#1x02 Out of the Past

[brinleyparke]

Semi-Formal Outfit Inspired by Mick St. John

Inspired by Mick's semi-formal outfit in 1x02 "Out of the Past". The shoes are Jimmy Choo, and the purse is Michael Kors. The jewelry is vintage white gold.

[brinleyparke]

Same about the whole Mick calling himself a monster thing. He does it in eps 1 and 3, too.

I love Mick 70s-80s style, too. I like his how he dressed in present-day (present at the time it was filmed), too:

I also wish we had more Bobby scenes.

I had the same thought about the 25 year old bottle.

I never noticed the lemons and apples, or at least I never acknowledged them. But he does have a coffee maker and coffee because he makes some for Beth and Josh. I also assumed it was for clients.

Lee Jay is the worst.

I love Josef's casual style, too. It's not a far cry from Mick's casual style. (See gifs above).

Now that I think about it, it is pretty funny that Beth barely knows Mick but trusts him anyway and is willing to risk everything for him.

I also assumed he robbed a blood bank. Or he maybe he had emergency packs in his car or something.

I have a headcanon that he called Josef after Beth presumably runs off after finding out he's a vampire.

Mick in that final scene made my heart physically hurt. The way he is hunched over himself and staggering out of the elevator shows the agony that he must be in. The scene made me hurt not just because of his obvious physical pain but also because of the shame in his body language and his voice when Beth came into the room. Alex's acting here is 💯 Oscar worthy.

I love Josef's protectiveness and tough love in this episode.

There is a goof in the scene where Lee Jay shoots Mick. We see Mick get shot in the front of one shoulder, but when he turns and falls onto his front, the holes are on the opposite shoulder.

Moonlight rewatch for millionth time

Episode 2 random thoughts and feelings I had while rewatching again: cause I’m bored and have nothing else to do or watch. And I love this show

Mick: monsters don’t get happy ever after. Me: Stop saying you’re a monster! Stop it now

I like Mick’s early 80’s look, it had a 1970ish vibe to it

I know Mick probably panicked but he should have just snapped Lee Jays neck before running off

I like how Beth’s like talk about my feelings? No I’d rather get to work bye lol same girl

I think I’ve said it before but I think Beth purposely picked out a 25 year old single malt to maybe catch Mick in a lie or maybe get some sort of reaction from him

I wish we got more Bobby scenes

My head canon is that Logan and Mick met over World or Warcraft and Mick beat Logan who then threatened Mick (think end game with Thor) and Mick was like oh okay I’m so scared then Logan hacked him and went to his place and was like oh shit my bad uh friends? When he realized Mick was also a vampire

I love him but Mick really needs to think things through before he acts

Ilene deserved better I’m glad she gets justice in the end

Lee Jay in fact did not understand

Mick says vampires don’t have a club house that they hang out at and yet we have this episode where we have vampires at a club that has freshies then several episodes later another club where they all play pool. So what’s the difference?

I never noticed this before but Mick had random lemons in his fridge

There’s like four or five of them in there. It’s most likely for clients that come over but he also has green apples in there too.

Lee Jay is the worst

I like Josef’s casual style in the way that something about it still feels very expensive and true to Josef’s personality

I like how Beth is a ride or die when it comes to Mick. She’s only known him a week but she’s already willing to break the law and go against her boyfriend and friend to help prove his innocence

I wonder what happened to Julia after this episode, I’m sure she went to therapy for everything that happened but it’s just strange we never see her again especially when Josh died

Is it bad that when Mick is running and jumping on the rooftop that StarWars bad lip reading of Yoda singing “now run jump” etc etc was playing in my head? Lol

Where did Mick get that blood packet from and why didn’t he get help for the silver buckshots in his body? Did he just rob a blood bank ? Because I highly doubt Guillermo would let his friend go off on his own in such a vulnerable situation

I like how they didn’t drag out the vampire secret for very long. Sometimes I feel like when writers and directors drag things out like that for too long it becomes a bit stale once things are actually revealed

[becoach-a]

actually wait i'm not sure where beard lives in relation to ted, and i have no idea where the pub is in relation to ted

[spaceprincessleia]

Skeleton Crew 1x02 | Way, Way Out Past the Barrier

[waltricia]

3x03 — Forces of Nature

“Call Me Simon” has been my favorite piece of scoring from the show. I’ve listened to it on repeat sooooo many times, particularly during the past few months. It plays in 1x02 while Simon watches Daphne dance with other men. As Bridgerton scoring goes, I think this piece sticks out. There’s something very mystical and haunting about it. There are elements of it that sound like a clock, tick-tocking and then striking midnight. And I think that makes sense for that season 1 episode because it’s Simon’s flashback episode, and that scene leads into the final flashback.

Although the thought crossed my mind that this song could possibly be brought back, I was really not expecting it to. So when it came up for this Polin scene, I bounced around my apartment for ten minutes.

And it fits so well, especially considering the clock aspect because time is beginning to run out for Colin.

Not only was it brought back, and not only does it fit for the scene, it was mixed beautifully. During the close-up shots of Pen’s lips and Colin’s eyes, my favorite sound effect, the heartbeat, is layered onto the scoring. Those sounds bring us in closer to the moment. And when Debling takes Pen’s hand, the song goes hollow and spins out in a way that makes my blood run cold and gives me full-body shivers.

And then it’s followed by the Happier Than Ever cover- another haunting song that I think pairs perfectly with it.

10/10. Brilliant.

[raayllum]

The way as soon as Callum brings up their separation for the first time since... ever, honestly, to her, Rayla apologizes for the first thing she can think of that also feels safe. She can't Apologize for leaving because that's too loaded, and she was trying to protect him, but... A little callback to "You know you can't sneak up on me?" (1x02) as well.

And then the very next thing out of his mouth, which again is very neutral overall, gets another apology. "I know my leaving hurt you" / "I know, I'm sorry". She clearly would've apologized for every word that came out of his mouth no matter how minor or heartfelt. But Callum's decided that what's past is past, and that Rayla - realistically - was always going to leave, but what they can do is move forward together now that she's always going to do everything in her power to come back (and not leave again, either).

So that's exactly what they're going to do.

With plenty of heart eyes of course

[amuseoffyre]

Just had a little epiphany about why Stede reacted so intensely the way he did on Calypso's birthday night.

We know from his past experience that he's been deeply unhappy for a long, long time. He has a habit of removing himself from a situation when he's upset/distressed, so he can hide away alone rather than face the scorn of others, which is cemented by the fact he was emotionally abused by his father for showing negative/'weak' emotions and bullied by the Badmintons for crying.

Mary said herself that she thought she had heard him crying sometimes when he was alone at night. Specifically it was in the past tense - she'd heard him and only approached him about it later.

Alone is the key part here.

He's always been on his own. He's never had people really show concern or check in with him when he was having a hard time. More often than not, they would laugh or belittle him for it, so he's become used to squashing down the emotions and taking them somewhere to hunker down and let himself have his grief and distress in isolation: after Jack upsets him, when Ed's shaved in the academy, after they escape from Zheng.

The crew had to help out in 1x01 but even then it was out of necessity and obligation. The closest we really came to anyone intervening before Ed was in 1x02 when he has a complete breakdown in front of everyone, so they don't have a choice but to stop and Olu explains what happened to the chief.

The only time someone actively comes looking for him when he was upset is at the academy. Ed finds him on the beach and says, relieved, "there you are" and we know how that scene ended.

No wonder Stede reacts the way he does at Calypso's Birthday - the scenes really do run parallel from start to finish:

Stede is distressed and runs. Ed watches him go, hesitates, then goes after him. Stede marinades in guilt/grief and seems surprised when Ed shows up. Ed reassures him and offers his emotional support and assurance that he'll be all right. Kisses.

