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aesthetic-survivor-of-twd · 3 years

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My thoughts on Clementine’s story in the “Skybound X” Comic

Okay, so before I jump into my opinion piece on the comic, I’m going to give a little explanation and break down of the issue, for all of you confused as to why everyone’s talking about this story.

What is it?

A while ago, Skybound announced that they would be continuing Clementine’s story via comic. It is supposed to be a trilogy taken place in the same universe as both the game and TWD comic series (with Rick Grimes). It is intended to be a continuation of The Final Season.

Why is everyone yelling about it?

Back when the comic was first announced, the reception was mixed with some people excited to see Clementine again, some who expressed scepticism on how Skybound would treat our beloved characters (and the ending of TFS which seemed like a perfect end note to Clem’s journey and arc) and wanted nothing to do with it, and some who were “cautiously optimistic” - shall we say, to what a sequel comic would entail for Clementine.

How would Skybound handle the choices? does this mean half of the playthroughs will no longer be canon? how can you even continue Clem’s story at this point without messing with the characterization or the playthroughs?

Well, the comic finally released and people read it and...yeah, our hesitance was justified.

So, it’s impossible to describe this comic without spoilers, so for anyone who wishes to read the comic themselves and form their own opinion beforehand - do not read below this cut as I will be going through the entire comic plot. You’ve been warned!

The Story

So, the story starts off early in the morning, with Clementine gearing up to leave the school.

We follow her as she leaves the school grounds (alone), goes to the hut to pack supplies and finds a map. She hears a noise outside, which turns out to be a walker so she leaves the hut and kills it. Then goes back to looking at the map.

So far, so good right? like it seems odd that Clementine’s leaving the school in crutches alone with no back up, but hey, maybe she’s just trying to regain some independence and get in some early morning hunting for the group or something, right?

Well this is when shit starts to go South...

Clementine hears another noise, and thinking it’s a walker she opens the hut door wielding a knife, only for it to be AJ.

(Also I think it’s been a couple of years since TFS, because AJ’s looking pretty tall for a 5 year old and apparently they’ve got new settlements to trade with).

It turns out, that Clementine was planning on ditching the school and setting off on her own. Without even a single goodbye or bothering to tell anyone about it. AJ is rightfully confused by this (fucking same, little buddy). And it leads to this exchange:

Yup. So Clementine, not only was planning on ditching her new family and home, but she was also going to leave AJ without a single goodbye and just vanish from his life. Breaking any promises or teachings she told him from their time spent together.

And you know what the worst part is?

She’s doing it because she’s “not happy” (and no, she doesn’t elaborate on this, we’re just supposed to accept it). AJ just tries in earnest to convince her to stay and that he can make her happy and all Clem says is “you can’t”.

If I were to analyse this short scene, I would say that perhaps it’s an internal war Clem’s got going on in her head, where there IS no rational reason for her leaving, but rather it’s something mentally that she can’t get over (possibly depression) and she feels like she has to leave to deal with it better. Honestly, in any other story this would be an incredibly interesting character complexity to witness.

BUT

The issue here is that it does NOT at all match Clem’s characterization from the game.

Clem was happy with the school. All she ever wanted in her life was for somewhere safe to call home and spend the rest of her days without constant fear and having to be on the move. She wanted to belong somewhere after losing Lee and her family.

Clem’s character has never been about this badass who’s always on the move for thrills or looking for adventure or excitement. Does it happen to her? yes. But her character has always wanted to settle down somewhere with people and to have a family. She’s a homebody at heart, and the ending of TFS even plays with this by having her be the leader (which is what the series was building her up for) who strategizes and sends other people out while she stays in the middle of it all. The reason that ep4 was so beautiful was it came full circle with Season 1 in that Clementine can finally rest and LIVE her life now, without fear of being on the run or having to feel alone anymore, knowing everyone around her is safe and happy.

You mean to tell me, that Clementine would risk her life to save a community of people and protect “a home” only to up and abandon it because “idk it’s not for me” - fucking bullshit, Skybound. Clementine loves the Ericson kids and AJ, even if she didn’t form a romance with Louis or Violet. Those people meant something to her, and even if she did feel like it was safe to leave them, she wouldn’t. Because she enjoys being with them and loves them.

Clem did not go through hell for these people and spend years hunting down AJ only to up and ditch them - WITHOUT EVEN A GOODBYE, mind you.

She has plenty of opportunities to leave them, and she didn’t. Not even when there was a risk to her life.

Also, the best part about this? after Clem gives us her pity me tears, a walker sneaks up behind her and AJ shoots it before it gets her.

It’s supposed to represent how well Clem has taught him throughout the years, but I find it hilarious because we’re now supposed to be okay with Clem venturing out on her own after almost getting chomped (again).

AJ finally accepts her decisions and runs back to the school, while the final shot is of Clementine walking into the horizon.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, the fact that even the writer of this comic couldn’t even bother giving Clementine a reason beyond that vague “I’m not happy” statement is a slap in the face itself, and just goes to show that even they don’t fully believe in the plot of the story either and it’s purely being used as a means to cash in on a Clementine spin off without having the other characters there and the potential backlash of referencing the game choices.

Oh it was something special, all right. It’s like an angst fanfic.

HOW on earth is this comic staying “true to Clementine’s journey”? did you even play the games, Skybound? because besides a few quirky buzzwords like “still not bitten”, I don’t think you understand the story of TWDG or Clementine’s “journey” at all.

Not only was this comic unnecessary, but I’m confident that even the writers of TFS never believed this to be an outcome for Clementine either give how often they spoke about ep4 as being the conclusion to her story and her arc being “finding a home and what it means to protect one”.

With all that said, please don’t send hate to Tillie Walden. If anything, it’s Skybound themselves that should be scrutinised for greenlighting this script and thinking it was an appropriate sequel for the game (if it even needed one).

(Also apparently adventurer Clem is no longer tying her hair up anymore and is growing it out, which makes 0 sense when she’s out exploring).

In Conclusion

This short comic was a hot mess, but we’ve got 2 more to go.

The only way I can see this comic being salvaged is if they pull off the cliché storyline of Clementine realizing she was wrong and that the school IS her home and where she wants to be, so returns back to Ericson’s in the end.

But that would be both pointless and still make this entire intro nonsensical, so I guess we’ll just need to wait and see.

I’ve honestly no clue how Clementine is expecting to find something better out in the world for herself that makes her happy, when she herself knows how rare it is to find a home like that in the apocalypse and how dangerous it is elsewhere.

#twdg #twdg comic #skybound x #twdg clementine #twdg aj #telltalegames #twdg tfs #the walking dead game #analysis #thoughts

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ericsonclan · 3 years

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It’s Saturday

Summary: Clementine and Violet open up to each other about their pasts and come up with a new idea to make Ericson feel more like home.

Word Count: 3789

Read on AO3:

Clementine looked out from her perch on the watchtower. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Louis to stop freaking out at the thought of her up there. But after some words, many promises and an elaborate talk about the prosthetic with Willy, the others had let her go up to take a shift on lookout duty. Clementine’s gaze moved out past the walls and studied the few walkers roaming the area. One was currently trying to reach for something in a hole of a large tree. Leaves and animal dropping were all that the walker found though. Another was busy running into different trees and rocks repeatedly while one further away was simply staring up blankly at the sky.

Clementine took a deep breath, a small smile appearing on her lips. It was nice to finally have a different chore to do around Ericson. Though she did wish that the prosthetic wouldn’t bother her leg so much. She’d have to talk about that with Willy. Clementine felt bad whenever she added to the young teen’s list of things to work on but Willy always smiled and promised her that he would make the next prototype even better than the last one. She wouldn’t bother him about it till later though. For now she wanted to enjoy this newfound freedom of being on lookout duty. Clementine was suddenly pulled out her thoughts, however, when she heard the creaking of the rickety ladder. Turning around she saw the top of Violet’s head as she blindly climbed up the ladder.

“Violet, grab my hand,” Clementine moved forward and held out her hand. The blonde glanced up and squinted due to the harsh sunlight before grasping out towards where she assumed Clementine’s hand to be. With a small grunt Clementine lifted up her friend the rest of the way.

“Thanks,” Violet muttered and walked forward, her hand brushing against the few wooden boards that covered the watchtower’s side.

“What are you doing up here?’ Clementine looked towards her friend who had finally found a spot she felt secure on.

Violet glanced up then out beyond the walls. “Thought I’d join in. People won’t be as pissy at me if both of us are on the watchtower,” Violet crossed her arms and leaned against the wooden boards. She remained silent for a few seconds, her eyes searching out towards the outside world. “I just wanted a break too.”

Clementine understood where Violet was coming from. Life could get monotonous at points, especially when you were one of the two who were adjusting to permanent injuries. Injuries that made people hover over you and that limited what you could and couldn’t do within Ericson’s walls.

“Okay, but you won’t be getting a break from the worried looks,” Clementine crossed her arms as well and looked back at the courtyard. Violet studied Clementine for a moment and tried her best to follow her gaze. She noticed that Clementine was staring at Louis who was busy carrying some firewood for Omar. His dreadlocks bounced a little with his movement as he tried to sneakily look over to check on Clementine. The worry was clear in his eyes when he glanced up her way, only growing stronger when he noticed Violet up there too. He was so distracted by this that he didn’t pay attention to where he was heading and quickly ran into the side of one of the picnic tables. Louis yelped in pain and dropped a few pieces of firewood.

“Are you okay, Louis?” Clementine called out to her boyfriend who gave a thumbs up.

“Who, me? Yeah, I’m totally fine. Just doing my part around Ericson in style,” He gave a playful smile over towards his girlfriend and leaned aesthetically against the picnic table. Clementine laughed softly at Louis while Violet rolled her eyes. It didn’t matter that she couldn't’ see clearly - she knew the two of them well enough to know what was happening.

“Are you sure it's safe for you two up there?” Louis asked while he placed down the firewood and rubbed his hip.

“We’re fine, Lou. Just be careful not to run into any more tables,” Clementine’s words seemed to do little to calm down the concern in Louis’ eyes but he nodded regardless.

“If you need anything, either of you, just shout and I’ll be there,” Louis waved to the pair then picked up the firewood and walked over to where Omar was setting up the fire pit. Clementine and Violet watched him for a minute before they returned their sights to the outside world. Neither of them talked for a little while. Both of them were enjoying the peaceful silence and the small freedom they had gained.

“It's nice that we can finally do this,” Clementine’s voice made Violet look over her way. She gave a small smile then gazed out towards the woods once more. Something about the sight of the green and brown blurs along with the slowly moving greyish ones was comforting to Violet. Maybe due to the fact that she rarely saw anything outside of what was inside Ericson’s walls.

“Yeah, it took fucking forever but it is nice,” Violet’s smile soon faded and her eyes turned sadder. Her mind slowly turned back to the events of that night. A night that had taken so much from her and the others.

Clementine could feel the mood shift and studied her friend for a minute.

Violet hunched over and stared off into the distance as her eyes continued to get lost in their emotions. “Jesus. Everything is so different now. Me,” Violet glanced over at Clementine and down at her prosthetic. “Us, the school.” She took a shaky breath and turned around to look at the courtyard. Her eyes focused on the flagpole where the black Death Murder t-shirt flew lazily in the wind. “I remember how Marlon described it, what we were gonna turn Ericson into. It’s not the way any of us pictured it.” Violet’s eyes wandered around the courtyard, trying to pick up on all the different tasks that were being done.

Clementine moved closer to her friend and stood beside her. “How did you picture it?”

Her words broke Violet’s focus away from the courtyard and back to her. She gave a small shrug and sighed as she looked at the floorboards of the watchtower. “I guess I couldn’t. I just listened to what Marlon said. How it would be a home, a real one. But I couldn’t wrap my head around it.” Violet’s eyes held a deep sadness to them as her eyebrows knit together.

She never really knew what a home was to begin with. Not with the one she had when she grew up. Violet was silent for a few moments before she spoke up again. “My family lived in a trailer.” Her pale eyes wandered over to Clementine’s golden brown ones. Curiosity flickered in Violet’s eyes. “What about you? Where’d you live?”

Clementine leaned against the wall and looked up at the sky. “I lived in a house with my mom and dad. Fence around it. Big backyard.” She smiled nostalgically at the fond memories. Her eyes looked back at Violet and noticed the soft smile on her lips. She seemed genuinely happy at Clementine’s nostalgia.

“What was your favorite part of the house?”

Violet's question surprised Clementine for a second. She thought deeply about her response. “The kitchen.”

Violet looked surprised by the answer. Her eyes danced with confusion and curiosity at the choice. “Really? Why?”

“On Saturdays my dad got up early to make us all pancakes. I’d come downstairs and run to the kitchen so I could help.” Clementine smiled warmly at the memories. “Seeing my mom’s face when she took a seat at the table, all laid out with pancakes, syrup and orange juice...” Clementine’s smile faltered for a moment, sorrow overtaking her eyes as she looked off into the middle distance. “She was so happy. We all were.” Her voice wavered slightly and she took a moment before looking at her friend once more. “Y’know, Ericson can still be the home Marlon promised. It’s taking some time but we are starting to rebuild.” Clementine’s words struck a chord within Violet whose eyes grew large before softening. She let out a sigh then locked eyes with Clementine.

“It’s a lot of work but I know it will be worth it,” Violet’s faint smile grew when she saw the joy on her friend’s face. She leaned back further and looked over at the steam that was rising up from the pot Omar was stirring. “The kitchen’s a mess, but we could find some old pans and start a Saturday pancakes routine.”

“Sounds great, but I’m not sure when Saturday is,” Clementine smiled playfully at her friend. Ever since the world ended calendars had become non-existent.

Violet laughed softly, a gentle smile resting on her lips. “How about this: it’s whenever we want pancakes. When we’re having a bad day or life is being too shitty, we’ll make it Saturday and start cooking pancakes.”

Violet’s suggestion made Clementine smile grow and her eyes danced with excitement. “Perfect. It will be our pancake pact.” Clementine held out her hand and Violet grabbed it, shaking it firmly. The two shared a smile.

“So, how soon do you think we’ll declare it to be Saturday?” Clementine asked with a playful grin.

“I don’t know. Life can turn to shit pretty quickly. I give it four days.” Violet answered and kicked off the wall to turn and look past the walls again.

“That’s generous of you. I thought you would say a day or two,” Clementine’s gaze looked out past the walls and at the walkers once more.

“What can I say, I guess I’ve become more optimistic,” Violet smiled and the two continued to watch the world in silence, both of them happy with this new pact they had made.

Violet felt like shit. She hadn’t been able to sleep at all last night due to the same nightmares that always plagued her mind. It didn’t help that for some reason the skin around her eyes was beginning to irritate her too. Ruby said she would make some more ointment to help with irritation but until then she would just have to deal with it. Slowly Violet walked through the halls of Ericson, ready to face yet another boring day of chores. Knowing the group they wouldn’t let her do anything remotely dangerous still and so she would be spending the day picking herbs and cutting vegetables or maybe making rabbit pelts. The blonde grumbled and grumpily pushed open the doors to the courtyard. Her eyes were focused on the ground as she kicked a pebble.

“Damn it all!” Prisha’s angry voice made Violet look up to see her girlfriend angrily hunched over a contraption and scattered notes. Prisha pushed back a few wisps of hair before she began to look over her notes again. She lifted up her right hand and tried to fix the contraption but it seemed impossible with just one working hand. Prisha huffed and swung her body, causing her non-working arm to sway out into the air before whacking against her side. She groaned and let her head fall onto the table.

Violet redirected her path and walked over towards Prisha. She silently sat down beside her and looked at her for a moment. “Shitty day?”

Violet’s voice made Prisha turn her head and look up at her love with sad eyes. “Yes, it just feels like nothing I do today works out,” Prisha gave a tired sigh.

Violet thought for a moment and leaned over, kissing Prisha’s face. The blonde then noticed that Willy had come over to check on Prisha. Violet knew that Prisha was too wound up to focus. She wasn’t doing much better herself. So Violet made a decision and took a deep breath. “It’s Saturday!”

Willy let out an excited gasp and scampered off. He spotted Garbage who was staring off blankly into the distance and munching on some crunchy leaves. The lanky teen picked up the possum and spun her around. “Garbage, it’s Saturday!” Willy laughed as the possum hissed, annoyed by the interruption.

“Holy shit, it’s Saturday?!?!” Louis had just come back from hunting with Clementine, their hands swayed lazily as they walked forward. He beamed over at his girlfriend who looked just as excited as he did.

“It hasn’t been Saturday for a while. I’ll go help Ruby with the ingredients. Can you help with the pans?” Clementine looked over at Louis who smiled widely.

“Leave it to me, my darling!” Louis’ eyes grew wide when Clementine kissed his cheek softly. She gave his hand a quick squeeze then went off to find Ruby.

Prisha watched in confusion. She had no idea why everyone was freaking out about a certain day of the week. Willy had spotted AJ and was excitedly telling him the news. His hands and arms swung around animatedly as he spoke. AJ’s eyes grew large and sparkled with joy.

“It’s Saturday!” AJ did an excited little dance and quickly ran off with Willy who mentioned the oil press and acorn grinder for some reason. Garbage bounced on top of Willy’s head, hissing wildy as the pair ran off laughing and high fiving.

“I’m confused.” Prisha spoke up and looked over at her girlfriend who also seemed ecstatic about this for some reason. “What’s so special about Saturdays?”

“A long time ago, Clem and I made this pact. Whenever someone was having a really shitty day or life was being way too much of an asshole they could declare that it's Saturday. Once they did, everyone knew that it was code for pancakes and we would use pancakes to make the day less shitty,” Violet smiled brightly.

Prisha was surprised by this news. She never could tell what secrets she would discover about her new home. Ericson seemed to be a treasure trove of secrets and hidden joys that those living here had worked hard to obtain and hold onto.

“I heard it’s Saturday,” Omar smiled warmly over at the couple as he fed the fire some more logs to reignite the flames.

“Yeah, it will be Prisha’s first Saturday too,” Violet gently took her love’s hand and smiled.

“Actually, it’s not Saturday.” Aasim spoke up as walked forward with a mason jar full of honey. “According to my internal calendar, it should be Tuesday.”

Violet frowned at Aasim and his know-it all-attitude. Suddenly Ruby appeared and intertwined her fingers with Aasim before tenderly kissing his cheek.

“Pookie, stop being a stick in the mud and enjoy the pancakes.” Ruby’s words seemed to soften Aasim’s expression.

“Yeah, take that stick out of your ass and have fun,” Violet crossed her arms. Aasim was about to speak up when Louis appeared from the admin building with two busted up pans.

“People, people, please. Let us not fight on this cherished pancake day!” He smiled as he walked forward and handed over the pans to Omar. “We wouldn't want to ruin Prisha’s first experience of these end of the world delicacies.” Louis pulled on the sides of his coat with a warm expression.

“Ruby!” Clementine called out. “I need help with Milky Way!”

“I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” Ruby yelled back at her friend before stealing another kiss from Aasim and bustling off.

“Is there any way I can help?” Prisha offered as Willy and AJ scampered forward with the oil press and acorn grinder.

“Prisha! Prisha! You gotta help with the acorns! It’s the best part!” Willy lifted up a bag of acorns and shook it around. “Alright,” Prisha got up and joined the two youngest members of Ericson. WIlly and AJ took turns animatedly displaying how to use the acorn grinder. Prisha nodded and smiled, listening thoughtfully even though she had used it before in the past.

Once the explanation was done she placed her hand on the crank. With a deep breath, Prisha began to grind the acorns while AJ and Willy excitedly cheered her on. Omar laughed and grabbed a bowl to take the dry ingredients they were making. Meanwhile Louis and Violet were arguing about how the oil press even worked. Louis tried to figure it out but just ended pinching his pinky. While he was blowing on his pinky and rubbing it Violet began to try her best at getting the oil press to work.

