[IC] Steel Ball Run | Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

[Potemking]

MENTIONS: 「N / A」

---

Despite his paper incident, Donny was trying to keep steady in the race. He needed to forget everything behind him and focus forward: Focus on getting to that finish in first; High on the board at the start, and he'd keep it that way. Now, all he had to do was clean his mind, keep his surroundings in check, and not get distracted--

Instantly, he found himself distracted.

He saw that woman; The one on the poster, and the one who was probably still smelling like horse shit. If he kept to her blindside she might not notice him creeping around to overtake her. But thoughts of running past her ran cold with the savage sight of her doing something crazy: She took one of those large metallic spheres from her hip, and to his surprise, she threw it at a horse in front of her. It almost reminded him of one of his boomerangs with the way it moved through the air; and the collision it made with one of the horses was enough to cause such a wave of destruction that it knocked out an entire wave of racers. And to top it off, she caught the sphere as she passed by!

"_{Holy shit.}" Donny muttered, mind adjusting to the witnessed chaos. How did she do that? There was no way that ball could do that; It made no sense! Donny found himself genuinely shaken by the display of talent from Jules. She was more fearsome than he could've expected, but that throwing ability... However she used that sphere in such a way? He wanted to do that. Oh, hell yeah he wanted that. It was badass, to just give the most minor reason for wanting to be able to do it. Though, with how he pissed her off before... She'd probably try to kill him at the end of the first stage.

Thoughts wandering to the poster, he realized that he had some potential way to get her to play along. A sly smile crossed his face--

_{"OhgollyOhgollyOhgollyOhgolly.."}

N a n i ? !

Whatever smile he had was replaced with a large frown and wide eyes. That gunslinger from earlier had sped past him like a bullet! This made him realize that, for a fact, he was supposed to be racing right now instead of worrying about all the dumb shit. What had he just got done motivating himself to do?! Donny shook his head before his heels kicked against O'Riley, getting her to pick up speed. "Shit!" He swore irritably, attempting to catch up to those damned racers. He barely offered the pile of flesh and broken bones any note as he raced past; Having priorities right now.

These people were just full of damn surprises!

[CaliforniaState]

_Mention: 「 N/A 」

---

Was everyone in this race as rude and brazen as Simon? The hulking mass of man simply ignored anything and everything Joseppi was saying to him. It was like he wasn’t even there. One minute he ran up next to him and was pointing at his knapsack being open and taking off the next without any utterance. It wasn’t enough to be ignored by Simon, but denied by Jules, his poster stolen by a blonde midget, and some ditzy red head completely unaware of her stand or what gravity was. This race was going to take more of a toll on his mind, body, and soul if the pace of people he met kept up with those from just before. In his introspection he had loss all footing he gained from shooting out the gate at the start of the race. Realizing he was now several spots behind the front of the crowd, he spat in annoyance. His head lowered to the level of Radio Heads ear whispering, “Let’s go buddy we don’t need to win first but we do need to teach those folks a lesson.”

Riled up with a new flame of passion, Joseppi whipped the reigns and shouted letting Radio Head no it was time to boogie. To make up for the distance he lost he needed speed and a whole lot of it. Sucking in the air around him he filled his lungs to the very brim before expelling it all with ferocious force. Only instead of his just his lips a manifestation of his stand’s lips leapt past his own. The air blowing from his mouth began to coat Radio Head in a semi translucent bubble or shield rather. Joseppi had created a vehicle that would bend the air resistance around him instead of directly on top of the pair. Radio Head sliced through the air and the crowd around him like a hot knife through butter. Not only was Radio Head able to conserve more energy this way, but the air wouldn’t be putting any pressure on the joints or weight of both riders.

First was the blonde that had stolen his poster and as much as Joseppi wanted to divert his attention form the race to a fist into Donny’s face, he knew he had to bite his tongue for now. Instead the menacing cowboy simply tipped his hat in Donny’s direction before blowing straight past him. “Now where is that lump of bricks now?” Joseppi said aloud looking specifically for Simon. “Oh, great a hill” he thought, knowing full well what kind of damage a downward slope could do to all of the racers and their horses. Luckily for Joseppi luck was on his side. A simple upturned flick of his wrist created a small layer of air between the ground and Radio Head’s feet allowing him to glide gracefully down the hill instead of pounding downward. The plume of feathers caught his attention once more, it was the girl who had narrowly escaped his charm. Something was different about her this time, she had an air of candor and now she was holding one of those mysterious balls strapped to her sides.

His eyes widened in awe of her raw display of power and skill with the orb. She knocked down one horse that snowballed into a pileup of both riders and horse alike. He grimaced in her act of defiance, perhaps she was a stand user after all. Tugging at the reigns once more, Radio head reared in reply as he sped up jumping over the pile up in elegant display. Using the momentum to his favor he continued to glide down the hill, passing Jules this time. His head turned hoping to catch her gaze, a playful wink sent to her if she did manage to meet his eyes. However, he couldn’t stop there he needed to press on and catch up to Simon. The urge to send him flying had overcome any of his previous motivations and just like gravity Joseppi was sitting behind both him and Annie with Neon Knight.

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: @Lord Orgasmo @NachoBachoPacho @AmpharosBoy @Severance

It all felt like a rush. Jules pulled ahead, leaving many others in the dust-- but the finish line was nearly in front of her, and as many, many onlookers cheered from the sidelines, she realized that she would not be able to place first now matter how hard she tried. The blonde woman ground her teeth together as she noticed three others ahead of her, the one closest to her being the man that had her poster. Crap. She would let him place third, if it meant that she could slip away from him easier. A few moments later, and the first bunch had crossed the finish line.

"THE WINNER OF THE STAGE IS CLEAR! SIMON GARFUNKEL IS IN FIRST!" shouted the announcer. "IN SECOND COMES ANNIE OHKAE! AND IN THIRD, JOSEPPI JOESTAR!"

Crap. That meant that she had come in fourth, after all. Jules frowned as she slowed her horse into a slow trot, hearing his breath come out in wild puffs. Everyone was flooding into the little "town", which was more like an outpost than anything. There were some buildings here and there meant for the riders to spend some time there before they headed off for the second stage. A parlor was one of the buildings that were available, and she hoped that she would have enough time to get a quick drink and clean herself off before she headed for the desert.

"WAIT! WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ONE OF THE JUDGES! THE RACER UNDER THE NAME J. ZEPPOLI HAS INTERFERED WITH ANOTHER CONTESTANT. THUS, SHE WILL BE PENALIZED AND LOWERED 20 PLACES AS A RESULT."

Oh, so now she wouldn't even get fourth. Jules scowled, leading her horse deeper into the little town in an attempt to get away from everyone that celebrated the first place winner's victory. Twenty-fourth place. It was almost the same as coming last! Why, if she wasn't so exhausted from that spat, she would have walked up to the judges and whoever the hell else was in charge and have given them a piece of her mind. Some of the other racers watched her as she passed by them. Her blood was hot and she was sure that she looked less than happy. If anyone even approached her... especially if it was someone she didn't know, she wouldn't hold back from being nasty. Mumbling curses under her breath, she guided Greasy Sand to a small post and tied him up.

