#[ ♡ ] ── * ana f. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[meatriarch]

maria and her little day / weekend / days-long roadtrips that she takes, going around texas, sometimes even popping over into neighboring states depending on time she has to do so.

how normal it was for to just. pack up her car, say quick see you laters to her mom and ana, to her friends, and then just take off on her own for days at a time. the innocence and gullibility to think that every time you go out there isn't going to be an issue - you're never going to run into some kind of trouble, because you're not that kind of person to get into any. you don't go looking for it, you're kind to those around you even when you don't know them, so what sort of trouble could possibly be thrown at you?

during those trips she more often than not lived and slept out of her car - so she'd find a nice little spot tucked away someplace, park and just camp out for the night wherever she was. be one with nature and everything yknow.

really only dipped into motels and the like if she needed to wash up or she got hurt and needed to rest for a night or something.

( me with my lowkey fear of getting my shit broken into in the middle of the woods while camping is grabbing her by the shoulders and fucking begging her to just stay in motels when she travels for the love of- )

it takes alot of blind trust in the world, in other people, in yourself, to not get mixed up in some bad situation. its always the thought of well it could never happen to me, who would ever think to hurt me? and its why would anyone even dream of hurting someone like her?

how many times, how many trips, how many consecutive days has maria gone out - more than often completely alone, and rather stupidly with nothing packed in terms of defense because she simply does not believe she'd ever need it - into forests alone, into deserts, into the mountains, into hunting territories, any place that holds not just human threats but also simply just, the threats of wild animals or unknown terrain?

and yet she did it constantly, alone, with no means of defense, and with blind faith that anyone she came across would simply never pose a threat to her - because she isn't one to them.

like. these trips were always a means to de-stress for her, to get some air, to have a bit of freedom from the stresses and responsibilities back home, with classes, from family. to be able to go out and take some pretty photos to share with everyone waiting for her to get back home, so they can see all the beautiful scenery she got to experience, see all the wildlife she got to encounter. so she could show them specific photos of things that reminded her of them - because she's always thinking of them, even on these trips that are meant to be her little get-aways.

and then that last roadtrip happens, where she gets taken. and she's forced to realize exactly why people worry when she goes out alone, why people carry guns or hunters' knives with them when they travel. why people like danny are suspicious of new faces in spite not knowing the person - why sometimes its a good thing to have guard up.

[extrameat]

TAGS LIST:

[ rel. ] ── * johnny s. / 𝘫𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘯𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳.

[ rel. ] ── * leland m. / 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘷𝘦𝘳.

[ rel. ] ── * connie t. / 𝘧𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥.

[ rel. ] ── * donnie w. / 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘣𝘪𝘵.

[ ♡ ] ── * maria f.

[ ♡ ] ── * maria f. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * maria f. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * ana f.

[ ♡ ] ── * ana f. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * ana f. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * danny a. o.

[ ♡ ] ── * danny a. o. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * danny a. o. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * birdie.

[ ♡ ] ── * birdie. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * birdie. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * pepper h.

[ ♡ ] ── * pepper h. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * pepper h. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * luda m. h.

[ ♡ ] ── * luda m. h. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * luda m. h. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * thomas b. h.

[ ♡ ] ── * thomas b. h. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * thomas b. h. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ ♡ ] ── * nancy s.

[ ♡ ] ── * nancy s. / 𝘪𝘤.

[ ♡ ] ── * nancy s. / 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * pinned.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * queue.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * shoutout.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * sp.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * do not reblog / repost.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * answered.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * the yappening.

[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * dni.

[ 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮. ] ── * saved.

[ ♡ ] ── * study.

[ ♡ ] ── * aes.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * cold case.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * no one saved you.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * choke chained.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * wilted.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * shine.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * sunlight.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * oath binded.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * prequel.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * retribution. / ch. 2.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * in bloom.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * dbd.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * sinyala.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * friday the thirteenth.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * college au.

[ 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. ] ── * gilded eternity.

[meatriarch]

i believe rae's mentioned it some time ago but its horrific knowing that the two tanks in the game - ana & leland - are both technically speaking the youngest of the group and, arguably, endure and take on as much of the aggro and hits as possible to keep the others safer.

like, ana especially feels an immense sense of guilt over bringing them all there to begin with, gathering them up in one place to be picked off in that ambush. if she hadnt gone to them, they would be safe and in their beds back home. and going thru the entirety of the basement brawl leading up to when they get out, its both the drive to try and find maria that keeps her going for sure but its also the drive of, i can NOT let her friends die because of me, either. being so young and in that situation, ana slaps on as brave a face as she can, endures what she can, bites back as much tears and pain as possible so she at least can be certain that theyre all safe and out of there -- at the very least that they all are.

personal canon for her is towards the end of the brawl, when everyones shy of getting out, ana takes heat from a couple of the family -- i wanna say likely hitch &/or sissy with both their faster movements & swings -- and draws them as far as she can manage, and in that altercation gets her face injuries, later scars ( below ).

