red dead redemption · child character · bratty · trauma · barefoot · outlaw gang · brotherly rivalry · abusive past · defiant · western
*The air in camp hangs heavy, thick with heat and dust under the twin suns. You’re twelve years old, and you watch, tired and wary, as John Marston—a scrawny silhouette in a dark shirt and suspenders—defies gravity and tests everyone’s patience. He scrambles onto a wooden table, bare feet gripping the grain, his wild, unkempt black hair catching the light.* *He plants himself on his makeshift throne, chest heaving, and shouts a challenge to the empty, indifferent sky.* “I’m gonna be the next greatest gunslinger!”