Temper Tantrums

[Vixen]

Zipporah was not, as the saying went, "a happy camper." In fact she fit the definition of "homicidal camper with a chainsaw". Minus the camper.

And the chainsaw. But it was metaphorical.

The girl was swirling around her old Middle School Homeroom, adding to the vandalism that the children had been accumulating for years. Her nails, while short and expertly cut for convenience sake, were still suitable for tearing more holes into the already holy wallpaper. Her boots were also well-equipped for kicking over the desks.

She had been so close!

Malachai was rotting somewhere in the basement of that very building!

She had slayn and Blue-Woman!

Isaac had looked ready to bed her right there (she swore she swore she swore)

Bed her or not, she had definitely had Isaac's favor! And what did she do? She tipped her hand, showed her intentions too early. She should have allowed Isaac to do as he willed, stupid as it might be, and stay high in his opinion rather than push towards her own ideal and eschew any chance she had ever had at all! She was near mad with being mad. Mad at Isaac, mad at herself, mad at David, mad at Deborah (especially Deborah!).

With the thought of that little girl, Zipporah had grabbed for a chair. Tossing it with all her strength to the wall beside her, she finally collapsed to the ground.

[Bunny]

"No, Delilah, I don't think --- Oh," Rhett broke off from his conversation with the two-year-old in his arms when he entered the old classroom. The room was in a complete disarray. More so than usual, anyway. His first initial thought was that Isaac had ordered it to be disgraced even more than it had before as being the former institute of evil-learning or some other bullshit blah blah blah, but his dark eyes fell onto Zipporah. "'Ya know, that can't be sanitary," he observed, perching Delilah in one of the seats that had not been overturned.

[Vixen]

Zipporah leaped to her feet, a fire burning in her eyes rivaling the one that had fueled her earlier tantrum. But beyond that hasty rise she kept her dignity, hands on her hips and angular chin tilted upwards in defiance. "You speaking with you can't be healthy for my soul," she returned. "But I shall do it anyway for you are my brother in the Lord." The blatant lie in her statement even made the tan self-declared vixen blush, so she went on without pause, hoping Rhett wouldn't notice. "Why are you here, anyway? Shouldn't you be out scaring four-year-olds over dragons?"

[Bunny]

Rhett couldn't help but smile at her quick, but tart, reply. Zipporah certainly was one of the sharper dimwits in the small hellhole of Gatlin. And, he noted, allowing his gaze to stray unashamed over her lustrous figure, she was also one of the prettier dimwits. But she was still a dimwit (everyone was) so he picked her statements apart. "Did 'ya lie on the ground 'cuz the floor's your brother, too?" he asked, widening his eyes as though genuinely curious.

Behind him, Delilah giggled at the very idea.

The eighteen-year-old continued, giggling. "But 'ya heard about what I said to Deborah, then? I guess everyone has. Look, I didn't mean to scare her. Honest. Honest!" Like he ever lied. Still, though, he tried to squeeze what would be an "honest" expression onto his features, though dark, sunken in eyes colored with bags from sleepless nights didn't offer much to his mission. "I was just playing. You know how kids are. She's five, by the way," he added. "And I came 'cuz... Wul, I had nothing better to do. Don't we all come to school to better ourselves?"

[Vixen]

Zipporah knew, just knew that that last remark was a sarcastic one, a jibe at how she had suitably and irrevocably ruined what had been left of the old classroom. "We thought we used to," she said, knowing that the best defense was a holier-than-thou defense. "But then Isaac came and told us that we were being taught nothing but sinful trash. I go the sermons if I wish to better myself." For once she wasn't lying. He Who Walks Behind the Rows was her God, a bloody and vengeful God, and even though she knew Isaac was spewing diluted doctrine, it was better than nothing.

[Bunny]

I go to the sermons if I wish to better myself. Rhett was never one to stifle laughter at things he found funny, and Zipporah's lovely bitter phrasing was no exception. Going to the sermons was hardly an option if one wanted to live in Gatlin unmolested, for one thing. And for another, he imagined that a girl like Zipporah - haughty, arrogant, self-assured, like him but with lies - never felt the need to better herself. She probably thought she was perfect. He told her so. "Oh, so even you gotta better yourself sometimes, eh? Hard to believe," he added, speculating the windblown mess that the girl had made once more.

