[Video]

[tearmeanewone]

[A]

So, listen--

[Anybody who pays attention to any of Elizabeth's network activity probably notices something odd about this: it's a video. She uses audio only almost as a rule. But maybe she's not really thinking. It sure looks like she's not up for much deep thinking, if the unfocused way she keeps looking around the bar she's in is any indication. There's a glass in front of her, but who knows how much she's actually had.]

Who here... knows a thing or two 'bout 'attachment'? Because God, I could talk about it for days. About how great it is at first, but then in the end, it utterly destroys whoever it manages to get in its steely little claws. [This is accompanied by a very appropriate 'claw gesture' with all nine and a half of her fingers.]

Because the only thing that's ever constant... [She has an amused little laugh at the word, like it's a private joke.] ...is change? Who wrote that... Hey! [She snaps her fingers over at someone behind her.] Who wrote 'the only change is--' No, 'the only constant is change'? Who wrote that when you're from? ...ah nevermind, you probably couldn't read your own name. [She turns back to the camera, disgruntled noises coming from the insulted party. But Elizabeth doesn't seem concerned.]

What I'm saying is-- nobody warned me, so now... [She points into the camera.] I'm warning you. You start liking somebody, start thinking you have a home someplace, and someday, somehow--

[The camera jerks as Elizabeth takes a punch to her temple. Somebody didn't like being called an idiot by someone half their size. Something close to the camera glows blue and then Elizabeth's got a beer bottle in her hand and she's screaming bloody murder. The feed swings wildly with her hand and cuts out with the sound of breaking glass.]


[B]

[An indeterminate amount of time later...]

[Elizabeth is back at her apartment with a split lip and a bruise under her eye, but she hardly looks embarrassed.]

I meant what I said. Nobody warns you until you're in pain. Consider yourself warned.

[She looks like she could say more, but apparently decides it would just be a rehash. So she turns the feed off.]



((OOC: Feel free to action-ify the first prompt, bar brawl for all. Otherwise Elizabeth will reply to any immediate reactions/messages/jeering the next day!))

Comments

audio;

[brokeassgoing]

Alright finish that...go watch tv or stick to the rom-coms...and leave the self help shit to more depressed people.

audio;

[tearmeanewone]

[She'll look up what 'rom coms' means when she can look at a screen for more than half a second without wanting to crawl into the darkest hole ever to die a painful, hungover death.]

You wanna give me a referral, Doctor Ass Umptions?

video; because he is Not Pleased

[shadowblends]

Miss Elizabeth!

[Kurt's frantic face appears on the feed, ruby-tinted eyes wide with concern and his mouth agape. He'd seen the girl take the punch and while that had angered him something fierce, he's more worried about Elizabeth's well-being.

Besides, he isn't one to go out and randomly start fights with strangers.]

Are you okay? You're not too badly injured, right?

video; because he probably wants to see that she's SORT OF OKAY......??

[tearmeanewone]

[Normally, neither is she. But she was just drunk enough and just angry enough to go Full DeWitt on those people. Booker would have been-- ...he probably would have dragged her away from it, honestly. Seeing her behave like he had in his younger days probably would have been disappointing.]

[Some small amount of shame is injected into her expression when she turns on the feed. Her face has clearly seen better days, and someone kicked her square in the ribs and that was none too pleasant, but other than that nothing that she couldn't walk off.]

Nothing I couldn't handle from home, Kurt. [She hadn't really thought about this kind of concern before she'd spewed this all over the network. It's not really proving the point she was trying to make to herself about how things would never be alright.]

But I don't suppose I can go to work for a few days at least. I don't think parents want their children asking them why their librarian was in a 'bar fight'.

text

[a_shadow]

It's all risk vs reward

I wouldn't have taken a chance on someone I might fall in love with if I didn't think things would be worth it, even if they do eventually go sour

text

[tearmeanewone]

What good are memories of people you'll never see again though? Never talk to, or laugh with, or even fight with? Don't you think we're left with pain that outweighs and outlasts whatever love we might have had?

ACTION 8))

[squadgoals]

[Breaking a bottle over another person's head didn't feel good.

It felt extremely good.

