Ye Olde Saloon [19th Century Colorado, after sunset]

[texted3times]

"Well, this is certainly...different," Eric observed as he and Jaina stepped between tied up horses in order to enter the saloon. From the way those inside stared, it wasn't that usual for women to be there who weren't, erm, working. "We can find somewhere else," Eric murmured. "Your call."

Comments

[solo_sword]

"You know, I hadn't even considered that till this very second?" she said. Luckily it didn't look that bad to her. She might wonder now, though.

[texted3times]

"That's what a thousand years of experience teaches you," Eric said. "The twenty-first century is, generally speaking, a HUGE upgrade."

[solo_sword]

"That's scary," Jaina decided. "And it makes me sort of glad I come from somewhere even more upgraded, and teaches me to be more careful on the backwater planets." The more you know.

[texted3times]

"I think you're careful enough," Eric decided.

But she was out with a vampire, so...

[solo_sword]

She raised an eyebrow. "And of course I've never done anything to say any differently."

Because yeah, even she knew that if she looked back on all this, there'd been some potentially really bad decisions there.

[texted3times]

Eric chuckled and swirled his glass between his fingers. "Of course not."

[solo_sword]

"I suppose this is where I thank you for not killing me before now," she said casually, trying her drink. To her credit, she didn't make a face at it.

[texted3times]

Eric tsked. "Killing you would be wasteful."

[solo_sword]

There was an adjective she hadn't been expecting. "Wasteful how, exactly?"

[texted3times]

"If you're dead, then I've lost your company forever," he said. "And you're interesting, which is not something I find in many humans."

[solo_sword]

Jaina was so glad she didn't have to tell him she wasn't leverage or something. "Why am I interesting?" she asked, genuinely curious rather than fishing for anything.

[texted3times]

"You chase after smugglers," Eric said. "You hold your own in conversation with me without either the fawning or the, well, shrieking in terror, that most humans do. You're different, and after a thousand years, I didn't think there was much different left to discover."

[solo_sword]

"I don't think I've ever shrieked in terror in my life," she said, thinking back. "It's hard not to be flattered by that. Especially since there aren't that many guys I find interesting, either."

[texted3times]

"Do they do a lot of shrieking in terror around you too?" he teased.

[solo_sword]

"Of course," she said. "Just look at me, I'm terrifying."

[texted3times]

"In a short kind of way," Eric said. "Drink your beer. Bugs are good for you."

[solo_sword]

"You had to bring bugs into it. And I am not that short," she said to the eleven-foot tall Viking.

[texted3times]

"So you're sitting in a hole, then?" Eric teased.

[solo_sword]

"You," she said, feigning offense, "just lost all the points you got for being flattering."

[texted3times]

"But I'm still ridiculously attractive, so I think I'm ahead."

[solo_sword]

"You know that's one of the things I like about you," she said conversationally. "Your modesty."

[texted3times]

He grinned at her. "I hear that a lot."

[solo_sword]

With a hint of a smile back at him, she asked, "So how far ahead do you think this ridiculous attractiveness of yours puts you?"

[texted3times]

"Probably one more short joke," Eric said, "and then I'll have to start a bar fight defending your honor in order to be even again."

[solo_sword]

"There are several flaws there," she told hhm. "First, no one's insulted my honor. Then you'd have to beat me to defending myself and do it in such a way that I can't get mad about it. Also I'd know it's a cover for you just wanting a fight."