until my blood boils

“Okay.” Beau drawled out as she eyed the other woman. “I am impressed then.” She raised her hands up. “Say no more, say no more. Finding a challenge around here is hard. You can try gyms and stuff though, always worth asking people.” It might be the last ditch effort to find a fight around here, but it was always worth trying right? “Oh well mainly because you called me beautiful, compliments will always get you far in life.” She replied. “Also because you’re awesome.”

“Always true.” Beau nodded. “And sure there will always be sore losers, but we don’t too many in here. Well, at least not from what I’ve seen.” She gave a grin, but it faded slightly with the taller woman’s words. “Okay I get that sure, but surely there’s been people in your life who trust you. Friends, family.” Or maybe there just wasn’t, and Beau didn’t really want to push. “Yashaaaaa.” She smirked. “Got it.”

.

“Hm, are you offering?” Yasha asked “a challenge that is.” She probably didn’t need to clarify but as she’d never been great in social situation or picking up on cues she found it much easier being as clear as possible. “Awesome? Not sure I agree with that” she really wasn’t used to getting along with people or people liking her. Her wife had always been the sociable one.

“I’ve come across a few, not as bad as those four though” the others had mostly just pouted and sulked the rest of the night, up until these guys none had tried to start a fight with her. “There was, two of them, my wife and best friend but they’re both... gone.”

Beau paused and raised an eyebrow. “One arm behind your back? Okay I’m definitely impressed if you can do that.” She nodded along. “I get it, I would have liked a challenge too.” A grin appeared on her face as she gave the other woman a once over. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” Normally Beau would take compliments well, but quickly move on from them. But in this case, she felt like she needed to show off a little more. Rolling the sleeves of her shirt up more, she poured a drink a passed it over. “For you.”

“Hey poker can be a pretty dangerous game.” Beau shrugged as she moved some empty glasses from the bar. “But if they were that bad at it, they deserved to have their asses kicked.” She grabbed herself some water quick, no drinking on the job, and took a sip. As she placed her glass down she frowned. “Why not? Okay I’ve known you for like five minutes and shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you look trustworthy to me.” Then a thought crossed her mind quick. “Oh how rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself.” She grinned. “I’m Beau.”

.

“Against those four? Easily” maybe she was being a little cocky but she seriously doubted they would have been much of a challenge. “I’ve yet to find much of a challenge from anyone in this town unfortunately” Yasha sighed, so she missed fights that didn’t end after less than a minute, sue her. “Hm, and what might those reasons be?” She asked with a slight grin as she accepted the offered drink. “Thanks.”

“Only if you play with sore losers” Yasha commented with a slight shrug. “A five year old could have beat them” she said as she rolled her eyes. She sighed a little at the question, averting her gaze briefly to her fingers as she played with the wedding ring on her finger. She still hadn’t quite managed to bring herself to take it off. “I guess most people find me more intimidating than trustworthy” it was her own doing though, she’d done it to keep people at a distance after her wife died. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Yasha”

“What a bunch of cowards.” Beau scoffed. She reached up and made sure her hair was still intact. She tightened her top-knot and brushed the loose strands of hair behind her ear. “Shame.” It was a bit of excitement at least, something for everyone present to talk about.  She folded her arms over her chest and nodded. “Good to hear you’re fine. I have to say though, I know first aid. I’m good at CPR.”  

Clearing her throat Beau nodded over to the bar. “Can I get you a drink?” She asked the other woman, finding it hard to tear her eyes away from her. “On the house, of course, for that badass display.” She started to walk off and hoped she would be followed. “So what happened anyway? Thought you were cheating them?” Instead of going around the bar, Beau vaulted back over it again, ignoring the looks of the other staff. “I don’t know why, you look very trustworthy.” She looked more intimidating than trustworthy, but Beau didn’t want to say that.

.

“They usually are” Yasha commented dryly. “They act all tough and when they find out I can beat them with one arm behind my back they run for the hills” she’d had a lot of people try to start fights with her who ended up fleeing after Yasha landed one hit on them. “It’s a shame, I was hoping for a challenge” she hadn’t had a good fight in quite a while and admittedly she was getting a little restless. She chuckled slightly at the first aid comment “I’ll keep that in mind” she hummed with a small grin.

“Sure, I’d never turn down a drink offer from a beautiful woman” Yasha replied, her grin forming into more of a smirk now. “Oh y’know, we were playing poker, they had tells that could be seen from the moon but obviously that couldn’t be why they lost, it had to be me who was cheating” she said as she rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure a five year old could have figured out their tells. Yasha couldn’t help but pause for a moment to admire the other woman as she leapt over the bar in one smooth move. “Trustworthy? That’s... not a word people have used to describe me before.”

