2020-07-17 - Love and Bullets

When Byron was about to be out of the door to go to a meeting or such first thing in the morning, Lilith chases him down to the door with a towel on her head after his kiss goodbye. She's naked, of course, and probably wasn't going to stop if she had to chase him out into the hallway. She informs him briskly of two things, already rising on her toes for the first demand.

A: She wants another kiss
B: He is taking an extended lunch today between whatever dinner/drinks/meetings he may have.

Then she adds a third thing before swatting him on the suited ass and turning once she has that kiss well placed.

C: I love your guts, shoo.

Naturally, Byron probably thinks she means to stress relieve him in the ways she loves to do, which can sometimes take all afternoon once they get started-- the morning shower is the only real place they can stick to the principle of having a quickie. There's been a lot going on for him and she's largely stayed out of the way and been a whole lot of eyes and ears, adding no stress to his situation. It's not that she means to compound his stresses and tensions, but things happen in this place. Luckily, nothing has happened to Lilith since they've been returned from France, no nightmares, no Dreams, no weird Veil stuff, no punks at the shop, no calls or texts from Grant, nothing at all.

It's like he put a magic ring of warding on her finger. It's very much a good thing because he doesn't so much have to worry about her. He will anyway, of course, when things are too good, they always wait for the other shoe to drop. That and there's some out of town men coming around that could cause just as much problem for Lilith Winslow. The knowledge of how much cash washing and loot fencing and profiteering she does for Monaghan is very limited need-to-know knowledge even among criminals, which is strategic for a few reasons. Byron knows, of course, and has seen the extent to some degree, but she doesn't like to do any of it much while he's around, mostly for his own protection. The less exposure he has to her crimes, the better.

Lilith has pulled a lot of guns from that shop, bringing them home to put with her handgun... as well as the guns that Byron has in the penthouse for protection that she can access. She's cleaning and checking them all to ensure they're in tiptop shape, not just to fire, but to sell eventually. Some of them haven't had a test fire since she repaired them, so they need that, and why not have a little fun in doing so? Given their situations, target practice is probably a good idea, it's always nice to shake some of the dust off. And she feels like Byron could stand the bang-bang of it all in lieu of actual banging.

So when Byron comes in that afternoon, Lilith is in a pair of simple, low slung pair of black boyshort spandex cotton underwear and a matching tanktop to cover the bra. Her hair is in a high ponytail like a perky cheerleader (she can't help it, she just looks that way), pulled up and out of the way for activities. Cookies are cooling on a rack, but they're hidden under a draped towel. And there's two shoulder bags, one a cooler with beer in it, the other a bag that's tucked with some food and supplies, also zipped away unseen. There's guns everywhere and the cat is staring at her warily before looking at Byron's entry with a highly unamused opinion on his cat-face.

"Oh good! Go change for the woods, chop chop!"

Byron and Lilith live in the topmost floor of Building A in the Bayside Apartment Complex. They have no neighbors and the next penthouse atop the next building is pretty darn far. However, there is security posted out in the hall. Lilith's show of nudity does raise some brows and probably brows from inside the security office if the guard working the security feed is doing their job and paying any sort of attention to the cameras in this section of the complex.

These things run through Byron's mind and he even makes eye contact with one of the two guards posted here, something which makes the other man look away. Yet for Lilith he's all amused smiles, branding her lips with another parting kiss and making a mental note to clear out his lunch time appointments. Is he thinking that it's an afternoon romp beneath the sheets? Possibly, but even he knows that it could be any number of things.

The day goes on as normal. He has more telephone meetings than physical ones, in person, and as he promised, he's on his way back to the penthouse right at their appointed time. "That smells delicious." He comments about the aroma of baking cookies, one hand reaching to his throat to loosen, then undo his tie completely as his gaze follows Lilith, taking note of her outfit and appearance. He even catches the wary look Smog is giving him, idly murmuring to the feline, "Just stop trying to trip her and she might not try to put a bullet into ya."

Switching from business to protective, stomping through the woods, casual, Byron's wearing a pair of khaki cargo pants along with a plain gray Tee. Hiking boots help to protect his feet. While he was changing, many thoughts ran through his mind, so once he steps out of the bedroom to regard the firearms and things of that nature, he has to ask, "We're going coyote hunting?" He jokes, having some knowledge that most of the other animals are not in season, but coyotes are fair game year round.

Offering to help carry the bag o' guns and probably the cooler, Byron looks ready to brave the wilds.

Lilith grins at Byron's words to the cat and points her finger over with warning, which makes the creature meow because he's being pointed at and seems to find it offensive. That or he's hungry and the man just walked in the door, it's hard to tell, this cat is forever hungry. While snapping the handgun back together that she had in a few pieces, she calls after the guy going to change, echoing through the penthouse, "I made up my own cookie recipe, smell is only one factor in the equation. You can see them when we get there, though, and we'll decide how much genius I am."