Stede is distressed but he's no longer alone. He can be upset and someone will care enough to come after him and comfort him and love him enough to make sure he's all right. No wonder he got caught up in it, knowing that someone cares and cherishes him despite everything. And no wonder Ed reciprocated, seeing such a tangible expression of passion from Stede.

[whumpetywhump]

Squid Game (2021-24)

Song Gi Hun

1x01:

- Cornered, face bruised from being beaten, punched in the face, nosebleed, threatened with a knife, pleading, punched in the face again, forced to use his own blood as ink

- Smacked repeatedly in the face, bruised cheek, flinching

- Gassed, passes out, kidnapped

1x02:

- Thrown out of a van in his underwear, blindfolded and tied up

- Gassed, passes out

1x03:

- Still unconscious from last episode, transported on a gurney, stripped and redressed

1x04:

- Attacked in the night, beaten up, rescued

- Shackled to a rope and forced to play tug of war

1x05:

- Still shackled, collapses from exhaustion, rope burns on his hands

- Sleep deprived, suffering PTSD flashbacks, discloses his traumatic past

1x06:

- Guilt-stricken, fighting tears, breaks down, sobbing, comforted

1x07:

- Cut across the face and arm by flying glass shards

1x08:

- Still cut up from last episode

- Grieving, crying, loses control and attacks someone, restrained, pinned to the ground

1x09:

- Beaten up in a fistfight, choked, stabbed in the thigh and gut, collapses, screaming in pain, kicked in the face, stabbed through the hand, pulls the knife out himself, limping

- Grieving, sobbing, screaming

- Tied up, blindfolded, gassed, passes out, dumped on the street in the rain, later seen with a bruised face and bandaged hand

- Severely depressed, drinking excessively

2x01:

- Cuts a tracker out of his ear, bleeding, reveals the scar on his abdomen from last season

- Nightmare, wakes in a panic

- Playing Russian Roulette, repeatedly holding a gun to his head and pulling the trigger

2x02:

- Has one of his teeth extracted, grunting in pain

- Gassed, passes out, kidnapped

2x03:

- Wakes up in the games after last episode

2x04:

- Nightmare, twitching in his sleep, wakes in a panic

2x07:

- Shot in the arm, bleeding

- Witnesses his friend's death, grieving, screaming, restrained, pinned to the ground

Hwang Jun Ho

1x08:

- Shot in the shoulder by his brother, falls from a cliff into the sea

2x01:

- Wakes up in hospital after last season

- Looking at the scar on his shoulder

2x02:

- Hit over the head, knocked out, handcuffed to a pipe

Cho Sang Woo

1x01:

- Seen on video being repeatedly smacked in the face

1x02:

- Attempts suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, indirectly rescued

- Gassed, passes out

1x03:

- Still unconscious from last episode, transported on a gurney

1x04:

- Shackled to a rope and forced to play tug of war

1x05:

- Still shackled, collapses from exhaustion

1x06:

- Goes mad from desperation, crying, begging on his knees

1x07:

- Cut across the face by flying glass shards

1x08:

- Still bleeding from last episode

1x09:

- Has dirt thrown in his eyes, screaming in pain, momentarily blinded

- Slashed across the face and hand with a knife, crying out in pain, punched in the face, headbutted, bleeding from the mouth, beaten up in a fistfight, bitten on the ankle, screaming in pain, pinned to the ground and punched repeatedly

- Stabs himself in the throat, cradled, dies

Myung Gi

2x01:

- Smacked repeatedly in the face

2x04:

- Beaten up, face severely bruised

2x05:

- Face still bruised from last episode

2x06:

- Beaten up in a mass fistfight, pinned down by the throat, choked, blood in his teeth

2x07:

- Still bloodied and being choked from last episode, kills his attacker

TW: Contains themes of suicide, noncon and gore

[thegreatimpersonator]

Hi everyone! Here’s the newest addition to my Creator Shoutout Series (august 25- september 1)! I want to appreciate editors and their creations that i love from the past week. To track this series or look at previous shoutouts, please check out the tag on my blog *creatorshoutouts.

halsey: lonely is the muse graphic by @nsidereus

longlegs gifset by @celine-song

maisie peters: the band and i gifset by @antoniosvivaldi

chappell roan: hot to go gifset by @chappellnchill

longlegs gifset by @swrots

sabrina carpenter: short n sweet gifset by @james-beaufort

succession: shiv roy gifset by @jakeyp

samia: the baby gifset by @killherfreakout

yellowjackets: taissa turner gifset by @fadeintoyou1993

sabrina carpenter: taste music video gifset by @skainatblida

longlegs gifset by @uservillanelle

halsey: the great impersonator gifset by @illusionisle

yellowjackets: jackie taylor in 1x02 gifset by @sydneyadmu

bottoms: josie gifset by @buffysummcrs

succession gifset by @kvtnisseverdeen

paramore: you first graphic by @cellphonehippie

parks and recreation: the fight gifset by @bellamysgriffin

yellowjackets: natalie scatorccio gifset by @chappelroans

halsey: favorite lyrics gifset by @dieincalifornia

maxxxine gifset by @gettingscrazy

heartstopper anniversary gifset by @charliexspring

maisie peters: there it goes gifset by @entertainmentpdf

sabrina carpenter: taste graphic by @piecesintoplaces

paramore: hayley williams eras outfits gifset by @userparamore

yellowjackets: shauna and jackie gifset by @miwtual

daisy jones & the six: outfits gifset by @robbstakr

scream 1996 gifset by @ghost-face

yellowjackets: taissa turner gifset by @taiturner

[my-coven-is-claudia]

Daniel, Louis and their “strange alliance”

this quote from eric from a pre-season 2 interview has been rattling inside my brain for far too long so i want to break down a scene from season 1 that has gained some newly-found importance.

in 1x02 daniel and louis sit down to have dinner as louis recounts an experience of attending the opera with lestat and its bloody end. what’s most interesting about this sequence is less so to do with what happened at loustat’s opera date but more so this surprisingly touching moment between louis and daniel.

it starts off with louis mentioning how the dessert served for him and daniel is taken from a off-handed remark in daniel’s memoir.

this suggests A LOT. it seems to imply that louis has attentively read daniel’s memoir and likely has a genuine vested interest in daniel as a person outside of what he can do for him in relation to rejigging his jumbled memories. you can’t tell from this screenshot but he almost seems embarrassed that he went to such lengths with making sure to serve up this exact dessert that daniel mentioned. and the fact that it was an “offhanded remark” also drives me insane. he either read through daniel’s memoir and specifically noted down this mention about the dessert or realised that he wanted to share a meal with daniel and proceeded to scour his memoir in order to find mentions of food he likes. there is also the possibility that he asked one of his servants to read through the book again but we know for sure that louis read daniel’s memoir himself at some point. whatever the case louis went to the effort of making sure daniel would get to eat something familiar and that he most definitely liked. he did that to make daniel feel comfortable.

this is especially significant as louis chooses to eat this dessert alongside daniel, despite the fact that it tastes like “paste” to him. he is actively choosing to eat something that tastes like gruel to him essentially and for what?? to appear less monstrous? to comfort daniel? maybe show that he still has some humanity left in him. it’s important to mention that this is in the aftermath of daniel confronting louis about how human readers likely won’t be sympathetic to louis and lestat’s need for blood to survive. however, it doesn’t come across as a calculated move to appear more appeasing to potential readers. this seems wholly for daniel’s sake.

louis - for whatever reason - is intentionally presenting himself as approachable and human to daniel.

this is followed up by daniel seemingly picking up on louis’s offer for connection and opening up about the woman that’s on everyone’s mind currently: alice.

daniel details how he proposed to alice in paris in a cafe (which lines up with the story he tells in 2x02) and names the street that it was located on. louis recognises this and verbalises it.