Beau might have been taking this a little bit too far. She wasn’t even thinking about the fact she might get in trouble or even lose her job. She liked a fight, and if it was going to make her look good in front of the other woman, she was all for it. Cracking her knuckles, she sized up the four men. “There might be more of you,” she started and glanced over at the other woman. “But I don’t think you stand a chance against us.”

The three uninjured men grabbed their friend and headed out of the Lounge. “Aww man, you guys are no fun.” Beau called after them. Realising that they may have made a scene, she turned to glare at as many people as she could, hoping it would make them leave. She then looked over at the taller woman again. “You good?” She asked. “You don’t look hurt. Guess they didn’t get a hand on you at all.” She was impressed.

.

Yasha could have handled the men on her own, she’d dealt with larger groups on her own before. Usually she got annoyed when people stepped in, like she couldn’t handle herself, not this time though. If a beautiful woman wanted to fight alongside her, Yasha wouldn’t complain. But of course the four cowards decided to run instead.

“I suppose they didn’t want to end up with a broken nose like their friend” she commented with a shrug as she watched the men exit the bar. Now that they were gone Yasha turned her full attention to the bartender. “I’m fine” she confirmed. One of them had tried to punch her but she’d caught his fist before he managed to make contact. “No they didn’t, seems they are as bad at fighting as they are at playing poker.”

It wasn’t too often that there was any trouble at the Lounge, anything that did happen was quickly dealt with by security and that was that. It was kind of boring sometimes. But to Beau’s absolute pleasure one night she was working late things kicked off big time. She had been pouring drinks over the other side of the room and never noticed at first, way too occupied with her job. There was some raised voices but that could have meant anything. It wasn’t until a co-worker and tapped her on the arm and she looked over. 

She had seen this woman quite often in the Lounge, but had never really spoke to her. She had this aura about her that Beau was totally into but very hesitant on approaching her. Also she was beautiful. But right now she seemed to be in trouble. Four on one was not fair. “Yo not hot, mysterious girl.” What she was going to achieve she didn’t know, but Beau vaulted over the bar and raced over to where the trouble was before anyone could stop her. “Hey!” She yelled as she approached and got a hand on one of the guys, shoving him back. “Your momma’s never taught you how to play nice boys?” She asked, too cocky. “If you’ve got a problem take it outside.”

.

Yasha might like fighting but she rarely started the fights, especially not at the Lounge as she didn’t want to risk being thrown out. She’d started one fight here but that guy had deserved it, and honestly it hadn’t been much of a fight as he’d run of pretty quickly after Yasha threw him across the room. Other than that she only defended herself when other people tried to fight her, like now. Even with one of them having thrown the first punch she didn’t engage further yet, waiting for one of them to act. 

She heard someone speaking but didn’t move her attention away from the four men in front of her. At least not until the bartender showed up and pushed one of the guys backwards. Yasha briefly glanced over at her before she looked back at the four men. “I’ll be glad to take this outside and give you the same treatment as your friend” she told them with a slight smirk on her face still. It seemed they had some common sense left as they decided to gather their injured friend and leave instead of trying to challenge her.

Although the Springs Lounge was more of a place for drinking and dancing than it was gambling, Kaz had ensured it was a proper gambling den as well. Tables laden with chips, and dealers well trained in the art of draining just the right amount from the people playing. It was an uneasy balance - there had to be enough money taken to make a profit, but not so much that people never came back. You had to convince the gamblers that they could make their money, but not so easily that there was no risk. 

He’d come to enjoy this part of the job most, and tonight, he’d decided to play dealer. It was rare he did, but not so rare that anyone particularly noticed him, especially when he used a less conspicuous cane. “Gentlemen, you haven’t been cheated.” He said, with a harsh edge to his voice. “We do not condone violence in the club. If you wish to start a fight, take it outside.”

.

“Just because you have fragile egos doesn’t mean you were cheated, but I’ll be more than happy to take this outside” Yasha replied with a slight smirk as she could see the hesitation cross over their faces. “Or you can take your friend to get his nose fixed, and maybe work on your tells that can be seen from the moon” with how obvious their tells had been she found it hard to believe they’d ever won big in any sort of card game.

