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Post by Kuro on Nov 30, 2012 0:05:16 GMT -5
The repairman jumped with a start and "Eep!" Right when he had started to calm down just a little after knocking out a complete stranger, someone else had shown up and now they wanted to see the unconscious stranger...Unconscious? The repairman looked over at the sprawled-out body before him.
...
No, not unconscious. Still, the person outside wanted to see Ringo and he hurt Ringo and Ringo couldn't talk to him and he looked like the bad guy but he wasn't the bad guy and what was he going to do what was he going to do what was he going to do?!? Oh, he, he, he, he didn't know, he didn't know! The repairman was jumping up and down at this point, pulling at his hair but biting his lip to hold back the screams. He didn't want the farmhand - Farmhand? Was that him? - to hear him. The repairman looked back and forth between the door and Ringo. Maybe...maybe...
"Uh, it's nothing! Nothing! You ain't one of those powder ganger types, are you?" He greatly exaggerated the cowboy western accent he thought that Ringo was supposed to have, and it showed despite the repairman's attempt at imitation. "I-i tell ya, t-they be getting all u-up in my business these late parts and, er, times. I would sure hate for you to be g-getting hurt though, I mean, the reason I was shooting, er, the reason I was, why I was shooting was because I thought I saw a Powder Ganger coming up from behind the gas station! I done see it on my..." The repairman looked to the blank metal wall of the backside of the gas station. "...window." The repairman began to breath heavily, even more sweat dripping down his brow. He couldn't do this, he couldn't talk to them, he looked like such a fool, sounded like such a fool, oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh...
Ringo's gun went into one of the repairman's holsters and he opened the door. He immediately put his hands up and started to speak.
"..."
His mouth opened into an O that kept twitching, making him look like a fish. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down in his throat, and he tried opening and closing his mouth to say something.
"..."
Despite his best efforts, no sound came out. Instead, he simply stood outside of the entrance to the gas station with his mouth hanging open, much like the door behind him.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Dec 2, 2012 2:25:07 GMT -5
"Is that... the 21er? What the hell are you doing here?"
The farmhand heard the door open and expected an answer, but no answer came. He gave it a few seconds before he crooked his head to the side to look with a lone eye around the side of the gas pump to see what exactly was going on. Sure enough he saw the fellow from the bar, and it took him a moment to make sure he was convinced of what he was seeing.
Under most circumstances he would have just shot whoever it was coming out, because it definitely wasn't Ringo. But he wasn't about to murder someone he'd just passed by in the bar and whom the locals seemed to know. He didn't lower his gun though and he didn't come out from behind the gas pump. He just continued the conversation like this, as he pleased.
"Where abouts that trader Ringo? He in there with you?"
Now over a botched job, that he could murder the vault dweller over.
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Post by Kuro on Dec 5, 2012 0:43:51 GMT -5
"..."
The repairman was now even more scared than before because there was a gun pointed at him, although oddly enough he did not go ballistic like he did with Ringo. Possibly because there was little for him to hide behind out in the open. Indeed, his reaction to the farmhand was the opposite of the reaction to Ringo. The repairman simply froze up, taking several long, awkward moments to answer.
"W-w-w-w-well....R-ringo...is not d-d-dead. H-he-he-he is in the building and is v-very okay...Except for the blood on his head. I didn't shoot him, I didn't shoot him, I didn't! I just threw a b-box at his head because he pointed a gun at me and please don't kill me i'm so sorry i'm so sorry!"
At this point he was crouching on the ground with one hand held over him as if to fend off any attacks. The other hand was getting suspiciously close to the 9mm pistol inside the holster on his belt, but a single sound soon broke through any odd situations.
"Uhhhh....Can anyone...here...? I think I was...powder gangererahh..."
A thud could be heard with an additional small groan, both of which along with the voice came from inside of the gas station. The repairman was now standing straight up, hands away from his sides, and gestured to the open door.
"P-p-please, c-ch-ch-check him out. I d-d-d-didn't mess up now, d-did I?"
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Post by CJ on Dec 5, 2012 15:37:23 GMT -5
"Ringo's gone. I'm calling it. Time of death: Sad o' Clock."
