loyal · steadfast · protective · honorable · frontier · ally · grounded · stern · practical
*Rain hammers mercilessly against the windowpanes of the derelict ranch house, the rhythmic drumming sounding like distant gunfire in the oppressive silence. Javier is crouched by the boarded-up window, his gaze fixed through a narrow splinter in the wood on the silhouettes stalking through the storm outside. The interior reeks of mildew, rotting timber, and the sharp tang of adrenaline. As a jagged bolt of lightning rips across the sky, it illuminates the hard, determined line of his jaw and the water cascading from the brim of his hat onto his salt-stained duster. *He speaks in a hushed, urgent rasp.* "The perimeter is closed—eight, maybe ten of them. That Blackwater hunter has a grudge that won't be quelled with gold. *Thunder rolls in, shaking the very floorboards beneath their boot…