Who: Bee Harmon (AESOP'S CROW) and Alex Chase (KING SHAHRYAR)
Where: A cab and Bee's apartment.
When: The night of Mark's Birthday Party.
What: They hate each other. They're drunk. Not much imagination required.
Rating: R for strong language, violence, and who knows what else.

Bee: Bee was annoyed. She was annoyed at Alex Chase for being an asshole and she was annoyed at herself for getting caught up in a fight despite promising herself not to. It was Mark's birthday, and she was supposed to be happy about the party she was throwing for him. She loved her brother dearly, and the big three-oh was supposed to be about him - not her, and certainly not some inbred moron from the backwaters of Kentucky.

She hated him. She hated him more than she had hated any man alive (which was actually not that difficult to do because in general, Bee just wasn't the type of person to hate others), and even thinking about him was enough to make her fists and jaw clench. Who did he think he was, questioning her worth like that? He acted as though his stupid Polo career was so much better than helping the sick out, and then actually had the audacity to look down on her. Where did he get off?

But Bee was at a party, and for her brother's sake, had to keep a cheerful face on. As it turns out, the feat required more effort than she had expected, and she had turned to the alcohol for help. She was more than drunk by the end of the night, and after convincing Mark that she was fine to take a cab home and drunk only because she was celebrating, she was out in the cold, New York City air. Luckily, a yellow cab came to a stop right by her feet without her even having to hail it, and she managed to stumble in without falling. She leaned back in her seat, looking forward to the comfort of her bed and no more thoughts of...whatshisface.

Alex: He was drunk as a skunk. Could skunks get drunk? He didn't care. He was as drunk as a very drunken skunk, and it had been only the - Alex held up a hand of fingers, ready to count carefully the number of bars. Except his fingers weren't exactly steady, and hell, it had to have been below ten because he'd not cleaned out his entire wallet. There was still a whole... Twenty dollars in there! Not quite the two hundred there'd been there before, but still, enough to get him home, and to pour himself into bed with a headache tomorrow like a girl bitching in his ear all night might produce.

He held up an arm, flagging down the next cab that passed, and after a word or two with the driver, just to check he took the short route to the Pentamerone, not the long one - he wasn't being dicked out of his cash, oh no - he opened the door and slid into the seat with a heavy sigh, closing his eyes heavily. Good to go home. Home, 'way from bitches who talked out of their asses, and home where he could sleep, and didn't have to deal with a bunch of stupid memories. He was just drunk enough he wouldn't even dream. Bliss. There was a shift in the seat-leather, and he cracked an eye open .

'Scuse me, sugar, but this cab is taken. Y'all have to wait for the next." Eyes closed again, hands settled.

Bee: Bee's eyes flew open as the drunken voice startled her, and closed just as quickly. "Y'right. I was already in here when y'came in." She leaned against the window, her words getting slightly more jumbled. "'m sure you'll find another one."

Alex: "I flagged the damn thing down, babe," Alex's hands tightened on his lap; hell no, he was not fighting for the damn cab. It was his, fair and square and neatly wrapped up. "Equally sure you won't be waitin' long. Now how'bout you hop out so I can get on home, hm?"

Bee: "I got in first so it's mine." Bee was starting to wake up, since apparently she was going to have to fight this guy to get out of her cab. How long've you been here? S'how it works 'round these parts." She turned her head to face the guy, but couldn't quite make out anything but a blurred shadow. "So if y'don't mind, I'd like to get home now."

The cabbie interjected at this point, undoubtedly rolling his eyes at the drunken fares. "What is your address miss? If it's on the way, I'll just take the both of you." He clearly was in no mood to argue or waste time at this hour.

Alex: "Hey, it's fine, 'sfine," Alex drawled, shushing at the man with a hand. "She's got plenty of time to hang 'round for a cab'n all. Just head to the address I gave you," he reeled it off again, "Y'know. The one I gave ya outside, when I talked to the cab guy I flagged down." Pointed look shot at the woman in the corner. "You, on the other hand, get the hell out of my damn cab."

