Thinking about Arthur and John (again). Especially about Arthur's satchel. John wouldn't just get his journal to read and what Arthur collects in that bag is so telling.
John would get given that satchel full of all the old letters Arthur hoarded. Letters he'd found on his journey and for some reason kept, letters from Mary, reading as they break each other's hearts all over again. Letters from the side missions like the one with the mayor, all the cards given to him by the collectors. The letters about rewards for hunting down dinosaur bones and wall carvings.
How John would find half finished cigarette card collections sitting loosely in the bottom of Arthur's bag, none of them fully finished yet but some being pretty close.
All of the extra trinkets picked up just in case people requested them again - Extra Otis Miller books for Jack, crime novels for Hosea, pens for Mary-Beth, a pipe or two for Dutch. All of the pictures he'd taken and developed scattered like the cigarette cards, the picture Albert took of the wolves.
He would still have some trophies from the legendary animals, maybe some clothes or some of the one off items like the lions paw
Arthur was so painfully human, and it shows in what you find in his bag. Of course he'd take joy collecting cigarette cards that are full of the same things he draws, horses, people, plants. Of course he'd hang onto letters even if they made him feel a deep guilt.
Idk it's way too late rn, but thinking about John finding all of this after Arthur dies because I doubt Arthur would admit he collects cigarette cards as a hobby. Finding that as much as he knew Arthur was complex, it went down this far too. This would be his first real, unfiltered glimpse at Arthur, and it's after he's already gone.
They're my roman empire istg
tangentwithtanner
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