AU Meme - Day 18 - Wild West AU
Aug. 29th, 2022 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99(Was travelling this weekend, hence the delay)
Cowboy films and TV shows were my grandmother's favourite thing so I have marinated in cowboys for a long time. Which to an extent makes it harder, because so many options and so few of them quite work.
The following is written because I keep accidentally calling Hangman "Cowboy" Adam Page.
Title: Pull Up By The Fire And Keep Yourself Warm
Fandom: Wrestling
Characters: Adam Page, James Storm, Chris Harris
~~~~~
It was already past time to set up camp when he came across the two cowboys in the middle of pitching their tents. He's still deciding whether to stop or carry on when the shorter of the two cowboys shouts over to him.
"Howdy. 'You heading out on the trail?"
"Sort of." Which was the truth.
"Pull up by the fire, and keep yourself warm."
"You sure?"
"It's coyote country, it's safer with three, than two and you alone."
Because he was imposing on them, he handed over some of the food he had on him. He also passed round his hipflask. It had been full when he'd started, now not so much.
The cowboy who said "howdy" introduced himself as he took a swig, "Storm, that's Harris." The taller of the cowboys nodded, and busied himself with double checking the tent.
"Page."
"Pleased to meet you." The taller cowboy didn't say anything. He didn't all night, but Storm more than made up for it. Page couldn't figure out whether he didn't talk, or couldn't talk, there being enough people like that since the war. Harris stayed in the back, tinkering with the tent or the food. Storm meanwhile talked, and talked, and occasionally paused to let Page answer his questions. They were on the way back from a cattle drive, heading back to the ranch they lived at when they weren't riding out. "How about you?"
Drifting was the answer, but not the one Page wanted to give. After everything, every failure, of everything that he's tried in the last four years, he wants someone to believe that he's got it all together. He manages to string together an answer that might even sound believable.
It's actually a good night, Storm brings something out of his stash of beer (where he keeps it, who knows) and they talk and talk, and Harris doesn't say anything but Storm will ask him something and know his answer despite the silence.
Page keeps his guns on him, obviously, and he'd feel happier if he could keep his horse tied to him too, but he knows that's impossible, so instead he ties Silver up as best he can and trusts him to kick anyone that tries to steal him. Page has nothing else for anyone to steal.
Page wakes up hearing groaning - the sun is coming up and the noise is coming from Storm, who's either snakebitten or hungover.
Harris is by Silver, messing with Page's saddlebags and Page is about to run up and sock him in the jaw, except he sees that Harris is putting more cans in. Page, with his sleeping bag, walks over, any sound being covered by the noise of Storm waking up.
"What are you doing?"
"We're almost home. You need them more than we do."
"Won't he be annoyed?"
"No."
Harris finishes fastening the saddlebag straps. "We've done our drifting, but it ain't good for a man. That should be enough to get you somewhere. Sort out whatever it is when you're somewhere, not in the desert." Harris finishes fastening the straps with a distinct tug.
Okay, so Page's answer hadn't been as convincing as he'd hoped. The other two cowboys had finished packing up and were already fading away into the distance, and Page was still standing there as the sun steadily rose higher. He had options, sure, but each was as bad as the other - move on and leave all his hard work behind, or go back and face the mess he'd left there. Maybe Harris was right, and either option was better than dying of thirst.
There is the basis of a good story here, and I will try to dig it out after the end of the meme.
Day 1 - Hogwarts - Meta
Day 2 - Zombies
Day 3 - Medieval
Day 4 - Spies
Day 5 - School
Day 6 - Mythical Creature
Day 7 - Fairy Tale
Day 8 - Futuristic
Day 9 - Aliens
Day 10 - Fusion with another fandom
Day 11 - Slice-of-life
Day 12 - Deserted Island
Day 13 - Buddy Cops/Detective
Day 14 - Allegiance-Swap Original instructions say bad guys are good guys and vice versa
Day 15 - Sex-Swap
Day 16 - Superheroes
Day 17 - Animal Transformation
Day 18 - Wild West
Day 19 - Idols/Bands
Day 20 - Trading Places
Day 21 - Fantasy
Day 22 - Horror
Day 23 - Pre-21st Century
Day 24 - Apocalypse/Dystopia
Day 25 - Time travel
Day 26 - Dopplegangers
Day 27 - Twins
Day 28 - Cross Over
Day 29 - Pirates A bit more of the Jericho/Regal with Barrett lurking fic for Opera
Day 30 - Crossover
Cowboy films and TV shows were my grandmother's favourite thing so I have marinated in cowboys for a long time. Which to an extent makes it harder, because so many options and so few of them quite work.
