Is He Your Man Or Isn't He?

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:29 pm

Kassandra flinched at the other woman’s scream, hurting her ears, then kicked out again as they flipped over, pulling her hair free and scratching with her fingernails. Then she was on her back, hands raking at the other woman’s front, trying to move her legs to kick out again as she knelt on top of her, dragging her other hand away where she supported herself and biting at her fingers.

A cold shiver of horror washed through her at the sound of more ripping clothes- she hadn’t… she froze, then she saw red, pummelling at her stomach and hooking one arm around her neck, fingers ripping at her loose hair and trying to get a good handful to drag free. Her face was scarlet with rage and humiliation, oblivious to the nasty feedback she got when she charged up her left arm with green magic, grabbing hold of the woman’s neck and digging her nails in.

God, thank goodness for her long skirt. Kassandra didn’t know if she was going to compromise her modesty for the upper hand again.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:21 pm

The pain was unimaginable and she could only reach up to rake her nails across the woman's face. They had been rolling around in the dirt a while now, and while they'd rolled farther from the woman's sword, they'd rolled closer to Bishop's knife. She didn't notice, at first, but when she reached back to grab a handful of dirt to cram in the woman's face, her fingers hit the hilt. She grasped it and stabbed it down into the woman's thigh, her face tight with pain, the tendons in her neck corded and sweat and dirt mixing on her pale skin.

She shoved the woman off, drawing the knife out and rolled to her feet. A quick stock of her surroundings told her that the woman's sword was nowhere near her, and while she was concerned with the stab wound, Bishop was catching her breath. She hurt all over and she was sure she had burns wherever the bitch's lightning magic had struck. But she was not down or out yet, and she had a weapon now, too.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:38 pm

Kassandra took the scratches across her face without making too much noise, scrunching up her eyes tightly so she didn’t catch them with her nails. When she suddenly stabbed her though, completely not expecting the attack with a proper weapon again, she screamed, letting go in shock and trying to twist away, one hand going to her leg. She was slower to some sort of defensive position, half crouched on the ground with one hand pressed to the new wound. Too late, she realised that was a bad plan- she should have used her arm and sleeve, because now she was going to get all sorts of havoc off her magic, if she used that hand.

Moaning, she forced herself up again, colouring at the state of her trousers and trying to shift her weight so she still had a good footing, but didn’t have to put too much pressure on her now injured leg. The fact that she was unarmed, and worse off at least in a sense that she was bleeding more, was quite apparent, and although she was still furious, she had to try and think of some way to outsmart this harlot now. She had to get that knife away from her, without getting stabbed a second time.

Back to long range attacks again, then. She snarled, feeling her lips stretch where that witch had clawed them across.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:54 pm

Bishop shook her head. "I know you don't think ahead, Electra, but that leg is going to do you in, and while you don't want to kill me, I will stab you again if we keep on fighting, and I can't promise it will be in the leg." She hoped the woman understood that she could have stabbed her elsewhere. In her armpit, actually, which was not only excruciatingly painful, but deadly. The blade was long enough that could have pierced a lung. She gestured at the crowd. "You started it, and you're making it worse by the minute. I can keep this up, but I would really rather get back to work. Maybe when you want to talk, real-like, I'll sit down with you."

She didn't keep still though, and she had her eyes on Kassandra the whole time while she spoke, looking for her to throw out some magic. She had nothing else, and if Bishop saw it in time, she could duck and dodge. She just hoped the pain screwed with her concentration.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:17 pm

Grimacing at both the woman’s words, and the pain, Kassandra let herself slump a little more and try not to break, ignoring the throbbing pain across her face and splitting headache she had earnt herself. There was going to be a black eye there too, she could tell. Her head twitched towards the crowd as Red gestured to it, and she self-consciously turned away a little, putting her spare hand across her front to hold her ripped shirt a little better.

Ah damn, she was in no shape for this any more. She quietly gave a hollow laugh, more at herself than the other woman, shuffling across a few steps with the other’s pacing, but moving nowhere near as far.
“Back to work? You’re going back to work straight off, Red?” she licked her lips, making them sting. A stupid thought popped into her head, let’s see if we can delay that for a bit longer. Kassandra was already in the worse state, and this just proved it, with her thoughts all fuzzy.

