#and i will defend her until the day i die

[darylvr]

HEART TO HEART

₊⊹ carl x reader

7x1 spoilers, tara is readers sister figure, 0.7k words, not proofread oops!, implied afab reader

3 questions that had led you to the semi-stable life you had now. carl had found you on a run with his father. you'd looked harmless enough despite walker blood layered on your clothes.

"dad, stop. i got it, it's fine." the younger one says making his way over to you. his father watched cautiously, hand hovering by his waist.

you're confused at his interaction and reach for your knife to defend yourself. that was until he spoke again. only this time, to you.

"it's okay, 'm not gonna hurt you. i want to help." you could only furrow your eyebrows. why would he want to help you?

you say your first words since their arrival, "do you have a shelter?" he slightly smiles and you resume, "it’s fine if you don’t tell me, i know we don’t know eachother but—"

"how many walkers have you killed?"

once again, you were confused. you glanced over his shoulder to the man who’d appeared to be his father. you nervously twirled your fingers,

"i’ve lost count."

"how many people have you killed?"

wow, he really gave you no time to think between each question. "one."

"why?"

"they were going to kill me. i had to so it wouldn’t be me down the line."

he’d ended up taking your weapons, which only consisted of a 9mm and a pocket knife you’d taken from a dead one. you were happy to give them up if it meant shelter.

you’d finally arrived to the gates and you could see a woman opening them.

"there’s food ‘n runnin’ water here." rick said.

you could only smile and thank him profusely. you really hoped this would be where you settled forever.

that was when you met carl. getting to know him was a different story.

it’s been a few days since you were welcomed to alexandria. tara had been kind enough to be a big sister to you, and you saw carl often. even if it was from a distance.

you’d found yourself sitting on one of the porches, watching everything around you. your eyes found carl, making his way over to you with two glasses.

"thirsty?" he hands you one of the cups and sits down next to you.

you smile, and thank him before taking a sip.

"so what do you think?"

you hold up a finger and swallow the lemonade you had in your mouth, "oh it's good, a little sweet—" he starts laughing, leaving you embarrassed and a bit confused.

"i meant alexandria, silly. what do you think of the place?" oh that made a lot more sense.

"i like it, i feel safe and at home here. reminds me of what everything used to be." he nods at your words.

"y'know, you never told me what happened to your eye?" he turns to look at you and explains how he’d gotten shot. "i'm sorry."

he purses his lips together, "it’s not the first time, but that’s just the world we live in now."

two weeks from that day, you guys were officially a couple.

you’d heard about negan and what'd happened to glenn and abraham. truth be told, you were horrified. of course you'd seen people die, killed walkers, and other horrific things, but negan struck fear in you, more than those could.

your head rested on carls chest as he stroked your head.

"carl?"

he hums in response.

"i think this's the only time i've been worried since i've been here."

he exhales before responding. " 'm not gonna let anything happen to you. i'll kill negan myself, i swear." the two of you fell asleep like that.

when you woke up, carl was no where to be found, and neither was rick. you thought nothing of it, and went about your business. you stayed with olivia, helping her watch judith. that was, until you heard the front door open and negan asking for rick.

your heart dropped. why was he here? you were currently upstairs with judith, so that's where your focus lays. you wanted to be concerned for carl, but if negan was going to kill him, he would've already done it, right?

"it’s just a water heater—"

"are you serious kid? come on."

what you'd been anticipating had finally happened, the door swung open and you saw carl and negan.

"well, shit." he points his over to carl, then back to you and judith. there was a grin forming on his face, but carl quickly denies his suspicions. "she’s my sister."

he continued smiling and took judith from your lap. you look over to him and he could only give you an apologetic look that let you know it was okay.

the rest of that day was a complete blur for you. you'd watched spencer and olivia die right in front of you. you spent most of your time in you room since that happened, with tara checking in on you.

"carl‘a worried about you." she says while falling back onto your bed. you scoff, "and how would you know that?"

"it's pretty obvious when he purposely walks by the house 5 times in one day instead of being productive." this earns a laugh from both of you, and you realize, she's right.

"he's going to do something about it, i've seen the look in his eyes." tara knew someone was going to take him out, and if it wasn't her, it was going to be one of the grimes'. she wanted to kill negan just as much as the next person.

"i know, and i'll be right there with him." she lightly nudges your shoulder, "tell him that, you haven't spoken to him in two days."

you'd began making your way over to his house, and you were met with michonne at the door. she gave you a knowing look and a smile, "he's upstairs," she said.

you leaned against the doorway, "hi." he tears his gaze away from his comic to look at you. "you decided to stop avoiding me?" his voice was lighthearted, but you still felt guilty.

