i’ve been saved by the grace of southern charm!

[dell-barker]

✧ ⸻ is that COURTNEY EATON? no? that’s DELILAH JANE “DELL” BARKER? are you sure? she has been here for TWO MONTHS, and they now live in THE HIGHLANDS. no wonder i missed them! it seems that they are also THIRTY TWO and that they work as a JOURNALIST at THE WEEKLY PIONEER. are you telling me that they are loyal and intelligent, but also people-pleasing and privileged? i guess it makes sense they would remind people of the tarnish of bargain-basement silver, a dog following around his owner, keeping the smile on your face until it strains, looking for a place called home. now i can’t wait to meet them !

{pinterest}

tw for vague references to guns, homophobia

tldr 

southern in a the night the lights went out in georgia way and not a morgan wallen way. she can fix everything except herself. the only thing she wants to be is useful.  

full name: delilah jane barrett barker

nickname: dell (preferred), lila (tolerated), DJ (only to her family)

age: 32

date of birth: january 29, 1994

zodiac sign: aquarius 

hometown: savannah, georgia

gender: cis woman, she/her

sexuality: lesbian

occupation: journalist, weekly pioneer

family: jett and ruby "pookie" barker (parents - yes, those barkers, like the supermarket), wyatt barker (eldest brother - remember his failed run for mayor?), cora barker (older sister) 

character inspos: caitlyn kirammen (arcane), charlotte la bouff (princess and the frog), elle woods (legally blonde)

background

when the topic of delilah jane came up around the dinner table, everyone would soothe her parents. they had done everything right.

they had taught her how to ride a horse, how to play golf, how to make sweet tea, how to shoot a gun. they had sent her to the right summer camps, the right private schools, the right sorority at the university of alabama. they had paid for the brightest highlights, the best dance lessons, the biggest cotillion dress. how could they have had any hand in how she turned out?

well, now that we’ve brought it up. perhaps there should have been a shadow of concern when she had switched her major from english lit to journalism, but she would have been the cutest little tv anchor on WSAV. when she’d cut her hair to the nape of her neck, maybe some raised an eyebrow, but short hair could be just darling on a young woman. even after graduation, when delilah jane brought a string of roommates to easter brunches and christmas dinners, someone might have wondered why the scion of the barker grocery store fortune needed to split the rent, but that was just delilah jane. she’d always hated being lonely. 

but when her brother’s mayoral campaign was torpedoed by a headline accusing him of embezzling campaign funds with the byline dell barker - well, hindsight is 20-20.

did you hear she moved halfway across the country for some job at a rinky dink newspaper? shame - she must have been fired from the Savannah News. wonder how that happened. it must be lonely out there in, what was it now? raccoon springs? well, with the way she’s been acting lately, maybe she’ll be better off in the rockies. 

now, delilah jane knows she’s welcome home any time. all she needs to do is write a nice apology letter to her brother (who would have been such a good mayor. he worked so hard, it’s just not fair, is it?). when she’s ready to stop being so sour, we’ll even fix her up with a job at the supermarket. something with a fancy title, so she can feel real important until she settles down. yes, of course we cut off the credit card. lord knows what she’d be doing with it out there.

well. bless her heart.

headcanons and other bullets

she does not believe her parents are bad people. in delilahland, they saw her article and were horrified by her brother’s bad behavior. her parents had done their best to teach her right from wrong, had brought her to church every sunday. they had told her she could change the world.

she didn't understand that their world wasn't supposed to change. they had politely thumbsed up her text and made a call to her boss. she’d been greeted at the office the next day with a cardboard box and a paper full of circled job listings. 

deep deep rich girl guilt. frequently goes too far trying to correct it and makes everything awkward (she paid the rent for her entire college house for a full year because she was too embarrassed to ask people to pay her share).

Young Teen Miss Radium Springs 2007

all she wants is to be taken seriously but it’s really hard to do that when people hear her say shit like sheet or sugar like shug-ahhh. being serious, in delilahland, means you don't have a georgia accent, and you've never done a shotski, and you are polite to everybody, even when they're not polite to you, and you don't put your hair in curlers.

thinks she’s the most capable person alive but has legitimately no financial acumen and has no idea how to save money now that she doesn’t have her trust fund to fall back on 

also can’t cook for shit

drives a giant truck #serious

it is a misconception to think her life has always been softness. it is only that it has been safe. she's never been afraid to get her hands in the mud, both figuratively and metaphorically, but she doesn't understand why she can't also have a manicure. trying to deconstruct her mother's training to always have two out of three done (hair, makeup, outfit) but is still kinda scared to go to the grocery store without no makeup makeup on.

