#the complete wildcat

[all-action-all-picture]

Wildcat No. 10, dated 25 February 1989 - 10 March 1989, 40p every fortnight. The Complete Wildcat cover by Ian Kennedy with the strip inside featuring art by Spain's Joan Boix. Treasury of British Comics.

[lunar-lattice]

this is tricky to articulate but i wonder how much media i missed out on getting into bc i didnt rly get attracted to any of the characters unlike my peers

[philhoffman]

hi! are you on twitter by any chance?

Hi! I have a personal twitter that I do not use ever at all lmao but I do help run an updates account for Cooper and his work (@hoffmanupdates) 🫶

[godsandvillains-if]

Gods and Villains is a superhero/horror story set in a dystopian future where Earth is filled to the brim with crime and corruption—a.k.a MCU meets The Boys.

Warning! injury to major characters, gore, body horror, trauma and PTSD, amnesia, death, and sexual content. Rated +18. More specific content warnings will be provided at the start of each chapter.

You take control of a powerful metahuman, an otherwise ordinary human on the outside but who has the meta-gene, a potent mutation deep engraved in their DNA, which gives them superhuman abilities. This next step in human evolution comes with a setback, however, for the curse of madness seems to follow their every step. It lurks in the shadows, patiently waiting for the opportunity to strike—many metahumans fall prey to its alluring promises. 

With a dark and traumatic past filled with untold horrors and inhuman experiments, you are rescued from the clutches of crazy terrorists by a team of heroes that might lend you all the tools you need for redemption or complete self-annihilation. 

As the only metahuman with the ability to wield the powerful Chaos Magic, your very blood holds the answers to unlocking the secrets behind the control of time and space, but it has the drawback of being almost completely volatile. 

Who can you trust to keep you safe other than yourself? Trust no one, and maybe you can get out of this literal hell alive.

Play as male, female, or non-gender specific, along with transgender choices;

Romance one of seven characters, and if your heart is big enough fall in love with two of them. There's three possible poly routes available: Archon and Stardom, Archon and Mars, Paladin and Wildcat;

Customize your appearance, personality and powers;

Struggle against the shackles of madness trying to take hold of your psyche;

Battle a multitude of villains or become one yourself;

Uncover the secrets behind the meta-gene and your abilities;

Help the public fall in love with superheroes or forever destroy that chance;

In total there are seven romance options, each with their own personality, and dark secrets for you to uncover. You can read more about them below:

?

The villain, or anti-hero, whatever you want to call them, Mars is an enigmatic figure; the very concept of life seems to hold no value to them. A trail of bodies follows wherever they go, and on the news, they are regarded as the biggest menace of the century. They will have the unique ability to sway your loyalty. Beware, their sweet words and promises may drip with honey, but they also drip with the blood of their victims.​

Trope: Forbidden love, emotional scars, blood-play

Zev/Zena Hammer

The oldest of the bunch and not a metahuman per se. Hammer acts as the spokesperson for the team, mitigating the often tenuous relationship between humans and the so-called "mutants". As a retired police detective they've learned firsthand how rotten the world can be for the innocent, and they've vowed to protect them at any cost. Their analytical and communication skills will go hand in hand when dealing with various crimes, just as their implants.

Trope: Widow/widower, age gap, don't-call-me-daddy/mommy

Adam/Ada Armstrong

The current leader of the Alliance Team. Headstrong and dauntless, they are regarded as the strongest metahuman in modern times and the most enigmatic of them all, whose past is shrouded in mystery and unknown even to their closest friends. On the outside, they might seem apathetic and unconcerned with human suffering, but their true feelings are hidden beneath layers of deep trauma. Superhuman strength and invulnerability are their greatest assets when fighting villains.

Trope: Nobody thinks it will work, love/hate, fucking-your-boss

Edward/Evelyn Osborne

The former leader of the Alliance Team and Archon's best friend. On the surface, they are the stereotypical showboat: cocky, greedy, and egoistical. Stardom does whatever they can to gain attention, fame, and riches. For them, the best feeling in the world is an adoring fan and a beautiful person fawning over their heroics. The meta-gene gives them a genius-level intellect, which in turn is used to develop several pieces of equipment that are employed by themselves and the team during fights.​

Trope: Billionaire, belated love epiphany, good-people-have-good-sex

Johnny/Johnnie

If Archon's past is shrouded in mystery, Paladin's is drowned in it. For all you know, their name is not even Johnny/Johnnie but an alias of their choosing. They are known to be the silent loner type and are somewhat socially withdrawn from other members of the team, only speaking when called upon to do so. Behind their silver mask, they harbor more than a few inner demons, and together with their superhuman weapon and combat proficiency, they fight for the innocent.​

Trope: Secret identity, oblivious to love, weapon-fetishization

Pedro/Pilar Flores

The youngest of the team, considered by many a lighthearted jokester without any real talent beyond their obvious powers—which set them apart from every human that walks the earth. With their metahuman status so evident for everyone to see, hiding just didn't seem like an option, so they chose the next best alternative. Known to be playful, energetic, and often immature, they are responsible for balancing the team's more serious side, and when someone can take the form of any living being on Earth, the repertoire of pranks is endless.​

Trope: Beauty and the Beast, broken in some way, begging

Doctor Malik/Malika Aziz

The renowned Doctor Aziz, a famed archaeologist and considered to be the most powerful sorcerer, or magic user, in the world. They wear several enchanted artifacts that, in turn, accentuate their already tremendous knowledge of the mystical forces. With an extremely strong moral compass and kind demeanor, they will show themselves to be the best teacher you could ask for, but why do they seem to be everywhere you look?

Trope: Time travel, twin siblings or clones?, teacher-student

LINKS

DEMO ✶ PATREON ✶ KO-FI

[bonefall]

also PLEASE can you make galestar and stripestar yaoi or yuri or yaori. gay love so powerful it merged clans

I was thinking that the whole time lmaoo

As you know, the Clan cats in BB don't forget history "out of shame" like canon does. They reframe stories in ways that fit their narrative, changing details and altering StarClan itself over the generations. So, I was struck with the idea that I'll adapt canon by making them misgender Galestar and Stripestar over the years.

As a recap; Clan Culture has three genders. It is a trinary gender system.

Ssuf/Tom (what we might consider masculine, linked to social passivity and out-of-camp activities)

Yaow/Molly (what we might consider feminine, linked to social aggression and camp-defensiveness)

Meewa/Gib (we don't really have a word for this in English. It's "above behavioral sex-based characteristics" in a way you could roughly describe as 'de-sexed,' but even that doesn't totally capture it. Linked to wisdom, long-term planning, and blessedness.)

The Clan Culture perception of a queer cat is one that doesn't fall into the trinary. Multigender (Finleap), agender (Twigbranch), and genderqueer (Dustpelt) cats are distinctly queer in a way that's hard to translate.

So, I'm thinking that BB!Galestar and BB!Stripestar were both Meewa-gendered cats (Xey/Xem in English), from birth. They seemed destined to eventually occupy positions of authority within WindClan and ThunderClan, and THAT is what was forgotten over the years. It was a great shame that two incredibly wise, blessed cats did something so drastic, so they were remembered as a molly and a tom instead.

Meewa-gender is usually assigned based on "atypical" traits in newborns, such as unusual colors, multiple toes, or even certain intersex traits. For Stripe and Gale, I'm thinking they actually had six toes each-- on the opposite side of each other. So when they put their paws together, it was like they made a complete set of twelve claws.

