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ROSALINE SMILED lightly whilst leading carl over to where the rv was parked. the boy giggled while rhaegar jumped around him, barking in excitement. he knew he was going to be playing games.
"what'd you say we were going to teach him?" carl queried grabbing the tug-of-war toy wrestling the german shepherd for it.
rosaline laughed pulling rhaegar off, "to find something that's hidden."
there was a hidden meaning behind that. she knew that if rhaegar was taught something such as tracking down a target and finding it, there could possibly be prevention of what happened with sophia. by sending him out and looking for it as soon as it happens.
"that's actually smart," carl nodded an impressed look on his features, "like walkers?"
"and people." rosa replied, "right little man, help me pick out a good spot and i'll keep rhaegar from seeing."
"got it." carl scanned any possible spots around the farm to place the toy. finally, his eyes locked onto a log that had the insides withered out. quickly, he ran over to it and stuffed the object inside.
"we good to go, carl?" rosaline called to him whilst he returned.
"yeah!" he said grinning at her eagerly.
"you wanna set him off?" she offered.
"of course!" the boy practically squealed with excitement.
"alright come here," she gestured with her hand, whilst pulling out a similar toy that held the same scent, "all you need to do is hold it out to him and say 'find'."
carl took the toy and stepped towards the large dog, extending his hand so he could sniff it, giving him the simple instruction, "find."
with that, rhaegar raced off, nose already to the ground whiffing any sign of the scent up. it would be a hard task for him as the smell of food, farm animals, and other people filled the area.
it proved a good challenge.
the male had searched around the property for around five to ten minutes before finding the toy wedged inside the log. of course rosaline already had the reward at hand when he trotted back. some dried meat.
the two took turns rewarding the canine, whilst carl was finding all the spots to hide the toy. it was a good practice, and most of all it was enjoyable for all of them.
across the field, daryl watched them sharpening his knife. he was spectating their little game. he had been thinking about what he'd said to her and his attitude. the man was deciding if that was really how he wanted to be.
his moods were consistently changing, it wasn't affecting just him - he knew that fairly well.
"daryl." his thoughts were interrupted as lori approached, also watching her son and rosaline.
did she tell lori about what happened? was she coming to scold him for being pushing rosaline away?
"you moving to the suburbs?" she joked, trying to spark up the conversation. however, it just pointed the fact out more that he'd distanced himself from the group, even going as far as setting up his own camp a ways away, "listen. beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. we need hershel."
he looked down keeping on sharpening his knife, leaving his attention from rosaline, "yeah, so what?"
"so i need you to run into town real quick and bring him and rick back." she requested, crouching to be on eye level with him. as if that made a difference to the marksman.
no answer. he wasn't going to be an errand boy for these people anymore. his previous argument with rosaline replaying in his head.
"daryl?" the woman repeated.
he swung his eyes from his knife to her and then back down to the knife, "your bitch went window shopping. you want him? you fetch him yourself. i got better things to do."
lori couldn't help but be shocked at his rejection, "what's the matter with you? why would you be so selfish?"
"selfish?" daryl snapped, "listen to me, olive oyl, i was out there looking for that girl every single day! i took a bullet and an arrow in the process. don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty!" he jerked his knife at her seething in anger.
how dare she?
lori stood idly, speechless.
"you want those two idiots? have a nice ride. i'm done looking for people!" he sat back down, going back to sharpening his knife.
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an hour later, rosaline had asked andrea to take over looking for carl because she needed to practice her shooting with the bow. the little boy asked if he could keep rhaegar with him. she agreed.
there was nothing more to do now than the search for sophia was gone.
she may as well teach herself something useful.
however, when the afternoon came around nobody else could take over to look for him. rosaline went to search for lori. her adopted mother seemed nowhere to be found.
during her game with carl and rhaegar, rosaline had noticed her chatting to daryl and then walking off. that was the last time she'd seen her.
after asking everyone and receiving the same answer, the girl knew that she would have to go and ask daryl. that wasn't something she was comfortable doing, since he had told her to leave him alone.
those words did hurt her because she had usually found herself chatting with daryl, just like good friends would do.
swallowing her pride, for the good of lori, the girl found herself walking over.
daryl couldn't help but shake his head as he saw her approach, "what do you want?" his tone bitter.
"nobody knows where lori is." rosaline answered crossing her arms, shooting him a glare, "i last saw her talking to you."
so she had been watching. he scoffed, "yeah she came over ranting and raving about how i should be out lookin' for old officer, who went to collect the nursing home."
clearly, he was referring to hershel.
she rolled her eyes, "what'd you say?"
"told 'er to go get him herself," he replied, wiping off his arrows with the cloth he kept latched to his belt.
rosaline's eyes widened, "and you just let her?!"
