Imagine if you will being in the middle of a war and losing a sibling. Sadly for many people this isn’t hard to imagine because this is their reality.
It is not clear from the prompt if the revolution is still going on or not. What is clear is that the revolution took her brother from her. It also doesn’t say how close they were, but it’s safe to say she was not neutral on the situation.
There is so much that we don’t know about this woman. We know generally what she looks like and a bit of her personality and her occupation. That is a good starting place for sure.
Does she have other family? Is the revolution still going on? Which side was she on? Which side was her brother on? If it’s over, who won? If it’s not, do both sides believe they can still win?
What kind of technology does she live around? There have been bars for centuries, probably longer. The time frame could be almost anything.
Her hair is short. Is this normal for a woman where she is? Or at the very least is it something people would take specific note about or is it just something that helps you imagine her better?
When I see this prompt is makes me think of a story I read as a kid. I think it was in Cricket magazine, but it’s been a long time, so I don’t remember for sure. What I do know if that it is a story of a pair of siblings during some sort of war. I think it was the American Revolutionary War, but it might have been a different war. The brother runs in to where the sister is with enemy soldiers not far behind. He quickly explains the situation and if she wants to save her brother, she has to act fast. Soon after the soldiers arrive and find the two siblings. One of them has long hair in the middle of being washed while the other talks to the soldiers and sends them on their way.
Once the soldiers are gone the brother moves away from the bucket of water and apologizes to his sister that she had to cut her long hair off to protect him. She tells him that it is easier for her to grow back her hair than it is for him to grow back his neck.
I’d really love to read that story, again. Clearly it left an impression on me for me to remember it more than two decades later.
As for the prompt what kind of person do you think this barmaid is and what kind of goals does she have in her life? Is she wanting to seek revenge for her brother’s death? Does she worry that she’s next?
