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Post by vladimir on Jan 1, 2013 14:32:47 GMT -5
Ambrose had known that something was circling above town for some time now, but he'd spared it no thought; it wasn't uncommon for a pterosaur to be cruising a good air current in the desert after all. The iconic image of a scavenging pteranodon wheeling above some half-rotted carcass or another, often represented on cigarette packaging and various media, had burned the association into the mind of most non-westerners. Therefore, the black speck up above and its corresponding shadow didn't mean much of anything up until he saw it become larger, then larger, then larger still and realized that it was possible he was about to be scooped up by some sort of carnivorous flying reptile. For all his squinting and all his attempts to shade his eyes with one raised hoof, the glare of the sun was too strong for Ambrose to recognize the nature of the approaching beast, he simply could not gauge what sort of reaction was most appropriate. To improve the situation, he'd exhausted his magic being a dick to that one earth pony back in town and, with the distraction of a cracked molar keeping him from any sort of focus, not so much as the barest aura formed about his horn when he attempted to lift a nearby boulder to defend himself. As the shape became large enough for Ambrose to recognize the proximity of his attacker, he began to ready himself to spin around and kick blindly at the face of said assailant. Fortunately, he was not (and had never been) any sort of fighter; Ambrose's reflexes were as slow as his instincts, and by the time he had even begun to turn around, Silas had landed and revealed himself to be anything but a pteranodon. If it was possible for a pony to wilt, that's what Ambrose would have done. Struck by a wave of relief, he sighed and sat down heavily in the dirt, sending up a small plume of dust himself. "Sure is, just dandy 'sah." as he spoke, he recalled how much his jaw hurt and raised a hoof unconsciously to rub at it. Patting the sore spot, he wondered absently whether or not this fellow was a ranger.
When he finally understood that Hindrick intended to stay and help, both of Reinhardt's ears flicked up and his face lit up just about as much as it could, which was to say only minutely compared to most people's 'happy' expressions. "Well, ah was actually gon' start with th' roof," he reached down into one of the buckets and pulled out a hammer, clasped gingerly between the back teeth on one side of his mouth. "Ah was gon' get Ambrose 't help me get a winch up there so's ah could pull m'self up n' down," he paused for a second and folded his wings tightly to his body, or as tightly as he could considering the left couldn't be pinned all the way anymore. It wasn't a glorious thing to be a pegasus who couldn't fly, considering that robbed him of any talents he might have had and functions he might have served as a member of said race. "...but seein' as he's gotten 'imself sidetracked, n' seein' as yer here, maybe you could help me n'stead?" he suggested, trying to play off the hitch as if he'd merely been distracted a moment by a passing dragonfly. Trotting over to a small platform of sanded wood, clearly constructed at some prior time from its level of completion, he nodded at the cable hitched to it and then up at the roof. "Ah don't s'pose you kin lend a little o'that magic o' yers, doc?"
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Jan 3, 2013 23:37:11 GMT -5
The dappled pony stood on the porch, tail swishing. He noticed that Reinhardt gave a look that could be categorized as happy, maybe even as excited. But the moments were slight, almost like when dealing with dinosaurs. Hindrick leaned down to picked up another bucket in his own teeth and trotted after Rey. Once he reached the sanded wood he placed the bucket next to Rey and gave a look upwards. That was a long ways up.
"I can do that," He mumbled and looked around for the bits that needed to be installed. The winch, nails and hammer lay nearby. A light blue aura shined around his horn and around the items. Within a few minutes he had the winch installed and the rope ready to go with the platform. With the way he did the whole process ti would seem like it wasn't his first time. "I think that will work then?"
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 4, 2013 2:42:56 GMT -5
The new pony was purple all over, wore a blue cape and a sniper rifle strapped to his back. His cutie mark was a simple depiction of a crosshair such as you would see through the scope of his rifle.
"My name is Silas, Ah'm in charge of keepin' raptor packs clear of the perimeter." he confirmed that he was in fact a ranger while he introduced himself.
The purple pony paused, watching Ambrose curiously as his rubbed his obviously bruised face.