"like i said, i'm done being people's errand boy around here. if you all want something, go do it yourself. i ain't gonna waste any more time than i already have." he threw the rag down onto the floor standing up and going over to rosa, towering over her.
he was hoping she'd leave. every time he looked at her, guilt seemed to eat away at him for what he'd said to her. the only way to make her go was to add on; hopefully, she'd just get sick of him.
although, she proved otherwise, as she stood looking up at him not moving an inch. if she did, she'd show him how much he bothered her and that wasn't something she was planning to do.
"daryl you need to stop with this," she said, keeping her eyes trained on him.
the redneck exhaled sharply through his nostrils, moving away from her, "you don't get to tell me what to do."
"i'm not telling. i'm asking." she retorted, "you were fine before. what happened?"
"i went through what the old man would call, 'enlightenment'." daryl mocked, "that good enough for ya? now go."
"fine." she said, walking away, "if she dies out there, daryl, that's on you. she's pregnant for god's sake!"
daryl's head shot up. that was a first. he was only hearing this for the first time. it wasn't a secret around camp; he didn't care much for things like that though, so he didn't notice.
before he could say anything, rosaline was gone. out of his sights.
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dinner came around and once again, daryl decided not to show. instead, the food went to rhaegar, as there was enough.
the green-eyed girl sat herself between carl and t-dog. she'd decided that lori must've found her way to rick and was with him. beginning to eat when carol passed out the dishes.
"carl, i want you to keep your head up, okay?" shane comforted, "your old man, he's the toughest son of a-"
"sh-" rosaline started but patricia already beat her to it.
"no cussing in the house," she warned.
shane apologized.
"lori! dinner." carol called, assuming she was back.
rosaline raised her head, "she's not here. i've asked about her earlier."
"where is she?" shane asked immediately.
she glanced at him, "i spoke to daryl. she asked him to go look for them. he said no, so she must've went out herself. i argued with him on why didn't go and he said he's done running around doing us favors. if she isn't back, i'm assuming she's found rick."
"she went after them? alone?" andrea asked, shocked that the woman didn't even think to ask any of them.
shane almost went berserk, "you didn't think to tell us?"
"shane, the last time somebody told you something you went all ape on us. why would i, if she isn't back she might be with rick." she argued.
"what if she's hurt?"
rosaline stopped. she hadn't considered that possibility, in fact, she refused to. lori was strong, she knew her way there. she couldn't get hurt with a gun on her, right?
shame clouded her eyes. she remembered what she'd said to daryl. she was such a hypocrite, "she has a gun on her, i know because it's not there normally where she leaves it."
shane stopped what he was doing and pushed out of his chair and rushed to the car without another word.
"i'm coming with you." rosaline decided. she was going to make up for not going after lori.
"fine, but you ain't taking the dog." he said.
rhaegar was already with her, "why the hell not?"
"dead weight."
"like hell he's dead weight, shut up shane, and let's just go get her." rosaline seethed opening the car door up for her dog, "he can find people better than you can that's for sure."
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carol decided to pay daryl a visit after what rosaline had said at the dinner table. the older woman was extremely disappointed in his lack of empathy for other people, especially rosaline.
"the others aren't back yet, rosaline and shane went to look for lori, you didn't say anything to her? you argued with rosaline?" she questioned, thinking everything was unbelievable.
"yeah the dumb bitch went out looking for 'em herself. what happened with the girl don't matter to me." daryl said simply. he was crafting new arrows out of some sturdy sticks he'd found.
after looking for sophia he was starting to run out.
carol started to walk away but something stopped her, she marched up to daryl, "don't do this. i've already lost my girl."
"yeah that wasn't my problem either," he muttered meeting carol's eye, his hand throwing the wood into the ground, sending it clattering away.
"please don't push people away. if me, at least not rosaline."
daryl's fuse almost blew. when he was trying to get the girl out of his head, people were forcing her into it. what was it with her that people associated with him so much? he couldn't stand it anymore.
"will you stop talking her as if i owe her anything? she ain't my problem, i don't want nothin' to do with her!" he barked, facing carol.
carol shook her head, "you know that's not true."
"who says?"
"anyone that has a pair of eyes." the gray-haired woman glared, crossing her arms, "you're running away from everybody because you're afraid. you're pushing her away because you care. that's the last thing you want. to care. you think you're better off on your own. daryl. you're not."
"come back and tell me that when ya know me." daryl scoffed.
"i do know you. the real you." carol said, beginning to walk away, "and so does she."
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oof, that's a bit rough daryl. is he willing to listen though? he knows those words ring true.
don't forget to vote and comment! <3
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