| Just before we go... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 13 2011, 04:29 PM (37 Views) | |
| IBcondemned | Nov 13 2011, 04:29 PM Post #1 |
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As everyone sat around toasting to good times and profitable adventures, Sam couldn’t help but want to keep the good times rolling. “Since you are going to be getting so much more riches than me while I’m holed up here… why don’t I just try to win a little off you before you go?” she offered with a smile before she reached to pull out her deck of cards as she described the game. “Diamond-card stud with a…” she paused as her cards seemed to be missing. “Now that’s odd, I could have…” she tried to remember where she last saw her cards, when her eye caught sight of Billy and she looked at him pointedly. “Billy…” she posed in a sing-song voice. Billy was sitting at the saloon’s vacant piano, tinkering away a few little ditties between sips of whiskey, which usually meant he was mostly playing one-handed and therefore only playing half the song and more humming than singing quietly to himself. As soon as he heard Sam mention cards he knew the jig was going to be up any minute now. Setting his whiskey on top of the piano, began to play 'she'll be coming round the mountain' with rousingly with both hands in a vain effort to distract her and possibly wind her up all the more. Sam made her way over to the piano and rested one hand on it as she sang along with him… but with a new set of words. “Sam is really going to hurt Billy don’t you know… Sam is really going to hurt Billy don’t you know… Sam is going to hurt Billy, yes, Sam is going to hurt Billy, Sam is going to hurt Billy don’t you know…” she said, trying to smile sweetly at him, but after that chorus… he might realize it wasn’t genuine. He hadn't expected quite that response from her but he had to give her credit for her creative approach to her threat. Not one to give up quite so easily though he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap singing and adjusting his playing to make the words fit, "you promise that but never follow through, you promise that but never follow through, you are so gorgeous and so fine, I know someday you will be mine, and I'll make honest woman out of you." It didn't make entire sense, after all he wasn't sure he'd like her so much if she was honest but it was that or mangle the beat of the song entirely. Shannon had been in her own room, reading a book of poetry. The music combined with Billy's caterwauling was enough to give her a touch of a headache. She had only recently rejoined the Eccentrics, her disappearance had yet to be explained. Snapping her book shut, she stormed down the stairs to the main room, where Billy and Sam were sitting inappropriately on the piano bench. The book still in her hand, she sang about them all, her Irish accent gone as she sang, "I really wouldn't believe him if I were you. I really wouldn't believe him if I were you. He has a silver tongue more clever than a snake." She made it fit as stood before them, hands on her hips. The next words just stated without singing, "Do you mind? Some of us are educating our minds." The barb was meant for Billy. Shannon actually liked Sam, except for her taste in men. Billy’s chorus had left Sam gobsmacked. She really didn’t know what to say to that. She really didn’t have any notion that Billy was being more than serious about his advances. She opened her mouth to ask him about it when she heard another round of chorus, and looked over smiling broadly at Shannon. “Sorry Shan. Last night in town and all and I’ll miss you guys, so I just wanted one more night of fun, you know?” she said with a soft smile. “We’ll try and keep it down, and Billy is going to give me back my cards. Right?” she said, jabbing him in the ribs with a finger. She didn't need to say anything for Billy to be able to read her reaction and he was the last person to let Shannon's barb make him miss a beat. He just grinned up at Shannon as Sam apologized, an arm slid around Sam's waist, "you should join us, by the sounds of it you don't have half bad singing voice yourself." Then his gaze shifted back to Sam, "you can have them back whenever you want", his eyes dropped momentarily to a barely visible bulge beneath his waistcoat where the cards sat in his shirt breast pocket to indicate where they were before his gaze shifted back to hers, "right next to my heart." Her sparkling green eyes took in both of them. It was a good thing for Billy that she liked Sam or she would have given him a scathing set down right there. Instead she nodded cordially to Samantha, "It is understandable, Miss Tate. However, I do not abide by Billy's presence." She breathed deep and shook her head, not wanting to disturb their fun if only for Sam's sake, "As long as you are the only one to sing from here on out, Miss Tate, I have no qualms about the musical interlude." She turned her back on them and entered the small, sparsely stocked kitchen. "Would anyone care for some tea?" She should find Jacob and find out what he is up to, she could at least respect and appreciate his presence. In a way, Shannon was like an old school ma'arm. Had she not been raised on a life of crime, she would have been most comfortable in society. "I would rather shoot my right hand, Billy." She called from the small kitchen. They all knew for her skill she needed both hands. “I want to make some words about you stealing my heart next… but I don’t know how much truth there is in that.” She told him gently and looked him over. “Maybe… you should keep ‘em. I can get myself