sixthiterationlogs | second verse, different from the first

Entry tags:

second verse, different from the first

WHO: Cougar Alvarez
WHERE: Village / Inn
WHEN: October 15
OPEN TO: OTA!
WARNINGS: N/A

coming back from the wilds

A man had come up and out of the fountain, soaked and in the middle of the night. He'd taken his time to go through his pack, look at his clothes, and then made the natural assumption -- he'd been drugged, kidnapped, and sent into the wilderness somewhere in dark scrubs that look like they belong in a medical lab, not in the field. So instead of lingering, Cougar does the only natural thing.

He heads out to map out the immediate area, finds high ground in the trees and he starts to explore. Cougar spends days out there, finding animals, plants, and determining that he's not anywhere near Miami or the East Coast, the two most recent places he could have been grabbed. He doesn't have his gun or his hat, so someone got their hands on him, but he's alive and in good shape.

It has to be Max, it can't be anyone else.

On the third day of lurking in the wilderness, he brings back the rabbits in snare traps that he'd been setting, whistling as he walks back into town like he's always belonged there, his mind set on one thing. He's going to figure out how Max got his hands on him, and then he's going to find the way out and escape. Until then, he needs to stay alive and figure out who else has been put here with him, who else might be a victim of Max's schemes.

reclamation

Once he's settled with the animals skinned and prepared and delivered at the inn, Cougar turns his attention to the pile of things in the corner. There are weapons and supplies, clothes that he hauls out to look for something to wear and to hunt with. He wants his hat back, the familiar brim and the security of having something to hide his face, but it's not here. Grimacing, he pushes through the things and starts to pick out one by one what he actually wants to take.

He takes a spear here, a bow there, a few arrows. It's not the same as a gun, but it'll give him a chance to hunt and prepare himself. He finds a few knives too, which makes him grin as he tucks them into his back pocket, still sat crouched over the items like a magpie tending to its hoard.

He only stops when he hears the creak of a floorboard and rises to his feet, not wanting to seem like a scavenger, which is why he tries to subtly nudge most of the items aside with his foot. When he turns, he hasn't got a hat to hide behind, but he does have the ability to put on a guileless look on his face, see who's come to challenge him for the items in the closet.

Better yet, maybe Cougar can take advantage of this. "Hat," is what he says. "Have you seen a hat, here?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's not obsessive or anything like that. It's merely missing the company of his family, his unit, and if all he has to connect himself with them is Cougar's hat, then so be it. So definitely not obsessive to have it with him at breakfast, sitting on the table in front of him as he settles in to try and get some breakfast before heading out to try and gather firewood and do what he can to gather food for himself and others here.

Porridge isn't his favorite, when is it for anyone? But at least it's hearty and should get him through the day. So he heads into the kitchen to get another bowl, leaving the hat there on the table, figuring he'll only be gone for a few minutes.

Cougar watches Jake walk into the kitchen, only when his back is to him. He'll get to that later, but right now, there's a hat on the table and it's his. He picks it up, inspects it, and then eases it onto his head to feel the perfect fit.

This isn't his hat from home (no mark on it, no guns), but it fits him like it's his. Adjusting it, Cougar settles himself on top of the table, sitting with his feet on the chair, just beside where Jake had been sitting.

And then, he waits, a smirk on his lips as he waits for the expected reaction he's bound to get.

Jake notices first the hat is gone. Almost instantly.

"Where's my..."

He looks around, angry and flushing quickly.

"Whoever took that.."

And then he sees the hat. The hat on someone's head. The hat on...

"Cougar!"

The bowl falls from his fingers, hitting the ground with a sharp sound, shattering. Porridge and shards hit his ankles, not caring if he's cut. Not caring about anything but...

"Where have you been?!"

Even as he asks it, he's closing the distance between them, moving to pull Cougar to his feet, elated and excited and positively glowing.

He's waiting out the fussing and the questions, waiting for Jake to put two and two together and get four instead of a strange giraffe creature. He's even smirking, for a given value of ecstasy when it comes to Cougar, and when Jake actually breaks a bowl to yank him to his feet, it's worth the whole play.

He nods out towards the door, because he doesn't want to start rambling about things, but he thinks giving Jake the basic lowdown is important. "Out," is all he says out loud. "Three days." He runs his fingers under the hat so he can give the brim a tip upwards, raising his brows in a question.

"Where was my hat?"

