"The Wild, Wild West (open; please apply first)

[MarieDavisRPs]

The Wild, Wild West

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​

Riverbend, Indian Territory
(someday to be known as the Oklahoma Territory)
January, 1876

Katherine "Kate" Black stood silent and still in an otherwise unoccupied alley, watching the goings-on out on Main Street. Riverbend was small with perhaps 100 residents in all, a town built on three primary industries: farming, ranching, and transport, with barges and small paddlewheels moving freight up and down the adjacent river that was the source of the community's name.

But Riverbend was about to get bigger and soon. The railroad was coming, cutting right across the prairie less than 50 yards north of the current, northernmost buildings. After passing the town, it would cross over the river as it headed westward to Amarillo in Texas's panhandle and beyond to Albuquerque in the New Mexico Territory. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people would be flocking to Riverbend in the days, weeks, months, and years to come as the economy boomed.

Kate liked what a burgeoning town like this had to offer a person who was brave enough to stake a claim. Kate was just one of those people, despite her gender. Out here in the Indian Territory, women typically came in three categories: wives, whores, and widows. The last of them, widows -- if they didn't soon catch a ride back east -- would typically become one of the first two in short order as the money ran out and the need to acquire more became more desperate.

Kate had been a lot of things during her 26 years of life, but she'd never been a wife and only rarely been a whore. These days she was a gambler and a good one at that, but even more important than that, she was a US Marshal, again despite her gender. The Superintendent of Indian Affairs, located in Omaha, Nebraska, had sworn Kate into the Service and handed her the badge she was currently concealing in a pocket of her leather vest.

The Superintendent had done this to permit Kate to seek justice -- what she herself called revenge -- for the brutal murder of her sister and her sister's young child by a man who was thought to have fled to Indian Territory. Kate wasn't the only person who'd lost loved ones that day, though; her sister had been the Superintendent's wife and mother of his only child.

Kate had spent nearly three months chasing after the man, missing him sometimes by just hours or even minutes again and again. Eventually, though, she caught up to him in Tulsa in the Indian Territories, and once she had him trussed up, she'd gone to work killing him slowly and painfully as he had her sister and niece.

She'd sent a telegram back to her brother-in-law telling him only "The job is done", but just an hour later she received a response that said, Do not return to Omaha. Return to Oklahoma City and await further word by mail. Oklahoma City was the home of a friend of Kate's brother-in-law, a man who'd aided her as best he could during her quest. When the letter arrived, it read:

Dearest Kate,​

​

I only learned after you had left Oklahoma City that the man in question was the son of a wealthy and well-connected man in Chicago. This man has used his money and influence to get a judge to swear out a warrant for you for murder. If you return or otherwise get caught, they will hang you. You will not get a fair trial. You know why.​

​

He was speaking of her mixed ethnicity, of course. Kate's father had been a regular ol' white man, but her mother had been an Ojibwe slave who her father had never married. Kate was not only a half-breed but a bastard as well, something that had gotten her into a great number of fights as a child, most of which she'd begun winning by the time she'd reach a double-digit age.

The two of them exchanged letters and telegrams for a couple of months as they tried to find a solution to her problem. Kate eventually found it herself, telegraphing her brother-in-law: Wish to remain US Marshal. Please secure authority for me to serve in Indian Territories.

Her brother-in-law had initially thought she was mad, even telegramming back that she'd been strung up or shot down the first time she attempted to perform the duties of Marshal. But Kate had been insistent, and now here she was in Riverbend, striding forward to cross Main, enter the Sheriff's office, and flash her badge to the man in charge.

(BTW: This is a redo of a roleplay we had started as a vampire RP. We decided to go reality over fantasy.)

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Kirk Peters, Town Sheriff
5'10", fit physique
Brunette hair
Brown eyes
Typically, he goes several days before shaving.
Weapons of choice:

• Smith & Wesson Model 3 in .45 Schofield​
• Winchester Model 1894 .30-30​

Kirk was in his chair, balancing on its back two legs, feet up on the desk, when she came through the door. Her appearance alarmed him. She immediately reminded Kirk of a gunslinger he'd had to run out of Riverbend just the day before.

Casually he both set his chair down on all four legs and slipped his hand to the butt of the .45 Schofield on his hip. Kirk had stayed alive during these wild and dangerous times by paying attention to what was important. Right now, that was the gun on her left hip, holstered for a cross-draw with the right hand from the saddle.

"What can I do for you, Miss," he asked, trying to be friendly while also watching her draw hand.

Despite it not being important at the moment, Kirk's attention was being shared between her gun hand and her bosom. It was definitely worth of his ogling. Not so much because of a generous size. But definitely because of the way she so generously displayed it.

Then she flashed a Marshal's badge and presented Kirk with a letter signed by the Attorney General of the United States of America. It assigned her to the duties of US Marshal across Indian Territory.

