Dig Your Own Grave RP

Johnny
Johnny handed off another bucket to the people working and grabbed their empty ones to be refilled. He flipped his hair out of his face as he stood up. 

Cherry 
Cherry led the horses to the corral and quickly tied them up, hurrying to help with the water. 

Kitty
She slipped down from her tired mare and led her into the corral. She finally loosened the girth and gently lifted the saddle off of the horse's back, and after removing the bridle as well and giving her a well-deserved pat on the neck, turned her loose with the other horses, knowing she probably wouldn't go far considering how hard she had been ridden. She placed the saddle on the fence post and shut the gate behind her as she left, when suddenly she smelled smoke. She looked over to where the others were dousing the buildings with water to see if they had just put a fire out, but there was no sign of smoke. A flicker of orange caught her eye, and she whirled around in time to see flames slowly licking up the sides of the stables. Her eyes widened as she realized that there were horses inside, their terrified whinnies piercing the smoke filled air. In the corral, the horses were huddled at the far side, except for Kitty's own mare. The mare was pacing, her head angled towards the end of the corral that lead to open country. Oh no..Kitty thought as she realized what she was about to do. Seconds later, the mare was over the fence and running far away from the Lightning Bar, and slowly disappearing into the distance. Turning her attention back to the burning stables, Kitty sprinted to where the others were filling buckets with water. "The stables are burning and there are horses inside!" She panted, grabbing a bucket and filling it with water.

Outlaw
She smelled smoke as they neared the ranch, and slapped her heels hard into the mare's sides, the horse lunging into a startled gallop. She saw the leaping flames on the barn as they crested the hill, and booted the mare again, dropping the rifle and shotgun at the edge of the yard as they came in at a dead gallop towards the stables. She leaped off the galloping mare and dashed for the stables, the black running on for a few steps then stopping a ways off to watch, snorting. Outlaw flung herself into the burning barn with complete disregard for own safety, and slowed to a walk towards the horses so as not to spook them more. She opened the first stall door, grabbing a feed cloth laying next to it as she did so to blind fold the horse if need be, quickly calming the horse with soft murmurs and pets enough to lead it out and set it loose. It ran over to the corrals to join the others while she ducked back in after the rest, ignoring the surging heat in the barn as she calmed the horse closest to the fire and began leading it out.

Johnny
Johnny stood frozen, staring at the barn with widened eyes, buckets having been dropped on the ground. He watched in horror as the flames began to grow higher. 

Kitty
She ran to the fire, careful to not spill too much water, and emptied the contents of the bucket onto the flames, to no avail. She began to realize that the fire would consume the barn and everything in it before they could manage to put it out, so she tossed the bucket aside and ran to help the foreman. She covered her nose and mouth with one arm and grabbed a lead rope with the other, entering the blaze just as the foreman was leading a horse out. She ducked in past the smoke and through stinging eyes discerned which horses were in the most imminent anger. She walked up to one, arms shaking with adrenaline, and placed a quivering hand on the horse's muzzle. She looked into the horse's fear-filled eyes, and in the moment that their eyes met, the horse seemed to calm down just a bit. Kitty quickly snapped the lead rope on and gently but firmly guided the horse out through the smoke and into the yard where she released it into the paddock, quickly heading back for another horse alongside the foreman.

Johnny
Johnny watched as another person ran in. He wanted to help, but fear rooted him in place. He felt utterly helpless and couldn't think. He didn't know what he could do in this moment and he couldn't seem to get his legs to work. His eyes were beginning to water, but whether it was from tears or staring into the smoke, he did not know. 

Outlaw
She decided to take a chance and grabbed two horses at once, managing to lead them out while they pranced next to her, wanting to bolt but trusting her. She led them out and unclipped the lead ropes, whereupon they immediately took off. After making sure they went away from the barn she ducked back into the flames, and seeing the girl who'd brought the warning had one of the last two horses, went to get the last one. The horse allowed her to clip the lead rope then freaked out once more and reared and kicked, catching her with one hoof to the side. She cursed then managed to pull the horse down from its rear and place the feed sack across its eyes. It swiftly calmed down, and she led it out without further incident and let it loose. It tore off across the fields to join the rest of the horses that where standing there, while she ducked back into the barn once again to make sure the girl was fine.

Kitty
After having freed two of the horses, she checked the nearly engulfed stables one last time to make sure that everyone was out. Suddenly, she heard something in the hayloft. Coughing, she rushed in one last time, emerging moments later with a grey and white cat and her two kittens.

Outlaw
After making sure the girl was out, she ducked into the tack room, kicked out one of the windows, and tossed all the saddles and tack out the window away from the burning barn before squeezing herself out of the window, mumbling another curse when she cut herself on the glass shards. She lugged all the tack one by one next to the bunkhouse, then went and moved the horses from the corrals closest to the barn to the corrals furthest from the barn. She then went and stood next to Phantom who still stood where she'd stopped after Outlaw had bailed off her, and watched the barn burn. "So its war they went eh? Well by golly, I'll give em a durned war!" She mumbled under her breath to the big mare next to her, who tossed her head in agreement and nuzzled her rider's sooty cheek.

Johnny
Johnny snapped himself back to reality quickly looked away. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it... He focused on his breathing. If he lost it now he could kiss his pay check goodbye. Johnny shakily lowered himself to the ground and wiped his eyes with the handkerchief.

Last edited on 2019-10-14 at 09:09:05 by Spinoodle

Outlaw
She quickly scanned the hands to ensure everyone was fine, and seeing Johnny on the ground walked silently over to him. "You alright, Johnny?" She questioned, studying him for any visible injuries, and seeing none, wondering if it was simply shock.

Cherry
There wasn't anything they could do but watch as the barn burnt down. Walt came to stand next to her as they looked on. What did we get ourselves into? Cherry thought.

Johnny
Johnny didn't answer the question. "Whatcha gonna do bout the barn?" he asked, try to keep his voice even. 

Outlaw
"We'll rebuild it" she replied calmly. "Now are you gonna answer my question or you rather not?" She asked with no hint of anger.