He doesn't care if it bothers Cougar. There is a hug. A huge one. One where he's not sure if he wants to let go though eventually he does. And only then because of what Cougar says.

He stares at him, stunned. Blinking at him before glaring. "Three days? Really? Could have had it sooner if you'd not played around in the woods," he snaps, though he's fairly bouncing in his boots, happier than he remembers being in a long time.

"I found it in the storeroom. Wait, did you leave it there?" Which makes more sense than some Cougar living with Jake and some girl named Veronica left it before. Right? So sense. Sure, that is it.

Cougar doesn't even mind the hug, adjusting to let Jake surround him while giving him an affectionate pat on the back in return, even if it's about a thousand times less enthusiastic than Jake's hug. For all that he knows, they just saw each other at a Petunia's game and he'd been holding Jake back.

So there's been a few days in between, that's not new. On missions, he scouts ahead sometimes for up to a week before he returns to them. He gives Jake a confused look, head tipped to the side.

Why would he leave anything here? Shaking his head, he disagrees with Jake's question. He hasn't had anything from home, just the scrubs on his back, the ones he's wearing now. "First time," he says, gesturing to the place around them, so how could he have left his hat?

Damn it. There's part of him that has hope that Cougar came through when he did, and got out in the bunker like some talked about, but all of it is swirling in Jake's head and the things he's learned and then he's asking the world's dumbest question.

Pulling back, giving Cougar an odd look. "Who's Veronica?"

Because that is so going to make no sense, but he's not sure yet, and he just wants something to make sense. Especially about what he's learned of the Jake and Cougar that were here before. Were they them? Were they clones? He has no idea and not sure this is what will get him answers.

There's confusion in the way he furrows his brow, his nose twitching as he tries to remember. "Stripper from Vegas? '06?" That's the only Veronica he can remember in his history, but even then, he's not entirely sure that had been her actual name.

Why is Jake asking him about this? How long as Jake been here, and why did he have his hat? There's a lot of questions that he needs to work the problem, even if it's not like lining up a shot. There's no wind variables or distance to think about here. It's only problems and few solutions.

Jake stares at him for a long time, not sure what to say or even how to say it. At length he shakes his head, even if that pause is enough to make things clear there's something.

"Probably not. Also, I'm not sure if I'm proud or not that you remember her name," he admits, grinning. "Okay. So... Let me clean this up, and then I have a place. Three bedrooms. There's an attic with a view towards this place. I mean it's like literally right back there," he says, pointing.

Cougar always remembers their names, just like he always remembers the faces. It's part of his night terrors, why he has so much trouble sleeping. It's why he's never going to forget those children on the helicopter, no matter what they do to Max.

Speaking of, he knows that this is all something to do with that, which is why he grabs Jake's arm and squints at him, grateful for the house and the attic, already deciding to move in there. "How did Max get us?" he asks, because that's what he needs to know.

Then he needs to know how they escape, because in three days, he hadn't been able to find a way.

And that's the question he fears. Not the exact words, but where that can lead. Is going to lead. All the things he doesn't know, and the rumors he's heard.

"Got us?" He's thinking about the things that Bucky's told him, about the time disparities between himself and Steve. "What's the last thing you remember?"

He needs to know. Because this talk could get a lot worse depending on what that is.

He remembers the bullet that went through a motorcycle, remembers Roque in a plane and killing two birds with one stone. More realistically, he remembers killing two assholes with one bullet, which is the kind of thing that Cougar is best at.

"Petunias," is all he says, thinking that should tell enough, seeing as that is the last thing that he remembers before he'd woken up with lungs full of water, hauling himself out and then into the wilderness. He arches a brow at Jake, demanding he explain, especially seeing as there shouldn't even be a question of what's happened.

"Petu..." He pauses and then chuckles, nodding. "Okay. Right. The shirt," he says, thinking that they had seen it just before Aisha came and told them she could get them back into the states. "Okay. So it's not as bad as with Steve and Bucky. Bucky told me that Steve knew things he never did, that somehow it had been months or longer since they had seen one another, but like the next day too," he says, rambling in relief.

"I... I hadn't thought Max found us at the airport, but maybe that's where he picked us up? I mean, my coffin never even got opened," he says, head cocking. "Yours neither?"

"Not the shirt. Game," Cougar counters, not wanting Jake to work on incorrect information, because the shirt had been a long time ago, before everything had gone to shit and he'd had to patch up Jake yet again before watching Pooch get both his legs shot. At least they managed to heal him, get him back for his baby's birth.

