NEWCOMER MINGLE
The ferry makes a soft landing against the jetty as it has done every few days throughout summer. Aina the ferry captain, usually wearing the proud orange short sleeve of the Kollo project, has bundled up in a black wind proof jacket. The island administrator Olivia has made no such compromises, determined to cling to summer as long as possible. She greets the newcomers with a smile, handing out brochures and showing them the way to the cabins.
Around noon there'll be a small get together to welcome the new arrivals. Nothing too fancy, though the blueberry pie that's being served is almost certainly homemade and made with blueberries picked from this very island. Coffee, tea and apple cider is also available.
A FARMERS LIFE FOR ME
It's harvesting season on Norrhamn and for once, plenty of free workers to go around... right? Those who venture up to the farm will find themselves roped into the activities by hook or by crook - doesn't matter if you got farming experience, there's always something you can do. Roofs need to be patched, hay needs to be baled, vegetables picked and fruit preserved for the long, cold, harsh, dark winter that's just around the corner.
Your work won't be in vain though. If you stick with it and stay until the evening, Einar and his family will treat their volunteers to a feast to show their appreciation. There will be such autumn delicacies as värmlandskorv, kroppkaka with salted pork and lingonberry jam, and fried salted herring with pickled cucumber and red onions on crisp bread. Stay really late and we're breaking into the good snaps, my friend. ]
[ If Arthur loses it, you know John won't stand a chance in hell of keeping it together. He's just happy to have Arthur back, even if it means he has to think about how he lost Arthur all those years ago. But really, he's happy beyond words. It's just words were never his specialty. He's happy for the out. ]
It sure looked it. Blueberry pie, wasn't it? [ Definitely a safer topic. ] Let's uh, let's go back and grab some. I ain't had pie in... damn, I don't know how long.
[ It's been years for John but he still smiles at the memory. The food was never great, hell it wasn't even good half the time, but it was just as much a part of his life as the time he spent with Arthur. ]
You know he went and got himself a job as a grocer? Think he was in Rhodes or something, I ain't been to see him since.
[ It's thanks to Arthur that they got out, whether he wants to admit it or not. Arthur was the one who really started going against Dutch's insane wishes. If Arthur hadn't stood up for his own beliefs, who knows where the rest of them would be. But John knows Arthur isn't the type to bask in glory—he never could see himself the way others see him. ]
You told me to take care of my family. To find a life outside the gang—a real life, not one where we was running from the law every time we stayed in one place too long. [ John smiles and reaches over to pat Arthur's shoulder. He has to smile, he's got Arthur and he'd rather smile about it than cry. ] Maybe I can teach you a thing or two about ranching, then. That'd be one hell of a change of pace, wouldn't it?
[ They're just gonna be like that for a while, it's okay. I mean, obviously, it's not, but they'll make due. Can't be any worse than watching Arthur die slowly. ]
When you see it? I literally -- did you forget the part where we rustled sheep? On your stupid plan, no less.
[ and then had to shoot up half of valentine on the way out, after the guys refused to give them a good price since it obviously wasn't their sheep. not that he's actually offended, though, this is just giving john shit. it's better to be normal like this, the two of them how they'd always been.
maybe it wasn't always fair to john, he'd probably teased him a little harder than he should have, some days. and after john had come back, maybe he'd been a little meaner than he should have been. but still...even now, he can't help it. but he laughs and there's a light in his eyes that really hasn't been there in some time. it's markedly different than the derision he had been giving john for awhile there. ]
That was one time, it don't make you a sheep wrangler!
[ Still, John's giving it as good as he's getting—it's nice to see Arthur truly smile like that. Even if it's at his own expense, it almost feels like it did before John went and made a mess of things. If it's just the two of them, maybe they can try and be like that again. Sure, everything is different now, but everything was different then, too.
Now John actually wants to be a better person. He can get why Arthur treated him like the shit he was. Not that he'd admit it to his face without some alcohol in him first. ]
I had to learn how to milk cows and shovel shit—you ain't a real rancher till you done that!
The golden boy, milkin' cows and shovelin' shit -- this I gotta see.
