marsismadeofgold

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The weather in Montana is bleak and dreary, their food situation is rapidly becoming dire, and the dilapidated windmill they’re taking shelter in is a strong wind away from launching off across the plain with the whole sodden lot of them still inside it. Cold and hungry and hunted by the law, they should be as dull and depressed as the storm outside.

Instead, they’re dancing.

It’s a strange and unusual turn of events, and the only thing Arthur can think of to blame it on is the sudden appearance of the woman they had found earlier, halfway drowned in the rain and curled up with her hands over her head on the side of the road. Someone he'd found strangely familiar.

Jenny Kirk certainly knows how to make an introduction. Tonight, she has decided to take the van der Lindes by storm. She’s always had some spark, that girl.

Jenny Kirk backstory if you’re interested! All I post now is shameless self promo

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I finished this too!! It’s 80k words somehow and took forever for me to write but I like it go read it

Chapters: 1/5 Fandom: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)

Women. Wives. Hostages. A funny little ecosystem Anthony’s established, kept in line of course by the ruling class of brutes he’s recruited, the ones that smoke and spit and swear and shoot whoever the fuck a Foreman tells them to. A band of brothers, Anthony calls them. Tilly just thinks they’re fools, but of course no one’s ever asking her anyway.

“You’re so young.” He says. He sounds so forlorn. Sounds like he’s in mourning. “Oh, I didn’t know they captured girls so young.” “I was younger when they got me.” She answers absently. She doesn’t think too hard about the use of the word captured, because it makes it seem like maybe tonight was inevitable. Maybe it didn’t matter that she’s fifteen and not close to sixteen neither, or that she’s still skinny like a little boy and no man in their right minds would want her. Because maybe it’s not about want to these fellers. Maybe it’s just sort of about power. And maybe, just maybe, this was always bound to happen sooner or later. She doesn’t say any of that to the hostage. She doesn’t have the time.

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New Tilly Jackson fic is up! Following her leaving the Foreman Brothers and her introduction to the Van Der Linde gang

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When the breeze shifts the branches next to him he sees the sunlight glint off of the water beyond- a tiny pond, barely more than a puddle, but in the midday light it shines. He can’t help leaning towards it, driven by that instinctual need for a cold relief to a summer’s day, but he recoils before he can make contact with the water. His eyes catch sight of a skeletal dead thing below the surface and he falls back onto his ass, shivering suddenly despite the heat. Recoiling hasn’t helped- every time he closes his eyes a pair of sunken ones stare back, set into a gaunt face on a too-thin frame. It’s been a long time since he has been scared of dead people, but the man in the pond is not a dead person.

The man in the pond is Javier Escuella.

Wrote another backstory !! It’s pretty short this time (rip the Tilly fic which ended up at some stupidly long wordcount) but this one involves a lot of my fave jmarston and also poker only I don’t really know anything about poker so it’s probably not too accurate. Anyway give it a go if you want!

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My red dead girlie!!!!

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There is not a creature in the world that can do what a lamassu can do. Ancient Persias finest for sureeeee

i love lamassus they mean sm to me

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The Last Enemy That Shall Not Be Destroyed

a little thing based off @chlomills and i's rdr1 roleplay because we would not let that fool die, john lives happily ever after with his wife and son and daughter because thats what they all deserve

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I realised that both Hosea and Dutch journals and Dutch also draws🥲 No wonder Arthur likes his journal.

Arthur draws because Dutch draws and John draws because Arthur drew.

(Pic from a reddit thread)

Hosea journaling (I wanted to see if I could find out what he was writing)

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Chapters: 1/5 Fandom: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)

Women. Wives. Hostages. A funny little ecosystem Anthony’s established, kept in line of course by the ruling class of brutes he’s recruited, the ones that smoke and spit and swear and shoot whoever the fuck a Foreman tells them to. A band of brothers, Anthony calls them. Tilly just thinks they’re fools, but of course no one’s ever asking her anyway.