He doesn't know who a Steve and a Bucky are, his brow furrowing to show his confusion as he stares at Jake, wondering what's happened int he time between them. Who else could get them, but Max? After the helicopter, Cougar doesn't doubt his abilities and he's out there, somewhere, taunting them.

"Oh man. It is like Bucky and Steve," he says, brow furrowing and looking utterly heartbroken and upset at this. "Okay. So... Somehow they do this thing where, I mean, I was there with you, right? I didn't just disappear from Mexico?"

In a way it is reassuring and in so many ways it's not. In that he isn't sure how much it supports the clone thoughts and he isn't sure if he wants to be part of that or not. It's definitely a momentary crisis thing.

"So you didn't get him?" And that makes him even more sad.

He keeps saying these names that Cougar doesn't understand. Frowning, he thinks maybe the irritation even shows on his face for Jake to make more sense, but he also knows this is like asking a fish to learn to fly. Lips pressed thinly together, he's wondering what will it take to get it through Jake's head that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

So he nods, confirms that Jake had been there through the Port of LA. Nods, too, about the not disappearing. When it gets complicated is the Max thing. He nods, again, gravely. "Escaped," is all he says, darkly. Still, Clay is right. They know him now; his face and his name. It's only a matter of time before they get him.

"Did he do this?"

Jake shakes his head, glancing away and then back. "I don't think so," he admits, having thought of this before now, even before knowing how odd this might get.

"Come on. Let's head home and I'll fill you in on what I've learned since I've been here," he admits, pausing before he revealed that truth. "It's been about six weeks now."

Which he suspects isn't going to sound any better than what he's about to ask.

"So we got back to the States? To the finals? Really?"

And he light sup at that, even if there's a lot of uncertainty in the way he holds his shoulders, and he darkness around his eyes.

Home, he says, like he's already made a place for Cougar there. He knows that Jake had already mentioned the attic, but it fills him with a security and a warmth to know that Jake wouldn't dare to have a home without letting Cougar have a part of it.

Good. That's the way things are supposed to be, so he's glad this place hasn't made Jake forget that.

He gives Jake a proud nod of his head, because it might not be his niece, but he's every bit as proud and protective as Jake is. Well, maybe not the same. He doesn't think anyone is as proud as Jake is, but that's hard to do. He's waiting for Jake to ask about Max, though.

Six weeks, though? And he's missed all of this? "How did you survive?"

There is nothing that Jake has done in this place that hasn't been with Cougar arriving eventually in mind. It's what he needs, and a reality where it wasn't a possibility upset him more than he could imagine.

So the house is big enough, there's an attic with a window facing the village, and he's done some of the cleaning as well. At least in the main rooms, so it is ready for other people, at least.

"I..." He snorts at that, smiling a bit. "No clue. I woke up here like you did, like everyone apparently does. It's been a few weeks. Mostly? I ate stew here at the Inn and studied things, and tried to learn what I could. How I've talked to a few that talk about how things work here, weird as it is. But..."

And he figures he should make this clear. "The last thing I know? I was in Nogales in a coffin, then I was in a tube here in the bunker. There's a list, and your name is on it too," he admits, figuring he should know that.

Cougar still wants to see the house, first, but this list is also something that he's already thinking about. If it has his name on it, then that means that someone deliberately pulled him here, no? Should he be worried about this?

He thinks yes, but he needs to prioritize. "House," is all he says firmly. Then, after that, once he's settled his bag in a little with the weapons he has, he'll want to ask Jake all about the list that he'd seen. If Jake only remembers the coffins, then Cougar has things to tell him.

Not today, though. He doesn't think that's for today. Clapping Jake's shoulder, he nudges him along to get Jake moving.

It had taken a little time for Ty to warm up to starting to use the communal supplies, mostly out of necessity and because it seemed foolish not to. Seeing enough people go through things and returning them without any fuss got him to cave in, and he was going to check out a few traps himself when it seemed like someone else was rummaging through the mess. He stood a respectable distance away, hands clasped loosely in front of him, waiting patiently when he was addressed.

... Somehow it felt like he had just had a conversation like this, and while the description Jake had given of his friend could fit this guy, he wanted to be sure.

"Brown leather, cowboy hat, gun oil mark on the front brim?" He asked, gesturing vaguely around his head to help illustrate his points.

