What it takes (Candira and Jugger)

"Well, you better hurry up and quickly because I've got a meeting with said boss...well...one of his representatives...by tomorrow as he negotiates trying to get me to kill you rather than him, so you might want to rally them up and get things ready before tomorrow...Probably should've mentioned this earlier, huh?" He chuckled a bit.

"You know, for someone who claims to care about me in the slightest, you've got a funny way of showing it," she said with a sigh. She stirred her coffee and then drank some of it, watching his face. "I don't suppose I could convince you to ignore his offers? Or only pretend to take them?" she asked looking up at him. If it really came down to it, she would give him what he wanted and use her body before she left the people of the town defenseless. In many ways, she was the town protector. Well, it was time for her quiet defiance to get loud.

Nathan shook his head. "We mercenaries or bounty hunters, whatever you want to call us, we actually have a code...despite how low we are. We don't cheat out the client unless the client cheats you out. And so far, he hasn't done anything to me yet. So unless you actually CAN convince me not to give into his offers, the best bet you have is to either frame him of cheating me out of money or prove he actually is...whoever this guy might be."

She shrugged. "It was only a thought. I wasn't sure how you'd want to play it. Actually, I don't know much about the mansion they live in. I'm sure it's been converted, but I don't have a clue as to what they've done on the inside. I do know that there are a lot of places to hide, however, and the last person that found that out was lucky to get away alive. After all--he didn't have an invitation." Now, however, she really had to think about how to get to the big man and all the little men too. It was quite possible that a new one would just replace the old one and then she'd be stuck with someone worse "running" the town.

But maybe she could convince Darian to stay on her side somehow.

((Ok, so first you said Darian, and you've said Nathan a few times. Do you wanna switch or stay the same?))

(Aye sorry I use Nathan a lot lol. Its Darian, my bad. I sometimes get caught between RPs that I just accidentally use the same name over and over again unintentionally when I reply.)

"Well, whatever happens, will just happen, yeah?" He said simply to her with a shrug before closing his eyes as he sat there. "It'd be really horrible if I had to be the one to take you out, as much as I wanted to kill you the first two years you announced your hatred of me and caused me to leave the town, even though it was out of sheer anger." He shrugged. "Though as time passes, people mature..." Looking at her, he smirked. "And damn. Your body has really fucking matured!" He began to howl like a wolf and tried to embarrass her in front of all the customers.

And then there was a slap straight across his face. "Compliments I take. Cat calls I do not," she said, giving him a warning glance. As much as she appreciated that he liked her body, she got the distinct impression that was all he liked. "And maybe I ought to sort something out with you. I told you I hated you because all you ever did was tease me when I really liked you." And there it was. She paid for her coffee, downed it, and then stood up and got ready to take off.

"Well, did you ever consider that was my way of showing my affection to you? We were...Kids after all." He said simply as he watched her leave. He sat there, slowly drinking the water, not even getting up or seeming unfazed by what she said. He sat there, casually drinking water. The glasses over his eyes, hiding them, made it seem like he had no emotion except for a relaxed smile on his face as he looked straight forward, though it would seem as if he was sleeping somewhat as he sat there.

She was almost gone when he spoke. She heard it, but she didn't believe it. Not really. That's what she kept telling herself anyway. But it made a sick kind of sense. "We were kids," she said, not wanting to believe it. "Even if it's true, how was I supposed to tell if it's all he ever did?" She frowned and walked outside, sitting on the steps to the porch of the restaurant. Even as she sat, she realized that he had protected her more than once...but he'd made her feel so bad about herself...And it never really seemed like he liked her. Why did he have to say something like that?

A few more moments passed and Nathan eventually came out of the restaurant. He saw her standing on the steps and he stood beside her, looking off into the wasteland as the sun beat down on the town hard. "Who I choose tomorrow will change the very nature of this town, won't it?" He said simply as he looked to her. "I have no fond or bad memories of this town. The only good thing and bad thing I ever cared for in this town was you. Yet, the hate that I once had for you still burns silently within me. I didn't lose this arm during a bounty hunt you know. It was...more of a situation exactly like the one ten years ago...the last time I ever saw rain." He sat down beside her and looked at her, taking his glasses off. "Do you remember that day? That day where you and I spoke for the last time? The day you were held hostage by one of the bullies and I arrived late, only to find some stranger had saved you...and I thought he was the one hurting you...so I took out my father's pistol that I had stolen and...bang...shot the man...only to find out that he was your older brother whom I have yet to meet."

