#someone who wouldnt ever even dream of trying to stifle her. he wants her to follow her dreams.

[orcelito]

i've seen ppl talking about Meryl & how little we know about her family, but the geo-plant arc of trigun chapters 10-12 gives us some really useful pieces of info, i think

first, we see her thinking of herself as Cold Blooded, just like the dude that wanted Badwick to kill his own parents

[ID: Meryl stands with her gun drawn and a troubled expression on her face as she thinks to herself, "Exactly as you described him... the cold-blooded type..." In the next panel, she closes her eyes and wonders, "Am I really... any different?" End ID]

at the start of this arc, Milly wrote one of her massive letters to her family, while Meryl mentioned not knowing what she would write to hers. then we see Milly get PISSED at Badwick after she learns he threatened his parents at gunpoint, which leads to this page:

[ID: Meryl, held back by Milly, tells her, "Milly... I envy you... My father would have wanted me to get justifiably angry at a person who points a gun at his parents. That is an important thing." She flashes back to the moment in the chapter before where Milly is attempting to punch the son, Badwick. Milly calls in concern, "Ma'am?" Meryl continues, "But I... I just stood there and took it all in without even budging. I am such a cold person. I chose this path of blood and tears without thinking about the rest of my life. All I can see is what is right in front of me." The page shows the face of the father, dressed in basic battle gear, who is watching silently. Now in tears, Meryl laments, "Why could I not see... that when I closed myself off to him, something was wrong? I..." In the last panel, Milly stares down at Meryl in surprise as Meryl slaps her own cheeks and exclaims, "No... Nevermind!" End ID]

this entire situation is obviously striking something in Meryl's heart. some kind of insecurity she has about her distant relationship with her own parents. she shakes herself out of it, determined to not fall into a funk, and then jumps into defense of the land.

after the battle's over & the father's fallen to his ass, we see these pages:

[ID: In the first page, the father, off screen, tells Meryl and Milly, "There are no words to express how thankful I am for your help." Meryl replies with a smile, "Ah. There's no need." The father goes on to tell her, "Ms. Meryl... I know it was rude of me, but I overheard your conversation earlier. Having raised that rebellious son, I don't know if I have the right thing to say, but... All people are different, but the bonds between parents and children are inseparable. It is a great burden, but also the most precious thing in the world..." In the second page, the father concludes, "... Choose your own path, and walk it with confidence. All of life... is connected. You must live your own life, and your parents will love through you." As he speaks, we see Meryl listening to him with a surprised expression. End ID]

this entire arc feels like a metaphor for Meryl's own situation. after these pages, we see Badwick turning in the deed, then finding out that his parents were entrusting the property to him after all. he's the problem son, someone who separated himself from his parents due to his disagreements with them (likely stemming from his dead younger brother). yet at the end of the day, his parents still love him and entrusted their life's work to him.

Meryl sees all this go down, hears these words, and it touches something in her heart. so we see her go from talking about writing to her family like this in chapter 10:

[ID: A single panel of Meryl with her eyes closed and a peaceful expression on her face. She tells Milly, "That would be the normal thing to do... especially when I've been away from home for so long. But I don't know what to write beyond 'it's dry'..." End ID]

to this bit at the end of chapter 12:

[ID: Meryl approaches a mailbox with luggage in hand. She slips a letter inside, then sighs with a smile. Milly yells, "Maa'aam! What are you doing?! We're already late!" To which Meryl replies, "Ok! Ok! Ok! I'm coming!" End ID]

the experience was enough for her to accept that she might not be the closest with her parents (or just father? considering she only ever mentions a father in this all), but it's still worth reaching out even if she doesn't have much to say.

this arc is the most we see about Meryl's backstory in the manga, but I think we can draw a few things from it. we have a definite mention of a father, but no others. no mention of siblings or any other family members. she's distant from her father, too busy following her heart & goals, but she doesn't have a bad relationship with him. just Distant. she feels disconnected from him, even Cold, for her focus on her work & the practicalities in front of her. but even with that disconnect, she still cares enough about him to feel guilty when she realizes she's been doing this.

and then considering later, when we see the flashback of a man giving her the gun... i'd assumed that was possibly a senior at her work (probably tristamp giving me that perception, from Roberto), but keeping all the rest of this in mind... it really could have been her father.

i went looking to try to find that part. did not find that one exactly, but i DID find this one from trimax chapter 34:

[ID: A nearly bald man with a kind face and what appear to be shooting ear muffs around his neck tells Meryl, "Consider guns delicate. Women, most of all, should make use of them. One shot will level the playing field between you and a big, strong man." End ID]

if this is indeed her father, it would explain why she knows how to shoot like she does. perhaps her father taught her as she was growing up out of the wish to help her protect herself. maybe they weren't incredibly close, but he still clearly cared about her & wanted what was best for her and her safety. the kind of father that's content to let her do whatever her heart wishes, since her happiness is his happiness.

and then chapter 12 ends with this page:

[ID: A black framed page with a single panel at the center. The panel shows Meryl from behind, running with her luggage in hand. The text boxes to the sides state, "All of life is connected by a river... And the beginning of the river... is now." End ID]

she continues on her own path, not looking back, but she is still connected to the ones in her heart... including her father.