Cougar frowns, his eyes narrowing suddenly as he looks at the other man like he's hiding the hat behind his body, like Cougar might need to strike as quickly as he can to nab it from him. A quick tilt of his head to the side shows that the man doesn't have it, but he knows enough about the details to be suspicious.

On his feet, moving forward, he's trying to figure out how this man knows so much about his hat. He almost asks about Max before he remembers the explanation he got about this having nothing to do with the man, so maybe he shouldn't lash out so quickly.

"Where?" he demands, not bothering to say anything beyond that.

It might not have been the best idea to describe the hat like he had it in his possession, especially since the man he was pretty sure was Cougar had a wicked looking spear and most likely knew how to use it. Ty raised his hands up to show that they were empty, smiling a bit sheepishly.

"Not sure, but your friend Jake is here looking for it too. And you." He said, holding out a hand to shake. Hopefully that namedrop would be enough to deter Cougar from impaling him. "Cougar right? I'm Ty."

Cougar squints at Ty when he gives his explanation, not sure why Jake wouldn't have come to find him when he'd first made it out of the fountain, but then, he also knows Jake's history with directions so maybe he just got lost.

Setting some of the items he's found aside, he approaches the other man and looks him over slowly, trying to figure out whether or not he trusts him. Jake does, or he wouldn't have given up so much information on his hat. He nods, firmly, and confirms that he's Cougar, but the rest of it is strange.

How does he know so much about the hat? "Where's Jake?" he asks, voice low and as rough as usual given the amount of prefers to talk.

Considering what Jake had told him about Cougar, he wasn't going to take it personally that he was still looking at him like he didn't trust him or would rather wipe mud off of his boots. Ty let his hand fall back to his side, giving the other man an amused grin.

"As far as I know, he was staying in the inn. When I met him though, he was wandering around. If I see him, I can let him know you're here if you don't find him first."

He paused, not even sure if he should add it, but, "He'll be really happy that you're here. He said you were the one who could keep him alive."

Cougar warms a little when he hears that. It's true, but he hadn't expected Jake to be telling other people that so easily. He smirks, unable to help himself, thinking about how Jake would definitely be dead many times over without his help. The rest of the team too, because Pooch and Clay both had their hands in it.

Not Roque. He doesn't want to think about Roque.

"Who kept him alive here?" Cougar wonders, because he doesn't know how long Jake has been here, but if it's any length of time, then the question definitely applies.

"I think he did, actually. He doesn't seem to give himself enough credit." Ty offered, since talking about Jake seemed to be a safer topic than anything else, and it even seemed to relax Cougar. Which, considering he still had a spear in hand, was one of Ty's main goals.

He forced the rest of the tension out of his shoulders, instead crossing his arms over his chest, lips quirking up slightly.

"But I'm looking forward to watching you work. Have you been settling in okay?"

No, he never does, which is one of the things that amuses and frustrates Cougar at the same time. Then again, sometimes, he's right about not deserving credit. For instance, his game with women? Terrible. Not always, but when it's not so bad, Cougar maybe likes to get in the way. Sedative shots to a pretty medic?

Can you blame him? They had a mission to focus on, Jake shouldn't be staring at beautiful women.

Cougar watches the other man and then glances to his weapon, setting it down fluidly so it's clear he doesn't plan to attack with it. He nods, firmly, at the question. "Took some time," he says curtly, "took stock, for three days." He needs more time out there to catalogue the animals and the plants, but for now, he has a rough understanding.

Not of everything though, and he plucks his navy blue scrubs, gesturing to the other man. "No blue?"

It was always a relief not to have a weapon pointed at him, and Ty gave a quick smile as Cougar set the spear down. He relaxed slightly, nodding as Cougar spoke. Three days to take stock? Pretty impressive, and Ty was grateful that he had met Jake first. Who knew how this meeting would have gone otherwise, and whereas Ty would have been a bit harder pressed to believe Jake was special ops, Cougar on the other hand basically radiated it.

Maybe he should ask if he could sign up for having Cougar look out for him too.

"No, though I'd be happy to trade you." Ty said, opening up his jacket to show the bright orange scrubs he was stuck with. Half of the time he felt like he was an inmate, and the other half like a rather oddly shaped pumpkin. "Scrub colors seem to denote different powers in different people. For me, I can become intangible. For Navy Blue you guys have clarity of vision?" He shrugged, spreading his hands in an apologetic manner.

