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Chapter 11
Pt.III
"Morons & Mud"
(Polite Society, Valentine Style)

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"Willow, what are you doin'?"

She was hauling around a few unknown drinks in brown bottles, apparently, she had them packed in the wagon and was prepared for such an occasion. How Willow thought of these things or managed to slip them in, she'll never know.

"I'm tellin' ya, Sadie, we're gon' knock 'em out!" Willow chuckled.

"Is this moonshine?" Sadie snatched one from her to get a closer look at it.

"Mixed with some herbs an' whatnot thanks to Tulip - yes!" After a small pause, she shook her head. "We ain't gon' kill anyone, jus' get 'em dumb men knocked out cold, silly." Willow took it back and nudged Sadie with a smirk.

She had silently wondered what kinds of little things Tulip could do for a split second. The woman appreciated Willow's attempts, she didn't want to ruin the fun so she tried to play along, despite the depressive thoughts raking at the dark corners of her mind.

Sadie looked around, "Look, I know it's for fun and all, but... I don't want to have any business with men right now, even if it's a little scheme..."

Willow nodded slowly, "I know... But you can jus' watch and have the fun played out for ya, it's easy as pie if ya find the right dumbasses haha."

"Sounds like most things in life..." The bottles clinked in Willow's hand and she chuckled, Sadie had never thought of doing anything other than simply shopping. While her depression was still lingering, Sadie decided to why not go and see what kinds of ridiculous things Willow could do? Admittedly, her explosive, giddy demeanor was a bit contagious.

"Ehem! Let's see if I can get someone outta this saloon... An' if they're drunk, it'll be even easier!" She cleared her throat and dusted off her clothes and skirt. "Trust me, it works - Hosea taught me his old charmin' ways... I'm gon' test out an' see if I really got it still. Sadie, ya can jus' look near the window, them bein' drunk will be easy for me to pickpocket and I won't hafta use these!" She wiggled the small, dangling bottle in her hand.

"Oh, okay Willow, whatever you say..."

Willow pulled out a makeup and foldable mirror, it looked too fancy for that to belong to her. It even looked strangely familiar, then her unspoken question was answered when Sadie saw the initial of "M".

"Don't tell Miss O'Shea." Willow giggled, caking her cheeks with makeup to give it a slight rosy pink blush.

She laughed, "You really are a thief."

"Whaddya expect, Miss Goody Two-Shoes?" She smiled.

Dusting off her skirt, fixing her hair, and clearing her throat, Willow stepped into the saloon with a completely different demeanor. As Sadie watched and peered through while not being as obvious, she stared at the girl who approached a lonely man with a couple of booze and empty beers.

It was amazing how Willow acted like such a kid even though her life of running with the gang is extremely serious and hard: shooting, killing, perhaps even more malicious activities - you name it. Yet, this 17-years old blondie has an innocent attitude that doesn't seem like it suits with the gang at all. It was almost like one of the ladies, specifically the brunette woman who loved to indulge herself in romantic books. But this was a different kind of innocence, Willow's was much more of a childish sort.

Despite all of that, it seems to work somehow.

"Howdy, feller." Willow came over, the man has a dirty white shirt and seems as if he's on the verge of passing out. "You look like ya need some excitement in yer life." She smiled.

He looked from his reflective glass bottle, smiling in return. "Oh h-hello, Missy..."

"Say..." Willow leaned in with her sweet voice, "If yer lucky - I'll let you do it for free..."

The drunk man had his smile widen, his eyes glazed over and blind from the liquor, his breath carried that scent of booze. "An' the catch?..." He hiccuped.

Willow winked, "You jus' gotta be good...aren'tchu?"

He cackled, slurring his words in some incoherent mumble, and finally stumbling up from his seat. "W-wanna do it right now, miss?"

"Don't pass out on me jus' yet cowboy - let's go up in the rooms..." The man was sloppily leaning in for a kiss, she moved her head back, teasing him. "Not here..."

'They took the bait, now it's time to reel 'em in.' Willow thought, going on the steps with a light bounce on her footstep.

Sadie was laughing outside.

As they went into one of the rooms, with some difficulty leading the drunk up the steps, Willow gently closed the door behind the two.

