lastgunslinger | (no subject)

Roland is kneeling by the DVD player.

"Sit wherever you'd like."

This thrown over his shoulder as he pulls the disc out of its case.

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From:

lastgunslinger

Roland reaches out and rests a hand on her head.

He told her once that he'd never lie to her.

So he doesn't say anything.

From:

river_meimei

River can read silence.

Her head bows a little more, beneath his gentle hand, and a tear slides down her cheek.

She doesn't even like Tuco very much. It's not relevant.

From:

lastgunslinger

"It happens. It's happening. And we deal with it where we may."

We being gunslingers.

"Do you understand?"

He can't even tell her that it's just a story. It's not. Joe even told him some of this when he lived.

From:

river_meimei

Another tear, slowly tracing down to soak into the velvet.

But she nods.

A deep breath. "She comprehends."

From:

lastgunslinger

Roland puts his cigar in the ashtray, and stands there for a moment.

"Mo cuishle."

Benediction.

"I know you do." Beat. "Shall we continue?"

From:

river_meimei

She doesn't answer.

From:

lastgunslinger

Roland looks at her for a moment.

Then he leans over and picks up the remote, and presses play.

The images are back. Tuco tells Angel Eyes his half of the secret.

Joe holds palaver with Angel Eyes...and Angel Eyes tells Joe that he wouldn't give Joe the same treatment because he knows Joe wouldn't talk.

Roland is still standing by River. His cigar burns down slowly in the ashtray.

Absently, he murmurs: "You see? Men like Angel Eyes can tell only by looking at you whether or not you'll break. And when it comes down to something like this -- to be a cast-iron bastard is no bad thing. With us it often comes down to such."

His hand rests on her shoulder.

From:

river_meimei

The muscles of her thin shoulder are tight, beneath his hand.

Sometimes they just figure out how to break you anyway.

From:

lastgunslinger

Tuco separates himself from his captor. And then Tuco takes a bath.

If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk.

Roland doesn't look down at River. He might sound like he's smiling. "That's the thing about ka-mais. They're right entirely too often, and because they're fools, people underestimate them. Don't forget that. Tuco got the drop on Joe, after all. Twice."

And then there's Joe with a kitten. Every gun has its own tune.

From:

river_meimei

She's still tense. Still curled up.

But there's a small, watery smile.

It grows and warms a little, for the kitten in Joe's hat.

From:

lastgunslinger

Joe and Tuco join up again and deal with Angel Eyes's gang...but miss the man himself.

See you soon...eee-dee -- I can't read it!

Idiots. It's for you.

They fall into the hands of the Union Army and learn about the bridge that both sides are trying to hold for no good reason...and that's when Joe gets his genius idea.

"He always found another way."

Joe pretends to tell Tuco his half of the secret, and then proceeds to blow up the bridge.

The war continues anyhow.

When the battle ends, Tuco and Joe cross the river...and Tuco makes for the graveyard where the money is buried while Joe comforts a dying soldier.

Roland watches all of this with no visible reaction. He's seen it before.

From:

river_meimei

"Thinks around the corner."

She's still tense, and her gaze slides away from the tv now and then, as shifting emotions flicker over her face.

But she's watching.

From:

lastgunslinger

The soldier dies. Joe picks up the serape that Roland always knew him to wear.

And then Joe goes to the cannon and lights it.

His aim is true, but it's too late -- Tuco has arrived in the graveyard, and eventually at his destination. The grave of Arch Stanton.

Tuco begins to dig with an old board...until Joe arrives with a shovel.

There are two kinds of people in this world...those with guns, and those who dig. You dig.

Too bad Angel Eyes has the same idea. Joe -- unlike Tuco -- refuses to dig...because the money isn't in Arch Stanton's grave, as Tuco discovers.

We're gonna have to earn it, says Joe.

He writes the name on the bottom of a stone...and then it begins.

Roland's head rises a little. His hand tightens a little.

And he smiles, a little; and his eyes are cool and proud.

From:

river_meimei

River never knew Joe. And much of his story, tonight, has been painful for her to watch.
I do not kill with my gun.
Right now, as the music rises and blue bombadier's eyes narrow, it doesn't matter.
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
Joe wasn't a gunslinger. But here, now, he is shooting with his mind.
I kill with my heart.
Her face smooths out, and her chin rises a little, too, and her eyes stay fixed and focused on the screen.

From:

lastgunslinger

It was never really a choice. Angel Eyes knew it. Joe knew it, too, of course. The only one who didn't was Tuco.

Hands come close to weapons.

Smiles. Lies. Gunfire. And in the end, it's Joe who shoots Angel Eyes down into a grave, and sends his hat and his gun after him.

He'd unloaded Tuco's gun the night before while the bandit was sleeping.

Roland settles down again, and watches the rest of it play out.

The true hiding place of the money. The noose. The trap. Joe rides off, leaving Tuco with a rope around his neck and the share of the $200,000...only to turn back to do the cutting.

Angel Eyes is still dead.

Good.

Joe then truly rides away, leaving Tuco with his share...and his hands bound.

Hey -- Blondie! You know what you are? You're just a dirty son of a bitch!

Joe keeps riding.

And the movie ends.

From:

river_meimei

River is silent, watching, even after it ends.

One hand toys absently with the popcorn kernels scattered about her chair. Rolling them between her fingers, breaking them into smaller pieces.

From:

lastgunslinger

"Tuco was right," says Roland calmly.

He crouches by River's side. "You saw the way he did it? Always paying attention. Watching. Looking for his chance. Thinking around corners. And yet sometimes it was ka that saved him."

Pause.

"He was a bastard, and he was my good friend, and stood with me when he didn't have to do so -- when it would have been safer for him to keep to himself. He got the horn for me, when he didn't have to. And this is part of his tale."

The cigar smoke is heavy on the air, and sweet. Roland's eyes never leave River's.

"You saw. You learned. This is why we tell stories. To learn." His hand rises to rest on the side of her face. "Yours is only beginning. Do you understand?"

From:

river_meimei

She looks down, and her face works, a little. One expression chasing the next too fast to be quite read, as she sometimes does.

She nods, against his palm.

From:

lastgunslinger

He lets his hand linger for a moment. "It is very well."

And then he stands.

"Your brother will be wondering where you are."

He'll clean up the popcorn later.