I think requests are closed so this isn’t one necessarily so feel free to delete or ignore if you want but I’ve been rereading your platonic Arthur Morgan and John Marston fics because they’re all so damn good and Sins of My Father has given me this thought and I must share before I forget. Hear me out:
Just imagine you’re Arthur’s illegitimate daughter with Eliza and while your mother and brother Isaac were killed, you survived because you were either safe in the house or someplace else when it happened. When he comes to visit and discovers their graves in front of the house, depending on how old you are at the time, he finds you either in your crib, hiding in the house somewhere or with a neighbor. Either way, he kidnaps you (is it really kidnapping if he’s your father and only living family now and has a parental right to claim you?) and takes you back to camp to raise you there. (Whether you like it or not.)
When you reach your teenage (15-19) years, just imagine what hell Arthur is gonna go through or bring upon the earth if he discovers you’re romantically involved with a boy (especially if you kept it secret or he discovers your plans to elope and run away with said boy by snooping).
Just imagine him going full scorched earth if he discovers you and your horse gone from camp without explanation. No note, no nothing. You just disappear. He thinks you’ve been kidnapped by O’Driscolls until he finds evidence of your escape plan.
Imagine him riding like a madman throughout every town on the map to find you and drag you off the train, boat, or out of the carriage you managed to board, ready to kill the boy if necessary and punish you however he deems fit.
Oh, you had your own horse (which he was oh so kind and generous to give to you to teach you to ride and handle)? Not anymore. Not after you rode off on it like a thief in the night while he was asleep or away from camp. Since he bought or stole it for you, he stashed it in a stable someplace you don’t know, sold it, or killed it (depending on how mad he is).
Any money you stole from camp for your escape, he takes back.
You’re forced onto the back of his horse like a sack of potatoes (maybe even tied up like a bounty). Maybe it’s best you don’t try to talk at all, as any attempts to beg for forgiveness, plead with him to let you go and be your own woman now, or other desperate, teary, or angry protests that you’re not a child anymore might just result in him slapping you or threatening to drag you behind the horse to get you to be quiet because how dare you talk back to him, your father!? Clearly, despite your age, you’re still a child in his eyes if you insist on acting like one. You need an attitude adjustment.
Nothing you say will get him to change his mind. You’re grounded/imprisoned at camp indefinitely and only allowed to do chores. You have to ride with him now if you want or need to go someplace, and that’s only if he feels forgiving enough to let you accompany him. You have to earn his trust back. Until then, no horse for you, no more trips to town, fishing, or anything like that unless he says so. And he has to accompany you everywhere you go or leave you with a camp member he trusts - someone that he knows won’t let you slip away again if he has to go on a mission. Everyone at camp is on high alert now. If it’s not your father, at least one other person is watching or trailing you at all times when you walk around camp. Everyone sleeps in shifts to make sure you can’t repeat your nighttime escape attempt by stealing one of their horses. All they’d have to do is whistle to get their horses to rear up and buck you off, but they’re extra cautious now. Or paranoid.
That is all. Thank you for listening to my rambling. Love your writing! 🤎🤠
Oh yes dark Dad arthur, I love that, and you wrote so well! I am always down to listening yall's ramblings so dw! Let's see what i can make up.
