#and hand. and then we can see the hunting knife in van's chest. she's obviously dead & has been for hours.

[rootsmachine]

i can picture the van was dead the whole time scene perfectly in my mind. yellowjackets season 2 writers i know you’ve “wrapped” and the season is actually “airing” but if you have a sudden need to kill off van palmer. please contact me i have some thoughts.

[clareguilty]

Coal Fires and Snowstorms

This was a request fic that was originally for the Overwatch cowboy but I changed to Arthur Morgan for... apparent reasons Arthur Morgan/F!Reader (reader also has big enby vibes) Rating: Mature | No Warnings Word Count: ~2,200

Arthur wakes with a wheeze, bolting upright and smacking his chest with his fist as he tries to pull in enough air.

He’s shirtless, but a woven blanket had been draped over him while he was unconscious. A ray of light cuts through a grimy window. The angle is harsh enough that it’s probably late in the evening.

The last thing Arthur can remember is the dark of the night and the clamoring of the law on his heels. So he’s been out for at least a day.

His lips are dry and cracked, and his muscles groan in protest with every movement. God, his head is pounding like he was hit by a damn train.

A door creaks open, and there’s a squeak of surprise. “Oh! You’re awake!”

Arthur blinks in the harsh sunlight that’s streaming into the small cabin. Whoever is there is bundled up in furs and a jacket with a bow over their shoulder. They’ve got two armfuls of game practically swallowing them.

“Who are you? Where am I?” He means for it to sound rough and demanding, but it’s more croaky and pathetic when the words pass his lips.

“I’m not really anybody, and this is my cabin up in Cumberland. The law chased you a long ways from Annesburg didn’t they? You must have done something real bad.” The hunter dumps all the game onto the table and rushes to the bedroll where Arthur lays. “You aren’t hurt too bad or nothing, but you’ve got a real nasty cough. I’ve got tea and herbs that should help. I bandaged up all the bleeding bits as best I could”

Arthur is bewildered. He knows there had been a fire in Annesburg -- the coal had gone up in a pyre in seconds. Somehow, he had gotten separated from Dutch and the others. The smoke had taken him like crows to a carcass, and he was lucky to make it across the ridge with the way his eyes and lungs were burning.

The last thing he remembered was the pinkertons still on his heels and the darkness of the trees as he tried to hide in the brush. He must have made it to cover before the smoke and the soot finally got him.

He flinches as the hunter sticks an open flask under his nose. “Tea. It’s bitter but you’ll need it.”

Arthur sniffs the mouth of the flask, but it sure does just smell like weeds and water. He takes a sip and wrinkles his nose. But the flavor is a small price to pay for the way the liquid soothes the burning in his mouth and throat.

“Thank you,” he says. “You could have left me in those woods to rot. I appreciate you dragging my sorry ass back here.”

You grin and pat the bandage on his arm. “It weren’t much trouble, but you sure are one large fella.” Arthur thinks you must be a young boy -- it’s hard to tell. Your hair is short under your cap but your voice isn’t all that low.

You turn to the game on the table and grab a knife from your belt. “I hunted enough for the both of us the next few days. It’s gonna be a while before you’ve got your strength back, and a snowstorm is rolling in off the Grizzlies anyways.”

Arthur frowns. “Bit early for snow, isn’t it?”

You shrug. “Winter never listens to me. At least the game was out. Everyone is trying to feed as much as they can before it gets too cold to hunt. That includes us.”

Arthur grunts and struggles to his feet. “I can help with those,” he offers.

You watch him with narrowed eyes, obviously skeptical of Arthur’s strength. “Take the small ones,” you offer up the rabbits and squirrels.

Arthur usually doesn’t have a problem skinning game, but the smoke must have gotten to him more than he thought because he finds himself having to take a rest after just a few minutes. He finishes off the flask of tea and sorts through his pack and weapons.

“My horse…” he asks after a while.

“She’s fine,” you say. “I found her not far from where you were unconscious and she helped me get you back here. She’s out back with my Old Girl.”

“Thank you,” Arthur sounds genuinely touched. “She really means a lot to me.”

You shoot him another smile. “You’re nothing but a big softie, ain’t ya? What could you have done to have the law chasing you all the way across the damn country?”

Arthur rubs the back of his neck, flushing in embarrassment. “My folks might have blown up Annesburg? I don’t actually know how much of it is left…”

“Ha!” you bark. “You’re with them van der Linde folks?”

Arthur’s silence is answer enough.

“I won’t judge,” you shrug. “You’re safe as long as you want to rest here.”

And rest Arthur does. He’s confined to the bedroll, rolled out on a warm pile of furs near the stove. You’re good company, witty and friendly and far too nosy for your own good. Arthur learns that you’ve has been living in these parts for a few years now, trapping and hunting and crafting to sell in town every few weeks. It’s more of a living than Arthur could ever ask for. Arthur thinks he might be sweet on you.

It’s another day before he’s got the strength to walk. He makes it outside to his horse, glad to see that she’s well taken care of. You had said you were going off to bathe in a nearby stream, and Arthur follows the sound of the water.

He’s not expecting what he finds. The water is shallow but fast moving, and he sees a familiar jacket hung on a branch by the bank.

You’re turned away, rinsing in the ice cold water, and Arthur can see the gooseflesh on your skin.

But when you turn slightly, it’s the swell of breasts and the curve of hips that catches Arthur’s attention. He averts his eyes quickly, darting back towards the cabin with his cheeks stained pink.

Now that he thinks about it, you had never said that you were a man. Arthur had simply figured it was most likely. The soft voice and gentle features make more sense now.

“You had better wash up if you want to,” you say when you return to the cabin. “The snow is coming in tonight. I can smell it. I stocked up on herbs for your cough and we’ve got plenty of provisions. I’m gonna split some more wood to bring inside.”

Arthur can’t help but find it attractive that you’re so knowledgeable and well prepared. He makes his way to the stream on his own and washes up in the frigid water, pushing through another coughing fit when the cold makes his muscles seize.

It’s already getting colder when he gets back inside. His weak breath fogs even inside the cabin and the little stove can’t do nearly enough to warm the small space.

“You’re going to freeze,” he tells you. He’s big enough to handle the cold -- spent a damn month up in the grizzlies without much of a problem -- but you surely won’t last the snowstorm.

“I’ve made it before,” you say with a huff and a glare. “I’ve got plenty of furs to keep me warm.”

“Put your bedroll beside mine,” Arthur insists. “We can share the blankets.”

The snow begins to fall, sticking to the ground in wet clumps, and you brace yourselves for the days to come. You’re practically strangers -- save for the fact that you had dragged Arthur out of the woods and saved his life. Now you have no choice but to rely on each other until the snow melts.

Arthur wakes in the night to your violent shivering under the blankets. He pulls you so that you’re pressed against his chest, tucking both of you under the quilts closer together. “I thought you said you’d made it through this before?”

You huff, teeth chattering. “I survived. I never said I kept warm.”

“Stay close to me. It’s my turn to keep you alive.” He drifts back to sleep to the howl of the winter winds.

The next morning he’s greeted by a bowl of piping stew that makes his sinuses burn. “I had some jarred peppers I keep for weather just like this. You’re in no condition for liquor so this is the best you’re gonna get.”

Arthur accepts the stew graciously. He’s not ready for the way you stand on your tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek when he offers to wash both of the bowls.

You pass the time snowed in with several rounds of cards. Arthur tells stories about him and the gang until his throat aches and he starts coughing again, and so the you regale Arthur with your life’s tale and a few stories you picked up over the years. You’re curled up next to each other in front of the stove, and you have no shame about burrowing against Arthur in a quest for body heat. He lets you steal as much as you want.

“I thought you were a boy when I first woke up,” Arthur says.

You shrug. “Most people do. I find it makes things easier a lot of the time. How’d you figure me out?” You don’t seem to feel too strongly one way or another about how Arthur and others see you.

Arthur hides his embarrassment behind a cough. “I, uh, caught you washing up in the stream.”

“Oh,” you laugh, “that’s pretty solid proof, ain’t it.” You’re smiling, not shy at all. “You’re not mad at me for lying, are you?”

“You never lied,” Arthur says. “I just came to my own conclusions. Doesn’t matter much to me anyways, whether you’re a man or a woman.”

You frown at that. “Doesn’t matter?”

“Nah,” Arthur ruffles your short hair. “You’re cute either way.”

It’s the right thing to say. The frown disappears and you settle back against him, humming contentedly.

He wakes in the night to the feeling of your breath on his neck. You shift and your lips brush against his skin. He can’t help the way his whole body tenses at the sensation. His arm is draped around your waist, holding you close because he knows you’ll freeze if he doesn’t.

He pulls you in closer. Every inch where your skin touches his feels oversensitive and hot. You’re still asleep -- he can tell from how slow you breath against his skin, but you reach an arm around his neck and burrow against him.

His heart begins to race. He’s flushed and half asleep and you fit against him so well in this tiny cabin that you’ve made your home. One of his hands slides down your back. You moan as his palm passes over the small of your back and the curve of your ass. His hand comes to the back of your thigh, but you shift again and rock your hips against him.

He gasps, then has to fight back a cough. He doesn’t want to wake you, but your quest for warmth has you plastered against him in a very compromising position. It’s starting to make his long johns downright painful, and he thinks he’ll combust in shame.

You rock against him once more, mumbling sleepily into his skin.

“Darlin’” he croaks. But the sound doesn’t wake you. He tries to wriggle an arm between you so he can push you off, but instead he winds up with a handful of your breast, and the most gorgeous sound he’s ever heard escapes your lips.

He freezes. He’s painfully hard now, and you’re still gently rocking against him in your sleep, perhaps even more so now that he’s got a hand on your chest.

“Arthur, please,” you whine.

He’s pretty sure you’re awake by now, so he readjusts his hand and rubs his thumb over the peak of your nipple. You let out another breathy moan against his skin. This time when he runs a hand over your ass he lets himself take a moment to appreciate how it feels under his palm, they way his fingers sink into the soft skin beneath your winter sleep clothes. He once again places his hand on the back of your thigh and pulls you so that your hips are lined up with his, straddling him under the blankets.

You whine against him once more and grind your hips downward. The friction does way more for him than he imagines it must for you, and his vision whites out momentarily at the heat and weight of you against him.

He loses himself in the motion of your hips for several long moments, but then your whines grow frustrated and unsatisfied and he knows exactly what your after.

Gripping both of your hips tightly, he flips you both so that you’re laying back on the bedroll and he’s kneeling over you.

Your eyes fly open.

“Arthur?”

“You were asleep?” he looks absolutely bewildered.

“I thought so? I was having the best dream.” Your eyes look past him as you remember.

“I don’t think you were dreaming, sweetheart,” he chuckles. He leans in to place an open mouthed kiss against your neck. You gasp and dig your nails into his shoulder.

“Then I think you had better keep going, cowboy.”

[always5hineee]

The Final Bell- Chapter 7: A Single Slip

Chapter warnings: Mild language and violence

Word Count: 2137

Story is also available under Taffysamg on Quotev and Wattpad.

To see the full chapter list, go to the “Final Bell” Tab on my page.

-----

       "Y/N's first raid!" Haechan cheered as they pulled up to a run-down town. She wasn't nearly as excited as the boy, however. In fact, her stomach was turning at the thought of having to face any zombies again. Their sources were pretty good, and suggested that there was a strong chance that they would run into at least a few. There were always stragglers that hung behind in their old homes, and some formed stationary hordes. While this would help in their moments of running away, it would be rather difficult to raid houses as such.

       "Who's going in, and who's staying in the car?" Taeyong asked, surveying the van.

       "I'm driving." Taeil called out. It seemed like he didn't fight very often.

       "And Jungwoo is running the other car." Taeyong added on.

       "I went last time." Jaehyun grumbled. "By myself."

       "You wanted to go by yourself." Mark corrected him.

       "If Haechan is so excited about it, send him." Jaehyun countered.

