Natalia, Mouse and Ewan
Natalia stared around worriedly and bit down hard on her bottom lip. Mouse had taken her out shopping with most of the other Hansons...Ike? Yes. And Taylor. And now they'd disappeared. Panic welled up from the pit of her stomach and her breath started to come in short gasps. Then she spotted Ike's distinctive hairstyle and relaxed before starting to walk over. She never made it.
A male hand grabbed her arm and she turned around slightly to stare fearfully up into an unpleasant face. The taller teen grinned down at her, and her eyes went wide.
"See, me and my friend, we'd like to get to know you better..." Petrified with fear, Natalia went along with her training and left with the two men. Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, I'll do anything just please don't hurt me!
Mouse looked up, frowning. "Where's Natalia? Nat?" She looked around but couldn't spot the blonde girl. Oh dear. Not good. Very not good. "Tay!"
Ewan was going outside the mall to smoke one of his very last cigarettes, when he heard a sort of whimper. Frowning, he ducked his head round a corner to hear a louder cry and the sound of cloth ripping. When he saw the blonde girl crying and trying to cover herself with the tattered remains of her shirt while two guys leered at her, his chivalrous instincts kicked in. "HEY!" With one punch, he knocked one of the would be rapists away from the girl. "I don't think she's wanting this, lads, sae why don't ye go on home to yer mams?"
"Piss off!" The one without the black eye snarled. "C'mon, Chris!" The other guy got up with a mean look on his face and they both jumped the Scotsman.
"Cowards!" Ewan spat and then soon kicked them out of the alleyway with his boot implanted on their rears. "Don't pick on lasses, ye bastards!" They left and Ewan felt his jaw. One of them had gotten a punch in...then he thought to check his camera. Oh. *Christ*. He shook off the thought and went to check on the girl. "Och, miss, are ye alright?" He knelt down beside her and lifted her face. Dazed purple eyes looked up at him, and Ewan winced at the sight of the bruises on her face. "Let's get you cleaned up then." He got a hankercheif out and held it to her mouth. "Spit." She spat and he dabbed delicately at the cut at the corner of her mouth. "Are ye here with anyone? Do ye have some friends I can call?" He dabbed away some of the blood that streaked around her mouth and eye. She had a nasty scrape down one cheek; looked like they'd shoved her into a wall or something. Poor lass.
"Am I bad? I didn't, I would've..." Natalia shook hard.
"Nae, nae, lass, dinna fret yeself sae." Ewan shook his head as he saw the collar and cuffs on her neck and wrists. Fashion accessory? By the way she was babbling, he was thinking not. BDSM? Maybe. But she didn't sound like any of the Subs he'd talked to...you got to know weird people in his line of work. Hey, it wasn't for him but that didn't mean it didn't work for others. "Hey, hey, shh nae. I ran them off."
"I don't, I can't..." Natalia hiccuped tears and Ewan wiped her eyes. He gently picked her up the ground and wrapped his jacket round her shoulders.
"Ye have some friends nearby?" She nodded mutely, tears still streaming down her face. "Are they at the shops? Is that where ye were when those two creeps...?" Ewan bit back his anger. The poor girl was scared enough already.
"Is that a camera?" Natalia asked him, already skipping past what had happened. She lifted her hand curiously to where it hung about his neck.
"Aye. I'm a photographer and a pretty guid one, if I do sae so m'self." Ewan took it from round his neck and handed it to her to look at as he walked her back into the main body of the mall.
"Really? It's shiny..." Natalia examined the camera and frowned. "Is it broken? Did I break it? I'm sorry!" Tears started to well up again.
"Nae, nae, dinna fret. It's fine," he told her reassuringly. He didn't like to see women cry. Didn't like to see men hit women none either. Natalia smiled shyly up at him and he grinned back. She was *really* bonny... "Don't greet, bonnie..."
"What does that mean?"
"Means don't cry, beautiful. I canna bear to see a pretty lass cry. Wounds me deep." Ewan placed a hand on his heart. Natalia giggled softly, looking up at him from inder her eyelashes. "Ye have such bonny, bonny eyes...like th' violets that bloomed in Scotland for th' spring."
"I like violets."
"Do ye see your friends anywhere about?" Ewan took his camera back off her and hung it round his neck again. Natalia smiled at him, then nibbled on her bottom lip. She suddenly reached up and kissed him sweetly. Ewan's eyes went wide, then he lost himself in her taste and her body against his...
"Ike! Ike, can you see Natalia anywhere?" Mouse ran up to him, looking worried. "I can't find her!"
Taylor
Taylor's head darted up from where he was, crouched on the ground.
Mouse was worried.
He quickly put but the thing he was looking at, and headed towards where he thought she would be.
"Mouse?!" he called.
He left the store, looking around. Then he saw her going up to Ike, and made his way over.
"Mouse?! Where's Nat?"
Mouse
"That's kind of the problem! I mean, she was right here, and now she's not!" Mouse's eyes were wide with worry. "She can't...if some guy came up and said the right type of things in the right voice, she'd go."
Isaac
"Let's split up," Isaac suggested. "She can't have gone far."
Isaac headed outside, and saw something that made his blood boil. Some red headed man was kissing Natalia. And judging from the state of her clothes, he had been doing a few other things too.
He raced over, grabbed (both physically and telekinetically) Ewan from the back of his collar and pulled him off Natalia.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted, socking him in the jaw.
Natalia and Ewan
Ewan went flying, and curled up to try and protect his camera. He looked up as Natalia burst into hysterical tears. Oh. Sweet. Holy. Mother. Of. Christ. Ike Hanson. He was *so* screwed.
"He, I, no!" Natalia went to Ewan and started patting him over. "Are you alright?"
