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THE ANGER you had hoped would have gone away by morning still had control over your conscience as Thunderstruck followed close behind Gyro. You wore a grimace and a glare beneath the shadow cast by your hat, hiding your distaste for Gyro from Johnny who had been riding beside you. The bitter taste of the shitty coffee your buddy Gyro had ever-so-graciously made for you was still sitting in your mouth while you tried to stay on your saddle.
"Yo, Johnny, where's the next water hole?" called Gyro as you straightened up, your hips shifting against Thunderstruck's gait. Johnny shuffled around, searching for the map in his bag as you tried not to bite your tongue. You were definitely not doing good with this horse-riding thing at the moment. Now that you thought about it, the only time you were 'good' at riding was when your mind was occupied by the thought of not dying.
While Johnny read off some directions, you continued to try and keep yourself balanced on the saddle. It must have been rather obvious that you were really struggling because Johnny had started to stare. But there was no time to address it - if you didn't want to be made fun of like you had been earlier that day, you had to keep herself on the saddle and prove yourself. Yet, the mere thought of such events pissed you off.
What had been a relatively peaceful sleep had been rudely interrupted when Gyro had pulled your bedroll out from underneath you, glaring down at you with those striking green eyes of his. Your first concern was the hat you hoped had remained stuck over your face and the anxiety that had stemmed off of it was nothing more than incredibly anger-inducing.
"Get up or we're leaving without you." You couldn't even get a word out before Gyro had thrown the bedroll at your feet and sashayed over to Valkyrie, leaving you there with a sour expression. While he tended to his horse, you hadn't been able to tear your eyes off of him— and not in a good way. Johnny had soon rolled over to you with a yawn, handing you a mug with an apologetic look on his face.
"You might have to give him a while to warm up to ya," Johnny had mumbled, clearly not very awake himself. You had groaned as you took the mug with a sigh while Johnny had taken a sip from his own. "How much is a while?" Gyro's glare at the back of your head had only agitated you more than you already thought was remotely possible. Johnny had peered over his shoulder with a grimace, clearly disappointed, "...no clue."
"Stop the chit-chat and let's go!" Gyro had spat as he brought a leg over his saddle and then pulled at Valkyrie's reins. You had held back the urge to shout at him while quickly rolling up your sleeping bag and placing it in Thunder's saddlebag. Johnny had folded up his wheelchair and handed it to Gyro after spinning his way onto Slow Dancer— you still didn't understand how he did it— while you finished up your coffee.
Albeit annoyed, you had kept your mouth shut as you walked over to your horse, tossing the empty cup at Gyro who had caught it effortlessly. When you had stopped in front of Thunderstruck, any sense of irritation had left you and you stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. Your throat went dry and you coughed into your hand a bit, looking around Thunder's saddle to pretend you were busy.
