nocshift

[nocshift]

neve & carrie, ofscavangers.

Carrie narrowed her eyes as the woman came out, relieved it wasn’t a carrier but still on the edge of being cautious. After all, it wasn’t just the dead now that were dangerous, just because someone was alone didn’t mean anything. She kept her grip on the knife stepping forward with an air of confidence that wasn’t fully there inside. It took a moment but Carrie was fairly certain she recognised the woman too. “M’names Carrie. You been in LA from the start?”

so many meetings were like this--teetering precariously between apprehensive alliance and threat. a knife in the hand or a gun to your face was the new handshake and, as such, nobody reasonable could take it too personally anymore. so long as no one took it too far, like someone gripping your hand to hard to prove dominance. “oh, my god---carrie?” neve let out a surprised laugh and lowered her weapon. “carrie!” it had been two years since she’d been back to los angeles and yet, here she was, one of the only folks she did know at the end of the world. “it’s neve. i was here before. y’know, early on.” 

[nocshift]

neve & cooper, hisburdens.

 curiosity   pulls   at   the   edge   of   his   brow ,     peering   down   at   her   from   his   perch .     ❝     whole   night   out   all   by   yourself ?     a   lil’   dangerous , no ?     ❞     he’ll   counter   before   a   soft   laugh   leaves   his   lips   as   he   finally   lowers   his   rifle .     she   wasn’t    a    threat ,     or   at   least   not   yet .      ❝     hey ,     at   least   it   wasn’t   pointed   at   you   or   your   dog ,     right ?     ❞     he’ll   taunt   playfully ,     slinging   it   over   his   shoulder   as   he   climbs   down   off   his   perch   and   whistled   for   his   dog   to   come   join   him   now   that   he   was   back   on   the   ground .      ❝     names   cooper ,     and   this   is   chey .     ❞    

“a little.” neve offered a wry grin, cautious yet, eyes squinting in the light as she looked up at him. her voice sounded more hoarse than she remembered, but maybe it was because she was raising it just enough to help it along. of course it was dangerous to be on her own. it wasn’t like she was some badass from planet terror though. she’d kept herself alive by being quiet, quick, and keeping high ground when she slept. though she sometimes wondered if that would work against her if she met with one of california’s infamous earthquakes. now that would send the dead running. “it’s not great.” she addended. and it wasn’t. traveling on her own with a dog in tow was less than ideal for survival, but groups had their own kind of dangers too. at least she could trust her party of one (two!). “thank god for simple blessings.” her tone sardonic as she waved her hand, a breathy laugh signaling that she was being glib. robocop’s ears perked at the whistle and recognition of another dog. he remained next to her, but his tail began windshield-wipering the ground beneath it. “cooper.” she repeated. “nice to meet you--all things considered.” looking to her dog, she felt the familiar inkling of embarrassment she sometimes got when introducing her dog. already prepared to explain his name or defend why she hadn’t picked ‘murphy’ instead. “his name’s robocop, but mostly i call him robo.”  looking at the dog, she signaled for him to release so he could investigate the other dog. “go on, i can see how restless you are.”

[nocshift]

neve & sarah, survivingsarahm.

Being outside the walls more often than not, Sarah had gotten used to the different sounds around her. And she definitely could tell the difference between hearing a human being approaching or a reaper, mostly because the humans didn’t tend to run at her while growling. And of course, she knew alive humans were just as dangerous as the dead ones, but those who wanted to harm her, they usually tried to sneak up on her, which was something that this woman did not try to do. She actually tried to be as loud as possible to get Sarah’s attention, which was definitely a smart choice. “It’s fine, we don’t get to see many living people out here anymore, it goes for good company, even if it’s just for a little bit.” And Sarah was getting tired of always seeing the same faces while in the medical center, at least out here she had to chance of meeting and speaking to new people. 

Sarah couldn’t help but chuckle. “I didn’t smoke before all of this but it really helps me with my anxiety.” She knew they were bad for your health but really, was anyone worried about that now a days? When you could literally die tomorrow, ripped apart by reapers? “Nah, I’m from the medical center. Just scouting out possible places for the scavengers to come search later.” She told the other, not seeing a reason why she shouldn’t be honest. “You? Are you alone or are you from a community?” 

twirling the cigarette between her middle and forefinger, neve answered the woman with a soft smile--eyes distant remembering a youth of helping her father pay the bills. the smell brought her back to counting stacks of cash she’d raked in from selling the pills she found in the medicine cabinets of parties in lake oswego. parties she’d never been invited to. even before the outbreak, that girl had been a lifetime ago. so many versions of herself had been buried. some even mourned. she’d been lucky to have gotten her shit together before her father died and the world ended for her for the first time. that was long before the outbreak. “glad to hear i’m preferably to worm food.” the nostalgic look in her eyes dimmed and she replaced it with a smirk, letting out a breathy laugh. 