"Turn around, sugar, I'll change out of my clothes - don't worry, I'll be quick." She cooed, "I'll make this fun if ya do it."

"O-Okay then, missy." He stumbled in his steps, turning until she saw his sweaty back.

"What's yer name, darlin'?" She spoke as if honey was in her voice, Willow took out a revolver that was tucked in her waist.

She crept nearer, closing in on the man as he answered. "Ernie, m-miss."

With a quick bash on the head, he collapsed and went limp like a doll. "Well, Ernie, ya jus' got fooled." His body made a thump on the wooden floorboards, luckily, people would assume that things were getting a little rough.

She briefly thought to herself, amused. 'That wasn't very hard. But...let's make this a little interesting.' Willow got one bottle of moonshine, removing the cork with a squeak and dumped a bit on the man. Then, with a half empty bottle, she placed it near his hand, dropping it from a small height to make it look like he dropped it. 'That'll do it.' Willow rummaged through Ernie's pockets, grabbing any little thing no matter how small the change was.

Willow quickly looked for another exit, taking the one that clearly wasn't the front doors of this small saloon, and meeting up with Sadie.

"How did it go?"

"Easy as pie, Sadie. Knocked out this fella named Ernie." Willow snickered. "Made him look like he drank a lil' too much of this." She pointed to the bottles of moonshine.

They were chuckling together, walking down the streets, sometimes even spotting one of the girls from their gang scurrying around with a devilish smile. "And if things went sour - what then?" Sadie asked.

Willow shrugged, "Shoot 'em, I guess."

"Ain't that what we're tryin' to avoid, drawin' attention to ourselves? Makes me wonder how y'all get by with carelessness like that."

"We're a buncha fools with motives that happens to match our same dream, Sadie."

"I can see that."

-Few hours passed-

The girls wandered through town, steering clear of the saloon and walking in the open in case the man Willow robbed (and a few others by picking their pockets or bags) ever saw them, they were passing time by meeting a few folks, even the man named Thomas.

Willow was strolling down the streets, looking at the muddy ground and tracing the deep ruts made by wagon wheels with her eyes. "That gentleman seems like he's too kind for his own good - judgin' by what folks 'round here say 'bout him."

"That might be what they see him as, you'll never know, that guy might be some no-good bastard." Sadie chuckled.

"Yeah... Oh look, it's Miss Gaskill." The brunette woman seemed really gleeful, spotting the two and quickly strutting over, holding her skirt so as to not have the hems of it be coated by dirt. "Howdy, Miss Gaskill!"

"How many times to do I have to tell ya it's just Mary-Beth, ya lil' devil!"

"Ya seem real excited." Sadie said.

"I'll tell you ladies when I get those sleeping beauties up, c'mon, c'mon!"

They saw Arthur, Tulip, and Uncle sleeping like birds on the bench, Willow wanted to laugh extremely hard. "Wait, wait, lemme get this..." She stopped the girls short, then pulled out a blocky contraption from the wagon. "I gotta get this, haha..." Willow grinned madly.

"Now where did you get that?" Mary-Beth asked.

"Stole it."

"Figures." Sadie and Mary-Beth smiled.

With a few moments, she had just taken a photo that the gang will laugh at for quite a long time...and possibly will get her murdered by Arthur. "Aaand that... Will. Do." She said with immense satisfaction, "let's get 'em up."

While Mary-Beth approached Arthur and Uncle, Sadie watched, and Willow planted a firm foot next to Tulip. "Eh-hem!" Tulip jolted awake, moving the brim of her hat up to meet eyes.

"Hm?" Tulip was blinking her eyes and rubbing the dust away.

"What in God's name? - goddamnit, Willow..." The men were startled by the loud smack of the boots and clink of her spurs. The women couldn't help but make a giddy, girly giggle.

Gaskill spoke up, her voice soft as always. "Gentlemen, ladies... I think I've gotten somethin' good." She chuckled with a little giddiness. "I snuck into this fancy house..."

She leaned in, Tulip scooting a bit closer until Willow wedged herself into the space, making the silent gunslinger to roll her eyes. The men listened in with extra attention, like all thieves and robbers do.

"Acted like a servant girl...usually works. Someone was sayin' her sister was takin' a trip from New York or someplace." Her lips curled into a grin, "Train full of rich tourists, headin' to Saint Denis...and then cruisin' off to Brazil!"

