Chapter 65
Get closer but be willing to talk if seen: 6 Votes
After a moment to think about it, Kestrel decided to tilt her wings forward and fly a little closer. She needed to know whoever it was that was making a camp this far out from the roads and Hoofston itself. The placement of the camp was odd, and that was enough to make her concerned and suspicious. She needed to take the opportunity that was presenting itself to her with most of the inhabitants seemingly elsewhere at the moment.
Keeping the sun to her back, Kestrel began a slow glide down toward the camp, losing altitude to do her best to keep herself along the line between camp and sun. It was a difficult maneuver to pull off from afar; she just had to hope she’d judged her flight path well enough. But the closer she got to the camp, the more details she could make out with her sharp eyes, soon she felt she’d seen enough to get a general feel for how much danger she was flying toward.
How dangerous does the camp seem from afar? Slightly Below Average (4/10)
Though from what Kestrel could see, nothing stood out as particularly remarkable. There weren’t any armed ponies keeping watch around the camp’s perimeter, and while she did see a wagon that looked like it was half-stocked with repeaters and rifles, it looked fairly scant compared to the modest arsenal the Gang kept for itself, especially since the addition of the Chatter gun. That meant that either most of the guns were elsewhere at the moment, perhaps with the rest of the ponies that presumably inhabited the place, or there were ponies who weren’t expected to fight in the camp.
Kestrel tried to run that through her brain. The number of tents heavily implied these ponies were travelers, and they had a few wagons to go with it. Where exactly they were traveling from and where they were traveling to, she didn’t have the slightest idea. There simply wasn’t enough around the camp to figure that out.
Does Kestrel remain unnoticed by the camp? No
Is the camp hostile? No
As she approached, however, one of the ponies looked up, shielded their eyes against the sun, and pointed upwards. The heads of their two compatriots turned as well, and Kestrel hovered in place, startled at being seen. She drifted backwards a bit, ready to dart to safety if any firearms were raised against her, but the only thing raised was a welcoming hoof. Tentatively, Kestrel drew closer, trying to glean if the ponies had any ill-intent towards her, but they only patiently waited on the ground for her to land. So, opting to be daring and see what she could learn, Kestrel circled down to the fire and landed a safe distance away, ready to react if any sudden hostility were to show itself.
But the ponies didn’t suddenly draw arms and fire; they hardly looked like ponies that fought at all. They looked more like a family, with an older mare and stallion sitting next by another stallion who was around Kestrel’s age. They didn’t wear bandoliers or carry firearms by their sides; the only things they wore were clothes stained with dirt and mud from work and toil. They were hardly a threat, Kestrel concluded, and she tucked her wings against her sides and pulled the tips away from her revolvers.
“Howdy, traveler,” the older stallion said, a hoof touching the brim of his hat. “Lookin’ for a bite to eat? Place to sit and rest your wings?”
Kestrel quickly held up a hoof. “I couldn’t,” she said, sitting down across the fire from the family. “I was just passin’ through and saw your camp. Curiosity got the better of me.”
“You normally go flyin’ ‘round others’ camps?” the mare asked, narrowing her eyes at the outlaw. “Mighty suspicious, you ask me.”
“Sweet Tea, hush now,” the first stallion said. “That ain’t no way to treat a guest.”
“A guest who’s snoopin’ ‘round where she shouldn’t, Slip Knot,” Sweet Tea said, crossing her forelegs. Her stare hardened all the more at Kestrel. “You by yourself, missy?”
“You see anypony else in that sky?” Kestrel asked, shrugging. She pulled a cigarette out from her duster pocket and lit it off the fire, relaxing some as she let herself have a quick smoke. “I got friends in Hoofston, if you really wanna know why I’m out here. Was on my way into town to see ‘em. Your camp caught my eye, though. Plenty far away from the main roads, ain’t it?”
“We like our privacy,” the younger stallion said, smiling easily at her. “Towns are a little too crowded for us.”
“I know how you feel,” Kestrel said with a nod. “I prefer the open country myself. Campin’ under the stars, that’s the way life was meant to be.”
“Yeah, you say that, but nothin’ beats a soft bed,” Slip Knot said, rolling his shoulders. He smirked at Sweet Tea, who only scowled at him. “Though some of us would be happier with rocks and cots.”
“Better than goin’ into that damn town.” Sweet Tea turned her attention back to Kestrel. “You ain’t a bounty hunter, are you? You got the look of one about you.”
Kestrel ruffled her feathers at her side and leaned back, cigarette hanging from her lips. “Whatever gives you that impression?”
“You dress like one,” the younger stallion said. “You got two revolvers. You look like wherever you are, trouble ain’t far behind.”
