#but i did lose ALL of my rdr saves

[we-loved-once-and-true]

RIP to my farmer Daphne, loving wife of Harvey, mother of Iaso and Mac, pet mom to Buttercup

Your game data may be lost, but your memory will not be

Fly high 🙏🪽

[junosmindpalace]

i find discourse around the rdr women so...fascinating and infuriating at the same time. because a lot of the time it doesn't seem like rdr fans want to apply the same level of complex analysis to the women like they do for the men, but when they do, it still doesnt seem all that well-intentioned or that it does right by their characters.

this is a very long analysis/spam/defense so be warned :,)

even though the majority of sadie's character revolves around the fact she not only lost her home and her husband and was thrust into a new life of crime, but was actively struggling with robberies BEFORE the events of the game, people instead choose to focus on whether or not she had feelings for arthur or whether he actions in the game were actually impactful. she helped saved abigail and john when no else would, she fought alongside the men against the army, she helped john set up a stable life, she helped rob the payroll train, helped ensure colm’s death, she fought alongside arthur TIME AGAIN and took over in a leadership role when half the gang was absent in the guarma chapter. to say that she did nothing more except “be badass” undermines all of these contributions to the story that she was either at the forefront of or helped bring to fruition.

in my opinion, abigail is the EASIEST character to defend out of any of the women, and yet somehow she receives the most backlash from dudebros. I lose ten braincells every time i have to read a theory post over whether or not she slept with other camp members besides john, whether or not she was a rat, and about how much shes a nag. the woman has not known a moment's rest in her entire life. by the age of eight she was working in a cathouse. she was a child prior to then scrapping whatever money she could earn at her young age in saloons and dive bars as a woman and child just to survive as a orphan. jack's birth was clearly not planned, and she has voiced multiple times her grievances at the circumstances of his upbringing. everything she does is for a better life for her son: a life she never had. her constant nagging to get john to man up and be a father is for her son's benefit, not her own. she even says so herself when she tells him that she doesn't mind if a relationship between them doesn't work out, but to at least try being there for jack. she can't work a job because she is a mother living a life of crime and danger; she can't afford to leave the camp and her son unsupervised. she still does her share around camp. why would anyone blame her for not wanting to return to a life that has made her miserable, especially now that she has a child who she wants to model a good life for? many people seem to somehow also forget that she herself was a child when she gave birth to jack; only 17-18. she is 22 in the game in a bad situation with the father of her child and financially. she is doing her best to raise her son when she is not fully equipped to do so. how can anyone even blame her for being skeptical of john when hes affectionate in the epilogue when for so long hes been distant? she does not even ask much of john--just to be there for him sometimes, and to live honestly. she is also incredibly kindhearted. comforting other women in the camp, offering a listening ear, taking care of john when hes injured. she puts in her share of effort when it comes to finding a job in the epilogue and maintaining beechers hope.

molly is a young woman who is presumably incredibly far from her home where her family is, and trying to navigate a way of life completely unfamiliar to her. her stuck up nature comes not only from the way she was raised, but also dutch's uplifting affection and presumed lovebombing in the early stages of their relationship. shes even been suggested to be somewhat sociable until dutch and her became somewhat of an official item, in which she grew somewhat of a bigger ego with a mentality that she was his right hand. she deeply depended on dutch for her stability in every way, and its evident in her eventual spiral. she hated being seen as weak and pitiful as somewhat of an outsider among outsiders. she seemed to be close to no one besides dutch, who repeatedly cut her off when she attempted to talk to him about her growing feelings of anxiety, paranoia and sadness. the loss of the one thing that had built her up, coupled with immense tragedy she just wasnt used to, and desperate for a semblance of respect and dignity that she had presumably been all too accustomed to, of course she was going to come off brash and confront dutch about his distant, high and mighty attitude. it's why by the end, she doesnt care if she is killed: there is nothing left for her. karen's comment about her pretending to rat them out for the sake of attention is also interesting in terms of their relationship and parallels, which i dont see ANYONE talk about.

karen very clearly struggles with...a lot. she has even said so herself when talking with molly. she struggles to accept help, evident in pieces of dialogue where she brushes off concerned gang members about her drinking (mary-beth, arthur, javier), and when she seems somewhat ashamed and embarrassed having to have been rescued by arthur in the valentine mission (SAYING EXPLICITLY "i dont much like being saved"). she struggles with believing people have good intentions/feelings toward her, illustrated in the way she's constantly rejecting sean, yet seemingly disappeared further down the bottle after his death, and her conversation with mary beth and tilly about the world having no equal and fair place for women. her negative experiences in the world as a woman could also influence her view of the world, perhaps being why she finds herself somewhat hostile toward feminist mindsets and why she, for a while, enjoyed the outlaw lifestyle: it was her little slice of freedom. her hatred for the rich can also be because she has experiences as a poor woman, perhaps some direct experiences in which rich people have negatively impacted her life. though molly and karen don't get along through most of the game, karen actually tries to step in and help her near the end, and its this action + defending her after her death that shows she was sympathetic toward her situation and on some level able to relate to it, both craving some kind of love beyond superficial things.

@/cryptidcr3ature said it very well in a post i reblogged recently: mary is essentially "her brother's keeper and her father's caretaker". she herself lives somewhere middle class with traditional notions of the time impacting her views on arthur's lifestyle and anything below those middle class standards being deemed as socially unacceptable (which is evident from the very first letter mary sends to arthur, in which she seems confused on what a polite term would be to refer to prostitutes, who were obviously thought very lowly of in the time). i also don't think its fair to criticise her condemnation of arthur's lifestyle when pretty much all audiences, contemporary and not, including members of the gang, acknowledge that it isnt anything pretty. killing is not fun. running from the law is not fun. mary was not only influenced by her father's views of arthur (a person that, despite being horrible, she still deeply loves), but looking after her own family, herself, and arthur's wellbeing when she ended their relationship + suggested they run away. she had given him an opportunity at compromise. perhaps the first time, scared and unfamiliar with his lifestyle, she had offered arthur an ultimatum: her or his outlaw life, but later was willing to also leave behind her brother and father, two figures that tie her down and make her life more miserable than need be despite loving them very much, in order to settle somewhere with arthur and start over. her asking for arthur's help comes from a place of desperation and excuse to allow herself some semblance of stability when she hadn't had it; at least not since her mother and husband passed. if arthur refuses to help her, she is incredibly understanding and sympathetic. she does not lash out. if arthur does help, she is immensely grateful, and even tries to bond with him despite their years apart.

this post isnt to excuse some of their more negative behaviours and aspects of their characters'-- but im saying that they deserve to be fairly treated and analyzed just like any of the rdr men. many of them are young. many of them have unique challenges as women. that isn’t to say the men have it easier, but their struggles and less prettier aspects of their characters are always met with more sympathy than the women. why do arthur and john get passes as reformed absent fathers and criminals? why does sean receive sympathy when karen rejects his pushy advances? why does hosea get a pass at being better than dutch when he still groomed younger members of the gang for a life of crime alongside dutch? why does dutch get a pass by having his downfall be justified by tough circumstances? lets just be fair

[dalekofchaos]

Context.

Scenario 1. We take Landon Rickets in Blackwater more serious and Landon saw what Dutch did and when he has the opening, Landon shoots Dutch dead. Hosea and Arthur gather everyone and lead them on a path to get lost in the west, gather their strength. Hosea makes the complete opposite of Dutch's decisions throughout the game and the gang is better off for it.

Scenario 2. Arthur arrives very late and sees Thomas Downes is having a coughing fit and collapses and figures that this debt isn't worth it. So Arthur never catches TB. He has his same character arc because he sees that Dutch is losing it and Micah is...Micah. Differences is. Arthur easily overpowers Milton and Arthur kills Micah.

Scenario 3. Arthur takes it upon himself to take responsibility and care for Eliza and Isaac. Turns out Eliza can contribute to the gang. She has a history of pickpocketing when tips as a waitress were low or nonexistent and under Hosea's tutelage, she's a damned good con artist. Isaac takes a liking to "Grandpa Hosea" and "Ol Dutch" the girls adore Isaac and the gang are protective of him. When Jack comes around, Isaac is like an older brother to Jack and Abigail adores him and when the Braithewaites try to steal Jack, Isaac fires a warning shot and everyone comes running to Jack's aid. Because of his family, Arthur chooses not to go after Downes and doesn't get TB. One day, Micah makes a pass at Eliza and makes an offhand comment about Isaac. And Arthur proceeds to beat the shit out of him "You come near my family again, and I'll kill you" Arthur puts his family first and chooses to get out when the writing is on the wall. When they go to free John from Piska, Abigail, Jack, Eliza and Isaac are all waiting and they leave and never look back,

Scenario 4. I know timeline wise this can't work, but it's a fun thought. Basically after Blackwater, Red is on the hunt. He is the "super bounty hunter" Trelawny warned the gang about. The Gang at first doesn't take the threat seriously, but suddenly members of the gang go missing and are delivered to the Pinkertons. Near the end, he sees the humanity in Arthur, John and his family, Charles and Sadie and helps them. Red shoots Micah dead and takes Dutch in. Arthur and John split the money and live in peace

Scenario 5.

Sadie (after chapter 3), Kieran (with his head intact), Charles Smith and Lenny. Josiah Trelawny as the heist leader.

Send the team to Blackwater, their mission is to retrieve the money.

Reasoning:

Sadie, new member of the team, no one know her as VDL gang, no big bounty yet, able to do Gun Fight.

Kieran, Horse gateaway duty. No one know him, he can be the spy to make sure that Colm team doesn't interrupt at all.

Charles, Bodyguard, gunsmith, considered safe bet, he was not in the big heist. Charles is also natural for stealth approach

Lenny, Sniper. Watching the team from the distance (from the camping spot where Arthur and co preparing to save Sean). He is also the one who can run quick back to main camp if anything happen

Josiah. The magician, the mastermind. He can safely travel anywhere, to make it a great decoy in Blackwater.

Arthur + Dutch + The rest of the gang can camping safely outside the border waiting for Lenny to come back

Scenario 6. Just a thought I had. What if Mac returned instead of Milton. But completely changed. After Blackwater and Davey's death, Mac goes through a similar journey as Arthur had and sacrifices himself so Arthur and John can escape

Scenario 7. Just had to include the absolute worst scenario possible. Micah orders Cleet and Joe to go back for Tilly and Jack. When Arthur and John are on the run, Micah yells out that he has Abigail and Jack and if the two of them don't show up to Beaver's Hollow in the next 10 minutes, then he'll kill them both. At first they don't believe him until he hears Abigail yell out for John. John rushes towards his family and is shot dead. And Arthur fights him to the death. The TB kills him and John's family is left at Micah's mercy. The trauma Jack witnesses causes amnesia. And Micah sees the opportunity to do what his father did to him. Take him under his wing and make Jack the deadliest outlaw in the world and as a final insult to Arthur and John. Jack Marston, is now Micah Bell IV

Scenario 8. After seeing how far Dutch has fallen with Micah poisoning his mind. Arthur contacts Mary and leaves with her. He asks Sadie and Charles to help John and his family and to help the girls, Pearson and Uncle leave. Mary takes Arthur away to the right climate and makes a full recovery. Eventually John, Abigail and Jack contact him. Charles and Sadie would join them shortly after helping the Wapiti tribe escape. Arthur advises them all. "Leave Micah. Revenge is a fool's game. All he did was reveal who Dutch truly is, eventually they'll both be caught or killed. Leave it all behind and don't look back." Arthur and Mary build a farm for themselves and a family and get the life Arthur always wanted with Mary. They help John and his family on Beecher's hope and all is well with the Morgans and the Marstons.

Scenario 9.

During the year that John left the gang. What if John somehow found his way to New Austin. He finds himself drifting and just thinking Abigail and the kid would be better off without him. One day he finds himself on the MacFarlane ranch. Bonnie asks for his help stopping some rustlers stealing their horses. John decides to stay and help the MacFarlanes out and somehow he finds the peace he's never had with Abigail. One thing leads to another and John falls in love with Bonnie and marries her. Meanwhile, Arthur helps Abigail take care of Jack and John's absence brings them together and they leave the gang after Molly is killed.

Scenario 10.

Hosea, Lenny, Kieran and Sean survive. Arthur convinces Molly to leave during the Saint Denis chapter and that Dutch doesn't love her and it's best if she left. Sadie and Charles return in time. Everyone stands with Arthur and they end Dutch, Micah. With half the gang against Dutch, Bill and Javier see sense and side with Arthur and John. Everyone splits the money and separates.

Scenario 11.

Arthur lives and helps John set everything up. He leaves with Sadie and kills Micah. Arthur chooses to hunt down Bill, Javier and Dutch in exchange for the Marstons freedom.

Arthur kills Bill at Fort Mercer. Arthur stealthily infiltrates Fort Mercer just like Fort Wallace. Kills Bill's gang one by one, until all that's left is Bill. "Hello Bill" "Arthur??" "I'll give you a choice come quietly or we can end this the good old fashioned way" Bill grabs his gun and Arthur shoots him dead “You were always a weak minded fool.”

Arthur hunts down Javier in Mexico. However, Arthur does not play both sides. He sees how desperate the people of Nuevo Paraíso have become. He even meets an old friend, Sister Calderon, now Mother Superior. He asks what side is right and she tells him to help Luisa and Mr Ricketts, they will help him in return.

One conversation with Reyes and Arthur sees right through him. He's nothing but a self-absorbed coward who uses the people of Mexico for his own ambitions. Instead of helping Reyes, Arthur is helping Luisa see sense and one day, Arthur and Luisa catches Reyes having an affair and Luisa kills him. The official story is Javier snuck into Reye's quarters and killed him and his mistress. Reyes Rebellion, now becomes Luisa's Rebellion.

Luisa fulfills her promise and helps Arthur find Javier.

"Well, well, well. Hello old friend." "Hello brother." "Oh, I'm your brother now, am I? "Arthur, I always loved you. I was always on your side." "Loyalty never meant that much when you stood by Dutch's side." "So what, you're taking the governments orders now?" "Look who's talking. From a revolutionary to Allende's lapdog." “Colonel Allende promised me a full pardon, all that mattered was returning home.” Arthur gets the best of Javier, lasso's him and delivers him to Ross and Fordham. Javier condemns Arthur and John. Arthur parts Javier telling him he was nothing more than a blind fool clinging to one master to another.

