#Miner'sRespite – February 24, 2017

Nathan drags himself in, one hand in his pocket, the other running through his hair with a tired sigh. Seeing Leah's look only causes him to internally grimace, but he tries to cover it with, "Hey, you kept our kebabs warm during our leisurely stroll?" He smiles a half-arsed smile, clearly not putting much effort into his poor attempt at deception.

Leah ignores Nathan's question, countering it with one of her own. "What in the hell was that about? The two of you stormed out of here and th-... Is that blood?" she asks, her gaze moving to Jason's jacket.

Jason slowly makes his way up towards the counter beside Nathan. When she asks about the blood, he lifts his arm and looks over the stain. "Long story. Don't worry. It's not our blood. Ten beat up some old guy in an alley-..."

Leah's attention shifts back to Nathan and her green eyes go wide, "You beat up an old man!?"

Nathan raises a hand and swats at Jason's other ear before deigning to reply to Leah. "I'll give you the condensed version. I chased after a guy who I recognised to be a slaver from my time at Sandbeck. Fucker was responsible for the death of a squad of peacekeepers, so I decided to go kick his ass and get Sandbeck out here so -they- could kick his ass as well.

Jason was prepared this time and he weaves out of the way of the swat. He gives a threatening point in Nathan's direction as if to say 'Don't you start again'.

Leah listens to Nathan's story and winces as it comes to an end. She glances one more time at the blood stain on Jason's sleeve. "Ew?" she says before giving a long sigh. "Just... keep it away from the counter." she instructs Jason before looking Nathan's way, "I swear... You two idiots seem to get in more trouble than anyone I've ever met. I put your food in the back. Think maybe you can contain yourselves from jumping one of

Nathan throws his hands up in exasperation. "You're preaching to the choir. Trouble seems to just be drawn to us." He then decides to look at a random customer for a short while, giving them the stink-eye before responding to Leah's question. "Maybe. Sixty percent or so." He looks back to her, offering her a tired smile.

Jason twists and turns his arm to look over just how badly the stain on his sleeve is. "I promise nothing." he delivers plainly, "And if I were you, I'd remember that one of these idiots signs your paychecks!" he threatens.

Leah rolls her eyes at the two of them and turns on her heels. "Chief signs my paychecks, Jason. Hell, I'm still not even convinced you could spell your name if you tried." she says as she starts towards the door.

Jason furrows his brow. "Oh yeah? Well you-..." he begins to stammer, "...Uhh.... Are about-..... about as useful as a chocolate teapot!" he spits. His gaze immediately shoots to Nathan and he thrusts a finger at him, "Not a word!"

Nathan slowly turns to look at Jason. "Word."

Leah pauses near the door and glances back with a look of pure confusion. "A chocolate-..."

Jason interrupts her, "It's a thing people say!" he insists. Which gets little more than a shake of the head from Leah, who then disappears through the back door. Once she's out of sight, Jason looks back to Nathan. "See!? She had no idea what I was talking about. You're feeding me bad intel."

Nathan slowly exhales. "It's an expression my mum used whenever my sisters or I did something stupid or useless. See, Jason, you pour tea into a thing called a teapot," he says, drawing out his words slowly and making little hand gestures, as if talking to a child. "Tea tends to be hot. Chocolate, when it gets hot, melts. So, if you pour tea into a chocolate

Jason listens to the explanation with just about the most disinterested face a man can muster. Though once Nathan gets to the part about the teapot melting it seems to click. ".....Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense..." he begrudgingly admits. Though when being compared to the chocolate teapot, his frown returns and he flips Nathan off. "Fuck off. I should've just let that old man shoot you."

Nathan returns the gesture, turning back to the counter and propping his head up with his hand upon it. "You should've. It would've spared me your stupidity," he says. He remains silent for a few moments, before biting on his lower lip. "Who the fuck was that guy? We didn't even notice him come up on us. And his gear! That stuff looked top of the line, if a little

Jason follows suit in turning back to the counter with a sigh. He has more than enough on his mind these days to add one more worry to it. "...Yeah." he mutters softly. "The gear worries me less than the fact that he knew who we were. And he wanted us to know that he knew who we were..."

