dadyl: (098 ;; adorable)
𝕕𝕒𝕣π•ͺ𝕝 π••π•šπ•©π• π•Ÿ ([personal profile] dadyl) wrote2023-05-27 07:10 pm
nootherway: (056)

Voice, prior to the snow

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-02 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ She’s still wrapping her head around the fact that she can think of someone, and thenβ€”as if by magic, likely by magicβ€”her voice will sound in their head. Nonetheless, it works, and she gains nothing by hesitation.

Her voice is calm, and cool. ]


We’re going to talk now.
nootherway: (040)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-02 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She doesn't insist they do it in person. Perhaps it's better like this. Regardless, this is what's happening now. ]

One of my boys is here.
nootherway: (004)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-02 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ There's more that could be said about it - that one day will need to be said - but not to Daryl. Her voice remains cool. ]

He's not going to bother you. You're not going to bother him.
nootherway: (056)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-02 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
You're not part of this.
nootherway: (011)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-02 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
As I said. You're not a part of this.

[ This is a gordian knot, not easily unwound. But one thing remains certain: she doesn't need Daryl and Bossie trying to kill each other. ]
nootherway: (007)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-03 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ She makes a bitter noise. Really? ]

Don’t pretend you care about my family.

[ That was clear from the start, only she’d believed that one day he couldβ€”a sin that she will never come back from.

She should have known better. She cannot say she wasn’t warned. ]


All I need is for you two not to kill each other.
nootherway: (014)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-03 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
It wasn’t.

[ She knows better. There will be a reckoning and they are both of them liars. But the equation has shifted now. Not so long ago, she was the last man standing. And now, her little brother has come back from the deadβ€”brittle, and shaken, but alive.

There are no second chances. Nothing that clean. But it changes things now. She has obligations beyond sheer survival, and the mission she assigned herself after putting down her dead, one by one. She has one of them back now and she means to hold onto them. It can’t be done through lies but she knows Bossie, too: he can’t take the truth of it head on, not just yet. And she knows, too, that she cannot say any of this to Daryl because he will, inevitably, use it against her. The bitter lessons are the ones that stick. And this she has learned oh so well. ]
nootherway: (011)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-04 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ There’s a pause on her end as well. A long one. ]

Why?

[ It comes out softer than she means. Bossie was always the brittle one. She fears it shows. ]
nootherway: (005)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-04 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
The rules are different here.

[ She doesn’t understand them yet but she will because that’s where the power lies: understanding how a thing works, the full shape of it. Why it works and how it breaks and how it can be made into a newer, stronger form. She had to understand the Army before she could survive as a soldier, had to understand the shape demanded of her before she tried to become something new; she never knew what shape mother was supposed to be but she tried. She held onto it with both hands and thought, maybe. And now here she is again, grappling with a system she doesn’t yet grasp but she will.

She will, because that’s the only way through.

Her voice goes thick, even across the distance. ]


You don’t get to take this from me.
Edited 2023-07-04 01:39 (UTC)
nootherway: (025)

cw: misogyny

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-04 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
You lied.

[ Her voice is iron, utterly unyielding. The unspoken part: you made me a liar, too. They could have walked it back if he hadn’t been there, muddying the waters. She could have dragged Pope back to the center and things would have gone back to normal. They could have had a community, walls.

But that’s nothing but wistful thinking. It’s not what happened and she’s always had a tendency to get emotional, her mother sighing at the dinner table, you know I can’t hear you when you get like this, sweetie; her first sergeant, sneering and almost sad after the first time she scraped a corpse off the sand; you gonna fucking cry now, Shaw? You gonna be a girl about it? I knew you’d fucking cry.

Pope, glasses shining, when she knew she was his favorite: You can do better than that.

Pope, gurgling as he died under her boot. She wasn’t yet a liar then but it was coming. Inevitable as the fire, as Pope’s wrath of God shining in the blood. ]


Then your back was to a wall, and you killed my brother. You thought I’d take your hand after you did that? You thought I’d give them up so easily?

[ There’d been a moment where she’d thought about it, is the thing. Not leaving them, no, never, but finding an angle to make it work. A moment where she might have taken his hand after all and bodied the cost. And then she’d seen Ancheta lying there, and that made it so very simple. ]

It doesn’t matter what you wanted, Daryl. That’s not what happened.
nootherway: (049)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-07 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
What’s the point of that, Daryl?

[ She knows what he’s asking without directly asking, the wound he’s circling. It’s a habit of his. The sort of thing that bleeds down into the marrow, all bruised and weary because you cannot look at the sun head on without bodying the burn, and some things it hurts to ask directly. It would hardly be the first time. And she knows himβ€”or did, once. How difficult it can be to voice the things you dredge from down deep. Once, she might have helped him.

This time, she’s in no mood to make it easy. ]
nootherway: (031)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-07 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Everyone makes choices.

[ That's the simple truth of the world. You make do with what you know, with what's in front of you. ]

And I'm choosing my brother here. You should be familiar with the concept.
nootherway: (014)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-09 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She makes a bitter noise at that. ]

I’d fucking hope so, Daryl.

[ She rarely curses. But there’s real anger in her tone, and it comes out in sideways means. She can’t control what Daryl says to Bossie, or people in general, and so doesn’t intend to try. But he lied to her once, over and over again, and now to say that he’s done with it?

Too little too late. ]
nootherway: (004)

[personal profile] nootherway 2023-07-10 10:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ She almost snaps at him. Almost. Anger's an old friend of hers at this point, one of the few she's kept and carried her whole life. God, Lee, you're an angry girl, her mother used to say. What've you got to be angry about? Like her daughter was so unreasonable to want something else, to be seen as she was and not as the blank slate everyone around her wanted - a doll to be molded and told to stand up tall and be charming. They never spoke again after Leah finished bootcamp and she doesn't know what story her family told about her absence. What did it matter, when she never really existed for them in the first place?

Anger is easy. Anger is her oldest friend. And she knows Daryl's silence. She could get him to break it if she tried, if she pushed hard enough.

She doesn't. She just exhales through her teeth, and lets it go. What's done is done. She has work to do now. ]
telepathy: (62)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-05 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think it was me.
telepathy: (26)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-05 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
no
i didnt know either


[ everything in the void had been so turned around. she rubs at the back of her head. the spot where she'd hit it when aristaeus had knocked her unconscious, ready to haul her off back to kossos. it feels different. because this wasn't a betrayal. ]

you werent daryl anymore
telepathy: (107)

(cw: ref to incest roleplay)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-05 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
kid?

[ is this like john ...

but they aren't exactly fucking right now, so her nose wrinkles at it, feeling patronized.
]

you didnt bring
i went
i went to keep you safe
i failed
telepathy: (61)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-05 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
you had killed before

[ she realizes after sending the message that she doesn't know for sure. not really. but it feels right, intuitively, and she refuses to retract it. surely he has.

she has, and he had understood her implicitly, held her through it. no one who hadn't taken a life could have done the same.

the rest is familiar enough that it doesn't really occur to her to consider it as especially horrific, certainly not as compared to death.
]
telepathy: (pic#16178945)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
i should have stopped you

[ she could have, if she hadn't been worried about killing him in turn. if she hadn't held herself back from it. now he has to live with this, and it clearly haunts him in a way that it doesn't quite haunt her.

the coming back was far, far worse than the dying. it casts a shadow over all the rest.
]
telepathy: (pic#16178901)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
i can if i dont hold it back

[ hold her power back, squeeze it all inside herself because she can't bear to kill the only company she has. her people are gone, and the people she has now are therefore too precious to her.

she could not even bring herself to kill aristaeus.

she had suffered for daryl, thrown herself into the void and died for him, and she would do it again. but he did not want that. he wanted to not have to live with what he'd done to her. she thinks on it, knowing what they have both been through now, what they owe to the duchess and how different they may be.
]

i will
if you transform again
i will be the one to end it
telepathy: (pic#16178960)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
if you died id be alone

[ she has tasted the alternative, now. in her mind, going back to the way she had been living, when she had no oneβ€”that's worse than death. ]

then it was too late
blood does that to me
when i transform
telepathy: (7)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
not all the way

[ she hasn't, yet. she's fucked and scrapped her way through enough of this for that, it seems, and yet it keeps leaking through. stress, or something. she can't put her finger on it. ]

it was the same as when they took me
feverish
wet
telepathy: (pic#16177853)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
i dont know what is me

[ she certainly doesn't feel like herself, now. but she could remember everything through the haze of heat and hunger anyway, and there is something primal about it that makes a kind of sense to her.

is that the kuruko? or is it the duchess?
]

do you feel like you
telepathy: (pic#16179743)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
i understand
you will see yours again


[ she won't, but she can insist that she remains committed to getting daryl back to his. the kuruko may be dead, but he doesn't have to hurt like she does. ]
telepathy: (100)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
i am here

[ still. again? and according to aristaeus, she is herself in all detectable ways, no matter how it feels. ]

i dont want to go back to the castle
telepathy: (pic#16177815)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
at the boarding house
with felipe
i can come see you though
telepathy: (pic#16177824)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-06 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she knows the one. it had almost been her room, but she had been too soft, and had instead given jesse her rock to defend the room with. to keep it for himself. he didn't want to fight, he said.

it's good that he hadn't come out to the woods with them.

she climbs the stairs, finds her way to the room, and enters without knocking. there is no knocking at a campsite, and she hasn't bothered to stop and learn niceties in the past couple months.

she surveys the room, trying to make sense of what little changes he had made since she last saw it.
]
telepathy: (107)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-07 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
You expected someone else?

