The Wild West

[addman]

*Suddenly, the barkeeper came flying out of the bar's window like a speeding bullet, smashing through the glass head first.

The bar had pulled back, then flung him forward in a slingshot effect, sending him flying into the angry mob which was about to persue Tala and knocking most of them over in the process.

As they were picking themselves up off the floor, the bar suddenly pinged it's way out of existence. Addman stood, flabberghasted by the turn of events. Just as his luck had been beginning to change and he actually had customers, his bar was inexplicably destroyed.*

My bar! My savings! My money! My dog, poochie! Everything! Gone!

*He knelt on the ground, in despair, with his head in his hands. He didn't understand what had just happened ((He had no idea that his crystal was a warp crystal)) and was at a complete loss for an explanation*

Mob: Burn the witch, burn the witch!
Addman: Witch?
Mob: Yer, we have a witch!
Addman: Then let's burn the varmit!
Addman & Mob: Burn the witch!

[Micka]

Micka watched, wide eyed, as the bar imploded into the warp. He had escaped just moments before through a back window. What was truely amasing was the fact that the window had spent most of its existence at the front of the building.

Dusting himself off, he stood up, and watched as the angry mob moved off, in persuit of its chosen scapegoat.

[Swix]

*Tala glances behind her as the mob began to pursue her. although it seemed they had somehow already fallen behind. She also sees the barman now joining the mob in chanting, and yells back*

Ah gave yer a tip fer tha' drink! An' a discount on yer hos'!

*Tala looked around as she ran, she needed somewhere to disappear. A small gap between two houses presented itself. They were far enough away for them not to see her transform*

*Tala ducked into the gap, falling onto her hands and knees. Not that she'd tripped, but it would make the transformation easier. Her bones began to bend and mould themselves into the shape of a canine, her face morphed until she had a long muzzle, and her ears became pointed and moved to the top of her head. As all this was going on, her clothes receded, and shaggy, brown-tinted silver fur burst out from her skin. Her eyes too changed colour, becoming yellow with a brown tint*

*Tala, now in wolf form trotted out from between the two buildings she'd just ducked into and stared as only a wolf can at the mob*

[GBE]

Violet kept quiet, having learnt that long ago arguing with Au'Mauri only got her more chores, harder work, and more trouble than it really was worth getting hot and bothered about.

She follows on behind Au'Mauri, silently. She turns and looks at Blackfoot, her expression enquiring what Au'Mauri's favourite pupil managed to do wrong. There was something niggling at her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Something seemed to be missing, but she hadn't figured it out. She was too concerned about getting extra dirt in her nails over the next month.


Arnott, had decided he was going to try and deactivate the crystal, however, as he'd lunged towards it, he found himself inside a bottle of whiskey. Seconds later, he was swinging from a chandelier of chairs. He was getting annoyed, and had tried to shoot the crystal, but the bullet instead put a hole in the door, an amazing feat for a bullet to travel backwards.

With only seconds to spare, he'd gone into his etheral form, and managed to barely escape the bar as it popped into the future. He'd be sure to go and find it, see if it had improved with time when he got back home. Considering they were here on a survival course, he decided to join in the local traditions.

Most of the locals found it strange that a squirrel wearing cowboy clothing, walking upright, and chanting 'Burn the witch' a little odd. But since he wasn't causing them any trouble and provided a little amusement, they let him be.

He'd turned briefly to see how many were walking behind him, when for some unknown reason, they'd all stopped. When he turned again, he was stood in front of Tala in her werewolf form. He gulps rather loudly, and pats her on the nose, "Now there's a good doggie...."

