Who: Ciri and Daryl Dixon Where: Edges of town When: Last night Why: His Arrival Warnings: None Status: Completed GDoc </div>
He arrived just as dawn was breaking. It was early, but there were a few people milling about. He reached for his crossbow, and found his quiver empty. Great. He'd stumbled on another Woodbury situation and he had nothing to defend himself with. Making arrows for his bow was easy enough, sure, but it took time.
He blinked, rapidly. Where was he, then? And how had he gotten here? Last thing he remembered...well, he didn't want to remember the last thing he remembered. Beth deserved so much better than that. She deserved...it didn't matter. She was dead, and it was stupid and pointless and...damn it, it made him angry as hell.
As he turned, he realised someone was approaching him. He felt like a fool holding his empty bow, so he let it drop. Plans changed, often on a dime. He had to be willing to change with the situation; adapt or die. "I ain't lookin' for no trouble," he said. "Just passin' through."
The white haired woman was taking her morning walk when the man appeared, she was a little surprised at the fact snow was lightly falling this far into May and almost June. It clung to her hair, making it whiter than it was already. So that's how it looked, she thought idly, a soft huff of a breath. Stranger things happened daily here, this was no different in the long run.
she paused though and intercepted the welcoming committee, they were useless on the best of days. She had a long sword strung up across her back as she turned from him, a cross bow hung at her hip. She'd been ready to hit the archery field after her walk. It was old school, nothing fancy like his, but well cared for. Once she was done shooing the folk away she looked at him again. "welcome to Madison Valley, I'm afraid you're not where you were five minutes ago." She rested the hand without the packet on her hip, her voice was almost lyrical. "You got a name, stranger?"
His eyes twitched, flickering over her sword and the bow she carried, and back to her face. She was an odd one, he thought. But then so was he, truth told. But she wasn't a walker, which was a point in her favor. A huge point in her favor, really. He sighed, lyrics to an old song wafting through his mind. Like the pine trees lining the winding road/I got a name, I got a name/Like the singing bird and the croaking toad/I got a name, I got a name. He shook his head to clear it and chase the barely remembered melody out of his consciousness.
"Daryl," he told her. "Name's Daryl. The fuck is Madison Valley? Where's Rick and the others?" Finding Rick was priority. Daryl might not consider himself much of a leader, or a follower really, but he knew his place was with Rick.
Ciri watched him with the patience of a woman who's done this before. Emerald eyes watched every twitch, judging if she needed to react or not. Her smile curled into something warm.
"A pleasure Daryl. Indiana, and I'm afraid they're not here. It is... Complicated. Though, what are the others babes, perhaps there are some from home. This place brings people from all kinds of worlds and times. I'm afraid its all very complicated and magic. No. I don't expect you to believe that part. You seem the kind to test things." She looked up for a moment judging then smiled. "The edge is a half mile that way. You can try to leave."
Nothing she said made sense. Stuck in this place that was not crawling with walkers. The city seemed to be thriving, for one thing, and even though there weren't any other people around, he could sense the life, the living, going on around him. "Indiana? Fuckin' long way from Georgia. How'd I get here?"
That was what bothered him the most. How the fuck did he get here? One minute he'd been standing shoulder to shoulder with Rick and then...he was here. In what was apparently Madison Valley, Indiana. It didn't make any sense at all. "It don't make no damn sense."
Ciri laughed softly, "Magic my dear. Nothing we can understand. No one ever said life made sense." She shifted her weight and pushed a lock of white back. "Indiana is a long way from Georgia that is true, even further from my home. There really is no other way to explain it. It is like some bad movie plot." She shrugged, just because she was most recently in king Arthur's court didn't mean she didn't know movies.
"I wish it made sense. We would all be less confused." She smirked a touch.
Daryl didn't like when he didn't know what was going on. He'd had control taken away from him way too many times. He didn't handle it well. But his time with Rick and the others, with Carol and with Beth, had softened him. He was less likely to attack out of sheer panic, now. Which was good, since while he had his bow, he didn't have any arrows for it. He'd have to attack with his fists, and she looked entirely capable of holding her own, of maybe putting him to the ground. He didn't want to find out.