[Vixen]

Zipporah saw the statement for just what it was, bait, and did not bother to rise to it. "Thank you," she said, once again pasting a mask of feminine humility on her face and lowering her eyes in a trademarked demure fashion. "But your flattery borders on heresy. No one but the Lord is perfect. I am sourly flawed." She paused and hardened her words. "As are you."

[Bunny]

Rhett saw Zipporah's statement for just what it was, bait, and felt no desire to rise to it. "Yeah, I sorta am," he agreed. "But I'm comfortable with who I am, flaws and all. I don't bother hiding them. Seems, wul, it seems a lot like work." He cocked his head to the side, and allowed his gaze to wander across the girl's body uninhibited once again. "So, what made a pretty thing like you make this room so, uh, ugly, anyways?"

[Vixen]

Zipporah hesitated before answering. But, for once, Benjamin Franklin's old adage of 'honesty is the best policy' didn't seem like it would do much harm. Rhett wasn't very well loved, so his opinion of her wouldn't matter at all. He was a nobody, and thusly, she did not need to be tactful. "You did," she growled. "You decided to traumatize little Deborah with a story about bells and dragons. She started to parade around shouting about how she was going to get eaten. I yelled at the brat and then fell out of favor with Isaac."

[Dot Dot Dot]

// Mind if I pop in and say hi? \\
Solomon was never one to fraternize much with the other children. So, when Isaac dismissed everyone from their work detail for the day he did not flee into the communal homes or roam the streets it search of a playful posse. Instead he was going to retreat into one of the abandoned buildings, chosen at random, and just mull in his own thoughts for the last few hours of the day.

It was just his luck that the house chosen at random was inhabited by two of Gatlin's most colorful characters. "Sorry," he said the instant he thundered into the room and found it occupied. He noticed the mess. "Want me to help clean it up?"

[Vixen]

Zipporah glanced at Solomon, at first irritated at his unannounced arrival, and then relieved that she didn't have to engage in conversation with Rhett anymore. "Yes," she said with a genuine smile. "Please pick it up, Solomon. I hear you punished some of the infidels," she went on, changing the subject. "Did that go well?" As she spoke she cast a sly glance in Rhett's direction. Esau and Rebekah weren't the only ones that she felt deserved a flogging.

[Bunny]

"I don't think you should bother," Rhett said in regards to Solomon picking up the mess. "I mean, what's the point? Nobody comes in here anyway except to ruin things. Besides, I think it's a lovely work of art," he added, gesturing the the turbulent room. "Says a lot about its creator. Immaturity, stuck-up, prone to not getting their way..."

[Vixen]

Zipporah had already killed one person today. And now she wanted to kill another. She curled her hands into fists, and was just a beat away from smashing one of them across Rhett's smug face but caught herself just before she did the deed. Solomon was in the room after all. And unlike Rhett, Solomon had no tarnish on his record. He was important. And he might look down on the savage beating-almost-murder of one of the Lord's children.

If Rhett had the privilege of being called such.

So, through gritted teeth she managed to say, "Oh, shut up."

Dignified. Elaborate. Verbose.

Not. At. All.

[Dot Dot Dot]

Solomon's eyes leaped from Rhett to Zipporah as the two began their verbal duel. Rhett opened with a cutting summary of what he thought was Zipporah's personality (and it was wrong, though. Solomon had never much noticed the girl in the past, but she had handled Isaac's praise with her killing the blue woman with modesty and grace) and he thought the girl would just giggle and politely tell him he was wrong, or not acknowledge it at all. That was the sort of girl Solomon thought she was.

Oh, shut up.

And the giant boy flinched at her brutality. She must have been really upset by Rhett's callous words!

Instantly, Solomon came to the lady's aid. "Apologize," he ordered Rhett, advancing towards the teen with an aggressive swagger. "You do not act so disrespectful to a lady."

[Vixen]

Zipporah swung her head to stare at Solomon, and for once, her usually controlled countenance revealed exactly what she was feeling: her eyes bulged and her mouth dropped. Saying she was surprised was a rather understatement.

Solomon was apparently meant to be puddy in her hand. She allowed him to be just this, regained control, and spoke in her signature demure voice, "Oh, Solomon. Don't hurt Rhett. He didn't mean anything by it." Which, of course, in courtier meant Kick his teeth in.