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[DitV] Sanctuary Valley--where we shoot at children.. and possibly old ladies.
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"No, I realize that ya weren't necessarily brash about it. But there are them that'll see it that way. Oftentimes a man can get threatened knowin' that a woman can do what they see as men's work better'n they can, so you got to tread careful." Talitha sighs and looks at the girl for a moment. "When I was younger'n you, I was a real tomboy. Climbin' trees, scrapin' my knees and generally not carin' what people thought. My daddy doted on me, thought it was great that I was happy... but even back then there were those that saw what I was doin' as sinful. If ya saw how I was ridin' back there...it was side saddle. Not 'cause I cain't ride like a man, but because it puts folk at ease. If I wuz chasin' someone you better believe I'd be ridin' full out, both legs in the sturrups and maybe cussin' like a banshee... but there's a time and a place for everythin'. For us more'n most."
Smiling fondly at the girl, she stood up and walked over to her horse. "Now, it's your place to act as ya wish. I won't force anythin' on ya. But if you want my advice, I'm happy to give it- I been dealing with Prideful men my whole life, and I think I managed to strike a fair balance at it. We'll just see how I do with this town, now that I've said all of this, though. It looks like a challenge, sure enough."
Abigail nods at Talitha, a glint of hope appearing in her eyes.
"Thank you," she says, hopping up onto her own horse with only the slightest of favor to her tender ankle. She pauses though, once she's atop the beast, shifting her position to the side so as to imitate Talitha's own.
Waving, Abigail rides off a moment after the Dogs, though she takes a roundabout route around the town walls around that directly for the gate.
It doesn't take long for the three travellers to reach their destination, however, and just as their new friend had suggested, it seemed as if the entire town was out to meet them.
"Welcome!" cried a rotund man in a suit, what hair he had significantly greying. "Welcome to Sanctuary Valley!"
Everyone was dressed as if to attend church, in their absolute best.
"I'm Brother Marcus," says the rounded gentleman, and this is aide, Brother Nicholas." Marcus introduces a much thinner man at his side, a creature with slicked back brown hair and bright green eyes.
"A pleasure," Nicholas says with a smile.
All three of the Dogs notice that most of the town seems to have their eyes drawn more towards Talitha than her companions, though none of them say a word or make any other sign that could possibly be considered rude.
PSN: SAW776
Charles paused for a moment, considering the man before him.
"So. What can we do fer ya?"
"There are still a few minor issues," Nicholas interjected, "of course, but nothing that should require the attention of the Lord's Dogs. We are quite lucky to have a Steward who is so capable a shepard." He continued to smile.
PSN: SAW776
Charles smiled slightly, finding himself distrusting Nicholas. "Well, we're here, so we may as well help with whatever we're able ta. What're yer troubles?"
"Well," he said, "I'm not sure, to be honest. We had a bit of a demonic scare recently," he admits, "but the King of Life has seen fit to punish the wickedness. We have faith that it will be purged through His grace."
"Our other problem does, however, stem from the first," Nicholas pipes up once more. "A very respected member of our community was killed only two days ago. Brother William," he says, shaking his head slowly.
"Terrible thing," Marcus adds. "Trampled to death. The herd was spooked by his own daughter, worst of all."
"Terrible," Nicholas repeats. "But now there is the matter of his widow, Sister Madeline. She cannot possibly be expected to care for herself, yet she is determined to not accept any suitors."
"Obviously the woman is mourning," Marcus says understandingly.
"Obviously," agrees Nicholas, "but has stated that her mind will not be changed, and that she will stay in mourning for dear Brother William for the rest of her days."
"You can understand how that wouldn't be healthy," continues Marcus, "not for her or the Branch. Generally it would be my duty to ease her out of it--once she's given a proper amount of time to mourn, of course--but, if it's your wish to care for the minor wounds we currently bear, I suppose that would be a place to start."
While the pair talk their talk, Brother Aidan fails to notice much out of the ordinary. Many of the people looked slightly concerned--especially when Marcus mentions the death of Brother William, but beyond that no one seems to be glaring or cowering amidst the crowd.
The one fellow that does stand out does so only because he looks exactly how one might imagine the Steward to have looked in his younger and lighter years. The teen, who one could easily assume to be Brother Jacob, Marcus's son, is standing at the center of the line of gathered Faithful, beside where his father had first begun his welcome before marching forward to shake hands and exchange pleasantries.
