maskormenacelogs | [CLOSED] if we've only got this life, this adventure oh then i

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[CLOSED] if we've only got this life, this adventure oh then i

WHO: Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon
WHERE: In transit from De Chima to Heropa
WHEN: When Daryl first arrives, continued from here
WHAT: Rick gets his brother up to speed about stuff and thangs.
WARNINGS: Typical TWD warnings.

Rick managed a laugh after Daryl's comment about the Jetson car and with convenient timing, someone happened to drive a hoverbike through the streets. "C'mon. You gonna tell me you can't see yourself on one of those?" He was only teasing because even he couldn't see Daryl on one of those. "Good news is I'm pretty sure they got the old kind of bike here, too. For us old guys who prefer wheels with our vehicles."

The second question, though, that was harder. Rick furrowed his brows thoughtfully. If Daryl had come in when Rick first arrived, the answer would have been 'hell no, don't register.' But he had been here for a while now. It would be coming up on a year in the summer. "In the end, I don't think it matters either way. I chose not to when I first got here. Didn't like the thought of swearin' allegiance to this government or anyone. Not after what we'd gone through back home." There it was again. The haunted look behind his eyes. It came at the mention of swearing allegiance to anyone. After all, he really had no choice but to give in to Negan, didn't he?

Rick forced the thought aside. "But the American government, they ain't so bad. They fought for us these past couple of months when things went to shit. An' that's something I'll tell you about when we get to the school." Reaching the porter, Rick looked over at Daryl. "You ready?"

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Daryl's eyes followed the bike a little too long. It wasn't his preference, but it had potential. He could see it already. Though the safety and comfort of wheels on the ground was definitely something he would look into once he had some more money on him. Or if he found enough spare parts he could just gather the way Aaron had before they got to Alexandria.

But he turned his attention back to Rick fast enough, giving a quiet nod as he pressed his lips together, eyes darting around at the people nearby. His hands squeezed tight on the strap of his crossbow. He might have used the porter already, it didn't mean he was used to it. Thing still made him apprehensive.

"Don't stumble on your way through." Rick teased and stepped into the porter. Immediately, he came out in Heropa, turning and waiting for Daryl to do the same. The temperature difference was quite noticeable with the sticky humidity of Florida heat. It made Rick roll up the sleeves of his clean and decent looking for an interview blue sweater.

When Daryl arrived, Rick turned and started to lead the way back to Xavier's. "It's easier to be Registered. Carl is. My problem with the whole thing is that I feel like swearin' loyalty to 'em means they're gonna turn around an' demand we fight in their war. Even goin' as far as makin' us. Those things they injected into us when we got here -- I don't trust 'em."

And after spending a whole two weeks with LACKEY, Rick felt he had far more insight into the horrors of the nanites.

Pfft. Stumble. Like he'd trip over himself. ~~He'd totally tripped the first time he used it.~~

This time, though, he made it through like he'd been using it all his life. He didn't bother doing anything like push sleeves up. He was without sleeves as it was. His coat having been left with his bike just after he hid it. The change in temperatures barely bothering him.

To Rick's commentary, though, Daryl just offered a shrug, "Gonna have to fight anyway. From what I've heard, the war's coming to us whether we agree to it or not. People been whispering about the Russians like it's still the 40s and they're waiting on Red Dawn to rise on their asses."

Not that Daryl liked the things they injected him with, either. Just wasn't much he could do about it other than cover the stupid tattoo with a wrist band like his brother used to wear. He always thought those things were dumb, but he also didn't like looking at it or it being on display where anyone could see it.

"Yeah. It's weird. To think that they didn't get past that war." When Rick actually had time to think about it, that was. He hadn't initially. And it surprised him how calmly Daryl was taking this all. Then again, it shouldn't have. This was Daryl. He could be hotheaded when it was necessary, when a member of their group was in danger -- but calm and rational when thrust into an unknown situation.

All the more reason to be grateful that he was here, alive, and well. The last time Rick saw him, Daryl looked about as pale as Maggie from blood loss. The thought pained him and he forced it aside.

"Bet Carl's gonna be thrilled to see ya. An' when ya get settled in, there's a few people I want you to meet." Not too many. It wasn't like Rick was loaded with friends and people he trusted here. But the people he did care about needed to be cool with Daryl, too.

People huh?

"They ours?" It was the only relevant question Daryl had. Even with all the things he was still processing and the realities of it, that they didn't need to categorize everyone as 'us' or 'them', he still was. Sure he was calm, but getting angry over it would do him all of jack and squat. Better to just roll with it, watch, learn. Figure out who their allies were. Be prepared for when shit hit the fan.

"They're ours." Rick answered with a single nod. They might not be from home, but people like Breeze, Tex, Tetsuo. People like Kaneda, Bela, and Joel. They all proved themselves to be family in their own, individual ways. And because of that, he had little doubt Daryl was going to get along with them.