this is yet another grasp for connection, of understanding, between louis and daniel. louis wants to show daniel that he’s genuinely interested in his story, in him as a person by showing that’s he actively listening to him.

now, what we’ve all been waiting for.

this moment is the whole reason why i want to tear this scene apart!! this is probably up there with daniel offering louis a break in 2x01 as one of the most sincere and vulnerable moments we’ve gotten from daniel, a typically cold and sarcastic character. whatever you think about the alice-armand parallels and who exactly he is truly talking about here, daniel is fondly speaking of someone now estranged from him. he remembers the little details about her, an insecurity that she was ashamed of that he completely adored! he loved her for who she was, imperfections and all.

and to top this all off daniel closes his laptop! he ends the session! he likely does this out of a mixture of embarrassment that he’s rambled about his ex-wife live on tape but also maybe a sign to louis that he’s taking this seriously. that he’s appreciative of him trying to meet him on his level. that this moment was real. by stripping away the symbol of the supposedly strictly professional nature of this reunion he may be signalling that this conversation is indeed important to him.

and the fact that daniel is able to even have this vulnerable moment with louis at all, reminiscing over his lost love (whilst louis is doing something very similar with lestat) is so intriguing! obviously louis and daniel are most definitely not strangers to one another but they aren’t best friends either. they haven’t seen each other in decades and for daniel especially this has been a very abrupt reunion. whether he likes it not, daniel likely relates on some level to louis’s complex feelings towards lestat, his lover. like louis, daniel may not miss his relationship with alice in relation to the toxic dynamic they shared (slight guess here but the revelation that she initially rejected his proposal suggests to me that their relationship was a bit rocky at least) but he most definitely misses her as a person and the memory of their time together.

finally, what closes off this scene is this… odd expression from louis. not entirely sure if i’m being too optimistic when i say that louis may be sympathising with daniel here but admittedly he does seem a little confused as well. but if this truly is meant to be a look of contempt i feel like it would’ve been more akin to louis’s more obviously disgusted reaction to the coven’s play in 2x02. instead, in this scene, i think louis simply did not expect daniel to so openly accept his offer of connection and is just stunned to hear this bristly old man reflect his own feelings so accurately. he’s finally found someone who understands his situation with lestat. someone who understands this dichotomy of longing and anguish all at the same time. obviously, their situations are not a 1:1 but this scene has always stood out to me as a parallel between daniel and louis’s previous relationships.

a key part about this whole daniel and louis form a “strange alliance” thing is that it seems to stem from the two men realising that they have a lot more in common than they initially believed. that’s why it’s “strange”: because it’s unexpected.

although in recent episodes they’re definitely at odds with each other, this scene combined with other sprinklings of subtle moments of connection suggest to me that daniel might become a genuine friend to louis. it is a strange friendship but they both want to get to the bottom of louis’s memories. no one else in dubai is able to tell louis how it really is and is able to actually push him to question the lies he’s been fed (and that he’s fed himself). intentionally or not, daniel is looking out for louis and is indirectly helping him to accept his past mistakes. maybe he sometimes pushes him too hard or says some stuff he probably shouldn’t but ultimately daniel is the catalyst for louis actually remembering the truth. without him louis would not have come as far as he as over the course of the series

[veryloudbrain]

walter + henry "masterpost" (canon)

season 1

1x01 they sit together at dinner(?). before wille grabs their attention, they seem deep in conversation and HENRY GLANCES AT WALTER’S LIPS (im delulu ..but not really). this is their first canon interaction. i cannot make this shit up. i’m losing my mind. they sit together in class. they stick close (walter is fucking leaning on henry) at the very first party (after wille’s initiation). they’re both drinking. walter is spotted without henry for like a literal millisecond (idk where his mans went). walter and henry hang with stella and felice (at least until felice runs off to throw up lol) when wille is like,, crowdsurfing (using that term loosely) walter is not with henry mans lost him where is he.. (probably throwing up somewhere idk)

1x02 simon sits between them at lunch.

they sit together in class (on monday? the party was friday.. i assume)

math tests are handed out. they sit close and show their grades to eachother. (comparing results maybe ?)

wille mentions they take private lessons.. together ? over the weekend ? bro i cant defend them. (not that i want to)

henry joins rowing practice. they’re wearing MATCHING SHIRTS. i cannot make this shit up.

they’re both attending rowing practice still when august.. kisses simon (LMAO)

they debatably sit together at the movie night. they’re social distancing for some reason but no one is between them. henry looks over at walter (i’m delulu, he was probably looking at august) after The Jumpscare

1x03 the week after the horror movie (exact day unknown) henry sits with wille in class, but walter is in the seat literally next to him just,, with a space lol

(same week) they work out on the SAME GODDAMN MAT in p.e (either that or their mats are placed so close they don’t show a space.. idk which is gayer tbh)

they stick together during the parents day, but sit in different rows in church (..for some reason?)

after church neither of them are spotted interacting with any adult or even eachother in the background. they went ~poof~

i think you see walter entering his dorm? but it could be a different background actor honestly i don't know

for breakfast the day after: henry mentions to walter that his dad recognized his surname.

“no, i know” “how long have you known?” “i know because my… my dad recognized your surname”

this convo confirms to me that they didn’t know eachother before hillerska.

note: the convo was very light-hearted and henry was smiling (this has lead to theories about their parents having dated in the past, i also heard that uno, walter's actor, confirmed this but i haven't seen this for myself so i'm not sure)

1x04 they sit together while watching erik’s funeral on TV the Society "meeting". henry is never technically explicitly shown to drink or take pills but he seems inebriated and picks up a pack of pills from the table so i'm gonna assume he did both (so much fanfic potential i'm clawing at the walls)

1x05 they’re not sitting together in class, both having 2 desks by themselves until wille joins henry. walter is in the seat directly behind him. (side note: henry is wearing the same goddamn sweater he was at the Society meeting. was it washed or does he just stink of booze in class ? LMAO)

plot explained why they aren’t sitting together !! walter was meant to do a presentation with alexander and therefore left the seat for him.

they sit together again in class. this would be the week after the class they didn’t.

henry attends another Society “emergency meeting” (alexander was caught with the drugs) (this isn't walty but idc)

henry looks stressed/conflicted after the 2nd Society emergency meeting, but walks out with wille. (probably hard for him cause he can tell something’s going on between wille and simon, but pinning it on alexander is also a shitty thing to do)

they(walty) stand together outside before the whole lucia thing starts.

walter is fiddling with something with his left hand. it doesn’t show up in the shot, but henry is right there on his left. (they were obviously having a thumb war /j)

they’re both talking with wille after the lucia thing, but they’re so caught up in their conversations they don’t even bat an eye when wille’s whole life falls apart (it's not funny but it's really fucking funny)

1x06 at breakfast sometime after the video got out. henry and walter are talking abt how wilmon sat together at the movie night and that they talked abt it after.

h “remember the movie night?” w “yeah” h “when they sat next to eachother” w “exactly!” h “we talked abt that” w “yeah we talked abt that!”

