Growing Up in the Wild West (for cp2000)

[animefangirl]

The day had started normally enough. Ava had woken up with the sun and helped her mother to prepare breakfast. Once the family had eaten they went their separate ways, seeing to the daily tasks that kept their little tribe functioning smoothly. Ava was a neko, one of the few tribes left in this area that the humans had not yet managed to chase out. Her whole life there had been tension between her people and the humans, but it seemed that they had finally reached an uneasy peace. Ava was too young to understand all of that, the girl being only six years old, but she was old enough to know that humans were dangerous and should be avoided.

"Mama, may I go gather berries?" She asked, giving her mother the cutest puppy eyed look ever and she smiled when her mother caved and said she could go. She loved wandering around in the woods, and the berries were very sweet this time of year. She could already imagine the pastries that she and her mother would make once she got home with them.

The little neko girl grabbed her gathering basket, having made it herself just last week which she was quite proud of, and headed out to the woods. She spent a few hours picking berries and was on her way home when she picked up on the unmistakable sound of screaming and horses hooves stamping all around. At first she froze, unable to fully understand what was happening, but then her instincts kicked in and she dropped her basket and scurried up the closest tree. From there she could see the bandits attacking her people, the child getting a horrified look in her bright blue eyes as she watched her family and friends being slaughtered.

There was nothing she could do. And even at her age the shame of hiding while this happened, of not doing anything to help, stung.

By the time it was over the child had learned to hate. She hated those humans. She hated all humans. What evil creatures they must be to do something like this. The little neko stayed where she was for about an hour, making sure that no humans were left, and then she climbed down. Not knowing what else to do she walked back to her village where she sank to her knees just on the outskirts, tears flowing silently down her cheeks as she stared at the carnage.

[cp 2000]

Unfortunately for the child, she wouldn't have much time to mourn the loss of her tribe, as the cat ears atop her head would soon pick up the sound of approaching hooves once again, though less intense than it had been before. If she was to look off into the distance towards where the noise was coming from, she would be able to see a single black shape making its way towards her at high speed, as could be seen by the prominent dust trail it was leaving behind it.

As it continued to get closer and closer, the shape eventually grew into a large black stallion that stampeded past the little neko and into the decimated village, skidding to a stop in the centre of the settlement before pawing the ground as its owner dismounted. The figure was dressed in garments that matched the colour of his steed, with a battered looking duster coat that billowed out gently behind him as he looked down at the bodies that lay around him, reaching up to the black bandana that covered the lower half of his face and giving his chin a thoughtful stroke as if considering what to do next.

After a minute or so of consideration, he began inspecting a few of the bodies closest to them, turning them over and looking them up and down as if he was more interested in their wounds than the contents of their pockets.

[animefangirl]

The little black ears atop her head twitched when she heard the sound of another horse approaching, and she turned her head to see that a human was on his way. A large human. Once again her instincts kicked in and she scurried off to hide behind a nearby bush, pinning her ears nervously she watched as he skidded to a stop in the center of what used to be her peaceful village. Her simple, brown clothing helped her to blend in as she watched what was going on. The little one wasn't entirely sure how to react now. Part of her wanted to run off and hide, but something held her back. Something she didn't know the name of, but was burning in her chest and making her heart thump.

Hate, and a burning desire to take vengeance against the humans.

In her mind this human was one of those bandits, and she wanted to hurt him for what he'd done to her people. So, when he crouched down to inspect one of the bodies of her fallen tribes-mates she slunk up behind him and then leaped at him with a ferocious, in her mind anyway really it was more cute than scary, growl. She attempted to both bite and scratch him, making sounds like an angry house cat, and the hair on her tail was bristled out as far as it could go in an attempt to make herself seem bigger and scarier than she was.

[cp 2000]

Just as he was finishing up his inspection of another nekos body, the figure heard a noise like a high-pitched yowl before feeling something small jump onto his back and begin clawing and biting at him. "What the...!" he said, getting to his feet and reaching behind him to try and grab ahold of whatever was attacking him, twisting and turning on the spot whilst the mysterious creature continued to hold onto him for dear life.

Eventually, he was able to get a grip on something that felt like clothing, whereupon he pulled his small attacker off of him and threw her to the floor, pulling out one of the revolvers on his gun-belt once he did and cocking the hammer back as he pointed it towards where he'd thrown his assailant.

