outtathedamnway | Open Post

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Hey there, Mister! Open post for PSLs/whatever.

Which is definitely some of the problem, it seems... there are times they haven't been able to act as they maybe should have.

"In my own experience, talk only ever goes so far. You gotta act... you always gotta act, sooner or later, and you won't get anywhere if you're too late." Act too late, and you or your companions may all end up dead. Or good as dead, imprisoned, or otherwise in a bad way. He's been there, done that, they all had. Look what happened in Blackwater. Things had been really hanging on a precipice there, it felt like just dangling over a cliff's edge... But Arthur was still, even now, willing to trust in Dutch to see them through. He'd always managed it before.

Sure, lately, there was a lot going wrong, but times had changed, enemies were closing in, it just... wasn't the same anymore. Dutch just... he needed to adapt his plans more, that had to be it. He'd come through in the end, or... well, what, exactly? Dutch, Hosea, they're supposed to be the brains, while he's more than content to be the brawn. Always has been. Or... again, it's what he tells himself as much as he tells others, tells himself and then goes off and overthinks it all anyway, when he gets a quiet moment by himself with his journal by the campfire.

"What we're up against, it's not like it used to be. I for one wish we could get back to more open land, away from all of this..." He waves dismissively toward the direction of the city. If he could spend less time in the cities around these parts, the better.

"I think you could be happy holing up in a cabin somewhere away from the rest of the world and all its people till your final days." Sadie shook her head with humor, but there was some truth to it too. Arthur always seemed ill at ease around people, large groups of them or ones he didn't yet know how to approach.

He was no coward by any means, nor was he antisocial, but she felt like he just personally had little use for the majority of the human race. He made exceptions with the gang, and even then some more specially than others, but by and large if he could eschew the companionship of most people.

This was a family they had built here out of wildly disparate people who came together to support each other, all of those personalities and skills woven together into a strong and cohesive tapestry. He might not see where he fit in, but he was a central thread for all of them. And more and more, Dutch was the one coming apart at the seams.

"But maybe you're right, we could.. should get out of places like this. I just don't know if I see how anything anyone's workin' right now is aimed to get us there."

"Now that sounds like a fine way to live... out on a mountainside, with plenty to hunt and fish... and no one to get in my way..." Maybe he'd stop by the nearest town if he really needed something, but a man could get by pretty much living off what he caught. It was indeed just Arthur's way. Dutch kept talking about Tahiti, but give Arthur some distant place back out west and he'd be perfectly fine. The cities were filled with all kinds of scum worse than anything he'd come across out on the road. Just a hive of desperation and double-crossing. He appreciates the honesty of "shoot or be shot" out in the open country, not... whatever sort of scams they run in town. Awful as he sees himself, even he's got to have some kind of standards.

And when it came to the company he kept... well... he did like it, deep down even want it sometimes, he just preferred being around those he considered to be his own, the gang. He'd even join in around the campfire, some nights when they were talking, singing, whatever it took to pass the time.

Somehow, it all worked for their gang. Somehow, they made it work. But Arthur still saw it as Dutch who held them together, one of their masterminds. Even if lately... well, best not to think too much on it. It was something to puzzle over later, maybe write down a couple of those thoughts, it always seemed he could make more sense out of some things when he wrote it out...

"I don't see it, either, not unless someone's got a damn good lead to go off of in these parts, something to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, we'd just as soon find somewhere else... maybe not so much around the swamps, and not too close to any of the bigger cities... can't really tell the difference between those anyway...one's just as full of gators as the other..."

"Sounds a little quiet for me, I had quiet, and it didn't take." She and Jake had tried, they honestly had. But Colter was a hard place, and it made them hard living there. The winters, the bandits, the damned bears and wolves. Half the time they were scraping just to get by and the rest, well, you can do a lot when you have love and determination driving you.

She'd lost one of those, but she was still determined, too much so if you asked a lot of men, which she didn't. Sadie didn't care overmuch what people said or thought about her. Them that liked her, and she liked got on just fine, and them that didn't either stayed out of her way or they'd end up not bothering her in a permanent sort of way. She wasn't a complex and mysterious woman, everything about her was more or less worn out front.

She liked the gang, most of them anyhow, well enough. Some she had a soft spot for out of just their personality, some had impressed her with their strength and smarts, some were just as stubborn as she was, and she had to like them or hate herself. Arthur was the one who crossed over through all categories, she felt the most at home and at ease with him because she knew full well he wouldn't lie to her, or do something intentionally to hurt her. He was a better man than he ever gave himself credit for, and he'd just shoo her on if she tried. So she didn't, not out loud anyway.

