Freak

15.

15.

G-guys... Guys! How the hell is this story number one in 'Arthur Morgan'? what?!...

Well okay anyways... I just thought I should give you something lighthearted in these, quite honestly, fucked up times. Be safe, take care of yourselves, your families and the people we share our world with. Remember that no matter what there will never be a world where everyone sees others as their equals, but there can be a world where they are so few that we can leave them behind with their own dark thoughts, we just have to fight our way there.

//Linnéa <3 

It amazed Arthur how much she'd grown. In just three years she'd gone from a tiny, undernourished child to a healthy, determined young lady. The gang was very much what it had always been but with the difference that Blue now had a finger in most everything that was going on. She was still a kid and really shouldn't know anything about robbing trains or how to open safes. Sure she didn't know from first hand experience, Arthur was still very much against her taking part in any of it for real, but Dutch and Hosea had taken to involving her in the planning. She had feeling for it, they said, knew how to get in and out without being seen, knew how people reacted to situations and how to handle it, in short, she was an asset to the gang.

Apart from helping them plan robberies she was just as helpful around camp as she'd always been, getting water, doing laundry or chopping vegetables, usually working with one hand and holding a book in the other. No matter what, there was always a book... Arthur had asked her time and time again to not read while walking! Since she'd walked into all types of objects and natural obstacles, causing everything from nosebleeds to black-eyes and sprained ankles.

One of those black-eyes were presently fading on her sun-kissed face as she absentmindedly twirled a lock of hair around her finger, reading out loud to Hosea, who still insisted on giving the children lessons in reading and writing.

Arthur, for once, had nothing to do. They had enough food and supplies and since they were currently on the move it was hard to plan for any... economic work... He'd taken care of his horse, shaved and helped around camp but now here was simply nothing more to do, so he sat down in the shade of a tree with his journal and pencil. Through the years he'd filled many journals with thoughts and sketches to keep track of his life, though he had to admit that since Blue came into the picture, she'd been the primary subject in them. He had records of every injury, cold or problem she'd had and every good moment he wanted to remember. And it was by looking though his sketches that he could really tell how much she'd grown.

Carefully he let the graphite run over the paper forming the still childlike roundness of her face, the concentrated look in her eyes and the little scar through her eyebrow, the one she got the day they met.

She always seemed to know when he was drawing her and would hide behind her hair, so her face was the first thing he had to catch the likeness of. She looked up at him, smiled embarrassedly and ducked her head down towards the book, creating a protective barrier of golden locks. She did this thing where she'd scrunch her nose and close one eye whenever she was embarrassed or didn't want to show that she was happy or about to laugh. The warm feeling of fondness bloomed in his heart, she was still shy.

He sat there for maybe an hour, just fiddling with the sketch, adding and erasing to get her likeness just right. Eventually her lesson with Hosea was done and she left the older man at the table and made her way over to where Arthur sat in the cool shadow. He brushed away little sticks and leaves on the ground next to him and lifted his arm as an invitation to sit down with him, wrapping it comfortably around her shoulders. Carefully she grabbed the journal from his lap and studied the open page.