“You’re so young.” He says. He sounds so forlorn. Sounds like he’s in mourning. “Oh, I didn’t know they captured girls so young.” “I was younger when they got me.” She answers absently. She doesn’t think too hard about the use of the word captured, because it makes it seem like maybe tonight was inevitable. Maybe it didn’t matter that she’s fifteen and not close to sixteen neither, or that she’s still skinny like a little boy and no man in their right minds would want her. Because maybe it’s not about want to these fellers. Maybe it’s just sort of about power. And maybe, just maybe, this was always bound to happen sooner or later. She doesn’t say any of that to the hostage. She doesn’t have the time.

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New Tilly Jackson fic is up! Following her leaving the Foreman Brothers and her introduction to the Van Der Linde gang

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swanson's friendship with tilly is so dear to me but I can see why he imprinted on her specifically instead of the other girls bc karen would not tolerate his trisha paytas breakdowns and mary-beth would make his existential dread ten times worse by like, talking about the moon

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Thinking about them and their fate, because no matter how many years it had been John still cared, sure he hated Dutch, but he still cared. Dutch was his father, his mentor, his saviour, the man who took the noose off his neck when he was twelve.

After Dutch's death, Agent Ross confronts John, saying "so in the end you didn't have the guts to shoot him," a reference to a conversation they had had earlier where Ross blames John for letting Dutch escape due to his remaining feelings for him: "Scared to shoot him? Too much to handle?" Where John replies: "when the opportunity presents itself I will put a bullet in him, don't you worry. I won't like myself for it, but I will do it;" admitting his distaste for what he must do.

Agent Ross's sidekick, Archer, also acknowledges the burden that Dutch's death took on John when he says "thank you mister Marston, I know this wasn't easy for you, but you made your country proud."

John knows what must be done so he does it, did it with Escuella, did it with Williamson and did it with Van Der Linde, but unlike with the first two, he shows an utter distaste. When he was in Mexico he went straight for the price, he had no troubles beating people to get information, no troubles shooting Williamson either. He did show some distaste when it came to Escuella, but he did it either way.

And then with Dutch, when it came to Dutch he several times tries to see if he can avoid it, trying to get his family from Agent Ross without killing Dutch, he even asked if Agent Ross couldn't just do it himself. He is way more avoidant of it, and the agents comments show it as well. If you chose to hand over Escuella alive, they joked around, but with Dutch they showed at least some form of compassion and understanding towards John.

And even though John said he would shoot Dutch, he didn't. He had Dutch at gunpoint several times but he didn’t shoot, even in the end he didn’t shoot, he stalled, he listened to Dutch talk, most likely knowing that it would be the last time. He knew that there would be no way of excusing Dutch's survival when he was wounded and trapped.

Dutch killed himself in the end, and I think that was a relief for John. Even though he would have pulled the trigger, he wanted to avoid Dutch's blood on his hand, he wanted to avoid snuffing out his father's life.

John did what he needed and would have done more, but he hated himself for it because no matter what Dutch had done, Dutch was still the man who saved twelve-year-old John, gave him a family and a home.

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In camp we have three irish people and I think their approach to their heitage is so interesting. We have Sean whos father was really proud of being Irish but who had to flee to USA when Sean around 11 or so, maybe even younger. We have Molly who grew up in Ireland, who lived in high society and found it boring so she went to USA as an adult and then we have Kieran whos father wanted to go to California and never really, as far as we know, had any connection to Ireland at all, doesn't even know the "correct" pronoucation of Colm.

Sean was young when he came to the US, most likely he remembered very little about Ireland itself, he might be able to remember a feeling or a few places, but yet he clings onto it, holds his nationally up and proud. I am more inclined to believe that rather than loving Ireland for being Ireland, he loves Ireland because his father loved Ireland, Sean always loved his father, worshipped him almost, even wears his hat. I don't think it would be a long shot to say that he likes Ireland because his father liked Ireland. His main source of information on his heritage was his father who was busy keeping them both alive and probably didn't have a lot of time to teach Sean about the Irish culture.

