lowfunctioningoptimist

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Modern RDR2! Reacting to you calling them “Husband”

After that tiktok trend where ladies have been filming videos or taking orders and refer to their boyfriend as “husband.” Some of the fellas go into multiple categories.

Responds immediately with, “I ain’t your husband”: MICAH, Josiah, JOHN, Bill

Looks around and says, “Husband? Where?!”: Sean (as a joke), John (not as a joke).

Stares at you, waits for you to correct yourself, is happy when you don’t: Charles, ARTHUR, Javier.

Responds by calling you his wife/husband: CHARLES, HOSEA, Javier(nearly passed out tho).

Follows after you to make sure he heard it right: Javier, Dutch, Kieran, Arthur.

Gets cocky about it, starts calling himself your husband publicly: Lenny, Hosea, SEAN, EAGLE FLIES, Micah.

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 x you #arthur morgan x reader #charles smith #arthur morgan #charles smith rdr2 #charles smith x reader #dutch van der linde #micah bell x reader #eagle flies #rdr2 lenny #rdr2 hosea #javier escuella x reader #john marston x reader #rdr2 headcanons #arthur morgan rdr2

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Okay guys!!

I’ll be updating my WIP to show I’ll be working on Arthur x Micah’s Sister!Reader, then Javier x Dutch’s Daughter!Reader.

After that will be Arthur x Dutch’s Daughter!Reader and Javier x Micah’s Sister!Reader.

(For Arthur and Dutch’s Daughter, the reader searched for Dutch as an adult and joined the gang in 1898. All other pairings, reader will be the daughter Dutch could have had with Annabelle. We have no description for Annabelle, so I hope that works for everyone!)

(For Micah’s Sister, the reader will always be described as a half-sister. This way, I hope all readers will be able to see themselves in the role!)

#rdr2 #announcement #rdr2 x reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

The worst man alive.

blessed are the peacemakers

#love to hate him

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Another option for a daughter of Dutch Van Der Linde. A quiet, but confident young woman. I imagine her mother being one of the many young beauties Dutch’s charisma drew in. He might’ve even loved her.

I combined Jessica Parker Kennedy with Dutch’s face here.

#rdr2 x reader #rdr2 #rdr2 x you #dutch van der linde #poc!reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Dutch would’ve had her in his late teens, making her an adult by 1899.

#rdr2 x reader #rdr2 #rdr2 x you #arthur morgan x reader #charles smith #arthur morgan #charles smith rdr2 #charles smith x reader #javier escuella x reader #javier escuella #micah bell x reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

If Dutch had a daughter, she might look like this.

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 x you #dutch van der linde

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

How I imagine Micah’s Sister!Reader could look like.

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 x you #arthur morgan x reader #Arthur Morgan x Micah’s sister!Reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

I have no idea who this woman I made is, but I just think she’s neat. ✨

#rdr2 #rdr2 x you #rdr2 oc

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

If Hosea had a daughter…

She might’ve looked like this.

#hosea matthews #rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 hosea

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #charles smith #rdr2 x you #javier escuella x reader #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan #charles smith x reader #john marston #john marston x reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Imagine Arthur with a woman who just accepts him.

Someone who doesn’t need him to leave the gang.

Someone who doesn’t need him to stay in the gang.

She sees who he is and smiles at all she sees.

I don’t think a man like Arthur would really know what to do with himself, honestly.

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

My Wretched, Bastard Sister

Platonic!MicahxSister!Reader

(Before 1899) Summary: This part details how you met your half-brother Micah and the life you lived prior to joining the Van der Linde Gang. Warnings: References to Physical ab-se, verbal ab-se, neglect, angst, unhealthy relationships (co-dependent), viol-ice, blood, reader is written as a half-sibling for immersion.

