Eight or nine? In any case, it was one too many... (Open)

[Verus]

TS: Sometime in Optia.

It had been an eventful evening for Temujin, not on duty with the Crimson Lions, the rhaghrnd had been out enjoying the evening around the city, drinking and playing dice at whichever taverns he happened to stumble across. He had been enjoying a run of good luck at the dice, but that could very well be considered bad luck as well, win too often and the other guy wants his money back, usually he claims the dice were loaded, even after Temujin let each one of them check them over.

Now, now he was stumbling through the streets, rather drunk. Not the best behavior to show when looking after a child, but it happened from time to time. He had a black eye to show for his evening of fun, a sailor hadn't liked losing his crowns. However, Temujin still had his own purse and dice, so while he couldn't remember the outcome of the fight he assumed that he had won it. The barkeep had thrown him out afterwards for it, but it had been worth it. The rhaghrnd didn't care if he hadn't got the crowns he had rightfully won, he enjoyed scraping and that had made his evening.

Coming up to a crossroads, he staggered and leaned against the wall of the closest building. "Hmmm..." He muttered to himself. "I think it's that way," he said, seemingly it helped to hear his thoughts out loud. Turning the corner, Temujin continued on his staggering journey through the darkening.

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

Iseult hadn't really taken much of a liking to Archadoon. Whatever the reason was, the place just bothered her. Maybe it was the population of dracons she kept seeing all around her or maybe it was simply that it wasn't home. She didn't know. She just didn't like it and not liking the place made her restless. She'd tried to get some sleep that darkening, but she'd given up and decided to, stupidly, go for a walk. She'd have stayed in the tavern but the drunks were gathering, getting rowdy--perhaps this was the reason why she could not, in the end sleep (Iseult was accustomed to having her own home without the rowdy people below to keep her awake)--and Iseult had no desire to deal with the drunks.

But it wasn't long before Iseult took note of the fact that she'd taken one turn too many and, as a result, she was perhaps just a trifle lost. She kept walking, mindful of the fact that a person who looked confused and lost more often made themselves a target for the undesirables and Iseult had every intention of not coming off as a helpless female regardless of how lost she got. And maybe that was going to turn out to be her problem. Maybe she should simply stop and ask for directions or help.

She rounded a corner and nearly full on collided with a man who seemed more inclined towards stumbling than walking straight. He stank of booze and smoke, a clear indication of his earlier activities, and Iseult backed away from him immediately. "What'd you do, roll in a cesspit?" she snapped as she tried to move clear of him.

[Verus]

As Temujin's stumbling wondering lead him through the city streets, he suddenly came to a stumbling halt as a woman ran into him and the sudden shift in his own weight put him on his arse.

Shaking his head to try and clear his vision, he squinted up at the tall woman, her appearance slowly coming into focus. "Ah the woman from the tavern, still with the vicious tongue I see," he slurred, pushing himself to his feet rather awkwardly and stumbling into a wall for support. "Let me ask you something? Why do you insult me? A stranger who you don't know. Are you simply a bitch by nature?" Bitch... it wasn't an insult, but to the drunken rhaghrnd it was the most fitting description of her at the moment that he could think of.

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

Iseult took a slight step back, eyes piercing down at the man sprawled on the ground. She hadn't recognized him at first--couldn't have, not with the darkness and having not initially seen him--but now the pale hair, the obvious difference in the height, she knew him as well as she could have on sight alone, even if she didn't know a name or anything about him. She scowled, taking another step back as he got to his feet in a sloppy manner. Just her luck, running into this one. She touched her jaw on reflex. It was sore and delicate to the touch and purpled with a dark circle of a bruise.

As if realizing that she was giving recognition to his handiwork, her hand dropped hastily and she regarded him with an altered expression--as if she was bored and he was simply wasting her time. Of course, the annoyance was still in evidence--it merely took a review of the glint in her eyes, the tightness around her mouth to see it. He seemed drunk, too drunk perhaps to be able to do any damage as he'd done the brightening before...but she still wouldn't have put it past him--drunks tended to get aggressive when pushed too far. She'd seen that handfuls of times. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't?" she responded, stiff and clipped. "Haven't seen a good reason not to, particularly given your current...condition."