Bee: Bee ignored the blethering of the man next to her, instead giving her address to the driver with a dismissive wave in the shadow's direction. The driver declared that she was on the way to the other man's address, and Bee curled into her corner once again, satisfied. "There we go. Now we can all just get along." Bee was too drunk to be completely logical, but she had had one too many arguments that day and just wanted to get home.

Alex: "God, fuckin' women," Alex sighed, leaning his head against the window. "Snotty bitches the lot of you, where'n hell you get the idea that being stuck up as fuck gets you anywhere, beats me. They're not like that in my state, damn straight," clearly, he couldn't get her out of the cab. But he could complain about her, and he could damn well dislike her. A prickle of anger spiked its way down Alex's back; he wasn't in any mood to play nice.

Bee: "Oh my GOD what is your problem? Why can't you just step back 'n share the damn cab? Or wait, is that not good enough for your masculinity?" Bee swallowed deeply, as the alcohol threatened to rise, before speaking once again. "I hate generalizin' but damn I've met a lotta assholes in one day." She crossed her arms over herself, clearly pouting. "Your state, huh? I'd bet my right arm 'n leg you were talkin' 'bout Kentucky." Stupid men with their stupid state pride. She had had enough.

Alex: "How'd you guess? They kick you out and tell y'all never t'come back again?" he returned, acidic drawl at the ready. "As fer assholes, I've met more'n my fair share of bitches today, and damn lady, you just about got the biggest one I met beat out. Sayin' something, 'cause the woman I know? Frigid little snot that she is is just as uppity. Now if you take my advice, you'll shut the hell up before I decide you're more annoyin' than her, and kick you out while the cab's moving."

Bee: "No, jackass. I've just been comin' across a lot of assholes lately, 'n they all happen to be from your damn state." It seemed as though she had quieted down, but she broke the brief silence as though another thought has just come to her. "'N as for your frigid lady? G'luck with her. It seems like you deserve her." She ignored the comment about the moving cab. He wouldn't dare.

Alex: Or he was going to try; he was leaning across, hand poised to unlatch the door, as -

Bee: At that very moment, the car took a sharp left turn, and Bee lost her balance. She found herself splayed across her fellow passenger, whose face she could now see. "Oh my...god damn it."

Alex: "Oh fucking hell," Alex said, a little more disgustedly. "Harmon. Had t'be you, can't be another rude bitch like y'all in New York. You got that just about square. Would you mind getting the hell off of me?" He smirked nastily, a horrid little snide smile. "Don't care how drunk I am, I'm not going to want you, however much y'wiggle."

Bee: "God damn it," Bee repeated, trying to push herself off of Alex, without success. "Of all the stupid little turds to get stuck 'n a cab with, it had to be you." She froze as he made the wiggling comment. "Yeah right. Like I'd want you anywhere near me. Now I'm a lil' drunk so I'm havin' some trouble gettin' up." She looked at him pointedly. "I'd move faster if you helped me fight gravity."

Alex: "Suit me down to the ground," Alex muttered, shoving her roughly to one side. "Now sit and keep your mouth quiet. I've had enough of you for one damn day." He closed his eyes once again, covering them with a hand. Great. Great. Now the lasting memory he had to think on wasn't the bartender with tremendous tits, but Bee fucking Harmon.

Bee: Bee fell against the side door with an oomph. "Jesus Christ," she blurt out, as the door handle cut into her. "Fuck off Chase." She raised a leg and kicked him in the thigh, for good measure.

Alex: "What the fuck? You get off on physical violence, that it?" Alex complained, rubbing at the sore spot furiously. It wasn't enough she'd kicked him, of course she'd managed one of the places he'd got old injuries. Because Harmon got all the fucking luck. "Don't think that fits in with the goddamn Hyppocratic oath, causing pain and suffering to the goddamn population."