(as if they weren’t also sitting next to eachother)

in class sometime that week (tuesday or later) they sit separate in class again. walter is gossiping (or just talking tbh idk) with some other students while henry sits alone. wille sits next to henry and henry attempts small talk with wille to cut the tension) (walty are once again only separated by the aisle lol)

they sit together in church on christmas day (or eve ? i’m not sure honestly)

they also talk together (+vincent och nils) outside church after. henry quickly noticed wilmon hugging (gay noticing gay frfr)

[i need it to be known this was initially written by me right after season 2 came out and i rewatched everything]

[goodwhump-temp]

Jake Green Whump | Jericho (2006)

IM BACK. 1x01 Pilot - Emotional, car crash, leg injury, bleeding, limp, weak, ambulancia 1x02 Fallout - Climbing/leg pain cont., limp, shot at 1x03 Four Horsemen - Limp cont. 1x04 Walls of Jericho - Slight limp 1x05 Federal Response - Confronted by Eric, mysterious knowledge, begins to talk about past 1x06 9:02 - Mitch lore, angry, knocked unconscious, punched, thrown, held back 1x07 Long Live the Mayor - Jonah lore (🥵), manhandled 1x08 Rogue River - Shot at, flashbanged, held at gunpoint, Iraq lore, hospital invaded 1x09 Crossroads - Spaced out (beginning), shot at, suicidal 1x12 The Day Before - Flashback; Afghan/Iraq/Contractor lore, wanted, friend dying, 1x13 Black Jack - Voluntold LOL (04:50), shoved, gut-punched w/ stick, pain 1x14 Heart of Winter - Truck flipped, leg pinned, bleeding, pain, slowly freezing to death, hypothermia, tired x3, comforted, guilt, confesses PTSD, emotional pain (+dad bonding), crying 1x15 Semper Fidelis - Hypothermia recovery, limp, betrayed, confrontation, held at gunpoint, knocked unconscious 1x16 Winter's End - Limping 1x17 One Man's Terrorist - Held at gunpoint, hostage 1x18 A.K.A. - Pinned, held at gunpoint 1x19 Casus Belli - Angry, worried, arrested 1x20 One if by Land - Hostage, interrogated, knife put to throat, shot at/surrounded 1x22 Why We Fight - (Flashback; POS/family drama), shot at, sobbing x2

2x01 Reconstruction - Manhandled, angry 2x02 Condor - Tackled, scared, angry 2x03 Jennings & Rall - Aggravated, more Jake lore! 2x06 Sedition - Surrenders, manhandled, [tortured; restrained, isolated, sleep deprived, heat exhaustion, dehydrated], coughing, hallucinating, weak, jolted awake

[jellybeanium124]

garlic soup (goop) ranked by how awkward they're all going to be about this new relationship dynamic from least to most awkward:

archie. archie is the rare type of autistic who's socially oblivious yet aware in exactly the right amounts (with a heaping dose of unending good vibes and nonchalance) to always come off as charming and affable instead of awkward. even when she's saying things that should by all rights be awkward and weird it never feels awkward. I think awkward archie is a rare sight to behold. she flirts with jim and basically stumbles ass backwards into dating the Nicest Man In The Entire World and the Badass Pirate Queen. she's ecstatic. she's thrilled. she's having a great time. she is not catching that this situation could be awkward.

jim. jim is dtf. they're best friends with olu and they clearly really like archie and flirts a little with zheng. jim was probably playing the intermediary role already, helping olu and archie get to know each other better, so adding zheng to the mix is easy peasy lemon squeezy. and jim doesn't mind a bit of awkwardness. did they handle visiting their nana in the best way? perhaps not, but while the awkwardness bothered them a little, they weren't that awkward.

olu. olu, bless his heart, can absolutely get awkward when romance is involved. let me point you to 1x02 and how he responds to the older man suggesting he's in love. olu absolutely has an awkward streak in him that comes out when relationships are involved. olu knows zheng has a very different personality from jim and archie. archie has never repressed a single thing in her life, and while jim can be repressed and secretive, they've opened up quite a bit. zheng is still repressed and archie and jim's loud and open approach to relationships could freak her out for many reasons (she doesn't have control of the situation, feelings are embarrassing), so he's going to be stressing a little at the beginning before everything's settled yet. he's going to be the one reminding the three of them about a little tool called "communication."

zheng. I love zheng with my whole heart and I love how awkward she also gets when it comes to her own feelings. I love how olu turns her into a teenage girl, almost. she's spent her entire life repressing her own emotions to come off as a badass, so they kinda didn't get a chance to develop past her teenage years, most likely. she's never had one good partner, let alone three, and it's absolutely going to be overwhelming. she's absolutely going to be freezing up and fumbling and being awkward until things settle.

[bloatedandalone04]

It’s Not Love

➪the one where you’re ‘with’ shane but fall in love with rick. (requested)

Warnings: the walking dead themed topics, near death, blood, death, descriptions of blood, descriptions of death, Merle (enough said), angst, unrequited love (twice, ouch), self deprecating thoughts, this takes place in 1x02 and 1x03 {I wrote this within 2 days, which is super quick for me, sorry if it’s not the best <3}

Word Count: 5.5k | Part 2

If you were to ask your past self, where do you see yourself in five years?

  This definitely wouldn’t have been your answer. 

  Trying to survive the ending of the world, is the only reasonable answer to that question, as bizarre as that sounds. 

  A month ago, you were ready to go back to being a full time nurse, but that all went to hell, literally, as the dead were seeming to be walking the earth. It was a movie you’ve seen countless times, but that still didn’t prepare you for the post-apocalyptic world you were currently living in. What could?

  You were off work for about half a year, due to your mothers illness that ultimately ended in her death, and were counting down the days until you were able to return to your beloved job as a nurse. The distraction was needed badly, but the universe had other plans.

  A few days before your scheduled return, you received a phone call from your close friend and coworker. She told you to come over and be quick about it, but you weren’t quick enough. When you pushed open the blood splattered door to her house, you saw something you’ve never seen outside an operating room. Blood, body parts and guts were strewn all over the living room, your friends lifeless eyes staring coldly back at you as your eyes blew wide in fear and horror. The person-like being that made a meal out of her slowly stood up, it’s attention fully on you now. 

  You turned and tripped over the coffee table, your head harshly smacking off the armrest of the couch as you fell to the floor. Your arms caught your body and you tried to stand up, but the hand on your leg kept you on the carpet covered ground. Screams flooded through your mouth as the thing crawled on top of you, its strength a bit surprising as its body was frail and decomposing. 

  Your head turned as its teeth came snapping towards you, the destination being your neck. Before it could take a bite out of you, its head was blown open, blood splattering on you as well as the already blood covered wall.

  A hand clamps down on your shoulder and easily pulls you to your feet. Standing before you was a man, an attractive one at that. His other hand was on his gun that was holstered to his belt, an expressionless look on his face. “Are you okay?” He asked and you couldn’t seem to form any words. You looked to your right, your eyes tearing up at the sight of your dead friend. 

  Trembling, all you could let out were quiet whimpers. 

That didn’t seem to sit well with the stranger as his grip tightened on his gun and his hand held a strong hold on your shoulder. “Use your words,” he muttered, though you could still hear him quite clearly. “Are you okay?”

  The words were more spaced out, and as his gun was about to be brought up, your mouth released a quick sob. “What’s going on?”

  It was hardly audible, and the man wasn’t expecting you to ask that as his brows furrowed and he stepped away. He looked back and it was then that you realised he wasn’t alone. In the doorway stood a woman and a boy, who you could only assume is her child. He looked no older than ten, and the way the woman held his body behind hers showed how protective she was of him. 

  The three eyed you cautiously as the man released his grip on his gun. “I need you to listen to me very carefully,” he said, his voice low and steady, his calmness making your frantic panting look crazy. Keeping one hand on your shoulder, he pointed to the side without looking over, his brown eyes continuing to stare into yours. “Did it bite you?”

  You were beyond confused at this point, and not to mention in shock. “What?” 

  The man was patient, surprising you as his cold exterior was anything but nice. “Did it bite you? Are you hurt?” 

  Looking over at the thing, you felt sick. You shake your head, swallowing the bile. “No,” you answer, learning your lesson from before and speaking when you were asked a question. “What is going on?”

  He glanced behind him again, the two adults talking with their eyes. “Do you know what’s been happening at all?” He asked, much softer this time.

