#✯ — [ ʷʰᶤˢᵏᵉʸ & ᶰᶤᶜᵒᵗᶤᶰᵉ ] ⨯ modern

[quick-drawn]

@byanyan asked: they're staring at him from across the room, waiting. and then, the moment he finally makes eye contact with them... they very maturely stick their tongue out at him. (sometimes u just gotta be a nuisance, i'm so sorry)

Colton's tucked in the corner of the entryway as he removes his jacket, watching how Lena quickly paced back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room and back again after letting him in before looking over the rest of the place as he was told to make himself comfortable — picking apart the LITTLE things, like how the front door didn't quite shut taut, how one of the corners of the runner in the kitchen stuck up slightly, and how the back door swung outward instead of in...

— a residual habit from his previous profession. He found it difficult to turn off, especially in NEW places he didn't know.

Gaze finally makes a grand scan of the room, left to right, stopping ABRUPTLY as he meets the kid's tucked away in the opposite corner — just as abruptly greeted by a TONGUE, stuck out tauntingly in his direction. Doesn't surprise him...

In fact, the bartender didn't expect anything less. It's too bad he didn't have anything else better than IMITATION up his sleeve — or some level of MATURITY past fifth grade — because if Lena were to look back now, she'd see him mocking them: tongue all the way out, complete with a bird flipped conspicuously in their direction...

[quick-drawn]

@byanyan asked: ↪ Quotes from things I’ve written “I don’t hate you. I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me. I’m not askin' you to forgive me, either, but… I don’t hate you” (:

Even as reluctant and soft spoken as it is, their words rupture through the thick silence of the empty and closed bar like an EARTHQUAKE — causing a faulter in step as he moves behind the bar to finish his closing routine. But he doesn't spare them a glance...just continues grabbing glass after glass, from bin to shelf, bin to shelf in a monotonous way the bartender WISHED the night had started with.

But no — instead, it started with an unusual and CRYPTIC phone call, which was followed up by a wild goose chase to find the kid, just to have to break up an argument and ensuing FIGHT that could've easily ended up at the emergency room for any number of them.

And maybe it was the awfully quiet ride back to the bar that made them utter their finer feelings towards him now. Or how this is just another example of how they usually prove to be more bothersome to him than what they're worth — how it's an intentional thing, and they KNOW IT. Just to piss him off. Or perhaps it was the mixed look of disappointment and UNEASE he'd worn since they left the scene, Cassidy having always been stuck in a weird limbo of uncertainty with Byan — never knowing exactly where he stood on that friend to enemy scale.

It's why the silence between them briefly returns, Cassidy leveraging all these thoughts and reeling in some of that simmering ANGER left over from tonight's situation, for Byan's sake — leaving their statement to hang in the air a moment before he finally turns to address it.

" — 'least not when it's CONVENIENT for you, huh?" It's mumbled under his breath before he busies himself with clearing the counter, looking for a distraction before he ends up saying something he'll regret...

"Jus' cut th'crap, kid. If this is your way of tryin' t'keep me from tellin' LENA, you'll have t' try harder than that..."

[quick-drawn]

@chronal-anomaly who insisted he get a dog —

"Absolutely not." He leans to the brick wall behind him, arms folding taught as he overlooks the two wrestling about the cobblestone ground.

It's funny to Colton, how he somehow knew she was going to suggest he take the thing in — fussing over his floppy ears and sad puppy dog eyes...it's exactly why he hadn't mentioned the dog to her until now. And even this wasn't exactly according to plan, Bars having pointed the woman out back when she arrived in search of the bartender. Just his luck, he supposed. "He does jus' fine out here in th'alley. He's got a bed over there, an' he LOVES th'scraps from th'Mexican spot a few doors down..." the last bit's chewed through a half spent cigar pulled from the pocket on his shirt, lighter fussing over whether it's going to work or not as he mumbled out the rest,

"B'sides, pretty sure that'd break a HEALTH CODE or two." Wouldn't be a very good look either, dragging him through the bar and kitchen for bathroom breaks in the middle of the day...

[quick-drawn]

VERSE: WHISKEY & NICOTINE ↪ modern.

he never liked the idea of retirement. he's estranged from the deadlock gang — but gun running was all he's ever known, aside from drinking and smoking. so he bought that shady biker bar at the end of 5th street and opened the high noon saloon.

a young colton cassidy is found strapped for cash after the passing of his father and late stage diagnosis of his mother's cancer — following in the footsteps of his main verse, he finds a quick fix in GUN RUNNING. he recruits a team and makes DEADLOCK a very well known name in the business throughout the american southwest. so it doesn't take long for the LAW to get word of a new player in the streets.

they're assigned to a task force specializing in dismantling nationwide gang operations, who watches him and the gang very closely over the next few years, compiling all evidence needed to greenlight a sting operation on what was believed to be the gang's headquarters.

it's considered successful at the time, after partially disbanding the team and taking the then 21 year old colton in for questioning and holding. impressed with skill and mental fortitude, as well as vast knowledge on their current subjects, they offer the kid an ULTIMATUM: join up or lock up.

he chooses the former.

he works on this specialized task force for a little over 10 years. they have their ups and downs, but they get by and get the job done. shortly after getting word of the resurrection of the DEADLOCK GANG, the team is hit hard — assumingly by the aforementioned gang.

the force crumbles — half dead, the rest severally injured, the team's disbanded. colton, having paid his dues, hits dirt and goes into hiding, roaming from town to town for the next several years.

as the heat finally dies down, an investment opportunity lands in his lap. an old, shoddy bar in a middle-of-nowhere town full of nobodies — perfect for a nobody with nowhere to be.

he buys the bar and rebrands as the HIGH NOON SALOON. with a little help from an old friend, bars, in the kitchen, the place is brought back to life, quickly drawing in the locals and travelers alike — and all the TROUBLE that comes with them...

[quick-drawn]

✯ — tags, part two electric boogaloo.

✯ — [ ᵇᶤᵍ ᶤʳᵒᶰ ] ⨯ main

✯ — [ ʳᶤˢᶤᶰᵍ ˢᵘᶰ ] ⨯ blackwatch

✯ — [ ʸᵒᵘᶰᵍ ᵍᵘᶰ ] ⨯ deadlock

✯ — [ ᵗᵘʳᶰ ᵗᵒ ʰᵃᵗᵉ ] ⨯ recall

✯ — [ ʷʰᶤˢᵏᵉʸ & ᶰᶤᶜᵒᵗᶤᶰᵉ ] ⨯ modern

✯ — [ ᵇᶤᵍ ᵇᵃᵈ ʲᵒʰᶰ ] ⨯ undercity

✯ — [ ᵉᵛᵉᶰ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵉᵛᶤˡ ᵍᵉᵗˢ ʳᶤᵍʰᵗ ˢᵒᵐᵉ ᵈᵃʸ ] ⨯ apex