The woman's jeans were in the dryer, which explains why she was sitting with guns in her underwear. By the time Byron is done, she's bagged up the cookies to put in with the other foodstuffs, put on pants and a white layering t-shirt over her tank, and is leaned forward to lace up her boots. Convincingly, she agrees with Byron, absolutely deadpan with the excuse they're going to use if they get caught in the deep woods just popping off shots, "Coyotes. Yes. They've been terrorizing the chickens again and yipping up a storm outside the cabin windows. I think one ate my yorkie."

Packing it all up and in her SUV instead of the Wraith like smart people, she drives them around to the far edge of the woods after taking the highway for a while, and if they're still in what's considered Gray Harbor, it's the fringes by the time she turns them onto a hunting trail. She drives as far as she can bump them along the pathway through the trees, then parks at an old wire fence that's blocking the way. Then they have to lug things and walk after hopping or ducking that fence. Byron can see Lilith starting to concentrate on small details of their surroundings while walking, and honestly, as far out as they are, they've passed a few nice clearings that are totally secluded and safe. In fact, at one point, she shakes her head and makes them turn around after examining a tree for a long moment.

Probably just about the time Byron is wondering wtf she's being so picky about placement, he starts to hear water. Lilith does too and when they round a few more trees, they have to climb down some flat slat rocks that work like steps to a different elevation, which spans into a clearing. But it's not just any clearing. There's a small brook stream that runs in spill over a rock blockage that's tall, more natural water feature than waterfall.

But when they were little, it was like Niagara Falls. Dropping the bag and rifles down, Lilith looks absolutely triumphant that she found the place and then turns to look at Byron's expression.

This is one of those rare times where Byron's not in the driver's seat. He would've volunteered to do so, but it seems that Lilith enjoys driving her car, something which Thorne, himself, can understand. He enjoys driving around in the luxurious comfort of his Rolls after all. Turning in his seat to regard the packed items in the seat behind him, he reaches over, more dramatically than actually trying to make a grab for anything, "Do you know how much torture this is to be trapped in a car with freshly baked cookies in the back seat?' He behaves though, facing forward once more, taking in his surroundings because they don't very often come this far. They usually keep to the campsite closer to the trailers and the main trail, thus being able to park their car at the lot there.

Not thinking anything about her choice of firing range, Byron unbuckles and swings the door open for the back seating to collect the bulk of everything they'd brought. Maybe she doesn't want to bother anyone near town with firing off shots in the woods, though he's sure that they hear gunfire often enough. The sound of water was tranquil, but he can't help but think that there was something familiar about this place.

Leaning forward to carefully set the cooler down and various other things, he takes a curious look around: Seeing the stream, then looking around them at this clearing. It was all very familiar to him. "Is this..." He starts, eyes returning to running water, remembering having been knighted at this very spot. "Is this the place you wanted to run away to? To become.." To become what? A sorceress? A dryad... A witch." Once remembering this, Byron can't stop laughing. "You wanted to run away and become a witch that lived in these woods." He knows the reason, or remembers much of it, even if not in full details. He doesn't bring that up though. "I was officially made a Knight at this very spot." He says with some dramatic pride.

"This is exactly that place. You shouldn't laugh, I'm still going to run away and build my castle here when you're mean to me. I'd be very good at that witch-life nowadays." Lilith is usually pretty good at deadpanning, but over this particular subject, she doesn't bother. The smile that's on her face once Byron realizes where they are and starts to talk about his memories there, it stays through her casual warning and planning. Then, as if to prove her point, she starts to put together a fire ring with a few rocks and sticks to start ignition, they don't need anything huge, deadfall should do fine to keep feeding it once it's going, "... but then I'd have to bring your jerk ass anyway, because you're my knight."

The fire flares to life and it's very witchy, so maybe she'd be able to pull it off. Once it's lit, she squints at it, like something felt a little strange, but it's dismissed in favor of coming to lay a kiss on Byron unpacking other things while he looks around, "Guess what?" It's a sexy whisper, right in against the man's lips after she has that fire going, "... I brought hot dogs and wire hangers to stab them with. You get first dibs on gun pick too. It's like getting the big piece of chicken at the dinner table. Who's going to be the best wife?"

Oh, and guns there are for Byron to choose from. Some are almost antiquity, but they've been so restored and well-managed with any repairs and cleanings, it's just the model type designs that give them away as the more archaic models that pack powerful punches. Most are stock and barrel rifles, but there's some pump action shotguns of two types, some handguns, one of which looks like a WWI Ruger, as well as some varied modern handguns and one modern AR. She's also brought targets, which is really just a bag of old toys and wooden junk carvings from the pawn shop she plans on putting around on climbing rocks for them to shoot and explode. But first, she sets up to get those hot dogs over the fire at slow roasting to char on the unbent wire wrapped around support sticks.

There is, however, something of bulk inside the bag wrapped in a towel that Lilith won't take out yet.

