could she not run to give her a hand? After all, she had been on her way to see her beloved girlfriend anyway.
Girlfriend. Man, Alice loved being able to say that!
"Thanks so much. For the help, I mean." Robin said awkwardly, shuffling the bags in her arms. Despite how many times she tried to shift them, she couldn't find a comfortable way to hold all of it at once. She was far too used to travelling light and normally went out of her way to make sure that she kept her hands and arms free for quick access to her bow and arrows should she need them. Because of this, she was feeling very clumsy and uncoordinated, something that was particularly embarrassing now that Alice was here to see it.
"No problem, I was on my way to see you anyway. Plus, I'm always happy to help a damsel in distress!" Alice said with a playful grin.
"Oh ha ha. Look, I don't normally do the shopping." Robin explained quickly. "But I was feeling restless this morning, so I offered to pick up some things and… I dunno, I expected mum to give me a list or something! Not a wad of money and the instructions to get whatever we needed." Robin rolled her eyes, groaning loudly.
"And so, you just grabbed everything you needed." Alice noted seriously, then raised an eyebrow down at their bags and added with a small smile; "Twice."
"I wasn't sure what we needed." Robin said, blushing slightly. "So, I just kind of grabbed…"
"Everything?" Alice supplied cheekily.
Robin gave her a pretend look of being unamused before she quickly changed it to a soft smile. "I mean it. Thanks for helping."
"Well I could hardly leave you." Alice said seriously, then added chirpily; "Plus, I really do like helping out like this. My tower had a spell over the cupboards, so they were constantly refilling themselves whenever they got low on supplies. So, this kind of mundane stuff isn't really all that mundane to me." Alice explained. "I really like doing it! It makes me feel normal without being boring. If any of that makes senses…"
"It makes sense." Robin nodded before grinning. "And in that case, you should be thanking me for letting you help out."
"You wish." Alice snorted, nudging her side.
The nudge was gentle enough, but it still came as a surprise and hit Robin directly in the wrong place that tickled her, causing her to jolt and one of the bags to nearly tumble out of her arms. It was only her quick reflexes that allowed her to just barely save it all in time. When she finally righted herself and stood up, she turned to find Alice staring at her with guilty shock, a tense expression that only relaxed when she saw Robin was able to save the shopping before it fell. After a moment, she gave Robin a cheeky smile with slight apologetic look eyes, guiltily waiting to see if Robin was annoyed with her. Robin – making sure to keep a careful hold on the bags this time – reached a foot over and lightly kicked Alice's backside in response before they both broke into giggles that turned in laughter so hard that they had to pause walking before they could gain control of themselves again.
They left the market behind and it wasn't long before they were stepping passed the last few buildings and households on the edge of town before they started down the long pathway into the forest surrounding the small area. The journey wasn't exactly long from the farm to town and back again, but it could feel like it when you had to do it solo. Robin normally didn't mind so much – it gave her a chance to hunt along the way or have a quiet moment to think by herself – but she had a feeling that now she had a taste of company, it was going to be a lot harder to go back to being alone in future trips. Maybe she could convince Alice to tag along next time she made a trip this way again.
Things were comfortable for the two girls (and everyone else) as of late. There had yet to be a serious threat to their lives in quite some time and because of that, they were able to find themselves falling into a comfortable routine with one another. They met up no less than three times a week, even if it was simply for Alice to join her and her mother for breakfast or for Robin to drop by Alice's camp, sometimes to deliver some homey items to her as a gift. Before Robin had begun visiting her, Alice only had the bare essentials at her campsite, not bothering with luxury since she was always on the move, travelling from one word to another with little to no pause in between. But Robin had changed that. Not only did Alice begin to spend more time at home now, but also, Robin brought her many extra supplies; things like blankets, cushions, flowers, even a vase once for the flowers to go in. It was all small and simple items, things you could buy cheap in town or find abandoned in the back streets, but they were things Alice greatly appreciated none the less.