However, he stopped just short of pulling the trigger when he saw it was a little girl lying in front of him, dressed in a plain brown dress with a pair of black cat ears that sat atop her head that matched the colour of her hair and tail. Not immediately lowering the gun, the masked human simply stared down at the child, seeing from the distress and anger in her bright blue eyes that she was most likely the only survivor of what had happened here.

Eventually, once he was certain that the kitten wasn't going to try and jump at him again, the figure re-holstered his weapon and pulled the bandanna covering his face down, revealing the scowling, stubbled face of a man in his mid to late thirties who strode over to the girl and grabbed her by the arm. "What the hell d'you think you're playing at girl?" he demanded after pulling the little neko to her feet, still looking down sternly at her as he spoke, "do you have any idea how close I was to putting a bullet in you just there?".

[animefangirl]

Ava really hadn't thought this plan through, she was just angry and this man was messing with one of the bodies of her fallen clan. So soon after being traumatized seeing them all murdered. It was too much for her so in that moment she just reacted instinctively and attacked. She growled and yowled as she scratched and bit at him, trying to do as much damage as she could in the little time she knew she had. She wasn't actually stupid, she knew this human was bigger and stronger than her, she just hadnt' cared.

When he got ahold of her dress she hissed and clawed at his hand but it didn't help and she soon ended up pitched off of him, hitting the ground with a 'oof' that knocked the wind out of her for a moment. By the time she got air back in her lungs and rolled to crouch and eye him warily he had that gun pointed at her, but instead of fleeing she simply pinned her ears flat against her head and hissed at him again. She thought for sure he was going to kill her now, like the other humans had killed the rest of her clan. If that was her fate she wanted to die fighting.

So she was surprised when he actually lowered his gun, that getting a wary look from the kitten and she was about to make a break for it when he grabbed ahold of her arm. "Leggo!" She immediately protested, struggling for all she was worth but she was small and of course no match for his strength. When he pointed out how close she'd come to being shot she just growled and eyed his hand like she was seriously considering biting him again to make him let go.

"Go ahead, the rest of your band killed everyone else may as well kill me too" She shouted at him, her eyes full of tears she was stubbornly holding at bay.

[cp 2000]

Still continuing to hold onto the child despite her struggling, the man gave her something of a bemused look when she mentioned the people who had done this to her village, having assumed that he was one of them. "My band?" he repeated, speaking with a small trace of indignation in his voice as he looked down at the small cat girl he had a hold of, "what're you talking about? I only just got here now, which means you almost got killed by a complete stranger who had nothing to do with any of this".

Whilst it was true that this man had no involvement with the others who had been here before him, that did not mean that his appearance this soon after they'd left was purely coincidental. Although he was unsure if his words were having any effect on the neko, he knew he had to find some way of calming her down, as right now she was the only lead he had to help him complete the job he'd taken up.

"Now listen" he said, reaching into his coat with his free hand and pulling out a folded-up piece of battered parchment, unfolding it with a quick flick of his wrist once he did, "I came through here looking for a gang of outlaws, and I'd say chances are pretty good that they were the ones responsible for attacking your village". He held the piece of paper in front of the girl as he spoke, allowing her to see that it was a wanted poster with the picture of two dark eyed men with untidy facial hair, and a title above their face that red 'the Granton Brothers'. "Have you seen either of these two men?" he asked, guessing it was probably a long shot that the kitten had been able to get a good look at any of the bandits faces, given how she had most likely been too pre-occupied watching her friends and family getting killed.

[animefangirl]

Ava struggled against the hold that the man had on her until she heard him speaking in that indignant tone, that got her attention and her little ears flicked slightly. Maybe she had been mistaken and this human wasn't with the other ones, though it still seemed suspicious to her that he had come so soon after the bandits left. When he flat out said he had nothing to do with it the kitten gave him a searching look, trying to decide if he was lying to her or not. "You're not with them?" She asked, her doubt clear in her tone as she spoke to him.

The bristled fur on her tail was starting to lay back down and her little ears were flicking forward and back rapidly, a sure sign that she was conflicted but at least she was listening and she had stopped eyeing his hand as if she were going to bite him at any second. So that was progress.

Ava tensed when he reached into his coat pocket, lifting her free hand she got ready to swat at him if he pulled something out that she didn't like. Luckily for her all he grabbed was a piece of paper and she flicked her ears forward when he showed it to her and explained that he was actually looking for the outlaws that had done this. "Are you the law?" She asked, confused now since he didn't have a sheriff badge. The pictures on the flyer got her attention and since she was a neko not a regular little girl she actually had been able to make out their faces. Her heart started to thump hard in her chest as she recognized one of the two brothers. He'd been the one directing the others as they went through her village and killed everyone.