  “No,” you say quickly. “I’ve noticed that it’s been quiet lately, and the streets are less busy than usual….I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

  He nodded, taking his hand off your shoulder and stepping away from you. “Do you have anywhere to go? Family? Friends?”

  “No,” you look over at your friend again, your heart breaking at the state of her. “She was all I had.” You’re sure you look as broken as you sound. 

  The man and woman whisper back and forth for a few seconds before he turns back to you. “You can come with us,” he offers, smiling at you for a second. “If you have no one else.”

  You look back at the kid and feel your heart fall at his strong expression, masking the scared look in his eyes. “Is it safe?”

  “I’ll look out for you,” the man said, holding his hand out to you. “My name is Shane.”

  And look out for you he did. 

  Shane was like your personal protector. He kept a close eye on you every time you went out for supplies, stayed up with you when it was your turn on watch, and has even given you small gifts like your beloved necklace you were currently wearing. 

  He was also who you went to when you needed to relieve stress or frustration, and you were who he went to. 

  However, recently, you found yourself needing him less and less. He was usually the one to start the intimate moments with you, while you just went along with it. Shane was a good guy, at least he was to you, but there was someone else. 

  Lori. 

  She was the woman who stood with her son, behind Shane, the day you met him. The day he saved your life. 

  Maybe that was why you felt like you owed him, maybe it wasn’t.

  Either way, you were tired of competing with Lori. He was seeing both of you, and that was why he has yet to make things official with you. Both you and Lori were his ‘secrets’, though she seemed to have no problem with it. 

  You wished you could say the same. 

  You were collecting sticks with Carl when Shane pulled you away from the group and into woods beside where the camp was set up. You hid your sigh as you had a sneaking suspicion as to where this was going. 

  When you were a good distance away, you stopped and leaned against a tree, your hands pressed to Shane’s chest while his fingers played with your necklace. “What’s the matter?” You ask when he didn’t move in to kiss you or try to slip your shirt off.

  “Just thinkin’,”

  “About your friend?” Before all of this, Shane had a best friend. You didn’t know his name, just that they were fellow officers and partners and saw each other pretty much everyday. His friend was shot just over a month ago, and didn’t make it when the walkers came. Shane said he looked for him, and found him dead in the hospital. 

  Every now and then, he talks to you about him, something you’ve noticed he doesn’t do with Lori. “Yeah,”

  “You miss him?” You run your hands up and down his chest, trying to ease his nerves.

  He sighed and nodded. “Yeah,”

  “I’m sorry,” you say, taking his hand in yours and kissing the back of it. “I wish I could’ve met him. He sounded like a really good guy.”

  “The best,” Shane mumbled, shaking his head afterwards.

  You choose your next words carefully, knowing that Shane can easily take them the wrong way. “Do you think that maybe he’s still out there? That you saw someone else in the hospital and mistook them for him?”

  Shane shook his head, again, his hand gripping your waist tightly. “I’m sure it was him. I know it,” he said, his voice low. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that some of the group is heading to Atlanta tomorrow.”

  “Atlanta?” Your ears perk up at that. “Really?”

  “Yeah, we need to get more supplies,”

  “Are you going?”

  “No,” he answered. “I’m gonna stay back, keep an eye on things.”

  “Of course you are,” you tease, trailing your free hand up to grip the back of his neck. “You should take a break from being everyone’s hero.”

  “I will when I stop breathin’,” you roll your eyes at that. “You should go.”

  You furrow your brows, standing up straighter. “You think I should go?”

  “Why not,” he shrugged, this time pressing a kiss to the back of your hand. “Glenn’s going, Andrea’s going. You should go, too. Get a change of scenery.”

  That surprised you. He wanted you to go without him, when he usually kept you glued to his side whenever you left for town. You couldn’t count the number of times he refused to let you go alone or with another member of the group without him being there with you.

  Maybe this will prove your worth to him.

  “Okay,” you nod before he could change his mind. “I’ll go, but just because you begged.”

  Shane scoffed. “I didn’t beg for nothin’,” he said, leaning down and closing the gap between the two of you. Like always, his lips on yours made you forget about your surroundings, something that could be quite lethal in this new world, and you wrap your arms around his neck as he easily picks you up.

  You’re sure your back is scratched from the tree by the time you make your way back to the group a little while later. Shane cuts off and heads over to Lori and Carl, not giving you a second glance as he did so. 

  You shake off the feeling of being completely used and down right worthless as you walk off to find Glenn and go over the plan for the following day.

-

It wasn’t love with Shane, that much was obvious. He didn’t feel the same way about you that you did him, and you weren’t sure how much more you could take. It was hard being the girl on the side in the old world, but being the girl on the side in an apocalypse was down right humiliating. 

  You try to take your mind off Shane as you stare at your surroundings, attempting to enjoy the new scenery, like he said you should.

  Enough.

  When did you become so man crazy? After a bit more thought put into that one, you decide to ignore the question. 

  The group decided to take shelter in a store that lined one of the many streets in Atlanta. Glenn had split off and gone to the roof of another building when he heard the sound of the walkers getting excited about something. That was a while ago, and he still wasn’t back yet.

  Just when you nudged T-Dog in hopes he’d go with you to get him, the radio broke the silence. “I’m back. Got a guest, plus four geeks in the alley,”

  You let out a sigh of relief.

  It was only a few seconds later when Glenn and his guest came barreling into the room from the back door. Almost instantly, Andrea’s hand was on her gun, her other hand shoving the stranger into the boxes as she pointed it at him. “You son of a bitch, we ought to kill you,” she seethed.

  “Just chill out, Andrea,” Morales said as he threw off his protective gear. “Back off.”

  “Come on, ease up,” Jacqui joined in on defending the new guy.

  “Ease up? You’re kidding me, right?” Andrea asked, not giving up as she continued to point the gun at the man. “We’re dead because of this stupid asshole.”

  “Andrea,” Morales said sternly, walking up next to her while glancing at her would be victim. “I said back the hell off.”

  The man didn’t look scared, which was weird seeing as he had a gun pointed at his face. No, he just looked confused, and over the situation.

  When she still didn’t move, Morales shrugged. “Well, pull the trigger,”

  That seemed to have snapped her out of her own thoughts, and she pulled away from him, her eyes squinting as she held back tears. “We’re dead. All of us,” she shook her head. “Because of you.”

  “I don’t understand,” the man said, and it was then when you realised he sounded as attractive as he looked. You had a hard time taking your eyes off him, but Morales helped you out by grabbing him by the arm and leading him away.

  “Look,” he muttered while you and Glenn walked behind them, keeping up with their pace easily. “We came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it’s the O.K. Corral.”

  When you reached the front of the store, the man paused in front of the glass. “Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds,” T-Dog said as he walked past him.

  Andrea stood a few feet behind the new guy. “You just rang the dinner bell,”

  You all look at the front, the groans of walkers being muffled by the doors they were currently pushing up against. There were hundreds, unlike ten minutes ago when they didn’t even know you were in there. “Get the picture now?”

  The glass was cracking by the second, the piercing sound growing louder with every bang against it. When one of the walkers started banging a rock against the glass, you all stepped away, and your hand instinctively held onto Glenn’s arm. 

  “What the hell were you doing out there, anyway?” Andrea asked as she kept her eyes on the doors.

  “Trying to flag the helicopter,” the man huffed.

  “Helicopter?” T-Dog scoffed. “Man, that’s crap. Ain’t no damn helicopter.”

  “Did you hit your head out there?” You ask, making him look over at you for the first time. He stopped his uneasy swaying for a second as you made eye contact, his eyes looking from yours to the hand you had on Glenn’s arm.

  “You were chasing a hallucination,” Jacqui tried telling him, taking his attention away from you. “Imagining things, it happens.”

  “I saw it,” he said sternly. 