The following is written because I keep accidentally calling Hangman "Cowboy" Adam Page.
Title: Pull Up By The Fire And Keep Yourself Warm
Fandom: Wrestling
Characters: Adam Page, James Storm, Chris Harris
~~~~~
It was already past time to set up camp when he came across the two cowboys in the middle of pitching their tents. He's still deciding whether to stop or carry on when the shorter of the two cowboys shouts over to him.
"Howdy. 'You heading out on the trail?"
"Sort of." Which was the truth.
"Pull up by the fire, and keep yourself warm."
"You sure?"
"It's coyote country, it's safer with three, than two and you alone."
Because he was imposing on them, he handed over some of the food he had on him. He also passed round his hipflask. It had been full when he'd started, now not so much.
The cowboy who said "howdy" introduced himself as he took a swig, "Storm, that's Harris." The taller of the cowboys nodded, and busied himself with double checking the tent.
"Page."
"Pleased to meet you." The taller cowboy didn't say anything. He didn't all night, but Storm more than made up for it. Page couldn't figure out whether he didn't talk, or couldn't talk, there being enough people like that since the war. Harris stayed in the back, tinkering with the tent or the food. Storm meanwhile talked, and talked, and occasionally paused to let Page answer his questions. They were on the way back from a cattle drive, heading back to the ranch they lived at when they weren't riding out. "How about you?"
Drifting was the answer, but not the one Page wanted to give. After everything, every failure, of everything that he's tried in the last four years, he wants someone to believe that he's got it all together. He manages to string together an answer that might even sound believable.
It's actually a good night, Storm brings something out of his stash of beer (where he keeps it, who knows) and they talk and talk, and Harris doesn't say anything but Storm will ask him something and know his answer despite the silence.
Page keeps his guns on him, obviously, and he'd feel happier if he could keep his horse tied to him too, but he knows that's impossible, so instead he ties Silver up as best he can and trusts him to kick anyone that tries to steal him. Page has nothing else for anyone to steal.
Page wakes up hearing groaning - the sun is coming up and the noise is coming from Storm, who's either snakebitten or hungover.
Harris is by Silver, messing with Page's saddlebags and Page is about to run up and sock him in the jaw, except he sees that Harris is putting more cans in. Page, with his sleeping bag, walks over, any sound being covered by the noise of Storm waking up.
"What are you doing?"
"We're almost home. You need them more than we do."
"Won't he be annoyed?"
"No."
Harris finishes fastening the saddlebag straps. "We've done our drifting, but it ain't good for a man. That should be enough to get you somewhere. Sort out whatever it is when you're somewhere, not in the desert." Harris finishes fastening the straps with a distinct tug.
Okay, so Page's answer hadn't been as convincing as he'd hoped. The other two cowboys had finished packing up and were already fading away into the distance, and Page was still standing there as the sun steadily rose higher. He had options, sure, but each was as bad as the other - move on and leave all his hard work behind, or go back and face the mess he'd left there. Maybe Harris was right, and either option was better than dying of thirst.
There is the basis of a good story here, and I will try to dig it out after the end of the meme.
Day 1 - Hogwarts - Meta
Day 2 - Zombies
Day 3 - Medieval
Day 4 - Spies
Day 5 - School
Day 6 - Mythical Creature
Day 7 - Fairy Tale
Day 8 - Futuristic
Day 9 - Aliens
Day 10 - Fusion with another fandom
Day 11 - Slice-of-life
Day 12 - Deserted Island
Day 13 - Buddy Cops/Detective
Day 14 - Allegiance-Swap Original instructions say bad guys are good guys and vice versa
Day 15 - Sex-Swap
Day 16 - Superheroes
Day 17 - Animal Transformation
Day 18 - Wild West
Day 19 - Idols/Bands
Day 20 - Trading Places
Day 21 - Fantasy
Day 22 - Horror
Day 23 - Pre-21st Century
Day 24 - Apocalypse/Dystopia
Day 25 - Time travel
Day 26 - Dopplegangers
Day 27 - Twins
Day 28 - Cross Over
Day 29 - Pirates A bit more of the Jericho/Regal with Barrett lurking fic for Opera
Day 30 - Crossover
