Prose log with Kathy

[percivalthegale]

Who: Percival and Kathy (rideonchisatsu)
When: early this morning
Where: the stables
What: Percival finds out what happened to Kathy's ranch...among other things


With no other knights or squires around to do the job, Percival had to do all the upkeep on his steed himself every morning. Not that he minded, he loved his horse, but it was hard work and added to his schedule. There wasn't time for a ride today, so after he finished feeding, grooming, and mucking, he sent the horse into the pasture with a slap, pausing for a breath before going to oil the leather tack.

Kathy had also been going about her morning duties, bailing some of the hay needed to keep the horses fed and happy. Normally, she'd have Melville do this particular job, but she'd let the kid sleep in on account of the events a few days ago. Still, the look on Billy's face was well worth it in the end...though it still didn't quite take her mind off things. She let out a sigh upon finishing a stack of bales, looking over at Percy. "Mornin'" she said without much enthusiasm.

Percival straightened up from where he was leaning on the side of the stall. "Kathy! Good morning." He breathed a sigh and smiled. "Funny, how you're always here and yet I manage to miss you on most mornings. How are you?"

"Eh, this is Melville's job most of the time now. But I figured I'd give him the morning off. Need to keep workin' to git this place in shape fer winter, after all," Kathy remarked, offering up a tired smile to her friend as she walked up to stand next to him. She watched Midnight happily trotting along in the field...the horse looked happy.

Percival chuckled lightly as he regarded her, and then his steed snorting out in the pasture. "By the look of things, I might say you were the one who needed the morning off to sleep in," he suggested.

"And deal with having time to think? No thanks,'" she said rather plainly, making no attempt to dodge the issue. Not like Percy would buy it if she was perfectly fine anyays. Kathy was just too tired to bother hiding her state of mind anymore.

"Kathy..." Percival turned to lean his shoulder against the stall, the better to focus directly on her. His expression said it all - brows furrowed, eyes gentle. "I know something happened, but I haven't pried out of courtesy. But to see you down in any way makes me worry. Will you tell me about it?"

Kathy let out a heavy sigh, her head sinking into her arms, one of which removed the pink hat that seemed a near constant in her life. A sort of symbol of her cheerful disposition, really. She waited a moment before speaking, trying to find the right words. "It's one thing to lose the ranch in a bad game of cards...it's another to know that the cheater finally got his due, but you can't ever get back what he took from you...,"

Percival swiftly picked up the hat to keep it from getting dirty. "You said, at the party, that the ranch was gone," he noted. "What did you mean, gone? What happened to it? Bandits, fire...?"

"Before the Camaro knights came to sieze the property, he and his goons had the whole thing destroyed," Kathy said plainly. "The bank had no choice but to forclose the property," she added.

"Oh...Kathy!" Percival stepped closer, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. That's...despicable, I have no words for it. Well," he added off-handedly, "no words for polite company, that is." He rubbed her shoulder as consolingly as he could, not sure what else to do.

"It's all gone, Percy...not a speck of it left. Nothin' but smolderin' earth and ash," Kathy said, her voice sounding strained with emotion. "Everything my Mama worked so hard for destroyed in an instant....It's not fair!" she cried out, shifting suddenly to punch the fence post in front of her. A lot of strength was behind it...but mostly emotion.

Percival scowled to himself. As a farmboy and horseman himself, he sympathized more than some would expect. "What sort of bastard would do that for no reason?" he muttered. "Out of spite, just to keep anyone else from having it?" He continued gently rubbing her shoulder, keeping out of the way of those fists. "But...why were the Camero knights involved?"

"More like to destroy evidence...at least that's what the officer told me. Technically our ranch falls in Camaro terriroty, so once they realized he owned the deed illegally, they were going to put an end to it...apparently this guy had a heavy hand in organized crime 'round those parts....to think my home was used as a base for that kind of damned foolishness..."

"Dear goddess...!" Percival took a step back out of sheer surprise. "I...had no idea! Kathy, you're lucky you didn't get pulled in any further than simply losing the deed in a game. Gangs like that in the Outlands...." He shook his head. All Knights in all territories knew those rumors.

"Yeah, well....it's over now. He's in jail and my home is gone," she said, letting out another sigh and slumping forward. "So this is home now...just me and what's left of my stock."
Percival looked down at the pink hat he was fidgeting with. "You could do with a far worse home than Budehuc," he offered gently.

Kathy didn't respond for a long moment. She just sat there and watched midnight, not certain what to say or do. She had already shed her tears for her childhood home...there really wasn't much else to do. Percival...he was right. "Yeah, well...just means I have to be a big girl and build everything from the ground up, right here."

"That's the spirit." Percival offered her hat back to her. "And you have more than a foothold here. Lord Thomas already knows how well you handle horses from the war, and everyone here already respects you as the one to go to. This could be a big opportunity, in the long run."

