bad rap

[insertusername]

bad rap

The things we become known for aren’t always what we’d like to be known for. Reputations are hard to run from. Sometimes they’re not even deserved. So here’s your chance to set the record straight. Clear up some misplaced assumptions, debunk any rumours about yourself and defy your stereotypes.

how to play:

Top level with something(s) your character is tired of people assuming about them, blaming them for, or pigeonholing them about, etc. Say it in person or over text.

Comment on any surprising, or not so surprising declarations.

Comments

[iluzija]

It's possible things with Kosovo might turn into a battle of litigation and protests rather than physical battles. I hope to God it does. There's definitely people on both sides who want peace, despite the press coverage to the contrary.

My best friend floated the idea of me teaching history once. I think it'd be rewarding, but I never got the chance to finish high school, so it's not likely. Parents don't typically want their child taught by someone without a degree.

My parents were ranchers. Goat farmers, in the countryside. We lived in a massive house with another family who worked the same land. I won't say we were ever rich, but we always had enough to eat and things seemed to make a lot more sense then. No geopolitical quandry this or ethnoreligious tension that, just goat milk to gather, cheese presses to work and fur to shear. Markets to set up at every Saturday, church on Sundays.

[She aches for it. Those days were so kind to her, so gentle. She lived without fear for herself or others and took for granted that it would always remain that way, always assumed that she'd stay in her sleepy little slice of the mountains. No one ever told her how fragile all that could be, how easily taken away it all was.]

[eights_and_aces]

Litigation and protests are certainly better than shooting. And it would mean that there are more people on both sides that want it, which I think would be a good thing. [A bit of a nod, having only a tenuous grasp of all the complications involved. But it was heartfelt.]

Degrees are formalities, if you know it...[Anna's shoulders shrugged slightly.] Hell, my dad never graduated high school and he's probably one of the smartest men I know.

[Her smile broadened she knew that feeling of what the woman talked of.]
I grew up on a ranch too! A cattle ranch, but we had a few sheep and goats as well. Horse too, of course. Can't have a ranch in Texas without those.

It was good, rewarding and something I didn't really appreciate until I moved out. Maybe you can take the girl off the ranch, but can't get the ranch out of the girl? [An arch of her brow in a conspiratorial look before she laughed.]

[iluzija]

There are definitely enough people on both sides that want a nonviolent resolution for it to be possible. I just can't help worrying a few bad actors will provoke violence regardless. These situations are prone to going off the rails at a moment's notice.

[She nods, conceding the point.] My father was the same. He had a stunning amount of knowledge about biology, weather, animals, health, and all the practical knowledge on repairs to keep things going. He also didn't continue going to school after he was fourteen. Ranching in the countryside meant he was needed at home.

We had a horse. [Iskra smiles at the memory, fondly.] Loshmi. I named him and he didn't come to the name my father tried to give him. I used to feed him berries in the spring; he'd bolt clear across the field if I whistled for him.

[In spite of everything she can't help but laugh.] Maybe! It would explain a lot about me. I certainly miss having the space to breathe - I love Novi Sad, but city crowds sometimes make me want to scream. The charm of the city lights wore off quicker than I think eleven year old me would have thought possible.

[eights_and_aces]

As helpful as this probably ain't....It sounds like a bar brawl. You got a bunch of people that don't want none on one hand, and then a few that are itching to throw.[She shook her head.] It could go either way, unless the people that don't want none get sick of the ones that do.

Loshmi..Did I pronounce that right? What does it mean? [She is the curious sort, and some might call her superstitious as well. Though mother had taught her names were important. But her smile grew wider at the obvious affection the woman had for Loshmi] I had a Pinto, or a Piebald stallion I named Bowie. One hell of a cutting horse, and loved to barrel race.

[She nodded in complete agreement.] Same here, always busy and in L.A. there so much concrete and people. There are parts of it I like, I am a night owl so there is always something to get into. But I do miss just going out and getting some space to think sometimes. Maybe look up at the stars.[The last part she said wistfully]

[iluzija]

Having been in bar fights, I feel like that's the best summation. Right now I'm firmly in the camp of 'don't want none, won't start any, Jesus Christ will you all sit down and finish your beers like adults'. It's remarkable how much international conflict resembles Saturday night rowdiness down at the pub.

Loshmi. Like Milosh, the most common Serbian boy name, but you flip the syllables. It's part of a kind of slang, Shatrovachki, that's very common in the cities. As a kid, I would hear it in radio dramas and thought it was cool how nicknames got made from regular names. So I named the horse Loshmi. He was silver and loved to get into the river, which meant if the horse and I both went missing that's the first place Mama would check. I loved swimming and so did he. Sometimes he would stick his whole head into the water trough.