Cougar lets his eyes slide over the clothes, his nose wrinkling up in disgust. It's not that he's vain, but he also knows what makes him look good. That orange? No. Though, he could see Jake in it, seeing as he likes to wear pinks and other garish colours that could burn out your eyes.

When Ty talks about his power, Cougar stands there, unflinching and unimpressed. "How is that new?" is what he asks. For a sniper who can hit a target over a mile off, clarity of vision is just what he has everyday. There's nothing special that his clothes can make him do to help with this.

"You? Intangible? What is this?" he prods, not sure if it is what he thinks it is.

The nose wrinkling was met with a small laugh, Ty stuffing the scrub back away under his jacket. "My thoughts exactly. I can't say I'm the most fashionable guy, but this offends me a little."

As for the question... he shrugged a bit apologetically. "Can't really say. You'd have to ask someone else who has the same scrub color as you, they probably know how it works a lot better than me. Or activate it yourself, but how to do that seems different for everyone."

His own power is easier to answer, even if it makes him slightly uncomfortable. He'd activated out in the woods, when he had felt a crushing and quiet moment of panic and frustration at being stuck here when he should still be home. His expression turned a bit more solemn, his mouth thinning.

"Like I can go through things like a ghost. I got stuck waist down in the forest and couldn't get myself out of it because my hands couldn't grab onto anything." So from now on, his whole aim was to be as zen as possible. "Wouldn't recommend it."

If he could control it, Cougar thinks about how handy that power could be. After all, he would love to be able to slide through things with no problem, but having the inability to hold his gun would make the rest of that useless, so maybe it's for the best if he sticks to the ability he has.

Which is one he's always had, but that just seems boring and normal.

He wonders what thing he had learned the hard way on, given the story and Cougar can't help his smirk. "In a tree?" he suggests calmly, already picturing it in his mind and clearly amused by the idea of the man half-stuck in a tree.

Ty groaned, covering his face at the other man's obvious amusement, glad at least that Kira wasn't around to overhear it. He'd never live it down. Though he doubted Cougar would be any more merciful.

"I'm glad you find it funny. It was really weird at the time because I hadn't been expecting it." He complained, but otherwise didn't seem to be too put out.

"Anyway," He added pointedly, eager to get off of that topic, "Jake said that you were a world class sniper? What other skills do you have, if you don't mind my asking?"

Jake has a very big mouth, which is not a surprise, but he thinks if Clay were here, they'd both be taken out back and reprimanded for ages, Jake for letting it happen and Cougar for not trying to lie about it. He's not sure how to explain his other skills, so he shrugs casually and drags one of the chairs so he can sink down into it.

"Good with tracking," he says, because he's usually the scout sent ahead. "Sharp eyes. Very good at cards." Because he cheats, but no need to tell a stranger that when he has a chance to ensnare someone new into his web when it comes to card games.

He watched as Cougar dragged over a chair, making himself comfortable by leaning against one of the inn walls, nodding as Cougar listed his skills. It wasn't anything that he was surprised by except-

"Cards? Is there a specific game or can you do tricks?" Mostly he's just joking, but it would be nice to have some sort of normalcy around here. A card game night wouldn't be too bad, and would certainly help pass the time.

Cougar smirks as he lifts one of his boots to the table, pinning it against it as he keeps his eyes stuck on Ty, wanting to judge how much money or possessions he could get off him (it's the best way to earn knives, he knows that from experience). "I like poker," he says, but there's other games he knows to cheat at.

Blind man's bluff, hearts, war, and blackjack to name a few. So what if he cheats to make sure things go his way? That's just being in control. "You play?"

"Sure, but it's more fun when you have things to bet." Ty said, not a gambler by any means, but for him, if there wasn't a little bit of danger or a bite of a loss, what was the point? He supposed companionship and building good will were good enough for now, but he wondered if Cougar would think the same thing.

"Unless you're fine with things like betting chores or the like." He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest.

Cougar hefts up the spear again, not to threaten, but to make a point (and not that kind, keeping the sharp end of the spear out of his face). With an amused, barely blinking look, he gestures to that, and then down to his clothes.

Why settle for chores when there's two other plenty good things you can turn to first? "We used weapons," he says. "In a pinch, strip poker." Because there's nothing wrong with slowly divesting a man of all his clothes and wearing them proudly.

Except, no one ever gets the hat. Not because Cougar's that good, but again, he cheats.