lovergirlllll... scared of her own company so she is a serial monogamist who falls in love on date 2. always getting dumped for not being vulnerable though ://

very strict moral code that makes sense to literally no one but her. the worst thing you can be is rude in delilahland.

she hides it well but she's so angry all of the time - angry at her parents for not letting her come home, angry at herself for wanting to, angry at the world for not being a place worth calling home.

wanted connects

mostly under construction so lets chatttt but some ideas

would love someone she hooked up with when she first got to town who thought it was a one night stand but dell had a crush

someone maybe who took her under their wing when she moved?

neighbors who hate her for always setting off the fire alarm when she cooks

someone who knows who her family is?? maybe through industry connections or college

[derailmvnts]

‎ jamie would hate to pass up the chance to say 'i told you so', but he understands, at least from what little that stuck from his upbringing, that he was supposed to be the gentleman in this situation. rolling his windows down (his ancient truck's still got them manual wind-down thingies), he can't help but grin. not for her misfortune, but for the way she's so desperately trying to play it cool. "the check engine light isn't a suggestion, you know." which is a variation of the 'i told you so', so that doesn't count. her car already sounded like death when he heard her pull out from her driveway this morning while he was fixing up her next-door neighbor's fence. he'd made a brief remark towards her, had suggested checking it out himself, but he wasn't sure if she took him seriously. "hang on." he rolls the passenger side window back up and pulls up just in front of her car, turning his hazard lights on before killing the engine and hopping out of the truck. "mind if i take a look?" he pauses, considers that maybe she wouldn't want anything to do with a stranger, "i'm jamie, by the way. we're neighbors. sort of." though not typically a handshake guy, he holds his hand out for her, anyway.

[dell-barker]

"you sure? i thought it was a good thing, like engine, check!" she jokes even though her palms are starting to sweat. "be my guest." she popped her hood - she knew that much - and put her hands on her hips while she studied the way she'd always seen mechanics do. she wasn't completely helpless with a car, could change a tire and change her oil, but this appeared to be beyond her capacities. "dell," she surreptitiously wiped her palms on her long denim shorts before shaking jamie's hand. "yeah, from this morning. i remember - i'm good with faces." names, not so much. "guess you called it."

[attaboylew]

courtney via elmshoots

[dell-barker]

🔒 : do they guard intimacy, or give it too freely?

both, in equal measures. dell is free with her physical intimacy, always quick to hug a stranger or kiss a friend on the forehead, but she has learned her lesson about emotional intimacy and very rarely drops her guard.

[deervalleyhq]

as requested and voted on the discord poll, we are hosting a few meme days to get the juices flowing ! from tonight (monday) to wednesday, you are welcome to reblog this post if you want to take part on the action. please know this is not mandatory, but we would love to see more of your muses on the dash and this can be a great way of doing it !

the selected memes this time as are it follows:

symbol headcanon

a bunch of questions

headcanon questions

drunk texts

dialogue prompts

[ablcze]

"you sure pumpkin?" maggie called out, slowing her car down to a stop just near where the other car was currently sat. she could see the determined look in the woman's face, but there was something about that (and the fact that her car did not sound right) that made her feel inclined to stop anyways. she didn't usually take this road at this time of day either, but a detour on the way out of dropping her kids off with their dad somehow brought her here, and hell, if that wasn't a sign that she was meant to help her. her mama would call that a sign from god, but she had her own opinions on that.

"now i've never been good with cars myself," she began, parking her car in front of the other, out of the road. "but i can at least call someone for you? or i can just stick around for safety if you already called."

[dell-barker]

the pet name pulls at something in her heartstrings that dell was determined not to grant credence to. "i'm not going to call," she shook her head with determination, neglecting to mention she had no one to call. "i think it just needs a jump? i have cables in my trunk - unless you have somewhere to be?" she cut off the ask before she even really asked it. "i'll really be fine. i'm not even that far from home, i could just walk." although the melting ice cream in the back seat might not successfully make the trip.

[dell-barker]

who: open!

where: side of any road

dell was no expert on cars, but she was pretty sure they weren't supposed to make that noise. stress sweat started to bead on her forehead as she pulled over on the side of the quiet road. she didn't exactly have the funds to be calling a tow these days. "you're good," she assured herself. "you can handle it." she vigorously shook her head at the slowing passing car, shouting out, "i've got it! everything is under control! i do not need help!"