"Ah know it aint any of my business but... maybe you shouldn't be wanderin' out into the wilds by yerself like this." He said skeptically and circled around Ambrose, keeping one eye on the dusty landscape surrounding them. Silas was always prepared for trouble.
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Post by vladimir on Jan 4, 2013 8:51:13 GMT -5
"T'aint no worry," Ambrose assured him, eyeing the buck as he introduced himself. Alright, so he was a ranger. Alright, better play this to his advantage, come across as a well mannered stranger just passing through Gwangi. That way, if ol' big and ugly made some mention of their encounter to the authorities, Ambrose might be let off a little easier by way of good (or at least neutral) reputation. "Ambrose Kaufmann, it's nice t'meet'cha sir," he extended a hoof to shake, but no sooner had he done so than the pegasus shifted the focus of the conversation. Oh, excellent. Prying. Ambrose just loved it when strangers pried. He wasn't sure he wanted the ranger, or any authorities for that matter, to know where he was staying. "Ah'm just on m'way out of town s'all,"
Reinhardt watched the whole process to make sure nothing went wrong. It'd be him on that platform, after all. When the process was finally completed, he nodded his approval and reinforced it with an assured, "Aye, it serves jus' fine." With that, he began loading the platform up with what tools he needed, spare shingles, nails, ionized rubber sealant included; he stopped from his organization only for the purpose of retying the rope, checking it for sturdiness with two sharp tugs. When it didn't give, Reinhardt went ahead and trotted onto the rostrum without hesitation. Leaning onto the side closest the house to hammer an anchor into the ground with one back hoof, he tied the winching rope down, checked it the same way he had before and finally turned back to Hindrick. "C'mon over," he nodded to the platform, glancing up and reconsidering the unicorn before he added, "Unless you're fixin' t'levitate yerself up there."
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Jan 4, 2013 19:15:07 GMT -5
Just outside of Gwangi plodded an large Achelousaurus. Upon said beast was a foal that happy swished her curly tail. She was an earth pony of a dun colouring with light brown dappling. Her eyes were light blue-grey and were framed by tawny curly hair. Here hindquarters where curiously devoid of a cutie mark. She hummed happily to a song in her head, ignoring the grumbles of her mount. The beast, names Gizmo, was bought only a short week ago. It had taken a begrudged liking to her but seemed to dislike anyone else that came by.
The young foal was searching for her father, whom supposedly had come to Gwangi for some silly competition. To tell the truth she had never meet him and the only lead she had to go off was a picture and a name. But she was keeping her spirits up. Too many bad things had happened lately, this could be that one good thing that happened. Also she was a bit curious about what her father was like.
It wasn't long before she spotted some figures in the distance. A blonde unicorn and a purple Pegasus. What where they doing all the why out here? "Com' on Giz'mo," she gave a tap to the beast which started moving a little bit faster,"I wan' ta' see what's gon' on thar." By the time she reached the pair, Gizmo was already lowering his head, treating them like a threat. "Giz'mo. Stop that!" the foal hit the Achelousarurus on the head and looked over to the pair. "'Ello! Ken' I ask ya' where Gwangi is?"
Hindrick gave a nod when Reinhardt approved of is setup. At least that was some good done. The buck watched as Reinhardt made the weight, stocking the information for later use. When he was called over his ears pointed straight and he trotted over. "I'd rather not do that," He mumbled and walked onto the platform. To tell the truth he had never been on a platform before. The ones in NYC were up in the blue skies, so it was never really something he thought about going on. The pony stood on the wood platform, waiting for it to ascend to the roof. This was going to be interesting.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 5, 2013 21:07:32 GMT -5
Silas had seen the foal approaching for a long while but wasn't sure that they were about to approach or walk right past. As she rode on in and posed her question, it seemed like she had saved Ambrose from further questions although Silas had only been doing his job.
"Just over that ridge lass. you can see the buildings from there..." Silas turned to face her and looked up under the brim of his hat. "Are you travelling alone, where are your parents?" The purple pony walked over to the side of her mount and observed her, she was so young that even her cutie mark hadn't grown in yet.