She straightened up properly, holding herself up with as much confidence as she could muster, bruised and hurt and dirty and raggy clothed, then brought up one hand and let off a last little bolt of electricity, twitching at the zap of feedback she got.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:52 pm

Bishop threw herself to the ground and cursed. What a dumbass, she thought, and got to her feet, throwing the knife at the other woman. "You're actually dumber than you look." Bishop knew women got jealous, it was a fact of life, but to keep fighting at this point really took a dummy. She was bleeding, sorely wounded, scratched up, bruised and aching, yet she was still trying to fight. She was just lucky she picked a fight with someone that happened to not be as able as say, Armeno or really anyone who could fight. Bishop was more of an ambusher, she didn't have much skirmishing skills, but if she could bring the woman to such a low, how easily would a real fighter have knocked her lights out?

"You done now?"

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:06 pm

Of course she didn’t hit her, she was never going to hit her. Perhaps her doubt hadn’t helped her aim, but Kassandra didn’t feel disappointed as her magic splatted against a building a little way off, just exhausted. On Red’s returning attack, she just let her weight onto her injured leg, collapsing out of the way of the flying knife. It caught her sleeve and knicked part of her arm, but that was so bearable in comparison to the rest of her. Whimpering in pain, she pushed herself half upright, sitting on the ground with her legs curled to the side, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground before slowly looking up. Her eyes were half-scrunched in pain.

“Yeah. We’re done.”

What the heck she was going to do now, she didn’t know. Despite the crowd, they weren’t going to help her. This whole thing had been stupid, stupid as anything she’d tried before.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:11 pm

"Well then get your sorry ass up and limp on inside. We'll see if Berta can patch your crazy ass up and then we can chat like civilized ladies." She stalked past her, wrenching the knife from the post it had embedded itself into and handed it to the man she'd taken it from . There was a mumbling about how it'd ended all anticlimactic, but Bishop could care less. As neighbors and patrons returned to what they were doing, Bishop sat in the kitchen and let one of the girls see to her myriad wounds. "Might wanna go send someone out to go help her in. I stabbed her leg good."

The serving girls tittered and Berta shook her head. "Y'always causin trouble."

Bishop put her hand to her diminutive chest. "Me? I ain't never made no trouble in my entire life, I swear to me baby's father's pecker."

The girls tittered and Berta guffawed. "You're hoping it falls off arentcha?"

Bishop grinned, and winced because grinning hurt too.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:26 pm

“I’m not crazy,” muttered Kassandra under her breath, catching her breath before shoving at the ground and getting to her feet again, trying not to wobble as she started to limp back towards the tavern, trying her best to ignore those still sticking around to watch. She gratefully accepted help when it was offered, hopping inside and slumping across the table they left her at, clutching one hand around the wreck of her shirt and holding it up, leaning her head down against the table and her other arm. After sitting like that for a few minutes and feeling the pound in her head, she rested back against the chair, prodding at a nice black eye that she could feel forming on her cheek, then starting to wash off the blood and dirt in a bucket of water one of the serving girls brought her- along with her discarded cloak, thank the gods.

After a bit, when she was completely sick of people staring at her, she was taken behind the bar to the kitchen too, shamefacedly ignoring the other woman as someone else started to patch her up. She half hoped that she could have passed out, standing up again, but so such luck.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:47 pm

Bishop eyed her and was amused to see she was ashamed. "So you do have some kinda sense." She told one of the girls to get a replacement blouse for her and an apron. "Joanna will sew up your pants if you take them off and wear the apron a little while." She was cleaning her nails now, wincing as the serving girl sitting next to her slathered ointment on her myriad burns. "Well we both look a mess now don't we. So, Electra, what's this all about?" She sort of knew, but she'd been more concerned beating the woman in this fight they'd started. Now that she got a good look at her, she was a pretty woman, albeit bruised and she took private delight in the pain she was in while the girls sewed up her thigh.

"Fighting over a man is silly. Men are temporary."