[Swix]

*Tala has her ears laid flat, hackles raised and her lips curled up and over her fangs. Growling in utter hatred, the werewolf makes a mock-snap at Arnott. She didn't really want to hurt him, she was just exceedingly annoyed now. She'd been pretty much sure she could have lasted in this town for at least another month, but instead that man had accused her of being a witch!*

*No, wait. The butcher had been pointing at her first... It was all that damn Little Sisters fault! Snarling, Tala turned and bounded in the direction of the butcher shop... But she stopped, Wolf needed to be safe. Tala turned and looked at Wolf, who was still terrified. The wolf/dog was however intelligent to realise that this creature smelled like Tala, and as such wouldn't hurt him, so he slinked over to her. She then began to bound out of town, not realising it but she was heading for the place where Ajaxon was being kept*

*The mob seemed confused, where had their scapegoat gone? The witch had disappeared*

She were a witch alrigh', she's disappeared! We should all celebrate we ran 'er out of our town!

*They all turn to the bar... then remember it's the reason the witchhunt had started. They mill around for a few seconds, before*

To the salad bar!

[Embri]

Glaring at the nasty humans from within the horse corral, Jax stamped his hooves and pawed the ground, tossing his head in rage.

~How dare they! How dare they lay their filthy hands on me! Why if I had my powers... I'd... I'd...~ Trying to think up something suitable to inflict on the humans, Ajaxon wandered towards the herd, lost in thought until he bumped into someone.

~Oh, excuse me-~ Ajaxon began, shaking his head and looking up. An unfamiliar scent caught in his nose... despite all the dirt and dust. Mare-not-dam-scent. Blinking his eyes and backing up a bit, Jax stared.

A filly. A real mare. Sure, he had run with imaginary mares, in those long hours Ajaxon snuck away from his mother's ever watchful gaze and played in the forests around his home. He had a whole bunch of illusionary companions... mares of every colour who followed behind him during his adventures. But this filly... was real. As well as he crafted his illusionary companions, they had no scent and little substance.

~Hello! I'm Ajaxon.~ The half grown colt arched his neck to show off his profile. ~What's your name?~

The young mare didn't reply, but stared at Jax for a few moments with dull brown eyes. Her sandy mottled coat was dull and grey, and she paid little attention to this new horse.

However, there was another who was taking exception to Ajaxon's overtures, however well intentioned they were in his mind. One of the largest horses in the herd, the lead stallion, was weaving through his harem towards this new intruder. There were other young males about Ajaxon's age amongst the herd, but they had the sense to not make themselves look like rivals to the stallion's rule.

Snorting and bobbing his head up and down, the dark liver chestnut male came striding forward on thick stalky legs, three of which had white socks. A long white blaze ran down the stallion's face, though it was more tan-grey than white at the moment.

When Jax failed to move away from the young mare immediately, the stallion dove in teeth first with a squeal, landing a bite on the colt's shoulder.

~HEY OW OW OW!~ Ajaxon whinnied, rearing up and twisting away from his aggressor. ~Lay off! I haven't done anything!~

Each time he turned back towards the herd or kicked, the stallion bit Jax with his long yellow teeth, leaving bruises and small wounds on the colt's rump and neck. Ajaxon finally gave up trying to reason with his attacker, and simply ran around and around the corral until he was exhausted, and could run no more.

~What did I do?~ Panic and pain chased each other around Jax's mind. My dam was never so cruel... while he had protested loudly whenever Embri had nipped him for misbehaving, it was nothing compared to this stallion's idea of punishment.

Shaking on weary legs, Jax leaned up against the rough wooden planks of the corral, noting that the stallion finally seemed satisfied, as he trotted off back to the herd.

[Sephirothsicase]

(( I have been away for two weeks, I still have one to go, EXPLANATION TIME! ))

*Seph was not paying attention to anything that was going on, he was thinking extremely deeply, he was not aware of any actions that were happening, the smell of blood was deep in the air*

~Human meatbags, Why do they have so much blood in them...~

He stood up, his torn black cloak moved to his left as he did so, he picked up the shotgun and rested the barrel on his shoulder, he put the skull into his jacket and pushed the table aside, he took a look around before exiting, a few arguments were breaking out, he sighed and took a few shotgun shells out of his jacket, he placed them into the side of the customised "Shack-Shotgun" and pulled down on the front grip, a sound like "Kar-chack" echoed around the room before he tilted his hat further down his head and exited through the swinging doors.

