What’s the worst decision you made while you were drunk?
Don’t mean to brag but I️ don’t even need alcohol to make really bad decisions.
open to mutuals !
❝ i heard a shot. you okay ? ❞
joel has his revolver at the ready. eyes scanning about - he hears nothing now, but he's been jumped one too many times to grow COMPLACANT at the absence of noise.
& sure, his tone is clipped & stern. it's a hot summer day & they should've been back in jackson two hours ago. but he stills takes a moment to make sure he isn't returning ALONE.
with his mouth in a tight line, arthur's head turns away to look straight ahead. hers is not an unfamiliar sentiment - one that's been mostly BEATEN out of arthur some time ago, but still there somewhere. still huddled inside the shell of a killer & a thief.
❝ ain't no shame in lookin' for the GOOD in the world. ❞
his words are low, as if arthur were sharing a secret. the next moment, he's waving his hand up & shouting for the attention of the barkeep. ❝ lemme buy you somethin', ❞ he says, giving maeve a sideways glance. ❝ seems like you need something to get your mind off things. what'll you have ? ❞
reputations are everything, maeve isn't blind to that. she hides behind whichever one suits her best - those who label her as just a gentle, sweet woman. those who notice cleverness, that underestimate it all the same. everyone seems to be painted by so many artists... it's almost hard to keep track of which whispers come from where.
like seeing in the dark, it's often a matter of gut && experience.
her time with bobby was far from kind, far from gentle. but that doesn't mean she wants to let herself become used to the bad over the good.
"I just worry once I let myself always expect the bad, I'm setting myself up for that being how I see the world forever." and at that point, it becomes only surviving, not living. maeve can't help the part of her that is sure it's risk the danger to herself to simply... try to keep seeing at least some good. "I learn my lessons, I just don't want to forget there's a world outside of those bad moments. which probably sounds silly."
she was NERVOUS to take the gun - he could see it. her hesitance reminded arthur of a winter's day a long time ago, when he was still a boy. dutch pushing a rusty cattleman into his hands & showing him how to hold it. how to aim. how to squeeze the trigger. the memory seemed so far off - like it belonged to someone else.
arthur attempts to MIMIC dutch from those years back. ❝ any fool can shoot a gun. the fact that you actually hit the bastard already puts you way ahead, so try not to worry. ❞
he reaches down to grasp her forearm, bringing it up straight & pressing the cool handle of his revolver into her palm. arthur does so slowly, as if hope were a wild mare he was trying to win the trust of. CAREFUL movements, showing no fear, eyes straight.
❝ don't point it at nobody you don't plan on killin'. keep your fingers tight 'round the handle. er ... little more than that. nah, it's just gonna go FLYIN' if you try to shoot like that. christ ... ❞
her hands were much smaller than his.
arthur circles around hope's back with a sigh, reaching for her other hand & bringing it up to the first. ❝ alright, let's try ... ❞ his voices falls off, his FOCUS on the positioning of hope's fingers.
his thumbs guide hers, one atop the other. fingers curling over hope's around the handle, making sure her left covered her right. & with his hands still covering hope's, shadowing her own grip on the revolver, he squeezes. making sure she knows to do the same.
❝ now that ain't goin' nowhere. ❞ to prove his words, one of arthur's hands detaches to grip the barrel. jerking it once & twice, it doesn't budge.
❝ i wouldn't exactly call us the 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚 sort , but i catch your meaning .❞
she follows his lead , allowing him to herd her toward the appropriate spot for target practice . watching & waiting patiently while he preps , hands remain clasped behind her back - almost as if she's still a little uncertain about the whole thing . regardless , he's right . with so much ground left to cover before reaching their destination , it is 𝑰𝑵𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑻𝑨𝑩𝑳𝑬 they will run into more trouble in some form . it would be nice to know a thing or two , in the case of something else going sideways . . . as it often tends to do when hope is around - & arthur's equally turbulent life just about triples that probability .
somehow , still , she's never felt 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒓 than she does by his side .
❝ okay , ❞ she nods , eyes catching the way the firearm glints in the light of the steadily setting sun . clearly 𝑵𝑬𝑹𝑽𝑶𝑼𝑺 of the weapon & what it can do , she keeps being drawn back to it . as much as she tries to deny it , the events from earlier that day have certainly shaken her .
hope had never thought herself capable of shooting someone until the heat of the moment necessitated such an action . it is all still so 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉 in her mind - the surprising weight of the gun , the kickback nearly causing her to lose her grip , watching the bullet impact her target , seeing the man go down . . . should she regret it more ?
hope keeps to herself that she feels as though it all should bother her more than it does . maybe that is just what happens when someone intends to kidnap & ransom you for all that they can extort from your husband-to-be . it's hard to feel all that 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝒀 , which disturbs her quite a bit . especially when arthur points out that what she had done was merely a half-measure .
swallowing hard , she tries to shake those worries off & focus on the 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 lesson . ❝ so , how am i supposed to hold it - 'cause i'm pretty sure i was doin' it all wrong . . . ❞
BARRY SLOANE as Joe 'Bear' Graves in SIX (2017—2018) Episode 2.02 Ghosts