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Calcifer pondered on the idea; was playing the convincing fool with underlying tactic easier than she had initially thought it of being, or was Quinn a natural? Judging from his interest in his line of work and the lengths to which he had gone to accomplish so much in so little time, it was likely the teen was just gifted where he set his mind to. If that were the case, it made sense -- many could be the same, in that respect, as long as they had the willpower for it. The spirit was a powerful thing, after all. Too bad it didn't make one invulnerable, too... "That would mean you're a pretty successful bounty hunter, then, huh? You get all that practice, you must have moved up in ranks since you joined," she verbally prodded. He didn't strike the girl as a bounty hunter at all, so those skills must be showing through even now -- he seemed perfectly harmless! "You're just full of surprises, ain'tcha?" Calcifer chirped. A snorlax or a lapras running, she couldn't say she'd ever thought about those before!

She grimaced slightly at Quinn's agreeableness to her question, finding it a but of a harsh one in retrospect. "That's gotta be rough..." she murmured, stirring the oar a little in the water as way of nervous fidget. She huffed slightly at Quinn's attempt at reasoning, "Worrying is one of the ways you know that someone cares, though! Take your parents, for instance... you worry about them sometimes, when you think about it, don't you? They probably do the exact same thing! But then there's that whole thing about trust, in abilities and reasoning and the way you're leading your life..." Blinking, she tapered her words off, biting at a lip before diverting her train of thought, "Maybe I just read too many books, though. Hehe, sorry. I'm no psychologist."

Calcifer's grin cracked across her face again at Quinn's take on the adage, "That's what I thought the smart thing was to do, too!" She snickered a bit, but pegged a question to the end, "What is it supposed to mean, though? I don't see what the benefit would be to do that. If they were that close, wouldn't they end up being your friend, too? Even if they were not the nicest of people to others?" It almost seemed as though a person were supposed to become more treacherous than the supposed 'bad guy' they were staking out, in those cases!

"That transforming star works in the most mysterious of ways..." the hybrid girl commented, voice set low as though setting the tone for a horror story; the light smile was enough to break the tension, though. Quinn's words concerning his parents made the little slug-girl feel very warm and fuzzy inside, "Oh that's a great way of putting it! I wonder if all parents are like that?" It was such a cute idea.

Calcifer wouldn't hesitate to mention that her knowledge of how putting a bounty out on a person was lacking, but the way it was described, she could almost imagine it. True, she hadn't really been affected by needing to fill out forms before, the nightmare that it was, but it seemed rather straightforward of an idea. "How can you tell if it's a forgery? Was it not processed or something? Do those have identification numbers?" she had no idea if she was totally off-base with her imagination or not, but in the end, enlightenment would come either way. "Heh, a regular drama queen, huh? It sounds like that would be one great story to pitch to a screenwriter! Ever think of selling?" she laughed. It was true, though! This was the most bizarre true story she had heard yet, if only because it was almost too far-fetched.

She watched the teen curiously as he spoke of friendship. There was a silent sort of gasp at being included in the labeling, even though she didn't think she had made such a striking impression enough to be considered a friend. No, never mind that, she was glad he had! "That's right! I guess you can make friends in the strangest of places, huh?" she exclaimed in understanding, "It's good that your first impression of Dream didn't hurt your chances at being friends! Does that mean it's made all the stronger, if you can overcome argument like that?" She grinned, "But yeah, you're right. You've got a friend in me!"

"Sounds like it's more than the sidekick occupation you had before. It's a good sign when you've always got some customers!" Calcifer jabbed at the air with the end of the oar for emphasis as she spoke, "Steady flow, and in only a few years' time... moving up in the world, if I ever did hear!" She flashed a toothy grin briefly, melting into tacit consideration. Her wired imagination left enough room to be tempted to jump at the opportunity to be a bounty hunter's partner, but she wasn't so naive not to see that it was but a grandiose fancy. She wouldn't be a good choice for that line of work, and she was happy working by the river. Her eyes turned downcast as she came to the conclusion, despite being aware that Quinn was not truly offering her such a position. "Gonna put up a bounty for a partner, then?" the hybrid girl joked, "Wish I could help."

