Shadow narrowly escaped what she likes to call "that bullshit" alive. She doesn't bother elaborating half the time because bullshit seems to be a catch all term encompassing the wide range of fuckery that exists at any given time, at any given place, on any given cracked desert of a hell we so gratefully call "home."
Today, that bullshit consists of about ten cultists and a fucking snallygaster. The cultists were a given, she knew she had pissed them off. The snallygaster? That was a last minute diversion plan of convenience that just so happened to go wrong like every fucking thing else.
God has a funny way of testing people. As soon as she shuts that door, before she has a chance to create a barricade, before she even has a chance to even turn around, she feels a breath on the back of her neck that sends every nerve in her body spiking. Even worse, her wrists are yanked roughly behind her back.
"For fuck's sake, let me go!" she says like this is just another inconvenience on top of a shit salad of inconveniences. Not scared enough. She never was. Just angry. Angry that this bullshit keeps happening.
She manages to break free, just for a moment. No, he lets her. He's toying with her. She can tell by the way he laughs, but if that wasn't obvious enough, that unnecessarily smooth southern drawl of his seals the deal.
"Nah, sweetheart. I've been lookin' for you. How nice of you to finally show your pretty face," he spins her around as if to properly assess her.
She holds his gaze just as well as she did the first time they met years ago. "Do you not see what the fuck is going on outside? Stop looking at me like that."
"I think what I'm lookin' at right now is more interestin'," he says too confidently in a way that annoying makes her want to smack the shit out of him.
"Now is not the time," she orders, but who can order the ghoul around? He pushes her aside roughly like she's luggage he's sick of carrying.
"It's never the time, is it?" he mocks her as if he's offended by *her.*
Few shots later and the cultists and friends are dealt with and his attention is back on her.
"You're not leavin' 'til you talk," he says as he takes one step closer.
Shadow doesn't hold his gaze this time. She's too stubborn to talk after she's already said her piece.
"You don't get to tell me what to do."
"I let you leave once already and every time," he pauses, "I catch wind of what you're up to, it involves being chased 'round by slavers. Raiders. Mutant hounds. Today's special is... cultists? The fuck you do to piss them off?"
Shadow can tell he's pissed. Pissed that she never fails to find trouble. Pissed that she refuses to accept that she needs him.
"Oh, you know. I just didn't let them tie me to a tree naked to carve me up and do whatever else they like doing to their human sacrifices," she says like it's a regular day, nothing out of the ordinary. Because really, it's not.
He laughs, but it's mostly a scoff. "You know there's a bounty on your head, right? And you're just runnin' 'round like there's not."
She's quiet. She knows she's wanted. She knows exactly why.
"Care to tell me who the fuck Liam is? And what's he want with you?" He nearly growls the name like he's disgusted a man's name is attached to her. He gets more mad when she doesn't say anything. He closes the distance.
"Tell me why. You're worth. Ten. THOUSAND. Bottlecaps to this man."