Lance (bluelion) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-09-29 21:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !complete, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] wild wild west, ~2018 september, ~25 points, ~~hunk (yellowlion), ~~keith kogane (bladeofmarmora), ~~lance (bluelion) |
WHO Lance, Keith & Hunk
WHAT Sobering up
WHEN After this
WHERE Sheriff's holding cell
WARNINGS Cutness
STATUS Closed | Completed gdoc
Lance was pacing and he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. They were in a jail cell. A jail cell! And unfairly at that! The injustice of it all was just terrible and he could barely stand it. "It's just rude!" he said, for something like the twentieth time since they'd landed themselves in jail a few hours ago. "He didn't have any right touching her like that. Up her skirt and everything!" Molly had been sweet to him, had laughed at his jokes, and had given him a kiss at the end of the night.
So naturally he'd brought his friends back to the Saloon the next day, insisted on it even. Bought a round of drinks and began extolling Molly's virtues loudly, even though his friends had heard as much already. And everything had been fine until that guy had gotten handsy with her, went right up her skirt! Lance saw the look in her eyes first before he realized what was happening and then the next thing he knew, he was standing over the guy, who was knocked out cold. That was about a moment before the guy's friend swung at him and it'd just gone from there.
He turned to look out into the Sheriff's station. "Should be arresting him!" Not that anyone was paying him any attention.
***
Keith was sitting quietly the whole time that Lance was pacing and having his little outbursts. He was in jail with them because of course he wasn’t going to let people beat up Lance...if anyone was going to get to do that it was going to be him...so he’d had to wade in and watch Lance and Hunk’s back once the entire saloon seemed to jump in to join the fight.
“I blame you for all this.” That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give him a hard time for this.
***
Back against the wall, sitting with his arms draped across his knees, Hunk wondered how he always seemed to end up in these messes. It wasn’t like he went looking for fights or anything like that, quite the opposite. And yet there he was, locked up with his friends and all over some girl.
Who honestly probably hadn’t needed any of them to step in even if she was being treated badly. Every saloon girl he’d ever met could take care of herself.
“Aw c’mon, Keith. You can’t blame him for stepping in for a lady being treated like that.” It was actually a good thing to do. “Sure he could’ve been less stupid about it but look at him.”
Lance only came in stupid.
***
It was total bullshit that Keith blamed him, but then again, Keith usually blamed him. Lance was honestly used to it so he didn't let it stop him. He was getting a little tired though, so he huffed and dropped down to sit next to Hunk. He was definitely the safe option than Keith to sit next to. They'd been together for long enough that it was almost like having brothers. Except Keith was the stubborn, annoying, older by a hair one that was a total stick in the mud.
"I had to do something," he grumbled. "She's real sweet! And I know she can take care of herself and all, but she shouldn't have to." Lance was real tired of people getting handsy when they shouldn't be, not respecting the women who weren't proper ladies. There wasn't anything wrong with who they were or the life they led.
"I had to punch the guy! I didn't ask either of you to step in!" Not that he minded. He just hated that he got them in trouble, too.
***
“I’m not saying don’t defend the girl. That’s the right thing to do.” And Keith wasn’t arguing that, hell if Lance hadn’t popped up like a jack in the box to take care of it Keith would have stepped in himself because that guy shouldn’t have put his hand up Molly’s skirt.
“I’m saying the reason we’re in here is you threw the mug and broke the bar mirror. They probably didn’t care that much about breaking people but mirrors are expensive.” Keith just made a face at Lance for saying he hadn’t asked them to jump in. It was the ‘are you stupid’ expression that he tended to get. “Sure, we were just going to sit and watch while they used you to mop the floor.”
***
“It was a lot of them against you,” Hunk pointed out mildly. It wasn’t a fair fight by any means and Lance definitely would have wound up being beaten to a pulp. Neither he nor Keith could have just sat by and let it happen. Of course they were going to jump in.
“Maybe we should have taken it outside, though.” Hindsight was always clearer than in the moment. But if they, well Lance, hadn’t broken something so expensive than maybe they wouldn’t have wound up in a jail cell for the night. It seemed to him like people got into a lot of scuffles whenever they were in town, he assumed it was the same when they weren’t, so the sheriff and his deputies had to be used to it. They couldn’t arrest everyone who got involved in some drunken fisticuffs.
