#I just feel like we know more about Rick than the rest of the family

[scoliosisgoblin]

Which version of Rick is your fav?

it's so hard for me to choose tbh. HOWEVER, I'd say Evil Rick

then I'd say it's C-137 and Memory Rick

I love how pathetic™ Evil Rick really is tbh. love that he's being controlled by his Morty. can you guess who my favorite Morty is?

[thewalkingthread]

"I've been thinking" - D.D.

pairing: daryl dixon x f!reader

summary: After witnessing how good Daryl takes care of Judith and RJ, you think it's about time y'all have one of your own.

warning: fluff

a/n: I love soft Daryl.

You and Daryl had been through more than your fair share of hardships, having faced the trials of the apocalypse together. Your bond had only grown stronger over the years, and now, after the war in Commonwealth settled, you and your community found a place to call home. Despite the chaos of the world outside, you had finally had a semblance of peace and security among friends, new and old. Hell- you guys even had a dog now.

It was sunny today, Judith and RJ ran around on the street with some of the other kids. They screamed and hollered as they played tag, a heart melting smile spread across their faces. Just kids being kids.

You and Daryl sat on the front porch of your house with Dog. Daryl's crossbow rested against the wall as he sharpened the points of his arrows. You watched the kids, you had a smile that mirrored their contagious ones.

"You okay?" Daryl asked, his voice soft, he glanced at you briefly before he continued to work on his arrows.

You nod your head, your eyes still fixated on the kids. "I've been thinking,"

"That can't be good," Daryl scoffed, teasingly. You roll your eyes, reaching over and bumping his shoulder with your fist. "Bout wha?" He asks.

You shrug your shoulders, glancing down at the glass of water in your hands. "The future." You said simply.

Daryl looked up, curiosity evident in his stormy blue eyes. "The future, huh? What's on your mind?" He placed the arrow on the table, giving you his undivided attention.

"Well," You began, a faint blush coloring their cheeks, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but it never seemed like the right time. I mean these past few years have been so... crazy." You wince.

"But now, everything feels right. We're safe. Here, in commonwealth. The kids are safe here, we've got something good going. Something real." You hated saying it, knowing you felt the exact same way with the prison, with Alexandria. I don't think anywhere in this world would ever be safe, but here felt like it.

"We've been dealt some shitty cards. With Rick and Michonne gone, we've basically been given all their responsibility. I know we have to lead these people. I know we have to keep Jude and RJ safe. But I can't help but notice how great you are with Judith and RJ. You're a natural, Daryl. We take care of them like they're our own and-" Your voice trails off, losing the confidence to finish.

"Spit it out, woman." He grunts, staring into your eyes knowingly.

"I want to expand our family... Have one of our own?" You raise an eyebrow, "I wouldn't mind a little Dixon running around."

Daryl paused, his hands grasping yours. He looked at you with the softest eyes, his heart swelling with love and tenderness. "You serious?"

You nodded, your eyes never leaving his. "Yeah, Daryl. I am. I think we're ready. I mean you're obviously going to be one hell of a dad."

Daryl's rough exterior couldn't hide the softness that your words had brought out in him. He scooted closer to you, holding both of your hands tightly in his. "You really think that?"

You smiled, your love for Daryl shining in your eyes. You've been with Daryl from the beginning. Him and Merle found you alone in a convenient store the day everything went to shit. After months of pining over each other you finally bit the bullet at the prison and made it official. Though the two of you been through hell the past 10 years you're here, together.

"Absolutely. I've seen the way you protect and care for those kids, the way you take care of me. It makes my heart ache with how much I love you. We're building something here. I want to start a family with you."

Daryl leaned in, capturing your lips with a tender kiss. It felt just like it did the first time all those years ago. "I love you too, Y/N. Let's do it. We'll make it work, no matter what. Us against the world. The way it's always been."

His arms wrapped around your body and pulled your close to him.

"Are you two okay?" Judith's voice caused the two of you to pull away from each other. Her eyebrow was raised suspiciously at you two. You and Daryl both burst into a fit of chuckles.

"How would you feel helping Auntie Y/N out with a baby?" Daryl's voice was scuffed. Judith's eyes just about popped out as she jumped into y'alls lap.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She cheered. "About time!" She laughed. Dog barked, oblivious to what was happening but happy to see everyone happy.

You and Daryl exchanged amused glances. Deep down inside you both knew you'd be okay. Whatever happened next, you'd handle it together.

[grimesgirll]

“wouldn’t kill ya’ to smile, wouldn’t it, baby?”

your gaze goes upward from the fire you’re building to the man standing before you.

“fuck is there to smile about?” you quip quietly, pursing your lips and turning your attention back to the task at hand.

you should’ve known that would set off your ex boyfriend. the boyfriend who should really be your ex right now. you feel him behind you and eventually in front of you when he leans down to gently grasp your face. shane tilts your chin upwards in his hand while you simply glare.

“been gettin’ real tired of your attitude.”

“makes two of us.”

something in his eyes clouds and you can nearly see the frustration bubbling beneath his surface. “you know you could really have it worse somewhere else, girl.” he lets go of your chin. “you should be happy to be here and not out there alone.”

you can’t argue with him. after these past few weeks, you’d endure whatever macho act he manufactured just to make it to safety. anything at this point to get to richmond. wherever noah’s family was posted up had to be better than cannibal country or cop city.

playing the role of shane’s personal diplomat is exhausting but it’s kept conflict from escalating more than once. without you, he would’ve for sure gotten himself killed by now. it goes both ways as you can count on more than one hand the number of times he’s saved your life.

“we had a home. we’re gonna find a new one. until then you better be thankful to have someone looking out for you.” the man explains to you. “someone takin’ care of you.”

you snort. “you should be happy i let you fuck me.”

your boyfriend’s nostrils flare. “wanna repeat that?”

you don’t spare him a glance. “be happy i haven’t left you already. if it wasn’t the fucking end of times, our relationship would be toast.” you say that like it isn’t already.

but you didn’t leave him. how could you with the world falling apart around you?

and with your newfound sense of responsibility to lori and carl, staying with shane made the most sense. why not keep trying with someone who held you at night and fought tooth and nail to protect you.

that isn’t everything though.

he narrows his eyes at you. “wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t always findin’ one.”

“you fucking lori was a problem that i found?”

he throws his hands up. “why the fuck do you keep mentionin’ lori? that’s fucked,” he scolds your name. “that’s my daughter’s mother.”

“i’m not blaming her, i’m blaming you.” you discern. “you’ve been an asshole ever since everything happened.”

“c’mere.” shane pulls you to your feet and drags you away from the fire, leaving the task to sasha who’d been sitting nearby. shane has you on your feet and moving towards the back of the rest stop your group was posted up l in. “let’s take a walk.”

“shane! i’m about to make dinner over the fire,” you complain and pull back your arm but shane just wraps you in his embrace and wills you towards the grassy picnic area facing the forest.

“c’mon, one step at a time, baby. don’t make me carry you.”

“fucker.”

“watch it,” shane warns and steers you towards a dusty wooden gazebo where rick is standing with a radio, trying to get a signal from the looks of it.

“any luck?” shane calls out like he didn’t just forcibly walk you from the fire circle out here.

the bearded man turns around. he doesn’t have to shake his head or give you two a word to answer his friend’s question. an icy blue stare goes over you and shane.

“what’s going on?”

“oh, we just thought we’d see what you were up to. see if you were busy.” the ex-cop with his arms wrapped around you from behind declares.

rick drops his radio into his back pocket. “‘m not.”

“perfect. this one wants to thank you.”

rick’s dark brow goes up in question and you shake your head, asking, “huh?”

“what? you don’t wanna thank rick? don’t be rude, baby.”

you owe the man your life a million times over.

rick had saved you, shane, judith, carl, and the others so many times. he’d led you through the debilitating winters and the most nightmare inducing storms you could imagine facing in the end of times. metaphorical or not, rick had seen you all through more than you’d ever pay him back for.

the man who stayed up with you while you settled judith and helped you soothe the little girl who didn’t belong to either of you.

the rugged man looks on from shane to you not quite comprehending. it only takes the feel of shane’s hand on your ass to understand.

fuck. not now, shane, you plead internally.

“i want you to show our friend rick how grateful you are that he’s gotten us this far. huh?” shane places a steel hand on your back as he shoves you forward towards rick, nudging you onto your knees when you’re dawdling too much for him to tolerate. “go on.”

“shane.” the man above you warns.

“no, rick.” your boyfriend stops him, dark irises widening. “i see the way she looks at you and the way you look at her. don’t feel bad about it.” he chuckles. “think about it as payback for lori.”

a “what the fuck” is breaching your lips before you know it.

“why do you talk to her like that?” rick questions, chest puffing out slightly. “everything she’s stood you through.”

shane shrugs. “i’m just thinkin’ it’d help us all relax. lower tension, y’know. after we were almost slaughtered like cattle back there.”

your mind flashes to terminus. you hadn’t seen rick, shane, and some of the other men of your group tied up and prepared to have their throats slashed, but the scene made your stomach flip.

rick looks down at you, maybe considering the fact that he does have a lot of steam to let off. nearly a year’s worth to be honest.

“you been thinkin’ about me?” he inquires with a step closer to you, dipping his hand to cup your face.

beneath your leader, you feel small. ten feet tall, you’d feel insignificant compared to rick. that man has more guts and drive than you could ever admit to. more than shane could ever dream of. the thought scratches an itch you didn’t realize lay dormant.

“yes,” you exhale sweetly, almost giving away your giggle when shane has to pick up his jaw. “especially ever since the prison fell.”

“really?”

you nod. “thank you, rick.” you express your gratitude with parted lips. “you take such good care of all of us. if you really want to use my mouth, i would blow you.”

shane is stuttering a curse and rick just whistles.

“good girl,” shane praises. “never knew you had it in you.”

you wait on your knees for rick, beaming up at him.

rick has the look of a man considering letting his best friend’s girlfriend - who he has at least fifteen years on - blow him. he thumbs your soft lips, trying to convince himself not to. even under that newly acquired hardened exterior, rick is calculated.

it’s not until he lowers his hands at his sides and croons a, “only if you want to, darlin,” that has you undoing his belt and yanking down his pants.

you slow your roll once you come into contact with his underwear. beneath those dark blue boxers is a rock hard cock.

a noise escapes you that you hope your boyfriend doesn’t hear. rick is bigger than shane. you want to burst into laughter. shane had to have seen the outline of rick’s thick cock sometime during their years together in some locker room somewhere.

thoughts of if he’ll fit or not consume you momentarily until your hands are moving automatically and you’re met with the real thing. you feel hands in your hair and tense.

“down and up. you know how to do it.”

shane is behind you with his sturdy hands on top of your head, ready to guide you down onto his friend.

“just let her do what she wants.” rick snaps at the other man, exhaling at the feel of your hand around him.

“fine.” shane throws his hands up and goes to lean against the rest stop information board.

ever the sore loser, shane pouts but lets you sink further on your knees to begin by trailing a stripe from rick’s balls up to the tip of his cock. back down you go again to lick circles around him, working a pattern with your tongue.

the noises coming out of rick have you agreeing with shane - he really needs this. after everything, rick deserves to close his eyes and let you descend below his shaft to suckle first one side, then the other, while he lays his hands in your lustrous hair.

eventually you’re lapping around again and you circle your tongue around him, eyes widening in surprise at his moans.

shane snickers. “you like her mouth, rick? me too. don’t blow your load too early, bud, i know you probably can’t help it.”

you feel the man in your mouth tense above you. he ignores shane, snapping his hips lightly into your face instead. despite the initial humiliation of the situation and the shane of it all, you find yourself getting excited. a wet patch forms and you can tell by how hard you grind down onto yourself as rick starts to twitch.

“needy slut,” shane comments.

you roll your eyes, not missing a beat as you bob up and down on your leader. his spit covered dick disappears in and out of your mouth. you do your best to fit what you can of his length that is too large for your mouth.

rick doesn’t have a problem though. all he needs is to dig a little deeper in your hair and angle his cock down your throat. you’re so startled you gag but at the same time you moan and whimper around him.

a cry around him from a particularly harsh jostle of his pelvis against your face is what it takes to start spilling in your mouth. your foggy brain can barely decipher what to do next but you remember that you’re wearing one of your favorite sweaters and suck him dry.

rick isn’t out of your mouth when shane is nearly shoving him out of the way and grasping onto you, directing your head towards his now nude dick.

“my turn,” shane takes rick’s spot instantly, not sparing you more than a breath or two before his girthy cock is against your lips.

“that’s not good for her knees, man.” rick is saying but shane just laughs.

“you weren’t sayin’ that when you were in the one in her mouth.”

shane is taking up your mouth before you know it and you gag immediately when he drives like he’s aiming for your uvula.

your noises muffle around his cock but the sheriff looking on still hears them - is still affected by then. every pump of his fellow ex-officer’s hips made you gag, forced to swallow the burning feeling building up in your throat.

rick can’t take his eyes off you. after receiving the same treatment, he’s still mesmerized by the whole thing; the spontaneity of it, how absurd it all was, how soft and plush your mouth had been, how perfect you are.

“never knew you were such a whore,” shane groans with a gasp of your name, pushing your head down when you start to slide up and off of him to say something. “fuck, you’re so good for me, baby, always have been.”

his grip is buried in your long hair. rick observes with his half hard cock in his hand, eyebrow arching lightly at the sight of shane’s face. your boyfriend tightens his grip and before you know it his cock is thrust into your throat. a few more slams of his hips and he’s holding you firmly while you gulp down his length - and his release.

shane backs out of your mouth only to snake a rough hand down your pants.

“shane!” you’re nearly squealing when he thumbs down your panties and moves towards your sensitive patch of nerves. your face is overtaken with a blush again as your leader palms his hard on on the bench next to you.

whispering low in your ear, your boyfriend hums;

“now, you wanna show rick how grateful you are with your pussy?”

[banquetwriter]

୨୧ distant love ୨୧

pairing: Rick Grimes ♡︎ fem!Reader

warnings: ୭̥⋆*｡ not edited, rick is taller than the reader, mentions of Lori being assaulted by Shane, and low-key some Lori slander (and praise too)

summary: ʚ Rick has fallen out of Lori and instead falls in love with you ɞ

Words: 1254

part 2

“I cannot keep you safe,” Rick says angrily. Your group has made it to the CDC, what seemed like a safe haven. “You don't have to Rick. You have a wife and a kid. A whole family, ok?” you said your voice barely above a whisper.

He turned away from you, rubbing his jaw. “Rick, what happened between us can stay a secret forever. You don't have t-to treat me differently or care about me,” you said trying to face Rick head-on.

