#Sorcha: can’t explain it. as I have already explained in sign language

[ellynneversweet]

When you think about it there’s a remarkable number of fairytales featuring a heroine rendered mute through a curse or vow of silence.

Depending on how you play this in a retelling and how sympathetic you make the fairytale husband, you can make a pointed commentary either on the way in which young women have been selectively denied a voice/the power of choice or on the incredible power of the silent treatment in driving a man absolutely mental with frustration.

[crystallinecrimsonmoth]

Future Serial Killer [ongoing]

Chapter 43

Carl practically fell down the stairs while Negan teased him on their way to the kitchen, hitting the man away playfully until they were on the ground floor and the older Saviour had his arms wrapped around the teen, kissing his cheek. Both their clothes were disheveled, and Carl was barely wearing anything, only a t-shirt and boxers to his name as he turned and noticed Maggie’s eyes on them both.

The older woman had her hand over Jasmine’s blue eyes while shooting a sharp glare at the couple, shaking her head.

‘Do you think she’s any more likely to speak after being scarred by the sight of her half naked dad? This isn’t a frat house, Carl, go and put clothes on!’

Carl rolled his eyes at her scolding but nodded, disappearing upstairs to get changed.

‘Fine, but only because I love my daughter and don’t want to scar her, not because you told me too!’ He called behind him stubbornly before the door shut upstairs, signaling he’d gone to get clothes from the room he and Negan had previously been occupying.

Once the younger man was gone, Maggie smiled at Negan, running her hand over Jasmine’s hair, and then turning away to the fridge to get juice for them both. She still didn’t entirely know how to talk to him, though she wanted to try, so she settled with offering him juice.

It was a peace offering of sorts. Now that Negan had apologised and was actually acting like a decent human being unlike his past self, she was willing to mend the fence and offer him some juice.

She did it for Jasmine too. The little girl was too innocent, not yet broken by the world they were living in. If she could keep Negan’s former life away from the girl’s thoughts, she would. She didn’t have to know what her dad used to be like.

‘You’re lucky she didn’t hear whatever you two were doing up there.’ She told Negan as she slid a glass of juice over to the man, watching as he kissed Jasmine’s forehead and let her grab onto his nose.

Negan cringed at the thought of the little girl hearing what they’d done, sipping his juice before lifting her out of her highchair and kissing her cheek.

‘Good morning, baby girl.’ He smiled when she touched his stubble with her small hand, looking to Maggie when she offered him the bottle of formula that Jasmine hadn’t finished quite yet.

Feeding his daughter with one hand, he nodded to Maggie with a slight smile.

‘Thank you for letting us stay here. I doubt Rick would have been so welcoming.’

‘Well, Rick still hasn’t come to peace with you and Carl yet. I think the only reason he hasn’t tried to kill you again is because of Jasmine.’

Negan laughed a little at that, setting the formula bottle down when the toddler finished with it and rubbing her back to soothe her.

‘If that’s what keeps him at a distance, that’s just fine.’

The pair smiled at each other as they both went quiet to drink from their respective glasses of juice. They didn’t need to say anything. All was settled between enough for the two to stand in comfortable silence, only the soft sound of Jasmine’s babbling breaking the quiet as she played with Negan’s facial hair.

The quiet didn’t last long though as Carl came jogging down the stairs to the side of them, now properly dressed with a pair of jeans and boots on.

He looked a lot more ready for the day now, if not a little out of breath as if he was excited about something.

‘Liùsaidh and Daryl, outside-’

‘Are they fighting again?’ Maggie frowned, worried the two hunters would cause a fight in the middle of town with their blind infatuation with each other that always seemed to end in a dog fight.

Carl shook his head with a laugh, taking Jasmine from Negan.

‘Oh no, they seem long past fighting. They were making out against the wall.’ The younger man smirked, kissing his daughter’s forehead as she played with his hair.

Negan and Maggie both raised their eyebrows at that, a smirk forming on the other Saviour’s face too as he wandered over to the front window of the living room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two.

When he saw Liùsaidh getting on the back of Daryl’s bike, he smirked wider, looking over his shoulder at Maggie and Carl as the motorcycle roared past the gates, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

‘I don’t think they’ll be joining us for breakfast. Probably off to fuck in private somewhere on that bike of his.’

‘They’re not. Daryl doesn’t fuck.’ Maggie spoke up as she took another sip of her juice, putting her hand down to Sorcha with a piece of apple in it.

The dog crunched on the fruit in appreciation while Negan and Carl both looked at the woman with confused frowns.

‘What do you mean Daryl doesn’t fuck? Everybody fucks.’ Negan tilted his head at her, glancing briefly at Jasmine with worry that she might copy their language.

If she wanted to swear when she was older, that was fine by him, but until she was a teenager, he didn’t want her speaking like him.

Maggie shook her head, spooning the eggs she was making for everybody onto three plates. Her expression was unbothered by the foul language Negan kept repeating.

‘Told me a while back. He doesn’t have sex, doesn’t appeal to him.’ She shrugged, sliding the plates over to them and sitting at the dining table with her own share.

Carl set Jasmine down on his knee while he sat beside Maggie, smiling when Negan brushed his hand with his and watching his husband sit on the other side of the table.

‘They’ll come back soon enough if they don’t end up killing each other.’ The younger man laughed softly, tapping Jasmine’s nose when she laughed in return.

‘Dada!’

All three pairs of eyes around the table went wide at the toddler’s sudden exclamation, before Negan let out a pleased laugh, reaching over to pet Jasmine’s head.

