[This chapter was partially inspired by the song "Fishing in the Dark" by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, though I haven't quoted the lyrics.]
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"Oh, I am just a vagabond,
a drifter on the run.
And eloquent profanity,
it rolls right off my tongue.
.
And I have dined in palaces,
drunk wine with Kings and Queens;
but darlin', oh darlin',
you're the best thing I ever seen.
.
Won't you roll me easy,
oh, slow and easy…
you walkin' talkin' paradise,
sweet paradise."
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- Little Feat, "Roll Um Easy"
That evening after Eliza had dropped Isaac off for the night with Addie, she got back to the house to find Arthur in his rugged getup and hat, already loading up their fishing poles onto his horse.
"How is the old goat?" he said.
She shot him a look and shook her head, trying hard not to smirk. "She's just fine. She was happy to see Isaac."
"What'd you tell her?"
"Just that I…needed a little break, some time for myself on my birthday. It wasn't a lie."
He gave her a wry look, but she ignored it as she got up into the saddle, and he followed to sit behind her.
"All right," he sighed. "You know the area better than me. Where to?"
"I'm gonna take you somewhere special," she said pointing past the trees. As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, he goaded his mare forward. "It's quite a ways, but nobody goes there anymore on account of this nasty town legend that grew a bit big for its breeches."
"And what legend is that?" he mumbled.
"Well," she said, "there used to be this real mean ol' feller—I hardly remember him, but what I do ain't flowery—Old Man Crowley. He was kinda scary for a little girl. He had scars all over his face and—"
"I've got those," he took exception in a high pitch.
"Yours are…different," she looked back up at him with a timid smile.
"Okay," he gave an airy chuckle.
She faced forward again. "Anyways, it weren't just the way he looked. He was always haranguing people and antagonizing townsfolk—"
"You better skip ahead and quit describin' Mr. Crowley," he mumbled as he scratched behind his ear.
"One day a few folks saw him from a distance when he jumped off the cliff way up high above the big pond where I'm takin' you; but when they went down, his body was nowhere to be found, and it never washed up. Some folks said he transformed into an evil water-dweller that lives deep in the pond, because a lot of strange things happened near there for a little while afterwards. Bloody fish and small animal carcasses appeared on shore, and fishermen said they'd turn and turn back just in time to see their poles suddenly sucked under the water. They even warned children to stay away, because they said there was no tellin' how big of a somethin' the monster could drag under with him." She began to shake against his chest as he snickered.
"Didn't know this was such a superstitious town."
"Well, they ain't usually. But they didn't know what to make of finding no body. What would you think?"
"I don't know. But not that!" he laughed. "You must not believe any of it if you're takin' us there."
"'Course not. It's just a silly folktale, Arthur."
"Uh-huh," he mumbled under his breath. He took out his lantern as it grew dark.
"The real good thing about it is that not a soul's visited there in years. I bet it's real quiet, a perfect spot for fishin'. And we'll have it all to ourselves. Up this way," she directed him through the trees when they started on a bit of an incline. "I had my first kiss on the little dock, the last time I was there. Brett Haley."
"Brett Haley, huh? You've still got his name in your head…" he grumbled.
"It was just a little peck, nothin' more."
"Yeah, sure, I hear ya."
"We were eleven, Arthur!"
"Eleven! Jesus, you said a peck, and I was thinkin' four or five! Couldna been as innocent then!"
"It was plenty innocent! He used to pull my pigtails and braids at church when we were really little, and my mama hated it so when I'd get rowdy and try to fight back."
He chuckled. "You'd run after 'im, huh?" He could just picture her running wild until her mother forced her to stand still by her side with a stern use of her name, and she'd turn and scrunch up that freckled nose at her terrorizer.
"I could run with the fastest of the boys. A skirt never stopped me. But my mama sure did," she chuckled. "Anyway, he was always horrible to me; he could pull my hair so hard. Turned out he was sweet on me."
"Yeah," he sighed, "that's usually how it goes."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. Feller still in these parts?"
"Oh, no. He went off to become a lawyer or somethin'. I never did keep track of him. I just wasn't meant for Brett Haley."
He swallowed as she took a breath and leaned back against him. "So," he cleared his throat, "you hopin' to catch a trout? Or somethin' else?"
She suddenly gasped and sat forward. "What is that?"
"What?"
"Look." She pointed at a pair of beady green eyes in the darkness.
