Dawnlark Plains I've been hanging pictures of you on my wall

He has arrived jazz hands
Kept things a bit short just to get things goin' quicker (and also bc my brain is a little dead rn, lol)

The lands were spacious, but Dutch found no concern in this. He knew exactly where his travel would take him; and once scent that would take him there. It was that of @Reno.

Along the plain, he traipsed at a steady pace. Nose pointed outward, the beast sniffed every plant and tree, hoping to come across that familiar aroma he's known for so many years.

The cold bit like a wounded dog. Reno trudged through the snow, head low, eyes squinted against the flurries that whirled down around him. His whiskers were doused in flecks of white. The cowboy’s back was coated in a thin layer of snow that rested atop his gold coat. It tired him and chilled him, but every time he shook his frame clear of the damned stuff, it always returned.

A strange scent drew his attention, lifting his head up. Ears perked to capture any signs of sound. Reno could make out a shifting shape in the snow. He didn’t know if this was a wolf, only that it was moving toward him at a steady pace.

He whom was sought was not far. 

The mere sight of him ahead invited a grin of pure malice and delight upon his features.

Well well... Voice thick and drawn. Look 'ere— it be my favorite little nephew. Though they weren't anywhere near to true blood relation, Dutch liked to think they were close enough. And because of this, he'd often refer to Reno as his nephew, claiming to others that he'd brought the other beneath his guidance.

Been a bit, aye? Tone curling into a low, disdainful purr, the dark man came closer, circling the familiar form. You been hiding from me, Reno? A question, though, Dutch didn't gamble on the answer being one he wanted. He would not yet be harsh, given this was the first they would see of one another. But above all things, he was not about accept that his once most trusted companion was deliberately evading him.

I’ll be damned…

The cowboy’s rough voice was low, spoken only for himself. The wolf who strolled into view seemed to appear from a memory. Reno barely remembered the last time he’d seen Dutch. Probably in their mix-up with the Tristans. It had been a rough year or more for the remaining members of the Blackwatch gang.

The smooth-talker referenced their time apart. He asked if Reno had been hiding from him. The tan-furred man shook his snout. Disbelief was replaced with a strange sense of distress. The cowboy had thought he’d never see the other man again. He had figured that the Tristans had had their fill and had chased Dutch to the ends of the earth. But there he was.

Dutch, Reno grunted in greeting.

Been runnin’ from the law. That last fight with them Tristan boys…

A sigh fell from his lips.

We lost a lotta good folk.

A shake of the head, then a greeting in turn.

So he hadn't been betrayed. What luck for Reno. Dutch would've had his head if otherwise.

They'd been runnin' from law, avoiding some of their greatest enemies, and trying to survive. Respectable, but hardly an excuse to up and ditch him like that. And Dutch wasn't takin' it all too well.

Them folk that'r gone— a sacrifice fer' a better cause. Can't be sayin' we'd miss 'em. Less mouths to be feedin', while things'r gettin' back to the way they'd been be'fore. Because things would go back to how they'd been, and soon.

Yall thought I was dead then, I take it? Yet another question of loyalty. He'd been left out to dry, the lot assuming he'd be gone for good. But that wasn't the case.

Hm.

The dusty cowboy thought that their lost members were more than a cause for a better future. Dutch always had a way to put a positive spin on things, though. It was just like him to say that their deaths would mean easier times for the rest. Reno felt older than the earth itself as he stood beneath the other man’s gaze. He’d known the charming bastard for all his life, it felt.

Thought ya were dead er… better off that way, the man said in answer. His golden gaze searched the other man with curiosity. He wondered what had happened to split their group for so long. Dutch didn’t look like he had lost any physical prime. But there was a new shadow over his gaze that hadn’t been there before.

Where’d ya end up fer all those months?

Reno thought he was dead. Dutch laughed at this. Ye ought 'ta know it ain't that easy ter kill me. Hence why he still lived to walk the earth.

But maybe if he had died, it would have been better that way. For others.

I been wanderin'. It ain't been easy.

Yeah… his response was drawled.

It had never been easy. Had he thought they’d banded together and had a merry time without him? The dusty cowboy squinted his eyes at the figure across from him. Frustrating as he was, Dutch was about the only man that Reno knew he could always rely on. They were as good as family.

We got Sadey and Colt, out here. Dunno where they ran off to. Snow’s made it hard.

Reno shifted on his paws. He could feel the ghostly touch of pains from long ago. When it got cold, they always seemed to come collect their debt.

We also got into it bad with some gang up the waterway. They took one’a our’s.

The man wondered if Colt ever planned to return for her, or if the man had already found a way to forget.