***
Okay, throwing the mug had been a bad idea, but he stood by it! It'd take probably a great long while to recoup the money he was going to have to fork over to repair the mirror, but until the Sheriff or one of his deputies told them what the hell was going on, he didn't know for sure. It was well worth it though, because he'd stood up for someone he cared about.
"I had 'em on the ropes," Lance muttered. It was blatantly untrue but he was going to say it anyway. "I mean I appreciate the back up and all, but come on. And sure, taking it outside maybe would've been a good idea, but it wasn't like you were saying that in the middle of it!" He banged his head against the metal bars of their jail cell. "This is total bullshit though. At least it's Saturday so it's not like we're missing work." Which was a small miracle.
***
“No, you didn’t.” Keith knew that Lance knew it wasn’t true but he couldn’t stop himself from saying it either. And even though Keith blamed him he’d help him pay for the mirror too. Because he had a point. Keith hadn’t tried to stop the fight or take it outside, he’d just helped crack heads when he should have tried to assert reason.
“It’s a good thing. I wouldn’t want to get fired over this.” He didn’t think they would be even on a work day but he wasn’t exactly sure of that. And he didn’t want to test it out either just in case. “They’ll let us out at some point and we’ll lay low for a little bit. It’s all we can do.”
***
“I hope they do it in time to get some supper,” Hunk lamented. They’d been having too good a time to think much about eating before everything had broken out and now that they were trapped in a cell he wished that they would have. “They’ve got to at least let us out before tomorrow, right?”
There was a wedding tomorrow, he’d heard. Weddings always had a great spread and even if he didn’t actually know the people doing it, he thought he might go over and celebrate anyway. The gossip had told him the whole town was invited regardless and he could say all the congratulations anyone wanted if they had a nice bumbleberry pie laid out. It would’ve been a nice way to cap the weekend in town before heading back out to the mines and another week of slaving away, being dirty, being trapped in dark, hot, dripping caves with no one but Keith and Lance and nothing better to eat than beans.
***
Lance glared at Keith for calling him out on it, but he didn't argue it. He wasn't a total asshole and they were stuck in the cell together so it wasn't like getting into some big fight would help anything. That was mostly what got them thrown in here in the first place.
"I hope we do, too," he replied to Hunk. "I mean, that'd just be cruel to keep us separated from our meals," he called out more loudly to try to get the attention of literally anyone in the Sheriff's station. Maybe annoying them to the point of getting released wasn't the best idea either, but he was tired, hungover, and he definitely had a ton of bruising.
"Plus, there's that wedding tomorrow. Bet everyone here's invited which means no one'll be here to watch us if everyone goes." Which, that would've just been awful of the Sheriff to make them miss a wedding literally everyone was invited to.
***
“Last I knew they didn’t usually keep anyone longer than a day for drunken fights. My guess is if we behave and promise to pay for the damage they’ll let us out so they don’t miss the wedding.” But they might make them go dirty and scuffed up as they were by letting them out last minute. Really Keith wanted to growl and kick the bars a few times for being locked in here but since Lance was kicking up a fuss it was so much easier to do the opposite.
And there was no way he would usually go to the wedding except for the food. Keith didn’t like people much less parties but the pie and other treats meant he’d at least make an appearance. “So hush up and wait nicely and maybe they’ll let us out sooner.”
***
“They could just leave us here and go anyway.” They were behind bars. What were they going to do if someone wasn’t there to watch them? Nothing, that was what. “But I think Keith’s right this time. We just have to behave and wait it out. They probably won’t leave us here forever.”
But if Hunk were the sheriff or his deputies, he’d be sorely tempted to do just that right now. He didn’t think being annoying was going to get them anywhere with this bunch. They were a stern faced bunch and he did genuinely wonder if they ever did smile. It didn’t look like it to him. What a sad, angry bunch of people.
Keith would probably fit in great.
Hunk knew better than to say that out loud.
***
Lance scowled at Keith and then at Hunk. "Hey! You're supposed to be on my side!" he complained loudly. He made a big show of scooting just those few inches he had to make his point. He turned his glare to Keith. "I already said I'd pay for the damages, so what's the hold up?" They were definitely sober, even if they didn't necessarily smell like it. That was a small price to pay for defending a woman's honor.
