#I hate how this site just butchers the resolution

[panksage]

I use Gortash as a prop to bully my durge for his crimes.

[plantsandpupper]

Today is my first day off of 14!!!!! Your girl is taking some much needed vacation time for my birthday 🥳

Im usually one to not make a fuss but with world happenings and just stuff in general we are going to vegas baby! It’s probably been 5 years now since we legit have taken a vacation and I’ve so missed the excitement of it.

My resolution for the year ( which I didn’t tell anyone about ) was to drink and have more fun, two things I hardly do in general. I dont plan to become a raging alcoholic (not that I think anyone does tbh) but I’ve honestly never tried alot of drinks other than strawberry daiquiris and you’re 20’s are for discovering yourself am i right?

So I’ve got my vegas trip this month, spicy pics in April, halsey concert in june, and another big tattoo in July. I forgot how exciting and sometimes stressful planning stuff is but it’s done wonders for my mental health to have things to look forward to. Life is too short

Also still staying with my healthyish ways. I’ll never be a salad all day everyday kinda person but I somehow manage to maintain my move goal of 500 with my watch most days so thats nice. I dont know what made me think of it but the other day I realized food no longer holds control over me. Mind u this is going on two years of my gradual weight loss 😅 and it does bother me that I didn’t realize how much control food had had on me.

Like brownies, they have and always will be my thing and i used to have the hardest time not eating a whole pan in the course of a day and i had no control over them. Now i can just have a modest serving and let that satisfy my sweet tooth.

Oh and i got my hair done last month and while the smocks are never flattering, I didn’t hate how it cut of my no longer pronounced double chins etc. it’s really these little things that catch u off guard that they don’t mention about significant weightloss

Food just gives me alot of joy, im so glad i did the MasterClass subscription for keeping my practical hobby of cooking alive. I seriously enjoyed watching Roy Choys class so much. I’ve tried to keep with veg and miss my vegan ways but the parents just dont budge. They also found this local butcher that just opened and I hate to admit that they are pretty great. I was holding out till they brought home some compound butter and house blend seasonings. Their pickles are also bomb af. I might just get a rosemary tattoo for my love of cooking and their sturdiness as a plant ( ours outside refuses to die and i love that about her)

Oh and Zeus now has a doggy doorbell that he bumps with his snoot! 10/10 recommend spending the $20. The princess is still going strong and has become increasingly lovable and is slowly becoming more and more a Real Cat ™️

On a real note though this russia stuff is unsettling but I love seeing the tiktoks about how people are coping and managing. From the savage granny, to the UN walking out on russia, and pornhub of all sites blocking Russia with a message of solidarity with ukraine it gives a little hope. I hope to see alot of sunflowers this summer 🌻

[blustersquall]

Could u write #65 the small kiss to big kiss one for IsabelxArthur?

Finally getting around to finishing these prompts! Sorry it’s taken so long. I suppose this could be considered a continuation to this one! (Continuation and resolution!)

Also, putting under a read more because WOW DID THIS GET LONG.

@rdr-oc-appreciation @ineedpeetalikehekneadsbread

When Isabel didn’t return to Shady Belle after three days, Arthur began to worry. At first, it was a slight niggle at the back of his mind. An itch he couldn’t scratch. By the fifth day, that itch was more pronounced. Pain, like a headache, pounding over his left eye. He tried to ignore it and go about business. Isabel was capable. He didn’t need to worry.

When it surpassed a week, the worry was more a constant dread. A dread that clawed at his mind and made swipes at his stomach. Each time he heard horses hooves, he ran to see if it was her and he hated the disappointment and nauseating worry that washed over him when it wasn’t.

He made up his mind to go and find her himself. Things were… strange between them when he saw her in Saint Denis. Strange and… strained. He knew why. He knew almost as soon as she was gone from his sight. He kissed her after the O’Driscoll attack on Shady Belle. He kissed her, and she kissed him back. And then… then, he spent his time avoiding her like a coward. Not wanting to confront what he had done, and how he felt towards her. So he fled from her and his feelings, and straight into Mary.

Of course, Isabel had seen them. The earnest conversation at the trolley car - what must she have thought when she saw them? More over, what must she have thought when Arthur snapped at her questions. Questions that were natural and normal. This was exactly the reason he avoided her. He would only hurt her, after all. That was all he was good at. All he was good for. He could hurt, and kill, and rob. He was a killer. There was no softness in him. Whatever Isabel saw in him was something Arthur could not see in himself. She deserved better than him. So did Mary, for that matter, but he was selfish. Wanting and pining for them both. Making promises to Mary. Promises he could never keep. After all, if the bank job went off without any trouble, could he really see himself settling down? Would Mary honestly want that?

Arthur didn’t know.

The more he thought about it, the more confused and twisted his mind became. He tried to think forward. Isabel was his main concern at that moment. Isabel. Her whereabouts. Her safety.

He left without a word as he often did and began the long ride to Big Valley. He hoped to be able to pick up Isabel’s trail when he was in the right area and perhaps ask a few travelers if they’d seen her if he met any on the way.

Riding through the night, passed through Strawberry just after dawn and crossed into Big Valley. In Strawberry Arthur asked the only person he thought Isabel might do business with if he’d seen her; the butcher. A portly man, chopping up venison with a meat cleaver, he did two things.

First, confirmed that he had seen and done business with Isabel recently. And second, recently turned out to only be two days before. Isabel was alive, and hunting - which was good. The nagging worry Arthur was experiencing retreated somewhat with that knowledge.

