Mini EP...

[wedobones]

More than anything, Gideon just feels like she needs to work off some nervous energy. She misses her two-hander like a limb, like a part of her. She misses her rapier and her gauntlett which, thouh they hadn't ever loved her like her two-hander had, they'd been fine.

(These are not, an insidious little voice reminds her in the back of her head. The only things you miss. She chooses not to listen to that voice).

There's gym equipment set up in the park and, of all of it, Gideon appreciates the heavy hanging bag the best. She'd bought herself some gloves that reminded her in fit and heft of her gauntlet and now she's doing her level best to knock the shit out of it. In the absence of a warm and willing body and a sword in her hand, it's probably the best next thing.

It stops her thinking, anyway.

Comments

[complexfemalecharacter]

"Well, usually they're shitty blokes, so I'd probably accuse them of trying to cop a feel," she answers. "Or I'd stomp on the inside of their foot as hard as I can in my big ass boots."

But honestly, she's never been in this situation. They never get this far and mostly because Moordale isn't exactly a place where a lot of really bad things happen.

[wedobones]

"You need to not let them get hold of you in the first place," says Gideon. Better than anyone, she knows that it's not always just shitty men that you have to worry about. "But, if they do..." She adjusts her hold on Maeve, one arm across her chest, "Lean your weight into the bend of my elbow."

[complexfemalecharacter]

Maeve shifts a little, doing what she's told, leaning into the crook of Gideon's elbow. "Like that?" she asks.

She's not sure what Gideon is leading up to here, but she's offered herself up and it sure as hell can't hurt anything to learn something like this. Maybe she'll be better prepared the next time something fucked up happens in this city.

[wedobones]

"Just like that," says Gideon. "Creates leverage, see?" She slips her hand between her body and Maeve's, wiggling her fingers. "Now you've got room to turn a little bit and elbow me really hard somewhere soft. Try it."

[complexfemalecharacter]

Maeve doesn't want to actually hurt Gideon. She knows she probably can't, Gideon is much more tough than she is, but at the same time, they're friends. Maeve doesn't love violence, not unless it's absolutely necessary.

Sometimes it is, though.

"I don't know if there's anywhere soft on you," she answers, but then she drives her elbow back anyway, not as hard as she could, but hard enough that she hopes Gideon won't call her on pulling it.

[wedobones]

Maeve's elbow makes a solid impact with Gideon's abdomen; it's not enough to wind her, quite, but it's a good attempt, all the same. She takes a step back, though, loosening her hold against Maeve's shoulders. "And that gives you the opportunity to run like fuck."

[complexfemalecharacter]

"Right now?" Maeve asks, knowing Gideon doesn't expect her to run in this moment. She smiles, though, and steps away, miming the movements she'd just done once more, committing them to memory.

The thing Maeve knows, better than most, is that even if women never plan on finding themselves in a situation where they need to hurt someone, they likely will anyway. Men have been catcalling her since she was thirteen. She learned early to protect herself.

[wedobones]

"Running away is totally underestimated as a self-defense technique," says Gideon, who'd made it all the way through Canaan House mostly because she'd had the best damn adept and known in her core when it was time to run for her fucking life. "Do you want to go get something to drink?"

[complexfemalecharacter]

"That's a segue that almost makes sense," Maeve says, grinning at Gideon. "But yeah, okay. Do you wanna change or anything first?"

Not because Maeve is bothered by it, but she has to figure the sweat will dry and get cold, especially if they go inside somewhere.

[wedobones]

"I've kicked ass, and now I want to go and have a drink with a hot girl I have zero chance with," says Gideon. She'd been deeply surprised to find out how shy she was at Canaan House but, the longer she knows Maeve, the less that seems to matter. "But you do have a point. If you don't mind swinging by my flat, I can shower?"

[complexfemalecharacter]

Maeve exhales a startled laugh and says, "Sorry I'm so straight."

Some of the time she is. Men tend to be gross more often than not and she's lucked out pretty well with Steve, but she's also experienced a lot of shit, too. There's probably shit with women as well, but maybe a different kind. A better kind.

"Yeah, let's go," she agrees. "I can snoop through your belongings while you get cleaned up."