"Magic Right. Sure. My fucking life would make a great movie. It'd be a cult classic, for sure." his voice dripped the sarcasm.
Ciri couldn't resist the laughter that bubbled forth. "Mine's more fantasy with sci fi for good measure." She smiled at him, "not having control sucks. I hate being stuck here without a reason why. But generally? There's nothing trying to eat me or kill me so is a decent place." She could easily put Daryl down, it wouldn't even cause her to break a sweat. But she wouldn't unless he made the first move. "There are a lot more crazy things in this town the magic."
"Ah, yes. None of them here, thankfully. We do have werewolves, a coyote shifter and a Valkyrie and a God, oh and Lucifer I suppose but he's really just a womanizer." Ciri wished she'd been kidding, but she wasn't. "Towns a bit more populated, you just arrived on the outskirts. It's much nicer out here in my opinion."
"The fuck is this place, then?" Madison Valley, he knew that much. Indiana, she'd told him. It didn't make sense. Werewolves weren't real. Valkyries and Gods were things of myth. Lucifer...well. Who was he to say if Lucifer was real or not? He had no real formulated opinion on it. Good and evil, sure. Anything more in depth than that, there was no way to say. "You sound like a fuckin' nutter." He didn't mean it to be rude, it was just truth as far as he was concerned.
"Real answer or made up one?" she grinned at him. "Real answer is... a place where people from all different universes got yanked into modern day Amercia - it's 2018 by the way - with no rhyme or reason. Made up one is some fucked up dream. But as fun as that sounds, it's not really the case." she grinned a bit more, "If i'm nutters, i'm the least crazy one you'll speak to here. That, I can promise." she licked her lips a bit and smiled. Then held out the packet. "Thats from the useless crew I shoo'd off, they explain even less and just hand you this - keys to an apartment, a phone, laptop, a debit card with a grand on it."
Daryl took the packet. He turned it over in his hands, then opened it, looked inside. He frowned because it seemed too good to be true. Cell towers had been one of the first things to fail after the dead started to rise. Cell phones and laptops were utterly useless in a very short amount of time. Daryl had never had a computer, anyway, he'd only ever used one at work.
"You're definitely a nutter," he told her with a shake of his head. Why're you giving me this stuff? Not just the phone and the laptop. An apartment, and money? Well, a credit card anyway. What the fuck? His brain glossed over the statement that it was 2018. He came from four years earlier, but there was too much information in his head to process all of it.
"The town gives it to all those who arrive as kind of a welcome to town, here's enough to survive a month then go get a job or something." she shrugged a little, she'd horded enough from the portal to not need a job for a few months if not longer. "Kind of a peace offering or something. I don't know it;s what it is." she shrugged a bit. "I can show you where the apartments are and if you don't believe me those objects work, try it." she laughed softly.
He pulled the keys out of the packet, then tucked the rest under his arm, his bow slung over his shoulder. He knew he probably looked like some kind of riff-raff. His clothes were old, torn, stained, and barely fit him any more. Living in an apocalyptic situation, when the dead walking far out numbered the living didn't lend itself to eating healthy. Sometimes not at all. They'd had a pretty good set up at the prison, but after that? Food had been scarce.
"A'ight, then. Lead the way," he said with a wave of his hand, the keys jangling a bit as he made an over exaggerated sweeping gesture at her.
Ciri didn't even seem to care. She'd looked much worse after a few months on the run. She pushed her hair back and turned on her heel to head into the town proper. "Sure thing, sir, follow me?" she smiled a bit, she hadn't even given him her name yet, but that would come if he asked. She moved easily, almost silently, as she made her way back out of the woods.
"Sir?" Daryl made a dismissive noise. "I look like a 'sir' to you? Ain't no damn 'sir'." He scoffed, even as he fell into step beside her. "Name's Daryl.Ain't 'sir'." Apparently he had negative associations with the word. He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but it just didn't sit well with him.
