wanderingoutlaw:
A silent snicker escaped her lips more than eager to hit the road again,but this time with company was an amusing prospect in her eyes. Something was telling her this poor bugger needed to loosen up a bit, and she took that job upon herself already.
“Excellent in that case I suggest once we finish our drinks lets check the general store and see what they got there. Ya dont mind splitin the costs hun? I got some cash on me saved from previous jobs so dont worry too muchb bout it “ she would add with the familiar playful wink. “As for the horse I suggest we find bit older one but not too much, with mild nature so that ya wont have troubles with it…much like I have with my own. Stubborn bugger but ey, I do love a challenge.”
The next mention of her knowledge of the area did cause her to freeze for moment. Ho boy, well she didnt think THAT far ahead since as he could see she was simply swinging her luck.
“I;ll be honest with ya here luv, I have none whatsoever knowledge of this area. Buuuut I do have acompas if that puts ya at ease?”
A compass by itself wasn’t much to rely on, but combined with a map… what the hell, he’d found his way around with less, even if he had only done so when the only idea he had had of his destination was that it should be anywhere but here. In those cases, he’d simply moved with the rain for as long as it would hold out, much faster than any horse, but less reliable. Not that that had mattered much in those cases, then, the only object had been to move as far as possible as rapidly as possible, not making plans until he had reached wherever the storm would lead him.
Sorting through the last of his doubts, Blackmore stared down into his lemonade with a thoughtful air. It should be fine, shouldn’t it? As long as they just headed more or less Northwest, they should eventually end up in or at least near Grand Junction and from there on, getting to Denver should be as easy as anything. Granted, they’d have go, what? 400 miles first? How long would that take on horseback? No more than 10 days, surely.
“Franky…” he had so many questions, so many niggling doubts. What about wild animals? Mountain Lions and things. Did they even get those here? He knew there’d be at least snakes and while he did have a pistol, he didn’t trust himself to hit one of those damn man-killing noodles. What would they do about water? A lot of their route would be desert or desert-like. What if— No, it’d be fine. If she had managed to make it this far, she obviously knew how to deal with those kinds of things. Dealing with it for two shouldn’t be much of a problem.
“Let’s do it.” It wasn’t very much in line with his usual demeanor, but if he didn’t make an effort to sound determined for his own benefit, he knew the next words out of his mouth would be an anxious declination. “We should bring some of the corn flatbread they do here, it’s actually really nice and I think it would keep.”
Although arranging everything took an additional two days, much as Blackmore had suspected, Mr. Hernandez was more than happy to find someone to lend him a horse for a few dollars. Even if said horse came with having to endure having to listen to Hernandez have a conversation in Spanish with a Mr. Flores who apparently had a ranch in the area that contained far too many appraising looks thrown in his direction, he had taken an almost instant liking to it when it had responded to his attempt to pet its neck not with a suspicious eye-roll, only a sort of jaded resignation, which suited him just fine.
Besides, Blackmore found himself strangely delighted by its name, ‘Salt and Pepper’. An odd metric to judge a horse’s quality on, but it just suited it so well, with its coat an even mixture of mousy gray and white hairs. Even if Franky hadn’t said it would do, he might have had to politely insist on riding it anyway.
More unexpected was being seen off by Mr. Hernandez himself on the morning of their departure. Blackmore supposed innkeepers probably made long hours, but it was 4:30 for Christ’s sake. not seeing him at the bar had honestly been a bit of a relief, yet here he was, strolling out of the inn’s door in the dim light of dawn while Franky was checking… whatever it was that needed checking on horses.
“Remember to return her when you get to Denver, eh, Mr. Blackmore?” Hernandez said, giving Blackmore a hearty clap on the shoulder as jovially as ever. He didn’t know what he found more insulting, that Hernandez thought he was planning on stealing a horse he didn’t need, no matter how cute or that he needed reminding. “I’ll know if you do, you know,” the innkeeper added more quietly, throwing a conspiratorial wink into the mix for good measure.
How exactly he would, Blackmore would apparently never find out because before he could assure Hernandez, the man had already made his way over to Franky, stroking Salt and Pepper’s flank with a cheery grin like being kicked was something that only happened to other people. “You keep this one out of trouble, hermosa. I know he doesn’t look like it, but take it from someone old enough to be your papi. It’s always the quiet ones that cause the most problems.”
Just as he suggested in the next 2 days she made sure to gather as many supplies as possible. At times instead of money, she would pay with small exchange work, as some had noticed she was pretty decently skilled to work metal and iron. It was as if the said material would bend with ease under her hands.
One thing they did want to had enough was water, thankfully if in case of rain she brought few bottles with her and metal containers she awlays dragged in her bags. It was still bit surprising that Blackmore agreeded to come, poor lad was nervous but also excited at same time. At least that is what she saw.
On the departure day one last thing she wanted to make sure was the horseshoes and equipment of both horses, his mousey gray one was....well fitting to someone like him. And far more mild natured that her own Danger Zone, blasted chesnut colored stalion with its black mane was walking ball of stubborness and spite....much like herself.
With that out of the way she was about to joi n the two men she offered old man Hermandez a broad child like grin. “Nahh no worries mate, I got me strong pairs of arms to pull him out of shit if needed “ she added with snicker. while tugging her horse to follow her. “But thanks for all mister Hermandez I’ll make sure to stop by again in future”
Joining Blackmore she had that look of excitment and simple yearn for adventure in her golden eyes. “Ya ready for this sweetheart? Ya can still turn back if ya wanna “ she would add with small amused smirk curious to see if he really was sure of this adventure.
Because last thing she wanted was to have dead companion along the way.