‘Good girl, baby. That’s Dada, well done.’

∞

Later on in the day, as the sky darkened to a faded blue and clouds disappeared to make room for the night to replace them, Carl sat on the porch, Jasmine rocking back and forth in his lap with Judith’s old elephant toy gripped tight in her small hands.

Watching her play with the toy made Carl’s heart ache, reminding him of the days when he’d look after his little sister. He missed her at times like this when everything was peaceful and safe. He wished immensely that she were still there, to grow up with Jasmine. They were practically the same age; they could have been best friends despite how awkward it would be that his sister and daughter were the same age.

‘Dada?’

Her soft little voice distracted Carl from his thoughts, and he looked down to see her blue eyes staring back at him, hands outstretched towards his face and causing a smile to lift the corners of his mouth.

‘You have such a pretty voice, sweetheart. Dada loves you, yes he does!’ He lifted her up in his arms, letting her stand on his thighs and listening to the toddler giggle.

Carl smiled brighter at the little girl when she reached for him, only moving his attention away from her when the sound of a roaring motorcycle started getting louder outside of the gates.

‘I think Uncle Daryl and Auntie Liù are home now, baby girl. Don’t they look happy.’ He hummed down to Jasmine who giggled when he kissed her cheek.

He watched as Liùsaidh climbed off of the motorcycle and Daryl touched her cheek, the movement more tender than Carl had ever seen the archer act. Once the two hunters had shared a kiss in plain sight of him and his daughter, he smirked at Daryl as he approached, waving to him while Negan joined him from inside of the house.

‘You got a girlfriend now, Dixon?’

‘Shut yer mouth, kid.’

‘Aw, are you shy, Daryl?’ Negan teased, leaning his chin on Carl’s head and wrapping his arms around his shoulders from behind the rocking chair.

Jasmine reached up to the man, stroking his beard where she stood on Carl’s thighs and smiling brightly at him, causing Negan to do the same, his heart feeling lighter at the sight of the smile on the little girl’s face. He glanced up at Daryl afterwards with a sly grin, tilting his head and looking past him when Liùsaidh approached the house.

‘How was your trip?’ He signed to her, smiling when she spoke aloud.

‘Good. Stuff for little girl.’ She dropped a bag at their feet before letting her hand brush against Daryl’s, disappearing with her bow down the street and kicking a rock along the road.

Daryl turned his glare on them after she left, opening the bag and showing them the food and clothes inside it.

‘We found a house ‘bout ten miles out, had a nursery and shit, still food in the kitchen.’ He explained, leaving the bag with them before jogging away to catch up with Liùsaidh.

The two Saviours watched them with amused smirks on their faces, Negan looking down at Carl and kissing his forehead.

‘It’s getting late. Maggie’s thinking about making dinner soon, I said I’d help.’

‘Look at you, good little chef.’ The younger man teased, kissing him with a smirk and laughing when Jasmine hit his shoulder for attention.

‘Can’t even kiss without a jealous girl getting between us.’ Negan smiled at the toddler, petting her cheek while leaning his chin on Carl’s head again.

The teen smiled, gazing at Jasmine with soft eyes.

‘I’m okay with this girl getting in our way.’

‘They guess about what we did.�� Liùsaidh growled when Daryl caught up with her, kicking another rock across the road as she kept storming away from the houses closer to the gate.

‘It don’t matter what they think, I don’t care what they think!’ Daryl argued, following her since he knew he wouldn’t stop her walking and unloading his crossbow from his back. They walked until they were at the back of the town past the fields, Liùsaidh already trying to climb the back wall.

‘Hey, where are you going? We only just came back!’

‘I want fresh air alone!’ She snapped over her shoulder at him, halfway up before she looked down at him.

‘I would rather not be stared at. Leave me be, Daryl.’ She insisted then turned away from him again, eyes on the sky as she continued climbing, not letting her foot slip this time.

The man on the ground sighed, watching her climb to the top and waiting until he heard her jump down on the other side before he climbed over too, thumping down on the other side with a groan. Liùsaidh was already in the distance, stomping off like an insolent child.

‘For shit’s sake!’ He growled, running after her.

They passed through bright green trees and trekked gravel road were at least four miles outside of Hilltop, when Liùsaidh finally stopped, sitting on the ground.

‘What are you doing now?’ Daryl questioned in a gruff voice as he came up behind her, looking around at the area in case of any danger that she wasn’t telling him about.

The girl ignored him for a few minutes, looking into the trees at the side of the road with narrowed eyes. She could hear something, something that sounded dangerous. It was like an animal crashing through the trees. Heavy breathing…

She didn’t tell Daryl though, unsure if it was real or just a figment of her imagination.

‘Thinking and waiting for deer. They come when it’s quiet.’ She lied, watching the trees still.

The archer stopped a moment to take in her words before he sat down beside her, leaning back against his hands on the ground, palms digging into the gravel.

‘Good plan. Weren’t talking ‘bout it then?’

‘No.’ Liùsaidh huffed, not wanting to talk about the state of their relationship anymore than she wanted to hear the noises in the trees.

‘Fine.’ Daryl grunted, looking at the trees too.

They both sat in silence, the air stilling around them. Seconds later, Liùsaidh only just heard the whistling of a spear and moved out of the way, shoving Daryl onto his back so it didn’t hit him either and watching the sharp weapon fly over their heads.

The hunter looked at her with wide eyes.

‘Who threw that?’