Still, he knew they were probably right so he grumbled to himself and let his head rest on his folded up knees. It wasn't exactly easy for him to keep quiet, but once he stopped going on and on, his headache definitely started to sink in. That was just awful. "Never thought I'd say this, but I could go for some of that crappy ass coffee we get in the morning." Lance always complained about the sludge like mixture, but now he saw the merit in having a cup, especially after being drunk all night.
***
He said he’d pay for the damages but then he was sitting in here bitching about everything so Keith figured that didn’t help. If the deputies were crabby the more he went on the longer they’d make him wait. But now Lance was sitting down and Keith didn’t want to wind him up again so he just leaned forward with his elbows on his knees trying to be patient and wait it out until they came to open the cell door.
“Now I know the world is ending.” Still, he couldn’t be completely nice to Lance or he’d figure he was up to something and he’d start an argument. “But I could use some of the morning sludge too. And I’d even take the beans at this point. Or oatmeal.” he was hungry so food unfortunately was starting to be about all he could think about.
“Maybe we could pick up something to take back with us to have over the week so we have a little variety later.” Hunk could surprisingly cook a few things if you gave him the ingredients. They just didn’t usually have the ingredients to give him.
***
Food was a great distraction from being in jail, all because Lance didn’t know when to use the head at the top of his body, and as hungry as Hunk was he was more than happy to talk about that instead. He wouldn’t even be insulted that Lance moved away from him. He knew his friend was stubborn and proud. Both of them were. How Hunk got messed up with those two was anyone’s guess.
“If we can get some berries to dry out, maybe some preserves? I bet we can have meals almost as good as in town.” Luckily at the mine they got pretty decent meat and bread, and were fed more than well enough to keep their strength up. The rest just wasn’t very good and needed the TLC that no one really had the time or the talent to give to it. Hunk would have loved to just cook for all the miners if he could have.
But there was no money to be made in cooking, and he had a family he sent the bulk of his earnings to. He kept just enough to stop himself from going completely crazy, enough that he could pop on over to the brothel when they had a few days in town, eat a real well cooked meal and not much else.
***
Lance did perk up at the mention of getting Hunk some things to cook with properly. That could mean good food for at least a week if not more, if they were careful. It was a good thing Hunk was the one in charge with that because Lance would've just been content with making one delicious meal instead of rationing it out. He wasn't exactly the restrained type, as last night's events confirmed.
"I'm pretty sure anything we could get you would be good," he agreed with a grin. He definitely trusted that Hunk could make culinary magic out of anything. "I still can't believe how good you are at cooking. I bet your mom's cooking has people shooting at each other for it." Hunk's cooking was enough to beat someone up for it, so he could only imagine.
He knocked his head against the bar. "I really don't ever want to be arrested ever again. This is boring."
***
Keith was the only one out of the three that didn’t have a family. He was an only child and his mom had died when he was just a baby and his dad had died when he was about six. He’d spent a lot of time in various orphanages until he’d run off to earn a living. That meant he usually had more money than either of them because he wasn’t supporting anyone other than himself.
“I’ll buy things for good meals this week if you tell me what to get.” Lance was going to be spending money on a payment on a mirror and Hunk had his family to think of. But Keith threw it into conversation like he didn’t really care one way or the other on contributing.
“I’ll remind you of that the next time.” Keith rubbed his forehead with his fingers and sighed. Lance was right, this was boring.
***
At least it looked like Keith and Lance were done bickering for the moment, and Hunk couldn’t help smiling broadly as he looked between them. His friends were also friends, he knew that, but sometimes they argued like they’d been married fifty years on a farm or something and it could get a little tiring to listen to. It was much better to sit around and talk about all the amazing food they were going to have, and so Hunk latched onto the subject.
“Everyone’s got to have their harvests starting soon, right?” That was the best time to get some things. “I can do johnnycake and maybe fried apples…. Oh! You guys think we might be able to get us a couple of eggs? Cornmeal pancakes’d be nice.”
He had a list of recipes he could cook out at camp in his head and even more that he’d have managed if he had something better than a firepit to cook over.