“it’s a good way to stay awake, too.” but it made you easy to spot in the dark on the road. she’d found a pack of smokes a couple years ago, considered taking the habit up again, but didn’t want to eat led traveling from place to place. “oh, nice. i used to work in a hospital here. a long time ago.” maybe it would be nice to be in one again, but it wasn’t the same. none of the abandoned hospitals were. they didn’t live like they used to. they lacked a distinct anima--the smell, the alarms--hell, even the screams. she was used to all of it and it felt too silent to be in them now for too long. “just the two of us.” she sighed, finally lighting the cigarette with a lighter she kept for when it was safe to start fires. “i keep thinking we’ll find a camp and settle down, but then i can’t bring myself to really do it, y’know?”

[nocshift]

neve & taher, hardrainsfall.

open to : everyone.  /  location : south santa fe ave.

stealth was part of any survivor’s reason for surviving, taher included. even a man that wasn’t exactly described as graceful as a child had to have some ability to move safely on the open road these days. some of it was trained into him by the others at the library camp, some was just learned on the job. right now, though, not one of taher’s greatest moments. a little tussle with a reaper left him tripping over his own feet (or was it their feet?) and falling on his ass, the snapping jaws above him uncomfortably close to his shoulder. through some maneuver taher wouldn’t be able to figure out the physics of hours later when thinking over it again, he gained the upper hand, flipping the rotted body underneath him and quickly he grabbed for his axe that he forgot that he dropped. uncoordinatedly taher wielded the axe above his head and chopped into the body heavily. once its head was severed, taher stumbled back and knowingly dropped his axe this time. wiping a hand over his forehead and then realizing his face was streaked with dirt and blood, taher made a noise of disgust. suddenly the weight of someone’s stare was on him and his head snapped in their direction. he shrugged and softly smiled, embarrassed.

“i thought that went pretty well, didn’t you?”

recalling a lecture from evolutionary biology (or bio 376, if she remembered correctly), things were built for either speed or strength. though her work as a nurse and her bad luck with junker cares told her that, in reality, some things were built for neither. if she had to pick one, she’d have figured she was built for speed more than strength. maybe that self-reflection was what kept her alive, because--as much as it was possible--she chose to avoid direct confrontation with the dead. and when she couldn’t avoid it, well, there was something to be said for dumb luck. after all, wasn’t all evolution a product of stochasticity in one way or another. and, to distill it further, wasn’t all survival just left to change?

it certainly looked that way as she watched the younger man swing the axe like an eager boyfriend chopping wood at his new girl’s family cabin. neve actually let a scoff escape her lips in amusement as his comment matched the metaphor she was writing in her head. he spoke easily as if he was about to return to a family of icelandic sweaters and hot chocolate before getting in a fight and wishing he’d just stayed home instead. 

“any fight you can walk away from, right?” she was sure she’d heard something like that before, though it felt like a non-statement. something someone’s dad would say when you lost the raffle at an elk’s lodge picnic. she meant it though. “you, uh, you want your axe?” she asked, gesturing to it in hopes they wouldn’t need him to use it again. “i just have a gun.” and guns made noise, but it was good to let him no she could be just as lethal given the chance.

[nocshift]

“ take your shirt off, sit on the table. ” from livia @livstein

"you know i can change this myself," neve grumbled at her friend, but the words held no weight and she did as she was told. robocop let out a low whine as she hopped up on the table, but sat politely hoping to steal some pets from livia before she got started. it really wasn't that bad, but livia was right to insist. dying of sepsis from a flesh wound wasn’t a great way to go and there was no way she was packing the deep wound in her shoulder at that angle. honestly, she cringed even thinking of it remembering the few occasions she'd had to stuff gauze into pressure ulcers. that was the nice part about the emergency room; most of the wounds were fresh. the ones that weren't? well, she could throw just about anything on 'em and call it good til they got up to the floor whereas a nurse at a retirement home probably did more dressing changes and wound packing than ivs. “what’s the grossest dressing you ever changed--huh, liv? distract me with something good, because this fence post gauging must be pretty tame. i’ve seen some gnarly shit come in from nursing homes.” if they wanted to compare war stories, she had plenty of trauma patients to invoke, but none of them grossed her out quite like the decay of the forgotten elderly.

[nocshift]

neve & cooper, hisburdens.

𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚂  :  open  to  anyone  near   /   inside  the  observatory .

 the   guard   is   perched   in   a   spot   he   was   far   too   familiar   with   for   this   time   of   morning ,      watching   the   group   of   scavengers   closely   as   they   embarked   out   on   their   task   for   the   day  when   it   was   just   barely   the   break   of   dawn .     he’s   scouring   the   streets   when   he   catches   some   type   of   movement   in   the   corner   of   his   eye   which   makes   him   pull   his   concentration   from   the   group   to   see  exactly   who  it   is . 

❝  a‘lil   early   to   be   out   ‘n   about ,   dont   ’ya   think ?  ❞     he’ll   call   out   to   them ,    offering   a   friendly   smile   as   his   eyes   adjust .

“or, y’know--”  neve’s lips curved into a crooked, sardonic grin with an ease that suggested it was a common expression for her. “--still out ‘n’ about.” that was a perk of traveling and working nights. she could stay up 35+ hours without batting an eye back before. now it was a little less without reliable access to caffeine and the other creature comforts she missed. still, she’d built herself to clock some egregious hours and when she didn’t have a secure camp for the night, was able to keep moving and find some safer places to sleep in daylight more often than not. “awfully friendly small talk for someone with a gun bigger than my dog.” hyperbole no doubt, but she joked, hoping the conversation would continue amicably.

[nocshift]

   feel free to change pronouns / wording !

warning for spoilers and bad language.

“ we gotta get to the roof. ”  

“ if we don’t get her to a hospital, she’s going to die. ”  

“ i’m not even supposed to be out here. ”  

“ tracks are fresh. ”  

“ just a graze. ”  

“ he’s losin’ a lot of blood  -  he’s not gettin’ far. ”  

“ bleedin’ out. that’s a helluva way to go. ”  

“ what d’ you suppose that feels like, huh ? torn apart. eaten alive. ”  

“ don’t leave me out here. ”  

“ something’s blocking the road. ”  

“ loan me your shotgun. i’ll walk point. ”  

“ i think it’s dead. ”  

“ i’m gonna kill them all, every fuckin’ one of ‘em. ”  

“ why don’t you wait out here ? let me make sure it’s all clear. ”  

“ i’m not gonna kill ya  -  stop runnin’ ! ”  

“ don’t you ever touch me. ”  

“ just get the fuck outta my way. ”  

“ i could’a blown your goddamn head off ! ”  

“ if you had bullets, i wouldn’t be breathin’ now, would i ? ”  

“ you don’t sound like  -  like yourself. ”  

“ there’s no such thing as a starving patriot. ”  

“ i heard gunshots. ”  

“ you’re gonna get yourself killed. ”  

“ don’t do anything stupid. ”  

“ anyone touches this bike, or anything on it  -  i break your fingers.. ”  

“ it’s not his job t’ know it’s your goddamn job t’ know. ”  

“ well aren’t you the optimist. ”  

“ trouble in paradise ? ”  

“ you got a price on your head. ”  

“ wonder what happened here. ”  

“ i don’t know what i would do if i lost you. ”  

“ you get his attention, i’m gonna try to sneak around behind him. ”  

“ could you use a ride ? ”  

“ so what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this ? ”  

“ my ex would say i’ve been lost for years. ”  

“ oh my god i could’ve killed somebody. ”  

“ did you kill them ? ”  

“ don’t get soft on me. ”  

“ how are you alive ? ”  

“ you’re not the only one who lost someone that night. ”  

“ i know how to shoot a gun. ”  

“ i don’t need a goddamn babysitter, i’m fine. ”  

“ it’s a long story. ”  

“ i’ll have us back in your bed by ten. ”  

“ you don’t want to get infected. ”  

“ we’ve all done things we’re not proud of. ”  

“ don’t sneak up on me like that ! ”  

“ i want to forget. ”  

“ you’re just a regular stand-up guy. ”  

“ i guess i should’ve been a surgeon. ”  

“ you are writing checks with other mens’ blood. ”  

“ this is getting old fast. ”  

“ never much liked kids  -  they always tended to get on my nerves. ”  

“ do you have my back here ? ”  

“ i don’t like starting trouble but  -  i’ll finish it if i have to. ”  

“ caring’ll just get you killed. ”  

“ easy to kill a man, when he’s just some piece’a meat standing between you and what you need. ”  

“ so, you and _____. ”  

“ almost sounded like you volunteered for some shit. ”  

“ never piss off a woman who knows how to use a scalpel. ”  

“ i’m just fuckin’ with you. ”  

“ try not to get your ass shot off. ”  

