Wild Waffengeist West (Updated 4/10/19)

Rain pattered down on Anon’s hat as he lined up the sights on his model 1888 rifle. The unsuspecting deer calmly grazed in the clearing. Anon gave a short, sharp whistle, prompting the deer to raise its head. The crack of Anon’s gunshot echoed through the woods. Anon stood up, drawing his bowie knife. He carefully skinned the animal, he’d spent far too much time and effort to find this deer and its flawless pelt to fuck it up at the last second. after the pelt had been successfully removed and wrapped up for travel he stood back to admire his shot, one round straight through the head.
“Not bad, eh, Springfield?” Anon said his companion, aptly named for her manufacturer.
He had discovered the ‘Waffengeist’ within his gun a few weeks earlier, after owning the weapon for about three months. The sudden development had startled him considerably. Such was his fright that he pulled his heirloom revolver on the woman. Fortunately, the six-shooter also turned out to host a Waffengeist, much to Anon’s increased panic. From then on Anon had some companionship on his lonely hunt.
“yeah anon! you did really good”
“we’d better get back to Six with this pelt now” said Anon
“are you sure? We can stay out a bit longer~” said Springfield, holding Anon’s hand with a mischievous look in her green eyes.
“Uh, no, I don’t want to risk the pelt in this rain. And I don’t want you to rust or anything” He looked away from her uncomfortably
“I won’t rust if I’m properly ~lubricated~” Springfield drew in closer
The howl of a wolf echoed among the trees. Springfield sighed in disappointment and reverted to her gun form. Anon picked up Springfield and the pelt and ran to his horse. He spurred the horse into action with a kick to the ribs and a shout. He rode fast, weaving through trees and bushes, making his way toward his campsite. The wolves continued howling, but they weren’t getting closer. Anon slowed the horse as he neared camp. at the sound of his approach, Six, the Remington .44 revolver Waffengeist popped out of the wagon. She was shorter than Springfield and appeared much younger despite being an older gun.
“it’s about time ya’ll got back, I’ve been bored out of my mind” she remarked.
“being bored is better than having our things stolen.” Anon said as he hitched the horse and unloaded the pelt
Anon climbed into the back of the wagon. Anon hung the pelt over a small drying rack among a few other pelts he’d collected over the past week. Springfield and Six had already retreated into the tent that the three of them shared. The Waffengeist liked sleeping in human form and Anon wasn’t going to make an extra two tents just because his guns turned out to be women. He had however bought an extra two bedrolls because the storeowner had offered to trade them for some quality boar pelts. Anon laid down on his bedroll between the two geists and slowly drifted off to sleep, only having to fend off Springfield twice.
In the morning, Anon woke with something covering his face. He instinctively assumed that someone was trying to smother him. He grabbed hold of whatever was on his face and pushed upwards. Whatever it was came off easier than it should have.
“oh my, Anon! so early in the morning?” moaned Springfield
Anon shifted Springfield’s breasts out of his face, pushing her back onto her bedroll
“I’ll have no more harlotry from you dammit” muttered Six from Anon’s lap
Anon carefully pushed Six off of his lap and got to his feet. He lethargically set about bringing the drying racks out of the wagon, his arm had gone to sleep because of Springfield sleeping on it all night. There wasn’t any more space for pelts on the racks, so he’d have to find something to fix or clean until they were done drying. While he was thinking he cut open his breakfast, canned beans, and waited for the two geists to get out of the tent.
Anon heard the horses long before he saw them. It sounded like two or three riders coming up the track. There wasn’t much reason to come to this part of the woods, any game there could be found in easier to reach places and the sights weren’t especially impressive. Seclusion is exactly what Anon wanted, and he usually got it, only returning to civilisation to offload his pelts and buy supplies. But it seemed that he’d stayed too long. The Riders entered the small clearing, carefully studying the campsite like hawks, or vultures. Anon stood to greet them as they drew closer.