***
"It's boring and that there's no food or coffee," he clarified for Keith. That was going to be the best reminder, since anything less and there was a good chance that he wouldn't totally care a whole lot. Boring was the biggest part that sucked, for sure, but the others were important too. It had to be against the rules somehow, but whatever. He wasn't the Sheriff and he definitely didn't know all the laws and stuff.
"Oh my god, fried apples. We haven't had those in ages." Lance legitimately moaned at the thought and put his hands on his stomach. "I would legitimately kill for fried apples." Except he realized where the hell he was and his eyes went wide. "I mean. Figuratively. I would never literally kill anyone for any reason and definitely not for fried apples." He really needed to get out of here.
***
If Hunk knew what was good for him he would never tell Keith and Lance that he thought they argued like a 50 year old married couple. If he did he wouldn’t hear the end of it from either of them for weeks. Which of course would just reinforce that they sounded that way but they’d both be too mad to care.
Okay that time Lance’s impulsive comment actually struck Keith funny and he smiled and let out a very quiet chuckle. “I second the fried apples. And there’s a couple of farmers that sell off their extra eggs so I can get those too.” He liked Johnny cake, especially if he could get a bit of molasses to go with it.
And now if they didn’t let them out to eat Keith was going to be really unhappy. Talking about all this food was making him think too much about getting some and they had no way to do that.
***
Luckily for Hunk, he knew exactly what was good for him. And that involved just keeping his mouth shut about his friends and their habits and focus very directly on the food part.
Even if it meant he was making them all even hungrier.
“You haven’t had my ma’s fried apples,” Hunk pointed out mildly. “Someone would definitely kill for those. Good thing she’s nowhere near here and no one in this cell would ever dream of harming a man over anything less than a lady’s honour.” With any luck, that would win them a point or two and they’d get out sooner. “Anyway, it might be a bit early for good apples but let’s give it a shot. Early season apples aren’t so bad and they’ll cook up nice and sweet either way. Oh! You think the general store’s got anything good canned up? I heard places back east’ve got some decent canned meat going these days.”
There was lot they could do with meat they could make last without drying it out.
***
Maybe turning the conversation to food had been a bad idea. He was hungry and clearly there was just more of a chance that he'd say something stupid to fuck all this up. He didn't want to make things any worse than they already were. Lance really wanted to go back to the Mines, wash himself up a bit and get something to eat before sleeping, since none of those things were anything he'd done in a while.
"I'd be alright with anything at this point," he replied, trying his hardest to not whine. If he whined, Keith would just get mad and that would make their remaining time that much worse. He knew he'd screwed up a lot lately and he felt bad for getting them into this no matter the circumstances. "I'll chip in for getting some food," he offered, since it was the least he could do.
***
Keith wouldn’t necessarily get mad if he whined but he would get frustrated. He couldn’t help it, he knew his patience level wasn’t what it should be with Lance but no matter how many times he told himself to deal with it every time it just happened. And then when he got frustrated it got Lance going and THEN he ended up mad.
But he wasn’t frustrated yet and it was nice of Lance to offer so Keith shook his head with a hint of a smile. “You just make payments on the mirror. I don’t have anything to spend money on really so I don’t mind buying some food.” No family back home, no girl or prospect of a girl, no expensive trinket to pay off. Keith really didn’t mind buying extras for the three of them.
***
“The man wants to pay, let him pay,” Hunk insisted with a grin, leaning over a little to gently sock Lance in the arm. His friend needed to get a bit cheerier and he needed to do it right quick. He was just going to wind up making them all miserable and Hunk for one didn’t want to be miserable.
“Maybe you can put a few cents away here and there and get that girl something nice to apologize instead.” The girl had been the root of being there in the first place and had to lighten things up. “But you’ve gotta say it’s from all of us when you give it to her.”
***
Hunk definitely had a point. "She did seem kinda mad," he mused, although he really didn't understand why. Lance had only been trying to help, did it because he liked her and thought she deserved better than some grubby guy putting his paws all over her. "Think she's cooled off at all?" The Sheriff had taken her away pretty quick to get her side of things but he was pretty sure he'd have gotten slapped from the way she'd been looking at him. He was real lucky looks couldn't kill, that was for sure.
"Might have to chip in on a food run next time," Lance added with a shrug. "Pretty sure it's gonna need to be a big gift." It'd have to be just right, truthfully, but he had no idea what the right sort of gift would be. "Any ideas?"
***