"How often am I mean to you?" Byron asks, more of a humorous question than anything else. He pauses in what he's doing to reminisce about their brief time spent year all those years ago. And to simply enjoy the tranquility and beauty of this place. Which they will soon ruin by firing off shots every which way. Relishing in the quick kissed placed, he beams all too brightly, especially once hearing the whisper at his ear. Then... he's told that she brought hot dogs and wire hangers. The wire hangers conjures up all sorts of weird images in his mind. Things that wire hangers were used for and maybe that scene from that one movie. You know the one: Nooo Wiiiiire HAAAAANGERS These thoughts are less than pleasant!

He'll still muster up to say, "That's the sexiest thing I've heard all day." He could be talking about the fact that she brought hot dogs or that he gets first dibs on guns. Guns which she cleaned out earlier today. Once everything that needs to be unpacked is unpacked, he sidles up before Lilith, slipping his arms around her waist, chin lowered to look down into her eyes, "You're going to be the bestest wife. Food and guns. Reminding me that I am, truly, a knight. I was knighted back in the day." Leaning in close, he presses his lips against hers in a kiss, then finishes with, "I noticed the AR that you packed. You know I'm gonna try my hand at that." This is all said with a grin. "But I do want to test out some of the antiques. You rarely ever get a chance to fire off one of those."

As she prepares the food, he gives the forest a look around, "Want me to start hanging stuffed animals and old posters?"

Lilith preens after Byron's kiss and compliment, and while he's looking at her eyes to make the claim, without cosmetics on, he can see the subtle creep of excitable flush hitting the tops of her cheeks and edges of her ears. She holds out her hand to look at the ring on her finger for a moment, like she has to make sure the whole idea of it is real all over again. She does that from time to time since they've been back, like she's afraid it's some prolonged Dream waiting to yank the rug out from under her.

"Yes, please, targetmaster. I'm going for the old Nazi handgun first, myself." Lilith stabbing through weenies with an unbent wire hanger probably doesn't help with Byron's unwitting hanger imagery, but what'cha gonna do. After setting them to roast, she unpacks the buns and squirt bottles of condiments like it's some kind of fancy setup, then finally pulls out the cookies to show out to Byron while he's going around to set up the junk she's concocted for targets. It may seem a little nutty, just bringing junk, but they're different sizes and shapes and difficulties naturally, unlike the uniformity of collected cans or paper mark targets. Also, most of the material is organic save for some metal toys they can just pick up or leave as a find for other kids when they finish, it's a little less like littering.

"I did bring the big marshmallows for us to burn to gooey crisps too, but I made up the s'mores cookies." After dropping the bag she used to indicate the packed chocolate-dressed cookies, she explains, "I put crunched up golden grahams and mini marshmallows in brownie batter and made them thin like cookies. I'm basically a hero." After popping a beer open for herself and the man, she syncs up with him while the weenies roast and helps lay out the targets, climbing a few rocks with balance to get some fully at the top of the falls, "We have a grand finale too, but you can't see those yet. Wanna shoot first and explode a beanie baby?"

When Lilith reassures herself that her engagement is reality rather than some twisted torture that the Dreamworld sometimes conjures up, Byron's eyes lower to regard the brilliant sparkle of the diamond, this quiet smile on his lips. He makes no comment about any of that and starts to gather up a couple of things at a time to try and find a good spot to place them. One of those things just happens to be a turkey shaped Beanie Baby. Enjoying the feel of the beanbag toy in his hand, he turns it to one side then the other briefly, perhaps to finding some entertainment in placing these various objects all over the forest. He then scans the trees, the foliage, everything, before reaching up to sit the thing onto a low sturdy branch.

The second item is something that he'd been pressing against himself beneath an arm: A large stuffed bear. "Are these all completely disposable or are you going to try and fix them once they're shot up?" He just has to ask, shifting to hold the large stuffed toy in both hands giving it a once over as well, before sitting it just behind the trunk of a thick tree, peeking out enough that only part of it's stuffed body can be accessed, making it a more difficult target than it initially would have been.

Wandering back and forth through the clearing, setting out toys and things all over that it almost looks like some child's fantasy playground right now, Byron does stop briefly to take not only a look at, but another whiff of the cookies which Lilith had baked. He even reaches out a hand to snag one of these S'mores brownie cookies. "A hero, indeed." Taking an initial bite out of it, quietly chewing, he will come out and say, "It tastes every bit as good as it smelled from earlier today."

Not only that, but the aroma of roasting dogs was overwhelmingly tempting as well. Taking the offered beer, he drinks almost half it down in one go, a brow lifting, "Grand Finale, huh?" But he won't push it and instead, he mosies over the gun collection to give them firearms a quick scan.

Some of the stuffed animals and items are spread out, separated, but there are a few that are bunched together or lined up. After dusting off his cookie crumb fingers off on his pants, he considers, "Sure, I'll take a shot." He doesn't go all out fancy and instead picks up a Remington rifle, taking a few paces out with the weapon in hand, he lifts it, marking out his target: The partially hidden bear, before firing off several rounds. The first shot is enough to make the stuffed creature twitch, the second forces it back to land in a pile of fluff.