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Post by vladimir on Jan 5, 2013 23:20:36 GMT -5
Ambrose could have cried his thanks to the Sun and Moon for the interruption if he'd been in the right place for it. But that would have been conspicuous, his relief would be sure to bring Silas's attention back down on him. Maybe now he could slink off to the O'Saka manor unfollowed... if Silas was busy with this foal, he couldn't take to the skies and look for Ambrose from above. Perfect! He was about to do just that when he noticed something about the kid. She had a look about her... someone's look. Someone... who...
Then he realized.
'Hindrick Rospev, what in the Sun's name did you do?'
Saying nothing, Reinhardt nodded his agreement and gripped the rope tightly between his teeth. With that, he began belaying. It was a vaguely painful looking system, but the pegasus seemed content with it despite the obvious stress it must have put on his teeth. He established a steady rythm soon enough: pull his head back, release part of the rope with one hoof and slide the tail end under the other so he could stomp down and hold them steady should he let go for any reason. They made it up to the roof soon enough, whereupon Reinhardt knotted the rope up to an on-platform anchor.
The pinto shooed Hindrick onto the roof with a few gentle nudges and direction-based nods, turning away for a moment before he followed, bucket in mouth. No sooner had he set the necessary materials down than he realized Hindrick might not know what to do. "Have you ever patched a roof up a'fore?" he asked. If the answer was 'no', which was a possibility, he'd nod and point a hoof at the bucket. "Here, get yerself onna them hatchets n' ah'll show 'ya," within the hour he'd have taught Hindrick, patient and calm regardless of how long it took (though that was unlikely to be an issue, considering Hindrick's natural disposition for learning) for the unicorn to get the hang of it. It wasn't long after that before the two of them had half of the roof re-shingled and good as new, a pile of old and unrecyclable shingles laying on the ground where Reinhardt had tossed them over.
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Jan 6, 2013 0:05:32 GMT -5
Ide leaned on the other side of her mount and looked for the ridge. "Ah, Thank ya' sir," She then leaned back to give a smile, but her face fell a bit at the questions. "Mah Ma' es dead and ah'm not alone. I got Gizmo..." She gave a snort and seemed to think something over, then in a flurry of curly red mane she managed to pull a picture out from a bag sitting at her hooves. "Ye see this pony anywhere?" She asked and showed a picture of a young dappled purple grey unicorn with a brown mane and a look of mild displeasure.
The foal ignored the odd looks she was getting from Ambrose as she showed the picture to Silas. With a little difficulty she aimed the picture at Ambrose, "Yoo' sir?"
Hindrick walked onto the roof rather quickly, wanting to avoid a fall. He had never been up so high before and he had to admit, it was a bit frightening. But he wasn't terrified. The unicorn levitated a few things from the platform and followed after Rey, setting the down easily.
"I have seen it done before," Hindrick replied and peered at the objects Rey pointed to. "Perhaps a tutorial would be of use?" The unicorn wasn't one to avoid the gaining of knowledge. if she didn't know anything, he had to learn it. It was that simple. With Reinhardt showing him what to do the buck got the hang of the process rather quickly. In no time he was patching up the room and re-shingling along side the Pegasus. Sometimes he used his magic, other times he used good old elbow grease.
((writing an Irish accent is harddddd))
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 6, 2013 2:10:27 GMT -5
"Oh ah'm sorry" He replied, his expression dropping at the kids satement.
Silas looked at the photo carefully, it looked like a familiar face but he was having trouble putting a name to it.
"I've seen him around, My name is Silas, if you'd like I could lead you into town and we can look for him together." Silas offered kindly while Ambrose was looking at the picture.
Silas was eager to help, he wouldn't simply allow a child to wander alone through such a dangerous place even with her dinosaur to protect her. His conscience simply wouldn't allow it, she could get shot or eaten or worse!