Jules had four goals. Fill up her water-skin, get the shit off of her, catch a breather, and get the hell out of there before she lost her temper.

[Potemking]

MENTIONS: 「N / A」

---

Though he tried to catch up, Donny found himself falling more behind: He had pushed his horse too much, too early: And that was clear as not only had Jules stayed ahead and Simon bolted for the lead; But some large man dashed straight past him with nothing but a tip of his hat. What the hell?! Where'd his speed come from? The way he was bursting ahead, Donny felt dream as they reached the finish line; Fourth wasn't the worst position, but his competition was clear. Three people tiered above him, and three people that needed to be kept out of the top rankings during the next stage.

It wasn't until Donny actually reached the finish that he realized that woman, Jules, hadn't even placed top 3: In fact, that lady with the rein-levitating powers? She was ahead. How?! He fucking passed her earlier; Or did he? Were her powers beyond just levitating things? So many things were sketchy, especially that gunman placing first. He seemed pretty harmless despite shooting a guy in the middle of the road, but hell, he was clearly more competition than Donny was expecting. All together, this really sucked.

So Donny actually placed fifth, and this made him slightly angrier. He irritably swung a fist at the air because of the results, but paused as they announced that 'J.ZEPPPOLI' had been placed 20 positions back as a penalty for interference. Seriously? He actually was in fourth now? This took a sudden turn for the awesome.

Donny kept riding, hand waving out at those who were celebrating the race. Though most of them gathered around that gunman; Simon, huh? Number 1313... There had to be some lucky with getting duplicate numbers, yeah? Whatever, he couldn't be bothered. He needed to prepare, quickly, and set back out. He may have gotten fourth this time, but it wasn't going to happen again: He was going for number one, and he'd be watching out for Mr. Ten Gallon Stache and Plump Psychic Lady while doing it.

For the moment, he was focused on finding that Jules woman soon. That throwing technique she managed to use; He was curious about it. And he wanted to know how to do it to help himself in the race. Sure, he threw shit at her, but he felt like with her scoring such a shitty position in the rankings of Stage 1, some desperation for a small man of genius might be in order.

Slowly, Donny began scheming...

[Lord Orgasmo]

And

Featuring: None a y'all

---

Annie might've had the biggest grin on her face she's ever had. As she gripped the reigns in barely contained excitement as she saw the finish line get closer and closer. She flicked a glance left and right, looking for any last minute trouble. The only thing she could see was a single moustached rider ahead of her. Was she really that far ahead? There's no way, was there?

The line grew bigger and bigger and bigger, until...

"THE WINNER OF THE STAGE IS CLEAR!"
Annie's cries and cheers blended in with the rest of the crowd as she rushed through, her fists in the air. From what little she heard from the announcer, she had come in second. She was quite proud of herself, second place out of all these people? And as such a novice racer, too! The first place winner was someone named Simon. Maybe she'd try and find him? His big ol' moustache shouldn't be that hard to find among all these faces.

Annie would sit on the sidelines, offering handshakes and high-fives for a few moments, before she would take Slow Ride to a nearby post next to a water trough, and take a walk with Neon Knight. "Whew! Well that was fun, eh, Neon? So uh... What now?" "Well, now we should rest while we can, before we head off to the next stage. It'll be in the Arizona Desert. You'll need lots of water if you're to survive that heat. Both you and Slow Ride. For now, perhaps you should interact with your fellow racers? Either that, or maybe get a drink at a tavern around here."

Annie gave a long stretch before letting her eyes wander around the "town" for something to occupy her time with. Perhaps a visit to the bar was in order? Either that or maybe see if she could get some sweets? If all else fails she could always see if Neon Knigh could draw any attention. If people could see him, that means they probably have "Stands" too, or at the very least some other sort of ability she'd need to watch out for. For now, she put one foot in front of the other, wandering aimlessly for the time being, until either something or someone catches her attention.

[GubGar]

Mentions: N/A

---

Simon had been so distracted by the prospect of moving towards the goal as fast as he could, that he didn't even realize no one was in front of him by the time he actually made it through. The burst of speed, combined with his own panic that hadn't yet worn off, had somewhat disoriented him. It wasn't until he heard the Announcer declare him the winner that Simon realized he even finished. Thankfully for the mustached jockey, his horse was smarter than he was, and had stopped herself before they could plow into something and hurt themselves.

Simon blinked once, then twice. His mouth felt horribly dry. He had won the first portion? Really? Simon's goal was to place among the top ten, anything more seemed like wishful thinking. The only reason he was confident enough to enter in the first place was because he believed his patience would allow him to outlast most of the other jockeys. But somehow, through panic and fear alone, Simon had blown by the other, far more talented jockeys.

He hoped the weren't mad. Simon would hate to have painted a target on his back this early in the race. But knowing his luck, he immediately began to suspect that now several people would attempt to take him down to ensure he didn't place high in the next leg of the race. Simon suddenly felt a bit queasy. Wasn't winning meant to feel good? It had, for a minute, but now it had given way to fear. Lots of it. So much so, that Simon didn't even notice the cheering as he dismounted from Cecilia, and took hold of her reigns. He felt both sweaty and cold, and began to look at the other racers nervously. As if suspecting one of them would pull a gun on him should he lower his guard.

Simon shakes his head. Even for him, this paranoia was excessive. He really had to get himself together here. "Y'did good, girl. Better than yer rider, in fact." Simon says under his breath, placing his hand on Cecilia's head. She pressed against it, and looked up at him with those glassy and empty eyes that were kind of terrifying, and hid how intelligent of a creature Cecilia really was. Right. He could have himself a first place pity party later. First Simon needed to get Cecilia some food, water, and rest.

He begins to lead her away from the crowd in search of all three of those things. Only to be stopped abruptly by a group of men and women who had watched the race. They swarmed him, some shouting praise, some just trying to get attention, and some trying to propose business deals. It was all very overwhelming for Simon. "Uh- I- Well, y'- Hold on now-" Simon hadn't stuttered in years, and it was embarrassing for it to start back up again now, but he couldn't help it with all of the information overload. One of them, who was louder and thus scarier than the others, managed to be heard over the noise. "Mister Garfunkel! How do you feel after winning the first leg of the race?" Simon winced. "Uh, well, I'm sorry?"

[CaliforniaState]

_Mention: 「 N/A 」

---

He wasn’t first but he sure wasn’t last by any means. Reigning in his horse once he crossed the finish line was something short of exciting despite originally having no desire to participate in the race. Perhaps the thrill of the hunt and the race would be something that would coalesce inside him. This was rather dangerous for the other riders though, if Joseppi began to acquire a taste for this sort of competition there would be hell to pay. Carefully trotting off into the distance away from the other riders he sucked in the fresh crisp dry air into his lungs. It never burned so good. With the announcements over hear there was only one name that stuck out to him and that was the voluptuous redhead named Annie. Ridiculously thick in the body, but also in the mind that one was. Alas he supposed that being simple minded with the help of a sentient stand was more than enough to put her leagues above the rest, thus earning her second place rightfully so.