He started to shake his head no. “What Rick?” you said starting to get angry. Everyone knew what Lori had done to Rick… hooking up with Shane. Something that didn't stop when Rick joined the group. He was frustrated and had pent-up anger.

And there you were on watch with him, just being your kind self. He lost self-control. Try as he might be couldn't deny himself those beautiful moans as he thrusted into you.

He had started to treat you differently. You could tell, Lori could and hell the rest of the group could too. He was much more caring with you, checking your wounds, and giving you extra portions of his food.

There was no doubt he had started to fall for you. Of course, he had. His marriage was falling apart long before the end of the world came, his wife fucking his best friend only made it worse.

You started to fall for him too, you couldn't help it. His strong dominant demeanor, and loving caring father. He had it all. But you knew the moment you said yes to him that there was a high chance of nothing real happening between the two of you.

You chose to ignore that chance.

But here he was now staring at you, jaw tense with anger. He didn't know how he could keep going like this. Feeling his heart squeeze with pain when he couldn't see you. When his arms weren't around yours.

“You cannot keep doing this to me,” he growls, stepping close to you. “Doing what Rick? I have done nothing to you. You came onto me!” I shout at him. He shakes his head and hands his hips. “I never meant to become between you and Lori. I have never ever asked you to love me or care for me ever!” I shout at him.

His face falls. “I was perfectly fine being only a fuck to you,” you said crossing your arms, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. “No. Don't say that about yourself,” he says, stepping up to you again.

You try to blink your tears back. God this was so embarrassing. The truth was you would love to be more to Rick than a hook-up buddy, but he has a family you weren't going to wreck that on a whim. “Please, I'm sorry but I haven't ever tried to make you love me. Ever. Ok? I knew what I was getting myself into, fucking a married man.” you said, crossing your arms.

Rick doesn't say anything, you take that as an answer enough. You let your hands drop to your sides, turning towards the door. His hand lands on your arm grabbing it. You look up at him, his eyes are full of sorrow and pain.

Your stomach turned as you knew what was going to happen next. He gingerly stepped towards you, you couldn't look him in the eyes. His hands moved towards your arms pulling you close to his chest.

He leaves a gingerly placed miss on the top of your head near your hairline. His right hand snakes up to your hair as his left-hand wraps around your waist. You tilt your head up to meet him for the kiss.

He whimpers in your mouth exploring your mouth. You shudder at his touch, pulling away from his kiss. “Rick we shouldn't… Lori and Carl… they aren't that far..” you say looking back up at him.

He knows you right? No matter how much he wants it to not be true, he shouldn't fuck you when his wife or child could find you. “Come find me tonight,” you whisper in his ear, before darting out of his room.

You walked down the hall of the CDC. You heard a commotion up ahead. You looked into the rec room and the sight horrified you.

Shane was attempting to assault Lori. You didn't like Lori, and Lori didn't like you. Nothing would ever stop you from helping her right now. You run up behind Shane grabbing his hair as best you could and dragging him off of her.

Between Lori pushing him off and your strength you're able to rip him away.

Shane lands on the ground glaring at both of you. “Leave!” you shout at him, fear and anger pulsing through your body. “Now! And if I ever ever catch you pulling this shit again I will fucking kill you.” I threaten. “Yeah alright,” he mumbles, sitting up and leaving in a huff.

You turn your direction to the terrified woman behind you. “You're ok, it's ok,” you mumble, catching her in an embrace. “Oh god.” she whimpers out falling into your arms, her sobs racking through her body. Tears spilling on your shirt.

You silently rub her back trying to calm her. She exhales pulling away from you, using the back of her hands to wipe her tears. “I'm ok, I'm ok honey,” she says looking at you with a warm smile. You felt like killing someone.

This wasn't fair for her. You felt sick for even being mad at her for what she did with Shane. It's clear to you that this wasn't what you thought it was. A sick man had used the grief of a woman and got into her pants.

There was absolutely nothing fair about that. “I'm so sorry Lori,” you said with pity in your voice and eyes. “Oh don't worry about me, I will be just fine,” she says with a fake smile. You nod not believing her. “Ok well if you need me tonight just tell me,” you say, patting her arm.

You felt so sick. You felt sick for Lori, for hating her, and for fucking Rick. She deserved her husband. You stole him from her. You felt ashamed. You needed to push these feelings down.

You turn to leave her walking to the exit of the room. “Y/n?” she called. You turn on your heel, “yes?” you ask, looking at her. “I know,” she says in a quiet voice. You felt bile fill your throat.

“My husband he-” she cuts herself off with a sad smile. He wasn't really her husband anymore huh? “Rick h-he is a good man. Take care of him for me will you? Do what I was never able to.” she says with a very sad smile.

Your face contorted with pain. “No Lori, I-I can't do that to you, to your family,” you say, putting your hand up. “No, listen to me y/n. He loves you, I see it every day. I didn't want to at first but I have no choice but to know ok?” she says, nodding her head.

All you can do is sigh. You turn away from her, You walk down the hall preparing to go back to your room. Rick stands outside his door “What's going on?” he asks, looking down at you, you stop slightly in front of him. “Ask your wife.” you quip walking down the hall.

[jo-harrington]

Freaky Friday - A Stranger Things Story (Part 1)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Word Count: 3.5k

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader, Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader, Eddie and Steve (Enemies to Friends)

Summary: Eddie thinks that Steve has everything in life handed to him on a silver platter (including his new girlfriend who Eddie has a crush on). And Steve just can't believe that the kids look up to Eddie the Freak, or that he lives his life without giving a single fuck.

Must be nice. But you know what they say, the grass is always greener.

Warnings/Themes: AU with no Upside Down. Body swapping, dark magic/alchemy, unrequited love--some crushes at least, Babysitter Steve, No Upside Down means slightly still King Steve, unresolved feelings, manipulation/deception, Reader gets a nickname (Honey), no Y/N if I can help it, no smut in Part 1 but liable to be in other chapters

Note: After a very hot and fast suggestion by @shiftingtherain, this mini-series was born. And instead of working on Store Manager Verse like I wanted to, here we are. This part is a little shorter...it's the intro, sue me. Next few parts will be a tad longer.

Credit for the header partially goes to me for the design and the logistics but I was tired, so I may have borrowed gifs from @emziess and Netflix itself as a jumping off point (with permission from Emzies and Netflix is a corporation so they can rot). I can only do so much guys, I also had to write this thing too.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

If Eddie never saw Steve Harrington again in his life, it would still be too soon.

He didn't always indulge in rentals from Family Video—if it was too cold and wet to have band practice in Gareth's garage, or if he was having an especially bad week at school, or if he needed something a little more realistic than the illustrations of Heavy Metal magazine to help him satisfy his needs—but today just had that special feel to it.

He'd gotten a B on his math test, Rick had been feeling a little under the weather and let Eddie make the rounds to his usuals for a sweet little cut, and he had found a dusty old book about alchemy and occultism at the library that was going to help him put the finishing touches on tomorrow night's Hellfire session.

For all of that, Eddie thought a little reward was in order.

A little Dark Crystal, a little pizza from Lou's, a little weed...he'd be having the best Thursday night.

Except...

For the past twenty minutes, he'd pretended to hem and haw over the selection of movies just so he could glare across the store at the counter, where Steve stood, flirting and making grandiose promises, with you.

He burned with jealousy, and God, it took almost everything in him not to gag as Steve reached across the counter to slyly hold your hand. And everything else for his heart not to break as you just let it happen.

Eddie didn't know how or when or why this started—when Harrington had gotten his claws into you and how he had managed to charm his way into your heart—when it should have been Eddie instead.

Eddie'd had a crush on you for years but had always been too nervous to do anything about it.

You were a year younger than him, and friends with his pal Mickey's younger sister, so he'd seen you around quite a bit. Smart and funny and pretty; maybe not as unpopular as Eddie was, but certainly not in the running for homecoming court or whatever other social hierarchies were in place at Hawkins High either. He figured...you know, maybe once he got to senior year he'd get the courage. Maybe take you to prom or something; who wouldn't want to go out with a senior?

But he'd gotten the notice from Higgins that he wouldn't be graduating with the rest of the Class of '84 and it really put a damper on his plans.

He had been hopeful again the following year, actually had a few classes with you and sat with you for partner work when no one else wanted to work with him, when they laughed at him. You weren't even afraid to go up to him in the cafeteria to ask a question, or walk with him in the hall if you had to go in the same direction for your next class. You'd talk about assignments mostly, but he savored every little fact he could learn about you. What books you'd been reading, the fact that you watched Svengoolie on Saturday nights—just like he did—or that you'd had some squabble with Mickey's sister over a scrunchie of all things and were no longer speaking.

But Eddie knew how bad his grades were—somehow even worse than the year before—and aside from the work you did with him, he knew it wasn't gonna be enough for him to graduate. So he wasn't gonna put himself in the position for you to laugh in his face—not that you would but...just in case you did—by asking you out.

He thought you would disappear from his life after you graduated. Get the hell out of Hawkins the way everyone else wanted to. But no. You took a few classes at the community college and worked the dinner shift at Benny's a few nights a week. You'd been there every Tuesday night, when he and the guys grabbed food after their gig at the Hideout. The usual booth reserved, drinks already poured by the time they sat down, and their usual orders already written in your little order pad.

You usually gave him extra whipped cream on his slice of cherry pie too.

The guys always urged him to ask for your number...but he never did. How could he? Even if you were stuck in this town the same way he was...he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

And now...here you were, listening to Harrington talk about some great surprise he had planned for your third date the next day.

Eddie wondered why you hadn't screamed in outrage when Steve mentioned how much Nancy Wheeler had liked it when he took her to this mystery place. He would have definitely expected you to at least flinch at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name.

"It sounds really great," you said instead, smiling and nodding. "I get out of class at 3 on Fridays...should I be here around 4?"

"4 is perfect, honey," Steve grinned.

Eddie couldn't stand to hear whatever sickeningly sweet goodbye you both would come up with so he just grabbed whatever tape was in front of him and approached the counter. You and Steve both flinched when Eddie slammed his selections down on the counter to be checked out.

“Uh…I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye Steve,” you muttered, eyeing Eddie with a half-smile that felt a bit sad. “Bye Eddie.”

"Bye honey."

“Bye honey,” Eddie mocked once you were out the door, then turned back to Steve. “You gonna try and make goo goo eyes at me next Harrington? I don’t have all day.”

“Jesus Munson. What’s up your ass?” Steve scoffed, grabbing the tapes.

“I’m just trying to get my videos and go.” Eddie rapped his knuckles on the counter. “Not really interested in the kind of customer service you're trying to provide."

Steve wondered what the likelihood of getting fired would be, if he just punched that smug look right off of Munson's face.

Keith hated the guy too, he always left the Adult section looking like a mess. Maybe Steve would get a promotion instead.

For years Eddie roamed around Hawkins being a general menace with his gaggle of friends. Causing trouble, shouting at people, making faces at old ladies. He’d gotten “taken in” to the police station one too many times but always seemed to make it out without actually being arrested. Which baffled Steve; Eddie was a drug dealer for crying out loud.

And yeah, Steve had even asked him to come and deal at a party or two but…people like that were bad. Simple as that.

Even after all of that, after you got past the “bad boy” persona….he was a fucking nerd. He wasn’t even cool like the bad boys in movies were. Steve felt like someone was tricking him the first time he had walked past the Hellfire Club’s table in the cafeteria. For all the leather and chains and band tees—all the talk of satanic rituals and blood sacrifices—there was sure a lot of talk about elves and…and bards and Star Wars.

So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Steve that the kids would flock to Eddie by the time they made it to Hawkins High.

But it had been. A huge shock.

His unexpected little gaggle of morons…weren’t really his anymore.

Steve had dropped Dustin off on the first day of school and said “don’t get into any trouble.” Even made Robin promise to keep an eye out for him. He expected the kid to…join the mathletes or something. Get roped in with the science nerds.

But by the end of the week, the kids were all clamoring about how they would need to reschedule movie nights with Steve so they could go to Hellfire club with Eddie.

Steve couldn’t understand it. Eddie was a freak, a punk, some good for nothing…and now the kids were suddenly following him like he was some sort of prophet. Spreading the word of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

See? Steve could do the nerd talk too when he wanted...thanks to Dustin.

Who, much to Steve's annoyance, was apparently Eddie's biggest fan. The guy could do no wrong in Dustin's eyes, and it really irked Steve.

Will and Lucas were spending Saturdays at the library—not for homework, but for research because apparently Eddie really liked incorporating mythology into his campaigns. (Whatever that meant.) Mike was growing his hair out because "Eddie's hair was cool.” What about Steve, whose literal nickname was The Hair? Shit, he'd even seen Eddie give Max a ride to school on a few occasions when he was late dropping Robin off. And he knew Max and her mom had been having a hard time since her step-dad skipped town and Billy...

Steve knew some of the town gossip about Eddie was just a bunch of bullshit...but if Max Mayfield was cool with him?

Yeah, he just couldn't help but be suspicious of the guy.

Regardless, the sooner Steve could get him out of the store, the better his night was gonna get.

...actually...

"That's gonna be $10." Steve announced dryly.

"Woah, $10?!" Eddie scoffed. "I have a membership."

"Since when?" Steve asked, hands immediately landing on his hips.

"I use one every time I'm in here."

"Yeah you use Reefer Rick's."

"So?"

"New policy," Steve lied, hoping it would get Eddie out of his hair for a good while. "No sharing memberships outside of your family. Last I checked, your last name isn't Lipton. So you either cough up the $25 for a new membership Munson, or the $10 for your rental. What's it gonna be?"

Eddie grumbled and dug his wallet out of his pocket, slamming the money on the counter.

"Any candy?" Steve asked mockingly before grabbing the cash.

Eddie grabbed the tape and grumbled under his breath as he exited the store.

Yeah, Steve wasn't gonna be dealing with him any time soon.

For a second though, as he went to start processing returns, he wondered...

If Eddie was in some ritualistic cult...what kind of curse could he possibly put on me?

But that was a dumb thought to have.

Eddie's night just went down hill from the minute he left Family Video.

He didn't notice that they'd given him the wrong pizza at Lou's so now he was stuck with some specialty veggie pie with broccoli on it, the tape he had grabbed indiscriminately had been some artsy foreign romance crap, and just now he'd just spilled Dr. Pepper all over his Hellfire notebook.

"Fuck," he shouted as it spilled over the side of the coffee table and onto his sock-clad feet. He couldn't give a shit about the carpet, he could even ignore his wet socks, but his notebook. Weeks of work, planning and toiling over the most sadistic campaign.

