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Post by Subtleknifewielder on Aug 13, 2023 20:13:50 GMT
The nice thing about places like Salty Rocks, they were built large to accommodate not just average folks, but also folks like Joan and her family, and she had no clue that outside of Ballywood things were so much different, because to her it was just the normal thing to be accommodating to one's neighbors in public places like this. She had no clue when she set sail that this would be one of the many differences to adjust to in the rest of the world.
For now, she just knew it had been a relief to find that whoever had trespassed hadn't been trying to break the fence, just disassemble it a bit, but she was still out to find out who had done that and remind them of the proper manners one undertook when one wanted to search private property for...something. Only mild disappointment colored her mood when she couldn't catch up to them before they got to town. It wasn't like whoever it was wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb, judging by the tracks she'd seen and their curious behavior.
Sure enough, in the Saloon, she found two men who stuck out quite noticeably. Oh, the suits weren't something you never saw here, but rarely outside of specific occasions, and neither of them was wearing the kind of headwear even grieving folk around here usually did--and almost no one had hair gussied up that fancy around here even for real fancy occasions. She did pause just out of sight to discreetly listen for a moment, just to make sure it was who she was after, but a good look at their shoes as she glanced through the window, and she knew instantly that those were the same shoes that had tracked into and out of the pasture.
The moment she was sure, she pushed through the doors with not even a second thought to another course of action or who these two men might be, and settled herself into a larger seat at the same table as them, though she had almost casually swung the chair around so the back faced the table, and she folded her arms on that back and rested her chin on her arms. "Howdy neighbors. Couldn't help noticin' yer tracks on my family's property. It ain't nice to intrude like that without permission, ya know?" she said in a tone of light scolding. "Leastwise not without just cause. 'Specially ain't nice to not fix what damage ya done getting onto it if ya mean no harm. So what were ya gentlemen lookin' fer on the ranch, anywho? Mayhap I kin help ya find it myself." She figured it was only polite that she offer, after the mild rudeness of her own eavesdropping to figure things out, but she was quite certain she was not obligated beyond making the single offer considering they hadn't exactly been paragons of manners themselves. She still wanted to know what business had brought them to such rude lengths, though.
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Time
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Post by Time on Aug 23, 2023 1:26:23 GMT
Most of the gambling den looked at Joan for a moment, before settling back down. Many knew the large girl when she was... Well, a girl. Most knew better than to try anything, though a few of the dames waved and said hello to the woman. Being the towering younger sister if the deputy did mean that her family was well known around Salty Rocks.
The two men would also notice her, the the slicked back man suddenly feeling a bit intimidated and sweating slightly. This look almost continued as the pair noticed who she was walking towards. Before long, the pair watched her pull up a chair, the panicked man now having one arm on the top of the chair ready to stand at a moments notice. Fedora guy on the other hand was unreadable, his face having monotoned expression. When she addressed their actions, Slickback grimaced and almost put his hands up in an accusatory fashion, but Fedora guy grabbed his hand.
"I thought I told you to push shit back where it belong Dillon.", the Fedora man said, as he squeezed hard. Instantly the Slicked back man named Dillon grimaced and clutched his hand as the pressure was painful. It was clear one of them was in charge, as Fedora man let go, and Dillon didn't argue or snap back, looking regretful more than anything, "S-sorry sir.....".
Looking back to Joan, the man lowered and took off his fedora not unlike was custom for most cowpokes doing so when meeting a woman or person for the first time. Despite thr mysterious air that he had given off, the man appeared well kept and not too different from most folks, outside of a scar on his right eyebrow that indicated he eas cut by something jagged. That aside, he had medium length shaggy brown hair and a bit of a square jawline. The shadow on his chin from beard hair indicated he hadn't shaven in a day or two as well. The most noticable thing though were eyebrows.
They seemed to resemble squiggly lines, making it difficulty to gage emotion on them alone.
"My apologies miss....?" he asked, pausing for Joan to answer. Regardless of if she did or didn't state her name, Fedora man would continue. "My name is Malcolm Fed, this is Dillon Slick my partner. He was supposed to put the fence back together after he put the border down, but my associate is a bit too lazy for his own good. As for why we were on your property, you see, we're bounty hunters."