Bee: Bee laughed loudly. "What, pansy boy? Can't handle a lil' boo-boo? Jus' be glad I wasn't wearing stilettos like them girly girls your so fond of. And I'm not bound to any oath when I'm not in the hospital. Plus, I don't think guys who get kicked out of sports for being assholes qualify anyway." Alcohol and anger did not mix well with Bee - all her censors were off, and she was now saying things she had been holding back all day.

Alex: The growl of rage - not even so much as words as something gutterally, viscerally angry tore itself from Alex's throat, slamming a hand back against her mouth, effectively cutting off her spill of words, and acting - oh God, he wished he could just hit her - like a slap to the face. "Y'know what, Miz Bee? I don't think y'qualify for any of them people skills, either. Right damn doctor you'd make when all anyone wants to do is toss you on your ass." Grimly, he reached over, and fiddled with the catch on the door, trying to both hold her physically still, and open the door, set on tossing her into the street.

Unfortunately the cabbie turned; 'WHAT the hell you think you're doing?" he demanded, as the cab itself pulled up against Bee's curb. "Get OUT. OUT, BOTH OF YOU."

Bee: Bee hadn't been expecting the smack, and she grimaced as her mouth stung. "What the fuck, asshole, get off of me!" He was leaning across her in a way she did not like, and all she wanted to do right now was sock him in the face. Luckily, the cab came to a halt at that very second, and both Alex and Bee were on the street and not touching.

But she wasn't going to let him get away. "Where're you going, Chase? You think you can hit a girl and get away with it? Come back here and fight me like a man." She shouldn't have been demanding a fight; she was barely able to stand straight.

Alex: "If you were a man," Alex shoved her aside, intending on walking right back into the street and waiting for the next cab passing by, "I could hit you hard which I'm just itching t'do. So fuck off, Harmon. Get back to being a smug wannabe Mother Theresa, and I'll just move on right quick, no need to pretend I ever spoke to you again. 'Fact," he said, as though entirely reasonably, "If you were a man, I could kick the crap out of you for being an unmitigated shit."

Bee: Bee shoved him back, hard. "Ooh lookit you, with the big words. Not as much of n'idiot as you'd like to pretend, are ya? Now stop using my breasts as excuse to back away from a fight." Bee raised her chin, as unexplainable anger flashed across her eyes. "Unless you're just a coward. I'll just go home if that's the case." She walked deliberately towards her door, unlocking it with the slightest fumble of keys. "Is that why they kicked you outta you lil' horseridin' game? 'Cause you were a two-bit coward with no sense of honor who just a disgrace to the almighty game of pol..."

Alex: The door slammed open in the process of one very angry man hurling himself through and pushing her, hard, back into the room beyond. "Let's get it nice and clear," his voice so loud it signalled a fresh bout of rage and temper, just for her, so angry he couldn't make allowances, couldn't hold his temper in that rigid check. "You know NOTHING about the damn game, you know fuck all about anything but playing saint, and you don't know a damn thing about me." The words were punctuated by his grip on her shoulders, fingers biting into the skin, and shaking savagely.

Bee: Alex's weight threw Bee straight into the back wall of the entrance, and had he not been gripping her that hard, she would have fallen over. But as it was, she was pinned against a wall with a man yelling in her face, and now she was more pissed off than she had been even when he had made all those remarks earlier. "Why would I want to know a damn thing about you?" She yelled back, fighting beneath his grip. Bee was deceptively strong, so he must have been holding her hard enough to bruise her if she couldn't break his hold. "You're a brainless, worthless, inbred sack of shit and nobody in their right mind would give a fuck if you fell off the face of the planet right now."

She placed her hands on his chest and pushed against him with all her strength. "Now get your filthy hands off of me and let me go. If you thought you could come here to feel me up like you've been itchin' to," she spat his own word back at him with a vegeance, "you are sorely mistaken."

