#worsethanwolves

mary approached charles when nerves bade her so. whispered so as not to alert the snake. charles, nods in response to her plan and both sneak off in the night. i can track a little ways. hopefully we'll run into him. stay close. horses saddled, mary spurs her horse forward behind charles. bill only watches them in the glow of his cigar, rifle resting in the crook of his arm.

an hour drags by, mary leaves charles to track. how can he see? another hour when charles, the ever vigilant, raises a hand, and she pulls on her mare's reins a little harder than meaning to. the horse whinnies--- followed by another. charles suddenly spurs taima into a gallop and mary follows.

          mary-beth  didn’t  drink  too  often—she’d  seen  the  way  it  made  the  men  in  camp  lose  their  heads—but  every  so  often,  she  didn’t  mind  it.  today  happened  to  be  one  of  those  days.  she  had  full  intentions  of  swindling  the  bartender  out  of  a  drink  or  two—not  that  she  didn’t  have  the  money,  but  if  she  didn’t  have  to  pay,  well,  that  just  made  it  all  that  much  more  sweet.

          in  the  midst  of  her  sweet  talking,  however,  a  gruff  voice  reached  her  ears  and  a  beer  was  sat  down  in  front  of  her.  she  didn’t  even  have  to  look  up  to  see  who  it  was.  her  lips  twitched  upwards  in  slight  amusement  before  her  eyes  trailed  over  to  the  man  beside  her.

          “ well,  aren’t  you  just  the  gentleman ? ”  she  asked,  a  soft  playfulness  to  her  tone.  “ how  will  i  ever  repay  you ? ”

          it’s  been  what  feels  like  a  long,  exhausting  day,  and  it’s  hardly  past  noon.  all  mary-beth  knows  is  that  she  is  in  dire  need  of  a  break—grimshaw  be  damned—and  she  fully  intends  on  taking  one.  she  can  already  hear  the  unread  books  calling  her  name  as  she  passes  by  arthur’s  tent—only  to  stop  short  once  she  notices  that  he’s  focused  and  hunched  over.

anyways, while half of him heals most of the major wounds within hours, the human side aches from it. his knuckles are black and blue, blood-stained in the crevices of his fingernails. hell, he tries not to think of the taste of hot blood in the back of his throat, forced to swallow ── charles clears his throat.

❛ it's nothing to fuss about, ❜ he teases, trying not to limp from the wound on his calf. damn, the pesky memories of the fight have been brutal. wonder how arthur will take it if he debates telling it.

she looks away for a moment, clearing her throat and meets his quick glance just as she glances at him again. as if caught being indecent in staring, mary, with a shake of her head, chuckles and focusses back to her reading.

❛ 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐰? ❜ @worsethanwolves asks, that sultry voice of his. mary nods as she stands, dusting off her skirt of grass. in favour, she tossed her book to place her hands on her hips, watching him strut with such confidence that the closer he got, the more her grin grew and cheeks pinken. fingers reach to dance over his hips as he places a gentle kiss on her crown, which she hums happily to. she'll probably chastise him later but for now, mary practically throws herself against him, wrapping her arms to fingerlocks behind his neck. completely enamoured and, to put it mildly, intoxicated, ❛ 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢'𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲? ❜

―  𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺. @worsethanwolves accepting. was she? sokanon double-takes to look up at arthur. confused wades away to fingers feebly clutching the stiff blanket placed around her shoulders. the chill air sits longer now that it is near summer's end, especially on the reservation. It sits higher on the mountain and beside a small lake.

but any sane person could see it was more than that; women, children, elders and anyone who wasn't affected by whatever sickness plaguing them were either coughing their lungs out or trying not to die from fever alone. she's done what she can, and now, she's grasping between staying awake until monroe returns or sleep.

― 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃  &  𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄. @worsethanwolves accepting.

it seemed like the closer one's tent to the water, the more humid you had to suffer. even leaf-shaped shadows under a thick canopy tree did nothing to stifle the heat. mary bore the best she could, rifling through her books and contacts' papers. business-like. after returning from valentine with the simple news of not returning to that wretched place for the time being. the layover in camp was simply to visit arthur and possibly be on her way by the end of the week.

but god, this heat and humidity even make this woman irritable. the silk of her blouse sticking to her skin, her skirt stifling her legs. it wasn't until later that evening that mary had had enough. a quick supper, some light-reading, and under the cover of night, she approaches arthur by the shore of clemens point. with a firm tug on his sleeve, mary leads the way, already working the buttons of her shirt, unclasping the metalwork of her belt, tugging her skirt and kicking it off somewhere in the grass once privacy allows her to do so.

―  𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑻𝒀 𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑫𝑶𝑴 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺. @worsethanwolves accepting.

" 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢. " the question came out of nowhere and left charles confused more than anyone outta. he spies arthur from the corner of his eyes, careful as not to keep them reflecting in the night like an animal's.