She frowned. It was a painful memory to recall, but he had a reason for bringing it up. "I remember," she said, not looking at him just yet. "It was after that that I told you I hated you." She sighed and looked down. It wasn't his fault--he was just trying to protect her--to avenge her. She'd known then that he'd had the best in mind... She'd known it then and she knew it now, but the tragedy had had her thinking irrationally, and he'd hurt her brother; she couldn't forgive him so easily.

She looked at him with a sigh and watched him now, noticing that no longer had his glasses on. Rather than apologize for anything just yet, she wanted him to just continue first.

"After I left...I grew up. Lived by myself, aside from a few caravaneers afterwards...but the same memory just haunted my mind. Every night it replayed over and over, sometimes in a different fashion, but never with it ever having a good ending. In the end...when I was old enough to get a killing license...I took up bounty hunting, in hopes that the memories of killing so many others could drown out my first...but then...after a few bounties...Well..." He gripped his metal arm. "It was a situation similar to that night..."

"It was raining again...though the town was more lively...except for that particular area because of what was going on. A gunfight between me and a few other hunters against the gang that held the town hostage...in the end it was just me...their leader...and a little girl..." He gripped his arm harder. "I didn't know it...but the leader was actually one of us. While chasing after an outlaw that had gone away, I heard a little girl scream...When I arrived, I saw a body fall to the ground with one of our guys holding a pistol...So I put my weapon down, remembering the day I killed your brother out of haste...but it happened so fast...He didn't even holster his gun, he just pointed it at the little girl and shot...Then, before I could even pull out my pistol, he shot me in the arm...ripping through the bone pretty much. I would have died if it wasn't for sheer luck that others arrived before I could die. In the end...well...lets just say I'm still sort of...paying off the debt for this trigger finger." He was refferring to his arm.

Caroline listened to his story with interest, watching him as he told her what happened after he left. As far as she could tell, he wasn't lying to her. She couldn't think of a reason for him to. He had nothing to gain from it, least of all money. And this made perfect sense. Without much thought, she leaned over and put an arm around him as he finished. "I'm sorry you went through so much." She let him go and then moved to hug him in both arms. "And I'm sorry for saying I hated you...I never really did...but I was so angry and so sad..." After a moment Marlow pulled away and looked up at him. Was it enough? She doubted it.

"Your words are nice and all...though the past is the past, and its what shapes us. I'm already a money-grubbing asshole just trying to get my arm paid off...which is why I'm so easy to bribe with the right amount of money. Tech like this isn't even close to anything our time...so you could imagine how much I have to pay to test out a 'prototype' just to get an arm back for who knows how long before this thing rusts."

She didn't move while he spoke to her, keeping her arms around him if only for the fact that she'd wanted to do so since she could remember. What he said was sad, but she couldn't help but feel as though he didn't think he was deserving of her words... either that or he didn't appreciate them. So she pulled away just a little and looked into his eyes, watching him closely.

"I need to know one thing. If you could take back what you did to my brother, would you?" She asked, watching him.

"Thats a hard question to answer...I've done plenty of good in my times as a bounty hunter, and plenty of bad. My life is pretty decent now...all action pretty much, while I get to use what little percent of the bounty I keep, I use for food and necessities. The rest goes to my debt...which still isn't paid off. I can't really say for sure whether your brother getting shot was a good thing or a bad thing for me...but...I know one thing's for certain..."

He looked to her with a frown. "If shooting your brother was the one thing that ruined your life, I would throw away my 'new life' just to go back in time and stop myself from shooting him, just so that you wouldn't be sad anymore."

His answer was certainly full of surprises. She expected more of a straight answer from Darian. And when she didn't get it, she wasn't sure what to do at first. As she listened, she tried to decide if he was forgivable or not. She'd been leaning more toward the latter when he looked at her. Caroline Marlowe had known since the day her brother died that if Darian had ever said anything like that to her afterward, she would forgive him. And tears came to her eyes as she did.

She kissed his lips softly, and held onto him, not really caring who saw or if it was appropriate or not.

When he saw her eyes begin to tear up, he wondered if he said something wrong. He was about to ask her whether she was happy, angry, or sad with his answer...but then she kissed him. HE didn't react, he only sat there, letting her kiss his lips until he finally pulled away from her. "So I take it you liked the answer. Though a kiss was a little much wasn't it?" He knew he had to kill the mood. He couldn't stay in this town cause of her, cause he knew that she wouldn't come with him. "I mean, you're kissing the guy who might have to kill you tomorrow."

When she was brought back to reality by his lack of a reaction, Caroline was confused, but she let it go. It was probably a stupid thing to have done--kissing him, that is. And when he pulled away he immediately made it known how he felt. So what had brought on the change of attitude? "Well, I guess if you put it that way it was too much." So she stood up and started to brush herself off. "But you know, at least I'll get to be with my family again." And that said, she walked off, deciding that whatever she'd done was too much. She should just let him think while she went back to work. "I'll be at work if you need me."