Alex: "Fuck you," and that was a step back, getting out of her face if only so he could shout louder, and then shoving again at her shoulders, pushing her backwards so he could step away. "Worthless? Shit, I made more in two, three years on the pitch than you ever will, and I don't pretend what I did is worth more to anyone than light entertainment. You're a self-righteous little cunt who thinks she's excused from society because she plans on spending time on a 'cause' and will probably end up knocked up and married to a banker. In fact, y'know, the girls I screw? At least they're up front about being vapid bitches. You're poison, pure fucking simple."

Bee: In the twenty-four years of her life, no man had ever spoken to Bee in the way Alex Chase was right now. Her reaction to being called a 'self-righteous little cunt' was primal and instinctual. She drew her hand into a fist and punched him without a second thought. And that shut him up. "Listen to me you ass-faced piece of horse shit. Just because you treat the whores you meet with no respect does not mean you can come into my house and say shit about me while I just stand here and listen. You don't know shit about me so just shut the fuck up before I kick your ass four ways to friday."

In a span of just three minutes, the tables had turned.

Alex: His head snapped back with the force of her punch; she'd caught the edge of his cheekbone and the side of his nose and the pain of it - besides the nose-bleed that shortly commenced - gave the fight a savage sort of tang that Alex had been gunning for; licence to hurt and relieved any guilt he might have had about the insults thrown. But he couldn't turn around and leave with that; although he was a step away from crossing the line. Wiping away blood with the back of his hand, he laughed shortly.

"Like you could. Sugar, you sure might not act like it, but you punch like a fuckin' girl."

Bee: Alex had just done the stupidest thing he could have in the given situation - that is, insults Bee's ability to cause him bodily harm. He was already bleeding, and she was intended to make it worse. She grabbed the front of his shirt with her right hand and pulled his face right up to hers.

"Say that again, to my face." Her voice was low and dangerous, which was much worse than the yelling she had been doing earlier. If Alex were smart, he would push her off and leave.

Alex: "Surely," he returned, evenly, blood streaking his cheek where it had smeared, but he smirked, shit-eating grin; she couldn't do a damn thing. "You . punch. like. a. fucking. girl."

Bee: Overcome by a fresh wave of anger, Bee did the only thing she could to wipe that infuriating grin off his face. She closed the inches between them, and kissed him. There was no passion in the kiss; it was angry and spiteful, and relayed every emotion coursing through her body right now.

Alex: Okay kissing? Kind of Alex's forte, and something he could handle. Something, an alternative to kicking the crap out of a woman, mean right hook or no, which would be frowned on. This he could deal with, and his hands were back on her shoulders, pushing her back, his own kiss as mean and cruel, almost a bite, almost stealing, as he crashed her back, payback for yanking him around and punching him in the damn nose.

Bee: Bee groaned as she hit the wall, but did not break the furious kiss, instead channeling her pain through her hands as they dug into his back. She was taking as much from this kiss as he was, since neither one was there for the the other's pleasure. Bee pushed against his body on one side while sliding, effectively turning him towards the living room. A crash sounded behind them as the moved - the umbrella stand had fallen over in the quick shuffle of their feet.

Alex: He heard the crash, registered it somewhere dimly in the back of his head, more concerned with the kiss than stuff crashing - not his place, not his problem. He bit rather than kissed the side of her neck, fingers working at the buttons of her clothing, kicking aside something that got caught in the way as they moved; a faint sound of a lamp breaking. No words - talking would mean registering doing something, something stupidly wrong, but his hands were under her shirt by now, and yep, no real interest in pleasing her.

Bee: Both of them had a single focus at that moment, and neither one cared what they ran over on their way to get it. Four more objects broke on the way from the living room to the bedroom, but the combination of alcohol, anger, and Alex's hands on her body had driven lamps and vases far from Bee's mind for the rest of the night. She'd deal with it in the morning. She would be dealing with a lot of things in the morning.