       "That could work. How about Haechan and Yuta go with her?" Taeyong suggested.

       "Three people seems excessive..." Yuta said softly, but Taeyong had already made up his mind.

       "Haechan and Yuta, we're bout ten minutes out! Dig in the back for your weapons." The boys nodded, (Yuta a bit reluctantly). This was quite interesting for Y/N. She hadn't seen either of these men fight before. Yuta seemed too innocent and passive, but she had no reason to doubt Taeyong's judgement... It would be strange to watch, but interesting.

       "Grab a rifle." Jaehyun muttered in her ear, causing her to jump.

       "W-what?"

       "Calm down. All I'm saying is you should grab a bigger gun. I won't be there to save your ass this time." He explained with a glare.

       "Wouldn't it be better for you if my ass went un-saved?" She offered.

       "Oo, and what will Jaehyun come back with?" Haechan commented, already back in his original place.

       "Shut up, idiot."

       "Almost there." Taeyong cut off their fight, trying to get them all to settle down. Sure enough, she could just barely make out a few buildings through the dusty atmosphere. "Remember, in particular Jungwoo has given you a list of materials he's looking for. Many of them can be found in convenience stores or family medicine cabinets. Unless you're planning to eat it tonight, don't pick up anything perishable."

       "I am sooo gonna get something good." Haechan said, acting like a little kid.

       "The more flour you pick up, the more we can bake." Taeil put the thought in his mind.

       "Ohh, good plan." Haechan laughed. "Anyway, let's roll!" As the car was still slowing down, he opened the door, launching himself out and rolling onto the ground, lugging something close behind.

       "What the hell is wrong with you?" Yuta asked, but laughing and following suit."

       "Wait, what?"

       "Your turn. It's easier if you tuck."

       "Wait, what?" Jaehyun kicked her lightly in the back, sending her careening out of the car. The breath was knocked out of her lungs as she hit the ground, rolling a few feet before finally slowing to a stop.

       "Woah... are you okay?" Yuta asked, trotting over and helping her to her feet. She rubbed the back of her legs, grumbling.

       "Yeah, I'm fine."

       "Well, in that case, let's go!" Haechan said excitedly, practically skipping towards the town.

       "He seems excited..." She mumbled.

       "Yeah, he doesn't get to go on missions much anymore. He get's a little... hyper."

       "Hyper?"

       "...You'll see."

       The closer they got, the more jittery Haechan seemed. It was as they walked that Y/N got a good look at what weapon he was sporting. As far as she could tell, he had no gun or knife- or if he did, they were well concealed. The only tool he carried in his hands was a slim, colorful baseball bat covered in barbed wire. It had clearly been painted, but it was splintering in places, as if it was often used for blunt hits.

       "Do you... actually use that?" She asked incredulously.

       "Hmm? Oh, the bat!" Haechan laughed, swinging it proudly. "Yeah, beautiful, isn't it? Taeyong even painted it for me. It gives him something to do, too. I uh... tend to break them pretty often."

       "That's nice of him." She said absentmindedly, still eyeing the blunt object.

       "Yeah- don't get to use it much anymore, so this'll be fun. I hope there are at least a few stragglers, you know?" He laughed again. "Speaking of which, who wants what? I want to pick up some more art stuff for Ty, so I can take the stores if you want. Do you guys want to check out houses or what?" She didn't realize Haechan was such a confident leader. Judging based on Yuta's attitude earlier, she thought it would be best if they sticked together- for both of them.

       "That's fine." She agreed.

       "Well, in that case, let's start center, work our way out?" He offered. "Maybe draw out some fun while we're at it." Okay... that wasn't creepy. Still, Yuta and she followed him to the center of town. With every breath of wind and creaking door, she turned, afraid of what might lurk behind. It wasn't until they were almost to the main building when they were attacked.

       A zombie ran out of a nearby backyard, smashing through a rotting fence to get a taste of human flesh.

       "Look out!" She yelled.

       "Mine!" Haechan countered, jumping forward. He swung the bat with immeasurable force, smashing the creature's head clear into a pulp. It splattered everywhere, leaving her shocked. He had taken it out with one swing, and now, he... he was laughing? But not just regular laughing... truly entertained laughing.

       "We should get going," Yuta said softly, "Leave him to that." Nodding shakily, she followed Yuta's lead into the surrounding houses. She made extra sure to grab everything Jungwoo needed. After that, she began focusing more on fridges and closets. The power had been out for ages, but some chests had good enough insulation to preserve food. All the meat they came across was rotting, but some frozen vegetables and such were salvageable. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt, and it was good to get out, so she didn't mind.

       On about their seventh house, she took the upstairs while Yuta shuffled through the kitchen drawers. One room that caught her attention was behind the last door on the upper floor. Upon revealing it, she saw a white bedframe draped in a pink lace. There were stuffed animals and dolls littered across the floor, as well as atop the white play desk with gold accents. The whole scene was sickeningly untouched- if she hadn't known better, she would have thought everything was back to normal.

       She forced herself to root through the stuff, looking for anything valuable. Obviously, there was nothing too notable. She did pick up a pack of stickers that, for some strange reason of intuition, she thought Haechan would like. As she tried to shut the door, though, something got in the way. Looking down, she saw a small white stuffed mouse blocking the door. She picked it up and pocketed it, just as Yuta screamed from downstairs.

       "Uhh, Y/N! I could use some help!" She shot down the stairs, running to where the man was facing three zombies. Scrambling to pull out her rifle, she shakily loaded it. "Now!" He yelled, staving them off with a knife. His free hand couldn't reach a more effective weapon. Finally getting it to fire, he jumped out of the way, bullet narrowly missing his arm. She evidently needed to learn better aim, but he didn't say anything. Opening created, he pulled out what looked like a sword, slicing the other two's heads off cleanly.

       "We should go meet up with Haechan." He said, breathing heavily. She nodded in agreement, walking with him out of the house.

       "Did you get anything cool?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

       "Uh, I mean... food?" She offered blandly. He laughed, although his fatigue was sticking out.

       "I'd hope so."

       "Oh, and this," she said, pulling out the mouse. She felt stupid immediately after, but it was better than walking in silence.

       "That's cute," he smiled softly. "You know, I used to- Oh my God!" He shouted, running forward. She looked over, trying to see what he was scared of. Catching a glimpse, she realized that it wasn't something he was running from, but rather towards. There was a pile of carcasses, each with a mutilated head. In the middle of it all, Haechan sat cross legged, head in his hands. Was he... crying?

       "Hae, what's wrong?" Yuta asked, gently shaking his shoulder. The boy was alternating between laughing and sobbing.

       "I'm really sorry Yuta, I am!"

       "Sorry for what, Haechan, what happened?"

       "I kept counting! One, two, three, I got to at least eleven!" He smiled, looking up sadly. "I got so many, Yuta!"

       "Good, Haechan. Get up, let's go to the van, we can-"

       "Yuta..." Y/N interrupted in a whisper. "Look at his arm." The boy paused, and then turned to look. Sure enough, Haechan's pale skin was stained in an all-too-noticeable pattern. He had been bitten.

       "Oh, Haechan..." He muttered, kneeling down next to him.

       "You have to cut it off, Yuta." He laughed. "Take my arm off!"

       "Maybe it hasn't spread, we can still get the infected blood out."

       "You know we can't! Do it!" He laughed. "It's fine, it's fine... Y/N can do it for me. Y/N! Get over here!" She froze, eyes wide.

       "I-"

       "Now!" Reluctantly, she walked over, moreso to make sure Yuta was alright. "Get out that shiny machete, hun! The longer you wait, the more you'll have to chop!"

       "I... I can't do that, Haechan, I..."

       "Consider this," he posed, talking incredibly calmly. "You let me be, fine. You didn't hurt me, but. I turn, I eat you first- obviously because you look so delicious," he winked. "Then I eat Yuta. And now you've killed him! Do you want him to die? Or me, for that matter?"

       "No, I-"

       "Then do it. Look, I'll help. Take out your thingy-" He directed. She glanced at Yuta, who wasn't saying anything. Well, it looked like she didn't have much of a choice. She pulled it out, holding it in front of her like a bomb. He held out his arm, pointing things out with his left hand.

       "This is the bite," he directed. "And you can see some of the infection up to here," he moved his fingertips up. Now, the infection usually spreads past where it's visible, by at least two inches. At least, that's what Jungwoo says. I think you should be safe-" he made a chopping motion with his hand, "And cut at the elbow." The idea was making her sick.

       "You're going to have to put some real weight behind it," he warned her, "If we had an axe, that would be ideal, but... I trust your strength."

       "How can you be so calm about-"

       "WHAT CHOICE DO I HAVE?" He screeched. After the following silence, he shook his head, laughing again. "Sorry, sorry... that was uncalled for. Just, please do it. Quickly." He held out his arm, looking away. She wanted to close her eyes, but she was too afraid to miss.

       The first swing only cut about halfway through his arm, getting lodged in what she could only assume was the bone.  The blood spurt into her face and over her clothes. Surprisingly, Haechan was gritting his teeth- the cry that rang out when she did such was thrown from Yuta's mouth. Panicking, she firmly planted a boot on his upper arm, yanking the blade out and throwing it down again. In total, it took four strikes- her first one, two to completely splinter the bone, and a final one to finish it off.

       Yuta had tears streaming down his face, now with his head in his palms.

       "Hey," Haechan said weakly. "I know it's super emotional for you or whatever, but I'm gonna need your help." Yuta breathed in deeply, trying to pull himself together. Nodding, he began to wrap Haechan's arm, trying not to look. They all agreed not to look back to the... reminder of it as they stumbled towards the van.

       Yuta carried most of the bags as Y/N wrapped her arm around Haechan's waist, and his around her shoulder. It was an effective means of supporting him without putting stress on his open wound. Yuta also continued trying to call the guys. By the time he finally got a hold on them, the van was in sight.

       "Come on, Haechan..." She muttered into his ear. "We're almost there."

Go to Chapter 8

[snazzysickly]

Show Don’t Tell (Arthur Morgan x Reader) Part 1?

Summary: Keeping your secret is hard enough on your own, but joining a gang nearly blows your cover, especially when you fall for one of the members.

Warnings: Bit of blood, swearing, alcohol, crossdressing?

word count: 4,184

A/n: I made this a while ago, hoping to make it into a series, but I never got the motivation to make the other parts. There’s still a possibility it can become a series but we’ll see how things go. Thanks for reading!

A bounty hunter tackles you to the ground, and you start to wrestle with him. You try to reach for your knife, but you’re unable to find it. The bounty hunter cuts your shirt, exposing your chest. You fight harder trying to get him off, when you hear a gunshot and the bounty hunter falls dead atop of you. You push him off and stand up, looking at the Irish fellow that held your gun.

“Thank you.” You say exhausted, picking up your hat and knife.

“Why, you’re a woman!” The redhead says, looking at your chest.

You’re eyes go wide, and you put your knife against his throat. You glare at his shocked expression.

“If you dare tell anyone, I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and kill you myself.” You hiss in his face.

“Trust me ma’am, I won’t tell a soul.” He raises his hands in surrender. “Names Sean.”

You don’t know why you did it, and why you even decided to help him in the first place, but you let go of your grip on him, putting your knife away.

You button up your coat despite the hot weather, trying to conceal your feminine features. Sean hands your gun back to you and you holster it.

Holding out your hand, Sean grabs it and you pull him up. He’s dusting himself off, when you hear the sound of horses. You turn in that direction and find more bounty hunters approaching with their guns out. You turn the other direction, only to find the same thing. You sigh and hold your hands up, easily outnumbered and surrounded.

Now here you are, upside down with the blood rushing to your head. Your arms and legs tied up, the Irish redhead in the same predicament. You remember his name to be something like Sean. He annoys the bounty hunters as they threaten the both of you, when you sudden hear the distinct sound of gunshots.

Sean laughs and taunts the bounty hunters as they run for cover. You’re calling yourself a fool for trusting him with your secret. He’s way too talkative. Sean seems to think that we’re saved, but you still think that these people could just cause more trouble.