The slugma-child nodded as she followed the mindset Quinn had had to live with, but she still thought it a terribly harsh way to live, even if one was able to get used to the downsides. "Hum... I guess that means that the ones that you can keep in touch with, regardless of what your job entails, are going to be in it for the long haul. At least people don't need a lot of close friends. I think it's actually pretty cool," she grinned. Stronger bridges could be wrought better that way than if one's attention needed to be divided that much thinner across more individuals! At least, that was the general concept -- Calcifer was unable to think of how to say so quite so eloquently.

If her internal body temperature wasn't always at an excessively high level, Calcifer would have blushed at the compliment. "Heh... it's only because I read one too many books. I can't say I've actually experienced half the things I seem to know," she quickly stated, as though trying to bury the skill in the ground and away from sight. In this case, however, it was actually something closer to heart. She didn't know what she would do if something happened to her father, either... she'd already lost her mother.

She blinked as Quinn explained the possible explanation of the adage, nearly stiffening at the realization, "Ohhh, so it doesn't necessarily mean that you'd pretend to befriend them at all, you'd just be keeping a closer eye on them!" Well that made a lot more sense! After all, stalking was usually frowned upon when it came to either end of the spectrum, but if someone was a danger to society, those rules could likely be bent. At the thought of taking the quote at face-value once more, Calcifer rocked a bit in place, comfortable with her balance on such a precarious raft, "It would be nice that, even if you tricked someone into being a friend when you didn't consider them one, that it would eventually turn out to be true. People do bad things for a reason, don't they? Maybe they could be helped out..." Optimistic, sure, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was feasible.

"Mmn, I see... so you have procedures for that sort of thing. Then the officials are the ones that do the paperwork?" she pried, thinking the citizens themselves were the ones that were writing the reports down. This way made more sense in seeing the faulty ones for what they were, though! Not completely fool-proof, it seemed, but it was better than nothing! Brimming with a grin at Quinn's amusement to the script idea, Calcifer shrugged slightly with one arm, as though happy to oblige, "Might be good as a fallback should there be a slow month, who knows?" She had quite a few of those herself, after all.

"Heh, and you've seen each other in a different light than most people would have seen. Maybe not the worst of times, but not necessarily in a positive light..." she stuttered on a laugh, partially stifled, "So if you can work past that first impression, yeah, I'd think that's a pretty strong friendship!" From the sounds of it, that wasn't something that happened as often as she would have liked! Just as well; it wasn't every day someone was eager enough to become friends, even if the title may have felt temporary on many an occasion, "Heh, the feeling's mutual! Especially with how few and far-between they have been as of late."

She flinched suddenly, the battered branch to her back. Pulling it forth, she turned attention back to her job, pulling the raft along as her demeanor turned into more of a professional air. She had to concentrate so the platform didn't ram itself into the bank but, rather, gracefully slid into place with no lasting, jarring effect. "Almost there, you should get your things ready," she stated, almost with a melancholy lilt to the tone. This river needed to be three times longer, yeesh, she was still so full of questions!

It was almost a marvel at how similar, in some respects, the both of their jobs seemed to be. While Calcifer's was nowhere near as dangerous, and Quinn's nowhere near as easygoing, they still dealt with a variety of customers, were going it solo... Okay, so maybe there weren't a lot of similarities, but Quinn's gentle personality still gave the impression, and that was enough. The slugma-girl was comfortable talking about it all, despite the fact that it was all a very real, high-stress living arrangement. She rose her head when the teenaged hybrid responded about the partnership, tilting her head to the side slightly in contemplation, "I thought you did... oops, I think I misunderstood something..." Her apologies were quick to dissipate, however, as it turned out to be a stroke of luck in the long run regardless, "Hey, yeah, I'd love that! I mean, I don't think I'd be any good as an actual bounty hunter, but I'm not going to pass up a tour. Seems like it would be a pretty cool experience!" Especially when a friend was the tour guide, that only made things that much more enjoyable!

Even though Calcifer had felt slightly self-conscious of her increasing bookworm nature, trying to sweep the explanation under the metaphorical rug, Quinn's assurance stopped her from doing so entirely. "You really think so? I wouldn't be just some kid with her head in the clouds?" she asked meekly, a scuff of a shoe on the raft. She wasn't completely unaware of how optimistic she tried to be when assuring other people, but sometimes she just really was that naive. "Maybe you're right..." she conceded after a moment, her smile never breaking stride, "Thanks a lot, for that! So... does that mean you've got all the street smarts I don't have?"

