Dated 9-28-2013

[wipeawaythedebt]

He hasn't worked much since coming back from the world with the monsters. He tells himself that its because his arm's taken longer to heal than he thought and he doesn't want to screw up a hunt. But he knows better. It's the drinking and the gambling that he's been picking back up. Nights he stays out to sober up before going home, telling Elizabeth that he's working, using his winnings in lieu of actual wages, hoping he comes out at least even if not ahead at the end of the night. He's probably starting to get attention from places he doesn't but he can't really bring himself to care much.

He's in way over his head. He could almost handle Darrow, but knowing that Darrow itself could just melt away to some kind of nightmare, that it could take Elizabeth away and never giver her back... That hurts in a way he can't explain. His headaches, migraines, according to Emma, are getting worse and that's just another thing on the damn list. How can he protect her when she could walk through a door and disappear? He made himself a promise, get her out of Columbia, get her free. Guess he managed the first, but the second's getting harder by the day.

Shifting in his car seat he winces at the pain in his arm and he takes a pull of whiskey from the flask in his pocket. It's supposed to be an easy job, but his mark sure seems to be taking his damn sweet time leaving his girlfriend's place. His phone is silent and he's wondering if the girl's had second thoughts about calling him when her man leaves. Be just his luck if he's sitting here while his mark's sneaking out the back. With a curse, he opens the door. Might as well go check the back. Can't kill him, right?

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[wipeawaythedebt]

Pulling his revolver, Booker heads closer to the car, taking care to do it from behind so he won't be seen. He doesn't know what the woman's playing at, but he doesn't care. He needs cash and the sooner the better.

The sound of the car starting makes his teeth grit in frustration. No. Not after all the work he's put in. Aiming carefully, he shoots out the back tire, making sure he can't use the car in a getaway. "Okay, buddy, let's do this nice and easy. Come out of the car, hands up and we're gonna take a little trip."

[attitude]

The sound of a bullet blowing out one of the rear tires is all too familiar to Faye's ears, and her eyes immediately dart in the direction of the bullet, eyes narrowing in sharp anger. Next to her, the mark's already starting to flail and scream.

"Oh, shut up," she tells him, easily climbing over his lap and to his door, throwing it open as she steps out and aims her gun in the direction of the shooter.

That face.

"F-Faye? I'm scared," the man behind her stammers, and Faye growls.

"Just stay behind me," she tells him, before throwing her voice in the direction of that infuriating hunter. "Buddy, face it. You've already lost this one."

[wipeawaythedebt]

"Funny, I don't see you making any move to do anything but get him undressed." That's not doing the job, that's playing. It's stupid, it gives the marks time to leave, 'cause no matter how good you are, the longer you play, the sooner you make a mistake.

"Come on, kid. Don't make this harder. You know she's a bounty hunter, too? I don't think this is gonna be your night no matter what you do. How 'bout you make things easy, huh?"

[attitude]

"Funny, you didn't see anything because you just came across us five minutes ago," Faye retorts, eyes narrowing as she reaches a hand back to tug at the mark, who remains remarkably compliant considering the situation. That, she thinks, is why she likes wrapping men around her finger. If she does it well enough, then they can't even hold it entirely against her once the con's been done.

She learned that from one Whitney Haggis Matsumoto.

"Are you really planning to start a fire fight over this? Are you really that desperate for cash? C'mon, Carl, we should be going," she mutters, finally finding his wrist and holding on.

"Wait, were you really planning to turn me in?"

"Yeah," she says, not even bothering to take her eyes off of the other hunter. "But at this point, who do you trust to treat you better when that happens? Me, or the guy who's already fired at you?"

[wipeawaythedebt]

"Least I don't have to lie to do the job. Or is sleeping with the mark always part of your routine?" He looks over at the bounty, holstering his gun and moving closer. "And I'm not here to start a fight, I'm here to do my job. How long you known this guy? He's a fugitive, technically, you know by not turning him in you were, what's it called, aiding and abetting?"

He can probably burn her, tell his bondsman that she's more interested in playing, see she doesn't get jobs. He'd rather not, but he needs this bounty and he's not really gonna let go. "Listen to me kid, you don't have very good judgement. Not only is she playing you, but your girlfriend upstairs is the on who ratted you out. I'm not going to shoot you and I ain't gonna lie to you, but you are going to jail. Sure you can trust her not to stick you up on the way to county?"

[attitude]

"Yeah, a man getting down on a woman for sleeping around. What else is new?" Grabbing her bounty's wrist, Faye tugs them both out of the car, knowing that there's no point in getting them boxed up in the equivalent of a metal cage. All she has to do is get her ship over, and it isn't hard to bump the call signal with a brush of her bracelet against the man's body in just the right way. "It's funny how you cite that as a lie. Pretty sure that if you're sleeping with someone, you're sleeping with them."

"Hey, we never..."

Faye doesn't break her gaze with the guy, though her smile quickly fades. "Look, it's not like you're a truthful guy. No one in this line of work is. But there are plenty of other bounties around; you don't need this one. I never interacted with the girlfriend. Guess that means there's more than one person out for your head, kid," she adds, glancing over her shoulder for only a second.

"So, you want to give yourself up to someone your angry girlfriend chose, or simply head to county where you can probably bail yourself out. Seems like an easy choice to me."

[wipeawaythedebt]

"I think the thing you're leaving out is that both the women in his life are lying to him through their teeth and I'm being up-front. Kid skipped bail, he's going to jail. That's how this works." He stops addressing the other woman, she's annoying as all hell. Sure he's done his share of lying. Surprisingly enough he did most of it while working for the government through the Pinkertons.

He's a lot more honest as just a bounty hunter.

"Go on, kid, go with her, you're going to the same place either way. But you really want to reward her kind of lying? I'm an honest guy. I came here to take you in. No lies, no tricks, no escaping. I'm in this because I have bills to pay. I think she's in it to play with people and you're her new toy. So how do you want it? Honest surrender, on your feet? Or pushed around for her kicks?" He's getting tired of this. He doesn't want to get in a fight with this woman, but he's not letting this kid get away. She's a hack. He's a professional. Mostly.

[attitude]

All at once, her temper flares. This man doesn't know a damned thing about her, yet wants to paint her as somehow being worse than him. Than the guy she saw pushing a kid around with her own eyes. At least this mark is a full grown adult, however immature, capable of making and owning up to all of his mistakes. That kid, on the other hand, Faye can't help wondering if he was more a product of his raising than anything else.

And this hunter hadn't seemed to care even a lick.

"You don't know me," she says, tone icy, and the chill wasn't helped by the sudden memory of screeches which flashed through her mind. "But I sure remember the screams the last time I saw you. Honest, my ass. Everyone lies."

Thankfully, the bounty head seems to sense that there's something bigger than him going on, and stays put behind her. Yeah, maybe it means he's using her as a meat shield, but she's expected less from men before.