The seven, specifically the green-eyed gambler. Maria had enough of the silence and intended to create some chaos. Taking out her handy dandy note... er, sorry ::erases paw print:: I mean handy dandy supersoaker filled with something besides the usual edible condiments. (well you can eat it, but I never had, seriously) Going back to the good ole grade school days, she had filled the supersoaker with Elmer's glue, and in a shaker glitter.
Maria took refuge behind the bar and waited for her first victim. Hearing the unmistakable spurs of the leader she got her stuff ready.
"Awfully quiet tonight," Maria heard Vin drawl.
"I don't like it," Chris responded. "It's been like this for too long. Something's gotta give." Larabee glanced around the bar, wondering where the bartender disappeared to. "Well the hell is that good for nothin' man?"
"Oh him?" Maria replied, popping out of her hiding place. "I gave him the night off."
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh Chris, you wound me! Not happy to see me? Well this should change your mind!" With that she pelted the two men with the sticky substance then proceeded to dump glitter all over them. Before they could react she bolted out of the room.
Chris glared down as his now, red-glittered wardrobe and turned angrily to Vin. "I'm gonna get her."
"Count me in!"
Debby rounded the corner in the SBOTG whistling to herself. She was still hyper and raring to go.. ready for more caffiene actually. Suddenly she stopped short and gaped at the scene before her, then after amoment erupted into peals of laughter.
Chris and Vin whirled around and glared at her. "What are you laughing at?" Chris asked as Debby leaned against the wall and slid to the floor in giggles.
"um.. you..." Debby tried to control the laugh and hold it in but the look on Vin's face pushed her over the edge and with another burst of laughter she found herself curled in a ball on the floor unable to stop.
"You're pink...and purple... and and it's glitter..."
She opened her eyes to wipe away the tears and realized both men were eyeing her wickedly. Chris standing with his hand on his (very lean) hips and Vin his arms crossed in front of him. Both men were trying to pull off the anger and frustration they felt at the quickly drying glue and scratchy glitter in their gazes.
Debby took a deep breath and sat up trying not to think about the fact that they looked like a grade school art project gone awry but as soon as the thought flickered in her mind she was laughing again. IT was then she realized they were moving closer..
"Oh shit." She scrambled backwards and got to her feet as quickly as her stiff knees allowed. "Now guys.. I didn't do anything to you.." She reminded.
"I seem to recall a certain whipped cream incident." Vin retorted..
"Oh shit." Debby spun and took off down the hall not looking over her shoulder to see if they were following.
Renee was busy taking a break from writing the ten or so stories that were running amok in her brain. As she read the last of her email, she couldn't help but hear the familiar giggle of her fellow Musketeer.
"Maria, what the hell are you doin?" She asked sticking her head out into the hall.
"Chris...Vin...Glue...Glitter...RUN!" Was all Renee could make out.
She was clueless (not comments guys!) until she heard the stream of obscenities that were coming from the other end of the hall. Coming towards her were two very attractive men who just happened to be very sparkly at the moment.
"Aw, hell!" She giggled, and dove back inside to get her ammunition. She waited until Maria was safely past before going back out into the hall. "Vin! Chris! What're you up to?"
The two stopped and faced her. "Maria.."
"Hey, nice sparklies!" She teased. "I think I have just the thing to get rid of them."
"You ain't gonna..." Vin began, turning to Chris. "She ain't gonna..."
"She'd be in big trouble if she did..."
Renee didn't find the fear in the Larabee glare that the others did, and promptly fired the supersoaker at them. With a salute, she took off running.
"She did it, Chris! The one that I never suspected..."
"It's usually the quiet ones ya gotta worry about, Vin!" Chris advised as the pair took off after a giggling Renee.
Pat stuck her head out of the Candy Store just in time to see two figures streak by. (Hmmm, streaking. There's an idea.) She thought it was Chris and Vin.
Chris was covered in Passion Pink and Vin in Purty Purple. And they glittered!
"Hey, boy's," she called, "what's happenin'?"
They skidded to a stop. Chris turned his glare on her. "Where's Maria?"
Pat held up both hands in surrender. "Don't know. Haven't seen her. Honestly. Last time I saw her, I had lunch with her, and that was weeks ago." As the men turned back around, she asked, "Is she responsible for your sparkling appearance?"
"If you had anything to do with this..." Vin began.
Pat held up her hands again. "Not me. If she'd used something edible, you could, maybe -- and I'm not admitting anything here, fellas -- say I supplied her, but you can't eat glitter, so it's not in the Candy Store."
Chris and Vin looked at one another, trying to decide whether they believed her. "How do we know you ain't hiding her in there?" Vin asked.
Pat opened the door wide. "You're welcome to look."
Giving her a suspicious look, they stepped inside the shop.
"You know, you're both pretty messy. Why don't I have those clothes washed for you?"
The boys hesitated.
"Look, you can go search high and low for Maria in those clothes, glitter and all, or you can wait for a few minutes while I throw them in the laundry."
The boys exchanged glances again. They had that silent communication thing going on again. "All right," Chris conceded.
"But you better not look," Vin warned.
"Cross my heart," Pat said.
She showed the boys to a back room and left them there to disrobe. Hiding behind the door, they passed the clothes to Pat and watched as she gave them to a rather handsome young man.
"Hey, who's he?"
"Who?" Pat asked. "Him? Oh, he runs errands for me. He's taking your clothes to be laundered. He'll bring them back in a day or so." Picking up a caramel-filled chocolate Ezra, Pat saluted them and walked out of the Candy Store.
She went to the steps and called up to the SBOTG, "Naked Chris and Naked Vin in the Candy Store! The REAL thing!!"
Maria bounded the around the corner, taking great care to not to spill the other weapons she had packed away in her backpack. Patiently she waited until the two glittery men made their appearance when a rich southern drawl interrupted her errant thoughts.
"Darlin' do I want to know what you've been up to?"
She tried not the thud since Ezra was clad only in a towel, his chest glistening since just coming from the sauna "See ya!!" and continued her trek down the hall.
Maria came to a screeching halt, leaving a confused Ezra to slide past her.
"DETOUR!!!!!!" she shouted.
Debby had just finished pouring the coke into her mason glass jar. She watched as the coke swirled
around the vanilla ice cream. She hadn't seen Chris or Vin in the last few minutes, ever since she'd taken
off down the hall and well the caffeine she'd been craving had called to her over the risk of being
caught.
Suddenly she heard the shout from the candy store and paused.. She looked to the door of the saloon then
back to the float then back to the door again. With a shrug of her shoulders she scooped up the glass by
it's handle and took it with her as she jogged toward the candy store. Somethings were worth the risk.
