RDR2 AU

[dog_eat_dog]

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[dog_eat_dog]

"I can do whatever I want," she replies, and though she says it pleasantly enough, there's an edge there. A promise. "And I'd sooner die than be dragged anywhere."

[stand_unshaken]

"Them's words to live by," he says, raising his beer to her. Words to die by, too- it goes unsaid.

"You'll be alright, you keep up like that."

[dog_eat_dog]

She raises hers, too.

"That's the plan," she replies. "Any more advice, from an outlaw to an aspiring one?"

[stand_unshaken]

"Accept the hard things, and enjoy life while you can. You ain't going to grow too old, livin' like this."

So. Go do that ranch work, Tess. Be safer.

[dog_eat_dog]

"I think I'd rather live a full life than a long one," she replies. "But noted. And you can always come join me on my ranch if you get tired."

[stand_unshaken]

"Oh, yeah? That a standing invitation?"

He grins at her, not flirtatious but friendly.

[dog_eat_dog]

"As long as you're interested, it is," she replies. "I can always use a man like you."

[stand_unshaken]

That gets picked up by some people on the other side of the fire, and they shout loudly at the two of them- oh, she could use a man like Arthur Morgan?

Arthur tells the lot to shut the hell up, and shakes his head at her.

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess grins, but she has the decency to look the slightest bit apologetic about it.

"Well, offer's open, if you're not sick of me in the next few days."

[stand_unshaken]

"Sure. I'll keep that in mind - and on that note, I oughta hit the hay before things spin outta control, here."

He takes his leave by clapping her on the shoulder before getting up. The next day has him riding into the nearby town, but he tells her to stay put. No sense throwing all their hard work away. The women take her along while they do chores and sing increasingly rowdy songs, and there's warm food and interesting people within hand's reach, at all times.

[dog_eat_dog]

Quite the unusual circumstance for Tess, considering she usually doles out cash and goods to avoid having to do any petty chores, but she can blend in like it isn't. The women of the Van der Linde gang being fairly bawdy and rough around the edges certainly makes it easy, and being sociable has always come to her naturally. She could fit right in if she didn't have friends of her own to get to –– or if she had any interested at all in being under someone else's command.

But it's a good day just the same, and it gives her a good feel for how they do things.

[stand_unshaken]

In the evening Arthur comes back after dark, a little dusty and dirty, but with a pocket full of dollars to deposit into the safety box behind Dutch's cabin, an dthen he goes over to where she's sitting.

"Hey. Still here?"

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess noticed him the moment he got back into camp. There wasn't any sense in greeting him like a dog with a wagging tail, but she certainly keeps an eye out. Curious.

"Sure am," she replies. "Getting real comfortable, too. What'd you get up to?"

She glances over the dust and dirt with a wry little look in her eyes. More likely trouble than elbow grease, no doubt.

[stand_unshaken]

"You know what - I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," he says, and when she glances at him he self-conciously tries to beat some of the dust off of himself. It's no use.

[dog_eat_dog]

She grins a little at that.

“Try me,” she says.

[stand_unshaken]

"Would you believe me," he starts, "if I told you I ran into a fella who told me his dangerous predators had escaped? A tiger and a lion?"

[dog_eat_dog]

"I guess I'd have to," she replies. Maybe they're on their way to one of those World Expositions they do up in Chicago, or something. "And I thought lawmen and robbers were all we had to look out for on the roads."

[stand_unshaken]

"Oh, you'll believe that? How 'bout when I tell you I went after his damn tiger, and it turned out be a dog with painted-on stripes?"

[dog_eat_dog]

"People in this state are stupid enough to pay money to see that?" she replies. She knows people in every state are stupid enough to pay money for it. "You shoot it?"

[stand_unshaken]

"Oh, it was already dead when I got to it. I went back to that fella and told him to quit his bullshit, but he begged me to go after his lion, too. I figure, what can it hurt, it's going to be another damn dog, this time shaved butt-naked."

See what's coming, Tess?

[dog_eat_dog]

“It a barn cat or something?” A grin. “A cougar in a fur collar?”

[stand_unshaken]

"I fuckin' wish. I get to the farm the fella told me about, and I don't find out what it is until it's killed a farmhand. That dope had gotten his hands on an actual, honest-to-God lion."

He shakes his head and slaps his knees, brushing more dust off.

"Killed it, but too late for that poor man."

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess laughs in disbelief.

"Christ, really?"

She tries to imagine a lion in the flesh, the kind of creature that could take on an elephant. Something bigger than the drawings in picture books.

"You're lucky you're not dead. Those things are huge, aren't they?"

[stand_unshaken]

"I can tell you without losing any pride over it, I damn near wet myself. That thing was enormous. Deadly."

[dog_eat_dog]

"Wish I'd seen it. Might've been worth risking getting spotted."