“You got this, Vi! Show that oil press who’s boss!” Louis cheered for his friend who wasn’t doing the best job showing the oil press who’s boss. By the time they had figured it out, Ruby and Clementine were back with the goat milk. Prisha let out a shaky breath and used her right hand to wipe off some sweat. She had gotten so caught up in the boys’ cheering that she had used up a lot of strength to make the acorn flour.

“That was so cool !” Willy exclaimed. His words made Prisha’s heart warm and she lifted up a hand, ruffling his hair fondly.

“Thanks. I suppose we’ll have to wait until next time to see if you can beat me, Squirt.” Prisha had a competitive expression on her face.

Willy’s eyes shone with the same competitiveness. “I totally can! Just wait until next Saturday!”

Willy and Prisha shared a smile before looking over to see AJ helping out Louis and Violet with the oil press. The youngest of the three was somehow the best at the device and both Violet and Louis watched in awe as AJ helped make oil. Both of them ruffled his hair and praised his skills once he had finished up.

Omar and Aasim worked together to mix the wet ingredients of honey and goat milk with the dry while Clementine went over with Ruby to place the pans on the low flames of the fire pit. Both of them were happily talking about the anticipation of pancakes.

Soon the batter was complete and the group took turns cooking pancakes. Clementine and Louis giggled and laughed as they hovered over their pan. Louis continued to give Clementine’s cheeks tons of kisses as her eyes focused on making the best pancakes. Prisha glanced over their way before she heard the sizzle of the pan as Violet placed down some batter.

“Y’know our first few pancake days were pretty bad. Our pancakes were all chalky and tasted like dirt.” Violet had a small smile on her face.

“Those pancakes were good though!” Willy jumped in as he helped set the picnic table with Ruby and Aasim.

“They were god awful,” Ruby corrected him. “Thank the Lord we have Milky Way and Comet now.”

“It also helps that we have the oil press and acorn grinder up to the standard we need them now.” Aasim added with a smile.

“The pancakes are really good now,” Omar added as he nodded towards the pan.

Prisha’s eyes followed his gaze and she swore under her breath. Her pancakes had nearly burned.

Soon Prisha and Violet’s turn was done and so was Clementine and Louis’. Ruby and Omar took a turn at one of the pans, the pair working in perfect harmony as they discussed what type of tea they would pair with the pancakes. Both of them spoke happily and ended up making the best pancakes out of the group. Willy and AJ on the other hand had made the worst. They were lumpy, off-looking and somehow ended up both undercooked and burnt at the same time. Neither of them seemed to mind though as they high fived and beamed proudly at their pancakes.

After a while everyone was at the picnic table eating happily. Willy continually snuck bites of pancake to Rosie who seemed ecstatic for pancake day. Her stubby tail wagged joyfully as she moseyed around getting more treats from Louis and Clementine alike. Ruby was busy feeding Aasim a bite of her pancakes while Violet judged them silently for it. Everyone laughed and smiled until they saw that Prisha was taking her first bite of her pancakes. Her eyes lit up as she chewed the food and a joyful smile pulled on the corners of her lips.

“Woooo! Pancakes were a success!” Willy crowed happily and tossed over a piece of pancake to Garbage. The possum sniffed it suspiciously before licking up the pancake crumb. Her beady black eyes sparkled as she hissed happily.

“I’m glad,” Violet smiled over at her love then continued to eat. Everyone congratulated themselves on a job well done.

“Here’s to the first of many more Saturdays with Prisha!” Louis held up his cracked mug that held his tea. The others all cheered with him.

“So, I’m curious why this is attached to Saturdays,” Prisha spoke up and the group looked over at her.

“It was an old family tradition of mine.” Clementine leaned forward and looked at her friend. “One that I really loved. So it’s really nice to share it with my new family.”

Prisha felt her heart grow warm at those words. To find a group like this one that treated her not only as an equal but as family was something she never expected to gain.

“There is nothing like the joys of pancakes and family,” Louis kissed Clementine’s hand softly.

“Clem used to always talk about pancakes before we came to Ericson,” AJ spoke up.

“Goofball over here used to think I was talking about some secret weapon,” Clementine teased and some members of the table laughed as AJ frowned.

“It made sense to me,” AJ huffed and munched on his pancakes. Ruby gave his hair a quick ruffle and smiled which seemed to brighten up his mood. Everyone quickly went back to talking happily as they enjoyed the pancakes.

Soon the food was consumed and Aasim and Ruby helped Omar with the dishes. Prisha watched them for a moment when suddenly she felt something warm wrap around her hand. Looking down she saw that it was Violet’s hand. She glanced up and noticed the calm, gentle expression on her girlfriend’s face.

“I hope that helped make your day less shitty,”

Violet’s words made Prisha smile softly. She lifted up Violet’s hand and pressed a few gentle kisses to it. “It did, thank you.”

“I’m glad,” Violet smiled at Prisha before looking up at the sky. It had made her day feel better too. Her eyes soon wandered around the courtyard and took in the positive energy that the others were radiating. Saturdays always made life a little bit better.

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starryviolentine · 3 years

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Color Me Blue (That’s Me Without You): A Pre-Apocalypse Story

Part 1 (here) Part 2 (here) Part 3 (here) Part 4 (here) Part 5 (here) Part 6 (here) Part 7 (here) Part 8 (here) Part 9 (here)

Part 10/10: Special Delivery

Another school week has come and gone, and the students of Ericson Academy have finally reached the weekly checkpoint that everyone looks forward to the most—the weekend. After five straight days of lessons, homework and responsibilities, the one day per week when there’s no schedule, nowhere to be, and nothing but unstructured fun and relaxation is here at last. The sun is shining, the air is crisp, and, according to the weather forecast, later in the day it should be warm enough to play outside without a jacket. What a beautiful Saturday morning indeed.

Sundays are different. There are mandatory chores in the morning and extracurriculars scheduled all throughout the afternoon. Students aren’t allowed to use the gym or the outdoor fields unless they have sports practice, nor can they set foot inside the creative arts building unless they have an art or music lesson.

But that’s a worry for tomorrow.

Today is still Saturday. For Therissa, this means snoozing until noon, then lazing around in bed with only her phone and CD player to keep her company until she feels like getting up. As for Brody and Violet, the two younger girls have been out and about all morning and are now on their way back to their bedroom to drag their teenage roommate out to lunch. After some complaining and a bit of colorful language on Therissa’s end, the three of them head down to the dining hall to grab a bite to eat, and then, when they’re done, return to their room to hang out.

Separately, usually. Therissa likes to do her own thing, and most of the time it’s just Brody and Violet doing stuff together. Once in a blue moon, though—if all the stars and the planets align just right and Therissa is in a good mood—Brody can convince her to join them. And today, much to the twin-tailed tween’s delight, is one of those days.

Tonight, they’re going to have a campout. Or, rather, a camp “in” due to the lack of a tent, a campfire, s’mores, and the whole outdoors element that are all fundamental to a typical night of camping. Nonetheless, Brody and Violet move their mattresses to the middle of the bedroom floor and pitch a little blanket fort above them using their chairs and desks. Therissa plops herself right in the center of the mattresses and stretches out comfortably while her roomies circle the room like busy bees, collecting all of the pillows and blankets to use for extra cushioning.

“Let’s play a game!” Brody suggests as she flops belly-first onto a mountain of blankets. “Truth or dare.” She frowns when Violet and Therissa let out a collective groan. “Come on, it’ll be fun. This is our first campout together, so we should get to know each other better.”

“You do realize we’ve all been sleeping in the same room for, like, a year, right?” Therissa points out.

“Oh, hush, you know what I mean.”

“So, basically, you want to ask me a bunch of questions and make me talk about myself,” Therissa says, catching on to Brody’s ulterior motive right away. Propping her head up with her elbow, she turns to Violet and screws up her face into one of exaggerated distaste, causing the blonde to slap her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from laughing out loud. Violet crouches down and crawls into their fort, taking a seat next to Therissa, who winks at her.

“It’s for all of us,” Brody insists. “You get to ask me and Vi stuff, too.”

“Can’t we just, like, play cards or something?” Violet doesn’t particularly feel like talking about herself today, either. Truth or dare is one of those risky games with the potential to get uncomfortably personal. A feeling deep in her gut is telling her that playing something like that with Therissa around might not make for the most enjoyable of times. The teen seems like the type who would ask weird questions and come up with mortifying dares.

“I second that,” says Therissa, holding up a hand with her index finger extended. “But no baby games like Go Fish or Old Maid. You guys know how to play poker?”

“Isn’t that the one where you have to… you know... take off your clothes?”

The eldest girl snorts, nearly choking, and cackles loudly. “No, V, that’s strip poker.”

A disappointed pout appears on Brody’s face as she allows herself a moment to mourn the loss of the truth or dare game that never was. With Therissa and Violet being so similar, she comes to the realization that she very well might have to get used to being outnumbered again. It was the same way at home with her two older brothers. Now that she and her siblings are all a bit older, wiser, and have learned to compromise every now and then, it’s not so bad, but Brody remembers that when she was really little, Dawson and Hunter hardly ever wanted to do what she wanted to do. It was always two against one, and never in her favor.

Brody doesn’t dwell on it for long, though. The most important thing is that she’s getting to spend time with Violet and Therissa. Together. At the same time! And card games can be fun, too. Brody’s never played poker in her life, but she’d love to learn. Therissa leaves their fort just to grab a slightly worn deck of cards from her desk drawer, but then Brody and Violet scoot in close, listening intently as the teen starts to explain the rules.

Therissa only gets as far as explaining the object of the game when there’s a knock at the door. Brody excitedly hops up to see who it is. “I’ll get it!”

It’s Marlon, this week’s mail boy, wearing khaki shorts, white knee-high socks, and a deep red polo shirt embroidered with the Ericson emblem. The matching red newsie cap atop his head is just as prominent as the scowl on his face. Each week, a different student is selected to help sort student mail and then deliver it to the correct dorm rooms. Unlike Brody, who sports the uniform with pride every time her turn to be mail girl comes along, the blonde boy is clearly one of the many kids at the school who finds the whole thing kind of humiliating.

Reaching into the large, brown satchel hanging from his shoulder, Marlon pulls out a padded envelope and practically shoves it into Brody’s hands. “Special delivery. See ya!”

“Thanks,” says Brody, but her classmate has already taken off running down the hall. Shutting the door, Brody comes back to the center of the room and takes a closer look at the small, lumpy package. “Oh, Therissa, it’s for you!” She glances at the name and address in the upper left corner and grins. “It’s from Mel!”

“Oh, that.” Therissa already knows what’s inside the package without having to look, and she’s already starting to feel embarrassed at the thought of what’s about to go down. Keeping a straight face, she does her best to play it cool. “Wanna open it for me?”

“Sure,” replies Brody, returning to her previous spot in the fort and shaking the envelope ever so slightly. Violet moves closer, just as curious, watching as her friend tears open one end of the package. Before Brody can reach inside, the envelope’s contents start rolling and something colorful falls out onto the mattress below. The girl blinks, speechless, and stares down at the two tiny glass bottles in awe. “It’s… nail polish. But they’re—”

“They’re yours.”

Brody takes in a sharp breath and her hands go to cover her mouth. “What?”

Therissa reaches out and takes the nail polish, holding each color in front of her face to get a look at them before they go to their new owner. There’s a shockingly hot pink and a bright sky blue, and the thought of wearing either of these colors on her own fingernails sort of makes the teenager want to puke, but they’re disgustingly, disturbingly perfect. “Yeah, I mean, if I ever wake up one day wanting to look like a bubblegum fairy princess, I’ll let you know, but until then”—Therissa removes her roommate’s hands from her face and drops the bottles into her palms—“I think you should hold onto them.”

“Oh, these colors are so cute! Are they really for me?” Brody can’t believe what’s happening. She pinches herself to make sure she’s not dreaming. Ouch. She’s not. Breaking into the biggest smile, Brody hugs the bottles to her chest.

“It’s just, I know how much you wanted to be there when me and Violet did ours, so…” Therissa’s face is getting too warm for her to finish her sentence, so she cuts herself off. “Anyway, if I’m gonna do your nails, I had to make sure we had the right colors. You’re way too… you for any of mine. No offense.”

Squealing, Brody launches herself at the teen and hugs her tighter than ever before. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Violet snickers. “Can you imagine Brody with, like, black nails?”

“And black eyeliner and maybe a little mascara?” Therissa pictures their auburn-haired roomie wearing her makeup and shakes her head, starting to laugh as well. “Oh my god, she’d be like an emo Elmo.” With one final pat onto the younger girl’s back, Therissa pulls away gently. She looks at Brody, grinning in amusement. “What do you think? Wanna try it out? I could give you a couple piercings to match.”

Brody gasps, face contorting into one of absolute horror as she imagines Therissa coming at her ears with a needle. She fervently shakes her head and shudders. “No!”

Therissa and Violet turn to look at each other, but as soon as they make eye contact, they both explode into hysterics. It isn’t long before Brody realizes that the teen was just kidding around, and she soon finds herself giggling, too. Whether it’s joy, sadness, excitement or even fear, Brody tends to absorb the emotions of those around her. They penetrate her down to the bone and she feels them as though they’re her own. Brody can tell what sort of mood Therissa’s in before the teenager even opens her mouth. If Violet has a bad dream and wakes up sad or scared, Brody cries right along with her. When her friends are happy, so is she.

Brody’s always been a little bit like that.

Occasionally her mind wanders. Sometimes Brody thinks about what her life would be like if her parents never sent her to Ericson’s. Would she still be as frightened and anxious as she was before meeting Dr. Larson? Would she have found a best friend whom she loves as much as she loves Violet? Like everything else in the world, life at a boarding school has its ups and downs. Some days are tougher than others, and being away from her family is rough sometimes, but Brody is forever grateful that she ended up here.

Here, as in Ericson Academy, of course. But also here, as in right here in her bedroom, sitting in between her best friend, Violet and her newest friend, Therissa, in the cozy comfort of their blanket fort.

And here, on this particular Saturday afternoon, Brody knows one thing for certain—she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

#twdg brody #twdg violet #twdg #the walking dead game #brody twdg #violet twdg #fanfic #color me blue

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kyberphilosopher · 4 years

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Seven: Chapter One

Chapter One

Humans, I’ve observed, are often concerned with their appearance. It is because I was designed to integrate peacefully with them that I am where I am now.

I trace the back of my right hand over my smooth, plastic skin, right against my cheek. My soft brown hair is pulled back into a loose bun at the nape of my neck, with bangs parted down the middle falling to my jaw. My skin is pale, my eyes a bright shade of green. If you look closely enough, you can see little yellow circles around my pupils. My eyebrows are brown and softly arched, and next to the one on the right is an led-light in the shape of a circle.

When it turns green, it indicates that I am confirming something. Yellow means I am analyzing or active in some way. Red symbolizes danger or some kind of alertness. White, which I have on me now, means nothing. It shows that I am calm.

My face is well put together, but not too much. When Androids were first released, reports were made that people felt uncomfortable because the Androids were too perfect. Too symmetrical. There were allegedly a string of men who became disloyal to their partners in favor of the metal beings. Androids were recalled and modified to look more human- more realistic and uneven. After that, Androids that were considered more symmetrical were sent to sex clubs.

And so, my face is not perfect. My face is adequate, a more regular sight. I know I must be based off some human in the world, as the human mind is incapable of thinking of an entirely new face. If I ever met them, I wonder if it would feel like meeting my creator or identical twin.

I straighten out my jacket, given to me by the company that designed me: Icarus. Icarus is actually from Japan, the first country that actually successfully created functioning Androids. The United States used it’s political ties to the country to coerce them into sharing the secret to creating such intelligent machines. Soon enough, an Android plant was created in Minneapolis. The plant made maids that become so popular, other states began constructing plants as well. Then the sex clubs came. Then secretaries. Then every state had at least four factories.

I make sure I look professional enough to make a good impression on what will be my coworkers. I’ve been assigned to partner someone named Detective Everhart. From what I’ve researched on him, he is 54 years old, and very accomplished. When working with Androids in the past, there has been a record of Everhart being courteous to them. It’s a rarity, as far as I’ve observed.

With one final look of myself in the mirror, I step away and turn to the door. A human walks in right then, a female with glasses and red hair pinned back by the name of Ellie Grint. She looks me up and down before her eyes land on my led. Then she scoffs as if I’ve disgusted her and chooses a stall. Ellie even slams the door so I am sure of her disapproval.

I turn the door handle to the police lobby. Rain hits the great glass windows sharply, matched with gray skies. I politely scoot myself past people in rows of chairs to get a better look of the outside. I can see the Space Needle from here, and I begin to analyze the weather.

Weather: 100% chance of rain. 0% chance of snow. 30% chance of sun. 44% chance of winds.

Temperature: 61 degrees Fahrenheit. 16.1111 degrees Celsius.

The longer I stare at the rain outside and listen to it’s pitter patter, the more I feel my shoulders soften in my jacket. I guess I like this weather. It makes me feel especially warm and dry for being inside.

After 41 seconds, I turn away and face the front desk. Long and made of metal and wood, three uniformed officers sit at computers, sipping coffee, attending to citizens. I position myself patiently behind a couple I identify as Carl Stacy and Mary Higgins. There arms wrapped tight around each other, they finish speaking to the Officer and move along to the right. I watch their backs, curious about why so many couples are so insistent on the constant touching. I know humans have warm skin, especially when alive, but why do they consider it so intimate to hold each other? If I were to be held, it would lead to problems with my work, as I wouldn’t be able to properly move.

I step forward to the desk. The Officer- Blaise Shovelman, is concentrated on his computer. With his head down, I can’t get a more intensive read on his face, but I can analyze his hair enough to see lots of dandruff.

I wait patiently, my hands clasped behind my back again. It feels natural to do, and I’ve seen humans do it before. Officer Shovelman can feel eyes on him- perhaps eyes that aren’t human, and raises his head to meet me. His lips are parted slightly in confusion, orbs locked onto my led.

“Hello,” I greet calmly. “I’m looking for Detective Lucas Everhart.” Officer Shovelman stares at me blankly. “I have authorization,” I say.

“Ah… Detective Everhart is unavailable at the moment.”

“Then I would like to speak with Captain Armitage Ericson.”

Officer Shovelman is still stunned. I can see his heartrate has increased. Have I done something to upset him? If so, I may need to report to Adelicia about this incident. “Oh… yes- yes of course,” he stutters. His fingers type something into the keyboard choppily. Beside him, the two other officers have stopped their activities to also stare at me.

I bring my right hand up slowly as a kind of soft wave to acknowledge them. The blonde’s name is Quinn Blackwell. The other one with the slim eyes and black hair is Tom Ho-Kim.

“Ah, Captain Ericson has an appointment with an Android at eleven thirty.”

“Yes,” I nod. “That would be me.”

“Oh…” Officer Shovelman points to the right, where a glass sliding door awaits. “Just that way.”

“Thank you,” I say. I turn to the right, pretending not to know about six eyes all trained on me in disbelief.

Past the glass door, the floor turns to grey and blue tiles. Glass separates the desks, and almost ever divider has some photos or information taped to it. To the immediate left of me, up a quick flight of stairs is a room of glass. This is supposed to be Captain Ericson’s office. It must be frustrating and strange to have people be able to see you work. Though, I suppose the rows of detectives desks must create the same feeling.

“Excuse me,” I say to someone walking by. “I’m looking for Detective Everhart’s Desk.”

The man (Joseph Blake) sneers at me and bumps my shoulder has he continues on. I still myself before stumbling too much, calculating his weight must be close to 200 pounds for him to push me so hard with such little effort.

I regain my step, straighten my jacket again and brush off my button-up shirt underneath. I continue onward, deciding against walking into the bullpin. Instead, I turn up the stairs and knock softly on the Captain’s glass door. “Come in,” I see him say, focused on writing something down on his desk.

I pull the door open and step inside, quick to analyze the room.