"Yeah...," she sighed again, just holding the hat in her hands and staring at it. She made no move to place it back on her head...hell, she didn't even think about it. "Percy, you've been here for me in my darkest times...I don't know how I could have gone through this without you."

Percival's kind smile returned. "You've done the same for me, so I'd say we're even. Including making sure the other got to bed safe after drinking too much," he laughed wryly. "That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"Heh...I juse wish Mama coulda met you...she'd like you, I can tell," she said with a slight laugh, her own smile brightening slightly. "You woulda fit right in with us and our workers."

"Oh, me, as a farmhand?" Percival laughed. "I don't know, I spent far too much time in Vinay learning to be a 'gentle knight' as my mother calls it. Now, if you had caught me before I got delusions of grandeur...that might have been different."

"Not as a farmhand, silly...though I don't doubt you'd be good at it. You just...you'd do well, you know?" She said with a happy sigh, looking at him. She let a few moments pass before awkwardly turning away and allowing herself an even more awkward chuckle. "Now I done forgot all I was gonna do this mornin'"

Percival wasn't at all sure what she meant by "not a farmhand," so it flew right over his head. "There I go, being a distraction," he said with a comical shrug. "Story of my life. No one ever gets any work done unless I'm doing mine."

"Well you do a good job of stealin' attention away, Percy," she teased, gathering up some of the rope on a nearby post and walking back over to the covered portion of the stable. She'd have to start stacking hay not just for food, but insulation soon...oh bother it all. "Though I can't say I mind."

The knight stood there a moment longer, blinking. That one didn't miss. After all, he'd heard similar things before from women. "Why, Kathy," he said as flippantly as he could, hiding the fact that he was startled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were flirting with me."

Oh crap. Was she? She stopped dead in her tracks and stupidly stared into nothingness for a good moment before shaking her head. No way, there was no way she was! He just misheard her, of course! "Oh don't you take that ego of yers up in here. Not everyone who compliments you is flirtin', Percy."

Percival laughed, flushing slightly. He didn't think he was mistaken, but he also didn't want to take the risk of being wrong and offending her. "Fine, then, I'll...what. Simply bow and thank you graciously for your kind words, milady?" he teased. "Very well..." He swept his arm around in a flourish that made his long-coat swish back, bending in a graceful bow.

Kathy burst out laughing at his display. "Did you just call me 'milady'?"

"I believe I did," Percival smirked upon straightening up.

"Well I ain't yer 'lady', Percy. Never have been. I'm just plain old Kathy, a girl from the country who knows her roots," Kathy said with a confident and soft grin. She let out another sigh, turning once more to observe the space she'd have to fill. And, of course, ignore the thouhts that crossed her mind

Tilting his head back, Percival made to sigh loudly, purposefully, at the sky. "No one is my 'lady,'" he said. "It's just what a knight says. And I might add, there is not one thing wrong with being a plain girl from the country. My mother is, thank you very much."

"Yeah, but it's usually directed to them court n' city girls who actually deserve titles like that," Kathy remarked back, smirking. "And yer mother is an amazing woman that you sould listen to more often, Percy."

"I don't know how many of them deserve titles," Percival said vaugely with a dangerous smirk as he brushed past and went to the saddle sitting waiting for him to oil it. "I don't know what you're talking about, I always listen to my mother." He picked up a rag to begin his work, since he could polish a saddle and talk at the same time.

Kathy began roping up some bales, intending to make walls of them. "Fine fine, be that way, but please oh please don't call me that. Makes me feel like I gotta meet some expectation or somethin', ya know? I ain't that kinda girl and if I have my way, I never will be."

"Nobody says you have to be," Percival reasoned. "The world needs all kinds. Personally, I think we could do with far less of the sheltered, courtly type. I swear, some of those women in Vinay..." He chuckled to himself as he rubbed at the leather in small circles. "If you took them out to Iksay and told them to fend for themselves, they'd have no idea what to do. Heaven forbid they get any dirt on their hands."

"So are you sayin' you'd rather a girl from yer hometown, right?" Kathy asked, with an almost cat like expression. Oh how she enjoyed teasing him.

Percival pursed his lips as he thought, one eyebrow arching up. "I don't know. Perhaps, in theory? But I know all of the girls in Iksay, I grew up with most of them. The majority are already married off, and there's a reason the ones who aren't....aren't." He shot her a stupid grin across the stable. "Unless you intend to fix me up with the ten year old girls who tag after me when I visit."

"Why not? If you can't find the perfect woman, raise 'em, right?" she laughed heartily, tossing a small roll of hay at him.

Percival gaped at her, and then pointed with an oil-stained finger. "That is inappropriate," he mock-scolded. "You should know better than that! Why, if my hands weren't a mess I would come over there and give you what-for."

