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[stand_unshaken]

 

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[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess stiffens when the horse shifts around, one hand going to the horn, the other gathering up the reins like the horse might shoot off.]

Probably handy when you need both hands for what... rifles? Lassos?

[stand_unshaken]

Any of the above, sure. You ever throw a lasso before?

[dog_eat_dog]

[She chuckles as she figures out the reins. One hand, like an ice cream cone. Heels down.]

No, never. Easier to just go for the kneecaps.

[stand_unshaken]

[He just holds on to the back of the saddle, not wanting to scare her by grabbing on to her waist too much.]

Well, sometimes you got a bounty needs bein' brought in alive.

[dog_eat_dog]

I've never killed someone by taking out their kneecaps, but fair.

[She gives the horse a squeeze and orders it:]

Go.

[stand_unshaken]

Alright, smartass. [Medical care was terrible in 1899, Tess. He just holds on, while the horse obediently goes where told.]

[dog_eat_dog]

[She chuckles despite feeling like she's going to run them off of a cliff in the near future. Here we go, ploddingly slow.]

Who do you bring in on a bounty? Rival gangs?

[stand_unshaken]

Usually don't bother with that. General crooks. Thieves, murderers, people who took the adulterin' a little too far.

[dog_eat_dog]

Little funny that anyone would be hiring you to do that.

[But she knows how that goes, too; she's done plenty of work for the same military that would have her killed, too.

She glances over her shoulder at him, inadvertently pulling at the reins in the process.]

How bad does adultery have to get to have a bounty?

[stand_unshaken]

If the lady's got a nice old inheritance and he took part of it with him to spend on his several mistresses?

Pretty serious.

[dog_eat_dog]

If I were her [or a ~lady~], I'd skip the bounty hunter and would take something to that man's kneecaps on principle.

[stand_unshaken]

You ain't a lady, and you sure as hell don't got an inheritance-- not too hard on those reins now.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She gives an amused little huff, and she does ease up on the reins. She does this like she's known not to do that all along, or at least pretends to.]

Well, if I did, paying to get the guy captured doesn't get me my money back, now, does it?

[stand_unshaken]

It does if inheritances transfer automatically to your husband, and you'd like his signature on some divorce papers.

[dog_eat_dog]

He can't get his inheritance or stay married if he's dead!

[stand_unshaken]

The money still wouldn't--

You know what, never mind. Point is, I lasso'd him and brought him back to the station tied up like that, and I got my fee.

[dog_eat_dog]

Well then, good job, outlaw!

[She reaches back to pat his knee. She does mean that somewhat genuinely.]

You could be a bounty hunter after all this, I bet.

[stand_unshaken]

[He prods her in the back with his elbow - knock it off. But when he speaks it's clear he's been smiling.]

Maybe. It ain't too honest a living, but not too dishonest neither.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She chuckles.]

Fits just right. Your old buddies probably wouldn't find it too fun, though. You'd know all their tricks.

[stand_unshaken]

Think you'd find men like us don't have too many buddies.

[dog_eat_dog]

Fair. None of my guys ever seemed to have friends, just people they could tolerate enough to survive with.

[Not that she had many friends, either, but.]

[stand_unshaken]

Easy enough to reel in and hand over to some sheriff.

[dog_eat_dog]

Well, if they’re worth more to you in cash than in the weight they can pull, that’s it.

[stand_unshaken]

Well, who knows. Ride out somewhere I don't know too many people, make a name for myself there.

[A new man. No reputation, no one to remember what he did, or what he looked like when he was ill.]

[dog_eat_dog]

Come up to Boston. The winters aren’t usually too bad, and chunks of it are old enough that I’d know where the hell I was if I came to visit.