(Edited feb 20th 2019)
It didn't feel like morning, with the wind howling outside as rain pounded against the glass. There was little light in the room as the fire had gone out and the lamp on bedside table had run out of oil. Arthur Morgan found himself face down in a mass of soft pillows and sheets which tangled his naked body up. The cotton sheets soft against his skin at the smell of lavender perfume filled his nose. He reached around the bed hoping to grab hold of the woman he went to bed with, but no one was there. That was when the pound of a headache forced him awake, and he groaned lost for a moment in pain. Arthur peeled his face off the sweet-scented pillow and spotted a glass of water. He reached for it after sliding himself across the bed and untangling himself from the comforter. He sat on the edge of the while he chugged down the water.
"How much did I drink last night?" He asked himself as he pursed his lips. His mouth tasted like an ashtray, and the water did little to wash away the dryness in his throat. He was replaying the previous night in his head needing a minute to remember how he ended up in this room.
"Poker game, cigarettes outside, Rosalyn's room... Strawberry jam." No one was inside the room but him, the bed was empty, and his clothes gone. Through the arrangements of techniflavoured jams on the counter were still there except the jar of Strawberry which was split on the ground next to the bed with handprints across the base of the bed.
"I remember now," Scanning empty room he searched for where he had left his clothes and was sure he dropped his pants at the foot of the bed, but they were nowhere in sight. His gun was still on the stool where he left it, but his shirt, pants, vest and undergarments were gone.
"Izzy." He said with a snarl as he put his boots on and grabbed his gun belt. He looked around the room and spotted a black silk housecoat with purple trim. It didn't look like any regular house coat since it had orange dragon embroidered in it and long cuffed sleeves. It must have been some Asian garb, but it was the only thing in the room that would fit his shoulders. With a long heavy sigh, he put it on and covered up before leaving the room. Storming down the hallway in search of the devil who stole his clothes.
As he crossed the hall to the stairs he passed so many people, the storm had locked everyone in, and now he had to walk across the hotel dressed as a woman to an audience. Gasps followed snickers and giggles as not everyone found his display amusing but rather audacious. Holding the opening of the housecoat closed he kept his hand on the grip of his gun as he headed to the yellow lounge. Once he passed through the curtains, he noticed the tables filled with the same gaggle of ladies from the night before but this time had company. They all stopped and stared at him, some in snickers some full belly laughing, but he did not care. His eyes immediately feel on The Devil.
"Izzy," Arthur scowled angrily as everyone's eyes quickly darting to the back of the room where Isabella sat to breakfast with Rosalyn who had her back turned. Isabella had a big old smirk on her face as she watched Arthur come into the room. Sat next to her on the table was a well-folded stack of clothes inside a potato sack. Izzy stared at Arthur with a victorious grin on her face as Rosalyn turned to see what she was smirking about to spit out her coffee immediately. The blonde gasping for breath once she looked at him.
"Why are you wearing my Kimono Mr Callaghan?" Rosalyn asked shocked and one of the only people not amused by the situation.
"Izzy... my things." Arthur cleared his throat and spoke darkly not amused in the slightest.
"I don't know what you're talking about I've been on guard all right. I did find this outside are they yours?" Isabella said and opened the bag revealing his clothes folded and neatly for him. Arthur's eyes narrowed as Rosalyn got up and walked over to him grabbing the stack of clothes and shoving them into Arthur's hands.
"Do you know how expensive that is, take it off immediately." She said bitterly to Arthur in a hushed tone to not embarrass him further before turning back to give Izzy an icy glare.
"You happy now?" Arthur asked Izzy as the pair of them scolded her with their eyes.
"Delighted... you know you have something in your hair right?" Izzy said pointing to a glob of Strawberry jam caked on the side of his head.
"Oh, you tried my jams? Which one was your favourite?" Rosalyn asked as her tone flipped and Arthur just marched away with no response.
Arthur stormed back to his room where he fished the key out of his pants, crossing the same crowds of people who wanted to comment but he responded this time.
"Take a damn picture it will last longer. Now get outta my way!" He spoke loud and bitterly, instilling fear with his march despite his outrageous attire and the crowds stepped out of his way. Once he slammed the door behind him to his room, he wanted to rip the Kimono off but spotted himself in the full-length mirror seeing his reflection. He looked himself up and down and just started laughing. He looked ridiculous, but he had worn outfits worst then this. Arthur's muscular frame filled out the Kimono rather nicely as it draped over his skin delicately. He could tell how expensive it was as he brushed his fingers over the sleeves touching the silk fibres and the small beads sewn into the dragons shaping its scales. For a tiny moment, Arthur wanted to keep it.