He liked to keep all of the notes of Hellfire's completed campaigns, a sort of...record for future kids to look back on and reference. And now this specific masterpiece would be lost to memory.

He cleaned everything up as best he could before making a quick trip back to his room for an extra notebook or something he could use to salvage his plans for tomorrow's session. He had always been really bad at...keeping spare notebooks on hand. Even the ones he'd used for class always ended up covered in his drawings or notes, little bits and ideas of dialogue he could use for speeches or NPCs.

The best he could find was his math notebook from last year which, surprisingly, sat relatively untouched.

Eddie knew why: that was a class he shared with you. And as he opened to some random mostly-empty page, he saw his little scribbles in the margins surrounding half-faded, penciled-in algebraic equations. Daggers and hearts and his and your initials intertwined together.

It was the one class where he would never encounter partner work with you, so he felt compelled to fill the pages with his daydreams instead of fantasies and lore. You would never see it.

"Well," he huffed as he dropped back down onto the floor and slapped the notebook onto the coffee table. He grabbed his pen and scribbled over the drawings on the page. "Now that she's with Harrington, no use living in this fantasy. Fuck, I was stupid, so stupid to ever think she would want anything to do with me."

He grabbed the dusty old alchemical book from the library and found his place, staring at old sigils and runes and text indiscriminately until he came upon one that looked too perfect for the campaign. Concentric circles, arcane lettering, angular lines...

While Eddie would usually use a clean page for something like this—something he would hand off to his players—he drew a copy of the sigil onto the page and planned to rip the edges off, maybe singe them with his lighter to make it look more authentic.

He kept staring at the still-noticeable doodles beneath the pen scribbles and his heart ached a little in his chest.

Yeah, he would definitely want to burn those too.

By the time he was done copying the sigil, a wave of exhaustion overtook him and he glanced down at his watch.

It wasn't much later than he usually went to bed on a weeknight...

He stared at the half-ruined notes for tomorrow's session that he still needed to rewrite and sighed.

"Fuck it, I'll just redo them in the morning." He got up and stretched his arms over his head. "I can just sleep in tomorrow. Skip class. Show up for Hellfire. Who cares anymore.”

He put the rest of the pizza in the fridge for Wayne and then headed to bed, only to be plagued with dreams of scribbled out love hearts, movie theater candy, guitar solos, and big red gum.

When Eddie woke up the next morning, he felt...honestly felt like he was floating on a cloud. Every muscle in his body felt looser, yet somehow tighter at the same time. His skin felt tighter, like it wasn't right, like it didn't fit somehow, it was suffocating him.

He must have died but he wasn't quite sure if this was heaven or hell.

His eyes burned and blurred slightly as he opened them and what he saw was...unexpected.

Gone were the off-white walls, his posters, the piles of his crap, and that concerning patch of probably-mold in the corner of the ceiling. Instead there was a sturdy ceiling, plaid-papered walls, and matching curtains?

Eddie groaned and rolled over.

What the fuck was this place?

There was a slam of a door somewhere that practically shook the walls surrounding Eddie and as he sat up, he found himself only wearing...briefs? He didn't wear briefs.

This wasn’t his bed, wasn’t his room…wasn’t his… body?

He looked down at his chest, his arms, his hands…his fingers weren’t right, he didn’t have this many freckles and moles, he didn’t have…abs, if that’s what you could call the slight definition on his torso. Still it was more than his body had ever had. His skin…was itchy and mostly hairless.

Eddie reached up and touches his hair—shorter than he was used to, not curly…at all—then his face, as if that was any indicator to what he—

“A mirror!” He exclaimed. His voice…sounded familiar, but different. Fuck what kind of dream was this?

Because it had to be a dream right? It had to be. How else did he wake up in someone else’s body?

He pushed himself out of the bed, walking slightly off-cadence, which…yeah probably came with the territory of your brain needing to get used to a new body. Fuck…was his brain even his brain or did his mind just get transported what was happening?

Ugh it was too early to think about that.

Eddie slowly cracked the bedroom door open and peaked into the rest of the house. He spotted a bathroom just across the way, otherwise…shit, this place actually looked a little familiar. Where the fuck was he? Who the fuck was he?

He quickly crossed the landing into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him. He heaved a breath and leaned back against the door for a moment to calm himself; his hands were shaking and felt cold. Could he even feel his fingers? Nice to know the occasional nervousness that snuck up on him at his lowest moments hadn’t been left behind in his old body, that they’d followed him to this one.

His body…would it still be in his bed? What if he really had died and…had jumped into his new body? Was this reincarnation?

Fuck, if he was dead…Wayne would find him. Could he even…see his uncle again? How could he ever explain who he was?

Eddie felt the tears prick his eyes and his throat tighten and he slapped his face a few times.

“Come on man, come on,” he muttered. “It’s not that bad. It’s only…mildly awful. Fuck, ok. Just go, just look, just…rip it off like a bandaid.”

Eddie took a deep breath and nodded, then crossed the short distance to stand in front of the sink. He stared at his new feet, wiggled his new toes. You never…appreciated the toes you had until you have new ones.

That was awful and you’re an idiot. Just look.

Eddie closed his eyes again and turned his face up towards the mirror. He could do it. He would do it.

He opened his eyes.

“Jesus H. Christ!”

Steve woke up feeling like absolute shit. Everything ached—like he had pulled a muscle or something by sleeping crookedly—he had awful cottonmouth, and he had inhaled…some yarn or something because he woke up coughing and gagging until he got the intrusive strands out of his mouth.

“Gahh, shit, shit,” he said and scratched at his throat. He sounded hoarse. Ugh was he getting sick? He’d have to ask his mom to bring home some soup or something.

Could he call out of work? Shit he had to take Robin to school. She could walk today, he felt awful.

Steve blinked his eyes open and took in the unfamiliar popcorn ceiling with growing concern.

He looked around at the…piles of garbage and the cracks in the plaster walls partially covered by band posters...and felt the rise of panic grow within him. He tried to recall the night before.

He’d wrapped up his shift at Family Video, gone home and had a rare dinner with both of his parents, then…felt extremely tired and went to bed.

So how did he end up here…wherever here was?

This was a kidnapping; it had to be. He was…drugged—explained the cottonmouth—and kidnapped. And now someone was holding him for ransom or something to…blackmail his father? Thomas Harrington was kind of a dick sometimes, sure, but still…he was a pretty decent guy. Who would want to blackmail him?

“H-hello?” Steve called out. “Anyone there? C-can anyone hear me?”

There was some shuffling outside of the door of the room.

Thankfully Steve wasn’t tied up or anything. God, what kind of kidnappers were these? He quickly glanced around the room for a weapon of some sort and he immediately spotted...

A guitar? A few guitars actually. Man these kidnappers really liked music huh?

One was a weird shape--he'd seen some hair metal bands use guitars like that in magazines, but he'd never seen one in person--and was a mottled red color. One was just what you'd expect when someone said "electric guitar." And one was acoustic and looked like it could pack a real wallop.

Bingo.

Steve pushed himself out of the bed and immediately jumped because whatever had been in his mouth was on his shoulders now. He reached up to grab it: hair. Long, wavy, messy...knotty and frizzy. Like it hadn't been brushed for days, maybe weeks?

And his arm, sticking out from whatever t-shirt he'd been put in...was lithe and weak and there were tattoos. On both arms. A creepy claw hand and a bunch of bats.

What was this? How long had they held him hostage for? No wonder they didn't feel the need to tie him up! He'd been knocked out cold.

He needed to get out of here. Now. He needed to get home.

Steve crossed the room to grab the guitar when he noticed it. At first he thought it was another person. But no, it was just a mirror...and in the mirror...his reflection.

Only it wasn't...his reflection.

It had startled him and he had jumped. Then he moved his arms a little and watched the figure in the mirror mimic him. Over and over.

A wave, a turn, a funny face.

He couldn’t believe it. This had to be a joke. A dream. A nightmare.

Because it was him, his reflection. But it was not his—Steve Harrington’s—reflection.

It was Eddie Munson's.

[rayssion]

I'm torn because in a sense I'm tired of reading pjo, don't get me wrong like it's about time these kids had some rest, found some peace and lived their lives without the constant danger, I'm feeling tired for them feeling tense all the time, only waiting for worst to happen and it keeps on happening. I want it to stop, I want all of this to stop, these demigods to live, to just lead a normal life.

But on the other hand I'm not ready to leave them yet, I want Rick to write more so I can read more, so I can know more about them, so I can live with them. I want more books and I want more series.

At this point honestly, if Rick just wrote a whole series of the demigods just living their lives normally without anything ever happening to them, a boring life were you just follow a routine, I will fucking dig it up.

Why can't we just read about them without them being in constant danger?? Don't you guys feel bad for Percy? Boy spent years going on quests and doing missions, he deserves a real rest.

So this dilemma lead me to the idea of next generation/s, I'd like to read about something in the future of the same timeline/universe setup of pjo hoo toa, it could be their kids or their grandchildren, just imagine how lovely would it be?

It's like watching the legend of Korra after watching the last airbender lol, you'll see Katara and hear all of them talking about Aang and all of that, and you'll feel the nostalgia because you've been their, you lived with them.

Imagine percabeth's great grandchildren going to camps to train and learn and they hear all these stories about their ancestors and how they saved the world, imagine them accidentally stumbling across solangelo's great grandchildren and they befriend each other without knowing that their families go way back.

And then these kids will have their own adventures (they'll suffer now that they're our new squad lol) and how fun it'll be for us as readers if let's say, one time they go on a quest to retrieve something we're familiar with, like Riptide maybe? Idk.

And a huge bonus!! That they'll at some point seek the huntres and I know they'll spend the long nights hearing stories about the great demigods from Thalia and Reyna. They'll tell them every big and small story, even the time Percy arranged with Hermes for his and Annabeth's anniversary in exchange for looking for his staff. They'll tell them about the cocoa puffs and how Nico always slept with them, and I just know one of them will be determined to descend to the underworld to meet them (because Nico is now dead and in the underworld with Hades and his cocoa puffs and possibly Will).

And at some point they'll have to cross Boston for some reason and oh my god they'll meet Magnus and Alex and they'll stay at the Chase house for a while also hearing some stories from Magnus and shopping from Blitzen.

Rick this's my petition to have mercy on Percy and our lovely demigods and let them live in peace but please don't quit writing, I breath your books more than oxygen at this point<3

[cultofdixon]

Returning home

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • Grimes’s Sister!Reader • Leaving without a word, hurt. Returning thinking it will go back to normal, hurt a bit more. But it takes time • ANGST/SFW • TW: Canon Violence Mentioned / Scars

Requested by: @rositxespinosa

“You’re lying to me Rick…”

“When have I ever lied to you?” Rick frowns trying to convince Y/N that Daryl may not be coming back but given the stern look on her face. She wasn’t buying it until Glenn and Maggie came into view, the damage being clearly there physically and radiating mentally.

“…why would he do that”

“Family I gu—-“

“We’re his family. You don’t need to be blood to be family…how could he just…why did he…” Try harder to figure out why the man you fell so hard for, would do something like such without a second thought.

One would believe it wasn’t mutual.

Is it easier to believe such?

“Y/N, let’s go inside—“ Rick’s hands were swatted away when he tried to console his sister but she simply wasn’t having any of it. “Y/N, please don’t do anythin’ stupid”

“All of our decisions have been stupid lately” She frowns staring blankly toward nothing while she tried so hard to calm the anger building inside her that the tears spilled from her eyes without her thinking. “I would’ve left with yea if you did something moronic like his idiot older brother. I would’ve followed you until the end. But shits changed. My feelings have changed. I thought…”

Rick wanted to know the rest of her thoughts but she clearly was falling apart and didn’t want to think more on the matter.

“I would’ve tied you down until you thought about your actions. I wouldn’t have left you to become a monster that swayed my decision in leaving with you or not”

“Y/N…”

“He made a mistake…or maybe I did for thinking…uh…” Y/N stopped herself and decided that was time for her to step away. She brushed past Carl when he tried to say something as he instantly gave his dad a worried and confused look.

The news went through the group and Y/N distanced herself from everyone to formulate her thoughts on the matter given they weren’t doing her any good in the moment. Carol tried checking on her once but she didn’t say anything in return to her words that she left.

You would do anything for family…

But I thought I was becoming yours

________

During the winter and everyone was trying to keep warm in this house that they built a very weak fire in. The winds were getting into the building and it made it difficult to keep the fire lit. Rick kept his wife and son warm with the blanket he found and wrapped around them. Glenn held Maggie close to keep her warm as Hershel did the same to his youngest while they were the closest to the fire next to Carol who had a blanket of her own.

Y/N had given her blanket to Beth when she had come back from the small scavenging and did her best to keep herself warm. But to her surprise, the archer sat beside her with a blanket of his own…carefully wrapping it around both of their shoulders to keep them warm as he brought himself closer to her.

“I don’t bite” Daryl whispers indicating she could do whatever she needed to bring more warmth under the shared blanket. So she did by scooting closer and resting her head on his shoulder, feeling his rest on top of hers.

________

He cared deeply for her

So why did he leave without another thought…

“Why did yea leave?” Getting right into it. “You know what I did. I may be blood but you have more reasoning than I”

“You’re my brother. I lost yea once, ain’t losing yea again”

“Yeah, but I ain’t the best.” Merle admits the obvious that everyone and their grandmother knew. But there was more to it. “Like them Grimes siblings.”

“You don’t know’em…”

“What they have their own dysfunctional family problems like us? Nothing as bad as us—“

“Comparing trauma is very on par with yea. They have their own shit. We have ours…but she…she understood” Daryl frowns stopping in the middle of the woods knowing Merle stopped at a distance. Neither of them wanting to face the other. “We…know better than anyone that beating the shit out of somebody won’t give you what you want”

That stung Merle and confirmed something that lingered in the back of his mind for years, he just never wanted to bring it up.

“You should go back”

“Then don’t want yea”

“But they want yea” Merle scoffs watching Daryl tense before looking at him. “Look. I’m a dead man going to either place. Betrayed the bitch Governor, and damn near killed the Chinese kid”

“He’s Korean”

“Whatever…you have a place somewhere. Don’t squander it cuz of me”

The archer stood there listening to his brother’s words as he contemplated such.

Going back

Going back home

“You’re comin’ with and if they lock yea up. Just take it…better than killing yea”

“Mm. Being a caged animal don’t sound too bad. Better than walker food” Merle scoffs trying to make light of something but Daryl wasn’t replying. He didn’t want to.