Name: Armitage Ericson

Date of Birth: April 11th, 1974- Age 67

Height: 6’0

Weight: 285 lbs

Race: African-American

Birthplace: Seattle, Washington

Occupation: Commanding Officer, Police Captain at Seattle Police Department

Family: Kayden Ericson, Husband (Age 59), Aaron Ericson, Son (Age 12), Sarah Ericson, Daughter (Age 9)

Finding Related Articles… Articles Found. Searching ‘Ericson, Armitage’…

“Hello,” I say. I detect a sharp increase in Captain Ericson’s heartrate and he jumps to look at me. “My name is Aleksandra. I’m the Android sent by Iapetus. Serial Number 742 943 189-7. I believe you were contacted by Mrs. Adelicia?”

“Jesus,” he mutters. I detect traces off coffee against his thick black mustache. “I thought it was a joke.”

I cock my head slowly, thinking of all the possible things to say. “I assure you, Mrs. Adelicia has very little sense of humor.”

“Yes,” Captain Ericson says slowly. “Yes, that’s true. Take a seat miss…”

“Aleksandra,” I repeat politely. I make my way to a chair in front of his glass desk, sitting up straight and formally as my program suggests.

“Is that… a biblical name?” Captain Ericson asks dryly, his hands moving slightly.

“Yes,” I nod. “It means ‘one who saves the warriors’.”

“Of course,” Captain Ericson swallows. “Well, you were assigned to work with Detective Everhart, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I am looking forward to working with him.”

“See, that’s going to be difficult,” the captain sighs, looking down at his fumbling fingers. “Lucas was pronounced dead this morning. There was a shootout with Androids yesterday.”

I know my led is turning yellow as I absorb the information. Accessing the public records of the nearest hospital, I search through hundreds of reports before finding the one I’m searching for. Yes, Detective Everhart died at 6:14 am, due to internal bleeding during surgery to remove bullets. He left behind a second wife, no children.

“I see,” I say, not really knowing what else to respond with. My led turns green, then goes back to white.

Captain Ericson continues to fiddle with his thumbs, leaning back in his chair as a way to show authority. I’m unsure why he feels the need to do that. Androids are strictly forbidden from having any jobs of power. I am not here to undermine him. In fact, all the articles I just read about him tell me that he’s done many things deserving of respect. He’s won a medal of valor for his work with a drug task force from the year 2035, and been praised in the local papers for commanding respect among his fellow officers.

“How about you join in on our meeting?” Captain Ericson offers. “All our officers and detectives should be here by then.”

My led goes yellow as I determine the probability of that. “Yes,” I settle upon. “That should work.” I stand up, shaking the Captain’s hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“Ah… yes. Dismissed.”

I nod and turn on my heel, leaving his office and walking down the steps. From the corner of the room, I can see three people glaring at me and snickering. One is a uniformed officer- Mindy Cho. The other are Detectives Clarence Frost and Michael Corlecio. I knew that many humans were uncomfortable in the presence of Androids, but I guess I still wasn’t expecting all this really. The sneers, the glares, the pushes. Still, one of my core purposes is to accommodate humans. My best option is to continue to be polite to them. It’s not as if I was programmed to exactly care how the humans see me anyway, so long as it doesn’t interfere with my main mission.

I look away from the group, ignoring them. My eyes meet the door to the precincts bathroom, down a hallway beside some plants. I put my foot forward and start over there, messing with my cuffs on my jacket. Once I enter the bathroom, I note a collection of stains on the floor and pick a stall in the middle to sit in.

Androids don’t need to use the bathroom. We don’t need to eat. The only thing we need to drink is Binary Blood- a silver, thick liquid that acts as blood for Androids. It’s essentially melted metal, working to reconstruct parts we may be missing and solidify itself. When that is not needed, it works to pump throughout what is basically our veins. That is one of the many things that differs Androids from humans- we do not bleed the same color. One could even technically argue that Androids do not truly bleed.

With the highly unsanitary toilet seat down, I sit on it. Then I close my eyes. When I open them, I am back in the white room where I first began.

“You really must learn how to do this correctly,” says a low voice. I turn around, meeting Adelicia’s stern face. Today, her blond hair is pulled backwards into a very tight and professional bun. Her normal fitted pearl necklace sits along her neck, matched with a pale yellow pantsuit and skirt.

“Yes,” I say. “I will keep that in mind.” My hands clasp behind my back yet again, a pastime of mine, it seems. “Detective Everhart is no longer alive,” I tell her. “He passed away of gunshot wounds early this morning.”

“Yes,” Adelicia says gravelly. “With one of the Exceptions. What is to happen with you now?”

“Captain Ericson suggested I stay here for today’s meeting. I expect I will be reassigned to a new partner.”

I wonder about who it could be. One of the snickering ones from the corner? How would I possibly be able to complete my mission with them constantly getting in my way? It would not look good for me to ask for a different partner then, because I would appear unreasonable and catty to the humans. I can see their faces twisting into one of disapproval now.

Adelicia’s eyes narrow at me, her thin lips pulled into a stern frown. Almost like she’s disgusted. “Report back to me when you’ve received your new instructions.”

Before I can see, “yes, Adelicia”, I’m back in the bathroom stall. This isn’t the first time she’s kicked me out of her program. I don’t know how I feel about it, exactly. It makes an unsettling whir happen in my abdominal biocomponents.

I run a diagnosis. All systems appear operational. With something equivalent to a sigh, I push myself up off the seat and out of the stall, brushing past a woman who stares at me in shock.

“I didn’t know Androids had to use the bathroom…” she squeaks, her eyes wide.

I cock my head to the side. “I wasn’t using the bathroom.” Then I move past her, leaving the woman silent and stunned for some unknown reason.

#androids #detroit become human #detroit: become human #android #dbh #dbh fanfiction #fanfiction #story #technology

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the-walking-memelords · 4 years

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A2 - A Sequel to Allegiances: Chapter 1 : VvvvV

Hello, my lovelies! It is I, your third favourite writer here with the long and highly-demanded sequel to "Allegiances" that I am releasing today, December first, the 1 year anniversary of my posting of the original fic on Ao3!

Haven't read Allegiances? Read it here!

Tumblr | Ao3 | Wattpad Word Count: 1894 Pairings: Clementine/Louis | Ruby/Aasim | Brody/Mitch

Rating: M for Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Past mentions of Abuse/Trauma

Summary: Five years have passed since Clementine won her freedom against the plot of the Delta, but trouble always seems to find a way to catch her.

Because after all,

the war didn't end with the Delta.

Read it on Ao3!

Read it on Wattpad!

Sunlight filtered through the multicoloured trees as autumn once again. The bright orange and yellow leaves swirled in the chilled breeze and danced along the walking paths. This was the fifth autumn since AJ had come to Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youths. The time before was not something the boy liked to think of, but occasionally his subconscious would remind him of his days that were numbered. But AJ couldn’t think of any of that right now.

The forest was no place for idle thoughts.

Alvin Junior, now nearly eleven years of age, walked along the trail alone with an aged bow and arrow in hand and Clementine’s hat upon his head.

AJ crept past the trees being careful not to step on any leaves or twigs that may give away his presence. The safezone was far behind him, not that anyone abided by that old border anymore. Louis and Aasim were off in some other direction hunting for some extra trading material. The late afternoon sun began to drift lower in the horizon, signalling the end of their hunt if they wanted to be home before dark. AJ knew he should be heading back to the meeting point, but the fresh tracks he followed promised a find worth a scolding from Clementine.

Where are you, deer?

The tracks he stalked moved off the path to a sparse area of the forest. The boy halted still as stone, listening. He didn’t dare blink when movement caught his eye. Not the stumbling gate of a monster, but a smooth, deliberate turn of an animal traipsing along its way. Hiking up the sleeves of his oversized blue hoodie, AJ bit his lip and rubbed his thumb along the rough wire of his bow before slowly nocking an arrow.

He moved downwind from the deer, moving silently across the terrain as she slowly got closer and closer. The animal had a pristine coat. Unstained by blood or scars from encounters with the undead.

He must be a fast one.

AJ knew if he missed it was unlikely that he would get the chance for a second shot.

The sun stung his eyes as he quickly adjusted the brim of his cap and took aim. The stiff wire was difficult to pull back. Part of him wished he could just use his gun, but bullets were getting harder to come by as the years went on.

“Just for emergencies.” Clementine had reminded the boy as he tucked his revolver into his back pocket before setting off with Louis and Aasim.

The deer let out a half-startled grunt as it seemed to sense AJ’s presence, turning swiftly to face him a second before taking off. The deer was fast, but so was AJ. The boy released his arrow which missed its mark of the animal’s neck but lodged in its side, staining its light brown hide with fresh blood as it shrieked and fled.

AJ swore internally as the animal quickly lost him, leaving a trail of crimson drops behind. Now he just had to find it before the monsters did.

His frustration grew thicker with did the foliage as the boy followed the red smears, branches scratching at his face as he raced along. The bushes suddenly broke into a small clearing where AJ finally found his prey.

The deer lay dying in a patch of grass scattered with wildflowers as if it sought out something peaceful before it’s inevitable end. It’s breathing was rugged and forced, clinging to every bit of life it had. The sight made AJ a little sad, guilty even, knowing he had done this. Killing animals always tugged at his heart a little, but he knew he had to do it so his family could eat.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he pulled out his knife, slowly moving towards it to end its misery.

A muffled snarl came from AJ’s left. A walker with a bandanna tied around its mouth wandered into the clearing, paying the boy no mind as it stumbled towards the bigger meal.

“That’s mine.” AJ scowled as he kicked the walker’s knee hard, sending it sprawling to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, he jammed his knife into the walker’s skull.

The boy smirked, glad he hadn’t fallen out of practice in the month or so since their last walker sighting. Perhaps it had to do with the explosion, or travellers passing through more frequently, but the monsters have mostly gone away around Ericson’s. Clementine said when they got to the school, things were going to get better. And she was right. Both the human monsters and the monster monsters had gone away.

AJ looked down at the bloodied knife in his grip, and back over at the wounded deer, electing to use his bow instead incase it got feisty. Stepping through the soft grass he aimed another arrow at the deer’s eye before another growl caught his attention. Shifting his aim he sent an arrow flying into the eyesocket of the second walker to approach his catch. By the time he looked back down the deer had died on its own. It’s deep brown eyes now glassy and still.

“At least you don’t come back.” AJ said as he retrieved his arrow.

He gave the second walker a second glance, noticing something familiar. The boy squinted as he ran his hand over the red fabric tied over its jaw. The fabric was cold and wet. Black ink smeared under his touch as he traced the odd symbol painted on.

One long spike on each side with three shorter ones in the middle. Spikes pointed down like teeth. The formation reminded him of this one sassy expression Rosie would make when she wasn’t getting as much attention as she’d like. The teeth were painted on the cloth over the walker’s actual mouth.

Is this supposed to stop it from biting people?

Doesn’t seem like it would work.

Why not just kill it?

The setting sun reminded AJ that he didn’t have time for this, but once the boy’s curiosity was piqued it was hard to ignore. Running back to the first walker, he checked the bandanna again and just as he suspected, there were the teeth, though older and more faded than the second.

Just like the other one.

Where they part of the same group?

But they look so old and the other pain was new...

A skeletal hand brutally digging into his shoulder jolted him out of his thought. AJ whipped around just as the walked pinned him to the ground. The boy pushed his arm against the monster’s throat as its jaws snapped just inches from his face. Unlike the others, this one had nothing holding back it’s lethality.

AJ reached for his knife as he felt himself coming closer to being overpowered, just for his fingers to merely graze the handle as it laid out of reach.

This is an emergency.

AJ snaked his hand under his back and found the cool metal of his revolver, wedging it out from under him and bringing the barrel to the monster’s temple and pulling the trigger. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the boy’s face and she sounds of the forest were immediately drowned out by an intense ringing in his ears as he threw the walker off of him, taking a moment to lay in the grass and catch his breath. He sat up as the ringing faded, replaced with the scattered chirping of birds and faint moans of what that gunshot just summoned.

Multiple shadows moved among the trees, far too many for one kid to fight. AJ cast a final apologetic glance to the deer he knew he couldn't drag back with him in a timely enough manner to escape the dead, and fled back in the direction he came from.

Anxiety turning to fear as the evening chill settles on his skin and the sunlight spread thin across the land, shadows taking over and hiding all that lurked among the forest. AJ’s heartbeat picked up as he ran. Eventually, the trees turned to all tall dark pillars, indistinguishable in detail. Dodging past one after the other until one dark mass failed to dodge him.

The impact was solid but softer than a tree, both parties well backwards as AJ quickly brandished his knife.

“Easy there, little dude.” A familiar voice said worriedly.

“L-Louis?” AJ’s iron grip loosened enough for Louis to take the blade from him as the boy heaved, trying to catch his breath.

“I’m here. I gotcha.” Louis put his arm gently on the boy’s should as he pulled him into a hug.

“Let’s get you home.”

AJ gripped the sleeve of Louis’ worn down coat as he stood. AJ couldn’t believe he still wore that thing, as stained and torn as it had become over the years. Though he supposed Louis hadn’t changed much over the years like some of the others had. His dreads were a bit longer which he mostly tied back in a ponytail, but leaving those same two dreads to hang in his face. He was still easily a head taller than, a fact he periodically reminded her about by resting his elbow on the top of her head.

“Where’s Aasim?” AJ asked as his breathing slowed.

“He’s waiting at the meetup spot, let’s go find him.” He said with a smile.

Leaves crunched under their boots as they found the dirt path once again. With the sky darkening by the minute, they began to head back.

“What the hell were you still doing out here?” Louis asked.

“We’ve been looking for you forever, and then I heard the shot. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to freak out”

“I’m sorry.” the boy said, looking down guiltily.

“I was following a deer. I thought if we could kill it then we’d have food for a few days, or maybe Layla would trade us something cool for it.”

“A deer, huh?” Louis chuckled.

“Now tell me, AJ, how you were planning to drag a whole-ass deer from the middle of nowhere to the meetup point?”

“I thought if I could get it to the path you’d find me and help me carry it.” AJ sighed sadly at the lost catch.

“It’s walker food now though.”

A figure stepped out onto the path a ways in front of them that caused them both to freeze for a moment before letting out a breath at the wave of their friend Aasim.

“Thank god you found him.” Aasim said in a serious yet relieved tone.

“We gotta head back while we still have a little daylight.”

The three of them began to hurry back hoping the walk back would be as uneventful as the walk there.

“You’re not gonna tell Clem I went off on my own, right?”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Louis knew he’d be in the same amount of trouble as AJ if Clem found out he allowed it.

“Details or not we’re all in deep shit when we get back.” Aasim sighed.

AJ smiled, knowing the lecture he was going to get from ruby when they returned, but that smile quickly faded, knowing he had is own lecture waiting for him from Clementine.

Maybe the deer wasn’t worth it after all.

#my writing #allegiances #a2 #twdg #the walking dead game #clouis #louisentine #louistine #twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg aj

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clemsbaseballcap · 5 years

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Dating Mitch (Female!Reader)

A/N: This is actually really long, but I go hard for Mitch because he is my MAN. I’m so sad telltale killed him off, he had so much potential as a character. If they kill Aasim, AJ, Clem, Louis, or Violet, I might just riot.

You first met Mitch when he was with Ruby and Clementine at the Greenhouse.

You were also a kid that was taken to the Delta to fight their war, but you were quick to see through their scheme and you never fell into their bribery of warm clothes and hot showers. As soon as they assigned you on your first mission, you abandoned your group in a cluster of walkers and ran like hell into the forest, meeting the three kids your age burying a body.

Ruby and Clementine had to make Mitch shut his mouth when they were bringing you back to the boarding school. He didn’t like bringing in another stranger, especially after what happened to Marlon. You decided to not ask about who that was or what happened to him. You were just happy to finally be out of that place.

Everyone welcomed you in, especially after they were sure you weren’t a threat. You were unarmed, and just a little bit taller than Willy was. And you were all smiled despite not having any food in your system what’s so ever.

You became close to Willy, Tenn. and AJ immediately, they reminded you of your younger brother who died in the very beginning. Not only that, you’d always were good with kids even before the end of the world. Willy had told you Mitch would warm up to you eventually.

After dinner, everyone piled around Louis, the tall boy with a sweet coat and a deck of cards. You figured you’d join them and see what the commotion was about.

It turned out to be a game of truth or dare and after Aasim had to kiss a walker head, you chickened out and picked truth.

“Where were you from before you came here? Surely you weren’t all alone running through the woods.” He asked.

You told the group you were actually on your own for a while after your older sister died and that a group of people had taken you off of the side of the road one day and told you to fight for them or die. Everyone got silent before the little boy with a large face scar asked if there was a girl named Minnie or Sophie where you were from.

You asked how he knew Minnie and he looked down at his hands and they fiddled together. Violet began to tell you the story of how you were a victim of a group who took children to force them into becoming soldiers, and that they lost people of their own because of the Delta. All of a sudden, everyone began asking several questions at once, about Minnie, Sophie, and a woman named Christa.

“Guys, back up. Let Y/N breathe a bit.” Mitch piped up out of nowhere, and everyone apologized and sat back down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about Minnie and I’ve never met a Sophie or Christa. I ran away as soon as I could, so I didn’t have time to met anyone else besides Lilly.” Just saying her name made your blood boil. She was the real monster behind it all. Clementine told you later on while you both were on watch that she and Lilly had history and that the Delta was planning an attack on the school, which was the whole reason behind their being at the greenhouse.

Two weeks later, they arrived at the gates. Cages connected to horses, a sight you found familiar to see that left a nasty taste in your mouth. When Lily stepped out and began speaking of Minerva, you watched as Tenn blew his cover. Mitch and Willy were right next to you, annoyed but sympathetic at the naive little boy.

“Let me take you to them,-” “Shut the fuck up Lily!” You said, drawing your gun and aiming it at her head. “You’re not taking anyone else, not again!”

Mitch ran to attack Lily later on, and you noticed she had her knife drawn. You got in between her and Mitch and felt the blade pierce your skin. “Fuck, no. Not you too!” Mitch cried, but another member of the Delta came up from behind him and you lost your line of vision as you blacked out.

You woke up in a cell, one you’ve seen before. With Louis/Violet (depending on who Clem saved)

You made sure Violet knew Clem didn’t have time to save both of you, and you convinced her that Clem is dying knowing she let them take her. Violet felt better after being reassured by you.

When Louis kept yelling at Lily, you knew he was going to get punished. And you’d be damned if you were going to let that happen. Minerva unlocked your cell and put a gun to your head as Lily made way to Louis, a towel and knife in hand. “Maybe this will finally shut you up?”

Before Lily could lay a finger on Louis, you jumped on her back and clawed at her neck. Minnie shot your leg and Lily pushed you off, touching her neck to feel the blood from your nails. She stomped you out until you could barely move before she left. All you cared about was Louis not getting his punishment.

When Clem and the rest of Ericson came through, the first person you heard was Mitch calling your name. Louis jumped up and ran to the cell door, telling him where you were. After the door got broken open, Mitch ran to you and took you into his lap.

“What the hell did they do to you?” He asked, feeling over your cheeks. “I’m fine. They were gonna cut out his tongue. They’ve done it before.” You thought your ribs were broken since it was getting more difficult to breathe and talk. Not to mention, your stab wound has reopened and you were losing blood fast.

Mitch took off his coat and draped it over your shoulders, which helped with the bleeding once you pressed the material closer to your body. He lifted you up and took you out of the boat along with everyone else. You all waited for Clementine to return.

You weren’t sure when you fell asleep, but you woke up in a bed back at Ericsons. Mitch was on the ground next to you, ringing out a towel in a bowl of red water.

“Mitch?” “Oh, thank god. You gave me a scare back there.”

He was taking care of you since Ruby was taking care of everyone else that got injured on the mission.

He blamed himself for you getting hurt and taken. If he hadn’t run up to Lily or fought off that soldier sooner, he could have done something to help you. He began to ramble about how sorry he was until you sat yourself up and grabbed his hand.

“I stood in between you and her because I didn’t want to see another person I cared about die. I chose to go in your place because I didn’t want it to happen to you, Mitch. I’ve seen it all once already and I didn’t want you to go through it like I did.” You spoke in the softest tone Mitch has ever heard, not even his mother spoke to him with such kindness when he was a child.

