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 Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:11 am
Nora's eyes rolled as she was proped up. She was vaugely aware of the preasure on her wrists loosening as the ropes were cut away. She heard Diane talking to her, but couldn't make much sense of it. The world was a blur. As the other girl said something about staying alive untill the next town, Nora gained a moment of clarity. She nodded and groaned, trying to stand up under her own steam, only to come clattering back to meet the sandy earth. A thought occured to her as she fell, many other bounty hunters would have shot her where she lay, and claimed the bounty with her as a corpse. This one obviously cared. But then agan, Nora knew that as Thorn she was worth at least 3 times as much alive as she was dead.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:21 am
Diane quickly hoisted the sick outlaw onto her horse, and then hoped on. "Hold on tight, Quick. I'm gonna get there as fast as I can." With a kick, the horse was off like lightning, galloping it's way across the desert heat. It wouldn't take long for them to get there, and Diane was worrying about the young outlaw more and more, more less about the bounty itself, but of her bounty's well-being.
It was starting to get dark. Shops were closing as Diane's horse dashed into town, and headed towards the doctor. Before he could say anything, Diane had explained her situation, minus the fact she had a bounty in her hands, just hoping he would not know. Taking her inside the doctor's home, the bounty hunter carried her outlaw onto the bed, and sat in a chair outside, waiting as the doctor examined her.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:05 am
The doctor, a doddery old man in his late 50's exited the room a few minutes later. "That's a fairly sick child you have with you. She's been suffering for weeks. Food poisoning along with goodness know what else has left her ill. I've cooled her down a bit, given her some medicine, but I'm going to need someone to keep an eye on her for the night. She has a high fever see... If you don't have anything else you're doing, could you?"
The old man held up a hand as if he expected the bounty hunter to protest. "She's out cold now, will be for a while. All she really needs is rest and a good few decent meals." He waved the bounty hunter inside the room showing the girl the bed in which lay a helpless Nora 'Thorn' Quick. The outlaw looked a good deal younger in her sleep, with her hat off and her hair pushed back by a wet cloth resting on her forehead. The serene visage was soon rumpled by a frown as the young woman began to dream. Her breathing was a good deal more regular, her color was slowly returning.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:50 pm
With a sigh, Diane pulled a chair into the room and sat back, pulling down her hat and yawning. It had gotten late, and she really didn't want to be on watch, but since the doctor insisted, she had to. She was about to fall asleep when she looked over to the outlaw again. It was quite a shocker to her that the two siblings were in fact one person. It was more of a wonder as to how she wasn't able to see that.
She then sat back again into her chair, sighing. "I don't even know if I should even hand her in... If they realize that she was a girl... They'd think I was turning the sister in and not the brother... Godammit..."
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:42 am
The outlaw lay in a state of semi alertness. Her mind was opperating strange. Sluggish and unresponsive one minute, whirling and cohert the next. It was in a state of cohertness that Nora heard Dianes dilemah. A feeling of guilt washed over the accidental outlaw, and foolishly Nora resolved to do something to remedy the guilt.
The girl woke at dawn to light filtering in through the curtains. She fought back a savage grin as the headache pounding in her ears couldn't drown out Diane's snoring. Urgh...where am I....all I remember is falling over...and then something about making a promise to HELP this woman....guilt or something for causing her issues....I should take this opportunity to run off....
Sighing Nora reached for the earthware mug on the bedsied stool, slowly sipping the water within. Her headache and dry throat receded almost instantly as the cool liquid made contact. Setting the mug back down she stole a glance at the sleeping bounty hunter. She's actually quite attractive...I'm sure she's the sort of woman Thorn would go for.....but"Oi, pst! Gamblin' Vixen....you're snoring!!!" it occured to Nora then, that while she knew the other knew her name, she was unaware of the first name of her imprisoner.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 6:39 am
Agitated by the outlaw's obnoxious yelling, Diane got up, whacking her with her hat. "Shut up, you! You should be glad I saved yer life! Otherwise you'd be dead!" She grumbled, sighing. "You shouldn't be so noisy this mornin'... Get some rest, or I'll make sure you will." When the room became silent, the bounty hunter leaned against the wall, thinking.
"... Are you drinkin' alot of water?" Was all she could say, or ask, in this situation.
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:15 pm
Nora grinned at Dianes reaction, taking the wacking with the hat in her stride. "Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate your saving of my life....you must really want that gala!" she braced herself for another blow with the hat. But it never came. She was thrown of guard by the concern the other had for her. "Uh...I just woke up, but yeah, I'm drinking enough." she neslted down in the bed untill she was hardly anthing more than a face in amongst the covers.
"Miss Vixen? I've been thinking....I kinda heard you muttering about as to whether you should hand me in or not...." she paused and reached for the mug again, taking a few sips before countinuing. "You should. Hand me in as Thorn, and you should get paid the bounty. The people after me you see, they know about the doubble identity...and they want me bad enough to offer a reward for both my aliases. If you hand me in as Thorn and mention nothing about Nora, you'll get the reward for Thorn. Them Fausters, they don'r want the world to know that they got supposedly duped by a girl as young as me...even though I didn't do it...."