"Oh you couldn't beat me in my own home and you know it. I could have a trap door just chock full of hay waitin' above yer head," Kathy taunted arrogantly, tossing a length of rope idly between her hands.

"Is that so?" Percival cocked her a sly look. "Kathy's stable, death trap to all who dare defy her?" He picked up a second rag, diligently wiped his hands clean, and then gave her another look as if to warn that he just might actually do it.

She pulled the rope tight, flashing a dangerous grin. "Oh I dun need the stable."

"You're not going to rope me like some common mustang, are you?" Percival wondered warily.

"Gotta make sure my boys aren't spreadin' their wild oats, ya know. Measures got to be takin' to keep them in control. Standard ranch procedure, of course," she added, snickering even further.

Percival raised both hands as if he were being arrested, waving them slightly. "Now, now, let's not be hasty," he laughed. "I've been very well behaved lately, just ask around. Ah..." He suddenly made a curious face. "...since when was I your boy?"

Well that stopped her in her tracks. The dumbstruck face she made, as well as the coloring in her cheeks, was more than enough to indicate that she hadn't quite thought out what she had said. So she just stood there, sort of slackjawed.

Taking that as some sort of victory, Percival laughed brightly. "For a minute there I felt like Nash trying to stay on Lady Chris' good side. That was strange."

"We are hardly like that!" Kathy said in an unneccesarily defensive tone. Why that bothered her so much was anyone's guess.

"I should hope not!" Percival said in return. "The thought of being anything like Nash disturbs me to the core." He lowered his hands, figuring it was safe.

"Well fer awhile there, you kinda were," Kathy mumbled, remembering the moment she had grown rather annoyed with Percy shortly after returning to Budehuc. And even now, she didn't quite know why it bothered her so much. "But yeah...yer better than that. You actually know how to treat a lady. Even if the ladies don't always appreciate it."

"Wait...you thought I was behaving like Nash?" Percival's dark eyes took on the kicked-puppy quality. "When was this? What...did I do?"

"Oh don't worry about it," she laughed it off, brushing her hair behind her ear in a nervous motion. "That was back more than a few months ago. And it coulda just been me, ha ha."

"Well..." Percival scratched the back of his head where his hair was shortest. A few months ago? "I suppose perhaps I was a bit flippant about that kissing booth thing...but really, it wasn't as though I was doing anything wrong..."

"Not that, I meant when I first came back. Don't worry about it."

"Oh." Fortunately, Percival couldn't remember back that far. "All right, then. But if I ever start turning in that direction again, kindly slap me upside the head? I would hate to be mentioned in the same breath as that Cassanova."

"Oh you know I've got a specific kind of punch waiting for times like that," Kathy commented with a wink.

Percival visibly cringed. "Er, no thank you. You've already proven to me how hard you can punch..."

"I can be gentle when I need to, you know," Kathy responded almost defensively, noting his reaction.

"Such as with the horses?" Percival managed to relax. "That much I know. I've seen you at work."

"Well, with people too...," she trailed off, going back to her work. Why she was even bothering to bring it up was beyond her, really.

Percival sobered even further, and came around the saddle stand toward her. "Are you sure that you're not trying to tell me something, Kathy?" he wondered, all serious this time.

"What? Man, what is with you today?" she remarked in response. The words, were however, completley unconvincing. Even ot herself. There was definitely something there but she was trying desperately to ignore it.

"Please, be honest with me." Percival stopped in front of her, hands at his sides, completely unguarded. If she punched him now, he would have gone down cold. "You're the only one I can feel I can trust to tell me the truth around here, Kathy...I don't want you to be the one hiding things from me."

"Percy...that's just it. We're so damn close, and...you've always been here for me anytime I needed you. You're my best friend and...," she stopped herself. She couldn't even find the words. She just stammered and grew more embarassed. This wasn't the time...it wasn't the place...And she knew she was stupid for feeling that way at all.

"I see." Percival's eyes averted slightly, though his face remained softly blank. "At least, I think I do. You're free to tell me if I'm wrong, but...are you concerned that I've been behaving like something different from a friend?"

"No...I'm concerned about myself...wanting to be more."

Startled, Percival stared for a moment, his cheeks flushing again. ".....oh."

"I should get back to work," she said in a hurry, brushing past him and downright REFUSING to make eye contact. How could she be so stupid? She could have just laughed it off and changed the subject. All she had to do was assure Percival that he wasn't in the wrong. All she had to do was ignore it until it went away. But now...

"No, Kathy..." Percival turned to follow her at a distance. "Don't run. We...we should talk about this, if we can."

"We can talk about it later. I need to get back to work," she responded curtly. Not now. Not when she had a whole day in front of her to stew on things. She knew what was coming, and she was being an idiot. But at least when she was working, she didn't have to think about it.

"So do I, but I don't think this can wait," Percival insisted. "At least give me two second before you go storming off, please!"