Ciri smirked, "Sorry, royalty, it comes with eons of being hammered into me to call people ma'am and sir. " she snickered at his obvious dislike of the word. She flourished a bow, "as you wish, Daryl" she had a sparkle in her eye.
"I'm a Duchess, back home. Old habits die hard." She rolled a shoulder, "gave it up to hunt monsters." She laughed as she deftly guided him back towards the town. "I joined a profession only men do." She snorted a little.
"Where I come from, hunting monsters is the only profession left." More or less. There were other things that needed to be done. Doctoring and soldiering and the like. Farming, when there was opportunity. But there weren't bosses or paychecks; it was a whole different world.
He gave her a once over look. His mind was still racing with too many thoughts to sort them all, and he was very definitely on edge. But she had a calming presence or something. He hadn't relaxed at all, but he felt an odd sort of calm about it all. And he realised she was something to look at.
"My original time is more, how shall we say, medieval? No tech, all hard work. Money isn't the same, lots of trading, warring, etc. Sounds like it's a post modern but similar for you. Less structure more survive." She rang her hand through her hair and tossed it back lazily. Ciri was pretty, a scar beneath one eye that cut across her cheek, tall, and held herself with a confidence born from both genetics and experience. She was comfortable in her skin, and light on her feet. "Monster hunting is what I was born to do. Ruling was not, though I won't get much choice in the end i don't think"
Daryl sucked in a breath. His world had gone to shit. It had gone to the dead fast. But there were still pockets of the living. Most of them were just as dangerous, if not more so, than the dead. He sighed, scratched at his jaw. If he was truly in a modern society, one of the first things he was going to buy with the credit card was an electric razor. Shaving with a knife was no picnic.
"Don't make no sense," he said with a shake of his head. "But I got no reason not to believe you." Except the fact he thought she was most definitely a nut case. But maybe, sometimes, it was easier to go along with whatever they said than contradict. Contradicting could cause a whole slew of problems Daryl didnt' want to deal with.
She looked back. "I'm not crazy. But you'll see." Witchers read people. She knew he thought she was insane but she didn't care. He'd figure it out one way or another. She stepped into the sidewalk and looked around, pulling a cloak from her satchel and throwing it over over her sword.
"Welcome to Madison Valley, Daryl" she gestured to the small city in front of them. She much preferred less moden but well it was nice enough for a crafty place that kidnapped you.
He gave her a down-the-nose sort of look that was part 'yeah right, whatever' and part amusement. But as they moved toward the city, his posture changed to something more alert, someone who was ready to spring into action and fight. He wasn't so much worried about the dead crawling out of the buildings, but the living were just as much a threat.
Except the city was definitely thriving. Even where they were at the edge of town, he could see that it was a thriving community, bustling with activity. People were moving about, doing their daily business, shopping, walking with friends. He couldn't hear the talking or the laughter of people further into town, but he could sense it.
"That's fuckin'' insane," he said, standing in one spot, effectively watching the world go by.
Ciri rested a hand on her hip and just smiled. "No walkers. No end of the world. No monsters. Er, usually. It gets weird once in awhile but its a real city. Thriving." She swept her arms out and spun to face him.
"Tell me one for you missed more than anything. Just one thing you'd never see again?"
Just one? How could he pick just one? There were so many things he missed. Hot showers, cold beer right out of the fridge, pizza, hot, juicy steak and thick ass fries. Toilets that flushed, lights that worked. TV, radio, the ring of a telephone, the ding of a cash register. What did he miss most? How could he narrow it down to just one thing?
"Water. Clean water, running water. Toilets and showers and water that's safe to drink without boiling." It was a simple thing, a thing he'd definitely taken for granted before the epidemic. Before society failed and survivors had to scavenge for and and everything.
"Alright. Well. There's Hinkles down there. Best burgers and fries in town. Fresh water. Good food. " she laughed softly, then smiled.
"I know when I'm back home I'll miss all this. Running water is a beautiful thing. We have to draw the bath and boil the water and it is exhausting to just be clean." She pushed her hair out of her eyes.