"What—that?" He moved his lantern in the direction of the eyes. "It's just a little opossum!" he laughed. "Ain't nothin' gonna getchyou, girl. Long as I'm here. You think any critter stands a chance against my revolver?"
She sat back again.
He shook his head and chuckled at her. "I thought you'd be used to things like that, growin' up round here. We gotta get you into an outdoorswoman, I guess."
"It's not that!" she clucked her tongue. "It's just, it's so dark. I don't make a habit of hanging around in the darkness—does anybody?"
"You'd be surprised. Anyway, you're the one who wanted to go night fishin'."
She let out a breath. "I haven't in a very long time."
"Let me guess—it was with your daddy." When she didn't respond, he hoped he hadn't sounded too curt. "You two catch anything?"
She nodded. "He was a wonderful fisherman. Mama said he could charm the fish right out of the water."
"Well…I think you're in for a very different experience with me. I'm a pretty piss-poor fisherman myself."
"We'll see."
As they finally reached a break in the dense forest and approached the secluded pond, he dismounted and helped her down. They took out their fishing poles, baited their hooks, went to the end of the little old dock, and casted their lines. Eliza removed her boots and sat, dangling her feet in the water, and he sat beside her. They stayed quiet like that for a while in the crisp night air, with no other company but a fish coming up to graze the surface of the water, the lightning bugs, and the symphony of crickets surrounding them.
Finally Eliza removed a hand from her pole and reached her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Well, you ain't ever gonna catch a fish like that," he chuckled.
She quietly picked her head up and pulled her arm out from his, returning her hand to her pole. "It was never about catching fish, Arthur."
It took him a moment, but he looked over at her. He watched her as she kept her gaze out at the still water. He returned his own gaze forward and wondered if he'd always be a big, dumb moron.
Eliza took a full breath of the chilly night air and looked around at the deep pond she hadn't seen in years. She hated the fact that she had a little pang in her chest from Arthur's words that had caused her to put space between them again. It made her feel so needlessly melodramatic to hurt from something so small and silly; she was even certain that he hadn't meant to hurt her. It was just that he was so hard to get close to, in every way. She didn't feel any anger; just an empty helplessness.
She was just thinking that perhaps he should take her home, that there was really no point to sitting here, when she felt a warmth towards the back of her jaw near her ear. As she began to turn, Arthur kissed her cheek and rested his forehead against her temple. She finally turned to face him and realized he'd put his pole away. She closed her eyes when he kissed her on the lips, and she felt him taking her pole out of her hand. He drew away and began quickly reeling her line in.
She let out a soft laugh. "You can be very literal, can't you?"
He chuffed a laugh and looked over at her briefly before tucking the hook and setting her pole back on the dock.
He came close, leaning his weight on the heel of his hand as he rested it on the dock, and bringing his other hand to her cheek as he kissed her slowly. He could feel her getting caught up in the kiss, leaning closer to him. He suddenly sat back and looked at her, beginning to unbutton his shirt. "You know, I think it's time I had another bath. You gonna give it to me?"
Without moving a muscle, her brows drew together, and she peered at him in confusion.
He grinned and slipped his suspenders off before standing and removing the rest of his clothes.
She didn't move, but slid her eyes up to watch him as he shed his layers of clothing one after the other. "Oh god, Arthur…" she said low, "you are no Brett Haley." She finally snapped out of it and lifted her head. "Wait—what are you doing? There's no way you're walkin' into that pond!"
"'Course not," he said, hopping as he removed his boots and slipped his breeches the rest of the way off.
"All right. Good. Thank you."
"I'm jumpin'." He tossed his hat on the heap of his clothes, and without another word, he turned and leapt off the dock into the water with a big splash.
She gasped and stood, watching as he went under and bobbed back up, wiping his hands across his face and back over his hair. "So unlike you, Arthur!"
"Guess not." He slid his fingers over his nose and spit into the water. "Come on. In you go."
She lifted her brows high and took a step back from the edge.
"Don't make me come getchyou."
She huffed. "You wouldn't."
"Don't tempt me," he said in a low, sardonic chuckle. He watched her as she folded her arms and remembered something she'd said the night before about his using her name. "Eliza." She turned further away, fidgeting as she tried not to look back at him. "Eliza…"
Flustered, she dropped her arms. "Oh. Arthur!"
"You know you're comin' in," he smirked.