Arthur shook his head, while Uncle took a swig of the whiskey. "Okay..."

"A train laden with baggage and passin' through a bit of deserted country at night...as to get to the docks in time for the tides - in someplace called Scarlett Meadows."

"Huh..." Tulip looked to the side in thought.

Sadie and Willow caught it, seeing that she'd be familiar with the place, Arthur scratched the side of his cheek with his thumb. "Yeah, I know that place..." Uncle spoke up, "It's right on near New Handover. Right, it's real quiet over there."

Arthur nodded, "Sounds good... Where's Tilly and Karen?"

The girls looked at each other, Willow shrugging. "Usual, I guess. With 'em drunken fellers."

"I think they're at the hotel, pickin' them up and tryin' to rob them."

"Why?"

Mary-Beth replied, "Seemed easy."

"It sorta is, really...:" Willow whispered to the side.

"They have been gone for quite a while."

Arthur took a deep breath, standing up. "I guess I'll go see if there's any trouble. Tulip, c'mon."

Sadie was looking around, and she pointed half-heartedly, "Ain't that Miss Jackson over there?"

Tulip eyed the man like a vulture, her brows furrowing while the others were watching too, the folks around Tilly and another man with colored skin weren't paying much mind. But the man dressed in a tan coat had a vice grip on Tilly's arm, "That does not look ideal..." Arthur went spoke with a gruff tone. " 'scuse me. Tulip, find Karen."

With a silent but affirmative nod, Tulip went off into the hotel, the building which the man and Tilly had exited from.

-Arthur-

He walked his way over to Tilly briskly, a scowl forming on his face.

"You thought I wouldn't find you, Tilly?" Arthur sees around the corner of the building that Tilly was backed up against the wall, the man having an iron grip against her arms, enough to make her face wince in pain slightly. But Tilly had a formidable fury and anger in her features, staring down at the man with a fearsome glare.

She seethed, spewing out venom between her teeth. "You can go kiss a damn snake of all I care...get off me!" She wrestled against his grip, "Get off of me!"

Arthur interrupted, his rational thinking telling him to hold off on causing any huge commotion. "Get your hands off her, friend." They both looked, Arthur stared him down like some low-down scum.

"Who're you?"

"A friend of mine..." She held up a dangerous and hard glower, but her voice wavered slightly.

The man had a fancy, shiny chain running through his pockets and looping around his middle button. He stepped back from the wall and Tilly, looking at the ground for a split moment, indicating that he was somewhat reluctant to start trouble just as Arthur was. "Or what, exactly?" His hands were opening and closing, his fingers seemingly ready to grab his gun and aim it at the fly.

"Wanna find out?" Morgan threatened.

-Tulip-

Pushing open the doors, she walked in. Her hat adjusted to hide some of her face, "Can I help you, ma'm?" The man standing behind the counter eyed her cautiously, due to her skin or how suspicious she was acting, Tulip didn't care. She has one objective and that was to find Karen, perhaps save her if something went real ugly.

Tulip went by without a word, not wasting a breath, and stepping up the staircase with haste.

"No trouble now, please!" The gentleman behind the desk yelled.

Tulip went through the hallways, going to the right and passing by white curtains hanging on the windows. With a door on the end of the hall erupted voices, troubled ones. In a quickened pace and fiery feelings deep within her, she came closer to a room 2B. "I'm getting what I paid for!" A male voice bellowed behind the door.

Tulip's hand appeared on the doorknob, trying to turn it open. With no success, she stepped back and reared up her foot, kicking the wood with a mighty force.

*THUMP!*

Then a second time.

*THUMP!*

The door flew wide open, the lock clinging on the wood broke, sending splinters to scatter across the floor.

"Off of her." Tulip commanded, her eyes soon landing on some white man in his undergarments, he was sweaty and lustful. Karen was on the ground, her face bruised and lip busted.

"Who the Hell are you, Redskin?" He growled, Tulip was utterly disgusted. From Karen's point of view, something flashed within Tulip's eyes, making her look downright murderous upon seeing a worm like him.

"Outta here, vermin."

"I ain't going nowhere - I paid for this, Redskin!" He barked, only making her scowl harder and her fist clamp tighter.

