Strike the Set (Rina!)

[Katie]

The fire-eaters were the last act. Ash was nearly finished wiping her makeup off by the time they bounced backstage, all soot and singe. She continued, wiping the remover pad along the underside of her eye in a precise arc, while Briar closed the show. The big floodlights went down with that final clunk, and there was the noise of the crowd leaving. This one had been a good size. The take'd be more than enough to see them through to the next site and pay for that new engine they needed.

Ash pushed herself off of the dressing room sink and grabbed her cane from where it had been leaning against the wall. Time for strike.

She and the strong man split the main platform, like always. He held it up, she folded the legs. One, two, three, easy as counting, then they flipped it and he carried it off. Ash headed for the back--her things would need to be out of the dressing room before it got folded down too. Her cane hit a loose nail and rolled, and she came down on her bad leg wrong and almost fell. Ash caught herself and muttered a curse.

[Anonymous]

It had been a great show. Smaller crowd than she would have liked, but there would be more time to attract larger ones. Flushed and sweaty and still high on adrenaline, Briar sashayed into the back area, having ushered the last of the crowd out.

The strike was already happening, the crew getting set. He beamed, utterly pleased and was heading to get out of costume when she saw Ash go crashing down.

Gasping, Briar rushed over, dropping down to help the girl back up and fussing like a mother hen, "Darling! Are you alright? My poor baby! Did you get bruised?" He hugged her close, nuzzling against the girls face.

[Katie]

Tooclosetooclosetoo close, even for Briar. She used some of the front strands of her hair to push him back enough for her to get her arms up and push the ringmaster away a little. Not a lot, not all the way, just enough for Ash to have some space to breathe. Briar got clingy sometimes. It didn't help that she was the most overprotective person in the history of ever.

"I'm fine, back off," Ash said irritably, although she draped her hair over his shoulders instead of shoving her away further. Leaning on Briar was better than leaning on her cane, not that she'd say that. Especially to Briar. The level of smug would probably punch them into orbit. "All I did was trip."

[Anonymous]

Briar pouted. thrusting out her lower lip, make up over done and vivid in the back stage light, "But it looked simply painful! We should put some ice on it! I hear ice is good for bruises!"

The fact Ash pushed back didn't bother Briar at all. He was used to it and the darling was so prickly and adorable!

[Katie]

Ash rolled her eyes and did her very best to ignore how pretty Briar looked when he pouted. "I am not bruised. I'm perfectly fine and I don't need ice, I need to go get my shit out of the dressing room before they fold it."

[Anonymous]

"There is still time. You rush just too much!" Briar cuddled closer to Ash as they walked towards the dressing rooms, "What would I do if one of my acts was too injured to perform my darling little tulip? Why, it would be a nightmare! An utter nightmare!"

[Katie]

Ash shoved Briar a few more inches away with her hair. She might be able to get handsier with Ash than most people, but that didn't mean he could be that close for very long. Unless--well, actually that wasn't happening, so she would stop thinking about that now, with thanks to her idiot brain. "Briar, I am not hurt. Get. Over. It." Ash grabbed her case from the side of the sink and spun back to face her.

[Anonymous]

"Never my angelic turtledove!" Briar stuck out his lower lip when Ash pushed her back. She was used to it, but that didn't mean she had to take it without dramatics.

"I would just feel so much better if you let me bandage it! I promise I shant tell a soul about it!"

[Katie]

"Well, I'm sure everyone knows since you've been making such a huge fuss about it." Ash resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, and also the urge to bite that stupid pout off of Briar's face. Inappropriate behavior for the workplace, much?

There was also probably no getting rid of her until she let him take a look at the nonexistent bruising. The things she did. "Fine. Fine! You can come back to my room and take a look, but I can already tell you there's nothing there."

[Anonymous]

"Oh my delectable little buttercup, so brave." Briar threw his arms around Ash, hugging her tightly, "Always putting on a stoic face!"

Laughing, Briar led the way to Ash's room, making sure to not cling as they walked. Her prickly pear wouldn't like it, "It's never good to push your body too hard and I'll feel so much better after getting to look. And I never, ever miss a chance to put hands to a pretty girl's leg!"