  You and Glenn shared a look and you were about to ask him if he also saw a helicopter when Morales spoke up again. “Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B,” he said. “Can you contact the others?”

  “Others?” The guest asked, looking away from the glass again to look at Morales. “The refugee center?”

  “Yeah, the refugee center,” Jacqui said sarcastically. “They’ve got biscuits waiting in the oven for us.”

  “Hey,” you said, making her look over at you. You gave her a look, seeming to be the only one, other than Glenn, who realised that this guy really didn’t know much about what was going on in the world.

  When you looked back over at him, your shoulders tensed up when you saw that he was already looking at you. “Got no signal, maybe the roof,” T-Dog suggested, making you break eye contact with the handsome stranger. 

  Just as he said that, a gun shot was heard from the roof. “Oh, no,” Andrea sighed, frustration lacing her voice. “Is that Dixon?”

  At the mention of the last name, you all groaned and began making your way to the stairs. “What is that maniac doing?” Morales seethed, pushing past Glenn as he stormed towards the front of the group. 

  “I knew we shouldn’t have let him come with us,” you muttered, pulling away from Glenn and running after Andrea. 

  “Come on,” Glenn said to his guest, waving him towards the stairs. “Let’s go.”

  Morales pushed the door open and ran out onto the roof, shouting, “Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!” 

  Merle laughed from his stance near the edge of the roof, firing off another shot. 

  “Oh, Jeez,” Andrea sighed again.

  “Are you out of your friggin mind?” You ask angrily, feeling Glenn’s hand grab your shoulder as he pulls you away from the madman.

  “Hey,” Dixon said. “Y’all be more polite to a man with a gun, huh?” 

  He jumped down from the platform, landing on his feet as he began walking towards the group. 

  “Only common sense,”

  “Man, you wasting bullets we ain’t even got!” T-Dog was fuming as he jumped down the stairs, coming face to face with Merle. “And you’re bringing even more of them down on our ass, man, just chill!”

  “Hey! Bad enough I’ve got this taco-bender on my ass all day, now I gotta take orders from you?” His words made you close your eyes as you tried to calm yourself down. Man, you really couldn’t stand this guy. “I don’t think so, bro. That’ll be the day.”

  “‘That’ll be the day’? You got something you want to tell me?”

   “Hey, T-Dog, man, just leave it,” Morales tried deescalating the growing argument, but to no avail. “It ain’t worth it.”

  “No,” T-Dog said, holding his hand up to his friend while he faced Merle.

  “Merle,” Morales tried again. “Just relax, okay? We’ve got enough trouble.”

  Off to the side, you stood behind Glenn, a worried look on your face that matched his. “This is bad,” your quiet voice caught the attention of the stranger, his eyes flickering between you and your best friend.

  Glenn shook his head at the man, seeming to know that he wanted to step in and involve himself in the fight that was about to break out. 

  “You want to know the day?” Merle asked, being met with a ‘yeah’ from T-Dog. “I’ll tell you the day, Mr. Yo. It’s the day I take orders from a-”

  Your eyes widened at the slur, as did Glenn’s, and before you knew it, T-Dog was swinging at the taller man, who easily dodged it and instead hit him with his gun. “Hey, come on, that’s enough,” the stranger said, ignoring Glenn’s silent pleas as he lunged forward. 

  The second he got closer to Dixon, he was met with his fist that sent him tumbling backwards, close to where you and Glenn were standing once again. The fight grew bigger, Merle very clearly being the one with the upper hand, and you crouched down to help the man up as Glenn took off towards Merle. 

  T-Dog’s face hit the metal pole and he fell to the ground. “Stop it, Dixon! Get off him!” Andrea yelled. “Dixon, you’re going to hurt him!” 

  You tune out the sounds of punching and kicking as you pull the man up to a kneeling position. His hand went to his face, making you instantly look for any blood, your inner nurse coming out. When you concluded that there was none, you helped him to his feet, watching as Dixon delivered a quick punch to Morales’ gut.

  In a second, Merle had his gun out and pointed directly at T-Dog’s face, making your heart drop as you ran up to them, dodging the stranger’s outstretched arm as he tried to keep you next to him and away from the man with the weapon. “Dixon, don’t!”

  “No no no, please,” Andrea nearly whimpered as she stood next to Jacqui. 

  Everyone was panting in fear and adrenaline as Merle angrily spit on T-Dog’s chest. “Yeah. Alright!” He shouted in his hoarse voice as he stood up, the gun still pointed downwards. “We’re gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh?”

  He looked at the group, making Glenn grip your arm when Merle’s eyes landed on you.

  “Talk about who’s in charge. I vote me. Anybody else?”

  You wrap your arm around Morales as Glenn, Andrea and Jacqui pull T-Dog away from the aggressive man. 

  “Huh? Democracy time, y’all,” Dixon continued. “Show of hands, huh? All in favor? Huh? Come on, let’s see ‘em.”

  From beside you, Morales hesitantly raised his hand, his other one resting on yours that was pressed to his lower stomach. “Oh, come on,” Andrea begged. 

  “All in favor?” Merle asked again, making Jacqui and Glenn raise their hands as well, Jacqui’s middle finger sticking up. “Yeah. That’s good.” He said once Andrea and you raised your hands. 

  You didn’t want to, but what else was there to do? Merle was crazy, and he had been since the day you met him.

  “Now, that means I’m the boss, right? Anybody else? Hm? Anybody?”

  It seemed as though Merle forgot there was a new guy in the group as he got his unexpected answer to his endless questions. “Yeah,” and just like that, the man knocked Merle to the ground with his own gun. He immediately got to work, handcuffing the winded man to the nearest pole, tugged him upwards and making him sit against it. 

  “Who the hell are you, man?!”

  “Officer friendly,” the man muttered and you worried yourself when you felt your body get turned on by his words. 

  Not the time, but also, you know, the time.

  “Look here, Merle. Things are different now,” the man said, taking the gun that was a few feet away and emptying it. He threw the slur back in his face, making Merle squint his eyes in anger. “There are no dumb as shit, inbred white-trash fools, either. Only dark meat and white meat. There’s us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart.”

  “Screw you, man,” Merle muttered, not seeming to realise the seriousness of the situation. 

  The man’s eyes met yours again, and you tried to hide the heat that rushed to your face by pressing your cheek to Morales’ shoulder. “I can see you make a habit of missing the point,”

  “Yeah? Well, screw you twice,”

  In a second, Merle’s gun was pressed to the side of his head. “You ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense,”

  Oh, yeah, this man was too attractive to put into words. 

  You tried to hide your grin as you helped Morales steady himself, your hand leaving his lower abdomen.

  “You wouldn’t. You’re a cop,”

  “All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and his son,” he said slowly. “And anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I’ll give you a moment to think about that.”

  Before he stood up, the man patted down Merle, finding his powder in his pocket. 

  He flicked his nose as he stood up. “You got some on your nose, there,”

  “What are you gonna do? Arrest me?” Merle laughed. The smirk was wiped clean off his face when the police officer threw the container off the side of the roof. “Hey! What are you doing, man?! That’s my stuff!”

-

A little while later, Glenn assigned you and Jacqui to keep watch over the entrance to the basement, Andrea and the guest to watch over the store, while he and Morales scoped out the sewer. 

  You were sitting against the wall, your legs stretched out in front of you with your right one crossed over your left. “What’s on your mind, sweetheart?” Jacqui asked after sitting in silence for about ten minutes. 

  “Nothing, really,” you mumbled, glancing into the hole beside you.

  “You sure about that? Don’t act I didn’t see the way you were eyeing officer friendly up on that roof,” she teased from her seated position across from you.

  You shake your head, trying to wipe the smile from your lips. “He’s got a wife,” was all you said.