[3kul]

((... Seph, the saloon that you're sitting in has left our little corner of time and space for now, and most likely is not coming back. So you might want to go back a few pages and then redo your post ))

[Swix]

*Tala, in wolf form, and wolf the halfbreed slow their pace down to a fast 'trot' as they near a human settlement Tala had not realised existed. It looked pretty makeshift, unkempt and uncleaned. As did the horses, they were filthy... Except for that young grey colt that was leaning against the fence, he looked pretty much clean*

*Tala sniffed the air, she could smell someone familiar. Well, not someone exactly, a young mare she'd had a hand in raising who'd been stolen from her... Wolf, getting the scent as well, bounded over to the fence to meet his 'friend'*

*What would have been a flea-bitten grey mare, were it not for all the dust and dirt, was the object of the wolf/dogs attention*

Wolf, no!

*Tala shouted, hoping to get his attention before the humans she could smell did. Her plan backfired as the guys noticed them, and readied their guns*

[Till Doyle]

As the warp crystal had begun to activate and affect the room, Till had left immediately, and for one reason or another had made it out of the bar unaffected, and had stood at a safe distance to watch it disappear. He was still unhappy with those two darned new comers, and would surely have them dealt with.

Annoyingly, his sheriff had skipped town or, at the very least disappeared. The coward. He'd seen LittleSister accuse Tala of being a witch and watched the mob chase her. These accusations got boring after the tenth witch or so, although, he'd collected a few witches of sorts in his time.

The scientists under his employ used a variety of testing methods, some were just plain unpleasant to watch. But in the name of science and folklore, it was necessary. He'd have his supplies picked up at a different time, he just wanted to get out of the heat and out of the town for a few hours.

Walking over to his personal pitch, he unties a horse in extremely good health, a pure white mare, bar a small black streak on its nose, and all four of its legs had black socks. Using a step to climb atop of her, he settles her with a few sugar cubes, and then using his heels and pulling on the reins, he trots down the town road.

As he gets to the outer regions of town, he spurs her into a fast gallop, leaving a small dust cloud behind him. He comes up to a set of bushes he still had yet to get cleared. His hired staff were damned lazy...

[Will Barron]

Several of the Wildcards had met up by the bushes by the streambed.. Most of them had take positions out of sight, except for Will,
and his foreman, Jack Woodman,
and the (tom)girl-next-door, and boyhood best friend, (but not romantic [get-your-hands-off-me you-pervbrain] Debra Stockton

Deb had pulled her hair up under her hat again and looked like a teenaged boy.

They had seen the dust clouds coming from some distance. Through his spy glass, Jack was pretty sure this was the infamous Till Doyle. Or at least he looked like his tin-types in the sitting room of his ranch-house.

They were waiting on horse aside the trail as Till came through the bushes.

Will spoke out

"Well, I do believe I am having the pleasure of meeting the esteemed Till Doyle. You don't know me, but I believe that you had the pleasure of doing business with my father, one mister Roberrt Barron. If I remember right, it involved an inept general store owner up by Cheyenne and in the end you acquired a substantial amount of mercantile goods, and my father acquired a significant tract of land, and the gullible storekeeper and his homely wife and idiot children ended up back in the poor house in St. Louis.

When you return home you will find the majority of the money that was just stolen from the bank in your town. It would seem to me that perhaps we might be able to be of mutual service to one another. Are you interested?............

[addman]

*Addman didn't know what to do, his livelihood was destroyed and he had nothing. He hadn't told anyone before, but in order to set up his bar, he'd taken out a loan with a local gang of thugs known as the "Sunset Riders" in order to get him on his feet. If he didn't have his next payment for the month in by the next couple of days, he'd surely find himself on the recieving end of a brutal finger-removal technique they employed. The sheer number of Sunset Rider members was close to sixty, and growing all the time, with small groups in all the neighbouring towns. He was pretty much doomed.

