Summary: Mal, Evie, Uma, Audrey, and Jane are revisiting the farm, this time bringing a furry addition to the group with them. Who knew that addition would end up causing more trouble than the girls got into last time? A sequel to "Urban Cowgirls" with Huma, Bal, Jaudrey, Jarlos, and family/friendship feels.
"Mal, are you sure you can handle it?" Evie asked worriedly for what seemed like the thousandth time, and Mal nodded wholeheartedly, trying to convince Evie of her following statement.
"Evie, I'm not a child," Mal informed her practically, and Evie just pursed her lips and shook her head, gazing at her best friend with those soft brown eyes.
George had left the five there alone, and since they had found out about what they would be using to learn to defend themselves, there had been a constant ruckus. George was going to teach them how to use shotguns effectively, and each of the girls had different opinions about how that was going to go as well as how they felt about it.
Evie felt that it would be a valuable learning experience but did not like the prospect of Mal using one, Mal was excited about the idea, Uma was practically ecstatic with the possibility of learning how to use a new weapon, Jane was nervous but somewhat pleased with the idea, and Audrey was completely against it.
However, Mal and Evie hardly had time to focus on Audrey's issues because Mal was currently very emphatically trying to convince Evie that she was good to go and that she could use a gun just as well as anyone else.
"But you're small, and if it kicks, then you're going to fly onto the ground," Evie fretted, and Mal sighed deeply, unimpressed with Evie's assessment of her abilities. Mal just huffed, looking away as she unhappily considered the fact that Evie had called her short.
She immediately heard Evie sigh, and felt Evie's presence grow closer as the slightly older girl reached over and enveloped Mal in her arms. Mal resisted Evie's embrace at first, but it did not take her long to relax in it, almost against her will. She hated to give in so easily, but she definitely could not resist Evie's warm hugs. They were the best hugs in the world as far as Mal was concerned.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Evie whispered, her chin resting on Mal's head. Mal groaned deeply.
"I'll be fine, E," Mal groaned, and Evie sighed once again, and squeezed Mal a little tighter before kissing her head softly. She then pulled away to look into Mal's eyes.
"Okay," Evie finally conceded, giving in to Mal's wants as she gazed at the girl lovingly. Mal grinned at her lopsidedly, pleased that Evie had agreed. Surprisingly, it was much easier than Mal was anticipating.
"Awesome," Mal expressed, and Evie just chuckled, enjoying Mal's happiness.
"There! See?! Evie said it was okay for Mal to do it, so would you shut up now?!" Uma cried desperately and Mal and Evie looked over to the other two girls. Uma was eyeing Audrey in pure exasperation as she stroked Jade's head gently, and Audrey's eyes were narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I will not! Evie's just a sucker for Mal!" Audrey proclaimed accusingly, and Evie shrugged nonchalantly, not minding the name overall as she wrapped an affectionate arm around Mal's shoulders.
"I've been called worse," Evie admitted, and Audrey rolled her eyes in aggravation. However, before she could carry her fussing at Uma any further, George was coming outside with two guns on his shoulders and three of them balanced in his arms along with several boxes of ammunition. Jade's ears perked a bit at the sight of him and her tail wagged a little.
"Okay, so y'all ready to shoot?"
"Alright, y'all, give me just a sec. I'm going to go lock Jade up in the barn so she doesn't get quite so freaked out. She's really scared of loud noises," Uma told them, patting the side of her leg as she headed for the barn. Jade wasted no time in hurrying beside her, her large feathery tail slowly bobbing as she walked along.
"She's the worst with thunderstorms, though," Evie spoke, and George nodded in reply.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Our dogs ain't afraid of them, but I've had plenty of dogs that were," the old man informed them as he started placing all the guns on the ground so that the girls could get the ones they wanted.
"Oh, Mylanta, that's a lot of shotguns," Evie muttered to herself, taking in the sight of them all, and Mal let out a sharp bark of laughter, looking at Evie strangely. Evie just chuckled confusedly.
"What?" Evie questioned oddly.
"'Oh, Mylanta?' What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Mal laughed, and Evie just raised an eyebrow.
"It's just a thing people are saying. Don't question the system, M," Evie told her, and Mal just shook her head with a grin. Right about that time, Uma walked back up to the group.
