Aiden ( @halliwellauto ) ▌sent 🎁 for a starter.
His elbow atop the table and playing cards fanned out in his hand, Joshua tilted his head as he feigned consideration of his options. Oh, he already knew what he planned to do, yet there was no reason to clue in any of his competitors to the fact of it ( act like you're ' takin' it serious ' but not ' too serious ' as to be counted as a threat until it was too late for anyone to do anything about it )! The man to his left was bouncing a knee like a nervous tic and the eyes of the one across from him were darting far too rapidly while speaking to insinuate any degree of confidence and he was about to win. Joshua almost never lost a game of Brag, and he wasn't liable to start tonight.
At least, until a loud crash was heard from upstairs, followed by two voices in vexed conversation: one a little softer, the other more gruff. In fact, if he thought about it, the latter surely belonged to the companion of three others clustered around a game of Faro across the room, who had disappeared a short while ago in the company of one of Aiden's girls — and speaking of Aiden, it was then that he heard her familiar tone join the dispute, though he couldn't quite make out the words. While aware that she was capable of handling the situation, the palm that had been planted on his upper thigh beneath the table, elbow jutted an angle, slid towards his holster.
Perhaps the reaction was less unnecessary than Joshua had conjectured, as the man's friends stood to advance towards the stairs. Clearly anticipating a fight in which they had no interest at stake, the few remaining patrons scattered from the building, including his opponents at Brag ( well, dammit ). Withdrawing his gun and cocking the hammer with the side of his thumb, he aimed it at the three rabble-rousers. "I wouldn't."
They didn't care to heed the warning as they were swift to pull their own pistols, though Joshua's first shot managed to hit one in the hand, sending their firearm clattering to the floor, before he used his foot to kick over the table stacked with cards for use as a barricade. "Tryin' to go up there, makin' me lose that money — pieces of shit," he muttered. Some of it had been set out and was now on the floor, sure ( and he would be back to collect it later, after this was over ), but he could have won more, and that was the point.
After the ' dust settled, ' two of the men were on the ground while the first one had managed to scramble out of the saloon in the ensuing firefight. Would've been nice to get him too, everyone'd be better off — the thought flickered through Joshua's mind as he headed up the stairs. He had just reached the top landing when he heard another shot ring out from the closest room, followed by a body collapsing to the ground in the doorway and partially into the hall. "It's me," he called ( the last bit of shit luck he needed was to be mistaken for one of the assholes downstairs and get a bullet in his chest ).
Brusquely shoving the man aside with his boot, Joshua stepped inside with a grin playing across his lips. "Now, this is why I always end up passin' through this town — your pretty face, 'n never a dull evenin'." As he holstered his gun, he continued, "You alright?"