And then she was gone.

"Yeah. At least you had a family." Darian said when she was gone. He sighed and leaned back against the support beam of the restaurant they were just in and let the sun beat down on him. Even after venting out the causes of who he was, he was only allowed a slight moment of happiness before she planted her kiss onto him. He wasn't hurt by guilt, because he knew that he couldn't get attached to her, whether she lived or not the following day. If she were to cause him to fall in love, he wouldn't be able to leave this town, because he wanted to be with the woman who wanted to stay in the old town she grew up in. Though...he couldn't rightly take her with him, because she'd be in more danger than a few all-bark thugs in a bar. He frowned and stayed that way for the rest of the day, sitting against the support beam until the call of night, where he finally got up and began to head back to the bar to get some sleep.

Caroline took solace in the fact that there were only so many ways to make a drink. If she could focus on the mixtures of different cocktails, she might be able to get through most of the day without thinking of Darian. Of course, no one ordered a cocktail, so he was all she thought about. She hadn't been this way since she was young. Sighing, the beautiful woman went about her work, keenly aware of the fact that Darian was not there, and he didn't seem to want her around.

Well too bad. She lived and worked here, and if he was going to stay, then he would have to see her. And he would have to deal with her being around. Who was he to push her away like that? Well, if he didn't want her, she couldn't help that. But she could let him know that it didn't matter to her if it didn't matter to him.

Now the only problem was convincing herself. She made herself a dinner, though she over shot the portions again and made enough for two. She took both plates up with her on a tray with some of her strongest whiskey. She set a plate and a glass of the liquid in his room, taking the rest for herself. She went to her room and left the door open, planning on an early bed time that night.

Eventually making it back to the bar, he was somewhat happy to see that Marlowe would still let him stay in the bar, despite what had just happened. Smelling a hot dinner within, he walked in and saw the food and the liquor and smiled gently to himself before he began to pig himself out...quietly though. Laying in the bed, he holds the strong liquor, his face a small flush pink from being a light weight with the hard stuff like the liquor she had given him. "Wonder what I should say to her...She's prolly pissed at me..." HE said with a slurred voice, before getting up from his bed to walk out to see if Marlowe was awake to talk to. Seeing her door open, he peered in to see whether she was awake or not.

Her back was to the door and she was hanging up her hat and getting a robe down from a rack in the corner when she heard something in her doorway. She'd washed her face and brushed her teeth already, having eaten by the time he'd come back and gotten sauced. She turned around just as she was getting ready to close the door and get ready for bed. Caroline was surprised he was there and startled by his sudden appearance. Gasping she put a hand over her heart. "Oh, it's you," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What did you want?" she asked, tossing the robe down on her bed and walking toward the door.

"Just...waiting for the peep show..." He murmured to her with a small chuckle as he stayed where he was. "Look...I came...to tell ya something but..." His face was so easily seen with the flush on his cheeks that it was plainly obvious he was drunk off his ass, yet conscious at the same time. "Damn what did I want to say...It was sumthin..." He murmured again as he leaned his head against the door frame, eyes clenched as he tried to remember. "Sumthin bout a uh...hrm...sumthin bout you'ze...whut waz it..." The slur of his speech and his droopy eyes showed he was probably going to pass out. His eyes closed only for a moment before they shot open, him jumping from the door frame and getting somewhat excited, his mouth open but no words came out. Eventually he just took a relaxed look again before speaking to her. "Oh yeah...Waz gonna talk to you'ze bout...how to...pay me to not take the-uh...bribe."

Well, this was new and different. A blind man could tell he was drunk. She watched him lean against the door frame and got the distinct impression that he hadn't been there long at all, but he was hoping he could have walked in on her undressing. She'd punched a man for less...but he was drunk, so she let him get away with the peep show remark for now. He couldn't seem to remember what was so terribly important to talk to her a bout. For a moment she thought she might have to walk him back to his room before he fainted, but then he was back on his feet like nothing happened. His new topic amused her greatly.

Arching a brow, she tilted her head curiously. Oh, this she had to hear. "Oh really? You had an idea, huh?"

"Yesh..." He murmured lowly as he placed his hands on her shoulders, his eyes looking drunkishly into hers. "Your body...against my body..." He said before removing his hands from her to lean against the door frame, one hand holding his forehead as he chuckled a bit. "Lets make love...jush like you'ze wanted..." He said gently to her before he began to imitate the kiss they had earlier...though more in a mediocre and immature way. "Pleeaash? I promise I...won't kills ya tomorraw..."