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

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[As soon as Daryl pulls her forward, Maggie drops her bag at their feet and throws her arms around him as earnestly as he's hugging her. This was good. It was just so good to see him, to know that he was here and he was okay. She feels almost dazed with the relief it brings.]

It's okay.

[She doesn't know if she's telling him or herself that. Either way her eyes burn and she tries her best not to start crying.]

Daryl, it's okay now.

[She wasn't even sure what he knew back home but she wanted to reassure him anyway, would do so over and over again if she had to.]

[worn_wings]

[ Probably he's never actually going to get over feeling guilty; what happened, it was him, he's the one who lashed out, he's the one who made it so someone else had to die. Maybe someone else would've if he didn't-- but it doesn't matter, it was him.

But Maggie's family, still, and he's not going to put more of his grief on her shoulders if he can help it. He's gonna do his damnedest to protect her, for as long as he can. It's the least of what he owes Glenn. ]

Yeah.

[ To anyone who didn't know him as well as she does, maybe that would sound steady. He catches his breath after, though, manages to get himself more in control as he gives her shoulders a good squeeze. ]

You all right?

[ He wants to hear it, more than anything, that she's okay. ]

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[Just seeing him, knowing that they both were hurting over this, was like a knife to the gut. He'd been with her through Beth, had carried guilt for that too when he'd been the one to carry her out of the hospital. Maggie had thought that had been the worst pain she had ever felt in her life until Glenn. She still wanted to get revenge for what Negan had done. They needed to put it right - for her and Daryl and Glenn.]

I'm- I'm fine.

[She nods, still trying to keep herself pressed against him in a hug so that he won't see that she's definitely going to start crying any minute now. Hearing his voice so unsteady had done her in a bit. She felt like she couldn't speak, couldn't breathe, without it feeling constricting and the act of it done with great effort.]

I'm okay.

[She'd told Enid that they needed to keep going, to be the ones who remembered the ones they'd lost. She needed to be strong, even if right now she didn't want to be.]

I'm glad you're here.

[She takes a gulp of air, finally letting him go and moving to rub at her eyes. It was all still too raw, too much. She hadn't let Carl see her like this and felt bad that she was even letting Daryl see it.]

[worn_wings]

[ He's not far from tears himself; taking an extra moment to hang on and let her hang on, maybe they both need it. She's already seen him crumble, he figures, he doesn't want her to have to watch that again.

When she finally shifts away he still stays close, not sure he can handle the idea of letting her out of arm's reach just yet. ]

Still can't believe it,

[ he murmurs ruefully, not quite able to muster a smile, but definitely closer to calm already. It's good to see her here like this-- healthy and strong and safe, or at least safe enough, even if it's strange to see her so comfortable in the midst of... well, all of this. ]

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[Maggie doesn't quite let go of him either, still keeping her hands on his arms, rubbing small circles with her thumbs just for something to do. While the moment was a sad one, she felt hopeful. Daryl was here. Maybe that meant others could come back too - Rick and Enid, and maybe others who hadn't been here yet.]

Me either. It's been- [She shrugs, not quite able to find the words. He gets it, she knows. He's experiencing it now.]

When Carl and I first got here we spent a week together holed up on the Marsiva until we got split up. After that - we just got the hang of things as we went.

[She won't explain to him that she left once, gone for months, only to come back a few months ago. That was more that he'd need to process than he needed right now.]

[worn_wings]

[ At this point he's pretty sure there won't be another a moment in his life that isn't a sad one. Bittersweet at best. That grief and guilt is raw enough that it never quite ebbs away... and, well, lately he's not sure he'll outlast it.

But this moment's too good to be totally swallowed by all that. ]

He told me a little.

[ As much as he could absorb, really. All of this-- Daryl's still in shock, a little bit. ]

How long you been here?

[youdontneedapictureofme]

Mm.

[She wishes she could make it easier, to make explaining all of this better. There really wasn't a way to do that that didn't take time for him to process it all.]

A few months now, but before that - almost a year. Carl and I came here together. Sometimes the Atroma- they send you back or something, I guess. I don't know that I went back or if I was on the Marsiva the whole time.

[She sighs, finally letting him go to cross her arms.]

I'm second in command on one of the ships now. It's not the Hilltop, but they're good people.

[worn_wings]

[ For once, it seems like they've got time. It's still kind of disorienting, the seeming peace here. They're not on the run, there's no one obviously trying to wipe them out. If it takes a while to adjust...

