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Chapter 13 Pt. I
"Exit Pursued By A Bruised Ego"
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They untied their horses and planned to head back to camp after the debacle with Valentine folks, they decided it was best to wait out and have things settle down again. It was drizzling a bit during the duration of their bar fight anyway.

The ride back to camp was somewhat dreary, if not more sorrowful than usual. Despite being in an entirely new state, trouble seems to creep and stalk them from every corner. At least, for Arthur that is. Willow was busy wondering about Sean and the other members of the gang, like Mac Callander. She had a feeling of hope, it didn't go unnoticed when she smiled at the thought and the news.

Tulip on the other hand, was busy still contemplating about the mission, she similarly felt like Arthur. Bar fights, of course it had to happen. Everything was fine until the idiot, Bill stumble in anyway.

While they began to change into clean outfits back in camp, Grimshaw was unsurprisingly yelling at the men and women. The funniest part was when Grimshaw had her eyes set on Arthur, Tulip and the rest of the people honestly felt bad.

"Mister Morgan! How can you go around looking like that? You're quite a sight."

"I'm fine, I'm just fine, Miss Grimshaw." He was busily scratching the bits of muck out of his beard. Silently thinking whether or not he should shave again...

"You're revolting and you'll get all of us sick."

"I jus'- "

"Come with me!"

"Haha..."

*SMACK!*

"Ugh!?- "

"Miss Tulip, don't you think you're off the hook, it's a shame to see a woman like you to be in a state like this!" Arthur laughed, but then he got shoved towards a barrel of water. Willow whistles away merrily while getting fresh sets of clothes for the two, her boots crunching the ground and earth beneath.

"Agh! W-where sorta busy right now!"

Guess the first wash in Valentine wasn't enough.

...Tulip didn't feel so bad now.

Arthur laughed slightly, surprised about the slap out of the blue. Then even Grimshaw couldn't help but snicker, "I wasn't askin', I'm tellin'!" She pushed him even more. "My camp, my rules, now come - both of ya!"

While Willow was grabbing neatly folded clothes, she noticed Kieran was looking at the scene Grimshaw was making of things. The blonde strolled by and said to the side, "This happens far too often honestly." She laughed.

Willow heard some mumbling, but it was far too incomprehensible to understand.

Arthur looked to Grimshaw, she nodded towards the barrel and he sighed.

"Here ya go." Willow set it on top of something. "And you." She gave Tulip a stack also.

After some thorough washing and cleaning up, both Tulip and Arthur gave each other a moment's glance. Then the mute sighed and scrambled her pockets. "Mhn..." she grunted slapping the few paper bills on his hand and he added it to his own.

"Ah, here's some money for your troubles..." He said lowly, she knew he had enough attacks on his own pride for one day.

"Why, thank you both." Then Susan Grimshaw walked off, satisfied.

Arthur was back to wearing his dirty, old, and worn blue shirt. He paired it with a black duster coat also, his red vest and previous outfit was enveloped in the mud. It didn't make him very happy, but he never really cared much (until Grimshaw would kill him for it).

Tulip was wearing dark blue fitted pants, some plain shirtwaist, and no surprise; another brown coat for the chilly air of Valentine and the Heartlands. For whatever reason, Tulip only cared about her flower-pinned hat and her rosy bandanna, everything else was any clothing she'd grab closest and would decide to wear it.

"Uh, uh, no. I ain't - don't even, Willow." He held up a hand and Willow just stood there smiling like a devilish girl she is at the moment. Tulip was on Arthur's side this time, Willow just held her hands up in surrender.

"Empathy?" Tulip spelled out.

"Consider that karma." A kind elderly voice came to be, having an underlying tone of amusement.

"Mm..." Tulip grumbled while Willow giggled. "Just wait." Tulip swiftly moved her fingers for the blonde girl and Willow stopped, "Okay, I'll try to stop." They both grinned nonetheless.

"You both act like children, I hope this isn't what caused the mess in Valentine old Dutch has told me about?"

"Oh, good lord no, Hosea." Willow shook her head, "We got Bill, Javier, Charles, and the three of us when that happened - you can take a good guess who threw the first punch." Then she added. "Or headbutt so to say."

"Bill" Both Arthur and Hosea said nonchalantly.

