#fiddleyoumust

and anyway so the lot of them all ride out, feeling very proud and smug about things, and proper excited. they PROBABLY should have just got a ride on a train, at least as far as st. louis? but they ride out from new york city in late march as it's finally warming up, and it takes them a long, long time to get anywhere.

at last they hit st louis, and it's late october already, cold winds blowing in. they end up staying a while. louis wants to go on, but the morning he's almost talked them into it, the final words of his big "WE SHOULD DEFINITELY KEEP GOING" speech are cut off by a snowflake landing right on his nose and niall cracking up at him. they spend the winter doing odd jobs and lazing around a cheap hotel.

liam and niall take up drinking and carousing at the brothel. zayn meets a pretty girl at the inn they're staying at and him and perrie have a bit of a torrid affair in the back rooms and out behind the stables and wherever they get the chance, really. louis sulks and grouses around the whole winter.

harry just does odd jobs and keeps his head up and befriends whoever he can - people who come through on the train, folks from town, traders and trappers he runs into at the general store. never know when you might meet someone useful, is his philosophy.

and harry ends up meeting the floppest of flop prospectors nick grimshaw, who has a claim someplace out west along a river where he aims to go looking for gold, because there's meant to be gold way out west there, supposedly; he's got money enough already to hire them on to like

help protect his claim and escort him as far west as he needs to go. bit cheaper than joining up with a wagon train. possibly a lot stupider. but whatever. zayn's got a promise to come back to st louis to meet up again with his sweet perrie (also the whole 'send money to his family' thing that's still relevant but nick's promise them all a share if they do indeed find gold on his claim)

and there is a whole journey west where they are set upon by outlaws and attacked by a bear and all kinds of West Things. hunting and setting up camp and generally journeying and maybe harry finds himself more and more fascinated with nick's stories (many made up) about his prior adventures n that

also lots of singing around the campfire and eating tinned beans

i dunno the point is wild west au and gryles that's who i am that's what i want that's .. the dream.