another set, and… they might come in handy for you?” she offered as she looked back to Shannon. “Thanks but no. Tea would just take away the taste of the whiskey still lingering on my tongue.” She said with a soft laugh. “There still should be some good meat back there too, Shan.” "Shooting you own hand I reckon's a bit of an over reaction doncha think Shannon, considerin' I said you were half bad not all bad," he called after Shannon, teasiingly. "From where I'm sitting I couldn't think of a person I'd rather be fooled by," he countered playfully, playing on the fact that that was part of her skill set: fooling people. "If you're sure darlin'. I'll be sure to keep them right here," he patted the bulge in his shirt pocket lightly, "in case you ever want them." He lifted down his glass and finished off his whiskey then called after Shannon again, "if you can grab Sam and I a bottle of whiskey though I'd be much obliged." She gave a slight grin, causing the side of her mouth to quirk upwards at Sam's statement about whiskey. "I would not know, Miss Tate, I have never tried whiskey nor do I have a desire. Would you care for me to cook you something?" There was a world of difference with her tone when she spoke with someone she actually befriended versus someone like Billy. "No, my association with you is what makes me overreact." She cringes at his request. "You have arms and legs, get it yourself." She would not get anything for him. Samantha was another case. If Samantha asked she would. She let out a long sigh and gently removed herself from Billy’s lap. It would be no good putting words to feelings and then having to shut them off in the morning when they left, and she’d be doing her next show. She looked back at the poster of her show and wondered for a moment what really would be better, being famous… or infamous? “I’m sure.” She said, giving him another smile. “At least for now.” Her impromptu departure from his lap caused a shadow to be cast momentarily over his otherwise jovial expression but it was swept away quickly when she smiled at him again. "I think this calls for another drink and a song, what do you say Miss Tate?" running his fingers up the piano keys before standing up, to locate that bottle of whiskey for another round for both of them since Shannon had deigned not to assist him. As he passed Sam he picked her up by her waist and spun a full circle before setting her down and ambling on a little affected but very much on a mission to rustle up a bottle and return most swiftly to Sam before she could change her mind. Shannon exited the kitchen with a steaming pot of tea and two cups on a tray. Sitting at a nearby table, she poured herself a drink and added cream and then a sugar lump. Letting it steep for several minutes before taking a sip. "Why are you so sad, Miss Tate?" She did not understand why the woman was not joining them on their next leg of the journey. Brow quirking high at Billy's reactions, she gave an unlady-like snort. He must be deep into his cups. She was glad Sam was rejecting him thus far. A drunken interlude is not what any young woman should is experience. Taking a sip of her tea, she read the next passage in her poetry book. “Sad? Not so much so…There’s something to be said for stability, isn’t there?” she posed gently. “I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow at this time, do you?” she posed as she looked back to Billy and shrugged a little. “I had forgotten how much fun it is though, the times between the moments of concentration… enjoying the spoils of war and all…” she posed, and it would be easy for Shannon to pick up on Sam’s struggle. He returned a few minutes later with a bottle in hand and two glasses of whiskey in the other, a little more settled on his feet though there was still a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. He set one of them in front of Shannon hoping to tempt her into joining them. The woman needed to lighten up some, even if it was that buttoned down side of her that allowed him to have the most fun as he found ways to rouse her displeasure. Then he refilled Sam's glass before returning to the piano. He wasn't in the mood for serious conversation but he wouldn't begrudge Sam said conversation if that was what she wanted to have one with Shannon. The day was too short, it would be dark soon and they'd be leaving and who knew for sure when he'd see her again... Shannon smiled to Samantha, giving a nod of understanding. Shannon envied Samantha's life, the stability. Having been raised by her criminal father, Shannon had never known such a sensation. However, her criminal ways were a means to an end. She had family in Ireland she wanted to bring to America, she needs the money for such. She would retire from her life of crime once she could afford their passages. Though she did wonder if she would miss the rush and the rewards once retired. "But, the constant can become mundane, Miss Tate." Arching a brow at Billy as he placed a glass before her, she pushed it away. She had seen her father deep in his cups one too many times to know it would not be good for her. "I believe you and Miss Tate need some time to discuss things." She snapped her book closed and stood. "I shall locate Jacob and assist him in his preparations. I bid you both a good evening, but please, not a rousing one." She blinked a little and grabbed the glass and looked back to Billy as she smiled a little. “Is that true? We need time to discuss things?” she posed as she offered her glass out to his for a toast. “Shall we discuss why you like pushing Shannon’s buttons so much?” |