Seated across the bar—the unfilmed side—Shepard hadn't even been aware they'd been sharing a space until Liz had started her TAB broadcast, her voice loud, clear, and intoxicated—although on what was unclear.

As soon as the slighted man had started moving towards the livecaster, Shepard was on her feet as well, weaving through tables, hightops, and barstools to the other side of the room, her own bottle in hand. Other people are standing, trying to get a bead on the impending fight, or looking to join in themselves, impeding her progress just enough to stop her from catching that punch.

But when he connects, Shepard is already coming down on him from behind. There's a smash of glass as the bottle connects, Elizabeth's screams a challenge to the rest of the bar.]

Anyone else looking to hit a lady?

[By all means, her voice suggest, try.]

[tearmeanewone]

[Elizabeth stares blankly at Shepard. Wait, where did she come from? And why is the bottle in her hand still in tact?]

[She blinks out at the silent crowd, all eyes on her and Shepard. Nobody really wants to try to hit either lady-- except for some random guy in the back who bellows a war-cry that cracks his voice twice.]

SIT THE FUCK DOWN. [Other people in the bar help the man with a death with to sit while Elizabeth points her yet-to-be-used bottle at him. One crazy one, one perfectly calm, who would want to deal with that?]

action!

[brochtuarach]

[ It was really only a matter of time before Jamie ventured into some of the local taverns - sorry, bars - looking for drinks a little better than what a bunch of teenage boys can conjure up (literally). What he needs is a good Scotch whiskey, or the closest thing to it, though he doesn't have high hopes for this place.

Of course, what he gets is perhaps what he didn't realize he needed - someone he can justify hitting. He's trying to haggle with the bartender - no one can seem to understand much through his thick accent, but he's doing his best to speak in proper English rather than the Scots he's accustomed to - when he hears someone yelling over yonder - and a young woman get punched.

Oh, hell no.

In about two seconds, Jamie parts the crowd with his size, grabs the offender by the collar of his shirt and slams him against the nearest wall, the Scotsman's face cold and hard as stone. ]

If I see ye raise a hand to a lady again, ye'll no have a hand to raise, ye ken?

[ He dumps the man unceremoniously to the floor, like so much refuse, and turns to the lady in question, his eyes showing a hint of polite concern. ]

Are ye hurt, lass?

[tearmeanewone]

[The offender tries to laugh in Jamie's face, but it comes out sounding a little more like a choked duck.] 'You call that a lady?'

[The offender's friends froze in the midst of their fight with Elizabeth, one of them has her held under her arms where she continues to thrash and attempt to get her footing and break the hold. Both of them apparently have split lips, and another one puts his hand guiltily behind his back when Jamie looks over.]

[She's been hit in the face at least three times, but she doesn't seem beat yet. There's still fight in her from the way she glares at this Scotsman for interrupting what would no doubt have been a fight for her to spend weeks recovering from. The guy holding her up finally realizes that if he doesn't put Elizabeth down, the interloper will start threatening to cut off his hands, and drops her. He likes his hands.]

[Elizabeth turns around, unsteady, and wipes her lip. Yeah, that's definitely blood. She narrows her eyes at the group.] I would've taken y'to the cleaners.

[No, she really wouldn't have. Not without blowing a tear in the universe wide open in this bar-- and even drunk Elizabeth knows that would be a one-way ticket to a life lived in a lab. That's probably why she looks so irate with her savior-- can't someone just not save her from making a terrible decision?]

Y'ever get your lip split? It's not a day at the beach. [Yes, she's hurt, but she's walking. Weaving, really, back towards the bar.]

Private; Audio

[beautifulspaceraptor]

It's hard to warn for, unfortunately.

[ Nihlus' strange voice is quiet and warm, edged with a soft, old haze of something that isn't really pain anymore. ]

My condolences. If you'd like, I can drop some medi-gel off for your injuries?

Private; Audio

[tearmeanewone]

Will 'medi-gel' fix my face a little faster? Because I can't show this mug around children in a library. Probably. I imagine it's frowned upon.

text; post-bar-brawl

[notglitching]

[Drunk, drugged, or rambling... actually do compose a solid percent of Rinzler's interactions with this user. He's certainly not going to comment on the content this time. No, someone has a much more important question.]

Did you win?