Eyeing his downed target, then looking at his weaponry with quiet admiration, he enjoys the way the rifle feels in his grip. "It's been a while since I used a rifle, but it feels damned good."

"Babydoll, I hate to break it to you, but you're marrying an eco-jerk-- we're making a massacre to leave like a calling card. You might be into that, casino trout killer." Lilith tells Byron, but she knows what he's asking about for assurance, no doubt. While leaning to adjust the roasting hot dogs with rotation and open a pack of buns, she eyes him with a slight, promising smile, "I'm certainly not going to flash all over like a beacon just to fix some teddy bear stuffing. Think it's all mostly biodegradable anyway." After swigging from her beer, she nabs her own cookie to hold between her teeth with a grin around it for the compliment, using her hands to re-seal the ziplock away from insects.

Then she straightens and wanders over in part to put her hands on her hips as Byron sets up with the AR in his grip, unable to contain a low whistle of appreciation through her teeth once he's braced with pose and aim at the poor stuffed buddy. Before he fires, though, she gets her senses and puts her hands up over her ears to muffle some of the noise, bouncing on her toes a little like a cheerleader when stuffing flies, "Such a sexy bear assassination. Don't rifles feel good, though? Come fall, we should... I don't know, go hunting, I never have. I might not actually have the patience for it, but who knows."

Hands sliding from over her ears, she eyes the field of targets while making a brisk motion to the fire, sliding the dogs onto the waiting buns before dressing it up the way Byron likes, "I think I'm going for the taxidermy squirrel because I'm a terrible person. It's kind of like shooting a tree rat, though, if we're being honest." Once his hands are free of gun and taken up with beer again, she hands him food with paper towel cradling and goes for her own gun of choice, the WWI looking handgun.

It's all a far cry from their fancy France engagements, the roasted psuedo-meat eaten standing from paper towels between rounds with guns in the woods. And it still feels every inch of good and right, just like those bigger moments for Lilith. Side-eyeing Byron while she stands to take aim on the stuffed squirrel perched on one of the skinny limbs growing out of the tall rocks, she wonders if he's feeling the moment in a way that's letting him breathe deep after all the incidents and trickledown aftermath of the shootings at the casino, "Did I do good with therapeutic planning? Are we venting about work or shoving it into non-existence today? I'm good with either, whatever you want or need to do."

After asking, Lilith fires three times fast, the first clipping off the bushy tail, the other two plowing through one right after the other before the wire framing and clinging squirrel fur falls into the water to be washed away.

Busting into a big smile when Lilith makes light of eco-anything, Byron is quick to say in an amused tone, "Just don't let Roen or Isabella hear you say that. I'm sure that Izzy is disappointed that when I got ahold of the casino, that I didn't turn it into some conservationalist park for sea life.

If anything, he seems more than a bit surprised when Lilith brings up the idea of going hunting, having turned back to watch as she bounced about like a teenager again. "What animals do you want revenge over now?" Due to the nature of Dreams, they may have had their fair share of Veil animal run-ins. He still hold a grudge against one animal in particular. Accepting the passed along food, graciously, he decides to mention, "There's something satisfying, I think, when you're out here, eating simple foods like hot dogs over an open fire. Similar, in a sense, to having lunch at the seaside. Maybe the atmosphere lends to the flavor." He says all of this between bites of hot dog, taking another bite once he's done.

Settling himself down near the rest of their belongings, he relishes in hot dogs, bites of cookie and beer to wash it all down as he observes Lilith with her fancy antique firearm. "That one is a beauty if I do say so myself. "I mean... if being out here in the forest didn't make me wary enough as it were due to some of the stories you hear about places like this." Especially in Gray Harbor, "If anything though, I have doubts that any rival cartel trying to push into town will think to look here," A pause, "Unless they've set up base somewhere near here."

Just to be cautious, Byron runs a mental scan of the area, trying to pick up any emotions or thoughts coming from anywhere but this clearing. "de la Vega told me to tell you to be take care in regards to your shop. There's been at least one shop that was burned down because they wouldn't budge over some shake down. A corrupt cop, highly doubt he's working alone, but I guess he tried to shake down that one video game shop in town. Then torched the place." His eyes lift to Lilith as he finishes off his first hot dog, "Names Liu, if you ever run into him."

As he's saying this, Lilith is firing off a few rounds into a stuffed squirrel, something which brings out this grin. "If Officer Liu approaches you, I wouldn't recommend you doing that to him or else you'll be called cop killer." It's all said light-heartedly. "But I've informed my guys about him, the ones that watch your shop. Aside from him, what I've seen on the video footage from the casino garage, we've got ourselves a problem."