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 7:13 pm

Kassandra hid her small appreciation for the offer of clothes with a quiet murmur, turning her back and wriggling into the new shirt she was offered as quickly as possible, her face burning hot again as she swapped over. She hated showing people the horrible scars on her back, and this was pretty much the worst case for having them exposed. She dragged her cloak over her front and lap too when changing her trousers, probably a little too under-relieved at the fact there were no men around as well. Rolling up her sleeves to her elbows, she tentatively helped herself to some burn ointment for her own hands (bloody electricity, it was as much a hazard to herself as it was other people, no wonder she got jumpy using it). She had to stop when they fixed the wound in her leg though, pressing her hands against her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut so she didn’t scream, until they were done.

“Armeno’s not temporary,” she said once she’d got her breath back, dabbing at her face with its scratches again. “You didn’t… really do what… you said you did, did you?” she asked tentatively, looking up from her slightly bowed head. Averting her eyes again, she went back to the burn lotion, feeling a lot more battered than Red looked.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:14 pm

"I sure did cuss him and wriggle. That's all I did. He just pressed me to the ground. Nothing happened, you nut." She chuckled. "I said it that way to rile you, but trust me, you was askin for it. Did he tell ya I did anythin?" She waited and when she got no answer she smiled. "So why'd ya come here then? To get the truth out of me or somethin?" She snorted and stood. "If you love the elf or whatever, that ain't got shit to do with me, and I'd like it if ya took yer insecurities out on somebody else. Them green electricity things hurt."

She stood and changed her blouse not at all ashamed of her small breasts. She let another serving girl help her into her corset again. "If yer serious about him. Maybe you should trust him more is all I'm saying. He didn't seem like such a shitty guy."

Berta brought in one of her babies and handed him to her. "Here, you bathe this one while I change the other."

Bishop smiled. "Bath time girls, let's fill a pot and make us baby stew." There was a round of giggles, and her little redheaded son giggled along grabbing at his mummy's curls.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:37 pm

Going red faced again, Kassandra felt herself go lightheaded, but it wasn’t from anger this time, more embarrassment at her stupidity. She stared at the floor, biting her tongue until the redhead stood, flicking her another glance. Now she knew nothing had happened, she just felt like a fool- certainly had acted like one, no wonder she had just earnt herself ‘crazy’ and ‘nutter’ titles. Insecurities, yeah, she had managed to prove that much, too.
Crossing one arm across her front, she held up the other with a gulp, showing Red her own burns. “Don’t I know it, those things hurt.” She didn’t sound nearly as amused as she had tried to be, and her mouth twitched before she folded that arm across her chest too. At least Red didn’t have to put up with them frequently.

“He’s not a ‘shitty guy’,” she said with a nod, turning to look at the other woman properly once she had changed too. “Probably better for me, than I am for him. And I do trust him. I do, it’s just…” she paused, trying to work out things in her head, but none of it made sense, even to her. It was like she had been slapped round the face, and forced to see things the right way. Hey, that had pretty much been what had happened, too. “Oh, I don’t know.” She drooped in her chair, then frowned when Red suddenly got given a baby, her eyes switching between the two of them before she made the connection.
“Do you have a baby?” she asked, the question sounding stupid, but she hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t expected the woman who had just beaten her black and blue to also be a mother.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:21 pm

She grinned fiercely. "Got me two, actually. Twins. Greedy fat little things. I'm telling Berta to tell her girl to whelp them soon, or they'll drain her dry." Her son giggled and splashed the water when he was put in and Bishop went to scrubbing him. "Haven't named them yet, it's bad luck to before they've seen their second year of life. I wouldn't want to jinx it you know." She soaped up his hair and curled it into a little curly-Q. She looked back at Electra and figured she didn't have any kids. She seemed to be a little too crazy to knock up. "My name's Bishop, by the way. What's yours?"

She wrinkled her nose, the freckles across them bunching together as her son splashed her face. "Little git." But she said it with love. "Oh, don't get scared, there might be a big ol' Dog roamin around askin fer bones. Pitiful bastard. He's mine too."