"No, I will never live it down if Hosea or Dutch saw me in this." He chuckled to himself and delicately took it off. Rosalyn was the only one who sympathised with him, and as she said before, it was best not to force bad luck on those who do nice things. He folded it up to bring it back to her checking to make sure he didn't get anything on it. He got dressed in his clothes and put on his last clean shirt which was a red and brown checkered casual button up. He also scrubbed the jam from his hair using the grooming station water bowl and towel, finally packing his things to leave once he pulled himself back together.
"Time to get outta here." He said and searched through his satchel to grab something to eat. Instead, he noticed something else was missing, and he feverishly searched the bag unable to find it.
Since Arthur had left to change Rosalyn returned to the table where Isabella sat rather proud with herself. The glaring blonde down at the smug red-head with arms crossed and furrowed brows.
"What?" Izzy asked.
"What are you doing to that man? First, you sleep with him then embarrass him in front of the whole town on top of making it look like he slept with me? Hence embarrassing me at the same time and you have a smirk on your face?" Rosalyn asked.
"Hey, that's not what I was." Izzy started, but Rosalyn put her finger up to silence her, and she did.
"That's what you did. Your intentions don't matter; it's your actions that speak. You think poking bears in fun?" Rosalyn in front of everyone started to scold her.
"Rosie come on."
"Don't Rosie me! I'm not going to sit here and let you act like a careless bitter loser who resorts to childish antics instead of acting like an adult. Do you want to come with me to the frontier? Then you will apologise to Mr Callaghan and return everything you took from him. "
"Apologize! To him! He should apologise to me! Also, I gave back everything I took." Izzy stood up and threw her chair back
"Oh really? Where is his room key?" She asked
"In the left pocket where I found them."
"So you went looking for them?"
"N-No."
"What did you do with his keys?" She asked.
"Uh..." Izzy went quiet knowing if she kept talking Rosalyn would catch her in a lie.
"Give it to me," Rosalyn ordered holding out her hand. When Isabella didn't move, she stomped her foot and shouted. "Now!"
"Okay fine!" Izzy said and took out a leatherback journal from her bag and handed it to her.
"His diary? that's low."
"His journal, whatever. I just wanted to check something."
"Sure, Now go find your dog and hunt something for dinner."
"It's pouring rain out!"
"Take a poncho then," Rosalyn ordered and walked off with the journal headed towards Arthur's room.
"Fine! I'll go, I was gonna go anyways." Izzy said and groaned storming out with her bag.
Rosalyn got a few steps out of the room and slowed down a bit, tapping the binding of the journal in hand. Looking around she whistled innocently to herself and checked to see who was around while stepping into an empty lounge. Once Rosalyn was alone opened the book to a random page. Glancing over it she saw a drawing of a racoon sitting on a stump roughly sketched like it was in the middle of grooming. Another sketch was on the page as well of a small songbird and a deer lying in the grass. She scanned each drawing carefully before flipping the page. This sketch was of a giant bison in the snowy hills that took up two pages in the book.
"Whoa." She whispered turning the book to get a better view of the well-drawn picture. She flipped it again this time more towards the latest entries skipping the text until she saw the sketch of the gate to Strawberry. "This is what you find worthy of a page?" She asked wondering why he would sketch such mundane items — flipping the page again where she saw the portrait of herself in the book. Rosalyn rested her hand on her heart and was taken back by how accurately he captured her likeness in such a rough sketch. Though next to it was a better-drawn picture of Izzy, and she scowled a little bit.
"Lady Rosalyn?" A voice called to her, and she folded up the journal and tucked it under her arm in panic.
"I'm in here." SHe responded and stood up to turn and see Arthur of all people headed her way. Fully dressed this time with all his belongings in tow.
"Mr Callaghan!" She said caught red-handed.
"Have you seen Izzy? I believe she still has something of mine." He said as he handed back the folded Kimono to her.
"Oh? What on earth did she take." Rosalyn asked as she clutched the journal behind her back.
"Something I can't leave without, can you point me in her direction please?" Arthur asked skipping details. Rosalyn finding herself in a precarious position. She hesitated, knowing that if she gave it back, Arthur would surely brave the storm and leave after everything that happened.
"I told her to go hunting," Rosalyn said briefly.
"Shit, I better get to her before she leaves," Arthur said and spun on his heels and took off without hesitation towards the stable.
"Wait!" Rosalyn said quietly after him and stood dumbfounded he just took off in the middle of a conversation. Once she regained her senses, she ran after him, but he was already out the door.
