Falst finished up his stew as the Avia and Aranida retired to the cabin. They'd all had quite a long day. Perhaps it was time for them to get some shuteye. He set his bowl and spoon next to the pot and withdrew a threadbare sheet from his bag. He spread it over the hard ground and collapsed onto it, trying to get comfortable. Gazing up at the stars, he wondered if the others would follow suit.

OOC: Thanks, LG. Something to get us back into the story.

Thomas finished his stew, noticing that both Falst had finished quite a bit earlier. Though he liked to eat slower, savoring the delicious stew, he certainly understood why Falst ate so fast. When you're in the street, you have to eat what you get, when you get it. There isn't time to savor it.

He set his bowl next to Falst's. and following the older man's example, pulled a blanket out of his pack. After shaking the daily accumulation of dust out of it, he gently laid it on the ground, a little distance from Falst. He took off his hat, and stretching out on the blanket, set it on the ground next to him.

He looked over at the boy, who was still deeply engrossed in a book of some sort. Thomas figured it would be better not to bother him, unless he wanted to be flipped again. So instead, he turned over to Falst.

"I must admit, I'm curious." The little voice inside of him said that the smart thing to do would to just go to sleep, but Thomas ignored that little voice a lot. "Why the Dragon Guard? I mean, I assume that our mutual friend in there," -He motioned toward the cabin- "Pressed you into service, but why stay? You could easily just leave, even now. Aranida is inside, you're here, unguarded, so why not leave?"

Lucien rotated upon the balls of his feet as he slid himself against the camel, using it for cover as fire whizzed by. As bullets passed through the animal, forcing it' untimely demise, Lucien rushed towards his prey without hesitation, his eyes fixed upon the weapon in his hand. Kicking up a gust of sand at his feet he dashed the eyes of the traveler and swung his sabre toward his pistol in an attempt to disarm.

Holan made an attempt to skitter away, but the stranger's movement was faster than his own. The saber struck his revolver, jettisoning it from his grip. His reflexes were too dulled at this point for him to put up an adequate struggle with the limber stranger. There was no escape at this point, all he could do was take what was to be dealt upon him.

"I must admit, I'm curious." Thomas said, making Falst roll his eyes. Looks like sleep was still long in coming. He turned his head to face the man addressing him. "Why the Dragon Guard? I mean, I assume that our mutual friend in there pressed you into service, but why stay? You could easily just leave, even now. Aranida is inside, you're here, unguarded, so why not leave?"
Falst had half a mind to say that he simply didn't want to have his a** handed to him by the boy like Thomas had, but decided against it.
"What makes you think it's okay for you to question my motives when you get defensive if I ask you about your own? Short answer, forget about it. Now go pester Bahaa instead. It would be amusing to see you get flipped again."

Returning his weapon to his scabbard Lucien meandered across the flats to the revolver he had knocked away taking note of his prey's position as he bent over to pick up the 'unusual' weapon. Freeing the cylinder from the weapon, Lucien lifted the gun back allowing the spent and unspent rounds to tumble solidly upon the arid grounds.

"So, it's the bullets." he remarked aloud before tossing the revolver some distance away into the sandy unknown. Turning about Lucien returned to the man he had assaulted, who had moved little since his momentary 'departure'. "Am I wrong to assume the bullets aren't normal? Am I also wrong to assume you aren't the rightful owner of any of these?" Lucien took another glance at the man, he seemed mentally and physically racked, leading him to deduce he was a simple pawn and held minimal to no information about who or what he was actually serving. "A better question, why are you here, and who sent you?"

Holan shot a quick glance to the skies above as he slowed his breathing. Returning his gaze to the stranger he shook his head at his statement over the bullets. He decided to bide his time instead of jerking out to reach his gun. He had spare ammunition on his person, all he needed was the revolver and he would be set.

"The bullets are normal," he quietly responded. "Nothing wrong with the gun either."

He released a nervous laugh, but immediately inched back in reaction to himself, the expression on his face sobering up. He decided not to answer the last question, because even a lie could compromise him in this situation. He most likely could not hide the truth from a man like this, he was too blunt and did not seem to take any s*** from how he acted. He was here to the assassin, nothing more. Not even the yellow eye bounty mattered to him at this point in time.

OOC: Whim, can we end the day? I'm running out of things to do.

Thomas watched as an annoyed look crossed the other man's face.

"What makes you think it's okay for you to question my motives when you get defensive if I ask you about your own? Short answer, forget about it. Now go pester Bahaa instead. It would be amusing to see you get flipped again."

Thomas laughed, his good mood not diminished in the least."Fair enough" He then looked away over a Bahaa, and decided not to take any chances.

"On second thought, I think I'll go to sleep. It's rough on my back. getting flipped like that. If you don't mind, I think I'll call it a day." With that, Thomas lay on his blanket, and fell asleep.

OOC: can't end until we finish every plotline

whimmy would it be okay if i joined this without reading the rest of the topic and just piece together what's happening since i'm lazy

no

f***.

Stepping closely to inspect Holan, Lucien bent down, allowing his blank gaze to meet Holan's. "So it's you?" he questioned moving a step closer. "Well, If you would so kindly answer my previous question I could possibly find a reason to avoid murdering you." he stated bluntly before refreshing the stranger's memory with a simple "Why are you here?"

Holan glanced about as Lucien neared him, avoiding his deathly stare. He decided to give away most of the information. The man surely did not need to know that he was there to do any killing at all.

"Alright, Alright!" He cried before explaining himself. "I'm here on a job. I'm nearing my deadline soon and I heard that my confidant would be here today, so I hurried over here as fast as possible. That's it, that's the truth."

Tensing his hand Lucien reached downwards slowly until his palm sat firmly on the stranger's throat, fingers curled around his neck. Lifting him from the ground he held tight to the man's tunic with his off hand until his feet could just barely reach the sandy underneath. After few moments of silence his fingers carefully tightened around the stranger's throat and the all to familiar feeling of a gagging and convulsing throat over came the stoic soldier leading him to simply toss Holan aside into a near by dune, opposite of where his weapon was thrown carelessly away. "You have your warning then, it won't end as well next time." With that Lucien made his way back to town, keeping his senses about for retaliation