"The younger ones can be kinda difficult. Sure as hell bet you're gonna argue with Tetsuo constantly." Said Rick with a fond smile.

"Guess that means he's a punk," Daryl said back easily, sounding very unimpressed. He got along fine with Carl. With the kids at the prison long before. Only reason he'd be having problems with any of the kids was if they were stupid punks that liked to get mouthy.

There was a bit of smile on the edge of his mouth, though. Directed at Rick both for his assumption and for the obvious care he held for this Tetsuo guy. Not that he thought Rick was lying when he claimed the people as theirs. Just that it was nice to see it in how he spoke of them, too.

"Yeah. The biggest punk of punks. But he's got a heart of gold. Kinda reminds me of someone." He said with a fond smile, looking over at Daryl. It seemed like so long ago, but he couldn't forget their shaky beginnings -- how difficult Daryl used to be until he learned the feeling of family that came with the group.

Reaching the school, Rick pushed open the door and expected Daryl to be close enough behind so he didn't have to hold it open for him. And then he led the way upstairs, pulling out his key and unlocking the dorm room -- a double which was really the size of a small apartment. "Ain't much. But it's worked for us so far."

Anyone watching them out of curiosity in that moment might have enough reason from the fond smile Rick was giving him and Daryl's obvious, nervous, flustered look in response could easily come to the wrong conclusion. And considering that it was a school, that had rotating classes, someone definitely saw.

Daryl did, in fact, follow close enough that the door swung shut on him without hitting him. The place was nice. Posh. Rich. Even better than Alexandria in terms of how much it was probably worth just for a single bedroom. Probably the nicest place he'd ever stepped foot in, really.

After entering the place, giving it good look over, fingers trailing here and there, Daryl dropped his crossbow next to the couch and laid himself down. Feet kicked up on one of the arm rests and one of his arms up behind his head. He gave it a couple of testing bounces.

"Ain't bad."

He could sleep there.

Rick was oblivious to anything people may have noticed. He often was. He avoided the network where he could, he avoided the news outlets and anywhere else people gossiped. The unavoidable were the paper mediums. He often saw the tabloids at his job -- on display at a little newstand he went to for a quick bottle of water. But even that was nothing more than a passing glance. So here, he didn't pay any mind to the looks they were getting. Or the discrete students who followed them out of curiosity at a distance and totally saw Rick had just brought Daryl into his apartment.

But it did please him to see Daryl taking to it so readily. Not having him here felt like something was missing -- an immediate family member. All they needed now was Judith and Michonne. The smile on his face was a little wistful before he shook his head.

"Now that you're here, we can look for something better. Maybe something in a different state." He headed over to the fridge, grabbing them a couple of beers before he returned, nudging Daryl's feet out of the way with an affectionate 'move over' so he could wedge himself into the space and offer him a nice, cold beer -- not really a luxury they had in full supply back home.

"Something with a whole lot of yard an' a huge fence. Been savin' up money for it. But with the type of job I got, it's gonna take some time. You know, that's probably the weirdest thing you gotta get used to again. Money meanin' something."

"They got me up in the houses in De Chima. Ain't terrible. Reminds me of Alexandria," Daryl said after he took his beer and sat up. He didn't open the cold beer immediately. Just let his hands rest on the bottle and turn it in his hands for a little while. Getting used to it. Beer. Cold beer.

He wasn't lying about the housing in De Chima, either. Not that he lied about anything unless he was joking around, but still, the admittance that he'd been placed somewhere he wasn't actually disappointed with probably wasn't what Rick was looking for. Or maybe it was. It sounded like Rick wanted something like the prison except with more decent housing and stronger defenses.

"There's plenty of land up there, just outside the suburbs they put me in. A few warehouse complexes with sturdy fences. More than just wire and metal. Built on older foundations of stone and new concrete. Still sturdy. More than a few smaller farms. Ain't got the best of fencing, but that could be fixed. Sure there's a lot a land we could just buy outright and build on if it came down to it."

He turned to watched Rick's face as he trailed off. Solar panels would need to be added immediately regardless because access to electricity had become pretty damn important for their comfort. Heated water being the biggest of those points. Whatever land they got would need a well, too. More than one maybe. Just some sort of clean water access. Decent plumbing.

After another second, Daryl tossed out, "Saw an old asylum listed for sale to the south of the city. Well, the land and everything on it. Got good bones from the looks of it. Ain't gone to check it out. Just passed by." And had thought that if things went to shit, it would be a decent place to hole up for a few weeks if any part of the upper floor was still sound. Not many folks would want to go there.