You see three men rounding the hill, taking out the bounty hunters in the camp. Sean calls to them while you remain silent, observing them.

The last of the bounty hunters run away and the three men walk up to you and Sean. He barks at the men to cut him down, and one of them, who Sean calls “Arthur”, does. Another one of the men, with dark skin and a couple of scars on his face, cuts you down.

You fall to the hard ground with a thud, the four men surround you. The sound of a revolver click brings your attention to this Arthur fellow.

“Who are you?” The Hispanic looking man asks. You decide not to answer, remaining silent.

“If you don’t answer, you’ll end up like the bounty hunters.” Arthur says, bringing the revolver closer to your head.

“I wouldn’t do that Arthur. He saved my life, you see. Singlehandedly took down the whole lot of the bounty hunters.” Sean vouches for you. “Could be beneficial to the gang.”

“Just let Dutch decide, Arthur.” The man that cut you down says.

After a long while of thought, Arthur pulls his gun away from your face. He turns to the others, “Javier, you take Sean back to camp.” The Hispanic man nods, taking Sean to his horse. “Charles, you take, him.” Arthur points to you. The man with the scars, Charles, picks you up and calls for his horse, stowing you on it.

“Are you coming Arthur?” Charles asks.

“I’m going to look around, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Charles nods and kicks his horse’s sides, putting it into a trot. You watch as Sean rides with Javier, happily chatting away, while you lay on Charles’ horse, tied up and silent.

Charles takes a different path as Javier and Sean to avoid suspicion. He was looking out for any lawmen or bounty hunters that could recognize either of you. About half an hour in, Charles speaks up.

“What were you doing with Sean back there?” He asks in his low voice. He cranes his head to look at you for a second.

“I was trying to help him, but I got caught up in his mess.” You tell him honestly, “Must have thought I was in your gang.”

Charles hums, focused on the path ahead of him. He didn’t seem like the talkative type, unlike Sean.

“How’d you get that scar on your face?” You ask him.

“Hunting incident,” He then adds a second later, “cougar.”

As it turns out, Charles was relaxed, you didn’t mind talking to him. When he asked for your story, you told him the one you made up if you ever got into situations like this. Your story went as such, your parents died when you were young so you resorted to a life of crime. He believed your fake story.

Not long afterwards, Charles tells you that you’re here. The sun is setting, and your ribs were hurting from being on the back of his horse so long.

Charles hitches his horse and throws you over his shoulder. He carries you to someone’s tent and puts you on the ground. You look around the tent and find a man with black curly hair, a black hat atop his head, with a mustache upon his upper lip. This could only be Dutch Van der Linde. Charles very briefly talked about him.

“We found him tied up with Sean. Said that he saved his life” Charles explains while cutting the ropes off your legs.

“What’s your name, boy?” Dutch asks you.

“Louis Hall.” You answer with your fake name you gave yourself when you first started dressing as a man, when in fact, your name is Y/n L/n.

“Well Louis,” Dutch starts, “we don’t take just anybody into this gang of misfits, why should you be the exception?”

You’re about to answer with something sarcastic and rude, but you hold your tongue to weigh your options. For one, you could tell that this Dutch guy was on a high horse and needed to be knocked down a peg or two. But on the other side, you knew that you couldn’t keep running from the people that were looking for you. When they do find you, you’d rather not be alone.

“It seemed to me, Mr. Van der Linde, that after watching what Sean is incapable of doing, I decided my services would really benefit you.”

Dutch stares at you, his eyebrows furrowing until he unexpectedly laughs. He pats you on the back, making you stumble forward a bit. He motions to Charles to cut the rest of your ropes. You rub your sore wrists and take the bottle of whiskey from Dutch’s hands.

“We’ll figure everything out tomorrow, for now, enjoy the party!” He gestures to the camp around him, and then takes his exit.

For the first time now, you finally get a good look at the camp that you were taken to.

There where quite a few tents set up, Dutch obviously had the biggest one. Looking around the campfires, you found a large assortment of different people. You expected a whole lot of sweaty men, but you were surprised to find a number of women here too. It made you think that maybe you take down your disguise, but you decide against it.

You sit around the campfire, atop of one of the logs, listening to the song that Javier is playing and singing. Soon enough everyone around the fire starts singing as well. You don’t know what song they’re singing but you smile a bit awkwardly and enjoy the fire.

Sipping your whiskey, you realize it’s been awhile since you last had some company, and it has taken a toll on you. Trying not to raise attention, you get up from your seat and try to find someone familiar.

Although you quickly find Sean, you don’t feel like dealing with his seeming endless energy. You look for Charles, but find him around the campfire with Javier, who is playing a guitar. Instead, you pick up a few more bottles of whiskey and find a rock overlooking a small cliff. Close enough to the camp that you won’t seem like an enemy, but far enough to get some much needed solace after everything that happened.

On your second whiskey, you hear bottles clanking from behind you, meaning someone was getting a bottle out from the crate. You pay no mind to them until they spoke.

“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to still be here.” The unmistakable voice of Arthur fills your ears, the man that pointed a gun to your head.

You hum and take another sip from your whiskey, but say nothing else, expecting him to leave. Unfortunately, he didn’t. In fact, he got closer, he sat on the rock with you, taking a swig of his drink. You turn to him, annoyance written across your face.

“What do you want?” You demand.

He has the audacity to smile at you, and you’ve just about had it with him, so you turn to stomp away but he answers you, stopping you in your place.

“First time I heard you speak, lot more feminine than I had imagined.”

His words made you stiffen, you were much too annoyed to conceal your voice like normally. Without answering him, you walk further into camp, away from Arthur.

“Mister Hall?”

You turn to see an older woman with heavy makeup, tied up hair, and a red blouse talking to you. She looked assertive with her hands on her hips. “I prepared you a tent to sleep in. This way.” She weaves through camp, avoiding all the drunken. You follow her blindly, and soon she stops at a small tent with a bedroll next to a larger one with a sleeping child and who you presume is the kid’s mother.

“Here you are.” She motions to the small tent and you crawl inside. You pat the bedroll then look to her.

“Thank you ma’am.” You say politely, not expecting to have a tent so early on. It wasn’t much, and you’ve rather have the tent that was on your horse, but your horse wasn’t here, as it fled while you were saving Sean, although you weren’t going to complain.

“Susan Grimshaw.” She tells you, and you nod.

“Thank you Ms. Grimshaw.” You say again. She firmly nods and walks away.

Wanting privacy, you close the flap to the tent and finally unbutton your coat, exposing your ripped and bloody shirt from the bounty hunter Sean killed. You take off the useless shirt and your satchel, that luckily didn’t get taken by the bounty hunters, and toss them both into a corner of your tent. You really would have like a change of clothes, but your clothes were on your horse. Luckily, your undergarments didn’t get ripped or bloody, so you put your coat back on, and button it again. You get under the uncomfortable bedroll and try your best to fall asleep.

You wake up to a voice from outside your tent, you blink yourself awake and focus on the voice. Your eyes squint, trying to figure out who is talking, until it hits you.

“Louis, mind if I come in?” Sean asks. It takes a second to realize that he’s talking to you.

You lift open the tent flap a bit, signaling to him that it’s okay to come inside. He crawls inside, barely enough room for the both of you.

“How you doing lass- I mean-” He stumbles over his words and you stop him.

“I’m okay Sean, thank you for asking.”

He nods and stares at you long enough to get awkward, your eyebrows raise, looking at him, wondering what he wants.

“Is that all? Or?” You question, confused.

“Oh! I got you a new shirt because I remembered what happened to your other one,” He says, looking at the torn shirt lying not to far from you.

You grab the shirt from his outstretched hand and look at it, bringing the shirt to your nose. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell bad at all.

“Thank you Sean, I’ll come out after I change.” You slightly smile at him and he nods, exiting your small tent.

The shirt was a dark seaweed green color, with white buttons. Fitting for an Irishmen. You chuckle as you slip it on. Slightly baggy, just how you like it. You tuck the rest of the shirt into your pants. Reaching for your hat, you rest it on your head, and exit your tent, the bright light blinding your eyes.

You were honestly surprised with the hospitality that everyone has given you. Even though you haven’t been here for more than 24 hours, everyone you walked by said good morning or some form of greeting. You only knew a couple of names yet you were welcomed. You’ve never been in a gang that had welcomed you so quickly.

You sit at a table, talking to a young boy named Lenny while eating a loaf of bread from your satchel, Ms. Grimshaw walks up to you. She tells you that Dutch wants to see you at his tent, so you get up and head in the direction of his tent. The camp in the daytime is much different than at night. Today, just about everyone looks ready to work, or are already working.

The little boy you saw sleeping in the tent next to yours last night, races in front of you, off to play somewhere, you figure. Who knew why there was a child amongst a gang of outlaws, but you weren’t one to ask.

At Dutch’s tent you see Dutch with an old man with a clean-shaven face. The man introduces himself as Hosea when you walk into the tent.

“You wanted to see me?” You ask the man with a cigar between his fingers.

Dutch takes a drag from his cigar then answers, “Yes, Hosea here recently received a tip about a banking stagecoach coming into Valentine today. I want you to rob it. The coach will be guarded so I would go armed.”

“Try to be quiet about it, don’t want the law finding out. Use guns as a last resort.” Hosea says. You can’t help but notice the difference between the two. Hosea rather you be more discrete about this, while Dutch just wants it over and done with.

“I would love to rob this stagecoach, but as you can see, my gun holsters are completely empty.” You curse the bounty hunters for taking your all your weapons, you’d rather them take your money instead. They even took your grandfather’s knife that you stole when running away.

Just then, Arthur walks passed Dutch’s tent. Dutch notices and calls the man over. You groan inwardly, you were hoping to avoid Arthur as much as possible.

“Bring Mister Hall to Valentine and get him a new gun and a horse. You have a stagecoach to catch. Louis will fill you in.” Dutch explains. Arthur looks at you, hesitating, then nods.

You want to groan, but hold back. Why’d did it have to be the person that you’ve haven’t gotten along with? You could’ve easily gotten the job done on your own. Though you should’ve expected it, they weren’t going to let you go alone on your very first mission in the gang.

Arthur leads you to his horse. It was a beautiful light brown American paint with white spots. He gets onto the saddle, and you pull yourself onto the horse’s rump.

He takes the path to a town called Valentine while you tell him what Dutch told you about the stagecoach. He doesn’t say much unless it’s to give a sarcastic remark.

It doesn’t take long until you’re in front of the gun store in Valentine. Arthur hitches his horse, and you slide off the horse. “I have some money, I can buy what I need.” You tell him.

“Sure.” He says shortly, you roll your eyes.

Despite this, Arthur still follows you into the store. You quickly find that he’s looking around the store as well. You pick up a new cattleman revolver and a carbine repeater, both simple guns, but also cheap. You take a long look at the double-barreled shotguns, but you wouldn’t be able to get your guns ammunition if you were to buy it.

You place your guns on the counter, buying a couple boxes of ammunition for each gun. After you pay, you sling the repeater over your shoulder and holster your revolver. Walking out of the store, you find Arthur leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. Once he notices you, he puts out the cigarette and pushes himself off the wall.

“Ready to get a new horse?” Arthur asks you, already walking towards the stables. You jog up next to him and match his pace.

“About that…” You start, looking at your feet. “I spend the rest of my money on the guns.”

“Are you really that poor?” He snarks.

“Hey its not my fault the damn bounty hunters took most of my money.” You shoot back at him.

Arthur lets out a sigh, “I’ll buy it for you, just don’t get the most expensive horse.”

You nod. Great, now he’s going to think you owe him something.

Inside the stables, you look at all the different horses. None of the horses click with you until you come across a beautiful dapple-grey Hungarian half bred. It wasn’t the most expensive horse, but it wasn’t the cheapest either. You still ask Arthur, he begrudgingly buys the stallion for you, along with a saddle.