About that hunting idea... it's not as spontaneous as it seems. Or rather, it is, but the motivations aren't quite so benign as she claims. It's not normal, the reason why she wants to go hunting. She wants to use a rifle like a badass, sure, but... more than that, she wants to see what it's like to kill someone or something with a gun, not her powers, just for the sake of it. She also wants to see if she can skin and butcher with precision using her abilities, just for the sake of the challenge. She wants to see what it's like to try and dissolve the leavings down to the bone, to speed the decay and pare away dead flesh, then see how much heat it takes to char bone to ash and splinters.

Maybe being open isn't always a good thing. These are not natural urges. While Lilith tends to get fixated and bloodlusted while relishing the high of destruction and power, it leaves often conflicted or bothered. Byron might notice the difference between that unwitting piece of her and... planned carnage for the sake of experimentation, and he might well find it odd. Hell, it bothers Lilith herself once she realizes what she wants to do and why, and she almost shares it, but... then she looks at the ring on her finger and decides it's MAYBE not the best way to paint herself marriage material.

Initially, Lilith opens her mouth as if to pop right out with that morbid something, but after a breath, she turns it into a hum of thought, "No, but something we could cook and eat would be all primal feeling, I think." After eyeing a couple of the shotguns with indecision, she opts for hot dog timeout, coming over with a long draining swig of beer to finish her first and go for the second. Then she busies herself with her food and settling in sit next to Byron. It takes her a moment to realize he's speaking about some pretty important stuff and she blinks out of her mild distraction to look his way and listen.

"... at least we'd have a lot of scary guns." Lilith says with a pensive expression, finally getting her lean in against Byron's side and arm while eating, "On the plus side, I'm pretty low profile, which is good considering the uh... caches and stashes." She's starting to look a little sullen as she eats, sighing through some chewing, especially as she ponders the consequences of what might happen, "... but if he's threatening me or attacking me, I really don't... know if I can help it. The lashing out." A pause, "Cops showing in lieu of thugs is certainly a problem. And if my shop burns and I have to explain to... why I lost all his..." She never uses the name, nor does she finish that sentence.

Instead, Lilith leans up and nods to Byron, throwing what's left of her bread into the fire to watch it burn like a little firebug before getting another cookie, trying for a show of nonplussed, but still noting of the man's words and warning with how serious her eyes are when she looks at him, "We'll put Smaug in there on watch, he'll take care of any issues. It's good to know who to expect, though, worst case. What other problem, though?"

Byron finds nothing odd, really, regarding hunting. They lived in a struggling small town surrounded by forest. They've probably gone hunting quite a few times in the past. Even if it may not be a hobby of his, personally, it's something that people in these parts do, especially those living in them A-Frames or cabins in the woods. So while there was mild surprise, more bordering on intrigue, hunting in itself, wasn't an oddity to him.

However, having done a scan of the area, he seems to have picked up these stray contrasting emotions coming from Lilith. Contrasting because they were having a lovely time here enjoying this outing that she'd planned out down to such minute details. There was food, beer, firearms. Specially crafted cookies. Was this doubt? Self-loathing? Confusion? There's some point where Byron's just watching Lilith as she tells him that she wants to live like a primitive. Living off the land, so-to-speak. At least for this one hunting session. She wasn't wanting them to become farmers or own a ranch.

Something was troubling her, that much he knew. Rather than inquire right away, he takes another swig of beer just as she settles down beside him to join in the feasting. He flashes her a smile when she sits close, but their conversation is on his and the town's current problem.

"I don't think Abitha, is that her name? I don't think she's high profile either, but her shop went poof. I'm also not sure if whoever this Liu is, is planning to hit all the small businesses in town. I got a feeling that it might not be just him IF he's working for the new kids in town that seemed to have infiltrated our peaceful town." This is said with more than just a small hint of sarcasm. "Anyway, Joey, I think, is adding more manpower to his... City Watch," This is said with a touch of mirth, finding it pretty funny that Elm Street's safety patrol were a bunch of thugs.

As for the other problem, he brings up once more, "There's a rival cartel in town, so I'm told. Which means that shit is going to hit the fan as they jockey for power against Monaghan." Having not picked up on any other intruder or bystander lurking about the area, he isn't afraid to say Felix's name aloud. "Thus the burnings and this alleged assassination attempt on Monaghan's life. If this isn't nipped in the bud anytime soon, the whole town will be caught in the cross fire of this war."

Lilith relaxes against Byron after she's finished with her cookie, sipping through her beer while listening and watching the small fire crackle. Whatever was distracting and disturbing her wanes off entirely as her mind turns to more important matters at very close hand. While listening, Byron can see the clockwork tick of her eyes, like she's trying to work out possible tactics or preventatives of her own in the worst cases, since apparently she can't just kill some of these guys without it looking really bad. Her head nods a little about Joey's own planning and there's a bare groan in the woman's throat as the man points out this is a compounding issue given the OTHER problems that complicate living situations in GH.

