Chapter Text
the beginning
Scourge found himself closely knit to the edge of the sandy territory of the outskirts of town. He was on the worn down saddle of his oldie, but goodie steed by the name of Cacti, a horse that was with him through thick and thin, despite Scourge's stubbornness to let anybody stay by his side.
Cacti carefully trotted down a dry wooded forest, that was muddied by urbanization. The area was now notorious for being empty, given how most of the shady folks that lived around the area where driven out by being in shoot-offs, being robbed, or just flat out arrested by the Sheriff herself.
It was a rough area for sure, and Scourge knew that. He had once had to live in the outskirts too, but because he has always got to be on the move much like he is now, he hasn't made a camp this close to town in a long while.
Scourge scanned the premises for a moment, his blue eyes spotting a pack of coyotes. Carefully patting Cacti’s mane, he gestured with his spurs to tell her to keep moving forward.
He knew that down this area of the road, he could make a turn to lead to the outside and just hope that the canines weren't looking to make his steed into their meal.
Cacti took a slight turn, starting to head out of the wooded area and trotting up to a small hill with bushes and gravel, before quickly neighing in distress, her front legs instinctively going into the air, nearly bucking Scourge off of her.
“Gah- hold on sugar!” Scourge yelped, holding onto her reigns like a lifeline before realizing the problem.
Turns out, there was a Coyote waiting for them, now skittering around them. It had tried to bite Cacti’s leg, which ended up leaving a decent gash on the horse’s right front leg.
He ordered Cacti to quickly move forward, noticing a pack of the dogs now starting to swarm around them upon realizing a hunt seemed to be in full sway. ‘Dammit, they must’ve smelt blood’ Scourge thought to himself.
Cacti charged out of the gravel with full speed, or at least what she could manage with her injuries, clearly freaking out due to be attacked. Scourge tried to calm her down by petting her sides like he normally would in high stress situations, which he of course, was no stranger to enduring with her.
As the two rode off, Scourge couldn’t help but keep his head and body slumped a bit lower and closer to Cacti, not only because a sense of weight was comforting to her, but because he was anxious about who could possibly be watching him in a shady part of town like this.
At the same time, he tried to swat coyotes away, even nearly shooting a few of them, the gunshots frightened all the animals around, including Cacti, but it seemed to pay off considering now that they where farther and farther away from the main site of where the coyotes slept, and they definitely where scared out of having any lasting interest. Phew, safety.
Though, the joy of victory was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Scourge knew that by now, Cacti had to be injured badly, and that they’d need to stop soon given how she was still being incredibly fast on her feet out of panic.
Before he could even think about really finding a place to let Cacti rest, he was quickly surprised (and frightened) by the sight of Cacti whimpering and skidding forward against the hard, dry mud until she completely doubled over, taking Scourge with her with a yelp and newfound exhaustion between both of them.
“SHIT- AHG- CACTI GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOIN?? YOU—“ He paused, his gaze focusing on his horse’s wounds.
“..You could’ve gotten way more hurt- geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to let you get so scratched up” He sighs, cautiously and gently pushing himself off of her side and back onto his feet, inspecting her legs closer.
Scourge winced in second-hand pain for Cacti, listening to her make pained noises in return. He patted her on the side, rubbing her for a moment and attempting to soothe her with the sounds of him shushing her like he used to do when she needed to get a wound cleaned.
“You poor thing, I need to find a place er- well, a person who can help ya get patched up quick, you deserve a rest, girl” He said, mostly talking to himself. Though, he really didn’t know where he could possibly get help from considering it wasn’t like a outlaw like him had many friends that could help out, or at least not without a hefty price.
But that’s when he laid his eyes on a nearby house, it was cozy, but clearly belonged to somebody important, he knew he had passed by it before- and what would you know, beside it was a stable! Bullseye! This could be Scourge’s big break!
Maybe he could swindle a random noble townsfolk into helping him if he concealed his identity enough, or just sucked up to them.. I mean, considering this house was so far away from the main town, he figured that perhaps this person doesn’t even know who he is, or about the bounties on his head.
