Beast of Burden

"You like cougars and old ladies. Got it. It makes sense, they would be easier to please, just flash them a younger man's smile and they are fine." Honestly he was too easy to insult, it took no work at all. Rolling her eyes at his quip still, she walked through the door. "Thanks. I don't think anyone has Lada's amount to be frank."

She wasn't even touching that one, who said she wasn't experienced? She was nineteen and definitely not a monk. Just because she didn't have the years others had on her, didn't mean... Well she wasn't going to tell Jack that. The others like him could assume she lived a sexless existence all they wanted. It didn't matter one bit to her.

"My own damn house would be a nice one. Not annoying and I can swim." She returned his smirk with an eyebrow raised glare, half-hearted as it was he probably still had a name for it. Thinking on the carnival for a moment, she gave a shrug.

"I should stop by the house and pick up an epipen just in case, but I doubt you'll cause enough fun for a bad reaction." Snarking right back, she did smile softly for once and waved Jack on ahead. "Between the two of us we might be able to bring back enough prize stuffed animals to keep CC and Boris busy for a week. Quantity works better than quality for those two..."

"Sounds good. Or we could get them little dolls of me. For some reason your pets seem to enjoy my company." The older Quincy chuckled a bit as he exited the bar proper and stepped out into the world. It was late in the afternoon but it wasn't dark yet, so they could at least spend some time at said carnival. He wanted to pull out a cigarette and take a smoke, but he knew she'd never let him hear the end of it.

Taking out his smartphone, he looked up how to get to the actual festival, then turned around and waved to Selena to follow him.

"I hope your aim is still good, because I don't want to have to win all these prizes myself~" The man teased in a sing-song tone as he began his walk, going slow so she could catch up.

"Ugh no. Seeing your face at work and now is more than enough. I don't need tons of little yous strewn around the house. Knowing my luck they wouldn't even tear them apart... Just cuddle them in my bed." That would be her worst nightmare, just waking up surrounded by little jack dolls in addition to the hordes.

Waiting for directions, she gave a sigh as she followed Jack. His tone made her laugh lightly and roll her eyes. "I train as much as the rest of you. My aim is damned good, maybe not your level Deadeye, but still enough for a stupid carnivals."

She tilted her head, a small sign of respect for a man who was known for his skill in marksmanship. She would give credit where it was due, he wasn't as annoying as when they were working at least.

"Well you're not bad at throwing pens at least. My head acknowledges that very well." Jack chuckled, rubbing the back of his head absentmindedly. Could be worse, right? She could start throwing staplers or something that would actually hurt...

Turning his head towards Selena, he had a sly grin on as he lowered his hand and lazily put it back in his pockets as they continued to walk. The carnival wasn't too far, but it would be a small hike in terms of length.

"I thought you said I was good looking enough to bed, at least. Is my face so off-putting?" He teased, his tone obvious.

"You're lucky I was forbidden from throwing knives." Selena muttered, glancing over as Jack rubbed his head. She fiddled with her purse, messing with the long knife she carried in it and wondering if she would get in too much trouble for stabbing him just a little. Paying that obnoxious man a compliment and he ignores it?

"Its what it reminds me of that is so off-putting." Catching the tone and the sly grin, Selena put on an air of nonchalance as she walked. "Its fine for bedding, not enough for putting up with you on a daily basis."

"And what exactly does my face remind you of?" Jack asked, continuing his sly tone. "Ouch, by the way. But hey, then again maybe you aren't old enough to appreciate my rugged good looks. Know any cougars you could hook me up with?" He joked with a chuckle, amused at the thought.

They were almost there. Perhaps the silly games would allow the younger woman to mellow out a bit and actually have fun for a change. Well, he knew she enjoyed picking him apart, but fun that wasn't at his expense would be preferable. Not that he cared, though.

"Extra work for me." Selena retorted, crossing her arms to stop herself from playing with the knife more. If she touched it, she'd want to use it and while it would be fun... it would also annoy her King to have her stab one of his second in commands.

"I'd appreciate them more if they weren't attached to the lazy body of yours. Or well lazy soul. The body isn't half bad either." They were getting close, she could hear the music and see a bit of it. Smirking, she uncrossed her arms to shrug. "I don't get out enough to meet many of those, but I am sure some of my widowed cousins would take you in. Great Aunt Mercy perhaps?"

Lazy soul, huh?...Well, Jack couldn't argue with her on the matter. He was well known for taking everything in stride and hardly being motivated to do things he didn't have to do, but what was wrong with that anyway? He simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Meh, the way I see it, you get a good eighty or ninety years here on earth if you're lucky. We're not shinigami or hollows, Selena. We're only human. Why not just relax and enjoy life while you can?" The man asked as they approached the entrance to the fair. In fact, that was sort of his game plan in dragging her out of her house in the first place. At any rate, the atmosphere was fairly loud, but nothing too obnoxious. Not any worse than your average mall anyway.

