Chaeyoung forced her eyes open, she awoke to the noise of people bartering, horses neighing and carts rattling against the ground. The general hustle and bustle of a town. She was lying on her front, her head turned uncomfortably to the side. She tried to move her head but a sharp jolt of pain shot up through her neck as she did so.

She pushed herself up on the bed with a strangled groan. As slowly as she could she stretched her neck out. Turning her head in all directions carefully until the pain had subsided. Looking around the room she remembered where she was now.

She slipped her feet into her boots and stood up, rolling her shoulders and cracking her joints. She grabbed her hat off of the coat stand and set it onto her head firmly, the interior of it perfectly molded to the shape of her head. She then placed her holster that carried her revolver around her waist, she never went anywhere without it.

Chaeyouung descended the stairs of the building and found one of the few cells were occupied. Inside it sat a guy passed out, reeking of alcohol. His mouth was wide open, disgruntled noises coming from his throat occasionally. Chaeyoung smirked to herself, it felt like she was still back at her own office at home.

Passing the cells she stuck her head into the office, and as expected, found it empty. The room would’ve been absent of any proof Mina had even been there, had she not left the opened letter lying on her desk.

Deciding to explore the town in the absence of Mina, Chaeyoung slammed the buildings door shut, locking it with the spare set of keys the Sheriff had leant to her for her stay. She lifted the ring of keys for a closer look, there seemed to be an old nametag attached to it, but whatever writing there was had been scrawled out with angry marks of graphite.

She was disturbed by a loud whinnying from her right. There stood her chestnut coloured horse, under the shade of the canopy lapping up water from the trough kept outside the office. The water looked fresh and cool, someone had refilled it that morning. Chaeyoung walked over to greet him, brushing her hands through his white mane.

“Hey there boy. How was your night huh?”

The horse grunted in response, his eyes closing as he turned his head away from his rider, displaying a sign of indignance. Chaeyoung understood from this that he also felt strange being so far from home.

“You’re so human-like sometimes it freaks me out.”

She stood next to him, running her fingers along the mane, occasionally plaiting a few strands for fun. With a deep sigh she patted him gently.

“We’re gonna be here for a long time, better get used to it.”

She was already feeling a little homesick.
 

Chaeyoung had to admit that although The West County towns were strange and different, they were a good kind of strange and different. She’d always loved the idea of travelling across the entire expanse of The Wild West, but her duties never allowed her time for that. So the whole opportunity was fantastic, if a bit dangerous. 

She used to hear rumours that the people in the West were far more uneducated than the settlers in the East. Although the leaders of the counties were trying to build a connection between the towns, it was hard to change the mindset of the people. These kinds of stereotypes and baseless prejudices were things that Chaeyoung vehemently rejected.

She observed the mountains in the distance and revelled in the surprisingly refreshing breeze that calmed her nerves. If there was one thing she preferred in RedWood over her town, it was the availability of freshwater. The abundance of water meant that the town could even afford to have a fancy looking fountain in the town square.

Chaeyoung strolled through the town, wanting to get used to the layout and the people that lived there. Occasionally she would doff her hat at a few familiar faces she’d seen at the bar last night. It was important for her to know everyone that passed through these streets and everything that went on. 

She s a hand underneath the top of her shirt, clutching at the silver pendant necklace that hung around her collarbone.  

Don’t let him catch you.

She hadn’t realised it, but her eyes had closed and her legs had taken her to a familiar residence in this terribly unfamiliar town. 

The Saloon.

Pushing past those same batwing doors she had entered through the day before, she made a beeline for the bar. She found the person she was looking for attempting to retrieve the bullet that had been shot at Chaeyoung from inside the beam. The Saloon was significantly less busier than it had been in the evening, with the few patrons present opting to eat a full breakfast in place of guzzling numerous pints of beer.

Chaeyoung stood behind the Japanese woman, watching her struggle to leverage the bullet shell that had embedded itself into the wood out with a knife.

She walked up behind her and leaned in close, having to stretch onto her tiptoes to reach her ears.

“Need some help with that?”

“If you could that’d be great!” Sana chirped, not even flinching a little.

Chaeyoun