What happened

Jesse waited until he was beyond the gates of Wayne Manor before stopping and pulling his cigarettes out of his pocket, and happily lighting one up. The smoke filled his lungs and he decided to take a moment to look at the day and the way it was shaping up.

Max might be a little upset that he hadn't come back upstairs to say goodbye, but there was too much to be done with her, and she needed to rest up for it. She'd understand. Just to be sure, he pulled out his little computer.

To: MGibbons@Thecity.net
From: JCuster@Thecity.net

Sorry I didn't say goodbye, baby girl, but you need rest. Send me a message later when everything's done and over with to let me know you're okay.

Love you,
Jesse

He tucked it back in his pocket and took a breath.

There'd been no intention to confront Bruce and say the things that'd been on his mind, but he'd done it. And it had gained Max an apology. Jesse didn't feel any better toward the man on a whole, and in some areas found himself even more doubtful, but it seemed like it would make Max's situation better. If she could remain here and happy, then it would be one less thing to have to worry about.

Jesse walked slowly back in the direction of the hotel, with no intention of calling a cab.

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It had been late, by his standards when Bruce got the emergency tag and Barbara's voice whispered into his ear that Max had been hurt. That was all the information he needed to come in. And as he made his way through the city to the batcave, foot on the gas pedal, Barbara had told him all she knew.

He could tell that she was stepping carefully. She didn't want to give him the wrong name because she knew who ever had hurt Max had earned a visit from Batman. He hadn't been his darkest in this City as of yet. So he didn't begrudge her wanting to be absolutely certain.

Now as he climbed the worn stone stairs up to the manor, he thought about the information she had had for him. Information about Jesse Custer. Barbara had been laying figurative cushions all around him. It was laced throughout her voice that he should treat him well. Or at least make the attempt.
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Babs had been gone for over a half an hour. It left Jesse with nobody to talk to but Max, so he had been babbling on about Kojak and what the dog had been up to. The loss of a toy, the gleeful recovery from it from under the fridge. The near destruction of the big hunk of bone. The thankful appearance of the dog food, because he hadn't been able to find that pet store again on his own.

He'd squeeze her hand every once in a while, and relax when she squeezed back.

The rest of the house seemed really quiet. Nothing much was going on out there, and if Babs was downstairs doing something, she was being mighty quiet about it.

The cigarettes were played with, the lighter was fiddled with, and the flask of JD was contemplated more than once. He never actually drank from it, but kept looking at it. When this was all over? He was going to go back to the hotel and get incredibly drunk.
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The smoke had done him good. Calmed his nerves, and at the same time, provided the cool night air and fresh breaths that it could provide. Okay, so smoking hadn't been exactly breathing clean air, but it was out there. That counted. The violent feelings had seeped out of him, faltered. He was able to let them go. Amazing what a little bit of cancer could do for a guy.

And he took a bit of time, going back up. Looking at the place. The fancy things. He'd had things like this once. Well. They were never really his, but he'd lived in a house like this. Angelville. It made him shudder just to think about it.

Stinking of smoke, he finally returned to Max's room.
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Movie night was in full swing. He'd managed to find several John Wayne movies in a singular movie rental store, and while there had gotten microwave popcorn bags and sodas for both of them. He'd stay away from the booze tonight. It was funny how money showed up when he needed it. Jesse wondered if this would always be this way, or if at some point, it'd just stop being there. Something to watch, he supposed.

They'd already watched 'Neath The Arizona Skies, Dakota, and El Dorado. Currently, they were about to get into McLintock!

Jesse looked at Max, grinning.

"What do you think, baby girl? Something you could get used to? Or the most horrible thing you've ever seen?"

The bowl of popcorn was on his lap, he'd popped several bags and poured them into one big bowl, which hadn't been there before. But gift horse, and all.

Kojak was happily nearby, chewing on things. Jesse had taken away the squeaky toy, as it proved to be spectacularly annoying while trying to watch movies.

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No savioring for Max today. No waiting for her outside of the school. That gave him the entire day to wander the city by himself. When a man isn't paying attention to the outside world, and is considering his own thoughts, he can end up just about anywhere.

It occured to Jesse that he had no idea where he was, or how far he'd walked. It certainly wasn't a part of The City that he'd ever seen before. He laughed to himself and turned around, but the way behind him didn't look any more familiar than what was in front of him.

Oh well.

He shrugged and continued, might as well explore some while he was here. Who knew, maybe he'd find something really interesting, or unusual.

Jesse paused at the mouth of an alley to pack his cigarettes and light one up.
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Jesse,
Remember when you said you'd be my savior? After a full week of school I think I'm entitled to a save. From school that is. Nothing too bad, in fact, just last period 'cause I'm not feeling that adventurous or crazy yet. I figure I'll just shimmy on down the drainpipe outside of the bathroom. Meet me in the north parking lot? It's the one on the OTHER side of the clocktower. We should avoid the clocktower. And the library.

So, 2pm? North Parking lot. Got it? Great. I look forward to it.

-Max
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Who: Jesse and Death
What: Breakfast finally
Note: Log finished with a narrative.

