Fiery passion and Cold hearts (closed to Django)

[Jack Frost]

Jack chuckled at the man's act as it went on. It was pleasant to watch and a nice change of pace. Django had something that Jack just couldn't put a word to. "Panache" he muttered to himself grinning. After about half of his act was over Jack stepped out of the tent to check on how things were going. Most of the bards had cleared out to greener, less drunk pastures to make their money in. This section of "The real Brennoth" was full of drunkards who had had their fill. Few people were roaming from tent to tent looking for some pocket of a party but it would be a matter of time before this section of "town" would be partied out and sleeping off their ale. Such was the way of the soltice festival, pockets of festivity operating on their own clock as they partied themselves into the ground. However something was off. Jack had a bad feeling in his gut.

"JACKYBOY!" the squeal came from nearby and suddenly the sellsword was alert. Swearing he took off in a sprint honing in on where he had heard his employer. He found the man in his tent knocked flat on his ass. "JACKYBOY IT'S HORRIBLE THEY TOOK..." the noble began to sob uncontrollably. "THEY TOOK SASHA!" The man managed to squeeze imbtween bouts of blubbering. "Who did?" Jack said as he kneeled by his employer and helped him up. "Some ruffians!" The man replied. "They heard us talking and barged in like barbarians and they saw my darling and snatched her away!" the nobleman snapped from sobbing to fury "THE HOOLIGANS PUSHED ME DOWN AND SNATCHED HER UP! THEY'RE GOING TO DO HORRIBLY OBSEEN THINGS TO HER!" he bellowed. Like what you did to those poor whores? Jack thought to himself. He helped the large man to his feet and growled. "Any idea which way they went?" he asked. "I think they said something about their ship the 'Draceliks'" Cromwell replied. Jack grinned, "Don't worry about a thing. I'll get Sasha back and bring you their heads" Jack swore turning on his heal and walking out of the tent.

[Django Firemaw]

The stage was chattering with life as small explosives went off in a spray of extravagant colors and shapes. Django was running around the stage, each of his steps equating to a large stride as he narrowly dodged each rigged explosive going off on his face with practiced ease thought he made it seem like he was narrowly avoiding them to add to the slapstick humor.

He fell onto his back, the dimming of all lights then the subsequent silencing of all the fireworks followed as his back collided with the ground and the laughs around the audience had begun to die enough for Django's voice to carry over the sea of people. "You've all been great. This was my greatest performance to date. None relaaaaaaaaaaate. Curtains close, your patronage, I appreciate!" He said to the crowd in one final limerick lyric and the stage fired off one last flare before bringing the lights back to reveal that Django was gone, as if her were never there. Uproarous cheers however validated his presence.
...

Django had circled round the tent so as to not run into any patrons of his show who wished to see more of his spectacle outside of his main event. Most of them might have been too smashed to realize a lot of it was choreographed which meant he couldn't, as much as he wished he could, teleport. Still the gracious feeling of having an entire crowd love a performance was a warm one, one that was almost its own reward. But until he learned how to keep himself fed and healthy off that feeling he sure as hell wasn't doing it for free.

He stopped before Cromwell's tent having overheard the dilemma of his employer. After all, it was rather hard not too, if most of the people from inside the tents ears were not still ringing from the multitude of explosions they would've heard it too. He stood outside the tent already having his proper gear out awaiting Jack's departure to go return Cromwell's prized dancer. "No need to recount the details to me, pretty sure the dogs in the other countries over heard him." He said taking hold of the hilt of his claymore so as to not need to exchange any more words to show his intention.

[Jack Frost]

Jack paused for a moment at Django's words. "Alright, means a little less work on my part. Follow me." The Frozen man didn't even break stride as Django caught up with him. "It appears they are holed up in some ship moored off the coast, I think I remember seeing it on our way in." he stepped over a drunk lying in the middle of the street and continued. "We're going to need a small boat that can navigate this ship infested waters carefully, one small move and we get crushed between two big ships and end up fish food." Jack turned a corner with Django and they were clear of the tents and in the actual town rather than a jumble of tents. The sounds of celebration were beginning to dull, most townspeople had learned to set up tents outside the town to avoid making a huge mess in their actual town.

The light of the torches began to fade and soon the only thing guiding their way was the light from the moon and the stars. The town was rather quiet except for the dull roar of the crowd as the celebration went on. Jack managed to guide the two to the shore were luckily people had just left their rowboats strewn in the sand in their haste to join the party. "Hop in and get cozy" Jack commanded as he began to push the boat into the water. He looked up just in time to see the moon reflect off the water and illuminate what he assumed to be his targets hoisting a woman onto a small sailboat, no bigger than forty feet in length. "Found em." Jack growled.