Other than that, they had an official date at least once a week, either meeting in town for a hot meal, meeting in the woods for a gentle stroll, going to one another's home in the evening for a few drinks and so on. More often than not they had no plans when they met up. Instead they just decided what to do based on how they felt in that moment. And then, more often than anything else, there were the days when they were bored and would surprise one another with a visit in the late evening that normally ended with them tumbling onto whatever soft surface they happened to be closest to at the time. Yeah, those were some of the most fun times they spent together.
"The only downside is that we can't do anything else while we're doing this." Alice grumbled, moving the bag from one arm to the other after nearly dropping it when she attempted to skip ahead slightly.
"How are you so full of energy all the time?" Robin laughed, watching her pull out an orange and begin throwing it up into the air and catching it with one hand like a ball.
"Years of pent up energy." Alice answered simply.
"As good a reason as any." Robin said, still looking amused.
"We really need to get a proper bag for this stuff. One we can close up and throw over our shoulder or something, so we can keep our hands free." Alice said wistfully.
"That is a very good idea." Robin said, wishing she had that bag right now. She really didn't like not being able to reach immediately for her bow and arrow resting over her shoulder and back. Even though she had yet to have any trouble when walking around on her own – and this time she was with Alice – she still liked the idea of her weapons being within quick reach. They were like an extra limb to her, and she didn't like not being able to use all her limbs.
"See, I'm full of good ideas!" Alice beamed happily.
"I never said you weren't."
"And you never will." Alice said firmly, leaning over and pecking her on the cheek.
They were deep in the forest now, just as far from the town as they were from Robin's farm. The path was clear and wide, and they hadn't seen another person or carriage for a while.
Because of that, it was easy to notice when someone had begun following them. They didn't come from the pathway ahead or behind. If they had, they probably would have been spotted immediately. They must have come from either side between the trees instead where they could easily hide themselves. They probably had a camp set up close by, so they could come and meet people when they were too far away to run or cry for help.
Bastards.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" The voice came before the owner followed it into view.
"Oh great," Robin grumbled.
It wasn't unheard of for people to be jumped for their money and food on this pathway through the woods, but it was something that had yet to happen to Robin despite taking this same route at least twice a week, if not more. It got to the point where she naturally assumed that no one would be stupid enough to give her any problems. It seemed her assumption was far from correct. They really were stupid enough.
Two more men stepped out from behind the first. They were all big and stupid looking, dressed in animal skins and carrying homemade weapons that were large, sharp and (admittedly) well put together, the kind you got from years of practice.
Hunters.
"Why thank you, girls, for getting our supplies for us." One said, eyeing the bags in their arms greedily.
"Excuse you?" Alice sneered.
"You heard us," He pulled out a long-ragged looking dagger. "Hand over the goods and walk away if you want to keep your faces pretty."
"Aw, you think we're pretty?" Alice said mockingly.
"Shut it," One of them snapped. He didn't seem very patient or amused. In fact, he seemed downright pissed that they hadn't already given everything over to them.
"Rude." Alice grumbled, pouting her lip slightly.
"You guys really going to do this?" Robin asked with as much ice in her voice as she could manage.
In answer, they began to spread out, moving to surround the two girls with their weapons in hand at the ready. They either hadn't noticed that Robin had weapons of her own to defend herself, or they simply assumed she wouldn't be able to use her arrows against the three of them in time. Well, that was their biggest mistake.
Slowly Robin lowered the bags to the floor at her feet, feigning her body language like she was about to surrender. She moved slightly in front of Alice, ready to use her own body as a shield in order to protect her from any surprise attacks. While she had been cocky and smart remarking just a few moments ago, Robin had little doubt that Alice might be in over her head. These guys were serious and more often than not, Alice treated life like it was on great big playful adventure game. Not that it was her fault or anything. She had grown up all on her own in a tower with no one but her father for company, so it made sense that she might not realise a serious situation when it came down upon her like this.
"We don't want no trouble." One of the hunters to Robin's right said, her sounded like he might actually mean it.
"So, stand back and we'll be on our way." The other said, walking towards them for the bags.
He was overly confident. He believed her little act and had lowered his defences almost immediately. What a fool.
