Western RP: play thread

Buddy stretched out, tried to relax, to let his mind rest. Failed miserably most every time.

"Catori!" he wailed, jumping up in a start from one of various nightmares that plagued him. It was the one where it was her neck in a noose, her body left to dangle, beautiful flowers strewn into the wind, to wilt and die across the sun-scorched earth, on public display for all the world to see... all for a senseless crime. That dream bothered Buddy most. She was so young, and innocent, a stranger to the barbaric laws and customs of the white man... just as much a stranger as La Vaquero, Luis Pasillas was, Buddy admitted, if only to himself. We didn't deserve this!

"Whatever you're going to do, it better work..." Buddy wished aloud, rolling over on his side and trying again to sleep. "And it better happen soon!"

"Relax." Luis stood on his bed and looked out the window. Outside was a good size paddock with a few horses in it--apparently where they kept the prisoner's horses while they waited to be either auctioned off. Luis gave a short whistle. His horse heard him and trotted up to the window. Fumbling in the dark, he managed to get a hold of his lariat, still attached to the saddle. He checked to make sure it was tied securely around the horn, then fastened the other end to one of the bars on the window. The Mexican gave his horse a good smack. With a grunt, the animal threw all his weight against the bar. It bent under the pressure... Pancho was straining, but showed no signs of giving up... Finally, it bent enough for Luis' wiry frame to fit through. "Back soon, gringo," he whispered through the bars of the other window.

Luis leapt over the fence of the horse paddock and ran to the blacksmith shop. He was surprised to find it unguarded. Looking over the tools in the pitch black, he selected a pair of files, one large and the other a little smaller. Satisfied with his choice, he ran back to the jail and reached through the bars with the larger one.

Buddy spent a few long minutes pacing again, torn between shouting quiet curses after the selfish stubborn escaping vaquero, or shouting out at the top of his lungs that there had been such an escape.

Each time he paced toward the window, his anxiety level rose and sweat beaded on his forehead. 5 minutes, maybe 10 passed and he turned to the front of his cage, gripped the bars and inhaled deeply to make the shout that might well save his neck from the noose...

Just then, there was a -tink- of metal on metal, from the window across the cell. Buddy turned and moved to the window, where Luis waited with the steel file.

"Uhh, I'm going to need a second, small--" the vaquero complied with his request before he'd even made it fully.

"Ahh, so you have done this sort of thing before, I see..." Buddy nodded and managed to smile for the first time since Catori had left him, at his request.

It would take too long to file thru the thick iron bars of the window, Buddy knew, but he had other plans for the files. He had once worked as a 'deputy clerk' in a Mexican border town, basically the janitor of the jailhouse, and he knew well enough how the simple lock mechanism worked to hold the cell door shut.

"I'm going to need a distraction..." Buddy whispered thru the window.
"I'm going out the front, and it would be a shame if I ran into good Sheriff Sanders or any of his men... I hope you agree?"

he waited anxiously for the vaquero's response and decision...

"Uh... Just a minute," Luis said. He had remembered seeing a herd of some hundred head of cattle penned up in the nearby auction yard. He ran off into the dark, barely seeing where he was going. Light reflecting off hundreds of eyes, together with the occasional soft snort, told him he was there. Working his way around the edge of the round pen, he found the gate... And a heavy lock. Feeling the weight of it in his hand, he took one of his spurs off and picked it open. A few of the cattle stirred at the metallic *click*. Without another moment's hesitation, he threw the gate open and slapped one of the animals. It took off, and the whole herd followed. They stampeded off in the direction of the town, and Luis slipped back to the jail in the night...

"STAMPEDE!!" the roar went up and down main street, and the dwindling numbers of townsfolk scattered in doors. The loudest voices on the streets in the next minutes were the deputies, now demoted to mere ranch hands, charged with rounding up the rampaging herd.

Buddy smiled and shook his head, then stepped from the window to the cell door, jamming the large file into the lock slot hard and at a steep angle. There was a -CLICK- as the lower lock mechanism was released, and Buddy nearly hooted out loud with excitement, before working the small file into the slot above the large, tinkering, working and finally -CLICK- releasing the upper lock.

The cell door creaked slowly open, and Buckshot Buddy Reno slipped across the jail house office, to the front door.

A quick glance up and down the street at the various lower lawmen as they haplessly wrangled the herd was all the comfort Buddy needed to know that he was a free man... if only for the night...

... he, knew, as he was certain the Mexican must also have known, they would certainly be marked for death after this, unless they found the real murderer and cleared both of their names... or died trying!

He met Luis around back of the jail house, and demanded in hushed tones, that they stick together this night, in order to clear both their names.

"If you truly are innocent, as I KNOW I am, then we've got to work together in this..." he tried his best to give the vaquero the benefit of any doubts. "And, we may need even more help..."

"Find your horse, he's in here somewhere," he hissed quietly. Luis climbed on Pancho's back and looked around for the gate. When he found it, it too was locked. He swore under his breath and got to work on it with his spur. When it finally snapped open, he looked back to see it Buddy was coming.