Arthur kills Dutch. He looks at him with disgust. “Hello Arthur, my son.” “Oh, I’m your son, am I? That didn’t mean a damned thing to you all those years ago when you chose the rat over me.” “I….I did no such thing, you and John BETRAYED ME and now you’re working for them.” “It’s either work with them to kill you or I die” and look at you, using another tribe of Indians like you used Eagle Flies. You’re pathetic.“ "If it’s all the same to you,I’d rather kill you Dutch.” During the shootout on the mountains, Arthur is mocking him for allowing the once great man to be reduced to his shell of his former self. Dutch telling Arthur he should have left him on the streets to die. Arthur mocking his lack of plan and just telling Dutch to “have some goddamn faith” When he has him on the cliff of Coachinay, Arthur just mocks him. “The great Dutch van der Linde, the man with a plan!” For the first time in his life, Dutch shows an ounce of humility and takes responsibility. “Arthur, I let him damn us all. If I had just listened to you, Hosea and John, we would’ve made it.” “If I had just let him hang, we would be in Tahiti” and Dutch falls to his death. At the end of the mountain, Arthur and Ross are by Dutch’s corpse. Arthur demanding to know if he’s finally free. Ross tells him one more mission. Kill John Marston and before Ross can say anything more, Arthur grabs Dutch’s gun and kills Ross. Fordham sees what transpires and mocks Ross “Oh trust me, it’ll look better in the report” Fordham telling Arthur what makes him think they won’t kill him. “You know why? I know too much. See, I know why you used me. Your governor Nate Johns election is coming up and he needed you and you needed me to clean up the state. Lets just say I told some folk and if word gets out I’m dead, then mr Johns won’t get reelected. You leave me and John Marston and his family alone and no one talks." And just like that, Arthur and John live.

[melodyalanaroster]

Miracle Romance

"Oh my god." Alana gasped with tears in her eyes. She stood in front of a large mirror and stared at herself. "I finally look like Serenity." She smiled as she left the dressing room and showed herself to Nathaniel. "You look amazing." Nathaniel smiled. Alana began to cry. “For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be like her... And now, even for a few moments... I can be her.” Tears made their way down her face as she smiled. "I guess I have to break your one rule." Nathaniel smiled. "You are not dying your hair black." Alana remarked. "I could wear a wig." Nathaniel replied. “But Nath... We talked about this...” Alana began. "I am not letting anyone else be your Endymion." Nathaniel interjected.

★

Throughout Alana's life, she had made it very clear that Sailor Moon had been a staple to her. It was a staple in the Roster family. By the time Alana reached the point of living in the Black Tower, at least four generations of the family enjoyed it. Including both primary sets of sisters, Margaret and little Ravenna.

She would play pretend with Viktor, Severina and Sam when they were children. She would always be Sailor Moon and Princess Serenity, Viktor was Tuxedo Mask and Prince Endymion, Severina was Sailor Venus and Sam was always Sailor Jupiter. The tree house in Alana's backyard was often the Moon Kingdom and they would frequently save the world. The adventures would always end with the power of love winning and the kids going into the house for a snack.

As the kids reached adolescence, they were forced to stop playing. But, their love of the anime was still prevalent. Alana always kept up with merchandise news and rumors about the release of a second anime. Lynne had made sure that Alana and Sam had their own copies of the manga, original anime and movies. Viktor happily talked about being Endymion to Alana’s Serenity until they were forced to break up. They wanted to continue the fantasy, but circumstance parted them. Severina was always happy to talk to everyone, and toss out ideas for a proper cosplay group, but Sam dampened the idea with the reminder that, as long as Viktor’s and Severina’s fathers remained in control of their lives, they’d never be allowed to do so.

When Lynne moved Alana and Sam to Amouria, things began to change. "She won't shut up about that Nathaniel guy." Viktor growled as he sat down next to Severina. “Viktor, you knew from the day one that you and Mels weren't allowed to be together. She has to find her Endymion." Severina sighed. “But seriously? aunt Lynne moves her and Sam to Amouria and they both immediately find guys they like?” Viktor complained. “You know Mels talks about other guys too. Right now, it could be Castiel, Lysander, Armin or Nathaniel.” Severina tried to make things sound better. “No, it's definitely Nathaniel. She barely mentions the others to me. Mostly about Armin playing games, Castiel being an ass, and Lysander losing his notebook. But she dotes on Nathaniel a lot.” Viktor retorted. Severina sighed. "Viktor... Do you remember what happened to Adonis and Beryl? Their envy got the best of them, they became evil and they died. Please keep a clear head.” She reasoned. "I am not like Adonis and Beryl." Viktor shot. “Viktor, I can't believe I have to be the voice of reason here. Both of our moms made it very clear that aunt Lynne, Mels and Sam have more freedom than we do. They're not blue bloods. They have to find their miracle elsewhere... Although, you and I will probably end up being paired together in an arranged marriage set up by our fathers.” She explained. Viktor thought for a couple of minutes and sighed. "I just thought..." 

The first time Nathaniel ever went into Alana's room, he instantly noticed her Sailor Moon dolls. "They're really hard to find these days... And Sailor Moon means a lot to me..." She said as she explained what the show meant to her. “It's a connection to my past, my closest friends, and my family.” She smiled. Nathaniel looked puzzled for a bit, then smiled. "That's really sweet.". He smiled. He noticed a picture of her, Sam, Severina and Viktor on a shelf and picked it up. “You all look like you’re having so much fun.” He mused. “Yeah... That’s the only time we’ve ever been able to dress up.” Alana sighed, wistfully. The kids were in makeshift Sailor Scout uniforms. Their hair wasn’t perfect, and Viktor’s tux didn’t fit right, but they didn’t care. The photo had been taken a few weeks before Cosima Chevalier’s death, and was one of the last happy memories they had as a group. “Its cute.” Nathaniel chuckled as he looked at her lovingly.

When her mother went into the hospital, Nate arranged it to where Alana and Lynne could sit and watch whatever they wanted in the room. Lynne suggested marathoning Sailor Moon. The days in the hospital weren't as bad when they watched the show and Lynne stayed stable, but there were days where not even fighting evil by moonlight could save the day. But, that didn't keep them from trying. It didn't take them long to get through all five seasons and three movies of the original anime. “I heard they're making a second anime that's supposed to be closer to the manga!” Alana attempted to be cheery. She was sure that she, Severina and Sam had told her about Crystal, but she really couldn’t think of anything positive to say.  “That's lovely! Do you know when it's set to come out?” Lynne asked. “I have no idea. I'm sure Toei will update us when they can!” Alana replied. “I hope its soon.” Lynne smiled. Suddenly, Lynne began coughing and her monitors started to go off. “NURSE! HELP!” Alana cried.

Even when Sam and Alana fought so badly that the Military and RDR felt it was necessary to create a treaty between the two organizations to prevent the sisters from ever being enemies again, it was actually their love of Sailor Moon that truly began to bring them together again. Severina had gotten wind of the fight and forced the girls to go to her house. “OW! RINI! YOU'RE HURTING MY EAR!” Alana whined. “Seriously! What the hell?” Sam whined. “I don't care if I'm hurting you two! This kind of fighting is unacceptable! You two are sisters and you know that this behavior will tear the family apart! I won't allow that!" Severina began to cry as she lead the sisters to her home theater. "What's all this?" Alana asked. "You've forced my hand, so I'm pulling out the big guns!" Severina cried as she grabbed a remote and turned on the screen. Sam and Alana looked at the menu then at each other. "Go figure." Sam grinned. "Of course." Alana grinned. The menu on the screen was the DVD menu to Sailor Moon R: The Promise Of The Rose. By the time the song “The Power Of Love” was playing, tears were streaming down the sisters' faces. "Mels." Sam began to choke. "Sam." Alana's voice wavered. They looked at each other, sadness and regret in their eyes. “Mels... I’m s-so s-sorry f-for what I-I said..” Sam sniffled. “I’m s-sorry t-too S-Sami...” Alana blubbered as she hugged Sam. “I love you.” Sam muttered as she held onto her sister. “I love you too.” Alana murmured. 

When Death’s Domain was getting set up, Alana dedicated a whole room to the series. “You’re seriously going to have an entire room dedicated to Sailor Moon?” Derek had asked. “Yes. Its going to have shelves for merch, posters, and a couch to relax on.” Alana mused. “Melody can have whatever she wants for her apartment. And, if it helps her destress, I most definitely approve.” The  Red Death announced. “Well, the majority of my collection will be in there. There’s going to be something Sailor Moon related in every room.” Alana smiled. “Of course there will be.” Derek facepalmed. “I’m not apologizing. I love Sailor Moon and I wanna showcase it in my home.” Alana laughed. “And I’m sure you’re going to do nothing but post about your collection for a while.” Derek rolled his eyes. “Obviously. Moonies have a good presence online.” Alana mused. “I thought “Moonies” were people who followed the Unification Church?” The Red Death inquired. “Yeah, they are called that, but Sailor Moon fans are also called “Moonies”. I know, in certain circles, I have to be sure to differentiate... But, its what we’re called.” Alana explained as she shrugged her shoulders. The room ended up becoming a paradise for fans of the series. Shelves filled with various collectibles, a couch decorated with two throw pillows and a blanket, a coffee table with two sets of coasters, a large rug, framed posters, plushies, moon and star lights along the walls and showering down the window and a tv mounted on one wall. In contrast to the vast majority of Death’s Domain, the room was an explosion of bright colors.

★

Nathaniel stepped into the restroom for a few minutes. Alana watched the door in anticipation. When he came out, he was running his hands along the circumference of the black wig, making sure it was in its proper place. The thought of how similar he looked to Viktor shot through her mind. She did her best to suppress that thought. "You don't even like cosplay..." She muttered as she smiled. "You do so much for me, I don't mind doing this for you." He grinned. "Nathaniel! I love you!” She cried as she wrapped her arms around him. “I knew I was going to see Princess Serenity, I didn't know Prince Endymion would be with her!” someone called from behind them. They turned around and saw Sam leaning in the doorway. “Sam! I look just like her!” Alana cried. "I wonder if I can get Ken to be Nephrite." Sam commented. “I'm sure he would be if you asked him. You two would be the perfect Jupiter and Nephrite!” Alana beamed. “I didn't know this was turning into a full on cosplay group!” Ken laughed as he walked up behind Sam. "Why not?" Sam asked. "I'm not sure Viktor would appreciate being Kunzite." Alana remarked. “He'd have to get used to it. Since Nathaniel is Endymion, that demotes Viktor to Kunzite.” Sam stated. "Right because when you guys were kids, Viktor was always Endymion." Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “Viktor has had years to accept his position in my sister's life. If he doesn't accept it, it will not end well for him.” Sam replied. "Do you think he will?" Nathaniel asked. "If he truly cares about her, he will." Sam nodded. “Viktor has known for years that our time ended long ago. Accepting his new position is painful for him, but he is well aware of the fact that it's something that he must do.” Alana explained.

A few minutes later, Renee walked into the room. “You both look magnificent! The girls and I have gotten a backdrop ready, would you two mind taking a few pictures?” She beamed. Alana smiled and turned to Nathaniel, a very hopeful look on her face. "Would you be okay with that?" She asked. Nathaniel nodded. "Sure." He grinned. They followed Renee into a room. "Oh my god! You two look utterly amazing!”, “You look beautiful Mels! Nathaniel, you look so handsome!”, “True Moon and Earth royalty!” the other girls cooed when they saw them. “I think we should do a cosplay group. I'm Jupiter and Rini will be Venus.” Sam commented when she walked in. "I volunteer to be Mercury!" Renee cheered. "I'll be Mars." Lyra smiled. "I'll be Pluto." Veronica beamed. "I don't mind being Saturn." Nora suggested. "I wonder if we could get Lucy and Noelle to be Uranus and Neptune." Sam pondered. "We could also see about getting Ravenna to be Chibi Moon." Alana proposed. “I think that would be fantastic. Who would be the rest of the Shitennou?” Lyra asked. "I could see if Armin could be Jadeite." Alana thought out loud. "Are we really setting up a cosplay group?" Nathaniel asked. Sam looked at Nath, as if he had said something really stupid. "Do you not realize how highly rated Sailor Moon cosplay groups are?" She asked. Nathaniel shook his head. “Sailor Moon cosplay groups are some of the most elite cosplayers in the anime world. Sailor Moon being one of the most iconic anime in history, it is instantly recognizable. The cosplayers take some of the most beautiful pictures, make some of the coolest videos, and even do events. They may not be unionized like Star Wars' 501st Legion, but they come together and coalesce with great ease whenever they recognize each other. Children who recognize them run up to them the same way that they do with superheroes, and typically, they are nice to them. It is a sisterhood of love and justice.” Sam explained. "Not to mention how fun it would be to finally be in one." Alana cooed. “We'd still need Zoisite.” Veronica stated. "I wonder if Derek could be him." Nora pondered. “Uh, guys? Can we please get to the photoshoot?” Renee asked impatiently. 

After posting for photos for what felt like an eternity, Nathaniel and Alana went into the changing room to get out of their cosplays. "You do look really beautiful in that." Nathaniel smiled as he took the black wig off. Alana blushed. "Do you really think so?" She asked nervously. “Of course. You look magnificent.” He blushed as he walked over to her and kissed her. “Thank you for doing this my love. It means the world to me.” Tears came to Alana's eyes as she spoke. “I love you my Melody.” Nathaniel cooed as he wiped a tear from her cheek. “I love you so much Nathaniel!” She mused as she threw her arms around him.

★

A few weeks later, in the early hours of the morning, several cars arrived at an old castle in the country. “This place looks amazing! Perfect for our photo shoot!” Alana cheered as she got out of the car. “Welcome to the Astarian Royal Palace Lady Melody!” A woman with long brown hair, sunglasses and wearing a knee length blue dress beamed as she walked up to them. “Mrs. Reynard, I presume?” Alana asked as she shook the woman's hand. “Yes ma'am. We spoke over the phone.” the woman smiled. “You are fully aware as to why we need the palace today. Am I correct?” Alana inquired. “Yes. For your little photoshoot. Cosplay, I believe.” Mrs. Reynard replied. “Yes. Sailor Moon. Its important the palace be the backdrop to this shoot.” Alana stated. “The photographer will be here in a few minutes to set up. They'll need time.” Mrs. Reynard explained. “That's fine. We need time to prepare.” Alana smiled.