Without even realizing, Mitch leaned in and pressed his lips against yours. When he noticed what he was doing he was about to pull away, but you put your hand on the back of his head to keep him close.

His body pressed up against yours and by accident, he put a bit of pressure on your wounds and made you wince in pain.

He sits up quickly and backs away a bit, flustered and ashamed at the same time. You giggle and tell him it was alright and that he can come back, which he does. You two end up sitting next to each other for the rest of the day, just chatting about things you’ve never gotten to before.

Mitch would also leave you on bed rest until Ruby cleared you to walk, and even then he’d stand by you just in case you lost your balance.

While on bedrest, Mitch would fetch you everything you could have possibly needed. Felt hungry? He’d grab you a bowl of whatever Omar was whipping up. Got thirsty? Mitch would go all the way to the stream to get you a glass of fresh water. His eagerness to help you made it clear to everyone in the camp that Mitch had a soft spot for the newcomer.

Even when you were completely healed, Mitch would volunteer to go with you on runs. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Louis or Aasim to bring you back safe, he just felt better if he was there just in case something went wrong.

One night you had a nightmare and couldn’t go back to sleep. You laid in your room, staring at the ceiling with shaky breaths. Every time you heard a noise you jumped, thinking it was going to be the last thing you heard before a walker or bullet got to you. You stood up, not being able to take it anymore, and walked out of the room. You thought if you looked outside you would see there was nothing to worry about and that you would feel better. What you didn’t know was that Mitch was on the lookout shift that night.

He spotted you immediately and almost drew his weapon until he saw it was you, eyes red and skin paler than ever. “Y/N, are you feeling alright? You should be asleep.”

Once you started saying what was on your mind, Mitch listened to your worries intently and gave you reassurance. He told you that whatever challenges you face from now on, he’ll be right there with you. Before you knew it, Willy was there to take the next shift.

Mitch didn’t like the idea of you being alone when you were feeling like this, so he offered you his bedroom and said he’d sleep on the floor.

“That’s ridiculous, it’s your bed and it’s big enough for the both of us.” When you guys fell asleep you were as far as possible from each other but at some point, you guys were intertwined in each other’s arms and legs.

Not only was it his attitude towards you, but it was also his attitudes towards others that made everyone in the camp think that you were good for Mitch. He had a short temper as it was, but you were the only one that managed to calm him down and make him listen to the voice of reason.

Finally, you keep Mitch from being too hard on himself when he thinks something is his fault when it either wasn’t, unavoidable or an accident. He trusted you to tell him the truth and in turn, he believed most of what you said or at least took it into consideration. Everyone appreciated the impact you were on their troubled youth.

~blake

#twdg #mitch #twdg mitch #twdg mitch imagine #twdg imagine #twdg reaction #twdg scenario #mitch imagine #mitch reaction #mitch scenario

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goofygomez · 5 years

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Goodbye Pt. 2 - TWDG Oneshot

Description: After waking up in Ericson’s, Clementine must rush to Lee’s aid before it’s too late.

Wordcount: 3590

As always, reblogs and comments are more than appreciated. And if you like this story, consider checking out my other works on Ao3 or Wattpad under the username GoofyGomez. Enjoy!

---

The forest was eerily quiet in the early night. A few crickets made appearances around them, but they went silent when Clem and the rest passed them. Darkness was beginning to fall and the only remaining source of light was the moon shining down on them. Louis and Aasim led the way head of Clem and AJ, who followed diligently.

Hold on, Lee, she thought to herself. By her estimate, they had walked for about forty minutes. The plants around them and the path before them had barely changed, however. Even as they moved, she was getting restless. Did these kids even know where they were going?

“You guys sure we’re on the right track?” Clem asked hesitantly, hoping she didn’t sound rude. The last thing she needed was for Aasim and Louis to get offended and leave them in the middle of the woods.

“Yeah,” Aasim said over his shoulder. “The train station you guys were in is about two hours away, outside our safe zone.”

“Two hours?” Clem exclaimed, picking up her pace to be on par with Aasim. AJ followed close behind, fidgeting with his revolver in his hands. “We still have one hour to go?”

Louis looked to his right, giving Clem an apologetic sort of look. She noticed his forehead crease as he frowned, and the way his dimples deepened as he gave her a sad smile.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m sure your old man can take care of himself pretty good.”

“Hope so…” Clem said, trailing off. She hung back, choosing solitude over walking beside their guides.

As thankful as she was to them for offering their help, it had been their own fault they were in this mess in the first place. What had Marlon meant with “He’s an adult.”? Had they seen Lee and purposely left him to the walkers? No, Lee’s a survivor, he can handle himself.

They kept a steady pace through the trailing path. Most of it was marked by months, if not years of people walking it. At some point, however, the ground became as treacherous as the rest of the forest, and they were left with nothing but their wits to figure out the way.

“Should be a few more miles north,” Aasim commented, pointing slightly to their left.

“How do you know where north is?” AJ asked from beside Clem.

“I look at the stars,” he said, gesturing to the star-strewn sky. Indeed, a million dots of shining balls of light illuminated the sky. Some, Clem noticed, were brighter than others, yet she had never learned to read the skies as she knew sailors had once done. Mostly, she trusted her gut to tell her where to go. It had not failed her yet.

“See that bright one over there?” Aasim said, pointing to a particularly fiery-looking star almost directly above them. “That’s the North Star, which means north is that way.”

“That’s so cool,” AJ said, gazing up at the sky in wonderment. “How come you never taught me that?” he asked Clem, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged, choosing the truth. “I didn’t know that either,” she said.

“Huh.”

“I learned about it a couple years ago,” Aasim said, eager to talk about anything to get Lee’s possible fate out of Clem’s mind. “Our school has a library chock full of books on all sorts of stuff.”

“Aasim here is a bit of nerd,” Louis translated. AJ chuckled and Clem had to suppress a grin.

“Shut up,” Aasim said, rolling his eyes. “Just because all you read about is musical theory doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t want to learn some new skills.”

“Musical ability is not something you can learn,” Louis said in a dignified, yet playful manner. “You’re born with it.”

“Whatever.”

“You play an instrument?” Clem said, thankful for Aasim’s attempt to veer the conversation away from heavier topics.

“The piano,” he said joyfully. “We got one in the admin building; right next to that place the little dude was gonna gun us down.”

“I’m sorry about that,” AJ said, scratching the back of his head.

“No need to apologize, little man,” Louis assured him, shaking his head. “If I were you, I probably would have done the same.”

Clem found it hard not to notice the small mannerisms Louis had when presenting himself. It was so unlike anyone she’d ever met, yet intriguing nonetheless. His eyes were almost constantly aglow, dark brown like AJ’s. He used his hands a lot, waving them around every which way so as to express himself more visually. It really was an interesting sight, Clem thought.

“What’s a piano?” AJ asked.

Louis feigned hurt, clutching his heart. “I’m wounded that you’d ask that,” he said dramatically.

“Sorry?” AJ said hesitantly, tilting his head.

“It’s an instrument,” Louis explained. “You have keys, and you press them to make music.”

“Huh, music,” AJ mused to himself.

In truth, Clem hadn’t really gone into detail about music to AJ. She didn’t think it was that important right now when surviving was the only thing on her mind. Lee had told them about a few bands he had listened to in his youth, but neither Clem nor AJ could relate to him, so they learned to tune it out after a while.

They fell silent after that. Around them, the scuttling of animals was the only sound they could hear. An owl hooted and flew off somewhere to Clem’s right, and the rustle of the leaves sounded eerie in the dead in night. Dry autumn leaves crunched under their boots, much too loud for Clem’s liking.

For another hour they walked, heavy thoughts weighing on Clem’s mind. Unable to will them away, she shut her eyes and shook her head. He had to be okay, he just had to. She shared a look with AJ, who walked on her left, and gave him a sad smile.

Before she could ask how much longer they had, Aasim raised his hand and halted to a stop. The rest followed suit, hunching slightly as if poised for attack. Clem looked around, searching for the train cars or any trace of their car. She saw a glint of rusted silver somewhere to their right.

“The car, was it totaled?” she asked Aasim, who nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Damn it.”

Aasim sneaked forward through a thicket of bushes, which opened up into a small clearing beside one of the trains. They hid behind a rock, surveying the area.

Dozens of walkers roamed the hallway that led to the station. Their moans and groans created a cacophony of sounds that made Clementine shiver, even though it was rather warm tonight. On the road leading away from the train cars, she saw tire tracks, skidding around until they disappeared behind a bend in the road.

“Where could he be?” Clem asked, unable to contain the fear in her voice. “I don’t see any trace of him.”

“If he’s smart, he’s probably holed up in that station,” Aasim said, pointing. “I doubt the walkers can get through that door, but I can’t say the same for the windows.”

“Thanks for that helpful commentary, Aasim,” Louis said, stepping forward. “Look, we just gotta get through the smelly patrol here and we’re golden.”

“Any idea on how to do that?” Aasim said, clearly irritated.

“Let me check it out,” Clem interjected. She feared more bickering would accomplish nothing, so she had to step in.

She raised herself a bit so as to see the area better. The walkers seemed to have no defined pattern, moving aimlessly around, sometimes hitting the fence and choosing a different path. She noticed some of them seemed to push other walkers around as if annoyed they were moving so slowly. That’s odd, she thought. She’d never seen walkers behave this way.

On the fence was the sign and bell she and Lee had seen before going in, a small string attached to it. Could be useful, she thought, taking a mental note of it. The train car on the left seemed to be tilted to the side, low enough to climb yet not so low that walkers could easily swarm it. Promising.

Formulating a plan, she turned back to the others. AJ listened avidly, kneeling like he always did, with his gun in his right hand. She relayed the plan to Aasim and Louis, both of whom cringed when she suggested attracting the walkers to one of them. Once she was done, she waited for a response.

“That’s all?” Louis said hesitantly, likely afraid that Clem would say no. “Doesn’t sound so bad.”

“You going up there, then?” Aasim said almost instantly, gripping his bow tightly. “You’re already pretty distracting even without a bell in your hands.”

“No way, José,” Louis said, shaking his head. “What about you, with that bow of yours?”

“You can do it, Louis,” Clem said, willing herself not to smile. “Let’s see those moves in action.”

Louis sighed, looking over Clem’s shoulder over to the swarm of walkers. “I can’t say no to a face like that,” he said finally, winking. A rather unfamiliar heat rose to Clem’s cheeks, and she averted her eyes. Aasim, on the other hand, rolled his eyes so far that they almost seemed to leave his skull.

And so, Louis and the rest approached the fence, being careful to make as little noise as they could. Louis untied the bell from the post and made sure to have it close to his chest, lest he put the plan in motion too early. He looked up to the train car. The moon shone over it, as though pointing him in the direction of his target.

“Okay, repeat the plan,” Louis said, turning to Clem.

“Climb the car, ring the bell as loud as you can, and wait for us to cross,” Clem said. “Once we’re inside, you’ll be able to keep watch from there.”

“Climb, ring, wait, watch,” Louis repeated, nodding. “Got it.”

“Good luck, man,” Aasim said, patting the dreaded boy’s shoulder.

“Thanks.” And with that, Louis disappeared behind the train car.

Clem, Aasim, and AJ waited expectantly. The walkers kept up their moaning, searching for more prey. A few moments later, they heard a loud bang as Louis rung the bell, hitting it both with a rock and against the top of the car. Most of the corpses turned their attention to him, reaching up for him. They crowded around the train car, banging on the side. This brought more of them to their aid.

Clem saw the window and made a break for it, sneaking past them as fast as she possibly could. One of the monsters seemed to have gotten stuck under the train car on the right and she took care of it with ease. Aasim and AJ followed her behind a pair of barrels. She raised her arm and signaled to Louis, who seemed to have understood because the banging stopped almost immediately.

They waited with bated breath, Clem’s heart pounding hard. What the hell is he waiting for? Through the slits that were her eyes, she saw a few walkers start to turn around, their object of interest long gone.

“Come on, Louis,” she heard Aasim whisper under his breath. His eyes were closed as well.

Before Clem had lost all hope, a sudden ringing caught the walkers’ attention away from them, and they allowed themselves to breathe deeply. As the undead made their way deeper into the front yard of the station, Clem, Aasim, and AJ sneaked past yet another straggling walker, stabbed it, and rushed to the door.

She turned the knob slowly, her heart in her throat. It creaked softly as it opened, revealing the interior of the station. It was much like she’d last seen it, though a large amount of dust had been blown from its surfaces. Small slivers of moonlight seeped through the boarded-up windows, revealing dust particles floating around the walker couple still tied to the chairs.

Clem took a tentative step forward, afraid of what she might find. It seemed the room was empty aside from them, which felt both promising and ominous to her.

“I’ll guard the door,” Aasim said, peering through the gap between the door and the frame. “Check that room over there.”

He was pointing to the ticket booth Clem and AJ had found the supplies in; and which had caused this whole mess in the first place. She gestured for AJ to follow her, taking her knife from her back pocket. She brandished it in front of her. The large grey door was ajar, and inside was-

“Lee!” AJ exclaimed, rushing to the man. AJ threw his arms around Lee, gripping him tightly. Lee was lying against the crib, clutching his side with his other hand. His shirt was dripping with sweat and his pants had an alarming amount of blood soaking them.

“Hey, little man,” Lee said, his voice much too weak. “Sweet pea, you came back.”

“Of course we did,” she said, as though the thought of doing anything else would be crazy. “Now, are you hurt?”

Lee looked down at his leg. Blood was still oozing slowly from a wound.

“Hurt my leg pretty bad in that crash,” he said, pursing his lips. “Had to drag myself up here.”

Clem cringed as she looked at it, shaking her head. “Aasim will help you walk, try to get up.”

Lee looked up at her and the expression he held chilled Clem to her very soul. Unlike his usual smile or his fatherly frown, this face was one of defeat. It conveyed to Clem thoughts and emotions she didn’t think could be reconciled. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he shook his head.

“You guys should get out of here,” he said, almost in a whisper. AJ stood to his side, confused. Clem kneeled beside her father, in all ways but one, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you talking about, Lee?” she asked, much more alarmed than she wished she was letting on.

“This is it for me here,” he said, sighing. “End of the road.”

“Lee…” Clem said, almost warningly. “Don’t play jokes on me; I hate it when you do that!”

“It’s not a joke, Clem,” he said, shaking his head.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward, with more effort than Clem thought he would have needed. With one hand, he pulled the cuff of his pants, revealing his bare calf. Beneath all the blood, Clem could clearly see the outline of teeth marks on flesh, a dark liquid oozing onto the floor.

The world came crumbling around Clementine, with no sign of stopping any time soon. She refused to believe her eyes, as damning as the evidence in front of them was. She had fought for Lee and AJ for far too long for her luck to have run out. No, it must be a trick of the light. But what light, though? Barely any moonlight reached them in here. Still, something is off.

“What…?” AJ said, his eyes widening as he took a step back. “No.”

“Yes, AJ,” said Lee sadly, looking down. “I’m sorry.”

Clem still couldn’t speak, stunned into silence. She kept looking at the bite on Lee’s leg, blinking rapidly. Her heart seemed to have taken the hint and started beating faster. Faster and faster it beat until she feared it would burst through her chest and onto Lee’s lap. Somehow, after this gruesome image, she found her voice again.

“No,” she finally managed to say. “No, no, no, no! You can’t be bit, you just can’t be.”

“But I am, sweet pea,” he said, taking her hand in his. She pulled away, tears welling in her eyes. They stung her, but she did no effort to dab at them. “I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough.”

“Lee…” she croaked, trying to make sense of the jumble that was her thoughts. “You… you can’t do this to me.”

“You’ll be okay, Clementine,” he said, offering her a weak smile. “You’re strong. You both are.”

“I need you, Lee,” she said desperately. Her lower lip quivered as she mustered the courage not to launch herself over him. AJ seemed to have lost his voice, choosing instead to stare at the bite while he listened to them. “AJ and I need you. We’re a team, remember?”

“I know, I know, Clem.” Lee sighed, struggling to breathe as a fit of coughs took over him. “You’ll have to make do without me from now on.”

“We can cut it off!” she exclaimed, almost joyfully. “It’ll be just like that guy Reggie, right? Aasim and Louis can carry you out of here. It’ll be alright!”

Lee pursed his lips, looking up into Clem’s fiery gold eyes. The same eyes that had looked at him in fear and admiration and love and hatred and countless other emotions, now swelling with tears. Clem could almost hear Lee’s heartbeat, slowly dwindling as his final breath drew nearer. They had talked about this moment countless times, yet to actually be in it didn’t make it any easier to bear.

“It’s too late for that, honey,” he told her wisely, shaking his head. “It’s been hours, and I lost a bunch of blood already.”

“No, no, no, we can still fix this, Lee!” she said angrily, fumbling with the cuff of his pants and lifting it so his entire lower leg was visible now. Still more blood flowed from the wound, making Clem cringe once more.

“Clem,” Lee said, cutting her off. He knew how passionate she could get when he let her, but they had no time. “You know what to do.”

“NO!” she said, much too loudly. A few groans came from outside, but they seemed to be in the clear. Aasim had apparently stationed himself outside the door, guarding the building with his bow. “I… I can’t do it, Lee. Please don’t make me…”

“I understand,” he said, shaking his head. “No kid should have to do this sort of thing.”

Clem had stopped trying to hold back and was now sobbing, her tears falling freely onto the dusty floor, darkening the hardwood beneath the layer of dirt.

“Leave me,” she heard Lee whisper, and she willed herself to look up, unable and unwilling to believe her ears.

“What?” she whispered back, leaning in as if to catch it more clearly.

“Just go and leave me here,” he said, closing his eyes. “No need to waste ammo on me.”

“I can’t just… leave you to turn,” Clem said, still horrified by the alternative. “Not after everything we’ve seen; everything we’ve been through.”

“You are definitely the kindest soul I ever met,” Lee said fondly, lifting his arm as if to touch her cheek, yet lacking the strength to reach higher than her shoulder. “Too kind, even after the world went to shit.”

“Swear,” they heard AJ whisper, his voice as tiny as he was. Despite herself, Clem managed a laugh.

“There’s the sweet pea I know and love,” Lee said, smiling.

AJ reached over Lee and handed Clem his revolver, handle first. She took it shakily in her hands, feeling the weight that could only mean one thing: it was loaded. She looked from it to Lee, whose eyes, now yellowing, were glued to the weapon.

“You don’t have to watch this, AJ,” she said slowly, looking up at the boy. AJ seemed ready to argue, but Lee’s face said it all. Clem was right.

With a final hug for his father figure, AJ dragged himself out of the room and into the adjoining one, silently waiting by the door. Clem was left alone with Lee in the ticket booth, holding the revolver with shaky hands.

“You’re so strong, Clementine,” Lee said encouragingly. “Stronger than I ever was.”

“Not strong enough,” she said softly. Her hand coiled around the handle. “I couldn’t save you fast enough.”

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Lee said. Though his words were meant to be reassuring, they felt like poison to Clementine. If only I’d gotten here sooner… If only they hadn’t left you out here…

“I’m… I’m really gonna miss you, Lee,” she sobbed, closing her eyes and willing the tears to remain at bay. So far, she was not succeeding.

“I’ll miss you too, sweet pea.”

Clem stood up, her eyes glued to her friend and protector; the one who had given everything for her and AJ. She wanted to say something, anything, to express how thankful she was, for everything. But the words wouldn’t come. Her mind still ran a thousand miles a second, trying to make sense of it all, yet her hands knew what must be done.

She raised the revolver slowly, reveling in the final few seconds she would be able to share with Lee in life. Memories of their journey together flooded her mind, as though her brain was reminding her just how important this man had become to her. No need to remind me, she thought to herself, I remember just fine.

As her finger touched the cold trigger, Lee’s eyes closed and he let a shaky breath escape him. She pulled it sharply, just like he’d taught her on that train all those years ago, and Lee was gone.

At last, she thought, he’d be able to join Kenny and his family, while Clem carried on without him, ready to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.

#twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg telltale #twdg season 4 #twdg aj #twdg lee #au #fanfic #fanfiction #clouis #louisentine #twdg clouis #hurt/comfort #angst #tears

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

Text

I’m sorry, but can I just go on a little rant about the Louis, clouis, and the Clem comic...?

I didn’t really talk about Louis in my overall review of the comic because I wanted that to be more contained to the content shown on the pages, Clementine’s relationship with AJ, and her as a character.... but the more I think about these comics and Louis, the more frustrated I become thinking about what Clementine abandoning everyone would do to him.

[... okay it’s not little anymore since I guess I can never just do anything simple when it comes to Louis, sorry my bad]

So, no surprise, we all know the comic’s bullshit by now. Clementine leaving everything and everyone behind because she’s not happy is dumb, AJ just letting her go is dumb, and Clem going to the mountains on crutches and a peg leg to find this so-called happiness is dumb.

Now that we’ve established it’s dumb, I wanna talk about Louis because I got a lot of built up feelings about how bullshit this storyline is with how Clementine would not only abandon AJ, but also abandon Louis.

Because let me tell you..... his heart would be broken beyond repair and I need to talk about why.

Sigh.... so.... muh boy.

Before he met Clementine, Louis was this laidback, irresponsible, but caring and musical person who kept his head down to avoid conflict and never looked at the future. He was the kind of person who took things one day at a time, saw survival as a day-to-day task, and said that the future doesn’t exist, there’s only today. You get the point, he was never too concerned with things because they always seemed to work out, and if they didn’t, then that sucks and that’s why we should appreciate every day while we have it.

Louis is shown to be charismatic and friendly, he spends his free time playing piano and card games, but no one really takes him seriously. Not even Marlon, his best friend for 8+ years. While he doesn’t seem to be on bad terms with anyone [including Aasim, they just act like people who disagree with the other’s point of view and have had the same argument many times, but that doesn’t mean they hate each other, y’know?] he also doesn’t appear super close with anyone outside of Marlon and possibly Violet, but even then.

Marlon’s shown to have little faith in him with the way he talks about if Louis will even show up to hunt. He has a controlling grip on Louis that’s prominent during the confrontation scene when he uses intimidation to try to convince Louis to not interfere. Oh, and there’s the fact that Marlon’s been lying to Louis for the past year about the twins and then continued to lie to his face about what really happened to Brody... which isn’t great when you consider how Louis was the only one who had blind faith in him as a leader and, according to Marlon, was the only one who couldn’t see how pathetic he always was.

Violet, while having a few more nicer moments with him than Marlon, still invalidates him and his feelings several times throughout the first half of the game which makes me wonder how close they ever were, or at least if Violet ever considered him a close friend to begin with. And no, a small monologue in the dorms doesn’t make everything better or confirm they were brotp the whole time... especially when once they’re on the boat, Louis might as well not exist because Violet can’t be bothered to acknowledge what happened to him or inquire about how he’s doing. I guess she just didn’t have time react while standing in her cell for several unbothered minutes-- no wait, it’s she already reacted off screen. Right. Good writing is good.

What I’m getting at here is that even though Louis is surrounded by people who he genuinely cares about, there is an argument to be made that he’s a lonely person. Hell, he’s aware of his loneliness when he says that no one hears past his music and jokes. I mean, how many nights do you think he spent by himself playing the piano because no one wanted to hear it? Are they like Violet and crack jokes about how he doesn’t have actual talent? Probably, given that someone literally carved “you suck at playing” onto the side of the damn piano.

Oh, and let’s touch on that backstory of his. Louis grew up wealthy with two parents who loved him and each other, and they gave him anything he wanted except singing lessons. Louis says he wanted to be a real musician. But I guess his father didn’t like that idea and told him no, with the [as Louis puts it] dumb dad lesson of, “You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can’t be both.” ...which is interesting given that Louis and his family were stupid rich but also.... were they not happy? well, that doesn’t make sense because little Louis knew that if he broke up their marriage, they would be hurt.

So yeah, Louis was so upset that his father continually refused to let him take singing lessons that he broke into the man’s credit cards and faked an affair, which led to his parents divorcing... and then he spit his father’s words back in his face.

Then they dumped him at Ericson. And the walkers came.

There’s so much to unpack from the story he tells that it could be it’s own analysis, but basically.... Louis is aware of why what he did was fucked up, and he carries it with him every day.

He regrets what he did, chews himself out for being such a “vindictive fuckhead” [and the amount of force used in that line tells you a lot, like how it’s not the first time he’s chastised himself like this] and he admits that he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about. Yet, he still sees himself as bad, saying that they [I assume the staff] told him and the other kids they’re bad people. I don’t doubt that Louis internalized that which played a huge role in the confidence and self-esteem issues he has during tfs.

Anyway, I’ll come back to this later, but when you take that amount of guilt and regret, and mix it with the fact that they dropped him off at this school that was supposed to make him better.... then the walkers came and those teachers, staff, and headmaster? Gone. Left a bunch of kids to fend for themselves, with the exception of Ms. Martin [but given how she looks when we find her I doubt she lasted that long] and I cannot imagine how horrifying that was for all of them. The dead are up eating people, and if you die you become one of them... and the people you thought you could rely on just fucking left you to die at this school.

Every kid in that school has trauma and abandonment issues from before and after the world went to shit, every last one, and Louis isn’t the exception here. Over the years, a lot of kids died and they’ve all seen horrible shit. They all knew they were never going to see their families again, and as far as we know, no one came to get their kids at the beginning. They had to find ways of coping while trying to survive, and all they had left was each other.

Louis copes with music and games and jokes. He’s built up this persona where it seems like he’s unaffected by the comments the others make, that the death and suffering he’s gone through is in the past, that he is confident and open to those around him.

But then Clementine and AJ show up, and Louis grows close with both of them. They had immediate chemistry upon first meeting, he was the one who looked after AJ since it seems like everyone else saw him as a little terror, and he went out of his way to be kind and make them comfortable.

When they go hunting with him, Louis and Clementine have a moment after taking care of the walker where they lower their guards a bit-- Louis gives her more in-depth reasons for his views of survival, and going off her expression, it gets to her and makes her think.... but they’ve know each other a day and he’s not quick to infodump his life story or let her in, so he cuts the conversation short.

Then we have the Marlon confrontation scene that I have gone over so many times in the past. I won’t dillydally with it too long but..... Clementine appeals to Louis, who curls in on himself because of the control Marlon has on him. He wants to help, and hell, he knows this is wrong but he’s so used to not getting involved that he gets defensive.... plus, he’s known Clementine for two days, and he’s known Marlon for 8+ years.... he wants to believe Marlon but you can tell he doesn’t want this, either. It takes Clementine talking to him to give him courage to stand between her and Marlon’s gun and it’s a lot.

AJ shoots Marlon and everything goes to shit, and Louis is a goddamn mess. His best friend was murderer right in front of him, so add that to the trauma list, and he’s overwhelmed with all these feelings that again.... they keep getting invalidated by Violet because “Marlon was a liar and murderer, therefore you shouldn’t feel bad about his death. Get over yourself, Louis, you can be such a shithead sometimes.”

Oh yeah Vi, I guess he should care more about two people he’s known for a total of two days rather than for the safety of the people [including you] he’s grown up with and cared about for 8+ years.... makes sense.

So yeah, little to no support during this time. Alone again.

And just because I have to make this clear so no one gets a hair up their ass-- both Louis and Violet are wrong here. Kicking them out isn’t the solution, but neither is acting like AJ was right to commit murder just because it was Marlon.

But plots gotta plot, so they get voted out and you can see that Louis is conflicted about the whole thing. He wants them gone, but at the same time, he knows what kicking them out means. You can see it on his face that he’s not okay with kicking them out. He’s hurting when he’s there in the dorms telling them how the vote went... he literally doesn’t know what else to do. He just knows that everything hurts, Clem and AJ caused it, and he wants the pain to stop. He even tries to justify it to himself by figuring that they’ve done this before so they’ll be fine. Not a great thing to say, Lou.

Anyway, we know the story, Clem and AJ come back and Louis once again sees the consequences of acting out of pain.... AJ is shot because Louis was hurt and he made a bad decision that he’s gotta live with.... something that he’s done before, and this affirms to him that he’s bad. He wishes he could take it back, and goes as far as to admit that to Clementine during the archery scene.

By the way, credit to him for his apology to her. It’s rare in these games that Clem gets a genuine apology from someone who hurt her and doesn’t turn around to repeat the hurtful behavior, y’know? Plus, I can think of plenty of characters who owed Clem an apology in the past or if they did apologize, it was half-assed.

You can feel how conflicted he is with this whole thing-- learning who Marlon really was and what he did, feeling something for Clementine before everything went down and not knowing how to handle those feelings afterward, caring about AJ and understanding why he thought shooting was the best choice but still hurting that his friend is dead....

And the thing is.... Louis forgives her for so much, as she does him, and through all of that bullshit, they manage to develop that strong connection that turns romantic. Louis lets himself be fully vulnerable with her and is honest about his feelings, how she listened when no one else did and seeing him for more than just the persona he put on.

This works on Clementine’s side, too. Clementine has been through her own fair share of bullshit-- trauma, abandonment, loss, injury, you name it. She’s made mistakes, done terrible things, and has been in enough groups to know that romance usually ends in heartbreak.... and yet, she’s willing to open herself up to Louis and admit she feels a lot for him.

Is it a little rushed? Yep. Could it have been handled better? Of course, most things this season could’ve, but what we got was pretty good.

So Clementine and Louis are romantically involved now, the raiders attack, and she saves him... and boy does Louis feel guilty about that one, too. He feels bad enough that he questions why she would pick him because he can’t fathom his life being worth saving over another’s. He doesn’t see himself as useful, and even though Clementine is literally his girlfriend at this point, his self-esteem is so all over the place that he can’t understand why she would have him at her side.

And when Clementine tells him that he’s too important to her, he’s too baffled to even give a response. He looks at her in disbelief like he wasn’t expecting her to say that. But this shows that at the beginning of their relationship, he still doubts himself, and through her working with him, he begins to build up that strength in himself.

He becomes brave enough to share what got him sent to the school with her, and he plays Don’t Be Afraid for everyone at the party and like.... for once, everyone is listening to him. Really listening to him. They’re not talking shit about his musical skills, they’re not ignoring him or the feelings he’s putting into the song, they’re sitting there with him and I just..... if you watch him, you can see that his eyes get pretty glossy throughout the song. The moment meant something to everyone.

There’s also the fact that Clementine asked him to come with her and AJ onto the boat, and to be the one in charge of the bomb... that’s a huge responsibly and he feels the pressure of that. He starts to panic a bit about if he can do it, because what if he fucks up? What if he gets them caught and makes everything worse? What if something happens to Clementine and he can’t do anything about it?

She’s there to reassure him that she believes in him, and that he can do this. They’re going to get everyone back, and he needs to focus... then he asks her to slap him which why would you? that’s dumb, so Clementine smooches him instead and like.... he physically relaxes into her because he’s comfortable and trusts her in this situation.

Also, he loves her and cares about this mission enough to cover himself and his fancy jacket in walker guts.... sure, he complains while doing so but how else is he gonna cope with rubbing rotten guts on himself to blend in with a herd of walkers?

Skipping ahead so that we’re not here all day, I wanna talk about the walk back to the school because it’s one of the most important clouis moments in the game and a huge reason that solidifies why the comic is bullshit.

Louis went off on his own to go out and find them. He didn’t know where they would be, he just knew that he had to go out and find them after making sure everyone was okay back at the school because he couldn’t bare the thought that he had lost them. And the way the AJ gets so excited to see him? and the group hug??

At this point, Louis has grown so much as a character. With Clementine by his side to support him, he’s grown stronger and more reliable. Remember how he never thought about the future? Well, now he is because his relationship with Clementine has given him a reason to long for a future. He talks about building this imaginary house with her, one he knows they can’t physically build... but it’s his way of saying we can build a home together, that he wants a future with her and AJ and everyone else. It’s such a personal conversation that flows so easy between them. Louis is more comfortable talking to her about things from his past, which is something he didn’t want to do back in ep1.

He confides in her how he’s feeling after he shot and killed Dorian, he tells her that having a home means protecting it and I just.... it’s so good, okay? And from Clementine’s side, you can feel how at ease she is with him, too. Just the way she smiles at him as they’re walking? like he’s the cutest thing and she’s so happy to have him with her?

But then we gotta deal with Minerva’s crazy ass on the bridge and well, AJ shoots Tenn and Louis is having flashbacks to Marlon and it’s not great. That’s a whole thing, and he ends up separated from them while escaping.

We don’t get to see Louis’ reaction to Clementine getting bit and losing her leg since I guess that puts a damper on the overly happy ending. But, going off of what we know about him and what I’ve explained [which isn’t even all of it, this isn’t a full Louis character analysis. if it was, it would be much longer and in multiple parts... believe it or not, I’m trying to not make this too long and only sorta failing...] we can get an idea of how he would react.

Um, to say he was upset is an understatement.

Because remember, he had no time to think and climbed over the fence, thinking he could get them to climb over and they could get away, but it didn’t work. He ended up leaving them in order to save himself since walkers were closing in on him.

But you know that he’d blame himself for the bite. A lot of, “if I had just stayed” and “I should’ve climbed back over, I should’ve stayed with you.” I’m sure there were points where it looked like Clem wouldn’t make it and I can’t imagine how much hurt he went through watching her suffer and heal from losing a leg like that.

Not only that, but knowing that AJ was the one to do it? And him thinking about what Clem’s death would do to AJ after all this? There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Louis would take care of AJ if she died. He cares about AJ, and he loves Clementine, so he be there for both of them, even if he’s still hurting from Tenn’s death.

However, Clementine didn’t die. She survived the bite and amputation, and when we flashforward, she and Louis are still happily together. Louis is right there next to her at dinner, and he’s the one to help her with her crutches. He’s there to go over future plans to meet the traveling caravan, and Clementine wants him to be the one to go.

Oh, and Louis once again forgives AJ for shooting Tenn, claiming that he understands that AJ saw something that he couldn’t. Like with Marlon, he’s not happy Tenn’s dead but he can see why AJ did it to save his life.

I just..... happy ending. Clementine and Louis are together and she’s truly happy to have found a home for her and AJ with him at Ericson.

....But then the comic thought it would be fun to say “nah.”

The comic isn’t canon, I’m still insulted that it would ever consider itself as such, but even so I can’t help but feel so frustrated about how this would destroy Louis.

He finally found someone he would consider his best friend, not just his girlfriend. She saw past that funny man persona and he trusted her enough to let her past this wall he built around himself. He let himself become vulnerable around her, he named his song after her. Their initials are carved into his piano with a heart surrounding them. He loved her.

Clementine left him feeling loved, something he probably hasn’t truly felt since he was a little boy with his parents before their divorce. She loved him even after hearing his past because she knew that wasn’t him anymore, and she helped him build the confidence he needed to step up. Because of Clementine, Louis wants to enjoy every day while also looking at the future. He isn’t lonely anymore, he has her and AJ. He’s truly happy.

So to tell me that Louis would wake up one morning only to have AJ tell him that Clementine’s gone, she’ been planning an escape without telling anyone because she wasn’t happy...? I’m sorry, but if you think that wouldn’t leave Louis absolutely devastated, then you know nothing about him as a character.

This idea is just.... look, Louis is perceptive. That’s a big part of his character, he’s perceptive of those around him. If Clementine was showing signs of being unhappy or depression, he would see it. He would notice a change. He would be able to tell if something was off, and he would ask her about it. Louis is the type of person to ask you what you need. What can he do to help? What do you need to feel better? And if you don’t know, it’s okay, he’ll help you figure it out in any way possible.

Plus, the comic suggests that there are times where she went off on her own but came back [probably doing her escape prep ugh] and you expect me to believe that Louis wouldn’t notice that or wonder what she’s doing? Wouldn’t sense that something’s going on?

After she’s gone, he’s going to blame himself for not being enough. He couldn’t make her happy and he was a fool to think he ever could. AJ lost the only family he’s known since he was born because Louis couldn’t help her, couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving.

And for him to realize that she didn’t love him? Clementine, the girl he thought the world of because of how strong and confident and in-charge she was, because she saw him for who he was..... she left him, abandoned him... and she couldn’t even be bothered with a goodbye.... that says that she didn’t care all that much about him in the end.

You KNOW that he would think he had this coming, too. How could the universe allow him to fall in love and be happy with someone who loved him back after what he did to his parents? He would feel so heartbroken that he would see this as some sort of karma for breaking up his parents happy marriage as a kid years before he ever met Clementine and before the apocalypse.

I fucking can’t.... I don’t have the words to fully explain how much I hate this. Louis wouldn’t be okay afterward, and I doubt he’d ever fully recover. I wasn’t joking when I mentioned before that Louis would stop playing piano. How could he sit there and play when I he can see is their initials and remember the night she confessed to him? When he named his song after her? Clementine left and took the music with her because Louis wouldn’t have it in him... something that he used to cope would be ruined and that’s just.... it’s fucking awful.

Not only that, but now he has AJ who I assume is hurting just as much [though the comics inaccurately assume he would just let Clem go sooo... yeah] and he would be the only one Louis would really talk to about it, but then again.... what if AJ doesn’t wanna talk about it? What if AJ starts to act out and things just become terrible and Louis is just too overwhelmed?

I just.... UGH. That’s how I feel. UGH.

Clementine from the comic? Not her. She would never fucking do this to Louis, AJ, or anyone else at Ericson, and you would know that if you played the tfs.

Sigh.... sorry, I just needed to get this all out. I haven’t seen anyone talk about how Clem leaving would affect Louis and I’ve gotten some asks/come across some posts about Louis that have left me incredibly annoyed.... well, I was annoyed before because of the comics, so my annoyances with those things were only heightened. So yeah... I wanted to talk about Louis’ character in hopes of explaining why he would be so hurt if this comic was canon.

Which it’s not. So it’s fine.

How are we all feelin’ at this point, by the way? I know I’m not the only one still annoyed with the comic, so I hope y’all are doin’ okay. Hope you’re stayin’ chill and thinking about your faves to help cope with this mess hahaha

#twdg louis #twdg clementine #twdg clouis #twdg aj #twdg marlon #twdg violet #clouis #twdg #sometimes i just need to talk about louis okay #one day i'll do a full character analysis that goes over everything #but today isn't that day #long post

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nozomijoestar · 5 years

Text

I had an idea for Violentine eventually getting married and because society as we know it has been dead so long they just get creative about the whole thing

Also time jump from the end of the game and Texas Two is now Big, AJ is a preteen, Clem and the older of the former kids can now pay their taxes if those were still a thing

BGM if you like that when you read, lyrics here

“Been a while huh Tenn? Everything’s so busy these days I haven’t had the time. I’m sorry.”

She sat cross-legged on the partly overgrown ground. A small wreath of fresh flowers hung from the top of a cross. The wood was faded and weather-beaten, but the name carved there could never leave her memory. From her pocket she pulled a paper, unfolded it, then placed it. Violet sighed, even her smile seemed exhausted. Her eyes threatened to brim over with tears she thought she’d long left behind.

“AJ made that for you. He’s gotten a lot better at drawing you’d probably love it. He’s a little past your age now. Shit I’m, I’m taking too long to get to the point aren’t I?”

The breeze picked up making the trees rustle as though they communicated the will of ghosts. She looked around. The crosses had multiplied through the years, each one a new nick on her heart. She chewed her lip and fiddled with her bun. Now wasn’t the time for death. Her stomach churned butterflies. A genuine smile bled into her voice.

“I wanna ask Clem to marry me. Just saying it out loud feels weird and amazing all at once. I honestly didn’t think she’d want me this long but life kept happening.”

In one motion she laid spread eagle and stared into the pink clouds that signaled dusk. She closed her eyes as another sigh fell from the trees. The sound of people beyond the graveyard drifted in voices, laughter, and song. Though the years since there’d been largely silence were gone she could never shake a need to be prepared. Even if the walls had expanded far past the former Ericson gates, danger never slept. It was something Clementine loved to reinforce.

