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Chapter 8
"Another Day's Work?"

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It's been a few days since their travel. The warm light greeted Tulip with a gentle kiss, she yawned. Willow was coming over, wiping the sweat accumulating on her forehead from chores. She was wearing a simple brown attire with a leafy green kerchief wrapped around her neck, a gift that Tulip had given long ago. The silent gunslinger smiled upon seeing that gift, she remembered that Willow lost it once, and the young girl done everything she can to get it back.

"Howdy, Tulip. Coffee's already by yer bed, just lil' hot." Willow had a cup of her own, calmly blowing it to cool. "Your animal stuff's at back, already in bags, yeeer welcome." She bowed her head with a smirk.

Tulip chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee, the slightly burning liquid rushing down her throat. It left that particular aftertaste in her mouth, she appreciated Willow for the sweetened flavor.

"Hey, remember when I gave Arthur and John the blackest, most bitter coffee ever?" Willow whispered, they both snickered.

"Yeah, it was the worst damn drink I've ever tasted." The girls heard John yell from across the camp, who was playing poker with the others. It fueled their laughter, remembering the drink had distasteful herbs purposely grinded and added into the mix. Uncle, who was playing with the men was chuckling and muttering something. John sighed and retorted, "Shut up, old man." Willow almost spat out her drink.

Tulip didn't waste daylight, fixing up the bed. "I read the journal, and you were right, I love it here already. I bet Jen would too."

Tulip smiled, reorganizing their things. Then she went to their private little area to change out of her bulky, winter outfit. Stepping out, she stretched, feeling free from the heavy clothings. It was a sort of red flannel long sleeve, but she still wore the same dusty old hat and rosy bandanna. She threw a pouch, landing on Willow's lap.

The girl opened it and saw a mound of salt, she sighed and saw Tulip looking down at her, a hand on her hip. "Oh, alright, Ma." She said mockingly, "I'll go an' wash mah mouth."

Willow walked off to grab warm water, Tulip was loading up their small wagon in the outskirts of the camp, grabbing buckets and canisters.

The others girls of the camp were busy carrying out the usual work right off the bat, Miss Grimshaw walked up to her. "Miss Tulip, are you plannin' on going somewhere?" She nodded, tapping on her empty water canteen.

Willow spoke up, "Dakota River's not too far from here, Tulip's gon' get buncha water for washing and whatnot." She was gargling saltwater and headed to the back of their area to spit it out.

"Ah, well thank you, Miss Tulip."

Arthur was scratching his slightly grown beard, walking by. "Just hope you don't run to no O'Driscolls. And try to stay out of trouble."

"Uh-huh."

The blonde returned, "Wanna come with, Arthur? Maybe we can do some fishin', the fishes there are great!"

He shook his head and laughed, "You girls know damn well that I ain't the best at fishin'."

Tulip had a sly smirk. "Well, I ain't hearin' a no, so I assume it's a yes?" Willow replied.

Tulip and Willow headed over to the pot where Mr. Pearson's stew was at, Arthur scoffing and following. "You just want the chance to squawk and hurt my pride."

Willow hummed in deep thought and a long, drawn out pause before answering. "Yep." She stood on her tippy toes, meeting his height. "At. Every. Opportunity."

He shook his head, "Do I get to shoot the fishes?" He poured himself a cup of coffee, regular and no sugar put into it.

Mr. Pearson laughed from his butcher table. "Ha! If you prefer eating lead and bullets in the food, I suggest ya don't, Mr. Morgan." He chopped the venison, "Ruins the meat, it does."

Willow hummed, "It's either ya fish 'em with a hook, or stab 'em with a spear or arrow."

"Eh, sure, why the hell not." She snickered. "I'm gonna regret this ain't I?"

"Mm-hm." Tulip nodded, eating Pearson's potato and meat stew. She looked at the bowl of stew thoughtfully.

"Somethin' in mind?" Willow asked. Tulip made signs and the girl's face lit up, "Ooh! Mr. Pearson..."

"Yes?"

"If we get some heavy games someday and other ingredients, ya think we can lend a hand on the cookin'?"

"Haha, jus' as long as ya don't burn this camp down to the ground. Why not?" Pearson shrugged, cleaning the table. "I'll keep an eye on ya ladies." He pointed his butcher's knife.

"Keep yer wanderin' eyes off of our bottoms then." Pearson laughed at that remark.

Arthur patted Tulip, "Well, just don't let yourselves be the meal for the animals. Like oily Marston over there."

"Still in one of those moods, are you, Morgan?" John said.