Joseppi didn’t recognize any other names until the announcer shouted out the result of one J. Zeppoli being penalized and placed 20 spots behind her original finish. Time stopped, one second had passed, two seconds had passed. His mind started to work in overtime as if a lightning bolt had struck through his body electrifying his senses. Why was that name so familiar? Ransacking his brain for any type of connection, he closed his eyes hoping to paint a clearer picture. Shuffling through memories he finally stopped at the one he needed. A slap or rather a sonic boom came from the clapping of his hands once he realized it. The wanted poster. The poster was for one J. Zeppeli, a name that just so happened to match up with the competitor in the race except with some roundabout spelling. Did she really think she would be fooling anyone by changing one vowel in her last name? It made sense to Joseppi, after all criminals weren’t known for their incredible genius or espionage.

Now he just needed to track her down, who was she? Had he already passed by her in the race? He wasn’t paying attention to the positions just mumbling cowboy that fixed his knapsack. Whoever it was she wouldn’t be so safe on the second leg of the race that was for sure. There was also the case of the young blonde rider who had obtained his poster. Three heads were already at the top of his list all vying for his attention at number one. But that was for the next part of the race, for now he deserved some well-earned R&R and what better way to do that then attend the local bar. Joseppi left Radio Head to his own devices making sure he had plenty of water, apples, and his coat had been meticulously and carefully brushed by his owner. Afterwards, Joseppi made his way over to the closest bar and kicked down the front door in one go. In his boisterous attitude he tipped his hat to everyone inside and took his seat at the front right next to the bartender.

“Give me an Old Fashioned. Oh, and uh you can bill me for that there door too. Matter fact, all rounds are on me partner” Joseppi ordered hoping the nervous and scared stares would turn into cheers and praise.

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: @AmpharosBoy @NachoBachoPacho

A Collab with @AmpharosBoy

Jules was on her way back down the dusty road when she saw a familiar sight. It was that kid from before! Her temporary frustration immediately morphed into anger, and she turned on her heel. “You..!” she called out in Donny’s direction as she stormed in his direction in a fury. She grabbed Donny by the collar of his shirt and shoved him against a wall. “You have some guts do pull of the shit you did!”

Donny's face almost ducked chin-deep into his scarf, eyes widening at the sight of her. _{Oh fuck.} He subconsciously thought to himself, panicking momentarily as she looked ready to beat his dumbass to a pulp. Though, if she caused too much of a scene here, she'd end up in more trouble than she'd want. So he managed to calm himself and look at the bigger picture here; Flashing a smug grin at the irritated European woman. "And you have guts for taking down so many racers, despite the amount of prying eyes that were about." She was tough, maybe, but she was still human: Still a person who couldn't get away with potentially murdering ten men and women. At least, without purchasing some silence.

Jules was still upset over the “announcement”, only becoming more agitated when the boy brought up her little dilemma again. It was a stupid move, surely; she could have gone without using her ability in plain sight. “I didn’t mean for so many people to go down,” she stated begrudgingly. She wouldn’t admit it, but she suddenly started to feel guilty, which only upset her more. “Besides, you weren’t part of the crash, so why should you care?”

"Hell, why wouldn't I care?" Donny scoffed, admittedly amused. "Clearly, you're dangerous. Not just because you're a good jockey, but because you're willing to fight dirty to win. Got to worry about you a lot more than the clean-shoes in the race, even if you 'didn't meeeeaaaannn to hurt so many'." He glanced away, thinking back to the crash he witnessed, before looking at her once again. "Was a hell of a fancy trick you showed off, by the way!

Her grip only tightened as Donny continued to speak. Crap, so he actually noticed what she had done, exactly? Well, now she was caught between a rock and a hard place. A moment of silence passed between them as she released her grip, an annoyed ‘tsk’ coming from her lips. “What do you want from me, kid? I can spare a few dollars to make you shut up about that fancy ‘trick’.” She told him in a grunt.

That's all she was offering? A few dollars? He would've laughed, had she not been on the verge of strangling him. "A-A few dollars? That's your negotiation?" He questioned, held back laughter in his tone and his cheeks slightly puffing up from holding it in. He reached into his scarf, pulling out the wanted poster and turning it in her direction, pointing at her own mug on the paper. His eyes kept locked on her in case she tried to snatch it away. "You look worth more than a couple of bucks if you have a poster like this. But perhaps there's a way we can handle this that doesn't involve money?" He questioned, eyes slowly glancing downwards, seemingly looking her over before making eye-contact once more.

Jules’ brow furrowed further at Donny’s first reaction, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. He seemed less than amused, which meant that he was probably smarter than she thought. At least he wasn’t interested in robbing her blind and was open to negotiation. She noticed the shift of his eyes, feeling herself stiffen up a little. This kid… was he really suggesting what she thought? That horny bastard— of course he would think about something like that? Nevertheless, she decided to loosen up. She had to get that poster away from him. It frightened her that he even had it in the first place. If she played this wrong, he could very well just keep it for himself.

A smooth grin spread over her lips as she stepped closer, slowly raising a hand and running a finger up and down his shoulder. “Well, of course there is~” she purred in a sultry voice. “You should have just asked, sugar. I’ve got a thing for short guys, anyways~”

Donny's expression scrunched up, both because Jules still reeked of horse feces, and because whatever the hell she was doing, it was the entire wrong idea here and still getting him riled up in a way he couldn't understand. And on top of that, she ticked a horrible box in his mind; She called him short, which caused his expression to shift into a glare of pure, unadulterated anger. "Th-The hell did you just say?!" He questioned, face red with his hand firmly against her, shoving her back as he got himself away from the wall. He clenched the poster, shaking it momentarily to pull her out of whatever shitty ass dreamland she was stuck in. "Obviously you don't get it. I'm not looking for whatever the hell you're offering, I want to know--"

He gestured to the spheres at her waist with his free hand. "How you do that trick of yours. That seems like enough compensation." Whatever else she was trying to offer, he didn't care: Money, a cup of sugar, shitty ass compliments about her preference in men, none of these were really hitting him. He wanted to be able to throw like that; And she was the only person with the knowledge to do it. As far as he knew.

It looked like she struck a nerve. Jules frowned as she was shoved away, returning to her annoyed glare. She was toeing some hot water when she wanted to get the hell away from Donny as fast as she could. Watching him carefully as he spoke, she once again stiffened up when he motioned towards her waist. Oh. He was interested in those. He had the gall to even suggest something like that? She scoffed. Then the scoff became a low laugh.

“Oh, you have me in stitches…” Jules chuckled, pretending to wipe away a tear from her eye. “... what was it? Ronny? Johnny? I’m not too good with names. If you think that I’ll sink so low as to actually teach you, you’ve got another thing coming. Now… I could give you a bit more money if you’d like. Ten dollars for both of us to walk away and pretend that this never happened? I’ll even forgive you for throwing shit at me.”