[Katie]

"I don't have to be stoic, it doesn't hurt," Ash muttered, but her voice was muffled on account of the fact her face was being squashed against Briar's chest. She untangled herself from her arms, did not allow herself to think about the ringmaster's hands being on her legs and/or being called pretty,  and followed him back to her room.

Ash's room was fairly boring. There was her bed, her trunk, and a foldable nightstand with a lamp and a picture of her brother on it. That was pretty much it. Ash lowered herself onto the bed very carefully, set her cane aside, and then rolled her skirt up. She tucked the bad leg under it (no use in showing that, Briar had seen it before but she'd fuss all the same) and extended the good one. "See?" she said, waving a hand at the decided lack of bruises.

[Anonymous]

The girl's twisted leg always made Briar sad. Mostly because of how much Ash tried to hide it. There was nothing to be ashamed of and it was part of the beautiful whole that made up his little Aishwarya.

But then Briar caught sight of the injured knee, which to the untrained eye, looked fine. But to Briar's well-trained eyes, it was a swollen disaster! Gasping, his hands fluttered to his perfectly colored lips, "Oh Ash, darling, it's positively awful! How can you walk We must get ice on that right away!"

[Katie]

Ash sighed and rested a hand across her eyes for a brief moment. The point of this had been to get Briar to leave off. Trust her to blow even visual evidence wildly out of proportion.

"Will you be satisfied if I let you ice it?" she asked, the annoyance in her voice barely concealed.

She didn't quite know why she was reacting like this--Briar was only trying to help and if she kept this up too long she'd hurt him--but it was hard to stop. Old habits died hard, and all that shit.

[Anonymous]

"Hardly! But I know my brave little kumquat wont let me fuss too much." Briar gave Ash a large hug around her head, then vanished to get ice. A few moments later, she came back, a handkerchief wrapped bundle in his hands.

Dropping down to her knees, Briar made pitiful sounds as he pressed the ice to Ash's knee, "Really! You must be more careful! Such a pretty girl should have far more care for her looks! Why, you hardly ever take any effort on presentation!"

[Katie]

"Not a kumquat," mumbled Ash, but she was already gone.

Then he was back, and the ice was cold on her knee. She sighed and leaned back. She might as well put up with this. It wasn't exactly...bad. Not really. Not that she was going so far as to call having Briar (even a Briar in protective overdrive) all to herself nice or anything.

Ash frowned at the comment about her looks. She paid attention to her stage makeup but not much else. That stuff was expensive, after all. "No point," she said, "Not like anybody ever looks at my face. The hair's the main act." Bitterness edged her voice on the last sentence, and she looked away.

[Anonymous]

"Now that is a lie! You have a lovely face my spring squash!" Briar pouted, "You just are always scowling so and it scares people away."

One hand still keeping the ice pressed to Ash's knee, Briar reached up her other hand and stroked Ash's cheek, "You just need to let people see beyond your lovely hair."

[Katie]

"Never said I didn't," said Ash. "And yeah, that's the point." Didn't work on Briar, though. Jury was still out on whether that was a good thing or not.

She froze up when his hand brushed her face, and then relaxed. It was easier to do that, with her. But that didn't mean he should just do it. "Ask first," she borderline-snapped, and jerked her head back.

[Anonymous]

"Aw, don't be so cold! It's just meee!" Briar pouted, though he lowered her hand, "Don't be mad at me. I hate it when you are mad at me."

[Katie]

"Yeah, well," said Ash, frowning, "If you hate it so much, how about you, I don't know, don't do things that make me mad?" She drew her good leg up to her chest, away from Briar's hand. "Look, you've known me for ages, you know how I get when someone touches me without warning--and it being you doesn't make any difference, so don't even start with that shit--so why the hell do you keep doing it?"

That had actually come out way harsher than she'd meant it to. Which was not something that happened every day. Ash scrunched up even more, her hair flipping up and around her to form a sort of partial cocoon. "Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't--sorry."

[Anonymous]

Briar blinked, startled by the venom in Ash's voice. Shaking her head, Briar sat back a little, giving Ash her space, "No, you're right. I shouldn't have upset you. You have nothing to apologize for."

Standing, Briar adjusted his clothes and smiled, "Well, just make sure you take care of that leg. There is a show to strike and I'm sure people are looking for me!"