Crossfire. Lilith's lips twist briefly off to one side before she pushes up against a hand to turn some and look at Byron directly. She doesn't ask the question he can see on her right away, instead, once she's really looking at him, she kisses in against the bridge of his nose, then his lips before drawing back to make the inquiry slowly, "... is Monaghan still staying at the casino? How much do you interact with him while he's there? You aren't going to catch a stray, are you? Bad enough you might look like an accomplice if I'm caught, but that aside, your reputation with us being engaged, if I get arrested for..."

Sighing, Lilith shakes her head and looks down into her beer bottle, looking a little uncomfortably guilty. She's never liked talking about her very illegal laundering and fencing, even though Byron knows about it and has seen some of the stashes. While she doesn't have many qualms about the process itself most of the time, it makes her feel a little dirty and ashamed around her now-fiancé. He came up and she's in a position to drag him down by being a trashy criminal on someone else's behalf. It's so routine at this point, it's easy to forget, but with the source and figurehead of her situation threatened and all kinds of collateral damage starting to rear head... she knows which dominos might fall.

"... on the plus side, when we're married, we can't testify against each other. So that's nice."

Byron remains attuned to Lilith's emotional state for a time, after having picked up the turmoil in her head. Once he senses her mind being soothed, feeling her body relaxing against his, it's enough of a relief that he allows himself to follow suit. He doesn't really like talking about Monaghan either. The fact that Felix Monaghan is a tenant of his at the casino is interesting conversation fodder enough for the townspeople. But a man like Monaghan with his wealth, where else would he stay in town? Well, outside of the Bayside Apartments, but there's no whiff of Monaghan's presence there at least.

"I've spoken to him. Hell, I had to talk to a lot of guests after the shootout. It's in his ballpark now, whatever he wants to do: Remain at the casino or to go into hiding. But to tell the truth," He has to shake his head here, this faint, yet wry, smile on his lips, "I'd prefer him to go into hiding. That should lead the bad guys," Hah! "Away from the Grand Olympic." He then adds in a sobering tone, "Joey said he might need to go into hiding too. They've got his number." He doesn't mean that literally, but more that they've got their sights set on him as well. Possibly.

"As for my interactions with Him?" Byron shrugs, "I know of his reputation. Not everyone in town believes it and that's just fine and dandy for me. But he's an incredibly well-paying customer and I will continue to treat him as I would any other guest... so let's just hope that there's no more incidents at the casino."

All that Byron can do is beam brightly at Lilith when she brings up that people might mistake him for being an accomplice due to her. "Honestly, I'm sure people peg me for a lot of illegal dealings. Corruption and everything. People don't trust anyone with money. Especially in a town like this, though the Addington's? While they may be Gray Harbor royalty, not everyone in town has much respect for them either."

While they are still settled so close, he turns his head so that he can give her a little side kiss, remaining close for a few moments longer before he pulls himself up to stand, giving his legs and back a stretch. "We'll figure out how to get you out of that mess." He says of her attachment to Monaghan. "And... I always knew that marrying you would come with benefits." Turning back to her with an impish grin, he looks over the gun show once again and takes up an old revolver, possibly from the 50's some time. It's engraved with someone's initials, a past owner probably.

"One thing that I do know, residents and business alike should be coming together. Figure out a way to protect ourselves as a community."

Lilith clicks her tongue at some point while listening, then lifts her hands to adjust her pulled back hair in absently fidgeting fashion, "Okay, fair points all around..." The woman tilts her face into the sidelong kiss Byron gives her before getting himself up for a stretch and wander for a snazzy gun. "But yeah, I guess it'd be the smart thing to do. Or at least decide how to hide the bodies and handle it our own way when and if it comes up." It's hard to tell how serious she is with that last bit, she deadpans and dry, dark humors her way through things a lot. But also... one of them taking out an SOB for threatening the other is not unlikely, so...

"Of course it comes with benefits. I'd name the additional bedroom privileges that come with marriage, but you're holding a gun and I don't want any incident if you get riled up." Lilith decides to change the tone while rising herself and letting the man square up and familiarize himself with the weight of the weapon while firing. She picks up an old cowboy looking Winchester rifle, herself, then settles up with safe space in stand beside the man, suggesting, "Now. Let's shoot everything like we're in the arcade. Then I'll unwrap and hang the finale. Ready, lover?"

"I'm sure that.." Byron is about to start off with, but thinking of the exact words that he's about to say, whether he's humoring Lilith or not, he makes sure to switch a few things around and rather than come out and state something directly, he speaks with caution. So he starts over, "Joey Kelly knows lots o' guys. I'm sure he could help us with that." This, of course, is in regards to the handling of corpse management.

If anything, Byron chuckles at her mention of bedroom privileges. And yes, he is holding a gun. A much smaller one than the weapon which Lilith brandishes now. As they are standing back to back, while it might looks like some bad ass pose out of a movie of sorts, what they were doing currently, was practice for whatever Gray Harbor had to throw out at them. Whether it's Veil threats or these dangerous intruders who are currently trying to force their way to gaining power over the town.