Kirk was conflicted as to how he felt about this. He most definitely needed help with local law and order. But a Marshal? Kirk would still have jurisdiction over legal issues within and in the vicinity of Riverside. But this would affect issues beyond the town

He stood, offered his hand, smiled, and said, "Welcome, Marshal."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kate noticed how Kirk's right hand slipped down behind his desk, toward where she correctly assumed he wore his sidearm. It didn't concern her; he was the Town Sheriff and wasn't about to gun her down preemptively simply based upon her appearance.

"What can I do for you, Miss," he asked, letting his eyes settle on her bosom a moment.

Kate wasn't bothered by men checking out her tits, of course. If she had been, she wouldn't have been displaying them so conspicuously. Her mother used to say use what you got to get what you want. Kate had a fine body, and when necessary, she used it.

She slowly pulled out her badge, set it on the desk before her, then opened her saddle bag and fished out the letter. As she unfolded and offered him the letter, she explained, "I've been assigned to Riverbend, Sheriff."

Kate had also considered the ramifications of having a local law officer and a Federal Marshal in the same town. Kate told Kirk, "I don't mean to encroached on your authority here, and I won't. What happens within Riverbend is none of my business ... unless it is, I mean."

She didn't explain that further. If she had, Kate would have said that if a perpetrator from outside the town came into Riverside, it would become her business.

Kirk stood, offered his hand, and said, "Welcome, Marshal."

Kate took it, saying, "Katherine Black. Please, call me Kate."

She looked around the office, leaning to peek down the hall that led to the jail cells; she neither saw nor heard anyone in them, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Small," she observed. "But appropriate for an equally small town, I reckon." She looked for a second desk but didn't find one. "No Deputies?"

She listened to Kirk, then said, "Listen, I need food ... and a drink ... and a room. I don't mind a saloon. I'm fact, I prefer them over some fancy restaurant." Then smiling, she offered, "I'm buying."

 

[KingOfNowhere]

"I don't mean to encroached on your authority here," Kate told Kirk, "and I won't. What happens within Riverbend is none of my business ... unless it is, I mean."

"Understood," Kirk responded. He got the woman's message. "I appreciate that. Welcome, Marshal."

"Katherine Black," she introduced herself. "Please, call me Kate."

"Kirk Peters."

She asked about Deputies. Kirk chuckled, "They barely pay me as it is. Where would I get Deputies?"

She talked about needing food, drink (which he assumed meant alcohol), and a place to lay her head. "I don't mind a saloon. I'm fact, I prefer them over some fancy restaurant."

Kirk was about to say he had work to do. He did, in fact, have men in the cells. One was a cowboy who's gotten drunk in the saloon and and fired his pistol through the ceiling. He'd nearly killed both the whore in room above and the customer whose cock she'd been sucking.

The other was the son of the wealthy and powerful Robert King. King owned the timber company that had provided all of the lumber for the building of Riverside.

More recently, he'd gotten a valuable contract to provide lumber for the railroad coming this way. He was to provide not just the railroad ties but the lumber for the bridge to span the river.

All of this made Robert King an even more important and powerful man than he already had been. This made holding his son on charges of murder an issue for Kirk. Dangerous, even.

Kirk thought he should stay and watch over Junior, or the Princeling as some called him behind his back.

Then Kate told him, "I'm buying."

"Well, that makes my decision easy," Kirk said. He popped up from his seat. "You should have ledwith that, Marshal."

Kirk headed for the door, then paused. He fetched the keys to the cells and some other necessities. "I need to do something first, though."

It took a few minutes, as well as a handful of punches and kicks. But eventually Kirk accomplished his something. When he was finished, the Princeling was naked, shackled, gagged, and secured to the inside wall of the outhouse out back of the jail. Kirk nailed a board across the door to discourage anyone from using it, as well as keep Junior inside.

"Okay, let's go get that drink," Kirk said. He led Kate down the street to the saloon. It was Riverbend's only legal drinking establishment.

"Maybe I should lead the way," Kirk suggested when they got to the swinging doors. "They don't normally see women in her, 'less they be serving drinks."

Inside, Kirk paused a moment. He was looking for men who worked for Robert King. There had been two men with Junior when he was arrested. Kirk had winged one when he reached for his weapon. The other one hadn't liked the sight of the Sheriff's .45 aimed at his forehead. He'd very calmly disarmed as instructed.

Sure enough, Kirk found four of King's men sitting at the farthest table. They were sharing a bottle of whiskey and being loud. Seeing Kirk, they went quiet and simply stared his way.

"Let's sit over here," he suggested. Kirk gestured Kate to a table in the corner. They couldn't have found a place to sit any farther away from the men and still be in the tavern.