“ look on the bright side, looks like you’re stuck with me. ”        

“ there’s a few lines i haven’t crossed. ”  

“ you gotta know when to cut a man loose. ”  

“ little late for a stroll. ”  

“ that’s what brothers do. ”  

“ this how we’re goin’ out ? ”  

“ only if you promise to ride me as much as your bike. ”  

“ you were always a fighter. ”  

“ take your shirt off, sit on the table. ”  

“ maybe one day, stop and light a candle. it can get pretty cold and dark out there. ”  

“ i never saw it  -  it was on me so fast. ”  

“ everything that makes you who you are, oh, it can be burned away. ”  

“ everyone i ever cared about is dead. ”  

“ you have to run because they will kill you. ”  

“ do you know how to use a gun ? ”  

“ you’re a godsend, i was praying so hard. ”  

“ i thought i lost you. ”  

“ are you sure this isn’t personal ? ”  

“ i’m not a church goin’ type. ”  

“ the world is what it is. ”  

“ we make the world what it is, by what we do. ”  

“ what are you, five ? ”  

“ survivin’ isn’t livin’. ”  

“ i think that you’re afraid to be here. ”  

“ we need you, and that scares the hell outta you. ”  

“ it’s not murder if they shoot at you first. ”  

“ what does it matter if everyone else is dead ? ”  

“ i’m giving you an order. ”  

“ i don’t need your goddamn help. ”  

“ y’ know, making me a co-conspirator ? not very chivalrous. ”  

“ you don’t take anything seriously. ”  

“ how many men have you killed ? ”  

“ you’re dead. you’re  -  you’re supposed to be dead ! ”  

“ yeah, i tried to hit that once. ”  

“ nice place, it’s got that woman’s touch. ”  

“ there was so many of them. ”  

“ you enjoyed that. ”  

“ are you tryin’ to convince me ? or you ? ”  

“ they’re infected. it’s what made them so hyper-aggressive. ”  

“ trust no one, expect the worst. ”  

“ they used me. ”  

“ i didn’t mean to kill him. ”  

“ so get up, dust yourself off, try again. ”  

“ most people out there ? they’re just trying to survive and here you are, trying to save the goddamn world. ”  

“ that shit is locked and loaded. ”  

“ i’m not gonna apologize for being lucky. ”  

“ i hope this was worth it. ”  

“ there’s a horde coming ! ”  

“ you’re one of the good ones, man ! ”  

“ hey, you watch your mouth. ”  

“ sometimes, in the search for truth, the blood of innocents is spilled. ”  

“ i didn’t say it was a good plan. ”  

“ i wasn’t gonna let ‘em kill ya. ”  

“ you did the world a solid. ”  

“ would you like some tea ? i’m sure you would. ”  

“ you destroyed everything we worked for. ”  

“ hope you saved some for me. ”  

“ what the hell does that even mean ? ”  

“ you don’t have to tell me this. you can stop. ”  

[nocshift]

neve & carrie, ofscavangers.

Carrie had learnt early on that keeping quieting was important if you wanted to survive. Even when she was in a so called safe zone she wouldn’t be too loud instead choosing to stick to herself. As a scavenger she’d go out when it got too much.

She wasn’t expecting anyone else so when she heard footsteps she mostly presumed it was a carrier and stepped out to the middle of the room.

“Come on then, out you come.” Despite the teasing lilt to her voice she kept a tight grip on her weapon.

it’s not like she was trying to get the drop on the woman. not really. she’d just meant to keep an eye on her, so she could be avoided. that and she always tried to check on any other rogue wanderers to make sure they didn’t need her help (grateful when they didn’t and bound by a self-imposed duty when they did). particularly if she drew any attention of the dead. neve wasn’t about to stumble into an undead flashmob because she hadn’t avoided another survivor. stepping out from behind where she’d been hiding, the voice seemed vaguely familiar like a classical, instrumental cover of a nirvana song playing in an office waiting room. distant and familiar. “i’m just passing by.” she told the other, still unsure of the familiarity from where she stood though the feeling threatened to encompass her. “do i know you?” it felt so silly coming out of her mouth like she was talking to a former patient in a costco or starbucks line. 

