Armadillo Express

[bornuntotrouble]

The train has seen better days. So has the landscape it's passing through. Inside, the windows are smudged, cracked in places, and rattle with every turn, the seats are rickety and feel like a small step up from lying on concrete, and the lamps, unlit in the humid West Elizabeth afternoon, are saturated with wax and oil residue. Outside, what were once vibrant evergreen forests line the tracks and eventually give way to the scrub brush deserts of New Austin.

Both will see worse before this is over.

Persuading Ross to let John take Jim and Kate to Armadillo had been easy enough - Ross didn't offer up any resistance besides some smart remark about how he was surprised John had friends at all and that he was going to have to telegraph Marshal Johnson for two more horses, but more guns were more guns were more guns, and more guns meant a better chance of getting Williamson. There was an elegant, almost naive element of simplicity to the logic.

John stares out a window, arms draped over his seat, legs crossed. Something tells him that things are going to become very illogical very fast. If they haven't already.

Comments

[waco_jim]

Jim is seated immediately behind John, arms crossed. He's taking int he surrounding landscape. Apart from Milliways, this is the first time he's ever been in a reality that wasn't captured on celluloid.

It's simultaneously familiar and refreshingly expansive in a way he's never felt. Well, as expansive as a passenger car can be, anyway.

He turns his head toward Kate. "Feels a bit weird being outside my...well, this far from home," he says quietly.

[ikissdhimbck]

She's the next row over.

"I could say you get used to it ... "

Her lips twitch.

She's put a little effort into blending in, but she's still the only woman on this train in a pair of riding breeches rather than fancy skirts.

"Truth is, this is the closest t'home I've been, an' it's still odd."

[waco_jim]

"Well, I'd be the first to admit my home is...odd," he says. "Wouldn't have it any other way. Still, it's...similar, but different. I've never heard of the territory we're in. Even the air's feels a bit...thicker and greasier. Though that might just be the humidity."

[landofopportunity]

Could be the humidity. Could be the stupidity.

Across the aisle, from a pair of old ladies:

"Well I, for one, am grateful, Mrs. Bush, that they are finally bringing civilization to this savage land."

"I could not agree with you more, my dear. My daddy settled this land and I know he'll be looking down on us, pleased at how we helped the natives."

"Yes, they've lost their land...but they've gained access to Heaven."

[ikissdhimbck]

She agrees with Jim. There is something about the atmosphere. And it isn't just here — every place she's been thanks to Milliways has felt just a little different.

She's working on a way of saying so without turning heads, when the conversation from the older women catches her attention. She pauses, pressing her lips together.

Tight.

[waco_jim]

Jim rolls his eyes and barely suppresses a snort.

"This had better be a short train ride," he mutters.

[landofopportunity]

Sorry, Jim. No such luck.

Maybe a more tolerable distraction will help?

Across the aisle, a few rows up, from a preacher and an overdressed young woman:

"But Father, do you mean unless an innocent receives communion, they're destined to go to Hell?"

"Ah-"

"That hardly seems fair."

The preacher holds a hand up. "What I mean to say, Jenny, is that there is a great deal of difference between an innocent - and a savage."

"I never thought of it that way."

And from the pair of old ladies:

"Yes, they lived like animals. But they're happier now."

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate's trigger finger twitches.

"Now there's a difference never could be explained to me."

She laughs, low and quiet-like, shaking her head at memories of Sunday wagon rides and an old Protestant church house. She turns to Jim, but her voice is loud enough to carry to the preacher man and his daughter.

"If livin' off the land is savage, we must be a damn sight to the British."

[waco_jim]

Meanwhile, Jim has a few reactions of his own.

He coughs theatrically into his sleeve. "*cough WHITER cough cough*," he mumbles. It's equally a response to the preacher and to Kate.

As the old ladies continue their conversation, Jim rolls his eyes again. Looking toward Kate, he pulls out a large bag of chili cheese-flavored Fritos and grins. At which point he proceeds to eat them very loudly, punctuating his open-mouthed munching with noisy grunts and belches.

[landofopportunity]

For John and a certain young woman near the back of the train's parts, they're doing their best to suppress grins. The preacher and the two old ladies have momentarily paused their respective conversations and are trying their damnedest to burn a hole in Jim with their gaze.

The preacher is the first to speak.

"Are you unable to eat that quietly, sir?"

[waco_jim]

Jim's eyes widen in mock surprise. "Why, me, sir? If so, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. These are Fritos, you see. A food which quite reliable sources describe as as 'crunchtastic' and 'unkommonly krispy.'"

He takes another conspicuously noisy bite.

"Do you see what I mean, sir?"

Needless to say, he has a shit-eating grin on his face right now.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate tips her head back, smiling brightly.

A quick glance in John's direction reassures her that she isn't making him uncomfortable. Wouldn't do, coming along to help only to get him thrown off a train.

"No need gettin' testy. We're all civilized Christian folk on this here train," she singsongs. "Lucky, each an' every one, t'be left untouched by God's paintbrush. Can you imagine? Ghastly t'think otherwise."

[waco_jim]

At Kate's remark, Jim is tempted to mention his status as a non-observant Jew. He decides against it upon remembering that they are, in fact, on a train, off which they could easily be thrown.

"Lady's quite right, of course. Me, I'm just a hungry old cavalryman enjoyin' the fruits of civilization and commerce."