[Django Firemaw]

Django kept pace with Jack evenly walking side by side as though they were two moving adjacent mountains ready to crush anything foolish enough to trifle with them. Fortunately no one did, the walk into town was uneventful as the most they had encountered were some drunks too buzzed to move thus they were easily circumvented. "You really know your stuff, you been on this end of a lot of hostage situations?" He asked to fill the grave silence in between Jack's orders.

The night blanketed over the two harshly. So much so Django considered swiping off one of the torches that kept one of the porches of a residence in town well lit but decided against it. They were going to have to get on the water to approach a larger vessel, a torch on the moon kissed waters would only add as a target to archers on board. "Hmm, certainly short sighted men. They could have taken some of Cromwell's wealth while they were in the mans tent but instead they took only one girl?" He said as Jack pointed out the men already beginning to hoist their plundered target up alongside the vessel.

He hopped in the nearest boat that lay bobbing across the slow churning waters that beat against the shore line with noise not even remotely comparable to the sound of the festivities they'd just departed. He took an oar in hand and sat himself back to the horizon to look at Jack to urge him to get in. "I'll row. You make your way on the vessel first, I'll follow right behind you."

[Jack Frost]

Jack paused as Django rowed. "When you do the work I do you encounter this sorta thing more often than not. Most people tend to hire a sellsword when they have a grudge to deal with." He paused as the continued. "They were probably thinking with their dicks...too bad it's gonna cost them their dicks." They rowed silently after that until they reached the boat. The men had already begun to "celebrate" their catch. The young woman's screeches could be heard rather clearly, but it appeared that the men in their haste and drunkenness had left their rope ladder down. Jack scurried up and silently began to creep across the deck. This boat was small, at it's widest point it may have been about ten feet across.

There seemed to be a cut in pit where the wheel stood tied up with some light seating around it and a closed door to the crews quarters below that was still strewn open. Jack could see sillouets, and it seemed like the young woman was doing her best to resist her captors advances. One man was laughing as he poked his head out the door for fresh air. He didn't see Jack, or his mythral sword as it glittered in the moonlight parting his head from his body. Blood spurt everywhere and the man fell down into the deck alerting everyone that their fun had in fact come to an end. "Send the girl above deck and we might just leave it at you loosing one of your own." Jack spat.

[Django Firemaw]

"Hah, I'm not even in your line of profession yet here I am, I suppose confrontation regardless of creed is impossible." Django commented on Jack's statement, it was true that even though Django was a performer he'd been in his share of skirmishes while on travel. "Lets try an keep the body count low, I'd hate to spoil the night with too much bloodshed." Django waited for Jack to scale the side of the vessel before him. Should things go awry he would jump in but it would be nice to keep someone manning the small boat they'd come in on to make it back to shore quickly as well as dry.

The thud of a object against the wooden floors of the ship preceded by the sound of a blade slicing through flesh like butter made it to Django. He sighed "Guess this is my cue." He scaled the side of the small boat and was up besides Jack within moments. He looked down to now foot shorter man "Well it could have been worse, it could have been his dick." he whispered so as to not reveal their numbers to the no doubt superior number of arm drunkards downstairs. The very question shot up from underneath "How many of ya, ar ya!?" said the voice of yet another inebriated man.

[Jack Frost]

Jack chuckled at the man's question. "Enough to kill you easily, I counted about five of you climbing into the boat and now you're down one. Four men alone could not stand up against the Frozen Butcher of Salvar." he called down into the hold. "I'll give you about five minutes to debate your situation, if I so much as hear the woman cry out during this time your lives are forfeit." Jack grinned and began to clean the gore from his blade. He was not fond of negotiations like this, Lord Cromwell would not be pleased if the woman was injured. The man might even dock his pay, and that put Jack on edge. However he a name to uphold, something worth more to a sellword than gold itself. A reputation often meant people would hire you more often.

"Please do hurry along and make a decision or I might grow bored and kill you all anyways." Jack called down cruelly. Had these been professionals he would have an issue, but these men were no more than drunk sailors. He could handle these men with ease, but keeping the dancer they had abducted safe was another task. He would have to control every aspect of the fight. He grew more and more tense as the boat gently rocked with the tide.

[Django Firemaw]

"Don't scare them too much, they might soil themselves along with the floor of this vessel. Poor thing doesn't look like it needs more filth." Django jested at Jack's method of negotiation. Though it was effective, at least he felt it was. These men were not exactly battle ready especially not for the likes of the two who had just stomped onto their playground. "You would do well to hand over the girl. The ramifications would be slight if you did I assure you." Django took slow steps letting the massive creeks that erupted across the creaky wooden floors speak for his sheer mass. He knocked gently on the door then whispered to where they could here. "Bring her to the door, scurry away, you won't even have to show you face, that sound good?"