Symbols are also not that strange in BB!Clan Culture, as they have a rudimentary writing system. I might make it that StormClan's symbol isn't really the thing that the Clan cats used to signal to the Wildcats that they're allies-- but a pawprint with an extra toe.

(...It would also be neat if Galestar's wildcat mate had a 6th finger too. Something about the way xey associate it with xeir gender and inherent blessedness... only to find that such things exist everywhere. That xey weren't just made to fit one mate. Losing Stripestar isn't the end of xeir world but the start of a new one.)

[bonebabbles]

Ivypool's Heart: Finished

Just completed reading the new super edition! I'm pleasantly surprised by this one. Overall, this was a very good book, MUCH better than the past 3 which were some of the most boring and unnecessary entries to the entire franchise.

If you were on the fence about this one, I'd recommend it. Just take this warning; it does the Warrior Cats thing where it harps pretty strong on parenthood and nuclear families being a borderline essential part of life, including a ton of bashing on how uniquely horrible this makes the Sisters.

If you can get past that, it's a pretty solid story about grief that makes some really fun additions to the WC lore, including the wildcats, StormClan, and a broad expansion to the afterlife system.

Meandering thoughts below the cut;

One of IPH's biggest flaws is pacing, but it's not nearly as bad as the past 3 SEs.

Not to mention, this is a pretty small SE. If you're ever bored, it won't last long.

Before the book introduces the Wildcats, it REALLY meanders. It'll pick up, but you will have to wade through relatively uninteresting scenes of the cats traveling and talking about their feelings unprompted.

A lot of "quicktime events" happen out of nowhere to fill pages with cats running away from random bullshit.

There's a horse carriage, an apple picker, dogs, weasels, foxes, a storm, traffic, humans, boats, sandwhiches. It's endless. My eyes glazed over during most of these scenes.

I know a lot of people were dreading Ivypool being nasty and unreasonable during this book, but honestly? I was hoping for it and didn't really receive it.

I find her most compelling when she's holding a grudge, acting on her anger, and generally working through messy issues. But aside from her just thinking about being annoyed or angry, she's really not snappy at all.

I feel like there could have been a lot more interesting and organic conflict between Icewing, Dovewing, and Ivypool's personalities instead of boring Quicktime Events. In fact, I felt like Icewing and Dovewing were kind of underutilized.

The conversations often feel quite stiff, especially in the first half. Everyone is very understanding of each other, respect boundaries and knows not to push too far, resolve their personal issues very easily, etc. It's kinda... unnatural.

Personally, I found that disappointing because I WANTED to see the cats actually process their grief over the course of the book. Watch them act out, maybe get in an fight or two and resolve it for the sake of the mission, have them come to a greater understanding of each other, etc.

Because Icewing and Dovewing are both so motherly and gentle and we're in Ivypool's POV, we don't really get to see them process their grief because of that.

They're not TOTALLY neglected though! I just... wanted more from this group.

However. I wanted LESS Rootspring.

I understand he's there to process the loss of Bristlefrost with Ivypool but god, every time he was on screen I wanted to push him aside and talk to Icewing lmao.

Stop trying to sell me "cool, mellowed from grief" Rootspring. He's a silly little hyperactive man and you will never be able to convince me otherwise.

As a silly little hyperactive semi-manthing myself, it would have been a lot more cathartic to see a clown like me going through grief. Not to mention just generally make for better chemistry with the group.

Between Ice and Dove who are already quite chill as characters, Whistle could have used someone more goofy to bounce off of.

I REALLY didn't like the whole implication that Rootspring is going to move on from Bristlefrost and "find a mother" for the kittens he wants so badly, though.

Erins PLEASE remember that adoption exists. He does not need a wife to be a dad. I'm beaming myself directly into your brains and telepathy-ing directions to the nearest cat adoption agency

aaaaaand on that note.... yeah. I did not like the way that this book leaned so hard on the whole "nuclear family" dynamic. Ivypool has had like two major interactions with her husband and one JUST happened in this book.

It especially bugged me that they leaned into Ivypool having been a very active mother, when we saw very little of that in the ACTUAL book. It wasn't even mentioned that Fernsong was allegedly the primary parent of the kittens when they were young.

But... I was able to look past it and just accept the book in a vacuum. There's a lot of good here.

Like the wildcats.

While I'm still wary of these being Scottish Wildcats and reserve my misgivings about the misuse of species that are very unlike domestic cats... I LOOOOVEEE the culture they've set up for them

I LOVEE the way that individual spirits reach out to the kits, guiding them through life

I LOVE the connection to StormClan

I LOVE their idea of the elements and general spirituality

And I LOVED the fact that a big part of Ivypool coming to terms with her grief was the expansion of her worldview. The way that she realized the religion she was raised with is quite small, and that there is an immense beauty in coming to understand other cultures, accept their advice, and see the world as they do.

I just wish the book had been able to tie that to a flaw that Ivypool has expressed since her very introduction back in OotS-- that she's smallminded.

It would have been a FANTASTIC way to really tackle and address that flaw, and pay off literal decades of set up. I really wish she had been messier in this book because of that!

But, digressing.

I'm over the moon that the team's actually playing with the series' spirituality! After such a long time of them outright avoiding some of the weirder elements in the series, like Rock and Midnight, it's exciting that they're finding some freedom in making new magic lore for themselves.

Hopefully, in the next few super editions, we'll be able to get some more insight to StormClan and the Wildcats.

The book really hits its stride in the second half because of this, and the ending chapters are actually fantastic. Some of the best stuff that's come out of the series (on purpose) in a loooong time.

[misguidedasgardian]

Wildcats (Part XXIX)

XXIX. The Aftermath

MASTERLIST

Summary: You deal with some of the aftermath of what happened to you.  

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings:  Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, cursing, talks about imprisonment, talks about burning with iron, and possible rape, injures, talks about a beating, might miss some important warnings, but you know what this is about

+18, MINORS DNI

Notes: Alright… I want to admit… I ran out of most “scenes” I had planned/already written, but I think I built an important base for what’s to come. 

Daryl didn’t release you until you were inside the house, and you were able to place your trembling feet on the wooden floor.

You saw it in their faces, nobody knew what to do with you, with this broken, injured you.

You haven’t even recuperated from your injuries of DC, and now you had more, and they were piling up

“You should go to the infirmary”, said Rick softly

“I think I want to take a bath first”, you said softly, they shared looks

“I’ll tell Denise to come to you, alright? in an hour, a special house call”, you smiled at him and nodded.

Rick called your name softly, and you catched yourself looking at nowhere, your eyesight unfocused on the wall

“What did he do to you?”, he asked, but he seemed to regret it as soon as he saw your face, “do you want to discuss it in private?”, he asked you both

“He didn’t… rape me”, you said slowly, and you heard Daryl take a deep breath, “he locked me up, fed me dogfood sandwiches, I had a knife on me so I tried to use it, so they came in like three guys and they beat me up a little”, you said, “and they burned me…”, you saw Rick whine, he rubbed his face with his hands, to then look at you with shiny eyes, he saw you trying to hide your forearm, and he grabbed it gently, taking the bandage softly, when they the brand on your skin, watching the burn mark, the initials, Rick took a deep breath, taking a few steps back and rubbing his face and hair back, pacing.