"sorry that i've been avoiding you. i guess i'm just scared of everything, of losing you." he motions for you to come sit next to him on the bed.

"you're not going to lose me. and i know you're scared, but we have to face it together." he continues, "what ever happens, i'm going to be right beside you."

you sit next to him, which gave you a sense of comfort. "do you really think we can beat him?"

"i know we can beat him. we have hilltop on our side." he smiles.

"do you remember when we met?" you're not sure what brought about your question. maybe you just wanted something other than negan to talk about. "yeah. thought you were badass, despite the situation."

you roll your eyes and scoff, "i was scared out my mind! do you know how intimidating it is-"

"but i knew you'd fit in here."

you were glad that carl was the one that had found you. the two of you were practically inseparable, and taking down the saviors would just be another thing the two of you did together.

"me too." you leaned over so your head fell on his shoulder. you couldn’t ask for a better place to live, nor a better boyfriend.

[yourdeepestfathoms]

idk if anyone else has said it yet, but i’m feeling bitter right now, so i will (also it’s just always bothered me)

has anyone else ever noticed the difference in fan opinions between Michael and Vanessa?

in many ways, they are VERY similar characters.

they’re both night guards, have been fucked over by William, killed kids, and barely actually show up in the games.

however, Michael is treated like a goddamn king by the fandom, while Vanessa barely gets scraps. she’s regarded as a bitch so often, is hated on constantly, and/or is sometimes flat out ignored or erased from stories entirely.

oh no! a woman is grumpy! she MUST be a bitch!

Vanessa isn’t a bitch. she’s an underpaid security guard that has her entire career on the line throughout the whole game. there’s a loose child in the Pizzaplex. she’s literally trying to do her damn job so she won’t get fired.

more than that, Vanessa is clearly under a severe amount of psychological stress. she’s being mind controlled by a serial child killer to murder people. you’re telling me you also wouldn’t be in a constant bad mood if that was your life?? and even if you don’t think Vanessa is Vanny, Vanessa STILL has mental health issues. that much is proven by the therapy tapes (i think it’s canon that she has depression and anxiety? and maybe PTSD? i can’t remember; it’s been awhile since i was hyperfixated on this game). god forbid a person, a woman no less, shows the negative aspects of their mental illness!

like, depression, anxiety, AND PTSD all cause irritability and anger issues. anxiety literally triggers your fight or flight, and not everyone automatically cowers into their flight instinct. PTSD has a little something called “hyperarousal,” which is a constant state of anger.

but okay, mental health issues can’t be used as an excuse for things, alright. it’s still late at night. people get irritable and cranky the more they stay up. lack of sleep causes aggression.

but really, none of that matters because Vanessa is justified in her grouchiness through the entire game since, again, she’s doing her job.

and it’s not even like she says or does anything that bad! i’ve seen people treat her like she’s some kind of monster, and for what? because she made a hollow threat about scrapping Freddy?? it was, like, two in the morning, people! people say things they don’t mean when they’re 1) tired and 2) emotional. and we all know she doesn’t have the authority to do that, so she wouldn’t actually go through with it.

also need i remind everyone that Vanessa is treated poorly by her OWN CREATOR?? she’s grossly sexualized. we all know what the Vanny suit looks like. it’s skintight. it’s very obviously designed in a way to highlight ALL her curves. Scott did that on purpose. and like,,, why?? she’s a murder bunny. why does she have to be “attractive”?

don’t get me wrong, i like the design for Vanny, i just hate the suit. i love the idea of her looking all patchwork, like Vanessa tore apart different articles of clothing to make the costume because she couldn’t get enough fur, so she could have been this big mess of thick white fur with splashes of a bunch of random materials in between the pelt. that could have easily shown how, like, “unpracticed” she is. it’s a shoddy suit made by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

but NOOOO, Scott had to go, “how can i show that she’s a woman who has boobs?!?!??!? how can i bring her boobs into this?!?!?! what about her boobs?!?!?! we can’t forget about her boobs!!!!”

like, dude, we know she has boobs. she’s a killer bunny, not a playboy bunny. let’s not blur the lines, Scott.

you know, it’s really saying something when the plush of a character is less sexualized than the design itself. i own a Vanny plush (it look, like, three months for her to ship), and she looks great! she’s super cute! but, GOD, the DUALITY between her and the actual Vanny is GLARING.

but also, this isn’t anything new. most of Scott’s female characters get the treatment of being sexualized.

it’s just so goddamn frustrating to see male characters get held up on a higher pedestal than female characters. this is an issue in most fandoms. the women are treated like shit. and it’s infuriating.

just— if Vanessa were a guy, people would NOT treat her the way they do. and if she were a man, Vanny’s suit would have been less sexualized and more like an actual animal suit.

