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Description
Westerns and Guns, Someone Always Dies
Jordan sat up and rubbed his eyes. He stretched out and tried to turn off his alarm clock. He couldn't find it but it stopped anyway. He opened his eyes and saw the Victorian style divider and the foot of his bed. He looked up and saw the two walls meet at a point not far from his head, with a few shelves set up in that corner. The bed was also pressed against the straight wall and a tiny desk was against the curved wall, so close that no chair was needed. Beside it was a small clothes rack with three outfits on it. He frowned, they were all similar to the old man's dress pants with frilly shirts and a vest. He sniffed his own clothes and rubbed his nose, no way he was getting away with those.
He walked out of the back room, tugging at the frilly cuffs of the dress shirt. The old man was collapsed on his desk, sleeping. Jordan sighed and sat down at the counter, flipping through a book on the counter as he watched the lame cowboy who was roaming the shop. He closed the book and looked at it's front cover.
"A Shopkeeper's Manual," read the title, he opened it again and scanned the contents, "Selling the merchandise, controlling the shop, locations." below locations was a long list, often with quite odd names.
Jordan sighed and turned to selling items. "No item should be refused to a customer, prices are on reverse side of tags, refunds not available. Should a customer ascend to the second level they must be accompanied by the shopkeeper. Further details on selling items in specific locations on those pages."
Jordan looked up again and saw the cowboy was looking at the jewellery. He looked back down and tried to guess where he was, but so many of the names were unfamiliar, and any could be right. He was considering Chimalli when he noticed a scribbled note in between the pages of the book. He opened to that page.
"Lynchtown, every twenty or thirty years a town in the wild west turns on itself, killing each other in an effort to stop the killings. Silver bullets are below the counter, they will ask. Twenty gold a bullet, and guns to be given at a 20 percent discount." And the note read, "This town is called Last Chance."
He didn't get a chance to read more though because the cowboy had come up to the counter. He was really slim and his eyes seemed as crazy as his blonde hair which stuck out in all directions from under his hat. A white cat leaped up onto the counter and purred as the cowboy put a gun down next to it.
"And some silver bullets." A female voice said.
Jordan assumed it was merely a short girl, "How many?"
"How much?"
"Twenty gold each, but you get a twenty percent discount on the gun."
"Couldn't you make it more? Considering our situation."
"No." At this the cat hissed at him.
"I haven't seen your shop before, you been here long."
Jordan faltered, "No not long."
"Well give us the bullets for 5 gold each, before I fillet you."
The crazy man laughed, "Can I have his head?"
"No Arrow, I can't let you, the others will suspect you."
Arrow put an exaggerated frown on his face, "You're no fun Kitty."
"So are you going to give them to me?"
The old man stumbled out of the back room, collapsing against the table. The cat jumped over to him and began to nuzzle him gently.
"Are you alright?" the female voice, Kitty, asked, "We have a good healer."
"I shall be fine little cat, you are a fine creature." He began to stroke the cat's fur.
The cat purred, "Don't do that, you won't win me over so easily, oo, just below the chin."
"We need to make a living too, if you manage to kill this threat, what are we meant to do about the lost money."
"Okay okay." The cat rubbed against the old man again, "Arrow, give the boy the money."
"But Kitty," he pleaded, "I wanted a head."
The old man smiled, "There are some shrunken heads by the rifles, you can get him one for free."
The cat leaped down off the counter, padding along the tops of shelves. It returned with a small round thing in its mouth which it spat into Arrow's hands. He immediately began to toss it into the air, genuinely amused by it. The cat took a small bag out of his pocket and put it onto the counter.
"There's your money, two bullets."
"Very good, boy get the bullets."
Jordan searched for the bullets, and found three different sizes. He pulled them out onto the counter and the old man chose two to give to the customers. The cat took them into its mouth and put them into the man's pocket, then hissed at him.
"Pick me and the gun up, we need to get back to the town hall."
The man obligingly picked the gun up and put it in his pocket, then picked up the cat and carried it out of the store. Jordan watched them go, shocked.
"You mean, Kitty, was the cat?" He said slowly.
"Of course," The old man said, "I think you should be fine, as no other nice young women decide to rip you into pieces, I need to rest."
He staggered back into the back room, leaving Jordan struggling to believe what had just taken place. [Maria enters, but not Maria, Marie, Mary... anyway, healer of the town, finds something... "Miracle" Cure, or Mary Cure.] The bell rung out across the silent store, a woman entered. She was wearing a white skirt and top with a green scarf tied around her waist, a brown one around her shoulders and a white one holding back her unbelievably long black hair. She walked straight up to the counter.
