how would a bounty hunter/assassin refer to his 'targets'?

How about mark? That's pretty standard; I wouldn't advise it, though, if you have a character named Mark - unless you're going for comedy, and I don't think that you are.

The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everyone else.

- Umberto Eco

I second mark.

But there's no reason you have to stick just with one word. Just use them in contexts where they wouldn't confuse people.

"Footsteps in the snow suggest where you have been, point where you were going: but where they suddenly vanish, never dismiss the possibility of flight..." - Diane Duane, A Wizard Alone

Moderator: Nano Soundtracks

Going for 75k- FINISHED!

"Hit[s]" is pretty standard (thus the name, Hitman). Mark is pretty good. But I'm not sure if either of those would work for people he's protecting unless they're someone else's hit.

~***~
Do what you love most.
And if it kills you someday-
Know you'll die happy.

the delivery, the job, assignment, checks on the to do list

simple things work

i like these ideas. fortunately i don't have a character named Mark. yet. (actually at the moment none of them have names.) so i should be able to use that as a reference....
i don't know why i still feel like i haven't found the right (or is that 'write'? lol) word yet. stupid uptight first-person narrator i guess. maybe i'll just take one these suggestions and cram it down the narrator's throat if he doesn't like it.
(*waves fist* i'm the author here! *is ignored by characters*)

thanks for the suggestions. i might very well end up using one or all of them (i really like the idea of different ones depending on context). feel free to suggest more if you come up with any!

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my mind got sucked into a plot hole.

First word I thought of was "hit".

To refer to someone he's protecting, perhaps "client" would work?

For people he's supposed to be killing, I like "mark" as well. As for people he's protecting, it's a little awkward to use a lot, but in most of the books I've read that have Secret Service or bodyguard-types involved, they usually refer to their client or assignment (either of those would work too, I suppose) as the "protectee"--as in, "I'm not permitted to discuss the behavior of the protectee."

Yeah, I would have said "Hit", though "Mark" is actually really cool because it's a bit less conventional. At any rate it's not what I thought of first.

__
If I had to compare my writing to something, it would definitely be an octopus. A plotopus, if you will. Sure, it's intelligent and it has great camoflauge and everything, but in the end it's just got way too many arms and is a bit awkward.

If I could compare my writing to one thing, it would be an octopus. A plotopus, if you will. Sure, it's intelligent and has great camoflauge and stuff, but in the end it's just got way too many arms and is a bit awkward.

Assassin's probably would go with "hit" or "target" but the bounty hunter - who has to haul the bail jumpers ass back to jail - might call his or her targets 'jumpers' or "outlaws" "crooks" "criminals" Or "piece of sh...t".

Hokudai/Cast: - A Tri-lingual Podcast

First thing that came to mind reading this was "prey". A little cliche, but I like it :)