[Judge Lynxin + Vel]

[Vel]

Masquerade continued to read his paper as the girl sat next to him. He knew she was there. He was very well aware that she was there, yet he pretended not to notice her presence. One thing about being in his like of work was that he was always alert. This constant vigilance had saved him a time or two and surely would continue to do so in the future. Hell, his attentiveness had already saved himself a few times today, not to mention the life of the bimbo next to him.

Why in hell's name had he offered to help her again? Not even he knew the answer. It was just something that happened, a spur of the moment thing. Maybe somewhere deep in his mind he was getting tired of constantly being alone. He only ever had others to talk to when he was dealing with the Don or his associates. The life of an assassin was very solitary. He did not even have friends in his old apartment complex that he could go to the pub with on Fridays. The closest thing Masquerade ever had to a good friend was a man called Guido. That, of course, was not his real name, but what everyone in the gang knew him as. That friendship ended when Guido turned up missing a few months ago and never was to be seen again. That was an example of why assassins don't get into any kind of relationship.

"Glad to see y'finally decided t'come." he said, flipping the page of his paper. Not once did his mismatched eyes leave the fine newsprint. "The train will be leavin' in a few minutes 'ere. I was beginnin' t'think that y'weren't comin' at all. I gotta ticket for ya, so y'don't hafta worry 'bout that." he mentioned. "When we get t'Chicago we're goin' our separate ways. If y'need it I can find you a place or someone t'stay with. Under no circumstances are y't'come with me. It's easier that way. I just figured I better warn ya."

[L Y N X !]

Lynx examined her nails as she waited expectantly for him to say something, not bothering to look over at him as he continued to read his newspaper. She pursed her lips as she frowned slightly as she noticed her manicure was chipped; great, she'd spent a decent amount of money on them. She turned her gaze to the man beside her when he finally spoke up, and she merely shrugged her shoulders as he mentioned her finally showing up. Traffic in New York wasn't exactly the best thing to get quickly through anyway. She listened to him as he continued to speak, and she felt a prick of irritation. Back at her apartment he had complained about how easily they'd be found in a large city, and now he had planned to go to the exact city that he had just swayed her from going to. She had thought he had a better plan, otherwise she wouldn't of shown up here. He really was bipolar - how many times did he change his mind today? He was worse than a woman trying to decide between a pair of shoes.

"Don't flatter yourself, I wouldn't dream of chasing after you," she said with a small scoff, curling her lip. Just because she was apparently 'dumb', didn't mean she was helpless. But alright, then. Thanks, by the way," she said after a moment, peering at him even though he didn't once look at her. Whatever. If he was going to give her the cold shoulder, why was he even offering to help her? He probably still thought that she was dumb as fuck - who in their right mind would show up to meet someone that had earlier that day tried to kill them? Perhaps she was stupid. But as soon as they got off the train, she was going to head straight to her mother's and not even look back at him. Hey, at least she got a free ticket off of him instead of having to pay for one herself or take a bus all the way out there. She wondered briefly what he'd do once they got to Chicago and went their separate ways. Would he try and join up with any mob that were stationed there? Probably not, but she didn't know this man, she didn't know what he would and would not do. All she knew was she was going to get a job asap and restart. Hopefully, this time things would end up better.

[Vel]

He raised a brow as she mentioned that she would not chase after him. "Oh, is that so?" he asked with a smirk. "I'd say chasin' after me's whats got ya here now." If the girl had not decided to come where he told her where he would be, she would probably have a bullet in her head within the next few hours. She had chased after him whether she wanted to admit it or not. She could deny the truth to herself for the rest of her life, but Masquerade would know the truth.

Thank you. Those words actually caused him to stop skimming over the track statistics and cast the woman a sidelong glance. "You ain't got nothin' t'thank me for love." he said, dismissing the words that actually struck something within him. What exactly was struck, he did not know, but what ever it was Masqueade did not like it. He still did not even know why he bothered to save her from this. Perhaps it was because if she was killed, it meant that the Don was happy and had another pest out of the way. After his gang turned on him, Masquerade wanted the Don to be as miserable as possible and keeping this girl alive was part of that attempt.

Five-fifteen to Chicago, boarding at platform seven. Five-fifteen to Chicago, boarding at platform seven. the voice over the loudspeaker echoed throughout the entire building. Upon hearing the droning voice, Masquerade folded his paper and tucked it under his arm, turning his head to look at Lynx. "Well, that's us. We better get goin' 'fore anyone we don't want around decides t'show up." he said as he stood up.

Without even waiting for her, he took off in long strides toward the designated platform. She would folllow. He knew it. She had no where else to go. He was the one helping her. He was the only one who knew how to save her right now. Only a fool would let that go and step back into the lion's den so to speak.

[L Y N X !]

Lynx ran her fingers through her tawny hair, wrapping them around the loose curls that were once tight and neat, but since it had rained on her and she had also been running for her life, it hadn't held up to the stress. Not that at the time she was too worried about her appearance. Her green eyes narrowed slightly over at Masquerade, her eyebrows furrowing in mild contempt. "I don't chase, I arrived calmly after you, not as frantically as you implied," she said indignantly, recrossing her legs as she continued to glare over at him.

"Besides, what else am I going to do? I have an idea of the power the Don has, and I'm sure he could find me no problem in this city if I stayed. " She kept her expression firm, though inside she was quivering at the thought of the Don finding her again and killing her. She hadn't told anyone or squealed to the police- why was he after her when she had kept the secret? Why did he think that she would be okay with him shooting someone in front of her?

She merely huffed at his response to her thanks, figuring that would be his reaction to her. She hadn't an idea why she followed after him, after all he had only switched sides because someone had tried killing him from his own mob. She looked up as a voice over the intercom announced their train, and she blinked as he suddenly got up and was striding away from him. Grabbing her stuff, she quickly scurried after him, finding it much harder to keep up since his legs were far longer than hers. She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder before their tickets were taken and they were allowed on board the train.

She weaved her way through people lingering in the hallways before she found an empty box, and slipped quickly inside, not even waiting to see if Masquerade was going the same way as her. Frankly, after he bought her the ticket for the train, as long as she was getting to Chicago, she didn't care if she saw him again. Putting her bag on the storage space above the seats, she made sure everything was in order before she plopped down onto the cloth seats, immediately resting her head in her hands. It was amazing how quickly her life had turned around and slapped her in the face.