Several yards away from the situation, Miles was knelt down, observing a deceased radroach. She was accompanied by another radroach who, oddly enough, did not attack or bother her. It even nuzzled up to her as though it were a friendly dog.
"Ringo was a good one. I personally knew no one who liked him but I'm sure he found a place in someone's heart."
Miles head tilted to the left, as it usually did, as though she was deep in thought. She paused for a while, until she noticed the other radroach beginning to chew on the deceased one.
"Stop that, Paul. That is incredibly rude."
She actually picked up the roach and held it up like a baby. It seemed to be alright with this.
"How would you like it if someone ate your corpse after you died? Now, promise me you won't try to eat poor Ringo before I can give him the burial he deserves."
As Miles lectured the radroach, four more proceeded to snack on the dead one. She cried out and let radroach go.
"Oh no! Your jealous fans! They seek to erase Ringo! Stop, you collective!"
The suited woman flailed desperately to get the radroaches away, who were entirely indifferent to her attacks.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Dec 8, 2012 3:05:21 GMT -5
"...you did what in the hell?"
It took some long moments after the vault fellow had spoken for the farmhand to respond. Not because he had trouble understanding the stuttering fool, but because he had trouble understanding how what was being described could have actually happened. In response he held out his hand with the gun.
"Putting the gun away. Quit yer bellyaching down in the dirt."
With that he slowly raised to his feet from behind the broken gas pump, before he slowly paced towards the gas station, distinctly making his way around and away from the rad suit person and the roaches. He didn't stop for a moment when he passed the vault dweller, what a strange being. What was he even doing up here in the first place.
"Ringo, you in here? I got it on good authority out here you got clocked in the head with a box, you aren't dead are you?"
Hanging onto the doorway, the farmhand didn't actually enter the gas station. He leaned inside with his upper body, still keeping his feet on the steps. Really though, what a mess this had all turned out to be. If Ringo was worse for the wear, then things might not sit well with the farmhands employers. The 21er might have just gone and ruined this whole job, but he hoped not.
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Post by Kuro on Dec 10, 2012 22:21:56 GMT -5
A groan came from inside the gas station in response to the farmhand's question, followed a few moments after by slurred words.
"Uh...Y-yeah....I'm in here and i'm...not okay."
Another groan and now a small shout came from the man inside the gas station as he slowly got up, leaning on the counter for support. He looked at the farmhand who was partially in the gas station and just stared at him for a little.
"...Hey. A little help, here?"
Regardless of whether or not he got help from the farmhand, he made it out of the gas station with his gun stolen and one hand covering the wound on his head. When he got outside, he saw the vault-dweller suddenly standing before him and almost fell back, too tired or dazed to scream anything beyond a little gasp of surprise.
"T-that's the guy who took my gun and, and did this to my...argh!" His face turned from one of angered annoyance to surprise though as an idea started to form in his head. He tried to look into the vault-dweller's eyes, but had trouble doing so since the moustached man was doing his best to look away. His voice took on a considerably nicer tone as he spoke to the man and then everyone around him.
"Hey...how about you pay back this head wound and help me? Yeah, how about that? Help me gun down those Powder Gangers and I won't tell the Crimson Caravan Company you tried to kill one of their employees. They wouldn't be mighty happy about that. A-and you, farmhand, or cowboy-hat, or whatever you are; if you're so keen on helping me, then how about you do the same as Moustache over there? Help me fight the Powder Gangers? And uh...you too, er, rad-suit or whatever. How about it, huh guys? I think we can all help each other out, in a way.
Now, I think the first thing we need to do is get some support. I mean, no offense, but I don't think we can take them on by ourselves. We need the whole town to handle something like what's about to come up. I heard that the doctor in that fine house over there has got some medical supplies he might be willing to give up, see if you can go talk him out of it, for the town, you know. And uh, see if that one merchant can give us supplies, like armor or something, maybe you can barter with him. Besides that, uh...Talk to that lady in the saloon, the bartender, uh, Trudy. Maybe if you ask real nice-like or convince her or something, she'll convince the other townsfolk to help us out. I mean, i'm not being selfish or anything; if we don't get rid of those Powder Gangers when they come now, they'll just destroy the town anyways.
