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There wasn’t a lot he had been expecting traveling the dusty roads towards the small town near his ranch, simply going there to buy some of the needed things for the animals and himself, in and out. Nothing more, nothing less, he wasn’t one for chit chat half the time but that wasn’t in his books it seemed when the lady from the post office came running towards him. A grin on her sun weathered features, holding what appeared to be a large envelope and Thomas had to pause seeing it.
“Yer boy sent ya something!” Mary Beths voice rang through the street, eyes glancing towards them but he ignored them, stuffing the rest of his buyings into the cart and taking the pristine envelope from the little halflings hands. The familiar scrawl of Shepherds writing was clear, the messy little thing it was addressing to him, and Thomas hid a smile, coughing softly.
“Thanks Mary Beth. Better get back to the ranch.” It was quick, perhaps quicker than what was needed, treating such a lady like that but Thomas knew that Mary Beth wouldn’t think anything of it, allowing him to clamber up into his little buggy and head the way back to his ranch. All the way he thought about what was in the envelope safely tucked away in his jacket pocket, the weight welcoming and needing after the short few weeks that his boy had been gone, taking a job to be some protection for who knows how long. He trusted Shepherd, knew that the boy was a good shot and had judgment on his side when things would get tough, but even then, he was worried. The trip back was long, stressful and by the time that Thomas had gotten everything situated, checked in with the animals and made sure that nothing had gone wrong in his time away he was quick to head inside.
Hands gently removed the envelope, peering at his boy's scrawl of lettering and the wax seal that had closed everything up. The very same wax seal that had taken his boy from him, and he carefully popped it open breaking the crest and taking what was in the envelope out. First came two letters, one with the familiar scrawl and the other belonging to the one person that his boy had brought with him. Amusement flickered within his chest seeing the bugbears almost intelligible scrawl, the large words blocky and messy, of course Torbek would want to write to him as well, Shepherd had promised that both of them would write, and Thomas shook his head, taking the bugbears letter and glancing at it, making out what he could from the scribbles and the random sketches that dotted the page before turning to Shepherds.
To the Good Doc.
Hope this letter finds ya soon and in good health, just wanted to let you know that me and Torbek are doing fine with the expedition at hand and nothing too bad has happened. We are traveling right now to find another member that is supposed to join us, and I have managed to convince the Professor to allow me some paper and ink to write to you in case we lose contact or can not send you anything. We’re both good. Torbek is excited to adventure, he shares stories of his time at that carnival and his friends keeping me entertained during our walks, both Miss Issacs and the Professor seem interested, politely talking to Torbek and I am thankful for that. He ain’t a bad guy, a bugbear sure and a little well, you know Doc but anyway, with this envelope are some pictures, Miss Isscas took some photos and I managed to grab them to send them to you. I wrote a little blurb on each one just so you know whats going on. See ya soon Doc, and take care. - Shepherd.
Short, sweet and simple, just letting him know that all is good and that contact might tapper out at some point as this adventure of theirs continued. He isn’t surprised that Shepherd had talked about Torbek as well, his boy had some sort of feelings for the bugbear he had found on one of his excursions, bringing him back to the ranch and ever since then the two seemed attached to the hip, not too far away from each other. Thomas could only assume but he was certain that his boy had caught some feelings for their lanky friend, catching the looks being thrown at the bugbear when he wasn’t watching, the concern and worry at points. All very amusing to the old gnome, watching his boy pine and fluster.
Smile softens, shaking his head and carefully setting aside the letter to carefully remove the rest of the contents, a small stack of pictures landing on the table and Thomas gently scooping them up, peering down at them.
The first one was that of four people, two of them familiar to his eyes, his boys cowboy hat tilted and a playful smirk on his features, hands resting on those pistols of his and beside him was that of the lanky bugbear, smiling sheepishly, his teeth being shown, hands brought up in a nervous fashion. Beside them stood a pretty lady, her hair pulled up into a bun, a small smile gracing her lips, and Thomas didn’t miss the rosary clasped in her hands, her dark dress showing of some wealth but she still looked kind, if not haunted. His gaze traveled, moving to the person beside her, and he will forever deny that loud snort that escaped him at the sight of who he could only think was the Professor, the large top hat almost comical, but he did seem that of the city, the smarts and yearn for knowledge like Shepherd had mentioned before.
It seemed like this was their party, and another would be joining them at some point, Thomas hummed, carefully setting that one down to peer at the others, most of them seemed that of just the group doing mundane things, the Professor drinking tea and reading, Torbek and Shepherd wandering their camp seemingly collecting wood or doing other things and Thomas can only assume it was this Miss Issacs that were taking the photo’s. This continued, one after another of the group doing different things, and Shepherd had written small points in explaining what was going on, what they had been doing. The next few photo’s were higher up, taken from a height and the gnome already knew who was taking them, the long fingers sometimes appearing in the photo of whatever Torbek was taking a picture of. Some were of Miss Issacs smiling at the camera, of Shepherd seemingly yelling about something, a smile on his features and the Professor just to the side scribbling something away. These pictures weren’t as carefully taken but Thomas appreciated them more than the others, seeing the way his boy grinned at the camera, peering at the one that was taking them, a witty remark on his lips. Seeing Shepherd like that brought a content warmth to Thomas’s soul.
Soon the pictures shifted, this time Thomas knew who was taking them by the way that Miss Issacs and Torbek seemed to be talking, pointing at some flower and chatting, the next few ones were of Torbek waving to the camera or coming out of a lake drenched and shaking like that of a dog while Miss Issacs and the Professor seemingly ran to cover. His boy was taking these, and Thomas chuckled, not missing the way that it seemed that the bugbear was in most of the pictures. It wasn’t surprising, and he made a mental note to frame some of them as he continued flipping through the images, photographer changing every few images before the last one came up, Thomas smiling warmly at it.
It was of Torbek, smiling brightly into the camera, giddy about something and Thomas could only assume as he was stared at the familiar cowboy hat atop of his head, tufts of fur coming from the twin holes, a familiar blue and grey shoulder wrap clearly wrapped around his shoulders belonging to Shepherd and he could only chuckle at the words that were proudly written at the corner.
Torbek says Howdy. We are doing fine. - Shepherd