"Bear with me for a while. I know you hate places like this. In return, you can pick the first game we play." A sort of goofy smile appeared on his face as he turned towards Selena.

"I do enjoy life. I don't really understand why you think I don't?" Selena was seriously confused, what the hell was up with them all. "Really, the rest of you think I just suck all the joy from everything and don't get any for myself? You guys wonder why I get so annoyed around you all if that's what you think. I have fun in my own damn way, thank you very much."

She hated places with tons of people, but for the games she would have already left. Eye twitching, she looked at the goofy grin and sighed. A hand waved as she followed him, her eyes attempting to roll before she stopped them. "I'll bear with you. If it gets too annoying and loud I am out though... I want the dart throwing one. With the balloons."

Muttering slightly, Selena looked to the side away from Jack. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her face light up as she enjoyed the stupid dart throwing game...

"Phew. Is my head still on my shoulders or did you just bite it off?" Jack replied with a laugh as he talked to himself out loud, touching his face to make sure that yeah, it actually was. He simply shrugged his shoulders afterwards, brushing off her verbal assault as he led them to the Dart Throwing game. Paying the carnival worker running the stall a few bucks to try the game, he turned and did a sort of lazy bow, flourishing his hand once again to let the younger lady go first.

"Mademoiselle~" He stated, another silly sort of smile on his visage.

Selena just shot Jack a glare, ignoring his comment. He had asked for it, the lazy asshole, and it wasn't as if she didn't get this sort of thing from everyone else as well. It was a rather sensitive topic...

Really? Reaaallly? Selena switched over to her native tongue, her tone going playful as she picked up a dart. "Vous êtes une abruti~ (You are an asshole)"

Aiming carefully, she threw the dart at one of the red balloons and popped it, seeing as there were very few of that color. Blinking, she looked at Jack and smirked. "Vous pouvez frapper ce facile, mais je vous remercie pour la première tentative. (You can hit it easy, but I thank you for the first attempt.)"

"Well my French is grade-school level, but I can only assume you are telling me to go fuck myself or something similar." The man laughed a bit, before picking up two of of the darts. He barely even looked at the stand as he threw them, easily popping two more red balloons. The carny working there might have been surprised if he wasn't glued to his phone.

"You know, they say you catch more flies with honey rather than vinegar~" Jack remarked in a playful tone as he took a step back, letting Selena take her turn again. In the meanwhile, he pulled out his smartphone and checked the time.

"Speaking french to the bitchy french woman with grade school level? Pfft. You've got balls at least." Selena scoffed but couldn't help laughing a bit more as Jack just tossed the darts with barely any attention paid. She knew she'd lose if she went against him, but it was fun just tossing the darts.

Selena almost made the snarky remark that its not true at all, but she held her tongue for once. Instead she just laughed and shook her head. "Just what I want to do, catch flies."

"You look bored, want to try another game then?" Throwing another dart, she raised an eyebrow.

"Hm...perhaps something that I might actually have to try at then. Any particular one you would be interested in playing? Skee ball, Whack a Mole, yadda yadda yadda, its your choice." Jack asked honestly in response as he put away his phone and picked up another dart, mindlessly hitting another red balloon. Between the two of them, they had hit enough to claim a small prize. He nodded towards the younger Quincy to pick out what she wanted, before turning a little bit and looking around the Carnival. So many lights and sounds, especially now that it had gotten fairly dark and the sun had set.

"Or we could get a snack first. Fried dough, cotton candy...no better place to get fat then at a carnival." He laughed. It was almost as if Jack completely ignored the fact he just got yelled at a minute ago by an upset french woman, which in all honesty he did.

"Whack a mole? Whatever sure. Sounds relaxing." Selena's eyes glanced around before seeing apparently such a game, before trailing back to the toys offered. She blinked a few times before pointing out a raccoon, taking it from the carny when they offered it. She held it to her chest and looked down, it was rather adorable.

It was dark and the lights and sounds were easier to handle now, it felt like a secret little world here. She hadn't been to something like this in a long time and she smiled very softly... Hiding it behind the larger raccoon stuffed animal, she held out its arm as she made it point and looking away. "...Yeah, fried stuff sounds good. Maybe we'll get a potbelly on you yet."

Selena seemed to like the stuffed animal they had won...well that was good, something to distract her ire towards himself, Jack thought as he nodded to her suggestion of Whack a Mole. It was a fun game, especially if you were angry or annoyed. Poor moles though. Wait a sec...was she being silly with the raccoon? Was she finally starting to not mind his presence outside of getting drunk? Today was a good day then!

"Hm, getting fat and getting paid my salary, I'm all for it. Then again, Adam would probably whip my ass into shape by taking me to the gym." He laughed, walking over to the new game and tossing a couple bucks towards the new carny's way. He turned a bit and motioned for Selena to pick up one of the hammers. There were a couple of stations, so they both could play at the same time instead of taking turns.

"First lets work up a sweat though. Not too badly, I don't want to stain my only suit." He laughed. He had the money given his occupation to own a ton of clothing, but the older Quincy lived very simply.

"He would take you to the training grounds and make you you practice till you dropped for weeks." Selena agreed, laughing softly at the image of a chunky Jack and Adam working in the underground training area. "He might dock your pay, though you don't do as much leg work as Kostya."

Holding the raccoon under one arm, Selena took up the hammer and glanced over at Jack with a smirk. "You really should invest in another. Hell I'll buy it for you if you are that hard up, a little sweat never killed anyone... I plan on swimming after this required outing."

She'd be fine working up a sweat, it wasn't like she had worn her work clothes. There was always her pool.

Kostya did more leg work? Well, that much was true, he was on the ground a lot more than Jack was, but hey, he still did his fair share. Jack just laughed as he picked up the hammer, continuing to be in good spirits. Was it even possible to depress this guy? I doubt it.

"Hey, for your information, running the Jadgarmee isn't as easy as I make it seem. There are some hunts where my men cannot handle it and I have to get involved myself...usually means its a strong opponent, which I hate, because they always take things so seriously." He chuckled. He prefered to solve things non-violently, or at least just pretend to fight. At any rate, the stands gave a little buzz to signal the beginning of the game. As the first mole popped up, Jack swiftly hit it before being bombarded with more, forgetting that this game could get sort of hard sometimes.

"Meh, this is just my lucky...suit..." He managed to speak, his focus moreso on the game right now than the world around them. Thunk, thunk, thunk, went the cushioned hammer. He was doing fairly well, but some moles eluded him. Damn subterranean creatures! "Why mess...with success..."

"I've never doubted your skills, Mr. Sharpshooter. Or your ability to fight. I just meant you'd probably have time before your chunk caused any problems." Selena rolled her eyes. Really? He had taken offense or become defensive over that? The ONE thing she didn't doubt him on? Seriously he was a pain and a half to deal with!

Her reflexes were good, hitting the first few moles with ease. She was good at this, it required quick seeing and reacting and if there was one thing she was decent at it was reacting. Still as she glanced over, Jack had faster ones. Maybe distracting him? His stupid lucky suit..

"Also...You'd rather they be playful and cutesy while fighting you? You know what? I'll put on a cute lil poofy dress and spar with you sometime, will that make you happy? No wait, no need to be treated more like a kid. I'll wear a small slinky number. That'll work nicely." Nothing could stop her snark, it didn't take much focus for her to deal with the moles AND say these things. Besides, Selena was COO, she spent most of her time doing twelve different jobs as well as berating people at the same time. It was his own damn fault for being unable to multitask.

"You know..." Jack replied, continuing to hit the moles. The round was almost over, but they had one more afterwards, he had paid for two. With a smash and a thwack, he hit a few more moles and the buzzer went off. 150 points, not bad. Enough to get a prize at least. With a non-chalant twist of his head, he looked towards Selena.

"You get ugly when you talk like that. If you ever want to find a man, you gotta be more of a sweetheart." A playful sort of smile/smirk/smilerk appeared, waiting to see what score she had gotten. They had a few moments before the next round began.

"Like I care." That just annoyed the hell out of her. Selena was done with Jack for now. It had been interesting and fun while it lasted but he was an annoyance she had to put up with at work. Why had she thought it'd be at least a change of pace? Why had she agreed and let him into her house?

Rolling her eyes, she glanced at her final score with a laugh. 151. Barely winning, she shot Jack a bored glare. "After this I am out of here. Wouldn't want to waste your well earned money, but I've honestly had enough socializing time with you."

Jack just simply shrugged in response. If she really wanted to leave that badly, he wouldn't stop her. Guess he deserved it for trying to make a small amount of amends in their relationship.

"Up to you. If you want to quit, then feel free. Though, you'll never become a Grandmaster with that sort of attitude." The man chuckled a bit, walking over to the prize stand. He picked out one of those pink bouncy balls as a prize, and began bouncing it up and down, a small pleased smile on his face as he watched it. It was the simple things in life.

At this point, she would either stick around due to sheer stubbornness or run off in a huff. Either way, he didn't mind. He had taken more bitchiness than most men could endure at this point, but our hero was still standing.

"Haah." Selena just glared and then rolled her eyes, a tired sigh sounding. He was just trying to needle her at this point. Taking the raccoon, she turned on her heel and gave Jack a half assed wave over her shoulder.

She could have more fun at home and be less tense, it was her time to relax...

Well, that was that. Still Oil and Water, and nothing he said or did seemed like it would change that. Now that she left, he took out a cigarette from his jacket and placed it lazily on his lips, lighting it up and taking a puff before letting out a long exhale of smoke. He definitely needed that relaxation after this ordeal.

Turning on his own heels, he tossed the bouncy ball to a kid who had just walked by and placed his hands in his pockets, walking the opposite way and most likely calling it a night.