A barmaid arrived, taking their order for dinner and drinks. Since Kate was paying, Kirk ordered a bottle of imported beer. It wasn't actually imported. It came from a Midwest brewery owed by a couple of brothers from the Rhineland.
So theoretically it was German-made be.

"Is there gonna be trouble, Sheriff?" the barmaid asked. She glanced toward the King men, then back to Kirk. "They've been talking about you and Junior and his father for almost five hours. They're on their third bottle, just the four of them "

"I hope not," Kirk told her. She left, and Kirk explained the situation to Kate in more detail. "I have no right to ask this of you, particularly on your first day in town..."

He hoped he didn't have to explain what he was asking for.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"I need to do something first, though," Kirk told Kate before gathering some things and heading back to the cells.

There were only two cells, and they were very small, as Kate would have expected for an equally small town. But they were solidly built, and no one was going to escape them. And yet, Kirk transferred one of the men out to the far less secure outhouse, leaving him there with his shackles nailed to the wall and his cock and balls -- shriveled by the cold -- dangling before him

Kate didn't ask for details, believing Kirk would explain later if he wished. When they got to the saloon, he did just that, asking her for backup if he found he needed it.

"Of course," Kate said, asking, "Are we wanting to keep these men alive if possible? Will killing them in a gunfight get you into more trouble?"

 

[KingOfNowhere]

"Are we wanting to keep these men alive if possible?" Kate asked. "Will killing them in a gunfight get you into more trouble?"
Kirk considered the question. He really didn't have an answer. He was already facing a situation that could see him dead before sunrise.

"Well, hell," he murmured, "What's a few more dead cowboys, right? I mean, the only reason King has these men on his payroll is to use their guns when he deems it appropriate to meet his goals. It isn't as if any of them are loggers or sawmill workers. Riverside could do without a few more guns."

As if they had heard his challenge from across the room, the four men rose almost as one. They started Kirk and Kate's direction. As they did, they had a surprise for Kirk. Three other men joined them from other tables or the bar.

They came to a stop in a semicircle a couple of yards from the lawmen's table. Within seconds, the others in the crowded saloon began clearing out. Some left the establishment, but most simply moved away from what they feared was going to become a major shootout.

"What can I do for you boys?" Kirk asked casually before sipping at his beer again.

"You can let Junior out of that cell you tossed him into," the lead man answered.

"I already did," Kirk informed him. King's men looked confused. "Robert King, Jr., is not in a cell at my jail.

Again, the men simply looked confused. Kirk continued, "Go ahead, send a man over and look. The front door's unlocked."

The Lead gestured a pair of his men to do just that. Kirk lifted his stein to his lips, whispering to Kate, "Two down."

The Lead began chastising Kirk for thinking that he could arrest Junior, let alone put him on trial and get a conviction. "No one 'round here's gonna convict Junior of farting out of tune, let alone murder."

"We'll see," is all Kirk said. He and the Lead exchanged barbs for a minute or so before the latter"s two men returned. They reported that Junior was, in fact, not in the jail.

"Okay, so, we're done here," Kirk said. He slowly rose, his left hand on the table to help him up while his right hand was kept free.

"Where is Junior?" the lead asked. "His father wants him back at the camp."

"That's not going to happen," Kirk told the man firmly. "Now, I'm going to ask you boys nicely to head out the door and back to Mister King's home--"

Suddenly, the Lead went for his sidearm. He'd been drinking for hours, as had his cohort. He fumbled for the weapon, taking too long to get it out

Kirk, who'd still had a great of the table, pushed it forward and upwards. It confused the men as he pulled his Schofield and began shooting. He wouldn't stop until all of the men were dead, dying, or on their knees begging for mercy.

He didn't really anticipate that last option as being realistic.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kate almost thought that she and Kirk should skip the dinner and drinks; maybe she should get a room at the Riverbend Boarding House and stay out of sight. But she was concerned for Kirk's safety, as well as for anyone who might be near him should a gunfight break out between him and a larger number of men.

When the cowboys, as Kirk had called them, approached -- in a much larger number than Kate had expected -- the confrontation got ugly quickly, despite Kirk's ruse about the Princeling's location.

When Kirk stood to leave, Kate rose, too, and just a short moment later, all hell broke loose. The cowboy seemingly in charge tried to pull his pistol, instead fumbling with it long enough for Kirk to act. He overturned the table in the direction of the head cowboy, pulled his pistol, and began blasting.

Kate did the same, whipping out her Peacemaker, raising it at one of the men also pulling his pistol, and fired. The man's head jerked back as the bullet entered and then exited his skull, splashing blood and brains onto another cowboy, just before Kate shot him in the chest.

She emptied her six-shooter in less than three seconds, dropping three of the men in a cloud of gunpowder smoke. She began backing deeper into the corner, quickly reloading her Colt as her eyes searched for additional shooters.