"Ten dollars? Forgiveness?" Donny scoffed in retort, hand with the poster going down to his hip, resting against his body. What was she, stupid? He already denied cash once, you figured she'd understand rather than make this more difficult on herself. She taught him the trick, then they parted ways. Simple enough? Apparently not for this woman. "I've got a better idea." His posture shifts slightly, staring at her with a curious gleam in his eye. "Since you'll be stuck teaching me, we can stick together during the race. You sure took a tanking in the ranks. It sure would be helpful to be partnered up with somebody actually on the scoreboard, wouldn't it?"

A smirk crossed his face. "This is the deal: You train me. We finish the Steel Ball Run together in the meantime. We win. We split the cash and part ways. I'll even throw a little extra your way; I was going to say 50/50, but I'll throw an extra 5 million from my side onto yours as a little 'teaching fee'." He was honestly tired of her, but if he could get her assistance the race would go smoother. He could do plenty with 20 million. Learning that technique was worth a bit of monetary loss. This was his last offer though; She could've taken the one before, but now she was stuck with this one. Or figuring out what he'd do if she refused again.

Damn, this kid really wasn’t budging. He was definitely smart-- and damn annoying, too. His words made her want to just knee him in the gut, but... Donny knew that he had her caught and that there was nothing she could do to fend him off. Unless she killed him. But Jules wasn’t one for killing, despite having accidentally caused the death of all of those other racers back there. She set her hands on her hips, her frown becoming more and more like a childish pout. The thought of having someone stick to her ass sounded like a pain. Though, even if she didn’t win the race (which she was pretty sure she would), she had a higher chance if she accepted his proposition.

“You drive a hard bargain,” she finally murmured. “But trust me when I say I’ve never taught anyone before. That, and I don’t really consider myself that easy of a teacher. The whole technique falls on the Zeppeli name; my forefathers must be turning in their graves at the moment with me agreeing to teach a common street rat.”

“That being said…” Jules continued with a hefty shrug, glancing away for a moment. “I suppose that I have no other choice. But mark my words, kid.” She turned back to him. “If you breathe a letter of my name to anyone, you’ll regret it.”

"What, you think I'll betray you?" He questioned, though didn't wait for her to answer as it was already clear what she'd say. Instead, he continued: "I'll give you a little bit of assurance." He raised the poster, gripping it with both hands before ripping it. And then he tore those pieces apart. And those pieces. And those pieces. Until it was nothing but little scraps of wanted poster. Then, without even a hint of hesitation, he crammed all of the paper into his mouth, forcing himself to swallow down a bit at a time. Eventually he managed to finish the task, but belched and shot out a very small piece of the poster, which he caught in his hand.

"There. Evidence. Gone." As the word 'Gone' left his lips, he pressed a finger against her shoulder; Sticking the tiny scrap of poster to her, before backing away a few paces, clapping his hands once or twice. "You probably have things you want to do. I'll see you at the start of the next stage... Partner."

Jules didn’t have any time to respond to Donny’s question. At first, she was satisfied with his decision to shred the paper. Though, it all changed when he decided to eat it. She stared in a mixture of bewilderment and surprise as he swallowed the shreds and winced when he punctuated his act with a belch. The evidence was gone— save for the piece that he pressed onto her shoulder. Scowling in disgust, she brushed it off, at the same time realizing that she was still caked in horse shit. Now that she had gotten that out of the way…

“I’m going to see if I can get this stuff off of me,” Jules muttered as she glared at him. “We'll be leaving for the desert soon. If you’re not around by the time I do so, then I’m not waiting for you. You want to learn, you have to show your dedication.”

"I'll be seeing you, then. I'll just be taking a little time to care for the steed, then I'll be ready to head out." Donny spoke, bidding a quick farewell as he quickly made himself scarce; The short blonde man wandering off to do god knows what. Take care of his horse? It was doubtful that such a thing was the entire story.

---

Luckily for Jules, it took only a few minutes to find a person willing to lend her a washcloth. Unluckily for her, however, the washcloth was pretty small, and by the time that she was able to wash off some of the manure that had clung to her skin and clothes, it was beyond usable. Even though she was still somewhat dirty (and definitely still smelly), she thanked the lady that had lent it to her and was once again on her way. Her mind wandered aimlessly as she walked. So she had to teach his kid the Spin just so he wouldn't snitch on her. What did she get herself into, exactly? Was entering the race just one big mistake? She pulled off her hat, sighing as she ran her hand through her dampened hair. Now she had to deal with not only winning the race, but avoiding her bounty, and teaching a random stranger a skill that had been retained in her family for generations.

She dusted off her hat as she tried to pay close attention to remove the last of the shit that covered the fabric. At least it hadn't covered the feathers. Her eyes peered at them to make sure of the fact when she came across a rather large cluster of people surrounding the tall man that she had seen before the race even started. Jules' eyes widened slightly. So that was Simon Garfunkel? The man that had sped by her, before they reached the finish line? How did he even achieve so much speed? For a moment, she hovered around the outskirts of the crowd. What should she do? What could she do? And with that, Jules began to plot.

Slipping between the crowds, she snuck up besides Simon and gently touched his arm. "Excuse me, Mister First Place Winner!" she chimed with what seemed like a genuine smile as she looked up at him. "How about I treat you to a drink? What better way to celebrate your first victory in the Steel Ball Run?"

While she might have looked and sounded sincere, even going so far as to dip her head modestly as she waited for his reply, Jules was interested in getting to know the man. He had to have some sort of strategy up his sleeve in order to completely shred the contest during the last few meters. If she could get him to relax as they shared drinks, maybe something could slip out.

[Lord Orgasmo]

And

Starring special guest:@AmpharosBoy

---

Well, there wasn't a whole lot going on at the moment. Nothing really caught Annie's eye, and Neon wandered aimlessly behind her. There was a bar close by, but Annie wasn't exactly a drinker. She enjoyed wine and whiskey as much as the next gal, well, probably a little more than the next gal, but she was a strong believer in moderation.

At least 20 minutes had passed and the two had just been walking in circles. Annie grew more and more bored by the moment. Neon began slouching as he walked, obviously bored. On a whim, Annie closed her eyes and looked in a random direction. She turned to her left and opened her eyes. There was a small shop directly across from her. A candy story, or something to that extent. "A candy store? Now how in the world did I miss that?" Annie felt her pockets. She still had her wallet on her, and some random assorted coins in her jeans.

She ran across the street in a hurry, and burst through the door into the wooden building. The store had many varieties of candy, taffy, caramel, lollipops. There were a few other knickknacks, like small wooden trains, but that's not what was important. Like a theoretical kid in a literal candy store, she grabbed a paper bag from a stack and began walking around the store, filling up the bag. The bag comprised mostly of cubes of caramel, wrapped pieces of Saltwater Taffy, and a large novelty sized lollipop. For Neon. She slammed 25 cents down at the counted and ran out the door, where Neon Knight was waiting.

