Reserved at Project Oasis

[dirtyredneck]

Don't know why you think I should be excited about it. You ain't giving me a choice in this and I got people of my own to get back to. This adventure of yours ain't my kind of fun. Just more of the same and in places I got no clue about.




...some of the people I already met are okay, I guess.

Comments

[gradypawn]

Is the place they sending you safe?

[dirtyredneck]

[Daryl's jaw clenches a little at the sight of Noah. Kid had died pretty recently and while he knew that he could people who were dead (and not walkers), actually experiencing it was just a little unnerving. Made his heart hurt in ways he didn't want to think about.

He shook his head.]

No. Got it's own virus and the people that get it don't even die before they go looking to rip others apart. Haven't met those yet, but I expect I will.

[He wasn't sure how he was going to deal with having to put those ones down just yet. Unlike walkers, they had a chance of being cured. By all technicality anyway.]

[gradypawn]

[The staring is a little awkward sure, but he's chalking it up to Daryl being Daryl. Sometimes he forgets his recent foray into the land of not living might freak people out.]

Well, shit. Get a chance to leave home and get stuck someplace worse. You got anyone else there, at least?

[dirtyredneck]

[He shook his head again.]

Nah. Met one who might be one of us. Asked him the questions. But I'm the only one of the group that's there. And none of the others know shit about walkers or how to deal with 'em.

You okay?

[gradypawn]

[And oh that was too bad. He hoped to here that the group was still someplace doing well. He hadn't ran with them long but they were still the best thing to happen since he left home with his dad.]

If they can't deal with walkers, how are they gonna deal with the threats there?

[A shrug.] About as good as can be expected, I guess. Haven't turned and still breathing, so there's that.

[dirtyredneck]

Some of them got good heads on their shoulders. They just ain't had to deal with the dead that walk.

[He'd do his best to teach those he could, but he didn't have high hopes for a lot of them surviving. They weren't his, though. It was only his that he wanted to let himself worry about. He didn't need more weight on his shoulders than he already had.]

Glad to hear it.

[And he was. Not turning was good. Still breathing even better. He knew Glenn had seen Noah get taken down and it had hurt so much that they couldn't stop it.]

That one that got you, they ain't dragging you around too badly are they?

[gradypawn]

Sounds like they come from a better world than us.

[What he wouldn't give to be on one of those worlds, living and dying without worrying about what comes next.]

Mostly just running me around places like this. It's not so bad, at least I've seen some of you guys again. Might not look it, but I can handle whatever they try throw at me.

[burningdaylight]

I know the feelin'... [He offers, sympathetically.]

[dirtyredneck]

You getting dragged around by your ear, too?

[burningdaylight]

Weeeell, maybe not that painfully. But, yeah. Pretty much. [He hadn't gotten much say in any of it but he will say one thing:] Least the last place wasn't so bad.

[dirtyredneck]

Where'd you end up? I'm hoping by 'not bad' you mean 'no walkers'.

[burningdaylight]

[This isn't the same Daryl as the others he has come to know elsewhere, but at the same time he doesn't feel like he's missing a beat.]

Actually... yeah. S'still a little hard to believe, but... while I was there it was pretty quiet overall, besides a couple a' weird moments. The whole time I jus' kept waitin' for the other shoe to drop.

[It's hard to shake that dread-filled expectation that shit could and would hit the fan at any moment.] Place was called Teleios. Had hot meals, beds... everythin' a survivor could ever want.

[His mouth skews.] 'cept a way out.

[dirtyredneck]

Sounds like that was the shoe that dropped.

[no way out was never a good sign.]

Prison can be gilded and encrusted with jewels, it don't stop it from being a prison.

[Coming from a guy that lived in a prison for a while.]

...was it safe, though?

[notaafraidanymore]

[She’s just going to offer him a soft but broken smile as she moves to cross her arms gently over her chest]

Good thing you're pretty damn good at getting yourself around in places you aren't rather use too, hmm?

[Though the thought of him going somewhere else, some place away and one she hasn't heard of is very much unsettling but these kind of things happen. Still she's going to glance down slightly.

Muns and their wild ideas]

[dirtyredneck]

[Yeah, she can cross her arms, but he's going to put one around her shoulders.]

I think I'm used to places like this. It's got it's own kind of walkers and a city abandoned a long time ago. Plenty of game to hunt. Not the life I want to keep going back to, but it's one I'm used to.

[notaafraidanymore]

[She'll give him another gentle little smile even though deep down she fears for him being on his own in a foreign place. Yes it's silly because Carol of all people knows that Daryl can clearly handle his own, take care of himself but that doesn't make her worry for him ease any less.]