“howdy folks, what can I do for you?” Anon said in a friendly tone, studying the men
The man on his left had a repeater, the centre man had a revolver and the man on the right had a shotgun. They weren’t a militia, but they’d be able to put a man in the ground faster than he could say Mississippi.
“Are you Anon? Anon Corey?” asked the lead bounty hunter
“who the hell are you?”
“don’t matter who we are, just matter’s that you’ve got a real big price on that pretty head o’ yours” chuckled the man with the repeater.
The three men aimed their guns at Anon. Six decided this was the time to get out of the tent. she seemed to get the situation and ran over to anon, hiding behind his back.
“hwo are dese pweople?” she asked, trying her best to look and sound like a normal little girl.
“the girl ain’t gonna save your neck, hands in the air!” the lead man shouted, cocking his revolver
Six’s eyes narrowed and she threw a rock at the lead man. she grabbed Anon’s hand and transformed.
“What in the fuck?” the bounty hunters shouted
Before they could react, Anon fanned the hammer, blasting all three men off of their horses.
Anon put Six down and quickly started packing up the racks. Springfield ran out of the tent recoiling from the new corpses that decorated the campsite.
“What happened? Who were they?” She exclaimed
Six rushed passed her and started rolling up the bedrolls.
“Pack up the tent, newbie!” said Six as she rushed out with the three bedrolls.
Springfield messily folded up the tent and rushed it into the wagon
“what is happening?” she asked again
Anon pulled her up onto the front of the wagon. Springfield sat down beside Anon, while Six sat on his lap. Springfield felt a pang of jealousy among her panic
“isn’t it obvious? We’re running” Six said
“from what?”
“the past” said anon, grabbing the reins.

Anon gazed out at the open road. It had been about a day since he shot the bounty hunters. He had taken a track that skirted around the edge of town, the bounty hunter would no doubt have asked around there for him, revealing his status as a wanted man. Springfield, who he’d only owned since his decision to live as a reclusive hunter, was understandably distressed. She had stayed in the back of the wagon since just after they’d left, and he wasn’t sure how to talk to her. What if she hated him? What if she decided to run away? His worry clearly showed on his face, because Six punched him in the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Don’t worry, kid. This ain’t the worst we’ve been through” She laughed
“it ain’t that I’m worried about.” Anon sighed
“Ya think Miss Springfield’s gonna hate ya for killin’ them head hunters?” Six surmised
“how-“
“I wasn’t made yesterday y’know. I was there when your dad met your mother, I‘ve been watching you from the very start. I know you better than you know you.”
Anon had inherited Six from his father, who used her during the civil war. As it turned out, Waffengeist are conscious of their surroundings even as a weapon
“besides” she continued “Springfield ain’t going to leave you like that Mary-lee lady-“
“A word more and I’ll stick you in the lockbox for a week” Anon warned
Six laughed and gave Anon a smug look but stopped talking. Springfield finally poked her head out from behind the curtain. Anon felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Six climbed over the back of the seat and wordlessly gestured for Springfield to take her spot. The two sat by each other for a while, waiting for the other to start talking. A lone rider waved as he trotted past.
“I’m… sorry” Anon mumbled after a few minutes.
“who were those men?”
“they were bounty hunters, them and their kind have been after me for most of my life”
“why”
“I rode with some… less than savoury characters for a while. We broke just about every single law them judges could think up and now I’ve got a price to match.”
Springfield stared at her entwined hands and thought for a while before speaking.
“you’re trying to be good, that’s what matters” she said
“I ain’t doing too well last I checked”
Springfield simply patted anon on the shoulder. they continued the ride in silence.
Eventually Anon neared a town, where he told Springfield and Six to turn back into guns. He slowed the horses to a trot as he entered the town. he studied the townsfolk carefully, making sure that nobody recognised him. When he was satisfied, he parked the wagon outside the gunsmith and, with Springfield over his shoulder and six in his side holster, Anon slipped in through the door.
“howdy” Anon nodded to the store clerk
“hey there, what can I do for you?” greeted the clerk
 “I need ammunition, .44 paper cartridges for my pistol and a box of .45-70”
The storeowner drew the box of Springfield food out from behind the counter and after some searching, found a box of Six food.