(Manga panels referenced from @trigun-manga-overhaul !)

#speculation nation #trigun #meryl stryfe #fanny's trigun analysis #fanny reads trigun #oh god this got longer than i was planning on it being #also writing IDs is a little hard lol. tried my best tho #but YEAH we really know so little about meryl and her home life. but this really does give us some great context for it #im picking at fucking crumbs here lmfao but they're still pretty solid crumbs #this. is probably what i'm gonna be running under for my own ideas of meryl's backstory #single child raised by a single father. a gunman who taught her how to shoot so she could protect herself #a slightly distant relationship. but not a negative one. #someone she still loves and knows will be there for her should she ever decide to return #someone who wouldnt ever even dream of trying to stifle her. he wants her to follow her dreams. #it's... actually kinda really sweet lol. #meryl #<- for my own tagging purposes lol #long post/

[scullyy]

C+L

Title: C+L

Pairing: Clementine x Louis

Word Count: 1455

Summary: Clementine tries to explain to AJ what love is and ends up explaining her feelings for Louis.

A/N: I kept thinking to myself ‘what if this happened during the party’ and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I also needed to write some happy to forget about everything I witnessed in Episode 3. I hope you enjoy this simple fluff :)

-

There was something about the music, the way it filled every crevice and crack, that excited AJ. It was his first every party, it seemed like a new realm. The walls no longer appeared to be caked in grime and dried blood but a rather lovely shade of purple that his eyes hadn’t been introduced to. “Jazz” as Clem had called it, made AJ want to twirl around in circles till he fell from the dizziness.

“Why is it called jazz?” He asked Louis, the man seemed to know the most about music.

Louis was tapping his feet along to the tune, he would have preferred classical but Clem was bobbing her head along in time with his feet, so it was worth it. “I believe it’s slang that translates to ‘spirit’ or ‘vigor’ from the 1860s’.”

“It sounds cool, I like it.” AJ smiled as he began to bop his head along with Clem. Team Fun had now somehow become mediocre dance trio. “Hey Clem, can we dance?” He twirled the tip of his toe into the floor, nerves bouncing through him.

Clementine beamed. “Of course goofball.” She gently took AJ by his little hand and swung him into the centre of the room. “Do you want to lead?”

AJ blinked slowly. “Lead?”

“Here, stand on my feet,” AJ did as he was told, his toes poking Clem’s ankles. “I’ll lead us this time. One day I’ll teach you how to dance properly.” She began to sway slowly back and forth, stepping around in tiny circles.

AJ giggled as the room swirled, the other kids becoming a blur. “Why do people dance Clem?’

“Some people find it fun, others do it to show their love for another person.” Her eyes fluttered over to Louis, who was leaning against the side of his piano, his smile bursting with pure light as he watched Clementine.

“Love? There other kinds of love?”

Clementine nodded. “There are many reasons to love someone AJ. For their looks, personality, sometimes their status-”

“-what’s that?”

“It’s like how popular you are. Sometimes people only love others for how well known they are, which isn’t fair.”

AJ soaked in the knowledge. “So there are wrong reasons to love someone?”

She lifted up his body and spun him around in the air. “Yeah, there are. Promise me that if you ever fall in love it’ll be for the right reasons.”

The idea of being in love never crossed AJ’s mind. He loved Clem, wasn’t that enough? “But how will I know?”

Clementine gazed into his large eyes, they twinkled like the lights around them. “Because you’ll want to do everything you can for that person. You’ll want to see them happy, even in a world like this.”

AJ smirked, happy in the fact that his love for Clem was right. Seeing her happy, after everything they had been through together, was enough for AJ to be happy also.

Her toes began to pinch beneath his weight, he was heavier than she originally thought. “Hey AJ, can we stop for a bit?”

“Okay,” He huffed, hopping back onto the solid ground. AJ caught Louis smiling at Clementine, he appeared to be caught in some kind of dream. AJ shifted his focus onto the grand piano, maybe Louis could play a song for everyone? His eyes travelled along the keys until he noticed a peculiar shape. “Clem, what’s that on the piano?”