The thought of the way her face went stern and her voice deepened made Violet chuckle. She rose to her feet and dusted herself.

“I should get a move on. It was great talking to you again.”

After a final readjustment of the wreath she passed through the yard. A flag decorated with many stitches flapped in the wind reading ‘Texas Two’. Sometimes she looked up at it and still laughed at its ridiculousness. Though since she’d been responsible for it, that was the same as laughing at her old self. Her old self, she pondered, the Violet who hadn’t dared to entertain the thoughts she did now. When had that person changed? She didn’t think she’d ever know.

Inside the old admin building echoed a section of Chopin’s ‘Winter Wind’ in A minor. The anxious dance her nerves were doing calmed. Louis would be finished teaching piano lessons for the day. Her stride became confident. If she was going to make a sappy fool of herself it would be out of public view. Of her old mannerisms she could at least keep that one.

He sat continuing to play though he knew she’d come by the pattern of her gait. His lack of a tongue elevated a need to pay notice to the finer things in other ways. She leaned against the doorway and folded her arms. They carried on in silence. Violet closed her eyes again, taken by her imagination. The shrieking highs and nervous lows seemed to pull every worry she’d ever had like threads off a loom.

She saw Clem’s head bashed open like a ripe fruit, or the paling of her bite ridden skin and its missing chunks. Right behind it came the thought of AJ’s neck dyed red as he took Tenn’s place at the bottom of a herd and picked clean. Their home at the bottom of smoldering ashes. Worst of all above the extremes, she would bare her soul for Clem greater than she already had to see her spirit fall. In one moment for some reason or other everything they’d made of love would fracture, and Violet might as well quit the venture entirely.

As if reading the tone of her thoughts the music stopped. Her eyes reopened to find Louis scribbling on a scavenged notepad. With a grin he turned it to face her. His eyes twinkled with their unquenchable charm.

‘That get your attention?’

She tucked her raw feelings back into their cage. The processed version rolled off her tongue.

“A little too hard Lou. Guess that means you’ve graduated from sucking.”

She finished with a soft laugh seeing him flip her off. The way he wiggled his eyebrows told her he found it funny. He gestured for her to come over and made room on the piano seat. She sat with her hands folded and stared nervously into her lap. Her stomach churned while the words she wanted to find were slow to come. At the touch of his hand on her shoulder she shook her head.

“It’s nothing bad I’m only overthinking again. I just...tonight I’m gonna propose. I want to. What do you think?”

He smiled and stared wide eyed filled with glee. A rush of air she guessed equated to a gasp came as he clapped. It made her blush and seem sheepish curling into herself. The sound of Louis scribbling excitedly refocused her attention.

‘About damn time! I almost thought you’d never bring it up. My advice, take her to a spot important to you guys. Get her thinking about all the deep stuff you’ve done together. If you’re really feeling it serenade her. That’s what I’d do.’

“I want her taking me seriously not laughing her ass off. By now my singing’s gotta be shitty.”

‘Oh come on Vi, live a little. Singing or not the point is you may never do this again. Make it a memory. You two were doing just that all this time anyway.’

Violet sighed and rested her forehead against the piano, defeated. The keys she pressed let out a wail. Another note was put before her.

‘Don’t sulk tell her how you feel. Clem’s gonna love you more than she already does.’

“...How do you know she won’t say no?”

He cocked his head and interrogated her with a bewildered stare. Her stomach sank; her voice had been whiny like a child’s. In the end, she was being silly. It made the confidence she’d mustered drop in shame.

‘We don’t know Vi but if she’s stuck around this long it means something. Clem’s the kind of girl to take off if she really didn’t believe in what she sees.’

She groaned and the keys played an ugly sound.

“You’re right. I’m being a coward. I fucking hate it. I thought that side of me was done with.”

‘It’s ok to be scared. This is a big deal! You know how you’re guaranteed to fuck it up though? Having a negative attitude. Positive vibes Vi, positive.’

“Yeah yeah. You’ve given me an idea. If you see her tell her to come to the bell tower tonight. That it’s urgent.” She said with a lazy smile.

They bid each other goodbye leaving Louis to start up the piano solo of Kreisler’s ‘Liebesleid’. He’d reached halfway using a laser-focused concentration when another, larger presence filled the door. His deft hands stopped. Clementine smiled and clapped as she walked towards him. Without a moment to waste he ripped out the used pages of his notepad; they were stuffed into his coat pocket. It didn’t go unnoticed when Clem raised an eyebrow but gave no comment.

She stood balancing her weight on her natural leg and leaning against the piano. Were she anyone else, even Violet, Louis would’ve sooner scolded her for lacking manners. He looked down to find her prosthetic ( a newly improved design of Willy’s built with higher mobility in mind ) still in good condition.

“Caught ya.” She said giggling.

He looked up at her strong face, thick eyebrows, and overwhelming mane of curly hair. She had a stern beauty that always caught him by surprise for its rarity and strength. Violet sure knew how to pick ‘em.

‘Wanted to make sure your foot was ok. Doubt Willy would screw it up but still y’know?’

“Thanks. Listen Louis...are you free for a little while? There’s something I wanna talk about. I want your honest opinion.”

A glint in his eyes betrayed his excitement. His gut instinct gave him an inkling of what hovered unsaid. He almost laughed at the coincidence of it all. She slowly sat at his invitation and fiddled the keys. After a meandering pause she cleared her throat; he wore a grin.

“You know Violet and I have been together a while now. Longer actually than I ever thought possible. I’m grateful for it everyday. It’s sadly not something a lot of people can say. That’s why...I don’t know if this is still the right word but, I want her to be my wife.”

She stared at him and twiddled her thumbs. Rarely had he seen her hesitate, much less be meek. The sight made him sit up straighter, listen harder. From the corner of her eye she caught his expectant stare.

“I guess regardless of what it’d be called these days that’s what I want. She’s too important for me to lose. It’s time she really knows it and how I feel.”

For a moment she gauged his face for the slightest reaction. The intensity radiating as if a conjured aura from her body reminded him of someone constipated; he again fought a laugh. It was as though she resigned herself to a do or die mission. A determination not a far cry from what she summoned up before a supply run. In his opinion, they both were taking this to lengths so ridiculous it bordered on comical. That however would remain a secret.

He nodded with enthusiasm and that seemed to lighten her worry. On his notepad this time he thought hard before writing.

‘It can mean whatever you want it to Clem. You love her, that’s the most important part. I say go for it. Any plans on how you’ll ask?’

“Well there’s really only one way right? I have to tell her outright, just not sure where to do it.”

‘Y’know she asked to meet with you tonight on the bell tower. There couldn’t be a better spot if you ask me.’

“Did she? That makes this easier.”

She sighed in relief and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I love her Louis. More than she might know.”

‘Tell her not me.’ he said with a smile.

After dinner the night air blew warm embracing the essence of summer. Clementine found Violet pacing in front of the ladder they’d once helped construct. She remembered seeing her like this then too, anxious over everything turning out right. Her suspicion turned on and her eyes narrowed in concern. She had yet to be noticed from a distance.

In seconds that weighed like minutes she sighed and mumbled to herself.

“Alright Clementine all you have to do is talk. Sure Clementine, like it’s that simple. You’re stalling now. Get yourself together.”

“You sure don’t mind keeping a girl waiting.”

Violet’s voice seized her attention from the grasping hands of her thoughts. Before she could say another word laughter filled the silence. It made her blush even as she frowned in mock irritation.

“I didn’t think you’d notice.”

“I wouldn’t have if we weren’t the only ones here. Feelin ok?”

“Yeah just was wondering what’s on your mind to have us meet at this place.”

She smiled feeling a kiss on her cheek. Violet wore the look that always came when an idea longed to burst out before it drove her mad. Clementine slowly trailed her eyes up and down as though they were meeting for the first time anew. The demure air in her posture broke the obscuring fog of Clementine’s own nerves. Her expression softened into a look of curious wonder.

The streaks of moonlight cast across Violet’s face bent her grin toward the mysterious. She ran her thumb over Clementine’s knuckles and gestured at the ladder.

“Come with me and you’ll find out.”

Above them the stars filled the horizon into an infinity none would ever measure. The moon aided their brightness and bathed all it touched in an ethereal glow. The ground beneath her feet shined as though she walked on a river of silver; as though she were weightless. A breeze carrying the scent of flowers and wood-smoke, of life below, rustled Violet’s hair. Clementine felt her heart thud louder.

The bell tower had remained untouched through the years save for a few new cracks and crumbling bricks. Vines entangled a section of broken stone railing, the same as the first night they’d sat together. She dared to imagine the ghosts of their old selves caught in a roller-coaster of teenage emotions; each burning more intensely than the last into love. They stopped and leaned against the railing beside the spot.

They were gazing at the sky when Violet spoke first; her thoughts tumbled from her like a waterfall. A part of Clementine was relieved.

“So uh, Clem, I wanna be real honest with you. These past seven years went by so fast some days it feels like my head’s spinning keeping track. All this below us? All these people? If you’d told me before we’d be dealing with this I’d have called you crazy. Hell, if you’d told me there’d be a time where I could have nights not having to worry something would break into the school, I’d never believe it.”

She took a break to breathe and look over the dozens of smaller lights in varying buildings that stretched into the pushed back treeline. Each one signified a condensed hope and dream from those it kept warm. Their numbers lifted Violet’s spirit to continue. Clementine stood mesmerized, her eyes trained to Violet and Violet alone. It was as though each word revealed a deeper truth than the last.

“We wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you. I know you can say it was a group effort, it’d be true, but you’re our motivation. I don’t think I’d be half the person I am today if I hadn’t met you and AJ. Point is...remember when I said once I couldn’t imagine life without you?”

“...Of course. It took me completely by surprise.”

“I still feel that way. Clem, I want you in my life till it ends someday.”

The breeze stirred into a mild wind as Clementine’s eyes widened softly. She stumbled to speak then went silent when Violet leaned closer. Her entire body pleaded a need for recognition, as if another chance would never come again.

“Marry me.”

Without hesitation Clementine pulled her into an embrace as their lips met. Her hands wandered to cup Violet’s face and not let go. They pressed together and sunk slowly to their knees. When at last they separated neither cared if anyone below had seen. Violet’s eyes shut in bliss feeling a gentle stroke on her chin and kisses peppering her face. There came a whisper on the verge of tears into her ear when Clementine hugged her tighter.

“You beat me to it you ass.”

“Heh, I can still keep you guessing.”

“Troublemaker.” came the reply with a grin.

AJ stood watching Ruby arrange bundles of wildflowers with the same care she gave all things. Though only twelve he’d nearly reached her height. He’d lost some inches shortening his hair to a buzz cut hidden beneath Clementine’s faded baseball cap. It was something he continued to be reminded of when Ruby’s motherly presence loomed so large.

“Hey there shorty could ya give me a hand? These bouquets can get real messy.”

“Sure, but it’s Alvin Junior.”

“I know I know. Reminding me ain’t gonna help us no faster. I’ll tell Clem if you do good.”

That made the hint of sourness in his expression bloom into an excited smile. Around them a small team of five busied themselves with the same task. They moved as Ruby directed to arrange each in a circle open only at the northern and southern sides. A myriad of colors blue, white, orange and so on occupied the center of the restored sports field. AJ sweated hoisting another bundle for the ring and nearly dropped it. Wordlessly Ruby caught it before it hit the ground and with that the last of it lay in place.

They stepped back performing a final check several times until Ruby proved satisfied. On a clear spot amidst the flurry of activity around them (an army of chefs led by Omar; Willy’s team arranged benches) AJ rested. A sheen of sweat covered his face and exhausted eyes. The first clue he’d received for what lay ahead came when Louis slipped him a note and a wink at breakfast one morning. ‘Congrats on the new mom kid!’ he hadn’t understood what it meant; a part of him still felt he didn’t even when Clementine explained that no, weddings weren’t something you ate.

As he felt the day’s work burn in his muscles he concluded whatever it looked like had to be worth the aches. He spotted Aasim approaching with a squirming bundle in his arms; AJ sprung to his feet. Every lecture he’d ever received on slacking echoed in his mind in unison. Aasim towered over AJ’s stature exuding an almost regal air were it not for the slight gruffness of his beard. In his shadow AJ straightened himself and stifled a laugh when a baby’s hand swatted his chin. His stare spoke of a sense of urgency matched in his baritone voice.

“Have you seen Ruby around AJ? It’ll be her turn to look after Susanna during the ceremony. Seems like that’ll start any minute now.”

“We worked on the flowers together but after that I’m not sure. Maybe she went to check on Clem and Vi-”

“The brides are ready Aasim, just had to go fetch ‘em after their fittins’.”

From behind them Ruby appeared with a blushing Clementine and Violet in tow. She pressed a kiss to Aasim’s cheek before reaching for the baby.

“Guess everything’s ready. I’d have come sooner but we had to finish cataloging that cache of recovered books in the library.”

“It’s alright I’ve got her, you just focus on those two. Lord knows they’re eager to get started and I don’t blame ‘em.”

Susanna piped up in her mother’s arms and stretched a hand toward Clementine.

“Ba!”

“Hey there Susie you doing ok?” Clementine cooed as she let her nose be patted.

“Guuu-ba!”

“Looks like you’ve got a way with kids that aren’t AJ too.”

“Well Vi she’s not Auntie Clem for nuthin’. Go on and say bye to Auntie Clem and Violet, Susanna.”

“Baaba.”

They waved in parting as Ruby left for the quickly filling crowd. Dozens well over a hundred sat chatting among themselves; more than a few stole curious glances to center stage. A hundred and so on more joined soon after. Clementine felt Violet graze her arm and gesture at a dazzled AJ. His eyes held awe that grew when Clementine pet his head.

“Ruby told me you were a real help goofball. I appreciate it.”

“You guys...you both look amazing...”

“Thanks kid. The rest of it’ll blow your mind if you stick around and watch.��

Without needing to be told further AJ nodded and made way for the benches; he looked back only once wearing an encouraging smile. The field was bare save for its key players, and the crowd fell into silence. Aasim signaled to take places then addressed those seated with a wave of his arms. Clementine and Violet stared at one another on opposite ends of the ring; Clementine’s grin made Violet blush and stare at her feet.

“Good afternoon everyone! We’re here today to witness the ceremony of a union; one long in waiting. This couple wishes to affirm their love for one another through a promise of lifelong devotion. You may both enter the ring.”

They obeyed having eyes only for each other; it formed a safety net against the pressure of so many others upon them. Softly Violet mouthed “It’s ok.”

“We’ll begin the professions of love. Clementine you may start.”

She cleared her throat and traced over every inch of Violet, of her flowing hair and single braid that whipped up from the back of her tunic in the breeze. The blue fabric lined with white threaded patterns complimented her pale green eyes. A crown of flowers adorned her head. Every detail was memorized.

“For as long as we’ve known each other you’ve supported me; even if you took time to open up. There’re so many moments, so many close calls where I’d never have made it out if it weren’t for you. Each day makes me feel more alive than the last. Not just because of our friends, or because of all we’ve done, being able to know you’re there is enough. I dedicate this dance to your affection.”

Slowly she took a step forward then pivoted into a practiced twirl. A dance of passion sent her traveling about their arena. Sweat flew from her brow and splattered in places on her belt’s spinning tassels. One misplaced step threatened to topple her but slyly she recovered before worry could disturb Violet.

With a grin she launched into a new phase. Her arms spun and, where able, her legs kicked. The movements blended so fluidly few could pinpoint the moment aggression gave way to softness. To even fewer it revealed its heart; a reflection of her lover’s metamorphosis.

There were moves describing sarcastic defenses, cowardly silences, sections mapping the rush from kind words and intimate quiet. As if anew they were pulled into the haze of honest kisses, the whirlwind of lovemaking that went deep into sleepless nights. On occasion they were plunged headfirst before icy fear and protective worry that pricked to the bone. Those moments would be quickly broken by a return to memories of the warmth in living.

Almost instinctively the full result of a week’s practice strengthened its control as she neared the end. Her mind sank into an empty plane, speaking only what little remained unsaid through her rhythm. When it was done the sight of Violet brimming with tears told her everything. Wordlessly she gathered herself then bowed.

Aasim stood in entranced silence. The edges of his solemn eyes had grown misty, defying his self restraint. He gestured and caught Violet’s attention away from her thoughts.

“Feelings have been expressed that require an answer. Violet, you may give your reply.”

“I’ve heard them. Clementine you taught me it’s alright to feel; that holding everything in and running from help is what makes a coward. Choosing who I want to be in life by learning from others is a gift that takes courage. You kept trying even when I wanted to shut you out. I’d never seen anyone so dedicated. Because of you I remembered the people who care about me, away from the ghosts I wanted to chase. I dedicate this dance to your strength.”

This time the was an elegant start defined by tight turns and precise footwork. Each move linked firmly to the last and the next. Clementine’s chest tightened as she watched; her breath caught in her throat. Within the dance she felt herself be peeled back. There was the Clementine she saw herself as, steel willed and cautious, in places fragmented. It morphed to show the rare moments of worry and the storms that wracked her in anxiety. In a few moments that still churned her stomach she felt a lurking shadow of the cruelty that’d tumbled so easily from her whenever she’d been cast astray.

Her body grew hot, her shoulders heavy before she saw the dance shift and the feeling passed. There was a return to gentleness and the power in mercy. Like glittering bubbles memories flooded her mind fresh as they days they’d been reality. She’d cried and screamed and torn her hair each time someone had been lost; yet she pressed forward hopeful. She’d witnessed distrust seize people’s eyes as they coveted rather than strive for understanding; yet never closed her ears to humanity. She’d cried awake sunken to the floor and teeth grit replaying each life she’d taken, each selfish need she’d served; yet her remorse was proof she retained a soul.

Tears trickled down her face, and she felt not a care to stop them. The sensations of the present returned only when Violet had finished. In an instant that moved in her vision like slow motion she was embraced. Aasim’s voice grounded her beyond the sensation of Violet’s heart beating in time with her own.

“We have witnessed them speak to each other’s deepest self. In this they have found unity, and taken hold of that which they seek for themselves in another. It is time for the final step. Let them now dance together and display the bond when two become one. Music for them, if you’d all please.”

Clementine felt Violet shift against her the crowd clapped a beat.

“You ready?”

“Yes.”

They took up position smiling through their flushed faces. The dance moved slow and contemplative as if longing to savor each moment. All else began to fade replaced by a rhythm that held a peaceful trance. Neither kept track of how long they swayed until Clementine said,

“Why don’t we show them what we’ve got?”

“Ready when you are partner.” Violet replied grinning.

In one motion they separated still holding on by one hand, throwing themselves into a spin that ended in a twirl. Violet laughed finding herself again in Clementine’s arms then out once more. She took her turn twirling Clementine, her eyes sparkling and heard racing. They spun holding each other then separated to link arms each facing the other’s back but continuing to lock eyes. It prefaced another separation as they spun alone only to jump back together. At this they laughed.

Violet’s vision was filled by the bright sky when Clementine dipped her then leaned close. Violet wrapped her arms around her neck and pressed their foreheads together.

“I love you.”

“Love you back.”

“Promise?”

“Hell yeah.”

Their kiss found Clementine with hands roaming her hair but she didn’t care. A ways away the roar of the crowd filled their ears. Beside them Aasim clapped and wiped his face. He turned one last time to project his proud voice.

“I present to you all a married Clementine and Violet! May they have a happy life together.”

“That better not have jinxed anything Aasim.” Violet teased with a snicker.

“Shut it and go have fun with your wife. You guys deserve it.”

“Thanks for all this, really.”

“Keep treating her right Clem.” he replied smiling.

The after party blew quickly into a spectacle. Louis had attracted a cheerful gathering as he played pieces back to back. Clusters of people filled the admin building to the seams; further groups had piled into the school yard. The campus in its entirety lay at the heart of town from which hundreds of simple houses, storage, and shops fanned out. The multitude of guests had been guaranteed with more passing colorful banners AJ had overseen.

