#she truly is a ride or die lmaooooo

[sunshinexlollipops]

This might be a quick little ask about ACW but I was wondering-- when did Wolf and Arthur fall in love with each other? Like it took them a while to realize/accept/voice what they felt and they did this for most of the fic, but I was specifically wanting to know (pre-Fleur//Joseph) at what point they fell in love with each other time wise? I’m dying to know when they caught feelings!!!! Thx!

Oh anon. You’re after my heart with this question. Seriously vying for my affections. Stop being a tease!

Still, I adore this question because ohmygodness this leads to some quality content right here.

So, I’ll break it down into two parts: one for Wolf and the other for Arthur, so you can see at what point they started to really feel what they do for each other (whether they realized or not).

Wolf

I really feel like Wolf started to fall in love with Arthur in Colter. She had some attraction to him at first (can you blame her?), but there’s a difference between that and affection. You can ride a horse, but can you cherish it? 🥺

While they had their hiccups over Wolf’s intent to do more than wash laundry in camp, Arthur truly solidified himself by her side whenever Wolf wanted to confront Francis in Blackwater, right before the ferry job went south. Particularly after Wolf shoots Francis dead and gets stabbed in the thigh by him, and Arthur has to get her out of town on D’or after he tragically loses Boadicea.

Wolf realizes then that his commitment to help her with Francis after discovering what he did to her father, and then getting her out of town safely with her injuries that Arthur cares about her as more than just a damsel in distress he spared some kindness for. He wanted to make sure she was safe and that she wasn’t going to end up regretting what she did or that she would die for her decisions.

Specifically, though, to pinpoint the exact moment that Wolf begins to feel more than just a spark between them, I focus on the moment in which Arthur is getting up onto his Walker in Colter, and Wolf looks up at him.

The sun is shining, catching on the outlaw and framing him in golden light. And Wolf just stops and her breath catches and all she can do is go “oh.”

I think that’s the exact moment that Wolf realized: huh... this guy... there’s something to him yet.

But I also love their conversation after the ferry job in Blackwater when they’re sitting on the bed and Wolf talks to Arthur about killing Francis. Despite knowing he deserved it, Wolf still feels some guilt, and mostly because she put Arthur in a tight spot and harms way, and also caused him to lose Boadicea (in her mind).

I also think of when the gang first arrives in Horseshoe, and Arthur brings Wolf a beer to share with him as they sit on the back of a wagon right after they get there. I really enjoyed the optimism and hope they shared then. So tender!

Arthur

Arthur is a bit trickier (just because we don’t have his POV— I say this, but just wait till the next update!), but I would say that his in a way has been gradual in some and instant in others.

Arthur has always been trying to shield Wolf from the world, or sometimes herself, because he knows what it’s like to have someone take everything you love away from you and being so blind with rage that you will ruin what’s left to try and get even.

He’s always attempted to ground Wolf and give her something to hold onto after what little life she had was taken from her, and she was thrown into a world she had no experience with and didn’t understand.

So really, he always been soft for Wolf. Always.

However, to pinpoint the moment he feels something more for her?

My gut tells me that Arthur probably felt something with Wolf the moment he saw her in front of her cabin, right in front of her father’s freshly dug grave.

He’s found her at her lowest, and he was expected to take her even lower still. Apart from having some heart, I think that Arthur’s main reason for being unable to do anything other than offer Wolf a second chance within the gang is that he could never bring himself to hurt her or do so wrong by her. He just isn’t capable.

I think a seed was planted then, but it sprouted over time.

The exact moment something broke the soil was when Wolf went after Benedict Albright upon finding his bounty in Valentine. He could see the hurt in her, the one that still lingered after her father, and of course, he couldn’t let her go on her own without making sure she was safe and that her grief didn’t consume her.

However, I truly think of when Albright grabs ahold of Wolf and pulls her over the cliff’s edge to fall into the river.

Arthur. Lost. His. Shit.

I’m talking this is one of the few times Arthur loses his cool and he panics.

He literally jumps onto Albright’s horse and immediately begins to give chase to try and save Wolf. Blackwater doesn’t come close to how she could’ve easily died, and Arthur couldn’t process that.

But it was after pulling her from the water, tending to her and keeping Wolf warm that I think Arthur probably started to truly feel something (without realizing).

Especially when he comes up behind Wolf and braces her back, and lets her fall asleep in his arms.

But when his love blossomed for me is narrowing down to their drunken night with Lenny. More so, when he lays under that tree outside Valentine with Wolf after their night of drunken shenanigans.

Arthur may not “remember” it, but it’s when he looks to Wolf and asks why she isn’t married and he doesn’t understand anything about someone not wanting her.

Because he does. Oh he does. And he’s drunk and he’s trying to figure out what that means but right now he just wants to know if there’s a possibility she could want him too.

And they almost kiss for the first time (pre-Fleur and Joseph ofc) and Arthur is just like: oh shit, this is something, isn’t it?

I think it sunk in for him after he sobered up, but didn’t begin to realize what he felt until Wolf found the necklace (edit: wtf I put broach I’m so sorry I was typing this at work and I’m exhausted lmaooooo) in the fence outside Rhodes, and then it was just confirmed.

I love her, and I always have.