Ty couldn't help but laugh at the insinuation, taking a seat across from Cougar as he considered the stakes. While usually he liked to think of himself as a good person, that wouldn't stop him from agreeing to this and kicking back and watching Jake's reactions as they played strip poker. He was pretty sure they would be hilarious and he wanted a front row seat.

"So long as we start out with an equal amount of weapons and clothes, I'd be game." He paused thoughtful, drumming his fingers against the table. "I'll see if I can drum up a deck of cards and who else might be interested. You should ask Jake."

Cougar can't help the smug smirk on his face. He thinks that if he actually ever lost the hat, it wouldn't go over very well, but that's why he cheats to make sure that he's always going to get it back. "Need a fire," is all he says, because if they play strip poker as the weather keeps getting colder as he suspects it will, then no one is going to be happy.

He raises a brow with amusement, mostly because Jake needs no help getting naked. "Or just ask him to strip," he deadpans, since Jake is secretly a nudist, as far as Cougar's suspicions go, and he doesn't need a losing hand of cards to start stripping.

"What, you don't want to do it here at the Inn?" Ty joked, but he nodded. "Sure, we can do it where I'm staying. Otherwise all the cleaning and sprucing up I did to the place would be for nothing." He'd have to run it by Ashley, but for some reason he doubted she'd object to it.

As for the concerns about Jake, Ty couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. "Nah, I'd rather beat him fair and square, but good to know he's that amicable."

"We can," Cougar offers, with a thoughtful look at the space around them, thinking that it would definitely make winning hands much more interesting. After all, if everyone had to worry about their clothes going away, then maybe they'll play better and make it more interesting.

When Ty laughs like that about Jake, Cougar's attention gets a little more attentive and firm, because there's a certain possessiveness there, something in him that doesn't want to share. "You want him to take his clothes off?" he asks, flatly, not very happy for this.

"I'll just run it by my roommate and let you know." Ty said, brows starting to raise up at the sudden change in Cougar's body language and tone. For a guy who had suggested he just ask Jake to strip, he sure didn't seem keen on having anyone actually follow through with that. Ty was slightly tempted to continue on this dangerous road, if only to suss out just what exactly Cougar's intentions were, but it wasn't his place really. Jake had only asked him to find Cougar and let him know if he saw him, not interrogate him about his feelings.

"He's a good looking guy," Ty started blithely, before quickly adding, "but you don't have any reason to be worried. The first thing we talked about was you and it was at pretty great length."

Cougar's eyes narrow even more when Ty comments on Jake being good-looking, because he is. He's just used to running with a whole team like that and the women stop paying Jake so much attention when he opens his mouth, which means Cougar very rarely has to get in the middle and cockblock.

Is it unfair that he still enjoys women and men on the side? Probably, but then, he never said Jake couldn't outside of his attention.

Now, it's different. No DADT, no unit to worry about, and this handsome man is talking about Jake. Except, apparently, Jake was talking about him?

"What did he say?" Cougar asks, looking for the whole report.

"Are we really-?" Ty started, before he stopped himself. No, he supposed if he was in Cougar's shoes, he'd want to know too, and it wasn't like Jake had seemed particularly embarrassed about what he thought about his teammate. And if it kept him on Cougar's good side, it wouldn't hurt to repeat some of it.

"That you were like a cat, and that you tended to curl up with people." Ty said with a small shit eating grin. "Though is that only for him or should I be worried?"

Cougar doesn't flinch and doesn't change his expression. Yes, they're really going to do this and he's not going to feel guilty about it for a single second. When he hears what Jake's said, though, his eyes widen with surprise.

Of all the secrets he thought would get spilled, that hadn't been one of them. "Usually, only him," he admits. "Sometimes Pooch." Never Roque or Clay, because he liked his dick where it was and those two would just have a tendency to cut it off.

Was it bad to feel a bit of triumph to get a small rise out of Cougar? Either way, Ty was feeling it, grinning slightly. He leaned forward as if they were swapping secrets, but mostly he was curious.

"Okay, so Cougar and Pooch. Is everyone in your unit going by animal code names and Jake just missed the memo or didn't tell me his because it's embarrassing?"

He shrugs, because nicknames were just what people in the military used. "Nicknames or last names," is what he says, because he doesn't think anyone had called Jake by his first name for a very long time, since 'Jensen' worked so well.

For him, it just fit better. A sniper named Carlos? It doesn't strike the same fear in your heart as one named Cougar. "I'm deadly, like a cat."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

second verse, different from the first

The Inn

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Reclamation

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject