A Dangerous Encounter...?

Job: Wanted: Jacob Goodnight:

This Job Picks Up Immediately After "A Casual Day Of Standing Around"

Lexa carried the passed out child from the clerk's booth, she didn't have to move around people as all the others were so scared of the small girl in her arms that they all stepped aside to allow the two girls through. Lexa continued walking through tot he docks till she found a seemingly alright place to stop so she could set the little kid down, and began begin to tend to her wounds. Lexa began wiping the dust and grit off of the little child's face, revealing the kid had a complexion not to dissimilar to Lexa's own. Seeing this similarity made Lexa want to keep the little girl as her own true little sister, but she knew that she'd never be able to take care of the kid for long, knowing this kept her mind set of fixing the kid up and getting her home. After a few moments, Lexa felt a chill run down her spine as a massive shadow was cast over her, the shadow so large than the temperature around Lexa decreased slightly from the amount of shade she was given. Lexa turned around slowly to find a gargantuan man, a man who was a titan compared to herself. He had tree stump sized arms, and looked as if he'd come fresh from a VERY long day at a butcher's shop. His clothes were tattered, and torn and in the spots where blood lacked, there was a substantial amount of dirt.

The massive man stepped around Lexa and got on a knee facing the small girl with short pink hair, who laid unconscious on the docks with a line of dirt wiped off her face. "Where did you find this one?" the large man asked in an extremely deep, menacing voice. Lexa's eyes were narrow with fright at the sight of the large man, and the fact that he had a rather grim weapon on his hip didn't help her much. The man tapped Lexa on her forehead, causing her to snap back to reality. "Wh-what?" Lexa said after shaking her head to brush off the remainder of fear and shock. "I asked where the little girl came from." the man asked. "I-I-I...." Lexa was choking on the words, not having anticipated having to explain finding a random kid and deciding to walk off with it. "She... you won't believe me." She said with a seemingly defeated voice. "Tell me kid, or I'll kill you and take her." the gargantuan man said in a serious voice.

Lexa imagined herself being smashed by the large man, and decided it'd be smarter to talk than to try and fight a fortress with a pebble. Lexa took a deep breath, shut here eyes as tight as possible expecting to be hit after she spoke, and spat out the explanation as quickly as possible "I was standing in line to get a passport and some black hole popped up and she was shot out of it so I decided to take care of her and help her go back where she belongs!" The sound of rustling clothes caused Lexa to flinch in anticipation of the man dropping that massive hand, which was easily bigger than her head, on top her for an instant death. She slowly relaxed and opened on eye to realize the man was cleaning the little girl off. "Umm... mister-" the man interrupted her by saying "Goodnight. Jacob Goodnight." with his deep scary voice. "You got a name?" the man asked, his harsh voice still putting Lexa on edge. "I'm... Lexa. Lexa Grimoire. Aren't you that guy they wanted turned in for some bounty?" Lexa said, finally realizing that she saw a picture of him at the guild hall. "That's a pretty name, so you gonna try and take me in?" the man asked in a pretty calm voice. "Normally I would, but you're helping me. So I owe you a favor, I'll repay it by not doing what I'm supposed to do." she said in a chipper voice. "Thanks..." Jacob said sarcastically, knowing that Lexa wouldn't stand a chance at all.

Lexa saw he was actually being extremely gentle with the passed out little girl, making sure he didn't squeeze her, or wide an area too hard. 'He's probably had to do this a few times...' Lexa thought, making a mental note of how caring such a monstrous person could be. She looked at the man, how he was also making sure not to let the sunlight get in the kid's eyes as he worked by using his body as an awning. "So... Mr. Goodnight..." Lexa started, still a bit afraid of the gigantic human, if you could call him that. "Umm... by chance do you have children?" Lexa finally asked after pooling her audacity to say it. "Yeh. I got a kid near Era... and just Jacob please." Jacob said in a sad seeming voice. Lexa could tell he was depressed by doing something for some other kid that he wasn't doing for his own. "You wanna talk about it?" Lexa asked without hesitation, figuring that there was a bit of repression going on here. Jacob didn't respond for several minutes, he just kept working on cleaning off the little girl.

"Her name is Alexandra, Lexy for short kind of like you... She turned one a few month back if I remember properly... I haven't seen her since she was born." Jacob said, a tear beginning to form. Lexa's eyes changed from a serious and scared combination to a soft look as she spotted the beat of water forming. Jacob kept working on the child as he told his tale. "We were real sweet on each other growing up, best friends as children, lovers as teens, and then we got married. I worked with my dad as a butcher, it paid the bills... barely. Wife got pregnant, but she was tired of living paycheck to pay check and left me. I watched as she got sweet with some rich guy from Era who was visiting town for a few weeks for business. I watched my little girl being born through a damn window on the outside of the clinic, while that little shit held MY baby in HIS hand!" Jacob said, punching a small crater into the dock flooring at the thought of watching his daughter's birth. Lexa placed a hand on his shoulder to be some form of comfort, Jacob relaxed knowing he had someone who didn't want to kill him. "If you want... I could take him out of the picture for you." Lexa said in a soft tone, but she was serious about it. "I took care of that guy myself. The cocky ass walked into my dad's shop and started bragging about how it felt to have my ex-wife in bed. I didn't let him say anything else, I didn't think, just acted on instinct and before I knew it the guy's head was rolling. I torched the body, but the ex knew what I did." Jacob said, the words started with a smile, but ended with a frown after he mentions the bit about his ex wife being smart enough to connect the dots.

Lexa sat down next to Jacob, who was almost done cleaning the dirt off the small child. "You should turn yourself in. You committed a crime, and should accept your punishment. If you do, I'll check in on your little girl and make sure she's alright. If you want I'll even give her a letter for you, that is, if you agree to accept punishment. I'm sure little Lexy would be able to appreciate having a father who'd bit the bullet instead of running from the gun..." Lexa said calmly while staring off into the horizon. Jacob finished working on the kid, and reached into one of the pockets on his trashed looking pants. "I've been running from the guards for a while, and never had the chance to give this to her. If you promise that it will reach Alexandra's hands, and you'll read it to her, I'll walk into the guardhouse and close the cell myself, and tell them your name as the one who got me to do it." Jacob said with a straight face. Lexa took the note and gently tucked it in her back pocket, and shook the hand that was so large it seemed to consume her own. Lexa picked up the now clean child with pink hair, and carried her while following Jacob Goodnight to the guard's station. The guards watched in awe, as the man who'd killed dozens of them resisting arrest nonchalantly walked into a cell and closed the gate himself, saying that Lexa had forced him to do it. As promised, Lexa Grimoire set off to Era to deliver the message while carrying the child in her arms, resting when needed.