[ her head tilts a little. she doesn't move towards him quite yet. doesn't feel like she is allowed to, by that greeting. instead, she cautiously shuts the door, earns them a little bit of privacy. it's the one advantage she can see to permanent structures like these. no ability to move where they'll find resources in a given season, but at least they can close themselves off more easily. ]
telepathy: (pic#16177819)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-08 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ mavis sits with that apology for a long, uncomfortable silence. she can feel his grief, his sincerity, as surely as she had felt his hunger. both had felt like him.

she draws nearer to him, studying his face. close enough to touch but never closing the distance entirely.

then she reaches into the back of her waistband and produces a kitchen knife. she holds it by the blade, offers it to him. her good knife was lost to the void, but this one will serve for now.
]

Take it. Hurt me.
telepathy: (16)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-08 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
[ she shrugs. why indeed. he wouldn't hurt her. she knows this, and it was why she'd offered it in the first place. not for the sake of it, not for revenge.

it reassures her anyway. that the seed hadn't taken root in his mind, that she was to blame for all that death. her crimes are different, less personal to him, but she is familiar with the sense of responsibility.

she puts the knife away.
]

Exactly. [ she nods. ] Words mean nothing. This is what matters. You owe me nothing.
telepathy: (21)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-08 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ felipe had hugged her. had thrown himself recklessly at her, relieved by the light behind her eyes. she can feel the urge there, but he stamps it down. ruffles her hair instead.

kid.

so she does it for him. it's the first one she has taken, seized for herself. she closes her arms around his middle and hopes that she is just convincing, just reasonable.

that she is not a kossian, pressing her thoughts onto his, making him feel and think things that aren't his own. the kind that kuruko told stories about over fires to warn children not to wander too far.
]
telepathy: (22)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-08 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
No.

[ if she'd hated him, he'd be dead.

who was she kidding? she was so desperately afraid of returning to the life she'd had in the wilds that she can't even kill someone she hates because she is too attached to him. even if she'd hated daryl the moment he'd jumped her, she couldn't have killed him either.

but she doesn't. herself, a little, maybe. for her own weakness. but not him. he had only taken what he'd rightfully been able to wrest from her.
]
telepathy: (pic#16177819)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-09 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
What answer do you want?

[ it's the images themselves that make him ask. the memory. he flinches from it, yes, but the memory of the hunger is still there too. the way he'd thrilled in all of it.

did he hope he'd left his mark? was that stronger than the guilt that he might have? mavis' head tilts a little as she cranes her neck to look up at him.
]
telepathy: (pic#16179705)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-10 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she doesn't want to tell him.

but.

with the distance between them, now, mavis reaches up to unlace the tie that holds the top of her blouse closed. she untucks it and pulls it over her head in one efficient movement.

she doesn't wear anything to support her breasts. there's no need. despite the fact that he hadn't gotten a chance to see that properly out in the void, she doesn't look self conscious of her nakedness. it's just skin, and they've already determined he isn't going to hurt her.

she turns her back to him.

there are other scars β€” a smattering of them, different kinds, some of them faded with age. but where he'd pressed his paw down into her, where his claws had scraped and dug, there's nothing. like it hadn't happened.

she hasn't seen her back firsthand, but she'd seen her thighs. it's an easy guess, and much easier to demonstrate rather than have to find words for when words always require a higher lift for her. she's still so unused to actually communicating with other people, still getting used to the sound of her own voice.
]
telepathy: (8)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-12 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
I am too.

[ no proof of her weakness. the other scars were from battles won and hardships overcome. they are marks of honor and resiliency. not from the one that bested her.

she turns towards him again as she pulls her shirt back on. despite not being able to see him then, she'd heard and felt plenty.
]

I made you uncomfortable.
telepathy: (pic#16175852)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-12 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
I don't believe that. [ she hadn't done it to punish him. ] We've been naked together before.

[ not in the void. but then, she recalls, he'd been uncomfortable then too. she would have thought even the people who were uneasy with that originally would have gotten past it here, with the festivals being like they are.

not daryl, though. he may be the person she knows with the strongest sense of who he is. it'll take more than that to change him. more than death, too, she hopes.
]
telepathy: (pic#16177823)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-12 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh.

[ she shifts her weight. it feels stupid to apologize for something like making him remember that, all things considered. it will probably be a while yet before she apologizes to daryl for anything.

but it's clear she hadn't meant to thrust it upon him unwelcome, from her awkward lingering.
]

Those clothes don't suit you. [ she changes the subject inexpertly, pointing to the clothes that the duchess had provided them with to leave. to replace the ones that had been destroyed in their death. ]
telepathy: (pic#16177818)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-13 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Rough. Sturdy. Smells like the woods.

[ she draws a line down the side of her chest. ]

With straps.

[ she's never seen work overalls before coming here, but she already knows to associate with people who can't be yanking their pants up all the time because they're busy doing manual labor. that's daryl.

not this fancy thing.
]
telepathy: (pic#16176058)

LMAO OH GOOD

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-13 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she tries to imagine another use for a belt. looks at his briefly, doing some kind of mental calculations. while he may be thinking tourniquet, she's thinking garrote. eventually, she tips her head in acknowledgment, which turns slowly into a nod. yes, he's right. that's useful. ]

The hunting lodge can give you good work clothes in exchange for kills. [ she moves to the other bed, pulls her feet up onto it and crosses her legs. ] What else did you lose?
telepathy: (pic#16176068)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-14 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
The woods are full of weapons.

[ mavis says this almost automatically, dismissively. ]

I will make you one.

[ at least, one that is functional enough until he can get his own. she's already working on that bow for leah, anyway. ]
telepathy: (pic#16175852)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-14 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Knife. Bow. [ she shrugs her shoulder. ] What else do you need?

[ these are the hallmarks of any good kuruko's kit, anyway. skill with either would keep you safe and feed you and yours, give you a place among the hunters and warriors of the clan. ]

I learned to carve wood.
telepathy: (47)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-15 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ she shakes her head. ]

Wood won't hold an edge for that.

[ not any wood she's used to working with, anyway. you could get maybe one use out of that if you're lucky. she looks him over though, thoughtful. ]

You don't need one. [ it seems like a waste, trying to apply clean lines to his face. ]
telepathy: (pic#16177795)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-15 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I can do bone. It will take longer. It may not work.

[ mavis thinks through this as she explains. ]

I have never used one.

[ a razor, that is. but she gathers how others use them. ]
telepathy: (26)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-16 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she shakes her head. ]

Downstairs, with Felipe.
telepathy: (47)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-18 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ she picks at the dead skin beside her nail beds. you'd think that if the duchess was going to resurrect people, heal up their old wounds, that you'd come back with undamaged nail beds. fewer callouses. no dead skin.

maybe this is proof that john and ari are right. that she's just mavis, still, no matter how it feels.
]

Complicated. [ she acknowledges. ] But he came back.

[ he'd been the one to leave in the first place. mavis isn't in the business of leaving if she isn't forced to. she doesn't know how to segue between these thoughts. ]

He is too weak to be alone. [ she says this dismissively instead. how pitiful he'd been about missing her. how he'd held her. she can't admit most of it, so she just falls back on the old stand-by that felipe is embarrassing. ]
telepathy: (pic#16175872)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-18 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ she reaches for the nearby pillow and throws it at him. fuck off with that.

she isn't laughing, merely flustered by his amusement. but she sits with it for a silent moment after that, and then stretches out onto her back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
]

He betrayed me. [ this gets its own space. ] I felt stupid. I trusted him. [ she settles her hands on her abdomen. ] Then he left. I felt stupid again. He didn't care about me.

[ she huffs out a breath. ]

He came back and made me stupid three ways. [ she looks over at daryl, smiling now a little. stupid, this time, for thinking he hadn't cared. he was a coward, yes, but stronger than she gave him credit for, given what he'd done to daryl for her, and given how he'd held her and come back to her and apologized. ]
telepathy: (pic#16179727)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-18 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she laughs. it feels good. even if she seldom does it, it feels like her in a way that she has struggled with since leaving the castle. she rolls onto her side, taking the thrown pillow and tucking it under her head. she stares across the space at daryl. ]

Do not punch him. He is too fragile. [ and dumb, yes. but at least she feels better having articulated the complexity of it. he doesn't quite grasp the ins and outs, but the general pattern seems to have conveyed, and that's better than mavis expected.

it feels good. not being alone.
]
telepathy: (52)

[personal profile] telepathy 2023-08-20 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
I will do the punching.

[ she huffs this out. after a beat though, she accepts, ] You can too.

[ just as long as they both understand that it's not on behalf of, not for, not a substitute for her own anger. she needs no representative to act on her behalf. ]
ludomania: (pic#16498613)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-06 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he still thinks this is too good to be true – but reaches out for him anyway. scared, worried and hopeful. if Daryl is back living in the woods, he swears he's going to kill him. again. ]

Daryl. Where are you?
ludomania: (pic#16635579)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-06 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I need to see you. Right now.
ludomania: (pic#16483217)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-06 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll let you know when I'm there.