When the two returned, Merle was of course thrown into the same cell that Michonne was thrown in before the group trusted her. He stood there watching Daryl tense when trying to approach someone that stood in the back making him squint to get a good look through the crowd that blocked his view.

________

“You’re an annoying son of a bitch yknow?”

“Oh I am? You’re the one shooting walkers from the fucking roof” Y/N scoffs taking her attention away from the campfire Merle started on the roof while the two took roof watch that night. “You’re also gonna drive everyone insane”

“I already do that. Anything else?” Merle laughs tossing her the multi-tool that he used to open a can of fruit cocktail.

As Y/N started to pry open her can she thought about the other annoying things Merle has done but honestly? It was getting too late to bring them up.

“Can I throw something at yea, Dixon?”

“You talk a lot, Grimes. But alright”

“You and your brother were gonna rob the quarry campsite huh?” Y/N states bluntly causing Merle to choke on gross fruit in a can as he gave her a blank look. “What? I know how you work Merle. Don’t believe Daryl is the type but I know if my older brother asked me of something—I’d do it. Even if the guy is a pig”

“What like an asshole?”

“A cop”

“Jesus fuck. And you are one too or what?”

“Nah. I just guessed your master plan” Y/N smirks as the Dixon immediately flipped her off. “It’s just. You and Daryl have done so much. Then there was…a change in the environment. Hell, all of us want to punch Shane. But we don’t actually do it”

“He’s askin’ for it every time he opens his mouth” Merle scoffs leaning back against the half wall beside Y/N. “I’m sorry”

“Why are you apologizing? We ain’t making it back to the quarry if the herd still surrounds us”

“We gotta”

“So you can rob us?” She elbows him with a short laugh. “What?”

“You got a family to go back to. Gotta help yea get back”

“Mm. If that’s the case, have to get yea back to Daryl”

“That rat can survive without me” Merle laughs a bit. “But yeah. Gotta get back to my baby brother”

________

During the night Daryl went to check on his brother but stopped before he could get noticed, seeing the person that’s been avoiding him and that he cherishes sitting beside on the other side of the cage while his brother sits against them from the other side.

“You messed up, Merle”

“Yeah, I really fucking did” Merle frowns. “He shouldn’t have left”

“For what, me?”

Merle kept quiet when she had said that because she wasn’t entirely wrong. The way back to the prison Merle had struck a nerve with Daryl, like usual, and it resulted in the archer yelling at him stating he shouldn’t have left her without telling her himself.

Not that it wouldn’t sting, but in a sense, hearing news on that level is better from the source than a messenger.

“He cares about yea. Cares about me. But it ain’t the same. He left with me because I’m blood…some part of him didn’t want to leave me behind again. But I dug my own grave, I messed up and he shouldn’t have come with me when he’s got someone here he cares deeply about”

“Way to not be obvious Merle”

“The dumb oblivious bitch likes yea. I don’t know when that shit started but it’s obvious. Man looked like a kicked dog when you would avoid him since our return”

“you’re not saying this to like…uh…”

“You’re a dumb bitch too. Except yea liked him for much longer than he may have. He’s just startin’ to notice”

Y/N frowns hitting her head against the metal, a bit against Merle as he turned toward her seeing the tears forming.

“You’re allowed to be mad” Merle returned to his froward position but he heard the subtle footsteps knowing someone was eavesdropping and decided to leave. “I know Glenn and his partner ain’t ever gonna forgive me. I know none of you are, hell. Even Daryl. But I know what I gotta do…and I can’t have any of yea interfere”

“He can’t lose you, Merle”

“Always knowing my plan before I even say it huh?”

“If I wanted to repay my brother for the shit that I’ve done to him and his family? I would risk my life to fix everything”

Different, but not by much.

She should’ve talked to him before the end of the war with the Governor. But so much was happening and they didn’t get a chance until the night the Woodbury folk infused themselves into the prison.

As they were settling in, Daryl had taken watch for the night and taking another moment to take it all in. The loss of his brother. He was an asshole that sacrificed himself for a group that hated him…part of him wished he had the time to rebuild his image and become part of the group but that would’ve been asking for a lot. Change takes time.

During the night, Daryl noticed a figure in the middle of the yard…more specifically where their graves were. He rises from his seat and decided to investigate it.

To his surprise, Y/N was the unknown figure form the view of the watchtower. Daryl kept a distance at first but then noticed a body and immediately thought the worse. She did get hurt when the Governor attacked the prison and thought the man that hurt her survived then attacked her—-it’s honestly a long shot thought, but no one would be surprised if it had happened.

“Are you okay?” His voice startled Y/N as she thought she would go unnoticed.

“Yeah?”

“You sure? Who the fuck is this?”

“Uhm. Are you going to snitch to my brother or what”

“I ain’t. But if it’s your attacker, shouldn’t he know if yea had to kill the guy? Plus why bury them here?”

“I ain’t burying my attacker” Y/N stabbed the shovel into the dirt to continue digging. “I’m burying Merle.”

Daryl stood there a bit taken back. Why would she do this? They were close, but he was still a bitch to her when he was. He stares at the hole she was making and immediately taking note of how tired she was getting.

“Why would you do this?”

“For you, for him. He died for us. He didn’t have to do what he did…the fucking sacrifice types, man…”

“Yea mean like you and me?” Daryl points out the obvious as Y/N playfully glares at him before watching him taking the shovel from her. “Can I help?”

Once the two finished burying Merle, they both went to the watchtower and took in the moment…deciding to be there for the other while they grieved in their own way. Daryl leaned up against one of the walls taking a deep breath as he relaxed when he felt Y/N rest her head against him once she brought herself to stand beside him against the wall.

“Promise you won’t leave again”

Daryl leaned down a little to kiss the top of her head before resting his head against hers. “I promise”

[topazy]

Tomorrow's promise

Pairing: Shane Walsh × reader, Rick Grimes × sister reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injury and blood

Chapter: 2.05

You smile at Carol as she hangs up clothes on the washing line she set up next to the tents the rest of your group were sleeping in, only a short walk from the Greene’s farmhouse. Earlier that day, you’d offered to help her prepare dinner for Hershel and his family, but Carol insisted you didn’t need to help since your hands were full with a newborn. Although her intentions were good, it still left a bitter taste in your mouth.

Neither Rick or Shane would allow you to help search for Sophia, and none of the other women wanted your help with any household chores. You felt useless.

Scanning the area for Shane, you finally spot him leaning over the hood of a car, scowling as he circles different areas still to be searched. He had left the bedroom before you awoke to get an early start. Sensing someone walking behind him, Shane looks up, his facial expression softening, and says, “Morning, darling, how’s our little guy today?”

“He’s been babbling away all morning.” You place your hand on his lower back and say, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

He nods.

In spite of his dishonesty about what happened with Otis at the school, Shane was the only person you could confide in without feeling as if you were crossing a line. “There aren't a lot of walkers around here.”

“That’s not a question,” he laughs.

Rolling your eyes, you continue, “I think I’ve seen maybe two or three walkers since we’ve been here, and Hershel and his family don’t seem like the type of people to put a walker down. What do you think is happening to them?”

Shane Rubs at his jaw, thinking over what you just said. “You’re worried about the lack of walkers?”

“No, I just don’t understand why there are so few. It’s as if the dead cross this invisible line and just disappear.”

“Do you think we should trust them?” He asks, looking over at the farmhouse.

“Yes,” you answer without hesitation. “They are good people; they saved Carl; they let us stay on their land; they let us into their home. The Greenes are kind people. But regardless, I am worried a horde of walkers is about to crash those fences at any minute.”

“Maybe they are getting picked off one by one before they reach the fences. But if not, it’s still not something you need to worry about.”

His comment irritates you; why the hell wouldn’t it be something you need to worry about? You frown. “Why wouldn’t I worry about it?”

“Because I’m here to protect you, aren’t I?” He snaps.

You didn’t understand why your question had gotten him riled up, “Shane?”

“Keeping you and Jace safe is the only thing I care about. If a horde comes crashing through the farm, then we go; we’re not risking our lives or our sons lives to save anyone else.”

“You don’t mean that.”

He scoffs, “Trust me, I do.”

“What about Carl and Rick?”

“Rick can look after himself.”

“We’ve been over this before; I’m never leaving my brother or nephew behind. And after all we’ve been through, I wouldn’t leave anyone else behind either, not when they have risked their lives to keep me and Jace alive.”

“That’s just your baby brain and hormones talking. If you were thinking logically, and in survival mode, you’d think differently.”

You open your mouth to argue but stop when T-dog and Andrea walk by. You fake a smile and wave to them, all while giving Shane a knowing look. When they are out of earshot, you quietly ask, “You know what scares me more than the dead?”

He lets out a deep sigh. “What?”

“Losing my humanity That’s the only thing that keeps us separate from the dead.” Knowing the conversation wasn’t going to change, you walked away before either of you could say anything else. It scared you that after all this time, Shane still didn’t know you well enough to understand that you’d never leave your brother or nephew behind.

—

“I told him, alive or not, Sophia only matters to the degree in which she doesn’t drag the rest of us down.”

Sighing, you listen to Shane as he rambles on about his ‘long talk’ with your brother while they searched in the woods. Rick had already told you how Shane wanted to stop searching for Sophia. You could see both men’s points, but we’re refusing to get in the middle of them. If it was Jace, you’d never stop looking.

“It’s a heavy burden for Rick to make that call; just give him time.”

As Shane continues to ramble on about Rick not stepping up from his space on the bed, you ignore him, only focusing on trying to get your son to calm down. His scrunched-up face was bright red from screaming and crying so much, and nothing you tried seemed to calm him down. It was moments like this that you were even more thankful the Greenes let you stay inside their farm house because outside, any walkers lurking in the area would be attracted by the crying.

“Give him to me.”

“What?” Shane walks towards you with his arms outstretched, willing to take Jace into his arms, but you’re reluctant to hand him over. Maybe Shane’s comment early in the day really pissed you off, or you took solace in being able to comfort Jace.

“Give him to me,” Shane repeats, his tone softer.

Hesitantly, you hand him over, but smile when Jace momentarily stops crying to stare up at his father curiously before the crying starts again. Poor boy. You wished you could take whatever was bothering him away.

Shane sits on the edge of the bed, rocking Jace gently. “Why are you still standing by the window? Are you waiting on something?”

“Everyone has come back except Daryl.”

“So? He can take care of himself.”

Shane's lack of concern for others was really starting to become a concern. The same question kept gnawing at the back of your mind: how king will it be until Shane starts to turn on your small group?

—

As you approach the RV, you overhear Glenn asking Dale a question that makes you cringe on the inside and outside.

“Uh, Dale, do you think Andrea’s on her period? I’m only asking because it’s like all the women are acting really weird. And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time.”

“I’m going to advise you to keep that theory to yourself,” the older man says.

You swing the door open and say, “Yes, keep it to yourself. The next man who mentions the word hormonal to me will meet a grisly end.” You put a small plastic bag full of clothes, blankets, and towels that needed repairs on the table with your free hand before sitting down. “Now, who else is acting crazy?”

Glenn looks slightly sheepish as he sits down across from you, “Maggie.”

“Ahh, Maggie,” Dale smiles.

It was obvious to everyone that Glenn had developed a crush on the brunette. When Jace starts to gurgle, Glenn gives you a look and holds his arms out, silently offering to take Jace from you. Without thinking, you remove Jace from the makeshift sling and gently lay him in the man’s arms so it’s easier for you to start sowing. It gives you pause when you realize that you’re more comfortable with someone else holding Jace than his own father.

“So what did the lovely Maggie do that was weird?” You ask, continuing the conversation.

“She started off being mean to me, then she wanted to have sex with me, and now she’s being mean to me again. And I don’t even want to know what’s going on with Lori.”

Guilt you suspected.

Dale's brows raise. “What’s going on with Lori?”

“Nothing be. I don’t know.”

You had a suspicion. Glenn knew more than he was letting on, but you decided not to press him on it and changed the subject. You weren’t one for gossiping, but you needed the distraction. “How did you know Maggie wanted to have sex with you? Did she tell you?”

Glenn smirks at the question, alluding to the fact that they have already done the deed. You snort, “I hope you used condoms.”

“This isn’t funny,” Dale says in a serious tone. “Did it ever occur to you how her father might feel about this?”

“She’s twenty-two,” Glenn says.

Although he had made a good point and Maggie was an adult, you get the impression that not much happened on the farm without Hershel’s permission. Not wanting to hear anymore lectures from Dale, Glenn gets up and quickly steps out of the RV, with you hot on his tail. “Uh, excuse me, Glenn, my baby?”

“Oh, I wasn’t going far, just sitting outside,” he says, pointing to the swing chair right outside the RV. “I wasn’t going to kidnap him, I swear.”

“I know, I just like to see him at all times,” you smile. “I’ll just grab the sewing kit, then join—”

Andrea cuts you off, yelling, “Walker, walker!”

Glenn hands you Jace before rubbing his hands to grab a weapon. Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn all rush out to the field the walker is walking through with silent weapons. It worries you to see Shane still limping and struggling to keep up with the other men. Hearing the click of a gun, you look up at the roof of the RV to see Andrea aiming her rifle. “Don’t! You could miss the shot and kill someone.”

“Back off, Lily.”

You grabbed a pair of binoculars to see what was going on, because from a distance, it looked as if everyone had stopped running. When you're able to see clearly, you make out the walker is a living, breathing person. “False alarm—”

You jump upon hearing a loud bang, and surpassingly, Jace didn’t seem startled by the loud noise. You glared up at the blonde. Andrea had taken her shot. She was pleased with herself until your brother started to scream.

“You’ve hit someone!” You hand Jace to Dale and take off in the direction the group is in the field. When you get closer, you make out the shape of a body on the ground. You're relieved to see it’s not your brother or fiancé but scared to find out who was possibly dead. You stopped running to catch your breath just as you reached them and saw blood coming from the side of Daryl’s head. “Oh my god, is he alive?”

When Rick and Shane pull Daryl to his feet, he mumbles, “I was kidding.”

You stand in front of Daryl just as he passes out from shock, brushing his hair to the side and saying, “I think it’s grazed the side of his head.” Your eyes travel down, and you notice he’s wearing a necklace of Walker ears. You rip it from his neck, tossing it to the side. “Nobody saw that.”

“Guys, isn’t this Sophia’s?” T-dog asks, holding up a doll.

Shit. Sophia leaving the doll that she clung to behind wasn’t good.

—

“Are you going to do something about Rick and Shane?”

You turn from the sink to look at Lori. “What makes you think I can do anything? They always butt heads. Falling out, then making up. They are worse than teenage girls.”

“This is different from all the other times.”

