?(Old- Charity- Millers Crossing)
?
Charity looked up from her husband's attentions, suddenly alert. "Something's amiss, husband. Give us a moment, will you?" She stood, her lithe, dark skin glistening in the wan moonlight, and went to the window. As if seeing all the way to Bendo she peered into the dust cloud. "They're not together," she commented. "Perhaps they need a little help? Should I offer them a little help?" Charity chuckled softly, her laugh echoing like tinkling glass. Her hands began to move as if pulling strings, or perhaps a large spider plucking the threads of her web.....
?
(Old- NPC Belligerent Ranchers - Bendo)
?
"Like I said, passin' strange, this storm," the old rancher repeated to his companions, several rough looking ranch hands. "Them five strangers rolled into town, an' now we're all holed up in this one chow hall wedged in like peas in a pod. I'm thinkin' maybe someone should do sumthin'." The other men at his table, the aforementioned 'riff-raff' grumbled again as he spoke. "Sumthin' weird is goin' on, an' I don't like it. Not one bit." Glaring at the table where Sicilien and Chase were being joined by Callie and Flynn he continued,? "An' lookie there, they're all a-meetin' up." The other men mumbled between themselves, looking between Etienne sitting alone and the table where Chase, Sicilien, Callie, and Flynn were. "Five strangers," the rancher prompted. In unison the band of burly men stood up. Six of them went to the table of four, and two to Etienne's table.
?
"We're thinkin'," one of them said ominously, standing over the group, "that this here dust storm ain't natch'ral, see?" They all nodded and he continued, "an we're thinkin' it has sumthin doin' with the five of you."
?
Several more of the townsfolk stood then, some of them holding bottles, knives, of other improvised weapons. Others in the restaurant moved towards the walls.
?
?(New Callie Carson)
? The redhead noticed the men approaching a couple seconds before they spoke. From the looks on their faces, she immediately gathered they were trouble. Her hand slipped down under the table and seized the butt of her pistol as it lay sheathed in her holster. She then smiled up at the men.
? ?"Oh, so we control the weather now?" she said, a hint of amusement to her voice as she sized each of the thugs up. "Why don't you all get along before y'all get hurt."
? ?She lifted the gun from her holster, but kept it under the table, ready to draw as soon as one of them moved...
(New - Flynn)
?? The pooka turned his head lazily to regard the belligerent barflies, noting their assorted knives, bottles, and blunt instruments.? No guns drawn, at least not yet.? Good.? He also noted that Callie had a gun ready under the table, just in case.? Also good. ?
?? "Now, now, gentlemen," Flynn said, holding his hands up and motioning in a calm-down gesture, "the strange weather's just got you on edge, that's all."? He grinned widely at the onlookers.? "How about a little medicine-show magic trick to take your minds off things?" ?
?? He rose to his feet, keeping his hands up and showing that he wasn't wearing a gun.? "If you'll kindly give me your undivided attention, I'll show you a trick I learned years ago from a Shoshone medicine man.? I'm gonna walk outside..." he nodded to where the hotel/saloon doors were "...and then my horse is gonna come in here and deal a round of poker."? He made a flourish with his left hand and a deck of cards suddenly appeared, which he proceeded to place on the table.? "And if for any reason my trick doesn't work, then you can split this among you."? The pookah made another flourish, this time just over the table with his right hand, leaving a stack of shining $20 gold pieces when he lifted it away.
? Pausing a moment to let the crowd take in what he'd said - and see the stack of gold and the deck of cards now lying on the table - Flynn opened his arms wide.? "Now, if you'll just bear with me, I'll begin.? Ten, nine..." he said, stepping backwards towards the swiveled doors "...eight, seven, six..."
?? He stepped out through the doors, disappearing into the darkened street beyond.? "...five, four..."? His voice stopped, and for a long moment there was only the sound of the storm winds blowing. ?
? Then suddenly a horse stepped back into the room, a large black stallion with strangely alert eyes, clopping its right forehoof onto the floor with a loud single stomp. ? As the crowd of locals watched, the horse made its way to the table where Flynn had been sitting with the others, forcing the crowd to part before its sheer size.? The horse bent its head down towards the deck of cards, paused to wink at Callie... and then kicked back suddenly with its hind legs, striking the head rancher hard in the chest and sending him crashing backwards into the startled hands. ?
(New Chase)
?Chase realized he probably should have just gotten some food and went up to his room with this group. He remember the woman from the town back and seeing her with the other man, he could only assume they were together. His sense of smell told him the truth of that thought, they were very together. ¡®Lucky man.¡¯
He was aware of movement and the change in smells around the area as the townsfolk seemed to approach, his frustration at the sight of this as he wanted to get this particular mission over with. He realized that Amy had told a lot but left a lot of questions as well. One thing that was clear¡they were delayed from getting to Miller¡¯s Crossing¡which meant they needed to get to Miller¡¯s Crossing to bring this thing to an end.
The townsfolk were not happy to see them and all but blamed them for the weather, which was stupid cause they were stuck in the town with these idiots. That alone put a big hole in their theory, but they were a superstitious lot so he knew this was going to end badly.? He didn¡¯t have to shift or change any more to tap into his strength, but to have all of his strength, he did.? But he also had a blade by his leg so he would end up using that. He noticed the woman moved but he only turned his leg so he was able to get up and moved if need be.? He could only guess at the subtle gesture, but she was a woman so would possibly be ignored.