Robin swung her bow into her hand and reached back for one of her arrows in the same single swift movement. One of the men saw her and dived forward, but she was too quick. While placing her arrow against her bow, Robin ducked the fist he attempted to slam into her temple and fired the arrow close range into his kneecap. At such a close shot, it didn't dig into his knee nearly as much as she had hoped, and he was able to knock it out with only a slight limp afterwards, though he was thrown off balance and momentarily stumbled to the side, allowing for Robin to stand up behind him and kick him hard enough to knock him down onto his face.
Robin swung around; a new arrow in her bow seconds after the first one had left, turning towards Alice to make sure that she was still safely unharmed with the bags… Only to stop short when she saw Alice wasn't with the shopping at all. Before she could worry for her, she saw Alice jump into view and was taken completely by surprise at what happened next.
While Robin had been dealing with the one hunter, the other two had ignored her completely and jumped at Alice and the shopping bags instead. Maybe they assumed they could use Alice as a hostage against Robin in order to get her to give up, or maybe they had tried to grab the shopping and make a break for it while the girl with the weapon was distracted, but no matter what their plans, it had not worked out the way they had expected. In fact, it wasn't even ending how Robin had expected.
Right after the first hunter had attacked Robin, the other two had pounced towards Alice and she wasted little time pouncing back. She threw herself at the first hunter, and then dropped at the last minute to a crouch at his feet. He accidentally kicked into Alice's side, but not hard and Alice had already braced herself for the blow she knew was coming, using her own body to trip him up and cause him to go flying into his friend. Before either of them could react, Alice jumped back up and pulled out a hidden knife from her boot. It was a plain short kitchen knife, not really one for fighting off bandits, but it was still sharp so it would do Alice just fine.
As the men clambered back onto their feet and turned towards her, Alice was already running their way, jumping onto one of the men who's natural instinct reacted before his brain could and instead of moving out the way or throwing a punch, he caught her, allowing Alice to wrap her legs around his waist and bring the knife down along the side of his face, cutting his ear off in one quick slice. The man roared in both surprise and pain, his friend hesitating in his shock, and the first one tried to push her off him but she tightened her legs and instead stabbed the knife straight through the palm of his hand he lifted against her.
When his friend finally snapped out of his surprise, he charged at them with a comical roar of anger, his own weapon drawn and pointed for Alice's spine but she saw him long before he made his move and was ready for him. Shoving the knife's handle into her mouth, Alice pressed her hands against the hunter's shoulders and unwrapped her legs, kicking him in the stomach and pushing off so she flipped right over his head and landed lightly on her feet behind him. His friend, however, had too much momentum and not enough brains to slow down in time, causing him to stab his thick long dagger straight through his own partners shoulder.
The following scream was music to Alice's ears, and she casually stepped out of the way as the man stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, still howling but caught between clutching the hole where his ear used to be and clutching the dagger still sticking from his shoulder. It was in deep, almost up to the handle, so it was a good guess the tip of the dark grey jagged edged blade was now sticking out of the other side of his back.
The friend was momentarily shocked before he turned his angry eyes on Alice. She simply smirked, lifting a hand and waving her fingers to him all innocent like. He charged at her, now temporarily weapon-less and Alice casually danced between his fists, ducking his swings and jumping over him like they were playing a game of extreme jump rope. When he threw himself a little too enthusiastically at her and inevitably lost his balance, Alice quite literally used him as a vault, climbing over him and dancing out of his reach whenever he tried to grab her, whooping loudly the whole time like the thing really was a game and she sure as hell was winning it.
Robin was so distracted by this – since when could Alice fight and defend herself?! – that she didn't notice the hunter she had been fighting stumble back onto his feet. While she had watched Alice – seriously?! Since when?! – the hunter crawled up behind her, dagger in hand and eyes aiming for the side of her exposed throat.