Looking over your shoulder, you smile at Patrice as he finishes wiping down the extra table they brought from another restaurant so everyone could eat in the dining room since there were too many to sit around the main dining table. The meal Carol cooked was delicious with fresh vegetables that had been grown on the farm, but with tensions within the group, the atmosphere during dinner was uncomfortable. Since you had to excuse yourself to feed Jace, you missed most of the group meal, only coming back down to the kitchen to help clear up.

“They are both stubborn and headstrong, and neither of them will change their minds,” you whisper. “As of now, the search for Sophia is still happening, so there is no need to make this a big deal.”

Lori asks, “How’s Shane coping with fatherhood? I remember how freaked out Rick was when I was pregnant. God, I can only imagine how Shane would have been finding out before the world went to shit.”

You shoot her a look. Hearing Lori say his name sets something up inside you. You had been trying your best to keep what happened in the past, but you're only human, and your pushed-back emotions were starting to bubble over at the surface. “I’m civil for the sake of Rick, Carl, and everyone else, but don’t push it by asking about Shane.”

“Understood.”

You feel guilty seeing her become teary-eyed before walking away, but it was hard enough without being reminded daily of what happened between them.

—

You pushed the door to the bedroom Daryl’s in as quietly as you could, in case he was sleeping. It was late, and everyone else had called it a night. Once you settled Jace down, you couldn’t shake the feeling of unease and put it down to worrying about the recently injured members of your group.

“What the hell are you still doing?”

The bluntness makes you chuckle, and you use the sleeve of your jumper to stifle the sound. “I just wanted to check on you. You know, since you almost died and all.”

“Oh, that. I almost forgot until you mentioned it.”

He shuffles over so you can sit on the edge of the bed. Dark circles hung under his eyes; poorly washed-off dirt and blood covered most of Daryl’s face. It was admirable how invested he was in searching for the little girl. “Whatever happens, Carol will never forget how much you’ve done for her daughter.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m just doing the same as what Rick and Shane are doing.”

“It takes a brave man to do what you did.”

Daryl looks away from you, grunting, facing the wall. He didn’t like hearing kind things said about himself. You lean down to kiss him on the cheek, and at the same time, Daryl rolls back around, causing your lips to lightly brush together. Clearing your throat, you sit upright again and notice how flushed his face has become. Bypassing the awkwardness, you sigh, “You’re a good man, Daryl Dixon, even if you don’t want to believe it.”

[zeep-xanflorp]

ok i'm just gonna ramble ab unmortricken bc i have exactly ZERO COHERENT THOUGHTS AB IT

evil morty backstory - i rlly like that they just made him some random morty who rose above everything after getting sick of rick's abuse. it makes what he did feel even more earned and weighty. i think his motivation is a bit extreme still but i can't rlly blame him.

it's cool seeing infinity beyond the central finite curve. the jetsons inspired bit was v amusing bc i forgot about them lmao. but otherwise it seems absolutely wild west beyond the curve and i LIVE for that.

i also didnt imagine that we'd be seeing him again. i thought the way he left the show was perfect and if they brought him back it would just feel cheap but it DOESNT in this episode i love his appearance.

i rlly like seeing our morty be supportive of rick. he's literally trying everything to cheer him up and it's very important to me.

the prime decoys confuse me. like do they all share a consciousness? is prime just very very good at fucking with ppl that he's made all the decoys communicate w each other?

evil morty outsmarting rick is a great recurring theme in the episode. "filter for probability stasis" YEAH U TELL HIM LITTLE DUDE. we've never seen a morty like that EXCEPT for him and i think it's wonderful.

the exchange between rick and evil morty. "you're such a narcissist" / "literal glass house" / "you think you're better than me?" / "jesus i HOPE SO" SHITTING

i didnt initially like the decoy trap thing being full of loads of other ricks. it made me feel like our rick wasn't very important to this dude and rick just made an enemy of a guy who didn't know he existed. BUT i don't stand by that anymore. the rest of the episode made me change my mind very quickly with.

the omega device. holy fuck this is the worst reveal to come out of this episode. she wasn't just killed, she was ERASED by prime in every reality. like she is GONE gone. that's why we've never seen her, save in flashbacks and memories. she's gone.

and i'm pretty sure it's our rick's fault that he did that. we see his beth and his diane be killed by a bomb, not wiped from reality like slo mobius is later in the episode. so his family was killed BEFORE all the shit with the omega device. ik correlation ≠ causation, but it rlly explains why our rick in particular is so hungry for revenge. if he was the one that made prime kill diane everywhere then he had to be the one to make prime pay for it.

i like how the multiple monitors seems to be prime's signature move. it happens here and in the s6 premiere.

and oh fuck the parallels. "when i invent something it works, it's called being talented" in story train vs "when i make a weapon in works."

oh man the diane head weapon thing. it's interesting that it was programmed to mock rick sexually, but even on our rick who knows it's a trap, it still affects him seeing her face again. "god i missed that face." and then the blank stare when she asks for a kiss. pretty sweet and fucked up.

rick and evil morty having to work together to get their portals working. the contrast between our morty freaking out and evil morty blank staring.

the bit with the portal closing too soon. i know it happened earlier this season and i think it's so funny lmao.

I CANNOT STRESS TO YOU ENOUGH THAT I WAS SO MADE WHEN I WORKED OUT THAT INSTEAD OF YELLING WHILE GOING THROUGH THE CURVE THING IN THE MIDFLE OF THE EP HE WAS SCREAMING "PRIME" THOSE DIABOLICAL LITTLE BASTARDS AT ADULT SWIM.

prime calling rick the Wife Guy. hilarious. raises questions. makes me gnaw on my cell bars.

AND THEN the second incredible reveal of the episode: "Honestly, Wife Guy, I do miss when it was just us. The only two Ricks who actually invented portal travel." WHAT bestie prime bby girl u need to say that again. you guys were the ONLY ones who invented interdimensional travel, every rick's claim to fame. but no they just got the technology from prime who started a boys club of ricks who wanted to leave their lives behind that our rick refused.

but the reference to a time when they were closer, when it was only them - HELLO?? maybe i'm grasping at straws bc i want them to bang but holy shit.

the confirmation of the fan theory that rick based his AI voice on his wife. 10/10.

and then the fight scene. oh gods the fight scene. rick just screaming that he'll kill prime. prime regenerating constantly, looking unscathed as our rick becomes more and more dishevelled. it's too perfect i CANT. but otherwise they both seem pretty evenly matched w all the implants and stuff so without the regeneration i think rick would've had him. oh well.

rick like literally died during the fight.

the cool grandson/shitty grandpa exchange gives me breath. i LOVE how it's a morty that outsmarts prime. it's what he deserves.

prime still trying to be a smartass to evil morty, growing more and more panicked as it goes on bc he doesn't know what to do with the situation and control for once is not in his hands.

"what are u gonna 'aw geez' me to death?"

evil morty not even explaining his plan, just silently dragging in our rick and reviving him. saying "knock yourself out" with the intended double meaning. prime's almost scared expression as rick gets dragged in.

and then our rick has a choice. he can stop evil morty from keeping the weapon plans or he can kill prime. but that's a choice he made already. it's not even a decision. so his other enemy gets away.

the brutal brutal scene at the end when rick is just hitting prime. no tech, no implants, no gadgets. just fists. and rick beats him literally to a pulp as prime screams and laughs at him and taunts him further. it's meant to be sickening. it's meant to be personal. and it accomplishes that perfectly.

they don't even show prime's body in great detail. it's RIGHT in the background but we heard the sounds of the punches, we saw his nose break and his bloody teeth and haemorrhaging eyes and his brains coming out the side of it head and all we can make out is his fucked up swollen and broken face in the background as he sits still attached to the chair, a river of his blood pouring from the room.

but its not triumphant. they made rick's revenge hollow and bittersweet. its over but it destroyed rick in the process. who is he now that he isn't hunting prime? fucking no one.

then "look on down from the bridge" starts playing. we heard this in season 1 in rick potion #9 after morty had to bury a version of himself. he was struggling with the purpose of his life after switching universes. but he deals with it and overcomes it.

i think that scene is rick, for the first time in the entire show, struggling with his nihilistic philosophy. bc yes, he's shown to be an existentialist in the show (the difference being existentialists are "nothing matters but this matters to me" instead of "nothing matters so i don't have to do anything"). he had a drive. he had ppl he cared about. but now he's reached his goal he just feels empty and hollow. everything's meaningless and he's NOT okay with that. he never has been, but he has to grapple with that finally now he doesn't have a distraction. i don't think he can just bounce back and move past what happened.

ppl are saying this episode felt overstuffed and maybe it was but i'm very pleased with it and want to know where it's going.

i feel we still don't know the full story with prime. i'm predicting a flash back episode in the future explaining what the nature of their relationship was like before the bomb incident.

we also know that evil morty has this weapon that could destroy all ricks. so that is just a ticking bomb.

anyway i can't wait for angsty rick.

i actually watched unforgiven for this episode bc i'm a big fan of westerns anyway. the only real parallels i can see is they both have a group of three (two are already partners and the other one is the call to adventure) and an unsatisfying ending. bc that's the nature of westerns. they should NEVER end happily, and if u think so then ur wrong (/nsrs enjoy media how u want).

some things i haven't mentioned but enjoyed nonetheless

the schematics for the omega device is titled <SCHEMATICS BOOGER-AIDS-V2>

the arm/leg swap best in the fight

the comparison between the song at the end playing here and in season one shows with just visuals how the dynamic of beth and jerry's (and beth's) marriage has evolved since then.

everyone freaking out when indiana jones rick shoots and it ricochets off the wall and evil morty just stands expressionless until it hits his forcefield.

morty going to hug rick covered in blood, realising, hesitating, and then doing it later anyway to try and make rick feel better.

evil morty making a point to say that he doesn't want vengeful summers coming after him for omega devicing rick. not vengeful mortys, vengeful SUMMERS.

just evil morty in this whole episode was an absolute delight i need to see him more.

THE TEAR MARKS AFTER RICK EMERGES FROM BEATING PRIME TO DEATH

slo mobius' wife almost going down the same path our rick did only to find someone she loves and focus on that, saving her. makes me wonder if they're gonna try putting rick in a relationship.

this ended up being way longer than it should have. anyway. very pleased. this season is hitting all the marks for me overall.

also don't be too hard on me i didnt edit this 😭

[glitteringcrab]

Unmortricken s7e5 - Evil Morty backstory (spoilers)

I feel like we have caught only a glimpse of Evil Morty’s backstory.

1. He was given a way out. He could “quit”. If “our” Morty was given the option to quit and and wanted to do just that, then he’d… go back to school. Hang out with Summer. Live with his mum and dad. Be normal. And yet, for Evil Morty, being told he could quit was the absolute last straw. What did he do? Did he go back to school? Nope. Did he puppeteer Rick into NOT doing adventures so he could live the rest of his days with his family in peace? Nope. After “Evil” Rick was killed, did he go back to his family? Nope. He stayed in the Citadel. Why did he not try to go back home?

2. He looked pretty scared when Rick started yelling at him. He didn’t even try to shield himself from the fall, he tried to shield himself from Rick… even though Rick didn’t actually raise an arm and looked sad afterwards.

3. He says “sorry to be such a high-maintenance Morty”. It’s like he knows what the spectrum for Morty agreeableness is and his place in it.

4. And then there’s the eyepatch thing. Sure, he could make an electronic eyepatch relatively easily, AND apparently he was knowledgeable enough to perform brain surgery on Rick… but kinda unlikely he could do the same to himself. In his room. This points to his right eye already being altered before this scene played out.

5. How did he know about the Central Finite Curve? OUR Morty didn’t. It doesn’t seem to be common knowledge. We weren’t shown Evil Morty finding out about it and seething in anger, that wasn’t his tipping point. He already knew all about it. Once he wrestled control, his plan was to go straight for the Curve.

6. And the first step to achieving that, was to erase his record from a Morty Agency. Why was his record there in the first place? It kinda points out to him being a clone Morty or a discarded Morty.

7. His photo in the Morty Agency is clearly disillusioned. He’s already SO DONE.

8. He described “Evil” Rick as “a man with an ego so big you could grab it like a joystick”. This kinda points to him knowing LOTS of Ricks and being able to compare.

9. After he seized control of the citadel, in his very first day, he closed the school brainwashing Mortys. Clearly he knew very well what was going on in that school.

10. I kept thinking how evil he must be to kill all Ricks (understandable) and all innocent Mortys (not so much) in the Citadel… He showed no hesitation nor remorse. And when he left, there was no triumph, only relief. (It was the first real smile we’ve seen of him, too).

Then I remembered our Rick killed many, many “innocent” Ricks too… whose only known crime was being a Rick and therefore potentially Rick Prime. Our Rick didn’t get so nihilistic for no reason though, we know his backstory. There’s no way 14 year old Evil Morty became EVEN MORE nihilistic for no reason other than verbal abuse.

…I think Evil Morty had no real home. His whole planet/dimension could have been ruined (probably by Rick shenanigans). Or, even worse, he was “bred” in the Citadel. Those memories of the Morty supply line/slaughterhouse might have been HIS.

He was enlisted in a Morty Agency, repeatedly cycling through various Ricks… And if we take into account what Evil Morty said through “Evil” Rick’s mouth (“if there’s one truth in the universe, it’s that Ricks don’t care about Mortys”) he was not once treated well.

He was taken in by Ricks who would drunkedly promise “Rick and Morty… a hundred years… forever…” (all the while picking him so they could replace their previous Morty, which I’m sure he was aware of) and then use, betray, abandon or return him to the Morty Agency if he wasn’t meek enough.

He would be taken (adopted? hired?) again and again, and have to live in the homes of families that weren’t his real family (and if they knew their Morty was dead probably didn’t treat him as their real Morty), all the while being promised that this team-up with Rick at least was “forever”.

Judging by his reaction when “Evil” Rick towered over him and by the modification in his eye, some of the Ricks beat him and some did surgical “improvements”, obviously for their own benefit and doubtfully with his consent (our Morty can supposedly turn into a car as well).

The argument he had with “Evil” Rick in the garage wasn’t a repetition of the same old argument Evil Morty kept having with his own grampa; it was the repetition “Evil” Rick has had with multiple discarded Mortys in the past. And it was Evil Morty’s last attempt to civilly demand to be treated well. He tried to express his disappointment in a healthy way and was basically told to go back to the Morty Agency and go through the whole spiel again with a new Rick, or being forced to live in the slums of the Citadel.

Evil Morty’s reenaction of “Rick and Morty, a hundred years, forever” was the mocking echo of the cruel false promise that had been repeatedly made to him.

