Advent Of A Gunslinger

The next morning…

“Agh…what the hell happened last night?” Axel would awaken and find himself sleeping in bed like normal. However, he could tell something was off-key as soon as he regained consciousness. His pelvis was sore and he could taste what felt like a sweet, sugary sensation on his tongue.

That’s when he realized who all was in bed with him.

Several large minotaur ladies--a few dressed in their clown outfits, others dressed in mime outfits. They were sound asleep nearby, and the evidence was clear as day--with trails of semen leaking out of their bodies, it didn’t take long for Axel to figure out what had happened.

“...Hot damn. Just how long were we…?”

Before he could spend much time thinking about it for very long, Clarabelle walked into the room with her nightgown halfway fastened. Her hair was a mess, and one of her breasts was hanging out, casually swaying around. “Oh! Axel…you’re up, huh? Guess we played a bit rough last night, didn’t we?”

“...We did, huh? But all the clowns and mimes…you really had ‘em take care’a me, didn’tcha?”

Clarabelle noticed her exposed bosom and let out a small gasp before quickly making herself decent. “Ah! Er…yes. I noticed how stressed out you were when you went to bed last night, so I asked you if you’d like some help. You said yes, so…the girls and I did our best to remove every last drop of stress out of you.”

“...”

Admittedly, she had a point. The confrontation he had with Mio the previous evening had left Axel drained emotionally. As soon as the tom had mentioned the hippogriffs--the species his father belonged to--it drove him up a wall. It was a rather painful thing to remember, but ultimately, he knew he needed to keep moving forward.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he sat upright, “I’m better than that. I know I am. Shouldn’t have reacted that way. And don’t worry--I’ll make sure I apologize’ta the cat man too.”

Clarabelle sat on the side of the bed between some of the other minotaurs where there was free space, and shook her head. “...That’s no way to talk, dear. Your emotions are important too. You’ve had way too much weighing you down as of late, so you needed an outlet. Is that not right?”

“Well…I…” he scratched the back of his head as he averted his gaze out of shyness, “I s’pose. Then he drops in here and tells me that he wants me’ta ask the other taurs for help and I’m just…I couldn’t even think about what’ta do.”

“I understand…it can be difficult to think of what move to make when you’re under a lot of pressure,” Clarabelle replied as she grabbed ahold of his claw in both of her hands, “But know that you’re not alone anymore. No matter what, I’ll--no, not just me--we’ll all be here to stand by you.”

As soon as she grabbed his claw, the hippogriff was unable to speak immediately. A rosy tint colored his cheeks as his jaw hung wide open. “I…you…”

Clarabelle let go of his claw, and giggled into her hand. “Oh you…you’re rather adorable when you get like that, sweetums.” She then got up and started walking to the door. “Take all the time ya need’ta think, ya hear? Then once you’ve made up yer mind, come on downstairs for breakfast with yer friends and family. You can tell Mio and the rest of us whatchyer plannin’ then. Alright?”

The cow woman’s words restored confidence in the gunslinger. If there was a way he could get the backing and support of the minotaur warriors, then maybe, just maybe, things would go much smoother overall.

However, he still had his reservations…

“...These are families here. Wives, mothers, daughters--would they be willin’ta join up with me on an entire raid on a whole different city? Guess there’s only one way’ta find out.”

Beyond that, he had also begun to strategize on what he would do next. Axel got out of bed, and took a look at his leather armor that was set on the nearby vanity. “...Yeah. This ain’t gon’ do,” he thought to himself as he inspected the penetrative bullet holes in the wing-shaped portions of his armor, “Yikes…I’mma need somethin’ stronger than this. I wonder…”

That’s when he came to a conclusion.

“That’s it!”

About an hour later…

Axel left his room, and went downstairs to the cafe for breakfast. Not only were the other members of his crew present, but Celaeno’s were as well!

“There’s the man of the hour,” the bird-captain herself spoke up from the end of the room, which caused everyone to turn and look in Axel’s direction as well, “I was getting worried you wouldn’t even wake up.”

“Lord Remington, how are you?” Kora asked.

“Sleep well?” Vido asked as well.

“I did…” he looked at Vido in particular with a worried frown, “But I’m more concerned about you, partner. How ya holdin’ up?”

“Well…I had a talk with our monkey friend here--”

Chang was sitting next to Kora at one of the cafe tables, busy with his nose deeply entrenched within the Abyssinian spellbook she had acquired and had been writing down various spells.

Axel tilted his head and asked, “...is he alright?”

Kora’s ears quivered as she spoke up. “Oh, yes…he’s just assisting me with the inner workings of this tome. I was thinking of making use of it in our next battle, but I have to be prepared first. Can’t rush too hastily into these things, you know?”

The idea of making use of those arcane tricks intrigued Axel, but he was still apprehensive nonetheless. After all, the last time she used it, the she-cat ended up with a severe migraine that landed her in the hospital for quite some time. Using it improperly once more…

“...Dammit. Ya’ll are really goin’ all out, ain’tcha?”

For the moment, he put that in the back of his mind as he addressed Vido. “That’s good’ta hear you’re feelin’ better, friend. If yer still worried about all this…you ain’t gotta fight.”

“Nonsense, amigo,” the griffon replied, “I want to be here for all of you. And your sister. You guys are my family now, and I intend to keep it that way. So what’s the plan, boss?”