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Chapter 13 Pt. II
"To Find One's Bearings..."
("Exit Pursued By A Bruised Ego")

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The afternoon, sparkly dew on the trees fell as they rode onwards, the chilly air slightly welcoming as the breeze kissed their faces. The ride was soothing and it helped with the fact that they caused quite a stir in Valentine's big saloon. Or daresay, pretty much every part of the land Dutch's gang manages to settle in.

The cloudy sky was stony gray, the smell of rain remained and floated in the air. Being admittedly too caring (embarrassingly), Tulip would hope her or Willow or even Jack don't get any sickness or colds from the weather. The rain always reminded her how one person in the gang would have a cold and all the sudden it passes to someone else because they were too close to their personal bubble. (Tulip would definitely enjoy Micah being sickly and irritated any day though.)

The horses seem to enjoy the cold air and Hosea continued the conversation. "They got a good range horse tack at the Valentine Stables. Some beautiful saddles...I used to have a nice one." Tulip glanced at her old worn, common saddle.

"Yeah, what happened to that?" Willow said from behind.

"Got stolen outside that saloon in Deer Creek."

Arthur seemed to have a memory pop into his mind. "Ohh, I remember now, just about. That turned into a long day."

"Yes, remember? Mac went crazy, threatened to kill the whole town. And Davey was passed out so cold we left him there, came back in the next day and... he woke up started right back drinkin' again."

"I miss those boys."

Hosea leaned a little bit, "Jenny too, she had some spark, that girl."

"It must've been hard on Lenny, you could tell he was sweet on her."

"Well, Lenny and Jenny could never have worked, That's like Arthur and Martha, or Bill and Phil."

"Haha, maybe yer right. Does feel like a bit of our luck died with them, too." Then without muttering, they picked up the pace as well as their volume.

"Nonsense, we'll be alright. Just need some money to get back to our feet."

"I hope so, Hosea..."

A little heavy pause settled upon their conversation as they stormed across the mucky brown paths, the mountains looking more beautiful and grander the closer they rode to Valentine.

Tulip rode alongside them, moving on up and spelled out: "Bonds?"

"Not yet. Can't offload 'em Cornwall's bonds- they're still very hot. It need to be done right. I have a couple of leads I've been lookin' into." Just then, the black shire brayed in annoyance, "Don't let that big bastard get the better of you there, Arthur."

"Calm down, there, there boy..." He gave a few pats while the rest slowed down the pace slightly. "He's alright." The shire almost looked as if it ignorantly huffed, shaking its long hair out of its dark eyes.

Galloping across the path, they headed to the left of the town, the smell ever-so welcoming. "The stables are just up ahead. Okay, go sell that big brute and buy yourself a horse. I'm goin' off to the general store, get a few things to lure out that bear. Meet you back in a bit."

Tulip, Arthur, and Willow hopped off, the blonde muttered something about not wanting to "get brutally mauled and ripped apart" by the biggest monster Hosea supposedly has ever seen. The lot came across the worn, white building. The white paint being so weather damaged and ruined through time made it look more grayer rather than pearly white. Closer they strolled to the stables, stronger came the smell of horse manure.

"Smell that fresh air!" Willow quipped.

"Took 'em words right outta my mouth."

A man dressed and covered in some dirt, approached, his dark colored mustache ruffling as he spoke. "Hey, how may I help you fellers?"

Arthur caressed the loutish Shire, which was whipping his head to try and whack Arthur's hand away slightly. The nature of the horse made Tulip have a ghostly smirk. "It's jus' me, I'm in the market for a new horse. Something strong and fast."

"Yer in the right place, I've got some beauties in at the moment." The man gestured towards the other horses seemingly busy with the haystacks. "Yeah." He gave a short whistle, "What about this one here?" He patted the top of the horses head, which twitched at it. The big black creature was eyeing Arthur and the man as if it had a little understanding of what was going on. "Lookin' to sell?"

He watched the horse's pink nose huff as the girls went on lingering outside, having their own conversation. "I ain't sure yet."

"You got papers?"

"No, no papers." At that, the man glanced at Arthur, almost seemingly suspicious of him from Tulip's point of view. "Well, of course, that's gonna affect what I can pay but yer luck's in. I got a feller who's been lookin' for a decent workhorse like this for a while." He assured, "He'll pay a good price. Otherwise, I can stable him here for you. Here, take a look."

