Erica gazed across the fire at their guest. He had seemed so sturdy and vigorous the last time he was out here...how could he just collapse like that? And then to be up and around so quickly, even if he wasn't fully recovered...was it just some kind of psychological shock? If the sheriff he worked with was just murdered, she supposed that would be pretty hard to take...
"A-are you okay?" she asked. "I mean, like, really okay?" It was kind of a stupid question, she supposed, but she felt worried about him...
Samuel tried to shrug it off, but couldn't quite make it convincing. "I can't rightly say," he said. "I feel better'n I did, but it seems Death has it in for me today..."
She felt a knot form in her stomach. "R-really? You can't mean that..."
He shrugged. "Truth be told, I owe you my life, Miss Erica. If I hadn'ta been out to get some things for when I was gonna come over this evenin', I'd likely have been killed too. Even with that, I nearly bought it at the jail, if it weren't for Cutler. And with that and the snake, I gotta figure that somehow my luck's running out..."
"D-don't say that!" Erica stammered. It made her feel sick to think about...not just the idea of someone being killed in general, but Samuel specifically...he was a nice man, a young man with a whole life ahead of him! He shouldn't have to die, especially not by some stupid bad luck!
A worse thought crossed her mind...what if he had to die? Did the young deputy die in 1885? Did something in history depend on it? She'd seen one of the Final Destination movies once...she hadn't thought that much of it, but the idea was still pretty chilling...what if this string of incidents was history trying to correct itself? ...no! No, she wouldn't stand for that! She didn't know whether that was true or not, but it didn't matter...that was stupid, unjust. He had to live, she'd see to that...
...not that she had any idea how.
Samuel stretched a bit. "Miss Erica," he said, "you and your little girl oughta get out of here...I s'pose you don't want to leave your forest, but these men are liable to be in a killin' mood. I don't know where they buried their gold, but if they see any diggings I think they're likely to investigate..."
Erica nodded. "It's not really our forest anyway...we're just passing through, sorta. But what about you?"
The young man paused for a bit, holding back an internal struggle. He wished he could say what was on his mind, wished he could tell her what he was feeling...that was what old Ironhand had advised him to do. But...with these men on the loose, who knew what would happen? Who was to say they wouldn't kill again? And they might come for him anyway...how long did he really have?
"I...I gotta job to do, Miss," he said. He didn't say it, but it wasn't hard for her to read in his expression what he thought the outcome would be.
She couldn't let this happen...not to him. He didn't deserve it, not even if he knew the risk going into the job. He was a good man...and their one and only friend in this time, too. But how could she help? She wasn't a fighter by any stretch of the imagination - not even when her new body was endowed with claws and fangs. Maybe Nikki could do something like that, she could hunt after all, but she could hardly place a little girl in danger. How could she help him take maybe half a dozen armed men? She wasn't a fighter, she could barely even def...
She had her answer. It made her sick to think about, but she had an answer. She hated the idea of doing this, she would rather have cut and run altogether than have to embarass herself like this, but if it was a matter of life and death...
"I...I can help," she said. "I can...I can sp-spray like a normal sk-skunk..." She blushed brightly at even saying that, or would have if it showed under her fur. To admit to this...and to someone like him, no less...but it was vital. "It's...p-pretty s-strong," she said. "It should keep 'em occupied...if you wait for it to settle, it might help you take 'em..."
The look on his face was a mixture of relief, wonder, disbelief, and mild distaste. She hoped he didn't...didn't think she was a freak...even though she was. "Th-thank you," he said. "But you already saved my life once, Miss Erica, I can't ask you to put yerself in danger on my account..."
The teenage skunk-girl took a deep breath. Was...was she really going to go through with this? "Y-you don't have to," she said. "I'm gonna do it. Don't think ya can talk me out of it, S...Samuel." She felt...kinda warm, kinda...tingly...why? She didn't quite know, but something was nagging at the back of her mind...
He couldn't help but smile, even when he wanted to make her go, grab her by the arm and shove her out of harm's way if necessary... "Thank you, M...Erica," he said. "I appreciate it...a lot."
Jon shoved the stone into her pocket once the other students' attentions were elswhere, then sidled over to the pink-skirt girl. She noted as she approached that her skirt and blouse seemed to be actually attached to her, seemingly made of differently-color flower petals that grew out of her body...which Jon supposed made the flower atop her head more than just an interesting hat.
"Hey," she said quietly. "What happened here?"
The flower-girl turned to look at her, then started visibly at the sight. A...a slug-person? This was one she hadn't seen before... "Um, the vice-principal came in to talk about some new thing to encourage people to wear clothes," she said. "The harpy-girl got all upset, and that girl with the horn, too...they started a lot of the other kids shouting, and...it just kinda didn't go well."
Jon gave a low whistle. "No kidding. So this is a 'sit and think about what you've done' session?"
The flower-girl nodded. "Ms. Summers wasn't happy about that. Is she always that...that, uh...?"
"Imposing?" Jon asked. "Yeah...I think it's just something she does, don't ask me how. I'm Jon, by the way."
Steven gasped. There were...there were others who had been male? Intellectually she knew that, but to actually be meeting one... "I'm Steven," she said. "I'm new to...to this side of the school..."
Jon nodded. "I figured as much. How are you doing?"
