quinientos | (no subject)

This isn't exactly the trip to town that Vasquez had expected.

She'd thought she would come and see these people that Robert had to deal with. True, she didn't think she was going to like all of them, but she also didn't think that she would feel this much rage and fury when she saw how they treated him. They spoke down to him, they ignored him, and they laughed at him. Dressed in her pretty frock and her hair loose, she knows she's supposed to be demure, but it's a very good thing that they'd disarmed her before she got to town. If they hadn't, she'd be in the jail cell because she would have shot someone in her fury.

As it is, they're pulling her off of Doc Holliday, while Aleja spits furious Spanish invective at him, furious at the jokes they've been making on Robert's behalf. "He is twice the man that you will ever be," she finishes, spitting at his and Earp's feet, irritated on Robert's behalf.

Forcing her arm out of the hold, she sneers at the men holding her. "I'm going," she snaps, grabbing her thick fur coat and hauling it on, shoving hat on her head and thinking it's good she came here to see this. Because now, she's not letting Robert come even close to this place after everything that she's seen. She stands in the doorway and waits for him, because she's not leaving without him.

They're never coming back to this place and Aleja is already making plans to never let him work for these two men, not when he deserves so much more.

Threaded | Flat

In truth, Robert isn't sure what he expected would happen. Watching Aleja turn into a fury, all dark hair and snarls and anger is nothing he expected. And yet it is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. She's truly a valkyrie as he's read about, a whirling dervish, beautiful and powerful and amazing.

Even as she's jerking on her coat, backing away, he just continues to stare. Managing to blink, slowly draw his gaze from her to where Doc is wiping his face with the back of his hand and coming away with blood.

"What the hell, Robert? You're kin to that shedevil? A little mous..." He stops, looking to Aleja.

"You're really goin' with her?" Earp arches a brow.

Robert pulls of his glasses, cleaning them on his sleeve before sliding them back on his face. Slow and deliberate.

"Miss Ravn, you know you don't want to leave without an escort," he says, moving to her side and offering his arm. "Shall we?"

Inside he is shaking, she may be able to feel it, but for her sake not his own he is able to hold his own and stand up to them. In his own way.

The snow is finally starting to melt and Aleja isn't so sure she's grateful to see springtime here. Yes, this is what she's been meaning to survive to and having steady company for the winter has meant that she's happy, she's been able to put on the weight that she'd lost in her starvation, and that she's safe. The problem with springtime is that this is when Robert said he might move on.

Her hair has grown out even longer and she's been worrying her ring more often than not. She's going to have to give it back and she's been approaching the idea, even if she hates it more and more. The truth is, after all these months, she knows what she's been denying. Robert is a good and kind man, with more strength than he knows.

She's beginning to fall for him, which is bad news, because she's an outlaw.

When the last of the snow melts, that's when she decides it's time. It's time to give back the ring, as much as she doesn't want to. She waits until it's breakfast and settles oats on the stove, wiggling the ring off to set it down on the table where Robert usually eats. It breaks her heart to do, but it's his and if she doesn't give it back, she never will.

Better that he gets it now, before someone catches her and takes it into their possession. "Breakfast is almost ready," she calls out to him.

no subject

Springtime