[ he's already on his way bitch. ]
ludomania: (pic#16483324)

action

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-08 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ if he delays this meeting for another second, he might avoid it for the rest of his life (and that'd be awkward), so he rushes to the roof. a cold fear is already settling in his chest when he wonders what Daryl could be doing up there. ]

What are you doing?

[ he calls out when he spots the man. seeing him feels surreal after believing that he was dead for days. Felipe climbs over the roof to join him but leaves some distance between them, not even knowing himself why. ]
ludomania: (pic#16498610)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-08 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's a lot what it is. ]

No shit.

[ how could it not hurt? it's unnatural, wrong and it involves magic. he despises it and yet he's glad that it's happened, relieved that Daryl is back. Felipe makes an awkward grunt in response as he climbs a little closer, almost breaking a sweat since it's difficult to move with a bunch of stitches decorating his side. ]

Making me climb up here... [ he mutters quietly, just filling the silence. Daryl, you could have reached out? it's a little rude. he looks to the other man, wants to reach out to him, but can't bring himself to do it. ] I saw Mavis.
ludomania: (pic#16483292)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-08 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ sighing deeply, Felipe takes a seat next to him and turns his attention to the view. it's convenient. they don't have to look each other in the eye. ]

I did worse.

[ a curt reply since he feels guilty and his vanity can't deal with being seen as weak. back at home he was the one hanging out on roofs, taking stupid risks leaping from one building to the next. now he's just a shadow of himself. not that he blames Daryl for any of that, it's all his own fault. ]

You know why I'm here, don't you?

[ they're the only people here who really know what happened in the forest. Felipe has been planning apologies in his head ever since, but now that he actually has an audience for them, he doesn't know where to start. ]
ludomania: (pic#16546270)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-09 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
She already punched me once, I don't want to know how she'd react if I did that.

[ pretty sure he already got back at him for Mavis. if that even counts as payback because neither of them was responsible for their actions at the time. but Daryl guessed right. ]

I want to apologize. [ it's as much as for him as it's for Daryl. he hopes that Daryl understands. ] Will you let me do that? Properly?
ludomania: (pic#16475928)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-11 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
It was for another thing.

[ dismissive. there's already a lot of history between him and Mavis and they've only been here for weeks. funny how time flies when you're messy as hell. ]

You aren't? [ Daryl better hold on to that promise because there's not going to be a warning as Felipe turns around to face him and pulls him into a hug, so tight it has to be uncomfortable for them both. one way to make this count. ] Listen. I'm so fucking... sorry.
ludomania: (pic#16483300)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-15 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he lets the hug linger on for another moment. presses his face into Daryl's shoulder and shakes his head in response. who was Daryl going to hurt in the forest anyway? he could have turned back even without Felipe interfering. maybe he was already on his way back to himself? ]

No. That's not how it went.

[ it was nothing but blind rage and violence. intense feelings he's now ashamed of. his grip of the other man tightens as he shifts his center closer to him so that they don't lose their balance and fall off. ]

You don't owe me anything. Shut up.
ludomania: (pic#16483297)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-18 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, it... took a while.

[ but that could have been just because Felipe riled him up again. ]

I think you saw me as a threat. Attacked me because I...

[ he lets out a ragged exhale. there's a heavy feeling in his chest sucking out all the air when he thinks back on what happened. he wishes he could concentrate on Daryl's arms instead. ]

You saw me with Mavis.
ludomania: (pic#16483296)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-20 06:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ it feels like he's gone too far. said to much. he draws his arms back to himself, leaving Daryl some room to recollect himself. ]

Hey, you couldn't have stopped us from coming.

[ he wasn't even invited, remember? Felipe reaches to touch his shoulder gently. ]

Considering everything... I think we're even.
ludomania: (pic#16677928)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-26 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Felipe makes a small noise in agreement. there's no way out of here, at least not for now, but maybe there are worse places one could find themselves in. ]

Are you okay?

[ he finally draws the hand back to himself, but pauses to watch Daryl. the resurrection process raises some questions, but he's not sure if he's curious enough to learn about it. best to go before he finds his mouth moving on its own as it usually does. ]

I should return to Mavis. I don't want her to be alone. You can come too, if you like.
ludomania: (pic#16676034)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-26 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Felipe understands. he wishes that he didn't, but it is what it is. he nods and gets up, holding his side because the wound started throbbing painfully again. ]

Try not to fall off the roof.

[ he jokes, but the look he gives Daryl is dead serious. ]

See you later.
unconscionable: (Default)

late evening,

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-15 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Mate. Could I ask a favour, if you're not busy?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-17 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Just chat with me for a bit. About anything. Tell me a little more about your world?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-18 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)
What's that thing, that American thing, where you're choosing not to say anything? Plead the fifth, right?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-20 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
Just bored. In the mood to hear more about someone else's apocalypse.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-20 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ He could kiss you for rolling with it right now. ]

You said the whole world was gone β€” were there any holdouts? Groups of survivors? What about the military? What was life like? Did you stay in one place or move around?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-20 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
Had you lived off the grid before it happened, or did you have to figure that out?

[ Just one question, he's learning! ]
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-20 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry, I didn't mean to get personal. Just interested in what life was like - for anyone, not just you.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-20 07:56 am (UTC)(link)
Right. Yes. Was there anyone in your world who could control them? The dead.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-25 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
Holy fuck. I meant with magic, but that's ... did that really work? They could be tricked?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-30 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John absolutely isn't counting, like maybe he can sneak past twenty without either of them realizing. ]

That implies a measure of sentience, or social cohesion. I have... a lot of questions about that, but you don't strike me as the scientific figures type. No offense, mate.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-08-31 02:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Ha ha.

Wow. Getting into the weeds, though, I'd rather know... more about your experiences. Have you fought them?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-02 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose if that's what it takes to survive.

Did you leave a lot of friends behind when you came here?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-02 10:00 am (UTC)(link)
I see.

Yes, it's hard to go on after leaving people behind. How are you managing?
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-03 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
Doesn't count if you lie to me.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-03 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
I never claimed to be fine.
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-03 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
Her Grace agreed she would let House leave the castle if I took his punishment. So I'm still there. Mostly playing statue. Sometime finding out if there really is anything that can kill me.
unconscionable: (02)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-03 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Though I've been severing the nerves in my spine so I don't feel any of it, that tends to last until I pass out.

[ Or die. Either way he comes back to agony. It's all messy-swimmy in his head, he couldn't really speak to what has been done to him today or a week ago or what was just whispered through that porcelain fucking mask. Mostly he stays sane through this telepathic connection, just closing his eyes and pretending he's somewhere else, chatting, away from it all. ]
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-03 07:57 am (UTC)(link)
We skipped dinner. Went exploring.

Look, we probably could have both spent a little time in the art gallery and gone home with everyone else, but House doesn't handle paralysis well. I mean, not that anyone does. But he's got some hang-ups around being helpless like that.


[ John would rather be tortured to death repeatedly than have to stand by watching House live through being a free use statue, so he made the Duchess an offer she was more than happy to accept. ]

Then when I demonstrated I'm hard to poison she took an extra special interest. At this point it's past punishment and more like she's experimenting.

[ He doesn't know why it all spills out. Not like he told literally anybody else any of this, has hedged around why he's here, why he hasn't fought back. It's something about the intimacy of midnight confidences, combined with the sense of Daryl as somewhat stalwart, able to handle this information without getting all emotional on him. ]
unconscionable: (13)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-05 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
I was a late arrival.

[ A fact he is very slightly glad for - on the one hand, it did mean the staff who had been too busy working during the dinner had come to find he was one of their few remaining outlets. On the other hand, it meant not very many people he knows saw him like that, and he's not in a hurry to talk about it. Better to emphasize the torture and experimentation and the fucking spiders than... any of that.

Better to laugh it off and pretend he liked it.
]

I'm pretty sure she can hear everything, no matter what we do.

[ She's so powerful, in ways that he doesn't understand. It's like spending his life learning wine and being given a jug of vodka, he can tell there's stronger power there but all the complexities escape him. ]

But I don't have a lot of choice. So she can listen to twenty questions, and town gossip, and the Iron Bull thrashing me at chess.
unconscionable: (05)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-07 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
No. I met him my first day in town.

[ Compared to his long life he's known House a fraction of an instant. But the trauma bonding in this place is off the charts. ]

Spent every day together since. He reminds me of life before everything went bad.

[ In the days before the world ended. When doctors worked in hospitals, when magic only happened on tv. ]

I don't want this place to break him.

[ He can't save everyone this time, but he can pick one person, one awful fragile human who plays guitar and makes John laugh, and shield him from as much of it as he can. ]
unconscionable: (Default)

[personal profile] unconscionable 2023-09-08 10:04 am (UTC)(link)
I will. Thanks, Daryl.

[ He'll keep chatting a little for the next hour or so, mostly idle questions about infrastructure, if walkers ever rotted away to nothing, what kind of food Daryl ate during the apocalypse - maybe asking for camping tips, getting him talking about hunting and knives rather than anything personal. Interested in Daryl's passions as much as someone else's world, so different to his other despite all the ways it was the same. ]
ludomania: (pic#16546278)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-22 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
She lost.
ludomania: (pic#16483278)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-23 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ great plan, asshole. ]

What? She's your friend.
ludomania: (pic#16483277)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-24 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
It was a stupid choice.