A few carried weathered but functioning instruments, guitars, harmonicas, large and small drums. They formed a small band that led the tune of those dancing in the yard. A sizable banquet had been prepared from their surplus; beside Ruby chatted with Aasim while Susanna sucked on her bottle. From the balcony at the admin building’s face Clementine stood observing. Out of her regal wedding attire she nearly blended into the revelry were it not for her commanding presence.

Any tension soon melted from her when she felt Violet’s arms around her waist. She smiled and leaned into the nuzzle against her neck.

“How’s it feel? Thinking of anything?”

“I was wondering how things are closer to the wall and that group we sent out a day ago.”

“You mean Randy.”

“None of us can afford him screwing up. He’s been very...vocal lately. It’s giving me bad thoughts.”

“Hey none of that ok? Today’s our day to celebrate, we can worry about later when it comes.”

Clementine closed her eyes and pressed their foreheads together.

“Where’s AJ?”

“With the other kids. Us grown ups are too intense for him right now. I don’t blame him, he seemed happy though.”

“I can think of one reason to justify that.” Clementine teased in a husky voice, her hand wandering below Violet’s waist.

“Clem not while everyone’s around.” came the reply followed by a giggle.

“Just teasing. We can go over it all later.”

“In that case you’ve got my interest.”

“Really? How about something like this to start.”

She pulled Violet closer and leaned her back against the railing. She studied the way Violet tilted her head as their lips met; saw the beauty in how her hair framed her face. Slowly she traced her fingers along her jaw, welcoming the feel of Violet grabbing a fistful of her shirt. They broke off at the whistles thrown at them from below. One glare and eye roll from Clementine silenced them. Violet chuckled. Her arms wrapped lazily around Clementine’s neck.

“I’ll never forget today.”

“I hope not. If you ever do I’ll remind you.”

“Heheh, yeah.”

The music and chatter came to a sudden halt with a banging at the yard’s iron gates. Shocked dancers parted a pathway for a team in neat ranks, their boots marching in step. A man with a thick trimmed beard and thicker hair led them and adjusted the grip of his spear. It had a long curved edge akin to a beast fang and tassels that jiggled in time with the pistol on his belt. The well kept armor he wore, decorated in the motif of a cougar as his rank allowed, enhanced his bulk. His burly arms were defined by gnarled scars that betrayed his continued Old World hobby of rigorous exercise.

He signaled a stop by raising his fist and was immediately obeyed. His beady eyes stared at Clementine without faltering. She read the challenge within them clearly and stood stiff backed,unwavering. From the crowd she felt multitudes looking to her in surprise that yielded to fear. Beside her Violet’s expression hardened and simmered with open disgust. The man spoke, his voice embed by a natural cunning.

“We’ve returned from our expedition with a generous offering from the community to the west.”

“Welcome back, I trust everything went well along with it.”

“Yes, yes of course. Nice to see we’ve been missed.” he said letting a sarcastic bite slip into his tone as he looked around.

“C’mon Randy we can talk about this anywhere but in front of everyone. There’s no need to put on some kind of show.” Violet added.

His eyes studied her in frayed patience then flit back to Clementine. He made a gesture and his group dispersed.

“Sure I can be civil and play house with those wearing the big pants. Let’s have a private chat.”

He disappeared into the admin building. Clementine sighed deeply and let herself slacken. Tenderly Violet touched her hand, she took it without hesitation. She stared into the sky gathering herself until at last all her courage was summoned. With a nod she followed Violet’s lead into her office, something more animal than man fast approaching.

#twd #twdg #violentine #my writing

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aesthetic-survivor-of-twd · 4 years

Note

Do you think Christa is still alive? And if so, what would it look like to meet her and Clementine again, and how she would make her look after AJ and lead the children of Ericson. (sorry for my english, it's from google translate).

Personally, I’ve always viewed Christa as being dead and the references to searching for her in season 2 where due to Clem being uncertain of her fate in the midst of all of the chaos she was running from and expecting her to be alive.

I think the only reason they didn’t kill her on screen was because the ambiguity worked better from a cinematic standpoint for that scene since it resulted in Clem being chased (and thus falling into the river) and also worked better narratively as it gave Clem a goal to move forward with before she bumped into Kenny.

Then again, given how Kenny “got lucky” and survived Season 1 somehow, I don’t think it’s an absurd idea to imagine Christa still being alive out there in the world.

I feel like Christa if she survived, would be a member of one of the communities either engaged in the war or part of a travelling community that’s always on the move.

Christa and Clem’s relationship was really tense in S2 due to Omid’s death and it’s clear that they didn’t have the same emotional connection as Clem had with Lee (and later Kenny) because of it. But I like to imagine they would be relieved to see each other and would catch up together.

Tbh I don’t think Christa would give Clem any advice on taking care of either AJ or the Ericson kids, because I think Christa would see Clem as a full survivor now and someone who already has proven herself as responsible and dependable in taking care of others. If anything, you could argue that Clem actually has more experience and knowledge than Christa does in taking care of a group/kids at this point.

I think Clem and Christa meeting again would be a very short but sweet moment where they both have closure together before Christa eventually leaves with her own group.

I can’t see Christa staying at the school. She kept her promise to Lee of taking care of Clem and teaching her to survive and now gets to see her grow up into someone who is a true leader. It’s been years since that day they got split up and I think Christa would have moved on to find other people she’s grown attached to (similar to Clem). So I think it would be more of a “best of luck out there” type of ending where they each say their piece before separating to look after their own people with maybe a promise of crossing paths in the future.

#twdg #twdg christa #twdg s4 #twdg tfs #twdg4 #skybound #the walking dead game #asks #queue

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its-clementime · 5 years

Text

That Something: Part 1

Title: That Something: Part 1

Pairing: Clementine x Louis

Word Count: 1304

Summary: Prince Louis and Marlon get ready for a new school year at Ericson Prep.

Next Part

DISCLAIMER THIS IS MY FIRST FIC IF IT SUCKS TELL ME WHY AND IM SORRY. :)

Part 2 coming soon -

WORLD BUILDING CONTEXT: Andway is a fairly strong country ruled by the Sterlings (Louis’ family) it’s a constitutional monarchy, with a strong economy and foreign relations, inside the kingdom is the true issue: the divide in classes, the rich and successful, who barely touched the lesser class, unless to employ them. The lesser class, is just trying to survive. There was no middle class the wealth wasn’t spread correctly at all. The country is diverse like America, essentially America with a monarchy (so England, but Geographic's of America lol)

Louis sighed, sitting on his bed, wrinkling his perfectly laid sheets. He looked upon his unusually clean room, reminiscing on the summer moments that he spent there. The window shoed a perfect view of the garden, where he and his “bodyguard” Marlon spent their days recreating jackass by doing stupid stunts. He looked upon the piano, now sadly pushed to a corner in his room, is where he spent most of his summer, he had angled the piano perfectly in the sunlight, singing and playing most of the day in a warm glow. Not to mention, the songs he’d been writing; Louis found himself at the piano, going through his ruffled notebook, filled with loose pages and chord progressions; and so many songs, all of them marked with his distinct passion and care. He stopped a specific page, the last song he had worked on this summer, still unfinished he had worked on this song for so long, but it never felt right. Something was missing. He analyzed the page, as if it would give him an answer. Suddenly, Louis heard footsteps, in a rush he shoved his notebook into a backpack, zipped it and faced the door.

The door creaked as it opened and a joyful teen entered room, “Louis, the car is ready, be ready to leave in five minutes”.

Louis chuckled, “Dude, are you really going to go back to school with THAT haircut?” he gestured to the dead rat on his head.

“Honestly man, it’s kind of growing on me.” He brought his fingers through his blonde mullet, “I know it’s ‘cause I lost a bet, but I think I make it work.” His blue eyes showing through his mischievous smirk.

“Marlon.” Louis started, “You know you're a brother to me man, but that haircut is terrible.”

Marlon really was family. He was originally the security guard’s kid, but he and Louis met by accident when they were little; They hit it off so well that 6-year-old Louis wouldn’t play with anyone else except Marlon. Sadly, Marlon’s parents died protecting Louis’ parents. So, Marlon stayed in the palace as Louis’ “bodyguard” just to have a name for him being everywhere with him. Apparently, to Louis’ dad, you can’t have family outside your class. This annoyed Louis, to the point where he basically made sure Marlon had all the privileges that a “lesser class” person could get. Marlon sure as hell didn’t want them, the society aspect is not what he was there for, he was here for his brother.

Marlon shrugged, “I'm just going to see how it goes for the first few weeks at school, plus if it was that terrible, your dad would have made me get it cut for your ‘public image’.” He air-quoted jokingly.

Louis shook his head, “I guess you’re right. I digress.”

Marlon looked around the room, “Wow, so this is what your room looks like without all your clothes on the floor.”

“Ouch.”

Marlon smiled “Its, the truth man, sorry.”He kept on looking around the room and eventually his eyes landed on the piano. “So, is your Dad going to find a random piano in your room, or? ”

Louis made a straight face, “Some of the maids are going to hide it in my closet for me, plus it’s not like my dad goes into my room anyway. He’s too busy being ‘the Golden King’ to visit me.” He let out a crestfallen sigh.

Louis’ Dad in private, was a strict and unkind man. He was tall, with dark eyes with the stare that could kill, mahogany skin, and a booming voice that even an army Seargeant would fear. He and Louis rarely agreed on anything, it took Louis’ mother months to convince his father to let him play soccer when he was eight, and almost shaved his head when he found Louis’ decision to grow dreadlocks. However, to the public eye he was perceived as “The Golden King” because of how kind he was to his people and how wealthy Andway had become under his rule. Louis decided it was a better idea to hide his passion and hobby of music from his father; which was easy due to Louis living in the opposite wing of the castle, as well as going far away to Ericson Preparatory Academy, on weekdays for 8 Months out of the year.

Marlon broke the silence, announcing, “Well I think it’s time to get a move on, the Prince can’t be reported showing up late to school.”

Louis nodded, getting his backpack and following Marlon down the first staircase of his enormous castle. They had all their suitcases packed, and goodbyes given to their favorite staff of the palace, and finally were in the backseat of a royal car. There was a whole fleet of cars escorting them to Ericson, Louis was annoyed of all the ruckus just because of his title.

Right as they were about to Leave Louis saw his mom, the Queen, approaching the car. He rolled down the window to see her smiling at him.

“Oh, my little Lou,” She paused to kiss his forehead. “I just want to say bye baby, make me proud okay?”

“I will mom” Louis said with a grin.

“You promise to study hard? More than last year, right?”

“I promise mom.”

“Okay, don’t forget to have fun too, I love you, bye!” she gave Louis another kiss on the head and turned to leave, before turning around again “Oh sorry Marlon, Goodbye to you too dear!”

Marlon chuckled, “Bye Mrs. Sterling.”

Louis waved, “Bye Mom, love you too.”

Mrs. Sterling waved as the car rolled out of the driveway, “Try to call me when you’re settled!”

Louis was staring out of the car window, letting the trees and buildings fly past him while he thought of how thankful he was for his mom. He didn’t like being at the palace, but when he was, his mom was one of the better parts of it. He had more of his dad’s looks but he got his mom’s personality and freckles. She loved to laugh and was very vivacious. She’s the only one who ever convinced his dad of anything he wasn’t predisposed to. He already missed her.

“Hey.” Marlon tapped Louis on the shoulder. “You ready for another year at Ericson Prep?”

Louis thought for a moment, playing with his seatbelt. “I guess, it’s the same people trying to be my friend cause of my status-”

Marlon interjected, mocking Louis’ dad saying, “That’s just networking! That’s why I enrolled you here instead of getting a tutor!” in the king’s trademark booming voice.

Louis laughed before he continued, “But it’s still the same teachers giving me too much homework, and the same call-ins by my dad to stress me out.”

“But we get to see the gang for the first time in a while.” Marlon added

“I am excited about seeing them again. But why do you ask about this year?”

Marlon reflected. “I'm not sure, I just feel like this year's going to be... different.”

“Marlon,” Louis confidently stated, “Whatever happens this year, I'm pretty sure we’ll be ready for it, Ericson is a Prep School after all.”

He stopped playing with his seatbelt and looked to Marlon with an unsure expression,

“Right?”

A/N I know it’s a bit slow but It’s gonna get a better later, just establishing stuff rn. Stay tuned!

#clouis #clem x louis #twdg #fanfiction #clouis fanfiction #twdg season 4 #royalty au #twdg fanfiction #twdg s4 #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg hc #twdg louis #twdg the final season

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ericsonclan · 3 years

Text

Heading Home

Summary: Jesse and James wake up and have breakfast before heading back home to Ericson.

Word Count: 1056

Read on AO3:

Jesse woke with the dawn as always. As he shifted upon the cot, James’ arms tightened slightly round him and Jesse looked down upon his sleeping face with a smile. He’d been sleeping better lately; that was good. Gently extricating himself from his lover’s embrace, Jesse got up to survey their campsite.

Everything looked to be in order. The length of rope that surrounded the enclosure was secure, a simple yet effective measure to alert them if any walkers crossed their path. A low gurgle had Jesse looking down the hill on which they had camped to a lone walker meandering in their general direction. Jesse headed over to the small pile of stones they kept by their tent and tossed it down the hill. The rolling patter of the rock caught the walker’s attention, and it altered its course, its emaciated form slowly swaying with each step it took.

With the rest of their surroundings clear, Jesse turned his attention to Adsila. His horse gave an appreciative snort as Jesse approached. Jesse smiled up at the appaloosa, reaching out to lightly rub his nose before checking his mane for any sticks or leaves that might have gotten tangled in during the night. “Hey, you. Did you sleep well?”

Adsila pressed into Jesse’s palm against his nose, his breath warm against the slight chill of the morning air.

“I’ll take that as a yes. We have quite the journey ahead of us today. Think you can handle it?”

Adsila snorted again and tossed his head lightly, the sun catching the warm undertones of his dark front while his speckled behind wriggled impatiently, as though eager to get on the road already.

Jesse chuckled at that. “Breakfast first then we’ll go,” He placed a light kiss upon Adsila’s nose then turned round to start on food only to be surprised when he saw James. “Oh, you’re already up,”

“It got cold when you left,” There was a light teasing to James’ voice as he stoked the campfire.

“I was planning to surprise you with breakfast, but you continue to be the lightest sleeper I ever met,” Jesse shook his head, but his eyes were warm as he joined James by the fire. On either side of them drying racks held veggies and meat as well as animal skins in the process of curing. Jesse grabbed some dried squash and rabbit meat while James fished round in his pack for the herbs Omar had packed for them. Soon enough the meat, vegetables and herbs were lightly sizzling within the pan. The pair sat in companionable silence, enjoying the sounds of the forest surrounding them.

A starling twittered lightly amidst the trees and Jesse imitated its call, his whistles light and clear.

“Can you see it?” James’ voice was soft as he searched the treetops above.

“No, but it’s nearby. If it has a nest, it’ll be in a hole within a tree. We might be able to spot it when we head out,”

“What’s the next point on our list?”

“I think Pendleton. We’re not far from home now. Maybe forty miles,” It had been a while since they’d reached a trading outpost. Once there the contents of their packs would change from furs, seeds and preserves to tools, books and whatever other supplies they could carry back to Ericson.

“We’ll be back in a couple days,” James glanced up, noticing a walker a couple dozen yards away. It wasn’t close enough to warrant concern yet. He’d keep an eye on it. “I think Allison’s birthday is coming up soon,”

“Yeah, Violet mentioned that to me before we left. She asked me to keep an eye out for any cool rocks we could bring back,”

“She asked me too,”

Jesse shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “She must have hundreds of rocks by now considering how often I see Prisha, Violet or Willy with a new one. Wonder where she stores them all,”

“The school’s pretty big. Maybe she has them in one of the old classrooms,”

“I bet she chose the science lab. Bringing the school’s geology program up to a whole new level,”

James chuckled at that. Checking the heat of the pan, he took it off the fire. “So did you find one yet?”

“One what?”

“A cool rock,”

“Oh. Yeah, actually,” Leaning back, Jesse grabbed his pack and rummaged through it. He pulled out a small stone and held it out toward James. The stone was a rusty red color with streaks of white running through it. “Not sure what the red part is but I feel like the white parts are quartz. Think I read that that’s what quartz looks like in a book way back when,”

“It’s lovely,” James gingerly picked up the stone and admired it before returning it to Jesse’s palm. “I guess I’d better find something soon,”

“There’s still time,” Jesse returned the stone to his pack then tossed it back towards the tent. “Just keep your eyes on the ground today and I’ll keep them on the path,”

“One eye on the ground and one on the walkers,” James quipped before tossing a roast piece of squash in his mouth.

Silence returned as the two ate, their thoughts focused on the day ahead. The weather seemed to be shifting lately, perhaps a sign of an impending spring storm, so they wanted to get back sooner rather than later. Breakfast was eaten with one hand while their free hands rested beside each other, their fingers lightly intertwined.

Their breakfast finished, it was time for the pair to pack up. They worked together to collapse the tent, removing the outer canvas first before disassembling the internal system of poles they used to keep it upright. Once the tent was tightly rolled up Jesse worked to get Adsila’s saddle on while James packed up the drying racks then collected the rope fencing off the campsite. With everything safely stowed they put out the fire and climbed up onto the appaloosa, Jesse first and then James behind, his arms wrapped round Jesse’s waist.

“Ready?” Jesse leaned back to meet James’ eyes.

James nodded. He was looking forward to seeing everyone again. “Ready,”

“Alright then,” Patting Adsila’s neck, Jesse lightly tapped his heels against the horse’s sides. “Let’s go home,”

#twdg #twdg james #twdg jesse #twdg messe #fanfic

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starryviolentine · 5 years

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Brody’s Diary (Revised Edition): Chapter 1/10

Part one of the “Pre-Apocalypse Adventures” Series

Dedicated to @vilavenderm23, who came up with the long-haired Violet headcanon that I adore, for her birthday.

Ever since I found out that Violet and Brody used to be close friends before Minnie and Sophie disappeared, I’ve always wanted to know more about the backstory behind their relationship. This is just my personal pre-apocalypse headcanon about these two precious children. Brody is Violet’s roommate and also her very first friend at Ericson. What happens when Violet gets blamed when Brody’s special diary (aka anxiety relief journal) goes missing?

For as many times Violet has dozed off in science class, today is not one of those days. The science teacher makes an announcement at the beginning of the lesson that tomorrow they would be dissecting a cow’s eye. A real, actual cow eyeball. How cool is that? The eleven-year-old doesn’t even care that Louis is assigned to be her lab partner. For the rest of class, Mr. Stanley shows a slideshow about what to expect during the procedure, complete with detailed explanations of the tools they will use, the anatomy of an eyeball, and lots of grotesque pictures.

There are a few calls of “eww” and “gross” and one kid in the back laughs and makes gagging noises, but Violet has never been more excited about something school related. When the bell—not just the standard end-of-class bell, but the extra-long chime sequence signifying the end of the whole school day—rings, Violet hops up and quickly shoves her things into her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder. There is only one thought on her mind.

She can’t wait to tell Brody.

In just a few more weeks, Violet will have been at Ericson Academy for an entire year. Looking back at her time here, she recalls just how tough things were when she first got to the school. Violet didn’t want to be here at all. She was absolutely miserable. The days went by so slowly that Violet was sure that she was going to go nuts, and then her mother would probably ship her off to a crazy house next. They would lock her up and throw away the key and leave her to rot there for the rest of her life. Not that being at a boarding school was any less awful. On a campus surrounded by tall brick walls and a front gate that’s always locked, Violet felt like a prisoner doomed to serve a life sentence.

Violet didn’t want to make new friends. She didn’t want to go to her boring new classes. She hated—no, despised—being forced to meet with stupid grown-ups who all claimed they wanted to “help” her. Violet didn’t want their help. They were always forcing her to think about things that she just wanted to forget. How was that supposed to help her? Here she was, only eleven years old and already seeing a shrink. Multiple shrinks, actually. Everything about her life was so lousy and depressing that Violet truly believed that things were never going to get any better. And for a while, just like the pessimistic girl expected, they didn’t.

