Opportunity (Micah Bell x OC)

Chapter 4

When the morning came, Micah was grumpy. Very grumpy. He could not relax the whole night. The day before, he went to sell the things he found in Elizabeth's father hotel room and he got a pretty sum for such a simple job. But could he really keep all the money to himself? It was still kind of thanks to Elizabeth that he knew about this room being unguarded. But Micah Bell, giving money he earned? He never heard of that. He shook that thought off his mind and quickly got dressed before going for some coffee at the main fire.

Elizabeth was slowly waking up. Her eyes opened and she stretched her sore body. This is when she noticed the blanket covering her. It was thin, but still kept her rather warm during this chilly morning. She looked around her but no one was to be seen so she simply shrugged it for now and sat closer to the fire to warm her hands. During the process, her knee slightly touched something. She looked down to discover a picture. She took it and realized it was her mother's picture, the one she wanted to get back from the hotel room. She brought it to her chest, and her eyes landed on Micah who was drinking some coffee with his brows furrowed. Even if he clearly looked angry, Elizabeth could not help the warm smile that appeared on her lips while looking at him. Surely he could not be as bad as people say.

She stood up, putting the picture in her pocket, and folded her bedroll. She tried to brush the tangles out of her hair, but she was clearly going to need a comb soon. She then headed toward the main fire as she saw Mary-Beth there. She said hello to everyone around the fire. They all responded friendly, except for Micah, who just looked away before finishing his coffee and leaving. Elizabeth did not think too much about it, she saw he was in a bad mood. She talked a bit with everyone before leaving to do some chore.

She fed the chicken and the horses and went to do some sewing. She was amazed by how often the men were able to put hole in their clothes. And the mud! She did not mind though, she knew they worked hard to bring back money, even if she did not really wish to know exactly how. And she was rather good at sewing so at least she was a bit useful.

She was now sitting at one of the table, reading a book she borrowed from Mary-Beth.

"Micah! Lenny! Get over here!" she heard Dutch call out suddenly. The two men he called came to his tent.

"I need you to go to Strawberry, see if you can find some interesting lead" Dutch explained the two men.

And that is how Lenny and Micah left camp for a few days. During those days, nothing of great importance happened at camp. Everyone was busy with their own business.

One day, Elizabeth went to find Mary-Beth.

"Hey Mary-Beth. Do you have a moment right now?"

"Yes of course, what is it?" the young asked while putting her book down.

"You see, I was wondering if you could teach me a bit how to... you know... steal" Elizabeth said the last word in a murmur.

Mary-Beth looked at her with wild eyes, smile creeping on her face.

"It'll be my pleasure. Please sit, I'm gonna explain you the basics" Mary-Beth said, as excited as a child.

They spend a great part of the day talking about technics, how to trick and steal people, mostly men as it was a bit easier. Mary-Beth also told her her own experiences, with the dos and don'ts. They laughed a lot, often moving away from the main subject. It was a pleasant afternoon. Mary-Beth concluded by saying that practice makes it perfect, and that Elizabeth could train herself on people around camp before really doing it on strangers. She also told her that she could speak to Hosea, as he was himself a con-artist, and a good one.

The next few days for Elizabeth were basically chores and trying her new skill on the peoples at camp. She started easy with Uncle after a few drink and went on to finish with Arthur, who was a bit trickier to fool but she succeeded. Hosea was proud of her.