You watched Daryl as he looked at the initials in your skin, he shook his head, his eyes filled with tears. You could tell he had a hard time processing it, he didn’t want to believe it 

“I didn’t tell them, anything”, you said

“You should have”, Rick said desperately, grabbing onto your shoulders gently, “you should have spoken if that’s what kept you safe”

“They branded me because I refused to join them”, you said softly, “I refused to kneel and become a soldier or that guy’s wife”, you assured them, “they are like a cult, they run in complete and total loyalty to this guy Negan, he is like some sort of god”

“I’m gonna need you to tell me more”, said Rick, that’s when Daryl surrounded you with his arm

“Later man”, he demanded, Rick nodded

“Yeah, I’m sorry”, he said, he squeezed your shoulder softly and nodded.

Daryl led you downstairs, slowly, gently. 

He made you sit in the toilet while he drew you a bath, just like you had done for him that time. You hugged yourself, still in Abraham’s jacket 

He didn’t leave you, you didn’t think twice about it, he helped you take out your jacket, and shirt, he winced when he saw all the bruises, and he caressed gently each and every one of them.

You guessed he dared to do it because you hadn't rejected his touch, right now the only thing you wanted was his gentle hands on you, rather than everyone else’s

You took out your bottoms and then he helped you get in the tub, you moaned when you felt the hot water, just how you liked it, and it instantly soothes your aching body as you sit in it.

You watched as Daryl shed a couple of tears, as he saw the state you were in

“Please don’t”, you whispered, he shook his head, and finally looked at his face. “they just beat me up a little”, you muttered, “after they locked me up and i tried to stab them”, you whispered. You touched his face, “get in here with me”

“Nah, let me take care of ya”, he whispered, he grabbed a sponge, and he started to rub you gently, he cleaned your bullet wound that still had a couple of stitches, and then the rest of you.

One cold shower in seven days, the water ended up dark when you were done. He helped you get dried and dressed in your pajamas, is the only thing he had handy. 

When you resurfaced on the main floor, Denise was waiting for you with a shy smile and sad eyes.

You let her check you, every bruise, even the one in your head that was already healing

There was a particularly nasty bruise in your ribs, oh you remembered that particular kick

Tell us where your camp is bitch

“I want to rule out a concussion or internal bleeding”, she said, putting a little flashlight into your eyes, “have you vomited?”, you shook your head, “shortness of breath?”, you shook your head, “have you lost consciousness? Dizziness? abdominal pain? chest pain?”, this girl was reciting straight from a book, and Rick, Michonne and Daryl could see how uncomfortable you were becoming, you had indeed experienced most of those things, but because they beat you up. She checked your bruise some more, and then she sentenced that it was not an internal bleeding, just a bruise. But if I ever feel any of that myriad of symptoms I should go straight to her. 

She bandaged the burn mark, even if it wasn’t raw, you didn’t want to see it. She then took out the stitches of your almost healed bullet wound, she gave you some painkillers and demanded you stay here until at least the bruise in your ribs disappeared.

Then she left.

It was bananas to think that in the last week you had more medical checkups in the middle of the apocalypse than in your whole “normal” young adult life. You took a long breath, to distract yourself from those dumb thoughts. 

You were home now, you thought, as you looked around, you could relax, you could be safe, nobody was going to grab you, make you do things, burn you, lock you up.

You were back with your family, you were safe here.

You remembered all those times that Rick and Daryl told you to stay here, stay home, and you got angry, and now the only thing you wanted to do was to crawl into your bed and sleep for years.

“I know I have to… tell you what happened, what I know”, you offered softly, “but I just… want to sleep”, you whispered brokenly. Daryl shared looks with Rick and Michonne

“I’ll make you something to eat”, Michonne said, “you shouldn’t have those pills on empty stomach”, you barely nodded, and she served you some food, at this point, it was a little after noon, and you didn't know if they planned it, but nobody else showed up.

As you were eating rice with canned mushrooms, and sipping water, Rick couldn’t stop looking at you

“They want to see you”, he said softly, “but we told them to reign it in, that we were going to ask you”

“Who does?”, you asked back

“All of them”, he said with a soft smile, “so tonight, when you wake up from your nap”, he said gently. You’d like that, be with your family, all of them.

“Thank you”.

You ate everything up, Michonne even brought you some canned peaches, which you devoured, you took the pills with sips of water, and then Daryl guided you, you made a decision to go upstairs, even if you found Daryl’s room extremely comfortable, but, just the thought of being in a basement… just freaked you out. 

When the door closed behind you, and you were alone with him, you felt another wave of sadness/relief/rage crashing onto you like a tidal wave. 

“Hey, hey, what’s the matter?”, he asked, wiping your tears with his thumbs 

“When I was there… after a week I saw a guy… and he had your crossbow”, you sobbed and he caressed your face, “for a horrible second I thought they killed you, that you died, and I almost die right then too”, it got so bad, that you hiccuped into your sobs. 

“Nah”, he said, “ain’t nobody takin’ me out”, he said, “Not now that I have ya”, you sobbed as he hugged you tightly into his chest. “a couple found me in the woods that day, I tried to help them, they were runnin’ from the saviors, and they double crossed me, took my things”

I took it from a man that we encountered in the woods, he was alive when we left him

“I thought… “there is no way they took it from him while he was still alive”, you cried, “I thought the worst…”, he grabbed your face softly, making you look at him 

“Ain’t nobody takin’ me from you”, he repeated, “ya’ hear?, never, aint nobody takin’ you from me neither”

“Yeah”, you said then, smiling through the tears, “now I know, thanks for rescuing me”, you said with a soft smile, he only shook his head gently, with a smile on his face. You went to the bed and sneaked under the big comforter and the sheet. “Daryl…”, you called, he turned to you, “can you please… stay with me?”, you asked him

“M’never leavin ya”, he assured you, “not until ya get tired f’me and tell me to go to hell”

“That’s never going to happen Dixon so you better mean it”, you said softly. He laid by your side.

“Sleep, I’ll keep watch”, he whispered

“Promise to wake me up to relieve you?”, you asked childishly, as you always did when you slept next to him on runs

“Sure”, he said, understanding immediately.

“Wait… the good stuff Denise gave me are kicking in”, you moaned softly, “Mmmm this is goin’ to be a hell of a ride”, he chuckled as you surrendered yourself to a drug-induced sleep on Daryl’s chest.

Rick rubbed his face, tears threatening to come out, he left the house, after lunch, he needed to report to Deanna, who wanted to see you. 

“Is she alright?”, asked Carl, Rick had to almost tie him up so he couldn’t go with them to retrieve you.

“Yeah, she is good”, he said softly, “she needs some time”, he said softly, “she is with Daryl right now, but tonight we will all gather to make her feel better, alright?”, Carl nodded.

“Yeah, I got something I think she might like”, Rick smiled and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“That’s my boy”, Carl left him and Rick went up the few steps to Deanna’s house, and coming out of it, was Smith, who almost got face to face with Rick, Gary was following him closely

“Hey Rick”, he greeted

“Hey”, he said weirdly

“The boss lady was handing us a couple of jobs we have to do, being productive members of the community”, he said with a big smile

“Good, that’s… good”, he said. Rick didn’t know why, but like many other members of the group, he didn't like this guy at all.