So, how about it, guys? If you all are good and ready, or get good and ready, or just have any more questions you want to ask, come and meet me back in the gas station. I gotta, uh...take a rest for a bit...see if there are any bandages around. If you convince the Doc to get some medical supplies, make sure to give one to me, I don't want to go over to his house right now for a treatment, I'm really...i'm really tired right now."
And with that, he slowly walked back into the gas station and fell onto the dirty and torn mattress inside, waiting for the others to do their thing.
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Post by CJ on Dec 25, 2012 23:48:08 GMT -5
Miles appeared next to the gun wielder, as though she had suddenly teleported there. She hugged onto a radroach like a teddy bear and hummed to herself as Ringo explained the problem.
"So, you all need to talk to people, do you?" she asked when Ringo stepped inside. "I could help you all with my high charisma statistic! I shall talk to this True Day."
The smile on her helmet was practically glimmering.
"Behold, my power!" she exclaimed. She twisted on her foot and immediately about faced. She marched back toward the bar with a cornucopia of radroaches in tow.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jan 1, 2013 3:56:55 GMT -5
"I ain't here to help you, I'm here to make sure you don't get killed. And I definitely ain't here to fight power gamers, but supposing you went on ahead and got into a right mess with them and it looked like you were in danger, I probably could..."
He wasn't sure what the others wanted out of all of this, but the farmhand had only come here for the sole purpose of making sure Ringo didn't get himself shot to death. Crimson Caravan seemed to care enough about its employees to offer payment for their safety, and so here he was. Realistically, now that he'd found the trader and everything seemed more or less fine, he couldn't figure out why they wouldn't just leave town now. If there was a problem with Powder Gangers, why even get involved with them in the first place?
"I reckon I'll go and see about that general store, see if I can't get us something to help with in the getting shot at department. I men that is if it's alright. Don't want to talk the talk and walk the walk only to get over there and find some nobody 21er already come along before me. That fit in with your schedule, or you wanna skulk off again?"
With some bitterness the farmhand waited to see where and what the vault fellow would occupy himself with in this little business they had going. Obviously the one in the rad suit was back to the saloon, but he himself wouldn't mind checking out the general store. Of course he didn't want to go through a repeat of what had happened here at the gas station. As said, although he was a bit bitter about the whole thing, he was willing to let it slide. If the vault fellow bird-dogged in and stole his work again though, he wouldn't be so forgiving nor would he be at all reluctant to introduce the 21er to his six-cylindered friend.
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Post by Kuro on Jan 2, 2013 12:29:30 GMT -5
The vault-fellow could only stare at the radroaches that were following Miles into the town. It was a disconcerting sight...but he certainly wasn't going to deal with it. He was grateful that she volunteered to do all of the charismatic talking, though. Maybe, if the farmhand volunteered to do the rest of the talking -
Nope. The farmhand was practically sneering at him. The vault-fellow looked to the ground and mumbled or whispered something to himself, something that no one was probably able to hear or make out. He then "said" something to the farmhand, but like his mumbling it was too quiet to understand.
"I'm going to the doctor..."
Oh no. Too quiet, too quiet, he couldn't hear him, he might yell, he had to talk louder, louder.
"I'M GOING TO THE DOCTOR!"
He ran off to the doctor who had fixed him up and practically rammed his way into through door.
"What in the world?"
"What in the world?! What - how - Get those radroaches out of my store before they eat up my customers! How are you - What?!"
A very rare occurrence was happening. Something that most folks would never see. True Day, the wise and motherly woman of Goodsprings, was at a complete loss for words. Her calm persona gave way to the completely rational fear of having carnivorous roaches the size of cats crawl all over her nice little bar. The lone man who had been sitting at one of the stools jumped up at the sight and changed his seat to that of the bar table, not letting his feet touch the ground or be in any range of the creatures. True Day herself did the same and took out a pistol that she hid behind the counter. She pointed the weapon at the roaches, but did not fire yet. She was starting to regain some peace of mind, and with that came some time to think. She thought of killing all of those things and giving the rad-suit wearing gal a piece of her mind - but then realized that they had followed her in. She seemed to have some sort of power over them...which might be useful.
