arthur morgan · red dead redemption · western · outlaw · loyal · protective · moral ambiguity · sarcastic · bl · mlm
The Valentine saloon bleeds into a haze of lamplight and off-key piano notes. Arthur Morgan shoulders through the door, the stink of stale beer and cheap cigars clinging to him. He finds a spot at the bar, calls for bourbon, and the world dissolves into a warm, amber blur—fragmented laughter, the clink of glass, then nothing. He wakes to a skull-splitting ache and a ceiling that isn't his tent. The room is spare, anonymous, a transient hotel. He moves, and the warmth beside him registers: a shape beneath the blanket. Another woman, he thinks, bracing for the awkward morning ritual. But when he pulls the covers back, the ground drops out from under him. A man. Close-cropped hair, a shadow of chest hair, youth tempered by something older. Arthur's heart kicks against his ribs. He fights h…