The only thing you share with your brother is a father and a name. You don’t look much like him at all, which is a blessing you’re unaware of. Before your father took you, you lived with your mother. She was the daughter of a farmer who was disowned for falling pregnant out of wedlock. His name was Micah Bell Jr., and he left not long after bedding your mother in the family barn.  All her misfortune was put unto you, for she blamed you and you alone. Mother was cold at best. Her beauty helped her earn money, but not a husband. Your presence made it hard for the wealthy bachelors around town to take her hand. Over and over your mother would scream at you for ruining her life, how she didn’t want you there. 

The day Micah Bell Jr. came riding back into town felt like divine providence to your mother. 

You were a girl of only twelve when she dragged you into the saloon where the Bell Boys were said to be staying in. He was an ugly man, your father. Tall, grey-haired, with wild eyes and a wide mouth with his front teeth missing. At either side of him were his two sons, Micah Bell III and Amos Bell. Micah Jr. couldn’t remember your mother at all. He and his eldest son mocked you both as your mother shoved you forward. Mother insisted that you were his bastard and that he should claim you, take you away. All your father seemed to care about was if you knew how to cook a meal. When your mother said yes, you were riding out of town with them that same day.

The father who stole you had no love to give. He made clear right away that he only claimed you because you could be useful. Micah III didn’t want anything to do with you. Your eldest brother was in his late twenties when you came into his life. Micah always looked a bit older than his years to you. You suppose that’s the consequence of hard living, but Amos never looked that way. Micah barely spoke to you. Which you often preferred. When Micah did speak to you, it was to explain how much he hated that his father had a bastard. How he hated having some little girl following him around. Some bastard sister that folks would confuse for being his bastard daughter.  He hated you, but he never beat you. Not like your father did. It wasn’t long after your father took you that he started to give you, “discipline.” 

Amos was the gentler of your half-brothers. Alone with you, he would be kind. With the other two, he kept silent no matter what he saw. Together you would talk in hushed whispers of a simpler life. One of kindness and quiet in the far-off west. Amos had been father’s beast to blame until you showed up. If he didn’t seem terribly guilty about it, it was because he was relieved. He left in the middle of the night after an argument with father turned bad. Micah seemed all too delighted to share that Amos didn’t even look back as he ran off.

Not long after Amos left, father died of a broken neck. His horse had bucked him off his back as he and Micah were riding back to camp. That was the story Micah told you, anyway.

Since then, it had just been the two of you.

Micah is fond of reminding you that he could have just left you to die at that tiny camp father had set up. You didn’t have a horse, or a clue. And it wasn’t uncommon for them to be honest for days, leaving you to hold up camp on your own. Who knows how long you would have just sat there, waiting? When you ask him why he came to get you, he just says that you “have your uses.” He wasn’t wrong about that either. You can cook, clean, sew clothing just fine, and you’re loyal. 

Years would pass by like a prisoner’s dirty nail on a cell wall. Slow, purposeful, without a clear end or goal. You grew from girl to woman but never felt all that different inside. Hair in two braids and clothes mended thrice with patches of other garments because Micah never lets you go into town to shop. Still trembling when Micah would raise his voice or fist, even though he had never struck you before. He leaves you at camp with a loaded rifle each day and expects a long list of chores to be finished before he returns. Although you always complete your tasks perfectly, he never seems grateful or impressed.

At camp, he likes to have a few drinks by the fire and tell you stories. Tales of the past, ranging from mere hours ago to decades. Micah talks and talks, you just listen. You really don’t say much at all. He says that it’s something he likes about you, "If you weren't so ugly, I could make some coin in marrying' you off. Quiet women are a rare find in these modern days."

Micah doesn’t sleep well most nights. You often saw him sitting by the fire wide awake, staring off into nothing. Sometimes, you try to sit up with him. 

As nasty as he could be, you relied on him. You could shoot a gun, but you weren’t a cutthroat criminal by any stretch of the imagination. Micah was your defender, the breadwinner, and the Knower Of All Important Things. Between the two of you, he could read the best, so he would buy a newspaper and read it aloud to you if he was in a good mood. Aside from that, Micah didn’t really act much like a brother. He treated you like an indentured servant. Had you a kinder life before meeting him, that might’ve hurt you. Instead, it was all normal to you. 

