Advent Of A Gunslinger

“...Name reads familiar,” Axel replied, staring intently at the poster, “I wonder if it’s someone I might’ve crossed trails with before….”

Celaeno rolled the poster back up. “Whatever the case, I hope you’re prepared to take him out. Rumor has it that he’s married so try not to involve his partner if possible. Oh, and Ornithia’s airships are pretty expensive--but I’d wager that collecting this particular bounty will net you just enough to get a new one.”

“Well that sounds good,” Vido added, “Think we can stop at one of the nearby trade guilds soon?”

Surprisingly, the captain actually responded to the griffon. “We will. Shouldn’t take us long. In fact, one of the guilds I know of is on our way towards Klugetown.”

“Well that’s quite the relief, isn’t it?” Kora said with a flick of her tail, “We’ll be on our way in no time.”

But Axel fell silent. Something about the individual on that poster started to rattle his brain. As if he could have sworn he had seen a picture of that very dragon on a wall somewhere before…

“Hrm…” he huffed to himself, and left the room. “Just thinkin’.”

Celaeno heard this, and spoke her mind. “You alright, Mr. Remington?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just...need’ta think,” the hippogriff answered and turned to walk out of the captain’s room.

Kora would offer the bird lady some words. “...Lord Remington has been through quite a lot these past few days. Don’t mind him.”

Celaeno turned around at her desk to check a map to make sure they were on course. “I’d hope so. The way you refer to him gives me the impression that you see him as a leader of sorts.”

The she-cat scoffed with a sly grin. “Hm. You could certainly say that,” she grabbed the left lens of her glasses and adjusted them casually, “I don’t like to brag, but I tend to be on top of my game when I can observe someone for a while.”

“It’s true,” Vido added, and nudged the she-cat with his elbow. “This gata here is always playing things out like a chess game in her head. It’s pretty awesome.”

“...Rrright,” Celaeno gave a hesitant reply as she got up from her desk, “Anyway, I need to go let the rest of my crew know what we’re going to do next. And extend my gratitude to Chang and Rose for doing well out there.”

Vido caught the hint, and immediately turned to leave the room. “Ay. Understood, Captain. Come on, Kora--we have to let her get back to work.”

Kora caught on also, and turned to follow him. “Understood, my friend.”

After that little exchange, Celaeno would proceed to explain the scenario to each of her crew members. None of them had any objections to her orders, so things were able to advance rather smoothly.

So from there she would prepare the ship to leave the Valley and head back in the direction of Klugetown with the intent to collect their bounty at one of the guilds on the way there.

With the ship on its way out of the Valley, our legendary gunslinger had perched upon the stern, thinking hard to himself.

“...Myself, Kora, Granny-Martha. Possibly Vido? Who all has suffered from these folks? Brandy said they called themselves the Felidae. But what in the hell could that mean? Just what are they after? Dammit. I got too many questions that I just can’t answer and it’s makin’ my head spin.”

All the sudden, he would be visited by a low voice. “Mind if I join ya?”

From the corner of his eye, Axel could see the monochromatic osprey approach him on the stern. “Not at all,” he replied, “Was just doin’ some thinkin’.”

“Same here,” said Monocrow, “Captain told me everything that happened out there. Sounds like ya’ll had it rough.”

“Somethin’ like that,” Axel replied swiftly, “But that don’t matter. I’m one step closer to my goal.”

There would be a bit of silence between the two as they sat there, watching the desert landscape move beneath them--sand blowing, bones rattling. The airship moved at a steady enough pace to where there was no fear of falling--not that it mattered since they could both fly.

After a moment, Monocrow would speak up. “Tell me something, cowboy.”

“Hm?” Axel replied.

“Once you get what you’re lookin’ for...ever considered what you’ll do next?”

Axel looked down at the desert landscape, and stared at the rolling sands. “Might continue what I’m doin’. There’s still a lotta corruption in this lawless world. Corruption that some folks allow.” He clutched one of his six-shooters in a tense grip. “...That’s exactly why my folks were taken away from me.”

“Hm…” the osprey lied down on his back, looking up at the clear sky. “Think it’ll make a difference, friend? Do you have what it takes?”

