a brand new stray

[worn_wings]

Who: Daryl Dixon + open
Broadcast: Not intentionally but maybe you'll get lucky channel surfing sometime?
Action: The Tourist, assorted planets thereafter
When: 5/5 and onward

1. tourist arrival

He doesn't get his bearings at all. Everything when he wakes up is shining and unfamiliar and the only comforting thing is it's definitely not the Sanctuary, as surely as it's not any of their familiar settlements. He gets his back up against the wall, and then he's somewhere else.

The burst of confetti and music just suffices to confuse the hell out of him, so he ignores the chocolate pudding and ducks back against the wall, dead silent and kind of panicked and doing his best not to show it.

Left to his own devices, eventually he'll slink off into the rest of the ship-- looking for anything he can use as a weapon and watching for threats.


2. planetside in the yadrolla system

It's been literally years since he saw a functioning city, and the first time he touches down on one of the more populous planets, it's totally overwhelming.

The upshot of this is he'll be a little friendlier to Fleeters, because at least if someone's vaguely familiar they're closer to being a known, safe quantity. Mostly he stays to the side-streets, watching like it's all new.

Eventually he manages to get a lift to one of the wilder worlds-- not because he wants to sight-see, though incidentally he might end up spectating some of the outdoor events-- but because it's better than being stuck on the ship. Feels too much like a trap-- nowhere to run.

Later in the month he'll take up fishing and hunting-- there may be food on the ship but he's not sure how far he trusts it. Besides, he's good at this, there's some comfort in grounding yourself.


3. choose your own adventure

[ want something different? We'll make it work! ]

Comments

[postocular]

That's how long I've been here. There are people who have been here longer, but.. yeah.

I had both eyes when I got here. It was just after Terminus.

[worn_wings]

[ It feels like he shouldn't have to point out that they would've noticed anyone being gone that long, so he doesn't. All this about time travel, space travel...

He just looks away for a moment, at nothing in particular, the impossible cityscape around them. The thing is Daryl's pretty sure his imagination's not this good. ]

Feels like I might just be goin' crazy.

[ He says it flatly, easily, like it's a joke, but that's the hardest impulse to shove away. Maybe he's just lost it. Wouldn't be the first time he saw things that weren't there. ]

[postocular]

You're not, though. You're here with us. Carol and Maggie are here, too.

[ It's lame supporting evidence, but it's really all he's got. There's only so much he can do to reassure Daryl that all of this is happening. ]

And hey.. no walkers.

[worn_wings]

Yeah, just goddamn spacemen.

[ But that's better than walkers, Carl's not wrong. It sets him on edge, how things are here-- it's not the unfamiliar landscapes or even species that really gets to him, but the general bustle. So many living people, a society that hasn't known the kind of cataclysmic collapse they lived through at home.

He's just not used to people-- doubly not accustomed to people who are used to people. ]

Maggie's all right?

[ Carl seems all right, and he's established Carol is-- and Maggie, well, they've got extra reason to worry about her. Sooner or later he'll talk to her and find out for himself, but he could use the reassurance. ]

[postocular]

[ It took him and Maggie a long time to really be comfortable with the flow of the planets, but now? They enjoy all the opportunities they get to have some semblance of normal life that they don't get back home. ]

Yeah, Maggie's okay, too.

[worn_wings]

[ However freaked out he is about all of this, it's still a relief to know that. He can't quite wrap his head around the idea that they're not only here, they've been here, long enough that all of this seems normal.

But they deserve that, right? He doesn't-- he won't say it, but he feels it, that certainty that he doesn't deserve a minute's peace, not after everything at home-- but Maggie sure does. Carl, too.

There's just one other question-- the hardest one to ask, the one that becomes way bigger if Maggie's really been here a long time. He's not sure he has the courage, but manages to spit it out. ]

And.. the baby?

[postocular]

[ He shakes his head. ]

It doesn't work like that, here. Um.. Pregnancy and diseases. The Atroma kind of fixes things? As much as you can consider it 'fixing'.

[worn_wings]

[ That just leaves him more confused... and honestly worried, though he's particularly trying not to show it. ]

...That mean... she lost it?

[ Okay, so maybe he doesn't entirely manage to keep that under wraps. His voice is dangerously close to breaking, there. Sorry, Carl ]

[postocular]

No. I don't...I don't know. I'm not sure how it works. She's a medical officer, she'd have a better idea than me..

