[Fall – Blue City]

Glistening shimmers of sunlight reflected off the nearby water as if they were stars sprinkled over the pond. Jennings and Penny made their way through the crowd unnoticed. A dry, irritable day struck another monotonous pitch.

Utilizing small alterations to their appearance, they were able to make it to a table where drinks were being sold without being recognized thus far. Groups of two quickly multiplied into herds of patrons for the event, passing just behind the man on the run and company.

The bartender approached them while stopping directly in front of where the outlaw sat and prepared to take their order, his puffed blue cuffs looked sure to interfere with any decently poured beer. He used silent hand gestures to imply how much of a hurry he's actually in without having to say it.

“One tall mug of your finest that's on special.” smirked Jennings.

He seemingly never got tired of his own brand of humor.

“As for the lady here … you'll have to ask her, she don't seem too keen on listening to me.”

Sticking to his professionalism and remaining silent, the lanky man shifted his attention to Penny who ordered for herself.

“I'll take a glass of milk, if you have any.”

The bartender kindly lifted his head from memorizing the order and informed Penny that no juice was available, however they did have dairy.

“Just a country mickle then.”

He walked off to get the beverage, stuffing his towel in his apron.

“A what-?”

Jennings snickered, getting comfortable.

The man returned with their order and distributed them appropriately.

“I still don't understand how that drink right there caught on. Shit is … filthy to be frank.”

A ‘country mickle’ was a widespread breakfast drink that consisted of a tall glass of fresh milk accompanied by a tiny pickle thrown inside and eaten. Penny wiped away a mustache of cream with her forearm.

As Penny sipped away with hesitation, Jennings slipped into deep concentration at his stool.

The day had finally come to act out his innermost desire of ending his father's life. Someone that had tormented him and those around Jennings for far too long. It was as if the stressful task had self-awareness and could feel a resolution coming.

Jennings' string of hateful thoughts were only interfered with by a piercing, familiar voice, that of Isiah Bahr taking his position on stage and commencing his statement over the crowd.

Jennings sharply shifted his eyes toward the stage, ignoring the drink that he hadn't even touched his lips yet. The look of anger intensified with every passing syllable uttered adding an additional wrinkle upon his vengeful expression.

Isiah grabbed the attention of all ears that had failed to listen in the sea of spectators.

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“Attention!”

He then started to speak in a far more casual demeanor once he confirmed his favored status once again, as the center of attention.

“Ladies and lads, thank you for joining us today on this truly, truly wonderful occasion. We have to the right of the stage the man that has terrorized countless cities throughout his miserable duration living on the wrong end of the law.”

Isaiah stares at the criminal.

“So today I have been given the lucky honor of showing him first hand how exactly we deal with bad people who wrong the great people of our beautiful frontier. To show these lost causes that the only possible ending to their story, is one where they hang at the end of this-here-rope!”

He raised a symbolic portion of rope above his head to encourage excitement from the gathered. A collective cheer was cast as the rowdy crowd seemed to intensify their emotions on the issue.

Seizing the moment, Isiah embellished his actions by stomping around in circles on stage and raising his hands. The reaction amped up the crowd.

“Today we have William 'Kill Em' Baker hanging out with us.”

Isiah joked and savored the wave of laughter echoing from the crowd. Isiah had sprinted as fast as he could and now positioned himself directly next to the lever that would control when William Baker dropped.

Jennings continued to listen on growing angrier and angrier, however knowing that he needed to maintain his composure. Jennings finally touched his drink and chugged the entirety of his of it in one action.

Asking a rhetorical question, Isiah was now itching to pull the lever.

“Now are y'all ready to see a damn good hangin'?! Huh?!”

After the briefest of pauses, Isiah had pulled on the wooden mechanism to release the captured criminal to his death by gravity. The crowd cheered and jeered on to their own content as the man's dangling body stopped jerking violently and came to an infinite rest.

Jennings looked away, back towards his drink while the jeering crowd viewed forward. The disgust with his father had grown to an all-time high. 'Kill Em' Baker was someone that Jennings didn't particularly like but felt even he didn't deserve to be turned into the festival's entertainment as what some could misconstrued as a sort of fear propaganda.

Although Jennings knew that today could very well be the day that he met a similar fate as Baker, the last words muttered by Isiah from the grand stage visibly seethed him. Isiah finished his speech with a disrespectful declaration.

“Now that that's over with … Let's all feast and be merry!”

Returning to his seat on stage, he began to partake in his favorite pastime of shoveling food into his always agape mouth. The music from the band started playing loudly, encouraging some attendees to get on the designated dirt-lot dance floor.

Penny was about to inquire about his bothered posture however she was interrupted by her partner who stated his explanation preemptively.

“Get into position Penny. We're doing this now.”

Not willing to object, she proceeded to raise herself from her seat and began to escort Jennings through the crowd and in the stage's direction.

As the duo reached the beginning of the stage, they detoured to the outlying part of the audience and attempted to escape into the backstage area where the event's workers were standing guard. With guns in holsters and a mean look on their face, they moved.

Penny didn’t like the sensation of being armed, it felt like a literal burden incarnate, however she knew its importance. She couldn’t let Jennings down after all these Suns.

They gathered their footing and just before they began to execute their plan, Jennings said some parting words of confidence to Penny.

“Ms. May, I know you been insisting on helping out … for good reason as I dragged you deep into this. However, you have to promise.”

Penny looked up at the outlaw and nodded her head as if to pry the completion of the sentence from his mouth.

“You have to trust me this time.”

Penny pushed her loose hair back and acknowledged his statement with affirming body movement before turning in the closest guard's direction and walking toward him with intention.

Penny walked up to the aforementioned guard and presented herself as Winona Bennon, a musician that she claimed was slotted to provide entertainment for the patrons of the festival.

Continuing to insist that she had already prearranged her gig with the festival's coordinators, and that nothing further was needed, the first guard called over his two nearest colleagues.

They joined together in the confusion, insinuated by the loud younger woman. She peeked back to where Jennings was positioned previously to check on his progress and noticed that he had moved and was now out of sight past them.

“Good luck J.J.”

She galloped past the immediate security and rushed onto the stage dramatically. This brought the situation into a standoff where a majority of the guards now fixated their attention to the hasty girl by pulling their firearm and taking aim.

People in attendance began to become anxious at the commotion happening near the stage. Some ran, while others just proceeded to drink, dancing to no rhythm.

From the exact opposite of the stage Jennings appeared in plain sight and lined up a shot directed towards the sitting, feasting Isiah Bahr. He was committed to the commotion as well.

A thundering gunshot is heard echoing into the distance sending the Rain Festival into chaos as everyone in attendance ran into the surrounding desert.