"Hello, my name is Mary Cure, I am new to this town, yet a few are already calling me 'Miracle' Cure. I was wondering if you sold and herbs." She said softly.
"I am not sure."
"Ah, that is fine, I will have a look around." She walked off.
Jordan watched her walk around the store for almost an hour. She seemed most interested in the books, and at one point she stepped onto the staircase, then quickly stepped off again. Finally she came to the counter and placed there three books, some dried herbs and a mortar and pestle.
"A Million Herbs, Poisons and Their Cures, Treating Injuries Both Human and Animal." He read, then looked around for a calculator, frustrated he saw none, and scribbled the prices before reading the other tags, "Herbs for infections and the Mortar and Pestle of Freshness, some knowledge of Herbalism required."
"Yes, that should be twenty three gold and 15 silver." she said softly, placing some coins on the counter.
Jordan decided to simply believe her, not trusting his maths, purely because he didn't know how many silvers made a gold. She smiled and placed the books and herbs into a large satchel at her waist. Jordan watched her leave and felt perhaps he could handle this weird shop.
He walked back into the back room, confident he would hear the bell should someone arrive. He walked over to the old man and tried to shake him awake. The old man didn't wake, and Jordan noticed his breathing was shallow and gasping. He tried to think of what to do. He remembered the cat saying something about a healer. And the woman, hadn't she said she had been given the name miracle cure. He ran out of the store, trying to see which way the woman had gone.
She was already gone from sight, so he ran across the street and into the saloon. He stopped suddenly, it seemed every single person in the town was there, and they were all looking at him. A lot of them were well armed.
"Umm, the woman with the herbs." he stammered.
Someone smiled, "She's probably down the street in the town hall."
He ran out and towards the biggest building, hoping it would be the right one. He burst in to see the cat and the crazy man, and a few others. Mary was talking to them.
"Must we do it this way?" Mary asked them.
The cat leaped into her arms, "Yes, if we are right tonight we could save another."
"And if we are wrong?"
Jordan cleared his throat, "Excuse me, the old shopkeeper he's not well, I don't know what's wrong."
The cat landed on the floor, "I could smell the illness on him."
Mary nodded, "Lead the way, we must be quick."
Without thinking Jordan led the woman and the cat at a run to the store, but both kept up easily. They entered the store and Jordan took them straight to the back room. Mary quickly looked over the old man.
"Is there a bed?"
"Through there I think." Jordan pointed to the divider opposite his own.
Mary pulled it back, clicking her tongue at the mess of papers, "Help me put him onto the bed."
They carried the old man over to the bed. Mary used her new mortar and pestle to pound some herbs and lit the tiny burner under a small kettle which sat on the table next to his bed. She made a tea, and then blew on it. Lifting the old man up she poured the warm tea down his throat, then let him lie back. They came back out to the store and she handed him some herbs."
"If he lasts till morning give him that, but I'm afraid I can't cure old age." She said sadly, "That's why what would be a minor illness is killing him, he's simply incredibly old. I am sorry to give you such bad news about your grandfather."
[Mary and Kitty leave, old man not alive in the morning, shop moves, new chapter... Actually haven't written enough yet today.]
Mary and Kitty were already leaving, before Jordan could tell them he wasn't the old man's grandson. He sighed and walked out to the door. He'd had enough for today, he locked the door and flipped the sign from open to closed. He then moved back to the back room and [I just realised I was very stupid in my design of the back room, need bathroom, maybe that's in the middle, old man's desk is the counter, and next to his bed. Main bed in the centre, stairs and tiny walkway lead to kid's room, bathroom tiny corner, past tiny kitchen which connects to shop.] Made himself some scrambled eggs for dinner. He then walked through the cramped walkway to his own 'room' and went to sleep.
He awoke in the morning and stretched, after dressing in another silly suit he visited the old man. He was gone. [yoda like] Jordan wandered out to the kitchen, but the man wasn't there either. He sighed and made himself some toast. Wandering out to the counter, he cleared off some of the papers and put down his toast. With a sigh he wandered towards the door and flicked open the lock and flipped the sign, hoping Mary would come over again. He wandered out back again to look for the old man. Back in the old man's room he saw the note by the herbs.
"The shop doesn't like dead bodies, so if I don't make it through the night I'll..." It got so messy that Jordan couldn't read the last few words.
He wondered out to the shop again, wondering at what he had just read. He looked through the windows and swore, how often did this store move.
[where next? I don't know, old man is dead, he has to rely on the manual some more.]