She'd been thinking over that when he made his gator comment and drew a short snort of a laugh from her. "I'd rather deal with the ones in the swamp if I had to choose, least I know what they want."

Where could they go though? The law was still nosing around, there had been enough close calls for that to be apparent. North was cold, and if they decided to turn that way again, she'd go off on her own. She wasn't looking to ever live somewhere so cold again, it made her ache in body and heart.

No, south was really the only way she saw for them to go. East was building up cities faster than she could imagine. And telegraph lines meant they could have some tinstar waiting for them before they even had time to ride from one place to another. No, they would have to head down as far as they could to put miles between them and those that would put them behind bars or worse. If along the way she was able to put a few O'Driscolls in the ground, she'd consider that just a happy coincidence.

"We gotta move and sooner's better'n later for us. Maybe that's the next thing to work on. Just scoutin' out new places and putting an ear to the ground. If we could just get somewhere that we can sit for a bit it'd help." She thought anyway.

"They're honest about wanting to sink their teeth into you out in the swamps. You can't ask for much more than that." You never could be sure with some of the human ones, especially the likes of what you ran across in cities like Saint Denis. So that was one good reason among many why he'd just as soon avoid going there, if they could help it. Laying low meant keeping out of the populated areas, anyway, maybe only heading to town if they needed something. But hell, there was probably a good chance they'd have to head off in that general direction before long.

Arthur patted his horse gently as the road started to curve a bit, the trees thicker in this area, the further from town they got. Just to his liking, yes... "There ain't anything wrong with a bit of quiet, though it never lasts long. Seems like it's just not meant for the likes of us." Anytime they'd settle in, and just get used to their location, something would come up, and they'd have to move on, and it happened more often, lately. Which... was troubling. But there it was. There was no leaving the outlaw life, no denying that this was just... the way it went.

"Still, I'd be glad to have you along for that. Let's just say I trust your judgment... you can make sure we get us a spot that's not too quiet... just quiet enough." Maybe on his own, a secluded wilderness life might be feasible, but with the whole gang to think of, they needed a lot more in the way of supplies. But being able to settle for a time and better plot out their next move really did seem like what they ought to do. "Someplace with good hunting nearby, a stream or lake for fishing... good open space for the horses... more alligators than Pinkertons... not asking for much now, am I?"

She laughed again, something that seemed to happen easier and more frequently in some company than others. He trusted her judgement? Hadn't it been Arthur who pulled her back from perforating Pearson? She'd been angry and felt like no one was seeing or hearing her until that moment, but Arthur had changed things. He'd taken notice, and he'd spoken up for her, after a little practice she went from being a fine shot in her own right to down right frightening when she turned a barrel on someone. A necessary change in her, like she'd been one of those caterpillars that needed to turn into something else to be finished. Though she was never going to be anything so pretty or fragile, so maybe it was more like how steel got stronger when it was tempered.

"Yer askin' plenty, but I think 'tween us we can manage it. Hardest part's gonna be keeping people off our backs once we settle in anywhere. Seems like as soon as we get there, we're having to think about pullin' up stakes everywhere we go." She didn't lie it much, it was too hard to get people rallied when they felt unstable, save for the couple who maybe thrived on the chaos. She could do it alone, she figured, now anyway, but there were others who needed the safety and security of the gang.

"But I'll let ya know if I spot our little paradise, or get some good leads on it. So long as we ain't headed back into the cold, I'll find a way to deal with it." If she had her way she'd never set foot in a place like that again. The snow was too full of memories, and it'd take a hell of a lot to coax her back there.

It definitely surprised Arthur himself sometimes, if he were to think back to the situation they'd found Sadie in. Right away, there'd been something different about her, a sure enough sign she wasn't likely to be able to just go back to a more 'normal' way of life... But that in itself didn't make someone worth trusting. After all, she was driven by that thirst for revenge, something which could consume a person if they weren't careful. He'd never been a vengeful type himself, but he knew too well where it came from and what it could do. He'd seen that look in her eyes. And yet, despite that, there was something about her he knew he could count on. Maybe it was because the vengeance came ultimately out of loyalty, and that was something he especially understood...

"Guess we'll just have to keep that in mind, and make sure not to get too comfortable wherever else we go. I'd just as soon avoid the cold too... and the swamps... and the whole of this area, if it comes to it... I'd go back out west, if we could." But Blackwater. No chance of that happening anytime soon, and they all knew it. The law'll be right on any of them the moment they set foot in that region, he's more than willing to bet. "Still, there's parts worth appreciating, some good open country... just far enough from any larger settlements... I'm sure you'll come across something. They're doing their damndest to tame it all, but they can't get everywhere."

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