Calcifer winced at the explanation of some bounties' motives on what it was they did. It never was as cut-and-dry as many stories made it out to be -- even the media was at fault for that, it wasn't just storybooks. "Yeah, you kind of just wish you could help them..." she agreed, a soft frown emerging, "But because of that, you kind of have to wonder if the person that shot all those people up, if they actually did have a reason. Maybe they were haunted by something, or were bullied, or... what was it called, post-traumatic stress disorder? That." She paused for a moment and shook her head, "Not that that makes it right, of course..." Another span of silence occurred before she broke it with a defeated sigh, "Man, things are complicated!" It didn't help matters that she just couldn't see how a person could be so literally evil without something to push them over the deep end. Maybe that justified that she was, in some ways, a bit of a romantic.

"Oooh..." the hybrid-girl was suddenly sold on the idea, though she had slipped into the outlook of the reader once more, "Scandal in the workplace. It might have been a bribe... maybe it was about a ransom... or even infiltration!" She grinned, hitting the air with a light jab at it with a fist near her left ear, "Well it's a good thing you're practically a detective as it is! You just have to work on your skills at doing it more discretely with the people that are more wise to your ways!" She might not have really thought the world acted like an action movie, but her insistent tone might have fooled someone less privy to her tendencies.

She had done it numerous times before, but concentration was nevertheless needed to get such a flat collection of driftwood to smoothly sidle up to the awkwardly-shaped embankment. Some of the edges of the river were steeper and didn't allow such maneuverability, but Calcifer had long since located where the best spots were -- she just had to be wary of the speed and corners. As the raft slid partially onto land, the girl hopped off and grabbed at a loose rope around the front, reeling it more securely onto solid ground. "All hands to port, ye land-lubbers!" she razzed, walking back to steady the makeshift boat with one foot on its surface, the other rooted in the grass. "I think, at this rate, I actually owe you a ride. If you want to head back the same way later... maybe you can take a nap or something," the fire-slug snickered.

After such interesting treat as this ride had been today, it was shaping up to likely be the highlight of the week. As entertaining as Quinn was, the downside came with the solitude that followed. It was a slow few months, but even if the rate of customers picked up, it was likely that any of the stories they told were going to be quite so good, at least so far as true stories were. This almost bordered on that grey area, but there was no doubt in Calci's mind that the teenaged hybrid was telling the truth.

She returned the grin with one of her own, already anticipating the eventual tour. "That would be fantastic! How do I find this place, bounty hunter?" she asked, pointing back across the river in the general direction of the city, "In town, is it?" She'd been there before, so she was assured she could manage to find it if she was at least given the name of the place. Or the name of the person she should be looking for, as a matter of fact, "And who should I ask for? If it's not a problem, that is." If he was under cover, the question might be a little problematic...

Oh, she didn't mean to hit on a touchy subject, but she could see how it benefited her to learn from books first; the streets sounded like they could be pretty dangerous, and trial-and-error appeared rampant in the learning process. "You learned from books first, too, didn't you? Sort of?" the girl asked, a slight tilt to her head. There were just some things you couldn't learn as easily unless you experienced them first-hand, but at least repeating the worst parts of history could be avoided, as long as Calcifer heeded the advice offered to her.

Surprise overcame the hybrid-girl's expression, stiffening slightly until a blink of the eyes managed to assuage the reaction. Her voice came quiet, leaning forward a bit, "I've... never heard that expression before." It made sense, but... wow. She was going to have to be more careful than to offer random acts of kindness blindly, wasn't she? "It makes sense, though," she stated, absorbing the information with a sigh, "You wouldn't think life would be so difficult. On paper it doesn't sound hard at all, but then you get into all these weird butterfly effects... It almost sounds like you need to be some sort of genius to just live comfortably with other people!" There was a nervous sort of laugh at that, for while she thought it funny, it was also pretty aggravating, "Well, at least we're all in the same boat, as far as that is concerned. We try our best!" That was all anyone could really do.

