Caroline was at the bar, not even facing the customers, waiting while Ralph bent down to reach for Cantrell's personal bottle so neither witnessed the tripping. By the time both looked the blind girl was back on her feet in the arms of the Japanese stranger. And then there was Miller shooting off his big mouth. What the hell? Had he been involved in whatever happened?
"And you better learn better'n to come in here and lay your hands on a white woman, Tom Thumb, even if she is a cripple" Miller leered at the diminutive Japanese man "You'd best get out and get back to that there Chinese laundry or where ever you popped up from an' if you're lucky, I'll send you round my soiled long-Johns to scrub! Now let go her!" he barked, grabbing Frances and pulling her toward him, which made an agonising pain shoot through her chest where Doctor Danforth's probe had entered and saved her life last Fall.
She let out a short scream of pain.
Caroline let out an angry shout, "Let her go, you bastard!"
She only had to say one other word,
"Ralph!"
The surly bartender now reached under the bar for his broken chair leg, his tool of choice for disciplining unruly customers.
ooc: I will let Shintaro and Quentin react too. :)
He hadn't expected the blind woman to rush forward at his shout so he barely managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. Shifting her slight weight he held her till he was certain she had regained her feet. When the man who tried to trip her stood up and like just about every other Westerner, assumed Shin was Chinese.
He ignored the man's taunts, they were beneath him to react to anyway, Shin instead focused on the woman. Before he could ask if she was alright, her arm was grabbed by the Westerner. There was no way Shin could miss the gasp of pain from the woman though he had no idea why, assuming the grip the man had on her was the source.
Shintaro didn't bother giving warnings or telling the man to stop harming the blind girl, instead he fell back on his unarmed training. Moving quickly he grabbed at the arm Miller was using to hold onto Frances. If he was able to get a grip, he used his other hand to brace against Miller's elbow and pulled the wrist back against the joint, prepared to break Miller's arm if he didn't let go of the young woman.
All women look the same in the dark - most critters, too
Caroline let out an angry shout, "Let her go, you bastard!"
"Yeah, let her go, you bastard!" snickered Miller, pretending to think Caroline was talking to the oriental gink.
The next second, before he knew what was happening, he found himself in an excruciating arm lock, screaming in pain himself.
"Aggghhhh!!! Ow ow! Leggo! Leggo!" he whimpered in agony as his legs buckled beneath him in an attempt to escape the white hot torture shooting through his arm and shoulder joint. The former braggart sank to his knees in front of the helpless girl he had just been bullying.
"Ahhh ahhh, Frances! Get him off me!!" he pleaded between yelps of pain.
The Grimes girl staggered back, free of Jimmy's grasp and rubbing her ribs where the old wound was still throbbing. She was trying, in that black sightless world she inhabited, to work out what on earth was happening. She only knew someone, a pretty worthless someone, it was true, was in pain.
She threw herself on her knees and held out a supplicating hand.
"Oh please! Please let him go! I don't want anyone to be hurt on my account!! Please Sir, he's learned his lesson!" she cried, for she was a soul who felt the pain of others much more acutely than her own.
@[Anybody]
Quentin watched Miller make his usual spectacle of himself, but tripping Frances really did the man no favors in Cantrell's eyes. Everything was okay until the Oriental stranger stepped in. Miller's reaction was everything Cantrell had come to expect from some of the worst in humanity. Quentin shook his head to himself as Miller ran his big mouth. Cantrell was getting to his feet when the stranger was on Miller in a flash. Whatever he did to the man's arm was impressive as well as lightning quick. Quentin had not seen many men draw and fire in the space of time it took Miller to have his arm bent around in a painful hold.
Cantrell moved across the distance between his table and the confrontation that was brewing. He had known many men like Miller, and being embarrassed and bested so quickly would force him to try something very stupid because his own small petty mind could not accept his imaginary superiority was exactly that...imaginary.
"Jimmy...you're already losing, and from the look of things, you're about to get your arm broke for no good reason. Don't you be a damn fool."
@anyone
This Shintaro, he moved like lightning and Miller had no chance, not that he deserved one. Now Miller was whining in pain, poor Frances was down on her knees on the floor and begging.
"Oh please! Please let him go! I don't want anyone to be hurt on my account!! Please Sir, he's learned his lesson!" she cried.
Only thing was, Caroline highly doubted he had learned a lesson, no Jimmy Miller was always doing something stupid and she had no faith he'd ever really change.
Cantrell was up on his feet now, "Jimmy...you're already losing, and from the look of things, you're about to get your arm broke for no good reason. Don't you be a damn fool."
"He's always been a damn fool," Caroline snapped as she went by the menfolk then knelt down with Frances.
"Frances! It's me, Caroline, calm down. Everything is taken care of. Where are you hurt, hon?" She'd have taken the poor girl in her arms but she wasn't sure where or how badly she might have been hurt. Frances had been badly wounded not all that long ago.
Meanwhile Ralph now approached, makeshift chair leg club in hand, looking very angry.
He stopped short of using it though, the newcomer had the situation well in hand.
He was damn tired of this Miller.
The armbar certainly did the trick and a part of Shintaro felt like putting just a little bit more pressure and dislocate the joint but he restrained himself. It was just as well he showed self-restraint as the young blind woman clearly was distressed by the man's cries of pains.
