Topic: Packin' Pretty

Jackie Sullivan

Date: 2012-04-06 16:02 EST
Jackie Lee Daniels would always defend her friends and family. She could let a lot slide about what people said and did towards her considering she had a big mouth and an even bigger attitude. She knew there were instances when she earned what she got. But when it came to Cheyenne? Her darling and innocent little cousin? Hell no, the gloves came off and the teeth came out. This was the case with that slime bag Ruben. He didn't know how to take no for an answer and Jackie, along with a mess load of folks, were ready to physically beat the word into his thick skull.

But it didn't come to blows. Not this time around. But Jackie knew she couldn't watch Cheyenne every hour of everyday and the young Daniels cousin needed some sort of protection. That is how they ended up sitting on the bed of the guest bedroom Cheyenne had been sleeping in at Jackie's house. Jackie had a thick black plastic box sitting in front of her and worked the padlock free from it. When the top was lifted opened it revealed a large matte black Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun with two loaded mags perched beside it. It was by no means dainty. She turned the box and slid it towards Cheyenne. "Figure this'll do the trick." Jackie grinned, knowing above and beyond a doubt that this gun would have the stopping power she desired for her cousin. "We can get yah a hip holster, too. Jus' like mine." Jackie's hand pat the Ruger sitting in the black leather holster at her own hip lovingly.

Cheyenne was sitting cross legged on the bed, a steaming cup of coffee on the nightstand beside it. It was early and she'd slept in after the whole Ruben fiasco. Sometimes sleep was best for obliterating things you didn't want to deal with!

It had been unexpected and exceedingly frustrating, not to mention embarrassing. Not just that some creeper was trying to touch her, but that so many people had rushed to help. And it wasn't the help that was causing her some trouble- in truth she was very appreciative. It was the fact that she didn't like a big to-do over herself and that she was already seen as the baby in the family that had to be protected.

When Jackie opened the case and displayed the gun, Chey leaned forward to look at it with interest. It didn't take long for that curious look to fade into one that plainly said, 'are you serious?'

"Jackie! God damn this is huge! How'm I supposed ta carry it around? It'll look like a damn tumor!" She gestured toward it, laughing. "I'm pretty sure under most'a my clothes everyone'll be able ta tell I'm packin'."

Jackie was grinning like a giddy fool from ear to ear, her gaze sweeping relentlessly between Cheyenne and the gun. But then she saw the shift in her cousin's expression and her own quickly followed suit. "Cheyenne! It ain't all 'bout how it looks. An' on the plus side, I'm pretty sure RhyDin is alright with an open carry. You ain't gotta put it under none of yer clothes. You can have it on yer hip." She pointed at the gun. "That's a piece that says 'don't mess with this Daniels girl'."

In the back of her mind, Jackie honestly knew where her cousin was coming from. Even her own handgun was compact enough to not 'cause a scene. But it wasn't that Jackie was trying to be a hypocrite. It was that she knew she would personally feel safer knowing that Cheyenne would be able to defend herself from anything that came her way. Out of all the relatives Jackie went out of her way to not treat Chey like a child, but it didn't mean she didn't worry.

Cheyenne Daniels

Date: 2012-04-06 18:39 EST
"Don't ya think I might be invitin' more trouble by havin' such a big gun?" She sounded unsure. The gun was beautiful, and it was clear when she reached out to touch it with two fingertips. "I do like it, but I don't know if it'd work fer me. Besides, ya think I'd be able ta handle it an' shoot without breakin' my arm?" She leaned forward a bit more and took the gun carefully out of its bed. She handled it like she knew what she was doing- and she did. Pretty much all of the Daniels could handle a gun, although in varying degrees of interest. Cheyenne was more of a sun girl; she liked to be outdoors, walk barefoot in the grass and across the flat stones in the creeks, and watch the clouds and sun set. She didn't have trouble getting dirty and no one could say she was 'refined', but she wasn't as big on the rough and tumble as Jackie was. There was no taking the Georgia hillbilly out of her parents, but they'd wanted their girls to be girls. Which would explain why Jackie had been the one to teach her to shoot.

Jackie was an excellent teacher, too, and Chey had no hang ups that she wouldn't be able to take care of someone with the weapon if the occasion presented itself. She looked it over with a cryptic eye, feeling the heft. A good gun, but even then, it looked too big, awkward and clumsy in Chey's small hands.

The purse of Jackie's lips made it abundantly clear that Cheyenne was touching on a plethora of valid points. When it came to Jackie and guns, bigger was better. She had handled more than her fair share of firearms and it was always the ones with the louder pop and the bigger kick that held her attention. But what was right for Jackie wasn't necessarily the route to go for her younger cousin. "Anyone who's goin' to hassle yah over a gun is gonna do it whether it's a .40 cal or a lil' derringer. An? a Daniels woman can handle any sorta gun that she wants to."

Just when it seemed like Jackie was going to give Cheyenne nothing but trouble, she offered a sigh and her tone relented. "But yer right. Yah gotta be comfortable with yer gun. If yah don't love it, then it ain't gonna do you much good." Jackie scratched at the back of her head, staring at the Smith & Wesson in Cheyenne's hands. "I ain't got nothin' a whole lot smaller than that. I ain't never been much dainty with my guns." There was another drag of silence before a wide smile bloomed across her expression. "So, that jus' means we're gonna take ourselves intah town and yer gonna pick out yer own gun." There was no time for Cheyenne to object. Jackie was already sliding off the bed and moving to grab her shoes and hat from the other room.

No, there certainly wasn't time. One minute Jackie was talking, and the next she was bounding off the bed. "Hey, wait!" She laid the .40 down and hopped up and over to her pile of clean clothes, starting to dig out a pair of jeans while simultaneously trying to shimmy out of her sleep shorts. She knew she had to hurry, it was hard to slow Jackie down when she had an inkling to do something. Luckily, it didn't take long for the clothes to be pulled on and a hand run through hair. "Ya got a particular place in mind?" Oh, and she was bustling over to the bed to put the gun away proper.

By time Cheyenne got the lock put back on the Smith & Wesson case Jackie was back in her doorway with her cowboy boots and hat settled in place. "I gotta guy in the market. Good fella that's hooked me up nice since I been 'round here. He'll give us a deal. Better yet, 'fore he realized I would rather have a lil' extra power over somethin' pink he kept tryin' tah sell me on some fancy lookin' pieces. They ain't right fer me, but I know we'll be able tah find yah somethin' straight away." When Cheyenne moved towards the doorway her cousin was already looping their arms together and cutting a path towards the front door.

"We'll have yah packin' pretty in no time."