Buddy didn't have the heart to tell the Mexican that he didn't actually own a horse. Instead, he spent a few long moments scanning the paddock, searching for 'his horse' absently clicking his teeth with his tongue, nervously.

Amazingly, Chapa must have heard his clicking call, because Catori's horse trotted briskly out of the night and toward the two escape prisoners. Equally as shocking was the fact that Chapa held it's rider in her saddle.

"Beautiful flower!" Buddy gaped, awestruck for an instant as the horse stopped by his side.

"Hurry!" Catori whispered. "Lily is making sure the deputies work the herd toward the other side of town... we have to ride out of here fast!"

Buddy couldn't argue, stepping up and mounting Chapa, close and tight in the saddle behind the tiny Indian girl. He made another quick decision, between kissing her then and slapping her off the horse for not listening to his wishes that she leave him rot...

... her cheek tasted like raspberries on his lips he thought, warm and sweet, as the girl herself...

Together, the trio rode off, into the dark of night...

Leo sat in the corner of the saloon looking down at the remains of his whisky glass. His mind was trying to remember the events from the previous year. He could only remember a couple of months, the rest was a blur. Since then he had travelled from town to town looking for clues to his past. He believed that he would find his answer here.
Standing he put his hat on his head and went out of the door into the hot blaze of the sunshine. He looked up at the sun for a second before "checking out" everyone in the street.

Jake was tired, he lay and rested for a moment. He remembered the days when they bodies that would be in the coffins were those he had killed himself. He hasn't killed anyone in a while, but then the bodies that came in kept him quite busy already. last thing he wanted was to add to that.

Catori looked at uddy. She was glad the four got Luis and Buddy out.

Leo went up to Gene and patted him on the back. He then felt the stubble on his chin and relised he'd need to shave. He walked across the street to one of the inns and went inside. He payed the rest of the little money he had and went upstairs to his room.

Lily kept untying the buffalos that they herded to keep them at it for hours. Soon she slipped away on Faithful and blasted after the friends in a spot they picked to meet.

((Cows... Good work though...))

Luis let the other horse lead, since he wasn't sure where to go. By the time they stopped, there was a thin line of graying light over the horizon. He slid off his horse and gave him a healthy pat on the shoulder.

"Hey gringo... Where you learn how to break out of a cell like that?", he said to Buddy, grinning.

Leo sat on the bed in the room he had bought and took off his belt lookng at the carved lion on it. That was the source of his name. He didn't know what it had meant, nor had anyone else he had met. The guns that were attatched to it had to be some sort of clue, other than the fact that he was a cowboy. He lay on the bed, slipping one of his guns under the pillow. He closed his eyes, but didn't sleep.

Jake started to wonder about his life a bit
why did he surround so much of it around death
he decided to go out for a ride on his trusty horse

Buddy slid from the saddle, then helped Catori dismount gracefully and stretched his legs and back, stepping toward Luis and shrugging.

"Welp, if you must know, I once worked as a 'deputy clerk' in a fly-speck bordertown just this side of the Rio Grande in Texas... I was a damn sight more 'clerk' than 'deputy' though, and come to find out my title was mostly honorable..."

He began absently picking colorful flowers from the area as he told his tale, still walking off the bow-legs and saddle sores.

"OK, so basically, I was the custodian, the jailhouse janitor, responsible for little else besides cleaning up other people's messes... didn't take but 2 or 3 times accidentally locking myself in the cells while cleaning the filth before I decided to figure how to free myself from such a predicament... Mexican marshals have a sick sense of humor some times, especially when they've been drinking all day! Why, I reckon I spent more time locked in a Mexican jail than some hardened criminals!"

Buddy mosied over to Catori and offered her the handful of pretty flowers, smiling and thanking her once again for helping to rescue them.

"Now what are we going to do about clearing our names?" he asked the vaquero. "Or, you reckon we've wore out our welcome in this little river town?"

Catori blushed. She thanked Buddy for the flowers. She smiled. They were beautiful. She looked at Luis. She rubbed her legs to get out some of the cramps.

Lily jumped off her horse and lay on the grass resting from the hard day.

Luis looked over to the Eastern horizon. The sun was showing a little more of itself. "You ask me, we better stay away from town.. But if we can find the bastard who killed the blacksmith, we might be safe."

Buddy nodded slowly, but wondered. "Where do we start looking for a cold blooded killer? Present company excluded, I mean..." he grinned.
"The sheriff mentioned something about the Blue Bandana brothers or some such... seemed to suggest they was connected to you too some sorta way. Maybe start with them, if you know where we can find them, and if it's not in town?"

He looked back at the ladies and continued. "And, what about our lady friends? Do we want to involved them further in whatever this may become? Should we seek shelter and protection from the savages out here on the open plains, or what do you reckon? Where to begin?"

Buddy was hoping the Mexican wouldn't take too much advantage or pleasure in the fact that a gringo was asking him for advice and guidance in a matter of life and death. If truth be told, Buddy was starting to see some good in the redneck wetback greaseball vaquero... not much, but some...

🙂