Bounty hunters were basically mercenaries that traveled and collected the heads or captured criminals, bandits, and pirates usually for monetary value. "Now normally, I wouldn't trespass upon private property, and that had not been our intensions to do so with malice.
Before that, I must ask, has there been any freakish lightning strikes on your homestead within the last few days?" . Malcolm asked, seemingly wanting to drift away from the fence incident and dragging the attention to himself.
Dillon stayed quiet, looking down and gripping his hand. If Joan looked his way, he'd simply look away with his brow furrowing, keeping his lips shut tightly.
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Post by Subtleknifewielder on Aug 31, 2023 12:45:52 GMT
Joan smiled back and gave a brief wave to the ladies who smiled to her, but most of her attention was saved for the two strangers. Even if she hadn't been confident she could defend herself, she knew more than a few of the people here would come to her defense. But she could. She had no fear in this situation even if it ended up going south.
And even if she had fear, she knew no other way than to operate on absolute confidence. You don't fend off wild animals from the herd by showing fear even if you feel it. That seemed to be a lesson one of these men had learned, possessing either absolute confidence or an incredible poker face--but not the other. That one was tense as a rattler ready to strike, and it remained to be seen if he had venom in his bite.
It was clear within moments which one was in charge here; his demeanor meant this situation had at least a chance of being settled peacefully, and her smile widened. When prompted, she nodded, tipped her hat off as manners dictated, and introduced herself. "Joan A. Wale." Other than that, she let him speak his piece without interruption, which was how she learned the nervous man was Dillon Slick, and the calm one was Malcom Fed. She noted their names in case it was important for later, the 5-oclock shadow that indicated they'd probably been too busy to take care of anything but necessities for a few days, brows that made reading Malcom difficult, and the scar that said he'd probably been in at least a few fights. Might be interesting to challenge him at some point, but now was not the time unless she determined he was up to no good.
She did cock her head more than once as he explained they were bounty hunters, though she was left with different questions by the end of that explanation, as well. When she was sure he was done, she set her hat on the table, ready to talk turkey, figuring he'd been honest even if he hadn't told her everything. And he had apologized for the intrusion, so his good manners required her to reply in the same kind of honesty--not full disclosure, but no fibbing, either. "I know where one might be," she admitted with a small nod. "But what do that have to do with yer bounty huntin'?" She did not tell them exactly where it was just yet, wanting to feel them out a bit more before she fully entrusted that bit of information to strangers she had, after all, only just met. Did they think someone could have caused that lightning strike? That was ridiculous, wasn't it? And something else to wonder about, after remembering what her Pa had said. Bounty hunters...had Uncle Waldo somehow gotten in trouble again after all this time and they were here looking for him once more? If that was the case there was another chance they might target Pa by mistake.
While she considered that, though, she glanced briefly at Dillon, just to make sure she was keeping an eye on him. That man was still practically coiled in knots. She had a feeling it would only take a word from Malcom to prompt him to act. No, maybe not a snake after all. A dog, a watchful, paranoid dog waiting only a single word from its master, or the provocation of a predator, to attack.
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Time
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Post by Time on Oct 23, 2023 1:16:35 GMT
Malcom was quick to notice her observing the both of them. Dillon was at least being smart by staying quiet. "I'd thought it'd be obvious Miss Wale. Why else would bounty hunters be bothering to trespass? We're hunting a fugitive. More specifically, a dangerous one that has been evading us for a while. I'd like to divulge more information; but I'm afraid we don't know your own intentions, or if you plan to poach our own bounty we've been working so hard to catch for a while." Malcom expressed his point clearly.
Dillon would glance back, though maybe his glances would slowly lower from her eyes to somewhere that was eye level to him. She was a big girl after all; and well perhaps their choice to relax here after trespassing had been for other reasons too. Malcom would then reach into his dress coat to grab something that was out of sight.
If Joan made an aggressive move, Dillon would quickly pull out a pistol from his side, drawing with the best of them as he glared. If she didn't, he'd continue with his scant ogling.