"Oh, That rude son of a! Ugh I shouldn't have done that. No, it's fine they will just run into each other at the stable. He'll come back" Rosalyn said Arthur stopping on the patio watching him walk. He calmly headed for the stable as Rosalyn looked to the kimono in her hands.
"I should put this away." Rosalyn ran upstairs and into her room and quickly drop off the Kimono and get dressed in something cute.
"He likes cowgirls fine. I got pants here." She pursed her lips and shuffled through the mess of clothes on the floor.
Rosalyn emerged from the mess wearing dark riding pants, a dark blue blouse and Chocolate brown leather jacket. Her riding gloves in hand and rifle strung over her shoulder.
"See I'm tough! I'll go after them. I know how to scavenge berries and ride a horse." She talked herself up in the mirror and grabbed her riding bag and stuffed the Journal into it as well as the stable chip for Princess.
"I rode her yesterday." Rosalyn triumphantly walked down the stairs and headed out in the rain.
"Ms Bush! Where are you going? It's going to thunder again; you should stay inside." William ran up to her wearing his casual shirt wet all over from cleaning the floor.
"Oh, I know! I need to go pick up from berries for my pies. I'll be back in an hour or two. Honey will take care of things while I am gone and I'll be back so we can get cooking as I promised." She said in one breath and pinched his cheek and took off out the door before he could stop her. Down the muddy road towards the stable as she saw Arthur riding away on Duke.
"Fuck!" She cursed and ran towards the stable. As she reached the stable Arthur was out of sight, and she stomped her feet.
"Dammit! Quick Give me the horse!" She yelled and shoved the chip onto the stableman's hands who was at the gate about to close it.
"Ms Bush! I'm sorry Ms Morningstar already came and took Aristotle out hunting."
"Not the Mustang the Arabian!"
"Oh! The white one! I dunno miss she's been rather panicked this morning, the storm is scaring her something fierce I would wait till Ms Morningstar comes back with Aristotle."
"I can't wait! I need to go now! Just saddle her up I can handle her!" Rosalyn said exasperatedly.
"As you say, miss." The stableman took her chip and went off to prepare Princess for her, and she stood there tapping her foot stubbornly. Her thoughts were spinning revolving around Arthur and Izzy in the forest alone.
"Whoa! Okay, calm down Rose. It's just a book. He's going to go out there, she's not going to have it, and again I'm going to get her laid. Ugh. He's not even that good looking, and this whole thing is stupid, I'm wet. I'm tired. My room is disgusting, and she's going to pay for it, and now my Kimono from Toyko smells like sex. It wasn't even with me" She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest. Alone in the rain now able to let out her frustrations.
"Stupid Arthur and his stupid leather sketchbook. See. It's just childish doodles." She ripped it out of the bag and started angrily flipping through it.
"Just a bunch of cute little animals what kind of man doodles..." As she was flipping through the pages, she stopped at a ledger marked with a string. She turned it open to the page and glanced it over. There was a list of numerical entries of various dollar amounts in a column, next to it a sketch of a city layout and an x circled by a red dot. A treasure map next to a ledger recording all the savings held by a gang in Blackwater. Dutch Van Der Linde's name among the list.
"Uh oh." She said nervously closing the book slowly as the colour from her face disappeared leaving her white as a ghost.
"Miss. The horse is ready for you now." The stableman called out to her as she waved to him nervously as he leads the horse to her. Princess who was dragging her hooves in the dirt complained loudly as the two strangers handled her. Rosalyn made a squeak like sound while staring at the horse who seemed a lot bigger than the last time she rode her. With a deep breath, she shoved the journal into her bag and took the reigns he handed to her.
"Alright girl calm down! We have to go!" Rosalyn said holding onto her dominant voice picturing the red-heads face in the eyes of the horse.
"You are going to listen to me okay! We gotta get out there fast and come back in once piece alright!" Attempting to bargain with the horse who looked her over and calmed a little bit.
"Hey, it worked." She said when Princess shoved her back with her nose and tried to bite the lead and rip it out of her grip.
"No!" Rosalyn shouted holding the reigns tightly and tangled it around her wrist so the horse couldn't pull it from her grip.
"Okay! No more Ms nice lady." Rosalyn huffed and yanked the reign down making princess's head bow down. Rosalyn then grabbed the horn of the saddle and climbed up onto Princess despite her jaunting as the stableman assisted in keeping her still.
"Are you sure about this!?" He asked when the horse reared a bit.