"No one pays an' hiughs her, animal!" She bought up her fists, "C'mere!"

The man started by trying to tackle Tulip, but with a counter, she pushed him back, making him lose his footing and having to hold on the bed frame to recover. She closed in with a hook coming into his right side of his gut, and he wheezed.

"You and yer damn, Redskins whinnin' 'bout land..." He gritted his teeth, punching her face and sending her brown hat to come off.

Karen lifted herself using an edge of a small wardrobe as Tulip spat red into the man's eyes and grabbing by his hair. With him momentarily stunned, Tulip was rearing her head back with her chin tucked in, she had aimed for the bridge of his nose, breaking it. But he was groaning in pain, still conscious and Tulip wasn't done, she had did it two more times, bashing the top of her head and bringing into the man's visage with blunt force as hard as a cannonball.

With a grimace on her face, Tulip had dropped him to the floor, massaging the most-likely bruising forming on her chin while watching him go limp as dead. "Damn, Tulip...anymore and you might have just killed him."

Tulip nudged him with her boot, "Mm." was all she said. "You fine?"

Miss Jones had her mouth opened slightly as she was feeling gingerly around the wound on the corner of her lips. "Jus' fine...men being men..." She spoke, exhausted, as they both had planned to get out of the building. "At least... He said somethin' about a bank, small town banks are far and few, I know. But with this bein' a livestock town, lots of cash flow into this place sometimes..."

"Okay, keep lookin'." Tulip spoke as they reached the bottom floor, the man at the counter didn't speak because of how fast they were going by and weren't bothering to talk to him. But they can clearly tell that he wasn't very pleased.

"I will... Thank you, Tulip. After you." Karen gestured, to which Tulip came out first, meeting up with the rest.

"You okay?" Tilly came over, even Uncle went to see how Karen was. He may be made fun of, but Uncle cares just as much as the rest of the folks in the gang do.

Something Sadie had realized from time to time, Karen sighed. "Sure, he only punched me... Tulip did more than punched him though."

"Did you kill a man?" Sadie asked.

She shook her head, "Good, alright then." Arthur said.

Tulip looked around until her eyes fell on someone peering in their direction, but mainly eyeing Willow and Tulip herself. When they had met eyes, the nervous feller widened his in some dawning realization. A dangerous realization. He seemed familiar to her, no one else noticed because of Karen, but someone else did...

"Hey, who's that guy over there looking at us?" Mary-Beth grabbed their attention.

Tulip studied him with squinted eyes and suspicion. "Mm..." Tulip hummed low, suddenly recognizing him from something she had jotted down in the past.

"W- Weren't you in Blackwater a while back?"

"Us? No, sir..." Willow responded.

"Well, I definitely saw you..." He shifted uncomfortably in his checkered suit, flickering the reins of his horse to turn the other way, "With a bunch of fellers, yeah -"

Arthur spoke up, "No, that's impossible. Come here for a minute..."

"Come on, git!" Tulip broke off into a sprint no sooner as the man broke off with his horse in full gallop.

"Oh, I don't like this." Uncle spoke.

"Me neither, go get the girls home, seems that me and Tulip are on' have a word with our friend." Tulip had already stolen a Mustang nearby and Arthur rode up on an American Standardbred. "Hyah!"

"Hey, that's my horse!"

"Jus' borrowin' it!" He chased after the two.

"Get away from me!" The man yelled in complete fear, Tulip wasn't far behind, she was trying to get him with her lasso, but the horse was fighting against her control.

"Calm!" She struggled.

At this point, Tulip won't be able to get near the man with the horse disobeying like that, tussling its head around and fighting against it to go in the direction Tulip wanted it to. Whatever mess this simple shopping trip has turned into, Arthur's going to have to silence the witness up ahead to avoid being a trouble magnet any more than he wishes to.

Even if it has to resort into violent methods - Arthur had guessed that he shall see.

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A/N: Short note. School (upcoming tests), fan projects, personal projects, and other excuses for not updating. I apologize.

Things like this

And ofc, workin' real hard on journal as always...

I'm doing this and its like... (71)?
But...Thanks so much guys, for ridin through this journey of mine, and it's far from over. Just like my "journal journey" - I'm going through the story once more. Sadie's dialogues might not be the best, I know.