As much as you dislike Arthur, you still were very thankful for him. After how your relationship started, you would’ve thought him to be the last person to buy you something.

You lead your new horse over to Arthur’s, enjoying the lively town. While walking pass the saloon, you see two men pushing another man outside, they threaten the man, he tries to defuse the situation, but the two men start punching him. You hear Arthur scoff from next to you.

“Damn O'Driscolls.” Venom laced his tone.

“O'Driscolls?” You ask, looking at Arthur.

“Yeah, slimy bastards.” He spits harshly. You can sense the tension, but you and Arthur keep walking, but now you notice Arthur is using his hat to cover his face.

O'Driscolls. Oddly that name sounded familiar. You racked your brain, trying to remember where you’ve heard it before. While pulling your leg over your saddle, it hits you like a fright train.

Before you started dressing as a man, you had joined a gang that had a plan to steal some information from another rival gang called the O'Driscoll Boys. Still new to that gang and the outlaw life, so you had no idea what you were getting yourself into. The plan went sour quickly, but you didn’t realize that your gang had retreated. You narrowly escaped with your life, barely making your escape. Needless to say, you left that gang shortly after.

“You alright there?” You hear Arthur’s voice from in front of you. You didn’t realize you’ve fallen behind until your horse stopped. Arthur watches you kick your horse back into a trot, matching his pace.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about somethin’.” You reply, hoping he doesn’t ask about it.

“Well, you better be done thinking about it, we’re almost to the spot.”

A little further down the path, Arthur reins his horse to a stop, and you follow his movements. While loading your guns, making sure they have ammo, Arthur asks how you should rob them.

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be more intimidating if we both follow a bank coach, so you distract them, while I knock out the guards and rob them blind. If things go bad, we have guns.” You explain, putting your bandana over your mouth.

Before he can reply, you kick your spurs into your horse’s side, taking off into the woods to hide until Arthur distracts the coach.

Speaking of which, the stagecoach rounds the corner, Arthur acts like he’s turning onto the path the coach is taking. He starts small talk with the driver and you slowly come out off the woods, trying to be quiet. Arthur then says something about their front wheel being loose. The driver stops the coach asking the passenger next to him to check it out. There where only four guards riding next to the coach, but you realize that there are probably more inside the coach.

While the coach is stopped, you knock out the two guards in the back with the blunt end of your revolver. You try to keep the guards out of sight from Arthur and the man checking the wheel.

Silently, you pick the lock on the back of the coach containing the money. You’re almost done picking the lock until you hear, “The wheel isn’t loose.” Then a gunshot.

The coach suddenly lurches forward, the driver taking off, realizing what was happening. You call for you horse, He gallops towards you, and you jump on, racing after the coach. Arthur shoots the two guards up front, when the four men inside the coach peak out the windows. They shoot at you and Arthur. You shoot one and kick your horse to go faster to get closer to the driver. You jump onto the coach, the driver tries to shoot you, but you kick him off, pulling the stagecoach to a stop.

By now Arthur has shot two men inside the coach, leaving only one left. He gets out, shooting at Arthur. You see your opportunity and put one clean bullet into the man’s head. He falls to the ground, and you move towards the chest in the back. This time, you shoot the lock, it brakes easily and you loot the chest. Two hundred dollars, not bad. You hand Arthur his share, along with the gangs share, trusting he will give it to Dutch.  

“Not what we planned, but it worked out.” Arthur says, counting his money.

You start cutting the horses reins off the coach and hitting their rump, making them take off. “Yeah, didn’t think it was going to work at all.” You whistle for your horse.

“Way to have faith in your plans.” Arthur says, getting on his own horse. You just shrug.

“Ride back to camp with me? I don’t know the way very well.” You mutter the last part, but you can tell he heard you from his expression.

“I was tied to the back of a horse the last time!”

Arthur rolls his eyes, but leads the way back to camp. You follow behind him, you notice that he avoided major roads as to stay away from anybody that could find out the crime you committed not far away.

“Nice shooting back there.” You attempted small talk.

“You too.” He responds shortly. You sigh, I guess he’s back to hating you. Doesn’t matter, I guess. You were still pretty mad at him for pointing a gun at your head when you tried to help someone in his gang.

The rest of the ride back is mostly quiet, apart from whenever Arthur gives directions. You now regret asking him to take you back to camp, the awkward silence is worst than getting lost. Although the ride was awkward, you distracted yourself by looking at the lovely scenery.

Thankfully, the ride wasn’t too long, and you made it back to Horseshoe Overlook, as Arthur called it. He called to Javier who was guarding the camp’s entrance. You hitch your horse at the hitching post and slid off the saddle. You can see Dutch making his way over to you and Arthur.  

“There you are! Any longer and I would’ve sent someone to find you.” Dutch holds his arms out in a way you would to hug someone, but you doubt he wanted a hug.

Arthur reaches into his satchel and pulls out the gangs share of the money, he hands it over to Dutch.

Dutch looks at the money in his hand counting it, then to the both of you. “I’m guessing it when well?”

“You could say that.” Arthur says gruffly, he then walks away from you and Dutch, going to his tent.

“What happened?” Dutch says, turning to you, his cheery tone now gone.

“I think he just hates me.” You say bluntly.

“Arthur’s just a hard one to crack, my boy. Just have some faith.” Dutch encourages, he pats you on the back, walking to his tent.

You look at Arthur, sitting on his bed, he’s writing something in a brown book he’s holding. You really hate to admit it, but you and him work well together.

[thewalkingdeadfanfictions]

T, the Mute, Meets Daryl, the Stupid Redneck Chapter 10 - I Love Daryl?!

****T’s POV****

           “I have seen the rain. I have felt the pain. I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow. I don’t know where I’m going I don’t even know where I’ve been. But I know I’d like to see you again.” Sam sings while we suit up, changing the lyrics of “I Have Seen the Rain” by P!nk to fit. I join in with her singing “Spend our days just searching. Spend our nights in dreams. I’ve stopped looking over my shoulder and I’ve stopped wonderin’ what it means.” At this point all of us are singing “Drop out, burn out, soldier ho-oh they’ve said we should’ve been more. Probably so if we hadn’t of been in this crazy damn Afghanistan war.” There’s a knock at the locker room door followed by Yori yelling “You girls need a new song!” “Well at least we don’t need a new brain like you Yori!” Sam yells back, she likes him but he’s too dense to see it, I was too but she told me about it and asked if we were just dense when it came to “love”. Suddenly I’m not in the locker room anymore but in a clearing aiming my bow at the trees. Daryl comes out of the trees and starts yelling “Son of a bitch. That’s my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this…” as he walks over to the walker and starts to kick it adding “Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!” I look around and notice that I’m back at the first morning of camp as Dale says “Calm down, son. That’s not helping.” Daryl then says while striding towards him “What do you know about it, old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat and go back to On Golden Pond?” he turns away and starts to pull out his arrows from the deer adding “I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” I turn and start walking away realizing that I’ve been staring at Daryl as Shane says “I would not risk that.” Daryl then sighs and says “That’s a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.” But then I hear the walker opens its mouth so I quickly spin around and shoot it in the head at the same time as Daryl does as he asks "Come on, people. What the hell? It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothing?” Without noticing I did so he goes to get his arrow but pauses seeing mine as well. Glenn then looks at me and cheers “T one, walker head zero! T the one stop shop of awesomeness has done it again! If he can’t do it no one can!” I glare at him as the others shake their heads at him. As I walk forward to get my arrow back Daryl pulls his and my arrow from the head, wipes them on the ground, and holds mine out to me. I nod as I take it from him and he asks me quietly “Do you even know what you do to me?” I look at him shocked and shake my head as I hear Sam in the back of my head saying “T I can’t believe you’re still so dense. You love him and he loves you.”

I bolt up and shake my head not believing what I heard Sam tell me. ‘She’s in Europe right now. There’s no way she could know. Besides Daryl would never like someone like me, like that.’ I think before allowing myself to wonder if she and her family were still alive. I look around and notice almost everyone is awake so I stay on top of the R.V. waiting for Rick to organize the search. When the others start coming over to Carol’s Jeep I hop down not bothering with the ladder only to be yelled at by Rick who says “There’s a ladder for a reason.” I ignore him and stand next to Daryl and also ignoring the little voice in the back of my head screaming ‘You love Daryl!’ “All right, everyone’s getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the cabin Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we’ve been so far.” “Cabin?” I write as Beth’s boyfriend says “I’d like to help. I know the area pretty well and stuff.” “Hershel’s okay with this?” Rick asks Jimmy ignoring me so I give up thinking ‘Karma, you are not my friend today.’ “Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you.” The boy says obviously lying. “All right then. Thanks.” Rick says believing him, but Shane says “Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that cabin.” “Anybody includes her, right?” Andrea asks. “There was drawings signed by ‘Sophia’ in there.” Daryl says, as I look at Andrea questionably as she keeps giving me a weird look. “It’s a good lead.” Andrea says so Rick says “Maybe we’ll pick up her trail again.” “No maybe about it. I’m gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird’s-eye view of the whole grid. If she’s up there, I’ll spot her.” Daryl says as Dale puts the bag of guns on the car. “Good idea. Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there, too.” T-Dog says. “Chupacabra?” Rick asks as I tilt my head in question as well now looking at Dale, making a mental note to ask Andrea why she looked at me the way she did. “You never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra.” Dale says causing Jimmy to laugh. “What are you braying at, jackass?” Daryl asks him. “So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?” Jimmy asks so Daryl counters with “Do you believe dead people walking around?” so I clap silently, approving of the burn. Jimmy then reaches for one of the guns but Rick stops him asking “Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?” “Well, if I’m going out, I want one.” Jimmy says so Daryl says “Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees.” Before walking away, giving me a quick glance but quickly looking away and continue walking away when I tilt my head at him.

           I shrug and Jimmy starts to go so Shane says “Why don’t you come train tomorrow. If you’re serious, I’m a certified instructor.” “For now he can come with us.” Andrea says so Shane says “He’s yours to babysit then.” Motioning for Jimmy to come back. “T you’re going with Dale and Jimmy here.” Rick tells me then adds “Shane and I will be here and Andrea, T-Dog you’re here.” They start to get their weapons before we get our “flags” to mark the trees and head out. I opt for just having my knife preferring to be quiet and to be able to move without worrying about my bow getting caught on something.

****Yori’s POV****

           I woke up before Sophia so I get out of the van and lean against it watching the road. A few trucks were approaching so I made sure Sophia was hidden before pretending to look inside the cars. One of the trucks stopped while the others continued on. A guy who give off a bad aura gets out asking “Hey, man you alone?” “Yes. I like it that way.” I reply continuing my pretend search praying that Sophia doesn’t wake up right now. “You sure? We could use a man like you.” He says stepping closer trying to be friendly but failing. “I’m sure, besides I only got one leg.” I say looking at him hiding my emotions. His face turns to that of disgust and says “Just start with that next time.” before getting back in the truck and driving away. “Well that went better than I expected.” I say to myself shrugging before Sophia wakes up. “Yori?!” she calls scared. “Here, outside. Come on, if we want to make it to the farm by dark we have to leave now.” I tell her. She gets out of the van so I walk over and bend down so she can climb on my back again. She does so I start walking towards the farm.

****Daryl’s POV****

           I’m hunting squirrels as I look for Sophia. I see something in the creek so I stop the horse. I get off and tie it to a tree before I slowly my way down the hill to the creek. Getting closer to the thing I notice that it’s Sophia’s doll so I look around calling for her. After a minute or so I climb back up the hill and get back on the horse. Walking a few steps the horse gets scared by birds flying by so I say “Whoa. Easy, easy.” When it calms down I have it start walking again. It goes only a few more steps before a snake jumps out at it scaring it and causing it to buck me off. I roll down a ridge as it runs off. When I reach the bottom, and in the shallow water, I say “Son of a bitch.” Noticing that I’ve been impaled by one of my arrows. I slowly make my way to one of the dry spots and use my knife to rip off one of my sleeves but just rip off the other with my hands. I tie them together then wrap them around my chest to keep the arrow in place. I secure the tourniquet, put my knife back, and look to see that I’ve fallen into a valley. Bushes rustle so I reach for my crossbow but realize it’s not there. I grab a stick and start searching the water for it with it. I finally find it and start making my way up the ridge. I get half way up the ridge and throw away the stick and tell myself “Oh, come on. You’ve done half. Stop being such a pussy.” So I go and grab a rock but it falls and thus causing me to fall and get knocked out when I hit the bottom.

