crack_van | In For A Peso, In For A Pound, by Sue N (PG-13)

Fandom: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: Gen
Author on LJ:

scout_lover
Author Website: Gen Fiction, Adult Fiction
Why this must be read:

Sue takes the iconic cliche of the cowboy and his horse and breathes life into it with wonderful detail, characterization, a good, plotty story, some Vin hurt, a few Chris glares, and lots of humor. Along the way she tells the story of a solitary man learning to trust friends to be there for him when he needs them.

If that isn't enough, read it for Vin conning Ezra :-)

Chris chuckled softly and drained the last of his beer in one swallow. He rose to his feet with a lithe grace and turned to follow Buck along the boardwalk, all the while watching the pair battling its way down the street.

One of the two was Vin Tanner, reckoned to be the best tracker and finest sharpshooter in these parts. Though a good ten or fifteen years younger than either Larabee or Wilmington, he had already led a hard and colorful existence, having been a buffalo hunter, bounty hunter and God knew what else. At present, he was one of the town's seven regulators, helping to keep the peace in the generally lawless area. He was, for the most part, a quiet, soft-spoken, even shy young man whose rugged appearance and rough manners concealed a surprisingly gentle nature. Yet those who knew Tanner knew also that with that gentleness came a will of iron and, as Nathan Jackson repeatedly declared, a head of stone. Any one of the tracker's six friends would gladly swear there was not a more intractable creature on God's earth than Vin Tanner when he dug in his heels.

Except, they would concede, the one now fighting him every step of the way.

That creature was Tanner's horse, a large black, blaze-faced gelding named Peso. He was a magnificent animal - long-legged, deep-chested, powerfully muscled, built for both speed and endurance. Intelligence shone in his large, dark eyes, and spirit revealed itself in every toss of that fine head. Grace and strength were met in him, and the two were wrapped in beauty.

Unfortunately, that beauty did not extend to his character. For Peso was, quite possibly, the most ornery, the most contrary, the most ill-tempered beast ever to wear iron shoes. Wilmington swore he was no true horse at all, but some perverse mixture of sore-toothed grizzly, pissed-off cougar and hungry alligator, with a little Comanche thrown in just for spite. The big man would have added rattlesnake, but, as he said, "Hell, at least a rattler gives ya warnin' before it strikes. Peso won't do that much!"

But strike he would. The gelding was a notorious biter, would lay flat those ears, snake out that long, glossy neck and snap those long, wicked teeth on whatever - or whoever - was handy. He made life hell for any other horse unfortunate enough to come near him, and was so unpredictable in his temper that the hostlers at the livery stable refused to touch him. But anyone who guarded only against being bitten risked getting kicked. Or stepped on. And just getting on him could be a teeth-rattling, bone-jarring, pride-crushing experience, as he seemed to know every way there was to toss, buck or just plain sling an unwanted rider from his back.

He had a mean streak a mile wide, was as stubborn as an Arkansas mule and as wild as the day was long. And Vin Tanner loved him fiercely, as he'd never loved anything else in his life.

When, that is, he wasn't considering shooting him.

In For A Peso, In For A Pound

In For A Peso, In For A Pound, by Sue N (PG-13)

Peso

Re: Peso