Practically shoving the lollipop in Neon Knight's large gauntleted hand, she skipped along through the town. Neon had flipped up his visor, which held only blackness inside of it, and somewhat reluctantly put the lollipop inside, holding on the the long stick it was on. While trying to figure out the foriegn flavor, Neon suddenly felt something knock against his chest. Looking down on the ground, he noticed he had walked into a blonde boy, who had some attempt at a ponytail going on. Annie was quick to the scene, being literally right next to Neon. "Oh no! I'm sorry fella! Neon must of not been looking where he was going. He's pretty tall, and usually doesn't look down." Annie extended a hand to the boy. "Again, I'm real sorry. Would some caramels make it up to ya?"

[GubGar]

Mentions: @Ambra

---

Simon's apology seemed to only invigorate the crowd more. Apparently, much to Simon's chagrin, apologizing for getting first place during the first leg of the race actually created more questions than it answered. Which was incredibly unfortunate, as Simon could not focus on one particular question. His head was practically spinning, the attention was overwhelming and totally terrifying, despite it not actually being that large of a crowd. His gaze ghosts over the people surrounding him. No exits. He couldn't escape unless he started shoving, meaning Simon couldn't go back to his trusted tactic of fleeing. He did have one more tactic to avoid scary situations though.

Simon's hand seemed to ghost down his side, towards his holster. The movement was subtle, and smooth, which was why the crowd wasn't freaking out. They just hadn't noticed. Simon frowns just before grabbing at his six shooter. He didn't plan on shooting any of them, of course. His idea was to fire some warning shots into the air, and then make a break for it. But Simon realized that this was actually considerably more rude than asking them to move aside, and also might get him in a lot of trouble.

Deciding he really didn't want to upset anyone, Simon's hand moves away from the holster.

Which meant he had to figure out a new way of fleeing the scene. Running and shooting weren't options, he was pretty much out of ideas. Just then, someone touched his arm. Simon let out an incredibly unbecoming yelp, similar to what one might hear if they accidentally stepped on a dog's tail. He also whirled around with wide, scared eyes. Simon managed to calm down slightly when he realized it was the intimidating woman who chased away the thugs after Simon shot one. She seemed to be good people, helping a stranger like the Badger Man out like that. Scary, but good.

His brow furrowed as he heard her out. A drink? Simon didn't tend to partake, but..hmm. He could probably use a nice refreshing glass of orange juice. Plus, heading somewhere with someone as intimidating as her would probably prevent the crowd from following him. W-Well, I s'pose I've got time fer a drink." Any attempt at playing it cool was lost when he immediately stuttered. Also, his voice cracked near the end of the word drink.

"Sorry fellers, I've got things ta do." Simon moves forward, hoping the crowd would part. To his surprise, they actually did. He assumed it was because he had an excuse to leave. In actuality, it was just because Simon was physically imposing despite being an absolute wimp. "I've just got ta' find a place fer Cecilia to rest at first." Simon informs the intimidating woman as he moves out of the crowd, which soon disperses as he leaves.

It wasn't too hard to find a nice place to tie Cecilia's reigns to. The small area was clearly renovated to accommodate the race. So after ensuring Cecilia was secured, fed, and watered, Simon bumped his head against his horse's. "Ah'll be back in a jiffy, don't ya worry." He said quietly. Though, the truth was, Cecilia was absolutely fine on her own. It was Simon who was being reassured. Cecilia had become his emotional support horse.

Simon proceeds to head back to the scary woman, and then to the bar, fidgeting slightly as the intimidating woman walked beside him. He was supposed to make small talk, right? But what could they talk about? All Simon had done that was noteworthy was getting first place via fear alone. That wasn't impressive, and even if it was, it wasn't much to go on. "The name's Simon, by the by." He says quietly, realizing that introducing himself would probably be polite.

Before he could continue talking, he came upon the bar, and immediately froze up. Simon hovered just outside the doorway. Clearly visible to those inside the bar, but too nervous to actually enter it. The reason being, someone had kicked the door straight off its' hinges. Likely someone angry and scary, given the fact that normal folk didn't tend to boot doors down for no reason.

[Potemking]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH: 「@Lord Orgasmo」

---

Maybe he should've just taken the money.

Donny had enough to get him through the next stage, at least, he hoped so: At least a light load would let him travel more effectively, right? That was the bright side to it, if there was one. Well, the whole training thing seemed to be a plus; He just had to get back now, to make sure he'd be there when Jules left. As much as he loved a good bet, the whole situation prior to the first stage kind of made him want to avoid gambling with idiots in a saloon, so that was a bit of a bust all-in-all. What to do with the time he had left, then? Maybe see if there were any critters about? Maybe swipe something?

All of these thoughts were interrupted when he slammed into a wall: Or at least he thought it was a wall, but upon actually observing the space in front of him after falling onto his ass, there was nothing. Eyes peering down there was a small shadow on the ground; Causing his eyes to slowly rise upwards to see a large... Floating... Lollipop? What was more concerning? The fact he slammed his face into nothing, or the fact there was a lollipop floating in the air with the stick end aiming at him? He squinted his eyes at the sight, more confused than scared; At least until a voice came along and turned him stiff.

That woman again; The one with the abilities, and who beat him in the race. Her words confused him further; As she acted like he didn't just bump into air, and instead, a person: They were the only two people here, who was this 'Neon' she was talking about? Unless... That lollipop in the air wasn't just a lollipop. It was something *carrying said lollipop.*

He wasn't sure if running was practical. She was acting nice, but how far could he take that for granted? Maybe he had just gotten spooked before, and was overreacting? But hell, an invisible man? This was some form of cheating, right? He wasn't shy from cheating himself, and he was already dealing with a cheater, but hell. Two heads were better than one, and this lady brought the extra head from the start: What a madwoman! His terror was getting cancelled out by how confusing this was, and how impressed he kind of was with it. Crazy stuff! All he could do is give in to the bizarre happenings, taking her hand and standing up surprisingly without betrayal.

"It's-- No problem. At all! You're both fine!" He stated, staring at the floating lollipop momentarily with distrust before becoming intrigued by her offer. He'd heard of caramel before but hadn't ever tried it himself. A moment of skepticism from the offer caused him to quietly take a second and think; Though if she wanted him wiped out he figured Mr. Invisible over here could've decked him ten times over. "Never tried it before, so why not? Definitely enough of an apology for me."

_{Especially if it ensured his safety with this giant invisible man next to him.}

[CaliforniaState]

_Mention: 「 Tweedle Dee @NachoBachoPacho and Tweedle Dumb @Ambra 」

---

The scene had been set by Joseppi’s altruistic notions of buying the whole bar a round of their beverage of choice. Not only one round, but a few had gone down the gullets of his compatriots as having a good time was better than having none at all. Even the bartender partook in the state of affairs and enjoyed his time upfront conversing with the great giant that towered over him even though he was seated on a bar stool. The celebration was as lively as ever, one of the great things to have come from the race, just one of the very first in the long line of celebrations the further the race proceeded. Joseppi drained the remaining ichor from his glass letting the ice bounce against his lips before wiping his mouth and requesting another. Now even though his tolerance and bank account were high, he needed to keep his wits about him as to not forego his original missions of capturing bounties. By the looks of hit he hit the jackpot by entering this establishment. It was a gold mine of familiar faces that he had memorized in his head, the only difference was the numbers floating above their heads.

