The Schemes of Contentious Hearts

Posted on Tue May 2nd, 2023 @ 14:51 by Robert Closeley & Heather Redding

Chapter: All Hallow's Eve
Location: Sherwood Rangers' Secret hide-out
Timeline: Sunday, October 24th, 1992
1179 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Heather was fuming even as she scribbled more into her notepad in the light of the lamp that hung in the room. How dare Robert of all people make her feel the way he did. Had she not done everything and anything he had ever requested from her? Had she not made every sacrifice to make sure that they were successful? She should just go back to fooling people into letting them believe she was part of the family and living the best life instead of living her life in the dark following his dreams. She had only been captured by MI-13 as she got desperate and picked the wrong mark. She would not make that mistake again. She was not going to stay somewhere underappreciated and it was a firm enough emotion to keep her grounded and out of her thoughts.

With the softest of rapping on the doorway Robert tried to draw the attention of Heather as he saw her feverishly scribbling away in her notes. He knew that he had been too dismissive when they had talked earlier about her plan to draw some kind of esotheric energy from ley lines. He didn't believe in any of that stuff, but since she had stormed off he had realised that even if he didn't care for it, it was a low risk and minimum investment for the reward of keeping her happy and dedicated with a chance of furthering their cause. "Can we talk?"

“Look who it is my lover with a heart of stone.” She said not looking up from her scribbles for a moment before she lay the pencil down and gave him her fall attention. “What do you want Robert?” She demanded not having ever used that tone with him in the last two years.

"I want us to support each other through all our endeavours," Robert had been thinking, and overthinking, exactly how to approach this. "That's a two-way street." It was still quite an open approach to offering his help after being so dismissive earlier, he hoped it would at least smooth things over enough for her to let him back in.

"I have always supported you." She reminded. There had never been a moment over the last two years where she had not supported him with every fibre of her being. "It broke my heart." She said simply as she looked at him seeing that he was standing there trying to work his way into her affection.

"That's what I'm saying." Robert sometimes found it hard to get through to Heather, and this was one of those moments, especially since his motivations weren't fully selfless. "I've not been keeping up my side of that burden." He edged closer to the woman that had been by his side ever since he sprung her from the MI-13 facility. "I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

"Time will tell..." The woman commented closing her book and moving items from their bed to the cabinet that she had created out of crates to hold her bits and bobs. "I have forgiven you or your items would be in the hallway for Fiona to stomp on. But you are right this is a two-way street. I have always followed you but that was cold out there."

It took quite a lot of Robert to admit he had been in the wrong, and to apologise on top of it, the fact that she insisted on piling more on top of that wore his patience quite thin. He took a measured breath and felt his jaw tense up as he did so. "Like I said, I'm sorry. So what do we have to steal to make you happy again?" He tried to alleviate some of the stress he was feeling.

“I am sorry too as I know I am not the best…” she looked far away for a moment which made her look vulnerable before she sat up straight and looked like someone ready for whatever came there way. “I want to steal this spear. I want to try something new.” She said softly.

Robert looked at the notes she had made of a Roman spear currently held at a museum in England. It would be good for them to get out of the bunker they were in, but it wasn't without its risks. A risk he'd have to be willing to take if he wanted to make sure his young and fragile group of misfits stuck together. "Seems reasonable."

“My abilities should be able to get them to open the cabinets and hand it over. This is not my first experience in stealing from a museum so I have experience this will just be a little bigger as Bristol Museum is not some shoddy operations or small time.” She said thoughtfully having out the same on her notes. “I want to try to get us something to increase our chances of success. This just vibes with me.” Heather sometimes operated on another level and this was just one of those things that struck her.

"Bristol, Natural History, Le Louvre, whatever the museum, I'm sure that as long as we stick together we can take pretty much whatever we want." Robert stepped closer and softly caressed her shoulder as he tried to make sense of her notes and plan. "What do you have in mind?"

“We go in as someone prominent asking for a tour and with our combined influence we can make them believe anything that we want and pick up the spear. We need to time it perfectly but I think it will be easy enough with Fiona in tow.” She added looking up at him smiling brightly. She was engaged and actively keeping herself there instead of just poetry and metaphore.

"Simple. Elegant." Robert's concerns immediately went to covering their identity so that it wouldn't be completely impossible to travel through England and get into London without having to heavily manipulate everyone around them. It had become second nature to them, but it was draining to have to keep it up continuously. "Big sunglasses, hat, baseball cap." It worked for people that wanted to stay out of the picture due to privacy concerns as well, didn't require them to make huge adjustments to the people's perceptions.

"Blonde wig..." She agreed already thinking similarly to it. She could not hide behind sunglasses in autumn but it was easy to make herself look completely different without the need of her abilities. "See this is more like it. We can tell Fiona in the morning." Heather looked like her old self again and not at all looking like she was going to go off on her own adventure anymore.

"I can't wait." Robert gave a quick peck on the back of Heather's head and gently massaged her shoulders as he took in her sweet fragrance, "Your hair smells of wild butterflies."

"Let's go to sleep then." She said brightly. "Your voice is music to my ears." She added happy that they were on the same page again.