Under The Eyes of The Wolf (an rdr2 Arthur Morgan x oc story)

7-Awkward Close Encounters On the Third Time

Arthur slowly rode up the trail into camp. He kept going over the days events in his mind. He couldn't help but feel he'd done something to cause Kay to end their time together so abruptly but whatever it was he couldn't figure it out. Charles approached him as he dismounted and hitched Artemis to the hitching post.

"Hello Arthur. Why do you have the same look on your face as you did when we left this morning?"

"I dunno. I guess things got cut short sooner than I would have preferred. I got a few questions answered but I guess, dammit.... maybe I was hoping for a better overall read on her. Still don't know what she's after or why she's here."

"Do you think she poses any threat to us?" Charles questions.

"Naw, as far as I can tell, no. You're good at readin' people Charles. What did you pick up off of what you saw back there?"

"She's confident, that's for sure. The way she carries herself, the way she speaks, she came across as dangerous, cold and heartless but I get the feeling she was playing everyone in that saloon and nobody knew it except for her." Charles speculated. "Because it was at the end when that man collapsed and started bawling. I think her actions in response to that gives us a better idea of her character than anything up until that point."

"No doubt. Like I said, I don't think we need to worry about her bein' any kind of a threat. If she wanted to take me or any of us out we never woulda left that mountain. She coulda followed my tracks back to camp and with that wolf a hers along with the arsenal she has she coulda taken all of us out or set the law on us if it were her intent to do so.....I dunno, doesn't it just seem kinda odd that she was up there where we were now suddenly she shows up here too? Or am I just gettin' paranoid in my old age?"

"No. You're just being cautious. Whether or not she's a threat I wouldn't feel right speculating. I don't even know her. However I don't think her being up there or down here is anything beyond a simple coincidence. Valentine is often times the first stop people make on their way back down from those mountains."

"Yeah, I s'pose yer right."

          ~One Week Later~

———After Lenny returns frantically to camp to inform everyone of Micah's capture and impending hanging, Dutch asks Arthur to go and rescue him. Arthur begrudgingly agrees to do so. First Dutch tells Arthur to take young Lenny into Valentine in order to have a couple of drinks in hopes of calming the young man down and getting him to relax. Arthur and Lenny arrive at Smithfield's saloon and the two outlaws approach the bar. After reassuring the bartender of their intent (and dealing with an obnoxious drunk) Arthur and Lenny order a couple of drinks and assure one another that it wouldn't go beyond just the "couple". They throw back their drinks as their night carry's on....——

"LENNYYY!!!" Arthur drunkenly hollers out as he stumbles around the bar trying to track down his friend. "Lenny! Whatchyu doin?" Arthur questions upon finding him upstairs.

"Helloo Arthur..." Lenny replies as he balances an empty glass on his forehead, clearly equally as drunk as his older drinking buddy. What started out as one drink had turned into countless, leaving both men stumbling, slurring and brazen.

"You know what? I don't know!" Lenny laughs as he fumbles the glass to the floor below. They both start laughing at each other and monkeying around like children left unsupervised, tossing back more drinks.

"Well, why ain't you never married?" Lenny questions Arthur.

"No one would have me." Arthur replies with a somber tone. As they continue their banter, oblivious to the goings-on around them, Arthur never notices the woman downstairs in the far corner leaning back in her chair, observing the two fools with an amused smirk set on her face, enjoying the entertainment of it all as she sips on a drink. She intentionally sits in a shadowed corner so that she can go unnoticed by the two outlaws. It's clear that they are both beyond drunk so she nurses the single beer, quietly keeping an eye on the pair making sure no trouble finds them.