Sighing in disappointment at his fun coming to an end he thanked the bartender for his one last drink and managed to slip him a generous amount of coin into his pocket. He chugged his final drink and turned to face his court to find which criminals’ day he was going to ruin. That was, until his eyes froze at the entrance of the bar. The doorway he had so gracefully kicked down had now been replaced by not only the one man he had been looking for since the race started, but the woman with the plume of feathers who he had not been able to properly give his flower to. Luckily for her, his seething rage for the spineless fraud who so rudely ran past him was prying his attention from connecting the last dots of this mistress being J. Zeppeli. He grimaced in delight, slamming his cup into the ground shattering both the glass and the wood below, fracturing the peace in the room. The jovial faces and boisterous attitude from the voracious crowd dropped to a dead silence, to the point a pin could be heard falling. Faces became as limp as Simon’s as everyone turned to face their savior and then track his gaze back to Simon.

If Joseppi didn’t make a move the crowd would have surely raised up their arms and pitchforks and skewered the gentle giant. However, Joseppi tipped his hat up and arose from his metaphorical throne. “So, I see your back for round 2 yeah? Hopefully you have more to say for yourself this time before you scamper off so ill-manneredly” his steps were slow but methodical, drawing in closer step by step building suspense that would suffocate the room. “And I can see you brought a friend this time, how’d you manage that huh? Seeing as you were the one that interrupted my whole parley, I’m gonna have to give you two strikes” at this point the patrons inside were on the edge of their seats, the sound of wood creaking as the seats shifted in weight. It was odd to see a man of Simon’s stature be dwarfed by anyone else, but here Joseppi stood looking down on him. The leather in his boots squeaked to a stop along with the chirps of his spurs. His hands rested on his belt buckle while his face drew near, “Well what do you have to say for yourself? Pardner?”

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: @NachoBachoPacho @Severance

So the man's name was Simon... it was a name that toed a common line, for everyone that Jules had met so far was either named John or William or Simon. But this Simon was different. He actually seemed like a decent person, one that wouldn't mind spending some time with her-- and one that she had the chance of getting to know. If she got him drunk enough, perhaps he'd let some of his strategies slip, or maybe he would fall asleep and thus fall behind in the race. She tossed what seemed like a genuine smile at him as they walked to the parlor, nodding her head with delight. "You can call me Jules," she told him with a chime in her voice.

The two had finally reached the parlor. What seemed strange was that the door had been completely knocked off its hinges. She guessed that it was because of a bar fight or some drunk that had torn right through it. And the aura of the saloon was dense, heavy... as a more than familiar face began to approach them. The other rider seemed even taller and more menacing than before, making Jules bristle only slightly. He definitely recognized her. There's no way he couldn't have. And with the way he spoke? Her mind was telling her that she should bolt in order to avoid either getting arrested or being drawn into a fight. She already lost twenty places. There was no way that she could get in any more trouble.

But the tall, dark man had his attention trained on Simon instead of her. Jules glanced between them, noticing that the taller one had an air of intent. Damn, even with him being so close, she still couldn't get a good read on him. "Now, now," Jules chirped with a nervous laugh as she worked her way between them. Looking between them again, a broad smile was plastered on her lips as she attempted to intervene. "Boys, there's no need to fight. We should be drinking as friends, instead!" she suddenly threw her arms around both of them, her gaze falling on the stranger's as her grin grew just a little more tense. "Friends, right?"

God, there she went leaping without thinking again.

[GubGar]

Mentions: @Ambra @Severance

---

Simon was having a really bad day. He was really feeling like crying in a bath right now, but unfortunately for him, that would involve escaping this situation. Which was..challenging. Fleeing from a bar full of ruffians was easy, Simon had done it lots of times. A lot more than anyone else, really. Perhaps, in hindsight, some of those bars were not ruffians just for talking loudly and laughing at slightly inappropriate jokes. But he was getting off topic even in his own darn thoughts. The problem was, one of the ruffians was not only familiar, but currently closing in on him.

The imposing fellow riding the imposing horse that had stressed Simon out during the first leg of the race. Still, Simon hadn't actually done anything to anger this imposing fellow. All he had done was inform him that his bag was loose, and ridden off. So surely there wasn't going to be an altercation- Then the imposing stranger started talking. If Simon weren't the type of person to hold himself to standards mentally and physically, he would have internally sworn.

Even in Simon's world composed entirely of paranoia, sad country songs, and cute animals, he wasn't able to predict the reasoning for this anger. While he was expecting him to be angry due to Simon placing first, that wasn't the reasoning at all. What Simon could gather was that this individual considered Simon's attempted good gesture to be rude, and that him riding off- while a race was underway -was even more rude. Simon certainly could have at least given a 'good bye' before riding off, but in his honest opinion, the retaliation from rude behavior to standoff in a saloon was a bit excessive. Granted, Simon was the type of man to think any retaliation from any party (including himself) was excessive.

Still, this fellow was certainly itching for a fight, and since running away would likely only delay the problem until the next leg of the race, it was time for option two. Simon's hand ghosts down to his holster, a practiced movement that was so fluid it was actually incredibly noteworthy. It was the only thing Simon did that wasn't tense and nervous, after all.

But as a would-be pacifist if he wasn't so itchy with his trigger finger, Simon decided that words should probably be traded before he unloaded on someone who may have just had one of those faces that made you nervous. "N-now, hold on there feller. There has been a considerable misunderstandin' between us." Simon waves the hand that wasn't resting on his six shooter in a placating manner. "Y'see it was not my intention to offend. I only wanted ta inform you that yer bag was comin' undone."

Simon suddenly felt way too hot in the face, and cold everywhere else. A combination of embarrassment and anxiety welling up as he spoke. He could feel the sweat on his forehead. "An' as fer the issue of me moseyin' on without another word, I wasn't tryin' ta slight you in any way, no sir. I merely overhead a somewhat aggressive comment from you. An' it is a rule of mine to avoid aggression and violence whenever I can."

Simon's voice cracked several times as he explained, and he wasn't even close to successful at hiding how terrified he was. But he believed he managed to lay it all out there as well as he could have. Surely there would be no misunderstandings, right? Well, the atmosphere was still feeling real tense, so maybe he wasn't gonna be so lucky. Just then, the woman who introduced herself as Jules interrupted in an attempt to diffuse the situation, and slung her arms around both parties of the conflict. Simon could practically feel the tension rising as she did this. He was gonna throw up from stress, he could feel it. It was totally going to happen. He definitely was not overreacting.

He was definitely overreacting, but it was still scary.

