Chapter two :D! And it's already getting mushy o_o"...
Sorry for the wait, been busy as hell and MAN was this was nearly impossible to come up with a good title for -.-!
*** Chapter Two : The Soulmates ***
Priscilla jogged all the way through the newly built town to the sheriffs office. She was already late and it didn't look good, especially not now when they had a visitor! Before she entered through the door, she stopped to correct a strand of hair that fell into her eyes and dusted off her clothes. So far, her first impression as the deputy hadn't been all too great, the least she could do was try to not look like she just got out of bed. Which she actually had...
She took a deep breath and stepped through the door, instantly sheriff Rango and their visitor snapped their heads to her. "Uhm..." She cleared her throat. "I'm real' sorry I'm late..." She said lowly and hurried to scurry to her usual spot; behind Rangos chair with her back leaned against the wall and arms crossed.
"Oh it's alright, it's understandable after all that paperwork you did last night!" Rango said with a wink at her.
She nodded and pretended that she didn't notice it. "Yeah... The paperwork..."
"Now, maybe we can get on to business?" The visitor, a chubby ringtailed cat said and pushed the little round glasses back up on his nose. He had a briefcase in his lap and a bowler hat on his head, apparently he tried his best to look as important as possible. "As I just said, my name is Phidias, Nicholas Phidias. I was sent here on account of my employer, perhaps you've heard of him; Frederick Murdoch?"
Priscilla immediately nodded. "He's the one who owns the Murdoch Tradin' Company, ain't he?"
Rango didn't say anything as Nicholas nodded. She probably knew more than him about things like this anyway...
"Yes, and Mr Murdoch has a preposition for you two and another man"
"A preposition? What does he want?" Priscilla asked before Rango could open his mouth. "And who is this other man?"
"That is something which you'll have to take up with Mr Murdoch. I am just a messenger, here to ask the two of you to come with me to see Mr Murdoch himself"
"Why couldn't he come and see us himself?"
"Because he's busy of course!"
"Don't he think we'll be busy as well?" Priscilla cocked an eyebrow while Rango boringly leaned his elbows on his desk and played with a pencil. He barely even began to open his mouth before his deputy already had finished her sentence. "We're the only two lawmen in a growin' town, which also lately has been like a magnet for outlaws. Who knows might happen if we both leave to meet with some businessman in a faraway town?"
"Actually, it's not THAT far away; his office is in Tuskagee City, only three days away!" Nicholas fingered on the handles on his briefcase.
Priscilla didn't budge. Tuskagee? That's where Bentley works as well! But, we just couldn't leave Dirt now... Can we?
"Now, if I may ask you something, Mr Phidias..." Rango hurried to say before Priscilla got to it first again. "What is it he want from us? Do you know ANYTHING about it? Because we'd really like to know that if we come with you, will it be worth it?"
"Well..." Nicholas pondered for a while. "I think he has a mission for you, and I bet he'll pay you handsomely too! But as I said, you'll have to ask Mr Murdoch himself about it. I'm just a messenger! Oh, and he told me that you would ask just that, and he told me to tell you that it will most certainly be worth your time!"
Priscilla was still a bit hesitant, but she didn't get to speak her mind because right then, a dark brown diamondback female poked her head in through the door and made both Rango and Mr Phidias jolt in a startled fashion.
"Yo, Cowgirl!" Jolene hollered at Priscilla and her loud, raspy voice bounced in the little office. "There's a real' bad lookin' guy in the saloon lookin' for ya! I'd love to take care of him myself, but I need to take lil' Roderick home. He's already threw up on two other kids an' I really don't wanna clean up more of his mess!"
Priscilla grimaced and nodded. "I'll be right there, Jo!" She said with a sigh. Great, another bountyhunter looking for Bentley, probably... "Duty calls, I'll be right back!" She tipped her hat at the sheriff and walked out through the door and continued the opposite direction of where Jolene were headed with the little sick rodent boy.
After both her and Jolene left, Nicholas was left in shock and slowly turned to the sheriff. "W-w-was that j-just...?"
"Rattlesnake-Jolene? The Grim Reapers fast-shooting little sister?" The chameleon nodded, slightly amused by the fancy ringtails expression. "Yup! She's our daycare-lady!"
…
The sun had just set when Priscilla finally stumbled back into her house. That bountyhunter she encountered earlier today had been looking for her, hoping that she could be lured or forced into giving him information about Bentleys whereabouts. But instead, he got two bullets lodged in his arm and a broken jaw. That Nicholas Phidias-guy had nearly messed his perfectly clean pants when she passed through the office to get to the jailhouse at the back with a bleeding and staggering outlaw in cuffs.