She's alive. I don't know how, but she gave up in the end. I wish I didn't have to see it.
ludomania: (pic#16676036)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-24 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
She had no choice.
ludomania: (pic#16483217)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-24 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
How should I know? Ask her. It's not my business.
ludomania: (pic#16678164)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-26 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I wish I hadn't been. It'd be easier to accept.

That man is foul. A fucking monster who looks the same even when turned.
ludomania: (pic#16546278)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-26 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ always there to make things difficult. Felipe sounds reluctant to talk about this. he's so uncomfortable imagining what's next in store for Mavis after he saw how brutal the fight got. fuck. someone should do something. ]

From what I understood they go way back and he hates her guts. He'll make her life a living hell.

He came after me while you were in the castle. Lifted me on the wall like it was nothing. And I just saw a knife being shoved into and out of his skull.

Every minute with him – she's going to suffer, Daryl. Or worse.
ludomania: (pic#16676036)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-26 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he's respect Aristaeus' skills if he didn't hate him so much. ]

He started with a knife but finished with his hands. Well trained and stronger than anyone I've seen.

Ruthless. Vicious.

I don't think he can do what Mavis does, but he can heal fast. It's why he didn't even care when I pulled my dagger on him earlier.
ludomania: (pic#16681297)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
They've fought before. He must know her weaknesses.
ludomania: (pic#16681241)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know, but it's abnormal. No one should have that kind of powers.

[ sorry but that includes Mavis too. fucking freaks. ]
ludomania: (pic#16681246)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ yeah well, he didn't let him touch his void injuries. that's why they still hurt. ]

People do where I'm from.

[ people – like Farrah. ]

But it's different.
ludomania: (pic#16681317)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ they're not different at all. he's just full of shit. ]

Some people are born with them. We don't know why it happens, but they're marked. Cursed.
ludomania: (pic#16681246)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, everyone's different.

I've only ever seen him against Mavis and I think they had some rules regarding that fight. Mavis said it was supposed to be fair.


[ his opinion of that is obvious. bullshit. but there was less magic involved than he thought there'd be. ]

What are you planning?
ludomania: (pic#16681235)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ahh, shit. ]

You know, the very first time we spoke, she warned me of him.

I've been thinking about it ever since, but I wasn't able to protect her anyway.
ludomania: (pic#16546117)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-27 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah.

It wasn't a fair fight. I know it.


[ something's off and he hates it. ]
ludomania: (pic#16546115)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-28 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
No, there was a healer.

I'll talk to her.


[ dibs. ]
ludomania: (pic#16483314)

[personal profile] ludomania 2023-08-28 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Her stuff's still here.

I'll get back to you.


[ but he never does. lol! ]
blueshit: (2)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-08-27 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ After stumbling back from the castle together, traumatized and spent, Jesse hadn't known what to think. Their first time together could be explained away - Daryl's monster form taking over, taking Jesse whether either of them wanted it or not. The second time, not so much. And then tonight? It's not just that he'd stuck with Daryl, or everything that had happened in the gallery and afterwards. They'd both said some stuff - thought some stuff - that has Jesse feeling overwhelemed. Vulnerable. But in a good way, almost. He doesn't regret it, at least, apart from the fact that it had happened the way it had, that Daryl had been captured and punished like that.

They don't say much that night, just fall into bed wrapped around each other the way they have been for weeks, the way that's become a habit without Jesse noticing. And then nothing much changes for a little while. Jesse bounces early the next morning, needing to clear his head for a little while, and when he's back Daryl's gone. He comes back smelling like booze, but he comes back that night and every other - sometimes with fresh-cut firewood or small animals he'd caught and skinned out in the woods, sometimes with nothing but a hangover to show for it - but always returning to curl up and sleep together. Just sleep, nothing else.

Jesse wakes up one morning a few weeks later, opening his eyes to gaze at the sunlight streaming in the tiny window. Daryl's still got one arm slung heavy over his waist, but he's awake. Jesse somehow just knows. And suddenly he knows with just as much clarity that he doesn't wanna spend the day kicking around town by himself, avoiding both the tavern and the woods to give Daryl the space he hasn't asked for but clearly wants. He doesn't wanna wait for him to trudge in late at night from wherever he's spending his days and fall in bed together without talking. ]


Hey.

[ He speaks just loud enough for Daryl to hear, not looking back at him. ]

You wanna...do somethin' today?
Edited 2023-08-27 01:55 (UTC)
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (32))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-08-27 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ He has just enough time to second-guess himself before Daryl speaks. Maybe it's a stupid idea. Maybe Daryl just wants to be alone in the woods, doesn't want to spend time with Jesse except when they're sleeping at night.

But Daryl doesn't say no, and despite himself, Jesse's heartbeat quickens a little in anticipation. Hope, maybe. ]


I dunno.

[ He can't leave it like that, though, can't risk losing Daryl's interest so soon, so he races to think up some idea before he just changes his mind and decides to fuck off to the woods again instead. ]

We could just...walk around town? See what's up? Like...people watch. Eat some food that's not squirrel.

[ There's a pause. ]

No offense, I mean, the squirrel's really, really good, but, y'know. Something different could be good too.
blueshit: (pic#15456050)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-08-28 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ It sounds boring as hell when he says it like that, and Jesse tenses, ready to get laughed at and already trying to figure out how to walk the whole idea back without looking like a dumbass. But then Daryl agrees, of all things, and he's left looking like a dumbass anyway, just lying there staring while Daryl climbs right over him and starts digging through his bag. ]

Really?

[ Shit, really. His heart starts beating faster too, thumping with unexpected excitement, only for it all to come crashing down a second later. He balks at Daryl's joke, misinterpreting it for a moment before remembering that Daryl hadn't been at dinner at the castle and realizing what he really means. ]

Ha ha. Fuckin' hilarious.

[ But he doesn't really mind the dig, not when Daryl's already pulling on a fresh shirt, clearly willing to go along with him. Jesse scrambles out of bed and starts rummaging around for clean clothes of his own, shooting sidelong glances at Daryl the whole time. It's not a big deal, just wandering around the tiny village and finding something to eat. So why's he suddenly nervous? He finds himself rambling, like he's trying to win Daryl over even though he'd already said yes. ]

There's this cafe, they got the most amazing fuckin' pastries. The fuckin' bomb, you, you've never had anything like 'em.
blueshit: (21)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-08-28 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh. It feels like another miss, another way in which this is just a bad idea all around and nothing Daryl's going to enjoy. But Daryl immediately pulls it back, says he'll try it, and Jesse has to hide his own tiny smile by quickly grabbing a shirt and pulling it on over his head. ]

Cool.

[ Even once he's dressed, though, he still can't quite keep that hint of a smile off his face, sneaking sidelong glances at Daryl as he opens the door. ]

You been around town much?

[ Other than the bar and the boarding house, he's not sure how much Daryl has even seen. ]
blueshit: (pic#16320503)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-02 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yeah, that's kind of what he'd thought. Daryl doesn't seem like the window-shopping type. But Jesse just nods, not judging. Almost more excited than before, in fact. Daryl not being that familiar with the town gives Jesse a chance to show off the parts he liked, gives them a chance to discover the rest together.

It's stupid, really, how much he's suddenly looking forward to this. But he hasn't done anything like it - gone out exploring a new place just to see it, just to spend time with someone else - since he went up to Santa Fe with Jane. It's been a long, long time. When Daryl gives him a cheerful pat on the back, it's just the cherry on top, the push Jesse needs to tip right over into happy. ]


Guess you don't.

[ It's almost chipper, a goofy grin on his face that more than makes up for the strain in Daryl's own expression. He clatters energetically down the stairs and out the door, stopping outside to give Daryl a chance to catch up with him and falling easily into step beside him. ]

Is there anything you wanna see? [ Like...? He scrunches up his face, thinking. ] Hunting...supply stores, or anything?
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (2))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-02 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nope, he sure doesn't. Jesse grins shamelessly, shrugging his shoulders. It's true. He doesn't really care what they do, as long as they're out here. As long as they're walking in the sunshine, spending the day together, and Daryl's happy.

Bu even so, the suggestion Daryl does offer is so unexpected, so the last possible thing Jesse would ever have either expected from him or thought to look for himself, it yanks him back a step. ]


Books?

[ He says the word like he's never heard it before. Daryl might as well have suggested they go find a store full of eels, or sawdust shavings. But he catches himself almost instantly, before Daryl can get self-conscious or try to walk it back, and nods enthusiastically, his expression clearing. ]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I think I saw that one. It's down this way.

[ Definitely a bookstore down this street, definitely not somewhere he'd ever so much as slowed down in front of up until now. But he leads the way confidently, shooting a curious look at Daryl. ]

You like reading?
blueshit: (12)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-03 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
Huh? No - no, I didn't -

[ Had Daryl thought he was judging him for reading? No, Jesse realizes a beat later, catching the unhappy look on Daryl's face, the way his shoulders have hunched slightly upward defensively. He'd thought he was just...judging him. Like someone like Daryl couldn't possibly have hobbies like reading.

It's enough to make him stop in his tracks in front of Daryl, turning to face him so he has to stop too and meet Jesse's eyes. ]


No, man. It's not that. It's just - [ He shrugs, and now it's Jesse's turn to feel self-conscious, looking away. What if Daryl thinks he's stupid, or not worth his time? Just a worthless druggie, with no interests beyond chasing the next high. ]

I just...always thought it was kinda boring.