[This is the best conversation she's had in a while. Finally, someone gets it.] I'm still in love with the all-night bakeries. Truly the best thing all the Balkans have ever produced is a place to grab donuts before the crack of dawn. And I'm enjoying the more mild weather, definitely. I just haven't found a place in Novi Sad where I can see the sky like I could back home. Mama and Otach and I would sometimes sit by the window and they would point out constellations to me, and tell me stories about them. A lot of them are sort of local, or maybe it's more accurate to say they're less well-known outside the region. In the city, though, all I can see is Severnjacha - the north star. Can you see her in LA?

[eights_and_aces]

[A chuckle.] Funny how things can scale up, huh?

So kind of a diminutive? [She thought about that, and filed it away in her brain. Given her profession, plays on words and names were a staple. She smiled more and nodded along as she detailed Loshmi's and her endevours.] Well at least you were never without a swimming partner, so your parents couldn't fuss at you for that. Bowie was well enough with water, but he loved to run. Flat out and full out....god I loved it.

[Oh she would be right there with that sentiment.] See that is one of the selling points. Want a taco? There is a place open that prolly has the best tacos you've ever had. And there is always a club open. It can make you a bit spoiled. [A thoughtful face before she added.] Kind of like a trap of sorts...

[She nodded.] Yes. Most of the others are washed away. But at least it is a short drive to get out, then they start coming back. Especially if you head towards Nevada. But honestly, even if it is clear out there, it isn't as good as home. [The girl did get homesick after all, despite her determination around her own endevours.] And Severnjacha, I like how that sounds. Is there a story around her?

[iluzija]

Except when alcohol is involved, stupidity is more excusable. There's no excuse for the sober.

Sort of. It's a friendly sort of way to address someone, unless you don't know them. My friend Ruuk is always calling people by their Shatrovachki names ten seconds after meeting them and the reactions are... mixed. [Personally, she avoids that sort of thing until someone uses her nickname first; she'll let them establish boundaries. Unless it was her horse, of course. Loshmi was special.] My mother was glad I had him to hang onto when the water got high in the spring, yeah. He was big enough the currents never bothered him. She was less thrilled when I would get him to run fast and hold up our sheets like a giant flag. [It was fun at the time.]

I need my coffee and at least one kind of fried dough. So long as a city has that, it can lure me in like a moth to a flame, all common sense and warning signs be damned. And all the best Turkish booze ends up in city bars.

It's easier to see the stars across the river, where all the historical buildings are and there's less light pollution. There's a few more stars there. Not like the countryside, though, you're right. [God, what she'd give to go back out to the hills and lay around looking up at the sky for another night, just one more time.] Severnjacha is the little sister of Dazhbog, the sun. The work of being the world's guiding light was too much for him to do every day, so she took up part of the work at night.

[eights_and_aces]

Some people can get drunk from other things though. Or hell, just start thinking it is 'normal'. [Anna shook her head and made a displeased face at the thought.]

Usually we go with however people are introduced or introduce themselves. Or you 'earn' you nickname. Bad or good. [She smiled.] I've got one, my dad used to call me 'lil ace' and eventually that got shortened to LA...which kinda fits, sorta. [Anna didn't mention Cyn's habit of calling her 'kitten' because of reasons.] A good horse, or a good dog can be one hell of a babysitter. I know Bowie looked out for me. [Laughing at the image of a young version of the woman galloping across a field with sheets trailing behind her.] You were helping! So they didn't hang on the line too long. [Giving a firm nod to retroactively defend the girl's choices. After she would have done that herself.]

Ugh coffee, I cannot function without it but nobody makes it strong enough. [Pursing her lips in thought.] Besides the convenience and sheer variety of stuff nothing really is a must have. Setting everything aside of the things I do, I kind of have to do them there, I'd be happy to visit for a bit and retreat.

That's a pretty story. Plus it is true, we can take all the help we can get.[She loved stories, fables, and the like.] There are parts of L.A. like that, and you do have stretches of beaches that you can get to that block out a lot. And it is nice to stretch out on the sand and look while listening to the waves roll in. I didn't have those growing up, and I do like them. Even if they are colder than I was expecting.

I guess that settles it. Once everything is settled, you can move out to the country, be a history tutor with a horse ranch. All you need to do is find someone to run Turkish booze out to you once a month. [Anna gave a wide warm smile and nodded as if it were the simplest thing achieve.]