[Priorities.]

audio;

[tearmeanewone]

[Oh. God. Why.]

[She could just ignore him. She could just tell him it's another user thing that will no doubt infuriate him for some reason she can't understand. She could tell him to go to hell and leave it at that.]

[But.]

I'm a DeWitt. I was probably conceived in a bar, and like hell am I going to embarrass myself in one.

[Yes. Yes she did.]

video

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

--Ha! [J let's out a sharp and loud laugh at the end of Elizabeth's rant. Too bad that's also when the side of her head is met with a painful looking fist. She does feel a little bad for laughing at the same time when the other woman was hit but not bad enough to stop sending another message later.]

So, who dumped you?

video

[tearmeanewone]

No one.

[The Ingress. The Ingress broke her and Ivan up, technically, but it's been too long for her to admit that she's still hurting over losing Ivan.]

Just your regular-brand life epiphany, that's all.

text, says it's from Jane Shepard

[petridish]

Someone else around here who's realistic. The only constant is that you can't trust people. I was warned, and then she proved it.

text

[tearmeanewone]

Who said anything about trust? [She sounds almost annoyed that someone's trying to join her pity parade.] I trusted those people with everything-- they didn't let me down. The whole goddamned universe did.

video;

[infailtration]

Do you think the pain of something ending makes the relationship not worth it in the first place?

Also, gotta ask if you're okay.

video;

[tearmeanewone]

More or less, yes. I made a ship my home and it was run literally into the ground. What do I have to show for it? [Deadpan, she holds up the scrap of the hull she scavenged after the crash.] Plus the more intangible memories of a place I will never see again.

[There's a clatter off screen as she sets the piece down.] And believe me, I've tried to believe that I was better off having met and cared about people I'll never see again, but frankly I'm most likely the only one who remembers I ever had something with these people and they're off living their lives. I'm the one suffering over something only I remember. What does that make me? Some grand guardian of some painful memories that will disappear when I'm gone.

...I'm fine. [Physically fine.]

video

[businessinfront]

[ Wow. Okay. There are a lot of things Keith could think of to say to that whole speech, things about attachment and loss and pain and whether the good parts make up for the awful ones. Buuuut, more pressingly... ]

I hope you won.

video

[tearmeanewone]

Please. Takes a lot more than that to get the drop on a DeWitt. And even then, three inebriated heels don't make for much trouble.

[She won, yeah, but she got pretty thrashed in the process. And most of it was won by sheer intimidation and being scrappy and female.]

video;

[mund]

Which is why forming attachments are more trouble than it's worth.

[ Graves gives her a quick, assessing once over. ]

The other is in much worse shape, I assume.

video;

[tearmeanewone]

Exactly. Fun in the moment, maybe, but here especially you're just asking to get a slap in the face.

[Yeah buddy, what're you leering at? Elizabeth raises her eyebrow.]

Other three. I reckon so, but I didn't exactly stick around to gloat and take photographs.

B

[seeingscarlet]

[Wanda keeps her voice soft in case Elizabeth is also nursing a hangover to go with those injuries, but the concern is still obvious.]

Are you all right? Do I need to put someone through the floor?

[Private]

[tearmeanewone]

Yeah, me, and don't let me out until everyone else has gone home and has forgotten my face.

[B]

[psychadrellic]

[Thane only catches Elizabeth's broadcast as she sends out the second, post-fight, part, otherwise he would have gone straight to locating her instead of responding. While she's clearly taken some hits, she's also just as clearly alive, so he doesn't bother with the usual, "Are you okay?" line of questioning, choosing instead to leap immediately to...]

Who taught you to fight like that?

[Based on what she's told him of her past he has a suspicion, but boy howdy, if it's anyone who is currently present in this place, they are in for a stern talking-to from Thane. And also maybe a throw-down. Elizabeth's condition is a disgrace.]

[tearmeanewone]

[...oh great. Dad's here.]

[She's not going to lie that part of her considered shutting down her TAB and crawling back into bed the second she saw Thane had responded-- it's like she'd completely forgotten he might see it until right this moment. And now she is b-u-s-t-e-d.]

...I taught myself. [You know, keeping it casual, no big deal Thane. It's also a nice 74 degrees outside right now.]