[Verus]

"'n they call... me the barb'rian," Temujin muttered under his breath as he heard the woman's answer. "Well, the fain... main reason is you've nofin to back up cher insults... and yer moth'll just git ya in trouble..." Breaking his answer up with a belch, he continued on. "Plus, it ain't relly that civil, or polite... ratha quit rude act'lly," he said pushing himself away from the wall.

"Show, 'less yer gonna be'a ittle more nicer, I've a kid I might's well go check on... 'n I ain't r'lly ina mood to beat a w'man os moth's a bit biga then 'er brain be." With that, Temujin staggered a couple steps from the wall, looking around, a little lost but not about to admit it, he waited for a reply from the woman, kind of hoping she'd tame her tongue a little bit.

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

ooc: your avatar disturbs me but...strangely...I am not surprised with you

ic:
"How am I the barbarian?" she responded irritably. "You're the one staggering around drunk. Look at you. A filthy little pig. It's repulsive." She snapped her mouth shut as he drove his point home about being civil or polite. Rude. Her? Rude? Okay...maybe a little. But...at least she wasn't a sloppy looking drunk leaning on the wall for support. Not that she'd never been that way herself... But that didn't matter because he didn't know that.

She stared at him for a moment. It was hard to follow exactly what he was trying to say because he was slurring left and right with the fluid ease of...someone who had consumed way too much fluid. Was he suggesting she just be nice so he'd stick around and talk with her? And he was thinking she'd stop and talk with him...why? "You have a kid? And you think leaving it alone in the middle of the night and coming home like a drunken sod is a good way to raise a kid?" she demanded incredulously. Not that Iseult knew much on model parents, considering her own were either absent or busy screwing. Still, she liked to think it gave her some authority on what made a bad parent. Even if it wasn't any of her business.

[Verus]

Temujin began to get irritated when the woman began insulting him on how he was raising the kid. "Ah may com 'ome ery once'n'a will drunk... but I be damned betta than tha fellow usd to beat 'er fer tha 'ell of it," he rhaghrnd said defensively. He had never said he was a good parent, hell, he wasn't a parent at all. He had tried to find the girl a good family to raise her, but she had insisted on staying with him, and after some time he had finally given in to her.

"'An who's given ya tha right ta juge? Bet'cha dun even ave many a kind word fer yer own fam'ly," the 'barbarian' retorted. He had had about enough of the insults, he felt like hitting the bitch, but then, unless another swung first, he didn't like fighting drunk, not trusting his decisions to be right at the time. "Well, I"ll bid'ju go'bah, hope ya do well on the corna 'ere," he insulted her, then stumbled away. Glancing over his shoulder he added, "Might wanna lighten' up on'a insults if'n yer hopin ta get a patron or two." Then he promptly tripped over his own feet and landed in a heap, finding the street rather comfortable and laying there for a moment, starring up at the stars.

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

The hot-headed retort that followed her callous conclusions about his parenting skills was not one that Iseult had been expecting. It got her to keep her mouth shut, at least, and she stared at him with fixed annoyance--because it was the only way she knew how to respond when she'd overstepped her boundaries (even if she should have been apologizing). She didn't fumble through a response, simple clamped her lips together and stared.

But that staring ended quickly...as could be quite understandable given the words flowing easily enough out of the drunk's mouth. Her fingers curled up against the palm of her hands, nails digging as she told herself to simply ignore it. He didn't know her. He didn't know anything about her. But how dare the little bastard? Her? Some filthy little street-walker? A whore?

Iseult was not, by nature, a violent individual. But at that moment, Iseult could have tossed all those restraints away in favor of throttling the little man and pounding a fist into his face. But she was sober and she wasn't stupid. She was, however, furious and it showed in the whitening of her face and the terse manner in which she carried herself...and the silence that hung over her for a few lingering moments. "You've no idea what you're talking about, midget. Don't call me a whore." And she'd do what exactly? He'd already proven he could get a good hit into her face if he really wanted to. Although...he was more than just a little drunk.

Iseult's tendency to run her mouth failed her. She resumed glowering at him, too stunned to move off...which would have been the smart thing in that instance.