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Post by Subtleknifewielder on Aug 10, 2024 0:08:14 GMT
What Malcom said seemed only reasonable to her, for the moment, and Joan found herself nodding. "I un'erstand, we've only jes' met," she replied. "I ain't interested in no bounty, but if there's dangerous folk about, I wanna help stop 'em." She still didn't understand how that had to do with lightning, though. Maybe they had a lightning rod or something? IT was a bit of a puzzler.
She did glance over at Dillon as she noticed his eyes lowering, and she grinned. "'Ey, me eyes 'er up here," she teased, but that look and those words were all she gave him. Not that she was ignorant of the threat he was trying to project, but she still had the sense of a barely tame animal who'd react to provocation, and right now, there were more important matters than challenging them. Besides, doing that here in the saloon would be rude, best do it where there was nobody's property to worry about, if the moment came.
After a moment of glancing between them for a moment more, she rose to her feet, and beckoned. "Come, I'll show yah where I found it." And if they followed, she'd lead them to the exact post she'd fixed earlier. Or if Dillon started at her movement and attacked at any point, she'd naturally react to defend herself, trying to knock his weapon aside with one hand before it could fire.
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Time
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Post by Time on Aug 10, 2024 7:04:05 GMT
Dillion would snap to attention as Joan made sure to clarify that his focus was all to obvious. Malcom on the other hand would pull out a stack of Berries, and offer it to her. "Don't mind my partner. We've been out on the sea for a bit too long honestly. He really should go get himself some dames while he can." He said, giving a side flick of his head to basically let Dillion off his leash to go fraternize.
Seeing her stand up, Malcom shook his head. "Honestly, we checked the area. Didn't find any tracks we were looking for." He stated, waving the stack at her, "This is for any extra repairs that might come up. Only fair we pay for what we broke." Malcom said, before placing the wad of Berries right by her hat which she had left on the table. "And as large as you are girl, this isn't no normal bounty." He said, before standing up to whisper to her, "If you know what's good for ya, you'll stay out of a bounty hunter's business. Otherwise, you might be getting into more trouble than you hope. I'd be more worried about warning your family first, especially if you've seen lightning around your home."
Malcom took a couple of steps forward, moving towards a table with several poker players as he took a moment to stretch his arms out, "Welp, it's a bit late to go back out there now. So I'mma decline. Feeling lucky today anyways. Got room for one more?" Malcom asked the three men who commonly played poker in the saloon. It was clear that they weren't overly caring to share things with Joan.
Malcom's words weren't a threat to her, but a warning to be wary because it was clear they believed that the threat was somewhere in the local area. The wind would blow into the saloon, the smell of salt and sea on it as one of the men complained, "Smells like there's gonna be a dry storm soon...." If Joan looked outside she'd see clouds beginning to cover up the moon and stars. Left with so many things, Joan could do any of them, whether she decided to keep addressing Malcom and his goon, or take the money to her father, search for whoever was causing lightning, or simply head out before the storm hit the mainland. Honestly, Joan only had so much time before she'd be forced to wait until he dry thunderstorm would pass.
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Post by Subtleknifewielder on Aug 12, 2024 3:44:08 GMT
Joan took the money, surprised the man hadn't wanted to follow her, and appreciating the warning even if she felt she could take care of herself. At least he had freely offered the berries, and she judged that it was the right thing for him to do. But how was she going to get the money to Da? It wasn't like it was a lot, but it was the principle of the thing, and she didn't even consider taking it herself, it wasn't hers. Then she hit on a great idea. She brought out a pen, and her journal, ripped out a blank page, and scribbled Da a quick note explaining about the fugitive (and asking him to keep a careful lookout for them), the bounty hunters, and the money, after which, she wrapped the note around the bills, and took it on a quick trip to the bank, with the intention of putting it into their little drop box they had on the side of the building. Another quick note was attached with instructions for the teller who would open in the morning, to put it into the Ranch's business account and let the next family member who stopped by know about it. Even if the bank was closed (and this time of night/morning it probably was), sometimes people needed to drop stuff off, and there was enough trust here that people never felt their money would be stolen if it wasn't put away immediately.
After that quick side trip, though, she took one last look up at the sky, and knew she needed to hurry. Time to quickstep off to the little cove where her boat was, and she took off at a steady jog that she knew would eat up more distance than a flat out sprint would, because it would conserve more energy in the long run.
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