[ he smirks, looking over at john. but his expression softens when he does and his demeanor shifts. little john, all grown up and trying to do right. it makes him glad, knowing that after everything...john really was trying. that something good came down off that mountain. ]
[ John blushes -- he knows the whole 'golden boy' thing is definitely sarcastic, but when it's coming from Arthur it's hard not to take it for a compliment. The acknowledgement he's getting from Arthur in the last few minutes is more than he ever could've dreamed. It's all he ever wanted, really. ]
Ah... I'm doin' my best.
[ Gosh, he doesn't know what to do with this much praise. From Arthur of all people!! ]
[ John is still a little blown away, it's been a years and years since he had pie, and even then, the last time it was probably stolen. Taking a bite, John's face splits into a grin. ]
Jesus, I would've started ranching a lot sooner if I knew I could get food this good.
Don't gotta be a baker to know flour's made from wheat, Little John.
[ he takes back everything nice he said he should've stuck around to teach this idiot more things. it strikes him as sad -- not that he isn't there to teach him anymore, but that this was the education they'd been given. by life. by dutch. how to shoot a gun and rob a bank. how to catch a horse and how to find a defensible space. but all the trappings of real, honest life? those lessons had all been left out. no wonder they'd never had a real hope of escaping for so long.
arthur looks down at his coffee, lost in thought. melancholy. he doesn't want to think poorly of dutch, even now, but how can he not? look at what he'd done to john. ]
[ He maybe didn't know that. Someone must've told him though, right? It just never stuck. John always paid attention to the important stuff. The stuff he needed to know to survive—which is to say, all the stuff needed to be an outlaw. The rest of it he's had to learn as an adult. It certainly didn't make taking to Jack very easy.
Now Arthur's making that face and John can't help but guess who Arthur's thinking about. Really, John resents Dutch for a lot of things. Leaving him in jail, leaving him for dead... Twice. But it's the only life he's known so he can't exactly blame him for this. Hosea tried to get John to read more and care about those things, but John was just always better at stealing and shooting than reading and writing. Lot of good those skills'll do him in the civilized world. John stands up a little straighter, taking another bite of his pie. ]
I wasn't completely off, see? It's probably easier to buy flour than make it, anyhow.
[ arthur shrugs, laughing a little to ease off on the tension. making stuff...it's hard. john's right. on the other hand: ]
Now that we're here, though, I reckon we got plenty of time to make pie or whatever the hell we feel like making. Can you imagine it? Two of us, baking?
[ He shrugs. Easier to steal it, too, but he's trying not to think like that anymore. Arthur's laugh makes it easy to smile along, too. John chuckles. ]
Hell, if Pearson can do it, it can't be that hard, can it?
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It sure looked it. Blueberry pie, wasn't it? [ Definitely a safer topic. ] Let's uh, let's go back and grab some. I ain't had pie in... damn, I don't know how long.
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[ not that arthur is a great cook, either, but his job isn't being the cook you know ]
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[ It's been years for John but he still smiles at the memory. The food was never great, hell it wasn't even good half the time, but it was just as much a part of his life as the time he spent with Arthur. ]
You know he went and got himself a job as a grocer? Think he was in Rhodes or something, I ain't been to see him since.
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[ wow. pearson really turning his life around. ]
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[ I mean he technically hasn't heard from Charles but Sadie said he was doing OK? ]
Honest living ain't so easy, but it's important to do things the right way. I see that that, now.
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[ arthur trails off and shakes his head. Save them? Him? No, definitely not. ]
And I certainly didn't teach you anythin' about honest livin'. Hell, I'm already starting to wonder what it is I'm meant to be doing here.
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You told me to take care of my family. To find a life outside the gang—a real life, not one where we was running from the law every time we stayed in one place too long. [ John smiles and reaches over to pat Arthur's shoulder. He has to smile, he's got Arthur and he'd rather smile about it than cry. ] Maybe I can teach you a thing or two about ranching, then. That'd be one hell of a change of pace, wouldn't it?
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Now that'd really be something! Told you before I worked as a ranchhand, didn't I? It's not like I'm completely green.
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I'll believe it when I see it, Arthur Morgan.