"Okay. Off we go." Rosalyn tapped Princess's sides with her heels and clicked her tongue as the horse immediately set into a fast trot instead of a walk and took off down the road going the wrong way.
"Whoa! Whoa, Princess! Slow down!" Rosalyn panicked horse stomped through the puddles, and she held on desperately. The horse was leading her as people watched he ride in circles, hoping to see her thrown. Once Princess got her burst of energy out Rosalyn took control and turned her around to go down the road after Arthur.
"I got this!" She cheered to herself as they flew down the trail out of control.
Arthur and the Duke were trotting at a quick pace following a trail in the mud left behind by a heavy horse. The rain had cleared the path of all the other travellers, and the single set of hoof prints lead him deeper into the forest headed into a groove. They rode slowly as The Duke manoeuvred around the tightly packed trees with ease.
"Well Duke, if she went hunting this would be a good spot to go. " Arthur said out loud stopping the mule as the tracks merged with a second. He dismounted from his Mule to get a better look at the prints.
"You think she took it on purpose to lead me out here Duke?" He asked the creature after he fed him common bulrush plant which he lazily chewed.
"Yeah sounds rather stupid, why would she embarrass me like that if she just wanted to shoot me? Does she want to steal her money back from us you think?" He asked Duke out loud who kept munching nonchalantly.
"Yeah, she should have just taken the map, not the whole journal, of course, I would notice it gone." He knelt next to a set of paw prints next to the hoof prints.
"This must be her... big dog," he said and put his hand next to the paw print which was filling up with water and the size of his palm. He stood back up and grabbed the lead of his mule and walked alongside them to follow the path keeping quiet as they travelled into the forest.
"I'm going to need your help to get the jump on her." He rubbed Duke's neck as they climbed over the roots of a large oak tree.
Deep within the trees, the rain was light since the leaves above sheltered the forest floor. On such a stormy day many creatures stayed within their shelters but not everyone. A wild boar was roaming about looking for truffles, his loud snorts pinpointing his location. The beast had stumbled upon a groove of mushrooms and was feasting on his own until a loud crack of a rifle echoed in the trees. The birds flew away, and a deer went scampering off, but the wild boar fell dead on the ground with a mouthful of half-eaten fungi. Izzy who was laid out under a shelter of leaves and brush cocked her rifle which smoked from the last shot she fired. A perfect bullseye on the hog's skull.
"Piece of cake." She smirked happily.
"She can't be mad at me now. Everyone loves bacon. Why is she so fucking mad at me anyway." She asked her rifle before reloading it. As the bullet punched into the chamber, she noticed in the distance a Mule break through the brush on its own. He was saddled and headed straight for the groove of mushrooms where she had just shot the boar.
"Who's a fucking mule is that?" She asked herself and put her scope up to her eye to get a closer look. The creature slid down the muddy slope into the grove and happily started eating the patch of half-eaten mushrooms the boar had found. Izzy looked around to see if the owner was close.
"Some bastard trying to steal my kill?" She said out loud hesitant about whoever was its rider was. Fifteen minutes went by as Izzy remained still in her hiding place, the Mule just grazing the entire time. The mule had fed over to where the dead hog laid and started to climb on top of it stomping his feet on the pig which was blocking a patch of mushrooms.
"Oh shit!" Izzy said and jumped out of her hiding spot and headed down to scare the Mule away before it ruined her kill.
"Hey shoo!" She yelled and ran up to the beast before she heard a gun cock to her left. She slid to a stop and cursed under her breath.
"Stupid. Okay, you got me." She shook her head and turned to see Arthur Morgan of all people standing on a fallen tree with a Carbine Repeater pointed at her.
"I thought you had a sense of humour Arthur." She shouted and raised her hands her rifle still in one of them.
"Hilarious as that morning prank was, taking my things is not. I guess that's on me for trusting you." He said and started to approach her.
"Haha yeah, that's why I gave em back. I'm not interested in robbing you. That's your thing." Izzy said and lowered her arms but kept her rifle pointed away from Arthur, but did point it at the Mule. She whistled twice and readied her gun at the Duke.
"Hm, you think I wouldn't have noticed you pinch my journal." He asked quickly glancing around him wondering where the dog was since it was not with her.
"Yeah I thought you would, so I gave it to Rosalyn to give back to you," Izzy said also looking around for her dog as well but raised her gun to the Mule to stop Arthur from approaching her further.
"Don't shoot my Mule, and don't lie. Give it back, and we can go our separate ways" Arthur said with narrow eyes.