“How is she?”, he asked, “big operation you did today”

“Yeah”, he said simply, “everything went well, ge got her back, those bastards… they… beat her up real nice, but… luckily, just that, so… she will be alright, she is with her… Daryl… right now”

“Oh good”, he said, and then he just walked away 

When he entered Deanna’s house, she jumped, she was truly nervous, and had a disturbing look in her eyes

“Is there something wrong?”, he asked, Spencer was there too, looking concerned, his arms crossed across his chest

“No, nothing to worry about”, said Spencer

“How is she, Rick?”, asked Deanna

“Everything went according to Alexander’s plan, he has proven to be, a great addition, no casualties, no nothing”, he said

“Because of her”, said Deanna, her knowing smile returning to her face, she walked towards him and grabbed his shoulders, “how is she?”, she echoed

“She broke down, as soon as she saw herself safe, she has cried, quite a lot, right now, she wants to be with Daryl, she had a bath, she is taking a long nap, Denise already checked her, give her some pain killers, she got beat up, but she managed to stay quiet about the location of Alexandria, so that’s great”

“I’m glad she is with Mr Dixon”, she said with a pleased smile, “those two, are my favorite couple”, she said with that sneaky smile, Rick chuckled

“Oh? how so?”

“Well, unpredictable, strong, a bit messy, colorful”, she said, “passionate”...”

“Alright”, chuckled Rick

Spencer was watching the scene, a bit relieved, but Rick could still see the trouble in his eyes.

“Deanna”, he called, “you know you can count on me for anything, right?”, he asked then, but he could not get nothing out of her

“Of course I do”, she said

“I saw Smith and Gary leaving”, he muttered, Deanna seemed even more troubled

“Yeah, I gave them both jobs”, she said, “anyways, I’d like to see her, when she is ready”

“She agreed to have a little get together later”, he said, “of course the both of you can go, I’m just worried, I don’t want her to do any favors, so, family only”, he said

“We will just come by to see how she is doing”, she said with a pleased smile.

Rick left the house with an uneasy feeling on his chest, he didn’t know what happened, and he didn’t like not knowing. 

Thanks to the drugs still lingering heavily in your system, you woke up slowly, calmly, the colors around in your room told you it was almost sunset, you felt groggy, but… better, in a sense, waking up and be completely aware of your surroundings was… calming

Daryl was looking at you, with a concerned look in his eyes

“Stop”, you whispered

“Wha’?”, he asked  

“Don’t look at me like that”, you whispered, he grabbed your face softly, making you look at him

“Like wha’?”

“With pity”, you answered 

“It ain’t pity’, he insisted, “I ain’t never felt more scared than the moment I thought you were gone”, he whispered, “I now I got you back, and I’m still cared”

“Why?”, you asked him. Then you realized it could be that he was afraid you had been… broken… damaged beyond repair. He didn’t say it, so you guessed you were right. “I’m here Daryl, I’m back, and I’m not going anywhere”, you said softly, “you did it, you got me back, I’m here”

“I want to kill that son’bitch”, he said, “I wanted to kill him right then and there”, as would that be the reason he was scared of losing you, that you’d be scared of him, of his “murdering” instincts

“I could have killed them, that day, but I aimed for their legs… I…. didn’t”, you whispered, “I just wanted them to fuck off, I never thought…”

“You didn't want to kill people, that don’t make you weak or nothin”, he said

“Well and you wanting to kill them doesn’t make you bad”, you said, he leaned in and kissed you, “I know I’m a bit banged up, but it’s still me, the same I was a week ago”, you said, “alright?”

“Yes Ma’am”, he said with a soft smile

“Now… it’s my party, so… you better cook me something GOOD”, you said, putting on your best front, you stood up from the bed, and put on your… clothes… your thickest jeans, a long sleeve shirt, with a turtleneck… you didn’t even know why, you didn’t want them to see you… like they had this morning.

With only a bruise in your face, you went down the stairs.

You entered the main space slowly, you were relieved of being back home, but your body still shook a bit. When you got to the living room, all the women in your group were there, Michonne, Maggie, Rosita, Tara, Beth. They all seemed surprised when they saw you, and then, they gave you that look.

Pity

“Please don’t”, you muttered, “don’t look at me like that”, you whispered 

“We thought you would like some company”, said Michonne, regaining her usual voice, the one she used when she was happy, “we will accompany you if you want to”

“Thanks”, you said smiling softly, “I do, really”, tears threatened to spill in your eyes, “thank you for rescuing me”, they all came in at once, but took turns to hug you tightly, murmuring praises in your ears and words of encouragement.

“We will eat, the pasta that you like”, said Maggie, your face lit up

“Real pasta? the dried kind? not the can kind?”, you asked

“The… “real” one”, confirmed Maggie, you smiled widely. They smiled at you when they saw your relieved face

“Oh good”, you said with a wide smile .

The rest of your family arrived, Glenn, Abraham, Rick, Carl, with Judith, and even Gabriel, Eugene and Tyrese, the original 18 were gathered, well, now 17 that you had lost Noah, who had been somewhat replaced by Alex. There was only one person who shone in its absence, but you didn't want to think about it. 

You ate all together, pasta, like you liked it.

But after dinner, you could tell Rick was getting anxious, so, Daryl, Rick, Alexander and you went to the corner to speak

“I didn't see him, Negan”, you began, “but i know enough to say that… this is big”, you said determinedly, “this is a huge operation, this people ran in complete loyalty towards him… he had this lieutenants of sorts, the one who imprison me was one, SImon”, you muttered, “then under then they have what they call their soldiers, the saviors, the hands that get dirty, with guns, heavy artillery, then, there’s workers, people they protect in exchange of their.. handy work, you have cooks, manual laborers… then, you have people who had wronged the system, they became some sort of slaves”, they heard everything you had to say about them.

“like I said, I don’t know who this Negan guy is, but… If he finds a woman attractive, he will make her marry him”, you said with a shaky voice

“Marry ‘em?”, you nodded

“And have sex with him”, you continued, “if they refuse he threatens to kill their real husband, or he melts their faces off with an Iron, or vice versa, if he needs someone to fall in line he will take his women for himself”, they both shared looks, “If a single woman won’t marry him, he makes them do hard labor instead, not many make it”.

“How did you learn all of this stuff?”, asked Rick

“It’s incredible what you hear when you keep quiet”, you said, “this guy Negan likes to make public displays of force, or law enforcement, that is one of his punishments, and I saw two guys with a melted face” 

“What did he make you do?”, Rick asked, as he was afraid of the answer

“He first off, his man Simon, offered all the bells and whistles, first to marry him, them to make me one of his soldiers, but I didn’t want to, I told him I wanted to go, so he deducted I had a camp… despite that I told him I didn't”, your voice broke at the last sentence, “I didn’t tell ‘em”, you assured, “I didn’t, but he knew, he saw me too clean and well kept, he wanted our location so when I wouldn’t give it he…”, both men stood still, “locked me up, beat me up, burned me”

“you should have told him so he would leave you alone”, Rick repeated

“I couldn’t do that Rick”, you whined, “it’s a huge operation”, you said, “they hold up in this huge factory, for what I heard, they have outposts too, trucks, guns, all of it”, you said, “they are hundreds of them”, the panic in their faces, they needed to know, “and they are not like Alexandrians or dumb fucks, they are us, Rick, times ten, more vicious, more violent, with more guns and resources, and they are not afraid to use them”, you said, “They run on ultimate loyalty towards Negan, their leader, he had turn these people into their soldiers, they are fiercely loyal, and entitled, they believe themselves to be the top of the food chain”, you said then, “the kind of guys that we wouldn’t let inside of Alexandria? well, he managed to control them”, you said. 

