For Sherlock of some flavor or another

[tofightinjustice]

There's a heavy bag hung up on one of the trees at the edge of the Milliways forest. It's a little off the beaten path, which is nice, and Bryce finds that working in the cool not-Scottish air is a lot less dehydrating than working in the California sun.

For her size (she's middling tall but not very bulky), she's giving the bag a fairly thorough beating.

Comments

[sicaria]

She sits cross-legged and folds her hands in her lap. (Her dress is smudged in a few places, wrinkled in others, but will probably be fine after a good wash.)

"I've only ever lost before to Jim, and that was half on purpose; he was training me for the Games. I had... other reasons to be fond of him, but looking back, that was a major factor in why I find him so attractive."

[tofightinjustice]

"You like it when people beat you?"

[sicaria]

"Seems to be the logical conclusion," she agrees. "I suppose it makes sense, too. It's a high bar to clear. And I've always found violence arousing, in the abstract at least."

[tofightinjustice]

Bryce blinks at her.

"What?"

[sicaria]

"...Which part?"

[tofightinjustice]

"You find violence arousing?"

[sicaria]

"In the actual practice I'm always too focused to care, and it usually isn't even in retrospect, but thinking about it, about someone who's good at it—yes."

[tofightinjustice]

"I don't get it."

(She thinks about bucking her hips under Sherlock to throw her to one side.)

"You kill people. That's what you use violence for."

[sicaria]

"Yes, and that's the part that's not particularly attractive."

[tofightinjustice]

She eyes Sherlock closely.

[sicaria]

"...Yes?"

[tofightinjustice]

"Is all of that true?"

[sicaria]

Puzzled: "Yes?"

[tofightinjustice]

"You're turned on by fighting but not killing?"

[sicaria]

"...Yes. More or less," she says.

She's not turned on by all non-lethal fighting; in fact she isn't turned on by most of it. And she still occasionally has a moment thinking about Jim's kills, but that's a special case.

[tofightinjustice]

Bryce relaxes, fractionally.

She doesn't really know what to think, though.

(She imagines fighting Sherlock again, knowing this, and has two simultaneous reactions: I could use that to my advantage, and a warm tingle down her spine.

Only one of those reactions makes sense.)

[sicaria]

"Attraction is a fundamentally nonsensical subject, anyway," she says, unintentionally echoing Bryce's thoughts. "I can recognize the patterns, but there's not really a reason for them."

[tofightinjustice]

". . . If you say so," Bryce says, uncertain.

[sicaria]

"Well, how else would you categorize this sort of thing?"

She is open to suggestions!

[tofightinjustice]

"Nonsensical," she admits. "But I guess it's important. Significant, anyway."

[sicaria]

"Depending on context, yes."

[tofightinjustice]

A frown.

"Meaning what? It affects how people behave, one way or another. That makes all contexts significant."

[sicaria]

"It affects different people to different degrees."

[tofightinjustice]

Bryce shrugs.

Cosmo sure seems to assign a lot of significance to attraction, but she knows that's not the most credible source of data.

[sicaria]

"And it's hard to rely on as a predictor of behaviour," she murmurs.