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Max

I have no doubt that it's him. If it looks like a chicken and walks like a chicken... don't leave the house. Don't come find me. I can't have you in the middle of this. Please. If he finds me right off, he won't bother with anybody else, but if you're here too... I don't know what will happen. I can't let you put yourself in that kind of danger.

- Jesse
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Jesse,
I found something on one of the security cameras the people I'm living with have installed around. I was looking around for Didi, trying to maybe help her find the man who took that ankh she was looking for yesterday. Well, I found him and now I'm really scared.

I have the tape, and I was wondering if I could bring it to you to show you? I'm pretty sure about who it is, but you'd probably better confirm it, because you'd know what the Saint would look like better than I would, right? I don't know why he took her ankh, I can't tell from the tape, but it didn't look likehe hurt her other than that.

If you email me back, I'll head down to you as soon as I can get out of here.

-Max
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She'd found the park. But Didi could no longer remember why she needed to be there. She'd made plans, or someone had made plans. And the sun was telling her that she'd spent too long trying to find this place already - any business she might have had here was long over.

But still, she was here. The piece of metal in her hand was confusing her too. Someone had given it to her. But all she remembered about that was something to do with 2pm concerences and 4am REM cycles. And something about bats.

Fuck! Her ankh, she knew she needed her ankh. But why? What was it that was so swiftly slipping away from her grasp? She was important, she knew that. Someone important. She was Death. But... how was that possible? She was Didi. She was eighteen years old, her parents and younger brother had died in a car accident two years ago, and she'd been living on her own since, avoiding the social workers until she turned eighteen.

A dog was running up to her, tail wagging with utter glee. She kneeled down and petted him. "Hi, boy," she said, rubbing behind his ears.

To her surprise, she was not surprised when the dog answered her, telling her that Jesse was just over there and smelled worried. And that she smelled different, too. Didi nodded. "I guess I do."

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The sun was just breaking over the horizon when the figure appeared. And it did just appear. Nothing dramatic. No falling from the sky. No confusion. As if this being, unlike other citizens, knew where it was, and why it was there.

It was out of place, despite the understanding. The clothes it wore, something from the old west when such things were commonplace, were old. Not tattered, but well worn.

The skin, if one could have gotten close enough to see it, was leathery. That of somebody who'd spent life in the sun. Working. A hard skin for a hard being. Tough and impossible to break through. And the eyes spoke of Hell and horrors commited without the bat of an eyelash.

As the sun rose and spilled onto the face of the figure, it could be clearly seen that the tall, imposing body belonged to a man. If there had been any doubt.

He looked at his surroundings for a long while, one hand pushing back his long coat to rest on his belt, inadvertantly revealing one of his twin Walker Colts. Guns made from the sword of the Angel of Death. Guns that had never, and would never, fail him.

A cigar hung from his teeth, unlit for now. He grimiced into the burning sun, as if it would flinch away from the staring contest before he would. And maybe, if it'd had a choice, it would have.

He was here for one man.
One purpose.

But there was The City itself calling to him, taunting him with new things and new faces. And a power there that made his jaw clinch. Something that shouldn't exist because he existed. Something that pissed him off and caused him to bite through his cigar.

He spit out the paper and tobacco and set off in search of that power.

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By the time three o'clock rolled around on Friday afternoon, Max had thoroughly cased the joint. She knew the ins, the outs, where the cameras were… and absolutely nothing about what any of her teachers had said. Physics? Calculus? Shakespeare? Foreign to her by the end of the day.

Other than learning the easiest escape route out of the school, Max's mind was occupied with worrying. She wanted to know right then and there, in last period English class, whether Alfred had walked Ace or let him out to run yet. If he had, Max was going to be absolutely crushed when she got home. If Ace was too tired to go out then she was going to have to figure out another reason to head down into the city and see Jesse. The dogs were the easiest excuse, if she went down alone and met him that got very possibly awkward. And likely taken the wrong way by both parties and anyone who saw them, including Babs and Bruce's numerous cameras.

Plus, the thought of meeting Jesse alone made her nervous. It was a good nervous for the most part, but nervousness none the less. They'd agreed, or at least she assumed they'd agreed, to wait five months but she was kind of scared of her own self control. (If Max had interpreted the whole thing correctly… maybe he'd just been joking with her? Sure he could think she was pretty, but would he really want to date her, even at eighteen? When he could have an actual woman instead of a pink haired girl still in highschool. And so the anxiety began.) She gulped, completely ignoring the teacher in the front of the room. She probably didn't need to worry. She'd be too scared to actually act on her temptation anyway. She always was when it came to guys.
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This might be worse than you cavorting with Death

Jesse sat on the edge of his bed, Kojak lay on the other one. The dog was happily passed out,and had been since they'd gotten back. He'd immediately got onto the bed designated as his, flopped over, and fell asleep. Kojak hadn't even twitched once since.

"Might be? So now you approve of Death by default?" Jesse slid out of his boots and fished for his cigarettes. Not that he thought he'd actually smoke one, it just gave him something to do. He was far too tired to smoke.