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:33 pm
"These folk sure are funny, making you seem like a criminal then. What they got against a gal such as yerself? You talk tall, sure piss me off alot, but you don't seem the kind to shoot up a bar." She sat back on the chair, looking at Nora. "Cuz if you ain't lyin', then I shouldn't be turning ya in... Don't feel right doin' that. I may be a bounty hunter but I sure as hell I ain't a greedy one."
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:12 pm
The sickly girl smiled charmingly at Diane, she knew what the girl said was true. But it didn't make her feel any better, she'd caused Diane a whole heap of trouble...not to mention she'd knocked her unconscious."You're a good lass, I can see that. But I don't want you having a moral conscience crisis over lil' ol me. You need the gala, you're in debt from gamblin from what I 'ear. Hand me in, you'll get more than enough to pay that off and live comfortable too...."
Nora sighed sitting up to rub her temples."Heh, lets put it this way, its a long story. My family has a rivalry with the Johnson family. The Johnsons say I'm responsable for nicking their bloody cargo. They say that the Quick family is down right rotten. But thats a lie! Ma family is the most respected merchant family in this bloody country. The bastards said I stole their latest shipment of precious stones. But in truth they sunk their own bloody ship, planted a 'ole lota gala an a dodgey recipt in ma tent and had the authorities try take me. But my cousin saw the plant and snuck me out with some of his ol' gear. Bin running ever since....taken out a coupple of bars on my way though...you'd be surprised how many men think they can cop a feel and get away with it....but I don't go pullin the trigger less its totally necessary...." slumping back down on the bed, Nora began to cough.
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:43 pm
"Go rest up, Quick. I ain't gonna let you travel in that condition." Diane stood up and turned to leave the room. "I'm gonna get me supplies and water from the store. So you rest." And with that, she left.
As she walked around town, her ideals as a bounty hunter were becoming more and more difficult to stick to. This outlaw was framed, but the bounty is so high, it would be foolish to let that chance go. At the same time, trying to help out the outlaw clear her name would bring even more bad luck for her. Being broke didn't necessarily help out with the decision. It would only be a matter of time before she would have to determine what her next move would be.
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:06 am
Nora nodded and closed her eyes as she listend to Dianes footsteps fade. Letting the Bounty Hunter catch her was now starting to feel like a bad idea. It's not like I couldn't have made it to the coast on my own, bah...who am I kiddin. I would have been dead gone... but now I seem to have given the poor woman a crisis.... any more rational thought was quickly pushed out of her mind as sleep flooded back in. Nora hated being helpless like this. But she had been desparate.
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:14 pm
Diane eyed the things inside the store, getting few supplies to save her some money. Her mind was everywhere: the outlaw, the bounty, the framing, the guilt. It was all getting to her. Why the hell did this had to be so difficult? Nora herself had already told her she would be rewarded big with no worries.
Diane was becoming more and more stressed, but before she could think of anything more, she heard mumbles from not too far.
"I hear rumors that the doc is housin' Thorn Quick."
"Naw. I heard that Quick could never be wounded."
"Sounded more like some sort of trouble in the desert, if ya ask me."
That was the last thing she needed right now. If they got their hands on Nor, who knows what would happen. And so Diane dashed her way back to the doctor's home, worried that rumors had already spread, and some eager hunters wanted to get their bounty when they could.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:29 am
The doctor's home had one or two nosey Bounty Hunters loitering to see who came and went from the house. One was sitting across from the house, on the front porch of another. Another was tending a horse out front of the house beside it. Both men were furtively casting glances towards the doctor's quaters on a regular basis.
Nora herself was lying in bed, in the final throws of the fever. The doctor sat beside her, replacing the cool damp rag on her forehead as it dried. "Never in my life, have I seen a child like you fight a fever this bad this well...." he muttered in concern. While she was figting the fever, it was slowly eating away at her, she'd be suffering a long time. She would recover though, and probably be stronger than ever.
The old man turned his head as he heard Diane's rushed footsteps down the hall. "She's getting better...the fever keeps comming and going.....uh, Miss? Didn't you go to the genral store to get supplies?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:01 pm
"I only got so much, but that's not the point." She walked inside and closed the door behind her before she could say anything else. "How long before Quick gets better? Word is spreadin' like wildfire that you're housin' an outlaw, and if I don't get her out of here soon, this place will be full o' bullets."
She looked over to Nora, a sigh as she saw that the outlaw was still fighting her fever. "I really don't want to force her out of here, but it's for her own good."
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:49 pm
The doctor sighed. In all his years he had never heard of the likes of the outrageous bounty placed on this young womans head. He new Diane spoke the truth, althoug he himself wished he was strong enough to take the bounty himself, he decided that he didn't want to complicate matters. "Look, she should be fine. Just make sure she gets some rest somewhere warm and dry. Keep her dosed up on water and this tea here - it should help keep the fever at bay...just get her out of here. I don't want any trouble."
He nudged the suffering child awake and she blinked bleary eyes as she sat her self up. Her gaze rested on the lack of supplies visable in Dianes hands. "I thought you went to get supplies....." she rasped.
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