He released Miller and took a step back, well aware he had certainly drawn the attention of everybody in the bar. He kept his eye on Miller ready to defend himself should he be stupid to try and attack him.
"My appologizes, miss," he said, addressing Francis while he kept an eye on Miller. "I didn't mean to cause you any distress. I have no further intention of harming anybody providing none show violence towards you or myself."
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
Frances could only hear the voices, of course.
"Jimmy...you're already losing, and from the look of things, you're about to get your arm broke for no good reason. Don't you be a damn fool." That was Mister Cantrell... always so calm and sensible, a man that knew no fear, his voice an attractive resonant baritone with a pronounced Carolina drawl. But, on the rare times he had spoken to her, Frances, she also felt a little sadness there... there was something about talking to a young woman that brought forth a sombre echo of a past tragedy in his mind, perhaps.
"He's always been a damn fool ... Frances! It's me, Caroline, calm down. Everything is taken care of. Where are you hurt, hon?"
Caroline. Despite the situation, and despite the still throbbing pain in her chest, Frances had to smile her gat-toothed smile. Caroline. So tough, so angry with those she hated, so protective, like a lioness with her cubs, of those she loved... did anyone ever see what was really inside of her? It was a beauty, a frail lost innocence that the saloon singer herself perhaps thought had been wrested from her long ago but which Frances sometimes heard when she sang. Not those awful bawdy songs she sang to make the fellers laugh... but the odd time she was forced to sing a sentimental ballad.
"Ow! Ow! He's breakin' ma arm!! I won't be able to work!! Quick Flandry, whack 'im with your whoopin' stick!"
Ah, Jimmy Miller. God and Christ alone gave her the strength to find love in her heart for that man, but with a little rummaging around, she somehow did.
Then it all seemed to be over. Jimmy's voice in the distance now, over by the door beating a hasty retreat from his humiliating drubbing.
"I'll get you for this, you little runt with yer Chinee tricks! Twern't a fair fight!!"
She knew that by tomorrow Jimmy Miller would be retelling the story of this encounter in such a way as he turned out to be the hero of it all.
And then, last but not least... the gruff, queerly inflected voice of her rescuer.
"My apologies, miss, I didn't mean to cause you any distress. I have no further intention of harming anybody providing none show violence towards you or myself."
Caroline helped her up and she put out a wavering hand toward that voice.
"You can't imagine how grateful I am, Sir, for both your gallantry in rescuing me and your restraint in not making me the cause of more harm than was necessary... you will pardon my forewardness in asking, but might I know the name of my benefactor?" she asked in true heroine-from-a-novelette style.
As Arabella had once said, for a blind girl with funny teeth and a stuck up education, old Grimesy's a top notch coquette!
@[Anybody]
Shintaro watched as Jimmy backed off as soon as he let the man's arm go, ignoring the fool's parting jabs. He was no stranger to being mistaken for Chinese and receiving all the demeaning slang Westerns heaped upon them. If he reacted to such insults he would be fighting constantly and likely arrested long ago. Fortunately he had far more control over himself and didn't let such petty insults bother him. Now, if he was in Japan and such insults were thrown his way it would be a different story. Not that he would draw his sword against them, he wouldn't sully his blade on the likes of Miller.
With Miller gone, Shin glanced around the bar quickly, noticing the bar tender holding what looked like a chair leg in hand. He inclined his head slightly, wanting to show he didn't intend to cause any more trouble. Shin also noticed another man standing nearby who he recalled now had advised Miller to not try anything stupid. None seemed inclined to attack him for discouraging Miller from causing further harm to the blind woman so he focused on her once again.
"My name is Shintaro Takahashi, I'm Japanese," he responded, his voice calm and matter of fact.
"My name is Shintaro Takahashi, I'm Japanese," he responded, his voice calm and matter of fact.
Quentin nodded to himself. Well, that certainly explained his appearance if not the reason he was in the middle of Montana. He certainly seemed like a nice enough man, so Quentin figured that the reason for his being here was none of his business. He watched while he addressed Frances.
"Mr. Takahashi, I'm Quentin Cantrell. I saw everything and you were only defending her. I want to thank you for taking care of that troublemaker..." Quentin cut his gaze over at Miller to make sure he understood that he was no longer welcome in the vicinity of the saloon...
Frances calmed down and very gently Caroline knelt with her until it seemed she began to get up.
Jimmy Miller, after threatening the Japanese newcomer, beat a hasty retreat but not before Caroline shouted after him, "Me n' Ralph will remember this!"
Ralph had lowered the club and his guard, Shintaro need not have worried. Ralph never had any intention of beating anyone but Miller. He had no patience at all for someone who would mistreat a blind girl.
Caroline helped Frances up and the blind girl put out a wavering hand toward that voice.
Mr. Cantrell assured the newcomer he had witnessed what happened and no blame would come his way. Caroline would back up Cantrell too should there be a need for it although Caroline didn't think any of the lawmen would place much reliance on anything Miller said. He already had a reputation.
"You can't imagine how grateful I am, Sir, for both your gallantry in rescuing me and your restraint in not making me the cause of more harm than was necessary... you will pardon my forewardness in asking, but might I know the name of my benefactor?" she asked in true heroine-from-a-novelette style.