"Alright, watcha got, George?" Uma questioned, and the old man smiled as he gestured at the shotguns on the ground, ready for the girls to make their choices.
"Go ahead and pick you out a gun," George told them, and Uma immediately brightened as she looked down at all of the different options.
Uma swiftly picked one that she thought looked particularly awesome that had an engraving in the wood that depicted a buck. Evie chose one that was relatively simple but had dark staining on the wood. Mal selected a shotgun that had silver metal rather than the typical black metal. Jane approached and hesitantly chose a gun with gold plated on parts of it.
There was soon only one gun left on the ground for Audrey, and the princess was not about to pick it up and use it. Uma reached down and took the gun, offering it to Audrey. Audrey hesitantly took it, but only because Uma was practically shoving it at her.
George took a moment to explain to them how to hold the gun properly and how to reload it appropriately. After that, he soon found a seat so that he could sit nearby and observe them while they practiced using them.
They all started to load their guns, and it was no surprise when Uma suddenly let loose with a gunshot, blasting away as she fired at the targets that George had set up before he went to get the guns earlier. The other girls jumped a little, surprised at the sudden loud noise. Uma grinned widely, nodding her head appreciatively as she looked down at the weapon in her hands.
"Wow, that's really loud," Jane commented, and Uma just chuckled under her breath.
"Oh, yeah," Uma muttered, pleased as could be. Mal looked down at her own and wasted no time in loading it as George had demonstrated. Evie furrowed her brow, looking terribly concerned as she gazed at her best friend.
"Are you sure you can do this?"
"E, of course I can," Mal told her, somewhat aggravated at the fact that Evie was questioning it so strongly. Evie just sighed deeply, resigning herself to simply watch carefully as Mal readied the gun.
Mal placed the gun against her shoulder, trying to ensure that it was well-balanced so she could shoot at the targets. She could feel Evie staring, and she was ready to prove to her older sister that she could shoot a gun without it hurting her.
After only a moment more, Mal pulled the trigger. However, what she did not expect was how hard the gun kicked, which therefore sent her flying onto her behind on the ground. Mal just sat there blinking for a moment, and she could hear Uma cackling as if it were the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.
"Mal! This is why we don't let short people play with guns!" Evie cried as she helped Mal to her feet, leaving her own gun behind on the ground. Mal was almost blushing but not quite, rather embarrassed after her fall and also quite humiliated at the fact that Evie had indeed been correct about her ability to use a gun. Evie immediately dusted her off a little and placed a hand on her cheek as she checked for any injuries.
"Are you okay?!" Evie questioned, looking her over and Mal rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine, E," Mal replied begrudgingly and Evie just eyed her worriedly.
However, they both jumped a little when Uma blasted yet another shell, laughing maniacally as she reloaded the shotgun. She was quite obviously through focusing on Mal's mishap. At least for that moment.
"And that's why we don't let angry short people play with guns," Evie pointed out, looking at Uma strangely. Uma just winked and smirked widely at the bluenette, and immediately started shooting again at the targets lined up.
Evie and Mal watched for a moment as Uma grazed every target, never managing to successfully hit any of them perfectly head-on. After a moment, Uma paused, furrowing her brow and staring at the targets.
"Huh. Why ain't I hitting anything?" Uma questioned curiously, looking down at the gun that she was using.
"Maybe because you're wild-firing like some kind of batcrap crazy nutjob?" Audrey grumpily pointed out, looking at her own firearm with the utmost disgust.
"I bet you can't do any better," Uma challenged, narrowing her eyes with the statement as she stared Audrey down. Audrey rolled her eyes, looking away and refusing to meet Uma's eyes. Jane, on the other hand, looked quite interested as she studied her gun and the targets, studying them closely as she thought hard.
"I don't participate in competitions like this," Audrey informed Uma, and Uma squinted at her.
"Why not?"
"Because it's ridiculous. Princesses should never shoot," Audrey declared, and Uma scoffed as she stared at Audrey.
"You're just chicken. Come on and shoot," Uma commanded, and Audrey looked back at her once again, her eyes wide as she gaped at Uma unashamedly.
"What if it hurts my arm?! Guns hurt people!" Audrey whined loudly, and Evie shook her head, her eyes immediately lighting up with the telltale spark of excitement about the fact from her compendium of information that she was no doubt about to unleash on Audrey.