   * THE CITY breathes below him, expanding and closing like lungs against a chest. Echo Springs is sometimes quiet, too quiet, and Matt isn’t sure what to make of it. He sits with his legs dangling over the roof of some building, the hum of the neon sign bellow stings in his ears like a buzzing wasp. He was almost happy when the sounds of a fight’s beginnings sparked up. Following the noise, he travelled from roof to roof until he was above it. Then as he was in it, landing behind the woman - was it a woman? her voice sounded feminine - as she threw her first punch. At that, he smirked.

“I take it you don’t need my help then?” He could feel it off of her, the itch of someone who wants to fight. Three more men emerge, he hears their feet join the footfalls of the man stumbling back. At that, his smirk grows. “How about we split ‘em, fifty-fifty? You take two and I’ll take two. That sound fun to you?” Maybe it wasn’t wise to get involved with someone else’s business but he did want to help.

.

Yasha was more than capable of dealing with this on her own. This was hardly the first time she was outnumbered in a fight, her opponents were still outmatched though. She didn’t need help nor did she particularly want it. This fight was already not going to be much of a challenge. Maybe it wasn’t the best that she felt that it was a bad thing the fight would be over quicker if she had help but ever since Zuala died Yasha mostly felt numb, at least when she was fighting she felt... something.

“Yes, but I’m quite sure you know how to finish them,” Yennefer said with a wry smile before accepting a glass of red wine from one of the bartenders. She took a sip and turned to face Yasha. “I’m sure. I saw how you nearly knocked out one of our bouncers the other night.”

.

“Of course I do, people often pay me a lot of money to do exactly that” Yasha commented before taking a sip of her drink. Of course Yen had seen one of her more embarrassing moments. She ducked her head slightly to hide the light pink color that appeared on her cheeks. “That was an accident” she replied, her voice low.

Yuri wanted to go home

He had never liked places like this, the bar seemed kind of seedy, but he had a same-day delivery option and he had to fullfill it…. maybe someday he’d actually hire another employee, send them out for this kind of thing….

On his way out, having delivered the birthday cake to the owner as requested, he heard a scream, turning his attention to the sound and feeling a shiver of dread going down his spine, he wasn’t good with conflict, he wanted to leave… but he had also been raised to be a gentleman, and even though the girl across from him clearly looked like she could handle herself, three against one wasn’t fair, and he couldn’t in good concious just run off and leave her to handle this herself, especially not when he had the element of surprise on his hands

Quietly, he slipped behind the group, using the fact that people rarely seemed to notice him to his advantage and dropping to the ground, swiping his leg out against the trio and nocking one of the men off of his feet, using the opportunity to jump up and kick a second in the groin

“Don’t you think three on one is a little unfair?”

Yasha liked fighting, she always had, it gave her a sense of thrill nothing else did. Gambling came close but it wasn’t the same, it didn’t make her blood pump like fighting did. And she was good at it too, she could easily take on several people at a time if she had to. So maybe she got a little annoyed that someone had interfered, which also had to do with it having been so long since she’d been in a proper fight. Not that she thought this would be a proper fight, but with four opponents it might at least have been a little more challenging... probably not.

She knew he was only trying to help though so she kept her annoyance under wrap as best she could. “Unfair for them maybe” she said, grabbing the hand of the last standing man as he threw a punch at her. Using the grip she had on his arm she threw him across the room, making sure not to hit anyone else in the process.

Yasha. The name hadn’t taken long to become a familiar one at the Lounge. The ladies all loved the tall, quiet woman and some made the mistake of trying to vie for her affections. Yennefer knew it wouldn’t work. The brooding woman was kind and polite, but Yennefer knew the woman wasn’t looking for a permanent companion. At least, not from the ladies that worked for Yennefer. But, the woman paid well and tipped well, and Yennefer never had to worry that the women under her care were being mistreated in any way. Yennefer might even call the woman something more than an acquaintance of her own too. Yasha made for better conversation than most of the dull men that frequented the Lounge. “Pride cometh before the fall,” Yennefer quipped with a smirk. “Do be careful not to start any brawls. I would hate to get one of the bouncers to kick you out tonight.”

.

“I don’t start brawls, I never throw the first punch” most of the fights she got into at bars and places like that was simply Yasha defending herself. Except the few times people managed to piss her off, but they deserved it. “Also I do believe it would take more than one bouncer to kick me out” she joked with a slight grin.

Ever since she moved to Echo Springs Yasha had been a regular at the Lounge and had gotten somewhat familiar with Yennefer. Yasha took a sip from her drink, looking at Yen for a moment before she responded. “I told him I’d show him how to play, never said I wouldn’t take his money” she commented with a shrug.