"Excuse me? I think I deserve the right to take away one of your beloved pets. Besides I'm not lying, go talk to Rosalyn she has your Journal." Izzy said before whistling again a little more desperately, this time hearing a twig snap in the distance.
"I did, she told me you were out here," Arthur said and fired a warning shot at her which hit the rocks at her feet and made Duke sprint off. Izzy was going to shoot when Arthur cracked a second shot closer to her feet making her jump.
"Hand it over!" He ordered when a dog barked to his right. Before he could change targets, a colossal dog leapt out of the bushes and tackled him. Knocking the Repeater from his hands and taking him to the ground. He was expecting to get mauled, but instead, the giant dog started licking him. She had a squished face with floppy ears and a brown and beige coat of fur. The dog was massive and weighed at least 200 lbs currently centred on his chest.
"Hey, Bijou, who's a good girl. Arthur this is Bijou." Izzy said and readied her gun at him as Arthur drew his pistol from his belt and was ready to shoot the dog.
"Are you sure it's a dog and not a bear?" He asked with his finger on the trigger, but since it wasn't biting him yet lovingly licking him, he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger as she slobbered all over his face.
"Bijou, Bijou get off I got it," Izzy said her rifle now pointed at Arthur on the ground. Arthur grabbed the dog's neck and pointed his pistol at her head.
"Fuck off Arthur! Don't you fucking dare!" She said bitterly.
"Give me back my journal!" Arthur yelled as the dog started to growl against his grip.
"Bijou No calm! I don't have it. Arthur let her go don't scare her!" Izzy tried to stay calm but in the distance, and ear piercing scream broke through the trees. They both stopped recognising the tone of the voice as a female. Bijou was ready to bite Arthur, but at the sound of the scream, he let go and let the dog jump off him.
"Rosalyn told you she didn't have it?" Izzy asked her gun still training on him.
"She said you went hunting. I... stormed out after that." Arthur said as a second scream was heard this time an English accented voice calling for help.
"She didn't come with you did she?"Izzy asked with wide eyes. They both stared at each other for a second.
"Shit." They said, and unison as Arthur got up from the ground. Izzy was holstering her rifle on her back heading back for her horse.
"How the hell did she get out this far? I have the only riding horse."
"I think she took Princess," Arthur said as he whistled for the Duke.
"You mean my Arabian?" Izzy said and ran up the hill to a black Mustang horse hitched out of sight from the groove. The muscled horse had a majestic long raven mane and stood proud saddled with a gator skinned set up lined with gator fangs. A turkey already tied off in the saddle off his left flank.
"First off, That is a nice horse. Secondly, I thought you didn't want my horse?" Arthur said and saddled up on his Mule waiting for her.
"Who would, she's a skittish coward. I went to take her out this morning, and she wouldn't come near me. How could Rosalyn get on her? She's afraid of horses." Izzy climbed up on Aristotle and turned him around towards where they heard shouting.
"She didn't mention that yesterday when she was riding her, the road is back that way lets head up by cutting through the trees to see if we can get in front of them before they get lost," Arthur said and scanned the trees.
"You know, I wish I never met you," Izzy said sourly ignoring his suggestion and taking off back the way she came.
"For Pete's sake, Hold on just one minute. I thought we were getting along just fine last night, what the fuck happened?" He asked.
"Now? You want to talk about it now?" Izzy asked.
"Yes actually! What the hell is the matter with you? I thought we had sorted things out?" Arthur asked abandoning his plan and following Izzy and Aristotle. The Duke was having a hard time keeping up with the stallion forcing Arthur to shout.
"Becuase we slept together while you were drunk!? HA! Nothing has changed Arthur. You're still an outlaw, a degenerate and a thief!" Izzy shouted back as they dodged around the trees, Aristotle having to go around the obstacles the Duke could squeeze through.
"Then why go along? Why lead me on like that? For revenge? To give me a taste of my own medicine?" Arthur demanded, catching up to her. Izzy went quiet as they broke out of the trees and onto the main road. She scanned the ground and noticed a sporadic set of prints charged through not long ago.
"Well!?" Arthur finally caught up as the Duke let out a wail having been pushed so hard to follow.
"I'm thinking hold on!" Izzy yelled and checked which way the prints headed. Another scream was echoing ahead.
"This way!" She called and took off.
"Izzy!" Arthur yelled after her and looked to the Duke.
"I'm sorry boy. Yaw!" He gave him a hard kick, and the Mule jolted off behind the Mustang. Unable to keep up with Izzy who had launched her stallion into a full gallop after Rosalyn and the runaway Arabian.