[ "Kinda" is an understatement. He can't think of anything he'd like less to do with his time. Reading. For fun. ]
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (38))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-04 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ Jesse's already trying to justify it to himself. He doesn't know a ton about Daryl's past, but he knows, or can assume, he hadn't had a lot of money growing up. He probably hadn't had a Playstation in the house. Or...a Nintendo? Would those have been around when he was a kid?

He might not even have had a TV. So yeah, in the lack of any real entertainment options, Jesse can kind of see it. And then Daryl keeps talking and Jesse's left standing there, mouth open, just staring at Daryl as he walks past like he hadn't just dropped the biggest bombshell Jesse's ever heard. ]


What?

[ He finally remembers how to move, half-jogging to catch up with Daryl, ambling along like everything's normal. Had he heard that right? He couldn't have, right? ]

End of the what?
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (44))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-06 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
Hey - that's not funny, yo.

[ He stares at Daryl, disbelieving, just this side of indignant - but also just a little bit uncertain. It's not the kind of joke he can see Daryl making, especially out of nowhere like this. Bombing cities? He wouldn't joke about that.

But it also can't be real, what he's saying. Because it doesn't make any sense. It's impossible, and if it wasn't, Daryl wouldn't be talking about it like this, like it's nothing. ]


Yo, knock it off, come on. I think it's cool. That you read.

[ He only wishes he could see the appeal itself. It sure would've made school a lot less boring. Maybe he wouldn't have turned out like such a major fuckup, disappointed his parents and everyone else. But there's no reason for Daryl to make all this up just to justify it, or mess with Jesse for his reaction. ]
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (19))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-07 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah I do.

[ But he can only sound so convincing. Cool is pushing it a little, after all. Or a lot. The point is, he doesn't think Daryl's less cool because of it.

The bigger question is this end of the world thing. This dead coming to life thing. He keeps pace with Daryl, head turned to stare at him instead of watching where he's going. It's a wonder he doesn't run straight into a wall or something and knock himself out. ]


Who bombed what cities?

[ There's still a tinge of uncertainty in his voice - he doesn't want to fall for anything like a gullible asshole. But he just can't figure out why Daryl would lie about something like that, either. ]
blueshit: (16)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-08 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ It sounds like the plot to some dumb horror movie, but Daryl's so serious about it that Jesse almost has no choice but to believe him. He keeps his gaze on Daryl's face even when the other man's looking at the path ahead instead of him, trying to read his expression. Or, since this is Daryl, his almost total lack thereof.

The thing is, it kind of makes sense, with what he knows about Daryl. The way he'd naturally gravitated towards setting up camp in the woods, easily dismissing the modern (well, modern-ish) conveniences offered in town. How good he is at hunting. At surviving on almost nothing. Like he's been doing it for years.

Like someone living after the end of the world would. ]


Walkers...

You mean...you mean fuckin' zombies. Right?

The dead.
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (19))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-08 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I dunno. Why are draculas called draculas?

[ It's just a word. It's what they are. Daryl's words are very descriptive, though, and Jesse makes a face. Skin-eaters? Fucking gross. ]

Holy shit.

[ He mutters to himself, still looking at Daryl with new eyes. ]

You really -

Why didn't you ever tell me you were from the fuckin' zombie apocalypse, man?
blueshit: (14)

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-12 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Seriously?

[ Come on. Even Daryl has to know better than that. No, neither of them have talked much about their lives before all this, but there's no way by the way, I'm straight outta Dawn of the Dead shouldn't have been number one on the list.

But Jesse stops when Daryl does, attentively listening now that Daryl's actually sharing information with him. ]


Thirteen...

[ Thirteen years. He can see it, actually. If anyone's capable of surviving over a decade in a hellish, zombie-infested wasteland, it's Daryl. ]

What's it like?

[ What kind of life has he built, thirteen years on? The words come out softer, Jesse's eyes alert and fixed on Daryl. He doesn't seem to mind talking about it, at least so far, but he doesn't want to push too hard. ]

You're with your brother? Right?
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (49))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-15 06:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Lost him. Daryl had mentioned he was looking for him, but somehow Jesse hadn't realized it was that serious. That he was really lost.

He feels like shit immediately, dropping his gaze and nodding quickly when Daryl says he doesn't wanna talk about it. ]


Yeah. Yeah, no problem.

[ But it doesn't seem like enough. His hand twitches, almost like he wants to take Daryl's. Reach for him, try to offer some sort of comfort.

It's a stupid instinct. What kind of comfort could someone like Jesse ever offer? Daryl had lost his brother. ]


I'm sorry, man.

[ He speaks softly, flicking a sorrowful, genuinely regretful look up at Daryl's face. ]

For real.
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (66))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-17 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. I know you do.

[ He gets it. He hadn't been mad before, about Daryl deciding to leave to find his brother. He'd never questioned his priorities even for a second. He'd just been hurt that Daryl hadn't thought to tell him he was going.

Jesse gives him a small smile, sad but grateful, when he squeezes his shoulder. He knows he hadn't wanted to talk about it, but Daryl hadn't snapped at him, or pushed him away. When's the last time someone had opened up to him like that? He's not sure he even knows. ]


I'm glad you're still here.

[ He says it softly, almost a confession. It's not that he'd wanted Daryl to fail, when he'd tried to escape through the void. But selfishly...he doesn't know where he'd be now, if Daryl wasn't still here with him. ]

But you'll find him again. I know you will.
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (35))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-21 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ It aches, hearing him say that. Jesse starts walking when Daryl urges him to, but he keeps looking over at Daryl as he does, studying him.

Can he really believe that? How? Daryl's saved him, again and again. He's never stopped trying from the moment Jesse met him. Looking after people. Fighting to get back to his brother. Making a home here, hunting for food, doing everything in his power to keep the monster at bay even as it threatens to overwhelm him.

Jesse just can't see how he can really believe what he's saying. He shakes his head, his eyes sad, but he doesn't know how to even start to argue back, if Daryl's that convinced. So when he looks up and sees the sign for the bookshop overhead, he seizes onto the distraction. ]


Hey. [ He nudges Daryl's shoulder, then nods up at the sign. ] We're here.
blueshit: (inkonic buttercup jesse (36))

[personal profile] blueshit 2023-09-22 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Jesse strolls right in, glancing around curiously. To his disappointment, the store really does seem to sell nothing but books. Not that he knows exactly what else he might have been expecting, but...oh well.

It takes him a second to realize Daryl isn't at his side, and he turns around to find him lingering behind, looking nervous and uncomfortable. Jesse frowns, falling back beside him. ]


Yeah, me neither.

[ No surprise there. He hesitates, looking at Daryl, but gets the sense that calling him out on how he kinda looks like he wants to turn and run out the door might prompt him to do just that. Instead, he leans his hip against a nearby display table, paging idly at a book resting on top and doing his best to exude an air of casual relaxation, in the hopes it'll rub off on Daryl. Huh. Looks like this is the foreign language section. ]

So...what kinda books are you into?
unorthodoc: (pic#16474008)

text

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-10-21 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
You look like a man in need of a drink.

[ Does he??? Or is House just incapable of communicating normally? It's a mystery. ]
unorthodoc: (pic#16676178)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-10-22 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
I'm going to bet your practical woodsman attitude hasn't stretched far enough to allow you to steal from the tavern yet. But I just so happen to have what you need.
unorthodoc: (pic#16676192)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-10-23 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Sharing. Trading, maybe. Depending on what you have on offer. I need a fence.
unorthodoc: (pic#16496871)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-10-30 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
No problem, I like it when people owe me.

How are you with burying bodies?
unorthodoc: (pic#16496883)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-14 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Not who, what. I need to bury some spiders before the Duchess' groupies get back into town.

[ Also he forgot about them while he was in the woods and now they're gross. ]
unorthodoc: (pic#16812810)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-18 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
If I said "definitely not mad science" would you believe me?
unorthodoc: (pic#16496883)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-19 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
You're a poet.

The goal was to see what happened when spider venom is introduced to the human bloodstream.
unorthodoc: (pic#16474010)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-23 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I found out what it did. And then I got distracted. Now they're dried up spider jerky and leaking goo all over the floor. Really a terrible waste of resources, it's such a shame.
unorthodoc: (pic#16812829)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-25 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)
The venom seems to inhibit nerve function and causes numbness, delayed pain response and mild amnesia. It also stimulates the production of various neurotransmitters and sexual hormones, meaning that you're stuck in one place but you're pretty happy about it. The blood transfusion triggered the adrenal gland to overproduce stress hormones, inducing aggression and fear. Nothing we didn't already know, which was kind of a bummer.

Yes, bring your own shovel. And maybe a tarp.
unorthodoc: (pic#16473907)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-12-02 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
No, Her Royal Creepiness knows all about it, she's fine with me cutting up her little pets to see what happens.