She kicked her boots off in the hallway and hung her hat on the wall, and noticed that both Bentleys hat and coat was gone. She let out a low sigh of disappointment and walked into the kitchen, and as usual found a note on the table:
"So, yeah the house is pretty empty now huh? I remembered that my boss had a special task for me as soon as I'd get back, and he'd pretty much kill me to death if I didn't return on time. Sorry...
Please don't worry if I'm not back in a month or so! I've got a feeling this 'mission'-thingy is gonna take a while...
But I just wanna tell you that I love you! As in; REALLY frickin' ADORE you! And I'll be back as soon as I can JUST because I love you! And your pancakes! They are awesome! And your butt is pretty cute too... But most I love you!
See you later!
You-know-who (NOT the guy without a nose!)"
She smiled and shook her head at the note before leaving it on the table. She knew he likely would be gone by the time she got back, but she still felt disappointed that he didn't stay at least one more night. They had only been together for a short moment this morning, and last week he had only been able to stay for the day! Perhaps she shouldn't complain, he WAS wanted since a couple of years back after all, and it was a wonder that he hadn't been caught already! And she was lucky that she just had to wait a few weeks between each visit, but she really wanted him to stay more than a few days next time. She wanted him to stay forever...
With another resigned sigh, she locked her eyes on the fruitbowl on the kitchen counter and felt her stomach rumble hungrily. She hadn't had the time for breakfast, and her lunch had been consisting of a glass over at Bufords saloon and a sandwich. As her stomach growled a second time, she walked over to the bowl to get her hands on a snack. But the bowl was almost empty; a pair of small apples and a lonely orange. Bentley once said he had a love-hate relationship with oranges; it was impossible to peel them and cutting them open would only squirt juice in his eyes, not to mention the orange always gave him unpleasant surprises in the shapes of seeds, but despite all that, he could probably eat a whole barrel of them. She wouldn't be surprised if it had been him who now had 'borrowed' all her oranges too.
She took the last orange with a third sigh and did a mental note to herself to go shopping the next day. But then, as she popped a slice of the orange in her mouth, she remembered that she wouldn't get the time to go shopping tomorrow; while she was away to deal with the bountyhunter, sheriff Rango and Mr Phidias had talked and Rango had eventually agreed to go see Mr Murdoch in person. The three of them were to travel for Tuskagee tomorrow noon, her adoptive father Wounded Bird and Rattlesnake-Jolene had already agreed on taking the roles as the two stand-in lawmen while they were away. Priscilla wasn't sure whether she should be annoyed at Rango for agreeing to go on such a journey they didn't even know the purpose of, or excited; chances were high that she would meet Bentley in Tuskagee, maybe they would even meet up on the way there? She grinned while thoughtfully chewing on the orange slice. Man would Bentley be surprised!
Crunch. Speaking of surprises...
She cursed and spat out the seed in the palm of her hand before throwing it in the trash. Oranges were delicious, if it weren't just for those pesky seeds...
...
Priscilla finished the orange, made herself another sandwich and a cup of tea before going to bed. While she switched clothes, her thoughts once again wandered off to Bentley. That bountyhunter she encountered today was just one of many who had been searching for Bentley, and the ones who wanted to use her to get him were increasing! Everyone who came to Dirt, directly searching for Priscilla, said that they just wanted information out of her. But she knew that they weren't so stupid that they actually thought she would give them what they wanted in exchange for money and a couple of nice words. Only whores did that, and she sure as hell wasn't planning on becoming one. She knew that they much rather would use her as a bait to catch him. Use HER to get to him! And they wouldn't be the first ones to come up with that idea...
She walked over to the full length mirror by the wall and slowly moved the shirt from her shoulder, revealing a big, star shaped scar. A flashback from when she was shot went through her mind as she ran her fingers along the scars edges. She still remembered the excruciating pain as the bullet went through her shoulder, and the bloodcurdling scream from Bentley still echoed. She had been used by others who wanted to get to Bentley before, by Johnny Longway, aka Jet, and his two psychopathic henchmen; the Gajerra brothers.
They had threatened to kill her if he didn't reveal to them where he had hidden a certain key, and they almost succeeded to! And he had honestly tried to tell them, but when he gets scared his mind goes into some kind of lockdown, and all he could do was to ramble incoherent nonsense and laugh nervously.