[nocshift]

at first it was as if all of neve’s senses had been removed. briefly, she recalled a short story in some clive barker she’d read in high school. something about sensory deprivation and insanity. she remembered never having felt a fear quite like he described. she had a rogue’s gallery of terrifying experiences, but nothing like that. in a second, she felt that preternatural abyss as an all-consuming darkness before the ringing started in her ears. before the stinging between her eyes, which she hasn’t realized she’d been squeezing so tightly (she hadn’t considered that she’d had eyes at all until that moment). something hot lapped at her clammy hands before she opened her eyes and found herself blinded by the light despite the hour being late and the sky crepuscular.

gathering her faculties bit by bit, she reached for the tongue that had woken her and found fur. comforting. she hadn’t realized the threat she feared until it was gone and her hand was on “robocop!” she left out as a grateful croak, throat sore like she’d spent the night close to an air conditioner. groping for her pack and gun, neve tried to remain as silent as the los angeles detritus crunched beneath her every calculated move. the city always had a topsoil of litter. the apocalypse had done to it what it did to all things–stripped it bare and made it more of what it truly was. her footsteps seemed to echo as she stepped on what looked like a few hundred years-old concert flyers. robocop’s ears perked up, alerting her to the presence of someone else. not an echo. not the dead.

“hello?” she called. feeling stupid before the second syllable. like the first to die in a horror movie, the actress’ name buried in obscurity several credits below the bumbling sheriff. clearing her throat, she tried to get her feet underneath her, steeling herself for whatever answered and for whatever they had planned for her. living or dead.

[nocshift]

neve & sarah, survivingsarahm.

Open Starter for: Anyone 

Location: Could literally be anywhere outside the walls

Sarah was definitely done for the day. After scouting a few possible locations for their scavengers to take a look at, all she wanted to do was take a break and just relax for a little bit. She knew she couldn’t let her guard down too much, being outside the walls was always dangerous, not only because of the Reapers but also because of other survivors who might not have the best of intentions. Sarah was currently in a balcony of a building, having checked it for any Reapers and making sure it was clean. Hearing the footsteps and the lack of groans, Sarah assumed it was a living human being. “It’s fine, I’m not going to hurt you. Want one?” She asked, showing the other the pack of cigarettes.

neve tended to steer clear of the camps. generally speaking, most of them were just rag tag groups of survivors just trying to live beyond day to day. after all of her time on the road, she’d grown accustomed to the other kind of camp. until she became reacquainted with the city, she would stick to the streets where danger didn’t greet her with a smile and the promise of food before it went for her throat. 

the apartment building was a natural choice for hunting down expired antibiotics, but between stuffing things in her pack and trying to do the mental math of how the expired keflex would need to be spaced out in order to be of any use against infection, she’d missed the woman on the balcony. as the black and white husky padded ahead, neve tried to make enough noise to be noticed without startling anyone and catching a bullet over what was only a potentially useful treatment for a uti. “i didn’t mean to intrude.” she apologized as she approached, always grateful for fresh air (a bigger joke in los angeles). 

“i don’t know.” she confessed as she took a cigarette anyway, hoping the woman spoke true. “i quit years ago.” it was a terrible habit, but it wasn’t as if any of them were likely to live long enough to see lung cancer. unsure if she was actually going to smoke it or not, she twirled it in her fingers ... deciding. “is this your place?”

[nocshift]

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1977)

[nocshift]

Bleeding’s not gonna stop on its own, I need to stitch his arm.

[nocshift]

⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ NEVE CHANNING ❜   /  TD.

⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ if you get hungry enough◝ you start to eat your own heart ❜   /  musings. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ you’ve tasted tragedy◝ surely you can handle tenderness ❜   /  visage. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ the moon is beautiful now◝ you should have seen her before the war ❜   /  aesthetic. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ some days i’m more wolf than woman ❜   /  answers. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ like a fever i burned then broke◝ like the dawn i rose then broke ❜   /  music. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ how very little can be done in the spirit of fear ❜   /  history. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ you are so brave and quiet◝ i forget you are suffering  ❜   /  mentions. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ you have turned your heart into a museum of people you’ve loved ❜   /  family. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ fangs for days◝ nights dig deeper than dog bites ❜   /  robocop. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ i was the girl full of talk of coffins and keyholes ❜   /  edits. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ there is no end to what a living world will demand of you ❜   /  headcanons. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ she uses a scalpel for punctuation ❜   /  memes. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ godly as a child’s shriek◝ spiderlike i spin mirrors ❜   /  ooc. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ my hands are full of ash◝ i burn down everything i touch ❜   /  shane stone. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ there is so much stubborn hope in the human heart ❜   /  douglas channing. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ some memories don’t soften◝ they grow edges like knives ❜   /  paula channing. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ maybe i’ve always been destined to end up in this place ❜   /  los angeles. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ yippie queue yay motherfucker ❜   /  queue. ⚕ . ˚ ◝   —  ❛ but i had my secrets too◝ wanting to be wanted by someone i wanted ❜   /  wanted connections.