Chapter Text
The tailoring machine at Falls Cottage whirred along, pumping out piece after piece of neatly folded canvas. It seemed like Gemma’s shop was forever making canvas on behalf of Justice, who for some strange reason requested piles of it. “I have got to ask him where the hell all of this ends up, because at this rate the whole damn town should be covered in it,” she muttered to herself, placing the finished pieces into her bag for delivery.
Both Marnie and Juniper came to an unspoken agreement long ago that all commissions coming from Justice were going to be exclusively for Gemma. The way those two had been making eyes at each other was unmistakable, so it didn’t take long for those commissions to lead to Gemma lingering longer than usual at the Civil Corps office. Now, two seasons later, the two of them were planning their wedding in between all the chaos that was standard in Sandrock. Every other day seemed to have another issue that either the builders or the Corps had to reckon with. They barely had time to see each other, so they took whatever opportunities presented themselves.
Justice, meanwhile, had been contending with clearing out some new ruins discovered in Valley of Whispers, taking Unsuur and Logan along for assistance. Getting rid of all the mutants to prepare the area for the new theme park seemed almost Sisyphean. They’d get rid of a dozen Plierimps, only for those to be replaced by two dozen more. The days were long, and the piles of paperwork were stacked high on his desk.
“Hey, Marns?” Gemma called over to her friend, who was feeding some scrap into her own recycler at her adjoining shop, Damascus. “Have you seen Justice at all today? Got another canvas delivery for him and I really don’t feel like wandering all over town right now.”
“Hmm,” Marnie pondered, wiping her hands off on her jeans before retightening her ponytail, “I think he was doing his regular patrol route today. I know Unsuur told me they were waiting for Logan to get back from a few bounties before heading back down to deal with the stuff in the Valley.” She strode over to Gemma, reaching out to brush a bit of dirt from the front of her skirt. “Should be easy to find if you can actually catch him.”
Gemma sighed, rolling her eyes. “Tell me about it. That man runs like he’s constantly being chased by Geeglers. I need to get on my horse to catch up with him half the time, and that’s not even when he’s riding Truth around town.” Not that Gemma was complaining too much about Justice’s propensity for sprinting everywhere. All of that running gave him an ass you could bounce a gol off.
Strapping on her backpack, she turned toward the front gate and spied Justice at his post outside of Hugo’s blacksmith shop. Perfect - a nice straight shot over there and it would give her a little time to walk with him when he made his way back over towards the other side of town. She gave Marnie a little wave and opened the gate, smoothing out the front of her shirt and tucking some loose strands of green hair behind her ears.
Gemma got about halfway to the blacksmith, and then she watched in resignation as Justice broke into a sprint in the direction of the Civil Corps. The chase was on yet again. Good thing she had the foresight to put on her sneakers.