She stopped in her tracks...but didn't face him. She didn't want him to see her face like this...it would just ruin things further. "You got two seconds then...make it quick."

Percival also screeched to a halt to keep from running into her. "Kathy, I...you took me by surprise, is all. I don't know what exactly to say right now because I don't know what I think. I...I hadn't really thought about it before. Can you at least...give me time?"

"I...I didn't mean for you to find out. I was just gonna ignore it till it went away. I know nothin' will come of it...so why delude myself, ya know?" she responded. "I'll give you as much time as you need, Percy...just don't think yer gettin' my hopes up," she added with a heavy sigh. This was painful...almost suffocating. She was such an idiot...

If she had turned around, Kathy could have seen the perplexed look that knit Percival's brow. "How do you know nothing would come of it?" he asked, sincerely curious. "I'm not trying to get your hopes up, but...how can you know if I don't even know?"

"I...I don't know."

He took the chance and laid his hand on her shoulder. "The last thing I want is to hurt you in any way," he said in a low tone. "I may not be sure of how I feel, but the one thing I do know is that...your friendship is important to me. I don't want to destroy it."

She turned to him now...actually smiling. It was weak, sure...but it was true. "You kiddin' me? No matter what happens, that ain't gonna change. You need a friend like me, you know."

Heartened, Percival smiled back. "I'm glad to hear you say that. I...I can't promise you anything, right now, except that I don't want to lose another friend." His lips twisted slightly into a sly look. "I need a friend like you? And just what do you mean by that?"

"Percy, yer a good guy, but we all need our foil. You, me, anyone," she said. Those weren't her words, though...that was something taught to her by her mother. It was okay to rely on someone else...from time to time.

"So you're my foil." He set his hands on his hips and peered at her. "You're going to stop all my evil plans, then? Get in my way before I do something stupid?"

"Haven't we been doin' that fer each other for awhile now?"

"Hm...." Percival stroked his chin. "You do have a point, there." His smile returned. "And that's what I value most of all. No one else here will tell me when I'm being a fool. They don't know me enough, or don't seem to care."

"Exactly....Welp, I really do need to get to work now," and now came the awkward end to the conversation

"Oh...right. I suppose that saddle won't polish itself," Percival sighed. "Kathy...you're not going to do anything weird, now, like avoid me or something?"

"Well...no," She hoped she wouldn't have to at least. In all honesty, she wanted nothing more than to be around him most of the time. Be it as a friend or...something else.

Percival's shoulders heaved in a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. Then...we can just...be normal? While I think about it, and see what comes of it..." He nodded enthusiastically. "I would like that."

"I would too...last thing I need is to lose my best friend after everything else," she said with a sigh, her smile not fading, though it did become less noticable.

"I wouldn't want that either." Percival took a deep breath and brushed his hands down on his coat. "Well. Yes, that saddle. I'd best finish that before I get to patrolling."

"And I need to git back to insulatin' and gettin there breakfast ready. The boys I mean," she said with a bit of a nervous laugh. "I'll be sure to have some hot beans fer ya before you leave, at least."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Percival assured with a wave of his hand as he turned to go back to oiling his saddle. "I don't eat much in the mornings anyway, I usually just grab a biscuit or some fruit."

"Well I can give you that too iffin' you want it. Plus some fresh carrots," she said, not wanting him ot leave without at least taking something.

As he reached the saddle, Percival noticed that Midnight had come up to the pasture fence and was staring over it at him. "I think a certain someone would like those carrots more than me," he said wryly.

"Oh Midnight over there gets the special carrots. These are hand picked by me as the best, ya know," she said with a smirk, pulling one of the 'specials' from her coat pocket and walking over to Midnight. She gently pet his nose before offering him the treat. Which he, of course, took gratefully.

Percival gasped in mock horror. "So you're the one who's been spoiling him rotten! I should have known. You traitor," he added, directed at Midnight himself. "Yes, you. Flirting with the pretty girl, I should have known it."

And there was a slight blush. He probably hadn't meant it...but those words just tickled her heart. But she wasn't about to dwell on that after what just happened. "I only spoil him as much as any war horse. Poor fella has to see so much I say he deserves special treatment."

"Yes, well..." Percival sobered only slightly as he picked up the rag and returned to oiling his saddle. "Here's hoping that we can remain stationed here, and not have to see any more of that for a while. I don't mind the quiet."

"And like I said before, I certainly don't mind havin' you around," Kathy remarked. "Whelp, I'll let you finish that in peace...breakfast ain't gonna cook itself and them boys eat a LOT," she laughed.

Percival beamed at her over his handiwork, but decided against cheapening it with any further comment. "Until later, then."

"Later, cowboy," she said with a smile, taking her leave of him. That went....better than she thought it would.

Percival made a face behind her back. Cowboy?