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Post by vladimir on Jan 6, 2013 9:42:32 GMT -5
What to do, what to do? He could just admit to knowing where the foal's father was and take her there, but he needed Reinhardt's advice on how to approach this, precarious situation as it was. To improve the situation, there was no way that the ranger'd just let him trot off with some strange child in tow and he had no desire for Silas to know where he lived. God damn, law people were annoying... the only other option that left him in a position to help was to follow the two into town and try and skulk off with the kid while he wasn't looking, take her to the inn and leave her with Hindrick. The town would also mean running into Henry... but then, maybe if the big guy took a shot at him in front of the ranger, that'd mean the end of his troubles altogether. That settled it. "Kid, ah think ah know where yer father's at."
It wasn't particularly long before the two of them had removed any shingles that no longer had any use, leaving the task of repairing the newly bare spots by patching up holes, sealing the area with the rubber mixture and laying down the shingles while the whole bit was still sticky. Laying down new shingles was a simple enough task for the pegasus, even without the ability to maintain fine control over his tools. Allowing Hindrick the hammer due to the unicorn's ability to better use it, Reinhardt made do with one back hoof. It proved surprisingly effective and his readiness to do so hinted that for him, it was not such an unusual method. Step one, find your mark. Step two, draw forwards. Step three, stomp down repeatedly. Each time was marked with a rattling BAMBAMBAMBAM, a few of the older shingles slid off the roof every time. "'Y ever do this kinda before?" Reinhardt asked as he retrieved some fresh shingles and sealant to start work on another patch of rooftop. "'Cause yer doin' real well."
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Jan 6, 2013 13:02:26 GMT -5
"Well, Mistah Silas, Ah'd like that and dun be sorre," She swished her tail back and forth, happy to have some company other than the rather angry Gizmo. She had to be grateful that someone was willing to give her help. Her status as an Irish was quite a hindrance. Most of the east coast despised her nationality. But thankfully, ponies further in didn't seem to mind. "Gizmo 'ere isn't one for conversatin'."
The earth pony gave Ambrose a look when said he new where her <i>father</i> was at. How on earth did that pony make the connection. "Ah never sed 'e was mah Pa'," She squinted and let the gears in her mind work. That unicorn had said that he'd known where her father was, so he must know him. If he knew him, maybe he spoke about her. Mam had always said she never told her father, but maybe mam was lying? The foal gave an inquisitive look to Ambrose before sitting back on her mount.
That blonde pony was up to something, if it was good or bad, she didn't know. But she wasn't about to trust these two just because she was a "helpless foal" and they wanted to help. She'd use them as far as getting to town and then look by herself. Plus it was the wild west! She didn't want to be hampered by two adults if a gun fight happened. She wanted to see everything those fancy journalists wrote about and the dime novels talked about.
"Let's go 'hen," She neighed happily and kicked gizmo into gear. well, more like a slow plod.
Hindrick did good work, but nothing compared to Reinhardt. The unicorn's work was precise, but took much longer, while Reinhardt's was fast and just as precise. But the work was distracting and indeed cleared his mind. It wasn't until Reinhardt spoke to him that he came out of his usual focused daze. He looked up and blinked, taking a second to process the question. "Oh... I have seen it done before, done a little when I was younger. But that has been a good 15 years," He hammered at the roof, placing another shingle over the hole. To tell the truth he had to so some manual labour when he had been disowned. No house, no money and only what he could grab from his room, he needed work. So he worked on the maintenance of a boarding house in Boston, and other various places. But he had never done roofs. The process was the same as re-boarding walls and fixing doors. So the skill just clicked on when it was needed.
"I assume you've done this work many times before," He queried. He knew that Ambrose was some kind of failed doctor, and Rey must have come from the same background. So why did the piebald buck know so much about building and repairs? The unicorn pondered on it, tucking these facts away for later.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 7, 2013 16:49:48 GMT -5
Silas glanced at Ambrose when he admitted that he knew the pony, he was still planning on following though. He couldn't just trust this mysterious buck with a child! Ambrose could lead them if he wanted but Silas was not going to leave her until she was safely under her parents guard. This was his duty as a protector of Gwangi and all its citizens.