****T’s POV****

           I’ve had this bad feeling for a few minutes now as I follow Dale and Jimmy. But I ignore it as I split off from them when they start heading back as we had the smallest grid. They don’t notice that I split off from them so I look for some tracks. I find horse tracks but no people tracks walker or otherwise. I remember that Daryl took one of the horses from the farm so they must be from that as they are fresh. I shake my head as I suddenly feel happy thinking about Daryl, successfully shaking the happy feeling away. “T, there you are. Dale was worried about you.” Shane says from behind me making me jump. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He says putting a hand on my shoulder before adding “Come on back to camp, it’s getting late.” His hand makes my skin crawl so I step away from him nodding but looking in the direction Daryl went, thinking ‘T stop…He’ll be fine.’ with that bad feeling rising again. I turn and start walking back to camp without waiting for Shane as I try to ignore the feeling, again.

****Daryl’s POV****

           Waking up a little I see Merle. “Why don’t you pull that arrow out, dummy? You could bind your wound better.” He tells me so I say “Merle.” “What’s going on here? You taking a siesta or something?” He asks so I say “A shitty day, bro.” “Like me to get your pillow? Maybe rub your feet?” He asks so I say “Screw you.” “Huh-uh. You’re the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent trying to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lying in the dirt like a used rubber. You’re gonna die out here, little brother. And for what?” He says so I say “A girl. They lost a little girl.” “So you got a thing for little girls now?” He asks so I tell him “Shut up.” But he says “’Cause I notice you ain’t out looking for old Merle no more.” “Tried like hell to find you, bro.” I say but he says “Like hell you did. You split, man. Lit out first chance you got.” “You lit out. All you had to do was wait. We went back for you. Rick, T, and I, we did right by you.” I say. “This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand? This him we’re talking about here? You his bitch now?” He asks so I say “I ain’t nobody’s bitch.” “You’re a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers, and democrats.” He says chuckling then adds “You’re nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That’s all you are. They’re laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don’t you? I got a little news for you, son. One of these days, they’re gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dogshit. Hey. They ain’t your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any damn nuts in that sack of yours, you’d go back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me. Now you listen to me. Ain’t nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Ain’t nobody ever will, especially that mute girl. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in.” Standing up he starts kicking my foot adding “Come on.” shaking me. I wake up more and hear growling I look down and see a walker trying to bite through my boot. I kick its head and reach for my crossbow but it recovers quickly and climbs on top of me so hold it back and punch it twice knocking it over, but it takes me with it so I roll and throw it off. I grab a branch and stand up as it stands up and another starts coming towards me. I take out the closer ones legs, jump on top of it, and start beating its face in with the branch before stabbing it in the head killing it. The other one is coming closer so I rip the arrow out of my side and quickly strain to ready my crossbow. I get it just as it gets to me so I quickly aim and fire hitting it in the head. It falls next to me and I sigh in relief and start panting before passing out again.

Waking up again I sit up and look at the two dead walkers. I then take off my shirt and fold it up and press it on my wound before securing it there with the torn off sleeves. “Son of a bitch was right.” I say picking up my crossbow before getting up and start to skin a squirrel. I eat it before going over to the doll, pick it up, and tuck it under my belt. Then I take the shoelaces off the walkers, cut off their ears, and make a necklace with them. I pause and put T's dog tags in my pocket before putting it on and start climbing the ridge again. I’m almost to the top when birds screech above so I look at them as they circle me. “Please, don’t feed the birds.” Merle says on top of the ridge so I look at him and he starts laughing adding “What’s the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you? Throw away that purse and climb.” “I liked it better when you was missing.” I tell him. Laughing he says “Come on, don’t be like that. I’m on your side.” “Yeah? Since when?” I ask. “Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass.” He says. “You never took care of me. You talk a big game, but you was never there. Hell, you ain’t here now. Some things never change.” I say as I try to find a way to make it the rest of the way up. “Well, I’ll tell you what-I’m as real as your chupacabra.” He says. “I know what I saw.” I say before he asks “And I’m sure them shrooms you ate had nothing to do with it, right? You know what, I think that little mute girl-” “You best shut the hell up!” I yell at him cutting him off, so he says “Or what? You’re gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me? Well, come on and do it them, if you think you’re man enough.” Laughing he adds “Hey, kick off them damn high heels and climb, son.” I start climbing again as he says “If I were you, I’d take a pause for the cause, brother. ‘Cause I just don’t think you’re gonna make it to the top. Come on. Come on, little brother. Grab your friend Rick’s hand.” I make it to the top and pull myself up panting and looking around but Merle is nowhere. So I say “Yeah, you’d better run.” Before making my way back to camp and back to T.

****T’s POV****

           I’m sitting in the R.V. with Glenn, drawing Sam hoping that she was okay. “What’s with the Annie Oakley routine?” Dale asks Andrea outside the R.V. as she went up there when he left. “I don’t want to wash clothes anymore, Dale. I want to help keep the camp safe. Is that all right with you?” she says so Glenn says “And I want to be able to understand women.” I look at him questioning but he adds “You I get, the others not so much.” I shrug as Dale comes in. Glenn looks at him and says “Sorry. Just returning your book.” Pointing to the book in his hands. “Oh, no, I’m sorry.” Dale says picking up the book and tosses it on the table adding “If I had known the world was ending, I’d have brought better books.” Before walking into the back of the R.V. Glenn then gets up and asks quietly “Dale, you think Andrea’s on her period?” Dale holds up a hand but Glenn adds “I’m only asking ‘cause it’s like all the women are acting really weird. And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time.” Dale holds his hand up again and says “I’m gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself.” Before looking at me so I shrug not caring. “Yeah.” Glenn says so Dale asks “Who else is acting weird?” Glenn sits back down and thinks for a minute before saying “Maggie.” “Ah, Maggie.” Dale says knowingly so Glenn starts explaining “She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have sex with me. And now she’s being mean to me again. And I don’t even want to know what’s going on with Lori.” “What’s going on with Lori?” Dale asks so Glenn looks at me, I shrug so he says “Nothing. I don’t know.” “All right, let’s take this back a step. How do you know that Maggie wanted to have sex with you?” Dale asks. Glenn just looks at him smiling so Dale says “Oh, son, you didn’t.” Glenn chuckles so Dale adds “Did it ever occur to you how her father might feel about this?” “She’s 22.” Glenn states so Dale says “And he is our host.”  “He doesn’t know.” Glenn says then so Dale says “Well, see that it stays that way. Jesus, Glenn what were you thinking?” “I was thinking that I might be dead tomorrow.” Glenn says sadly before getting up and adding “Thanks for the book. You’re right, it sucks.” Walking out of the R.V. ��Walker. Walker!” Andrea then yells from on top of the R.V. so I rush out past Dale as Rick comes up asking “Just the one?” She looks through the binoculars and says “I bet I can nail it from here.” “No, no, Andrea. Put the gun down.”  Rick says as the guys get their weapons and I start walking towards the walker. “You’d best let us handle this.” Shane says so Rick says “Shane, hold up. Hershel wants to deal with walkers.” “What for, man? We got it covered.” Shane says catching up to me. I speed up to get away from him as Rick catches up and does the same. I falter as I see who the walker was. Rick points his gun at him as Glenn asks “Is that Daryl?” “That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?” Daryl says so I start to walk towards him to help him as Rick lowers his gun. Then it happens, almost in slow motion, gunshot, my heart stops as Daryl falls, and I can’t stop myself from screaming “Daryl!” as I run to him.

****Rick’s POV****

           When we get to the walker I point my gun at it as Glenn asks “Is that Daryl?” “That’s the third time you’ve pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?” Daryl says so I lower my gun and T starts walking towards him concern showing slightly on her face. Andrea shoots and T screams his name as she runs to him. She puts pressure on him wound as her face actually showing emotions from affection to fear. Shane and I take him from her as he says “I was kidding.” Before passing out. Andrea and Dale are running towards us as we start heading back. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God, is he dead?” Andrea asks as T silently follows us, obviously fighting with her feelings. “Unconscious. You just grazed him.” I answer Andrea before Glenn says “But look at him. What the hell happened? He’s wearing ears.” I rip them off and say “Let’s keep that to ourselves.” As I hide them. “Guys, isn’t this Sophia’s?” T-dog asks so we pause and look at him.

****Time skip****

           As Hershel stitched Daryl up Shane asks “Where’d you get the doll?” sitting in a chair in the room as I sit by the bed with the map. “I found it washed up on the creek bed right there. She must have dropped it crossing there somewhere.” He says pointing to the area before holding the rag to his head again. I look at Shane and say “Cuts the grid almost in half.” “Yeah, you’re welcome.” Daryl says. “How’s he looking?” I ask Hershel. “I had no idea we’d be going through the antibiotics so quickly. Any idea what happened to my horse?” Hershel says finishing up and washing his hands in the bowl of water. “Yeah, the one who almost killed me? If it’s smart, it left the country.” Daryl says. “We call that one Nelly, as in nervous Nelly. I could have told you she’d throw you if you’d bothered to ask. It’s a wonder you people have survived this long.” Hershel says walking towards me before he adds “Go now. He needs to rest a bit.” Shane and I nod and leave the room.

****Daryl’s POV****

           Shane and Rick leaves so Hershel turns to me and says “It’s not my place to say this-“ “Then why are you?” I ask angry cutting him off, my heart aching as I keep hearing T scream my name. He glares at me and asks “Do you still hear her scream for you?” I look at him shocked so he says “T, she’s a strong girl but right now she’s not. She was slapped in the face with her feelings for you the moment Andrea shot you.” “What you getting at?” I ask angry again. “Daryl, you got past her walls without her even knowing. Just like she did with you. Don’t deny it, I’ve seen how you look at her. Now…you need to tell her how you feel.” He says sternly before leaving. I debate for a while trying to figure out how to tell T I love her.

****T’s POV****

           I was walking in the woods after Rick told me Daryl would be fine, needing to be alone. ‘Sam, if you can hear me somehow, I just want you to know that you were right. I’m dense when it comes to love. It took him almost dying for me to accept the fact that I loved him. Though you’re still wrong when it comes to him liking me.’ I tell her in my head hoping she could hear me. A branch breaks behind me so I quickly turn around my hand ready to grab my knife. Rick comes out and says “There you are. Dinners about done, Carol asked me to find you.” I nod and follow him back.

           Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Jimmy, and I all have to sit at the “kids” table. We’re all eating when Glenn suddenly asks “Does anybody know how to play guitar?” I sigh but he ignores me as he adds “Dale found a cool one. Somebody’s got to know how to play” Everyone is silent till Patricia says “Otis did.” “Yes, and he was very good, too.” Hershel tells her before everyone starts eating again. I get up and go look for it then no one noticing that I left. As I’m looking I see something coming down the drive. I walk closer and they stop and put something down. The something is a child that runs to me limping and crying. “Sophia.” I say breathless as she runs into me hugging me. “Glad I get a welcome back too.” Yori says faking hurt as he comes closer. “Yori?” I ask not believing it. He nods as he smirks saying “You didn’t think I was dead now did you? You should know by now that I’m awesome!” I shake my head at him as I hug him. Suddenly Yori asks “Who’s this Daryl Sophia keeps telling me about?” Sophia laughs as I look at him in shock. “Well, come on girls and point him out to me.” He says before grabbing mine and Sophia’s hand dragging us to the house. Sophia keeps laughing as I dig my feet in the ground which only caused Yori to pull me forward and pick me up before holding me under his arm. I curse myself for being so light as he keeps walking without hindrance.