People are saying Evil Morty is being set up to become the final threat in the series, but I think everything he does screams that he is an abused child who has given up on having a loving attachment with anyone and just wants to be left alone. I feel like he will get a healing/redemption arc in the end, intertwined with Rick’s healing/redemption arc.

…Also, I might add that Evil Morty is currently a prime target for any super-technologically-advanced interdimensional being that wants to become even more advanced. Sure, he is very clever, lives in a well protected base, doesn’t go looking for trouble, has lots of resources and advanced shield and weapon systems…

…but is also alone, with no allies, and his brain contains the schematics of tools and weapons stolen from countless Ricks, including our Rick and Rick Prime. Which can be stolen from him in turn… if he gets caught.

One final thought:

If there is any reason he let our Rick live, I think it’s because he could tell that our Rick cares for his Morty… which might come in handy for Evil Morty if an interdimensional being ever tries to use against Evil Morty a weapon similar to that was used on Diane…

(Plus I suspect the weird SUPER SUDDEN switch-places thing that Evil Morty did with Morty might not have been an animation mistake; I kept rewatching to see when they could have switched, but it there was no gap where it could have happened, unless it happened in a literal instant, which could been done by a device Evil Morty has. I know this is a stretch, but IF it’s true, it’s not too bad an idea to keep around a mad genius scientist who cares for his grandson, if you can instantly switch places with said grandson in your hour of need)

[carabalism]

nuisance part two

pairing(s) twd x teen!reader, daryl dixon × teen!reader (platonic)

warning(s) canon-typical violence/gore

wattpad link , masterlist , previous part

it was barely midday, yet it had already been a more than eventful day at the campsite. everyone seemed on edge and rightfully so, people were at each other's throats. y/n had the unfortunate luck of getting stuck in the crossfire of all the chaos.

"you've caught us at a bad time, i promise it's not always like this," lori sighed, rubbing a hand over her face in frustration, "we're grateful for the food you brought.. with daryl."

"that's a shame," y/n leaned against a cushion in the back seat of the rv, a smug look on her face, "seems fun here."

lori blinked at the girl, slightly puzzled by her. fun? the world was ending and society as everyone knew it had collapsed and this little girl thinks it's fun? lori nods, deciding to look past her comments, "okay.. dale told me your name's y/n, is that right?"

"mhm," y/n hummed in response, getting comfortable on the cushions, "man, this is way better than sleepin' on a tree."

"you've been sleeping.. in trees?" lori asked, "how long have you been on your own?"

y/n shut her eyes, resting her arms behind her head, getting comfortable in the back of the rv, "the biters can't get ya up there."

lori hummed in acknowledgment, y/n was a smart kid and lori could see that, "can i ask you about your family?"

y/n opened her eyes and stared at lori for a few seconds before responding, "how 'bout you ask me one question and then i get to ask you a question."

lori laughed, "seems only fair, fine then... where's your parents?"

"my dad's in atlanta probably with his buddies or somethin' by now, but i left 'im to go to my mom, she's in the countryside and i've been making my way there."

lori furrowed her eyebrows at the mention of atlanta, "honey... atlanta was bombed.. there's nothin' left there."

y/n squinted her eyes at lori, "you sure?"

"i'm so sorry.." lori gulped, "my son and i were headed to atlanta when this all happened, we never got close since the highway was so packed... then there were bombs. they bombed the entire city, i'm sorry honey."

y/n nodded, taking in the information and let out a sigh, "hm. that's a shame."

"guessin' you didn't have a great home life then?" lori frowned at the girl.

"hey? we agreed only one question, s'my turn now," y/n shot a pointed look at lori, "rick.. your husband?"

"he is," her face fell slightly at the mention of him, he was currently getting ready to go on a rescue mission for a piece of shit, "my turn... let's see... what is... your favourite colour?"

lori raises an eyebrow at the girl with a wide smile on her face. she knew not to touch the subject of her family again and decided to keep the questions lighthearted.

"seriously?" y/n scoffed, "that's your question?"

lori feigned offense at her response and scoffed back at the girl, "well excuse me little miss, you said i could ask anythin' i wanted and right now i'm dyin' to know what your favourite colour is."

y/n chuckled at the woman's enthusiasm, the slight increase in her southern drawl brought a smile to y/n's face. she rolls her eyes at lori, her mouth scrunching up to the side to hide her smile, "i dunno, probably green?"

"guessin' you've been seeing a lot of it nowadays," lori nodded, a soft smile on her face. the kind of smile that only a mother was capable of, it made y/n feel warm seeing it.

"what's daryl's deal?" y/n questions, her face scrunching up at the thought of the man, "seems like an asshole."

"hey, watch your mouth." lori points a finger at the girl.

"sorry, ma'am." the girl's manners were a surprise to lori, she hadn't expected it. y/n was plenty sarcastic and seemed pretty guarded, but she could also be polite and respectful. it confused lori, but she just assumed that y/n's parents were strict on manners.

"it's alright, hon," lori smiled at the girl.

"so what's his deal?" y/n repeats her question, tilting her head, "how do you people know each other?"

"well.. we don't really know each other all that well. shane, rick and my son are the only one's i know from.. well, before." lori explains, fidgeting with the necklace around her neck, "most of us met on the highway, we were all stuck there for a while and eventually we ended up here... as for daryl, no one really knows much about 'im, but he provides for the group, so none of us can complain."

"what about his brother?"

"it's my turn to ask a question," lori chuckles as y/n frowns at her, "how old are you?"

"i'm twelve."

"you're the same age as my son," lori smiles, "and another girl here, carol's daughter."

"cool.." y/n pauses to think of her next question, "what's one thing you miss from before?"

lori chuckled, a few things coming to mind, "oh wow, it'd have to be my phone, i miss texting my friends.. askin' when the next book club was gonna be... probably sounds boring to you, huh?"

y/n smiled at the woman and shook her head, "no ma'am, my mom was the leader of her book club, serious business."

"well, maybe me and your mom could start our own new book club," lori smiled back at y/n. she had to admit that the girl was nice to talk to when she let her guard down and dropped the sarcasm. lori had been given the job of figuring out what y/n's 'deal' was - whatever shane meant by that.

"she always tried to get me to join her meetings," y/n stared at her hands, as she fidgeted nervously, "i used to hate it. i struggle with readin' so.. never liked it, but now i wish i went with 'er more."

lori smiles sadly at the girl, offering a reassuring pat to her shoulder, "i know it may not be the same, but dale's got some books, we could read together one day, until you find your mom that is."

y/n looked up at lori and chuckled, "tryin' to get me to join a book club?"

lori laughs and shakes her head, "can't blame a gal for trying, can you?"

before y/n could respond, the rv door opened and shane stepped inside, "hey.. how's it goin' in here, everything okay?"

"just talking about starting a book club, weren't we y/n?" lori looked at y/n with a smile.

"yes ma'am." y/n nods, her eyes watching shane carefully as he stands by the door. something about him rubbed y/n the wrong way, it was an unexplainable feeling - just something in her gut.

shane nodded back, "okay then, rick's about to leave if you wanna speak with him."

"you gonna be okay for a few minutes, hon?" lori asked y/n, her face scrunched up in concern.

"yes ma'am."

"okay," lori nodded, she didn't take the girl's sudden switch in attitude personally. the two may have been joking and swapping stories previously, but lori understood that y/n may be on guard around people she hadn't yet spoken with, or maybe she was just shy. she was an interesting character to say the least - one she hoped would stick around.

lori left the rv, but shane stayed inside, watching y/n. he had already said his piece to rick, so he had no need to leave.

"y/n, right?" shane raises an eyebrow at the girl, taking a few steps closer to her. the floor of the rv creaks ever so slightly under him.

"yes sir." y/n crossed her arms over her chest, staring back at him intensely, trying to read the man.

"sir?" shane chuckles, running a hand through his hair, "ain't you polite?"

"i can be." y/n hisses.

"okay, okay, i get it, you don't know me so you're a little on edge, i get it," he raised his hands up to show he meant no harm, "just have a few questions for you s'all."

y/n stayed quiet for a few seconds and nodded to tell him to ask his questions.

"you on your own out there?" shane leaned against the door to the toilet, his body blocking the walkway that led to the exit. she knew he did it on purpose, but she hadn't intended on running out anyways, "ain't got no folks out there waiting on you?"

"i'm alone."

he hummed in response, impressed with the fact she had survived, "where's your folks at?"

y/n rolled her eyes and turned to face the window across from her, "is that all you people are gonna ask about?"

shane scoffed, rubbing a hand through his hair, "well excuse me for being curious why a kid's runnin' wild 'round the woods alone like some kid raised by wolves."

"y'know, curiosity killed the cat." y/n turned back to look at shane, shrugging her shoulders.

"how'd you survive out there?" he ignored her previous statement, not wanting to entertain a threat from a little girl.

"slept in places biters couldn't get me. places people wouldn't be lookin'."

"hm. that's smart." shane nodded, "you goin' back to the woods, or you gonna stay here?"

y/n raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised that her staying at the camp was even on the table at all, "stay?"

"the others are thankful for the food you 'n daryl brought back," shane paused, readjusting his stance to face y/n, "you know how to survive, you're resourceful. that much's obvious. we could use someone like you. besides, i ain't gonna send a kid away."

y/n squinted at the man, looking at the way he held himself. she rolls her eyes at him and asks a question that shane didn't expect, "you a cop?"

shane squinted at y/n, his head tilting to the side, "how'd you guess?"

"the way you're talkin' n' the way you carry yourself," y/n shrugged, she could have guessed with her eyes closed that the man was a cop, she had seen a fair few of them around her father growing up, "i was thinking military earlier, but that chokehold ya had on daryl seemed like you've been wantin' do that for a while.. now you can since the law don't mean nothing now."

shane laughed, "you got some brain in that head of yours."

"ain't got no time to be stupid."

"so you wanna stay or not?" shane repeated his earlier question, "you're free to leave any time."

y/n looked at her hands for a few seconds, debating whether or not she wanted to stay, "might as well, i caught those damn squirrels, it'd be a shame to not eat."

"watch your mouth." shane raises an eyebrow at her language.

"yes sir."

"no need to call me sir, this ain't nazi germany. shane's just fine," shane laughs, shaking his head slightly, "now c'mon out, meet some of the folks here, we won't bite."

y/n let's out a deep sigh. she knew that she'd have to meet the other people, but with how on edge everyone has been since her arrival, despite her not being the cause of the camp's anxiety, she'd rather not talk to any of them.

"hey there again," dale smiled at y/n, crossing his arms over his chest, "what're you up to now?"

"i'm supposed to meet the people at the camp. shane said i should and decide whether i want to stay or not." y/n surveys the campsite whilst explaining her plans to dale, scouting the people she'd have to talk to.

"well are ya gonna stay for dinner at least?" from what dale gathered, y/n was on her own in the woods and he didn't feel right sending a child back out there. not after what he had seen.

"duh," y/n rolled her eyes, "i caught more than half of that, i ain't letting y'all rob me."

dale laughed in response, amused at her words, "well, let me take you to meet everyone then, huh? i'll make sure each conversation is nice and short so you're not stuck listening to people go on and on."

y/n let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes again, "fine, but if i poke your side it means i wanna stop chattin'."

"just pat my arm, no need to poke me kiddo."

"she doesn't act like she's a child. she definitely doesn't act her age at least.." lori muttered, staring at the newest addition to the group from afar. y/n had been sat talking with carl and sophia for a while, so lori kept a watchful eye - she trusted the girl enough to be around her son and she trusted the people at the camp, but she couldn't be too trustful. something about the girl didn't seem right, "it's just the start of all this mess and she's already more mature than she should be..."

"maybe that's a good thing," shane shrugged, "the world's changed, kids gotta toughen up now."

lori let out a sigh, shaking her head, "you don't get what i'm sayin' shane. she's the same age as carl for crying out loud. if she's grown up that fast, it's only a matter of time before carl stops being a kid too," lori brushed her hair out of her face anxiously, "this can't be the world, kids need to be kids, families shouldn't be broken apart- hell, kids shouldn't be armed with weapons, she should barely know how to use a knife like that."

shane rolled his eyes and sighed, "i get it, you don't want your boy to grow up too fast, but it's not a bad thing she knows what she's doin'. could be an asset to us, you seen the haul she 'n daryl got together? we'd never go hungry lori. carl won't go hungry."

lori nodded, acknowledging y/n's skills, "you're right, but i still feel sorry for her, she's clearly on edge around this many people... don't know what she's been through, but it doesn't seem like anything good."

"so... d'ya talk with rick?" shane's arms tensed at his own question.

"we talked," lori nodded, "shane. you have to understand that what we were doing is over. you told me my husband was dead, i didn't know any better."

shane clenched his jaw, tilting his head to the side to pretend he was watching the other people at the camp, "i thought he was dead, okay? i wouldn't lie about that, not rick."

y/n glanced over at lori and shane sat on a log speaking in hushed voices, but she could tell by their body language that neither of the two were happy, or comfortable.

"what's that guy's problem?" y/n gestured over at shane.

"oh, that's shane. he's my dad's friend," carl shrugged, "he saved me and my mom, he's cool."

"seems intense," y/n muttered, looking over at sophia, who just silently fidgeted with her fingers, "you okay?"

sophia looked up from her hands and nodded, a polite smile on her face, "yes.. thank you."

"sophia's not really good with new people, she's shy," carl explained, "there's a few other kids at the camp, but they're with their family right now."

"cool," y/n nodded, wondering when dale was going to return from his bathroom break to relieve her from the awkward conversation with the two kids.

"how did you survive on your own? it's none of my business, but my mom said you were out there alone.. is that true?" sophia asked, her voice meek and cautious, y/n recognised the voice as the one she'd used around her father. instantly y/n had figured sophia out, y/n knew she could trust her.

"started hunting and tracking when i was first able to, i've been doin' that to avoid people and catch dinner," y/n shrugged and readjusted the way she was sat. she sat with her legs crossed on the dirt, the position reminding her of her time at school.

"you were on your own?" carl asks, his eyes wide with amazement.

"yeah."

"that's awesome!" carl grins, admiring y/n's ability to survive on her own.

"awesome?" y/n questioned, frowning at the boy, "you really think that's awesome?"

"uh- i mean... yeah?"

y/n scoffs at carl, her eyebrows furrowing together in frustration at his naivety, "really? awesome? if you had been out there by yourself, you wouldn't think it was awesome. people die out there."

"well, you didn't?" carl responds, unsure why y/n seemed so irritated, he meant what he said as a compliment.