She bit her lip. "It's cold, ain't it? I just had my feet in there a second ago! I know it's cold!"
He let out a laugh. "It ain't frigid, but it ain't the president's bathtub, I'll just tell you that."
Finally she relented, reaching back to undo her stays. "Oh… Fine. But I ain't jumpin'."
"Fair enough."
She removed her frock and slipped off her chemise and pantaloons, leaving them on the dock before sitting and slipping into the water. She immediately opened her mouth wide and let out a high-pitched hoot.
"It ain't that bad. You'll grow accustomed to it in a bit."
Neither of them were able to touch the bottom. She bobbed under and slicked her hair back when she came up and looked at him. "So I just do whatever you ask of me, is that the pattern here?"
"Well, you don't gotta read into it none," he drawled in a deep tone. "Come here."
She swam to him and smiled when he brought his hands to her back beneath the water. "I want you to know this is truly not what I had in mind when I asked for fishin'."
He looked away with a smile. "Seems a pretty good trade-off to me." He looked back at her and shrugged. "So we scandalize a few fish."
She laughed and brought her arms around his neck. "You didn't know just how poor of a fisherman you are, Mr. Morgan," she said sweetly. "You've completely abandoned all hope of catchin' anything at all."
"Well, Miss Eliza," he smiled, looking down at her mouth, "the night's still young."
She smiled bright, leaning close. "Oh yeah?"
He nodded with a growing smirk.
She lowered her mouth to his and kissed him deeply in the still and dark of night with the quiet lightning bugs dancing in the air around them. She felt the warmth of his skin through the cold water, felt his firm, sharp angles against her soft ones, and noticed again the way their bodies fit perfectly together, like puzzle pieces.
After a few minutes floating like that, she realized they were suddenly sinking fast. As Arthur's mouth and face went under, she squeaked and broke away from him.
"Hey…" he mumbled as he bobbed back up and realized she was far away. "Come back here."
"No, Arthur, you're gonna drag me under with you!" she laughed. "Don't you know how to swim?"
"Well, sure I do. Just not very well, I guess," he said with a little nervous chuckle. "Come on back."
Her face relaxed with a grin as she began to swim towards him again. When she was just close enough, he flicked his wrist and sent a big splash up into her face. She squealed and sputtered, wiping her face as he laughed. "Arthur!" She swam back even farther away.
"Aw, come on! Come on, hun! I didn't mean it," he laughed.
"You most certainly did," she chuckled. "You're lucky I'd rather protect myself than get you back."
"Come on. Get back over here."
"No!"
"Come on…" he started to swim closer, and she backed away. "Get back over here!"
"No," she laughed. "I'm not as stupid as I look, Arthur."
Floating still in the water, he looked at her. "You don't look stupid. And you ain't."
"Well, everyone tells me I do. And everyone keeps actin' like I am."
He tisked his tongue. "Oh, I never meant anything like that."
"I know you didn't."
"I promise I won't do it again. I swear! Come on back," he drawled in a low, sweet tone. He swam closer, and she backed away again, though it wasn't quite as far this time. "Come on back to me, darlin'."
She slowly shook her head with a grin.
"Eliza…"
A quiet little laugh left her as he came closer, and she met his eye and shook her head again. "You just stay away!"
He read what was in her eyes and knew that even though he'd managed to get closer than he'd been, they were caught in a stalemate—that she would just keep backing away. He smirked a half-frown and looked away. When he glanced back at her from the corner of his eyes, she was sighing and watching her own hand glaze the surface of the water. "You haven't stopped thinkin' about Isaac, have you?"
She shook her head and glanced up at him. "No." She continued slowly swiping her hand back and forth, dancing her fingers across the water. "How could I? We've never really been apart. Except that once I tried to go to work for a few hours when he was a week old…so stupid." Without looking at him, she asked, "You think he's okay?"
"He's with a midwife," he huffed a little laugh. "He's just fine."
She brought both arms around herself and took another deep breath. "He's my whole world, Arthur. He's my everything." She watched as one of the fireflies came close, and she lifted a hand beneath it as it hovered in the air. "You—" she swallowed as she followed the firefly with her hand when it flew off. "You just gotta know there's good in you if you helped make that sweet, precious little boy." She watched his expression as he looked back at her. She was taken aback by just how much heaviness he was trying to hide behind it.
"How can you be so sure it didn't all come from you?"