When the cloud began dissipating, she found Kirk standing over a man on his knees; the cowboy was holding his hands out, his pistol dangling by its trigger guard from his trigger finger.

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Kirk scanned the cowboys, then the saloon itself. Between them, he and Kate had taken out six of the seven wannabe killers. The seventh was on his knees pleading for his life. Kirk's concern was not him, despite him still having a pistol in his hands. His concern was that some other King employee or sympathizer would pull his weapon and shoot him down.

Finally, he snatched the last man's gun from him. He commanded, "Get your ass to the jail, now! I know who you are and where to find you. If you aren't sitting there when I get there, I'll--"

"I'll be there! I'll be there!" the man continued his pleading. "Just don't shoot me, Sheriff!"

The man rose slowly, his hands still above his head. He made his way for the saloon's exit. Kirk stared out the window. The man did as instructed, crossing the street and heading directly into the jail. Kirk looked back to the mess before him. Blood and brains were everywhere. It reminded him of the battlefield and hospital tent stories his Pappy, an army surgeon, had told him of the War Between the States.

The owner of the saloon came close to him, asking, "What the hell, Sheriff?"

"Yeah, sorry about that Jimbo," Kirk told the man. "If I'd been able to get them outside first..."

The patrons and employees were closely coming out of hiding. Jimbo looked about, then called out, "Okay, listen up! Saloon's closed. 'Cept for those who help clean this fuckin' mess up. For those who help, dinner and drinks, on the house."

There was a cheer. And almost immediately, nearly every man jumped in. Within minutes, all six bodies were laid out side by side on the muddy ground out back of the saloon. A crew of both employees and patrons were cleaning up the mess: blood, brains, piss, even shit. It would take until after dark to complete the cleanup.

Once it was done, or sufficiently so for now, the saloon went back to normal: drinking, eating, piano playing, singing and flirting by the barmaids. And, despite the food and drinks being on the house, money still exchanged hands. The saloon wasn't a brothel per se. But there were tents out the back used by a half dozen girls to service the saloon's patrons and others.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kate was impressed with the authority Kirk commanded following the gunfight. The seventh gunman, despite being unguarded, had voluntarily made his way directly to a jail cell as directed; and the salons employees and patrons went directly to work cleaning the place up, even if some only did it for the free boxes and food.

As the bodies were being dragged out, Kate inspected the firearms the cowboys had used. Amongst them, she found a Colt Single Action Army M1873 revolver, aka the Peacemaker, similar to but not as well cared for as her own. She took the gun and removed the man's gun belt.

Kirk saw this, leading Kate to shrug and say, "He doesn't need it any more. And someone owes me some 45 rounds. Just six, but I don't think he'll mind."

The bodies were removed and laid out in the alley. Kate stayed out there with them as people came to claim them. Kate was surprised to learn that most of the men were established residents of Riverbend. She'd assumed that they were all hired guns from other locations.

The Undertaken had been in the bar during the shootout, so getting him here to tend to the bodies hadn't been difficult. Over the next hour or so, he had the most basic of caskets delivered, the corpses loaded, and the boxes taken away to the mortuary, which was little more that the backroom of the carpentry shop that produced much of Riverbend's furniture and wooden tools.

Once the bodies were gone, Kate went back inside for some dinner and one of those imported beers that Kirk had had. If he was again sitting at their table she'd sit with him again.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Introducing Ebony:

Once the shooting has ended and the gunpowder smoke began to clear, Ebony came out of her hiding place behind the upright piano. She'd heard a thunk and a twang right near her head during the firing, and only now realized that a bullet has penetrated the piano and -- because of the angle of fire -- sliced through not one, not two, but three of the piano wires.

She jumped right in with helping clean up after the fight. This was, after all, her place of business, and if the men of Riverbend weren't spending money on booze and girls, she wasn't making money.

"Go bathe and get dressed," she told her Girls once the floors and walls were clean enough for Jimbo to conduct business again. It didn't take long for them to hear the failings of the piano, so Ebony tossed a dollar to one of their regulars to go fetch his bank and his brother, the latter of which played the fiddle.

Soon enough, it was as if the shootout had never occurred. Ebony knew it wouldn't remain that way, of course. Mister King had surely already gotten word that his son was (or had been?) in the jail house; even though Riverbend didn't have the telegraph yet, Oklahoma City to the east did, and Ebony knew that a rider has been dispatched to pass the word.

Robert King would certainly be heading this way from Fort Smith on the next train. It would still be a couple of days, maybe as much as four, before he got here. But when he did, there was going to be hell to pay.

"You look like you could use some company, Sheriff," Ebony told Kirk when she caught up with him. She sat in his lap without waiting for his invitation, whispering into his ear, "I think you earned a freebie tonight. Laura maybe...? Or Penelope? I know you like redheads."

She pulled back to look him in the eyes, "Or me ... if you wanted a real woman."