When he said that the woman he had been talking to might be off talking to someone else, Marian’s eyes soften as she looked up at him from behind her mask. That was sad because he seemed like a decent guy. “Well it’s her loss.” She said in a reassuring fashion with a charming white smile before she covered her mouth to not laugh with her mouth full about his comment of not wanting to come in between a woman and her food. Every man should now that lesson.

She listened closely to him talk about what he does for a job and nodded a few times as he explained. His comment about the lawyers made her smile and the mention of the overconfident cocky ones mad her laugh. “Oh I knew one of those but… well sometimes bad things happen to those types and no matter how annoying they are… they don’t deserve it.” Her eyes softened and dropped. Even though she didn’t like Robert Locksley, she knew what happened to him wasn’t far and shouldn’t have happened at all. Then he touched on her favorite topic and her entire outlook changed, a bright smile came across her face and her bright blue eyes twinkled up to him. She opened her mouth to respond to him before she was cut off by the sound of a voice showing up and her attention turned.

Jason and Edward Taylor approached them. The young man looked like a spitting image of his father but younger. The same large charming smile and the same oozing confidence that got his father very far in life, “Robin is not a fun man; he attacks people and deserves to be behind bars. But fear not, the police force are out chasing him and his merry men down.”

“Actually.” The curly haired blonde responded, pulling the father and son’s attention to her instead of the young man. “He only goes after the bad people; be a good person and you’ll be fine.”

“On the contrary Marian,” Edward said in a gentle correcting state. “He goes after rich people; higher class people and Marian, you do fall under that category. But fear not…” He said softly with a smile to her. “I’ll protect you.” Somehow, she felt like his words were true and to that, she gave him a small smile, only to have the masked man she was talking to before step in to talk to the men. This was the distraction she needed in order to stuff her face, so she turned and snagged a couple sandwiches and placed her empty cup on the now empty tray.

Marian turned back around to find the young man talking to her again. His response of asking her for a dance as met with a closed mouth smile and nod since her mouth was full of food. While the young man walked away, Edward slid next to her. “Do you know who he is?” 

“I just know his name’s John Smith, he seems nice.” “I don’t think he knows the town well enough to speak so positively about Robin Hood. I hope he’s careful.” It was surprising to hear that Edward would worry about someone but at least he was showing a caring side. Marian found an excuse to walk away from the two men before it could turn into something awkward like attempting to set up yet another date with Edward that she would have to dodge yet again. 

After wondering for a bit and getting her fill of food she noticed the dance floor was finally picking up. The waltz being a favorite dance of the older generation so hers had to learn it to. While she enjoyed these events she really avoided ones that Robert would be attending because she couldn’t stand him, so it was unknown to her if he’d be a good dancer and able to keep up with her. But as she felt the stares growing from Edward she knew she needed an escape. So she found her masked from and tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to be leaving soon so if you want to cash in that dance you better so it now.”