And now here we are!

God. Love these two idiots pining for each other. God damn. My jam!

Thanks so much for this ask, anon! Was a fun one to answer! :)

[lifeofet]

01.27.17

So I know i haven’t written in a little bit, but oh my god has it been a week. So let’s go back to last weekend. Friday i was up by 2 in the morning to get ready for the flights out to lynchburg. Everything went good with the flying. We got a super nice rental car. So we get to the college and it was looking at what i could see of it when we were pulling in. We walk into
main to meet up with coach Kendall, and holy shit she is NOTHING like i expected. She’s got a deeper voice for a woman so for whatever reason it made me think she was gonna be this like tall muscle-y but nope she walking in 5'3 and all and it was like oh not what i thought moment. I went to shake her hand like i do with everyone i meet for the first time, but she’s like what no come here and gave me one of the nicest hugs. So then we went and talked to Dr. Fab about pre med stuff which was nice it’s definitely a good program. Then we went had lunch with the team who was hilarious. They me feel a part of their little family right away. Kaylin dancing behind coach was probably the highlight of that meal. Then we went on a campus tour led by coach and megan and they showed me how beautiful the campus really was. Who knew you could just build a school into the side of a mountain? Then while we were on the campus tour a bunch of the girls had texted coach saying “she’s great!” and “she’s like one of us already” and what not and one of them even said i was their favorite recruit in four years which really meant a lot to me(thx Brie :’) ). Afterwards i went to the athletic facility and talked with Coach about me as a player and everything going on with my knee, and she’s like don’t worry we’ll be here for you and all this nice stuff she’s awesome as a coach and a person. you don’t find that kind of genuineness in everyone. Then i got to watch practice and it’s such a different feeling because you can see they’re like a family they’re always picking each other back up. then we went out to dinner and Maura’s stories were so good I was nearly crying from laughing so hard. then we went back to lex’s apartment and played cards against humanity and scattergories with Andy, Stacey, Lex, Jac, and Alex. But that was super funny too. it was such a good day i can’t say it enough. So we all went to bed and saturday morning rolls around, and we go to pre game and I got to help with senior night which was cool and then they had their big game against Emory and Henry were coach used to be the assistant. They didn’t treat her right there which makes me so sad because she’s such a good person. She deserved to win the game. but they ended up 13 short. but watching the game and everything after, it made me remember how basketball is suppose to feel, like you’re going out with your family and playing your game and that they’ll always have your back. So we sat and watched the boys game afterwards which was fun talking with everyone and even got a cute picture out of it. Then I was gonna go out with everyone from the team and turn up ya know buttttttt megan made me come back to the hotel essentially and so i did homework and partied hard doing that my saturday night lmaooooo. but nah it was good i got the chance to talk to megan which i really hadn’t gotten to do and it was nice. So finally rolled around Sunday morning, we started off my driving around downtown lynchburg after leaving the hotel, and then we met up with Coach Sharman, who is awesome and i love her now, but i hadn’t really gotten the chance to talk to her before that. She told us about her basketball experience and how she feels about coaching and all and she’s such a good person too. Not to mention coach erika and ellen who both played at top notch D1 schools (Purdue and Maine) and played pro too. Afterwards we drove through the mountains and i got to see some stuff because it was super foggy, but I saw enough for sure it’s gorgeous out there. And then i might have accidentally hit something on the gps so we ended up going the wrong way on this really mountainy backroad which was awesome with megan driving because she knows how to navigate them really well. But then we played pool at the Barnes’ and i walked to campus to say bye to some of the team. Then we grabbed lunch stopped at walmart and headed out to the airport. And that was basically my Randolph experience, and i can’t quite say i would trade it for anything in the world. It was truly one of the best things that’s happened to me. So monday is back to normal school and i wanted to die because i was so worn out from the weekend lol, we had our grant game and won which was nice we stayed undefeated in conference. Tuesday everything was pretty normal i think besides all the stuff that happened with mom. That stuff was pretty scary. But idk was it bad i was ready to go through with it, to like try to figure out other places to live and all. Whatever we’ll just keep that one locked up in the back of my memories and try not to bring it back up. Wednesday we had our antioch game, which we lost, but i got to see coach annie from benedictine, who is also talking to ashley reiser? awesome that makes me feel special like hell ya i’m on that level B) . Thursday just practice and pt and friday oh lmaoooo let me tell you. Friday seemed pretty normal, me and meg went on a chai ride, which made me realize that’s a once in a while thing, not a frequent thing to do. Then i went and picked ania up from practice, and we chilled i drove her to get mcdonalds while i slumped a little bit in the car because i felt a little sick lmao. then we showed up to practice a little late, but it was good. the pasta party afterwards at the twins was really fun when we got to talking about everything that we had a problem with on our team. If it was just the people who were there and we started our own team, hell we’d be so so good. But then me and lily went to work on my “motivation” rap for psych and we went to grab mcdonalds afterwards. So then we’re sitting in the parking lot eating, AND THE CAR FREAKING DIES. So i’m freaking out and lily gets her friend to come jump the car thank god and WE GOT AWAY WITH IT LMAOOOO. I will never speak of this experience again. okay that is all, hope you enjoyed reading. til next time :)