Fantasy rode a stranger one fine day

[pluvian_penguin]

Charles Lewis was five and a half feet tall without his boots, brushing the dirt from his canvas trousers, and thoroughly annoyed with whatever creature had decided to break down six full feet of fencing on its way to his water trough. The dogs had been barking on and off through the night. He hadn't thought much of it. Two weeks ago, they'd made such a ruckus that he'd gone out with his rifle, just to see them chasing a damn jackrabbit.

Maybe last night, he should have taken them more seriously. Daisy was still sprawled in the shelter of a nearby pinyon pine. She'd lost interest in his kicking, cursing, and general displeasure some time ago. Ben and Nelson had taken off back to the barn a while before that.

"You damn dogs ought've said something," he muttered, as if they hadn't done exactly that for half the night.

He'd have to go to Gold Creek for the supplies. Last week, a lightning strike had done real damage to the Evans' barn, and they'd cleared out what Oxpost had to fix the roof. They'd been lucky to not lose any of their stock.

It did, however, leave him in the unenviable position of having to spend the rest of his morning on the road. Well, nothing for it.

Daisy was sent back to the house, and he untied his horse, a bald-faced grey who was the fastest mare in his barn. He never did ask the Haums about their plans for that stallion they bought last spring. He'd meant to, for months, but these damn creatures had distracted him more and more every day.

The road went by quickly enough, and he tethered his horse outside the trading post, sparing the time for a brief prayer that they'd have what he needed.

"Mr Knowlton, sir," he said as he stepped inside, "I'd appreciate knowing what the lumber trade's been like for you, lately."

"Sure, sure," the older man agreed, setting down the pencil he'd been scratching with. He nudged his glasses up with his knuckle. "But first, you oughta know that someone was asking about that wanted poster of yours, yesterday. Might be back in, oh, twenty minutes or so. I told him I had some things coming in on the stagecoach that he might be interested in."

Maybe this trip would turn out better than Charles had expected. In the meantime, Knowlton led him outside and around the side of the building to show him the lumber stacked under an overhang, leaving the shop boy behind the counter.

 

[DaddyDDay]

Jake slowly made his way out of the trade post with his piece of paper in hand. Someone nearby was looking to hire someone for work. Job description was not too long as the more words the higher the cost to put up an add.
Pushing the piece of paper into his pocket, he pulled out a pipe, filled it with tobacco, lit it then walked into the small trading town.

Making his way over to the stables he made his way inside to check on his horse, he then noticed two boys, one of which was holding his rifle and aiming outside the barn.
"If you know what's good for you, you will Put MY Rifle Back Right NOW." Jake spoke loud and fast as he made his way over to his horse.
The boys ran off dropping the rifle onto the grounds. "ahhww hell" He protested not only at the fact that his rifle was now covered in dust and but it was half his fault for yelling and scaring the boys. Lucky that they didn't get too spooked at his voice and fired a round off.

Jake moved to his saddle bags, removed a small bag and other items, then made his way over to a small table and chair that was outside the barn.
Once there as he smoked his pipe he began taking apart his rifle and cleaning it. Nothing worse than a dirty rifle that won't shoot straight or worse not fire at all or misfire and blow the gun all to hell.
Jake had seen it happen before when he was ambushed by some bandits who didn't take care of their guns enough. If they had Jake would not be here.

After a few minutes Jake checked down his rifle sight, his gun was now clean again and would cause him no trouble in the future.
Taking a look around as more and more people started to arrive, and more of the small shops started to open up for business, Jake thought that enough time must of passed like the old man said.
Two possible jobs, one on the paper asking for a hired hand, the other to do with a coach, probably a hired gun keep things or people safe.
Whatever job paid best is what he would take. Jake went to put his rifle away but look around and thought better of it. He clipped his strap to it and swung it over his back and began walking back to the main building letting himself pushing the door open.

 

[pluvian_penguin]

As it turned out, the lumber trade was doing just fine, and Charles was able to get everything he needed. Getting it back to his ranch was a different matter, since he hadn't brought the buckboard. It turned out that some friend of a frien of a friend had a one-horse cart that could be rented as needed, or he could wait for it to be added to another delivery being made next week.

Good question. He hadn't been pasturing the horses that far out since the attacks started, and the fence wouldn't have stopped the deer or elk anyway. It was no rush. Unfortunately. He'd love to be able to say that business was good enough to warrant the rush, but while those things were out there...

"Well, I guess I'll just wait on that," he said after a few moments. "You get that sent out whenever it's convenient for you, and I can pick it up from - you said the Evans'?"

"Yes, sir," Knowlton said amiably. He patted Charles' shoulder and turned back to the store. "You come inside and I'll get you all rung up."

The books were handled promptly, and then the older man nodded toward the other customer in the store.

"I do believe that was the fella asking after you."

"Thanks for letting me know," he said, and approached the stranger after finishing his business. Certainly looked like a gunslinger of some sort, with that rifle across his back. Charles could only hope that he wasn't about to get invested with some sort of desperado.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, "but Mr Knowlton said you were interested in a poster I put up. My name's Charles Lewis."