“You talk about this guy like he is some sort of cult leader”, he said

“Charles Manson wished he had come up with this stuff”, you said then, you looked down, “one of the members of my Atlanta group, the last one, found them before we did, he is one of them now”, you said, “I have reasons to believe, for what he told me, that they enforce themselves into other communities, makes them give them things, foods, and whatever they want… or they kill them”

“Jesus… Jesus helped us get you back, he told us, his community is under the savior’s thumb”, said Rick, you nodded

“He helped you?”, you asked, Daryl grabbed your arm softly

“Yeah, he approached me and Carol, and stayed with us until we got you back”, said Daryl, you smiled

“He took us to Hilltop”, said Rick, “it's a farming community, he told us the saviors killed a sixteen year old boy”

“Oh”, you said, it was great news that you knew another community, but horrible because of what was happening, “they’ll do the same to us”, you said, “it’s a matter of time, they will take our shit, and if we don’t fall in line, they will kill us”, you finished

“What are you saying?”, asked Rick

“He will look for us, hell, he might be looking for us right now”, you said, “and we better be prepared for when he does find us”, you said shortly

“To do what?”, asked Alexander

“To negotiate”, you said, “our loyalty and services for keeping our stuff, our houses, or something like that”, you muttered

And that… truly unsettled them.

You had today to recuperate, and cry, and feel pity about yourself, but now? you needed to pull it together, for what’s to come. You couldn’t give yourself more time to grieve whatever happened to you, they could be back at any minute, they could be watching you right now.

You jumped when the door opened and the three new guys entered, you didn’t understand what they were doing here, and Deanna and Spencer went in just behind them.

She wanted to see you and speak to you, but she understood it pretty quickly so once she made sure you were fine, she let you be, with the promise that anything you may need, you could count on her. 

Who knew that being taken by a hostile group and tortured would make your group more united? As you looked around the room you understood it.

You would do anything to keep them safe.

And soon you will be facing the greatest threat to your family yet… You had today, you will not take another day to yourself, to mourn, you needed to get your head straight, because whatever is lurking in the woods, you need to be right here, with your family, keeping them safe. 

But you still had today. 

You felt Smith’s eyes on you, when you looked back at him you didn't see a smirk, on those dark eyes with mockery in them, you actually saw concern, worry even. You tried not to think much about it

There was a person who still wasn’t here… and right now, as you felt the bandage touch against your long sleeve shirt… you needed her.

taglist 🤍 @crazyunsexycool @capricxnt

[fictionadventurer]

The essay about the fairy tale influences on the Little House series goes into great detail about all the fairy tale elements of Little House in the Big Woods, and mentions how the series ends with Laura marrying her "Prince Charming", but I'm disappointed that it completely failed to mention:

Mr. Edwards is portrayed as almost a magical helper. His "wildcat from Tennessee" characterization draws from tall tale traditions like Davy Crockett--a distinctly American legendary figure come to help the frontier family. The fact that he's portrayed as literally meeting and collaborating with Santa Claus. The way he shows up several books later as a deus ex machina to help Pa get his homestead--almost like the fairy tale trope of the magical creature getting help from the hero early on and then coming back to help the hero.

The moment with the wolves on Silver Lake that's portrayed like a mystical encounter with some grand and tragic fairy king.

The moment in the fairy ring at the end of Silver Lake, and how these two moments create a fairy tale theme about the tension between the magical and the mundane as the prairie is settled.

Cap Garland having an almost magical sense of direction that helps him to reach the town and get help when the schoolteacher is leading the rest of the students the wrong way.

Almanzo and Cap going on a fairy tale quest to find the potentially-mythical supplies that could save the whole town.

[max-nico]

Y'all I got more of my random Sonic headcanons 🗣️

Silver loves to doodle, Tails can always tell if he's stopped by his workshop because he doodles in the corner of his blue prints

Shadow can't stand sleeping on his back because he was in stasis for so long, plus it gives him sleep paralysis

Charmy is a thumb sucker💔

Vector's been trying to break the habit but nothing seems to be working

One time Silver gave Amy a recipe from the future, when he got back all of his cookbooks with similar recipes changed in some way. Could've been the cover, title, or the recipe itself

For some reason, the new recipe was even better than the old one

Shadow, as the ultimate lifeform, has 30/20 vision somehow

Blaze is at least part wildcat. Whether that's a panther, lion, puma, or something completely different I know it is within her

Everyone listens to Vanilla. Everyone. Even the other adults

Espio is constantly putting himself in needlessly dangerous situations to 'see if his body can take it'. Nobody likes that he does this

Tails hates being referred to as Sonic's baby/kid brother. If anything, he's a sidekick or a little brother and that's only because Sonic is taller than him, not because he's a kid

Surge and Wave get really competitive on hoverboards, but it's all in good fun (mostly)

Tails is incredibly smart and incredibly gullible, like I know he's fallen for "updog" at least once, and has fallen for the "someone wrote gullible on the ceiling" joke multiple times

You will hurt his feelings if you point this out

No one in team dark can cook, they tried to get lessons from Amy and Vanilla (both together and separately) they are banned from both kitchens now

Dw !! Vanilla is still willing to give them lessons, just only at one of their houses from now on :) (her kitchen will never recover)

If Sonic is passing through town and sees some particularly cool merch of his friends he'll stop to grab it, if he has time

If Sonic doesn't know where Tails is sometimes they have a little bit of a scavenger hunt, or maybe hide n go seek is the better term

Tails will periodically send pictures of where he is, dropping hints if he thinks they're necessary, and Sonic has to find them (Sonic doesn't know Tails invented this game so Sonic keeps his tracking skills sharp during down time)

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other duos or trios adopted this game as well. I imagine specifically team dark would get carried away with this

One time some stranger held a phone up to Shadows face out of nowhere and asked him about his political views. Shadow smiled and said "whichever ones you don't agree with" and then teleported away

And that's all I have for now I think... It's been a while since I posted one of these, but it's still just as fun to write lol

Feel free to give me more headcanons in the reblogs or whatever, and my askbox is always open (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

[seat-safety-switch]

Dear Seventeen Magazine, I am writing in response to your "Girl Talk" article from the July 1996 issue. In it, you ask for stories about the most embarrassing dinner mistakes the reader has made. I hope that the delay in responding is not inconvenient for you. I have been incarcerated for awhile, and was thus unable to reply quickly.

My story begins with my arrival at Grosvenor Manor. I had been invited there by the Governor himself, as part of his quarterly fundraising. Putatively, to the media, he said that it would be for the new art museum, but in reality, we were there to back his re-election campaign. In particular, the Governor was worried about his chances up against "Wildcat" Tom McCaffrey, who had been right on his heels, so-called "self-funded" by his dealership network.

Being "new money," it was likely that I would be bullied by the other rich folks, but my mother had always raised me to stand up for myself. That's part of why I had the money at all, being the last surviving member of my special forces unit. We had stolen a large quantity of gold, art, weapons, drugs, and exotic animal remains from a local warlord and decided, rather than to turn it over to NATO, to simply sit on it ourselves until the war was off.

Naturally, it was worth millions of dollars. I had lived reasonably well, but still well-off, ever since. I bought a base-model Jaguar from a demolition derby claimer lot, and purchased a house with stereo speakers inside it, but sadly that house would never get to play Chumbawamba's famed Tubthumping in my possession. The events of that fateful night would guarantee it.

Remember how I told you that my mother raised me? My upbringing was a little rough. One of the things I never learned was how to deal with a tablecloth. I had tucked it into the waistband of my trousers, in order to prevent my lap from inadvertently receiving any spilled lobster bisque.

Unfortunately, when I got up to go to the washroom, I completely forgot to un-tuck it from my waistband, and I pulled the entire tablecloth over on the Senator's wife, scalding her with boiling-hot clam chowder and, yes, even more lobster bisque (they served it by the gallon.) There were some heated words, and things escalated from there.

