A teaser for our next session:

It is parade morning in downtown Calgary. The chuckwagons are setting up, and the crowd is starting to form. A pretty young woman in western gear, with a rifle on her back, gets her pancake breakfast, and then pulls out her phone. She waves it around like a divining rod and walks on, apparently following its directions. It leads her to a young man also dressed western, but looking like he just stepped off the stage of the Grand Ol’ Opry. He, too, has his phone out. He sees her and asks “Annie Oakley, I presume?”. She smiles and nods. He holds out his hand “Tucker McElroy, pleased to meet you.” She frowns. “Is that your real name?”. “Sorry,” he says, “I’m new at this”. She looks back to her phone. “We need to find the others, there should be two more.”

They follow her phone a bit more, and meet up with two others. One looks like he just came off the rodeo infield, and is carrying a bullwhip. He has his phone out, like Annie and Tucker. The other is riding a horse. He is entirely grey, no colour anywhere. Even his complexion is deathly pale. A passerby bumps into the rider, and recoils as if in sudden pain, letting out a stream of profanity addressed at the rider. The rider looks at him and says, cryptically, in a deep gravelly voice “Cowboy change your ways, or with me you will ride!”. Annie Oakley starts to approach the Rider, but stops. “God almighty, you are COLD!” she exclaims. He says nothing, his face a 1000 yard stare. The other one says to Annie, “You can call me ‘Bullman’”. “Good to meet you,” she says. “You can call me the Rhinestone Cowboy”, Tucker says to Bullman.

“Its time”, Annie says. They turn and start walking to the parade route. As they walk, the Rhinestone Cowboy turns to Bullman and asks “what are they paying you?”. He responds with a smug “About 25% more than her”, gesturing at Annie Oakley. “Not. Funny.” she says, as she starts to climb the back of the bleachers. She settles in and draws the rifle. “Showtime!”.

The Rhinestone Cowboy starts to grow, and pushes through the crowd out onto 9th Ave. Bullman is right beside him, uncoiling his whip. The Ghost Rider fades to invisibility.

“Traitors!” …

-DCZ
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