Slip Knot shook his head. “That ain’t no way to treat a guest, Crosstie. Both of you! Show a little more respect.”
Spotted gray wings waved him off. “Oh, I’m used to it,” Kestrel said. “Crosstie’s right, I’m more accustomed to trouble than I care to be. Have to be ready to ward it off at a moment’s notice.” Finishing her cigarette, she flicked the butt into the fire, where it curled into scorched flakes of tobacco in seconds. “What about you three? Looks like you travel in a group, and I know that gun wagon ain’t all for you. Find yourselves in trouble often?”
“We usually try to move to avoid comin’ across trouble,” Slip Knot said. “Seems to be when we go into town, a lotta ponies get angry. It’s better to camp out in the wild with like-minded individuals.”
“I guess we ain’t so different then, you and I,” Kestrel said, gesturing between them all with a wing. “I figure if we started talkin’ ‘bout politics and the state of this country, we’d have a lotta common ground.”
“I suppose we would,” Slip Knot said with a nod. He glanced at Sweet Tea, who kept her suspicious eyes locked on Kestrel, and raised an eyebrow. “How’d you like to stay for dinner?” he said. “The rest of our crew should be comin’ back sometime soon, and they’ll get somethin’ good whipped up for us. It’ll give us a chance to talk a bit more.”
Kestrel chewed on her lip, thinking it over some. “Don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Maybe.”
“It’ll be fine,” Slip Knot said. “We got whiskey and beer if you want some. Stay awhile; you look like you got some interestin’ stories to tell.”
Kestrel uses Instincts (7) to gauge the other ponies’ intentions: Success
Kestrel took her time thinking through her response, giving Slip Knot and the other two ponies a few discreet looks. Sweet Tea seemed to want her gone, that much was certain, but Slip Knot wanted her to stay, while Crosstie seemed more bemused by the whole thing. And as far as she could tell, Slip Knot didn’t seem to have any ill-intentions planned for her. Perhaps Sweet Tea was just being wary of strangers, while Slip Knot had too much hospitality for her own good.
The decision on whether to stay or go was up to her, however.
1. Stay for dinner. Ah, ain’t no reason not to hang ‘round for a bit. Slipknot’s nice enough, even if his wife (I think) ain’t, and it seems we got more in common than meets the eye. Perhaps findin’ some common ground with another group of ponies who ain’t best friends with authority could be useful in the long run.
2. Leave. Perhaps it’d be best if I left now before a bunch more ponies showed up. Last thing I want is to get stuck in a camp with twenty-some ponies, ‘specially if a few end up bein’ pegasi that could fly after me, unlike these three.
3. Help myself to their supplies, whether they like it or not. It’s me against three of ‘em, and they ain’t got no guns nor magic. What are three earth ponies gonna do against a pegasus with two revolvers? I’m sure they’ve got somethin’ valuable lyin’ around that might be of value to the Gang…
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Option one ( 1 ). Let's hear what these quote unquote travellers have to say. There may be an opportunity to make some cash. (really, anything is better than Starlight Glimmer. communism isn't trustworthy...)
Option one. Might even unknowingly making an important ally.
Might be prospectors, so it's 1 For me.
1. Might as well since it seems we lucked out on then being nice folk...so far anyways.
Might as well be polite, just be sure not to stay too late. Don't want the gang to get worried
Let's stick around and be polite. They offered dinner and they seem nice enough. Well, 2 out of 3 are anyway. Plus, even though Tumbleweed prefers to have a small group. He never said we couldn't have friends on the outside. Who knows, these ponies might do us a favour in the future. I'm going to say 1.
1: Take the dinner party, but keep an eye out for trouble. A non-hostile group would be nice right about now.
Option one. Might as well
Good rolls this chapter. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that these guys are something like pony Mormans.
1, let's stay for dinner. They're camping so close we should probably learn more about them.
Option 2.
I'll be going a bit against the grain by saying so here, but given Kessie's reputation, and Sweet Tea's skepticism of us, I'd say it'ss reasonable that when more ponies arrive she's going to be asking any of them if our Kess' mug rings a bell.
Whoever this group may be can seem friendly enough.. For now.. But with the bounty on our head? It just takes one of them to make the call, and we'd be outnumbered some twenty-odd ponies to one.
As usual, however, I'm the paranoid one, so hopefully, this will all turn out well since 1 seems like it'll be the winner.
Yeah I’m gonna have to vote 2. Too many unknowns about people coming in and possibly recognizing us puts us in a really bad spot. In addition to that, I’m sure the gang doesn’t expect us to be gone for too long and they might try to come looking for us. That could get ugly really fast and it would probably be best to avoid that if at all possible.
option 1
Stay for dinner