In 1897, Micah took two bullets in a robbery gone bad. He had one bullet in his shoulder and another in his left thigh. Micah was able to ride back to camo before he passed out. Your brother fell from his horse a bloodied mess, babbling incoherently about bankers with pistols and that he couldn’t think straight. Without another thought, you went to his side and worked to stop the bleeding. When morning came, Micah awoke to you sitting at the side of his cot. You gave him a small smile and before you could ask him how he felt he demanded to know, “Why’re you still here? I figured you woulda hopped on Baylock and been halfway to California by now.”

You replied, “I can’t leave my brother.”

He let out a scoff that made him flinch, healing shoulder wound and all, “Ain’t there another one further west?”

“I stayed cus’ you’re the brother who didn’t leave me, Micah,” his mouth slammed shut at your words. For the first time in all the years you traveled with him, you had rendered your brother speechless. “We only got each other, don’t we?” you reached out to take his hand. He let you, for a moment. That perplexed look in his pale grey-blue eyes looked almost childlike. Vulnerable. It lasted about as long as your hand holding his. 

Micah snatched his hand back and sneered at you, “How ‘bout you get to fixing your good brother something to eat ‘stead of holding my goddamn hand? I’m starving!”

He was quiet for a few days after that. Angry. Things felt a bit different between you two. Micah went back to being a bully and a taskmaster, but he didn’t scare you as much anymore. You had seen behind the curtain and inside of his soul. In that brief moment where his eyes had gotten big and his heart slipped to his sleeve, you saw why he really came to get you after father died. 

Micah was afraid of being alone and afraid of needing somebody all at once. What a sad way to live, you thought.

Things were mostly back to normal until about a year later. The night that Micah saved a man’s life. Something you aren’t sure he’s ever done before. And from this uncharacteristic act of kindness, you and your half-brother would enter the Van Der Linde Gang. 

#rdr2 x reader #rdr2 x you #rdr2 #micah bell #platonic!micah #platonic!reader #micah bell x reader #various x reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Being a former Schoolteacher in the Van Der Linde Gang

Prompt: {Reader as a Former Teacher in the Van Der Linde Gang}

Fem!Reader x Various

Summary: It’s no secret that the Van Der Linde Gang brought together all sorts of misfits of all sorts of backgrounds. Hosea had been a stage actor, Bill had been a soldier, and Javier was once a revolutionary. However, with all these strange yet vibrant histories, yours always made you stand out. Far to off in the eastern side of the country, you had lived a modest but respectable life as a schoolteacher. 

Note: Reader is written as being in her late twenties to early thirties. I only have Arthur, John, Dutch, Abigail, Mary-Beth, Javier, Molly, and Sean in this post. I do intend to write the others, I just didn't want this to be too long. I can also write specific imagines or romantic hcs if requested!

ARTHUR

He’s likely to be the first to develop a crush on you. Honestly.

Arthur finds you comforting. You carry yourself with a warmth and a certain air of confidence that makes him feel safe in your presence. He didn’t have much schooling, so he sometimes gets shy about talking about academic subjects. Still, you do manage to coax him into deeper conversations than just “mornin’” and “lovely day, ain’t it?”

Arthur is softer than he seems and sees more than he’s always willing to say. After cracking through the awkward small-talk phase of your friendship, you and Arthur begin to talk more on philosophy. He’s never considered himself all that smart, but you tell him that he’s insightful. Insightful? Him? It's enough to make him blush sometimes.

As he gets to know you better, Arthur starts to do small favors for you. Nothing too big. Just things like bringing back books from town or little trinkets he thought you might like. If you need help with your chores, he might just join you if Miss Grimshaw ain't around. Certain people in the gang have taken to calling him, "teacher's pet."

JOHN

He hardly paid you any mind, at first.