Description
Westerns and Guns, Someone Always Dies
Jordan sat up and rubbed his eyes. He stretched out and tried to turn off his alarm clock. He couldn't find it but it stopped anyway. He opened his eyes and saw the Victorian style divider and the foot of his bed. He looked up and saw the two walls meet at a point not far from his head, with a few shelves set up in that corner. The bed was also pressed against the straight wall and a tiny desk was against the curved wall, so close that no chair was needed. Beside it was a small clothes rack with three outfits on it. He frowned, they were all similar to the old man's dress pants with frilly shirts and a vest. He sniffed his own clothes and rubbed his nose, no way he was getting away with those.
He walked out of the back room, tugging at the frilly cuffs of the dress shirt. The old man was collapsed on his desk, sleeping. Jordan sighed and sat down at the counter, flipping through a book on the counter as he watched the lame cowboy who was roaming the shop. He closed the book and looked at it's front cover.
"A Shopkeeper's Manual," read the title, he opened it again and scanned the contents, "Selling the merchandise, controlling the shop, locations." below locations was a long list, often with quite odd names.
Jordan sighed and turned to selling items. "No item should be refused to a customer, prices are on reverse side of tags, refunds not available. Should a customer ascend to the second level they must be accompanied by the shopkeeper. Further details on selling items in specific locations on those pages."
Jordan looked up again and saw the cowboy was looking at the jewellery. He looked back down and tried to guess where he was, but so many of the names were unfamiliar, and any could be right. He was considering Chimalli when he noticed a scribbled note in between the pages of the book. He opened to that page.
"Lynchtown, every twenty or thirty years a town in the wild west turns on itself, killing each other in an effort to stop the killings. Silver bullets are below the counter, they will ask. Twenty gold a bullet, and guns to be given at a 20 percent discount." And the note read, "This town is called Last Chance."
He didn't get a chance to read more though because the cowboy had come up to the counter. He was really slim and his eyes seemed as crazy as his blonde hair which stuck out in all directions from under his hat. A white cat leaped up onto the counter and purred as the cowboy put a gun down next to it.
"And some silver bullets." A female voice said.
Jordan assumed it was merely a short girl, "How many?"
"How much?"
"Twenty gold each, but you get a twenty percent discount on the gun."
"Couldn't you make it more? Considering our situation."
"No." At this the cat hissed at him.
"I haven't seen your shop before, you been here long."
Jordan faltered, "No not long."
"Well give us the bullets for 5 gold each, before I fillet you."
The crazy man laughed, "Can I have his head?"
"No Arrow, I can't let you, the others will suspect you."
Arrow put an exaggerated frown on his face, "You're no fun Kitty."
"So are you going to give them to me?"
The old man stumbled out of the back room, collapsing against the table. The cat jumped over to him and began to nuzzle him gently.
"Are you alright?" the female voice, Kitty, asked, "We have a good healer."
"I shall be fine little cat, you are a fine creature." He began to stroke the cat's fur.
The cat purred, "Don't do that, you won't win me over so easily, oo, just below the chin."
"We need to make a living too, if you manage to kill this threat, what are we meant to do about the lost money."
"Okay okay." The cat rubbed against the old man again, "Arrow, give the boy the money."
"But Kitty," he pleaded, "I wanted a head."
The old man smiled, "There are some shrunken heads by the rifles, you can get him one for free."
The cat leaped down off the counter, padding along the tops of shelves. It returned with a small round thing in its mouth which it spat into Arrow's hands. He immediately began to toss it into the air, genuinely amused by it. The cat took a small bag out of his pocket and put it onto the counter.
"There's your money, two bullets."
"Very good, boy get the bullets."
Jordan searched for the bullets, and found three different sizes. He pulled them out onto the counter and the old man chose two to give to the customers. The cat took them into its mouth and put them into the man's pocket, then hissed at him.
"Pick me and the gun up, we need to get back to the town hall."
The man obligingly picked the gun up and put it in his pocket, then picked up the cat and carried it out of the store. Jordan watched them go, shocked.
"You mean, Kitty, was the cat?" He said slowly.
"Of course," The old man said, "I think you should be fine, as no other nice young women decide to rip you into pieces, I need to rest."
He staggered back into the back room, leaving Jordan struggling to believe what had just taken place. [Maria enters, but not Maria, Marie, Mary... anyway, healer of the town, finds something... "Miracle" Cure, or Mary Cure.] The bell rung out across the silent store, a woman entered. She was wearing a white skirt and top with a green scarf tied around her waist, a brown one around her shoulders and a white one holding back her unbelievably long black hair. She walked straight up to the counter.