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| IBcondemned | Nov 13 2011, 06:19 PM Post #2 |
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He hadn't expected Shannon to make such an abrupt departure and he almost chocked when Sam approached him with her questions. Turning his head he coughed violently for a moment, trying to clear the stray whiskey out of his windpipe. What a way to die that would be, ironically appropriate some might say. It took him a minute to catch his breath properly, "what makes you...I mean." He stopped himself dead when he realized this was coming out entirely wrong and was just the kind of thing that would earn him a slap. A deserved slap no doubt, as most that he received were, but this was one occasion where he decided he'd prefer to avoid it and instead clinked his glass off hers to buy himself a moment before speaking. "Because she makes it so easy for me to? Because she waves her disapproval around like a cattle prod, daring me to, which 's more than enough invitation," he shrugged casually, taking a more measured sip of his whiskey. "There's nothing 'ween us if that's what yer gettin' at. As for the rest, well life's short enough without sittin' around in a place like this when there's so much more a person could be doin'" he stopped just short of asking her to come with them, waiting to see how she'd react first. “So what you said before… just… banter?” she said, trying to toss it off casually as she took her own sip of the whiskey. She wasn’t sure what burned more with that comment. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about it, Billy, ‘cuz I have. But this is a good life here too. Stable. Legal.” She pointed out with a smirk. Maybe it was just the whiskey talking but it seemed like this conversation was jumping all over the place. It seemed to have gone from her kinda suggesting he had a thing for Shannon to asking if their little musical interlude meant anything. Women. They could be confusing enough when a man was sober, nevermind when a man'd been drinking. For a moment he reflected on the fact that this might have been one of the biggest reasons he'd never settled with one woman, that and...well....he liked women...a lot. And they generally liked him too until they found out how much of a cad he was. "What if it wasn't?" he countered, playing for time while he tried to figure out where exactly this was going. “Oh… so when you said, nothing between ‘us’ the ‘us’ was you and Shannon… not… you and me.” She said, nodding a little as her hand moved to rub her stomach. “Look… I’ve never been one to mince words around you, Billy. But I have to say… I’m… I’m not sure what you want from me.” She told him seriously. “You… have me mighty confused.” He stared into his glass for a long moment, for once completely without words which was an extremely rare thing with it came to Billy and women. There was always something to be said, even if it was something that ended the conversation with an abrupt slap. "That makes two of us," he muttered a little, referring to her comment about being confused. He took a sip of whiskey and lifted his gaze to her once again, "I suppose that depends on what you expect, especially seein' as Baines'll be looking to coral the rest of us outta here as soon as it's dark enough." Assuming he left with them, he wasn't sure he trusted Jacob's assessment on things but then he had a natural bias. “Well.” She said softly as she looked at him seriously and let out a slow breath. “I suppose first thing is first…” she said carefully before she leaned back in her chair. “Are you going to make it worth my while to come with?” she posed seriously. “I’ve got… a pretty good thing here. If’n I’m going to leave, I want it to be for something better.” She told him seriously. And that's where things got complicated and he shifted a little uncomfortably on the piano bench, "whacha mean by better, cause I shouldn't have to tell ya darlin' there ain't a large ranch or fancy saloon in my future. I'm a thief, plain and simple, what you see it what you get, so unless you've got some crazy scheme for making money that at least has the appearance of bein' legit that isn't going to change." “Well, I have all kinds of things cooking up in my head. Always do. I think it’s a nature of a woman.” She said with a smirk. “But there is a lot of things in this world that I could do. I’ve got the face and the skills for it, but these things are missing a crucial element – you.” she said, looking at him levelly. “So I need to know how… serious you are about this. If you are just yanking my chain, tell me straight so I know where I stand.” "Me?" his brow was arched skeptically. This was a first, that was for sure. After all, she knew what he was like. She'd frequented with the group enough to know, but there it was. Again he was speechless, recovering only by taking a sip of his whiskey. He always knew there was a reason he liked her, and apparently it wasn't just because she was so tolerance of his shameless use of his charm to get what he wanted. "When it comes to scheming with you darlin' I'd be deadly serious," he lent forward, closing the gap a little between them, that mischievous grin reemerging, "what exactly did you have in mind?" “What if it wasn’t just the scheming?” she said, reaching up as he closed in so she could run her fingertips through his hair. “Right now that’s what’s on my mind… you put the thought in my head, you know… makin’ an honest woman of me.” She said as she smirked back at him. “I’d never be truly honest, and I doubt you could either, but were you meaning to court me, Mister Aubrey?” |