She turned to where his finger was pointing, her blood going cold as her eyes focused on the carving. Her special carving from a special night. “Oh, it’s...uh…”

“What’s C+L?”

Clementine frantically waved her hand at Louis, snapping him out of his fantasy world. She directed her head towards the piano, trying to articulate what she was trying to point out. He understood alright, biting his lip softly.

“C+L?” Now it was Ruby’s turn to be curious, she set down the mystery crate and crept up alongside Clementine. “What does that mean?”

Louis tried to stifle his laughter. “Do you want to tell them or shall I grace them with the news?”

Goddamn him and his nonchalant nature.

By now all the other kids had gathered around the piano. “Tell us what?” AJ asked, his eyes darting back and forth between Clem and Louis, his patience was wearing thin.

Clementine wanted to sink into her hat and hide. This was not how she wanted to tell the others, especially AJ. “Louis and I...you could say that we’re a thing now.” She flinched when Ruby squealed in her ear.

“When did this happen?!”

“That’s crazy!”

“This is amazing.”

She looked across at Louis, who was nodding along to what their friends had to say. It was crazy and utterly amazing. “I’d say it’s more than ‘a thing’. It happened the night the raiders came, this charmer admitted her burning feelings for me.” Louis placed a hand over his heart and squeezed his shirt lightly.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” She rebuffed his lies. “You’re the one who named a song after me.”

The hopeless romantic in Ruby was absolutely bounding around inside her heart. “Y’all are adorable!”

“I can’t believe Louis got a girlfriend!” Willy shouted. He and Mitch would joke for hours on how Louis would be the last of the group to find a girl, let alone one who would be remotely interested in him.

Clementine raised an eyebrow at her small friend. “Girlfriend?”

“You bet your ass, Willy.” Louis hollered, the death stare from Clem was worth it.

AJ tried to figure it out. He loved Clem, so did Louis love her in the same way? Did he love her for her personality? Was she considered pretty to him? “Do you love Clem?”

Louis almost choked on nothing, coughing up his buried embarrassment. “I know that I like her, a lot. Who knows what the future holds little dude.”

Clementine held her own hand and gave it a tight squeeze as the room filled with a choir of “Oooooh”.

AJ was still confused. Maybe this was a type of love that Clem hadn’t explained yet. “So you two like each other, like Violet and Minnie did?”

A hush fell over the room as the kids eyed down Clementine and Louis. “Yeah AJ. Violet and Minnie were dating, just like Clem and I are.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ruby pat Clem on the back. “Somehow you two managed to find romance in the middle of all this. That’s darn impressive.”

Clementine felt a wave of peace come over her, no one was turning it into as big of a deal as she thought. “You guys are taking this better than I thought.”

“Well, we had a feeling,” Tenn mumbled. “You guys act the same way Minnie and Violet did when they were first dating.”

“God, we’re not that obvious,” The unconvinced glances didn’t cure the sinking feeling in her stomach. “Right?” Clementine never expected to have her feelings exposed like this, by a child nonetheless.

Louis ran a hand through his hair. “If you didn’t want to be obvious, why did you carve our initials in a heart on my piano?” Now it was his turn to tease his sweet Clem. She was so cute when in a flustered state.

There was so explanation, her words spluttered out of her mouth. Clementine couldn’t lie to herself, Louis and his devilish charms were part of the reason as to why she likes him, why she wants the world to know that they belong together. There was also his kind heart, unique sense of humour...out of this world good looks...wait what point was she trying to make again?

“Alright let’s leave these two alone now,” Ruby turned back to the box set upon the ground and sat beside it. “I found them. Okay Clementine, these here are our official Ericson’s psych evaluations and probationary reports.”

Clementine stood over her, eyeing the box. “Okay.”

“I don’t get it.” Said AJ with a cross look on his face. What was the big deal about a box full of papers?

“Well, these explain why all of us got sent to this school in the first place.” Despite the information that some of the records held, Ruby was keen to go down memory lane.

Louis nabbed himself a spot on the floor. “And how we got stuck here for as long as we did.”

“So, what’s the game?” Clementine humoured Ruby and sat beside Louis.

“I figured if we’re all going on this crazy mission together, you might as well know who we really are. Especially now that Louis is your boyfriend.” Ruby winked at the lovebirds.

Louis gazed at Clem, appreciating how the purple light fell upon her face. “Boyfriend and girlfriend, I like the sound of that.”

#twdg #the walking dead game #twdgs4 #clementine twdg #the walking dead game season four #twdg louis #louisentine #clouis #fanfiction #xscullyx