PSN: SAW776
As the conversation progressed, all sorts of interesting information was revealed, some of which fell into place and some just gave rise to more questions in her head. They were blaming everything on Abagail, something was DEFINITELY wrong here, between Marcus and William, and Abagail's mother was to be targetted next. She would also have to keep an eye on Jacob.
Excitement indeed. she thought as she kept up her expression nicely, I hope this learns him to stop wishing for complications when things are going well.
"Now, I'd like ta help her move past her loss, as livin' in the past tain't healthy, but ya can't force someone into somethin' they jes don't want. I'll talk ta her and try ta help her see that mournin' fer the rest of her days ain't smart, but I ain't about ta force someone inta marriage."
Charles paused. "Sometimes it's better for the Branch ta let a woman stay unwed, then ta force her into a marriage she don't want."
Charles grinned. "'n if she's anything like her niece, forcin' her inta somethin' 'll just cause her ta run away, and ain't nobody wants that."
"You've met Sister Abigail, then?" Marcus asks, unsure exactly which aspect of the statements to address first.
"Poor girl," Nicholas says.
"We just want to help her," Marcus says, nodding, "but she don't want none of it. Poor thing--she just wanted to be like her parents. They were fine folk. Her real father was Steward of this town ten years ago. It was a huge tragedy when he and his wife were killed."
"Its hard to blame a child who has been through so much when they turn to sin," Nicholas sighs. "We just hope she can be brought back to the fold."
"We can only hope," chirps Brother Marcus, "that the King of Life's blatant disapproval of her actions will guide her back."
"It has been so hard to watch though," the other man replies. "To see so much misfortune in just a matter of weeks."
"I never would have expected the Father to take Brother William though," Marcus admits, "but those cattle..they were just drove wrong when the girl came upon 'em."
"By the time we could respond to her screaming," Nicholas clarifies, "he was beyond all our help. Perhaps if you had been here then..." The man lets his voice drift off.
"But that's then and this is now," Marcus states flatly. "If it is your decree that we should care for Sister Madeline as a community rather than expect her to care for herself, then that is what we'll do. You'll not find Sanctuary Valley to be a town that opposes the word of a Dog, I assure you."
PSN: SAW776
Aidan turns his horse away from the crowd. "Brother Charles, Sister Talitha, I don't believe we have any more reason to bother these fine people," he said with a smile. He looked directly at Marcus and continued, "Brother Marcus, can you point us in the direction of Sister Madeline's house? Perhaps we'll have better luck reasoning with her."
"This is my son," Marcus says, looking quite proud, "Jacob. Good lad," he continues, smiling, "couldn't ask for anything better."
Jacob gives a little nod and a smile towards the Dogs as his father pats him on the shoulder.
"I can show you there no problem," he says, "though we all know the way. Brother William and Sister Madeline were good people--we all looked up to them."
PSN: SAW776
"Not sure what I can tell yas," he says as he walks. "Not that you ain't already heard, at least. My pa's a good man, though up until this past week I doubt he'd have said the same about me. He expects a lot." The boy tries to shrug it off.
"Not that I'm complainin about the sudden approval, though," he adds. "Just ain't the normal way of things. I suppose it's hard havin a son who can't best a girl. Suppose now he figures it wasn't my fault, so he's forgiven me."
"The King of Life expects you to carry yourself--the demons make no such demands, actually preferin the opposite. Least that's what I'm told. All I know is what that girl could do wasn't natural. Even after..." Jacob shakes his head. "Just that she used to be a sweet girl. Never would have guessed she'd end up out in the woods summoning spirits, ya know?"
PSN: SAW776
Charles frowns. "Now, I'm skeptical when folks go acussin' other folks of bein' with demons. It's an easy accusation ta make ta those ya ain't fond of."
He pauses, staring into the distance.
"But this seems ta have a bit more meat ta its bones. Care ta tell us tha story of young Abigail, lad?"
"Captain Reynolds came ridin in one day," he continues, "lookin a bit worse fer wear as the story goes. He rode straight through to Abigail's house and begged her parents for their help. 'Parently the Territorial Authority was havin more than a bit of trouble with some bandits in the area over by the Hill Creek Branch. Seems that people there were startin to lose the Faith."
"Now, it might surprise you, but ol Captain Reynolds is an Atheist through and through. He's from back East originally," he says, as if that explains it all. "But the Captain knew that if the town fell apart, things would only get worse."
"So, Brother Gabriel and Sister Clarence rode out as fast as they could. They never came back." Jacob pauses to kick at a rock on the path.
"That I remember," he admits. "I remember when Captain Reynolds came riding back alone. Said Abigail's parents gave their lives to put the Faith back into Hill Creek."