Hosea Matthews, one of the oldest members of the gang, he may be old, quite literally, but experience is something people cannot beat when it comes to shooting. Or breaking a deal with a silver tongue and without having to fight sometimes. He was polishing a rifle at his lap, "You lot want to go huntin'? You ladies are welcome to join."

He handed the rifle for Arthur to see, while Tulip signaled Willow to retrieve their rifles. "What are you huntin', an elephant?" Tulip placed one boot on the rock Hosea was sitting on, eagerly listening. "I wish. No, I saw a huge bear. One of the biggest I ever saw."

His voice surprisingly trembled slightly. Whether it was some kind of excitement, or fear, Tulip couldn't quite tell. Both had their eyebrows raised however, while Willow had returned with their trusty Lancasters.

"I reckon nearly a thousand pounds."

"My god, what, you need us to come with you?"

"Of course, let's go."

Willow jumped it, "Wait, where are we headin' to exactly?"

"Up near the Dakota River - might take a day or two."

"We could do a break from this place..." He leaned on the Rolling Block rifle, adjusting his hat while Hosea was messing with his boots.

"Oh, me too. It's been a rough couple of weeks." They all agreed, Tulip still bothered by her bruises. "You need anythin'?"

"I don't think so, I've got all I need."

"Well, what are we waitin' for? Let's go." Willow nodded as she said cheerfully.

Both men headed over to the hitching post and the horses, with Hosea handing over a weighty, leather satchel that's placed on horses. "So, you still ain't replaced Boadicea?"

"Nah, I miss her, she was quite a horse."

"I liked her too." Willow hoisted herself as Tulip took the reins of Sunny and unhitched the cheery Foxtrotter. The Native gunslinger only hummed in agreement, always loving every horse. (Except for The Count... Both have some odd chemistry with each other.)

Arthur was approaching the Tennessee Walker, the very same from Adler's Ranch. "This one's okay but...ain't no Boadicea."

He helped place the bag on Hosea's beloved horse: Silver Dollar. The elderly man pointed to the black one next to his, "I've been meaning to offload this big shire horse for a while now. Unruly bastard!"

Arthur smiled, giving a firm pat. To which the black shire horse snorted with attitude, but didn't seem to disregard everyone completely at the very least. "Where'd you get him?"

"Some big, loud-mouth bastard tried to rob me when I was out and about riding so I..." He gave a pause, "Well, you know how it is."

"I see."

Giving a thought, Hosea mentioned a name they didn't wish to return right after the mess they caused. "Let's take him to Valentine. It's on the way, sort of. There's a decent dealer there. We'll unload him and you can buy yourself a new horse - put your saddle on him, let's get going."

"Okay, but I do kinda like this horse." On the inside, he truly did prefer the Walker over the Shire, it didn't look at him very kindly after all, and the Walker was already used to Arthur by the time they had gotten out of the snowy hell.

"There's nothin' wrong with two horses. And the stables always have the best ones."

"Well," He unhooked the saddle and put it on the Shire. "I guess you're right." The black horse brayed and flung its tail around briefly, eyeing Sunny, which only snorted disapprovingly at its manners.

"This is going to be fun, Arthur."

"He won't throw me?" He asked, observing carefully at what it could do. "No, he's an angel... If I'm near him..."

"Nasty lil' look in his eyes."

Willow almost did a gasp, "Don't be rude to this glorious creature." Tulip smiled.

"Easy big feller..." He mounted on the saddle and the massive Shire with it's jet-black mane and coat whinnied, its hooves pawing the ground a little bit.

Hosea got on his and Tulip lead Sunny over at the exit of the camp that goes to the livestock town. "Alright, let's head into town. No bar fights please."

"Oh, we'll do our best." Willow replied.

"We're headin' out, might be gone a few couple of days."

Willow glanced back at the camp, noticing Jack by the campfire, she nudged Tulip's shoulder. "Ah, reminder, I gave Jack this Penny Dreadful book. But he still wants to hear ya sing some time."

Tulip smirked shyly, feeling heat rise into her cheeks. Other than that, she continued to follow the two men, the falling vivid leaves brushing past. The horses beating against the damp grounds from earlier sprinkles of rain.

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A/N: Lol "Bruised Ego" is their title for this mission. Let's prepare and see ourselves a terrifying mission bear! And good God we all know how powerful mission animals are!

...Red Dead Redemption discord on pc when it came out was, no is STILL a mess rip. But at least they fix things, we gotta give time.

Published:
Sun. Nov 17th, 2019