 

[DaddyDDay]

Jake looked around in the small store, maybe if he earned himself a nice little wage he would be able to get a bar of this 'chocolate' he kept hearing about. Some new thing in from some other country across an ocean or two maybe? Jake was not completely sure of it, but some gun fighters he ran into on a job talked about all getting a bar each, as they had all earned a little bonus on a cattle running job and decided to all try it together.

They raved about how it was like the bitter taste of coffee but also sweet, like they had added sugar to the drink, and it melted in their mouths as they chewed it. Sounded a little like magic to Jake, but then again some food different this world could be made to taste all manner of different ways different difference cooking styles and ingredients. As he pulled his pipe out of his mouth and tapped it on his leg, getting rid of the excess tobacco ash, he pulled out his pouch and put it away as heard a male voice in front of him and saw a man standing before him talking about the poster he had in his pocket.

"Names Jake Mr Lewis," he gave a small nod as he spoke and pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket. "You put down you are looking to hire someone for work. What kinda work are you offering Mr Lewis?"
As he asked his question he took a moment to size him up. He looked pretty clean, cleaner than most anyway and alot cleaner than Jake right now. The last bath he was able to take was about two or 3 weeks ago at a river he passed by. It was a good time being able to wash himself and his horse as well as his clothes. A nice warm day made short work of drying them too.

Jake began to wonder just what kind of job he might be getting into this time. He was near short on money, but Jake still had his own rules, never took a job where he knew he was a bully, or taking from people who had little to take from.
He had been a gunfighter many times, rode alongside coaches, rode shotgun as well, looked after a train cart once. It are his first time on a train. No idea what exactly he had been protecting but it must have been worth alot as the payout he got set him up for near seven months enough. Not only that, but two different groups at different points tried to take the train.
But the number of gun flighters they had on the train, as well as the one doing the hiring, had given out nice rifles to borrow for the job, and the boxes of ammo meant they were able to keep firing for hours if need be. needed for Jake and the others who survived the fights never lasted that long, as even the beasts and horse they were using eventual run out of energy and need to stop. The train just keeps going and going.

 

[pluvian_penguin]

Charles sighed at the question and nudged his hat back a bit. It was exactly what he'd expected to hear, but that didn't mean that he knew how to make the job sound appealing. And the problem with men for hire was that if they were any good at what they did, they tended to be very picky about who they worked with. They knew when a job was dangerous. Which meant they usually either refused, or wanted extra money. There was only so much that he could afford.

"There's some kind of thing tearing up my fences. I've never seen it, but it leaves tracks. Three toes like a bird, but claws like a mountain lion, and as far as I can tell, it hops like a rabbit." He was well aware of how ridiculous this sounded, and was tempted to sigh again, except that that wouldn't help anything. "I'd think that someone was trying to fool me, except for the fences. It's like a steam engine jumped its tracks and tore right through them. No human could do that. Whatever it is, it's too big for me to go after it on my own. I'm hiring a man who's good with a gun to sit out with me at night and kill whatever shows up. Is that something you'd be interested in?"

He was aware that there was a very good chance that Jake would think he was full of shit, and tell him so before leaving. He was hoping for any other reaction. While his words might make him sound like some kind of lunatic, there was tiredness in his gaze and the slope of his shoulders. Not the sort that came from working a long day, but from struggling under difficult circumstances for too long. Charles was very near his wits' end, and trying very hard to rein in this monster problem before he got there.

"Even if nothing shows up, I'll pay you with dinner and a place to sleep," he offered. "And if we do find that thing, and kill it, there's a hundred dollars in gold waiting in the bank for you." That, he hoped, would be enough financial incentive to take the job. It was also almost everything he had left. But if they could just handle this damn creature, he was sure that things would work out, afterwards.

 

[DaddyDDay]

Jake listened to the man describe the beast he was talking about. He moved his hand to his satchel and pulled out a book and started flipping through the pages.
"By any chance have you seen any feathers or fur left behind? Something that would give me a better understanding on what we will dealing with"

Jake had hunted monster before, in a world were they were as real as sheep, pigs and wolves. It was just another profession to get into. Either raising and taming the ones that could be tamed, or hunting the ones that were a treat to both man and animals.
Some were easy to kill as hunting any animals, others had thicker skin so took larger bullets. But from what Mr Lewis was describing it could only be one of two things for this kind of area.
If it had green and black feathers it was a Cravenstriker. They were not to bad to deal with nothing his rifle and shotgun couldn't handle. Or if it had red feathers and tuff, brown fur it would be a Blind Dread Hawk.
Now they were not as easy, he would have to see if he could get a higher type of bullet for his rifle and check the gear of Mr Lewis as well.

"Also a few more things, is it only one or have you noticed two or three sets of tracks? Have they taken any live stock or feed?" Jake was trying to sort out what he was dealing with.
"Once we have figured out what it is we can talk of payment, but what I can day for now Mr Lewis is that I will take fifty of that one hundred on the condition that I keep the monster to skin and sell. Not only that but if you have a wagon and a free couple days I will not only do the job for free but give you ten percent of what I sell the monster for. All you have to do is feed and bed me and maybe buy some extra supplies for us to take down the beast. But for now let us talk on our way to your farm. Do you have a cart or horse or other beast?"