PSN: SAW776
"Seemed like Abigail would grow up alright, really," he says, "she didn't do nothin odd for a long while. Wasn't til a few months ago that people noticed her sneakin off ta tha woods and sometimes not coming back til unholy hours, her clothes dirty and torn." Jacob shakes his head, kicking at another pebble.
"After that, she wouldn't see a suitor with a ten-foot pole, and one day, while us boys were out ridin, she suddenly comes ridin up beside us on her mother's horse. Those horses didin come back with the Captain, yas gotta understand."
"She was incredible, even on a horse that woulda had ta been far past its prime. Most of the boy's parents weren't too thrilled when they heard about it, but Abigail was the daughter of Sister Clarence...what were they gonna say?"
"My pa, especially, wasn't too keen on me being beat by a girl. Like I said, his show of affection early is a new thing--I've still got marks ta prove that. But me an tha other boys tried to figure something out--we didin want to hurt her bad, ya understand, but she was makin our lives miserable an wouldin do a thing to try an understan that."
"So, I had my friend, Brother Ethan, mess with tha straps of her saddle, and then we got her into a jumping contest." Realizing all that he's saying, Jacob looks up, slightly concerned.
"Ya got ta understan. We didn't want to hurt her bad," he repeats himself, "we jus didin know what else ta try. We tried talkin ta her, really."
PSN: SAW776
"Yer a Dog," he says, "you don't know what its like to have everyone think yer a failure, including yer pa. Everyone is so proud of you when you go to serve the King and His Book. My pa stopped bein proud of me real quick."
"That's why we was tryin ta hurt her. Just to give ourselves a bit of an edge. But it didin work." He looks very serious when he says the last two words.
PSN: SAW776
Charles is silent for a moment and then frowns, considering the last part of the boy's statement.
"What do ya mean, it didin work?"
"It wasn til we started prayin fer protection from the King Himself that things turned themselves around."
PSN: SAW776
"It didin stop her from tryin though--least, not until Brother William died. Couldin say exactly what happend, just that we all heard her screamin, and when we got there, Brother William was dead, pretty obviously done in by his own cows." The boy stuffs his hands in his pockets, nodding slightly toward a house just a bit down the road.
"That's Sister Madeline's place," he says. "No one knows exactly what happened that night, jus that Abigail says she went to call him in, and jus like that, the cows went crazy."
"Some people been sayin he musta been tryin to put a stop to her disrespectin the Book, and so she turned the demons on him instead," Jacob adds with a shrug.
"Whatever happened though, somethin changed in her."
PSN: SAW776
"My pa may know," Jacob suggests, "or maybe Brother Nicholas, but its hard to say for sure, as I dun know who they was friends with. May be a small community, but I reckon that leaves us all pretty busy jus tryin to survive most of tha time."
PSN: SAW776
Charles looks off into the distance.
"It does sound like somethin' odd is goin' on here, but without seein' myself I'm reluctant ta take any serious actions."
"No body knows where that horse came from. I mean, horses know their homes, but that was an awfully long time to make the trip, ya know?"
PSN: SAW776
"Thank you for tha help, young'un. We'll talk ta sister Madeline now."
PSN: SAW776
He dismounts and heads towards the spot where he heard the noise, quickly, pulling his rifle off his back and holding it in front of him as he goes.
"Show yerself!" he says loudly, quickening his pace.
PSN: SAW776
"Stop and show yerself, damnit!"
"I guess it's the two of... Talitha?" he says, as Talitha spurs her horse and follows Charles.
"You kin head on without me- I get the feelin' I know who this is!" she calls over her shoulder.
Aidan shrugs, "At least this way Madeline will be at ease," he says to himself.
He walks up to the front door and knocks.
Raise: [4, 5] = 9 (Physical) vs both Charles & Talitha.
Fiendish Rustler's Remaining Dice [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10]
Aidan, however, is left in the dust to speak to Sister Madeline by himself.
A startled looking woman opens the door, the shouting having set her eyes more than a little wide.
"What in the name of the King?" she asks, peeking out from her door. Dog's usually bring excitement with them, but this might have been a bit unexpected.
PSN: SAW776
He hears Talitha galloping up behind him. "Sister! Catch him as best you can!"
Roll: [6,5,3,6,4,2,1]
Block: [5,4]=9
Raise: [6,6]=12
My remaining dice: [3,2,1]
Roll= [1,2,2,3,3,3,4,5,6,6,6]
Do we both have to see, or just the one of us? Waiting on my action until I find out- if there's discussion to be had we can take it OOC.