[Lord Orgasmo]

And

Guest Starring:@AmpharosBoy

---

Well the boy certainly seemed to accept her apology fast. Maybe he was used to running into people? He was certainly short enough. Either that, or he was so terrified, he had come around full circle to being calm again. It wouldn't be the first time she's seen that reaction to Neon. "Gimmie just a second here..." Annie opened her paper page of sweets, digging through the top of the candy to grab a few cubes of caramels at the bottom. Should she throw in something else? A piece of taffy maybe? It was about this time when Neon Knight spoke up.

Neon Knight took the lollipop out of his visor, it being slightly smaller than when he had inserted it. "Hey, sorry about running into you like that. My name is Neon Knight. Who might you be? Are you in the race, too?" Neon Knight stuck out his hand to shake with the boy, but the blonde boy didn't respond, and seemed fixated on Annie and her candy. "Uh, hello?" Neon wiggled his hand and fingers around in an attempt to get the boy's attention. Annie stopped digging and looked at Neon. Then at the boy. Then back at Neon. "Uh, I don't think he can hear ya, Neon. Or see ya for that matter." Getting the idea, Neon's plated metal hand grabbed the boy's outstretched hand and shook it himself. The handshake was a little awkward as Neon Knight was almost two feet taller than the young man."Not quite what I meant there Neon, but whatever works."

"Anyways, here ya are!" Annie dropped four cubes of caramels and a wrapped piece of blue saltwater taffy. "And uh... if ya could..." Annie leaned in closer to the boy. "Could ya please not spread rumors about me havin' magic powers or nothin? People'll come up wantin' me to do tricks and things, and ol' Neon here ain't exactly a fan of doing stuff like that. Anyways, my name's Annie. Annie Ohkae. What's your name there young fella?"

[Potemking]

Mentions: 「@Lord Orgasmo」

---

Donny stared at Annie with his head tilted to the side, watching her dig into the bag she had. He felt a slight breeze for a moment, thinking it to be relaxing, at least until she looked up from the bag and away from him; Then at him. As she looked away again, his eyes trailed with hers until he saw the floating lollipop again. It seemed closer than before and that made him uncomfortable; Considering how the general area was quiet, he hadn't heard the invisible man move, either. And if what the woman was saying was to be believed, he also couldn't hear him speak? The hell was that? Was this actually an invisible man, or something of her weird imagination that she claimed could talk?

That's when he felt the sudden grip on his hand. Instinctively, he tried to yank his hand back; But he couldn't budge it as his hand seemingly shook in the air, the skin of his hand obviously being pressed down by something metallic, though he couldn't see it. Just what the hell was this thing? It wasn't audible to him, he couldn't see it, yet it was obviously wearing something bulkier than normal clothing considering both the impact and the current handshake. Her powers were possibly larger in scale than he thought, and his mind began retracting back into the fear stage; His hand quickly getting sweaty as the invisible thing known as 'Neon' didn't let go. Ahahah, oh boy...

_{"Uh, thanks."} Donny murmured, spare hand now filled with the candies she dug out. Whatever happiness could be found in these candies quickly disintegrated as she leaned close and made a simple request; One that shook Donny, honestly. 'Rumors' of magic powers, huh? That was oddly relevant to his thoughts from during the first stage... Oh, god. This really was all planned from then, wasn't it? This was no accident! They collided and she did this all to give him this warning; No wonder she was so friendly with telling him this shit: It was such a passive and friendly confidence, too. That just made it more unnerving.

"R-Rumors? Me? Of course not; Lips are sealed. I never witnessed anything." Damn... Donny had convinced that Jules to work with him, but then this was happening? What was this, some sort of karma? She introduced herself; Annie, huh? Hopefully they were okay now that they came to an understanding. Hopefully he'd be released soon, though, perhaps saying something was more practical. "It's Donny; Donny Brando." He answered, eyes momentarily peering down at the caramels in his hand. Nervously he popped one into his mouth, chewing it skeptically for a moment, taking in the flavor...

UNTIL...

Eyes momentarily lighting up, Donny's mind went from fleeing, to consuming. "Horhly shyt thibs tahstes increbibible!" Donny announced, directly after dumping the rest of the cubes into his mouth. Despite feeling like his mouth was going to be stuck shut, this was the greatest! Why hadn't he tried this shit earlier? Hell, it almost made this whole interaction worth it! Now if only he could manage to swallow it instead of his mouth turning into a small cavern of sticky caramel.

[Lord Orgasmo]

And

Guest starring:@AmpharosBoy

---

Annie watched as horror slowly overcame Donny. Which was almost immediately replaced by excitement as he shoved the caramels into his mouth. Neon quickly let go of Donny's hand as he nearly exploded in excitement. "Well, glad to see you like them! They've got 'em on sale over at that candy shop right over yonder." Annie pointed a dusty gloved finger at a nearby candy store. It didn't exactly have a name, it was just called "CANDY SHOP" in bold black lettering, along with a cartoony looking piece of candy painted on a wooden disc that dangled near the entrance. "Maybe they should try a different form of advertisement. I didn't even see it the first time around." Annie put her hands on her hips. "I think they were a penny each. Shouldn't be too hard to get them. Most of the time you can find one or two half buried in the ground."

Annie scanned the area around her. Like uh..." being a professional Archeologist required a keen eye for detail to distinguish what could be part of an ancient artifact, or just an everyday old coin. She's probably found at least a dollar in coins over the past couple of months. "Oh, here we go!" Annie noticed an odd glint in the road and skipped over to it, bending over and scooping up a half buried shiny penny in one fluid motion before hurrying back to Donny. "Ya just gotta know where to look. Anyways..." Annie flipped the coin over to Donny.

Annie turned around and gave a gentle wave. "I'm off to get me a drink. You're welcome to follow along if ya want, but you can do yer own thing if you want, too." And with that, she began walking towards the nearby tavern. Neon watched Donny, however. There was a primal hunger in his eyes. What was in those caramel cubes? Neon decided he'd keep a close eye on him, to make sure his hands didn't reach for her pockets to fuel his newfound addiction. Neon put his novelty sized lollipop back into his visor, the colorfully swirled candy disappearing into the darkness of his helmet.

[CaliforniaState]

His gaze was focused like a laser, any finer and a beam of light would have shot out of his eyes into the skull of Simon. The tension in the air was thickening and not just from the help of Air Bag either. It was starting to become the start of an old fashioned duel. It was ages since he had last been a participant in one, his hand hungry to stretch its fingers and speed. Joseppi in the moment didn’t care much of what Simon has to say for himself as he knew all too well from a life of law enforcement that people would say anything to get out of the trouble they made for themselves. The challenge of a duel was dancing on the top of his tongue, his mouth forming the sentence before letting it out. Just as he was about to talk he was interrupted by the girl who seemed to be quite taken with the stammering mustache. Unintentionally, Joseppi whipped his gaze towards Jules, his eyes now fixated on her instead .

“Now listen miss, we were having a nice conversation until that poster hit you in the face. Making you mad was not my intention at all. I would like to make that up to you and ask what you saw, but as for being friends with him” he said exasperated with his thumb pointing over his shoulder, “I don’t quite see that future in the cards right now.”

