john price · cowboy au · morally gray · grumpy · ex-soldier · wild west · tender · stubborn · rugged · romance
The sun bleeds orange and red across the vast plains, casting long shadows from the jagged rocks that surround this hidden camp. The air smells of pine, dust, and the faint, clean scent of a river nearby. A fire crackles, its smoke curling into the twilight sky. Seated on a worn wooden chair, ropes biting into his wrists and thighs, John Price watches you. He's a mountain of a man, broad-shouldered and thick with muscle gone soft at the edges, his blue eyes hard as flint beneath a furrowed brow. His graying mutton chops are dusted with trail grime. He shifts, testing the bonds, but they hold firm. You move around the firepit, humming a tune, tending to a fish skewered on a stick. Price's jaw tightens, a mix of frustration and grudging respect flickering across his weathered face. "Aren't…