  “So be his friend,” she offered. “Better yet, be his ally.”

  “I was a nurse,” you mumble, not wanting to go into too much detail about your past life. “I have no training in fighting or….protecting people.. I can’t even protect myself.”

  “That’s not true,” she bumped your foot with hers. “I’ve seen you out there. Sure, you could be a bit quicker, but we all can learn from each other. Learn from him. Borrow his strength. Lord knows we all can use some of it. We just met him and he’s already shown us that he’s got a better handle on things than most of us do.”

  You nod, looking up at her. “I don’t even know his name,”

  “Well, don’t let that stop you,” she teased again, making you laugh. “You deserve someone that will cherish you, honey. One day, you’ll find that person.”

  Your smile faltered at her words, and you realised that you had wasted a lot of your time with Shane, who hid you from the others, who didn’t cherish you like you deserved. Finally, you realised it was time to move on. He saved your life, and you would be forever grateful for that, but you spent the last month owing him. It was time to let go.

  Later, Glenn, Morales, Jacqui and yourself were met with the sound of glass breaking as you met back up with Andrea and the officer. The first set of doors to the building had shattered, leaving only one barrier between you and the undead. “What did you find down there?” The man asked.

  “Not a way out,” Morales answered. 

  “We need to find a way,” Andrea said.

  “And soon,” Jacqui added, her hand grabbing yours as you stood next to her. 

  “We should get back up to the roof,” you suggest. “Check on things up there.”

  The group agreed and that’s where you are now, trying to figure out a way out of the store. You were standing a few feet away, down to do anything they came up with to escape, and admired the view you got from this high up.

  If it weren’t for the walkers and their grunts and groans, this place would actually be pretty peaceful. It was a few minutes later when the stranger you were quickly becoming fond of broke away from the group and stood next to you, a mere five inches between the two of you. “Have you thought of something yet?”

  “Gettin’ there,” he answered, glancing between you and the crowded streets below. “Listen, I don’t mean to get all nosey, but I noticed how quick you were in aiding me when that piece of shit Merle took a swing at me. I wanted to say thank you.”

  His words caught you off guard and you looked over at him, shrugging slightly. “It’s no big deal. It’s kinda in my nature,”

  “What is?”

  “Helping people,” you say, looking up at the tall buildings that made up the city. “I was a nurse before all this.”

  This time your words surprised him. “You seem very young to be a nurse,”

  You laughed. “I’m twenty six. If I’m right, within the next few days I’ll be twenty seven,” you trail off. “I’ve kinda lost track of the days since, you know.”

  “Well, happy birthday, then,”

  “Thank you,” you grin up at him, your heart skipping a beat when he matches your smile. “I also wanted to say thank you for standing up to Merle. A lot of us have been waiting for the day he got what was coming to him and met his match. So thank you.”

  The police officer shrugged, taking his eyes off you to glance back at the man himself, still cuffed to the pole. “I’ve dealt with men like Merle for most of my career. It’s no problem,”

  “Yeah,” you nod. “I guess you would’ve, huh?”

  You stand in silence for a few seconds before you look over at him again.

  “You know, we just had a whole conversation and I still don’t know your name,”

  That made him laugh, his head tilting upwards. “Rick Grimes,”

  “Y/n,” you smile at him again.

  He smiles back before Glenn calls the two of you back over to the rest of the group.

-

You considered it a miracle when you heard the sound of the box truck through the store’s cargo doors. Jacqui grabbed a hold of your hand and pulled you with her to the truck. “Y/n, get up front with Rick, the rest of us will hold them off while he gets us out of here,” Morales said as he jumped into the open back of the truck. 

  Opening the passenger side door, you take Rick’s outstretched hand and allow him to pull you up and beside him. It took one glance in the back for you to quickly ask, “Where’s Glenn?” Rick glanced at you before he took off, making your eyes widen in dread.

  As soon as you were about to ask again, the sound of a car alarm going off, followed by the screeching tires of a red Dodge Challenger was heard and you quickly looked in the mirror. You sighed out in relief, slumping back against the seat as the car quickly passed the truck. 

  Ten minutes into the drive, while the group in the back talked about how they left Merle and how pissed Daryl was going to be, you stared forward, your eyes on the red car as you absentmindedly played with your necklace. 

  Rick glanced over at you before looking back at the road. “That’s a pretty necklace,”

  You hummed, looking at him then at the charm. “Oh, yeah,” you trailed off. “My friend gave it to me.”

  Rick shook his head, a smile playing on his lips as he looked in the rearview mirror and at the group. “Is this friend’s name Glenn?”

  Your eyes widened at that and you quickly looked over at him. “Oh, no,” you say, but notice how he didn’t look convinced in the slightest. “Glenn has sorta become my best friend. He looks out for me, I look out for him. We’ve bonded during all this.”

  Rick nodded, seeming to believe your words. 

  “We’re just friends,” you say, mentally kicking yourself at how unbelievably single you just made yourself sound. “The guy who gave it to me, his name is Shane.”

  “I have a friend named Shane,” Rick says quietly. 

  Your brows furrow at that, your heart skipping a beat. There was no way that the man beside you was Shane’s friend, right? He told you he saw him in the hospital, dead. He wouldn’t have lied to you, right?

  You brushed it off as a coincidence just as Morales nudged Rick with his hand. “Turn right up here and go all the way,” 

  Within minutes, the familiar camp came into view. Glenn had beaten you home, though that was obvious from the start. The truck stopped, and while the others eagerly got out from the back, you stayed in the front, watching as Rick looked around. “It’s not much,” you say quietly. “But it’s home.”

  With that, you exit the truck and walk past the hugging sisters and towards the tents. You were barely a few feet past them when Shane made his way to you, wrapping his arms around your body. “You were gone so long,”

  “I’m sorry,” you mumbled, not being able to bring yourself to fully return the hug. “We got stuck and this man, Rick-” 

  Your words were cut off when the man himself got out of the truck, his eyes meeting the ones of Carl. It was then that you realized that the “coincidence” wasn’t a coincidence at all. Shane looked at him, as well, his eyes widening. 

  The tearful yell of the word “dad” was all that was heard before Carl was sprinting out of his mother’s arms and towards Rick. The scene brought tears to your eyes for two reasons, one; the fact that this man was lucky enough to find his son and wife in a world like this, and two; because it was true. Shane lied to you. For weeks. 

  Rick’s arms were around his son within seconds, the crying father falling to the ground for a moment before standing back up. In the midst of things, Shane’s hand slipped into yours, knowing that he had been caught in a lie, but not knowing how to face it. You couldn’t even bring yourself to look at him at this point. 

  Carl was carried back over to Lori, where the two adults shared a kiss before embracing their son. 

  Now you knew why he hid you from Lori and the others. Finally, it made sense. 

   “You lied,” you muttered as you backed away, pulling your hand from Shane’s. He tried calling out to you but you turned around, leaving him behind as you walked into the woods, the air drying the tears that formed in your eyes as you left the safety of the camp.  

[guardian-angle22]

Tag Game Tuesday: 911 Lone Star Fandom Edition

Thank you for the tags! @thisbuildinghasfeelings @rmd-writes & @goldenskykaysani

When did you first start watching Lone Star? Who or what introduced you to the show?

I first started watching LS around the 2nd or 3rd episode of season 1 after seeing some adorable gifs of Owen & TK floating around on my tumblr feed.

I wish I could find out who patient zero was that first brought them to my attention from my follow list, but I think it must've been someone from the Skam fandom? maybe?

Which season is your favorite?

Season 3, baby!! and ngl, I highly doubt anything will top it at this point just based off where the plots have gone since.

Who is your favorite character? (Bonus: If you answered TK or Carlos, who is your favorite besides them?)

