Subject: The Dives gang were rather notorious.
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Posted on: 2019-12-11 16:37:50 UTC

The gang was headed by the three triplets—Elizabeth "Lizzie", Florence, and Robert. Lizzie liked to claim she was the leader, since she was the oldest of the three, and had headed far more raids on any town than her sister and brother put together, but the other two would say she was full of hot air.

Florence was Lizzie's twin—Robert, the youngest, was the fraternal triplet of the bunch—but Florence had suffered a fall from a horse when she was young and sustained rather severe injuries, especially to her face (consequently making it much easier to tell her and Lizzie apart) and leg. She preferred to stay at the back of their raids and snipe from a distance from horseback while her siblings moved in to press the attack.

Robert rather unfortunately was the victim of a powder keg lit too soon, and as a result lost his arm and eye in the explosion. He's now easily the best intimidator of the gang; at well over six feet tall, with an eyepatch and a hooked prosthetic arm, he does not look like someone to be crossed.

The triplets have a younger brother named Alexander, who isn't much of a fighter. He makes up for it with his brain—he's usually the one to plan out their raids, and makes for one hell of a mechanic, often fixing up their wagons or weapons (or Robert's arm) whenever something breaks down. He adopted a stray cat that he named Zeke and the others have found it impossible to separate the two.

Lizzie's second-in-command is a Japanese immigrant: Arashi "Lightning" Akio, whose skill with a knife is a sharp contrast to his cheerful disposition. He doesn't seem all that upset that circumstances forced him into a life of banditry, and he and Lizzie are thicker than, well, thieves. He's not really the bandit sort—always ready with a kind word and the first to suggest mercy to the towns they hit up—but his loyalty to Lizzie, and hers to his, is unbreakable. Leaving never even crossed his consideration.

Charlotte joined the gang when she and Florence fell in love. The others won't deny it's a bit strange to see their sister involved with a woman (though Lizzie silently stifles her jealousy), but Charlotte's an excellent runner and often serves as a wonderful distraction while the others get on with their work. And hey, she makes Florence happy, which is a rarity in and of itself, so who are they to complain? Charlotte's not the best fighter by any means, but Florence has been trying to teach her how to shoot, with mixed results. As of now, her skills lie off the battlefield.

And then there's Daisy/David. None of them are really sure what to make of her... or him. Either way, whatever they're calling themselves, they make an excellent spy, blending in to any crowd effortlessly. Not to mention, while Charlotte might be a proper lady above seducing people for information, Daisy/David has no such compunctions, and the other members of the gang have a running bet on how soon it will be before they're tracked down by a disgruntled single mother. Or get pregnant themselves. The gang's really not sure at this point, but whichever happens first, right? Robert can't stand them, but the others tolerate them or even find them hilarious.

Their main points of contact are Fiona—a rather severe spinstress (well... she's actually quite young, but single, and has better things to do than marry and raise a bunch of squawling babies) who owns her own ranch and replaces the gang's horses when need be, never mind the weird experiments she conducts on the side; Olive, a mutual friend of Alexander's and Charlotte's who even handier with blacksmithing than he is, but doesn't feel the need to run off and join a gang of outlaws; and Father Zachary, a priest and missionary who the gang often returns to when they need help patching up their wounds. There's a man who only answers to Faust who often visits him, seemingly only to make trouble, but why Father Zachary seems so fond of him, they've never asked.

((Whoo! That's a lot of agents. I hope it was fairly obvious who everyone was, even with time period appropriate names swapped in with no explanation.))

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