"The apartments are down there, hot and cold running water. Welcome to your new reality, Daryl. It's a fucked up place in a fucked up situation but is a good place too." And she?' Well, she liked the outskirts the best.
The mention of food had his stomach grumbling. He couldn't help it. They'd had a pretty decent set up at the prison, but even then their diet had consisted primarily of vegetables, and fruits that acted like vegetables. They'd had pigs, but they didn't have meat very often because to have meat they had to kill a pig, and then they'd had one less.
Some part of him was certain he was either dreaming, or dead. Either way, this was some kind of dream world utopia, or something. It couldn't possibly be real. But he felt like resisting was stupid. So he nodded. "Apartment first. I need a fucking shower." She was right about the exhaustive effort just to be clean. He didn't bother much. He currently had about three weeks of dirt and grime on him.
Ciri headed down to the town, long legs covering ground quickly and easily, memory brought her the apartment number and she led him past the buildings and businesses, the thriving place. She tactfully declined to comment that he smelled like three weeks of grime and dirt.
She took a minute to find the correct one then gestured. "There you go. I'm two buildings down if you need anything, #34C, I'd be happy to show you anything you'd like." She cast a glance upwards as the snow fell harder, her brow furrowing a little in annoyance. This was not how May was supposed to go. Just this man's poor luck, to arrive when the Dome was being weird. "Actually, maybe you should come down to my place, I have food stocked up and this place is a little strange sometimes and this might be a bit more than a weird snow fall in May"
"A'ight." Daryl nodded. What else could he do? He barely knew her, but the snow was coming down and it seemed rude to turn down her invite, even though he still thought she was a nut case. She had to be at least a little bit crazy, given everything she'd said.
He vaguely wondered if it was a trick, if her being nice and seeming to be helpful was a trap to lure him in. He sighed, show hitting his face and sliding down his neck, and decided he'd trust her, but keep his guard up. he had his bow, after all and she hadn't tried to take it from him. "I guess, um. Yeah. Thanks.," he nodded a bit awkwardly.
Ciri looked up at the sky, "They don't stock the apartments with food first off, and I can almost imagine the fact that the stores? Gonna be packed full of idiots. if you want to go with that instead, sure, otherwise I have plenty of food."She pushed off the wall to make her way towards her apartment, leaving it up to him whether he wanted to come or not.
He followed, because really. Why wouldn't he? She was promising him food. It could be a trap, but the aching growl of his belly told him he didn't have much choice but to follow her. So he went, for better or worse. She was obviously a nutcase, but that didn't mean she was setting him up. She could be sincere, and honestly, he felt like she was. He didn't get any indication from her that she wasn't offering out of the kindness of one person to another.
Ciri really was just trying to be helpful. If she'd wanted to kill him, she'd have done it already. She unlocked her door and hung her sword and crossbow up inside on a hook, kicking her boots off, and gesturing him inside - he could poke around all he wanted, she'd just wait patiently - before going into the kitchen to cook them up something warm. It was really just a gesture on her end, the Dome had dropped him in in the middle of a snow storm. Not his fault, really.
Once inside, he drew in a deep breath. He hadn't been inside a lived in house since Herscel's farm, and that was not something he wanted to think back on. He sighed, and rubbed his hands over his arms. The heat was on, there was a faint smell of food that had been cooked at some point not too long ago.
He carried his bow with him to the kitchen. Holding it at his side with one hand, he turned on the tap, and very nearly gasped at the water flowing out of it. They'd rigged a running water system in the prison, but it wasn't the same as actual running water. He hadn't experienced that since the CDC.
ANd so far, no one was coming out of the bedroom or in the front door to try and kill him. "Pretty sure I'm dreaming right now."
Ciri watched him for a moment before shaking her head and smiling, she'd done the same when she first got to this time. She was going to miss running water if she ever left, she just knew it.
She pushed her hair back and smiled - "Nope but settle in, it might be a day or two based on how it's coming." she let him figure things out as she got them food. Tomorrow would be a better day for talking, probably. Maybe.