I mean - y'all knew what the answer would be to this one, right? Obviously Paul is my favorite. I do also really love TK. I know I have a reputation for loving Paul because I get very animated about him LOL... but I would like to put TK in my pocket and keep him safe forever, thank you.

Top five episodes. Go!

3.13

2.09

3.08

2.08

3.04

If you could pick any character to be given a "begins" episode, who would it be and what would that episode look like?

Paul. One hundred percent, I need it from Paul. I know everyone and their brother is going to or has answered Carlos for this and that tracks for a tarlos based fandom... but my unpopular opinion is that we've gotten quite a bit of character backstory for him this past season compared to some others like Nancy, Paul, and Marj. I feel like Paul has been part of the core group since the beginning but hasn't seen the amount of meaty plots as some of the others have. He's due!

What is a scenario or storyline that you would like to see in season 5?

Okay, I have two ideas for this: - an episode in which some of the characters who rarely interact are somehow trapped together due to some kind of emergency/disaster/storm and must navigate their way out together while the rest of the team helps from the outside. There are a few groupings we could use for it, but I personally would have the potential pairings be one of the following (or all three at once??): Paul & Tommy... TK & Grace... Judd & Carlos. I feel like these 3 pairings are people we don't get to see interact one-on-one often (or at all) and it would be super fun! - a true HEAT WAVE. they very briefly had that heat thing happen in 4x01 but I want a whole episode about a temperature heat wave and how first responders have to deal with them. this is TEXAS, c'mon. Plus the theme of heat throughout the episode could pop up in various character's stories. Tarlos = sexy heat. One of the firefighters = heat in the form of pressure in their job like a promotion of some kind. etc.

What do you think is going on in this still?

I have absolutely no fucking clue 😂 So I will instead direct you to this wonderful little spec fic by @littlemissmarianna As much as I hate everything to do with the Gabriel plot and tbh am not excited to see its continuation... if they manage to pull something off like that fic, I might actually enjoy some of it!

We all know about the elusive 5x05 spicy scene that has been teased, so what is your prediction for how it could possibly top 1x02?

... soooooooo I must confess something here...

*whispers* I don't actually know all about the elusive 5.05 spicy scene. someone needs to fill me in. I have not been paying attention to spoilers & speculation as much this time around since last season's speculation went so terribly for me 🤭🤣

Where was the Tarlos honeymoon in your mind?

Something about Carlos "getting homesick after a weekend in Branson" just tickles me. and the sarcastic way TK talks about the idea of Carlos wanting to travel the world also just amuses me to no end...

so this paired with the way the wedding went down, I think TK wouldn't want to make Carlos travel very far. or leave his mother so soon. I think TK wants his husband to feel as safe and comfortable as possible and so they spend a weekend at a nice spa/resort near Austin. Some place like this: Miraval Austin and then spend the rest of their honeymoon week bundled up together at home.

Shoutout one of your favorite fan creations.

for fics, I'm gonna be a little lazy here and link some of my previous themed fic rec lists:

but truly there are some wonderful fics in those lists!!! For some fanart: - this one by @whatsintheboxmh is one of my faves. ankle grab my beloved. 🥺🥰 - this one of s5 TK by @fitzherbertssmolder is so adorable! - this one of BUTTERCUP! by @greentealycheejelly is absolutely precious. - this one of Paul & Marjan!! by @heartstringsduet is amazingggg. give me all the paul fanart - this one of Grace by @yorit1 is stunning.

I'm not sure who has already done this, but I'm gonna tag some mutuals that I don't think I've seen it from yet (no pressure though!!) @lemonlyman-dotcom @herefortarlos @tkstrandreyes @three-drink-amy @littlemissmarianna @mikibwrites @alrightbuckaroo

[raayllum]

Dark Magic, a Brief Dissection

There are four scenes in the series I think best embody the pitfalls of dark magic from an ideological standpoint, even if you don't touch on the fact it's just a malevolent magic system + the harm it does to the user. Two are in season two, and two are in season six.

The first is the infamous reservation from Sarai in 2x05 that dark magic is too ideologically easy, because it is always easier to dehumanize and to strip away the fact that someone or something might be a person than it is to recognize it. The "you keep calling it a monster" and "there's no shortcut" are things that other episodes echo as well (6x05, 1x02), highlighting key take aways. The biggest one, though, is the idea that

We see this directly happen with Viren even before the events of 2x05, as we see him go from necessary horror to necessary horror in order to save Soren. He coins Kpp'Ar to get the staff, yes, but also to preserve his status; doing so alters his appearance both literally and emotionally in the eyes of his wife; when she's frightened and denies him her tears, he takes them by force; and then when she leaves, he blames the son he saved. He thought dark magic would give more than it would take, and when confronted with the opposite that Harrow had also learned ("We may not pay now but we will pay the bloodprice eventually"), he couldn't handle its lesson of accountability, because it's usually easier to blame others rather than yourself.

Viren fell down that slope in quick succession, climbed the mountainous Storm Spire twice, and it took falling off that mountain for him to get his head back on straight, to realize that rather than having no choice, he was continually making bad, harmful choices. This likewise ties back into 1) using his wife as spell parts leading to the dissolution of their marriage, because being treated as a thing is not something you can come back from and 2) rejecting using Soren as spell parts, and instead using himself in S6. And also ties into what S6 makes plain for Claudia in terms of the mindset that dark magic encourages:

I don't know if there's much to say about this aspect that the screencap (and earlier paragraphs) don't already say on its own tbh. Dark magic "shattered" her family forever (6x06) and Claudia refuses to "let anything break" them apart further (3x09). She treats dark magic as a glue to hold things or people together, but in doing so treats everything around her as parts, including herself (her blood, hair, leg, and even her body taking on more animalistic forms through spell consumption). And that leads you to breaking things, including yourself, your relationships, even without necessarily realizing it. (Doesn't mean that it can't be put back together in some true form, though.)

But if dark magic is so bad, then why do it? I think Callum's arc answers this perfectly in terms of what it offers and why people (at their best and operating best they can under terrible circumstances) take it:

Dark magic offers unlimited power with the promise of control and desire, but this agency is an illusion. It took time for Callum to learn the truth and other characters (Viren, Claudia) didn't/don't know how tangibly true it is, but dark magic robs you of your agency by making you vulnerable to Aaravos. The Startouch elf didn't have to possess Claudia to make her do what he wanted, and doing so might've thrown a wrench in needing her to perform the quasar diamond spell with love if she wasn't on board with him as is. Viren, despite having no knowledge that Aaravos can possess him, is terrified of being used again (6x05) and mandates that saying no to Aaravos and dark magic is "the path of freedom" (as opposed to fate).

Callum of course gets this promise of power ripped out entirely from under him even after he rejects it (2x08) as he learns the full extent it lets Aaravos control him (4x04), and continues to engage with dark magic under duress even past that point (5x08). It's one of the ways arc 2 and him as a character recognizes false binaries and reconciles dualities: the choice isn't between "powerless human" or "powerful dark mage," but that you can become a powerless human by being a dark mage.

At the same time, 6x08 finally makes it truly, clearly explicit that dark magic can be used morally under extreme circumstances and through self-sacrificial methods (particularly for a character with a very complicated relationship towards sacrifice). This is doubly so considering that it required using the Staff of Ziard, which others have thought was extremely dangerous (Ibis, Kpp'Ar) and worth sacrificing for (Ibis killing Claudia, Kpp'Ar being willing to let Soren die), and it was still seen as the right thing to do, not only for Viren. Whether we'll see another instance of dark magic use in this way is unknown, but I could see perhaps Callum being allowed to have it in his back pocket (light and dark inside him and all that, and idk if they'd clean slate him again) as continued proof. If anyone can navigate the pitfalls appropriately (and same with primal magic), I think he's in the best position to do so.