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:33 pm

Raising her eyebrows at the revelation that this woman had two children, Kassandra sat and watched from her spot nearby at the table, then finally getting curious about the little giggling lump splashing around, tentatively craned her head a little to see better. He was cute, but she wasn’t sure it was her sort of thing… the thought of having to look after anyone else but herself was a frightening prospect, and she had enough to be dealing with already. With the shit she dug herself into on a daily basis, doing it with a child in tow… well, neither of them would last very long, and it probably a little longer than her. Perhaps that was why Bishop had been so vicious, because she had to come back to her babies unscathed enough to keep looking after them?

“Kassandra,” she said, then the smallest twist of a smile tugged at her features. “Not Electra.” Although that name was a new one, she didn’t mind it much. It didn’t have the same ugly tone as the other nicknames she had been given. “I’m not scared of a dog, either… sounds like you’ve got some proper set up here. Kids and a dog…” Wow, bit different to her own here-there-everywhere lifestyle. “And then, the temporary man?”

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:52 pm

Bishop snorted, rinsing off her wiggly son. "There is no man." Unlike Kassandra, she didn't have a man, especially not one like Armeno. "Their dad ran off, and I don't know where he is, and there's this guy that comes around sometimes, his name is Del'ure, but he's not the settling type, I think." She grabbed a towel and plucked her child from the water, wrapping him snugly and drying his hair. "So it's just me, my babies and the fine people of this establishment." She chuckled as she saw her hound begging scraps from one of the girls shelling peas. "And my mangy Dog and my Bird." She'd almost forgot the other two in her weird circus of a family. Still, she didn't mind it. They were loyal to her, and that's what mattered, and she couldn't hate her babies.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:27 am

Kassandra had thought as much, there being no man around. Truth be told, Bishop didn’t seem the type for settling down and letting someone else take care of her- even without fighting, that was plain to see. Things were almost the opposite between the pair of them; Kassandra had the man, but no babies, or friends to speak of, while Bishop had the kids and the friends, but nobody to give her any loving attention at the end of the day.
“Even without the man, you still have the set up. A bird too…” she raised her eyebrows and looked at the table. This whole settled atmosphere was very alien to her, especially the way Bishop was taking such care with her baby. There was none of that out in the wild. The only softness came from Armeno. This made her nervous, nervous in a different way to before, back in the main part of the tavern. Damn her trousers not being fixed yet, otherwise she would have cut it short and left then, painful to walk as it was, or no. She surreptitiously looked around for the woman, Joanna, who was fixing them, but she wasn’t finished yet. Well probably her fixing them, than Kassandra herself, was the best plan. Kassandra would sooner stab herself accidentally with the needle than get anywhere useful with sewing.

“Well, it’s not for me,” she said shortly, dismissing the idea of living like Bishop might. It was quieter, but the thought of living around lots of other people… the paranoid side of her firmly resisted to that.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:30 pm

"It wasn't for me either, then I became a mother and it's extremely hard to mother children out in the wild. They're much healthier and happier here... and I suppose I can deal with all the roughnecks that come in wanting this or that." She sat her swaddled baby on the counter and accepted the clothing from another serving girl. First put his new diaper on, then wrestled him into his clothing. Booped his nose when it was all done and handed him off to another girl to bring to Berta. "I love them, my babies, but I would have personally preferred it if I stayed childless. I like being out there better than in here. People are..." She leaned close and murmured so that the other girls wouldn't hear. "People are untrustworthy, and they'll hurt you at some point, or expect something out of you that you don't want to give." She leaned back. "I'm just glad all they want me to do is work off the damages. I owe quite a bit of money to the tavern owner and your boyfriend, Armeno, was nice enough to indenture me into servitude." She grinned.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sat Sep 15, 2012 12:22 am

Kassandra nodded again, looking at the table. She had less trouble with bandits and such as she generally travelled on her own (or at least had, in the past), and could easily avoid the large groups. Managing the same thing with two children, and no electricity to back her up though… it would have been very difficult for Bishop.

She flinched away out of habit when the other woman leaned in close, her long fingers twitching on the tabletop. It didn’t even register to her that she was much too jumpy, that such an act should have been quite the ordinary. Even when Bishop moved away again, she stayed tense for another few seconds before relaxing.
“I understand. I don’t trust people. ‘Cept… Except Armeno.” Did that even count, now? After all, things had been rocky, and that was an understatement, really. No doubt another argument would occur once they met up again, the next town over. Probably because she had been stupid, and gotten herself beaten black and blue.