****Daryl’s POV****

           The door opens so I look and see that it was Carol so I pull the blanket up as she asks “How are you feeling?” before setting the tray on the bedside table. “As good as I look.” I tell her so she says “I brought you some dinner. You must be starving.” I turn a little to look at her then at it and she leans in and kisses me on the head. I look at her before saying “Watch out. I got stitches.” She pauses before saying “You need to know something.” I look at her so she adds “You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life.” “I didn’t do anything Rick, T, or Shane wouldn’t have done.” I say so she says “I know. You’re every bit as good as them. Every bit.” Before leaving.

           A few minutes go by before a door slams open and a guy yells “Is this yours?” “Sophia!” Carol yells as Sophia yells “Mom!” I get out of bed and slowly make my way to the stairs. When I get there everyone is hugging Sophia and thanking the guy who has T tucked under his arm just hanging there. She’s not struggling so I look closer at the guy and see the resemblance between the two while remembering the drawing she made of him. He’s looking around at everyone and suddenly looks up at me. He studies me a bit before smirking and putting T down he says “Name’s Yori and I’m related to that thing.” pointing at T who smacks him like she does Glenn. I then turn and go back to the room. A few minutes go by and the noise dies down. Then the door to the room opens as Yori says “You must be Daryl.” “What do you want?” I ask him annoyed as he shuts the door walking into the room. His face changes from friendly to threatening as he asks “Do you love my sister?” I don’t say anything and look at him daring him to try something. “Look, I just don’t want her to get hurt.” He says friendly again. “Neither do I.” I counter so he accuses “She’s not some toy you can just throw away when it gets boring or when it is broken.” “I know that!” I yell angry causing him to say “You don’t.” I go to say something but he holds up a hand and adds “I know she hasn’t told you so I’m going to. When she was ten and I was already in the army our parents were murdered in front of her. The people responsible then took her and sold her into sex slavery. She was there for two years before she managed to escape. She was half dead when she walked into the E.R. and was in the hospital for a year. She then trained and joined the military when she was eighteen. We were in Special Forces for a year before I lost my leg and she decided that others came before her. A year goes by before she ends up getting captured. She sliced her own throat to prevent them from using her to get to the others. She can’t forget anything she hears, feels, or sees and she can copy it exactly, it’s what saved her this whole time.” I look at him shocked so he accuses “Do you still love her?” “I do.” I tell him immediately. He looks at me relieved before saying “Then do me a favor, don’t get killed and tell her you do.” He walks to the door and adds “Also just remember I don’t have any qualms about killing others. Especially those who hurt my little sister.” smiling at me before leaving.

[rmoseley]

Jacked part four

I locked eyes with Dean. They were swimming with concern, I nodded. “Yeah.” not that he would care. He was probably thinking about Joe. We found the clown. Or rather the Rakshasa. It was the blind knife thrower. The door to the room he led us in was stuck, he vanished a knife landed just next to my head in the door. Another one sailed just beside my neck as Dean pushed me in front of him out the door. We met up with Sam and ran to the fun house. We were separated. “Dean? Sam?” I shouted hitting at the wall. “Find the maze! Hurry!” I heard Sam yell. I ran to it seeing the calliope come into view. I was moved just in time to be pinnined to the wall. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” I yell trying to pry the knife out of my jacket. Dean tried to pull it out while Sam pulled the steaming brass pipe of the calliope out. He was pinned to me. All I could do was look at Dean. I was going dizzy as a knife stuck itself in the wall grazing a bare piece of flesh from my T-shirt riding up. Dean looked down at me, an unreadable emotion crossed his face. Then as soon as it appeared it vanished when he set to work pulling the knives out of the wall. My breath hitched as he pulled the last one out, it was just above the waist line of my jeans. His fingers brushed over the skin. Making my head spin. I was swooning over Dean. At Bobby’s the Impala was nearly done I was walking around when I heard the sound of glass breaking. I ran up there just in time to see Dean going ape on Baby’s trunk. “Dean…” I said placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned around. I wish he hadn’t. He looked really angry. “Go away Jackline I don’t want to talk. You’re just as bad as Sammy.” I crossed my arms. “Dean I-” “I said go away!” he pushed me back I tripped on my own feet and glared at him. I got up and dusted myself off. And walked off. I didn’t talk to him for a while I still wasn’t talking to him when we went on a case in Montana. A couple severed heads, some drained cattle, we thought we’d check it out. That’s when we met a hunter, another one that actively sought to kill vamps. I developed a strong sense of dislike for him when he was encouraging sadistic behavior in Dean. Sam got up to go to the motel I got up to follow him Dean grabbed my wrist. “Where do you think you’re going Jackie?” I wrenched my arm out of his grasp, glaring at him hopefully enough to convey my anger, “To bed.” I said as I followed Sam out the door. We called Ellen. “Hey Ellen its Sam…” Sam forced me to stay in the room which was a bad idea. We were bound and thrown into a van. I wake up shoulder to shoulder with someone. A bag over my head. It was yanked off I was sitting by Sam. The thing in front of us was a euro fangbanger. Shit. Well it would have drained us if someone wouldn’t have told it to wait. Her name was Lenor. She wanted to talk to us. She wanted us not to follow her. I put two and two together. Gordon was hunting them out of his own sick pleasure. I was still mad at Dean but I had to warn him. He was being hardheaded about this. We told him that they let us go and thatcthey fed on animals. He still didn’t believe us. I stopped him by stepping in front of him. “Dean, please. They would have killed us if they wanted to. You have to believe us.” I said my blue eyes searching his green hazel eyes. He put his hands on my hips and moved me aside, walking back towards the room. He said that killing supernatural things is our job. “No killing evil things is our job. If they ain’t killing people they ain’t evil. Dean.” I said so angry that my accent came out. We got into it him me and Sam yelling at each other before I gave up and walked back to the rooms. Dean punched Sam. I was going to be the peace keeper. I stepped in front of Sam. “Stop.” I said looking into his eyes. He clenched his jaw and said he was going to the nest. He looked down at me, an unreadable emotion swimming in his eyes, before he started walking to the rooms. Gordon was missing. We were going to stop him. Or rather Sam and I were going to. I looked Dean in the eye and stepped closer to him. “Trust us. you haven’t given us any reason to lie.” he looked down at me a serious look on his face. He swallowed hard. The tension was thick in the room Sam looked uncomfortable. I backed away and turned to walk to the door, “or don’t. Its your choice.” I said walking out the door. Dean had to hot wire the Impala because someone *cough cough* Gordon *cough cough * jacked the keys. I am so going to Gank that guy. We walked in on him torturing Lenor. I drew my pistol. The fucker threatened Sam with the knife he was going to use to kill Lenor. “They aren’t human, they haven’t changed and I can prove it.” he said as he cut Sam and let the blood drip on Lenor’s face. “No, no,” Lenor repeated over and over again fighting the urge to feed. So Dean pulled a Gun on Gordon, who waited till Dean turned his back before he tried to fight him I tried to intervein which got me tossed like a rag doll, I hit my head on the table and conked out. I woke up in Dean’s arms, my head to his chest. I looked up wincing as the tender flesh met his arm. “Dean? Wha- what happened?” I groaned. He looked down at me a serious look on his face, always so serious here lately.

We were going to visit the boys’ mother’s grave. Dean thought it was stupid, I agreed with Sam. We were at the cemetery. I gave them some space looking around I saw something peculiar. At one particular grave all the vegetation surrounding it was dead. It was in a circle around one single grave. “Uh guys? I really hate to interrupt your visit but, look.” I pointed to the dead tree. “Everything around it is green except for the parts closest to the grave.” I said. “What do you think happened?” I was shocked. Dean Winchester asked my opinion on a hunt. Mind blown. “Unholy ground? Maybe something happened after the funeral.” I shrugged. “I doubt its a sign of an unholy presence. There would be more signs. An omen or two.” Dean gave me a not bad face and I scoffed. He held his hand out to me to help me up, I was still sore from being thrown into a wall. I took it trying to hide the obvious redness in my cheeks. So we got the girls name. Angela Mason. Her father is a professor at the local college. We knocked on his door. “Professor Mason?” the old man said yes. “I’m Sam this is Dean and Jackie, we were friends of Angela’s. We wanted to offer our condolences.” we talked to the professor while Dean fiddled with a strange book. “This’s a strange book.” “its ancient Greek. I teach a course.” Dean changed the subject. “So a car accident. That’s an awful way to go.” he said the man nodded. “Angie was just a mile away from home…” “losing someone like that is hard. Sometimes it feels like they’re still around. You ever get a feeling like that?” I quirked an eyebrow at Dean. “That’s perfectly normal, Mr Mason, with what you’re going through.” I said looking at Dean.“ “I’m telling you there’s something here we just haven’t found it yet.” Dean said as the thumbed through his father’s journal. I nodded. “I agree with Dean Sam, something’s obviously going on.” “So far you have a patch of dead grass and a funny feeling. We shouldn’t even have bothered that poor man.” I crossed my arms when Sam suggested it was a flop. Dean left to go drink I was sitting on the bed. Sam was doing the same. “Sam?” he turned to me, “I think Dean is right. The dead grass was in a perfect circle.” Sam tuned back to face the wall. I went with Dean to investigate. Angela’s boyfriend killed himself. I investigated the scene with Dean. It was a blood bath, and the fact that all the plants and goldfish were dead, just added to my I told you so parade. “I think Sam owes you an apology.” I said smirking at Dean as I slid into the impala. Dean was being stoic again. My arm rested on Baby’s consol. Dean’s was right beside mine, one hand on the wheel. His fingers grazed mine ‘on accident.’ I looked at him, a grin on my lips. I jumped when his fingers laced with mine but my smile grew wider into an ear to ear, face splitting grin. I felt like a giddy teenager, I squeezed his hand. This man was full of surprises. We found out that Angela’s boyfriend cheated on her. That marks her as a vengeful spirit to me. We went to burn her body, we stopped digging. Her coffin lay untouched in the earth. “Ladies first.” Dean said. I slid into the hole and wrenched the coffin open falling on my rear. “Its empty. This is bad.” I said noticing strange symbols carved in the wood. Dean looked pissed. The next day he confronted her poor father. “What’s dead should stay dead!” Dean said still angry. “Dean,” I warned. He didn’t seem to notice. "What you brought back isn’t even your daughter anymore. These things are viscous they’re violent, they’re so nasty they rot the ground around them, I mean come on, haven’t you seen pet cemetery?” he was accusing this sweet old man. “Dean that’s enough!” I shouted. “We are sorry sir, were leaving. We won’t bother you again.” I followed Dean outside. “What the hell was that Dean? that man was innocent.” Sam and him kept arguing. I held the bridge of my nose. If anyone heard us they probably thought we were crazy. “So its Neil then?” I asked remembering the timid guy we questioned. “Neil its your grief counselors. We’ve come to hug!” Dean yelled. I sniggered then regained seriousness as I loaded my pistol. We entered his basement, the place smelled like death and the vent was loose. “Shit.” I cursed under my breath. “Look she killed Matt because he was cheating, it takes two to have hardcore sex.” Dean said. Oh god the thoughts again. I stubbed my toe on purpose to draw my mind away. I hissed and hopped around much to their amusement. “Stubbed my toe.” I said slightly laughing. It worked. So we went back to her friends house. Lindsay was in danger. I shot her right in the back. She turned around and I shot her again, she jumped out the window I moved to follow her but Dean grabbed my arm. He ran after her coming back minutes later. “Man that Dead chick can run.” he said as he stepped back into the window. He confused me. “I say we go have a little chat with Neil.” I said. Angela killed Neil. We were lighting candles to perform the ‘ritual’ waiting for that undead freak to come I was going to nail the to her grave bed. I heard rustling in the bushes. I stood up ready to Gank her. Sam lured her out. I shot her before she could break Sam’s neck.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Inside Marvel Studios: Secrets About 'Black Panther,' 'Thor: Ragnarok' 'Spider-Man' & More!