"that's 'cause i know what i'm doing, but i stand just as much a chance as everyone else out there." y/n crosses her arms over her chest, looking back at the rv to see if dale was back yet. he sure was taking his damn time.

"i think you have a better chance than most people.." sophia smiles shyly at y/n. y/n seemed unpredictable and sophia was slightly intimidated by her, but sophia was hopeful that she'd win y/n over and gain a new friend.

"yeah! you can hunt and stuff and you have a bow." carl nods in agreement with sophia. he admired y/n. she was the same age as him, yet she knew things that he didn't. he could learn a lot about survival from y/n if she stayed.

"i've seen people get shot for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. i've seen biters tear people's limbs and organs apart. nothing about anything that's happened is awesome. you have to take this shit seriously, or you die. got it?" y/n talks with a serious tone, but keeps her voice down to avoid adults overhearing her.

carl and sophia both share an uneasy look after listening to what y/n said and they both aren't sure how to respond. they're silent, horrified by the thought of what y/n had seen, but luckily dale was back to relieve them from the unnerving conversation.

"hey carl, sophia," dale smiles at the other two children, "i see you've met y/n."

dale takes note of the expressions on carl and sophia's faces. they seem distraught, but they nod in response to dale.

"hey kid," dale taps y/n on the shoulder, "there's something i need your opinion on, follow me?"

y/n nods and stands up from the ground, grateful to have an excuse to leave carl and sophia. she follows dale into the rv and he sits down in the booth, gesturing to the seat across for him for y/n to sit down.

"what happened out there?" dale asks, raising an eyebrow at y/n, "they looked a bit pale, did you.. say something?"

y/n realises that dale didn't need her opinion on anything and she sighs, shrugging her shoulders, "i just told 'em what they needed to hear."

dale's face holds an unamused expression as he looks over at y/n, leaning his arms on the table that separates them, "i know you've probably seen a lot out there during your time alone, but carl and sophia haven't.. you might want to be a little.. sensitive."

"sensitive?" y/n's face scrunches up in disagreement, "i'm just tellin' them how it is. sheltering them does nothing. if anything, it'll just get 'em killed faster."

dale sighs at y/n's response, "what i'm trying to say is that you might scare them."

"good. they should be scared. everyone here should be scared, this ain't some game or family camping trip," y/n scoffs, leaning back in her seat.

before dale could respond to y/n, the rv door opens and lori walks inside.

great. y/n thinks to herself. those little shits ratted on me.

"hey dale, could you give us a minute?" lori smiles at the older man as he leaves the rv. dale was slightly relieved that lori wanted to speak with y/n, he hoped that she would have better luck getting through to y/n.

"hey y/n." lori takes a seat where dale previously was sitting, "how are you liking the camp so far? i hope everyone's been nice to you so far."

"cut to the chase," y/n rolls her eyes, "i know carl ratted me out."

"he didn't rat you out, he's just worried about you," lori smiles nervously at y/n, there really was no beating around the bush with this girl, "apparently you said some things that made him and sophia concerned?"

"they're the ones that said me being on my own was 'awesome'. i was just trying to tell them they were wrong and they shouldn't say stuff like that."

"well, they both are sorry that they upset you, they didn't mean to be insensitive to you," lori pauses, nervously chewing on her lip, "in the future, please don't say things like that to them.. i don't want them to be too scared to sleep.. it's been hard enough recently."

y/n thinks about the countless sleepless nights she's had, the long nights where she feared for her life. oh, but she wouldn't want carl and sophia to struggle with getting to sleep.

"yeah, whatever." y/n was done with the conversation at that point. she had nothing else to say. she did partially feel guilty for saying those things to carl and sophia, it was a little harsh and after all they just wanted to befriend her.

"squirrel's ready to eat, some of the others were cooking whilst rick and the rest left," lori turned towards the door and looked back at y/n, "c'mon before it's all gone."

y/n didn't respond, but she nodded at lori before following her out of the rv.

lori could tell that y/n's demeanor had changed, she was much quieter, but definitely more alert. she observed, or at least that's what y/n had been doing whilst they ate - not once did y/n's eyes stop watching the other people around her.

"you don't have to be on guard here, you know that right?" lori whispered, rubbing y/n's back softly. y/n flinched from the touch, but didn't push her away. lori takes note of how y/n's body stiffens at her touch and takes note of it, her reaction confirming the thoughts lori had been having about y/n and her life before.

"you always gotta be alert," y/n shrugged, staring at ed with a frown on her face, "you figure people out faster that way."

"figure out people? what do you mean?" lori's face scrunched up in confusion.

"my dad was a lot like ed," y/n looked up at lori, "i'm guessing that's sophia's dad."

"y'know, you could've been a really good detective." lori complimented her, "what were the clues?"

"i figured carol was her mother, i saw carol and ed together - my mom and dad were like them before they split up..." y/n sighed, "i was like sophia when i was younger."

"she's your age, y/n?" lori chuckled.

"i know, but i..." y/n rolled her eyes at her own words and sighed, "i don't know what i'm saying forget about it."

"i know we just met, but there's not many other people around nowadays, so we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other, if you do stay that is", lori shrugged, attempting to make y/n feel like she had a choice whether she left or not, though lori wasn't so keen on letting a child leave a safe place with adults. lori didn't want y/n to feel caged in, "you can talk to me whenever you want about anything you want, okay hun?"

y/n nodded and went back to people watching, "this fire should be put out soon, you keep it up any longer biters will show up, or people."

lori nodded and passed the information onto shane. y/n remained at the fireplace, watching people like she had been doing before.

sophia slipped away from her mother's side and sat down next to y/n in front of the fire, "hi again.."

y/n glanced at sophia from the corners of her eyes, "hi."

"i'm sorry about carl..." she sighs, "it's been so long since there was a new kid at the camp, we were just happy..."

y/n smiles a little, trying to reassure sophia. the last thing y/n wanted was to make her feel like she did anything wrong, "it's okay sophia."

"no problem..." she smiled back nervously, "you must be pretty brave though, right?"

y/n frowned at sophia and tilted her head to the side, "no. i hid the entire time i was on my own. that's not brave."

sophia shook her head and smiled, "if i was on my own, i don't think i'd survive."

"you would," y/n replied almost a little too quickly, "don't say that."

"i guess being on your own makes you a pretty good liar too, huh?" sophia giggles, making y/n laugh.

"shut up, i'm serious."

"i'm glad there's a girl my age here now.. i was getting bored of just talking to carl," sophia whispered, "we're going to have so much fun."

y/n smiled at sophia, she didn't get mad by her words like she had at carl earlier. she figured the two hadn't seen anything yet. never saw a man get torn apart in front of them. never seen another kid get shot point blank. none of it. they had been shielded from it all and as much as she felt it was unfair, she didn't want to be the one to ruin their outlook on life. they still had hope. she wasn't going to take that away from them.

who knows, maybe y/n could allow herself to be a kid for just a bit longer. there were a few capable people at camp that could protect her. maybe she could allow herself to befriend sophia.

"yeah.. can't wait."

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

Episode thoughts under the cut

I loved Morty knowing Rick so well that he just straight up lies about the coffee lmao. Also the way he says 'hey buddy' like he's a dad entering his kid's room when they're in a depressive episode is so funny to me

Rick just literally saying 'family' to address the family

I thought the ghost/unfinished business joke was funny

I also love Rick being so petty (and Summer being petty back about the portal). It's so funny that he just calls the family 'stupids' as well. Devastating insult bro

Interesting that Gearhead was the first person he went to? He definitely needed someone to give him the courage to get the rest of his friends for an intervention (especially BP)

'Told you he wasn't dead' killed me

BIRDDAUGHTER. Funny name, love her being an emo teenage edgelord who just goes round killing Gromflomites. 'This is worse than prison'? Love it

Also I really liked that we got to see this side of BP's character this episode? He's so funny and I love getting to see him be a shit. Him trying to parent his daughter and just drinking wine? We love another alcoholic girldad

I really liked getting to see Rick/BP/Squanchy actually hanging out as well? I feel like it's a good insight into how they probably were back in the Flesh Curtains days

I like the 'birthday, birthday, birthday' gag

Also Rick immediately being like 'fuck this we're getting wrecked'

The honey scene was definitely for the Rickfuckers

Can we talk about the fact that Rick was definitely trying to impress BP by bringing up the fact that he hosted the Oscars? Which is definitely why he wanted that gig in the first place

Once again I love getting to see this side of Birdperson. Definitely makes sense why he and Rick get on so well

I liked the visual gag of Rick being high

Also BP and Squanchy playing the knife game lmao

Rick sits so fucking dramatically

Look at BP's face, he definitely wants to fuck that Predator guy

Son heist

I love that Rick can immediately identify Squanchy's shit based on the smell? Like he knows it's his and no one else's

BIRDPERSON PUTTING HIS HAND OVER RICK'S MOUTH

(You know Rick is gonna be thinking about that forever)

I like the recurring Squanchy tooth thing

'Why is this my thing' lmao

Poor poopy child

WAYNE

Them all just chilling together waiting for their drunk food? love it

I love BP leaving to collect his daughter from attacking a Federation outpost with the exact same energy as a parent collecting their child from school after they got suspended. It's so funny to imagine the GF having the same sort of vibe as they do with Rick and just texting BP like 'yo we got your daughter here' (I know that's not what happened but it's a funny mental image)

Lmao Squanchy

I did like the fading pill bit

Poor Gene

Overall I liked getting to explore this aspect of the dynamic between Rick/BP/Squanchy/Gearhead (+ the others of course but they're the OGs yk?) and also the concept of intervention/alcoholism. I think it's interesting to see that Rick does want to help but his support system is so fucked that this ends up happening and it makes a lot of sense when it comes to his own issues. I really like the way they handle Rick trying to get better and do the right thing but struggling so much to break out of unhealthy behaviours/habits. He's painfully aware of how fucked up he is and how much of a bad influence he is but he doesn't know how to fix the issue/be a positive influence and he definitely views abandonment as a good thing because he's removing himself from the situation. Very interesting way to explore this aspect of his issues, especially since all his friends are also alcoholics with that level of denial/refusal to get better

I had this discussion with @hazelnut-u-out before the episode aired but I do like that they're showing Mr PB directly suffering as a result of Rick's actions in canon? Considering that he started as a joke/meta character it's very interesting to show him actually shifting to more of a serious character who appears in the actual show and experiences real issues, especially since the show becomes less and less sitcom-y as Rick becomes more aware of the reality of how fucked up all of these things are.

[citrusrick]

s7e5 Unmortricken (HUGE SPOILERS)

HOLY. SHIT. i did not expect this at all and was so fucking excited!! we've all been waiting for this for a looong time, both the rick prime and the evil morty returns! and they gave it to us in one episode!

there is soooo much to unpack in this episode, but i'm dumping all my initial thoughts into this post. i feel like every scene during this episode my mind was turning so fast. this episode broke me and healed me, idek. i just need to take a minute and stare at the wall in silence for a while. my brain is just a mantra of god i fucking love this show so fucking much.

evil morty not only being smarter than c137, but prime is so fucking cool. definitely hoping we see more of him in the future, especially with how he downloaded the schematics of prime's brain. his plotline is definitely not completely finished. (especially 'the rick project'? very interested in that tbh)

needless to say, c137 and prime's (and evil morty's) fight was fucking awesome and well-done. especially the very last when rick gets to just beat him to death, thanks to evil morty. also, we see a rick’s ego get him once again with the mindset of ‘a morty could never outsmart/get me’, and boom.

i loved how it ended simply like that, no gadgets, just punching the shit out of him until he dies while prime keeps saying things he thinks will cut deep. prime telling c137 that nothing he has now actually belongs to him, AGH! no words. just thinking about how hard that must've been for rick to assimilate into the family, so fucking painful.

learning that prime not only killed rick c137's diane, but ALL dianes across all the infinite realities makes a lot of things come together and make sense. basically, prime threw a massive fit over some rick's not wanting to drop everything to join him in his universe-hopping. also prime giving rick shit for his car sounding like diane when he literally modeled his kill bots after her is so fucking ironic lmao

rick prime saying he missed when he was just him and rick, the only two to actually invent portal travel, really interested me. so this means that both prime and c137 are the 'rickest rick'. also c137's diane was not killed with the omega machine, as we saw her and little beth killed with a bomb.

when i first saw that poster with rick and morty covered in 'spaghetti sauce' while morty hugs rick, i knew it was gonna end up being in an episode with blood all over them and i was half-right, since rick's the only one covered in blood when morty hugs him in this episode lol

another little thing i noticed, they very prominently showed us prime and c137's cybernetic wiring tangling together in a shot during the fight. is this something that'll be relevant later or just like a random shot?

i think it's possible rick prime isn't dead, maybe left alive by c137 for some reason we don't know yet. we don't necessarily see prime die only c137 come out covered in blood and imply that prime's gone. (i noticed tear tracks on in the blood on rick's face and thought i was tripping at first but he was crying, shattering my heart over here).

if it was truly that simple and rick prime is truly gone forever, rick now has to move on with the rest of his life and figure out who he is without this need for revenge driving him. i'm so nervous to see what happens after this. it'll either free him or destroy him.

p.s. that post credit scene, which was (in my opinion) showing us what would've happened with rick and birdperson if things were different between them. just a little thing i thought of, and i'm not even a huge birdperson/rick shipper.

p.s.s. and even if it's not about rick/birdperson specifically, it still means rick could've chosen a different path if he'd been able to let go of his need to kill rick prime and get revenge.

[anarcoqueer1994]

Part 2 Eddie’s POV | Part 1 (Steve's POV here)| Part 3 Part 4

Eddie was just trying to get out of the trailer and find some place to smoke, so Wayne wouldn't give him a hard time. He definitely did not plan on running into a crying Steve Harrington. Steve was a freshman, but he was already so popular. He was one of the jocks, so Eddie kind of assumed he was an asshole, a cute asshole, but an asshole nevertheless.

It's for this reason that he doesn't know what comes over him, what compels him to stop and ask if he is okay. Maybe it was because Steve looked so small. Maybe it was because Eddie was familiar with the look of pain in his face, feels it to his core when he sees the bruise on Steve’s face.

And to his surprise, Steve opens up to him. He tells Eddie he does not think he is alright. Eddie knows he can use this information to knock Steve down and ruin his reputation at school, but looking at him, he can't. So he sits down next to him, lets him talk about his family and the loneliness and pain, and Eddie feels some sort of kinship with him. Eddie opens up too, talks about his parents, and says how Wayne took him in.