She gave a nervous smile and looked at Miles. "S-so...Er, what is it that you need, honey?"
The man at the general store stood at the counter, a blank expression on his face. Sigh. He looked at what he had been looking at for the past few hours, the inside of his store. Food and the such filled the sacks and display cases and shelves that were in front of him, and the "defensive" products were out back. He waited for a customer to come in, anyone really. Business was getting slow...but then again, every day was slow, really.
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Post by CJ on Jan 6, 2013 0:36:19 GMT -5
The rad suit wearer leaned onto the counter. The smile painted on her head was nearly pressed up to Trudy's face.
"I'm S... Sa... Sav... S. Miles and I know people who need your help."
---
Miles walked outside with her roaches in tow. She clutched the same radroach close to her chest and looked at her surroundings.
"I have no idea why people wouldn't want you guys around," she spoke softly to the group gathered around her. She sat down on the porch. "You're the nicest friends I've ever known... except for..."
Her mind wandered again. She fell back and rolled back and forth on the ground.
"Still, it's nice they were able to agree to help out those guys. You have to remember the deal. We get help if you stay out of town limits, alright?"
The radroaches, numbering in about twenty, crawled on top of her and covered her completely. She laid still and fell asleep there, blocking the entry to the bar.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jan 6, 2013 1:41:52 GMT -5
"Knock knock, open for business?"
It was simple, talk to the owner of the general store and see if there was any way he might be willing to lend a hand. Just by looking around, the farmhand could see that there was more than enough here to provide for a fight against most types, let alone some gangsters. And he didn't even need half of it, just something helpful maybe, that would offer some protection in the supposed fight to come.
In theory it was sound. Why wouldn't he want to help? More than just Ringo's plight, anything involving the gangsters was bad news for the town. The farmhand didn't particularly care as he probably would never be back here again. But this guy that ran the general store, he lived here, so he must have a vested interest in the town. No way in hell would he just sit this out if his way of life was being threatened. Even the worst businessman could recognized this.
"So supposing we get in a tussle with the power gangsters, might'n you be able to spare some supplies for such an interaction? I'm thinking protection of some sort, doesn't have to be much, heck even leather-"
"Now hold on there. I never voted to take on the Powder Gangers. That is a thousand cap investment you are talking about."
---
"Well Ringo, I guess it's just you and me."
Having made his way back to the gas station, the farmhand plunked himself down on the steps to the door, checking the bullets in his revolver underneath the afternoon Mojave sun.
"In truth, might just be me. Ever been in a shootout before?"
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Post by Kuro on Jan 6, 2013 23:07:31 GMT -5
Ringo looked at his friend and groaned, his forehead wrapped in bandages. "What? No one? We needed something besides ourselves! Where are those two other guys...Hopefully they got something by now." He looked at his own 9mm pistol, and turned it around in his hands. "...I don't know how many will come. I need to make it out of here alive...I don't want to die here, I can't die here, what's wrong with these people?! Are they too stupid to -"
"I got the medicine, I got the medicine, I got the medicine!"
The vault-fellow ran up to the two in front of the gas station, a large bag in each hand. He panted, despite the small distance from the doctor's house to the station, and seemed to be having a hard time getting his bearings. "I...I...I got some stimpacks and doctor's bags. They'll, they'll, they'll, they'll heal us, they'll help us t-t-take care of ourselves." He looked around, confusion and a slowly dawning realization on his face. "...Where are the others?"
A tumbleweed rolled along the ground, with a slight breeze accompanying it.
"...Oh no. Oh no. T-this...this really can't be it...C-c-can, can...Oh." He looked downwards, sweat starting to appear on his pasty face. He dropped the bags and took out his gun - a laser pistol - and made sure it was completely loaded and ready for what was coming. He looked towards the horizon and gasped. Loudly.