Sean clings onto the fact that he is Irish even though his knowledge of Ireland is limited because of his father.

Molly grew up with everything. She is Irish through and through, not just blood but also culture, she grew up around it, she was molded into it. She had her whole life to learn about the Irish culture and yet she didn't find it that interesting, she found it rather boring, so she fled for something more interesting, exotic, cowboys and outlaws.

Kieran did not have a long time to learn about Irish culture as his Irish father died when he was very young, completely cutting him off from his culture, however he got somewhat back in touch with it again when he was forced to join the O'Driscolls who are majority Irish, giving him a look into the culture and traditions that he had missed.

You can see Sean often times mocking Molly for not being "Irish enough" around camp even though she most likely knows more about Ireland and the culture than him, something he might feel threatened by as he was used to being the only Irishman around camp and now he might have to face the reality of his lack of knowledge about the very thing he prides himself on. He might also be angry at Molly because she threw away the very culture Sean tries to keep whereas Molly might find him stupid for so desperately trying to keep in touch with something she finds boring.

Kieran on the other hand never tells anyone he is Irish, he doesn't find it of much importance as his family didn't either, however he might carry more "casual" irish knowledge than what he might lead on. Being with the O'Driscolls would have in some way reintroduced him to his culture and he would have been taught at least some mannerisms that he might not even realize are Irish because he recognizes them from his childhood, a childhood where there was no focus on the fact they were Irish. For him slang, special dishes or mannerisms would feel natural as he also saw them as a kid, he wouldn't realize they are special. At the same time he wouldn't realize what parts of his culture are missing such as his pronunciation of "Colm" which Sean angrily points out is actually pronounced "Col-om", Kieran doesn't see that he is saying it "wrong."

Sean who clings onto the culture ripped away from him.

Molly who is so used to the culture she finds it boring.

Kieran who doesn't even know he is carrying a culture with him.

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Did you know that Arthur morgan was once a kid? Cause it eats me up everyday!

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Arthur is so older sister core

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My ABSOLUTE fave, look at this!!!

They have a special place in my heart <3 A friend requested John and Abigail so I had to :) Really happy with it to be honest! Please take a closer look at John's shirt, I am so happy with the rendering there! Usually doesn't work out that good!

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it annoys me how people try to make one event the impetus for dutch's sanity slippage when it was a slow decent with 100 different pressure points. dutch passed his morality event horizon off screen in blackwater with the murder of heidi mccourt.

so many things in the game hold a mirror up to the gang and their dynamics but also really asks the player and by extension arthur to examine dutch's leadership and who he is as a person. both the person arthur knew and the one he is now.

what got me thinking about this is john and jack.

jack marston could be considered the last victim of dutch van der linde. the last one in a long line to suffer from the decisions dutch made and all that suffering is the metaphorical bullets jack unloaded into edgar ross.

i just keep thinking about how dutch for good or for ill is a manipulator and there's a perception amongst the gang that john is the favored son.

that for dutch it must've been very appealing to have a child in the gang. raised from birth entrenched in his ideals, his philosophy and way of life. like a slow burn proof of concept.

that dutch enjoyed john's stubbornness and independence and loyalty so long as he was the sole recipient of it. that he could use it for his own because once john decides to be the father jack deserves dutch is no longer his main priority. there's a nasty, twisted part of dutch that enjoys these people he's collected being indebted to him for saving their lives and giving them a purpose.

and with micah fanning the flames of dutch's paranoia? how easy was it for dutch to see john's improvement as a partner and father as disloyalty and turning against him? dutch's love was conditional.

the generational trauma of it all.

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Dating Bill Williamson! Fem version!

He leaves you for a man