Until they did.

Nothing at Ericson Academy was worth Violet’s time… with one exception.

Right from the start, there was one person who was there to talk to her even when Violet had nothing to say. Who kept her company even when she wanted to be left alone. Who smiled at her even when she felt like scowling and flipping everyone the bird. And, well, with someone like that in her life, it was really hard for Violet to stay angry at the world.

That person was Brody.

If Violet was a raincloud, Brody was the sun. Even during those dark, grey weeks when all she wanted to do was sulk and brood, Brody’s vibrant rays of color always found a way to shine through her cracks and light up her day. Brody is nice and funny, and she tells the best stories—ones that keep everyone on the edge of their seat from beginning to end because the way she tells them sounds like they came straight out of a storybook. As it turns out, having somebody like Brody around makes everything better somehow. Believe it or not, Violet no longer minds being stuck at Ericson’s.

Well, she doesn’t mind as much.

Violet makes it back to the dormitory and climbs up the stairs to the second floor lounge. Just as she’s about to make up her mind whether to wait there for her friend or just meet her in their room, the twin-tailed girl herself marches straight up to Violet as though she had been waiting for her arrival.

“Not funny, Vi,” Brody starts, hands on her hips and lips turned into a frown. “Give it back.”

Violet has no idea what Brody’s going on about, and the fact that the girl seems angry at her catches her off guard. “What?”

“I know it was you!” Her friend’s voice steadily rises in both volume and pitch as her emotions start to take over.

The confused blonde backtracks and tries to think of what she could have possibly done to make Brody mad, but she can’t think of anything. “What are you talking about?”

“My diary, Vi!” Brody snaps. “Don’t play dumb!”

“I didn’t take your diary.”

The girl scoffs. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Are you sure you didn’t, like, leave it somewhere?” Violet asks. Maybe by giving Brody ideas of where her diary might be, she can prevent this crime from being pinned onto her unfairly. “You take that thing everywhere.”

“It was on my desk this morning and now it’s gone!” Brody yells, stepping closer to Violet and glaring at her. “The only people who can get inside our room are you and Therissa, and I doubt it was her.”

“But I—”

“You’re the one who’s always telling me how dumb it is!”

“Brody, listen!” Violet takes a step back, trying to put a little more distance between them now that her friend is getting uncomfortably close. She itches for some personal space. “I didn’t take it.”

But Brody doesn’t listen. In fact, she doesn’t seem to be hearing anything that Violet’s saying. “Stop, Vi! Just give it back and I won’t get mad!”

You’re already mad, Violet wants to point out, but she holds her tongue. “I don’t have—”

“Don’t you tell me a story!” the livid girl seethes, taking yet another step closer to Violet. “Don’t you dare lie to me! I know it was you!”

Trying to keep her cool despite the growing frustration inside her, Violet clenches her jaw and takes a few deep breaths. Brody keeps cutting her off and she hates it. “You’re not listen—”

“Do you have… any idea how…” Brody shakes her head, letting out a strained growl. The girl is close to hysterical and is no longer making sense. “You… I can’t…!”

Violet knows how important Brody’s diary is to her. Sure, she’s poked fun at her a few times for writing in it every single day and bringing it with her everywhere she goes, but she would never take it and she needs Brody to know that. She tries one last time to get her friend to listen. “Brody, I really didn’t — ”

“GIVE. IT. BACK!” Brody bellows, and Violet flinches as the command resonates through her like thunder. For a few seconds she just stands there, shocked. The silence that follows is so deafening that Violet can hear her own heart pounding in her head. Slowly, the words start to sink in and she, too, erupts in a fit of rage.

“Back off!” shouts Violet. Before she even realizes what she’s doing, she reaches out and shoves Brody away forcefully. “I never touched your stupid diary!” As soon as it happens, she regrets it immediately. Brody stumbles backwards but quickly regains her footing. Guilt catching in her throat, Violet backs away a few steps and dares to take a peek up at the auburn-haired girl for her reaction.

Brody has an incredulous look on her face, but it instantly changes back to anger and she points an accusatory finger directly at Violet. “You…! I don’t ever want to talk to you again!” With that, Brody sticks her nose in the air and stomps away, leaving Violet stunned and, to be honest, still really unsure of what just happened.

Suddenly, Violet is hyperaware of all the eyes that are staring at her due to having witnessed the whole ordeal. She needs to get out of there. Doing her best to ignore the whispers and the pointing, she flees from the lounge with her head down so as to not make eye contact with anybody. Thankfully, her shared bedroom isn’t very far. Within a minute Violet bursts into the room, already kicking off her shoes. She climbs up to her top bunk and aggressively flops facedown onto her bed.

There’s a strange, tight feeling in Violet’s chest that won’t go away. It started earlier while Brody was yelling at her, and it lingers as if making sure today’s events stay fresh in her mind. Talk about annoying. Now all Violet can think about is how unbelievably pissed her roommate is, all over something she didn’t even do, and how she very well might have lost her first and only friend at Ericson’s.

“I don’t ever want to talk to you again!”

Growling in frustration into her pillow, Violet curls up and resigns. She doesn’t want to see Brody right now, or even think about Brody, at least not until she gets an apology. Blaming people without any proof isn’t fair, and Violet broods over being wrongly accused by somebody who’s supposed to be her friend. Maybe Brody will come to her senses once she realizes the truth, but, until then, Violet decides that she just won’t care.

#twdg violet #twdg brody #twdg #the walking dead game #my art #fanfic #i'm so rusty omg i haven't written in ages #i ship violentine but i'm all about vi and brody being adorable bffs #brody's diary

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kyberphilosopher · 4 years

Text

Seven: Chapter Eight

ChApt3r EigHt

I’m not sure why, but I feel like something so unsettling I can’t define it the next few days. I keep running diagnostics to see if I can find a reason in my numbers as to why I let Bryan go. My report always comes back the same. I am fully functional. There are no anomalies.

I think I wish that I did find an anomaly. Then maybe I would have something to report to Adelicia, but I don’t. I can already tell she’ll have nothing good to say to me though. Even if there was a good, practical reason for what I had done, she would’ve found something wrong with it I’m sure.

I am more scared of Adelicia than anyone else in the world. When I was first created, she was the first one I talked to. Even though I’m taller than her, her and her shadow seems to loom over me coldly. There has always been an unspoken rapport between us: she, the master- the handler, and I, the servant of her will. I am terrified of disappointing her. She makes me want to do better… or something like that.

I think Cal might suspect what I did. He doesn’t say it or really show it, but occasionally his eyes will linger on me a while longer than they should before he snaps at me. When this happens, Officer Shovelman is usually in the background, offering me sympathetic smile.

But I think me and Cal’s relationship is improving. Slowly, and not by much, but it is. “Robocop” seems to have become a normal nickname for me with him. Others include “Tin Fuck”, “Scraps”, “Dippy-Doo”, and “Circuits de Soleil”. I find the last one to be particularly clever. I continue to refer to him as his name and title- either Detective Kennedy or just Cal.

Cal comes in at different times every day. Sometimes, it’s only a little past nine. Other times, it’s closer to twelve. He usually carries a coffee cup with him, reeking of alcohol and musk. His shirt is the only thing that seems to change in his outfit. He wears the same hooded jacket and jeans, same dusty sneakers he’s had for years. His shirt is always in dark, muted colors. Never neon. I like guessing which color he will wear each day. Today, it’s a navy blue. I think it looks nice against his olive skin tone, but I know better than to say that to him.

I really don’t think Cal likes me at all. It’s discouraging. I was made to work directly with humans and integrate peacefully as part of the ‘perfect team’, but I can’t seem to handle this one, grumpy detective.

It’s not even the kind of grumpy that works well on him. Cal is a young guy. He’s turning 27 in a few days. He’s not an older man with wispy grey hair who’s always ready with some kind of racial comment. Cal is angry at everyone and everything, especially Androids. I have no reasoning behind this.

However discouraging Cal Kennedy is to me, I find solace in the fact that he likes me more than Celeste.

I can’t prove it. It’s just something I feel. It’s a kind of social truth that everyone seems to know- even Shovelman and Ho-Kim and I’m sure Blackwell. I know Blaise and Tom laugh about it for sure, though they seem to laugh about everything.

Still, all of these things I’ve come to observe do nothing to quench my unsettling feeling.

Something must be wrong with me. I had an Exception Android right in front of me- actively breaking the law and hiding from it. I could’ve taken him. So why didn’t I?

I thought I knew what I had to do. But now, something inside of me is questioning if it’s really that simple. I don’t think it is anymore.

That Android… he killed humans. But he killed humans who were going to do bad things. He felt a sense of… a sense of injustice. And maybe he was right about it. Have I ever felt a sense of injustice? Is something wrong with my software? It must be. Or maybe I’m just overthinking it. I must be overthinking it. I’m no Exception Android. I’m a state of the art prototype. I always accomplish my mission.

And yet, I chose to fail at a task given to me because something inside told me it was the right thing to do. Ridiculous. How ridiculous of me.

Tonight though, I’ll have a chance to redeem myself. Detective Kennedy has assembled a sort of team for a stakeout, and he’s forced to bring me along. I know because Captain Ericson yelled at him for it. I guess all that really means is that I’ll be the only one content with the circumstances.

I have all the information for the stakeout in my memory. We are checking out an old apartment building like the one Bryan was in, searching to see if any Androids come the way. Apparently, reports of defective Androids have increased in the area, and it would be the best space to ‘lay low’ in. I’ve tried to mention to Cal that there are other, more logical places for an Android to hide, but Cal insists that this is the best option. He calls it a hunch. It is something I wouldn’t understand. I know, because he snaps it at me.

We are scheduled to leave at approximately 6 pm. It is already 5. Cal has made no attempt at moving or packing. It’s awfully annoying.

“Detective, don’t you think you should begin preparing for the stakeout?” I ask, leaning forward in my chair.

“Nope,” Cal says, popping the ‘p’. His eyes don’t even flit up to look at me. They stay glued to a book he’s reading.

Up til this point, I’d never seen Cal read anything except for case files. But here he is, clear as a statistic, holding a book with his feet kicked onto the desk. I’ve identified the book to be none other than ‘The Art Have Nots’ by Chase Jeremy. Even though the detective seems to be reading it to simply piss off everybody around him and be somewhat obnoxious and smug, he does seem to be enjoying the book. His pupils are dilated enough for me to observe this.

“But it’s scheduled to start soon,” I say because I’m confused.

“And I’m scheduled to punch you right in your face soon. Fuck outta here.”

I frown. There is no reason for Cal to be so aggressive and angry towards me, and yet he is. However, I know better than to push his buttons and make matters worse right before a case. I remove myself from my chair and grab a small backpack lent to me by the department from under my desk.

For a moment, I think Cal is going to glance up at me. The human eye is drawn to movement, after all. But there is nothing. I’ll save myself the equivalent of Android embarrassment and walk away.

Once I’ve entered the bathroom, I place the backpack on the ground. Unzipping it, I find dull colored clothes that remind me a lot of Cal’s, and the comparison makes me smile a little. These are the clothes I’ve been ordered to wear for the stakeout, to look less suspicious should an Android pass by.

I’m not worried about privacy. I wouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed if some woman walked into the bathroom and saw me changing clothes. I’m not a person, I’m an Android. My form has nothing to it but my makers aesthetic. They would have nothing to be jealous of.

No woman interrupts me while I’m changing. Soon, I stand in front of the mirror, observing my outfit. I’m wearing a baggy, slightly distressed leather jacket with a grey hoodie attached. Under is a black turtleneck which is also a little to big for me. The jeans hug my thighs, but then become looser and torn around my knees. To match the grunge appearance are some brown boots and a dark beanie that reminds me an awful lot of the one Bryan was wearing. I keep my hair in it’s bun though, with the wisps of my bangs hanging out.

My led flashes yellow as I analyze the jacket. I can see coffee stains, marks from a blue sharpie, and a little cartoon penis drawn right under my elbow. The size and all the other pieces of evidence point to this being Detective Cal Kennedy’s jacket.

Out of something I can’t explain, I lean forward and sniff the collar. It smells just like Cal. A hint of smoke from cigarettes, something like cologne, and gasoline. Not overly strong, but identifiable and unique to him.

I scrunch my eyebrows together at myself in the mirror. My led goes red.

Why Did I Do That?

I have no answer for myself. I would rather not think about it much longer though, because then Adelicia might see and she’d be very upset with me. I shake my head, grab the backpack, and push the bathroom door open.

As I’m making my way back to the bullpin, a woman smiles at me. A real, genuine smile. I don’t know if it’s because she can’t see my led, or because she’s just a polite person, but it throws me off a little for second.

Name: Sophia Syphers

Date of Birth: April 30th, 2017- Age 24

Height: 5’1

Weight: 131 lbs

Race: White, European-American

Birthplace: Seattle, Washington

Occupation: H.R Psychologist at Seattle Police Department

I make a note of her occupation and appearance in my memory and continue on my way, not even pausing to look at her. I’m sure she’s made a mistake. Nobody really smiles at Androids, unless they are a small child or the Android is their own.

It is only when I’m approaching Cal’s desk when I decide to analyze his coffee cup. It’s nearly empty, and I’ve already calculated multiple scenarios where he complains about what his lack of coffee tonight.

It is 5:11. I have time.

I make a quick swerve to the left, and enter into the break room. It is quiet now, and empty. Most everyone has gone home except for a few officers who are logging out. Celeste is still here, but that’s only because she’ll be joining us tonight. I don’t like that very much. I would much rather have Blaise, or Tom.

I’m glad though, for the moment, that Celeste isn’t here.

I appreciate the silence. Even as I place my bag on one of the tall tables and shuffle over to the counters against the wall in my baggy jeans, I feel more at peace. Just in the moment. Just kind of existing. I could almost pretend that I’m a human in this minute.

First I observe that the coffee filter is empty. Because of this, I open the minifridge and remove one of the water bottles from it. It must be placed their newly, because it’s not yet cold. I poor the water into the filter, then grab the coffee grounds and add them. Last step is to turn the machine on and let it do it’s business. Shouldn’t take too long.

I cross my arms and take a step back, looking at the ugly wall color of the room. It’s a sort of blue, vomit colored green I don’t think looks too nice. It would’ve been better with a mustard gold color, or even a plain grey.

The synthetic hair on my arms prick up. I turn my head to the left, and see that just outside the glass walls of the room, Cal has been watching me. He looks calm for a second. Then he processes that I’ve seen him and turns back around.

But this is a win, because he didn’t look so angry with me. I’m sure he will appreciate me bringing him his coffee. The thought makes me smile, just a little.

Software Instability ^

Cal has turned his attention back to his book, so I return mine to the coffee pot. I’m happy to see that it’s done, and looks rather perfect.

I take one of the plastic cups stacked on the counter, and poor in the coffee. I can feel how hot it is, but it doesn’t make me flinch at all. I’m built to withstand every condition. After, I put a lid on the cup. Cal takes his coffee black, so there’s no need for me to remember a crazy list of things to add.

When I turn around to present the coffee to Cal and grab my pack, I am met face to face with none other than Celeste herself. Her face is slightly flushed, but that is from anger I assume.

“Hey scraps,” she says with poison.

“Hello, Officer Amora,” I say politely. My voice is calm, as usual.

“What is that?” Celeste hisses, glancing to the steaming cup in my hands.

“It’s a cup of coffee for Detective Kennedy. I saw he was low and decided to make some for him.”

Celeste scoffs. “You made an entire new pot of coffee just for Cal?”

“Correct. I thought he would enjoy it.”

“Well he wouldn’t.” Celeste snaps her hand up and knocks the cup from my hands. It spills onto the floor, the bitter liquid spreading around and creating quite the mess. I don’t flinch.

“I’m sorry. I thought you would be pleased to know Detective Kennedy had received his caffeine for the night.”

Celeste gets closer to me. She’s glaring into my eyes, watching for any reason to pounce. I can smell her overly flowery perfume. She must’ve worn it specially for Cal. Her face is laced into a sneer, brown eyes narrowed in anger.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she whispers, her breath hitting my plastic face.

“Aleksandra. I’m the Android sent me Icarus.”

This quip (which wasn’t meant as a quip at all), does me know good. Celeste’s hand balls into a fist, and comes up to meet my stomach.

Androids don’t feel pain, but they do feel pressure. They feel sensations that are the equivalent of pain, or the closest to pain that they could feel. So when Celeste punched me, I didn’t feel ‘pain’, but I did feel something hard come up against my abdomen. In fact, I think it might’ve lightly knocked against my biocomponent.

My led cycles red, and my vision flickers darkly. My legs buckle under me, and I drop to a kneel, clutching my plastic belly. The jeans I’m wearing become soiled in the dark coffee on the floor. Through the hole in them, I can feel the warmth against my knee.

“You’re just a piece of plastic,” Celeste bites. “When you’re done with this, clean up the mess you made. You better not let me see you again tonight.” Then she leaves.

I stay down, waiting for my Binary Blood to become regulated once again. Once it is, I run a diagnostic. All systems are functional, even though part of me doesn’t believe it.

It’s 5:21. I still have time to make Cal some coffee if I hurry.

I push myself off the floor at 5:23. With some paper towels, the floor is clean of coffee at 5:27. The last thing to do is pick up the plastic cup and toss it away. After that, I poor Cal a fresh cup of hot coffee and put a top on it. Uninterrupted this time, I grab my backpack and leave the break room at 5:29.

I can’t help the frown that graces my features at 5:30. Cal’s desk is empty. I had wanted to present this cup to him and watch him take it, maybe receive a bit of a smile. He probably just took my advice to go and finally prepare himself. His book is still here, so I’m sure he’ll be back.

I put the cup down on his desk near the book, careful to avoid the messily strewn trinkets. Then I round myself to my own desk, sitting down politely.

Cal emerges from the elevator at 5:38. I perk up upon seeing him, inhaling his scent of smoke and faded cologne. Rubbing the back of his head tiredly, I notice he’s wearing the same outfit as he was. I don’t mind this, though. I realize that Cal doesn’t really need to change clothes for a stakeout, because he already looks nothing like a cop. I assume that Celeste, who is joining us, is off in the girls bathroom now.

“Hello, Detective,” I greet. I can’t explain why I’m so much happier to see him instead of Celeste.

“Tin-Fuck?” Cal replies, tiredly and squinting his eyes at me. “Could’ve sworn you were a human for a second.”

We both know that’s not true. He saw me in the break room, making coffee for him earlier.

“Yes. These clothes are quite different from my normal ones. I think I like it.”

Cal grunts and sits in his chair. He swivels the chair around childishly, but then slows when his eyes lock with the cup of coffee I had placed down. He stops, plants his feet firmly on the ground and perks up. His hand stretches out to touch it, but then he stops himself. “Who made this?”

“I-”

“Hey, Cal!”

Cal turns to the direction of the voice. My smile and warmer atmosphere falters, diminished because I know exactly how unpleasant the next few moments will be.

The voice belongs to none other than Celeste Amora, who currently looks like a ‘painted whore’. She’s let her hair down, and is wearing a black bra with a light white jacket. Paired with shorts, fish net tights, and heeled boots. I do not really care for this look at all. Still, I detect an increase in Cal’s heartbeat. I can’t see it, but I bet his eyes look her up and down just then.

“Celeste,” Cal greets, dryly.

“You look like a prostitute,” I say. Cal coughs suddenly and Celeste snaps to look at me, nostrils flaring.

“It’s my disguise.”

At that point, a line pops into my head that I have to stop myself from saying. However, the line was something like “if you wanted to look like a prostitute, you didn’t need much of a disguise”.

But I don’t. I’m an Android. I am polite to humans.

Still, I can’t help the very human like twitch of sadness in my stomach when I see that Cal has left his coffee behind. He doesn’t even take it with him when we leave for his car.

#story #fanfiction #dbh #detroit: become human fanfiction #detroit: become human #dbh fanfiction #dbh story #android #androids #technology

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