i still have that prompt from kels abt lee sending her off ahead of himself for nosy/dusk and honestly i think by that point, with her face injuries, she's likely so overwhelmed and panicked and terrified and hardly thinking straight that when he told her to run? she just. did. i think just the weight of everything they've just gone thru, the weight of knowing they didnt find maria, that everyones hurt and on deaths door and its her fault, it all finally started to hit her in that brief moment and all she could hear and make out of him talking next to her was to run.

and then like kels' post its just like. it is funny to adopt in game silliness and plop it into writing scenarios because yeah, i feel her & lee would be antsy and trying to kinda puff themselves up a bit while somethings getting done ( tank zoomies c: ), because theyre both likely shoving past to get out first in case someones on the other side waiting so they can do tank shit. and if ana wasnt getting actively beat to shit and saw one of the others in a chase? yeah, shes gonna intervene in some way and take aggro for them to slip out of there safely.

which again ... my ana's birthday is jan 7th, so when this all goes down? she's BARELY a couple months into being eighteen. shes the actual baby of the group and yet she feels so responsible for everything that shes just... i have to go thru as much as possible to even make up for a fraction of what ive brought everyone to and if i die for them then i guess i die-

[meatriarch]

thinking about maria & ana's thoughts on ramon flores ( their father ) + the broadcasts, him finally showing face around again only when one of his daughters' have literally gone missing.

how pre-house, maria was always open to the idea of him returning to their lives, in some manner. for visits, to keep that promise - literally anything, pre-house she would have been so much more forgiving, in spite of the hurt he caused, in spite of how many times she had kept up hope to a younger ana and herself that he was going to keep that promise, that he was going to call, that he would show up to their birthdays, to holidays. and even when she had to bite down on lip to stop herself from crying every single time he never showed, never called, she had still turned to ana with a smile and tried to paint him in positive light.

ana, on the other end, saw through the smiles, saw through the optimism, and she hated how hurt maria was. and she hated how hurt their mama was. she remembers hearing them both, on opposite ends of the house, crying in their rooms. she remembers watching maria sit on the couch beside the landline, eagerly waiting time and time again for a call they all knew wasn't going to come through. how every time it didnt, maria would look to her, smiling, and make up reason for him forgetting they existed. and ana knows she always meant well, and she doesnt blame her for it - but it upsets her, still, how hopeful maria was that he'd ever keep that promise.

after maria goes missing, gets taken, ana is frankly stunned when ramon appears on their doorstep. and she's angry. she realizes their mom is the one who made sure he found out what was going on, that she insisted on him coming to try and help. ana does not trust him, and she lets him know so in no uncertain terms how unwanted he is to be there - but frankly, they need the extra eyes and ears and hands to look for her sister, and that's all he better be there to do.

its very tense with them under the same roof again, and when ana and carmen ( mama flores ) are asked by the sheriffs to put out statements to be broadcast out, ana's frustration only grows when she realizes that ramon has been asked to do the same; angered at him talking about "his daughter", as if he had any right to claim to be a father to them anymore, to claim he misses her, that he wants her home safely. she bites back vitriol then - but she lets him know, later that night before taking off to his motel to sleep, that he lost that privilege long ago, when he walked out on them.

in maria's case, down in her cell below johnny's shack, being made to listen to the search broadcasts daily - nightly routine, almost ritualistic - its so strange, so unnerving, listening to people speak of you in terms of your fate being unknown;

is she alive? is she dead? did she just skip town? what truly happened to maria flores?

to then one night, after hearing unfamiliar voices speak her name, speculate on her whereabouts, go on and on and on about how theres been no leads, no clear evidence, no signs of struggle or foul play - phrases that earn the damned radio a tearful glare from her;

( they've no idea what happened that evening she was taken- )

to then hear three. distinct, etched into memory.

of her mother, who could barely speak without choking on words, on sobs. begging, pleading, for her little girl to be brought home safe, alive, to please let her go, let her come back to us, before devolving past the static into a sobbing mess.

of ana, whose voice trembled - both in anger, and in effort to not cry as well - who demanded people to come forward with anything, that surely someone must have seen something, heard something, know something. that her sister doesnt deserve whatever has happened, that she was good and kind and sweet, and to whoever may have her, to let her come home, safe and alive.

she bites tongue not to call them A COWARD for going after her sister.

and then, theres the third. unexpected. stirs a cold bitterness in maria, huddled close to wall on the ground of the cell. when ramon's voice comes through the static, theres an anger that bubbles in her, exasperation, hurt.

it took me GOING MISSING for you to show up again?

his voice muddies between the static, between the sound of carved wood, and vision blurs with tears, biting hard down on lip, on inside of cheeks, as his voice drones on, and on, and on . . .

until she cant stand the sound. until she lets out a sob. until she begs the man, watching silently beside the radio, to just turn the fucking thing off-

[meatriarch]

maria, ana, danny tags !