Ajax looked at Mercy carefully. "I don't exactly WANT to be rude, but I would sure be glad if my death barely reached the papers. Do you know what happened when I died? Texas had a mental meltdown, range wars broke out, my cowboys that had been friends for years started fighting, and everything fell into complete chaos. I sure wish my death would have gone unnoticed." He said quietly, sighing slightly. "Thankfully most of that settled down when they found the will I had written years earlier got found inside my saddle." Ajax's lips twitched slightly, like he was trying not to smile

Mercy watched him with a slightly sour expression. "Well, you were. Sorry you were really important to people in your life. I would hate to think people realized I died." She said snappishly, trying and failing to make it seem like lighthearted sarcasm. She cleared her throat quietly. "That... that does suck though. What was in your will, smiley?" She asked curiously, tilting her head at him.

Ajax looked at Mercy with a raised eyebrow, barking a dry laugh at her comment. "I think you've got it rather flipped, sweetheart." He snorted with a teasing glance. "Nobody liked me. On the contrary, everybody hated me. I was the owner of the biggest ranch in Texas, everyone wanted to get their hands on it. As I said people tried to kill me countless times. There were only fights to see who wold get it. I'm not sure anyone even realized I died. I had no friends and my sister had dashed off long ago... she was my only living relative... and poof. Gone in the wind." He explained with a slight chuckle. If Mercy thought someone cared about him, that was QUITE wrong. -Actually, little hint, I didn't even know what the word girlfriend meant till age of 15 because my father never thought it needed to teah me that- Ajax thought drily. He barely even knew what a friend was. His father didn't care... obviously... his mother was rather sour, his sister ran away, and everyone else wanted the ranch so they hated him. Woop de doo. "Do no call me that again, and it just said who the ranch would go to. Maybe the only person who felt some twinge of regret that I died while he was standing right there." Ajax shrugged, though he winced afterward, silently cursed himself, and mentally made a note not to do it again

Mercy gave him a playful glare as she got called sweetheart, dealing with it because... she didn't mind so much when it came from him. She listened intently to him as he spoke. She shook her head in disbelief as he finished. "No, I don't believe it. Not one person? Like, a... No friend, or... a girlfriend? I mean, come on, you must've had a girlfriend." She huffed, watching his eyes. She paused. "We should've met when we were alive. I have feeling we would be close. I mean, obbiously, because who doesn't want to be close with me?" She asked sarcastically, barely keeping the pity from her gaze as she looked at him. "Well, who did it go to then?"

Ajax watched Mercy for a second at her first words, studying her to see if she was joking. She wasn't. "Not one person, and the word *girlfriend* was unheard of till my dad died and the ranch hands started talking about their own." He answered with a slight eyebrow arch. Ajax had too let out a snort at her next words, a twinkle coming back into his usually playful eyes. "Ah, er, close? What does that word mean?" He asked with a sarcastic voice. "I can think of a very specific demon who, at this point, is traumatized and doesn't want to be anywhere near you." He pointed out with a grin, gesturing to Goose who was now snoring, sprawled out underneath a pine. "One of the cowboys named Dallas Adkins. From what I can see, he's been doing good things with the ranch. I may not be a people person, but I can judge character sort of well, and I thought he might be a good choice." Ajax answered

"Well- I- you're telling me you never had one? Were you the most oblivious teenager on earth or what?" She asked, slightly in shock. She rolled her eyes. "It means, close. You're smart. Figure it out." She huffed sarcastically, giving him a glare. "Excuse you, I can be a very pleasant girlfriend when I'm not a fake one." She scoffed. "Go be someone's fake boyfriend as a dare and see if they aren't traumitized." She suggested. She tilted her head at him. "If you're happy with it, thats what matters, I guess." She nodded.

Ajax cracked a grin, looking at her. "No, I just was more interested in smelly cattle than I was in smelly girls." He teased, coughin slightly. "Of course m'lady, I'll figure it out right away." He answered with a sarcastic snort. "Ohhh you can? Now I wouldn't know that, would I?" He asked with an eyebrow raise, then looked at Goose. "I would if you gave me another dare, but as you can see I'm not in the best shape." Ajax chuckled, gesturing to his chest that was covered in black strips of blood-soaked t-shirt. "I'm not sure happy is the right word, but it is better then the ranch going to Travis." Ajax half growled with an anoyed expression as he said that name. It obviously belonged to a person he did NOT like

"I feel like girls smell way better than cows, so I don't know how that decision was made, but whatever floats your boat, Jax." Mercy giggled, then nodded at him. "Good; I would expect nothing less, peasant." She huffed sarcastically, her smile still sticking. "No, you wouldn't. I mean, you never bothered to find out." She teased, rolling her eyes at him and settling back against the tree. "Don't worry, I already have a list going of your next ones. And none of them involve getting cut to bits." She joked. "Oooh, I hear a backstory coming along. Who is this Travis?"