And they talk about other things too. He notices how Steve smiles and listens as he rambles on about Dungeons and Dragons. They talk for hours, and regardless of how weird or different his tastes are, Steve never seems fazed by it. He listens as Steve passionately defends Rick Springfield. And he feels his cheeks go red when Steve suddenly stops, gets nervous, says his name. "Hey Eds..."

"Yeah, Stevie?" The name slips out but Steve doesn't appear bothered. In fact, Steve seems to be blushing, and Eddie tries not to read into that. He waits for Steve to repond.

"If this is out of line or something, please tell me, and we can pretend it never happened, but umm..." Steve starts anxiously, and despite Eddie's own building anxiety, he tries to lighten the mood, get Steve to relax.

So Eddie smiles at him, laughing gently to hide his own nerves. "I thought you popular kids didn't get anxious." He jokes."Unless there was some hot girl or something." He isn't sure why he said that, maybe to get the confirmation from Steve that, yes, he does in fact like girls, and this growing feeling in Eddie's chest over the last few hours needs to be quelled. Steve Harrington can't like boys, and definitely can't like boys like him.

But then Steve surprised Eddie. "I mean... what if it was like a hot guy?" Steve quickly asks like he could not get the words out fast enough. Eddie doesn't hear the breath get caught in Steve's throat over the increasing sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. Steve Harrington just came out to him , and he is in disbelief. And he is suddenly more hopeful. After a few seconds, it hits him that he has not replied, that Steve is waiting.

He finally says, "I mean...if you're asking if I'd be okay with you thinking a guy is hot, I would be." Eddie pauses, but wants to say more, but he is terrified to make the first move...to be the one who crossed the line. Afterall Steve was high school royalty, and he is just some freak. But suddenly, he feels Steve's hand in his, resting both of their hands in Eddie’s lap. Eddie hopes Steve doesn't realize how clammy his palms are.

"What if... you were that hot guy?" Steve whispers, both of them staring face to face now. Eddie can't help but smile, blush covering his face. "I'd be okay with that too..."

And Steve just leans over and kisses him, gentle hands on his face, soft lips against his. And Eddie kisses back, and its magical, better than he ever dreamed his first kiss would be.

The next couple of months are great. At school they keep their distance. He tells Steve it's because it is better for both of them because people can be mean to a couple of queer boys. And mostly that is true but he also doesn't want to ruin either of their reputations. Their respective friend groups would have a field day with the jock and the freak being together. So only Wayne knows.

But alone that can just be Steve and Eddie; happy. When they sleep together for the first time, Eddie can't believe how in love he is with Steve. And as he held Steve against his chest, petting his hair, Steve says it, tells him "I love you, Eds..."

And he doesn't have to think, he just says it back. Because he did love Steve Harrington.

A few days later, though, everything comes crashing down. He had been with his friends. They had been talking shit about some of the assholes at school, mostly jocks.

One of them mentions Steve, suddenly peaking Eddie’s interest. "I thought Harrington stays out of it, doesn't he?" Eddie says, trying to play it cool.

"Yea, he doesn't say much but you know it's just because he thinks he is better than everyone." Eddie’s friend laughs.

"What do you mean?" Eddie says, trying not to sound defensive.

"You know, Steve "the hair" Harrington, is just a spoiled rich kid. Honestly, I feel bad for that dudes friends. He probably uses them to feel good and gets rid of them when he gets bored. I know he just a freshman, but you can just tell he's a jerk."

"I don't think he is that bad. " Eddie says weakly, thinking back to Steve laying on his chest a few nights prior. "He's always been nice to me."

"Eddie, guys like that are great at pretending. But he hangs out with the people that make our lives nightmares. All the jocks are the same. "

"Oh..." Eddie replies, not sure what to say.

His friend adds, "I feel bad for all those girls that flirt with him, if he ever actually dates one, he is going to lead them on until he gets bored of them. And dump them. " He laughs and moves on. But Eddie can't stop thinking about the conversation.

His friends were right. Steve was a jock, a popular kid, a rich kid. He didn't really love Eddie...he couldn't. He stews in this, convinces himself that Steve will break his heart. And he can't handle that. He needs to cut it off first.

So he doesn't show up to Steve's game, and when Steve shows up at the trailer, he makes Wayne send him away. Wayne looks at him, disappointed, when he shuts the door. "Eddie, you should talk to him, call the boy ."

"No Wayne." He says before locking himself in his room, spending the weekend trying to forget about Steve.

At school on Monday he tries to avoid Steve, but the other boy finally tracks him down in the bathroom. He tries to block out the memory of their conversation but can remember clearly the look on Steve’s face right before he walked away. Eddie had broken Steve’s heart.

Afterwards, Eddie lets himself believe he was right to end it with Steve as he watches Steve hook up with girl after girl. He lets himself think he would have been just a number for Steve. He even silently is happy when he seen Nancy Wheeler left him. He forces himself to see Steve as a caricature of a man, just King Steve. Not the sweet, bitchy, soft, tough complex person he knew Steve to be.

Because Eddie, due to some weird high school hubris, couldn't let himself believe he was wrong. That Steve Harrington loved him.

And then he ends up becoming friends with Steve’s little group of kids he babysat. And he hated that Dustin would constantly talk about Steve, because it was more proof that he was an idiot and he let a good thing go. No, he didn't just let him go, he crushed him, broke him. Steve trusted Eddie with his heart and Eddie dropped it. He tries not think about it, even as he stares out the window whenever Steve would drop the kids off or pick them up. He ruined everything and he can't turn back time.

But then Spring Break happens, and he was forced to face Steve again. And it's hard and awkward. He knows Steve does it on purpose when he throws his shirt at Eddie. He knows it is too late for him and Steve. But part of him wants Steve to be happy, especially seeing how good Steve still is. He tries to fix things between Steve and Nancy. Steve doesn’t seem receptive of it. Then Steve saves him, runs out of the Upside-Down, carrying his body.

Steve stays with him in the hospital and volunteers to help him at home. Wayne was appreciative about that. Eddie assumes they are never going to bring it up, ignore the past. But Steve has other ideas. Eddie is left dumbstruck when Steve asks one day when they are alone, "Are we going to talk about it?"

Steve's POV here

Part 3 here

Part 4 here

[luckycheesefoodie321]

PJO CHALICE OF THE GODS FULL SPOILERS REVIEW

Non-spoiler review: Very wholesome. Arguably you could pick this up without prior knowledge of the past series and understand it perfectly fine. A good throwback bite sized adventure with our OG trio, literally adventuring on weekends style. Strictly within New York (and the surrounding suburbs but I know nothing of New York geography).

Such a familiar voice to ease back into and feel so at home with. Percy is Percy and will never stop being Percy.

The domestic demigod scenes were so wholesome and heartwarming, further proving Sally and Paul have created the ultimate safe space and Sally is the best mom to mom and why all demigods, gods, and other traumatised individuals just love her upon meeting her.

A LOT of wholesome interactions within the Jackson-Blofis household, between Annabeth, Percy and Grover, Annabeth and Sally, Annabeth and Paul, Paul and Percy, Percy and Grover. The family was family-ing.

Zeus continues to be supremely disgusting. In such an open way which is the closest true acknowledgement to the mythology we will get in a book series largely targeted to a younger demographic. Rick has come such a long way in how he frames his characters, acknowledging the world they live in, touching base with reality quite often in a way that feels like “yeah ofc Percy would see all this and realise this as a traumatised 17 year old living in New York City”.

At times, Percy’s rampant sarcasm throwing around all this commentary felt a touch on the nose and like “Percy Jackson is an eternal 17 year old but the world around has been adjusted to make sense for the current day and age and not the mid-2000s-2010s”. But this feeling didn’t occur very often.

But Percy looking at Ganymede as this traumatised kid who was plucked from his life to serve as Zeus’s eye candy for the rest of his immortal life. Him embracing Gary, the god of Old Age (who was giving me strong Cupid energy in terms of his metaphors and language use and general aggression), because immortality had never tempted him and being an older demigod who can actually look forward to the future is something to celebrate and cherish. Him feeling guilty about exploding on Elisson (when he was literally so overstimulated and experiencing some major sensory overload and the fear and disorientation that comes with that - like he was literally gonna die so go figure he’d let rip his powers in what was like… the most effective and helpful way possible) bc Elisson was clearly stressed out of his mind and two stressed people exploding on each other, with one being an exceptionally terrifyingly powerful demigod and one being a god who wants peace and quiet and for his river to not be polluted, is not in any way productive or healthy.

Dark!Percy stans tho, you ate. That scene was for y’all. Annabeth tho, just vibing acting as a therapist for Elisson.

But I just think the stories Rick has woven have matured in such a wonderful way, as reflected through his beloved main character, Percy. Percy has taken every turn possibly to make sure he doesn’t turn out like Luke, he doesn’t hit that point between jaded and hateful, that he doesn’t ever stop cherishing and valuing his mortality and the people around him. Him being such a rare example of a positive home life, arguably on both his mortal and godly side (see his slightly more stable relationship with Poseidon than most big three or indeed regular demigod children) allows him anchor himself and remind him exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing.

The fact that he can sway the sentiments of minor gods like Geras, or make those “small waves” with people like Barbara, or help out his friend Grover as well as reassure him of their friendship and bond without hesitation, shows time and again why Percy Jackson is such a beloved character and the blueprint of a good boyfriend. Him being so devoted to Annabeth, so delighted for his mom and Paul having a baby, him being upset about not being there in the early stages of Estelle growing up. I was fully expecting there to be a flashforward to her being born but alas not.

BUT SURELY THIS MEANS THERE WILL BE TWO MORE PARTS. WITH TWO MORE RECOMMENDATION LETTERS, RICK I WILL BE WAITING FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT.

[somethingthing]

“I came back, didn’t I?”

Daryl Dixon x reader

Warnings: Some angst and suggestive language, implied smut towards the end, but mostly fluff

Word count: 927

A/n: I’m back after like two months and THANK YOU for over 50 followers!! <3 So um I started watching TWD for the first time six days ago, I’m already on season 4. I absolutely love Daryl and have another fic on my mind that I might write about him already. (Also I’m terribly sorry for my poor attempt at his accent)

Daryl had gotten back to camp right in time, with Merle close by. As happy as you were having Daryl back, the thought of Merle sleeping under the same roof as the people you now called family was alarming. But for Daryl’s sake you pushed that thought aside, he had found his brother and you were happy for him, still you couldn’t help but to show concern.

“Carol is right you know, Merle might be your brother, but don’t let him treat you like shit, cause that what he does most of the time” you leaned against the doorframe of the cell, Daryl was laying on his bed, resting his head against the wall.

“I know she is, but Merle is still muh blood” he sounded tired, no, he sounded exhausted. You stepped in, closing the door and pulling the makeshift curtain shut behind you. The group had decided that it was best, mostly for some noise canceling to not wake Judith as easily, but everyone was happy to get some privacy as well.

You made your way over to the bed, for the time being you just sat on the side of it “Most of the group is sleeping, I think at least, haven’t heard much, best we keep our voices down” you gave him a soft smile and patted his leg.

“Are you just gonna sit there or get in?” He looked at you with a smirk. Lord Daryl, don’t do that to me “Come here” He reached his arms out to pull you down on top of him, but you got up, leaving him with a confused look.

“I’m not sleeping next to you when you have that vest on, the leather feels awful” you meant it, you’d fallen asleep on it once before and woke up with a red cheek and marks all over it “And take your shoes of, I don’t understand how you can sleep with them on” He does it to be ready in case of an attack, you knew that but pretend otherwise.

“Hell, if ya want me naked, just say so” his smirk grew wider, but he did as told. He got up and threw off his jacket. The boots he was hesitant about but got them off as well. You slipped yours off along with your own jacket, but that was it. Tonight you were both too exhausted for anything more than just laying in each other’s arms.

The bed was small and usually you would move up to sleep on the top bed, but not tonight. He pulled you in, laying you almost completely on top of him, resting your head on his chest.

It was weird with Daryl, before the beginning of the end you had never felt this comfortable with anyone. Never felt as if you could just relax with someone else like this, but here you were. Laying on top of a 40 something year old man, in an abandoned prison during a zombie apocalypse, feeling more safe and relaxed than ever.

But something was chewing at you, ruining the peace you felt, it was like a weight you couldn’t shake off, no matter how hard you tried. Lost in thought you hadn’t noticed Daryl talking “What’s bothering ya, hmm?” His voice was low and seemed raspier than ever.

You bit the inside of your cheek, thinking it over in your head one last time before you spoke “Were you actually just gonna leave? I get that Merle is your brother and that he is important, but you were just going to leave the group like that? Leave me like that?” When the group got back and Rick told that Daryl had gone with Merle you wanted to scream. Sure you weren’t officially dating, but the thought of him just getting up and leaving without saying good bye made your whole body hurt.

He didn’t say anything at first so you hugged him tighter and did your best to not let tears fall. Then he shifted a bit to look at you “I ain’t leaving ya, ye hear that?” He let his hand stroke your hair “I came back, didn’t I?”

“You wouldn’t have had to come back if you never left in the first place” you blurted out. You didn’t mean too, you felt like a angry kid who didn’t get as they wanted saying it. But you were hurt and he needed to know that, “Sorry” you tried to clean up.

“Don’t, I’m the idiot” he chuckled and squeezed you, bowing his head down to kiss your forehead. You tilted your head back meeting his lips with yours instead.

“I’m glad your back” you mumbled between the kisses “But next time you’re gonna do something stupid, at least tell me first so I can decide if I wanna be in on it” it felt good to joke, and it felt even better to hear his low raspy laugh.

“Ye’ve got my word darlin’” he kissed you one last time before resting his head back on the pillow, getting himself ready for sleep.

“Daryl…” you looked up at him, his eyes were closed, did he already fall asleep? “I love you, okey?” You said it as if it was a question, in reality it wasn’t, but saying it straight out felt too big.

First he didn’t move, then the corner of his mouth turned upwards, then he was grinning like a crazy person. Opening his eyes he looked at you “I love you too, okey” and once again he leaned down to captured your lips.

You both smiled into the kiss “Are you mocking me Dixon?” You giggled between the kisses that grew all the more intense, letting your hand cup his cheek.

“Shh people are sleepin’” he chuckled while sliding his hand up under your shirt. Maybe you weren’t that exhausted, feeling his hands on your skin made you feel more awake than ever.

If the others were sleeping or not became less of a concern. If they slept and woke up or were already awake to begin with, neither of you paid any mind too in the moment. Merle would be sure to comment on it in the morning if they had heard anything, let him.

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Thank you for reading! <3 Again I’m sorry for the terrible attempt on Daryl’s accent, it’s basically copied from other fan fics with him, if you have any feedback I’d love to hear it!