The decision sank down to the lower depths of the ship as the men grimaced to each others wiping the sweat of anxious brows and looking down at the fair skinned dancer they'd abducted. Her blouse was open but no fun had started and they seemed to be most upset about that, they didn't even have any fun before the men came busting down their door. Metaphorically of course, they wouldn't know what to do if they actually did.

After a few moments of silent contemplation a small knock came from the other side of the door followed by the sound hurried scurrying down the stairs. Django slowly opened the door to fine the girl propped up against the door. Django took her in hand with minimal effort cradling her softly in his hands. "Now go away!" Came a meek voice from the interior.

[Jack Frost]

The two guided the poor woman off of the fishing vessel and onto the rowboat waiting for them below. Jack had said nothing but left several ice spikes embedded in the door to scare any notions of revenge from the cowards that hid below with the corpse of a man they once called friend. It was ultimately their actions that had killed him, and they would have to live with that. As Django rowed their small boat back to the shore Jack chewed on his lip and scowled, it had been too easy. The woman however, was much more excited than someone who had almost been raped should have been. She was busy fawning over Django batting her sapphire eyes with him as her silver made spilled over her shoulders. Any work Cromwell had made to tame her long hair had been ruined as it hung at the small of her back.

The soft roar of the ocean beating on the shore seemed to lull Jack into a sense of calm, it was perhaps one of his favorite sounds. He continued onto the shore leaving the two alone. "Tell Cromwell that we had to kill the men," he grunted behind him leaving the two alone. "I need an ale and some shuteye." he called behind him and then left. He had no idea why he was suddenly so damn tired, but by gods he was going to unwind after that tease of a mission. Part of him had really wanted them to fight back, he wanted to flex his strength and slaughter them, but another part of him was glad that it hadn't come to that. This conflict in his head was starting to get under his skin and he needed it to either go away or find a distraction from it.

"Hey tiger" a familiar voice called out to him as a hand found his shoulder. Jack turned and found his icy gaze matched by a soft green one. "Katherine," he cooed as the ice in his gaze melted. "Tough night?" she asked pulling a rag out of her pocket and wiping some blood off of his cheek. "Let's just say I'm earning my coin from Cromwell," the mercenary sighed. "Poor man" Katherine said leaning up against him, completely unphased by the splatters of blood on his person. "Wanna go back to my tent and relax a bit?" she asked a grin playing across her face. Jack gently took her by the chin and guided her lips to his "Lead the way..." he replied grinning.

[Django Firemaw]

Django exchanged a warm smile with the woman who looked to Django with the appreciative eyes of a puppy who had just been rescued from the street, perhaps a bit of promiscuous intent mixed in as Django's natural good looks shone slightly within the veil of moonlight. "Would you still be willing for festivities when we return?" He asked hoping to stray her mind from her unfortunate abduction. She already seemed on the path of forgetting the event "I could, my dancing is not exclusive to Lord Cromwell. I could, show you." her voice took on a coy tone progressively as she spoke. Django laughed shallowly as he afforded a wink unbeknownst to her towards Jack. "I could show you my singing while we're at it. Perhaps a duet." She giggled at Django's earnest offer.

"I will, If Cromwell believes they're all gone he won't look to finish the rest of them. Rest well friend, come meet me in the morning if the hangover isn't too strong." Django waved towards Jack as he began to depart. The butcher snowman became a small dot in Django's vision as he walked further into town for a last drink along with a well deserved rest. At least that's what he believed he'd do, the other figure draped over Jack brought a grin to Django's face. He'll have another body to thaw him out tonight.

Django picked the sapphire eyed woman up gently, he closed the distance between where he stood in the boat and the shore in one long stride. "I'm quite capable of walking." she opined insisting Django let her walk on her own. Her resilience was something to be admired, Django certainly did. "You'll have to save all your energy for the dance you'll show me."

"Oh stop, I should ask you to stop talking to conserve your voice then" she chuckled before she brought her feet down against the coarse sand that shifted slightly against bare feet. "Actually as a matter a fact you have strong arms" she said hooking her arms back around Django's neck reluctant to feel the wet sand between her toes. "Hah! You have strong legs don't you?" he said making his own way into town with her in hand. Strange looks were scarce as the sight of a large man carrying the diminutive dancer was certainly not the weirdest thing they'd seen that day. "Hush, walk." She smiled up at him as brought her head against his chest, nuzzling into the sense of protection that radiated from Django. This far into town nothing would disturb them as long as Django was around, some may be drunk enough to think they could take him but the festivities still had no end in sight.