Nathan nods numbly. "I think I just may have dragged us into something bad," he says with an irritable sigh, though it is aimed at himself more than anything. "Good gear means money. Money means connections. Connections means power. My guess is, whoever he is, he has to hold some substantial pull somewhere out there." He then gestures to Jason. "Although, it isn't

Jason gives a distand nod. "Maybe." he says, not sounding at all like he believes it. "But he didn't recognize the name. He recognized the face and put the name to it. And, like I said, it seemed pretty clear that he wanted us to know he had us at a disadvantage. I think for now our best bet is to just let Renala do her thing and hope she can pull something off of that omni-tool..."

Nathan groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fuck," is all he offers, his forehead meeting the countertop. "Remember when I hated anything related to subterfuge? I'm starting to get that same feeling of hate right now."

Jason shifts his weight against the counter, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh. "We can worry about it if we find something worth worrying about. For now I just want to get home and get some food in me. If I'm lucky, I won't have to explain to Linda why I'm covered in blood..."

Leah returns from the back with the bags in hand. "Alright. We warmed them back up for you." she says as she looks through the bags to make sure everything is in order. As she looks to Nathan- head against counter- she blinks a couple of times. "You know everytime I think you couldn't possibly look more pathetic you find new ways to surprise me." she teases as she sets the bags on the counter between the two men. She punctuates

Nathan doesn't even look up as he sticks his middle-finger up to her in a solemn salute. "Eat a dick, Mercier," he groans. He uses his other hand to grab one of the bags, dragging it to himself and cradling it like it's his lifeline. "Mmmm... kebab." He lifts his head and offers Leah a scrunched up face of annoyance. "I'm poisoning your next burger, y'know."

Jason gives Leah an appreciative nod despite all of the good natured teasing. He takes the other bag and stands up. "As much as I love your company..." he says sarcastically, "...This day can suck a fat one. So leeeeet's go, Ten." Without another word he turns on his heels and starts towards the door, raising a hand up over his shoulder to give a wave Leah's way.

Leah snickers and leans against the counter. "Awww. Aren't you a charmer? Andspeaking of poison..." she glances down to the bag, "Enjoy your meal~" She gives an evil cackle, though when Jason takes his leave, she stands up straight and wipes at a strand of hair that fell into her face, tucking it behind her ear. "Oh... Uhh... Before you go-..." she starts, looking Nathan over, "...I know we haven't talked much lately with

Nathan makes to follow after Jason, giving his bag of kebabs a protective embrace at the mention of them being poison. Don't listen to her, kebabs. You'll never be poison in his eyes. However, he stalls as she asks about his current state. He looks after Jason for a moment before turning back to Leah and the counter. He offers her a much more honest smile, even if

Leah listens silently as he speaks, only offering a smile and a nod until he's finished. "Well, that's good to hear. I should've called or checked up on you. I'm sorry, Nate." she says, the guilt clear on her face, "I just-... It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks. You know... with Tara around and my dad coming back." She glances back towards the door to the backroom before resting her gaze on Nathan once more and the smile

Jason gives an obnoxious call from the doorway, "Let's gooooooo, Ten!"

Leah rolls her eyes.

Nathan looks over his shoulder and calls back, "I'm coming, dear!" The sarcasm is dripping from his voice. He turns back to Leah and offers her a 'What can you do?' look before jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Look, don't sweat about it, alright? We've... we've all been dealing with some shit. And, hey, if you ever need a break, I got beer, some shitty movies

Leah gives a chuckle, but nods. "Yeah. Sure, Nate. I might even take you up on that." she says. "Talk to you later."

Nathan flashes her a single wink. "Later, Leah." He turns and strides across to Jason, making to push him onwards with a mumble of, "Impatient fucker, ain't you?"

Jason steps back out into the cold once more with a little motivation fron Nathan's shove. "You're not the one on the chopping block when we get back. An hour late with blood on my jacket and cold kebabs." he sighs and shakes his head as he moves towards the car. "Linda isn't going to be happy. Not. One. Bit."

Nathan crosses to the car quickly, popping open the door once it is unlocked. "They were reheated, so that's one mark off of your shitlist. And besides, just hide the jacket in the trunk until you can get it cleaned. Just... say something came up! Like... you heroically stopped a robber from stealing the purse of a little ol' lady or something, I dunno." He pauses

Jason climbs into the driver's seat and sets the food on the backseat. "I'm fucked..." he agrees with a sigh. "Fuck it. Once more into the breach." he says as he starts the car up. Destination: Redrock Agency.