“that's all I got for the paper .44s, if you run out o’ shot, I’ve got the stuff to make ‘em take brass ammo” said the storeowner.
“thanks, I'll remember that”
Anon had noticed that percussion ammo was getting harder and harder to find, but he had resisted trying to convert Six to a new calibre, because he didn’t know how it would affect her.
Anon paid for the ammunition and returned to his wagon. He figured some of the pelts would be ready to sell, so he asked around for a buyer. The search revealed a tailor’s shop just up the street, the word was he’d buy anything in decent condition.
Anon’s visit to the tailor yielded a decent 30 dollars pay and an extra 3 for the lack of damage to the pelt.
Anon returned once again to the wagon and rode out of town. Springfield and Six reappeared beside anon
“where are we going now?” asked Springfield
“I'll try to find a decent spot in the woods just near here so we can get some more pelts” Anon replied
They forged on ahead with minimal bickering between the geists on who got to sit next to Anon. A shout from up ahead brought them all to attention.
“Damn you fiends! Damn you to hell!”
Anon grabbed Six and cocked her hammer. A wagon up the road was pulled over onto the side of the road, there were three men next to the wagon, two with revolvers, and one man dressed in priest robes.
“what’ll it be old man, yer money or yer life?” one of the highwaymen said.
“I told you! I have nothing” the priest cried
“And I told you that there cross on your neck, is real shiny”
Anon stopped his wagon about ten metres from the holdup. Springfield armed herself with Anon’s bowie knife.
“you best leave the old man alone” Anon called to the highwaymen.
Both men turned to Anon and sized him up. even from the distance hey could tell the were throwing looks at Springfield.
‘don’t lewd my fucking gun’ Anon thought
“You and yer wife better move along, else you’ll find yerself in the shit”
Quick as a flash, Anon fired a shot in between the man’s feet.
“Next one goes between your eyes” Anon warned
The highwaymen looked at each other for a second before deciding a priest wasn’t a worthy enough haul to risk their lives over. They holstered their weapons and ran away into the distant tree line. Anon let out a sigh of relief and dismounted the wagon.
“Thank you! Thank you, so much good sir! May I ask your name?” the priest
“I’m Michael” Anon lied
“the name and courage of the Archangel! I must repay you for this!”
The priest climbed into his wagon and Anon could hear him searching for something.
“It’s alright Father, you don’t have to”
“no, no I insist, it must be sin not to reward such bravery. Ah! Here it is!”
The priest returned with a lever-action rifle with beautiful engravings on the receiver.
“as I told those two fiends, I don’t have much, but I think you may find some use for this”
Anon took the gun and inspected it briefly. The engravings depicted the cross along with images of angels and animals, the wood furnishings were made of a dark wood and were nicely varnished.
“Father, you should keep this, especially after that display”
The priest laughed and smiled
“I’m not the sort to shoot another man, even a criminal, I just don’t have it in me”
“if you say so…” Anon said uncertainly.
The priest said his goodbyes and carried on his journey down the road. Anon returned to the wagon and climbed up next to Springfield. He stowed his new lever-action in the wagon just behind the seat. the wagon continued down the road. Springfield congratulated Anon on being a good boy. With the sun setting, Anon spotted a suitable thicket to camp in, so he pulled off the road and entered the bush.
The setup for camp was uneventful. Springfield seemed to be returning to normal, that is to say, she tried to corner Anon behind the wagon while Six was pitching the tent. he escaped by throwing himself onto the driver’s seat and tumbling into the wagon.
“I must say, that woman should try to be more chaste” said a voice in the darkness
Anon quickly lit his lantern and held the light up to see the person before him. He could tell she was tall, even though she was sitting, almost every inch of her skin was hidden by nun’s attire and a silver cross hung around her neck. With fear in his eyes, Anon looked over to where he knew he had stowed the new lever-action.