That was just one of the many things she would never forgive the three outlaws for. Not only for putting her through the humiliation of being nothing but a defenseless puppet, but also for the anguish they caused Bentley. His mind had completely snapped, leading him to massacre at least twenty men like some kind of mindless, sadistic killer-machine. They turned her Bentley into a monster, and THAT was unforgivable! And she was sure that it would all happen again if one of the bountyhunters and gunslingers got a hold of her.
She took one of her revolvers from the belt she had hung over the chair by her desk and hid it underneath her pillow. She knew she might just be paranoid about it all, but she felt it was just a matter of time before they found out where she lived and broke into her house in the middle of the night. The least she could do in that case was to bury a couple of bullets in their bodies.
But now she tried to not overthink about it and just go to sleep. She crawled down underneath the covers on her side of the bed and threw a sad look at the empty spot behind her. She sure wouldn't mind having Bentley beside her right now. But since he wasn't here, she crawled over to the nightstand on the other side and began to rummage through the drawer until she found what she was looking for; a voodoo doll. Made from a pale yellow fabric, big button eyes and gray yarn on top of its oversized, stitched head.
With the little doll in her hands, she scooted back to her spot and nudged herself deeper into the sheets, clenching the doll tightly and holding it close to her chest. She smiled faintly and closed her eyes as she carefully played with the dolls yarn hair.
"G'night, Bentley..." She mumbled lowly, as if he was nearby. "I love ya..."
…
Bentley shuddered as the cold night managed to bite through his clothes, coat AND blanket. He muttered something incoherent to himself, wrapped the blanket closer around him and scooted closer to the little fire he made.
He was inside a concrete pipe, a gigantic, human-made concrete pipe. Few dared to cross through the humans towns, which was exactly why he did that. Being on the run from everything and everyone sucked, since he always had to be careful where he went, who he talked to and where he slept. When he rode with Rango, everything was a lot different; they went wherever they wanted to, they talked with whoever they wanted to and they could fall asleep in the middle of the goddamn street if they wanted to! But then of course, they became wanted and now he doubted even 'Rang-Rang' has had a good night sleep for years!
Suddenly, a shrill screech from tires sliding over concrete and loud music, followed up by laughter and foul language interrupted his thoughts and woke Grumpy up. The bird raised the oversized comb on his head and squawked angrily at the noise, and Bentley nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I know... Humans..." He snorted and rubbed his hands together in front of the fire. "They're goddamn crazy, the whole lot of 'em!" His roadrunner gave him a 'you're-the-one-to-talk'-look before tucking his head in under his wing again.
Bentley curiously looked out through the pipe and at what he could see of the human city. Apparently, it was called 'Las Vegas', or something, and it was ginormous! And bright! And there were people everywhere at ANY time of the day! He had heard that humans weren't nocturnal by nature, but the people here in Vegas didn't seem to have gotten that memo, judging from all the ruckus he could hear in the background. In fact, there seemed to be a lot more action going on during the nights than the days! The average casino was about the same size as Dirt, maybe even bigger. The entire city was lit up by neon signs, street lights, traffic lights, the entire buildings etc, and due to this, not a single star was seen on the sky.
This night, Bentley had taken refuge in a construction site, apparently the only calm place in the entire town. Except for the hooligans in a fancy car that just passed. The site had been shut down for the night, but the humans would probably be back early in the morning and Bentley hoped that he would be gone by then. He did NOT wanna find out how the humans would react to finding a talking hyena, only a few inches high by their ridiculously big measurements, sleeping in a pipe! He had heard that their hyenas were a LOT bigger and not bipedal, and weren't much for talking either. In fact, few of 'their' much larger animals did. Seeing how 'well' humans handled things they thought were different, Bentley had decided it would be safest to just keep his distance to them when resting up in one of their towns.
Looking out at 'Las Vegas' one more time, he couldn't help but to wonder what it would be like living like a human in a big city like this: stressful, crowded, noisy... Nah, he preferred Dirt; a cozy little Western town in the heart of the Mojave desert. No loud, ear-raping music, no hooligans in shiny, wheeled metal-monsters, and the only lights at night were the billions of stars strewn across the dark sky. And to just sit next to his Prissy, watching those countless of stars reflect in her large, round, amber colored eyes, the two of them alone surrounded by an empty, shadowy desert landscape, now THAT is where he belonged!
Or was it? He frowned and blew into his hands before putting them down closer to the fire again. No... He didn't belong in the desert... Hell, he didn't even belong here on this continent! His real home was far, FAR away from here! Past the vast Atlantic ocean! Where he belonged, the air was humid and the vegetation thick and so green it would make anyones eyes hurt. The trees were ancient and some of them had trunks so thick that at least ten hunters had to join a ring to reach around. The only noise around were the songs of many colorful birds, and the chattering of the tree-living monkeys and apes. Despite the 23 years he had been stuck here, he still remembered his home so clearly, the only thing he had forgotten was the names and some of the faces of the people who lived in his village. What he wouldn't give to see them again... And his sister... He wanted to see her again so badly, and apologize! After all, it was his fault that their father was murdered, and he had some faint memories that his sister might have tried to kill him for that. But he still wanted to meet her again.