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| IBcondemned | Nov 17 2011, 07:05 PM Post #3 |
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To say that this was not the way he'd intended this conversation to go was the understatement of the century. It was, in fact, the last thing that had been on his mind when he'd sauntered back down after packing his small number of personal possessions in lieu of them hitting the road at twilight. That she was running her hand through his hair at this moment wasn't making this any easier, or was it. "Depends," he countered, "on whether or not you'd consider a lieing, cheating, shameless, womanising chancer like me," and those were some of his more attractive qualities. Any one of those were usually enough to drive a woman off. Most women, in his considerable experience, let their emotions blind them when it came to matters of the heart and pursuing relationships and there was no sense in her pursuing this blindly. Truth was that at this moment she was the last woman in the world he wanted to hurt, which was an impressive consideration for Billy. She laughed a little as she looked him over. “Is that all you see in yourself?” she asked him as she shook her head. “You know… I’ve seen you do terrible things, I’ve seen you lift things off of people for fun.” She said, flicking a finger against her deck of cards in his pocket. “But Billy, I’ve never seen you act modest or shy.” She told him pointedly. “Of course I would consider you, that’s a stupid question to put to light.” She told him. He shrugged slightly, sitting back, "It's the dirty truth darlin', whether you like it or not, and I'm not about to start changin' my ways for anyone. Underneath I'm not like your Mister Baines. You turn around and startin' to make demands of me and believe me I'll be gone faster than you can blow a smoke ring." He was a selfish, proud son-of-a-bitch, that was for sure, and the comment about Baines was a low blow but while he was a criminal Baines was also a gentleman in ways that didn't come naturally to Billy and probably never would. She frowned and sighed deeply to that. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” She said, pulling her arms off of him. “I enjoy spending time with you. You’re easy to be with. I feel happier with you than when I’m around anyone else.” She told him and shook her head a little. “Why would you say something like that?” she said and took a step back. “Look… I just… I thought you… when you said…” she sighed, frustrated with herself that she could bring out the words that she wanted to say. “Look, Baines had his chance. I think he’s still too hung up on the past to move forward. But you should be careful about putting yourself down so much. People’ll start belivin’ it.” She huffed. "Putting myself down implies I'm unhappy about the way I am, but I'm not, it's who I am. I'm not expecting you to say anything darlin'. You can either accept who I am and let that be or you can't, in which case you know where the door is and don't let it hit you on the way out. "But to be clear, I ain't sayin' no, I'm just stating the facts." He crossed his arms in challenge. Normally he could call it with a woman, mostly cause it was about now that they'd storm off in a huff, but Sam wasn't like most women. For one thing she walked the same line of work as he did, and for a second she'd already had a sneak peek at some of his dirty secrets and was still standing there. She huffed at him for certain, and her brow furrowed as she got a very stormy look on her face. She was right on that line of hitting him and storming out. There was, however, another option… She hooked her arm around the back of his neck and yanked him in for one heck of a kiss. She finally let him go and set him back on his feet before she took her finger and jabbed it into his collar bone. “If you ever hear anyone talking like that about you, they answer to me.” She told him as she looked at him firmly. He was fully prepared to be hit, it was almost a way of life for him. Being pulled in for a kiss, well that was first for Billy, a very memorable one at that. For once the man was left momentarily speechless, until she jabbed her finger into his collar bone. "If you want to cat-fight with girl for telling the truth who am I to say no?" a broad grin spread across his face as he slid and arm around her waist. Make no mistake, that was one sight he'd pay good money to see but seeing it for free was even better. She sighed a little and smiled at him. “I’m willing to take the parts you know you are if’n you’re open to letting me show you the parts that I see.” She told him seriously. “Only if you’re willin’ to court me proper.” She said before her smile broadened. “Are you ready to add ‘kidnapper’ to your list of wrong doin’s?” He arched a brow curiously at Sam, was seriously suggesting what he thought she was suggesting? Before she'd know what was happening he'd have loosened his grip on her waist and, pulling back a little, bent over and slide his grip down to the back of her knees so that he could hoist her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he straightened up. "This answer your question darlin?" glancing back at her as she dangled upside down unceremoniously. She giggled a little and braced herself on him. “I just meant… if I was going to run off with the team and you were the last one I was seen with… but you know… this works too.” She squeaked a little as he adjusted his grip and she felt like she was slipping for a moment. “So um… where are we going?” |
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1:11 PM Jul 11