She hung her head and swallowed back her tears. "Arthur…" she whimpered, a deep sorrow filling her chest as she looked back up at him. "I can hardly take words like that comin' outta your mouth anymore. I can't…" she trailed off as she looked away and shook her head.
Arthur swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "Look at me, I'm even managin' to ruin your birthday again—for the second time!" he tried to chuckle.
She scoffed bitterly and sniffed. "You can only ruin it once, 'cause there's only one birthday."
"Eh, that's right…" he smiled. "See, you are smart." His smile brightened when she chuckled. "Well, let's…let's don't let it be ruined then, huh?" He came just a little closer and was glad when she didn't move. "Look. Look where we are. Just look!"
They both looked around and gazed up to see the deep indigo, star-filled sky surrounded by a black border of evergreens, with a big, bright moon peering down at them.
"Wow," she breathed. "Never seen it at night like this."
They floated there for a couple minutes with their heads craned upwards, listening to the soothing hoots of owls and the crickets' natural violins.
When Arthur brought his head forward again to look at her, he decided she still wasn't close enough for his taste. He got an idea and yanked free a long piece of reed he felt grazing him beneath the water. He made a sudden little gasp and kept himself from smiling when she looked at him. "Shit. Somethin' just brushed my leg," he said, quickly looking around at the water.
She looked at him with half-mast, sardonic eyes. "There are fish in here, Arthur."
He gave her a grave look and lifted a single brow, keeping his tone low and serious. "It weren't like that." When her eyes slowly grew a little and she turned about to look down at the water, he reached the reed out to touch her. She immediately yelped and squealed, rushing for him and clinging to him, just as he'd wanted.
"I felt it! I felt it!" she huffed, frantically clutching her arms around his neck and wrapping her thighs around his waist as she looked back down into the water. "What was that?!"
He held her close but turned and craned his face away. Pulling his lips in tight, he managed not to make a sound.
"W-was that… Y-you think that was…?"
He looked back at her. "Sure as hell weren't like any fish I've ever touched!" He watched her eyes grow to the size of oranges when she realized that he—even he—was entertaining the thought of the fairytale after what he'd felt. And he knew her mind was drifting to consider that if it was real, they were both literally naked and defenseless, with Arthur even being without his trusty gun. He felt the grip of her arms and legs tighten around him.
"Get us outta here, Arthur!" she almost screamed. With her arms still around his neck and her legs still around his waist, she tucked her head into the crook of his neck and squealed as he brought his hands under her thighs and hurriedly made for the shore, splashing boisterously as he went.
When he finally reached where he could touch the bottom, he quickly sloshed and trudged one leg at a time until they were on land. He set her far from the shore on the cool green grass and rushed for the big rolled sleeping mat on his horse as she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and ferociously shivered. When he returned with the thick blanket, he threw it around her and quickly began rubbing her dry as she shook. He looked up at her face and noticed the way her bottom lip trembled violently.
"Y-you all right?" he asked. He watched her struggle to nod and heard her teeth chatter.
"Y-you need to get dry t-too. C-come in here w-with me, we'll both get w-warm."
He smiled. "All right. O-open up." When she lifted it, he climbed in and pulled it under and around them both so they could lie down. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, but it took still another several minutes for them both to completely cease shaking and for their breathing to return to normal. He thought about how it was even better than what he'd envisioned, and little huffed laughs began to escape him.
She turned her head and looked at him. "What?" When his chuckling started to grow, her brows drew together. "What?"
"There—" a snicker came through his nose. "I touched you with a reed. There weren't nothin' in that water, girl!"
Her eyes popped wide and flashed with incredulous disdain as she gasped, swatting and pushing him hard. "Arthur!"
He erupted into hearty laughter. "Guess you do believe in that legend a little more than you let on!"
She tried to keep from blushing. "Ugh! You're awful!" she laughed. "Just awful! Always have been, haven't you?!" She clucked her tongue. "Why would you… Arthur…" she grumbled, pushing him again.
As his laughter trickled away, he looked down at her smile. "Guess I'm a better fisherman than any of us knew. I can charm 'em out of the water even better than your daddy."
She scoffed and nudged him, looking at him from the corner of her eyes with a wry smirk. She suddenly got a chill and shuddered. "Don't let the cold air in. Close it up."
