RDR2: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔

Morning Grogginess In All Its Glory

It was early morning when Arthur's eyes cracked open, perhaps due to the pervasion of bright sunlight blasting down upon them.

Still bleary eyed and in dire need of coffee, he gradually extricated himself from the roots of the tree and made his way to the long dead fire.

He began on his mission to once again to rekindle it to life - when suddenly - the figure sleeping in his cot started to rustle. He almost hadn't noticed her she had been resting so peacefully, but now she had been brought to his attention. Her slender form was twisted into a sort of fetal position and her hair wrapped around in so many differing directions Arthur couldn't make head nor tail of the tow-colored mess.

Arthur hoped that she'd wake soon, for he wasn't too eager to wake Anne up himself. You could learn a lot about a person just by how they are in the morning. Mornings seemed to have the talent for removing the filters from people's mouths. The problem only seems to increase generally if you're the cause for the interruption of their beauty sleep.

Overall, it was not an experience he looked forward to. But, for now, he busied himself with making himself a coffee - a lifelong dream he had since he woke up this very morning.

As he continued to boil the bean based beverage, it's bitter yet earthy scent filled the air. This in turn caused the other inhabitant to finally stir awake. There was one of his dilemmas solved. He thought.

She sat up and propped herself on one arm. She had an unkempt look typical to most people in the early morning, a cross expression plastered on her face.

"Is that coffee?" Her voice sounded coarse, another symptom of early morning tiredness.

Arthur nodded with a faint "hmm" in response and continued to watch over it intently.

At his confirmation, her face suddenly bore a very disgusted look. "Not sure how you could drink something like that."

He chuckled at her disbelieving tone, "It's either this or wishing you had the sense to drink it for the rest of the day."

Anne arched an eyebrow in his direction. "I think I'll take my chances."

Arthur threw her a simple, "Suit yourself.." before taking a lengthy sip of the drink. It being too soon, the slightly scalding liquid blistered his tongue but he beared through it, wanting to get it down quickly as possible. He had a long day ahead of him that no doubt did not end at finding the treasure, if he did find it today anyhow.

This in turn rose a question to his lips. "So, how long do you think it'll take to find this so-called 'treasure'?" His voice was lined with doubt. He still wasn't sure if he should trust her on this whole thing or if she was just cracked.

Anne had not missed the doubt in his voice, and a glare that made itself apparent on her face was a clear show for that. "I'm sure you'd save a lot of energy if you'd just quit questioning me. Hell, you might even save enough to not need that coffee."

Arthur surveyed her tired form before commenting, "Sure... and then I could become as energetic and sprightly as you are." He said sarcastically in a lighthearted tone.

Her face cracked into a grin before she retorted. "Oh shut up.." she drawled out.

She was indeed an odd one. Not counting for her clothes, of course. It seemed it hadn't taken long for her to make herself comfortable in his presence. Considering Arthur's generally intimidating appearance, this wasn't always the case.

She broke his concentration with a hasty afterthought, "That reminds me.... it's gonna be kind of nippy where we're going. It'd be nice if you could lend a coat."

Arthur didn't even glance back up at her before sparing a, "I think you'll live.."

Not one to be so easily discouraged she pushed further, "Let me rephrase that: it's going to be freeze your balls off kind of nippy." She made it a point to emphasize the word 'freeze'.

Arthur was a bit thrown off by the blunt language to which had forced a light chuckle out of him before responding. "How very ladylike of you to say, miss... uhh..." he trailed off. He had continued to carry their conversation with him as he sauntered over to his horse and began to rummage in its saddlebag for an extra coat.

"Anne." She provided.

However, the response had appeared to have flown over Arthur's head as he carried a rather ragged looking maroon coat over to her and stated, "Here, kid. I reckon this should keep you alive long enough to find the treasure."

Anne shot him a questioning glance, "Kid? That's new.." didn't seem she was too fond of the new title.

Arthur had already found his seat on the horse as he turned his head in her direction. "Not to me it ain't," he continued on impatiently, "now hurry up before I decide to just up and leave you high and dry."

With a huff, she heaved herself once again onto the back of the stallion and they began on their journey.