After a couple of hours, the members of the group began to step out of their respective preparation rooms and into a lounge. Lynne Roster as Queen Serenity, Sam as Sailor Jupiter, Severina as Sailor Venus, Renee as Sailor Mercury, Lyra as Sailor Mars, Noelle as Sailor Uranus, Lucy as Sailor Neptune, Nora as Sailor Saturn, Veronica as Sailor Pluto, Ravenna as Small Lady Serenity, Viktor as Kunzite, Ken as Nephrite, Armin as Jadeite, Derek as Zoisite, Nathaniel as Prince Endymion and Alana as Princess Serenity. When the entire group was gathered in the lounge, tears filled Alana's eyes. “It's so beautiful!” she happily cried out. “Awe! Mels!” Severina cheered as she hugged Alana. “This was a fantastic idea!” Lynne beamed. "How long do we all need to wear this?" Armin asked, slightly uncomfortable. “Just a few hours. We're gonna get a TON of shots! ” someone replied as they walked up. It was a young woman with short platinum blonde hair, bright green eyes, and pale skin. She wore black pants, a white button up top and a deep blue beret. "You all look so regal!" She cheered. “Alright everyone, let me introduce you to you Catarina. She's a friend of mine from boarding school. She's the photographer I told you guys about!” Severina introduced. “Hello everyone! It is an absolute pleasure to meet you all!” Catherine bowed. ” Severina introduced. “Hello everyone! It is an absolute pleasure to meet you all!” Catherine bowed.

The photoshoot took several hours, and took place at various locations within the castle grounds. Lynne insisted on at least one family shot with Sam and Alana, and one with Sam, Alana, Severina, Ravenna, Ken, Nathaniel, and Viktor. “This is odd. I don't quite know the anime, but those characters aren't actually family, aren't they?” Catarina asked, curiously. “Not exactly... I mean, Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity, and Small Lady Serenity are three generations of lunar royalty, and Prince Endymion is Princess Serenity's husband and Sailor Chibi Moon's father... But, this shot isn't about the show's family. It's about their family.” Lyra explained. “Oh. That's sweet!” Catarina smiled. Alana insisted each “couple” got their own picture. Viktor wasn't too happy that his couldn't be with Alana, but he didn't mind posing with Severina. Kentin was very happy to have a romantic pose with Sam. "Nephrite and Jupiter look so fantastic!" Renee cheered. “Are you kidding? I've been wanting to do this set for a long time!” Sam beamed. “My favorite part of all of this. I hate this wig, but being your knight is worth it.” Ken mused as he looked at Sam lovingly. "This is awkward." Derek rolled his eyes when he and Renee had their turn. "Oh grow up!" Renee snapped. "Derek... You know what happens when Renee gets mad!" Alana laughed. “Yeah... She gets pretty scary.” Derek sighed. Everyone laughed as Renee forced Derek into a somewhat romantic pose. "But this is so awkward!" Derek whined. "Just do it!" Renee demanded. When their part of the shoot ended, Derek sat down and shot back a bottle of water. “That was weird. "Lyra, Armin, you're up!" Alana cheered. “Now this will be interesting! ” Ken chuckled. “And in Dragon Ball references Armin! Toei may own both franchises, but now is not the time to try to mix the two!” Sam ordered. “Awe come on! That takes part of the fun out of it!” Armin whined. “Armin, if we were doing a smaller photoshoot, I wouldn't mind a few “fun” shots. So please be more serious.” Alana urgent. "Fine." Armin sighed as he and Lyra took their places in front of the camera. 

“God that was exhausting! Who'd have thought that Cosplay would be THAT much work?” Nathaniel whined he crashed onto the living room couch at Death's Domain. "If you had cosplayed as the Winter Soldier when Armin and I cosplayed as Captain America and Black Widow at that Marvel Exhibition in High School, you would have known, first hand, A LOT sooner!" Alana shot as she crashed down next to him. "You still won't let me live that down?" He asked. "Nope." She chuckled. "Why not?" He asked. “Because Armin and I worked our asses off to do our characters justice and we were hoping you would join in on the fun. Especially considering how Natasha and Bucky get together in the comics several times, so it would have been a cute “couple's cosplay” for you and me. Not to mention how cosplay is more than just “wearing a costume”. When someone properly cosplays, they also wish to play the character, even for just a day. They temporarily escape reality and enter the one the character they're cosplaying as resides in. Weeks, months, and even years are spent building props and even hand making the items and outfits. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into it!” She explained. "I know you and Armin love it, but I don't think I could do it as often as you want to." Nathaniel sighed. “I get that. Its not for everybody. But, I'm thankful you did it for me.” Alana Mused. “I love you Alana. You always do so much for me... And it has been a long time since I've been the "prince" to your "princess." He grinned. "And I'm sure rubbing it Viktor's face added to your enjoyment.” She chuckled. "That did make it a bit more fun." He smirked. "I really wish you wouldn't antagonize him." She sighed. over you and find someone else. It's the same with Castiel. You're not going to be with him, so he needs to quit pining." He shot. "Yes, but with Castiel, you two have reached a mutual agreement, and he has angered me in such a way that I spat that truth with him." She chimed in. "Which makes the situation with Viktor worse. had your family and Severina telling him for years... Yet he insists." He huffed as he rolled his eyes. "Despite that, he is still one of my best and oldest friends. We were raised together and are still like family. Can you at least try to play nice with him?" She requested. Nathaniel looked at her annoyed. "Please! Pretty please! My sweet Endymion…” Alana begged as she playfully batted her eyes. He thought for a minute and exhaled. “Fine. ” He sighed. "Thank you." She mused. “But if he oversteps the boundaries that you and I put in place, I won't be so kind.” He stated. She cuddled up next to him and kissed his cheek. "I love you Nathaniel." She cooed. He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I love you too Alana."

★

Several weeks later, after the images from the photoshoot had been posted and gone viral, an idea came to Severina's mind. She turned to Alana and Sam and smiled. "What?" Sam asked. “What if we did a cosplay concert?!” Severina cheered. “Nope. I'm not singing.” Alana stated. “PLEASE! We could choose a song from Sailor Moon and singing it at a convention!” Severina urged. “Really? What song would we even do?” Sam asked. “What about “Moon Effect”? It's sung by all of the scouts!” Severina cheered. “Please no. I don't sing.” Alana begged. "But, you wouldn't be alone... And we can't do it without our Sailor Moon!" Sam sneered. “Honey... You're such a beautiful singer! Please!!!!” Severina pleaded. “No…” Alana muttered. “Damn it Mels! Just do it! We all know that you sing when you're alone! On top of that, Nath, Rini, Viktor, Mom and I have all been telling you for years that we all think your singing is beautiful! So, just do it!” Sam snapped. "Don't forget how your teammates think so too." Severina added. Alana thought for a few minutes and huffed. “Fine. I'll do it.” She sighed. “Huzzah! Let's do it at Comic Con!” Sam cheered. "No! That’s too big a venue!" Alana pleaded "That's why it should be done there! You'll get over your stage fright on one of the biggest stages on the Convention Circuit!" Sam explained. "My babies singing a Sailor Moon song in full cosplay? I'd love to help you with it!" Lynne cheered as she walked up to them. "Fantastic! We'll make it a family project!" Severina smiled. Alana looked around at the other women, thought for a few minutes, sighed, and sheepishly grinned. “I guess the Roster Family women are putting on a show!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words cannot describe how badly I've wanted to write something Sailor Moon related to my story... 

Sailor Moon means a lot to me... It was my mom’s and my “thing”. No matter how much we fought, argued, and went at each other’s throats, we always bonded over the series. The first and last time I watched it in it’s entirety was with her just before her disease started taking its hold. She was the one who got me my first bits of merch, who was always happy to talk to me about it. The last Christmas gift I got her was a blanket with all the scouts on it, and she gave me plushies of Luna and Artemis. When mom died, Sailor Moon came to mean so much more to me. My aunt made me pendants with her ashes in them that look like the Legendary Silver Crystal, I got Pluto’s Garnet Rod tattooed on my back, and I became more adamant about collecting items. Each time I get a new item, I feel closer to her... There are times where I’ll even burst into tears because of Sailor Moon making me think of her....

Yes, I used the character sprite of Nathaniel that I edited from the Dark Chocolate Steward to make him look more like Endymion. I made his hair black, and edited his rings and earrings out.

Little tip... The bit about Adonis won't make sense unless you've read the Codename Sailor V manga.... If you’re not in the mood to read it, Adonis was a lowly Venusian soldier who was in love with his princess (Venus). Venus fell in love with Kunzite instead of him. He found her on Earth and cursed her to never be able to have love again, thus freeing more of her time up to focus on her duty as the leader of Princess Serenity’s Sailor Guardians.

This was originally going to be a Valentine's Day special for 2020. Then 2020 became the dumpster fire that it was and my real life needed more of my attention....

The majority of this does take place during the first year between University Life and Love Life. Before Nath and Alana go on their globe trotting adventure. The flashback section takes place at various points in time.

Credit goes to:

Naoko Takeuchi for Sailor Moon

@candysweetposts for the Princess Serenity Pack (seriously, thank you for going through with my request!)

@chinomiko and Beemoov for My Candy Love

[fedeipox]

The Way of Time (Rdr2 fanfic) Prologue

So, this story is about time travel. I don’t know why but people expect the worst when they read about time travel and Rdr put together, so I’m here to make you change your mind, or to receive your insults... 

Anyway, the story is open to everyone, no particular violence, just some swearing from time to time, no warnings of any kind (the only horror could be my English, and I’m sorry about that) 

Story summary: When Emily opened her eyes, for a moment she forgot. She forgot she had made a strange kind of journey, an impossible kind of journey, a journey not in space but in time. She forgot, or her mind had wanted to forget, because of the shock it had been for her. Can you imagine? What would you do in her place? Just think about it: you lose everything you have, everything you are and everything you know. Wouldn't you go crazy? Panic? It takes a great strength of both mind and body not to start crying out in desperation, and this is exactly the type of strength Emily had had that morning, when she opened her eyes and after a moment of oblivion, she realized where she was. Emily was strong, indeed, she just didn't know.

Prologue

She opened her eyes all at once and accordingly her senses awakened. It happened altogether: her skin shivered at the contact with the cold air, the muscles of her neck contracted and ached because of the position she was laying, her ears captured some muffled noises of birds and voices in the distance, the place smelled of coal and rusty steel and the floor under her was freezing. 

The only sense which wasn’t working was her sight: all around her was black, but she could feel her eyes were actually open. To be sure of it, she brought her fingers, stiff because of the cold, to her face and touched her eyelids. Yes, her eyes were open, but everything was dark anyway. 

Afraid that she might have gone blind, she slowly lifted her back and sat upright, blinking wildly and moving her head from left to right trying to catch something. There was some light, a long thin blue light line at the base between the floor and what had to be some kind of door. 

She wasn’t blind! She was just inside some dark cold room. Her room? No, her room had carpet on the floor and it had never been this cold, even in the coldest winter nights, and now it was May, how could the temperature be this low?

She took the two sides of her hoodie and closed the zip on her t-shirt. Then, she stood up and took a couple of steps towards the light line. The wall she leaned her hands on was made of the same freezing steel of the floor, but knocking on it she could feel it was empty. It was definitely a door.

She started searching for the handle and in the meantime she kept asking herself how she might have ended in a place like that. She clearly remembered she was on the train, seated at her place, listening to music and scrolling on Instagram, so how on earth could she be there?

Instagram…

The torch light of her phone!

She started patting her hands on herself, searching every pocket of her jeans and her hoodie, but no trace of it. They must have left it behind when they took her. Because that was the only assumption she could make: somebody kidnapped her. Otherwise, how could it be she didn’t remember how she got there?

Yes, she was already figuring it in her mind: they hit her head with something heavy - even though she didn’t feel any pain on her head - tied her and brought her to that place. How could they have taken her on the train, among all those people in the carriage with her, without anyone noticing? And, why did they took her? Perhaps to ask her parents for her ransom, they thought her family to be rich. But how could they be? 

Her father was an employee, her mother hadn’t worked a day in her life and they lived in a little house in the suburbs of Saint Denis. She couldn’t even afford college so she took a gap year to work as waitress and save some money to help her parents with the college fee. Except the gap year had lasted five years and now she had no high education nor high expectations for her future. 

But that was a different story. 

So no phone, no light. And now what?

She took a step backwards rubbing her hands together to warm them a little. That place was too cold. Maybe they put her inside one of those big refrigerators where they store the meat, just like in the movies.

Ah! She couldn’t believe she was living a movie scene.

Some voices caught her attention. They were male voices. Her kidnappers? She thought it was better if they didn’t know she was awake. But then another sound reached her ears, more distant but also louder. A train whistle. Was she still on the train?

She couldn’t keep silent anymore, she wanted to know what was going on. 

“Hey!” she shouted and her voice thundered inside the steel room, returning to her ears twice as powerful. 

She frowned in the darkness, regretting immediately her act. Then, the floor under her feet moved with a strong jolt and she lost her balance falling on her side and hitting her head on the hard floor. 

She immediately brought a hand on her temple and massaged the hurting spot, hoping she didn’t cracked her head open. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood, even if her mother had always told her it was stupid for a woman to be scared of blood, since she saw it every month, but she couldn’t help it. And by the way, she wasn’t scared of blood, she just preferred to keep it on the inside. 

As the train started moving and the floor of the car shacked and bounced on the trails, she crawled and reached the side of the room, laying her back on the wall and bringing her knees to her chest.

If she had to be honest with herself, she wasn’t scared. Well, of course she was a little worried: she didn’t know where she was, where they were taking her, who those people were, but she could do nothing about it, she didn’t have any way out, and be afraid would only make things worse. She needed her head clear and ready to find a solution. Like that movie with that famous actor she liked so much, where he played the part of a psycho with multiple personality who kidnapped three girls and the smartest one was the one who kept calm and tried to find an escape for all of them. 

Right, she had to be like that girl, smart and calm.

But being calm wasn’t easy in her situation, not when the frozen air got inside her cotton sweatshirt and reached her neck, making her shiver, and neither when she couldn’t feel her toes inside her sneakers anymore. And being smart was unnecessary at that moment and until the train would have stopped.

When would it have stopped?

...

Every now and then she could feel the carriage under her slowing down with a thin whistle of the brakes or speed up, bending on one side or the other according to the course of the trails. 

With every slowdown she hoped to stop. She didn’t care anymore where she was or who her kidnappers were, she wanted to get down that thing and find something to warm herself up.

At first she was so deep in her thoughts and groggy because of the cold that she didn’t heard it, but when the sound started to be closer and closer, she became aware of it and opened her ears to be sure of what she was hearing.

Gunshots? 

She never really heard a gun firing in real life, so she couldn’t say if it really was it, but she heard it on TV. How different could it be?

Now the shots were really close, right out the car she was in it seemed, and with them she also perceived some people talking. 

“What the hell was Bill doing? He had long enough to set that charge” said one voice. He sounded young. 

“Well, I hooked up the wire, but we won’t mention that” answered another male voice. He seemed to her a little bit older.

They were right out the car. She could have yelled for help, but she didn’t. They were shooting, attacking the train she was in, and asking for help didn’t seem right. Who fires a gun generally isn’t the good guy. She learned that watching the news on TV: the bad guys always shoot, the good guys intimate you to put the gun down, but hardly ever shoot.

Some steps above her made her look up: they were walking on the roof of the car. One of the two fired again. She brought her arms up to cover her head.

She didn’t like that situation, she felt in danger, even more than before. Her kidnappers were being attacked, maybe by a worst kind of people, maybe by dangerous criminals, like the mafia. She had heard a lot about the mafia: they were dangerous, ruthless, the worst kind of criminals on earth. Maybe this was a settling of accounts between two gangs.

The two men went away, following the line of carriages, and with them the sound of their firearms.

It didn’t took long before a powerful jolt made her lose her balance so that she had to lean on the floor with her forearms not to hit her head again. The train was stopping, but she wasn’t too happy about it. The criminals were stopping it. The other criminals.

She was finally able to stand up on her half frozen, half fallen asleep legs and stumble towards the line of light at the base of the wall to lean an ear on it and try to listen what was happening outside.

It wasn’t hard to understand the fight was still going on because the people out there were still shooting and yelling. They must have been in a very isolated part of the country, she thought, because it was impossible that the civilians hadn’t called the police when they heard the guns.

A bullet hit the side of the carriage, leaving a little perfectly round shaped hole in the steel a couple of inches away from her head. She gasped loudly and let herself fall back on the floor. It wasn’t a good idea to stand, not until they had stopped shooting.

She didn’t wait long. When silence fell and the only sound was her breathing echoing inside the room, she stood up and leaned again her ear on the door.

“I can see now why the O’Driscolls brought so many boys up here for this” she heard the same young voice of before saying right out of her car.

He was there, right there. Was it wise to reveal her presence? She didn’t care, she was freezing and, criminals or not, she wanted to get out of there. She summoned all her courage and knocked on the steel door.

“Hey!” she added to the knocking.

“Please… please help. Help me get out of here” she begged with a loud tone, but without yelling to avoid the echo of her voice to return too strong in her ears.

Silence fell and she wondered if he had listened to her. Then, she thought that maybe it was better if she sat again on the floor, just in case the man out there was about to shoot her from the outside.

A clang and the sound of two pieces of iron that rub one against the other anticipated the strong light that blinded her. After hours in the complete darkness, that light was unbearable for her. 

She closed her eyes and felt as every human being feels when they are forced to keep their eyes shut in a dangerous situation: weak and exposed. She blinked a couple of times and tried to cover the excessive light with one hand as she took some steps backwards.

“Who are you?” asked the young voice.

She didn’t answer, she didn’t want to. Reveal her identity to a stranger and potential criminal would have been a mistake. Her eyes started to get used to the light. Standing against the clear white background there was the shape of a man, dark because of the contrast, so that she couldn’t see his face. However, she could perfectly understand he was pointing a shotgun at her. All her courage abandoned her.

“Please, please don’t” she whimpered kneeling down and holding her hands in a begging gesture.

“Don’t kill me” she added looking at the dirty floor of the car.

“Hey! Come here a moment” she heard the man shouting. He was calling his friends. She couldn’t tell if this was a bad or good thing.

[blerbdrops]

bad name (b.h. x fem rdr)

im drunk and thirsty for billy hargrove and i thought of this in the back of an uber lets GET IT

summary: you and billy used to date. emphasis on used to. now, you stay away from him at all costs but keep finding yourself drawn to him, coming back all over again.

warnings: smut (18+),angst if you squint kind of ((i never wrote angst before. forgive me lmfao)), slight praise kink, underage drinking, smoking probably, toxic relationships, billy hargrove in himself counts as a warning right ? unprotected sex. wrap it before you tap it folks!! fluff towards the end i guess. oh everyone in this fic is 18 and older btw bc smut LMAO

song inspo that u should also listen to when reading this: you give love a bad name x bon jovi, i hate myself for loving you x joan jett & the blackhearts

it was another saturday night, and tina invited you to another one of her ragers. again. not like you had anything against partying, as any teenager in a small town like hawkins, but you knew your ex was going to be there and you really werent trying to see him. you knew he was going to be there because he thrives off of attention, no matter how good OR bad it was. 

you and billy dated for six months. six months you had tamed the beast in him. but it all came undone when he had some other bitch wrapped around his arm in the school parking lot like grip tape on a wooden baseball bat. you spat at his feet and ended the relationship, right then and there.

or so you thought. between every hookup billy had, and every guy you managed to get free dinner and head from, you two were drawn back to each other but in a sick, twisted way. like a fly caught in a spiders web. sometimes he was the fly, and you the spider. 

tonight though, you were two beers and three rum & cokes deep. the bass of the music thrummed through your body. not like you were dancing though. you only came to get drunk and get laid. and you were already drunk.

you smoothed out the crinkle in your denim mini-skirt, leaning against a wall, surveying the crowd. you caught billy in your vision, frizzy blond curls and all, dancing up against some random girl from the cheer team. you didnt get jealous. i mean, how could you? you knew if you wanted him, you could have him. you did have him, at one point. 

while he was dancing, he looked around and locked his gaze within yours. he licked his lips at you, to which you returned a sultry wink. you used your tongue to wrap around the straw in your cup of spiked punch to bring it closer to your mouth and raised an eyebrow at him. he took sight of this and eased his way off the dance floor. he slightly stumbled his way over to you. leaning his arm against the wall above you, he looked down at you. he placed his hand on the small of your back, bringing you closer into him. he knew what you liked. 

“hey sweetheart.” he purred into your ear. “you look real good tonight.”

you flushed, letting out a laugh. “and so do you. couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

he smirked at you, licking his lower lip. “lets get out of here. you and me, for old times sake?”

you knew fucking him was gonna be bad. so, so bad for the both of you. but the heat pooling between your legs led you to believe otherwise.

“take me to my place, baby.” you purred into his ear. he grabbed you by the hand and led you both to his car, opening the passenger door for you. you both eased yourself into the brown leather bucket seats of his camaro. before he turned on his car, he grabbed the fabric of your shirt and pulled you in for a fervent, needy kiss. it was full of sin, fire, and teeth biting on lips. you both had to exercise restraint, because you both had a long night ahead.

the ride was spent with his hand gripping your thigh, and vice versa. neither of you wanted to lose physical contact with each other. he pulled into your empty driveway, save for your car being in there. 

“where are your folks?” he asked, turning to you. 

“gone for the weekend. went to go sightsee or something.” you replied. “wouldnt have brought you to mine if they were home anyways.”

“i know doll.” you both exit the car and waste no time in getting to the front door. you fumble with the keys, not being able to concentrate with billy’s hard dick grinding up against your ass. you groaned at the feeling and ground back into him, earning the slightest moan from him. 

once you got in and slammed the door shut behind you, it was a wrap. 

he smashed his lips into yours, pressing you against the front door of your house. you returned the heated kiss to him. you bit his lower lip, eliciting a moan from him. you took this chance and slid your tongue into his mouth. the both of you becoming more aroused, you untucked his shirt from his pants and threw it off of him. he pulled off your shirt in one fell swoop, exposing your braless chest. he groaned at the sight of your barren chest and began leaving sloppy, drunken kisses down your neck, on your collarbone and breasts. he licked a trail up back to your neck and nipped at the shell of your ear. 

“miss me, baby girl? i know you fuckin’ did.” he purrs into your ear, sending shivers down your spine. 

“more than anything, daddy.” you bit at his neck, fiddling with the belt buckle at his waist, wanting more of him against you. 

he picks you up and you wrap your legs around him, letting his strong arms carry you up to your bedroom. once you two get in your room, he lets you go gently on your bed, and you pull off your skirt and kick off your shoes, leaving yourself in your black thong. he gets visibly harder through his denim jeans. 

“ugh you take too long. i want you right now.” you unfasten his black leather belt and cast it off to the empty side of the bed, the side that used to be his. you yank his pants and boxers down, and his erection springs out and bounces against his washboard abs. you throw your hair up into a ponytail and lick down his entire shaft. he lets out a breathy moan at this. 

he missed the way you looked with your mouth wrapped around his long, hard member. he loved the way you looked when you’d take his whole length in your mouth and looked up at him with innocent eyes. 

he snaked his hands to your ponytail and you raised an eyebrow at him, pulling his hands away from you and pinning them to his sides. he moaned at the way you took charge. you were the only girl who challenged him in bed. you bobbed your head against him as he slowly thrust into your mouth. you looked up at him and met his gaze, smiling as best as you could with his dick in your mouth. 

“my god, angel.” he groaned out. “you look so goddamn good right now.” 

you hummed against him, feeling his orgasm ever so slightly build up. but you werent going to let him cum just yet. 

you pulled off of him, releasing his wrists from your grip and slowly pumping him. “hold out for me, baby boy.” he immediately pulls you off of his knees and places you on the bed, leaving rough kisses along your body, love bites on your collarbone and breasts. he used his teeth to pull down your underwear, discarding of them completely with his hands when they got low enough. he gently kissed along the insides of your thighs, his breaths teasing your pussy as you grew wetter for him.

he gently traces his index finger along your folds, chuckling darkly. “so wet. and its all for me, huh angel?”

you sigh, head hitting your fluffy pillows. “yes baby. all for you. please, please dont keep me waiting any longer. i need you.”

and that was all it took. he dove into you face first, flattening his tongue out and licking along your slit. your hands sunk into his blond mop, gripping tighter at him. you felt the vibration of his moan throughout your entire body and you let a sinful moan escape your lips. he took this as incentive to pull you closer by your thighs and really taste you. 

he ate you out like you two were never going to fuck again. his tongue found its way to your clit. he used one of his free hands to pull back the hood on your clit to expose it further. you arched your back into him, moans becoming louder. this only spurred him on as he gently sucked on your exposed clit. he used his other free hand to slide two fingers inside you. your grip on his hair got tighter as you rode his face, essentially. you felt your thigh muscles contract as you almost hit your orgasm. keyword: almost. he stops, and you whine at the loss of his mouth. the sight of him is almost holy. 

his blond curls tumbled down and hit his shoulders, his eyes glassy and full of fire, lust, and desire. his lips glistened in the dim light of your room, full, pink and swollen. his smooth skin shone, and you swear you almost came at the sight of him. 

“bend over for me sugar.” he says to you, in a sultry and demanding way. you flip over with ease, giving him the perfect view of your ass. you pulled a pillow closer to your face, letting it rest there. he looked at you dreamily. 

“atta girl. youre so fucking sexy.” he kissed your ass, which made you moan and push back on him, letting the tip of his dick graze against your wet pussy. 

“fuck babygirl. youre so goddamn wet. i love that.” he moaned, teasing you and himself at your entrance. “dripping wet, and all for me. your pussy is so damn beautiful.” 

you moaned into the pillow before picking your head up, “my GOD billy! please just fuck me into my mattress already, i cant wait much longer. i need that big, thick dick inside me so fucking bad baby.”

without anymore hesitation, he slid into you with ease. you both moaned at feeling each other like this again. he thrusted into you harder and harder. you bit the pillow as he laid a harsh smack against your ass, watching it redden. 

“oh god baby! yes, yes, yes!!” you moan out loudly, throwing your ass back against him as he fucked you. he loved when you fucked him back, loved watching your ass jiggle against his pelvis. he used his knees to push your legs apart, and get deeper into you. 

“god, yes princess.” he let out between thrusts. “i love when you push back on me like that. you miss my dick babygirl?”

he ruts into you, you screaming out in pleasure. “AH! oh yes daddy. i missed that dick inside me.” you felt the pressure of your orgasm build in your stomach. he felt your walls clench against his dick, and he slid out of you. 

“on your back. now.” he demanded. you threw yourself against your soft blankets as he nudged your legs spread eagle in front of him. he slid into you once more, starting with slow, deep strokes. 

“oh baby. go faster, please.” you begged him. he smiled at you.

“hm? you want me to go faster? you mean.. like this?” he picked up his pace, fast enough to arouse you but not to harm you. he knew you too well and you were too stubborn to admit it. 

“o-oh fuck yes! just like that. my god baby!!” you screamed out, burying your face into the crook of his neck and biting down. this only made him rut into you harder. he lifted up one of your legs and let it rest against his shoulder, allowing him to hit your g-spot with every thrust. 

“oh, you like that babygirl?” he cooed. “i know you fuckin’ do. god, i missed this pussy so goddamn much!” he thrusted into you, not being able to hold out much longer. not with the way you writhed against him, or how his name seemed to roll off your tongue with ease. “who’s pussy is this? who do you belong to?” he demanded an answer, and who were you to deny him that luxury?

“fuck, daddy! its yours, its all yours.” you drew out your moan, clawing into his back. “you feel so fucking good. i missed you inside me so fucking much!” you cried out. your orgasm built up again, your walls tightening around billy. 

“look at me, angel. look at me when you cum all over my dick.” he used his free hand to rub slow circles on your clit, sending you to the brink of your orgasm. his thrusts became sloppier and you knew he was going to cum too. 

“oh! o-oh fuck DADDY! yes, yes yes!” you screamed out, your pussy spasming around his dick. he continued to rub on your clit as your nails dug into and down his back while you rode out your climax on his hand. you were both certain that those marks would take a while to fade. he didnt care. 

“goddamn babygirl. im gonnna cum. where do you want it” he said, edging himself so he could hear your answer. instead of verbal response, you opened your mouth and stuck your tongue out, ready to catch him in your mouth. he groaned at this in response, and felt his abs tighten. 

“oh fuck. come here princess.” he swiftly pulls out of you and pumps himself onto your open mouth. you catch every spurt of cum and take the extra measure to lick off the excess that dripped from his tip. you slowly and gently sucked him off, making sure to clean him off in the process. you released him from your mouth with a pop and smiled, looking up at him. he was breathing heavy and so were you, sweaty from the sinful, nasty sex you two had shared. 

spent, billy collapsed onto your bed. you throw off the covers, allowing you and him to get underneath them. you cracked a window to air out the room. you reached into your nightstand and pulled out a cigarette from your cigarette box and your cheap lighter and lit one up. you took a nice, long drag and exhaled before passing it to billy. you two shared a cigarette in your post-sex euphoria. 

“so.” he began, “when is this gonna happen again?”

“it’ll happen when it happens. you know i cant guarantee anything for you.” you responded, finishing the cigarette and ashing out on your ashtray in the window.

“right. is that why we’re here now? and you’re not my girl?” he responded. 

“billy you had some other bitch on you like white on rice when i came out into the school parking lot. thats why im not your girl.” you turned on your side, facing him. “worst part is, you embarrassed yourself, and me. that shit hurt.” 

a poignant silence hung in the air. he had nothing to refute your statement with, because you cant argue facts. “(y/n). you know i still love you. right?” 

you sighed. “yes. i still love you too. but i cant find it in me to keep away from you. i dont know what it is about you. you’re bad.”

“so i’ve been told.” he replies flatly. “can we- can we just enjoy what this is for now, at least?”

“yeah. we can.” you snuggled into his chest, his arm wrapping around you and pulling up the covers to keep your naked bodies warm, together. 

[ultimaa]

About Shingeki no Kyojin 125 - Theories and ramblings.

Annie and her New Year's resolutions.

More than one we looked forward to Annie's return and I am deeply glad that our favorite blondie has already left her glass prison, but why has Annie returned? What are your purposes? Well, she makes it clear in her conversation with Hitch: go back to her father. We know that Annie appreciates her father more than anyone in the world; if she had to do all the atrocities she did to return to her father, she would do it again. It's not that Annie is bad, but, as Nietzsche said: “Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.” Human nature is like that, and Annie knows that she has committed unforgivable sins. She is not proud, but she will not punish herself. SnK's world is cruel, but if there is something that represents love and kindness, it is family: Eren swore to avenge his mother; Mikasa lost her parents, but found similar figures in the Jaegers; Armin lost his grandfather; Reiner wanted to become a warrior for his father to return to his mother; Connie, who lost his family because of Zeke, is willing to sacrifice Falco, a poor child, to recover his mother... Annie's motivation is deeply human and reminds me of John Marston, protagonist of Red Dead Redemption. John had only one goal: to hunt his old friends, who were outlaws, so that the Government would return him to his family. If Abigail and Jack, his wife and son, had been killed, what would have happened to John? We will never know, but when John is killed by government agents, his son Jack takes revenge a few years later, continuing the cycle of violence and death. In the end, John... loses, because his son has become a criminal.

If Mr. Leonhardt dies, something I see very possible under the circumstances, what will happen to Annie? Her great goal has vanished. Nothing makes sense anymore. If even the most sacred and beloved has died, what should Annie do? We meet like this with someone whose life has no direction. Someone who has lost beauty in a devastated and corrupted world. It is the seed of nihilism. Isayama is not characterized by fulfilling the dreams of his protagonists, not in the way that the viewer wants: yes, Armin reaches the sea, but what does this mean? It is the beginning of the end. The human being needs to cling to dreams, turn his back on reality to continue existing in it; however... What happens when nothing makes sense anymore? It is absurd, it is hopeless. It is something that could knock the strongest. According to Albert Camus, someone who has lost the meaning of his life has only three options: suicide, clinging to God or... continuing in the absurd, rebelling against it, turning life into an act of rebellion against nonsense. So, in the hypothetical case of his father dying, what should Annie do? Should he act like Jack Marston and continue the violence? I do not think so. Annie doesn't enjoy killing. Her face witnessing Marco's death is good proof of that. Annie must find a new purpose: end the violence, with that barbaric world that takes away what you love. Understand that she has lost everything, but not everything is lost. While something is at stage, we must continue fighting. In Red Dead Redemption II, Arthur Morgan knows his end is near; the love of his life has left and Dutch, the man who gave him a home and a direction, has become a mad and heartless man. However, not everything is lost. He can still save some (including John Marston and his family, as RDR II is a prequel to the first game) and he succeeds. Arthur finishes his story as a redeemed character; he, who had spent his entire life killing, lying and stealing, ends up redeeming himself. However, Arthur Morgan was not seeking self-redemption, but a future for others. It's something we can apply to Annie. His final role cannot consist in returning with his father and being happy. We know Isayama: God is more likely to come down to Earth.

Connie, Falco and a decisive meeting.

And if Annie can aspire to redemption, Connie is willing to morally condemn himself. Come on, we all know that Falco is not meant to be titan food. Connie, in addition to the prankster par excellence with Sasha, is a character with a story as tragic as any other: he lost everything, but the possibility of recovering his mother gives him hope. But sacrifice Falco? Is Connie able to do something like that? I do not think so. Connie is human; Anger and revenge are very human things, but so is understanding. Connie will abandon his plan sooner or later, when he accepts that, beyond the vessel of one of Titan's powers, Falco is just a child. A child, like his siblings. A child who is not guilty. A boy who, like him, has lost his brother and his friends. Taking into account that Connie, along with Sasha, cried when they faced Reiner during the Return to Shigansina, we must understand that he is a sensitive and empathetic character, blinded by anger and the possibility of recovering a loved one. Armin and Gabi go in search of them, but will their intervention be necessary? Mikasa warns Armin that they won't be able to reach Connie; indeed, I don't think they reach it. Armin, Gabi, Hanji, Levi, Magath, Pieck, Connie and Falco are more likely to meet. Remember that, because when it happens I will come to brag hehehe. What if they meet? The cocktail would be fantastic. They may be Paradise's last hope. Also, I want to see the reunion of Falco and Gabi; because they are very cute and deserve it. How much do we bet that Gabi ends up crying like a baby while hugging Falco? And with that confession at the last minute, I wouldn't be surprised if Isayama felt romantic and gave us a kiss between them. Imagine the faces of adults. I may be delirious, but if it happens... here I will be, again, with ‘I told you so’.

On the other hand, such a reunion can return hope to Armin. Levi, who is the strongest soldier of all time, the Messi of Paradise (yes, I had to make the comparison sorry CR7), is alive; fatally wounded, but alive. In addition, Hanji, who represents leadership, is also fine. With these two pieces again on the chess board, it is possible to trace the game. In addition, Hanji and Levi's encounter with Magath and Pieck constitutes a point of union between Erdia and Marley. In the end, it seems that yhe idea of Eren as the final and unifying enemy of humanity begins to make sense, even if he has not proposed it. After all, if you can't with your enemy... join him against something much worse.

Jean and Mikasa: replacements.

While we know that the commander and the eternal captain are alive, Jean and Mikasa believe otherwise. Well, if I were one of these two, I could only think one thing: WE'RE FUCKED. Fortunately, Isayama has wanted these two to receive the fatal (and false) news. It's not by chance. Nothing is. We know Jean Kirstein and Mikasa Ackerman well; I could say that we have grown up with them. Jean, a guy who started out as an arrogant bastard and who soon revealed his impressive leadership ability; Mikasa, a woman with a force only inferior to Captain Levi. Well, here I go: Jean must take over from Hanji and Mikasa from Levi. We have seen a practically shattered Jean, almost subjected to Folch; However, Mikasa, despite her situation, remains more or less well, keeping a level head. Don't get me wrong: she's pretty screwed, but she seems better than Jean now. During the battle of Trost there is a critical moment: the gas is running out and everyone is going to die. Then Mikasa arrived and, far from being blocked by Eren's supposed death, he tried to motivate them in her own way, you know: I am strong, much stronger than you. We already know that Mikasa is a woman of few words, but her message was enough to encourage Jean and the others. Yes, the current Mikasa is not the Mikasa of ninety chapters ago, but her character has reached a key point: she has to take the reins, think for herself. Only they can stop Folch and handle the situation in Shigansina. Their characters need it. Hanji is a leader, yes, but Jean has much more potential; Mikasa is not Levi, but she is an Ackerman, the only one capable of fighting, and in these four years she has been able to perfect her skill. If these two start working well together, they can be a lethal and decisive combo.

Louise and the scarf.

Well, if a scarf is not in your closet on a cold winter day it may not mean anything important: it may be in the washing machine, with the other clothes. However, Mikasa Ackerman's scarf is not just any scarf, but it contains crucial values ​​and stories for her... and for Eren. The scarf has taken a very important role during the last arc and has now disappeared, Louise has taken it. And it's normal, because Mikasa is her idol. Well, we all know what meanings the scarf has, which represents positive values ​​in a world like Shingeki no Kyojin. The scarf has no place in the current situation; everyone is hopeless and crestfallen, dejected and defeated. And when will the scarf return? I have read the following theory out there: Eren will find Louise's unrecognizable corpse and believe it is Mikasa, recovering the scarf and feeling like real shit. Yes, that would be a possibility of fulfilling what our boy said in chapter 50. The scarf will return when the barbarity ceases, when that beauty returns, in the words of Mikasa, who lives in a cruel world. And we know that it will return due to the first panel of chapter 1 of the manga, Eren's mysterious dream.

I'm sorry if I have grammatical mistakes: English is not my mother tongue.

[lisinfleur]

Undercover

Author’s Notes | Æthelred’s fans, sorry hahaha I had to use someone from the younger to the role so… I hope you like it, girl! Universe | Vikings Pairing | Ubbe x Reader Info | Modern AU, requested by anon for POTD1 Words | 1525 ⁑ Warnings: Teenager problems, some cursing. +18

16 years old birthday party.

He didn’t know if he would kill Hvitserk for begging to come to this party or Sigurd, for quitting in the last moment, leaving for him the task to play the angel: He would have to be surrounded by his brother's childish friends and without a single drop of alcohol to help him since someone would have to drive Hvitserk home after the party – probably drunk, by the way. Jez…

And all of this because Hvitserk was dying to date the birthday's owner since now she was single, according to him.

Fuck.

Hvitserk develops a crush and it ends up placing him into a boring party.

"She has an older sister, my age. Gorgeous girl" Hvitserk said, leaving the car "Won't be that bad".

**********

"Won't be that bad, he said" Ubbe grunted with a cup of diet coke in his hand - the last thing without alcohol in the whole place.

Hvitserk was lost somewhere trying to get the girl's attention and avoid her ex-boyfriend, who was in the party, to get near her again; the sister he pointed Ubbe before disappearing was indeed a gorgeous woman, but she was so busy trying to make everything work that he barely got a “hi” from her mouth when he tried to approach.

And to complete, her eyes were oscillating over the boy Hvitserk told him was the ex-boyfriend of her sister. Great.

Family problems and his chances through the window when the guy came to talk to her. With the charming way she blushed when he started talking with her, Ubbe could bet he would end up that night like a candle-holder near some door, watching her in the kitchen with the boy, and Hvitserk half-drunk, swallowing her sister's tongue on the couch at the living room. Oh man, what a fucking night!

However, somehow, things started to take another path when she pulled back from the boy's advance and looked at him as if she was seeing a salvation cord...

"Hey! Handsome... You're back!" She spat, causing Ubbe to frown when she came towards him, embracing his neck and kissing the corner of his lips as if they were dating or anything like that.

"I'm sorry, Æthelred... I have to go..." she said, looking at him and interlocking her fingers with Ubbe’s, pulling him by the hand with his stunned face.

What in the actual fuck was happening?

 ***********

“You are the girl I told your sister about! And wanna know what? It would be great to taste these beautiful lips of yours”.

Fuck!

You would kill the bastard who invited Æthelred to that damn party!

You were doing all your efforts to build a real party for your sister to forget the way her relationship with him had ended, with the boy telling her he had an eye on another girl, better than her, older than her…

Her older sister, to be more precise. Fuck three times!

Especially because you had a crush on him for a while and since she started dating Æthelred you did your best to hide that shitty stuff and let your sister be happy with the boy of her heart.

Now there he was – the boy of your sister’s heart – trying to lean himself towards you to steal a kiss from your lips.

Your eyes looked around searching from anything. ANY-FUCKING-THING that could save you from tearing your sister’s heart into pieces right in her birthday party.

And so, your y/e/c orbs found that handsome man that tried to talk to you earlier.

Beautiful smile, taller than you, gorgeous blue eyes and no girl around. Perfect!

You would have thrown yourself in his little brother’s arms if the boy he pointed you as being his little brother wasn’t desperately trying to conquer your sister – something very good, by the way, cause a new love would certainly fix your sister’s heart Æthelred shattered that horrid way.

However, after dragging the man to your back garden as if you two were dreadfully anxious to be alone, you had a new problem to deal: Æthelred stayed at the kitchen with that surprised and angry expression, but you had a curious pair of blues looking at you, almost inquisitive.

He crossed his arms and leaned his head looking straight at your eyes, clearly waiting for an explanation for that scene. The corner of his lips lightly curved up giving him a charming look that could easily get you blushed. But he didn’t look like a boy anymore. A boy would be overreacting… Maybe calling you insane. No. He was standing there, looking at you patiently waiting for you to find the right words to tell him he was your door out of that embarrassing situation.

“I’m sorry… Ubbe, right?” you started, trying to confirm you had remembered the right name and he wasn’t the one with that sneeze-sounding name your sister told you when talking about the brothers.

He nodded and you continued, trying to explain yourself and not being mesmerized by that curve in his lips or that beautiful pair of blues.

“Look, I’m sorry. I… Æthelred is my sister’s ex-boyfriend and the last thing I wanted was to be found kissing him in the kitchen after all that happened between them. I’m doing a great effort for my sister to recover, this was all too devastating for her and even with my feelings for him I could never ever do something like this with my little sister…” you started talking, losing control of how much you were talking, not even noticing the way the smile became bigger in his face and he came closer and closer, until his fingers touched your chin and you noticed his scent was the delicious wooden smell that was surrounding you completely in the last two seconds...

Those beautiful blue eyes were even more beautiful from a short distance. And his voice was hoarse. That grave sound causing shivers down your spine sounding so low to your ears.

"I have a pretty simple solution for your problem, dear Y/N," he said, with no difficulties of remembering your name that sounded so pleasurable in his numbing voice tone.

Definitely, he wasn't a boy anymore. Pretty far than the bearded face, his attitude was totally distinct from a boyish behavior. He was direct and secure when showing his interest on you, making it obvious and clear instead of playing the games you were used to.

And somehow, it was melting your reason and some other parts of your body a little bit more private...

"You don't wanna get yourself involved with your sister's ex-boyfriend. Then, get involved with someone else" he said, closer, but not crossing the limit of your permission.

And even this was getting you even number and mesmerized: the boys of your age would have kissed you already. But he was playing with your senses and searching permission in your eyes with that deep pair of blues screaming in your face how much he wanted to kiss your lips.

"It will keep your problems away... And maybe... bring you some good, in the end." he continued, softly brushing his thumb on your lips, causing you to sigh against his finger, opening that wolf smile which with he was looking at you.

You felt like a deer in his eyes. A stupid melted deer that stopped thinking, embracing his neck and allowing him to lean forward, taking your lips in the spicier and warmer kiss you ever experimented.

His hands embraced your waist landing in your back, sending shivers through your entire body without touching a single improper spot!

Even the way he was breathing during the kiss with low growls against your lips, combined with the pressure of his embrace around your body... Everything in that man was different and delicious enough for you not even noticing when Æthelred came out of your house's back door, seeing you and Ubbe exchanging that intense kiss right at the moment Ubbe's hand landed in your nape, causing you to moan against his lips and him to smile against yours.

Your little theatre was confirmed in Æthelred's eyes, but you didn't really give a damn... Ubbe had such delicious lips! You lost yourself in his embrace, enjoying the moment while Æthelred saw his plans to going back to your sister frustrated by a young Hvitserk in another kiss scene on your living room that caused the boy to grunt, annoyed, leaving a party in which he should never have entered.

Ubbe noticed the little rampant, but he just smiled against your lips when the kiss ended, nuzzling his nose to yours. His eyes diving into yours that numbing way, causing you to sigh, melted by his smile.

"See? You don't have a problem anymore, dear Y/N" he joked and you smiled, pulling him closer to you by his collar.

"Problem? What problem?" you joked back, kissing him once again, craving for more of those delicious lips.

The candle-holder role would have to be played by another, and that night turned a good way. Hvitserk was right, after all.

 It wasn't that bad...

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[cursedcaos]

Colt green

 I am a poor wayfaring stranger

A-traveling through this world below

But there's no sickness, toil, or danger

In that bright land to which I go

I'm going there to see my father

I'm going there no more to roam

I'm just a-going over Jordan

I'm just a-going over home

B A S I C S:

Full Name: Colt ‘McCrea’ Green

Quote: “Ride with you brother? Always.”

Gender: Male

Age: 33

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: He | Him

Appearance: Colt stands at 5'8 he has an overweight build with stronger arms, he hides his weight under clothing and he has multiple scars all over his body, the most being in his arms and legs where roped imbedded and left scars, a scar is over his throat from a failed attempt at killing him and he hides it with a green patterned bandanna with plant patterns stitched into the ends, he has unkempt black hair that curls at the end and Hazel eyes with green, gold and brown with slight hints of blue near the middle, he has bags under his eyes from going to bed late and waking up early.

                  O T H E R:

Family: Father: Campbell Green(deceased), Mother: Holly McCrea(deceased)

Animals: Horse - A Overo paint named Cherry, Cat - A yellow and white Maine coon named Cracker

Birthplace: Near the upper montana river, West Elizabeth great plains

Job(s): Outlaw, horse caretaker

Phobias: fear of deep water, fear of losing his loved ones, Fear of bees,wasps and hornets, fear of not doing something right or not being good enough

Guilty Pleasures: Candy

Hobbies: wood working, Singing alone or very rarely near the other members, Photography, writing, Taking care of the horses

                   M O R A L S:

Morality Alignment: True Neutral

Sins: Anger

Virtues: Kindness, Justice, hope, Faith

                  T H I S - O R - T H A T:

introvert / extrovert

organized / disorganized

close-minded / open-minded

calm / anxious / restless

disagreeable / agreeable / in between

cautious / reckless / in between

patient / impatient

outspoken / reserved

leader / follower / flexible

empathetic / unempathetic

optimistic / pessimistic / realistic

hard-working / lazy

traditional / modern / in between

                   G A N G I N F O:

Gang: Van Der Linde

Rank: 4th most trusted

Bounty: Wanted Dead or Alive

Price on Head: $4000

When did he join?: 1878

Favorite Gang activity: Robbing Stage's

Favorite member: Sean MacGuire

Second favorite: Javier Escuella

Third favorite: John Marston

Least Favorite/hate: Micah bell

Job in Gang: Taking care of the horses

How he joined: He was found when he was 12 in the year 1878, dutch hearing a scream of pain investigated and found the new gang, the O'Driscoll boys having tied up colts arms and legs to the point of embedding into the skin, they held him hostage and tortured him for not joining them, dutch arrived just in time as they slit colts throat, it failed and did not cut deep enough to kill him, after Dutch killed them he brought colt back with him and let him heal, asking colt to join When he was healed enough and colt accepted, becoming the first one to join out of everyone and becoming the second most loyal out of everyone in the gang.

Where he sleeps: he has a tent out farther than the others to always listen for people trying to sneaking into camp or sneak away.

Weapons:

Sawed-Off Shotgun

Rolling Block Rifle modified with a long scope and golden metal engraving with ivory metal and ebony wood

Relationships(Main ones):

Arthur Morgan: Considers him a older brother, the two have been together thick and thin since the beginning of the gang and he loves him dearly and he would die for him and even kill for him, he and Arthur often share pictures colt takes or stuff Arthur has written in his journal on his adventures, the two even act like brothers as seen through conversations or interactions when you talk to him or in missions

John Marston: Considers him a younger brother, he helped raise him since he was young and helped him try shooting better from the lessons Dutch taught him when he first joined, he helped him try to swim but ultimately failed at trying and often calls him raccoon or brother, even deartháir meaning brother in Irish and would die for him and his family, you can often see him talking to john after he argues with Abigail and helps him try being a better dad even if the two brothers don't know what the hell they are doing.

Hosea Matthews: Considers him a father, he taught colt how to read and be kind, he is the most like hosea in personality and colt appreciates that hosea is in his life, admiring him for teaching him things Dutch could not and will often share stories with hosea when he returns to camp after a adventure and shows him the pictures he's taken or when the two go hunting or fishing he shows what fish he's caught or even track animal's for hosea on hunting trips, the two almost died from wolves once and laugh it off now, he loves hosea like a father.

Dutch Van Der Linde: considers him a father figure in his life for saving his life, he taught colt how to trick people with his kindness and be a leader when needed, but he hates being a leader figure and just prefers being a follower and taught him how to rob people and pick pocket unsuspecting people, Dutch trust's him because he can keep secrets that need kept secret and can be a valuable asset in long range shooting, learning how to shoot far even with a pistol or a revolver.

Javier Escuella: Considers Javier a friend and a brother, he taught colt how to speak and understand spanish and to speak Spanish and in return, taught Javier how to speak English, colt often just listens to Javier playing his own songs on his guitar or sometimes even singing with him if he knows the song Javier is singing, and the two act like close friends and even brothers, they also talk in Spanish sometimes, mostly about how colt wants to visit Mexico and Javier promises to bring colt there one day and always be there for him, even if the gang breaks up one day.

Charles Smith: Considers him a friend, he likes the man for his quiet and reserved personality and that he seems to care for bison and other wildlife, and colt often takes Charles to his best locations for hunting in the area's colt loves throughout the different chapters, he tries helping Charles talk to people more people and help him make friends, and in return Charles helped him learn to track animals and hunt better, but mostly uses the skills to track animals he takes pictures of.

Sean Macguire: Considers sean a close friend and a brother, he is very close to him and loves his stories he tells around the campfire, Sean always cheers him up even at his lowest points, wherever the two go trouble seems to the two close behind, they are the best choice for stagecoach robberies or home robberies, but it's also a bad choice because they cause more trouble than good most of the times they are together, but they get the job done fast and efficient, colt tries teaching Sean to read once in awhile but Sean declines help from colt each time he tries helping him learn.

Kieran Duffy: a love hate relationship, he trust's this former O'Driscoll but still doesn't trust him fully but senses the man has a meek personality and a good heart, he helps him take care of the gangs horses and learn new ways for him to take care of the horses or protect him from the other gang members, once fought bill and pinned him down by his arm with his foot against Bill's back for trying to geld poor Kieran once.

                   P E R S O N A L:

Personality: a kind and caring individual, he loves being around people he considers family, he always puts his gang first before anything else and listening to different members stories, listening to javier's music and Sean's stories even if some of them may be stupid, he can act chaotic when he is around the gang but knows when to not act like that and stays calm, often stays up even when everyone is asleep,

but when he gets angry his attitude quickly goes to cold and hateful, a side inherited from his father who was a outlaw leader before his death, his father had a stern and cruel personality when he was still alive and this is shown the most around Micah or Bill when the two start causing trouble and often get in fights that end up with one of them on the ground or wounded,

he was raised for 12 years around his father's gang before there deaths and was taught right from wrong from one of the gang members and gained a adventurous personality from that time around them, he seems to love books and writing in a journal he buys later in the chapters and loves nature and wildlife, specifically elks and moose,

                   R E L A T I O N S H I P S:

He also loves being around the girls and tries lowering miss grimshaw’s attitude towards them but ultimately fails since he is also somewhat afraid of her, he also loves cats and even has his own cat dutch and hosea let him have when he found her 4 years ago.

OTP: N/A

Acceptable Ships: N/A

OT3: N/A

BroTP: Arthur/Colt, John/Colt, Javier/Colt, Sean/Colt

NOTP: Dutch/Colt, Hosea/Colt, Micah/Colt, Bill/Colt, Uncle/Colt

                           F A C T S:

1. He is blinded by loyalty and almost doesn't see dutch's wrong choices later in the chapter's.

2. He was once trying to learn knife tricks from Javier once and the knife stabbed into his hand, leaving a scar on his right hand.

3. he's going blind from age.

4. He sometimes hums to himself if he thinks he is alone

5. He has fast Metabolism, so he looks sickly and can get sick easily

6. Hated John when he first join but overtime they grew closer, and sometimes call each other brother.

7. Fought Bird Anderson and Lost, gets mocked by the gang sometimes for losing to a kid.

8. Is the son of a now deceased infamous gang leader Named Campbell Green.

9. Can speak Gaelic, Spanish and English.

@rdr-oc-appreciation

[blustersquall]

Hey! If you’re taking requests at the moment and can find a way to fit it into your canon, I would absolutely love to see Arthur and Isabel’s first “I love you” 💛

Sorry this took a while for me to get to! It’s been a weird few days! I hope it is satisfactory. This takes place... during Chapter 6 at Beaver Hollow. I did a lot of random quests and a lot of hunting during Chapter 6 because everything was going to shit and I wanted Arthur to have some relax time.

Admittedly this is a bit out of the blue, but it works for them. I think. >.>

@rdr-oc-appreciation @ineedpeetalikehekneadsbread

It would be at least another day, if not more, before Arthur and Isabel reached Van Horn. Not that there was any pressing matter pushing them in that direction, but a decent bed and a bath were definitely two things that would not go amiss, after about five days of camping and travel on horse back. 

Arthur knew they would make better time if they pushed the horses faster, but given they were both on the look out for orchids for Algernon Wasp, their pace was slow but the pay off would make up for it. 

He was becoming quite good at recognizing the different orchids Algernon requested, and going by the small cluster they had already, Arthur reasoned another two or three and they would have the amount requested. Juno and Valkyrie were hitched about twenty paces away, down a small hill while Arthur used his hunting knife to gently ease an orange bloomed flower from the trunk of a tree. He would look for more, while Isabel tracked whatever creature had caused her to halt them in the first place. 

As he slipped a flower into his satchel, there was a crack of a twig behind him and Arthur span on his heel, reaching down for the gun in his holster. He was met with a gun barrel pointing directly at his face. Behind the gun, was a man, short but suited, a bowler hat on his ginger hair. 

Pinkertons? Arthur realised. Alarmed, he glanced around behind the man for a sign of Isabel and saw nothing. 

“Can’t believe my luck!” the man said, pressing his thumb down on the hammer of his pistol. “When that drunk in the saloon said they saw Arthur Morgan pass through Annesburg, I didn’t believe it. But here you are,” he gestured, laughing to himself. “In the flesh.”

“An’ you are?”

“Agent Stephens.” He reached for the gun in Arthur’s hip holster and tossed it to the side about ten feet away. He did the same with the gun in his off-hand holster. Both guns lay in the dirt, out of reach. “Turn around, Mr Morgan. You’re worth more to me alive, than dead.”

“You don’t wanna be doin’ this...” Arthur growled. He glanced over the man before him, looking for a weakness. He was shaking a little, from fear or from excitement - it was hard to tell. The hand holding the gun was shaking. One false move and Agent Stephens looked prone to pulling the trigger. That meant Arthur couldn’t attack him. He wouldn’t be able to get a punch off quick enough. He wasn’t stupid. If he moved in a way that was too fast, or looked aggressive he knew he would wind up with a bullet between his eyes. 

“Turn around, Mr Morgan.” Agent Stephens repeated, his voice steady despite the trembling of his hand. 

Slowly, Arthur lifted both hands and began to turn so his back was to the Pinkerton. It occurred to Arthur how strange it was that the Agent was alone. Agent Milton was always flanked by Agent Ross. 

“Where’s yer partner?” asked Arthur, trying to engage in conversation while trying to think of a way to get out of this predicament. With his guns away from him at both sides he was at a disadvantage. He could grab his hunting knife and plunge it into Agent Stephens gut if he acted fast enough. But that would require retrieving the knife from his belt, and doing that would undoubtedly give away to Stephens his plan. 

“Shut up.” Stephans nudged the barrel of his gun into the back of Arthur’s head. Arthur grimaced, gritting his teeth. He wouldn’t go down like this. Not peaceful and quiet like this. “Lower your hands slowly.” Arthur did as he was told, lowering his hands a little at a time. Behind him, he heard the jangle of metal. 

Shackles. 

Cold metal closed around one of Arthur’s wrists. His heart was racing as fast as his mind. How could he have been caught unawares like this? After everything he was taught and told? How could he have let his guard down to be caught by some bumbling idiot who had probably never held a gun before, let alone shot one. 

“I can’t wait to bring you into Agent Milton,” Stephens said, speaking mostly to himself than to Arthur. “It’ll mean a promotion for me, for sure.”

Where was Isabel? Arthur hoped she was safe, perhaps she saw Stephens and ran to save her own skin. Not that Arthur would blame her. He didn’t want her getting involved or killed on his account. He wasn’t worth losing her life over. If she was safe, then that was fine. If she went back to Beaver Hollow and made it known what happened, then some members of the gang would come for him... Wouldn’t they?

Sadie and Charles, surely. John, he hoped so. Javier? ...Maybe. Dutch...? Dutch was so far removed from the man Arthur knew once upon a time, it was impossible to even try to imagine how he might act if Isabel alerted them all to his capture. 

The second shackle closed around Arthur’s other wrist. He clenched his hands. No plan formulated in his mind, and now with his hands bound like this, his options for escape were even less. He was tempted to whistle for Juno. She could charge Agent Stephens, trample him under her hooves... But he didn’t want to risk Stephens firing off and killing his horse. 

“Get moving, Mr Morgan.” Agent Stephens smacked the back of Arthur’s head with his gun. “No sudden moves. No back talk, y’hear?”

“Yea, yea, I hear ya.” Arthur replied, wearily. He took a heavy step, his foot sinking into the soft soil on the hillside. 

“HEY!”

Isabel’s voice came from above. Both Arthur and Agent Stephens looked up and there she was perched on a tree branch, bow string pulled back, arrow nocked. Before the Stephens could get off a shot, Isabel loosed the arrow. It whistled through the air piercing through Stephen’s right eye and out the back of his head with a sickening crack. Agent Stephens gave a gasp of shock, the gun fell from his hand, and his body followed, dropping and rolling down the hill. 

As Arthur found his voice, he turned his gaze back to Isabel. “When did you get up there?” he asked, watching her finding hand and foot holds and making her way down. 

“When he was puttin’ the shackles on you.” Isabel replied. She jumped the last ten or so feet from a branch onto the ground. “He was congratulatin’ ‘imself so much he didn’t hear a damn thing.” She went to Stephens body on the ground and dug through his pockets. Once she had the keys to the shackles, she went to Arthur. “You okay?” she asked once his hands were freed and the shackles were on the ground. “That was a nasty smack on the head...”

“I had worse.” Arthur offered her a wry smile. One Isabel returned, shifting her weight from one side to the other. “I was thinkin’ you mighta run off.” Arthur said, looping his fingers through the belt loops of her jeans. “I wouldn’t have blamed you... if you had. Better t’save yer own skin, than risk yerself for me.”

“Arthur,” Isabel gave him a slightly withering look before sliding her hands along the lapels of his jacket, flattening the material to his chest. “You got me, Mr Morgan. I love you. I ain’t goin’ no where.”

She kissed him, but Arthur found himself unable to fully enjoy or reciprocate. His eyes were stuck open and his lungs were empty. She... loved him? Is that what she said? She loved him? Was she serious? He didn’t think he would hear those sentiments from someone... ever again after Mary. He never thought anyone would feel that way about him again. Especially not now with his illness...

But Isabel... she loved him? And she said it with no mirth, and no tone of mocking. She was sincere... At least, sounded sincere. She was earnest and forthright and...

Oh God, she loved him.

“Arthur--”

“I love you,” he blurted out, blinking hard at the confusion and worry on Isabel’s face. Immediately, he grimaced, squeezing his eyes closed and inwardly cursing. “I... I mean...” He searched for a way to fix his uncouth confession, but after a few seconds and bereft of inspiration, he sighed, turned and marched himself towards one of the guns Agent Stephens had thrown to the side. He took his time retrieving it, cleaning it of dirt and examining it for damage, glancing back to see Isabel collecting the other handgun. 

He went to where Juno and Valkyrie were standing. Nearby was Agent Stephens body. Arthur began to kick leaf litter and the fallen foliage over his corpse in the hopes it might hide him from passers by. Or, at the very least, by he and Isabel some time while they left this area. If they were lucky, perhaps some hungry wolves or a hungry cougar would happen upon Agent Stephens and the world would forever wonder what happened to the upstart Pinkerton agent. 

Isabel joined him. She picked up bundles of leaves and fronds of ferns, tossing them onto the body. When Arthur was satisfied it was mostly covered, he tossed some slabs of meat used for baiting carnivorous creatures onto the heap. The scent would attract them faster. 

After she handed him his gun and Arthur had it securely holstered, he unhitched Juno and started to lead here away from the scene. Isabel caught up to him, leading Valkyrie by her reins. When Isabel took his hand, sliding her fingers between his, Arthur did not resist. They walked in silence through the trees a few minutes, following the path through the forest.

“Did you mean it?” asked Isabel, her eyes fixed forward.

Arthur did not need to ask what she was referring to. He nodded, “yes.”

Isabel smiled, “me too.”

I don’t hate this ending!Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know in comments/reblogs/tag flailing!Feedback feeds writers, you guys!

[lucifer-lacroix]

Strawberry Chapter 3

RDR 2 Fanfiction Arthur Morgan X Original Character.  https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13175208/1/Strawberry for the full story. 

Isabella Morningstar, stories of the Devil in Red had spread quickly through the town and where ever she went people left her a wide berth. The mud fight in the street had brought attention to her, but Izzy's reputation was the hot gossip of the village. The bounty hunter stood outside alone on the hotel patio in the dark, the moon blocked out by the thunder clouds which rumbled and sparked in the sky. The storm had blacked out the heavens and what little light was available came from the few lanterns which struggled to stay lite in the damp cold air. Isabella still dressed in a man's casual red checkered shirt, and dark brown trousers stood at the far corner of the patio trying to light her cigarette but to no avail. Her matchbook was damp and one by one she struck the flimsy paper on the strip of the box. With great vigour, they sparked but did not catch and she discarding them with a huff at her feet. Isabella was about to give up when a match was struck in the dark shielded by elk white-gloved hands from the wind.  Isabella circled the cigarette in her lips and clenched it between her teeth with a snarl as she gazed upon Arthur's face revealed in the light of the fire. He gestured in a motion of peace silently offering it to her. “Mr Callaghan... Or Is it Morgan?” Her voice broke the silence as she leaned over to it and allowed him the gesture to light her cigarette. She quickly pulled away once the tobacco was lite and took in a long deep breath feeling the immediate relief of her addiction. 

“Hello, Isabella. It’s... been a long time.” Arthur said with a stoic expression.  He was not ready for this confrontation, but he could not avoid it. The best thing to do was try and put out the flames of past mistakes before it became an inferno. The storm would have them locked down in the hotel for the night, so if he was going to stay, they needed to find common ground. Once Isabella had settled her nerves she let a cloud of smoke release into his face returning his gesture with what could be best translated as impolite. The puff of smoke burned his eyes, and he bore it with a smile. Unsure now where things would go from here Arthur needed to play nice. From what he could remember she was famously hot-headed with a strict moral code. In truth, this entire conversation could have been avoided. If he hadn't have shaven off his beard in such a haste.   “A long time? I had completely forgotten how you stole all my money! I really hope you spent it taking care of your daddy.” Isabella did not yell but was struck deep with her words. Her hand hooked on her hip as she stuck her nose up at him taking her stand against him after so long. She didn't need the fancy jewels or a gun to dominate a conversation. The truth of her words silenced him, and confidence behind her voice captivated him. After thirteen years he finally took the time to study her face. Her red hair cascaded around her shoulders like a cloak curly and thick. The once bucked teeth now had straightened out, but her lack of smile concealed them. The once shallow nose had matured into her perfect heart shaped face decorated with more freckles then he could remember. Nothing compared to her eyes however and as they bore down on him, he was just happy to see them again. The mere thought of his younger self and her left his chest tight like earlier but more unbearable as she scorned him. “Forever is a good way to put it.” Arthur regretfully admitted, for the first time in a long time there was no witty quip to save him from Devil in Red.   “So 'Mr Callaghan'. Are you looking to rob Rose in her sleep or take off with her carriage after you shoot me dead in the streets this time?”  Isabella said with malice, and her words cut him like a knife. “It’s not like that.” He tried to be gentle. “Then what is it? All my stuff was in that bag including the papers proving Artex belonged to me." "That's what a stack of musky papers was?" Arthur asked remembering clearly what was inside that bag. "You son of a bitch, I had to sell him for 20 dollars! Because of you, I had to sell... Ugh, you are the worst man I have ever met how could you use me like that!" She was about to start shouting but was able to wind her emotions down. Everything he said was triggering her primage rage to beat him senseless.   "Artex was a good horse, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take the papers, but Dutch told me you had them on you.” “Ha! Dutch? You're so full of shit, even if I did have a second magic bag with the papers in it. You still stole my stuff and ditched me! That’s not his fault it’s yours. Dutch didn't make you get on the boat.” Isabella was speaking in a low whisper as to not alert those inside who would want to eavesdrop on such a heated discussion. “Izzy please,” Arthur called for her as she ashed her cigarette under her boot ready to walk away. Arthur approached her to follow, and that was when Isabella spun on her heels with her hand on her hip prepared to draw her pistol. “Don’t you dare call me that!  I've seen the wanted posters Mr Morgan, and I will only warn you once. Stay away from me, or I will put a bullet in your skull.” Isabella's voice went low, and their eyes were locked. Arthur had a chance to attempt to his pistol but resisted since she was ready to fire and that reputation she had made for herself had, in fact, reached his ears in the dirty parts of the west.   “Would you let me explain at least.” Arthur approached again as she drew her gun as fast as the strike of lightning that flashed in the distance. “Do you have wax in your ears? Not another step.” She spoke in a quiet, dark tone making Arthur stop and raise his hands. “You won’t shoot me, I’m unarmed. Give me five minutes I'll explain everything, you owe me.” He slowly approached her again keeping his hands up letting the barrel of her pistol point at his chest. "You couldn't hurt me, I'm your teddy bear remember." Arthur smiled his best charming smile he could, he really did miss her on those lonely nights on the road. He would hug his pillow for warmth, and her image would appear in his head. Though seeing her for real was better than anything his mind could come up with.  He knew she couldn't do it, things were different between them and hopeful in his thoughts he waited for her to surrender. Isabella’s hand shook on her pistol as her eyes began to well up, her pale features turning hot. The redness of her frustration showed cheeks as he brought out a deep pain she had buried for a long time.  That's when Arthur saw the same little girl who gave him his first kiss, but that moment did not last. With a deep breath, Isabella steadied herself and stood straight and proud. "I owe you nothing." Isabella cocked the hammer of the gun and pushed the barrel into his heart. Arthur felt his weight triple on his knees. She wasn't kidding and as a single tear ran down her cheek. The cold-hearted killer she had become stared back at him, and he honestly felt scared of her. "Easy there,..." He backed up away from her cautiously, the lack of shake in her hand making his own shiver slightly. "Keep going." She ordered. "Alright." Arthur obeyed and with slow steps he cleared her space. The only sound in the air was the howling winds scraping brush across the dirt. "You keep your fucking mouth shut, ya hear. If I catch you trying to rob my girls. Sleep with my girls, or even look at my girls. I'll do to you what I did to the Bayou Bandit." "Do I dare asked what you did to him?" Arthur asked curiously. He may be surrendering, but his famous wit always got him in deeper trouble. "I cut his balls off and feed them to my dog," Isabella said bluntly in response. Arthur laughed uncomfortably as she threatened him with such a childish come back. His chuckle was silenced however by a howl in the wind. It's low musical bellow echoed in the dark unnervingly close. "That's Bijou, do you want to meet her?" "No, I don't." "Good, so hypothetically if you ever did meet my dog afterwards, I would collect whatever bounty I could off your head and then leave you with the Hangman, Is that clear?"  Isabella spoke with hatred but was well composed, her eyes watered still, but her voice did not waver. Arthur could see there was pain deep behind her eyes. That wave of deep lonely anger he was all too familiar with since it haunted every mirror he ever saw. They were more alike then she knew, but Isabella wanted nothing to do with him. That in itself was worse than being shot. Arthur slinked back away from her not at all surprised that this is how the conversation ended. Many people had cast Arthur out of their lives before, and there were only two other instances where it felt this bad. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. Goodnight mam." He spoke quietly and left slowly as the long walk to the door began. The creak of the wood under his weight and clash of his spurs with each step echoed in the night air. Would he feel the hot sting of his betrayal tonight? As Arthur crossed the threshold of the door to go back inside the hotel, he could hear Isabella gasp for air behind him. Was she crying? Unable to look back he rushed away towards his room in shame. The ache in his chest ripped open as emotions he thought were left in the past came back to torment him. He kept his head down as he marched for the stairs almost free of the main room. That was when Rosalyn caught his eye, and he looked to meet her gaze. The blonde still looking like she just stepped out of the salon gave him a curious expression, eyeing him carefully. Arthur quickly looked away and her face light up with excitement. Rosalyn quickly crossing the room made a direct line. Arthur rushed up the stairs passing by a few drunk couples who blocked the way. Hoping to lose her on the second floor by hiding in the crowd. Rosalyn spun around the bannister and from the bottom of the staircase, her voice bellowed out for his attention like a banshee in the night. "Where you going cowboy!" She exclaimed. The crowd hanging around the stairs all turned to Arthur. Their curious eyes revealing him like a spotlight. The most popular girl at the party had just called for him. "I'm a little tired, so I'm just going to turn in" Arthur tried to dodge the oncoming conversation, but she rushed up the stairs to his side and grabbed his arm. "Oh No! No no no! You don't get to run away from me that easily. You must tell me everything I have ignored you for too long! Come to my room!" Rosalyn dragged him and her surprisingly strong for someone so small.  Arthur was forced to follow her, with so many eyes on him he was trapped. The idea of getting lost in the mountains during a thunderstorm sounded like a great idea at that moment. Rosalyn lead Arthur into her hotel room which must have been the most expensive room in the joint. There was a queen sized bed dressed in furs and wool blankets by the window. A soft rolling fire which needed another log light a dining table covered in chocolates and cigars. An exotic paper change room divider sat by a large mirror and makeup table. The reflection of her trunks of dresses stashed behind it as glittering jewels sparkled in his eyes. A half-eaten plate of fresh fruits, bread and cheeses sat on the table as an unopened bottle of fine brandy sat with three glasses beside it. The array of gluttonous treats tempting him to stay as his sweet tooth ached in his mouth. "Please make your self comfortable, I need to lose some layers. Would you open that bottle for me I have weak hands." Rosalyn asked him like she was asking her husband and disappeared behind the Exotic divider. Her silhouette became visible in the dimly light room after she lights a small wick lamp on the makeup stand. Arthur paced around examining the tables as she started peeling off her clothes. Though he was unable to see her naked form, he was getting a spectacular show of curves. Little by little each article of clothing came off, and Arthur stopped to watch. It had been a long time since he been alone with a woman.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding, I think it's best maybe if I go." Arthur attempted to duck out of the room, but Rosalyn opened the divider as he walked for the door. Her bare chest only covered by her arm wearing nothing but her bare pantyhosed legs in beige beaded panties.  The full illusion of her naked form was before him as his mouth hit the floor.   "If you step out that door, I'm going to tell Izzy that we slept together." She hungry eyes at him. "Now wait just one minute!" Arthur's tone flipped from calm and collected to hot and angry, and Rosalyn gasped. "I knew it! You're sweet on her!" she giggled. "I..." Arthur must have swallowed a frog because he had nothing to say after that. She just grinned and closed the divider once again and continued to change. "I had a feeling with the way you two were making eyes at each other. I read her diary, and she writes about you. Hm, you wouldn't think so with how she wanted to flay the skin from your back at the poker table. But I know what you want. You wanted to take her back to your room and mwah mwah mwah." Rosalyn danced around behind her barrier wiggling her hips. "It's nothing like that." Arthur crossed his arms over his chest. Huffing a stubborn scowl at her since he was unable to barge out of the room in case she decided to follow him. "Oh isn't it?" She asked as she opened the divider again, this time dressed in a long white and violet nightgown with matching overcoat. Her long blonde hair untied from its bun and cascading around her face. "I don't know what it's like for you city folk, but whatever story you have going on in your head is not real sweetheart," Arthur said bitterly as this harlot started commenting on his personal life. "I don't think so, why would you carelessly bet your rare sweet princess on a twenty dollar game? She must be worth what Four hundred maybe five hundred?" Rosalyn asked as she walked up to him. He puffed his chest out at her, but she did not approach him to touch. She merely wanted to access the coat rack behind him, and as he moved away, she picked up a knitted white brown and blue poncho. After she threw it around her shoulders, she walked back to the unopened bottle of brandy and waited for him clearing her throat in annoyance.   "So?" He sighed and walked over to snatch the brandy bottle up and opened it, God knew he sure needed a drink. "So, I don't think that game was about the money at all. I think you wanted Izzy to win, and by throwing your horse into the pot. You were paying her back for something, and I want to know why?" "This isn't some fantasy Ms Bush, I lost the card game because she got lucky." He stated sternly as he poured them both a glass, his more generous than hers. He was fed up and didn't want to speak with Rosalyn, the only person he wished to talk to almost shot him dead less than five minutes ago. "Then tell me what it is then? Because from what I see, Izzy wants me to know your trouble." Rosalyn added before approaching Arthur again, this time getting right up in his face. At first, he thought she was trying to poke him but her eyes focused on his chest and she tapped him. He looked down at what she was pointing at where a transparent oil stain blemished his paisley vest. "She does it on purpose, over oiling the tip of her gun so I can see who she wants us to stay away from, what happened between you two?" Rosalyn asked again this time she spoke with concern since Arthur refused to lock eyes with her. His favourite vest has to suffer from all this drama too. "I know a dangerous man when she I see one, Arthur. You have all the tells of a man who does violent things. Your boots. Deluxe quickdraw in brown leather with blood stains on them. This scar on your chin, long faded but unmistakeably done with a clean-edged blade." She ran her finger over his chin where it was, and he pushed her hand away.  Arthur could feel her scanning her for details, and with his back to the wall. He had no place to escape unless he crashed through the window which was looking like a fantastic option at the moment. Still, he did not speak since he was only able to swallow the lump in his throat with a splash of brandy. "I see... how much?" She asked. "Excuse me?" Arthur replied. "How much will it cost you to spill the beans, I can only assume that's the only language you understand, and I always get what I want."  Rosalyn walked away from him and opened a purse sitting on the table. She withdrew from it a small coin purse made of maroon velvet and threw it at him which he caught easily. It was small, but when Arthur opened it, he could roughly count fifty dollars and a few jewels inside. "Why do you want to know so badly?" Arthur asked as those dirty temptations seduced him. "Because I hired her to protect me and after seven years of travelling together I want to know everything about her, she keeps secrets, and I don't like secrets inside my family."  Rosalyn took her brandy and a cigar and crossed over to the bed where a stack of pillows and blankets were laid out. She crawled into the nest and perched herself up and pat the spot next to her. "Come on big man, tell me her secrets." She gave him a kiss and a wink. Arthur looked back to the coin purse in hand and shook it around a bit fighting his own greed. Isabella's words echoing in the back of his skull as well as Dutch's. "Fine. We are going to need another bottle though." Arthur pocketed the coin purse and unbuttoned his vest. It was going to be a long night, and if she was going to be comfortable, he was too.   Rosaly had a smile on her lips as Arthur unclasped the buckle of his belt and dropped his gun on the chair. "Slow down and let me watch." Rosalyn licked her lips and Arthur gave her a dirty look before approaching the bed, and she raised her hand. "Ah ah... shirt too, then you can have one of these," Rosalyn said giving him a sly smirk. Arthur locked eyes on her wanting to refuse. However, she waved her cigar at him. That was enough for him to unbutton his shirt and discard it on the ground. Once he was shirtless, he sat on the bed as Roslyn laid her feet across his lap as she placed the cigar in his mouth.   "Okay Cowboy, so tell me. How did you and Izzy meet."  Rosalyn said pulling out a match from the box currently making herself comfortable. Her feet kneaded into his lap sensually making him stiffen. "You need to stop that," Arthur stated pushing her feet down away from his groin as she lite the match.   "Give me a foot rub, and I'll stop, but I asked you a question, how did you two meet." She asked again and light the cigar for him. He took a couple of drags as the chocolate flavoured paper filled his mouth with sweet, mellow smoke. "I met her after my gang burned down her uncles' farm, " Arthur said and took one of her lovely feet in hand and started to knead the flesh. Her ankles were stiff, but her calf muscles were strong. So As Arthur's strong hands began to pinch and push she flopped back into the pillow and moaned. "Oh God, my feet hurt... So we aren't starting this story off on a great note. Why did you guys burn down her uncles' farm?" Rosalyn asked relieved from the tension and pain which was caused from long days standing in heels. "The guy was a kidnapper running with a bad group of men, he kidnapped one of our own and when I was around 17, and we went to get her back. Thing's didn't go smoothly, so we had to use force." Arthur said and handed the cigar to her when she reached for it. "So you burned the house down got your girl back, where was Izzy?" "She was in the stables with the horses, she didn't have a room in the house but in the loft of the barn. When we let the horses free, she asked us to come with. Said she wanted to go to Washington to see her Grandmother." Arthur had gotten into a rhythm with his massage and Rosalyn looked very relaxed under his grip. Her face twisted in pain a bit as he could feel the grinding her bone as she rotated her ankles. "What happened here?" He asked. "Old dance injury. Never mind that did you take her to Washington?" Rosalyn asked when Arthur's attention drifted. "We took her to the boat, Dut... I mean our leader said she could stay with us and join the gang because was really good at hunting" Arthur catching himself oversharing. "And Duuuu.. who?" She asked noticing Arthur was holding back a name. "Hm?"   "Who are you talking about? Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me I can keep a secret." She bounced in the bed and kicked him a bit. "Dutch," Arthur said. How much had he drunk so far? He looked to his glass which was empty and currently being refilled by Rosalyn. "Dutch Van Der Linde?" Rosalyn asked with a smirk. "Oh shit." Arthur was in trouble. "Oh, I read about him in the newspapers, you're a gang member! I think you just went from hunky cowboy to rugged outlaw. Meow!" Rosalyn purred and pushed up from her position and shimmied closer onto Arthur's lap. "Ms please." Arthur was embarrassed.  He was never this careless going to town let alone a victim to gossip. Rosalyn, however, was indeed a gossip whore. Though as she snuggled into his lap and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. The soft poncho she wore warm on his skin this cold night as she blanketed him. Her small frame curled up into his body. The haze of alcohol mixed with desire clouded his head. It had been a very long time since someone had been this affectionate with him. Yet she was not the woman he longed for, and lines were getting blurred.   "You and Dutch Van Der Linde burned up this evil kidnappers farm, found a teenaged girl far from her Grandmother who could shoot and then what. Sounds like you helped her." She said enjoying herself as she cuddled him. "Well, we travelled a long time together. Hosea liked her so we would go off alone on fishing trips together... what is in this cigar? My head feels like a cloud." He asked since they had been sharing it. Rosalyn giggled. He was finally loosening after up. Despite the voices in his head, he was happy to share the story, and Rosalyn was a good listener.   "It doesn't matter now, she hates me." "Well, what did you do?" Rosalyn asked still not getting the full details. "It's... complicated," Arthur said grabbing the bottle and ditching the glass altogether. "No, it's not. What did you do?" Rosalyn asked again grabbing the bottle as he attempted to chug it down and pulled it from his hand. "I... crap." Arthur slid Rosalyn off his lap and hung his head down shamefully. Rosalyn only shifting to sit on her own and keep listening, waiting for him to continue as he processed his thoughts. Meanwhile pouring herself another drink and putting the nearly empty bottle down. "Isabella didn't pay her share to the gang,  she was getting close to me, so Dutch said she was using that to avoid paying the pot. We all pull our own weight. And then I heard her talking to Hosea about me going with her to Washington." "Oh? Why would she want you to go, were you two in love?" Rosalyn's eyebrows furrowed. "No!" Arthur snapped and sat upright defensively. "You're lying." "We weren't together," Arthur repeated. "If there is one thing I have learned about that girl is that she is honourable. I highly doubt she would play games with anyone." Rosalyn said defending her friend. "Okay, there was one time." "Ha! I knew it." "Okay, just listen alright. I liked Izzy, but she was my first... you know." "Roll in the hay?" "Girlfriend." "Awe."

"Things were getting serious you know, first we're riding at night around the beach next she asks me to leave everyone I know and care about to abscond out across the country and meet a family who she has never met." Arthur flopped back onto the bed. Deep down, he still wondered if he made the right choice. "Yeah, that's a lot, so you didn't go obviously," Rosalyn asked grabbing a slice of apple from her tray of snacks by the bed and taking a bite. Arthur paused in his response long enough to make Rosalyn turn over her shoulder and look him in the eye. "You didn't go. right?" Rosalyn asked again. Arthur looked back at her with guilty eyes like he had outside earlier that day and her mouth fell open. "What did you do?" She scorned him. "I jumped off the boat when it left the dock." Arthur closed his eyes saying it out loud hearing it for himself just how much of an ass hole he is.   "Arthur! No!" Rosalyn was astounded, mouth open in awe. "I also stole her bag with all her money, and accidentally stole the ownership papers for Artex too." Arthur covered his face with a pillow wanting to smother himself. Rosalyn merely jumped onto his chest and ripped it off him and started beating him with it. "What's wrong with you! That was you're the first girlfriend, That was her favourite horse! You robbed her? How could you do that she was just a little girl!" Rosalyn was mad smacking him with the pillow which he wrestled away from her. "I get it I am the worst now get off me," Arthur said as Rosalyn straddled his waist. "You sir owe that woman so much more than a free horse, she deserves an apology!" "I tried she won't listen to me," Arthur complained. "Well, you're currently half naked under her employer after being bought for fifty dollars, some jewellery and a cigar. Do you think maybe your morals might need some reevaluating." Rosalyn asked running her fingers up his chest through his long unkempt chest hair. "You got me drunk." Arthur pouted. Rosalyn was fun, and the affection was sweet, but his heart wasn't in it. He looked away from her to gaze out the window as her fingers tickled his skin. The rain beating against the glass as the shutters clattered from the wind.   "This is true, you really care about her don't you," Rosalyn asked still petting his chest enjoying the feel of his firm muscles under her fingers. Sighing with a pout of her own. "Maybe..." Arthur still had to think about it. He placed his hand over the top of his heart trapping Rosalyn hand on the spot where Isabella had stuck her gun. His skin still burning from it. "You poor thing." Rosalyn was heartbroken for him, but before she could speak her again the door opened, and They both turned to look. Standing in the doorway was the fiery redhead with a look of pure disgust on her face.

[vaguely-concerned]

rdr2 spoilers under the cut (well not really it’s just me losing my shit over how much I fucking love John Marston which should honestly just be old hat at this point)

I just... can’t get over how young and tall and slinky and sketchy he looks GOD BLESS THIS STUPID SARCASTIC BOY WHO CAN’T KEEP A SMART COMMENT BACK TO SAVE HIS LIFE

also I love the contrast between how Arthur and John move --  just from seeing Arthur walk you get the feeling that getting hit by him would be like being run over by a fucking boulder, or like trying to stop a glacier, while John is palpably sharp and twitchy and guarded (that slightly hunched way he stands that you can see in rdr too... yesssss... some excellent curled up ready to strike shit right there) 

Like Arthur is so clearly a blunt instrument of a man and John is a fucking shank 

ETA: also it’s real weird but also satisfying to realize that the reason John can be a pretty shitty dad sometimes is that in some ways he’s basically still a kid himself??? guess all that childhood trauma followed by murder did a number on him who’d have thunk lol