She watched him pulled the blanket tightly closed, making sure there were no openings. When he turned to face her again, she cuddled up close to him, wrapping her arms around his chest. But she kept herself from tucking her head under his chin, so she could still look out above the blanket at the wilderness.
As they went still and quiet again, she whispered to him. "Sometimes at night, when I listen and I hear no birdsong like I do in the bright of day, I think about them snuggled up tight together in their nests, and it makes me laugh. Even the birds have to sleep."
He turned his face to look at her and gently shook his head, a bright smile slowly growing across his face. "The kinda things you think about…" When she returned his smile, he brought his arms more snugly around her and kissed her cheek.
She looked up at the sky and began picking out constellations. "That one's a sailboat. And that one…a parasol."
"All right, I'm followin' ya…" he gazed up with her.
She squinted. "That one… That's a dog. Definitely a dog."
"Yeah."
"That one kinda looks like your horse!"
"Who, Boadicea?"
She nodded.
"Oh yeah… So it does."
"What do you think that one is?"
He tipped his head. "I really hate bein' the one to say this, but it looks like a knife."
"Arthur!"
"What!" he shrugged. "Try to tell me it doesn't."
She peered at it again, and her face relaxed.
"Uh-huh…" he nodded. "You can't deny it. Try to make me out to be a brute…" he mumbled.
"It looks like a knife," she chuckled softly with a nod to the side. She gasped and pointed her finger out of the blanket. "Look!"
He looked where she'd pointed in time to see a tiny light glide across the face of the sky.
"I haven't seen many of them. What do you think those are?" she asked.
"What all the other ones are, I guess."
She laughed. "One of 'em just got loose?"
He gently turned his face to look at her as she went on picking out shapes.
"That one looks like lily of the valley. My favorite flower."
"Mm-hmm."
"And that one looks like a banjo. Or a lollipop," she said turning her head.
"Mm-hmm."
"Right here. This is a wonderful birthday, Arthur." Her eyes flitted across the sky. "Just look at it," she breathed. "It's full to the brim with stars tonight."
"Liza."
"Hm."
"Ain't the stars I'm lookin' at."
Eliza slowly turned her head to look into his eyes. She pushed the thought far away that all he wanted was to get lucky. She knew she already was.
She kissed him soft and slow, feeling her body go even warmer than it had been. She ran her hands up and down his abdomen and chest as she kissed his collarbone.
"Are you 'just itchin' to touch me'?" he mumbled over her head.
"Hm?" she said as she looked at him.
"Nothin'," he chuckled.
Her brows came together for a moment. She kissed him on the lips and began to make love to him, and before long, she'd begun kissing his neck.
"You know, actually…you don't sound anything like what you tried to give me last night," he said quietly.
"Huh?"
"Nothin'."
"Arthur!"
"Nothin'! It's nothin'!" he laughed.
"Quit it!" she said biting his ear lobe.
"Ow."
"If you're gonna say somethin', I better hear what it is!"
"All right! Fine!"
They both mumbled little half-giggles as she drew back to kiss him on the mouth again.
"You're horrible," she said between kisses.
"Apparently not horrible enough."
She shook her head with a breathy chuckle.
Though she kept her body close to his, as she continued to slowly make love to him the blanket fell partly away, and he brought his hands to her back.
"You know somethin'…" he whispered to her with a smile, "I ain't even cold."
A bright smile spread over her face.
When they'd finished she brought the blanket back over them as she lied beside him. After a few minutes she realized he was quickly falling asleep.
"Arthur. Arthur," she whispered, shaking him. "You can't fall asleep!"
He groaned. "Why not?"
"Because we've gotta get back! We can't sleep out here in the open wilderness!"
"I do it all the time!"
"Well I ain't! I have no interest sleepin' out here when you're asleep too."
He opened a single eye to look at her.
They dressed, and Eliza reached up and pressed his hat on him with a smile. They packed their things onto his horse and got into the saddle to ride home. She leaned back against him as they rode on, and after a few minutes like that, she was almost asleep.
"Oh, I can't sleep, but you can?" he said.
She smiled and turned as much as she could to the side, nestling closer into his chest.
He knew she was asleep when he saw her chest rise and fall in a steady pattern, like he'd seen before. He tried to look forward again, but something about her snagged his eye. He couldn't decide if it was the flush on her freckled nose from the chill, her long eyelashes lying softly against her cheeks, or the way the blonde wisps of hair around her forehead caught in the breezy night air. All of it together was more than he thought any one person should possess.