He patted Cacti on the head, giving her a carrot to munch on temporarily while he left to get help so she’d be occupied.
He sprinted through the dry mud until he met the sleek grass against his rustic cowboy boots, smirking like a man who hit the jackpot upon realizing somebody had to live here, so that meant somebody could help. If not, he could always just break in and take what he needed.
He began looking around the establishment to see if there was perhaps, a person inside, squishing his face against a window that happened to have open, blue and yellow plaid curtains.
The interior was homey, and quite comfortable, something Scourge couldn’t have said he was used to. It had a odd twinge of familiarity in it though, given how it seemed from where he was viewing, it was totally empty, the void of any mobian in sight.
Though, he had no time to process why that familiarity resonated with him, as he got met with the sudden sound of a deep, unimpressed southern accent from a woman he knew far too well coming from beside him.
“Sooo, peakin’ around my house now, are we, Scourge?”
Scourge nearly jumped out of his skin, quickly turning to face the one and only sheriff Sapphire, who was now giving him a look that said ‘you better explain things quickly, or your ass is gonna be in a cell’.
“Ahhhhh! Saph! Just the woman I was hoping to see.. heh… uhhh, I can explain-“ Scourge declared nervously. Just to be met with the typical unimpressed gaze of the woman in front of him. She didn’t even say anything, she just folded her arms and stared at his franticness with a irritatingly calm, yet passively annoyed demeanor.
“Tsk, you know what, I don’t owe you nothin’!” He sneered, rolling his eyes.
“You know your meant to call me Sheriff— and..It’s a rare sight to see you without your steed, what happened to ‘er?” Sapphire finally spoke up, her voice giving a surprisingly curious tone.
“You knew she was a woman??- whatever, Cacti ended up getting wounded while some coyotes decided to get after us while we where comin’ around the outskirts. Nothin’ illegal or nothin’ so you better not get on my dick about it.”
Sapphire rolled her eyes, “You where just in the deep north area part of town then, huh?” Sapphire asked skeptically. “How come? You know that place is dangerous, it’s why I don’t allow anybody from town to get too close until I can work with our wildlife district to move the canines.”
Scourge stared at Sapphire with a slightly bothered expression. Was she trying to get him to say something somehow incriminating?? He felt like everything she was saying was somehow a trap.
“..I was just on my way home, is all” Scourge muttered, barely all that audible, tilting his leather hat to be in front of his face, shading in slight embarrassment. He knew he didn’t really have a home, only a dirt floor he slept on when nobody was around.
“Hmm. Funny how that led you back to my place then, huh?” Sapphire chuckled, a rare sight to see for Scourge indeed, which would normally catch him off guard but he had bigger fish to fry, considering-
“This- this is YOUR place??” Scourge yelped. “Who am I kiddin’, of course it is, the yellow and blue and lack of any fun furniture? That’s very.. you” he teased. “It is real homey though, so I’ll give ‘ya that.”
“‘Lack of fun’? Oh please.” Sapphire rolled her eyes, huffing a little, though it was more endearing than it was anything actually threatening.
“Hah, now, I hate to ask for for anything, but, I do have a favor if you be so kind to humor me, dollface.” Scourge smoothly inquired, a shit-eating smirk not daring to leave his face.
“If I could fine and arrest you every time you’ve used some corny pet name on me, you’d be in debt even while in the grave, and you’d be makin’ the jailhouse your home. Now, what is it that you want, because depending on what it is, I’m not gonna be able to let ya just do it and walk free.” She scoffed.
“Now now, Saph, it’s nothing crazy.. just- Cacti, she’s back there near your lawn, would ya be the sweetest little goody two-shoes and help me get her some of the wind back in her sails?”
Sapphire’s expression shifted from something akin to a disappointed parent to something more surprised, yet sensitive of the situation.
“Of course I’ll help, I know how much she means to ya. I’ll go get some first aid and meet you over there, m‘Kay? And remember, Scourge. No funny business, I may be off duty but that doesn’t mean I can’t turn ya in.”
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