ikissdhimbck | OOM: Down in the East Texas Town of Galveston... -- 1888 -- for X-23

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OOM: Down in the East Texas Town of Galveston... -- 1888 -- for X-23

Kate's door opens out into her hotel room. It's nice — real nice, to be honest. Four poster bed, basin, writing desk, carved oak bureau and vanity. Empire draperies in rich reds and golds; pristine horsehair plaster walls.

"C'mon in."

Kate sets her things down on the bed, and turns to Miss X. Standing akimbo, she grins.

"Shall we see what the Miss picked out?"

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"No," X says promptly, looking a little startled.

"I do not think that."

Beat.

"We could do that? Here. Later."

If Kate wants.

X would not say no!

Her eyebrows brush her hairline.

"I was teasin'."

She bumps X's shoulder, and takes another swig of root beer.

"Sure. I know a horse y'could borrow. We could take a ride up Main Street."

There's a Colt shooting gallery to their right, with a line of eager young men waiting to try their luck. A little ways further, a strongman game sports a similar line, but there's a girl of about eleven holding the hammer while her older brothers snicker beside her. And beyond that, accompanied by the sound of an accordion, turns a merry-go-round.

Kate nods toward it.

"Or we could always ride that."

X's gaze flicks immediately toward what Kate is gesturing at, head tilting as she studies the ride.

"You like them?"

Beat.

"I have seen one. Before. But we did not -- use it."

If 'use' is the right word.

"I do not know why."

"I've only seen one once before, at a fair my daddy took me to when I was young. Never been on one."

It's an elegant contraption at every angle: trimmings in gold and ivory, finely carved; a colorfully painted polyptych at its crown; gold leaf etched horses, baskets, and poles of every color merrily circling its base. It's drawn a sizable number of children and couples, women riding sidesaddle with their gloved hands clutching their hats while their beaus stand by and smile.

(Behind them, the bell dings on the strongman game to the delighted crowing of the young girl.)

"I think they're beautiful, though."

X flicks a quick glance at Kate, then --

"We can try."

Beat.

"The children like it."

And X is often for many things that children like. Blame her Little League team.

Kate grins.

"If there's one thing I learned from teachin', it's t'follow the children's lead."

Maypoles, lake swimming, and hide-and-go-seek are just a few of the thrills one learns from being surrounded by the young.

"All right, let's go."

She slips among the onlookers, drinking down the last of her root beer while they wait for the ride to stop.

X does not grin, but she relaxes a little as she follows Kate toward the ride.

Her root beer is already gone.

What?

No judgment here.

The music is lively, and most of the riders disembark, though some remain for a second turn. Kate offers X a hand up.

There's a wide variety of wooden steeds to choose from.

The only unfortunate thing about the merry-go-round is that it grabs attention. A handful of gentleman happen to notice Miss Laura Talbot, and her companion, Katherine James.

"Hey, those're the women from the barroom!"

"Those li'l cotton pickers!"

"Sh-yit, you're right."

"I have half'a mind t'string 'em up by their pigs for the money they cost me."

"Someone oughta teach 'em a lesson, damn tootin'."

"You watch that duck fit of your'n, Henry, you'll get yourself in trouble."

"Then why don't y'run along home? This is a matter'a pride."

Three cowpokes, just brimming with pride, advance on the merry-go-round.

It is too bad for these cowpokes that they do not know Laura Talbot's hearing is superhuman.

She leans toward Kate, one hand holding on to the neck of her elephant.

"There are people. Men. From the bar."

Beat.

"They are looking for us."

This is Kate's world. She gets to decide how they handle things.

X does not want to get her in trouble.

Astride the back of her mighty chestnut steed, only just now laughing into the wind as they ride, hellbent for leather, Kate turns at her friend's prompting.

Men from the bar? She feels a quick stab of panic, thinking X means Milliways.

But, how—?

That's when she sees one of the cardsharps hauling himself up onto the carousel mid-rotation, the other two at his heels. She snaps her attention back to X.

"They don't look too happy 'bout what happened. How invested are you in finishin' our ride?"

"I would rather stop them," X allows, gaze already flicking over the crowd on the carousel, looking for a useful path of egress.