Thank you for reading my letter! I look forward to picking up the new issue of Seventeen from the news-stand wherever I am currently hiding from my parole officer.

P.S. Did Space Jam end up being good? A lot of the other guys in prison talked about it, but the warden refused to play it for us.

[magicaldragons]

family dynamics.

– Varadha –

Varadha is a wildcat among rabid dogs. He is no less capable of violence or twisted games, but he operates from a completely different wavelength, which is his biggest strength.

Rudra is a typical bully. He is someone who, from childhood, has always teamed up against the minority in an effort to seem powerful, because he cares too much about perception and not enough about true value

so it makes sense, that he’d find validation in treating Varadha – a stepbrother who is so far removed from how people normally behave in Khansaar – condescendingly.

he is specifically envious of Varadha – most of the hate Rudra feels for Varadha stems from an insecure desire to elevate his own worth.

but Radha Rama?

why does she hate Varadha? – she's above Rudra's pettiness and definitely knows better than to waste her time and energy on power plays when she could work on herself.

but we know that she's hated Varadha since his birth – even more than Rudra does, in fact.

It must have started out as sibling rivalry, especially with how eager Radha Rama is for Rajamannar's approval. Varadha, ever since his birth, was probably a threat for that spot – was possibly even Rajamannar's favorite before he gave away his honor territory. and after that? the hatred only grew. We know that once Varadha lost his position as a lord, he was shunned from court, and he spent more time among the people of Khansaar than his family. and this gave him more exposure throughout Khansaar and definitely earned him a particular reputation for how level-headed, clever, and genuine he was.

it slowly became more and more obvious, (to Radha Rama especially) as Varadha grew older, that he inspired devotion in people – he had people that would die for him, and she could never understand how he'd done it, especially with how hard she'd worked to be seen as valuable.

so it frustrated her that Varadha, even with his inherent, deliberate softness, and the way he portrayed himself, was able to receive such love and warmth from the people who knew him personally, and that maybe played a part in how much more she worked for the approval of Khansaar's king:

Rajamannar.

Rajamannar is someone who definitely saw the soft power Varadha had for winning hearts, especially with his coexisting capability for exerting his own power.

It takes a diplomatic, yet terrifyingly strong man, to build and maintain an empire, and obviously, this is something that even Rajamannar was unable to do perfectly, with his need to annihilate an entire tribe to secure the throne for himself.

Shivamannar was the first and only to be capable of doing this, and Rajamannar sees that same strength, tenacity, and authenticity in Varadha. As a father, he was definitely proud of Varadha in the beginning and could see his capacity for greatness.

After Varadha disappointed him by giving away his kada, though, Rajamannar still cared for him and saw his potential, but could no longer publically support a son who had disregarded their honor & disrespected not only the territory but also Rajamannar's decision to put him in charge of that territory – especially since Varadha refused to tell him why he did it.

and now that Rajamannar, just like Radha Rama, has realized the extent of Varadha's quiet power, most of his pride has turned to wariness.

because as a father, he can be proud.

but as a king?

Varadha is a threat.

Which leads us to the fact that: Rajamannar, Rudra, and Radha Rama have been hostile to the one person who has the capacity and the qualities to rule, but wouldn't have actively sought out the throne if they hadn't placed him in a spot where the only way for him to attain respect and feel valued was to gain the throne.

Essentially, by treating him they way they have, in an effort to keep him away from court and in fear that he will surpass them, they've dug their own graves.

— love, a definition: part two [part one / part three]

[sarahjacobs]

something that i think gets overlooked about david is how he's just as full of impertinence as jack is -- even at the start of the movie. from the moment david meets jack, he questions and calls him out at every turn, despite there being a power imbalance between them, in which david is the lowly new kid, while jack is equipped with much more experience in selling papers and influence over the newsies. and jack likes this about him! he likes that david's got some bite to him!

but david's impertinence is tamped down by his pragmatism, which tells him that he has to think about his family, that there's no use being in struggle when it'll only invite punishment from the boss and the state, making it harder to survive -- it's what has him saying in hard promises that "yeah, [socialism] sounds good, but it doesn't put food on the table."

which is why jack is so good for david, i love them as a pair because they have such a good opposites attract, push-pull relationship that's grounded in their shared core values. in this case, they both have an anti-authoritarian streak to them, but jack is much more willing to take high risk actions, while david is low risk.

and i find that people are often low risk due to them not having experience, knowledge, and trust in other people, and as a result, they think every action that isn't state sanctioned will be crushed, dismissed for bad optics, etc. i see this in david, too, when he insists that in order to strike, they need to go through official channels to formally become a union, otherwise they're "just a bunch of angry kids with no money" -- to which i say, that's the beauty of the wildcat, you don't need permission! fuck liberal ideas of legitimacy! and all signs point to jack being of the same mindset ("even though we ain’t got hats or badges / we’re a union just by saying so").

this interaction is just so special to me -- the way that jack pokes at david's boundaries, trying to see if he's got guts or if he's going to chicken out. and david does him one better; he issues a challenge right back, gives him as good as he gets. sends HIM off to an unfamiliar place to meet a scary authority figure, too.

which, you know, i think is kinda funny, i really enjoy how neither of them are nice (even if they are ultimately kind), especially not to each other. but on a more serious note, this kind of egging each other on is sooo important for political agitation. thinking about all the communiques and conversations had about this topic, a huge contributor to why people are able to be brave on the streets is that the people next to them are brave. and this shared bravery/terror/excitement feed into each other until it becomes a powder keg of emotion and action, blowing a hole into so called "normal life" and opening up a time and space in which something, anything can happen -- there's a lot of hope in this, too.

this is really just a long winded way of saying that jack's wild ungovernability is the spark of the strike and david's first foray into political action. that jack possesses a kind of charisma and conviction that david lacks, while david brings a much needed level headedness and political knowledge/intuition to the table. and they both have moments in which they're doubtful of the strike's power and unable to commit, but the other always pulls them back into the fray. they make each other brave.

and all of this is inextricable from their romance. there's one other moment i want to point out, when david tells jack what to say during 'the world will know,' fanning the flames of the strike, even though a part of him remains unconvinced that they can actually pull it off. and he's completely out of sync from the others, not singing or dancing, just an observer -- that is, until jack grabs him by the shoulders, telling him, "pulitzer may crack the whip, but he won’t whip us." it's only after this that david's relationship with the strike is reconfigured, in that he finally joins the crowd and sings along, now fully committed.

this was david's quintessential oh moment. to me.

[godsandvillains-if]

Hello Hello!! A wholesome question for you:

Who fell first, and who fell harder for the RO’s?

Hope you’re having a good day! 😊

Hiii, here we go!! 😍

Archon — No torture technique in this world can make them tell the truth, but they are the one to fall first and harder. Even though they had a crush on their best friend, with time, the MC's presence will be enough to outshine it—much to their dismay.

Zodiac — Will fall head first and harder. So much so that they will be completely blindsided when the feelings finally hit them. They have a no-dating rule for their students in place for this very reason… alas, they fail miserably.

Mars — There's a good possibility that the MC will fall for Mars first, mostly because the villain is too focused on their evil plans to think of anything else. However, in the end, they are the one to fall harder.

Stardom — If the MC and Stardom are on the Friends with Benefits route, Stardom will be the one to fall first. It will begin slowly at first, they will stay to cuddle, and one thing will lead to another, and when they realize they are hooked. If on the normal route, the MC is most likely to fall first and harder, at least in the beginning

Paladin — This is a special case. The MC will probably fall for them first and harder in the beginning. Paladin will take some time to get there, mostly because of their past, but when they do, it will be like a bullet train.

