Advent Of A Gunslinger

Axel was caught rather off-guard by the fact that she knew his real name. All he could respond with was a delayed question. “...And you know who I am, because…?”

“Because? Because you’re a living legend!” Celaeno chirped as she walked over to greet him. “Your bounty is renowned across the land, air, and sea for all that you’ve done. Smoking out Chess E. James and his gang couldn’t have been easy.”

“...Oh so she’s the captain, huh? Celaeno. Almost couldn’t tell for a sec.” While she wasn’t wrong about the difficulty of his exploits, Axel was a tad put off due to the fact that the bird woman had naught but a towel on her body. “...Right. Listen. You uh--my friends and I need some help here.”

“Friends? You mean that you have a gang of your own?” she leaned forward with an interested glint in her eyes.

And promptly. Axel would lean backwards. “...Not exactly. See--I got a few acquaintances who’ve all suffered at the hands of them messy Abyssinians that run Klugetown.”

Celaeno’s face dropped. Her enthusiasm was replaced with a sense of dread and sadness with a long frown on her beak. “...Ah. That’s your problem. I see now. So tell me, who are these friends of yours?”

That’s when Vido snuck up to, and stood next to Axel on his left, followed by Kora on his right.

“Katrina Fa Ying--but Kora will suffice,” said the she-cat, “I am not affiliated with the gang that Axel speaks of. In fact, I too wish to put a stop to them.”

“Vido Montaña Magpie,” said the griffon, “I served as their pilot until...my vessel was destroyed in the ensuing conflict.”

“Wait a minute,” the bird woman loomed over Vido with a snarl, “This little voyuer is with you?”

Both Axel and Kora were confused at such a revelation.

“Beg yer pardon?” Axel questioned. “Just what happened, madam?”

“Caught this griffon guy trying to sneak a peek at me while I bathed,” she explained, and didn’t break eye contact with him, “Are you really on their side or was that just a trick? Who do you really work for?”

“...I...I’m sorry! I didn’t realize anyone was in there!” Vido squealed with a plea, “Please don’t throw us overboard!”

“Sonuva--there ain’t no time for this.” Axel stood between them both. “Look, it’s hella late and I wanna apologize for his actions. If ya’ll could help us, I’d greatly ‘ppreciate it.”

Celaeno looked down, and realized she was still in nothing but a towel. “Gah…” She grumbled to herself, and conceded the situation. “Only because we have the legendary Remington on board. We’ll speak more about this in the morning. Back to your rooms, gentlemen.”

Without a word of protest, both Monocrow and Rusty went to separate parts of the ship to rest for the rest of the night.

The captain then turned her attention to Axel and his group. “...I have one guest room. Hope you don’t mind sharing it.”

Axel couldn’t tell if she was more annoyed at not finishing her bath or whatever Vido had done. Either way, they were in no position to refuse her offer. “Understood,” he said.

Celaeno turned and started to walk down the steps to the lower deck. The sounds of angry words muttered underneath her breath could barely be heard as she left.

“...Vido,” Axel addressed the griffon directly, “We’ll deal with whatever that was tomorrah mornin’. Don’t sweat yerself. We just need to explain what happened.”

“...Alright, Axel,” he replied shakily, “I’ll try and get some sleep.”

Kora said nothing. She simply observed the layout of the ship around her and made mental notes.

The Next Morning…

Celaeno’s new guests were called into the dining hall within the lower deck for breakfast.

The trio would make their way down there, and silently pass by other avian crew members.

However, they would soon find out that there was more to the crew than what met the eye.

“Have a seat, you three,” Celaeno invited them to sit at the long, rectangular table. She was in her full pirate gear--hat, armor and all.

Axel, Kora, and Vido silently obliged. Kora and Vido sat next to each other on one side of the table while Axel sat alone on the other. Celaeno sat on the very end on the short side.

“Just us here?” Axel asked, “Did the rest’a yer crew eat?”

“Yes, they have,” answered the captain, “I wanted to speak with you all on a more personal level without any outside interference. And I figured the best chance to do so would be over breakfast.”

“...Makes sense to me,” Kora piped up, “What shall be on the menu for this morning, Madam Celaeno?”

As if right on cue, the door to the dining room would be pushed open by a food cart. And the individual pushing it…

“Hey ya’ll! Gotchyer breakfast right here!”

A minotaur. A female one. She had on a pair of tightly-fitting jean shorts that accentuated her muscular rights and hefty bottom. Her breasts were fairly large and contained by what appeared to be a red, white, and blue bikini top. She had a long, flowing head of blonde hair beneath a cowboy hat with holes poked through so her horns could fit. But perhaps most interestingly, her body color was brown...a similar brown to a certain other minotaur that Axel had met previously.