It wasn't disappointing that Daryl thought his De Chima home was 'decent' but it was a little disappointing that he could accept a place without the family there with him. Though, Rick rationalized that probably wasn't what Daryl meant. But already, as Daryl was talking, Rick felt a familiar sensation of home return to him. Daryl was already one step ahead, already scoping out places. Rick had missed him more than he realized.

"An asylum sounds promisin'. Definitely has the space in case more of us show up. We need something big. Something that can house some of the people here if we need it, too. Not all of 'em. Shit. Half the people here ain't even worth the effort to save." Rick was a bit bitter about how things went down when it came to LACKEY. But he decided not to talk to Daryl about it. Not yet. Not on his first day.

"But there's some good ones, like I said. An' I got no doubt you'll meet some of your own. We can check out that asylum of yours soon." There was a pause. "Think it might be worth it to try an' build somethin'? Jus' buy the land and start buildin' from the ground up?"

Daryl put his beer to his lips instead of commenting on that bit about half the people not being worth the effort. Rick was obviously not in the mood to discuss that and anything Daryl said would probably fall on deaf ears. Even with Rick apparently from a future point in time, his attitude didn't seemed to have changed. If anything, it sounded like it'd gotten harder, more cut and dry. The last big discussion the two of them had had - all five lines of it - had been Daryl telling Rick he was wrong to give up on the people of Alexandria. And on going out and finding new people. But that was what Daryl remembered. Rick was from sometime in the future, who knows if he even remembers when that had happened for him anymore?

"Ain't really sure," he said after a long and very satisfying pull of cold alcohol down his throat. One he even leaned back for and made a sound that could almost be called a groan out the sheer of pleasure of a cold fucking beer. Almost. "Things like that can take a lot longer than cleaning up an already built place. And you can't really live in it while it's getting built, so we'd have to find a roof in the meantime. Upside is we can pick everything that goes into it so we know we have what we need. Downside is we gotta pay way more for it all and we might not see it finished for close to a year."

Daryl settled his beer on his stomach and laid his free arm behind his head, turning slightly as he looked at Rick. Eyes falling from his face and to his hands and then to the floor as he put some more thought into it, "Asylum'll have good bones. One central building with a few out dorms and offices for the former staff. Might even have a pretty patio area for the residents to take a break in out back or off to the side that we can clean up and make nice again. Not sure how sound it'll be over all, but there weren't no condemned sign on it, so it ain't to the point it'd be better to tear it down and start over. We could probably find out when it was closed down and when it was built. Figure out if the medical rooms are worth anything to keep as is, the in building dorms and the like. Might cost more to renovate than to build new. But might also be faster and we could probably live on the grounds while it's happening without having to resort to tents again."

Not that they couldn't resort to tents easily enough. Just that Daryl actually liked having a mattress under him and if given the choice, he'd pick the mattress.

"We can always stay here for a while, too. While everything's gettin' built up. I mean, this place is a roof over our head. Not sayin' it's bad. Jus' sayin' it'd be better to have something that's our own, ya know?" The thought of a bunch of strangers surrounding them unnerved him sometimes, even if he did largely keep to himself. But the asylum definitely sounded like a prospect worth pursuing.

"Wonder if it'd have a big basement. A place for a huge stockpile an' where we can toss some cots down in case things go to shit. Build it up kinda like a bomb shelter. It's only a matter of time before this war takes it's toll." And imPorts might even be the greater danger with how nuclear they had the potential to be.

"I feel like there's gonna come a time where we'll want to disappear. An' seein' what we saw back home, facin' what we faced -- we'll know the things we need to survive. Won't be as hard this time around 'cause we can prepare."

That sounded like Rick preferred to look into the Asylum rather than build from scratch. So that's what Daryl would focus on. And if not the Asylum, then places wit similar properties.

"Gonna have to make sure the fence is sound and secure," he offered up, taking another drink. "That's what's gonna make any place we pick livable. Even if it ain't walkers that take this place in, we're gonna wanna make sure the animals we put to pasture ain't gonna go too far and that it ain't easy to climb over and take it out from under us."

"Yeah." Rick smiled, nodding in agreement. He didn't have to say much else. Daryl knew the deal and what was most important about any place they picked. Security. Old fashioned security because you couldn't always rely on technology, even with solar panels powering everything. After a moment, he patted Daryl's knee, getting up. "Well, we can talk more about that all another time. I'll let you get comfortable here. Gotta get ready to head to work."

He didn't sound all that enthused about having to head there, but it was bad enough he already missed a week due to his port out. "You need anything before I go? We got more beer in the fridge, some leftover pizza. An' if you felt like watchin' some TV, some actual TV -- the remote's over there on the end table."

"You got cable?" Daryl asked, face lighting up in a way that it hadn't in a long time while he scooted over to scrounge for the remote. Pizza, TV, and a beer. Shit, man, it was like being in heaven.

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[CLOSED] if we've only got this life, this adventure oh then i

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