Bloodsport Mingle

[namisan]

Who: SS Bloodsport and visitors!
Broadcast: Probably not
Action: Bloodsport
When: 26 May onwards!

[You know the last time we had one of these was three months ago?  Things have been that quiet.

Or, y'know, we've all been busy with espionage.  Such is life.]

Comments

[recipio]

Nobody's gonna get punished, Daryl.

[ The tension leaves his shoulders now that things seem to be smoothed over, though Carl still doesn't like how subdued and avoidant Daryl is being. Maybe he'll talk to Maggie about and see what she thinks. His hand rests on top of the one on his cheek and he gives Daryl a quick smile, though his concern definitely seeps through. ]

[dirtyredneck]

[Daryl stilled again as the hand came to rest over the top of his. When the smile came, he pulled his hand away, then his body. Moved to the furthest corner he could get. Which, obviously, wasn't that far. But it put space between them. He turned his head away from the kid that looked too much like Carl.]

You don't do what yer told, you get punished. If he told ya otherwise, he lied ta ya.

[recipio]

Nobody told me anything. I came on my own. Maggie doesn't know I'm here, either.

[ Pretty much against what he promised her, but it's too late to go back, now. He frowns in confusion up at Daryl, but stays planted where he is. ]

[dirtyredneck]

[Maggie. Why did he have to bring Maggie into this? Why did he have to talk like she was real and Negan hadn't stood there, at her grave, making sure he saw it. Making sure he knew.

A sob choked it's way up his throat and he barely held it back. The force of trying making him shake as his fists balled up and he put all his effort into not breaking down in front of the kid that was wearing Carl's face. Maybe that was the play. He didn't know, could only guess at it all.]

Shut up.

[recipio]

[ This conversation is a roller coaster he doesn't know how to navigate. Maybe he shouldn't have brought up Maggie, but his hope was that it would ground Daryl to the fact that this is real and she is here. Carl's heart nearly breaks watching him war with himself.

Surely the damage can be undone, right?? ]

I don't know what you want me to say.

[dirtyredneck]

[He didn't want anything from the kid but to be left alone. To have Negan's sick joke gone from his sight. To have the room to himself again where he could curl up against the wall and wait. For Dwight. Or Fat Joey. For Negan. Hell, for that damn song to play again. Something familiar that he could deal with easier than all the head games shit Negan kept pulling on him.

Daryl lifted his head and looked at the kid, slowly shaking it before dropping his eyes away again. He was on the verge of tears and he knew it. So he tried to keep the eye contact short and his hair in his face to hide it as best as possible.]

[recipio]

[ Of course he's gone and made it worse, now. How much longer should he stay around and try to fix it? Carl wars with himself before hanging his head and nodding a fraction. Right. He takes a step back, putting a hand on the ladder. ]

I know you don't think we're here for you, but we are. Even if you want to tell me to go to hell, just call. Okay? There's um. Some food in there. [ He nudges the pack again, pushing it a bit more toward Daryl. ]

[dirtyredneck]

[Were they leaving the dog food in the room with him now? Or was it real food in can's he had nothing to open them with? It'd be crueler to do the second, so that was probably it.

Daryl's eyes flicked to the kid, to the hand on the ladder. He didn't say anything until after the kid had started to climb, though.]

Tell 'im if he wanted ta be convincing, he shouldn't'a sent a kid with two eyes.

[He wasn't trying to be mean when he said it. But he was emotionally exhausted so it probably came out a lot gruffer than intended.]

[recipio]

...Yeah. I guess so.

[ It feels like a personal defeat, leaving things like this. He doesn't want to give up, but clearly, they've both had enough of this for now. He's not going to be able to convince Daryl of anything the way he is now. With that girl, either. The Atroma must have screwed something up when they brought him here. Here's hoping they'll fix it. ]

[dirtyredneck]

[...

Long after the kid left, hours and hours into the night, when he was almost certain no one would walk in to steal the bag away, Daryl cautiously moved over to it and started searching it.]