"Hosts?" Calcifer picked up the word, as though curiously turning it around in hand, "You mean like on a game show?" Well, she wasn't... entirely off-course, but her ideas of the occupation were certainly more oblivious. She snorted at the reasoning behind the false write-up nonetheless, "Vain guy. I guess there's always gotta be someone like that." She might not have fully understood others' need to be in the spotlight, but the knowledge of it was definitely there -- there had been plenty of stories that centered on such a personality flaw. Pride was often the downfall, not the strength.

The rope wrapped around a firmly-gripped fist, Calcifer concentrated on steadying the raft while Quinn moved his things ashore. She was at the ready in case the teen asked for assistance, but something told her that he wouldn't have requested it, even if he had needed it. She yanked at the makeshift anchor again, once Quinn was on land, about the time he rushed behind her. Startled, she jumped at the teen's exhibited speed, a trait he had mentioned previously on the ride over. In fact, she was about to say something about it, at least until she realized what was happening. She blunted a high-pitched yelp, ducking down as the sound of the bullet reached her ears; if she hadn't been shielded, there was no way her own reaction time would have done anything to save her. Her hands twisted around the branch in her hands, still tied down by the raft, as she carefully glanced up to Quinn from her crouch, moving her head as little as possible. She offered a stiff nod at his direction before he ran off after the culprit.

It was a few moments before she gathered herself enough to stand back upright, all the while the sounds of a battle emanating from the trees. Calcifer didn't know what she was to expect as the outcome, but she knew what she was hoping for. Back up to her full height, she brandished her oar and wore the fiercest of determined pouts, stalwart in resolve. You come anywhere near me, buddy, and you'll be thrashed! It probably would have been more admirable if spoken aloud, however... Her hands tightened as the palms ran across the surface of the oar, only relieving themselves of their death grip once Quinn emerged, dragging his mark along with him. "Oh wow..." she breathed, fear outright vanishing with the wind, "You really are good!"

Calcifer bobbed her head at the information, listening intently as she did not have a notebook on her to take such notes down. Good thing she was fairly decent at remembering such directives, as long as she imagined the finer details. The image that came to mind was more of a dome-shaped building, forcing it to be a single-story, and the names of the streets were easy enough to remember -- some of the oldest towns around those parts! The bookshop, she was certain she had at least walked by that place, so that would make it easier for her to get her bearings once she was there. With a smile, she gave one last, sharp nod, pleased to finally know his name, "Alright, but I will only say that if they don't know you by Quinn, because I don't think you're scary at all!" If it wasn't for the fact that she genuinely felt it was what was inside that counted, she may have attributed the lack of intimidation to the fact she just liked water-types, but he really was nice enough for that to not have played a factor; nice and fascinating!

The hybrid-girl offered a slight sigh at the choices for learning the hardships life had to offer, neither of which could offer as much a person ought to know. This was precisely why history kept repeating itself, one seemed to know only one or the other! "Maybe if someone had both book smarts and street smarts..." she considered, shaking her head sadly; even then, there needed to be more there. Common sense, intuition, luck... maybe psychic abilities... "Yeah, they call that dumb luck, don't they? Heh, I could use more of that sometimes," she smirked.

She blinked at the explanation of what a host was, getting the jist of it, at least so far as she was wanting to understand. "Ohhh, I see. Hey, that's kind of cool, kind of like a friend for the evening? I bet that's a nice way to cheer up, especially if you're a little low on friends," she smiled, though it seemed a bit of a bummer one had to pay to get that sort of evening... but hey, if one could, it seemed a pretty good way of making some money! Especially if it was a fake date... or the person wasn't the most pleasant person to be around. Okay, Calcifer supposed payment was entirely justified once she thought of it that way!

While she would have been lying to herself if she said she wasn't a little nervous about taking a convict back over on the boat, Calcifer also didn't think she had any cause to think she would get hurt over it. Quinn's personal well-being after that whole ordeal, without a scratch on him, verified that she wasn't going to be harmed. Her golden eyes were still wide at the hastiness the event was started and finished, but her smile was most certainly not lost in the surprise. "Don't mind it at all, bounty hunter! Though I gotta warn you, if he squirms too much, it might be a little difficult to steady the boat while you dunk him under!" she stated, a slight snort of laughter. Besides, she still owed him a ride, after that fascinating few anecdotes!