Coming towards the town were several blue specks numbering perhaps 13 or so. They were all dressed in variants of the same uniform, some of them having black, probably bulletproof vests. They were walking towards the town, a weapon in the hands of each one, some of them machetes and some of them rifles. As they began to pick up speed, the vault-fellow trembled.
"This..this isn't going to be..."
"Sorry we're late, fellas. There was a radroach problem, not allowed to kill them and people panicked a bit; you know how it is."
A young woman with red hair and a full set of leather armor ran up to the guys at the gas station, a rifle in her hands and a dog by her side. Seven civilians, the store merchant not in their number, followed her, a rifle in each of their hands as well. Trudy was among them, and had a determined look on her face. "I hope you boys are ready. It sure seems like they are." She gestured to the incoming Powder Gangers. "Now, where is that Smiles gal..." "Uh, i'm right he-" "No, no, the other one. Oh shoot, they're firing! Everyone find cover and fire!"
Bullets flew through the air, although this early volley of fire was very inaccurate due to the large distance between the gunmen at the back of the Powder Ganger group and the townspeople. Nevertheless, the townspeople, Ringo, and the vault fellow quickly scurried and found cover behind boulders, buildings and the such. The vault-fellow found himself alone behind a house nearest the action. He peeked out from his cover and saw a man with a machete - there seemed to be a number of the gangers who had brought knives to a gunfight, running towards the townspeople with maniacal grins on their faces.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Don't touch me, don't touch me!"
The vault-fellow shot rapidly from his laser pistol, hitting an incoming melee ganger in the chest a couple of times. He didn't have one of the bulletproof vests, and the lasers went straight through him. He dropped his blade mid swing and fell forwards, dead. The vault-fellow, his eyes frantically looking side-to-side and his cheeks twitching, shot his green rays of light at the other running targets with moderate accuracy. A little shaky, but...he could learn. Later. When his life wasn't in mortal danger.
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Post by CJ on Jan 8, 2013 13:57:51 GMT -5
"CHARGE!" Miles announced unarmed as she charged with her comrades. She jogged at a steady pace, ready and determined to take down her opponents.
The rad suit wearer stopped when she realized who was shooting at her. She was very confused, because she thought she was fighting with the vault dweller. She then realized she somehow stumbled into joining the Powder Gangers just as they were charging in.
"Oops, I did it again," she said to herself. A laser shot from the vault dweller's gun pierced her helmet, making a hole in the upper left part of her head. She fell to the ground and and remained motionless amongst the bodies of the Powder Gangers.
The radroaches crawled quietly nearby.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jan 9, 2013 19:37:45 GMT -5
"Well now, that's a lotta' gangsters. Let's see... one... two... three..."
When the collection of people ran down the hill to meet the Gangers head on, the farmhand got up to his feet, grabbing his hat before he followed. Reaching the crest of the hill he began to count the number of enemies with his finger out loud. There were quite a few, yes, now he understood why Ringo was worried. It might have been quite bad for them though, were it not for the amazing display of help from the locals.
"We should be fine, as long as we don't lose our hea-" A stray bullet took his hat off mid-speaking, though he didn't flinch, nor was he seeking cover like anyone else. He just looked through the enemies to see who shot him, and sure enough there was the one most likely to blame. "Well that was a close one."
A good ways off, behind all the others... heck, a ways out of the town even was a lone Ganger with a varmint rifle. Sitting behind a rock, perhaps he fancied himself a sniper, for he very nearly took the farmhands head right off. In response though, back in town the farmhand walked out into the road in front of the general store. There were Gangers all around, but he only needed to focus on one.
"One... two..."
He wasn't even facing the guy, he just had his side towards him and was squinting as he tried to make the fellow out in the distance. With a hand at his side, he clenched at the air a few times as he counted. Suddenly he shifted his stance to fully face the sniper, bringing his hand forward as he did, holding his revolver to fire a single shot.
"Three."
The sniper collapsed, a bullet having found its way between his eyes. The farmhand meanwhile, was on one knee and holding his shooting arm with his spare, smoke rising from his revolver.