Without even looking at her (not anymore anyway, he took a good hard look when she came to join him), he fires off a few shots, one hitting a pink squid stuffie on a bush, another shot ripping through the bean bag body of a penguin. "Just seeing you with that Winchester in hand. This is why I married you." He makes sure to add in as a tease, "Well, along with the hot and steamy bedroom privileges."

"Smart man. Guns and mind-blowing sex are the foundations of a good marriage." Lilith tells Byron after popping off a few shots and reloading given she doesn't have that big of an ammo pool. Cocking the gun back up, she resumes fire, and soon a few items are targeted to explode or be slammed into the distance with the force of the bullets ripping through. There's carved totems, a dolphin from a booth at the boardwalk games, an old tonka toy dumptruck, and some tree trunks missing chunks of bark that she laid into for kicks.

When they're done, though, Lilith starts to bubble over with giddy laughter that generally comes with playtime or general mass destruction that isn't the bloody sort. Pointing at the two shotguns, one of them is pump action, the other is semi-automatic, "We use those next, but honestly, I might just play clean up and let you take the finale out alone. So think about which shotgun you want to blast with and..."

Reaching out to spin the man by the shoulders so his back is turned, Lilith instructs, "Close your eyes and wait."

Her next point of destination is that towel wrapped package that is... a fucking Teletubby piñata. There is no TELLING where she found that or how she found that, nor is there any guessing at what's going to pop out when it blows, but it's something Lilithesque, for certain. She hangs it on a low branch after some searching around and standing on a rock, then she comes back to stand in front of the man with long-step and slide into his view. After a foxy and overblown bat of her lashes at him and a bit of a shit-eating grin after that, she advises, "Turn at will and fire."

The once tranquil and untouched (well, OK, there's probably hikers and hunters who trek through these parts every so often) section of forest really did look like a war zone now. A war between toys... Or a war against toys. Either way, it's littered with stuffing and painted splintered wood where it was once this magical place. Nevermind the spray of bullets that are now either embedded into these trees, but also all the casings to be found on the ground.

It was quite the scene.

Pumping that much ammo into these childhood toys, Byron is curious enough to ask, "Are any of these yours?" As if the toys from their childhood was somehow sacred. But he'd helped her clear out her trailer already. With heavy boots, he steps forward to examine one of the toy trucks that was shot to hell, before casting a glance at some old stuffed teddy. One of a normal size.

However, when she brings up this finale. Now this has him curious. As he examines both options, he says, half-turning so that his eyes peer over at Lilith, "I don't envy anyone who has to clean up this mess." He reaches for one of the shotguns and then the other, weighing them both and getting used to the grip of the weapon, before settling on the pump action shotgun. "I have to close my eyes too?" This is asked with mock exasperation, before his lips turn up into a smile. After checking to see how many rounds are in the chamber, he does as he's told, spinning around and closing his eyes. "Alright. Eyes closed. And don't worry, I'm not a cheater like someone I know, so you don't have to worry about me peeking."

When his eyes open, he finds this grinning Lilith before him. He heard her steps behind him, so he's not surprised when she tells him to turn around. The Teletubby pinata gets an arch of a brow, "Where'd you find that one?" It isn't long before he lifts the shotgun in hand, directing the muzzle of the weapon at the monstrosity. His first shot practically blasts the Teletubby's arm off, before he pulls the fore-end back, ejecting the spent casing and firing off another round. Then another. After three rounds of, there's only the topmost part of the pinata still hanging from the tree.

Looks like he didn't wait to see whether Lilith wanted to try her hand in shooting or not!

"Not mine. Sometimes I just take junk, especially if it's from kids or people that have made like these mass collections to try and get some kind of cash in hand. Sometimes people think their things are worth something and they aren't, so they get mad and leave it or I offer to just take it for the sake of clean-up if they don't want to keep it. Usually, I donate the toys and other junk I can't profit off of." Lilith makes explanation to Byron with a reaching poke up toward his nose with the next bit for clarification, right before the man turns around to see what she's set up, "And it's called a peeker, not a cheat, I only ever wanted to know what was going on a little bit, not the whole surprise."

Then when he's turned to see the monstrosity, Lilith starts to chuckle with laughter that turns into something full blown when she sees how quick Byron takes aim on a goddamn teletubby, "Party supply store. I wanted a piñata and you'd be amazed at what you can find online. I was going to get something big-eyed and cute to make monsters out of us, but then when I saw that, I figured why not buy something we can murder that deserves to be murdered, hm?" The woman doesn't even touch her own gun, she just watched Byron with a helpless grin that won't unstick as he blasts.

Lilith never planned to pick up her gun anyway, she planned to stand right there and watch the man's reaction, especially once he's blown the hanging paper mache and cardboard horror construct to bits, causing the innards to fly out. Inside as filler, there's a mass of paper tissue hearts in red and pink and white like confetti to blow around, clearly left over from valentine on a clearance category.