When his mare's eagerness to get home started to show and Eliza gently rustled against him, he quietly called out to her. "Shh, easy. Go slow, Bo. We're in no hurry."
His hips moved with the horse as she slowly navigated down the rugged terrain. He smirked when the thought occurred to him that he himself was Eliza's only bed at the moment. He looked back down at her and considered the way she was so easily putting her faith in him—in this moment, that he wouldn't let her fall and would get her home safely, and in all others. For a minute he felt it painful to swallow. He was willing to bet good money that other than getting her home in one piece, he was the worst place for her to put her faith.
"The moon and you appear to be
So near and yet so far from me.
And here am I on a night in June
Reaching for the moon and you."
- Ella Fitzgerald, "Reaching for the Moon"
The next morning when Eliza returned from picking up Isaac, she rode up quietly when she saw something strange at the porch. She dismounted, unwrapped Isaac and brought him around to her side, and quietly walked up to see Arthur on his knees with his hands in the weeds in front of the porch. She smiled and bit her lip to keep from laughing when she heard him singing and mumbling to himself.
"For now I am a prisoner, in the Stillwater Jail I lie…"
She took another step to see that he was tearing and pulling up the weeds, and he had bunches of flowers with big roots on the ground beside him.
"What're you doin' there, Arthur?"
He looked up at her and cleared his throat. "Oh, I was just… Found these on my morning ride, managed to get 'em up by the roots. Thought you'd like 'em here. They ain't got no thorns."
With a lift of her chin, she smiled at him as she climbed the porch steps. "Ah. I bet Isaac will like them too," she said as she turned to go into the house.
He stilled, only realizing after she'd brought attention to it that he'd said only mentioned her, and not Isaac.
One Night a Few Weeks Later
As Arthur, Dutch, and Hosea rode back into camp after a successful raid, Dutch let out a hoot.
"Did you see those boys fly?" he said in his deep, gravelly voice. "Got the drop on 'em, robbed 'em, and took 'em out one by one before the law ever got wind to turn its head. I think that might be a record. Yeah, you fellas did good," he said as they all dismounted. "And to the victors go the spoils." He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a box of cigars they'd lifted, opening it and doling them out to the others. "Be well and take a load off tonight; you deserve it." He watched Arthur walk to his tent. "Hey, Arthur. I'm ridin' too high to turn in just yet," he said as he lifted his cigar to his mouth and took a puff. "What do you say we head into town, see if we can't rustle us up a couple skirts, huh? Get our beaks wet a little while we're at it. Nothing too off the rails. Huh, what do you say? My treat."
"Nah, I'm not interested," Arthur said simply.
Dutch paused. "You must be joking," he laughed. "What, are you sick? Stopped up or something?"
"I said. I ain't. Interested."
"You're really gonna call it a night like an old man?"
"Get it through your head, Dutch," he drawled low.
"All right, just trying to show my son a good time," he said, leaving the cigar in his mouth and mumbling a bit. "But have it your way. Go jack off in your tent all alone."
"You can be a real sick horse's ass, you know that?" Arthur shook his head as he ducked into his tent.
Dutch's brows knit together. He used his tongue to move his cigar until it was lodged between his molars and looked over at Hosea with a knowing glare. They needed no words between them. They were the only two who knew Arthur's possible reasons for declining. While Dutch's stance was easy, his jaw was tense. Hosea lifted his brows and shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head with a smirk.
.
Dear Readers,
You didn't know Dutch and Hosea would pop into this story! ;)
I truly appreciate you guys sticking with me. I had been nervous about having so much of a non-in-game, non-Arthur character in my fic, thinking readers would grow weary or tired of her and want more of or exclusively Arthur. But I can't create that way, because I believe relationships of all kinds are two-way streets, and this is a story of relationships. I also worried folks would find my Eliza cloyingly sweet, prim, and perfect. But I think there's plenty of material to round her out at this point. She has her own struggles and imperfections.
This is basically my therapy regarding no DLC :( —writing the one I've wanted so badly. I knew I had to create a character whom I felt deserved Arthur, even though I knew he'd never allow himself to have something good with someone. And I knew I had to personally adore her and provide enough backstory and character development to show the reasons why. She came straight out of my heart. :) So again, I can't thank you guys enough for sticking with me. I hope future chapters won't disappoint. :)
- Rosie