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

deborah margaret gallagher nobody gets you like i do

[rakkuntoast]

said this on birdapp earlier cuz I've seen it but if you're planning to redesign Tallulah for the love of god don't take away her curly hair. you can separate her from that man if you change the beanie and sweater (even so people draw more the mushroom hat and the sweater depends on the artist) but her curly hair is part of her identity <- read her admin saying that short and curly hair is canon for Tallulah

that man doesn't own curly hair, his isn't that curly to be honest. not to the extent people draw Tallulah's hair anyway, she's also like one of the few eggs that is constantly drawn with curly hair

I could go on a tangent on how curly haired people (me included btw) struggle with self image and how it always end up with permanently straightening the hair but I feel like it's a conversation for another moment

but yeah the main point is please don't take away her main traits, same goes for her being mexican and having hearing aids

[scattered-winter]

the fascinating thing about the maze runner books vs the movies is that they're both tragedies, but just...different kinds. in the books no matter what wicked did, they never got close to a cure. it was all for nothing: all the torture, all the death, all the money and effort spent trying to cure something that was just unstoppable. the world burned while a few hundred immunes survived, and there was no other way the story could have gone.

but in the movies they were so close. thomas was the cure. they had it in their hands and could have saved everyone, but they were just too late. wicked was destroyed, the last city fell, and with it the world's last hope for a cure. they almost got the cure in time. they almost made it in time to save newt. they almost won.

[hazellevessque]

ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT ROSALIND LANG DID NOT DESERVE ANY OF IT

[headfullofpresley]

saw this today in a dutch fan group and i'm dead. 💀

@notstefaniepresley

[chvoswxtch]

i'm on my second rewatch of daredevil & I just finished season 2 and i have a LOT of thots about elektra so i'm going to rant under the cut so here's your warning or psa if you haven't seen the show or are in the process of watching it i am mentioning spoilers so beware !!!

first things first i feel like i need to preface with the fact that i was OBSESSED with the 2003 daredevil movie like i rented it so many times at the video store the guy working there fucking gave it to me LMAO and i remember thinking jennifer garner in that movie was THE baddest bitch and I wanted to be her so bad

that being said i fucking LOVE elektra natchios and i was so fucking beyond excited the first time i watched the show and she showed up and i especially love elodie yung's version i thought she was absolutely perfect

here's what annoyed the shit out of me though: they set her up for failure; let's get into it

i feel like a lot of people don't like her for whatever reason and i feel like a lot of that has to do with her history with matt so let me just say i think her and matt were super toxic and did not belong together because they were constantly trying to change one another and yes she did a lot of shitty things to him but she was literally "hired" by stick to ruin matt's life so that matt would come back to stick and in the end she left because she realized matt was way too good and didn't belong around her OR more importantly around stick because he would never be like either of them

from the second they introduced her in the show, they are trying to make you not like her by making her seem like this selfish entitled person who goes around ruining lives for fun. i've also seen a lot of people blame her as the reason that matt & karen never worked out but like that is straight up matt's fault in my opinion ok homeboy did that to himself

as far as morality goes, i think a lot of people gloss over the fact that elektra was literally trained to be a killer since she was a child. she was a young girl that was taken from her family, essentially thrown into a cult that brainwashed her and filled her head with horror stories about a war that was coming she needed to be ready to fight at all costs

we all know stick was an emotionally & physically abusive piece of shit (we saw the way he treated them both) but i think everyone forgets he was way worse with elektra and way harder on her and i don't know if what happened with her is what made him approach training matt differently but he was undeniably easier on matt (matt was getting pushed down in a basement, elektra was getting the shit beat out of her by grown ass men)

elektra was trained and taught to be what she was and constantly had people like stick and the hand telling her who and what she was and making her feel like she was some kind of evil monster over something that was totally out of her control

i think the only good thing that came from her and matt's relationship is that he made her believe in herself and that she could be good because he saw it in her and helped her decide who she wanted to be instead of what she was told to be

i truly think more people would like her more if she were a male character because she has a lot of the same characteristics as matt (tragic backstory, sarcastic witty drama queen, charming & overconfident, anger & daddy issues, total badass, hot) and even frank (has no problem killing when they think it's justifiable, will do whatever necessary despite the moral consequences, looks good covered in blood) which is bullshit in my humble opinion

let women go feral!!! let them be messy!! let them deal with things humanly & realistically!!!