He trudged slowly away, not even able to help catch a witch to make himself feel better, he slumped on the step outside Little Sister's Butchery, and tried to think of a way out of this*

[Will Barron]

A group of cowboys rides into town on very familiar looking horses. At the lead is Will Barron, flanked on one side by a middle aged man and on the other by a slender, smooth skined, teenaged boy(?).

Will was wearing a shiney new Sherrif's badge and the rest of the group all had on deputy's badges.

They stop outside of the Sherrif's Office and tie up their horses. Most of the group sort of mills around on the railed sidewalk outside the office/jail, but Will and his two main deputies head on over to the bank. Going inside, he addresses whoever is still in there:

"My name is Will Barron and I'm the new lawman in these parts. I understand that there has been a bank robbery and I'm here to investigate. Did anyone get a good look at the low-life varmits that did this?" (He casts a very menacing warning glare at the wounded banker, who gulps quietly)


***************

Outside, a weatherworn hispanic man walks out of the deputy group, with a deputy's badge on and walks over to Addman
""Ay Senor AzulFeo, I theenk you got a problem" he waves a piece of paper at Addman and continues- "Dis warrant say you are behind on your rent, an' I am atorized to geeve ju until tumoorow at sundown to pay up de back rent and produce de missing building, or one Senor Till Doyle will 'ave your ugly blue behin' trown eento the jail, comprende?" He flashes a smile revealing a shiney gold tooth.

"My name is Juan Pedro Malvidas, el Viejo, an I will talk to you again tumorrow, no? It has been a plessure dooin busines wit' ju an eef I can be of any help, a small fee, might provide ju with jus' de kind of protection ju need." He smiles again.

[Angel]

*Angel rockets out of the saloon doors, battered and wreathed in flames, moments before it twists into a spiral and dissappears. she lands in a crouch in the middle of the street with one hand touching the floor for balance. she skidds backwards away from the saloon, raising streaks of dust.

when the table had tried to eat her and her neck had become fifteen times longer than it should have been, she'd decided that it was time to get out. she'd grabed her token from the lurching table, narrowly avoided a bottle of hooch which had an appointement with the mirror on the other side of the room, and burnt her way out through the meele of furniture and glass.

she stands up slowly as the dust settles again, ruffling her feathers and berating the loss of her favorite overcoat. she'd managed to grab her hat in the chaos, it had been trying to do something decidedly dirty with an ash tray, and her guns are safely in their holsters but still.. *

[3kul]

((Um... From a possible proposition of some kind to the new town sheriff with no input from Till? Am I the only one who feels like he's missing a relatively large chunk of the puzzle here?))

"The owner of that 'ugly blue behin'' is the Second-in-Command of one of the greatest organizations in the multiverse, you'd do well to address him with the respect such a man deserves." The muzzle of a brightly coloured red and black boom-stick is roughly shoved towards the man's face, on the other end of it, a somewhat irrite Parasitian twin glared at the unwanted visitor. Of course, the fact that he was far from human usually disturbed most people in this town, the gun was merely a tool to illustrate that he meant business (and to avoid being accused of witchcraft ).

Several white tendrils twisted into various tools of torture extend around HollowEyes making their way to the hispanic man as Little Sister comes to the doorway. As much as she found Addman to be an annoyance, cheap and desperate labour was always good, and she had plans that she'd need more than just two people to accomplish. She quickly scrawled out a note and passed it along to Juan.

[Can't hold a dim-witted bartender responsible for witchcraft that wasn't his doing. Three days and the overdue rent is yours, but you'll have to hunt down the witch responsible if you want the missing saloon back - no doubt her wanted posters will be up soon enough. Though I do find it strange that you seem so certain that it wasn't destroyed, that's the kind of thing only those involved would know, isn't it?]

Little Sister grinned wildly at the man as she handed him her note. She was playing the only cards she could, using some of the few things that Till couldn't completely control in this town - gossip and fear of witchcraft. Of course, if this 'subtle' hint wasn't quite enough for the hired goon, she had a few other tricks up her sleeve.