"Your lucky that you're so oily, even the wolves spat ya out." Arthur shot back.

Willow interrupted and Tulip slightly pulled his shoulder in a scolding manner, "Alright, alright. Arthur, you obviously need to be out there with us, even jus' for a bit, away from this?"

Scratching his bearded chin, he mumbled. "Yeah, I suppose you're right..." Arthur huffed.

Tulip readied and neatly tucked away her journal, Arthur having a tiny smirk, knowing the thrill of drawing what nature has to offer. He thought to himself, that it might not be so bad.

They boarded the small wagon, "Finally, no Pinkerton's... No nothin'..." Willow exhaled and slumped in the wooden seat.

"Least not for now."

"So, whatcha think? Of the Heartlands, I mean." As they road down the dirt trail with Tulip as their driver, Willow was busy staring at the land. They passed over the familiar two trees that arched the entrance leading to camp.

Arthur was watching the animals fly, gallop, and roam. "This place ain't so bad. Just wished the job at Blackwater could've gone better for us all, then head to California, all the troubles behind us, while we just... I don't know, enjoy the open prairies."

"Mm-hm."

"Yeah..." Willow's smile faded away.

Arthur knew the memories of leaving Jenny behind was still fresh and vivid in the young girl's mind. He tried to change the subject, "What were you girls doing while me and that old huckster were doing the real estate scam?"

"The usual." She shrugged. "Gettin' fools drunk and snatchin' whatever their pockets held. We don't like to act like 'em whores, but it ain't gettin' anyone shot. It's less messy, admittedly."

"How much didja get?"

Willow smirked. "Lucky for us, Blackwater's full of rich folks. Some. We had, uh..." She thought. "Couple of stacks, hundreds."

Arthur shook his head, "But that all got lost during our escape, huh."

Both girls looked down, she sighed. "Yeah... Do any of ya know what happened on that ferry?"

He shook his head, "No. It was some nasty business..."

"...Spare me the lil' details, Tulip told me the most she could. Gal got shot, then whole town got shot up."

"Yep, pretty much all of it."

"Ehem." Tulip pointed ahead.

"There's a good spot! Let's load these up and clean some of our clothes." Stopping by the creek's edge, Tulip and soon the others hopped off the wagon. She untied the horses and lead them by the edge to drink the water and rest up.

They filled every bucket and container they could, all the way to the brim. Then, they had a moment to just sit back and relax, Willow was watching some of the animals wandering nearby gracefully.

"Even though we're at the northern Heartlands, well, next to Cumberland Forest specifically. Still kinda cold, dontcha think?"

"Mm-hm."

"My lord, look at that duck by the river!" Willow pointed. Arthur was already quietly sketching while sitting on top of a boulder. "Hehe! It's got crazy eyebrows." Tulip sat right next to the blonde, writing the name. "Com..mor..ant... No wait, Cormorant? Da hell do ya get these names?"

They all chuckled together. "Heheh, honestly? Ain't got no damn idea." They watched the duck-like animal gobble up a fish, it wrestled against it's crushing maw. "Hey, Tulip, how's your drawing of it?"

Tulip mumbled something incoherent and suddenly stood up, Willow was grinning madly. "No."

"Hey, yall been squabblin' and mockin' me about my poor fishing and hunting, now it's my turn to tease ya." He walked over to Tulip who was retreating back a few steps, Willow had a hand cupping over her mouth, her shoulders shaking wildly. "Now come over here and give me that journal of yours." Arthur had a snide smile.

Tulip, her eyes wide, was shaking her head. "No." Then, a wild goose chase was ensued.

Tulip sprinted over the wagon and shoved the book between the boxes.

"Where did ya hide your journal?" He yelled at her, who ran down along the river.

"No!" She shouted back.

Willow was sneaking behind the wagon while the two returned and was in the front where the horses were tied. She spotted the leather spine, pulling it out, "Got it!"

"No!" Willow threw it to Arthur.

He was laughing, "It ain't that bad, calm your horses, Tulip!"

Tulip couldn't help but she was snickering herself while trying to reach for it. "Arthurgh!!!" She yelled, then crouched.

"What are ya doing?"

"Yah!" She jumped for it, tackling him, his hat fell off.

Willow was dying with laughter, "Ha! And I thought I was the kid 'round here!"

"You stole my journal, now it's time to pay back the favor!" He pushed her off and opened it where the pencil was bookmarking the page of the drawn Cormorant.

Tulip knew that if she were to rip it out of his hands, the journal would possibly be torn apart, so she quickly fished for his journal in his satchel, snatching it out instead. "Ha!"