Ajax looked surprised. "I think you meant to say *some girls*, excuse you. Have you ever smelled those people that put so much perfume on the air almost turns pink and my COWS start dying from a SMELL?" He asked with a shocked voice, though it became wry as he got to the end. "Plus, do not ever call me Jax again I would prefer Ajax thank you very much..." He mumbled under his breath. "Peasant?" He scoffed, but didn't say much more. "Ah, that's good. Not being cut to bits is fun!" Ajax smiled brightly. "Once upon a time..." He started, then stopped with a face. "Naw, that's what you use to start a good fairytale that ends up with the prince and princess getting married. Let's start over." He commented, then resumed. "On a dark and stormy night... IT WAS... I was walking out to check on some of my best bulls, finding them laying in the rain... dead. Someone had put chemicals in their water tank and they had all bloated and died. Now that was Travis, a small owner of a small ranch that bordered mine. I knew it was him immedietely because he was standing there with a drawn pistol, and it was pointed at me. Being who I was, a half snickered and knocked the gun out of his hands, quickly tying him up with some rope I had attatched to my belt. I always seemed to have rope on me someone.. anyway, after I had tied him up and proceeded to tie him to a tree. Then I walked a mile away to a *shooting range* and took out my long gun. By now it had stopped raining, so I decided to have a little fun. I got down on the mud soaked ground and adjusted the sights before taking in a slow breath, aiming, and firing. That bullet hit the ground about 3 feet to the left of him. I reloaded the bolt action rifle and started that process over again. Aim, breath, fire. This time the shot smacked the dirt 3 feet to the right of the man. I reloaded again, and shot once more, hitting 3 feet above his head. After that I got up and sauntered the mile back over to him, crossing my arms and looking at Travis with an interesting expression. He wasn't the most experienced rancher, so he was sitting there and trembling with fear, but then got that prideful look on his face. 'You are a TERRIBLE shot!' He exclaimed to me. I was a bit stunned... those were not the words I expected. I then started laughing, took out a dagger, and cut the ropes. 'Ya run away, and please, I beg of you, don't kill any more of my cattle unless you want a bullet less than 3 feet away' was my response. I turned to walk away, then heard him draw a hidden gun. The joined facts of his aim SUCKING and my quick reflexes, the bullet only skinned my calf. I then drew a pistol and aimed while he was running away for his life, shooting right past his ear and blowing out his eardrum. My last words to Travis at that point... 'Keep on runnin' boy, and mind you, listen with that deaf ear of yours to what I say next time." Ajax paused with a grin, stroking his chin as he recalled the rest of the memory. "That was one of my favorite encounters with Travis, though there was many more like that. That story should explain two things... the long scar that now runs along my calf." He stopped and pulled up what was left of his tattered pants, showing a rather ragged scar. "Aaand this tattoo of a scorpian." Ajax finished with a slight chuckle, knowing there was a little more explaining to be done with that one. The tattoo was on his right shoulder, of what he said... a scorpian with its tail raised, ready to strike. "The cowboys always liked to dare me, and one of those dares was to get a tattoo of something that someone who hated me called me. On that day Travis called me a sly scorpian, sooo that's what I decided to get." He explained in a couple sentences, a grin forming on his face

She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, it's so much worse when its cologne. Dudes do the same thing, so you have no room to talk." She quipped. She lifted her palms to show she was inbocent. "Yes sir, Ajax, Sir." She mocked, settling her hands down on her legs again. "Yeah, it is, so would you stop doing it?" She teased, curling up against the tree. She listened intently to his story, tilting her head at his scar. "You really like getting hurt, huh?" She teased, leaning closer to look at his tattoo. "I can see you being called a scorpion, I guess. But to me, you'll always seems like a puppy." She teased, knowing it would get him a little riled as she leaned back with a smile.