Luckily Alice, though she was having fun with her own foe, noticed him sneaking up on a gob smacked Robin and wasted no time, grabbing the hunters wrist and twisting him around, sticking her leg out behind him and tripping him up. Then, as soon as he was temporarily down and stalled, Alice closed the distance between her and Robin, not slowing as she ducked down, sticking her arms around her head for protection and slamming straight into the hunter's stomach. He was thrown back and they both lost their balance, rolling on the floor before Alice jumped back up, shaking herself off and smiling up at Robin, who turned to watch her with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"You okay?" Alice asked, breathless but otherwise no more than if she had gone for a long jog.
"Yeah," Robin croaked then shook her head. She reached for an arrow, loading her bow and firing it onto the man's foot before he had even managed to sit up, turning and pointing her next arrow at the last man who had long since climbed onto his feet, but was suddenly frozen as he looked from his fallen comrades to the two girls.
"So, round two?" Alice asked, stepping up to stand beside Robin, reaching up to lean an arm on top of her shoulder and grinning broadly.
The man let out a growl but took a step back, his friend with the missing ear had finally stood up as well and glanced nervously around, then turned and ran, the dagger still sticking out of his shoulder. The remaining hunter spat after him then finally held up his hands and began to walk around them. Alice and Robin's arrow followed him as he slowly crept over to his friend who had pulled the arrow from his foot but seemed to immediately be regretting it, now clutching an open bleeding hole instead.
"We're leaving, okay!" The man snapped, slowly reaching for his friend.
They watched the men closely. He was halfway to helping his friend up when Alice suddenly took a sharp and sudden step towards them, so quickly that Robin very nearly released her arrow and impaled them both. Instead she managed to hold on long enough for the hunter to drop his friend with a startled cry and for her to realise that Alice was just messing with them.
"Go!" Robin snapped, but her lips were twitching and judging by the proud look in Alice's eyes, it was clear she wasn't hiding her amusement very well.
"We're going!" The man said, dragging his friend along now, ignoring his howls of pains completely.
Finally the man lifted his foot right into the air to avoid the ground, and looked even more ridiculous as he was dragged into the trees with his toes pointed towards the sky. The girls held on for as long as they could but eventually it was too much and they both broke down into loud laughter and Robin finally lowered her arrow in order to lean her hands against her knees.
"He looked like a ballerina!" Alice laughed. "Sticking his foot up like that! He gave you an open shot to his crotch, you should have taken it."
"I was too busy trying not to laugh." Robin confessed. "I think his friend was going to wet himself when you made that move towards them."
"Oh if only!" Alice cackled.
Robin gasped for breath, doubling over with a hand around her stomach. Every time she started to calm down, she glanced up at Alice and the giggles started all over again, each time building into a seemingly endless laughter that left her stomach cramping long before she was done.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time had passed, she took several deep breaths, standing up and wiping the tears from her eyes. Beside her, Alice was still giggling, watching Robin proudly with her knife still in hand by her hip.
"Where did that come from?" Robin asked finally, pulling her arrow back onto her shoulder and walking back towards their shopping.
"What?" Alice asked, scooping up her bag.
"All of that!" Robin said, lifting her own bags up and starting to continue their walk. "Since when can you defend yourself like that?"
Alice shrugged. "Since I left the tower. I mean. I've been travelling from realm to realm for years now. I picked up a few things." She paused. "I mean, I kind of had to if I wanted to survive. What, did you think I got by on my looks alone?" She grinned and winked cheekily.
"I dunno. I mean. You're right." Robin said, shaking her head. "It's kind of obvious but for some reason it never occurred to me that you could fight. I've always gone out of my way to defend you but, turns out, you don't need me."
"No." Alice agreed, then balanced the shopping against her side to loop an arm through Robin's, grinning at her. "But I like it when you do."
After a moment Robin smiled back at her. "I guess I'm still getting to know who you are. And here I thought I had you all figured out."
"Puh-lease, you got a long way to go before you have me figured out." Alice grinned, pecking Robin's cheek.
"Well, I look forward to it." Robin grinned, turning and kissing her properly…
And at the same time losing her grip on one of the bags. Only this time, Robin wasn't quick enough to save it and the shopping exploded at their feet.
Alice paused, pressing her lips together before looking at Robin and shrugging. "Woops."