He heard the one called Flynn¡¯s story of having his horse come in and deal them a game of cards. That alone would have been fun and interesting even¡but the bag of gold¡that created a problem for him!
Now he had created a big problem because this group would be more apt to fight just because he showed them the gold.? That was a bad move in this poor town.? He stood and moved to the side ?as he turned to be like the townfolk and watch the scene. While they were looking he loosened the latch on his leg blade. This simply was not going to work out well! He watched as the horse kicked the man in the head. He waited for someone else to moved and attack the group as shock took over. ? So that he could attack as well if need be, maybe that would stop them...maybe not.
[Sicilien]
As Sicilien listened to Callie and Flynn introduce themselves, sharing a bit of banter between them all, he began to notice a shift in the bar's atmosphere.? First it started with uncomfortable glances in their direction, followed by murmurs.? Eventually he began to hear distant sounds of chairs scraping against the floor, gradually getting closer and closer until a wave all of the patrons began to rise up.? Almost all of them had some kind of a makeshift weapon in their hands, be it a beer bottle that they just downed their gullets, a broom handle, their fists and as he noticed lights glinting off of several reflective surfaces, also knives.? Now he was 110% sure that none of this was natural.? Even when he traveled to Hell and back, been in all kinds of weather extremes, he's never seen such storms following up one after the other.? He received an additional confirmation when he was first joined by Chase, then Callie and finally Flynn.? He was always a solo flyer.? Why would strangers that he never met nor had any relation to would feel like they were meant to meet up?? However, something was still amiss here.? One of the rabblerousers mentioned that they were "five strangers," but why would he say that when there were only four?? That means they were one person short, but who?? Were they already here?
"Man, can't a man get some peace around here?" he mumbled, feeling quite irritated.? At this point, his dinner has been interrupted no less than 3 times, he didn't have his drink yet, and nor did he have any clues as to his bounty's location.? Huffing like a bull, he kept an eye on the others as he nonchalantly pulled his hands down to his pockets.? Feeling through the fabric, one finger snapped open the locking clip on "Amano," the first friend that he always kept close to his thigh.? As he pulled his hand out, he took out a pack of cigarettes, shaking it up until a single roll popped, putting it up to his mouth as he pulled the rest out of out with his lips.? Tilting his head, he took stock of the situation again as he noticed Callie readying her weapon, one hand on the holster.? Placing the pack of cigarettes back, he now reached into the other pocket, taking out a lighter, stealthily unclipping the other lock on "Yuki," his second beauty, then flicked the container until it produced a flame and took a nice long drag, breathing out a cone of smoke.? As with the pack, Sicilien also placed it back.? He felt the guns vibrate, antsy for some action, though he wasn't ready to brandish them quite yet.
Sitting up in his seat, he was about to say something when Flynn took charge.? The man began to address the crowd.? One by one, their attention was focused on him as his wildly exaggerated movements seemed to produce items out of sheer air.? Ah, so we have a trickster here.? Magic and redirection, something he was all too familiar with in his travels.? Though he didn't quite expect what happened next.? The crowd seemed to tense up as Flynn began walking backwards, arms up in a gesture of openness.? As he exited the building and the doors swing open, Sicilien watched as the storm swallowed up the man, then mere seconds layer, walked in a beautiful, black stallion, heading straight for the table with the deck of cards just as Flynn described.? He chucked to himself, hiding his smile with his fist, but then took another drag on the cigarette, pulling it back with the same hand.? So we have ourselves a shapeshifter, do we?? Might be useful, he thought to himself.? He watched as the horse stretched its head out, then without a warning kicked back so hard that the unfortunate victim caught by his hooves flew back into the crowd, parting it like the Red Sea.? Not expecting that, he raised his eyebrows but then tensed up.? That was not a well received action at all.? In fact, the crowd seemed to be more incited than before, so he tensed up, splaying his hands out as he readied himself for a fight.
"What now, medicine man?? Hope you hoofing one of them was worth it," he spoke to the horse that was Flynn, standing up and taking a place beside Callie.? He watched for a second as the enboldened crowd took a few steps forward, suddenly rearing back as Sicilien pulled out his two revolvers and cocked their hammers back in one swift motion that would've been too hard for a normal eye to follow.? One black as the night, the other silver like the moon, he swept them over the shocked crowd, daring them to be the first to take yet another step toward them.? "I guess we don't have much of a choice here, do we?? Though none of you are my bounties, Amano and Yuki will have no problem finding their targets.? Shall we go out guns blazing?"? He looked to Callie, then Chase who seemed also be preparing for an attack.?? Just as he turned his head, however, he notice a movement out of the corner of his eyes just as a man lunged out of the crowd.? Before the crazed fellow could take another step though, a shot rung out as a bullet found its way right between the man's eyes.? The man stopped in his tracks, falling right at Sicilien's feet as the bounty hunter kicked him away with the top of his boot, recocking the hammer on Yuki from which streamed a wafer thin pillar of smoke.? This seemed to have stopped them in their tracks, at least for now, but now he was really angry.
"Who wants take that next step into the next world?" he taunted, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half snarl, half smirk.? "Step right up, don't be shy!? Plenty more rides for every body!"
<Tag Callie, Flynn, Chase, Etienne, Charity (jumping as she sees fit other)>
|
Luukasama