The Maverick

“Wait a minute,” the gunslinger thought to himself, “...could that be Tony’s daughter? It’d make sense given that she wanted to be a chef. I reckon she’s makin’ quite a livin’ under pirates.”

She placed a plate in front of each of them. A set of light and fluffy pancakes with a side of freshly cut fruit, a little dish that contained their syrup for each of them, and a tall glass of milk. Celaeno’s pancakes had seeds cooked right into them.

“...Oh wow,” Kora marveled at the plate of breakfast pastries before her, “Thank you so much, Ms….?” she asked, searching for a name.

The minotaur gal replied with a smile. Her voice had a thick country accent with a high pitch. “Roseanne’s the name, ya’ll. But Rose or Rosie is fine too! And yer very welcome!” Once she had finished serving the plates, she promptly exited the room. “Holler if ya need anythin’ cap’n!”

“Thank you,” Celaeno started to pick at her fruit with a fork. “Now, to get down to it--Axel. You’re a famous, skilled gunslinger aren’t you? Taken down loads of gangs and whatnot?”

Axel removed his facemask so he could start to eat. “S'pose ya could say that,” he replied as he took his fork to the pancakes, “Guess ya’ve heard a lot about me.”

After finishing a bite, the bird woman would continue. “Well, of course I have! Throughout my travels, I’ve met with a lot of young folks who are in their teenage years. A couple of them said that they got their knowledge of firearms and rope tricks from you.”

Both Kora and Vido stopped eating when they heard this new information.

“...Reata tricks?” Vido asked with amazement.

“Firearms?” Kora inquired with an interested tone. “I never would have pegged Lord Remington to have enough patience to teach others anything. When we first met, and even now he comes off as a more strict, no-nonsense person. What else is hiding under that cowboy hat?”

Axel had finished half of his pancake stack in between everyone talking. Everyone else was still on their second one. “...Guess there ain’t no avoidin’ it.” He turned to Celaeno and answered. “Yeah. Whenever I get the chance, I tend’ta offer young’uns some advice on how’ta use weapons and whatnot. Got a prollem with that?”

“Not at all,” replied the bird woman, “In fact, I admire it. The last thing I want is for a child to grow up helpless and on their own in this world. But it’s just so...odd--for lack of a better term.”

“What is?” he asked.

“The fact that you, a renowned gunslinger that puts bullets through heads for money would bother teaching anyone anything.” Celaeno leaned forward with an intrigued grin on her face. “What’s with you, hm?”

His response was delayed, but he eventually gave one. “...I don’t want nobody else to grow up alone and defenseless. End’a story. We gonna sit around and play Twenny Questions or are ya gonna hit me with somethin’ important?”

Vido suddenly jumped into the conversation. “Don’t mind him, Lady Celaeno--he’s just...not very conversational towards people he hasn’t spent time with yet.”

The bird woman shot an annoyed glare in the griffon’s direction, and didn’t respond to him at all.

“...Yikes, is she still pissed at me? Suppose I can’t really blame her. Better lay low for now.” Vido chose to keep his input to a minimum as to not set her off.

“Ahem,” Kora could feel the tension, and decided to draw Celaeno’s attention towards her. “That is to say, our gunslinger acquaintance isn’t exactly prepared to become best friends.”

“Here’s the thing,” Celaeno went on, looking directly at Axel, “You need our help, right? To deal with the Abyssinians that dominate Klugetown?”

At this point, Axel’s plate was empty--fruit and all. He finished before anyone else at the table. “That’s the long and short of the apples from the tree.”

“Well you’re in luck, Remington. As it just so happens that I too, want to repair Klugetown from the state of disarray that it’s currently in.”

Axel scoffed. “Tch. Do whatcha want with that shithole. I’m just lookin’ta get in, get payback for what they did to mah fam, and get out. But...we can use yer help to find our way back.”

With a fiery state of excitement in her eyes, Celaeno would make an offer. “Then why don’t I cut you a deal? Help me and my crew with a little problem we have, and we’ll give you all the help you need.”

“And what kinda problem might that be?” he asked.

“It’s got to do with a settlement of minotaurs in the Bone Dry Desert’s valley,” she explained, “One of my informants told us that there’s a high-value target there with a special magical weapon that--”

“I’m in,” Axel got up from the table as he answered. “Ain’t nothin’ gon’ stop me from gettin’ what I want.”

Everyone simply stared as the hippogriff left. That’s when they realized that his plate was empty while they had yet to be finished.