"That one was there, he was bossing the others around" She said, pointing at the brother she recognized and then a second later she added. "I wanna go with you. I wanna help catch 'em" The kitten sounded dead serious as she spoke, her tail lashing side to side in a show of aggression when she thought of getting vengeance against these men.

[cp 2000]

The man let out a sound that was halfway between a grunt and a low chuckle when the little neko asked if he was a lawman, given that the nature of his profession was a little less noble than that of your average tin-star. "Sure, something like that" he said, seeing no immediate need to contradict the childs assumption, as she would probably be more willing to co-operate with him if she assumed that he was a typical law bringer.

When the girl confirmed that she had indeed seen one of the men on the bounty poster, the man nodded and folded the piece of paper up, glad to finally have a solid lead to follow up on after spending the best part of a week only going off of vague rumours, which almost almost always turned out to be a waste of time chasing up.

However, as he pocketed the parchment once again, he heard the kitten pipe up with her request to come with him, prompting him to look down at her with a somewhat doubtful expression. Whilst it made sense that she would want some level of retribution for what had happened to her home despite how young she was, she was still just a little girl, with more determination than ability to attain her desired revenge. Besides, he had once heard from someone a while back that you should never work with children or animals, so no doubt having a combination of the two with him would be flirting with disaster.

"Yeah, I don't think so" he said, bringing his fingers up to his mouth and letting out a sharp whistle, prompting his horse to begin trotting over to where they were standing, "where I'm going ain't no place for a little girl, there's a town not too far from here that'll be safe for you to stay, just point me in the direction they rode off in and I'll handle it after I drop you off".

[animefangirl]

Ava gave him a doubtful look when he sort of laughed at her and then said he was something of a lawman. She may be young, but she wasn't completely naive about how such things worked so she wasn't sure she believed him. "Where's your badge?" She asked, knowing that a real lawman would have one, her mama had told her so. For now he was really her only option, so she was probably going to cooperate with him regardless, but she still wanted to know what sort of human she was dealing with.

The wanted poster got her attention and she felt that new hate rising in her chest again when she saw the image of the man that had lead the group that murdered everyone. She'd mourn them later, for now her anger and desire for revenge was keeping the tears at bay. At lest now that she had someone here that seemed like he could help her get that.

It seemed like he had other ideas and she frowned when he gave her that doubtful look and basically told her no, that not sitting too well with the kitten as was clear when her tail started to lash even more rapidly from side to side. She felt a little panicked when he whistled for his horse, thinking he meant to leave her here alone but that faded when he spoke. At least he wasn't going to leave her here, but dropping her off at the next town and leaving her behind wasn't what Ava wanted.

So, the little girl just crossed her arms and gave him a look, her stubborn side coming out full force. "Nu uh. Promise to take me with ya or find 'em yourself" She announced, plopping down on the floor in typical little kid tantrum fashion and pinned her little ears flat against her head once more. She was determined not to be left behind. Sure, she was too little to fight, but she didn't think of that. Like most children, those sorts of things didn't even occur to her.

[cp 2000]

Once the horse was close enough, the man took hold of its reins and held it still, gently stroking its mane as the large animal sighed with apparent content. Just as he was about to mount it however, he turned round to see the little neko sitting on the ground with her arms folded, glaring up at him with a pout as she issued her demands for the information he needed. This in turn prompted the man to frown back down at her, as he'd spent a long day tracking down the gang, and was in no mood to begin an argument with a child.

"Trust me kid" he said, doing his best to keep his cool as he folded his own arms whilst continuing to fix the girl with a less than impressed look, "you don't want to be where I'm going, things are probably going to get bloody fast if or when catch up to these men, and I'm not going to be able to look after you if that happens". Whilst the bounty hunting was something the man had become fairly proficient in after years of experience, there had still been far too many instances where he'd barely escaped with his life, a feat that would certainly be even harder to pull off if he had to babysit on the side.

Unfortunately, he could see from the girls stubborn face that she wasn't just about to drop this, meaning the information he needed would remain unknown to him until she was at least somewhat satiated. As such, he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, mulling over the best course of action that would allow him to get the answers he needed as soon as possible, or else risk having the weeks worth of work go up in smoke. "Okay" he said after a moment consideration, doing his best to force a smile in order to try and get the kitten on side, "how about this? You tell me where those bad men went, and I'll take you over to that town I told you about and get you the biggest trout they've got for supper and a nice warm bed to sleep in, doesn't that sound nice?".