i personally love characters like elektra natchios and jessica jones because i can relate to them like i can feel their anger and their internal conflict of being who you want vs who everyone expects you to be and drinking in excess to cope instead of dealing with your problems and having a short fuse (especially with annoying ass men who think they know better than you) and just being tragic fucking human beings trying their goddamn best

this is also why i love karen page so much because she is deeply flawed and has a dark past and acts impulsively (literally taunted fisk about killing wesley because she knew he would emotionally react like what a bad bitch) and refuses to take anyone's shit and calls everyone out when it's needed and tries so hard to do the right thing hoping it'll heal her from her mistakes

like every single one of these characters has been through so much shit and SO MUCH trauma and i just don't think it's fair to praise and accept one group for how they handle it and demonize another for doing the literal exact same thing

there was a very interesting foil in season 2 with frank & elektra that doesn't get talked about enough like frank castle owned what he was and admitted to being a loose cannon that would never stop until he got his revenge and everyone ate that shit up but elektra struggles with what she's being told she is and fights against all odds to control something inside of her that can't really be controlled and people trash her and it annoys the fucking hell out of me because it all goes back to her relationship with matt

women can be their own characters, they don't need to be plot devices used for a man's character development

in conclusion, elektra natchios is that bitch and i adore her and would absolutely love to see her (& elodie <3) come back in a future marvel project but not if they're just going to waste her incredible storyline and potential as being matt's throwaway love interest again because she is so fucking much more than that and deserves so much more than that

if you've made it this far, thanks for coming to my ted talk <3

we stan elektra natchios in this household, and I will hear no slander

these are all my opinions & if you don't like/agree with them, that's totally fine but no need to be a dick about it :)

[qu33rd0gs]

She just wanted to be a normal girl with normal knees :(

I hate Ozpin

so much <3

[daydreaming-optimist]

what was the last playlist you made?

Hi anon!!

I just finished watching Gilmore Girls like a week or two ago and have been defending Rory to my friends ever since so literally this afternoon I made one called oh rory gilmore, nobody understands you like i do (I have not yet sent it to the friends in question)

Anyway I love this question, thank you so much for stopping by!!!

[bonzoobel]

a lot of people have very valid complaints about the writing in tl s3 surrounding colin's coming out*/treatment of poc and i agree with all of it. would also like to point out that it REALLY bothers me how barb is treated throughout all of it. she is (to me) pretty apparently autistic and jack+keeley are constantly taking shots at her out of the blue. all the time. for Autistic Things (i.e. they made fun of her low empathy). its not explicit and its not to her face, but it still is really bugging me that this specific character with her specific mannerisms who is played by an autistic actress is being singled out to be the butt of the joke. on multiple occasions. for no real reason.

[yuikomorihotline]

{ Why do people even hate Yui? }

[last-wil-and-testament]

hi i'm here to make everyone listen to me talk about the beggar woman from sweeney todd bc i love that show and she's my favorite character(spoilers for the whole musical. also warnings for mentions of SA, attemped suicide and, obviously, murder.)

I have so much to say about her. First of all, I should point out that she has two musical motifs: her "alms, alms for a miserable woman," and the "my Lucy lies in ashes" that Todd sings during Epiphany. She also has her "don't I know you, mister?" which isn't really a musical motif but is very important. I’m also going to point out the fact that the first two patterns share a very, very similar note progression; they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re close. 

We first see the Beggar Woman during No Place Like London, where she interrupts Todd and Anthony's conversation. It's during this where we first hear her "alms, alms, etc.," motif as well as the first of two times where she uses "don't I know you, mister?" on Todd. She is immediately shooed away. Anthony dismisses her as a "crazed beggar woman," saying that London is full of them. This is the first piece of Lucy/Beggar Woman being the same that we see. 

We next see her appear as Lucy during Poor Thing. I'm not going too in-depth about this number due to the subject material, but it is important to her story. A few important things in terms of foreshadowing are: the audience seeing her face(the same as Beggar Woman's, in most productions), clues about what happened to her(poisoning herself after her SA by the Judge), and her stage directions in the first half of the song. In these stage directions, she's in the upstairs room of the main set piece, which becomes the barber shop. In this room, we see her open a window, care for a baby, do chores, etc(varies depending on staging). These directions might not seem important, but they are echoed while she's searching for Beadle in that same room during the final sequence. I'll circle back to that later. 