She's young.

"You're observant."

A shadow fell across him, followed by the jangle of spurs. "And you?" Jesse asked. "Any words of wisdom, Duke?"

"Well." Came the low drawl. "It weren't that long ago that a gal her age would already be a wife and somebody's mother."
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Funny. At home, walking Ace had been her least favorite thing to do. Well, she looked down at the dog briefly, maybe not least favorite thing to do, but it was up there. Here in The City though, she didn't mind it at all. In fact, the walks she took were longer than usual. Getting out was good, relaxing... the manor wasn't. Relaxing, that was.

It was fine, she didn't mind being there at all. In fact, Max liked living there, for now at least. She missed her life, of course. Her parents, her house, school, Terry... she missed it all, but if she'd learned anything over the past year and a half, it was the you had to adapt. And she had, quite well considering the whole being pulled into an alternate reality thing. But sometimes she had to step back from the world of the manor, which while seperate from the vigilante world of the night, ended up feeding into it. She couldn't walk around a corner without comparing what was on the other side then to what was on the otherside in her own time. Memories would randomly pop up too, depending on where she found herself walking through out the manor. She and Terry had done this there... or that was where Ace had done such and such... it was depressing at times.

So that afternoon she'd clipped Ace's lead to his collar and they'd headed out. It was a bit of a walk down into The City Proper, but Max really didn't mind. At least The City was unfamiliar enough so that it didn't elict any unwanted bursts of memory, leading to slight melodramatics on her part. She could just walk, dragging Ace along with her, and explore everything. They'd seen the park the day before, Max thought that today they'd look for places to shop. Every city had to have a shopping area, right?

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Ah, finally. Time to relax.

The last several days had been a riot of work and more work. But things were starting to slow down as the gangs became more organized. The rash of voilence had taken time to slow, and had taken further time to finalize the body count, as victims lingered and finally succumbed.

But now, it was a nice day. The sun was shining, and Death had found herself in a park somewhere around what she supposed was the City's center. A stray dog had been following her for a block or two now. It was funny, how animals acted around her. So pleasant, always wanting to play. Except cats. Cats always stood nearby, and wanted to be petted, but never let her touch them. She just assumed cats were funny about being touched, until one finally confessed that if she touched them, she, Death, would own them, and no cat could ever stand being owned like that. Dream, however, had once made a pact with cats, and they adored him for it. Cats were clever creatures, after all.

Humans were the strange ones. Always afraid, once they knew who she was. Animals always knew, and always loved her.

She finally stopped walking, and sat in the grass. The dog approached, hesitantly at first, but then she smiled warmly at it and nodded. "It's okay. I'm going to stay here a bit."

The dog sprang forward and immediately rolled onto his back, begging to had his belly rubbed. She laughed and obliged, happily.

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Ah the taste of freedom. Sweet fresh air. Glorious beautiful day. Night. He realized it was night. The hospital had deemed him fit and healthy at some point during the afternoon. Discharge had taken a few hours, it seemed. He'd given them an address somewhere in Texas, to send the bill. More than likely, they'd get that mail back. Some time ago, he'd stopped hearing the gunfire. Or he was just used to hearing it now, and it didn't register as anything strange anymore.

As soon as Jesse stepped outside, he lit up a cigarette.

The delicious tobacco gave him a slight head rush on the first drag. A sure sign that it'd been entirely too long since his last smoke. The nicotine filled his lungs and his eyes involuntarily rolled back in his head. This is why he smoked. Moments like this. Remembering the flavor and the feeling. Ah. Beautiful.

A shadowy figure fell across him and spilled onto the ground at his feet. Jesse's smoke haloed it's head. The shadow smoke moved with the breath of the form. he didn't turn to see who it was, he already knew.

"What now, Pilgrim?" The voice itself was a swagger. The tone that could only belong to one man.

"Now what? I guess it's time to explore. I arrived here, or was sent here, for a reason." Jesse turned now and looked on the face of his childhood hero.

"And that fella, that Saint?" Thumbs hung in a gun belt. Hip canted. Hat forward.

"I don't know if he's here. I don't know if he even can be. But I suspect we'll find out sooner rather than later if he is. " Jesse enjoyed another drag before speaking again and turning to look at the dark city. "Don't think I'll just sit around and wait for him to show. Didi made the city seem pretty interesting, and I think I'd like to take a look around."

He could hear the shifting of spurs when the Duke moved. "Well then, what's first?"

"First. I need a drink." Jesse put his hands into the pockets of his jeans and realized then just what a mess he looked. "Maybe first I need to find some new clothes." He chuckled and shook his head. "No. Definitely a drink first."

It was a matter of trusting instinct and following the suggestions that came from Genesis that got Jesse to a bar. And before long, he'd settled in with a bourbon. The drink warmed his insides and let him have some time with his thoughts.
Already he was finding himself too comfortable. Too willing to stay here and forget what it was he was looking for. From what he could tell, the city wasn't the normal sort. There was something absolutely alive about it.

Every city has a pulse, but this one seemed to breathe.

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