[landofopportunity]

Aw, see, Kate, now you've just gone and confused the poor man. He's still trying to wrap his head around what she said when one of the ladies stands up, grabbing onto the seat in front of her for support.

"Civilization? You? You do not deserve the fruits of civilization, you disgusting, slovenly pig! And you, yes, you, young lady, how dare you snap at a man of the cloth like that! Why, if I-"

Meanwhile, in John's corner, the suppressed grin has now turned into suppressed laughter, and then -

"-you, sir! Do you find something humorous about this?"

- well, unsuppressed laughter.

"Indeed -" - another bout of laughter - "-indeed I do, ma'am."

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate tics an eyebrow, finding it ironic that she should be scolded by such a woman for snapping.

She sits up straight.

"Ma'am, tell me somethin'. Have you ever seen an Indian up close?"

She calmly takes a look around at her audience.

"Have any of you, for that matter?"

[waco_jim]

Jim's expression turns dead serious. "Considering the things I've done on the orders of civilized men in civilized clothes holed up in their civilized little offices hundreds of miles from where they sent men like me to do their bidding, I'd say I've earned at least something from men like them."

At Kate's accusative question, he rises from his seat. "I can tell you I have. During my time in the Cavalry before and during the War, I've seen red men kill white men, and white men kill red men, white men, black men, yellow men, rich men, poor men, and every other kind of man you could think of. And dysentery taking more than all of 'em combined.

"I've seen every kind of people on the continent, and if you asked me to tell you the difference between a civilized man and a savage man is from what I've seen, I couldn't tell you. I'm not even sure there is one.

"But I do know that not a single one of you is in any position to know what in the Sam Hill you're talking about. Not even the good Reverend." He gestures toward the preacher.

"Now, I've charged uphill with a thousand rifles pointed at me, but if this goes on any longer, you all are just going to end up boring me to death. So all things considered, I think it'd be better for all our sakes if we'd just calm down and stop talking nonsense about things we've got no basis for understanding."

Jim's service had naturally been as ridiculous as the rest of his life (to the extent that his offscreen life even happened at all). He had enlisted while drunk and was terrible at following orders. But in his experience, waving the bloody flag was a fine way of getting people to shut up. Or start a bar fight, depending on what side they'd supported. He's hoping it's the former in this case.

He sits back down and crosses his arms.

[landofopportunity]

Congratulations, Jim. You are the first person in over twenty years to successfully shut Mrs. Bush up. She's leaning on the seat in front of her, mouth open, trying to retort and failing.

Eventually, she huffs. "Come, Mrs. Ditkiss. Let's move to a more civilized section." The pair gets up and walks off, leaving one stunned preacher and protege in their wake.

[waco_jim]

Jim smiles and helps himself to another handful of Fritos.

Then he holds the bag out in the direction of the seat in front of him. "You want some, Reverend?"

[landofopportunity]

Here, Jim, have a stony glare. Or as "stony" a glare as a man who's done almost nothing but preach behind a city pulpit for the last several decades can muster, anyway. The young lady's silent and wide-eyed, for her part. Nobody's ever talked to the Reverend like that.

John'll be over here trying his best not to snicker, thanks.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate had been working herself up to a good and healthy rant before Jim stepped in. She holds her tongue all throughout his tirade, and finds by the end of it there's nothing more to be said. She relaxes, holding on to her own memories, not sad in the slightest that the good Mrs. Bush and her companion have left their company.

She catches the young girl's eye, and nods her chin in her direction.

"You, Miss. Have you aspirations t'occupy yourself in the work of the Lord?"

[landofopportunity]

She starts at the sudden address before looking at Kate. "I have some, yes. Whyever do you ask?"

[ikissdhimbck]

She leans forward.

"Because y'don't learn how t'fish from a miner, an' y'don't learn about God from a bigot.

"We're all equal in the eyes of God. Ain't no one goin' t'hell because they don't take communion, or they look different than you. Don't be so quick t'pass judgment on someone you don't even know."

She sits back, wryness curling her lips.

"Anyhow, Jesus was in hell three days. If it's good enough for the Son of God, it's good enough for me."

[landofopportunity]

Kate, meet Jenny's dumbstruck look. And the preacher's furious glare. Jenny turns, looks to him. "Father, is there any truth to -"

The preacher stands up. "I'd rather not have this conversation here, Jenny. Come." He stalks off to the rear of the train, and Jenny, after a moment of befuddled staring at Kate and Jim, follows.

[waco_jim]

Jim leans back in his seat. "Thought they'd never leave."

He offers the bag of corn chips to Kate. "You oughta try some of these. They're pretty good."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Was it somethin' I said?"

She cuts her gaze to Jim, and the strong smelling bag of chips.




And then she laughs, low and rumbling.

[waco_jim]

"You know, it just might have been."

Jim is quick to join in Kate's laughter. He's been holding it back for long enough.

[bornuntotrouble]

John starts to join in, then stops. Reason being their destination is coming up awful fast on their left.

He checks his gear for what feels like the hundredth time, then slowly stands up, steadying himself on one of the windows and nodding to Kate and Jim as the train slows.

The butterflies aren't quite there yet. But they will be.

[ikissdhimbck]

Within a second the mirth is gone from her face. She nods, once, and bends to collect her things.

[waco_jim]

Jim finishes the last of his chips. He pulls out a kerchief and wipes off his hands. Then, as the train slows to a stop, he adjusts his belt and stands up.