Of course it's a secret. But nobody has come to check it out yet and I haven't been turned into a newt or a frog, so I think we're in the clear.
unorthodoc: (pic#16812888)

text ik we literally have another thread but this is important

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-14 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
How are you at poker?
unorthodoc: (pic#16474004)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-18 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
But so much to gain.
unorthodoc: (pic#16676192)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-19 12:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Danny. ]

How do you feel about matchsticks?
unorthodoc: (pic#16812856)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-23 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
You don't trust your fellow men? We're all brothers around thta table.
unorthodoc: (pic#16676188)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-11-25 12:55 pm (UTC)(link)
You, me, Jim Hopper, Terry, John and Doc Strange. Afterwards we can probably go for milkshakes or something.
unorthodoc: (pic#16557350)

[personal profile] unorthodoc 2023-12-02 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
You wouldn't believe what I had to trade for it. Let's just say there's a reason I've been walking funny lately.
oomfies: (πŸ“± stalk.)

text, mid yuleorgy πŸŽ„

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-16 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Guess who is staring at him across the room from the safety of the food table!! Yes, it is Lottie, and if he doesn't spy her already, she makes it obvious: ]

πŸ‘€
oomfies: (✨ lips. ( πŸ’„ ))

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-18 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
what away
these?

πŸ‘οΈ
πŸ‘οΈ
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’• talk.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-18 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
i'm saying hi

because you're moping
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š email.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-19 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ Because she moped at the last one, too. ]

you're my friend
duh
oomfies: (Default)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-19 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
we haven't been boyfriends / girlfriend in a long time
they're just boyfriends now


[ Plain and simple, accompanied by a shrug of her shoulders as she steals a ripe peach. ]

i'm here for the free shit lol
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ“± flex.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-19 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
you can ig
but im pretty much over it


[ (She isn't. Sort of.) ]

theyre doing their thing and im doing my thing
the end
oomfies: (✨ giveaways.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-22 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
being the only πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ”₯ person in the room
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’„ heels.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2023-12-28 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh? He left her on Mind Read?

Don't mind her as she blows a kiss his way. You know, just to normally grab his attention again. ]
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š brag.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-01-01 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Two can play at this game!! ]

why? sad you can't watch? 😘
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’„ fit.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-01-07 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
you don't? really??
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’„ blogged.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-01-17 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
a fluke for a whole evening.. sounds suspish
oomfies: (✨ DMs. ( πŸ“± ))

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-01-18 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
so you WEREN'T eyeing up the sexy as hell bday girl at her birthday party? i'm appalled and shocked tbh
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’• views.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-01-22 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
i can..

do you want me to?
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š outreach.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-04 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A beat. ]

i'm only asking bc i dont want to bother you
or like feel like im forcing my company

i WOULD like to hang but
you are moping
and i dont even know WHY still
oomfies: (✨ partnership.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-09 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh. Oh. Lottie almost wishes she didn't sit down at all if it meant this. But it's Daryl, so she's willing to tryβ€” even if it means pushing through the awkward she feels at this, her inexperience and frank inability to sympathize with people. The topic makes it easier, at least. Lottie went through a break up, too.

She leans back into her seat, spreads her legs until her knees are fully knocking his. ]


damn
sorry..

was it like
recently??
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š outreach.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-09 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Wow. Yikes.. She refrains from hissing air through her teeth, fully aware of the fact they both have a reason for doing this as privately as they are. Lottie has only ever talked about her own relationships telepathicallyβ€” less emotion for there to trickle out. Less questions when you change the subject. The fact Daryl is letting them sit so long on the details of it means a lot.

There's a tilt of her head up to the barn roof, nose sniffling because germs. Animal fur. Residual fuck fluids in the air. She's not speaking fully, but her tone is gentle. Almost wry, ]


you know
my first boyfriend didn't even break up w/ me properly
he said we should go on a break
& then he started dating my stalker
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’• dye.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-11 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's happy he looks away first because she's liable to snort, and this conversation is supposed to happen in secret, after all (total normal behavior). She nudges his back softly in turn, to let him know it's okay and right?? Lottie thought the same thing when it all first happened. That, and her life was over. ]

sunny is okay
his only crime was being beefy and dumb


[ And maybe a subpar boyfriend, but before coming here Lottie only had the one. She isn't sure if her time with John or House would technically compare or be on the list (she does know there was something, enough to be exes). She'd be a terrible judge regardlessβ€” she doesn't know what a good partner really looks like. ]

we were dating for a long time anyway
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’„ pic#16616062.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-13 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
sunny day
lol


[ She is so serious (also trust the process Daryl!!). ]

about five years
my friends and family thought we were gonna get married
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š pic#15640825)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-14 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
he's KOREAN ok
his last name is kim
also he was my photographer

ANYWAY POINT IS he didn't give me anything before our 'break up'
but at least you got smth
that means jesse cares obvi, you know?
oomfies: (Default)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-14 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
daryl he literally said we should go on a break
didnt talk to me for like a month
gave me no reason btw
dated someone else
end of story


[ And then she like, sexted him or whatever but that doesn't make for a good story!! ]

break ups in any capacity aren't 'GREAT' but like
at least yours there's no bad blood
and i know he's just thinking abt you anyway so
he's doing that manpain thing
oomfies: (✨ filter.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-02-19 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ She frowns quietly. She isn't making it a competition, she's trying to relate. Badly, apparently, because she can practically feel the shift in the air, how Daryl slips back into the same mopey tune he was whistling before. ]

okay like no offense now YOU'RE making it a competition

[ But speaking of that manpain thingβ€” ]

what do you even mean??
was he like.. crying??
how bad?
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’• schedule.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-03-05 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ It aches, hearing that. Lottie knows what it means (now, after having lived with him in the Void for so long), and Lottie knows just how bad it is. Using. Drinking all the time. Didn't bounce back.

Some part of her wants to laugh at thatβ€” if Daryl thinks she's bounced back then good. She's still got it. It means she's doing exactly what she needs to do to seem normal, hopefully the very same as she slides a hand to his side. Jostles her pinky against his, a subtle show of comfort that works for the both of them. ]


i didn't even know drugs existed here...
and he hasn't talked to you since? :(
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š followers.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-03-10 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ In the Before, when Jesse and her were together in the Void, everything was perfect. So she has no idea if he was or wasn't good at that, so she stays quiet. Thinks. Lets her lips purse as he continues. ]

okay.... idgi
how?
oomfies: (πŸ’š interest.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-03-12 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh. Well, that'll do it. Jesse's dealt with drugs but not murder before, if their conversation about her own was anything to do by (which is fine, which is fair). Lottie's only good with it because she's spectacular at avoiding thought, feelings. Has poked and prodded at Caroline's dead (then resurrecting) body more times than she can count. ]

well like

how many people

like my people?
one??
one isn't that bad
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š  bet.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-03-24 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ Three. That'sβ€”. A lot. More than two. Definitely into a few territory, now. Lottie rolls her shoulders back in contemplative thought. ]

he'll understand eventually

you had a reason
and you wouldn't do stuff like that without one
oomfies: π‘œπ‘œπ“‚π’»π’Ύπ‘’π“ˆ (πŸ’š pic#16626021.)

[personal profile] oomfies 2024-03-30 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Lottie bristles at thatβ€” turns her head to actually look at him and maybe the audacity he has to say that (you don't know what you're talking about, you're saying what you think I wanna hear).

It's true, Lottie is a chronic people pleaser. But she likes to think she wouldn't lie about this, not when she feels so strongly about Daryl. The fact he's making her doubt herself is even worse, makes her draw her body away to get those few centimeters of distance back. ]


sure

[ Her gaze goes back to the crowd, jaw sharp, lips pursed. ]

i definitely don't know what i'm talking about
pharmacy: (059)

β€” 12.17

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-17 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
are you friends with Felipe?
pharmacy: (120)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-18 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
do you hate him
pharmacy: (021)

voice

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-19 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ His tone is weary over the connection, at his very end. ] Kidnapped? What the fuck--look--

Do you hate him? Because like...everyone does, but I can't keep both eyes on him all the time. I can barely keep one eye on him. I need--help, I need help.
pharmacy: (105)

cw: suicide mention

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-19 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
He's not a responsibility, he's my friend.

[ Okay, maybe he has just enough energy to work up to frustrated again. ]

Look, I know we all love a good hanging, but I dunno, I fucking--I like him, and he's losing his mind, and everyone here is just chill about it. I know he's fucking--old timey sexist! I get it. I know. But is any of this helping? It's not like he can off himself and leave people alone, letting him fester and go insane is only going to make more fucking problems, because he doesn't understand! These people are like those assholes that speak full sentences to their dogs and wonder why they aren't trained! Dogs can't speak English! They don't understand!
pharmacy: (131)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-22 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
No one's teaching him. They're just jumping down his throat. I dunno, I heard you talking with him like a normal, concerned human being, I know you used to talk--I figured I could at least ask. My bad.
pharmacy: (144)

πŸŽ€

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-28 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ His frustration simmers excitedly over the connection for a long few seconds, but hey--it's all he's been getting on the Felipe front anyway, right? How disappointed can he really be? With finality: ]

Great. Thanks for the help.

[ He's out! ]
rezni: (064)

mid/post felipe's duchess call out.

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-18 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Have you been out in the woods since Felipe died?
rezni: (202)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-18 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Did you catch sight of anything like what he's describing? Someone wearing a mask?
rezni: (040)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-18 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
No. But I don't imagine I'm high on the list of people you'd tell.
rezni: (040)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-19 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
What does different mean to you?
rezni: (038)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-19 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Cunning, yes.
And maybe something that seeks our attention.
rezni: (100)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-25 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Did he tell you what happened? Does he remember?
rezni: (036)

[personal profile] rezni 2023-12-27 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
We share a room. And he's said precious little to me about what he recalls since he returned.
rezni: (069)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-01 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't want to either. But this isn't the same as when someone is put down in their monster form.

