Playing Dangerous ↠ ||RDR2 // Arthur Morgan X Reader||

chapter 12; cruel world

'You like your women,
And you like fun.'

-

Months Later ~

What a bizarre cascade of unfortunate memories you had held from the past 5 months.

Leaving the one thing you could call family behind – and a man you were madly in love with, was not an easy task to do – but it was not as if you very much had the choice.

Arriving in Saint Denis was like being hit with a palate of bricks, a real shock to the system. In your life beforehand, particularly in England – everything had been very much served to you on a platter. A comfortable country home, loving family, and no worries over money whatsoever. The only thing you used to fret over at home was what book you were going to read next.

And even so, when you had been at camp with the gang – you did worry sometimes but there was always the comfort of knowing you all appeared to have each other's backs. Saint Denis presented itself as this scary, looming monster that chucked the biggest bucket of responsibility onto your person to date.

You could clearly recall the terrifying and alienating feeling when you first rode down the main street on Boxer's back. It seemed only the simpler folk actually rode around, as many of the city society laughed hoitily from the back's of their carriages – or enjoyed the ease of taking a trolley around the wide brick-laid streets of Saint Denis. It was awful feeling hanging over you, knowing that among all of these seemingly other-worldly people, you would have to find some place to settle – and get some work.

It had all started with a rather shaky and nervous wobble into one of the local, smaller stores – thinking you would be safe there. You had asked the clerk whether he had needed some assistance with cleaning – and to your luck, the chap had accepted.

You did not enjoy the work by any means, it was back breaking and you didn't get a lot of money to show for it at the end of the long 12 hour shifts.

Not that you were given much time to stick it for long, as you were promptly fired for 'speaking to a customer with idea's above what your station should be'. You wanted to feel remorseful about the loss of your only source of income, but the truth was – some slimy man was coming onto you whilst you had been cleaning the front of the shop – and you gave him a few choice words that he had not been expecting to hear, especially from what he thought was a timid, young girl from England.

The weeks following this were hard indeed, Summer was beginning to fade fast into autumn, leaves from the trees were a distained brown – and even seemed greyer compared to that of the beautiful orange and red leaves you could see in the country. It was as if the very fibres of the city were now infected with the grime and smog of the working city and it's various industries. These dull assets just further convinced you that this was most certainly a cruel world, stuck in it's grinding gears of industrialism and depravity on one end – whilst the rich and wealthy folk swanned the streets with their money and notoriety.

You walked those damp rainy streets on that Autumn evening with nothing but Boxer's company and the last few scant bits of coin on your person. You had felt so guilty about all the money Arthur had given you – that you swore you would find your own work and not spend a penny of it. And that someday – you would return his money to him... That idea alone was enough to give you a small splinter of hope that you may get to see him again one day.

On a cold, dreary and soaking wet rainy night – you had walked into one of the big saloon's in the centre of the city, hoping to find your next bit of work in there. Bar work seemed more promising, if they would let a woman do such a thing like that. Under the warming yellow lights with laughter booming around you, you had been trying your best to explain that you did not shy away from any work – and that pulling pints and serving shots did not phase you one bit. The barman, with his seedy smirk and dark handlebar moustache, had quickly informed you that if you were not why of any type of work... then he might've had a place for you.