"Texas Jack, after we're done here why don't you help Mr. Darling and Miss Hawthorne get some horses? They're uh, from back East," he said.

"Mr. Darling, you gotta learn to hold your horses," he said, pausing. "No pun intended. I know you're used to a fast pace of life back east, but things are a little more deliberate down here in Kansas."

"Now, Mr. Clarke, I don't think we'll need to cart too much in the way of supplies with us, but if you wanna ride on a wagon, I suppose you can. You folks left one in my care when you got into town. I had it taken over to a stable over by the church where animals can be cared for. We can get that when we're ready to leave. I reckon that since we're riding for where was it, Oakley? I reckon we could get any supplies we need there. Everything else, well, that'll pretty much fit in saddle bags. The wagon will slow you down, though, so maybe you oughta think about ridin' double with someone?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:45, Wed 07 Aug 2013.

"Well, I wouldn't want to leave Bessie behind. Bessie bein' my mule. She ain't much for bein' rode, but she can pull a wagon just fine."

Daniel looked back and forth at Wyatt and his uncle. "Jock is strong nuff ta carry both of us, uncle. An' bessie could be a pack mule trottin along with th'group. We can put Jock's saddle bags on er so he don't gotta carry em and us both too." Daniel shrugged - he figured he'd offer the solution, but it wasn't something he'd press.

Sky Dog considered the map as well as his poor focus would permit, working out distances. He beckoned Korpi over and quietly discussed the situation with her whilst she perched on his head, familiarising her with the route and the kind of things they were seeking. Oakley looked further away than it was good sense to double one horse, but it was not his buisness.

"I am ready. Mansfield, you have a horse also?" he asked the prisoner.

"We're taking the prisoner with us?" he asked, looking skeptical about the proposition.

"He's not exactly a prisoner. Here for his own safekeepin' is more like it. As for him going with us, I'm not sure what's that about. Sky Dog?" He looked to the Siberian for an explanation.

"What the hell is a Sky Dog anyway? I thought Injuns named themselves after real animals. Like Sitting Bull. Or Running Wolf. Or Charging Bear. You know, stuff like that. I mean, a dog is a real animal sure enough, but I ain't never seen one in the sky. Sounds like a made up animal. A dog with wings or somethin'."

Randolph is disturbed at the idea that Mansfield would be set free. There were a number of people murdered and mutilated in his wake. That the man should be completely excused based on his own claim that he was unable to resist the scalpel's power seems a bit... well, improper.

He keeps his thoughts to himself, though he intends to keep an eye on the man.

"Uncle said the man Mansfield might hunt with us," Sky Dog answered, a little surprised neither Mansfield nor Gabby had mentioned this plan already. He indicated Gabby as the one to look to for information.

A broad canid grin passed over Sky Dog's mouth before he answered Bassett with a shrug. "First, Evenki. For my name...'The He-Shamán With A Dog Nature Who Recieved His Name At The Third Level Of The Shadows Of The Upper World', it is maybe better translation, but a long calling. Too long, yes? So, Sky Dog."

"Korpi," Korpi said, since names seemed to be in fashion. She picked up the badge in her beak again and leant down to tap Sky Dog's cheek with it. Sky Dog obediently breathed on it and Korpi resumed her attempts to shine it on his head.

"The idea bein' that we might need a doctor on this sort o' expedition," Gabby says quickly, "and that he might want a chance to redeem himself after the troubles o' the other night."

Coraline seemed blissfully ambivalent to the current discussion of Mansfield.  Patiently awaiting the guide that would help her and Randolph find suitable mounts, she'd taken to examining all of the available chairs, trying out each one to find the one she deemed most comfortable.  Her fan waved lazily in front of her face, stirring her own personal breeze and causing the ringlets about her ears to flutter.  She tried each of the chairs before settling in one she liked, though she turned it to just the right angle so she could join the conversation if she so desired.

"Fine by me, as long as he wants to go," he said, looking at Mansfield, who responded with a tentative shrug at first, but then a more certain nod."Well, that's settled then. Though I don't think he has a horse either. Never had two nickels to rub together for a drink. I'd have thought that if he had a horse, he'd have pawned it off a while ago to pay for his drinking habit. Well, I won't turn down another able bodied man that wants to come on this particular expedition."

"So that's Texas Jack, Charlie, you, me, and Bat. Then we got the old man and his nephew, the Injun, the lady, the tinhorn and the Marshal. And the doctor," he said. He wasn't impolite, but his tone left some question as to the worth of the latter group, as if they were an afterthought.

"That's about the size of it. These are some of the most able people I've worked with, despite the peculiarties. When all's said and done, I'm confident that you'll see things the same." An observant man or woman would note that Earp didn't specific whether he was talking about the deputies or the other group of men that had joined them that day, or to whom he had been talking.

"Alright. Well, that's done. Texas Jack, why don't you take Miss Hawthorne and Mr. Darling over to get some horses and gear like we discussed earlier. I think Darling might pop a vein if we don't get him to a general store soon."

"He ain't my idea of a darling, that's for sure," he said as he got up and got ready to go.

"Meet back here at noon, and ride for Oakley?"

"You folks think you can be ready by that time?" he asked his erstwhile deputies.

"That'll definitely give me the time I need to acquire my own supplies. I think it's as good a time as any to go ahead and get started on this errand. There's been too much time wasted as it is," he said.

"I'll leave that determination strictly in the hands of Mister Texas Jack," Randolph says with an insipid smile, over-enunciating each word. It's with difficulty that he refrains from lisping. "Will you accompany us, Miss Hawthorne?" he asks, offering her his arm.

"Shouldn't be a problem for me." Gabby says. "Danny, you think we'll be ready to go by noon?"

Coraline sighed softly at having to move after only just getting settled, but she rose to join Randolph and Texas Jack.  Her lips turned downward at the offer of Randolph's arm, but she took it almost out of habit.  "I am certain we will have little trouble being ready by noon.  My things are already packed."

"Korp," Korpi announced around the somewhat shinier badge in her beak.

"We are ready," Sky Dog half-translated, brushing a finger across the map. "It is my thought to leave the settlement soonest and meet you at a place on the road: it is not well for myself to begin such journeying at the hottest part of the day. Or for Igor, if we have need for him to pace, with your horses, yes?" Korpi sidestepped as he looked up.

"Uncle, do you wish I should take Clemya?"

Daniel shrugged. "Purty much ready ta go now. Just gotta fetch Jock an' some feed. Mebbe git 'im ready fer carryin' two." Daniel looked about, then with another shrug left the building to begin making good on his word.

Gabby looks at Sky Dog. "I dunno...do you think your moose would get on well with Clementine?"

"Moose?" Sky Dog took a moment to translate Gabby's question. "Ah! Moose is the heavy forest animal, yes? It is bigger." He grinned.

"Igor is well used to dogs. If I accept them, he will also. He is my steed! Dalix told me Americans do have one word for the riding animal - I had thought your people called them all caribou, as the forest animal, in the way you call all the white falling snow - you say reindeer."

"Uchakh," Korpi clarified.

The shaman looked to the departing hardcases. "Your horses will not fear him, I hope?" Then to Uncle: "It is my thought that it will be easier for Clemya to pace with us, before the most heat, but maybe she will sit in a carrying-basket on the mule, like a little pig, yes?"

Gabby nods at the correction. "I was thinking that she'd pace us for a while myself, though I like the basket idea." He says.