Willow stayed outside while Tulip decided to return inside to see some of the other horses, as both she and Arthur proceeded, some of the creatures craned their necks and elegant snouts to greet the two. There was an energetic horse painted in an earthly brown coat, "Oh, American Standardbred. They're lean machines, agile too, but don't go makin' any sudden movements. This one's a timid one." The man wasn't wrong, when Arthur inched forward, the horse seemed to inch backward.

"If you're lookin' for a workhorse, our best one's the Dutch Warmbloods over there." The group of said creatures were in darker colors, almost looks brown. Unlike the Standardbred, few of them were actually leaning over to meet the duo. Tulip honestly had to admit, they were quite excited and she liked those workhorses. "I bet these'll scare the wolves instead of runnin' from them." Arthur gave a friendly little pat.

"Oh, that'll scare them nasty animals for sure. If you really want to frighten a predator like that, we got this monster over here." He showed the largest horse in the stable, its muscles gave outlines on its stony gray body, showing that it was a force to be reckoned with. "We only got one of these Ardennes warhorses I'm afraid. And for a good reason too." Arthur looked at the horse, who seemed to be rather relaxed. But it was curious of him, it observed the two with its southearted, determined eyes. "This one here's the strongest, but also the most expensive one we got."

Secretly, it made Arthur's heart drop a bit, he dared to asked regardless. "How much is this big feller?"

"Four-hundred and fifty."

Hearing that made even Willow cringe, and she was just outside. Tulip turned her head away with raised, shocked eyebrows. Arthur mustered most of what he had and only broke out a disheartened smile as he shook his head, "Well, hopefully it'll still be here when I bring enough."

"Quite a price to pay, but I assure you, it's worth the trouble for one."

"I'll just have that Shire stabled and take one of them Morgans. Palomino."

After taking the horse, Willow finally came in, her hand on her chin to show she was obviously thinking. "Can I?" She saw the docile and thrilled little, golden Morgan.

"You really wanna name him? If it's a dumb one, I ain't accepting it." Tulip smiled madly under the brim of her brown hat.

"I won't, I jus' - I dunno. I wanna name it, maybe see if it's an okay name, so I can name my own if I ever get one."

He scratched his beard, "Go right ahead."

Willow gave a long hum. "Hrm... I think I'll name him..." Then the silence of her thinking started to become a bit too time consuming.

"Let's not take too long, Willow. Hosea's probably- "

"Fine, fine! Honey!"

"Honey??"

"That a bad one? Okay then it's Biscuit!"

"Are you just naming food??"

Tulip was chuckling in the corner, Willow's ears had gone pink. "No! Wait - Yes? I'm jus' hungry darn it! Fine, Brass, there, we're done! That's a good, tough name." Her voice trailed off as her stomach grumbled. "Goddamn dumbass..."

"What was that?"

With that, she just bit her own tongue, glued her mouth shut, and went stomping out of the stables. "Nothin' !" She finally uttered out.

Arthur turned to the man who was preparing the papers, "I'll name him Brass."

With that all sorted out, it left Arthur some free snacks for the horse and a brush, with also a very embarrassed Willow in the end. He looked back at the Ardennes that kept a watchful eye on him, both Tulip and Willow knew he had coveted it.

"Alright, let's get going, we got quite a ride ahead of us." Hosea returned with handfuls of bait.

"Lead the way."

"What's with her?" The silver haired man asked.

Willow had her arms crossed, "Nothin'. Absolutely nothin' ." She still felt the heat on her face and there was an underlying, irritated tone; much to Tulip's amusement.

Arthur had won this round.

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A/N: The Morgan isn't his main little horse, but it somehow became a (hopefully) humorous scene when it came to names. Trust me, I don't have a rough draft of the chapter, I'm going with the flow here, and just like Willow - I rushed the naming part right now. Haha!

As for the War Horse...(God, I love mine! Yep, the only gray one too, that I have!)
...I couldn't just have it sitting there with a free sign in this story. The famous white Arabian is a bit ridiculously small for Arthur honestly. BUT! That! Is my first tamed horse and the horse I used at the very end, and I mean when I did first playthrough, blind. Admittedly, you could say I do have some bias (hopefully using that word correctly). That doesn't mean I never used others, I have Turkoman I use almost always in RDO.

Published:
Sat. Nov 24th, 2019