( Alex keeps close, used to that kind of look after a fight's left someone too battered to really keep going with the adrenaline of necessity wearing off. She's worn it herself. Sure enough, Clive ends up stumbling, and she steps in closer and holds out her hand. )

Sounds like a jerk. Or someone who wants more out of you and hasn't had the decency to say what it is yet... While acting like a jerk.

( Cat and mouse games, or else the sort of game where you didn't know you were running a maze to another person's shifting rules for the walls within. Or it could just be a jerk. There's plenty of those in any world, she supposes. )

Here, let me help. I'm much stronger than I look.

( Given that she's built along athletic lines, and while not the shortest out there, she's still not what one would call tall. Average was the correct, and at times exceedingly annoying, reality.

If he does accept, she'll sling an arm over her shoulders and wrap her own arm around his waist. She can be a balance and brace easily enough. Clive's about the same size as some of the men she's had to do this for before, and far less dead weight than others. )

Are swords the more common means of fighting where you're from? Or just that you and whatever jerk did this to you ( ........... she's rolling with jerk ) both favor swords over anything else?