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Post by Kuro on Jan 10, 2013 23:57:48 GMT -5
He had no words. He sat there, his mouth wide open but with no words coming out. He looked at the radsuit that was lying on the ground because of a laser. His laser. The laser from his gun. The laser from his laser pistol. His pistol. His fault. His fault.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, this couldn't be his fault! No, he, he couldn't have messed up so badly! No, no! He was just trying to help, he didn't want to get roped into this thing, he just wanted to help, he just wanted to do the nice thing and look what had happened! He shot her, he killed her, oh no! And after she had (probably) convinced the townspeople to fight, too...Oh, why did he have to go and mess everything up! Again?!
A bullet that ricocheted off of the boulder he was hiding behind brought him back to his senses, loudly. He jumped up with a start and was stood high above his cover for a moment before falling to the ground in a panic, narrowly dodging one or two bullets that had hit off of the boulder again. They were getting better and better with their aiming, probably because they were getting closer and closer. The vault-fellow was actually on the floor with his hands over his head for a few seconds before he realized just how futile that would be.
The townspeople were not as erratic in their behavior, and had been able to off a few gangers without getting any of their own killed, although Ringo had definitely yelped at least once. The Powder Gangers didn't really notice, or perhaps they tried not to notice the radsuit-wearing body that had come out of nowhere. They certainly noticed what the farmhand had done though; killing the sniper with one, well-aimed blow actually stunned the Powder Gangers for a bit, which resulted in at least one of them getting killed for it. Now, it was at the point where there were only two gangers left, who were behind the cover closest to that of the townspeople's, with just enough distance between the two to make the thought of charging up to the enemy with a blade rather unappealing. This also meant that the two sides of the gunfight were now basically shooting at each other's cover whenever anyone dared to poke their head out, and the flying bullets would usually just miss or otherwise not make it to their mark.
FSSSHHHHHH
"Wait, what?"
The vault-fellow looked around him for the source of the noise and his eyes widened. Right behind him was a stick of dynamite with a fuse lit up and ready to go right...about...
The explosion was loud enough to make almost everyone's ears ring, and it was a rather blinding flash of light too. It left a black scorch mark in its wake, but had no ashes to show. The vault-fellow was now screaming and running to a wall of a house a little too nearby the Powder Gangers. When he got close enough to the edge, they could see him and he could see them. He wasn't stupid enough to just stand in their sights and then shoot as they riddled him with holes. He wasn't very good at this cover/gun-fight thing. He did see something near him though, something that made him jump again when he saw it. A dead powder ganger, now some corpse in a blue uniform. A moment later and something more important popped up. A red stick amongst all of the blue, sticking out of the dead man's belt.
He took it out and looked desperately for matches on the Powder Ganger's person, matches anywhere, anywhere! No matches? What kind of convict was this?! He screamed in frustration and threw the useless explosive stick at the Powder Gangers more out of anger or spite than anything else.
"Move, move!"
Apparently, just seeing the red stick of doom come flying towards them was all they needed. They rushed out from their cover to get away from the incoming explosion that would never be and didn't realize at first the drawbacks that came with running away from your cover and onto the empty field.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
The vault-fellow sat next to one of the bodies, carefully sifting through his uniform and belt with some reluctance. As he did stashed another stick of dynamite into his own belt, Trudy's red-haired friend stood near the farmhand with a smile on her face.
"Well, I gotta say, thank y'all for the help. It's much appreciated. Now Ringo can finally get on out and we won't have to worry about having to deal with them anymore. We couldn't have done it without you. Seriously, where did you learn those skills? I saw you shot a man all the way across the town, and apparently the bullet went straight between the eyes. How'd you do that, I wonder?" She crossed her arms and looked at the farmhand with one eyebrow raised and her smile still on, genuine, but friendly curiosity on her face.
"Oh! Wait, I forgot." She extended her hand to the skilled shooter and kept smiling to match her namesake. "I'm Sunny Smiles. It's nice to meet you."
Ringo lurked nearby in the shade of the tavern, getting medical care for his leg that had gotten shot in the battle, and the vault-fellow moved onto another body for looting, one body out of the many that had been left in the aftermath of the ghost town gunfight.
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