After Poor Thing, she doesn't appear as Lucy again, only Beggar Woman. She next shows up during Ah, Miss, and speaks to Anthony, telling him of Judge Turpin and Johanna. This isn't super relevant, so I'll move on. 

We next meet the Beggar Woman after one of the interlude Ballads, as she appears, asking a passerby for money. After they leave, Mrs. Lovett enters, mocking the Beggar Woman and saying that she "won't have any trash lingering around her establishment." This moment is crucial in establishing how the Beggar Woman and Mrs. Lovett view each other(as well as passing the Bechdel Test lol). They clearly dislike each other, which is confirmed further by Beggar Woman's multiple lines about the "devil's wife," referring to Lovett. This moment between the two of them also alludes to Lovett's love for Todd, and how she was jealous of Lucy.

The next time we meet her, she isn't singing, but the Beggar Woman is present during God, That's Good looking for food. That's literally it. Next section. 

Right after God, That’s Good is the Johanna Quartet. In this song, we see Todd kill 2 people as they come into his shop for a shave, as well as sparing a third man due to having his family with him. In between these three days that we see pass, the Beggar Woman interjects twice, both times begging for passerby to listen and report the horrible smell coming from Lovett’s bakehouse to the police, calling it the “sign of the devil”(once again associating Lovett with the devil). The passerby brush her off, dismissing her warnings as the ramblings of a raving lunatic rather than a legitimate complaint(although it does seem that she got through to someone, or others noticed the smell; we know this because the Beadle’s reason for going to Lovett’s shop during Parlor Songs in the complaints of the smell of the smoke). 

We don’t see her again until the Searching part of the Final Sequence, where she approaches the pie shop looking for Beadle, who died in there a few scenes before. She goes upstairs into the barber shop, still looking for Beadle. Once she realizes where she is, the stage directions specifically make sure to include that she begins to open a window, rock an imaginary baby, do phantom chores, mirroring Lucy’s stage directions from Poor Thing, as I mentioned earlier. Her singing becomes more and more frantic and rushed as she continues to call for Beadle, until Todd finds her in the room and asks her what she’s doing. The Beggar Woman tells him that “the stink of evil is here, sir, from below- her,” as he yells at her to leave. She calls for Beadle again, and when Todd yells at her again, she delivers her “don’t I know you, mister?” line again. After she says this, Todd notices the Judge approaching and kills the Beggar Woman. 

Even after she dies, the Beggar Woman still has one more appearance. It is in the next part of the Final Scene, where Lovett tries to drag her body to the oven, just as Todd appears and questions as to why Lovett is desperately trying to hide the beggar’s face. Once he truly sees her face for the first time, it hits him. The whole show, Todd was desperately trying to exact revenge to avenge his wife. The wife that he thought had died, only to be the one to kill her in the end. Lovett maintains the fact that she never lied about Lucy’s death, only said that she poisoned herself. This culminates in her love confession, saying that she would’ve been twice the wife Lucy was.

Lucy’s character is tragic, because she really did nothing wrong, all she did was be pretty enough to attract horrible men who exiled her husband and raped her, simply to get their way. Not only did she have to go through that, she was left to rot, and attempted to poison herself. Her daughter was also taken from her, and raised by the very man who hurt her, only for that daughter to nearly have to suffer the same fate. I also have to add that, sadly, her death is simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and if she hadn't been in the barber shop as the judge was approaching, she would've lived.

Although she doesn't get as much stage time as others, Lucy is, honestly, an underrated character that I love a lot.

[livvyofthelake]

i understand cassandra clare’s oeuvre in a way very few human beings alive are even capable of ok….. what you call problematic i call thematically necessary. what you call dumb and unfunny i call post comedic metahumor. what you call sick and twisted i call. well sick and twisted but you say it as though it’s bad and unnecessary and not completely vital to the narrative and it’s meaning. what you call bad writing i call genre awareness…. what you may see as the constant recycling of themes and dynamics, i see as a complex interwoven tapestry of art…..

[miraofhearts2point0]

try and tell me that Heiya is a bad person. i fucking dare you.

[feniah-394]

They hate Daenerys Targaryen because not only she's an intersetional feminist, she's also on the far left in the political spectrum