[Verus]

Laying on the ground, Temujin watched the stars for a while, grunting as the woman retorted to his comment about her being a whore. Cocking his head to the side, he looked at her. "You see a drunk man and say he's a bad parent, I see a woman on the corner at this time a darkening and say she's a whore," he said, leaving his words there for here to put a moment of thought into, if she was capable. After a couple moments he returned his gaze to the stars and finished, "Do you get the point?"

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

Kicking him would have been more than easy enough at that moment. There he sprawled, content as could be on the cobblestones, staring up at the sky. What a moron. And he wasn't exactly improving her mood just then, either, persisting in this business of her acting the whore. It was...ridiculous. Her? A whore? Whatever point he was trying to make, she didn't seem to see it. She was too focused on the fact that he was calling her a whore. Of all things."Whore or not, you'd be the last one I'd take coin from," she responded, keeping her tone level and icy.

She stood rooted to the ground, staring at the man sprawled out on the ground, staring up at the sky. He had a kid to get home to and there he was, not moving, just a drunk ass laying on the ground. "Besides, it doesn't take seeing a drunk man to think he's a bad father. Look at you. That how you're going to get home to take care of your kid? Staring at the sky?"

[Verus]

Cocking his head to the side for a moment, Temujin remarked, "I never offered you coin, but your welcome to continue your wishful thinking." Looking back at the sky, Temujin was silent. The woman's remarks had stopped irritating him, he knew he wasn't a bad father, and arguing with this bitch was like arguing with a child. Like one of the children he'd seen plug their ears and scream there point.

But regardless, he was too comfortable to get up and leave, and although she was bad company she was at least someone to argue with until he had the energy to get up. "The kid looks after herself for the most part. It's how she's grown up to be, it'd be more of an insult than anything if I became the 'loving father.' Anyways, she's in the barrack's sleeping now, I'd just wake her up if I came through the door like this."

[Aydyn Blair]

ooc: my turn for a boo boo

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

Iseult deigned to ignore his jibe, even if it made her boil a little inside. Her jaw shifted a little to the side as she grit her together and she looked off down the road. She was standing here...next to a man staring up at the sky. Drunk. What a scene that must have made.

Barracks? Iseult's brows furrowed as he pointed out where his kid was located. Barracks? "Do you know the first thing about raising a kid?" Iseult asked irritably. "What the feth is she doing in a barracks?" It really wasn't any of her business...not that Iseult really cared one whit. This was a kid. A little girl. In a barracks. Didn't he have any idea of what sort of people men could be? "Are you daft?" Stupid question. Wasn't it clear?

[Verus]

"Ah, so it's not just me I see, you've just got a bone to pick with men in general," Temujin replied, his gaze not wavering from the stars. "No, I don't know much about raising a kid, I didn't exactly look to become a parent, but then again, I very much doubt that you know all that much more then me about raising one. Two, I'm a soldier, where else would she be, but the barracks? And, four... err, three, I'd like to think I'm not" the rhaghrnd said, answering the woman's questions in order.

"Let me ask you something now, where would you raise a kid, but in your own home? Would you put her up at the local inn to be eyed by the patrons? Perhaps you'd ship her off to relatives? Obviously I did something wrong by raising her were I live, have you any suggestions where I should move her to?" Now his gaze moved, staring at Isuelt's face, it would have been staring at her eyes but her features kind of melted together in his drunken state, he awaited an answer, curious how she'd respond.

[Iseult Fluersdotter]

Iseult didn't deny that she had an issue with men. She knew it, everyone else knew it. There was no denying it. She shrugged a little as he pointed it out. And so what if she did? She had merely witnessed some of the stuff men were capable of and had no desire to experience it herself.

"Kids shouldn't grow up in a barracks," she retorted, as per his question about where she'd move her. "They need a house. A stable house. With someone who's going to look after them and not be off getting themselves boozed, leaving them there on their own." It really wasn't all that different from her mother going off and leaving them most nights to go have a romp around with men. It wasn't a great living environment, but perhaps better than when she brought them home with her.

"Or can't you afford something like that on guard wages?" she snapped at him, peeved because the man just seemed...dense.