Axel glanced at the relaxing bird man with an apprehensive glare. “...What’s that s’posed’ta mean?”

“There are things in this world bigger than you and I,” Monocrow went on, “Things that we can’t reasonably hope to face off against by ourselves. My father always told me, ‘If you stick your beak where it doesn’t belong, it may just end up sliced off your face.’”

A point was made in those words. Some things in this vast, dangerous world were insurmountable without a proper support system. Axel saw that for himself in multiple ways in the last 48 hours. What with the fact that he jumped in to help Martha before she did something she couldn’t handle. Not to mention Roseanne working well with everyone else.

“...A wise man your pa was,” Axel replied.

Monocrow scoffed at that. “Tch. That old bastard was as spineless as a jellyfish. That’s why I left home at the soonest chance--but that’s a story for another day. Anyhow….” He sat upright, then stood up. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Trying to spread yourself thin across multiple areas will just make ya tired, feel me?”

“Trust me, I’ve been tired for years,” Axel replied with a scoff as well, “Been a long time since I’ve been able’ta rest. Last night was the first time I was actually able to.”

“Is that so?” the osprey asked with a deadpan tone, “With how much your bounty’s worth, you don’t strike me as the type to allow yourself to just ‘become tired’,” he said with air quotes, “Otherwise you’d be dead by now.”

Axel chuckled, and tipped his hat. “Well--ah--legends aren’t exactly as exciting when you meet them in person. I know that from experience. Though…”

“What?”

“Just wonderin’ what sorta price my own bounty has racked up,” he said with a slight grin behind his mask, “Never considered my own price tag. What am I? Some pumpkin at a county fair?”

That got a small snicker from Monocrow. “You’d be surprised, friend. Last I heard, your bounty was set at a price around...at about one million bits in Equestrian currency. Guess you’d be considered the prized gourd after all.”

“Huh,” Axel nodded, “Not bad at all, really. Surprised yer cap’n was so willin’ta help us out, frankly.”

“While it’d be easier to just turn you in…” Monocrow folded his arms, and broke eye contact, looking out to the moving horizon, “She’s not that type of person. She’s got a lot more tact than you would assume from a pirate.” He turned to Axel once more. “Plus, we already got ourselves quite the motherlode of treasure down yonder. No point in poaching you when you were more beneficial to us in acquiring something that was much more worthwhile.”

“So I ain’t worthwhile, ain’t I?” Axel would jest in return, “But fer real, that sounds pretty reasonable. Celaeno is quite the lady. Hope’ta conduct more business with her in the future.”

“Indeed,” the osprey replied, “With you guys around, we could take on the mighty-difficult raids that no one else will. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s hoping that griffon friend of yours can sort himself out in the meantime. She’s...still quite annoyed at him--though far less so than before.”

Axel could only ponder just how Celaeno had felt towards Vido. The fact that her privacy was invaded was something that couldn’t be ignored. However, it was ultimate an honest mistake that the griffon had no intention of repeating in the future.

Sadly, it wasn’t up to the gunslinger to figure that out.

“The boy’s a smart pilot,” he said, “I’ve got faith that he’ll figure it out.”

“If you say so,” Monocrow replied, “Celaeno isn’t one for holding grudges. So if he plays his cards right, he’ll be fine.”

Moments later, Roseanne would walk up the steps on the starboard side of the ship to greet them on the stern. There was an open letter in her hands. “Hey ya’ll, uh--Mr. Remin’ton. Can Ah get yer attention fer a bit? Privately?”

Axel looked at the osprey. “Anythin’ else ya wanted’ta say?”

Monocrow would take a few steps back, and spread his wings. “That was about the gist of it. I gotta go on patrol anyway. See ya later, yeah?” With that, he took off into the air.

“See ya...friend.” Axel replied silently, and turned to the minotaur gal. “So what’s up, Rosie?”

“I got this here...letter from mah pa,” she stated while shakily showing it to Axel, “...He’s in trouble.”

“...!” The hippogriff gasped and his wings spread wide.

“...Who’d be dumb enough’ta threaten Tony?”