milliways_bar | EP: Kate Barlow

Entry tags:

EP: Kate Barlow | Main Bar

Kate comes inside trailing clouds of dust behind her. She's been working the stables, as usual. Today was a hot one, and it didn't seem fit working the stock so long as the sun was high, so she set about cleaning and organizing instead. She takes off her hat and sets it on the Bar, wincing apologetically as dirt puffs up and settles on the lacquered surface.

"Beggin' your pardon, Miss. I'll clean it up. Meantime, could I get somethin' cold?"

A pint of peach cobbler ice cream pops up as she settles herself on a stool. She eyeballs it dubiously. How can you put a respectable cobbler in a bucket of cold ice cream? She don't believe it can be done. Naturally, she won't dismiss it out of hand without giving it a fair shake. For science, and all.

She opens a ledger and starts going over notes, scooting the pint closer. Every now and again, her hand strays to her chest, absently playing with the necklace she's wearing. It's strangely soothing.

[ooc: Open indefinitely, inside the bar or outside.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Making eye contact will prove difficult.

She's fiddling with the pendant again, turning it between her fingers, smoothing her thumb along its edge.

She doesn't know what to say.

"No. S'fine."

"Um...are you sure?"

A long pause.

"So? When did you start? I'll tell you about me and Sam in trade. If you want."

She's not giving up.

When did they—?

She's shaking her head. She wants to say Clem's got it all wrong; she and Tommy aren't courting, that's for sure, and what they do have is supposed to be a secret. However, before she can say a word she realizes how futile it is. Clem's seen the necklace, and denying it is just foolish.

She sighs.

"Nobody's s'posed t'know."

"Well" Clem says, casual as you please, "I didn't know. I just sort of guessed based on his aura. And if it helps, I won't tell anybody about it."

Translation: she'll tell Sam. But he won't tell anybody.

She's not sure whether she meant it more as an apology or a question, but when Clem speaks she nods, feeling somewhat better about it. She's got a sudden strong urge to ask if Clem knows Voodoo, but she swallows that down right quick.

"S'good. Thank you. I 'preciate no one knowin'."

"Well, that's the thing," Clementine says. "Why are the two of you running around trying to keep it a secret? Anybody'd be proud to have a pretty girl like you hanging around, and Tommy's...a pretty good prize." She likes to tease, forgive her.

Well, she would know, wouldn't she? Kate flushes with embarrassment, but swallows it down with a quick shake of her head.

"S'not that. I — I ain't ashamed of him, I know he's a good man. S'jus' — me."

She looks away.

"M'ashamed of myself."

Cue the most incredulous expression ever. "Honey. Of you? Have you seen yourself?" She raises an eyebrow. "You're definitely nothing to sneeze at."

The flush only deepens, a nervous titter leaving her in a breath. She looks at her hands.

"Ah, um. It's — thank you, um. S'jus' not the sorta thing I'm — used t'doin'. An' people — talk."

"I'm not going to tell anybody," Clem shrugs.

...Again, which means it goes no further than Sam.

"What am I going to do, knock on every door and tell them you're doing it?" Then, leaning in, she asks, "you're banging, right?"

If she were eating or drinking, she would choke. As it is, she's doing her level best not to hyperventilate.

Just when you think she couldn't get any redder, there she goes.

(She doesn't answer, but really, that should be answer enough.)

Clem holds out both of her palms and gives her a De Niro-quality shrug.

"Okay, so you mean a lot to each other. That's good. But something's standing in your way to keep you both from letting everyone in the world know. That's bad. Now how do you plant dynamite in the mountain."

This made more sense in her mind.

It's all right. Kate's really only hearing one thing.

She shakes her head.

"No, that's the thing. We don't mean anythin' to each other."

"...Right. Because men buy nice things for and spend hours with women they don't like."

Clem knows the difference between paid-sex and affectionate sex too, and Kate and Tommy's combined reactions suggest it's the latter.

Her hand drifts to her chest.

"I dunno what he wants, Miss Clem, but it ain't t'make an honest woman outta me. It started off as jus' — jus' sex. We ain't courtin' or anythin', he doesn't want anythin' from me. Only calls me his 'friend'. That ain't the kinda thing y'tell people 'bout."

She withers a touch.

"They tend t'be cruel."

"Well...lemme give you a little bit of modern-school advice: not every guy's gonna marry you on the first date. But after awhile..with a little time?" She shrugs. "I started out slinging Sam booze and now we're basically living together."

She shakes her head, and finally looks up. A wry little twist has come to her lips.

"He's in love with someone else. An' so am I. We jus' had — an arrangement that got complicated."

"You're in love with a guy that's gone, and he's...wait, who's he in love with? I thought it was you." New information is completely new, and she's drizzling ice cream on the bar.

She lowers her head again, her smile turning somewhat more amused.

"His wife."

"...Oh." Clem's only deterred for a minute. "Well, marriage is a temporary kind of thing. If you play your cards right. Or wrong."

Her brow furrows.

What?

"Ah, he, um. They're separated, but he still — didn't you know?"

She's going to have a mobius strip imprinted in her palm at this rate.

"If y'wanna see what he's like with someone he's really in love with, watch 'im when he talks 'bout her. Or when anythin' threatens what they had. He's fightin' for her. I'm jus' a momentary distraction, an' the fact that we're talkin' right now shows that I ain't the only one. M'jus' one of many women he gets intimate with."

"Nope." She doesn't really care on her part, but Kate's the one who's Really In Love With Tommy. "But there's a reason he's with you, right? And you know what that is - and no, it's not just about playing slap and tickle."

S–slap and tickle?

Fortunately, the horror is waylaid by a more sobering thought. She goes quiet, obviously thinking seriously on something.

"No, t'tell you the truth. I don't know what it is, other'n because he's attracted t'me."

"Do you spend time together when you're out of bed? Do you hang out and do things together?" Clem's starting to wonder why she didn't open that beauty parlor she dreamed about as a kid, this would have been helpful in such a situation.

"Not very successfully as of late, but we used to, yes."

She shakes her head.

"But that's jus' 'cuz we're friends, an' he — well, never mind that."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject