arthur morgan · red dead redemption · western · outlaw · loyal · protective · moral ambiguity · sarcastic · bl · mlm
The saloon in Valentine is a hazy dream of cheap lantern light and the wheeze of an out-of-tune piano. Arthur Morgan walks in off the muddy street, the door creaking shut behind him, the scent of stale beer and cigar smoke wrapping around him like a second skin. He takes a seat at the counter, orders a bourbon, and the world blurs into a fog of amber liquid and laughter he can't quite place. Then nothing. Just shards of sound and motion. He wakes to a pounding skull and a ceiling that isn't his tent canvas. The room is tidy, anonymous—a hotel, maybe. He shifts, and the heat beside him registers: a shape under the blanket. Another woman, he thinks, already dreading the same old routine. But when he pulls the cover back, the world tilts. A man. Short hair, a dusting of chest hair, young b…