If there's something he knows that can help us prevent this from happening, we'll need to find it out.
rezni: (104)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-03 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
I'll let you know if he says anything worth looking into.
pharmacy: (104)

β€” 12.26 . voice

[personal profile] pharmacy 2023-12-27 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ The sun has only just cracked over the horizon. He has no idea if Daryl is awake, or if this is where he spends any time, or if he gives a fuck--just that Daryl has protected him before, and god knows he needs protection now. Frantic, disjointed, laced with the thrumming, thrashing sound of his pulse as he runs: ]

--help, I need--HELP ME, Daryl, I need help, I need help, I need help, I can't reach town, I need help--

[ Images rush in: blurry trees that he races by, winter-brown plants under his feet, Felipe's body in the tree, a knife, a knife, a knife a knife and then its

[ gone ]
rezni: (064)

knock knock me again, right after q's post hits

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-01 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
You've seen it?
rezni: (202)

laughing abt the gun icon

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-03 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
Quentin wouldn't hear it.

[ Feels so incredibly hollow, no bulwark against Nikolai's regrets. ]

But he's not going anywhere. Even after the Moot Hall, presuming he attends.
rezni: (250)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-06 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
Not confronted. But we spoke.

It doesn't matter. It's over for him now, but I don't know whether or not it's finished for Danny.
rezni: (228)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-15 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
About having care with his heart, and whose hands he put it into.
Quentin cares deeply for so many of us here. It worried me to see him give that much of himself to someone who seemed too eager to absorb it.
rezni: (181)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-16 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not certain. If he still has friends, I'd guess they're harboring him, or that they intend to do so once he surfaces.

Kovacs is standing guard outside Quentin's cabin.
rezni: (030)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-01-23 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Only my proximity to Quentin. Which I imagine may be enough to provoke, but not for a while.

I think you're right, he'll leave it alone for the time being. It's when things quiet down that we'll have to worry.
rezni: (053)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-02-04 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ listen. ]

We enjoy each other's company.
rezni: (064)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-02-04 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll be cautious.

But I think we'll have some time before there's any real threat from him. The outcry is too much at present.
rezni: (087)

post 3/17 moot hall.

[personal profile] rezni 2024-03-02 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ a little nudge of contact: ]

Daryl?
rezni: (064)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-03-08 06:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ Straightforward, without any innuendo or double-talk to dress up the answer. Daryl has more than earned honesty from him. ]

Nikita and I are housing people in the tavern. I need help making sure they stay safe from that mob, especially when we need to start making supply runs.
Edited 2024-03-08 06:48 (UTC)
rezni: (073)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-03-10 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
A few of her people, most of whom I've met before. But we're likely to be in need of more, and I'd like some of those to be people we can trust.

[ where we means Void-Touched, specifically. ]
rezni: (Default)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-03-17 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Not well. I accompanied her and several others to retrieve Murphy.

[ """""retrieve""""" ]

Is she someone I should seek out for this as well?
rezni: (067)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-03-27 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
Am I the right person to ask? Or would it mean more, coming from you?
guitarpicks: (6VvtMYg)

β€” text

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-04-02 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
heyyyyy man

any chance you're looking for a side hustle? i can pay in weed or my amazing company
( and not one moment of peace and quiet in your future, daryl )
guitarpicks: (23)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-04-09 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
yeah and also like you’d tell people jesse and i don’t want near the weed to fuck off type :) ( it’s the grumpy face )
guitarpicks: (54)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-17 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
it's growing in the greenhouse so anyone can see it but the locals don't know what a magical, medicinal plant this is. hell, the multi-purpose value here needs protecting. can't have them getting into it to make -- uh. rope. ( it is a very obvious operation, daryl. )
guitarpicks: (48)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-19 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
how about over robbery?

also you have a gun?
guitarpicks: (23)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-22 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
( it would have been really hot, ok??? the bow is already really hot tho )

you have a fair point, good sir
you are a man of true skill

hey
can you teach me sometime
guitarpicks: (6VvtMYg)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-22 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
self defense? rn i'm useless unless someone's in close range
guitarpicks: (zkbcjJX)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-23 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
tailor - vlad
he and his goons keep targetting the greenhouse
he's up zlatka's ass
guitarpicks: (45)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-26 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
noted
i'll tell you about my enemies when i need to know how to shoot 'em

mhmmm
who makes the best ones?
guitarpicks: (sBq68Tm)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-27 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
what mods?

oh teach me your ways, wise master
guitarpicks: (128)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-27 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
or you know
actual rabbit food
fruits and veggies

unless you want something else for tradsies?
guitarpicks: (45)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-30 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
in what? vegetables?
guitarpicks: (rA4c8j4)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-30 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
no, no
now i'm curious
come on, entertain me
guitarpicks: (44)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-05-30 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
you slutshame me, sir

maybe i was gonna let you listen to some of the metallica records i've got squirreled away and not bumping eggplants together
guitarpicks: (pic#15961114)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-06-04 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
yeah

house left them behind
idk if u knew him
guitarpicks: (37)

[personal profile] guitarpicks 2024-06-16 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
wow

what'd he do?
poleaxed: joke; hand (lot)

voice.

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-05-18 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, uh, is this Daryl? I think we should talk.

[Approximately thirty seconds later.]

Sorry, I forgot that's what you say to someone when you want to break up with them. Uh, I'm Joan. Gabe-- Fifty? He's my roommate. I heard about what happened. Is- are you okay? Is there anything I can... do?

...And, uh, someone's gone missing. I'm told you're good at searching for people?
poleaxed: static ; joke (when i'm gone.)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-05-27 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
[If there were a phone to speak into, Joan would be glaring at the reciever. That accent-- deep South, definitely. It lacks the twang of Kentucky, and the skullfuck dullness of Oklahoma. She can't place it beyond that and it's kind of... annoying. Whatever, get over it, Joanie.]

[It does bring out a ghost of Joan's own real accent, the slightest sliver of a Texan drawl.]


We tried to kill each other, first time we met up. I know what he's like. I ain't here to make excuses for him, or anybody. What he did to you was wrong, and I hope you're getting what you're owed outta it.

[What else can she say but that?]

The boy-- man. The guy who runs the library, Wesley? We think he might've been kidnapped, but searching in town is... shit's bad in town.
poleaxed: anger; fight (water doesn't)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-05-30 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
I let a murderer sleep in my room. I gave him a safe place to stay. If that don't mean nothing to you-- I don't expect it to. But it means something to me.

[The truth of the matter is, if she doesn't hold herself to some kind of standard, what will she become? Whatever that creature is, she never wants to meet it.]

I'm thinking if we don't look, we ain't finding shit. People come back here. We find him dead, we still help him.
poleaxed: static ; hands (you might be harboring a heartache.)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-04 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
It means something to me he came clean.

[A crime is a crime. All you can do is repent.]

Re-... Figure we can start at the city gates. He was at the library when he got, y'know... got.
poleaxed: anger; fight (water doesn't)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-04 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. I'm ain't saying my standards're high.

[Wait.]

...Are you a dog person too?
poleaxed: fight; sad; hand (a master)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-04 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Oh. Ohh, you have a pet dog.

[She was thinking of Khoriya, who, she reminds herself, is a wolf. Which, uh, matters. Apparently.]

Anyway, yeah, I can get some of Wesley's stuff. He was a librarian, he probably made out with the Encyclopedia Britannica or something.
rezni: (240)

post rez.

[personal profile] rezni 2024-05-19 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Daryl.

[ a little needling, prod of contact. ]
rezni: (116)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-05-26 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
Don't be. It was the least I could do for you.

How are you?
rezni: (033)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-05-27 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
What kind of welcome would you prefer?
I've a new place now, and some of Nikita's liquor. You're invited to it.
Edited (words) 2024-05-27 03:20 (UTC)
rezni: (021)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-05-27 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
Then come. I'm here, and I'll be here all the way through to closing.
rezni: (239)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-06-01 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I've a private space. It was a hayloft, but I've been repurposing it.

Unless you'd prefer something privater than that?
rezni: (028)

[personal profile] rezni 2024-06-04 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Then it's settled.

Come when you please. We can pull the ladder up after us and drink in peace.
pharmacy: (155)

may 17 . voice

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-05-22 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
Daryl? I'm sorry--sorry this is the first your hearing from me since--I heard what Gabe did.

[ Woof. Good. Great intro. ]

I just need a favor. A big favor. Possibly a huge favor.
pharmacy: (208)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-05-22 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Daryl, please, listen to how tight his voice is, even through the connection! This is serious! ]

Can I borrow your hunting shack?
pharmacy: (078)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-05-23 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
I haven't--fuck. Look, something's wrong with Danny. And--don't--! [ Feel free to imagine him throwing both hands up to hold off the inevitable commentary. ] Something more wrong than always. I need to get him away from his family, somewhere out of this fucking mausoleum of a cabin. I need to get him somewhere I can watch him and keep him calm and straighten him out.

