[ 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. ]
[ Her awkwardness with this, when she's so frank about so much else, reminds him of Lydia once again. Of the girl's resistance to so much of the gentleness of civilization, after breaking free of her people.
And that comment about weakness? Lydia, up and down. It's enough to put a slight, knowing smile on his face. ]
You like him.
[ The smirk can be heard in the statement. ]
You're allowed to, y'know. If he really ain't such an asshole. He did kill me for you, an' all.
[ Somehow he's able to say it without the stab of guilt cutting him in half. ]
[ 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. ]
[ The pillow projectile only magnifies his grin and Daryl catches it, but barely. He throws it back but not with the intention that she had.
He doesn't rush her, he works in the silence as well as she does. ]
Okay, well. I'll punch him for ya.
[ He gets how that would make a person feel like they were being yanked around. He still doesn't understand the details of the problems and he'll never forget finding his camp deserted, but Felipe just seems harmless to Daryl, even now. Even after everything. ]
I think he does care about you. 'm pretty sure he's just the stupid one.
[ 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.
[ He's never seen that before, her laughing. It's the last thing he's expecting during their first conversation after the void, after their resurrection. He could swear parts of him still hurt.
But there it is. It makes him laugh too. ]
Alright.
[ If she wants to catch some sleep he isn't going to doze, but when Mavis gets comfortable Daryl pulls his legs up and lays out on his back. The ceiling is the safest place to look before he lets his eyes close. A rest won't kill him. ]
But he steals you again, an' he's gettin' punched.
[ 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. ]
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No. I was thinkin' rock, if you're good at it. Or some scrap steel.
[ But her comment shuts him up again. He glances down like he has no idea what to do with it. ]
Nah, not for me. I got a friend who doesn't like his beard comin' in.
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[ mavis thinks through this as she explains. ]
I have never used one.
[ a razor, that is. but she gathers how others use them. ]
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[ He's already thinking of all the things he's going to have to trade for to get back on his feet here. What's one more thing?
But thoughts of planning for the future in this place make his expression darken up again. ]
You still stayin' in the woods?
no subject
Downstairs, with Felipe.
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No kiddin'? Thought it was more complicated than that between you two.
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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. ]
no subject
And that comment about weakness? Lydia, up and down. It's enough to put a slight, knowing smile on his face. ]
You like him.
[ The smirk can be heard in the statement. ]
You're allowed to, y'know. If he really ain't such an asshole. He did kill me for you, an' all.
[ Somehow he's able to say it without the stab of guilt cutting him in half. ]
no subject
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. ]
no subject
He doesn't rush her, he works in the silence as well as she does. ]
Okay, well. I'll punch him for ya.
[ He gets how that would make a person feel like they were being yanked around. He still doesn't understand the details of the problems and he'll never forget finding his camp deserted, but Felipe just seems harmless to Daryl, even now. Even after everything. ]
I think he does care about you. 'm pretty sure he's just the stupid one.
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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. ]
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But there it is. It makes him laugh too. ]
Alright.
[ If she wants to catch some sleep he isn't going to doze, but when Mavis gets comfortable Daryl pulls his legs up and lays out on his back. The ceiling is the safest place to look before he lets his eyes close. A rest won't kill him. ]
But he steals you again, an' he's gettin' punched.
no subject
[ 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. ]