"Wh- what?! Argh, Tulip! Give that back!" It was so fast, he didn't even realized that she had it in her hands.

"Willowgh!" She yelled, flinging Arthur's journal over to her.

"Oh, you damn lil' bastards..."

Willow exploded, looking at something, and pointing on the pages, "I-is that supposed to be a rabbit?" Her face was red with endless amusement.

"Hey! You're going to smudge them!"

After awhile, they all settled down, in the end after they made fun of each other's drawings, they made a tradeoff as if it was some kind of dangerous dealing. Cautious and slow and all.

"Give me that journal..."

The three was a tad bit tired from all that, "Haha! This is great, it's been sooo long since we've had this much fun, ya know?" Tulip silently agreed, hands on her hips and chuckling. "Feel's illegal!"

Arthur was smiling himself, putting his beaten hat back on. "Heheh, we still fishin'?"

"What? Arthur? Interested in fishin? Well, I never!" Willow exclaimed mockingly.

He sighed a little grin sitting in the corner of his lips, "Shut yer yap."

The woods were silent, and the day had already begun to dim long ago. The river ran a low purr as the blue waters rushed past, the pines murmured a quiet note.

"We should get some food before headin' back to the gang."

While tending to the horses, Tulip was brushing their manes. Willow was calmly peering at the fishes down the creek, splashing around.

One of the horses brayed, Tulip observed. "Shh, shh..." It neighed nervously, flailing its head around slightly.

Arthur walked over, the wilderness was silent. Tulip's head shot towards the brushes, her eyes like a vulture eyeing its victims. The other two slowly regrouped, their attention fully focused on the woods ahead of them.

Tulip's hand went to grab something on her back, it caught nothing but air, "Damn!" She had forgotten to bring her Winchester.

Out of the brushes, Coyotes jumped out, snarling! Their eyes glowed with an ominous and bloodthirsty glint.

The horses brayed, terrified, they all stepped back from the horses. Tulip's hand traveled to her sidearm holster. Quick as a flash, she drew it out, firing her revolver. Arthur did the same, but he pulled out his sawn-off shotgun instead, unloading pellets into the animals.

Willow climbed the small carriage, having no weapons. "Damn! I shoulda brought my rifle!" She cursed.

Two other carnivorous dogs circled them. "We've handled worse than this."

Tulip and Arthur quickly disposed of them.

Looking over the carcasses, Willow shrugged. "Pelt's ruined. But them meat should be alright, won't it?"

"If ya dig out the bullets, then I reckon it should be."

They skinned each of the animals, Willow was used to the skinning. "Stringy meats. I guess it ain't so bad."

The trio returned back to Horseshoe Overlook, explaining that they were speckled with dirt due to Coyotes. Even though the real truth was because of their goose chase, the camp cook was thankful for their stringy meat donations and Grimshaw was happy for the water supply refill.

Tulip stored the Coyote pelts with the rest of the animal things at the back of their area. They all turned in for the night, the orange lantern glowed and sat neatly on top of the table next to Tulip's cot.

"-Camp Horseshoe Overlook-"

"Me, Willow, and Arthur headed out for water, washing, and some meats. It was a real great day, the smell of Cumberland Forest and the woods was refreshing and nostalgic. Been a real long time, being in the Heartlands once again.
Damn old man Morgan took my journal. Poking fun of my drawings. He wasn't truly, but he draws a lot better than me. We've fooled around like children, like all them years ago. I'm glad to see them folks smile again. I really do. It really does feel like that Blackwater mess was so long ago, I stole Arthur's journal too. That rabbit drawing was so cute."

Tulip felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment, she quietly snickered. She looked over to the bags, reminding herself to sell those deer, wolf, and other pelts or teeth. Seeing Willow sleep, she tucked her in gently with a blanket, and returned to her bed, letting slumber overcome her mind.

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A/N : Done! Lmao, what did I do? I just begun writing and planned for them to fish, but somehow it just began to be a game of teasing each other. xD
Again, doing Arthur's journal. Also, if you're wondering, some entries ARE changed in his journal. Just a little note. And to view it? It'll be shown on later chapters. If I get to do them.

I laughed imagining the scenario in-game, did you guys have fun readin' this? I hope so! Forgot to say... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, yall are lovely folks!

Another important note: Random encounters will be altered and have deeper back story. The things and what you do if it was in the game are the same, its just that the characters involved are even more important and the storyline will be extended.... hehehehe.... Real bad shit gon' go down.

Published : Dec.27, 2018