[ It's been a long time since he's felt this lost. He fumbles for an answer, shaking his head, his eye darting to Daryl's face quickly and away. He doesn't want to know the answers that he might find in his friend's face. Doesn't want to deal with the implications that not only had Maggie lost her husband, she lost her baby, too. ]

[worn_wings]

[ Poor Carl, he shouldn't be the one who has to deal with this.

Daryl just nods, trying to steel himself a little. ]

I'll have to talk to her.

[ Even if he hasn't really got the right to demand reassurance, he... could use it. ]

[postocular]

[ Carl is forever dealing with things he shouldn't have to deal with, but they're family, and that's what you do. All he can do in the moment is nod in reply. ]

She'd love to hear from you, if you haven't talked to her already.

We missed you.

[worn_wings]

Not yet.

[ But he will, soon as he gets a chance. It's different now-- even if they hadn't talked at the Hilltop, it'd be different. The responsibility to make sure she's all right, that'd outweigh the guilt.

He can't quite come up with a proper response to that; things like that, too emotional, he's shit at putting words to any of it. For a second he glances away before he meets Carl's gaze again and nods, grateful and relieved and equally glad they're here, even if he maybe shouldn't be. ]

[postocular]

[ Carl understands it, Daryl's never really been one to share much. Especially now, but he doesn't need him to. Just having Daryl around is enough- their little family is starting to grow again. ]

What ship did you get assigned to?

[worn_wings]

[ See, that's the good thing about family. They get you. Which means not having to sound like an asshole because you suck at talking.

He gives Carl a solid thump on the shoulder, silently affectionate and grateful for not having to try to say what he means. ]

Tourist, I guess. They all got dumb names?

[postocular]

[ He nudges Daryl back with his elbow, because that says as much as anything. ]

Yeah, they're all pretty dumb. I'm on the Red Fish. You can always change ships, though.

[worn_wings]

Think they put us on different ones on purpose?

[ Probably, he figures. Divide and conquer and all that bullshit. Obviously he'd be a lot more comfortable if they were all in the same place. ]

[postocular]

It seems pretty random when they do it, though Maggie transferred to her original ship when she came back.

[ There are pros and cons to being separated. He and Maggie never gave it much thought transferring to be on the same ship, their crews became family, too. ]

[worn_wings]

[ Thus far, Daryl doesn't feel much loyalty to the strange crew-- maybe there'd have been a time when it would be easy to adjust to all these new people, but they've been stung too many times of late.

He's not sure yet how to feel about any of it, so he grunts thoughtfully. Seems like it'd be better all being in one place-- but at least they're not too far. Like this they have access to more resources, probably. ]

[postocular]

[ It took Carl a great deal of time to consider the Red Fish crew to be family, but now that he does, he knows they have his back and his best interests at heart. He remembers how he and Maggie felt when they first got here- wanting to take advantage of things, but still not trusting it. ]

I'm thinking about grabbing something to eat. Want to come with? See what the planet has to offer?

[worn_wings]

[ Thank God it's not just Daryl here, he'd probably still be holed up half-starved in whatever corner of the Tourist he felt was most defensible. ]

Yeah. Sure.

[ You're buying though, kid, Daryl has not yet remembered how to deal with money. ]

[postocular]

[ Fair enough. He's the one that offered, anyway. He doesn't expect anything of Daryl, but he knows that having a full belly makes things a little better in the beginning. ]

What do you miss the most? I saw a few diners down the street, and there were some food carts.

[worn_wings]

[ It's a fair point. Even on the ship he'd been convinced, if only out of necessity, to try the food-- and at least the weird protein slime was edible and plentiful. On his own he's not sure he'd be trusting enough to try space restaurants. ]

Anything I ain't gotta catch sounds good. [ Though he'd hunt too, if it came to it- of course. If he was alone that's probably how he'd get by. ] I dunno. French fries?

[postocular]

[ Daryl has always been super capable, providing for their group at every turn, especially when it mattered. If it weren't for him while they were traveling, they might have starved. Carl nods, stepping toward the main street. ]

I can do french fries. Do you want 'em loaded with stuff or plain?

[worn_wings]

[ This is basically the most surreal experience of Daryl's life, which is saying a lot because, you know, apocalypse and all. But he's trying to roll with it.

He huffs, the closest thing to a laugh since he got here, probably. ]

I wanna see what they got. Load it up.

[postocular]

Right, okay. The place I saw was down this way.

[ He points down the street, walking side by side with Daryl. It does feel a little weird, that they're sharing this in the middle of actual civilization, not on the run from walkers or the like. ]

Have you had a chance to look around your ship or the Iskaulit, yet?