At least you know what to expect. [She then tilts her head up to look at him slightly]

Promise you'll stay safe?

[dirtyredneck]

No.

[The answer came out with an amused snort. Like he could ever promise her that. He didn't make promises he didn't think he could keep.]

But I think I got some people I can rely on. If'n I make it in. A couple of ex-military and this girl that reminds me of a few women I know.

[notaafraidanymore]

[His reply came as no surprise to her but that didn't stop her from rolling her eyes fondly and giving him a soft nudge]

At least becareful then?

[She then glances up at him, eyes going soft before she reaches up and gently brushes back some of his shaggy hair]

And don't worry about us.

[dirtyredneck]

[He stood still, allowing her to push his hair to the side. He wasn't to the point of being able to lean in or relax when she did that to him, but he could freeze himself and keep himself from flinching or pulling away. Which was an achievement in and of itself. And when her hand dropped, he did let his body relax again. Kept his arm right where it was.]

You say that like I could stop myself.

[He could admit he worried constantly. To her. Everyone probably knew it, but there were few he could openly confess it to.]

And I'll do my best. Won't do anything crazier than I have to.

[imadeit]

[The young girl is just going to stand there for a moment before she decides to say anything. You have to forgive her for the time being Daryl. She’s rather surprised to see him here considering she hasn’t seen many of their people at all. It feels like some sort of a dream considering the last time she saw him the events didn’t turn out as expected. Even anything they turned out tragic and she left nothing behind besides heartache and lost tears.

Yet here he was and it took her a moment to process that he was real, that he was there and this time she wasn’t staring back at him behind enemy lines. She’s finally able to give a small before she shakes her head slightly]

Ya at least gotta give it a chance, Daryl Dixon.

[dirtyredneck]

[His chest constricts at the sound of her first word. Just enough to make breathing hard. And because of that he forced himself to suck in the air, to work past the way his stomach was bunching up in knots.

Daryl got himself under control, lips pressed tightly together as he nodded. It was hard to look at her. His eyes kept trying to water up and it was either look away or give in and wipe at them. It was easier to look away. Easier to pretend they weren't there than have the evidence of them on his sleeve.]

Why? What's the point?

[His voice came out heavy and raw.]

[imadeit]

[She's quick to lower her head the moment Daryl's eyes fall along her. She doesn't like the way he's looking at her. Looking at her like she's just another dead girl but most of all it breaks her heart to see how broken he is to see her. Even if he's trying his damn best to hide it from her.

Her own eyes start to burn with tears and she's rather glad some loose strains of her blonde hair falling along her face.]

Cause what's it worth if ya don't? Can't just keep goin round with no hope in nuthin...

[dirtyredneck]

[He carried her out of that damn hospital. Her body limp, lifeless, all his hope pulled out of him but life kept going on. And he'd started to get some of it back. Alexandria was good for their people. Wasn't safe even with the walls. But it was good. It was peaceful enough.

But seeing her hurt. And it probably wouldn't stop hurting. They couldn't have her back at home. This limbo their muns dragged them into was just that. Limbo. Something they'd eventually forget.

He didn't want to forget she could still live on. However temporary that was.]

Didn't say I was giving up hope. It's just this place, it's... that's all it is. A place. One I don't belong. It's a place no one belongs. Rather be... be with ours.

[imadeit]

[Beth doesn’t want to think about that day. The day that was suppose to be full of hope because Daryl had came for her, he came for Carol. He didn’t come alone, he brought Rick and others with him. People she had missed, people they she called family and held very close to her heart. She hadn’t seen Maggie, she hadn’t seen Glenn but she knew they were both close if not right outside. She was suppose to leave with them, leave with Noah but she hadn’t.

She hadn’t at all.

She didn’t get to leave with him, at least not alive. Just like he had told her once she didn’t ever get to see Maggie again, she didn’t get to experience the relief and hope of Alexandria. No. What she got was a tragic death in the end. She didn’t know that he had carried her out of the hospital, her limp tiny like doll body laying lifeless within his strong arms. She didn’t get to see the hope on Maggie’s face only to hear her older sister cry out in body anger and pain. Honestly everything from that day seemed rather cloudy. She had stabbed Dawn and then everything just went black.

And here she was now. Very much alone and here. Where here was. She’s quick to reach her hand up and brush back some warm tears]

Sometimes we don’t get what we want, Mr.Dixon.

[dirtyredneck]

Sometimes, my ass.

[It was pretty much never for them and theirs. Or if something good did happen, it didn't last more'n a few days. And on a personal level of wants? Daryl lost out every damn time he voiced them.]

Why'd you have to go an- We could have gone back for Noah. We would have. You didn't need to do that.