dog_eat_dog | RDR2 AU

"Stay outta trouble, you hear me?"

He looks like he'd like to give her something like an embrace, then thinks better of it and just pats her shoulder.

"Be well."

That gets a real wry smile, but she nods.

“I think I should be the one saying that to you,” she teases, and she gives his upper arm a brief squeeze. “But thanks. You too, huh? Avoid any more lions. You gotta be in one piece to come for dinner.”

"I can't make you any promises, but I am willing to try on your account."

He smiles back, and tries not to linger. So he just gets back onto his horse, gives her one more salute, and then turns around.

She'll be alright. He definitely doesn't expect to see her in a bar a few weeks later.

When Tess watches Arthur disappear down the road and out of town, she’s fairly certain there will be no dinner date. Within the week she’ll be headed South to the border, right back to work on a one-week job that should set her and her friends up nicely for the next few months.

It doesn’t go that way.

Instead she ends up in another town a day’s ride away, following a lead that might prove to be even more lucrative. It’s going well; her new client is happy, and so she is as well.

She’s out celebrating at the bar that night, her guys with her. They’re a rugged and unfriendly looking bunch, too well armed for ranchers, and Tess is in the middle of them when she catches a glimpse of a familiar face around Robert’s shoulder.

Arthur.

Arthur's got Uncle with him, because the old guy nagged him so much he agreed just to get him to shut the hell up already. He's arguing with him as he shoulders his way into the bar, telling him he'd best pay for some drinks to make up for his parasite behavior--

And then he sees Tess. And the fellows she's with. And they do not look like the nice kind of men who'd take her to live on a ranch.

He makes eye contact with her, and raises an eyebrow.

Tess meets Arthur's eyes and she immediately slips on a sly smile. She's sure her presence here is strange, but surrounded by men – her men –– she's not so sure she needs to play dumb. She'll need a story, sure, but...

Robert says something to her and she looks back to him, exchanging some words that have Tess chuckling, nodding her head none-too-subtly in Arthur's direction. She has a bottle in one hand, and she claps Robert on the shoulder with the other. A few more words, and off Robert goes to the bar.

Tess just fixes her gaze back on Arthur, curious to see if he'll say anything.

He's not a many of many words. Robert goes off; Arthur replaces him next to her, sitting down heavily.

"Don't look like no ranch to me."

"I'm not about to spend all my time there," she replies, still smiling as she looks him over again up close. Teasing: "You miss me?"

"Like a limb," he replies, easily. He isn't angry, just a little confused. And curious, about the truth.

"Why'd you lie?"

"Didn't want to walk back to the nearest town," she replies, taking a swig of her beer. "Wasn't really lying, either, it was all true at one point or another. Besides, I wanted to see that gang of yours."

"Alright, don't talk to me about bendin' the truth," he says, shaking his head.

"I shoulda known, somehow, huh?"

Tess watches him for a beat, running her teeth over her lower lip. Even if he were pissed, she doesn't think she'd mind.

"I wasn't out to take advantage," she replies. "Listen, we don't run a lot of business up here, so Dutch won't have to fuss about us. You and I had a good couple of days. We should just enjoy that."

The way she sees it, the truth would ever matter, either, if they never saw each other again. No harm, no foul, right?

"You thought I was out to start a gang war?"

He waves the thought away, shaking his head. "We already have plenty of enemies. Just- don't tell Uncle there what's goin' on. I'll never hear the end of it."

She wouldn't want one, she thinks, but it isn't always up to her. Especially with men. Not a lot of women in this line of work, much less in leadership roles, and she's met more than one man who took a particular ire about competing with a woman.

"It's between you and me," she replies, glancing to Uncle a little more subtly. "And hell, if you've got an enemy you need mopping up while we're in the area, let me know. I'll tell my guys to keep an eye out."

"I can solve my own problems," he tells her, now feeling a little bristly. Who the hell does she think she is? Showing up all of a sudden and infiltrating the camp, getting under his skin a little.

He looks at the bartender and makes a quick gesture- another round, and quick.

That gets a little quirk of a smile, and she leans an elbow against the bar.

"Suit yourself," she says. "I just figured I'd offer. Being nice, and all."

"Now you ain't too nice and you know it," he points out, holding his fresh drink. "Only sucker here was me."

"You'd only be a sucker if I took real advantage," she replies. "Unless the price of a bit of beer, stew and some company is that high for you."

She has a point, which he begrudgingly accepts by groaning and taking a drink.

"So how long are you stickin' around here for?"

“Aa long as it takes to set up this deal,” she replies, with a little grin. “Mostly we work down at the border, but it’s all supply chains. The more we have set up, the better.”

"Now what are you takin' over the border, huh?"

“Guns,” she replies. No sense hiding it; he’s been honest with her and she can be a little in return. The revolution brewing down there has been working towards a boiling point for decades, and there’s money for Tess and her people in stoking the fires. “There’s a big market. Bigger there than anywhere in America.”

"Huh."

He sits back and actually considers that. He'd never go into weapons trading, and he sure as hell isn't telling Dutch about this, but it's a surprise that that's what she's doing. That's very dangerous, more risk than he'd take for cash.

"How do you get the weapons across? Donkeys in the mountains?"

“Depends on how much we’re moving and the particulars of the time of year,” she replies, smoothly. “It gets easier with the right bribes. Uncle Sam wants Mexico to have guns, after all.”

"Uncle Sam wants a lot in life he can't normally have," Arthur points out. Usually, from Arthur's perspective, that's 'him and his'.

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