Wildcat — Wildcat will be all in for the love drama. The MC will be their first ever love, and it will be kind of scary at first, but they won't care. In the end, they will realize that what they are feeling is more than just a silly crush and will surrender themselves to the MC's every wish.

Ace — They will fight against their feelings in the beginning, mostly because they are afraid to fall in love again and also because they are positively sure that the MC can find someone closer to their age. In the end they will fail dismally and epically.

Thank you for the question!! 🥰

[kotir-propaganda]

Mossflower has so much going for it, like I’m not even being biased because my blorbo is in it. I will die on the hill of it being Best Redwall Book for several reasons.

-It’s as early Redwall as you can get without actually being Book 1. As such, it avoids a lot of subjects and patterns that would later become repetitive tropes... but it also avoids the Book 1 jankiness of horses and human structures and the implied existence of Portugal. The world as we will come to know it feels more or less fully realized here. The abbey’s not here yet, but its foundation literally is- and we also get our first look at Salamandastron and the extent of Mossflower Wood as a whole.

-It has some of the most solid protagonists around. The legendary hero Martin is here, but he’s at a low point for most of the story and has to work his way up to that legacy! And this is where he does it, this is what future Redwallers remember him for, not the events of Martin the Warrior. Also, Gonff is here? Hello? Maybe the single most charismatic character in the series? Not to mention Dinny, how often does a humble mole actually get to go on a quest in these books?

-This isn’t even getting into how badass all the rest of the woodlanders are, too, but... they absolutely are. This is a small band of rebels that’s been driven from their little houses, they don’t have the luxury of those huge sandstone walls to protect them, but they’re still fighting like hell and outsmarting their enemies to boot. Some of them are seasoned fighters, but some of them are just ordinary families, all banding together to take back their homeland. And they keep it up the whole time! They’re not just waiting around for a guy with a sword to tell them what to do!

-The villains are probably the most nuanced in the whole series. Seriously. There are four whole wildcats here (don’t forget Sandingomm!) and only ONE of them is unquestionably evil. It’s absolutely implied that Verdauga was a fearsome warlord in his day, but if nothing else, he raised ONE kid who turned out to be about as Lawful Good as you can get, and he actually scolds Tsarmina for being mean to her brother!! I wish we could have spent a little more time with Verdauga, honestly, I have so many questions for this man.

-There are a decent handful of morally grey characters here, actually. Chibb spies for the woodlanders, but he’s not the most dependable and is motivated by payment more than sympathy to their cause. Snakefish allies with our questing heroes, but he minces no words in warning them that he’ll just as soon eat them if it comes down to it. Even Argulor is really just out here looking for a bite to eat and can you really blame him, because ashleg is a snack

-Tsarmina herself is irredeemably cruel, but even still there are multiple facets to her. On one hand, she’s scary- big and powerful and ready to rip into anything/anyone with her bare claws. At the same time she can be a clever strategist when she wants to be- poisoning her father and framing her brother, and later manipulating two of her obstacles, Argulor and Bane, into taking each other out. And still yet it can be kind of funny to watch her in action, as she gets humiliated by the resistance on multiple occasions. And maybe there is even a little pathos there, as we see her mind start to slip, and get some glimpse into the deep fear and paranoia that completely overtake her at the end.

-There are just great supporting characters on both sides. Mask is amazing, Fortunata is fantastic. And yeah, Blorbo Supreme Ashleg is here, and I don’t NEED to write a whole essay about him to promote Mossflower as a whole but... having him here is nice! It helps!! May we all follow his example and pursue happier lives for ourselves!!!

-Mossflower laid the foundation for so many events and characters of later books. I mean yeah, it’s a prequel. It’s there to support the first book and by extension, everything that comes after. But so many other great titles in the series have a direct line to Mossflower, from Outcast to Long Patrol to Lord Brocktree and more. Did you enjoy those books? You’re welcome. The threads were already there, just waiting to be expanded upon.

-at one point a wooden leg gets used as a projectile weapon and if you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, I don’t know what else to tell you buddy

[yestrday]

hii I see that reqs are still open. so I was wondering if u had any albedo thoughts! I would like hybrid!albedo.. but you've done quite a bit of hybrid posts recently ^^; so I completely understand if you wanna take a break from the hybrids!

i was especially curious as to how he treats mc (in any au) and who are some of the people he commonly gets along/spends time with in ur aus! :]

i think ive already explained enough abt how albedo gets along with the mc in the og posts so ill stick with his relationships!!

you might like: yandere! hybrid genshin ft albedo

wildcat hybrid! albedo 🐈

albedo tends to get holed up in his makeshift lab located at the hillside, invested in his own research and experiments. the more attached he is to you though, the more he'll start hanging around the manor. you soon build a laboratory that he shares with the other research-oriented hybrids

he's part of the educational team and he's tasked with teaching you the more normal stuff. think arithmetics and science. he's softer on you than the other educational team members, and he takes his time teaching you whenever you get stuck.

since he spends a lot of time in his lab, he's usually hanging out with nari and sharing insights. since cyno's always with the fox hybrid, they also see each other a lot. nari always thinks that the way albedo looks at cyno is like a scientist looking at a specimen.

other than that, albedo hangs out with the mondstadt crew. they're a free and friendly bunch, minus diluc and kaeya's banter. when diluc's not looking, albedo will slip in a few drops of his potion so that he can have some experiment subjects. kaeya always gets a kick out of it

he tries not to be clingy with you, but if you insist, he'll gladly lie on your lap. he poofs into his wildcat form, a bit embarassed at being pampered, but he falls asleep quite easily as you gently brush his tail.

has never really grown out of his habit of stealing household products that whenever something's missing the head maid goes angrily stomping to the lab and demanding that albedo give him back. of course, albedo gives it back and apologizes, but he's so charming and apologetic about it that the head maid quickly falters (nari is not fooled)

[misguidedasgardian]

Wildcats (part VIII)

VIII. A time to embrace

MASTERLIST

Summary: You negotiate Beth’s release

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, injures, cannibalism, 

+18, MINORS DNI

Notes: A tame chapter, writing slowburn is just… not what I usually do, arrange marriage is my favorite trope, that’s all I’m saying

You woke up groggy, and with a muscular ache that barely let you get up from the comfortable carpeted floor

“Hey”, you greeted the archer, who had barely changed positions

“Hey”, he greeted back. By the light… you could tell its been hours since you started your little nap, and you frowned when you realized it

“You let me sleep for hours!”, you chided gently, rubbing your forehead

“You fell through the floor!”, he said simply, “it’s fine”, you ate something you scavenge from your old “base”, as you kept watching that hospital

“Anything interesting?”, you asked

“A car jus’ came and went, and a doctor went to tha roof”

“A doctor?”

“White robes”, he muttered, you only hummed.

. . . 

You were actually a bit relieved when you saw the others pulled up, although the team wasn’t complete. Rick hugged Daryl tightly, and then he hugged you

“I thought you had been taken by the Terminus people”, he said angrily, looking at your eyes

“They’re back?”, you asked with urgency, “where…?”, fear settled in your gut

“We dealt with them already”, he said calmly. “we need a bigger place, let’s take some distance before they spot us”, he commanded, and you all got up inside the car and abandoned the office building. “Abraham took Maggie, Glenn and Tara to go with him to DC”, he explained, as you all met in a big room. “We will be meant to follow, after we get Beth”, he said. You nodded, “it's our best shot”

“You are right”, you assured him, “so… what’s the plan?”