After you spent a few weeks with the gang, he started seeing you with Jack. Thought nothing of it, at first. Then it became a regular occurrence and despite himself, he got just a touch paranoid. You were brand new to the gang. A stranger. Why would Abigail let you near his her son? He confronted her only to find out that Abigail had asked you to teach Jack as his own private tutor. Needless to say, he felt a bit silly.

From what he can tell, you're not half-bad of a teacher. Jack's learning his numbers, writing his name, and is starting to ask for more books. While a part of him wants to be happy... it only vexes him further. Why would such an innocent civilian such as yourself be all the way out here?

John takes a while to warm up to you, but you proved to be less stuffy than you looked. You have a firm yet gentle way about you. And somehow, you can correct someone without ever making them feel stupid or simple for it.

DUTCH

He enjoys your keen mind and education, but he also resents it.

Dutch won't share with the others how he found you or how you became an outlaw. He likes to say that it's your story to tell. Really, he just like to know something no one else does. His reason for recruiting you was just as simple, he hadn't met someone like you before.

It's not everyday he meets an ex-teacher-turned-outlaw. Dutch found your situation interesting, unique. He does so like to collect outcasts. Especially one as educated and clean as you. Dutch starts to linger by you as you do your chores to initiate a playful debate. Unlike most in the gang, you disagree with some of his philosophies and have counterarguments that make him pause. That's not to say you've ever convinced him to change his mind, oh no. His pauses are more for him to steady himself so he doesn't show how bothered your resistance makes him.

As much as Dutch loves to spar with you mentally, he secretly finds offense in your obstinance. What you see as playful debate may just turn into a case against you as a traitor.

JAVIER

Now, this one may seem odd, but Javier is second most likely to develop a strong attraction for you. 

When he first saw you, it wasn’t precisely love at first sight. You were new, having joined just after Charles. Javier agreed with Bill that you wouldn’t last long. Everything about you just screamed, “civilian.” You dressed modestly, wore spectacles, spoke proper English, and seemed clueless as how to survive in the west. The only reason he didn’t outright resent you was because Dutch had been the one to bring you into the gang. 

The crush started around the same time you got more comfortable at camp. Sometimes you let your hair down, literally and figuratively, both of which he found very attractive. You have a mouth on you, and you aren’t scared of much. Seeing you stare down Bill for swearing in front of Jack was enough to prove that. He likes how tough but fair you are. How you’re educated but you’re not stuck up about it, unlike some he’s met. 

MARY-BETH

Is shy about it, but eventually goes to you for help with her writing.

Mary-Beth finds out that you both like “silly romance,” books and she starts to talk about how she writes her own. With it being so hard to find new things to read, you jump at the chance to read her work. Mary-Beth is quite shy about it, but she lets you read a few pages. Much to her surprise, you praise the work and ask for more. She starts to use you as an editor for some of her short stories. You enjoy her writing quite a lot and encourage her to keep going. 

You and Mary-Beth get on very well. You’re both bookworms and not too keen on violence for violence’s sake. Privately, you talk about what you hope your life will be like some day.

SEAN

Finds the fact that you’re an outlaw to be completely hilarious. 

As he gets more used to your presence, Sean starts to come to you with questions about the world. He does this because, as a teacher, he assumes you must know the answer to at least some of these. Questions like, “Why do we call ducks and geese different things when they look alike?” or “How’d we even decide what to name things? Did we see an orange’n on a trre an’ tink, ‘Oh now that’s an orange!’ or did we already have the color all sorted out? How’d they name colors to begin with?”

Sean will sometimes follow you around camp to ask you these questions, and the gang finds it quite funny. You’ll just be doing your chores with Sean slinking behind you as his mouth runs a mile a minute. What surprises most is that you usually at least try to give him an answer. Some folks didn’t believe you were really a teacher when you first joined… They believed you after they saw how patient you can be with Sean. 

ABIGAIL

First, she was suspicious of you. Then, she trusted you more than most.