He looked out through the pipe again and tried to see the night sky, but all he saw was a reflection of the lights in the city. No stars... With a sigh he turned back to the fire, and wondered what his sister was doing right now... Perhaps she's at home, just about to leave on a hunt with her pack? Perhaps she's waving goodbye to her mate and cubs as she heads out with a spear in hand? Or maybe she was sold too, but to another slaver? What if she was being held somewhere where they still had slavery, and was forced to work hard just like him?
He tightened the blanket around himself and shuddered again as a cold breeze swept through the pipe and almost blew out the fire. He wanted to go home... To his REAL home! The jungles of Africa! Where he had tried to go ever since he was freed! Where he had longed to return ever since he was kidnapped as a cub and shipped overseas!
But suddenly he felt something soft on the inside of his coat, and pulled out a piece of triangular, dark purple fabric; Priscillas old scarf. The corners of his mouth instantly tugged upwards as he rubbed his thumb over the fabric, it was getting worn and sometimes he accidentally poked a small hole in it with the short, black claws on his fingers. But maybe it wasn't so strange that it was getting tattered: he had kept it with him ever since he got it from her three years ago. Just looking at it made him think that she was always there with him, and he suddenly felt bad for feeling so homesick all of a sudden.
But he did want to go home. To climb the trees once again, feel the leafy earth ground underneath his paws... But what about Prissy? He would NEVER leave her! He wanted to take her with him, he wanted to show her everything he grew up around! He wanted her to follow him and become part of his people, his family! But that would never happen, she loved her own people too much. The town of Dirt meant everything to her, it was HER home! And the people in it were HER family! The last time he had asked, no begged, her to leave her home and follow him, she had said no. Why would this be any different?
He loved Priscilla, and, even if he had yet to ask her, he just knew that he one day would marry her. He remembered that his people used to say that whenever a soul is created, it is split into two halves to be born into separate bodies. The two halves must then find each other to finally become whole again. He hadn't really believed in that, he didn't believe in much nowadays, but that was until he met her.
He had never thought that he'd ever find his soulmate, not here at least, so after he started riding with Rango, he became somewhat addicted to both the saloons whiskey, or cactus juice if they had that, and the women. He made it into a sport to see if he could find a girl before any of the other guys did. Something he deeply regrets after he found his other half; Prissy.
But if he one day was forced to choose between her, or to finally return home, he was torn. He wanted to go home, he wanted to return where he had always belonged! But he didn't want to live a life without Priscilla. That would only be like living a half life, if even that!
Suddenly he felt his left eye twitch, and his hand instantly went up to it. "No!" He said firmly. "Y'ain't gonna go insane on me now, brain! I'm just a lil' emotionally unbalanced right now! No need to get all twitchy and loco 'bout it!"
…
The fire was slowly dying out, and the cold crept closer and closer. Bentley still sat all curled up in the pipe with his back to Grumpy, trying to mooch some bodyheat off the big bird. In his hands he still had Priscillas scarf in a tight grip. His eyes were growing heavier by second as he was trying to force himself to fall asleep. He had to get up before the humans returned, and so far he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. This cold was something extraordinary, it must be winter...
It was cold and noisy, he was hungry and homesick and most of all he wanted Priscilla. 'Miserable' just wasn't enough to cover how he felt. He should have just stayed another night with her and later blamed it on that Grumpy got a thorn in his foot. Even if the others were starting to get harder and harder to believe that excuse. But right now, he'd rather face Lewis' and his boss' wrath than this.
He let out a yawn, felt a cold chill crawl down his body and huddled closer to Grumpy. The bird was still sleeping soundly, but he wouldn't be happy if he woke up. Bentley looked down at the scarf in his hands and closed his eyes as his hands dug into the fabric.
"G'night, Prissy..." He muttered almost inaudibly to the scarf. "Nakupenda..."
Hey, you wanted a sequel and that means y'all will just have to endure these mushy-mushy, sappier than tree-sap, diabetes-inducing Bentley and Prissy moments as well ;P!
Oh, and we'll be going on our annual trip to Michigan next friday, so after that there won't be any new chapters for a while ^^... But I hope to update both TLO and EOTP before I go ;)
