Hang Em' High [RDR2 X FEM!Reader]

Things In Motion

It's the next morning now, you were up early watching the sun come up, the canvas in the sky was painted red and gold with pink swirls blending the two colours together elegantly. You were sat on a decaying log overlooking the cliff when you heard some foot steps crunch behind you, you jolt around to be greeted by Hosea holding two cups of tea
"I, er, I wasn't sure if you took milk and sugar in your tea, so I put a little bit of both." He explained while holding out one of his cups to you
"That's brilliant thank you!" You replied while taking one of the cups out of his hand, he came and sat by you on the log. The two of you sat in silence for a few moments, taking in the beautiful view, eagles flew along the horizon and deers ran along the ground below you, it truly was a beautiful sight to see.
"Listen y/n, I know we haven't spoken much since you arriving, but Dutch tells me you're after the O' Driscolls, just like us. Now, I don't want you to think that you have to fight them if you want to stay with us, there's many other jobs you can do-"
"I want to fight them." You intervene. He looks at you with an are you sure? Look on his face
"I want to, Hosea. If we don't put an end to this they're going to keep attacking the boys when they're out doing jobs and they're going to continue to burn down innocent peoples barns." You explained and he smiled at you, a smile that showed he cared. He didn't want you to feel forced into doing or not doing anything.
"Alright then y/n, what are you good at that might help us defeat Colm O'Driscoll." You assumed this Colm was the leader.
"Well, I'm good a pick-pocketing and manipulating people, I haven't manipulated you don't worry-" you say worriedly, thinking that you may have said the wrong thing
"I know you haven't y/n don't worry, continue." He smiled again.
"I'm not very good with a gun though. I've never even held one." You added
"Well that's sorted then. Arthur will take you out to do some shooting practice and then you can meet me in this Salloon I know, there'll be people with money there. I want to see you in action!" He said while smiling before putting a hand on your shoulder and helping himself up.

The sun was completely up now and you were helping yourself to some fruit you found when you see Arthur emerge from his sleeping area, he comes over to you and you offer him an orange, he says thank you and begins peeling it while talking to you
"So, Hosea tells me I'm taking you shooting today?"
"Aha, if it's not too much trouble," you answer grinning at him
"I'm sure I can squeeze you in." He replied sarcastically before slicing some of the orange with his knife, throwing it in his mouth and giggling to himself slightly
"Hopefully I don't mess up too badly." You grin, watching him eat
" what's the worst that could happen!?" He yells, obviously joking. He threw another slice of cut orange in his mouth
"Eeeeexactly." You added and you both laugh. You trusted Arthur and you'd like to think he trusted you too. You we're excited for today you had a good feeling about it.
"Come on then." He spoke while waving his arm towards his horse, the two of you set off.

You and Arthur rode quickly into a forest twelve minutes horse ride away from camp, Arthur jumped off the horse, his feet landing with a thump before he placed his hands on your waist and helped you down, you landed much more elegantly.
"It's a nice spot this," you say while looking around
"Yeah, I like to come here some times when I need a break from Micah yapping in my ear." He said with an annoyed laugh
"Which one is Micah again?" You ask apologetically
"Oh, no You haven't met him yet. Lucky." He replied while putting empty glass bottles and metal cans on top of a tree stump
"I take it we don't like him very much then?" You ask watching him scavenge for targets
"You could say that." He said placing one, final empty beer bottle on the stump and walking over to you "now, y/n, this is a pistol." He says while holding out a small gun and holding it in front of you and labelling each part and making you repeat them back to him. You did it flawlessly. Which is surprising as you never did have a very good memory.
"Right, now you hold it like this and then when you're ready you pull the trigger." He said before pulling it himself and shooting the beer bottle on the far left, right in the centre.
"Ahaha, I can do that." You replied grabbing the gun out of his hands, he cautiously stood behind you, scared you'll miss so badly you'll hit him instead
"Deep breathe in and then when you exhale, pull it." He guided you. You scanned the glass bottle from straight down the top of the gun and took a deep breathe in and closed your eyes, you slowly let the air out your lungs and pulled the trigger. You opened your eyes to see the tree two feet away from the stump with a bullet wound.
"Not bad for a first try, maybe try keeping your eyes open this time." He said sarcastically, before gripping your hands and aiming them for you. "Now try again." You repeated the process. Deep breathe in, close your eyes, slowly exhale, open your eyes this time and shoot. You hit the top of bottle, shattering the top half.
"Yes! Well done!" Arthur cheered with a slight laugh of excitement, you did the same.

You and Arthur practised for a few hours, each hit you both cheered more than the last, you now felt comfortable with a gun. Arthur lead you back to the horse before helping you on and then climbing on, himself. You gripped a hold of him tightly, the whole way to Hosea you both joked and laughed together. You had only known each other for a few weeks, but it already felt like a lifetime.