[wedobones]

"Can't be helped," says Gideon, winking at her. She doesn't mean for it to be in any way sleazy; somehow, she's just not as shy around Maeve as she sometimes is around beautiful girls. Like she had been around Dulcinea; it pained her, but Harrow had been right about how she'd been around the Seventh Necromancer.

"Get ready for a shit-tonne of crappy books."

[complexfemalecharacter]

"No such thing as a crappy book," Maeve answers. "Some may have more literary value than others, but if a book entertains you, then it's accomplished exactly what its meant to."

There are books she doesn't like, but that doesn't mean someone else out there wouldn't love the same book.

"I think Catcher in the Rye is a shite book," she says. "But it's considered a classic."

[wedobones]

"You might want to reserve judgement," says Gideon who, even with all of the choice that Darrow offers, still enjoys books with scantily clad heroines on the cover. The internet has been a fucking revelation. "At least until you've read one of the sex scenes."

[complexfemalecharacter]

"Tell me they at least don't mention throbbing members," Maeve says, making a face. She has to hope, if nothing else, Gideon has at least had the good sense to find lesbian romance novels. And if she hasn't, Maeve to going to find some for her at New Leaf and donate them to the cause.

"You know I work at a bookstore, right?" she asks. "I can get you a discount."

[wedobones]

"Yeah, not a massive fan of members, throbbing or otherwise," says Gideon. Her golden-amber eyes do widen when Maeve says what she says next. She blinks. "No fucking way. Really?"

[complexfemalecharacter]

"Yeah," Maeve says, then laughs. "Really. New Leaf Used Books. It's on the corner of Maple and Harbor. It's kind of a shitshow in a lot of ways, but... in the best ways, too."

Most of the time if someone wants a specific book, Maeve will have no chance of finding it for them. Some of the shelves are organized, others are just piles of books she feels like someone dumped there years ago that has never been touched since.

[wedobones]

"Let me know the next time you're working," says Gideon. They get to her building and she lets them in, heading for the stairs since her apartment is only on the first floor. Once they're inside the apartment, she heads in the direction of her bedroom, already pulling her shirt over her head.

"Make yourself comfortable," she calls. "Okay?"

[complexfemalecharacter]

Maeve does exactly what she'd said she would do and heads for the books. They're not necessarily the ones she might pick for herself, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them and she flicks her fingers over a few spines before pulling one from the shelf.

"Jesus, she wasn't kidding," Maeve says with a laugh as she sinks onto the couch, reading one of the steamier passages.

[wedobones]

It's a few minutes before Gideon emerges from her room, still rubbing her fingers through her damp hair, wearing a clean t-shirt and skinny jeans, socks in her free hand, feet still bare. She grins when she sees what book Maeve picked out.

"That one's good, but it's no 'Negotiable Virtues of Ida'," she says. Even meeting Ianthe hadn't put her off that one.

[complexfemalecharacter]

Maeve looks up, nose wrinkled slightly in amusement and says, "Too bad I missed that one on the shelf. But good erotica is still good erotica. It's just not good very often. I once read this book where it referred to tumultuous breasts. What does that even mean? Are they bouncing independent of one another? Slapping together to create sound?"

She gets up and returns the book to the shelf, then says, "It was clear a man had written it."

[wedobones]

"I left that one at home," says Gideon, thinking, for a moment, of her single shelf that groaned under the weight of battered paperback books. She huffs a laugh. Gideon has never had much interest in what men thing -- the men she knew on the Ninth were always full of shit or poison or both. Or, in the case of Priamhark Noniusvianas, full of not much at all lately.

"I don't read many with men in, to be honest."

[complexfemalecharacter]

"No, fair," Maeve answers. "Ninety percent of men don't know what to do with an actual set of breasts, never mind know what to write about them or know what to do with them in fictional settings."

She smiles at Gideon and says, "Right then. Ready?"

[wedobones]

Gideon doesn't have any experience with that, either, but, since arriving in Darrow, at least she has experience. She knows that that's not what floats Maeve's boat, so she keeps that part to herself.

"Ready." Gideon grabs her leather jacket and pulls it on, bending to lace up her boots.