Out in the open, he followed tracks of deer herds, easing hunting for someone of Isabel’s experience. The herds of deer led him to familiar snare traps that Isabel made for catching rabbits and other small game. From there, he was able to observe broken twigs, and disturbed leaf litter in among trees and thick bushes some larger animals used for grazing. After that, it was just a case of finding the most likely place Isabel was to camp. Somewhere safe, hidden, off the main track. Away from prying eyes, but also from potential predators.

He found Isabel’s camp after an hour of so. Set up in what remained of a moonshiners distillery, she was protected from view and from the elements in a copse of trees. Her tent was simple, and disguised with tree fronds helping it blend into the foliage around it.

Arthur hitched Juno to a nearby tree and went to investigate the site. There were pelts rolled and bundled together inside Isabel’s tent, and a few herbs all bound with string in bunches. What remained of the fire from the night before was all ash and dust. Arthur had no other choice but to sit, and wait. He knew if he left she was likely to return while he was out looking for her.

While he waited, he found himself beginning to dread seeing Isabel again. He would have to explain so much to her. Explain, and apologize. He didn’t want to think what she must have thought of him now. Kissing her like that, only to avoid her. And then for her to see him with Mary. In their conversation so intense and earnest… It was no wonder Isabel was off with him when he came across her shortly after seeing Mary off at the trolley station. It was no wonder she snapped at him and would barely look at him.

If the roles were reversed…

Arthur didn’t want to think about it.

He busied himself by pacing and pushing his hands through his hair over and over again, trying to smooth it down and neaten it. He didn’t keep a mirror on him, but could only imagine what a state he looked after riding all night. Juno watched him from where she was hitched. She was judging him, just as he was judging himself.

By mid-afternoon was when Arthur heard the sounds of hoof beats approaching the copse and the campsite within. His hand lingered by the holster at his hip through sheer instinct, but relaxed when he saw the head of Valkyrie pushing through the trees, and Isabel at her side, leading her.

Shocked filtered through Isabel’s expression when she saw him, and she dropped Valkyrie’s reins. A quick glance over her, Arthur saw she was dirty, and sweaty, but looked uninjured.

Isabel walked further into the clearing. There was a tug in Arthur’s chest, like a chord trying to yank him towards her.

“You…” Isabel’s brows furrowed, “you’re here.”

“Yeah.”

“…Why?”

Because I owe you an explanation. Because I was worried about you. Because I care about you. Because you deserve better than this. 

Of all the things Arthur wanted to say, he could not give air to them. Instead, he stood without speaking, the silence building and the tension between them growing heavier, and heavier until it was like a crushing weight above him. He wanted to explain, but the words… He could never find the right words!

“Because…” Arthur said, cracking the silence like ice on a lake. Instinct took over. He couldn’t say what he wanted. Not yet at least, but perhaps he could show her. Try and put across through actions what he struggled to say with words. 

He closed the space between them in a few strides, took Isabel’s face between his hands, and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Light, not forceful, or demanding, but enough that it could be considered a kiss. A small kiss. A brief kiss. A kiss Arthur pulled away from with a stomach churning uncertainty roaring about in his head. What if that only made things worse?

Releasing Isabel’s face, he lowered his hands, but not his eyes. He held her gaze, trying to see and understand the emotions filtering through her. She looked… surprised, that he expected. But beyond that… Beyond the initial shock of his being there, and his brief kiss… He couldn’t work out what else she was feeling, or thinking. Arthur wasn’t entirely sure what he was thinking either, beyond the desire to kiss her again. A desire only made stronger by how close she was, and by how her lips were slightly parted. 

Moving more slowly this time, Arthur curved one large hand around Isabel’s waist, and slid the other up over her neck to cup her jaw. He tilted her head back, ran his thumb along her jaw bone and released a long breath through his nose. He inched closer, tilting his head to one side so they didn’t bump noses. He waited for Isabel to refuse, to push him away or tell him ‘no’. But no refusal came. No sound. No struggle. Nothing, except the sound of her breath quickening.

Arthur kissed her for a second time. Slightly harder than before, and spurred on by the subtle movement of Isabel’s lips against his. He slipped his hand back into her hair and drew her body closer to his, letting his hand slide down to her hip. Isabel held him by the upper arms. Her mouth opened a fraction, and Arthur was lost in an instant. One of her hands was suddenly enmeshed within his hair, her other was on his chest, fingers curled into the cloth of his shirt. Arthur was sure if there had been a desk or dresser, he would have pushed her against it, but as there was nothing to use as support, they stood. Embraced, kissing, exchanging tiny parts of themselves with every second their connection lengthened. 

He hoped she understood. He hoped she knew this was real. He was choosing her. Mary was the past. She was his past, but not his present, not his future. Deep down, he knew that. Deep down, Mary knew it, too. It would never have worked between them. It didn’t then, it wouldn’t now. But this… this… connection he had with Isabel… Maybe it was possible for something to come of this. Something to happen with this. If it wasn’t too late. If he hadn’t screwed it up already.

Cradling Isabel’s face in his hands, Arthur broke the kiss. They were both breathing hard, and he saw a deep flush in Isabel’s cheeks. The kind of flush he’d seen before, when she’d laughed herself to tears. 

“I missed you,” Arthur whispered, his voice hoarse. “I ain’t the most articulate, but I wanna explain somethings to you.”

Isabel nodded, opening her eyes and peering up at him, “okay.”

WOW THIS IS SO MUCH LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED. I’M SORRY. ALSO WHY ARE ENDINGS SO GODSDAMNED HARD?!

I hope this is okay Nonny. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get it filled. Thank you for prompting me. Let me know what you think~?I have to go to bed now because I’m working and like a chump, offered to cover the Sunday shift. Blegh.