It was gone
“FOR FUCK’S SAKE” Anon shouted

Anon ate his half rations with a sour look on his face. The lever action waffengeist ate her half ration guiltily. Since revealing herself, the others had named her Sister Winchester, a name that she appreciated. What Anon did not appreciate, however, was the sudden increase in demand for supplies.
“how are we going to ends meet?” Anon sighed “it was hard enough with the three of us”
“perhaps we could split into two groups, so we can hunt more” offered Winchester
Anon decided to go with that idea, he and Springfield would go in one direction, while Winchester and Six went in another. Despite her smolness, Six would use Winchester because she was better for hunting and Winchester proved rather inept at shooting. At around noon Six and Winchester left eastward. Anon and Springfield stayed behind to hide their valuables.
Springfield finished replacing some false floorboards in the wagon that concealed some money, a piece of paper covered in addresses and a few shell casings that Springfield thought were ‘special’. Anon finished packing the lockbox and stood up.
“alright, lets head out” He said.
Anon left the wagon with Springfield in rifle form over his shoulder and trudged off in the opposite direction to Six and Winchester. A while after leaving camp, a strange scent made him stop. The scent quickly disappeared, but Anon was still put off. He carefully looked around, searching for anything out of the ordinary, slowly moving forward. he began to get a sharp sense of being watched. The strange scent returned once again, stronger than before and the sound of birds fell silent. Anon decided that enough was enough and took off running. Inhuman screams echoed through the woods behind him, prompting him to run faster, dodging through trees and bushes in a panic. He heard rustling to his right and blindly fired into the bushes. He stopped in a clearing and reloaded, drawing his knife. All of the underbrush around the edge of the clearing began to thrash as if a great pack of animals had him surrounded. He spun around and around, wild aiming his rifle and knife.
“Come get me, Bastard!” Anon shouted to the bush.
The thrashing slowly died down and eventually stopped completely, leaving Anon very confused and very suspicious. He waited a minute until even the birds started singing again. Anon grunted in frustration when he realised that he had no idea where he was. If he could find a stream, he could probably find his way back to camp, seeing there was a stream nearby where he set up. He cautiously made his way downhill, examining every single bush and shadow he came across. As he neared the foot of the slope he began to hear flowing water and, sure enough, there was a stream. The stream he followed until he began to recognize landmarks that he knew were near camp. The underbrush a few meters away shook slightly as a figure emerged from behind it. Anon quickly trained his rifle on the bush as Springfield walked out, completely naked. She covered herself as best as she could with a small towel she was carrying.
“Oh, hi Anon. I was just going to take a bath, care to join me?” she said with a wink.
“Thank God, it's just Springfield” Anon thought with relief and lowered his rifle.
Wait
That wasn’t right. Springfield WAS his rifle. His mind raced with things that could be happening. She did sound a little different than usual, and he suspected her breasts were slightly bigger too. A final piece of evidence came to his mind and he re-trained the rifle on ‘Springfield’, firing before the impostor could react. The round caught her in the chest, throwing her to the ground. She writhed in agony, mimicking Springfield's cries of pain exactly, an act so convincing that Anon felt his stomach knot up. Despite that, he carried on, reloading again.
“that’s a mighty fine disguise, but you can’t fool me! The real Springfield would never miss such a convenient opportunity to expose herself to me!”
The rifle rattled slightly in protest
“and she is right here with me"
‘Springfield’ stopped writhing and slowly stood up, a scowl spreading across her face. Her voice began to warp, growing deeper and raspy.
“Another shapeshifter? Impossible. We are the only ones capable of that"
Anon looked in horror as parts if the impostor’s body began to peel off in sections like old, dried paper. A second and third shot had no effect as the imposter showed its true form. A tall, skinny beast towered over anon, its beady red eyes staring down at him from behind its feet skull mask. The Skinwalker screeched, the same scream the anon had heard before. Without many other options Anon shot the Skinwalker directly in the face. The bullet had no effect. The Skinwalker’s claws slashed downwards at him. He stumbled out of the way. Anon slashed with his knife to no effect, so he tried to plunge the knife into the creature. The Skinwalker’s hide seemed to swallow the blade right up to the wooden handle, then it screamed and recoiled. Anon had no clue what had happened, but knew he had to push his advantage. After stabbing the Skinwalker a few more times, he realised that it was the handle that was causing more harm then the blade. The Skinwalker, shocked and confused at the sudden deadly predicament it had found itself in threw another panicked swipe at anon, catching his rifle, sending it spinning into the grass.