He's not sure he can adjust. Maybe. Maggie and Carl seem to have, so maybe it's just time.

Still, he manages something like a smile, a pale and thin one maybe, at the thought of her taking charge-- or nearly-- of one of the ships. They're in good hands, then.

but there's still one thing he needs to know, painful as the subject is. ]

What-- [ He takes a second, a steadying breath. Not on the verge of tears this time, just not sure he can handle the answer. ] What about the baby?

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[What smile she might have given him is instantly wiped off her face at the mention of the baby. She'd known, instinctively and from her past experience in the fleet that it was gone. Yet she was so sure she had gone back home and it was okay again. She'd told herself last time that it was okay. She still had memories of Glenn to keep her going and they were enough.]

I- [She takes a breath and it's like she has knives in her lungs, sharp and agonizing and stabbing her everywhere.] how it works here- how the Atroma do things... they take away anything they see as a parasite. Disease- children. I don't- I can't-

[She steps away from him, eyes wide, and hugs her stomach. She'd kept it in last time. She'd let it go after months of being here, of knowing what she had lost. She'd never told Carl - or anyone - about Glenn or the baby. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about Glenn but realizing that she had lost them both would have been too painful to handle all at once.]

We can't do anything about it. [She screws her eyes shut, swallowing great gulps of air and tears that were starting to come down her cheeks in earnest. She didn't want to show anyone this side of her but she didn't want to lie either. Somehow she'd managed to escape Carl asking. Maybe he'd known already and was sparing her this.]

[worn_wings]

[ The look in her eyes is enough to send his heart plummeting. It's what he's been afraid of-- since Carl mentioned they'd been here, since no one's mentioned a kid. It's the worst fucking news possible. And even if he's been dreading it, he wasn't ready.

He's not sure anyone could be.

Without anything better to offer he leans in again to gather up in his arms, figuring he can offer a literal shoulder to cry on, even if he can't fix things.

And he can't, but it means at least, his life goals have expanded: kill Negan, protect Maggie for-fucking-ever, and figure out who the Atroma are and torture them slowly for as long as humanly or non-humanly possible.

Step Two is the only one he can work on at the moment, though. ]

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[Maggies arms go around him almost immediately and she buries her face into his shoulder, just like they'd done this before in their hiding spot when the Saviors had come to the Hilltop and he'd tried to apologize for avoiding her, blaming himself for Glenn.

She can't hold back the tears after that. She'd really lost everything. Her father, her stepmother and brothers, Beth. Glenn had been the last straw, until this. Maybe that was why she clung so hard to her work, finding it safer to keep her crew together than to keep herself from falling apart.

It was like watching Negan smash Glenn's head in all over again.]

[worn_wings]

[ Bringing up all this-- it's the last thing he wanted. What he's done has taken enough from her, has hurt her-- even if she doesn't hate him for it, she'd be in her rights to-- it doesn't matter.

But he couldn't not know, and now he does, and it's worse. He hangs onto her like she's the only thing keeping him rooted to this planet-- or maybe it's the other way around-- shaking slightly with silent sobs he won't let loose, half grief and half rage that someone would take this from her, from all of them. ]

[youdontneedapictureofme]

[She knew she couldn't cry forever, as much as she wanted to. Daryl needed her. Carol and Carl needed her. Her crew needed her. Glenn needed her to be strong, even if he wasn't here. By the time she finally comes back down from the tears his shoulder is probably soaked with them.]

It's not your fault.

[She knows he needs to hear it. Daryl was the type of person who carried things with him just like her. He carried them probably a little too closely by comparison. She sniffles, burying her face into his shoulder again.]

[worn_wings]

[ That weight, it's not going anywhere. Her forgiveness helps, and vengeance is going to help too, if he gets there, but there are things you don't get over. Maybe it's not his fault. At least it's not only his fault, but he'll live as long as he lives with the fact that he couldn't stop it.

At least he's doing better enough now to share grief simply with her, he's not more consumed by the guilt of showing it when she's the one who really feels the loss.

But now what he wants is just to be here,
to be as strong as he can be, if he's not really strong. Because if the past weeks have taught him anything it's that he's not strong enough. ]

I'm all right, [ he reassures her, and it's mostly true. At least, she doesn't have to worry about him.

He gives her shoulder a squeeze, pulling her close, tacit invitation to lean on him as long as she needs. As standoffish as he can be with strangers, family's different, and he hopes everything he can't find words to say, she can feel. ]