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[ and then had to shoot up half of valentine on the way out, after the guys refused to give them a good price since it obviously wasn't their sheep. not that he's actually offended, though, this is just giving john shit. it's better to be normal like this, the two of them how they'd always been.
maybe it wasn't always fair to john, he'd probably teased him a little harder than he should have, some days. and after john had come back, maybe he'd been a little meaner than he should have been. but still...even now, he can't help it. but he laughs and there's a light in his eyes that really hasn't been there in some time. it's markedly different than the derision he had been giving john for awhile there. ]
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[ Still, John's giving it as good as he's getting—it's nice to see Arthur truly smile like that. Even if it's at his own expense, it almost feels like it did before John went and made a mess of things. If it's just the two of them, maybe they can try and be like that again. Sure, everything is different now, but everything was different then, too.
Now John actually wants to be a better person. He can get why Arthur treated him like the shit he was. Not that he'd admit it to his face without some alcohol in him first. ]
I had to learn how to milk cows and shovel shit—you ain't a real rancher till you done that!
[ You're not a real rancher yet, John. ]
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[ he smirks, looking over at john. but his expression softens when he does and his demeanor shifts. little john, all grown up and trying to do right. it makes him glad, knowing that after everything...john really was trying. that something good came down off that mountain. ]
You're really making something out of your life.
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Ah... I'm doin' my best.
[ Gosh, he doesn't know what to do with this much praise. From Arthur of all people!! ]
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[ they make it back, though, so arthur goes to get some more coffee and put john in the general direction of pie. ]
You gotta try this.
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[ John is still a little blown away, it's been a years and years since he had pie, and even then, the last time it was probably stolen. Taking a bite, John's face splits into a grin. ]
Jesus, I would've started ranching a lot sooner if I knew I could get food this good.
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[ who knows how long homemade pie will last you gotta embrace it while you have it ]
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Bet they worked hard to make this. Picking berries, gathering the... I dunno, is it flour? Flour's for making pie, right?
[ Sweet baby John... [
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Gatherin' flour. That's you idea of how pie is made.
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That's what the crust's made out of, right? Jeez, I ain't no baker, I don't know.
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[ he takes back everything nice he said he should've stuck around to teach this idiot more things. it strikes him as sad -- not that he isn't there to teach him anymore, but that this was the education they'd been given. by life. by dutch. how to shoot a gun and rob a bank. how to catch a horse and how to find a defensible space. but all the trappings of real, honest life? those lessons had all been left out. no wonder they'd never had a real hope of escaping for so long.
arthur looks down at his coffee, lost in thought. melancholy. he doesn't want to think poorly of dutch, even now, but how can he not? look at what he'd done to john. ]
You're right it's made out of flour, though.
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[ He maybe didn't know that. Someone must've told him though, right? It just never stuck. John always paid attention to the important stuff. The stuff he needed to know to survive—which is to say, all the stuff needed to be an outlaw. The rest of it he's had to learn as an adult. It certainly didn't make taking to Jack very easy.
Now Arthur's making that face and John can't help but guess who Arthur's thinking about. Really, John resents Dutch for a lot of things. Leaving him in jail, leaving him for dead... Twice. But it's the only life he's known so he can't exactly blame him for this. Hosea tried to get John to read more and care about those things, but John was just always better at stealing and shooting than reading and writing. Lot of good those skills'll do him in the civilized world. John stands up a little straighter, taking another bite of his pie. ]
I wasn't completely off, see? It's probably easier to buy flour than make it, anyhow.
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[ arthur shrugs, laughing a little to ease off on the tension. making stuff...it's hard. john's right. on the other hand: ]
Now that we're here, though, I reckon we got plenty of time to make pie or whatever the hell we feel like making. Can you imagine it? Two of us, baking?
[ wild ]
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[ He shrugs. Easier to steal it, too, but he's trying not to think like that anymore. Arthur's laugh makes it easy to smile along, too. John chuckles. ]
Hell, if Pearson can do it, it can't be that hard, can it?
[ Famous last words. ]
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[ Oh, John, you are gonna drop so many egg shells when making omelettes. ]
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