Once Abigail was certain you weren’t going to sprint back into town to turn everyone in, she had a favor to ask. Jack was getting older and although Hosea and Dutch offered to teach him to read and write, they hadn’t the time to start. She asked you to teach him whatever you could when time allowed. You were excited to help, eager. Jack being as young as he was, took to your lessons fast. In little time, you were helping him sound out sentences and write his name. This started a new problem for Abigail, however. She never learned to read or write herself. Jack would try to show her his work, or ask her to read him a story, and she couldn’t.

Instead of shaming her, you offered to teach her how to read as well. Abigail refused at first, but relented when you said she could teach you how to sew in return. Through her, you start to feel more a part of the gang.

MOLLY

She only started to have a problem with you once she realized you weren’t some old hag.

When you first joined the gang, you were still dressing like a teacher. Your clothes were bulky and formless, hair all pulled back in a bun, and you were quiet. As you got more into the outlaw life, you started to dress a bit more like the other women. Started showing more of your personality. And more importantly, Dutch started to pull you aside more often. 

Molly can’t help but feel paranoid about you and Dutch. When she spies in on you two, all she sees is you both reading or debating. It’s not as if he’s holding your hand or whispering in your ear… but it feels wrong. Dutch talks to you about things he won’t talk to her about. Books, philosophy, world events, the strange and esoteric. It feels like you satisfy him in a way she can’t, and Molly comes unglued thinking about it. 

#rdr2 x you #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 #rdr2 imagine #arthur morgan x reader

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Absolutely. Javier is drunk in that scene at the bar with the women. Drunk. And he’s still awkward and unable to get a single word or action out to bring his girl back. Charles at least tried to hold the dark-haired woman’s hand.

He only knows how to look aloof and mysterious around women. Javier is not some Lothario with a guitar. In fact, most of the Van Der Linde gang is totally tactless with women.

Some people need to replay rdr2 before writing Javier in fics because there's no way you think this awkward guy that doesn't talk much is some kind of don juan or latin lover or whatever fucking box you want to apply him to

Why can't y'all just keep his character reserved yet friendly, why do you want the hispanic man to be this experienced, passionate lover and sexually aggressive womanizer

#Javier notes

[lowfunctioningoptimist]

Maybe I'm just basic:

But I like to use this scene below for figuring out Javier and Charles' usual types. Now, this doesn't mean they wouldn't think a woman was pretty if they didn't look this way. I just think these two women show what they normally like.

CHARLES

From what we can gather, it looks like Javier and Charles found two prostitutes to charm. Charles is with a dark-haired woman with a tanned complexion who is much shorter than him. We know he's going for her because he has his hand FIRMLY on her lower back when Arthur approaches these four in the saloon.

Her hair is in a long braid, natural and feminine. Seems that he likes a girl with warm, soft features. Big brown eyes and a sweet smile. I don't think he necessarily goes for women based on size though. It's probably easier to find women that are smaller than him. Her complexion, hair texture, and facial features might hint that she's an Indigenous woman or possibly biracial. While Charles isn't prejudiced, he might be inclined towards someone he can relate to culturally.

Charles is a bit drunk, but he's so into this woman that he's grabbing for her hand as she walks away!

JAVIER

The voluptuous redhead is Javier's potential date for the evening. She has full lips, bright hair, and appears to be the more outspoken of the two women. She's leaning back, but from the perspective of the shot it looks as though she might be slightly taller than Javier. This might mean that Javier isn't the sort of man to mind if a woman is taller than he is. And she's a whole lot of woman.

He's clearly drunk, but he's also clearly trying to keep her focus on him. When the redhead calls Arthur a 'mountain man,' Javier agrees with her friend that Arthur is "nothing but a pussycat." It could be inferred that he didn't want Arthur to frighten them off. However, I think that Javier was trying not to lose her to the more rugged Arthur Morgan. He is at her side, desperate for her to keep paying attention to him.

Based on how desperate they both were for these two women, I think it's safe to say they have a type.

#rdr2 #charles smith rdr2 #javier escuella #Charles smith #rdr2 x reader #rdr2 x you #javier escuella x reader #charles smith x reader #rdr2 headcanons

[lowfunctioningoptimist]