I need it to be somewhere with someone attached that I know--that I know would help me. [ "Know" is a strong assertion. Even as he says it, his unsurety of whether Daryl will help him is obvious. ]
pharmacy: (199)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-05-27 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
I know. I know better than anybody, Daryl. So knowing this, what am I supposed to do? Let him run wild and see who he bites next?Β 

I can help. I can-- [ I can fix him, I can fix him, I can--Quentin stops and sucks in a deep breath, thinks fully through this thought before explaining, earnest. ] I think this is the best chance I'll ever get to teach him something. I have to try.Β 
pharmacy: (208)

β†’ in person . may 23

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-05-29 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[ At the very least, it makes him an appreciated idiot. Quentin shows his appreciation with an outpouring of gratitude in this moment and with updates over the next few days. How they got in. How it's going. Word that he's keeping the place clean. A few more days. It's getting better, he thinks. The next day, no, no, it's still bad. Quentin's gratitude increases fourfold when he asks Daryl one more favor: an overnight stay while Quentin takes care of something. He'll be back in the morning, promise, just--one night. One night.

[ Quentin does come back in the morning--later than he means to, sweaty from the mid-morning heat and the hike, looking like hell warmed over. He warns Daryl when he's close to the shack, an implicit request to meet him outside, and when he lays eyes on Daryl, a pang of something sharp and familiar lances through his chest. Relief. Nervousness. He's got a progress report in his backpack with three C's. Stayed out too late with Jesse Braun and the living room light is on. He's in trouble, and the one person he doesn't want to know is the same person that he desperately needs help from.

[ Daryl isn't his dad, but Quentin still has a hard time meeting his eyes when they're finally close enough for low conversation. ]


Looks like you made it. Did he?
pharmacy: (194)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-06-07 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Daryl looks like he's run a marathon. And fought a bear. And like he's already heard from Quentin's teacher. His expression wilts; he's just a guy, he's still learning, don't be mad. ] I'm sorry. Sorry, he's always got...just one more.

[ He drops his bag next to the wood pile, scrubbing his eyes with both palms. ] I owe you. For all this. I don't know if it's helping, I don't--I just need a couple more days.
pharmacy: (147)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-06-14 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
He-- [ Is he supposed to not cry about it? In an instant, Quentin's eyes well with tears of anger and exhaustion and pity, but to his credit, he doesn't choke. It's all in the eyes, all down his cheeks, no beats skipped. ] --what the fuck, Daryl, are you okay? What do you--what do you need?
pharmacy: (pic#16694442)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-06-16 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ Out of his misery. That's what Danny keeps asking for too. To hear it off someone else's mouth--as soon as it's out his mouth, he hears how selfish he sounds, asking for advice on top of favors, but not until then. ] Is that what he needs?

Is that what you'd do?
pharmacy: (136)

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-06-24 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ Danny never mentioned it. Quentin never thought to ask. It had been enough that he knew Danny would breath down Daryl's neck, Quentin ignored it the way he ignored Jim, and House, and John-- ]

What did he need? Back there?
pharmacy: (043)

shall we call this a πŸŽ€?

[personal profile] pharmacy 2024-07-03 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ He knows it, but he might still need Daryl to say it. One more person has to say it, every once and a while Quentin feels like maybe he's starting to understand it at last. Still, it drives him deep enough into his thoughts that he flinches the next time the ax comes down. Daryl moves through a whole other swing while Quentin thinks, and the second crack of hatchet through the logs startles a murmured sorry, I'm sorry out of him.Β 

[ He turns to pick his bag back up, eyes on the ground, storm cloud trailing behind him as he lurches back towards the cabin. ]
I'll take care of it. I'll get him out of here--tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll be gone.Β 
poleaxed: sad; tired; emb; gent (they don't know you well.)

voice.

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-18 11:11 am (UTC)(link)
Uh, hey.

[A significant, but not exhaustive, pause.]

So, I was a bitch. I wanna ap- I'm sorry. I was real fucked up and I took it out on you. You- [She's pretty sure it's not totally her fault, but today? She is fucking tired of fighting. She tamps down on her battered ego and moves on.] You were just trying to be nice. And your jacket was pretty cool.
poleaxed: confus ; angry (at least the dark don't hide it.)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-21 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
...Fooling anybody about what?
poleaxed: joke; smile (i don't stare)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-22 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Daryl, I am taller than you.
poleaxed: fight; sad; hand (a master)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-22 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Are you proud of being shorter? I dunno, man; I got other shit to worry about.
poleaxed: sad; tired; emb; gent (they don't know you well.)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-22 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm fucking confused, is what I am.

Look, I said my shit. I'm sorry for screaming at you. You were just trying to help. You wanna get on my shit for being tall, whatever.

I do want the jacket, though.
poleaxed: anger; static (is this what you think i do?)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-27 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
Daryl, Joan reasons, is from the south. She can think of few better olive branches that aren't actively offensive than the bullshit she's been brewing in her kitchen-- it's nothing magical, just sweet tea, brewed hot with sugar, chilled and poured into a large glass jug. (Joan has no clue the tea house she's been getting the shit from puts aphrodisiacs in their mixes; why would she ask, and why would the shop girl tell her?)

So it's with this under her arm that Joan approaches the carpenter's shop. She smells something that unlocks almost three decades of sense memory, and wanders toward engine grease and sweat. Joan looks over Daryl and his fucking bike the same way a gambler looks over a winning hand: with the kind of practiced disinterest that begs not to be noticed.

"That yours?"
poleaxed: shock (but people like you)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-30 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
[Right now, something far more interesting is happening than a jacket. Joan puts her jug of tea down and watches Daryl's hands, smells the familiar scent of engine grease.] Runs on what? You got a secret Shell station out back?
poleaxed: shock; static (tell me something)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-30 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Ethanol? [Joan whistles the way wolves do in cartoons.] That's fuckin' smart. Jesus. I used to be a mechanic, back home. Never worked on bikes, but- [Joan bends her head a little, walks around to Daryl's side so she can see what he's doing-] looks fucking nice, man.
poleaxed: smile; gent (i)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-06-30 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[Joan smiles, eyes wide, and if she had any natural beauty it'd shine through in the summer light. She doesn't, though, so her smile's just too sharp and her hair's too red.]

Yeah. Damn. Got all nostalgic for a second, there.

[But her mood's significantly improved. Almost bouncing on her heels, she goes to get the jug.] I been making tea. Fuckin'- apology drink, I guess.

[She still can't make herself say sorry.]
poleaxed: joke (now death is gonna hold us up)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-07-01 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Daryl will find the jug is filled with sweet tea and lemon slices-- not the best, even Joan will admit that, but she thinks it's about as good as they can get without Lipton packets.]

Yeah, I kinda assume you're not trying to emotionally entrap me. [It's gentle ribbing. It probably comes on too strong. She always does.] Reckon it's the least I can do... considering. Always put my fucking foot in my mouth with you.

[It's not really always, but it feels like it to Joan, someone whose guilt is as overactive as her rage.]
poleaxed: joke (now death is gonna hold us up)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-07-06 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[She looks at him with his greasy hair and grey beard, the sweat on his neck and the motor oil on his hands. She wants to touch him. She wonders if he fucks hard.]

[(The aphrodisiacs she doesn't know are in the tea and starting to kick in.)]


Nah. Didn't wanna go back in. Hey, d'you wanna, uh. Go out some time?

[She is trying to be gentle.]
poleaxed: smile; gent; static (do what it did)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-07-07 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[As much as Joan enjoys assertive, commanding presences, Rubilykskoye has opened her eyes to the appeal of shy bashfulness. She wonders how shy he'd be while she was touching him. She's sure, in this moment, that she could give him a good time. It would be a kindness. (A selfish kindness. It would be incredibly erotic, she is also sure.)]

[So she gives him space. Lets him take his time.]
I'm not great, either. Shocker, I know. [She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.] But I like you, and you're very fucking nice to look at.

[And very much in her league, and kind, empathetic, knows his way around an engine, and-] I wouldn't mind giving you a good time. However you wanna do it.
poleaxed: static ; hands (you might be harboring a heartache.)

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-07-20 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[If Joan were pretty, she's sure this wouldn't happen. It's not that Daryl thinks she's ugly, exactly, but it wouldn't be so easy to reject her if she looked like a model, like everybody else here does. At this point, it's absurd to take it personally. It doesn't mean anything. It's just how life is.]

Yeah, well, I'm pretty cheap.

[That was pure bitterness, entirely unworthy of the kindness Daryl has shown her, unrelentingly if stubbornly applied. She shakes her head.]

Look, it's whatever. Just an offer, you know. [She looks away, frowning.] All I'm saying is-... thanks. For checking on me. That's all.

[She takes a step back, clearly preparing to turn tail and leave.]
poleaxed: static; angry; hand; fight (Default)

πŸŽ€?

[personal profile] poleaxed 2024-07-22 10:56 am (UTC)(link)
You look like a normal guy, Daryl.

[And maybe that's the problem. She feels too comfortable with that normalcy, and it's causing her to expect more of Daryl than he ever signed up to give. Is she taking advantage of him? It feels likely. She takes advantage of everything in this place. Ruins everything good.]

[Mavis' image flashes through Joan's mind. Self pity. She needs to get over herself. She needs to leave.]


Yeah. I get that. Stay safe, Daryl. And if you find an ethanol car- [She makes the old-fashioned sign for 'phone' with her hand, thumb and pinky extended-] Call me.