It's a risk letting anyone see how the superhero sausage is made, but that's exactly what Marvel Studios did when they opened the doors of their offices to a pack of reporters on Monday night for an Open House. The itinerary for the event was shrouded in secrecy--Marvel's usual M.O. when it comes to anything connected to their Cinematic Universe--so each room on the tour contained some new surprise, unfolding like a game of Clue where the players were mostly actors named Chris.

RELATED: Talking 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' Bad Guys and Baby Groot With Marvel Boss Kevin Feige 

THE LOBBY: "A lot of people get to go into the office lobby, but few people get to come past here," our tour guide, executive producer Jeremy Latcham (The Avengers and Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming), says. The recently renovated offices occupy the entire second floor of their building on the Walt Disney lot in Burbank--a far cry from the offices the studio used to apparently share with a kite factory.

Three iterations of the Iron Man suit loom over the lobby couches, giving the waiting room a Tony Stark's-lab-before-it-was-blown-up-in-a-terrorist-attack vibe, while Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana's costumes "straight from the set" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are on display next to the receptionist's desk, with a cheeky sign warning, "Obviously if you touch the costumes or stand on the stage, Baby Groot will push the button!" (The lobby is also the first and last place in Marvel HQ where anyone is allowed to take photos.)

THE DEVELOPMENT LOUNGE: Where the Marvel team develops their film slate and how the cinematic universe is all connected--and if the room is any indication, where they play ping-pong and pin ball. The room showcases a model of the Helicarrier from Avengers and another of Disneyland, walls lined with signed Marvel posters ("Kevin, you rock!" Saldana scrawled on Guardians of the Galaxy), and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, is propped next to TV.

There's a mural painted on one wall showing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa staring off at a tree full of panthers and--though Black Panther doesn't finish filming until Wednesday and won't hit theaters until 2018--we assembled around a coffee table topped with an encased Baby Groot to watch three minutes of sizzle reel for the movie.

"This is not a world that we've ever seen--as big as it is, as advanced as it is, and also the respect and the homage paid to its past traditions," Angela Bassett, serving for the gods in regal headdresses and flowing white dreadlocks as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, teased in the clip. Judging from the concept art and brief glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage, the film will be as lush as it is sci-fi: shots of T'Challa in his upgraded Black Panther suit in the jungle, fighting in a bar and giving a political speech. A mountain glowing with vibranium. At one point, if I'm not mistaken, I saw an armored rhinoceros. (I think I saw an armored rhinoceros. There are probably weaponized rhinos in Black Panther, guys.)

THE LIBRARY: "Obviously, a somewhat condensed comic book library," Latcham disclaims while gesturing to shelves full of comic books that run the length of an entire hallway. "Not quite everything we would want. We want all the comics. At all time." Littered amongst the comic books are various props from various movies: a stunt Eye of Agamotto (the real one is with composer Michael Giacchino), a model of an Orloni, the little alien Star-Lord uses as a microphone in the Guardians of the Galaxy opening credits, one of Captain America's real shields. ("There are a lot of shields that exist.")

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT: Bypassing an innocuous enough cubicle farm, we're led to some of the most privileged offices at Marvel: of the "vis dev" team, headed by Ryan Meinerding, where one can find concept art for movies in all stages of production. Like in Meinerding's own office, where a computer drawing of Thanos, for the upcoming Infinity Wars, is being projected onscreen, showing a smirking Thanos sans his customary armor. "He's awesome. He's powerful. He's got a big glove with some jewels in it," Meinerding plays coy. (Indeed, all the Infinity Stones are present.) What about that tower of deconstructed rubble behind him? "Oh... [Laughs] I can't talk about that one." 

One office over, director Peyton Reed has popped in to work on Ant-Man & The Wasp. The walls are lined with concept art for the movie, including a gag with a bulldog chomping on Luis' shrunken van, a more metallic Hope van Dyne-era Wasp suit and rejiggered suits for Ant-Man and Giant-Man (Paul Rudd at various sizes). But is that Sharon Stone in the Janet van Dyne-era Wasp suit? Reed laughs, "It is not Sharon Stone."

And then there's something new: concept art of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, in a slightly darker and grittier take on her classic comic book suit, complete with the star on her chest and a shorter, blonde haircut. In another shot, she's seen fighting two metal robots with an inferno blazing around her fist. "It's just enough to inspire everyone, to get everyone super psyched," Latchman explains. "So by the time the Captain Marvel movie actually comes out, whether she'll be that exact costume? Who knows." It may change when a director is hired. "Actually, it does have a director. They've just--No?" Reed called from the back of the room. Latcham looked momentarily shocked before both laughed and said it was only a joke. (Or was it? Who knows.)

EDIT BAYS: A dimly lit room with one large screen and plenty of seating around it, where Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is on hand to edit visual effects. For us, though, he's announcing a new character in the film--but it is not a classic Thor character. "He features heavily in the Planet Hulk storyline which we're borrowing from," Waititi says of Korg the Kronan, an 8-foot tall rock creature in, as he puts it, "a 2017 metal bikini." 

"Being made of rocks, we really wanted to get someone like The Rock to play him, but there wasn't enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris [Hemsworth]," Waititi explains. "So, the next best thing was a hot--super hot--export from New Zealand. A great character actor named Taika."

Waititi provided a look at Korg in various stages of VFX, from the director donning the mo-cap suit ("The emasculation suit, as Mark Ruffalo likes to call it") to a rough cut of the scene where the lovable brute first meets and befriends Thor. I'll say this much: It's all very funny, closer to the tone of the director's last film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, than The Dark World. Korg also has a silent sidekick, Miek, an insectoid larva-thing operating an exoskeleton with knife hands. Miek is absolutely repulsive and so, so cool.

SCREENING ROOM: An intimate theater in which co-president Louis D'Esposito claims all Marvel films start and end, and where we are being treated to dailies from "Motherland"--the production title of Black Panther. The footage is raw ("Blue screens. Bad sound. You're going to hear cursing. You're going to see a grip's leg in one shot," D'Esposito warns) but it really is quite stunning.

We see bits of two sequences, the first involving King T'challa's correlation at Warrior Falls: his royal bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, rhythmically stomping and chanting aboard a ship. A shirtless Boseman descending a set of stairs into a pool of water and receiving the power of the Black Panther. The footage is beautiful and colorful and musical--unlike anything we've seen in the MCU thus far. The second, potentially more spoiler-y sequence, involves Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis from Age of Ultron, upgraded with some sort of prosthetic arm) meeting Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman from Captain America: Civil War) in a South Korean casino to discuss mixtapes and vibranium.

Following the dailies, D'Esposito cued a string of VFX shots from Spider-Man: Homecoming (or "Summer of George," as it was known). Director Jon Watts was busy scoring the movie with composer Giacchino, but our sampling of the 2,300 effect shots were so brief it's hard to describe exactly what we saw: Peter's pre-Civil War suit is the non-Stark Industries one seen in the trailer. One of the weapons wielded by the villains is a reclaimed and modified Ultron arm. Tom Holland's abs. "His body is real," D'Esposito joked. "We did not touch it."

THE COURTYARD: Our tour ends where it began, at an open-air courtyard in the center of the building where drinks and sushi are being served. "We go away and we have creative retreats together," Latchman adds. "Basically we'll rent a house in Palm Springs and we'll all go out to the desert with a big stack of Post-it notes and plan out the next Phase." What Marvel Phase were they discussing at their last retreat? "If I told you that, you guys would know everything!"

As a goodbye, we're greeted by president Kevin Feige, who oversees the entire operation and knows answers to questions that haven't even been asked yet. All Feige wants to talk about, though, is last weekend's Star Wars Celebration and The Last Jedi trailer. When the topic returns to Marvel's slate and specifics about, say, whether there's a Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg in the new Thor trailer, he deadpans, "I can neither confirm nor deny." Alas, that answer is hidden somewhere else inside Marvel Studios.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Inside Marvel Studios: Secrets About 'Black Panther,' 'Thor: Ragnarok' 'Spider-Man' & More!

It's a risk letting anyone see how the superhero sausage is made, but that's exactly what Marvel Studios did when they opened the doors of their offices to a pack of reporters on Monday night for an Open House. The itinerary for the event was shrouded in secrecy--Marvel's usual M.O. when it comes to anything connected to their Cinematic Universe--so each room on the tour contained some new surprise, unfolding like a game of Clue where the players were mostly actors named Chris.

RELATED: Talking 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' Bad Guys and Baby Groot With Marvel Boss Kevin Feige 

THE LOBBY: "A lot of people get to go into the office lobby, but few people get to come past here," our tour guide, executive producer Jeremy Latcham (The Avengers and Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming), says. The recently renovated offices occupy the entire second floor of their building on the Walt Disney lot in Burbank--a far cry from the offices the studio used to apparently share with a kite factory.

Three iterations of the Iron Man suit loom over the lobby couches, giving the waiting room a Tony Stark's-lab-before-it-was-blown-up-in-a-terrorist-attack vibe, while Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana's costumes "straight from the set" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are on display next to the receptionist's desk, with a cheeky sign warning, "Obviously if you touch the costumes or stand on the stage, Baby Groot will push the button!" (The lobby is also the first and last place in Marvel HQ where anyone is allowed to take photos.)

THE DEVELOPMENT LOUNGE: Where the Marvel team develops their film slate and how the cinematic universe is all connected--and if the room is any indication, where they play ping-pong and pin ball. The room showcases a model of the Helicarrier from Avengers and another of Disneyland, walls lined with signed Marvel posters ("Kevin, you rock!" Saldana scrawled on Guardians of the Galaxy), and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, is propped next to TV.

There's a mural painted on one wall showing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa staring off at a tree full of panthers and--though Black Panther doesn't finish filming until Wednesday and won't hit theaters until 2018--we assembled around a coffee table topped with an encased Baby Groot to watch three minutes of sizzle reel for the movie.

"This is not a world that we've ever seen--as big as it is, as advanced as it is, and also the respect and the homage paid to its past traditions," Angela Bassett, serving for the gods in regal headdresses and flowing white dreadlocks as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, teased in the clip. Judging from the concept art and brief glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage, the film will be as lush as it is sci-fi: shots of T'Challa in his upgraded Black Panther suit in the jungle, fighting in a bar and giving a political speech. A mountain glowing with vibranium. At one point, if I'm not mistaken, I saw an armored rhinoceros. (I think I saw an armored rhinoceros. There are probably weaponized rhinos in Black Panther, guys.)

THE LIBRARY: "Obviously, a somewhat condensed comic book library," Latcham disclaims while gesturing to shelves full of comic books that run the length of an entire hallway. "Not quite everything we would want. We want all the comics. At all time." Littered amongst the comic books are various props from various movies: a stunt Eye of Agamotto (the real one is with composer Michael Giacchino), a model of an Orloni, the little alien Star-Lord uses as a microphone in the Guardians of the Galaxy opening credits, one of Captain America's real shields. ("There are a lot of shields that exist.")

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT: Bypassing an innocuous enough cubicle farm, we're led to some of the most privileged offices at Marvel: of the "vis dev" team, headed by Ryan Meinerding, where one can find concept art for movies in all stages of production. Like in Meinerding's own office, where a computer drawing of Thanos, for the upcoming Infinity Wars, is being projected onscreen, showing a smirking Thanos sans his customary armor. "He's awesome. He's powerful. He's got a big glove with some jewels in it," Meinerding plays coy. (Indeed, all the Infinity Stones are present.) What about that tower of deconstructed rubble behind him? "Oh... [Laughs] I can't talk about that one." 

One office over, director Peyton Reed has popped in to work on Ant-Man & The Wasp. The walls are lined with concept art for the movie, including a gag with a bulldog chomping on Luis' shrunken van, a more metallic Hope van Dyne-era Wasp suit and rejiggered suits for Ant-Man and Giant-Man (Paul Rudd at various sizes). But is that Sharon Stone in the Janet van Dyne-era Wasp suit? Reed laughs, "It is not Sharon Stone."

