[Gift] I wanna be a cowboy baby (pt.1)

The sun shines down hot upon the sand, beating down upon the weary travelers. The three journey on, pulling their hats down to cover their faces. Their noble steed trudges on. “Jojo, do you have any water left in your canteen? Mine’s empty and I am so, so thirsty~” Carter pleads. 

“Yeah,” Jojo says as she reaches over Macchi into their bags and pulls out her bottle. “Try not to drink it all, we still have twelve hours until we get to the nearest town. We need to make our supplies last until then.” Macchi snores from beside her, out cold from her shenanigans earlier at the last town. 

“Thank you!” Carter sings as he drinks, “so refreshing, thank you.” Macchi grumbled across from them, her sleep was disturbed and she was grouchy as a result. 

“Go back to sleep you gremlin, we aren’t there yet. I'll wake you up when we are,"Jojo sighs, “we still have a while.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say. Just be quiet so I can sleep or I’ll eat your toes,” Macchi says before she rolls around and settles back into her nap. 

The sun is long gone when they finally arrive in town. The moon is high in the sky and there is an eerie air about, as if it was haunted ground. Jojo is the only one still awake; Carter fell asleep not long after Macchi once he had quenched his thirst. Jojo is hesitant to wake them up, so she waits until they are outside the tavern to do so. She prepares her lecture on rules while the two rub the sleep from their eyes. 

“Congrats guys, we’ve made it. Some rules since apparently we need them: No robbing banks, no getting wasted, no biting things we do not own, no getting into fist fights, and no flirting with strangers. Are we clear? We are here to help people and solve problems, not cause them,” Jojo finishes with a huff. 

“Yeah yeah I'll be good~” yawns Macchi, “we both know Carter’s the real troublemaker. I only robbed them a little bit, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” She continues, “besides, all of that money was from the wild taxes, man, and what were they gonna do with it? Riddle me that one- it sure wasn’t to help the townspeople.” Macchi hops off the horse and has a good stretch. “I’m like robinhood, man. Some people just can’t appreciate that. I’m sure they had a good cry in their luxurious room full of the money I didn’t steal and blew their nose on a few hundred dollar bills they had lying around,” snickers Macchi. 

“HEY. I behave, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Macchi. At least I didn’t get us kicked out,” Carter grumbles. 

“Okay, that's enough, the both of you. People are trying to sleep. Let’s see if we can get a room, otherwise it’ll be camping tonight,” says Jojo. The trio trudge into the tavern, oddly quiet for the hour at night it was. She had expected a pretty rowdy bar at least, but it seemed even it had been deserted. 

“This place is giving me the creeps, it’s like it’s a ghost town or something,” Carter declares as he shivers. “I don’t really like it here. Can we sleep somewhere else tonight?”

“Yeah, even I can get behind that one. Unless we wanna snoop and see if anyone’s home at all, I would love to sleep not on moving animals or the ground for a change~” suggested Macchi. 

“No. Carter, Macchi, help me set up the fire or else I won't cook for you two tonight,” Jojo says. The two grumble and sulk but eventually get up to help. Carter is sent to get wood while Macchi lights the kindle on fire and tends to it. Jojo lays out their sleeping bags and tends to their horse. As the three settle in to sleep after their delicious meal of canned beans, Carter swears he sees something moving out there but doesn’t voice it because he was unsure if his eyes were just playing tricks after the long day he has had. The trio exchange good nights and drift into slumber. 

(to be continued.... yeehaw)