Maybe one that takes her nearest to the cardsharps.

Hush.

Kate smirks.

"Before they reach any of the children."

Thankfully, there are none between the gentlemen and them. Just one couple, on the very inside, too invested in their cooing to notice what's going on. Kate won't lead a chase closer to any innocents, so clearly the most useful getaway route is straight through the cowpokes.

What?

With a single nod, she dismounts from her trusty steed.

All three men are on the carousel now, the one at the lead coming at them with a shuffling gait. While Kate and X were drinking sarsaparillas, he was clearly into something a touch stronger.

One circles around a zebra.

Another grabs the pole anchoring a palomino to the ride.

The first? He's headed toward the elephant.

X twists on top of the elephant, launching herself at the man headed towards her.

Hopefully he will not mind her boots being introduced to his face.

And once her hands hit the ground -- after the cowpoke, of course -- X slips up to her feet and moves past him.

Briskly.

She might start running once she is in the clear.

(Or maybe not. Someone has to play bait.)

Strangely, the gentleman doesn't appreciate it at all. He reels with a terrible clamor, sending gasps through certain onlookers.

"Jesus, Henry!"

"Watch 'er, Wyatt!"

The man at the pole tries swinging his weight into X's path, hoping to knock her back.

Kate catches the impressive spray of blood from 'Henry's' nose out of the corner of her eye as she makes her way for the zebra.

It reminds her of a story Carlotta told her recently.

"Listen 'ere, li'l lady — "

The cowpoke ducking towards her doesn't get much further before she introduces the heel of her palm to his face. He makes a grab at her, absorbing some of the blow, so she twists and elbows him in the groin.

He folds like a card house behind her, and she tips her hat to the startled couple, now right in her field of vision, before moving after X.

"Sir. Ma'am."

The man at the pole, shifting to swing his weight in X's direction, meets her elbow with his diaphragm.

Theirs is a warm welcome.

Once he's down, X flicks a look in Kate's direction.

There are instructions?

Can't get through life without being friendly!

She skips over the felled man just as the first is regaining his composure.

"Hey! Stop! I wanna word with yew two!"

Holding onto her hat, she nods toward the hall they just exited.

"Let's lose 'em in the crowd!"

X just nods, slipping between two startled young misses and heading for the hall that Kate indicated.

She is really good at fitting through tight spaces.

It helps.

It's pretty impressive, to be honest. Kate's small, practically pocket-sized, but X is tall and muscular. She moves like a jungle cat.

Judging from the gasps and hollering behind them, the gentlemen are in pursuit. She doesn't pause to look for herself, she merely follows after X back inside the building, heading for the thickest crowd.

Christ in a chicken basket, can't these fellas take a hint?

As they pass the root beer again, Kate throws a handful of coins down and makes a quick apology to the stentor, gathering up several bottles. Now she turns, getting a bead on the three men. She chucks the bottles in their general direction, watching them shatter and spread sticky soda across the floor. It doesn't take much; just one wrong step, and their would-be assailants start sliding and flailing, suds a-flying.

X reaches back to grab Kate's wrist, tugging her further into the crowd.

A few seconds of lead will be enough to let them get --

Somewhere else.

But moving faster would be better.

Taking a moment to think back over where they have been --

X darts toward the last known location of the prototype velocipedes.

Kate makes a soft noise when X yanks her along.

Funny, she's rarely on this end of things.

Following briskly, glancing over her shoulder just once to see the gentlemen stumbling to their feet, she glances around X's shoulder and —

Wait.

Is she — ?

Hotwiring is not really effective with systems this old, but --

X is really good with practical mechanics.

Which means pretty soon the velocipede is coughing to life.

The noise is unmistakeable.

She flicks another glance at Kate.

Is she ready? Their lead is shrinking every second.

Edited 2013-06-26 02:49 (UTC)

Holy shit.

Kate's blue eyes go wide, and in the fraction of a second —

stentors yelling, cowpokes chasing, the crowd gasping and shouting, closing in

— she grabs X's waist and hops on.

"Let's git!"

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cutting_edgex23 - 2013-06-26 02:54 (UTC) - Expand

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ikissdhimbck - 2013-06-26 03:03 (UTC) - Expand

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