vaqueros: (Default)
"ꜰɪʀsᴛ ɴᴀᴍᴇs ᴀʀᴇ sᴛᴜᴘɪᴅ" ᴠᴀsǫᴜᴇᴢ. ([personal profile] vaqueros) wrote in [community profile] cowbabes2020-03-22 08:55 pm
peacemakers: (059)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Faraday nods in response, heading toward the livery with a bit of a limp.

It's an easy enough thing to grab their horses, leaving at a sedate pace before speeding up to put more distance between them and the town – the routine, usually, when they stayed in a town a little longer than planned and needed to get to a safe place before the sun dipped below the horizon.

After a bit, when they've judged they're far enough away, they slow. The light is starting to turn golden as the day starts to fade. Still some time yet before they have to deal with Faraday's change; enough time to start looking for a place to make camp.

The first thing Faraday says to break the silence, because apparently as unsettled as he is, he can't help but defend his pride: ]


I had that handled.
peacemakers: (014)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ He scoffs. ]

It's not the first time I've been in that situation.

I had a plan – a decent one that you made a mess of, chargin' in like you did.
peacemakers: (063)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, fuck you.

[ This, as they reach a little clearing – it's probably the best they're going to do on short notice. ]

Gil only got as close as he did 'cause you threw me off.
peacemakers: (062)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
Goddamn hilarious, Vasquez.

[ This, grumbled under his breath, though he follows suit in coaxing Jack to a stop. ]

What the hell did you do to those poor bastards?
peacemakers: (025)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ He takes a second to think it over, taking a bit of time to recall the conversation.

Then, ]


That was what you call a goddamn suggestion?

[ Because Gilbert and Anton didn't look like they could help themselves, looked nearly out of their minds with terror. ]
peacemakers: (026)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
But you did this time.

[ He dismounts Jack with far less care than he's due, and his bad leg buckles a little, forcing him to catch himself on the pommel of his saddle. He curses under his breath, jaw clenched as he shifts his weight to his good leg. ]

So? What did you do? [ And the words are sharp, brusque. ] 'Cause they looked like it was hurtin' them.
peacemakers: (063)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
"So what?"

[ He echoes the words like he's spitting them out.

Maybe he's angrier about this than he should be, but hearing Vasquez use that voice had stirred something in his head. It had felt faintly familiar, though he had no memory of Vasquez speaking with that voice ever before.

But maybe he wouldn't.

Vasquez did say he routinely made people forget. ]


So what, is when the hell did you use it on me?
peacemakers: (041)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ He keeps one hand on the pommel, but he turns to face Vasquez, making no move to disguise the way he stares at him, studies him, trying to spot any tics or tells. ]

When you talked like that, it kicked something up. Like I remembered it from before. Remembered how it felt.

[ Though that's not the right way to describe it; it was more like trying to remember a dream – not recalling the images, but recalling the impression it left behind. ]
peacemakers: (079)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-25 09:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ He blinks at that, startled into silence.

He never remembers what happens on full moons, no matter how hard he tries. It's possible, he supposes, that those nights would still leave a shadow in his mind, however faint it might be, but—

He clenches his jaw, still doubtful. ]


And that's the only time?

[ Skepticism and anger in his voice to mask the confusion and the hurt.

... stupid, he admits, to feel hurt by the possibility of Vasquez betraying his trust and not righteously furious, but there it is – nagging at him like a sore, open wound rather than a white-hot flame. ]


You swear on your life that's all it's been?
peacemakers: (067)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-26 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ He stops up short again, turning toward Jack to start removing his tack. He doesn't have a good answer to that question – not immediately, anyway.

Because the answer he does have is foolish. Selfish. All of this – it's worked out too well. The two of them finding this strange friendship, riding out together, working their way into an odd balance, finding company after he's spent all these years looking out for himself – this shouldn't have come out of accepting a goddamn suicide mission.

It's too goddamn good to be true. It would only logically follow, given Faraday's shit luck anywhere but at card tables, that something had to be wrong. ]


Don't change the subject. You didn't answer me.
peacemakers: (087)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-26 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
Why the hell does anyone do anything?

[ And he snaps it back, yanking roughly at the straps holding Jack's bridle in place. The horse snorts at him in warning, and Faraday clicks his tongue, forces himself to take a breath to calm down.

Not for his own benefit, and maybe not for Vasquez's, either – but so he doesn't yank at Jack's tack wrong and encourage the horse to knock Faraday on his ass. ]


I already got blank spots in my head from the wolf.

[ And while he's marginally calmer, if only so he can untack Jack properly, he still spits the word out bitterly. ]

It'd be easy takin' advantage of that. I already spend one night out of the month completely out of my own goddamn mind. What's another one or two more, right?
peacemakers: (059)

[personal profile] peacemakers 2020-05-26 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's not much to read off of that – which is telling, considering Vasquez, like him, tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve, was as free with his jokes as he was with his barbs.

Faraday may still be bristling, but he has the sudden realization that he may have fucked up.

He believes him, is the thing. And maybe that's naive, to simply take Vasquez at his word, especially considering what Faraday witnessed today, but Vasquez doesn't have much reason to lie to him, he thinks.

Faraday's hands still on the buckles for a few breaths before he continues his work, pulling the bridle off of Jack's head and replacing it with the halter from his saddlebag. He hitches him to a nearby tree before working at loosening the saddle. He's quite for a long while as he moves around Jack.

Then, ]


Guessing it didn't work all that well when you did it to the wolf.

[ If it had, Faraday doubts the two of them would keep waking up mauled all to hell. ]

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