"Hello, my name is Mary Cure, I am new to this town, yet a few are already calling me 'Miracle' Cure. I was wondering if you sold and herbs." She said softly.
"I am not sure."
"Ah, that is fine, I will have a look around." She walked off.
Jordan watched her walk around the store for almost an hour. She seemed most interested in the books, and at one point she stepped onto the staircase, then quickly stepped off again. Finally she came to the counter and placed there three books, some dried herbs and a mortar and pestle.
"A Million Herbs, Poisons and Their Cures, Treating Injuries Both Human and Animal." He read, then looked around for a calculator, frustrated he saw none, and scribbled the prices before reading the other tags, "Herbs for infections and the Mortar and Pestle of Freshness, some knowledge of Herbalism required."
"Yes, that should be twenty three gold and 15 silver." she said softly, placing some coins on the counter.
Jordan decided to simply believe her, not trusting his maths, purely because he didn't know how many silvers made a gold. She smiled and placed the books and herbs into a large satchel at her waist. Jordan watched her leave and felt perhaps he could handle this weird shop.
He walked back into the back room, confident he would hear the bell should someone arrive. He walked over to the old man and tried to shake him awake. The old man didn't wake, and Jordan noticed his breathing was shallow and gasping. He tried to think of what to do. He remembered the cat saying something about a healer. And the woman, hadn't she said she had been given the name miracle cure. He ran out of the store, trying to see which way the woman had gone.
She was already gone from sight, so he ran across the street and into the saloon. He stopped suddenly, it seemed every single person in the town was there, and they were all looking at him. A lot of them were well armed.
"Umm, the woman with the herbs." he stammered.
Someone smiled, "She's probably down the street in the town hall."
He ran out and towards the biggest building, hoping it would be the right one. He burst in to see the cat and the crazy man, and a few others. Mary was talking to them.
"Must we do it this way?" Mary asked them.
The cat leaped into her arms, "Yes, if we are right tonight we could save another."
"And if we are wrong?"
Jordan cleared his throat, "Excuse me, the old shopkeeper he's not well, I don't know what's wrong."
The cat landed on the floor, "I could smell the illness on him."
Mary nodded, "Lead the way, we must be quick."
Without thinking Jordan led the woman and the cat at a run to the store, but both kept up easily. They entered the store and Jordan took them straight to the back room. Mary quickly looked over the old man.
"Is there a bed?"
"Through there I think." Jordan pointed to the divider opposite his own.
Mary pulled it back, clicking her tongue at the mess of papers, "Help me put him onto the bed."
They carried the old man over to the bed. Mary used her new mortar and pestle to pound some herbs and lit the tiny burner under a small kettle which sat on the table next to his bed. She made a tea, and then blew on it. Lifting the old man up she poured the warm tea down his throat, then let him lie back. They came back out to the store and she handed him some herbs."
"If he lasts till morning give him that, but I'm afraid I can't cure old age." She said sadly, "That's why what would be a minor illness is killing him, he's simply incredibly old. I am sorry to give you such bad news about your grandfather."
[Mary and Kitty leave, old man not alive in the morning, shop moves, new chapter... Actually haven't written enough yet today.]
Mary and Kitty were already leaving, before Jordan could tell them he wasn't the old man's grandson. He sighed and walked out to the door. He'd had enough for today, he locked the door and flipped the sign from open to closed. He then moved back to the back room and [I just realised I was very stupid in my design of the back room, need bathroom, maybe that's in the middle, old man's desk is the counter, and next to his bed. Main bed in the centre, stairs and tiny walkway lead to kid's room, bathroom tiny corner, past tiny kitchen which connects to shop.] Made himself some scrambled eggs for dinner. He then walked through the cramped walkway to his own 'room' and went to sleep.
He awoke in the morning and stretched, after dressing in another silly suit he visited the old man. He was gone. [yoda like] Jordan wandered out to the kitchen, but the man wasn't there either. He sighed and made himself some toast. Wandering out to the counter, he cleared off some of the papers and put down his toast. With a sigh he wandered towards the door and flicked open the lock and flipped the sign, hoping Mary would come over again. He wandered out back again to look for the old man. Back in the old man's room he saw the note by the herbs.
"The shop doesn't like dead bodies, so if I don't make it through the night I'll..." It got so messy that Jordan couldn't read the last few words.
He wondered out to the shop again, wondering at what he had just read. He looked through the windows and swore, how often did this store move.
[where next? I don't know, old man is dead, he has to rely on the manual some more.]