“I am the apex predator! You cannot defeat me with just your handle!” it screamed
With the loss of the real Springfield, Anon went ballistic, Anger and fear combining to create a terrifying war cry.
“GIVE ME YOUR PELT RRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
Anon leapt at the skinwalker, driving the hilt of his knife into its deer skull, cracking it. Blow after blow rained on the skinwalker's head and neck, all the while anon continued his war cry. Eventually, the skinwalker collapsed, slowly crumbling to dust. Anon stomped on the creature, scattering its body to the wind, leaving only the deer skull. Anon collapsed to his knees, throwing his hands in the air.
“Get back here with that pelt!” he shouted.
He caught his breath for a minute, then completely lost his mind looking for Springfield. His heart felt like it was in a vice while his guts threatened to throw up the little food he had eaten before. With every blade of grass that failed to turn up Springfield, the vice tightened. He finally found the rifle in the grass ten meters away. Springfield's forward grip now sported three shallow scars. He breathed a sigh of relief and hugged the rifle to his chest. She was hurt, but at the very least she was intact. He quickly grabbed the deer skull and ran the rest of the way to the camp.
Anon stumbled back into camp, where Six and Winchester had already returned with some small deer.
Six saw Anon's meager haul.
You’re losing your edge Anon" she joked
Anon shot her a look and unslung Springfield. Six and Winchester saw the damage and jumped up from their seats and rushed over.
“what should we do? Is she gonna be ok?” Anon asked the two waffengiests
Winchester said that, for her at least, the furniture of her gun form only influenced the kind of clothes that she wore in human form. Six said that she knew older waffengiests whose furniture also influenced their bodies. Anon decided the best course of action was to clean up the scars and see how it worked. With a small file and a razor appropriated from anon board control kit, anon set to work. He shaved off burrs around the edges of the scars and smoothed off the rough inside edges. The surgery was complete.
“Springfield? are you okay?” said Anon as six and Winchester looked on anxiously.
Springfield reappeared on the table and the other three breathed a sigh of relief. She appeared to be perfectly fine, but upon closer inspection, Anon found the scratches replicated across her back. The back of her dress was also shredded, but Winchester offered to mend it.
“it could be worse” Springfield said with a smile. “what the hell was that thing.”
“I’m not sure, but it really hated the ash handle on my knife.”
Winchester and Springfield disappeared to fix the dress, leaving Anon and Six with the deer skull.
“what happened?” asked Six.
Anon explained how he was chased through the woods by something, probably the shapeshifter that had attacked him later. How the creature had taken on Springfield’s form, not knowing or understanding what Springfield actually was, and how he has fought and killed the thing with his knife hilt.
“it’s a shame we couldn’t get the pelt off it, it sounds like it would have made a good few coats.” Six said.
Anon nodded and wandered off to collect his thoughts, he found a good spot ten meters away from camp. He sat on a rock near a thicket and thought for a while.
Anon almost had a heart attack as the bush next to him shook. Springfield emerged from the bush, completely naked. Anon’s hand flew to his knife, but he saw Springfield’s newly scarred back, and that she didn’t bother covering herself.
“I was about to have a bath, care to join me?” She said with a weak smile.
Anon sighed as a coin flipped in his head, he saw how it never stopped spinning, never came close to the ground, would never make a verdict. He swatted the coin away into the ether. Springfield’s eyes lit up as Anon stood and took off his shirt. He grabbed her shoulders and hugged her close, like when he found her after the attack. her heart skipped a beat with his next words.
“Alright, Springfield, Let’s go”