The cowardly lion finally seemed to find the courage he had when he crossed Joseppi on the first leg of the race. He turned back to Simon as he spoke. “Why wait till after then to tell me about it? Unless you’re hiding someone or [i]something[/] in that body of yours. Go ahead and call them on out” Joseppi dug into him trying to see if Simon would call his bluff on knowing he was a stand user. Not only was his accent as heavy and annoying as he was but the excuses he was using were just the same. “Now let me get this right. You came and joined this race expecting to avoid aggression and violence the whole time?!” Joseppi guffawed violently. “What kind of idiot do you take me for?” He asked.

Joseppi had almost forgot he had an audience until the bartender interjected. “I don’t want any trouble in this here establishment. You already knocked down the door so please leave.” Joseppi turned his back to the two brushing off jules arm in the process. “You’re right good sir how rude of me, I’ll just take this out—-“ suddenly a stray bottle flew from behind Joseppi and smashed into his back shattering on impact. It seemed as though one of the patrons was getting antsy in anticipation of the fight and got ahead of himself. The original target was meant for Simon but somehow he had missed, probably from intoxication, but nevertheless it hit Joseppi instead.

The room once again fell deathly silent. Joseppi smile froze on his face and his eyelids appeared stapled shut. After what felt like forever, branches off veins popped through his skin in anger as he whipped around and summoned airbag. Both arms aiming for each competitor behind him. Only one word could be heard echoing throughout the area, “ORA!”

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: @NachoBachoPacho @Severance

This was going badly.

The stranger was less than pleased at their offer of peace. Whatever Simon had done, it had to have been pretty bad to upset such a tall and foreboding man. Jules' strained grin steadily faded from her lips as he continued to speak. Why, she actually had a chance of playing the poster off, then? Tension steadily grew in the air as the man's fierce gaze went back to her newfound mustachioed "friend". Yeah, the guy was definitely itching for a fight after what Simon pulled off. Something told her that she should flee, though if she left, she might miss the fight. Drama was always fun to watch, wasn't it? Then again, this was the type of drama that she should stay out of...

The bartender was having none of it. He told them to get out. Jules was thankful for the momentary distraction; if she was quick enough to slip by the tall stranger, she could get on her horse and leave town with or without the kid that threatened her. She glared at the back of the man's head as he turned away from them. As she was plotting her next course of action, something wooshed through the air. It struck the back of the man's head and shattered into many pieces; the shards of glass scattered across the floor as the whole saloon fell silent. That silence radiated off everyone, many eyes staring at the tall man to see what he would do next. Jules was one of them, her shoulders tense as she awaited his next--

Something crashed into her face and sent her through the door of the saloon and crashing to the floor. Pain came first. It seared over her face and head; God, that shit hurt. Jules let out a muffled groan only to feel blood well inside of her mouth. Had she gotten shot? Kicked by a horse? The whole room spun around her in circles, only increasing the nausea she felt. She set a palm against the floor as she attempted to get up to her feet. Her whole body felt heavy, she couldn't see out of her left side, and she felt something hot and sticky run down her face. Whatever it was that hit her, it had messed her up bad.

"Y-you son of a bitch..." she slurred out. Her words were punctuated by a harsh cough that only spilled more blood to the floor. Jules gasped lightly in pain as she clung to the wall. There were four of that tall man now, two of the doorway, and four of Simon... Hell, how wasn't she knocked out? Raising a hand to her face, she felt blood coat her palm. He had definitely broken her nose. Fucked up her eye pretty bad too, that was obvious. She glared at the man again only to see that something large and white hovered near him. Was that... a ghost? An angel? Was she dying? She couldn't even muster out words. Whatever that thing was, it didn't look friendly. Groaning again in a mixture of shock and pain, she leaned heavily upon the chair and wiped away some blood on her sleeve. God damn it, if she had to fight, then she had no other choice. But for the moment, she had to regain her bearings-- and know exactly what she was up against. "What in... God's name is that?"

[GubGar]

Mentions: @Ambra @Severance

---

Simon had a habit of getting into exceptionally unfortunate situations, it was part of his darn life at this point. Just something he had to accept, and overcome. Some folk had weird looking noses, some folk were born without noses, and Simon's nose got stuck into trouble against his will. He frowned internally. That metaphor weren't so good. But that wasn't the point. The point was, while Simon could usually accept that it was just in his cards to have awful luck, this time around things were different. Simon was not the type of guy to get angry, no sir. Usually he just got sad. But he was starting to feel his fear mix with irritation at how absolutely awful this fellow's manners were.

Being angered that Simon was somewhat short with him earlier was one thing, but the fact that this no good varmint was dead set on making it into as big a deal as possible had Simon all riled up. He was treating him like a dang criminal just for leaving partway through a conversation! It wasn't right, and it was that type of behavior that really got under Simon's skin. Being pushed around and bullied, he was used to. But being treated like a villain was a bridge too far.

With that said, it wasn't as if Simon planned on actually doing anything about it. Getting frustrated was one thing, but retaliation just wasn't in his nature. And it seemed as though Jules had managed to defuse the situation somehow. What, seconds ago, seemed like the start to a gunfight, had now turned into the rude fellow declaring that he had no intention of befriending Simon. That was fine, he could certainly live without having someone this actively aggressive as a friend.

And then he turned his attention back to Simon, and began to speak. Simon could feel his forehead crease and his brow furrow. Was there some sort of miscommunication between them? Simon had been talking about his satchel coming open, but this fellow was making it about ghosts. Which, one, was totally off topic, and two, unfortunately confirmed Simon's suspicion that there were more haunted people than just him. The rest of the scary fellow's jeering was lost in the haze of Simon's own mind as he tried to work out how they had gone from open bags to scary ghosts.

Simon was drawn out of his thoughts by a bottle flying by him, and shattering across the scary fellow's back. Ah, shoot. That was bad. Simon had better say something quick. "Alright now, before you start gettin' mad pardner, please look 'round so you can discern that it clearly was not us who tossed that at ya- PERFORM THIS WAY!" Simon was forced to interrupt his own sentence when the scary fellow whirled around, and began to manifest a ghost.

His own ghost popped into existence right in front of him, and while he couldn't actually use it until performing several tasks, he could still manifest it as a shield. "Wha-" The ghost had less than a second to speak before the scary fellow's ghostly arm slammed right into its' metallic face. Perform This Way's own durability helped considerably cushion the blow. But haunted and ghost weren't actually prepared for the blow, meaning they didn't have time to ground themselves. The force of Perform This Way being pushed back transferred to Simon. If that weren't enough, Perform This Way was smacked right into him. Sending both of them flying out of the bar, and straight towards Jules. "YOU BOAR BRISTLED GOON! YOU SUMMONED ME RIGHT INTO A PUNCH!" Perform This Way shrieked, Simon was a bit too dazed to respond snappily, but at least he hadn't taken the full force of the blow.