"I'm foine, bonny. But getting punched in th' face for saving a lass from some bastards is not what I'dve expected." Ewan grinned weakly at her. "Dinna greet. I've taken harder punches." He turned on Ike with a glare. "I'd only just gotten her to stop crying and calm down, you prat!"
"H-h-he helped me." Natalia hunched her shoulders as if expecting to be hit. "I couldn't, he gave me his jacket..."
Isaac
"Oh..." Isaac replied, shamefaced. "Oh sorry. But you have to admit, it was a little... erm... I mean if you had been the one to walk in on this, you'd probably draw the wrong conclusion too. Are you okay Nat?"
Then he frowned, looking back at Ewan.
"Hey, I know you! You're the guy from the lookout."
Ewan and Natalia
Ewan shrugged. "Aye, so what of it? Not like I can actually take photos at the moment. My camera got broke for the second time this week...just after I got it fixed."
"I'm sorry!" Natalia burst out. "I shouldn'tve cried out. Never yell, always quiet...shh, shh."
"Dinna worry, lass. Just means a few more lean weeks. If I ever actually manage to get paid..." Ewan's eyes shuttered for a moment, then cleared. "T' save a damsel in distress, all things are worthwhile."
"He's a knight!" Natalia exclaimed and clapped her hands.
Isaac
"Oh hey," Isaac said, now feeling a bit guilty. "You helped Natalia. I think fixing your camera is the least we can do."
He wondered briefly if he was going to regret that, but wiped the thought away.
Ewan, Natalia and Mouse
"We ne'er did get introduced. Me name's Ewan McCloud. I know who ye are, it's obvious enough, Mr. Hanson. But who be ye, bonny?" Ewan turned to Natalia and smiled at her and she blushed.
"Natalia."
"Bonny name fer a bonny lass." Ewan looked up as a short girl rushed up to them.
"Natalia, are you alright?" Mouse asked worriedly. Natalia nodded.
"I, I'm fine." Natalia yelped slightly as Mouse traced the curve of her face with a soft touch. "Hurts."
"What happened?" Mouse asked gently.
"I dinna know what happened in the first bit of it but I found Natalia being accosted by two men." Ewan scowled darkly. "I sent them whining for their mams. Cowards."
"Thanks for that."
"The shiny thing is broken. No more pictures," Natalia spoke up suddenly. "Camera is broke, broke."
"We'll fix it," Mouse said descively. Ewan just nodded. He'd recognised her. She was the Taylor girl...and damn if he didn't think she was about four, five months pregnant.
Taylor
Taylor sighed when he caught sight of Natalia and his brother.
He finally came up behind Mouse and hugged her from behind.
"Hey Nat, glad we didn't lose you. What happened?"
Natalia and Ewan
"Bad, bad men," Natalia whispered. "Bad, bad, bad...they could see I was a bad girl."
"Natalia, you're not." Mouse sighed and Natalia shot her a look of fey amusement with halfmad eyes. "You're really not."
"'Allo." Ewan nodded at Taylor. "Ewan McCloud."
"He's a knight in shining armour." Natalia nodded firmly and Ewan's jacket started to slip off her shoulders.
"Careful, bonny," the endearment slipped easily from Ewan's lips as he straightened the jacket again. "They tore her shirt. So, I gave her my jacket."
Taylor
Taylor raised an eyebrow at Ewan's body language.
Another 'language' he knew quite well.
"Mr. McCloud," he nodded in greeting, before leaning forward and kissing Mouse's neck.
"I think it's about time we headed back."
Natalia and Ewan
"Yeah." Mouse nodded. "Hey, I did actually manage to buy you a shirt, Natalia. So why don't we go and get that on and then you can give Mr McCloud back his jacket?"
"'K." Natalia followed Mouse docilely. Ewan sighed and rubbed a hand through his red hair.
"Ummm..." What he wanted to ask was about Natalia. Who was she. Why did she talk about herself the way she did. Why the collar and manacles. Shackles too, he could see them as she walked off with Mouse. But he didn't think he could ask these two guys that. They were rather protective. "You pack a mean punch," he said ruefully as he rubbed his aching jaw, nodding at Ike.
Isaac
"Umm, thanks... sorry again," Isaac replied. "The repair of the camera... how much do you think it's going to be? Or shall I just let you send us the bill?"
Ewan
Ewan lifted his camera up to look it over more thoroughly. "Jest the flash got a bit cracked. Shouldn't be that much." He shrugged. "Fifty, maybe? I kin cover it, it's no problem."
Taylor
"I'm sure we can cover it," Taylor insisted, looking between Ewan and Ike.
He squeezed Mouse's shoulders a little, in a sign that he wanted to leave.
Mouse, Natalia and Ewan
"Thanks for that, anyway," Mouse said politely as she handed Ewan back his jacket. He shrugged it on and grinned disarmingly.
"Wasna a problem. Nice meeting you, anyway." Mouse kept her polite smile on as she hunted for her wallet.
"You said you thought fifty would cover it? Here, and thank you again for helping Natalia." She handed him some money.
"Wasna a problem, really. Stay away from bad men, ok, bonny?" Ewan smiled at Natalia and she ducked her head. "Thanks for paying for me to fix my camera." He put the money carefully in his wellworn wallet, before tucking it back in his jacket pocket.
"Not a problem." Mouse smiled. SHe was glad he had helped Natalia, there was just something this little bit off about him.
"Thank you, Ewan," Natalia whispered.
"Anything for a damsel in distress. Hope your tour goes well," he commented then walked away. "G'bye."
"Bye, and thanks again," Mouse said to his retreating back.
"Nae a problem, miss!" Ewan soon disappeared into the shopping crowds.
"Well. I've definetly had enough excitement for today. Do we want to grab something to eat here or go back to the house?" Mouse asked Taylor and Ike.