And then there's something new: concept art of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, in a slightly darker and grittier take on her classic comic book suit, complete with the star on her chest and a shorter, blonde haircut. In another shot, she's seen fighting two metal robots with an inferno blazing around her fist. "It's just enough to inspire everyone, to get everyone super psyched," Latchman explains. "So by the time the Captain Marvel movie actually comes out, whether she'll be that exact costume? Who knows." It may change when a director is hired. "Actually, it does have a director. They've just--No?" Reed called from the back of the room. Latcham looked momentarily shocked before both laughed and said it was only a joke. (Or was it? Who knows.)

EDIT BAYS: A dimly lit room with one large screen and plenty of seating around it, where Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is on hand to edit visual effects. For us, though, he's announcing a new character in the film--but it is not a classic Thor character. "He features heavily in the Planet Hulk storyline which we're borrowing from," Waititi says of Korg the Kronan, an 8-foot tall rock creature in, as he puts it, "a 2017 metal bikini." 

"Being made of rocks, we really wanted to get someone like The Rock to play him, but there wasn't enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris [Hemsworth]," Waititi explains. "So, the next best thing was a hot--super hot--export from New Zealand. A great character actor named Taika."

Waititi provided a look at Korg in various stages of VFX, from the director donning the mo-cap suit ("The emasculation suit, as Mark Ruffalo likes to call it") to a rough cut of the scene where the lovable brute first meets and befriends Thor. I'll say this much: It's all very funny, closer to the tone of the director's last film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, than The Dark World. Korg also has a silent sidekick, Miek, an insectoid larva-thing operating an exoskeleton with knife hands. Miek is absolutely repulsive and so, so cool.

SCREENING ROOM: An intimate theater in which co-president Louis D'Esposito claims all Marvel films start and end, and where we are being treated to dailies from "Motherland"--the production title of Black Panther. The footage is raw ("Blue screens. Bad sound. You're going to hear cursing. You're going to see a grip's leg in one shot," D'Esposito warns) but it really is quite stunning.

We see bits of two sequences, the first involving King T'challa's correlation at Warrior Falls: his royal bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, rhythmically stomping and chanting aboard a ship. A shirtless Boseman descending a set of stairs into a pool of water and receiving the power of the Black Panther. The footage is beautiful and colorful and musical--unlike anything we've seen in the MCU thus far. The second, potentially more spoiler-y sequence, involves Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis from Age of Ultron, upgraded with some sort of prosthetic arm) meeting Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman from Captain America: Civil War) in a South Korean casino to discuss mixtapes and vibranium.

Following the dailies, D'Esposito cued a string of VFX shots from Spider-Man: Homecoming (or "Summer of George," as it was known). Director Jon Watts was busy scoring the movie with composer Giacchino, but our sampling of the 2,300 effect shots were so brief it's hard to describe exactly what we saw: Peter's pre-Civil War suit is the non-Stark Industries one seen in the trailer. One of the weapons wielded by the villains is a reclaimed and modified Ultron arm. Tom Holland's abs. "His body is real," D'Esposito joked. "We did not touch it."

THE COURTYARD: Our tour ends where it began, at an open-air courtyard in the center of the building where drinks and sushi are being served. "We go away and we have creative retreats together," Latchman adds. "Basically we'll rent a house in Palm Springs and we'll all go out to the desert with a big stack of Post-it notes and plan out the next Phase." What Marvel Phase were they discussing at their last retreat? "If I told you that, you guys would know everything!"

As a goodbye, we're greeted by president Kevin Feige, who oversees the entire operation and knows answers to questions that haven't even been asked yet. All Feige wants to talk about, though, is last weekend's Star Wars Celebration and The Last Jedi trailer. When the topic returns to Marvel's slate and specifics about, say, whether there's a Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg in the new Thor trailer, he deadpans, "I can neither confirm nor deny." Alas, that answer is hidden somewhere else inside Marvel Studios.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Inside Marvel Studios: Secrets About 'Black Panther,' 'Thor: Ragnarok' 'Spider-Man' & More!

It's a risk letting anyone see how the superhero sausage is made, but that's exactly what Marvel Studios did when they opened the doors of their offices to a pack of reporters on Monday night for an Open House. The itinerary for the event was shrouded in secrecy--Marvel's usual M.O. when it comes to anything connected to their Cinematic Universe--so each room on the tour contained some new surprise, unfolding like a game of Clue where the players were mostly actors named Chris.

RELATED: Talking 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' Bad Guys and Baby Groot With Marvel Boss Kevin Feige 

THE LOBBY: "A lot of people get to go into the office lobby, but few people get to come past here," our tour guide, executive producer Jeremy Latcham (The Avengers and Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming), says. The recently renovated offices occupy the entire second floor of their building on the Walt Disney lot in Burbank--a far cry from the offices the studio used to apparently share with a kite factory.

Three iterations of the Iron Man suit loom over the lobby couches, giving the waiting room a Tony Stark's-lab-before-it-was-blown-up-in-a-terrorist-attack vibe, while Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana's costumes "straight from the set" of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are on display next to the receptionist's desk, with a cheeky sign warning, "Obviously if you touch the costumes or stand on the stage, Baby Groot will push the button!" (The lobby is also the first and last place in Marvel HQ where anyone is allowed to take photos.)

THE DEVELOPMENT LOUNGE: Where the Marvel team develops their film slate and how the cinematic universe is all connected--and if the room is any indication, where they play ping-pong and pin ball. The room showcases a model of the Helicarrier from Avengers and another of Disneyland, walls lined with signed Marvel posters ("Kevin, you rock!" Saldana scrawled on Guardians of the Galaxy), and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, is propped next to TV.

There's a mural painted on one wall showing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa staring off at a tree full of panthers and--though Black Panther doesn't finish filming until Wednesday and won't hit theaters until 2018--we assembled around a coffee table topped with an encased Baby Groot to watch three minutes of sizzle reel for the movie.

"This is not a world that we've ever seen--as big as it is, as advanced as it is, and also the respect and the homage paid to its past traditions," Angela Bassett, serving for the gods in regal headdresses and flowing white dreadlocks as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda, teased in the clip. Judging from the concept art and brief glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage, the film will be as lush as it is sci-fi: shots of T'Challa in his upgraded Black Panther suit in the jungle, fighting in a bar and giving a political speech. A mountain glowing with vibranium. At one point, if I'm not mistaken, I saw an armored rhinoceros. (I think I saw an armored rhinoceros. There are probably weaponized rhinos in Black Panther, guys.)

THE LIBRARY: "Obviously, a somewhat condensed comic book library," Latcham disclaims while gesturing to shelves full of comic books that run the length of an entire hallway. "Not quite everything we would want. We want all the comics. At all time." Littered amongst the comic books are various props from various movies: a stunt Eye of Agamotto (the real one is with composer Michael Giacchino), a model of an Orloni, the little alien Star-Lord uses as a microphone in the Guardians of the Galaxy opening credits, one of Captain America's real shields. ("There are a lot of shields that exist.")

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT: Bypassing an innocuous enough cubicle farm, we're led to some of the most privileged offices at Marvel: of the "vis dev" team, headed by Ryan Meinerding, where one can find concept art for movies in all stages of production. Like in Meinerding's own office, where a computer drawing of Thanos, for the upcoming Infinity Wars, is being projected onscreen, showing a smirking Thanos sans his customary armor. "He's awesome. He's powerful. He's got a big glove with some jewels in it," Meinerding plays coy. (Indeed, all the Infinity Stones are present.) What about that tower of deconstructed rubble behind him? "Oh... [Laughs] I can't talk about that one." 

One office over, director Peyton Reed has popped in to work on Ant-Man & The Wasp. The walls are lined with concept art for the movie, including a gag with a bulldog chomping on Luis' shrunken van, a more metallic Hope van Dyne-era Wasp suit and rejiggered suits for Ant-Man and Giant-Man (Paul Rudd at various sizes). But is that Sharon Stone in the Janet van Dyne-era Wasp suit? Reed laughs, "It is not Sharon Stone."

And then there's something new: concept art of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, in a slightly darker and grittier take on her classic comic book suit, complete with the star on her chest and a shorter, blonde haircut. In another shot, she's seen fighting two metal robots with an inferno blazing around her fist. "It's just enough to inspire everyone, to get everyone super psyched," Latchman explains. "So by the time the Captain Marvel movie actually comes out, whether she'll be that exact costume? Who knows." It may change when a director is hired. "Actually, it does have a director. They've just--No?" Reed called from the back of the room. Latcham looked momentarily shocked before both laughed and said it was only a joke. (Or was it? Who knows.)

EDIT BAYS: A dimly lit room with one large screen and plenty of seating around it, where Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is on hand to edit visual effects. For us, though, he's announcing a new character in the film--but it is not a classic Thor character. "He features heavily in the Planet Hulk storyline which we're borrowing from," Waititi says of Korg the Kronan, an 8-foot tall rock creature in, as he puts it, "a 2017 metal bikini." 

"Being made of rocks, we really wanted to get someone like The Rock to play him, but there wasn't enough chicken or salmon in Australia to sustain both him and Chris [Hemsworth]," Waititi explains. "So, the next best thing was a hot--super hot--export from New Zealand. A great character actor named Taika."

Waititi provided a look at Korg in various stages of VFX, from the director donning the mo-cap suit ("The emasculation suit, as Mark Ruffalo likes to call it") to a rough cut of the scene where the lovable brute first meets and befriends Thor. I'll say this much: It's all very funny, closer to the tone of the director's last film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, than The Dark World. Korg also has a silent sidekick, Miek, an insectoid larva-thing operating an exoskeleton with knife hands. Miek is absolutely repulsive and so, so cool.

SCREENING ROOM: An intimate theater in which co-president Louis D'Esposito claims all Marvel films start and end, and where we are being treated to dailies from "Motherland"--the production title of Black Panther. The footage is raw ("Blue screens. Bad sound. You're going to hear cursing. You're going to see a grip's leg in one shot," D'Esposito warns) but it really is quite stunning.

We see bits of two sequences, the first involving King T'challa's correlation at Warrior Falls: his royal bodyguards, the Dora Milaje, rhythmically stomping and chanting aboard a ship. A shirtless Boseman descending a set of stairs into a pool of water and receiving the power of the Black Panther. The footage is beautiful and colorful and musical--unlike anything we've seen in the MCU thus far. The second, potentially more spoiler-y sequence, involves Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis from Age of Ultron, upgraded with some sort of prosthetic arm) meeting Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman from Captain America: Civil War) in a South Korean casino to discuss mixtapes and vibranium.

Following the dailies, D'Esposito cued a string of VFX shots from Spider-Man: Homecoming (or "Summer of George," as it was known). Director Jon Watts was busy scoring the movie with composer Giacchino, but our sampling of the 2,300 effect shots were so brief it's hard to describe exactly what we saw: Peter's pre-Civil War suit is the non-Stark Industries one seen in the trailer. One of the weapons wielded by the villains is a reclaimed and modified Ultron arm. Tom Holland's abs. "His body is real," D'Esposito joked. "We did not touch it."

THE COURTYARD: Our tour ends where it began, at an open-air courtyard in the center of the building where drinks and sushi are being served. "We go away and we have creative retreats together," Latchman adds. "Basically we'll rent a house in Palm Springs and we'll all go out to the desert with a big stack of Post-it notes and plan out the next Phase." What Marvel Phase were they discussing at their last retreat? "If I told you that, you guys would know everything!"

As a goodbye, we're greeted by president Kevin Feige, who oversees the entire operation and knows answers to questions that haven't even been asked yet. All Feige wants to talk about, though, is last weekend's Star Wars Celebration and The Last Jedi trailer. When the topic returns to Marvel's slate and specifics about, say, whether there's a Guardians of the Galaxy Easter egg in the new Thor trailer, he deadpans, "I can neither confirm nor deny." Alas, that answer is hidden somewhere else inside Marvel Studios.