There's also a slew of colored post-it notes in variety that have been folded over to stick with handwritten messages inside once peeled open. There's repeats, because she wanted to make up for the ones that got blasted, ensuring Byron gets to see all the messages. It's a lot like conversational candy hearts, but it probably took a lot of time or was something she worked on idly while working or thinking over time.

Your eyes drown me.

Your breath warms me.

Your words wind me.

Your touch stirs me.

You're the love of my life.

You are beyond gorgeous.

Your sex is magic.

I'd do anything for you.

Love you.

"You know that our Dreams are going to be haunted by that thing now, right?" Byron says as he works to empty out to chamber now that his duty was done. "That and all of the other toys that we destroyed today. But that one, that's the main boss." Putting the safety back on the shotgun, he approaches the odd confetti strewn all over the place once the pinata was shot to pieces, leaving not just the bits of paper, but colored tissue all over the place. "It's a good thing that this wasn't my favorite one." He jokes in his own deadpan, speaking of what remains of the Teletubby.

He notices the heart-shaped paper first. "Don't tell me that this Tellytubby was of the Valentines variety." Because who would give their date a Tellytubby pinata? A four year old, that's who!

Nudging several of the scraps with the toe of his boot, before crouching down, Byron rests the butt of the shotgun on the ground as he sifts through some of the strewn about bits of paper before they are blown away. Realizing what these all are, he carefully lays the gun down as he starts collecting the scraps with writing on them. "When did you write all of these? After we returned from France?" Though in his mind, it would've taken a lot more time than that, unless she worked on this endlessly since then. Or, at least, for several hours. There's this growing temptation to take a read of some of these notes, just to get a better glimpse of the when and perhaps, what her emotional state was at the time of these writings, but he refrains.

"Please don't jinx us like that, those things are terribly creepy when they make noises, can you imagine being enthralled by one of their songs?" Lilith says to Byron with a tiny snort of semi-laughter that she seems a little wary to let out once it's done. Because he really might be jinxing them, who knows! Then the brunette woman explains to the man while continuing to watch him take stock of what actually flew out of the piñata, other toy carnage pieces aside. She gives him time to poke around, unfold and read some while making explanation, shoulders hitching a little bit before she turns to stab them some marshmallows to char into gooey blobs over what remains of the fire.

"It didn't come stuffed, I stuffed it. I didn't want to put glitter in it or stuff that wasn't biodegradable for the rain and forest to wash away and eat up. So when I looked at paper confetti, the hearts were on clearance annnnnnd..." The woman looks up while leaned over the fire to blow Byron an air kiss, "And I love your guts and they were dirt cheap, so it worked. The notes, though..." Straightening as the sugar puffs roast over the low flame from dangle above, the woman pulls down her hair to absently rake fingers through and tousle before putting it back up again with gathering, "I did them at my desk. I wanted to use post-its and did it over two days while sitting and doing other things. Isn't as time consuming as you think, doing it that way, also sitting and scrawling is good for my thought process. But see... mostly I did them when you'd text or I'd happen to think of you."

"Which is apparently a lot, go figure." Leaning back over to turn the marshmallows, she finales the dessert by catching them both deliberately aflame and blowing them out, bringing one on the wire stick over to Byron to eat while hot, charred, and gooey, "Here. After this, we'll be ready for some primal nature sex with me on my hands and knees to further defile this place. You know. So long as it makes you feel better. This is your lunch treat and de-stress break, afterall."

Oh yes, Byron almost immediately regrets jinxing them with Teletubby Nightmare Fuel once those words escaped his lips. It's not something that he really wants to think about, especially as he's looking at the carnage left behind by the shotgun blast. The thing's head was semi-intact, though the rest of it was destroyed.

"God am I glad you didn't fill this up with glitter." The dark haired ma says with a laugh, even darker eyes turning to cast a gaze over in Lilith's direction, watching her form near the flames. "Did I really message you this often?" He was impressed by just how many folded loves filled the pinata's fat belly. Some of the letters he'd collected, he tucks away into his pants pocket. The others will simply wash away when the next rain hits.

"These are the kinds of notes I'd imagine you were writing when we were back in high school." The one about how good sex was is just then glanced over, "Well, most of these. Strangely, it feels like we just lived through part of our childhood here today. From the toys, to the love notes." His tone quiets, with one hand reaching for the shot gun, plucking it off from the grass to put with the rest of the guns. "Like the heart you'd stuck into my locker that one day."

Settling himself down beside her to enjoy the charred marshmellow on a wire hanger and hearing the mention of sex brought up, images start to run through his mind. Taking a bite of gooeyness, he turns to place a gooey kiss on Lilith's cheek, "If anywhere, this would be the place to unleash our carnal lust. Beer, guns and sex. This has got to be one of the best days ever."