"Actually, guns don't hurt people. It's only their operators. People actually hurt people," Evie expressed, and Uma nodded emphatically. Mal even had to admit that the statement made rather good sense. Mal smiled approvingly at her best friend, acknowledging Evie's idea. Evie grinned, rather pleased with herself indeed.
"See, princess?! Now quit being a wuss and straighten up," Uma proclaimed excitedly, readying her gun to blast a target. Audrey looked somewhat terrified, and Uma groaned a little, easily recognizing the stiffness in the other girl's posture.
"Ugh... Alright, now let's shoot at the same time, okay?" Uma told Audrey, and the pink princess got a small bit of panic in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Audrey. It's not going to hurt you," George assured her from his seat not too far from the girls, a smile on his face as he took in the sight of the group.
Audrey swallowed hard, readying herself and positioning her arms in a manner that was similar to Uma's.
"Now, aim it," Uma instructed, squinting one eye as she lined the gun up with the target the best that she could. Audrey followed her actions, and felt her arms shaking a little with the weight of the gun.
"Alright... Three, two, one.... Fire!" Uma cried, and Audrey jumped a little, but pulled the trigger all the same. However, with her jerk, she messed up her position, and when the gun kicked, it hit her shoulder.
As soon as she fired, she cried out, holding her arm and barely keeping a grip on the shotgun.
"OW!!!" Everyone jumped at the sound of Audrey's cry of pain, and Uma completely disregarded whether she had hit the target in order to pay attention to Audrey and her potential injury.
"What happened?!" Uma demanded, immediately looking quite worried indeed as she lowered her gun and hurried over to check on Audrey.
"YOU LIED!!!!" Audrey screeched at the top of her lungs. Uma shook her head swiftly, not worried about that in the least as she looked over Audrey's form in a complete panic.
"Are you okay?!" Uma cried, fully freaking out despite her relatively calm words and tone.
"OH, YEAH!!! MY SHOULDER'S DISLOCATED BUT I'M FINE!!!" Audrey screamed at Uma, and the pirate wasted no time in reaching for the shoulder that Audrey had balanced her gun near. Audrey immediately jerked away.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!! DON'T TOUCH IT!!!" Audrey commanded in a shriek, but Uma just pushed her way in and grabbed Audrey's shoulder, feeling it carefully. Audrey yelped in pain, and Uma furrowed her brow but sighed in relief at what she felt.
"You're okay, princess. It's not dislocated," Uma simply told her, looking quite disturbed indeed as she recovered from the intense scare that she had just suffered. Audrey huffed haughtily.
"It hurts really bad!!!" Audrey cried, and Uma shook her head dismissively, still trying to calm herself from the scare that she had just experienced.
"You're fine. Walk it off," Uma told her, waving a hand in Audrey's direction, and Audrey furrowed her brow, finally noticing through her pain that Uma seemed to be quite panicked indeed. Audrey, despite how her shoulder hurt, chose to pursue the situation, grabbing Uma's arm with her good arm.
"Did I worry you?"
"No! I don't get worried about pansies," Uma informed her toughly, trying to avoid the subject. However, Audrey noticed how Uma did not meet her eyes when she spoke.
"Uh-huh. You were worried," Audrey told her, accidentally moving the injured arm. She winced as she moved it, and she immediately noticed how Uma's eyes swiftly shifted to Audrey's shoulder.
"Yeah, see?! Worried," Audrey proclaimed, and Uma growled under her breath before suddenly finding herself interrupted by a gunshot. The two girls jumped and everyone looked in the direction from which it had come.
"Jane?!"
"How'd you hit the target?!" Uma demanded after taking in the sight of the highly damaged target nearby. Jane just shrugged in reply, grinning lopsidedly.
"What? It's not as hard as it looks!" Jane laughed breathlessly, and Evie narrowed her eyes before getting that telltale determined look on her face that signified she was rearing to pursue the challenge.
"Now I've got to try it," Evie announced, turning around and grabbing her own gun. Evie got into what was obviously her gunslinger stance before aiming her weapon and firing away. To everyone's utmost surprise, Evie went flying onto her behind just as Mal had a few moments ago.
Everyone just stared for a long moment before Uma pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow.
"Huh. I would've thought that her fat, Oreo-fed butt would've kept her planted firmly in place, but I guess not."
Everyone except Evie ended up in stitches after that statement.