He followed close behind the dinosaur with an eye on the desert and on the unicorn by his side.
He could tell that he was hiding something.
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Post by vladimir on Jan 7, 2013 17:15:13 GMT -5
Ugh god, now the kid was questioning his motives. Everyone always questioned his motives, as if he was some kind of undesirable or something. Well, he wasn't entirely surprised. His mother had always told him everyone outside of the south had the manners of a mule, evidently that was true and there was no use in getting irritated over such a thing. "No, 'ya didn't, but'cha got his look." and you're just a little too young to be his sister, he added mentally.
As soon as it became clear that both the foal and the ranger were up for following him (the latter being rather unwelcome, though he didn't dare act in any way that would evidence such an opinion) Ambrose went ahead and turned back towards the town, muttering something under his breath about the things he did out of kindness. Trotting back up to Gwangi, he was careful to make sure Silas was nearby. He'd need help in case he ran into that earth pony from before, even if Silas wasn't the type to shoot first and ask later, he'd still be a good distraction. "So kid, ye'v got an accent. Where 'r 'ya comin' from?"
As he listened to Hindrick's explanation, Reinhardt watched him patiently and only looked away to set and hammer another nail or take a shingle up in his mouth, place it down and start securing it. He was a quiet fellow by nature and loathe to voice any opinions he might have had, whether in agreement or objection, so by virtue of his silence he had no issue with hearing all the buck had to say. When finally the doctor's words inverted from answer to question, he took a minute to finish laying out the shingle he'd been working on before answering. When he did it was a dispassionate response, though that was his way and there was a good chance that Hindrick would have picked up that he wasn't the sort to want to draw attention to his own words or to express any feeling by way of them. "Aye, ah'd say it's part o' 'muh profession."
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Jan 7, 2013 20:08:00 GMT -5
The foal just kept her eyes on the ridge. She wanted to see this Gwangi, she wanted to see a real western town. She ignored the comment from Ambrose about looks, mostly because she was too excited. This had been an adventure that taken her nearly two weeks to complete. Though the foal did hear Ambrose's question. Her ears flipped up and looked look down at him. "Ah'm from New 'Ork. The Irish slums," She looked over Gizmo's frill as the reached the ridge. Oh there was the town! The dun foal hopped up, tail swishing in utter excitement and happiness. "We finally made 'et Giz'mo," The girl yelped.
The Achelousaurus, sensing there was something other than desert instantly sped up. It was tired of the long stretches of sandy road and no greens. Gizmo wanted a proper meal and some water and he wanted it now. The beast went from a slow plod to a near run. It was funny to see it's thick stumpy legs working at high speed. Ide just giggled and looked back to see her followers engulfed in a sudden cloud of dust. "Come on ye slowpokes!"
Hindrick gave a healthy nod to Reinhardt's answer. He was starting to understand the boy the more he was around him. It seemed he valued quiet introspection over speaking. It also seemed like the boy had a very divided attention span. He took those new facts in mind when he spoke to Rey. Rey's usual behavior was took close to the absentee parenting he received as a foal. But with these facts of Rey known, it was easier to understand the boy.
Hindrick was about to say something when he noticed a dirt cloud in the distance. What was that then? He looked to Rey and then plodded up int he tip of the roof to get a better look. "Something's coming," He mumbled aloud as he squinted into the horizon. For some odd reason, whatever was coming made his really worried.
((Ide, why you so easily distracted? ))
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 7, 2013 20:26:03 GMT -5
Silas took to the air to avoid the dust, floating just overhead and keeping his sharp eyes on the lookout for danger that might be following then into town. He didn't try to participate in the conversation that Ambrose was attempting to have with Ide.
At the speed they were going, they were soon entering the town, bustling with ponies of all sorts. One of them, a big palomino in a tophat, spotted Ambrose and narrowed his eyes.
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"Hey you!" Henry called from across the thoroughfare, he marched across the street, ignoring angry shouts from passersby on carriages and dinosaurs who were forced to stop to avoid running him down. He was clearly still as drunk as he had been before.
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