Wincing at the thought of having to pay damages, and the current state of her finances (moths-in-the-pockets, as usual), Kassandra grimaced. Dammit, she had been much too hot-headed earlier, there were things she had broken too. She licked her lips nervously, then looked up.
“Am I indentured to servitude too now, then?”

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:51 pm

Bishop noticed the way she flinched and held her guard up long after she was out of her personal space. Kassandra reminded her of a lot of the women and boys in bandit camps, who were afraid of being hit, to the point of always being on guard. Constantly scared. She wondered what happened to Kassandra to make her so neurotic. Maybe if the woman could calm down long enough to sit for a spell, she could get it out of her. But as it was, she didn't want to keep her any longer than she had to. The last thing she wanted to do was make Kassandra uncomfortable. She made sure to keep her distance, and chuckled low at her baseless fear.

"Nah, I'll probably have to work it off. It's fine. The longer I stay, the better care my little monsters have. I sort of don't want to take them out into the wild until I can start teaching them survival skills." And she planned to leave, despite the warmth and stability, she planned to go back to the wild, in uncertain conditions to live a life determined by her ability to survive.

She was like a wild animal, temporarily domesticated, hooded even, but once the jesses and the hood were off, she'd fly and never come back.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:56 am

Shuffling in her seat, Kassandra was relieved to hear that she would not be put to work behind the bar. To be honest, it was probably for the best; if she didn’t put off the customers with her glare, she would have been jumping at every other noise or movement. She traced a few lines with her fingers across her hands, making her red skin tingle.
“Thank you,” she muttered. Knowing that she wouldn’t have to try and talk to other people, act normal- especially to those people who she had been embarrassed so thoroughly in front of, outside- was like a weight dropping off her shoulders. She did not do well with other people.

She did not know what to think of the way that Bishop just shrugged off the damages that she had caused, using it as a way to better the lives of her children. It struck her that Bishop was a selfless person, to act in such a way, despite the tough exterior.

Thankfully, before Kassandra had to continue to make more conversation (as good as it probably was for her), the other serving girl came back with her now-fixed trousers. Thank the gods for a good seamstress. She hurriedly pulled them on and stood gingerly, testing her weight. The little colour in her face disappeared again as she tried to hop her way around the table. This wasn’t fun.

((IT'S 5AM OMG))

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Sat Nov 03, 2012 5:51 pm

Bishop watched her, a brow ticked and shook her head in disbelief. "Hey, why don't you take a minute and let someone get you a stick to lean on before you go popping your stitches and bleeding out all over my floor? I gotta clean that, you know." She was smiling though, which took the bite out of her reprimand. "So eager t'just run off when y'can't even run." She barked a laugh and pushed a stool over to Kassandra so she could sit. "An' don't thank me about you not workin. Thank my boss. He blames me for all the damages that happens 'round here." But he was a nice man and was only trying to get Bishop to stay until her young ones were old enough that taking them into the wild wasn't an awful mistake. She was glad for his concern, but not even his concern would change her mind when the time to go came around.

Subject: Re: Is He Your Man Or Isn't He? Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:45 pm

Awh dammit, Kassandra didn’t want to have to be held back by a stick- didn’t want to have to be held back by a bloody great gash in her leg either, but that wasn’t reason enough to stay standing when Bishop pushed over a chair for her to sit on. She sunk down gratefully onto it again, closing her eyes momentarily in relief. Not that it made a huge amount of difference, now she had aggravated it, but… better than nothing. She was going to have to work on this as soon as she could, because being stuck in one place was not going to do her any favours.

Bishop probably respected something like that, she knew what it was like to be cooped up. When she wanted to run even when she couldn’t, with two children… That didn’t make Kassandra any more inclined to stay though, even if it might help her learn a little patience. It was her own bloody fault.
“What the hell am I supposed to do until I can get out of here…” she mumbled under her breath with a sigh. No matter, there’d be something for a loose end to do. In a busy place like this, there was always the need for extra hands, even when they weren’t very skilled.

((I am thinking random timeskip to somewhere/sometime else, yes?))