If according to Daryl, your plan was so idiotic, you didn’t even shared it with Rick, instead, of course, he took the lead, with the help of Noah, you all hid in a warehouse and started planning the abstraction plan

“We take down those at the office, and then Daryl moves to take out this guard”, he said as his plan involved killing everyone in the hospital

“We were going to be seven, eight once we get a gun to Beth”

Who was Beth anyways? Maggie’s sister and Daryl’s partner? he was the most motivated to get her back, so you’d think she was his… girlfriend or something.

“So you’re just gonna kill everyone?”, asked Tyresse, and a discussion ensued. You also think this was a bit much, to kill them all, they were trained as cops and that made them a good rival.

Daryl grabbed RIck and took him to the side, 

“She thinks we should buy her way out with supplies”, he said quietly, “and medicine”

“She said that?”, asked Rick, with a frown on his face, Daryl looked at his friend and leader, his chosen brother

“Yeah”, he said. Rick saw the reason behind your suggestion, but he shook his head. “It’s too late now, besides, where would we find said things?”, he asked, “the city is completely sacked by now”, Daryl only let out a short growl as an acknowledgement 

You had killed people by now, four, by your counts, did they deserve to die? You had to believe they did, There was no justice system anymore, no religions, nothing, there was only you, and you enemies.

Rick didn’t want you anywhere near the operation, unknowingly to you, because of what Daryl told him, so you had a simple job, which was coming back to your safe house and grabbing everything you could use, including a car.

And it's exactly what you did, you gathered everything, cleaned the pantry and the rest of the weapons, and put it all together in a car you hijacked. 

Carol was with you, watching you intently, as Daryl was needed with Rick, he specifically requested it

“The journey to Washington it's going to be a long one”, you said, to make conversation, it would be an understatement to say Carol really made you nervous.

“Mmm yeah”, she muttered, without much thought, putting everything together, with this you had a couple of day’s worth of food.

“Do you think it’s real… the cure?”, you asked her, she looked at you, frowning

“Maybe”, she said, looking at you with her sharp blue eyes, a woman of few words. You understood her to certain points… you were a stranger, and by your counts, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Carol went back the furthest, you are talking weeks or days even after everything went to shit, so yes, you’d understand if she was being weary of you, someone who she just met. So you tried not to take it personally. 

“You think they are going to get Beth back?”, you asked her

“I hope they do”, she said, “they will”, she said with determination

“Have her and Daryl… been together long?”, you tried, and you might as well drop a bucket filled with icy water on her, by the way she looked back at you

“You don’t know what you are talking about”, she said, with a somber tone in your voice

“You are right”, you said softly, but surprised, “I have no idea”

“They are not together!”, she said quickly, “Beth is barely eighteen!”, she said then, and you opened your mouth in an “o”

“I didn’t know, by the way Daryl talked about her… I just assumed…”, you said

“He feels responsible because she was with him when they took her, that’s all”, she said, but you didn’t know if she was trying to convince you or herself

You kept working after that, very uncomfortably.

She hated your guts

Now there weren't many personal possessions of yours left in the safehouse, you had tried to take everything with you, but still, you managed to keep some bullets, and a couple of t-shirts and jeans, so that’s that.

When you returned to the group, car loaded, the thing was done, they had taken two policemen as hostages and they were ready to make the trade

You were glad that Rick wanted to spare you from the mess, one of them had tried to escape and got killed by walkers, and Sasha had gotten a bad hit in the head.

You were preparing for the trade in the hospital. The plan was to enter through the main door and make the exchange there. Daryl, Rick, Carol, Tyresse and Sasha were ready to go with him, so was Noah

“Noah”, you called, he looked back at you, “stay here”, you commanded, forgetting yourself a bit

“I want to go”, he protested, Rick had that cray cray look in his eyes, looking back at you for explanations

“They are looking for you”, you said, “they had send men out in a real manhunt, they want you back… men had died because of it, if they see you… they will demand you stay”, you explained severely, “if they ask about you, we should say you ran away from us, that we don’t know where you are”, Rick shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and how much sense it made

“She is right”, he said, “Noah stay here” 

“But…”

“They want you to keep working, you owe them some sort of debt” you said, he only nodded. 

“You too”, said Rick, looking at you, “stay here, if you hear gunshots…”

“Go in, guns blazing”, you completed, he looked at you quizzically, but didn’t say anything.

You stood with Noah outside, and hid in one of the tents near the entrance, in case they had prepared a surprise attack and jumped them from behind in the entrance hallway.

“It's taking too long”, you muttered, looking inside the hospital. 

You heard an engine coming, and when you looked, a huge fire truck, and descended Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Tara.

You came out of your hiding place and received them

“Rick is inside, trading for Beth”, you said, Maggie squeezed your arm with a soft smile and a nod.

The doors opened at that moment, and here they came, the entire group. led by Rick Carol and Tyresse and behind them came Daryl having his arms around a pretty girl with blonde hair and big blue eyes with a big smile on her face. 

And here came all the rest.

Maggie ran to meet her, and engulfed her sister in a big hug.

They were all so happy, and relieved, and you were so happy that everything worked out

For the first time since you knew him, you saw Daryl smile, like… truly smile.

“We are going to DC”, said Rick with a pleased smile on his face, as he watched all of you together 

But the faces of the crew that was supposed to be on their way there said it all 

And they wasted no time in filling you in…

Eugene was lying, he was no scientist, there was no cure, there was nothing in Washington for you all, not that you knew of.

it was childish of you to think there ever was a way out of this.

There was none, there was only one way to stay alive… to lean into your group, to survive, whatever it takes.

The realization dawned on all of the group as you gathered in that warehouse again, luckily for the morale in general apparently there weren't many of those who believed in it in the first place, including Rick and Daryl they never believed it existed said cure in the first place.

“What are we going to do now?”, asked Sasha

You caught Daryl staring at you, he was relieved but stood stuck to Beth’s side like a guard dog, you looked back at him

“(y/n) had a plan”, said Rick pointing at you, all eyes were on you, “she knows there is an island, on lake Lanier”, he said. “close from here, if we can take it, we can be safe there, an island is where more safer”

“According to the map I found…”, you said softly, “there is only one road leading to the island, if we can close that and control it, we can take control of the island, but I don’t know many details of it.

“Noah is from a safe community in Virginia”, said Beth immediately, you looked back at her. “I was going to accompany him there, he says there are tall walls, a thick gate, good houses..”

“It’s true”, he said, nodding enthusiastically, “my family is still there, my mother and brothers”

The group seemed divided. Rick looked at you, but you only shook your head. Your plan was a dot you saw on a map and hers seemed a bit more solid, but oh the pictures you had seen in that catalog, if it was intact, it seemed like a great opportunity

There was a huge hotel, and in the other side of the island you saw small cabins with lots of privacy, you could all live there, plant your own, even get some animals, like cattle, if you get a hold on a boat you could really just just anywhere around the lake and scavenge, it was a good idea.

But you remained quiet, because what if the island was overrun? what if it was a complete bust, what if someone died because of you and your plan?

Rick saw your doubts, and nodded

“Let's get out of this city first”, he said, “let’s go get Michonne, Carl, Judith and Gabriel, and let’s go”, he offered, you all nodded, and started the journey.

Decided to let Beth live, this is supossed to be a happy fic, so...

@crazyunsexycool