Originally posted by XornonJay
((Woot, this is exciting. Sorry its been a while, i've been on vacation. Here comes Super Greg, except, not quite super, yet))((ok, quick question. Is this the same group that had Catori that i made up? And if so, have you killed the characters that i made up yet??))
yes its the group with the guys you invented, and I think we may have killed at least one if not both or all of those you had named...
I'm not sure, but can go back and read, I think those few were rapists that were killed in order to free Catori.
Catori glanced quickly at Greg. She knew this really bad. Sure they have had daring escapes again. Most of it ended up with people getting hurt. She looked up at Buddy to see how he would respond. Her brown eyes begging for deliverance. She was literally shaking. Scared to death, she huddled closer to Buddy.
The rest of the bandits at the wagon turned and started riding at the wagon, some breaking off towards Greg, their guns firing wildly. The refugees behind the wagon managed to squeeze off a few shots before the bandits encircled them. Buddy and Catori stood arm in arm, and Matt faced what must be certain death with a calm, almost relieved face. Greg was dragged from his post still fighting, and put with his friends.
Then, a trumpet sounded from behind the ranks of houses. Soldiers on horses suddenly appeared on the horizon with their own trumpeter returning the blast. About twenty men rode out from between the buildings, guns leveled at the increasingly edgy circle. Then, pushing out from between two of the soldiers, was Leo! Raising his pistol(s?) he gave the bandits a choice, "Leave now, and we'll give you a twenty minute headstart. Don't, and you all die. Your time starts now."
One of the soldiers pulled out an old pocket watch, what seemed to be a family heirloom. The banditos all looked from one to the other, none wanting to be first to leave. Then a man with a stupidly long mustache pulled off his at and threw it to the ground in front of Leo, spitting on it for good measure. He wheeled his horse round, and began riding at full pelt after the wagons, which had without anyone's notice disappeared. Suddenly there was a rush as the would-be killers rode out of town.
Matt turned, pulling up his pistols from the ground, and headed over to Leo. "Thank you. Why did you do it?"
(Good enough? A part for everyone? I think Leo was a deputy, right? So he could commandeer troops?)
'Sheriff' Buddy Reno and the other survivors of that day spent the better part of the day gathering bodies and broken wagon and bashed and battered building materials, constructing a massive funeral pyre on the outskirts of the Old Ghost Town. When the pile was finished, Buddy lit it, using another barrel of gunpowder as a fuse and igniter.
The pyre went up as the sun was going down, and lit up the dusk sky south-west of New Hope, a shining beacon to all comers what lawlessness and murderous intentions would result in, for those who would bring such things to Buddy's home.
"Let's go home..." Buddy sighed, scowling and limping to his horse, his arm wrapped close and tight around the tiny waist of his beloved Catori.
When they arrived back to New Hope, they slept, but a knock at the hotel room door woke Buddy bright and early, too early for the poor soul who knocked!!
"WHAT IS IT NOW!" Buddy bellowed, swinging the door open angrily, glaring at the clueless soul who would disturb his first rest in what seemed like months.
"Package for you, Sheriff..." it was Little Ben Sisco, all bandaged and hobbling after his injuries in the wagon crash. "The jeweler sent me because... well, let's just say because he knew we was friendly like, so as there wouldn't be no bones broke on account of waking you so early... he said you'd want this as soon as possible, so here it be.."
Buddy couldn't stay angry then; he smiled and shooed Benny away, taking the small parcel and making way back to the bedroom. Catori was still fast asleep on the large 4-poster bed fit for a queen, a look of utter and angelic peace across her face, and Buddy considered letting her be, because he'd never seen a more beautiful sight than that...
He stepped over his bedroll on the floor, where he slept an kept watch on the door and windows, protecting his Flower while she rested, and sat lightly upon the edge of her bed, caressing her cheek and hair, and she stirred. Her almond-shaped chestnut eyes fluttered open, and she smiled up at Buddy with a stretch and yawn.
"Good morning, beautiful.." he smiled.
"Was someone at the door?" she whispered. "Is there more trouble in town?"
Buddy shook his head and held her hand, kissing her fingers softly.
"The only one in trouble here this morning might be me..." he said.
"I.. found something you thought you had lost forever...
..and.. I was hoping it might just lead to a whole other sort of Forever..."
Buddy saw her forehead crinkle in curious confusion, until he held up the lump of white diamond, on a string, Catori's silly simple necklace, with that bullet hole chip in the center. She beamed and giggled, accepting the necklace as Buddy slipped it back over her head and around her neck.
"As much as that necklace means to you, as a sacred hoop, same as the bracelet I repaired and returned to its place on your wrist when we first met, as much as you have come to mean to me over all our time together, there is another white-man's custom, another special sacred hoop, another wondrous ritual for you girls to go giddy over... "
He fumbled for the words, even as he fumbled with the smaller portion of the parcel in his fingers, taking Catori's fingers once more, and sliding a golden ring set with a sparkling diamond stud, upon her finger.
"I'm a hard man to know, and not an easy man to like... I find trouble as easy as trouble finds me, and I bring that trouble down upon everyone I know and love.. and, that means you.. In this case, I stole your necklace from you after giving you that gift, but only in order to give you another gift...
I love you, Catori..
You are my heart, my soul, and my everything.. When I thought I lost you, I lost my everything, including my will to go on living... learning you had survived was like being reborn, only that my heart had been removed, and I had to have it, had to have you back to.. to be complete again.
You complete me, inspire me, enlighten me, and enrapture me..
Everything you know, I want to learn, everything you are, I want to be, every time we part, I want to cry, and when we are together, I feel like I'm floating in the sky...
I love you, Catori...
"So, Catori, my beautiful flower, would you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?"