Home Sweet Home - A Red Dead Redemption II story

The First Shall Be Last and The Camp Party

((Hello again everyone!!! Sorry for the hiatus, college has been going good for me and I've finally found some time to write because my college term is INCREDIBLY short. I'm sorry if this chapter is too long!!!))

The usual bustle of camp was muted.

Things were calm, the only sounds were the birds chirping and the fire crackling, the occasional conversation.

Ruth was comfortable in the quiet, relaxing against the hay bales with the horses.

That is until, a few of the boys returned with a particular red-headed tag-along, who was quite rowdy.

"The king is back!" He clamoured, with accent about as thick as the realest O'Driscoll.

He hobbled into camp with Javier and Charles to follow.

His return seemed to have lightened the spirits of camp, because things quickly became noisy and eventful.

Wasn't long before the camp had been blown into a party!

Ruth really began to wonder if this man was in fact the 'king' of camp.

"It's good to have you back, my dear boy!" Dutch greeted the new face jovially.

Ruth had never seen Dutch so happy.

She approached him to fill in some blanks.

"Mr. Dutch?"

"Yes, Miss?"

"Who is that?"

"That's Sean! He's been missing ever since we.. well, ever since we fled from Blackwater."

Ruth didn't know how long that actually was, but could account it to when she first started seeing their faces in Valentine. Roughly.

"He seems like quite a fella.. things sure livened up around here in a jiff."

"Oh, Miss.. we're just happy he's back. Let your hair down and enjoy the atmosphere!" He spread his arms out as he made his departure.

Ruth brought her fingers up to her hair. "My hair is down..?" she said to herself quietly, not understanding it was an expression. Her face
was perplexed as she watched the events unfold.

People had began to drink and Javier brought out his guitar, she even saw Uncle with a banjo!

Having never been to a party, Ruth didn't know what to do. She couldn't find Kieran anywhere and didn't want to sit with Bill while he was drinking the way he was.

She took a seat at the table that she sat at when she watched Tilly beat everyone at dominos.

"Enjoy the fun, Miss Bucker." Susan said, briefly putting a hand on her shoulder as she passed by, soon gathering around the fire where everyone began to sing.

Ruth felt like she had been dazed. Wasn't long ago when she was relaxing, nearly napping in the hay with the horses..now she's listening to the sounds of a party.

She hadn't noticed Arthur approach her, let alone Arthur return to camp.

"You okay, Miss Bucker?" He asked, sitting backwards on the chair opposite to her, setting his bottle on the table.