I didn't ask for this.

[papagrimes]

“Alright, you cut it out.”  It was all he could manage to say, his voice exasperated as though he were exhausted with having said the words at all. Looking over his shoulder, Rick Grimes shook his head as he watched his friend double over in laughter in spite of his protests.

“I’m telling you, man, that’s just the kind of luck you have,” the other man went on, despite Rick’s continued efforts to part their ways as he moved towards his soon-to-be home for the next year of his academic life. “But let me know, okay?” “I’m sure he’s just a normal guy, Shane, just like you and me,” Rick told the man defiantly, opening the door to his new building and shaking his head once more. The still-laughing man, Shane, looked back at Rick expectantly. “And?” “And I’ll let you know how it goes and that he doesn’t want to wear my skin or whatever,” Rick agreed, if only to get Shane to move along.  Sophomore year was already smoother in ways Rick had imagined it would be. Knowing the campus, knowing at least some people, knowing generally what to expect - things you just couldn’t know until you’d been there.

He didn’t even mind having a new roommate. For all he knew, they’d get on great. Shane had insisted on living off campus, but where was the fun in that? Junior and senior year - sure. But if Rick was going to commit to something, he was going to go all the way (a trait that he and Shane didn’t necessarily share). He owed it to his future self to at least spend two years on campus. After all, what else would he talk about at class reunions down the road? 

Approaching the door to his assigned room, he squared his shoulders, pulling at the strap of his duffel bag. Shane was rarely right about anything, anyway, and he most certainly wasn’t going to start being right with all of his ridiculous theories about whoever else was about to share this space with him. Exhaling, Rick raised a fist to the door and knocked three times.  “Anyone home?”

[aintashes]

okay but help me out. in s4e12 ( “still” ), daryl stuffs a whole bunch of money and pearl necklaces and shit into a bag while they’re in the country club. when beth asks why he’s doing so, he just sort of looks at her and continues to hurriedly shove as much as he can into the bag. and then, after killing the walkers that ambush them, daryl breaks the glass of a picture on the wall, and he takes the document inside. he also checks the cash registers to see if they’ll open or if they have money.

my question: w h y ??

theory one: it’s gut instinct; he saw the cash and the valuables and thought hey, it’d be nice to have that. plus, the document could have been land rights for the country club ( and if that’s true, that means he thinks the world is going to come back to what it was during his lifetime; and that since he holds the land rights, the club will be his ). i’m not too partial about this theory, because it feels like he would have been past that sort of shit by then, but it seems the most likely– especially because he doesn’t explain to beth why he’s doing it, he just DOES it and avoids the subject.

theory two: cash for kindling, valuables for trade. but then, what did he take the document for if there’s paper all over the place for kindling? maybe the same reason as in theory one?

does anyone have anything to add, or anything to say? i want everyone’s opinions tbqh, because this is the only set of scenes involving daryl that i’ve ever had major doubts about, ldsjfgl ??

[papagrimes]

Maybe it’s muscle memory. Or more like a phantom limb. But I don’t like that theory as much. I mean, maybe that’s what life was like with Merle, but out of that context, I don’t really see it and I definitely don’t see it without Merle’s influence. I think it’s more like Daryl Dixon has never been in a position where these things were available to him. It brings to mind all of the ridiculous you can have $108,095,830,534, but scenarios. I think when Beth asked him he didn’t respond in the same tone as him even doing what he was doing - he dismissed her because he didn’t want to think about it. Because if he did, if he honestly sat down and thought about why he was doing what he was doing, it would go much further than bagging up all those valuables. Why was he taking that money? Why did he take that document? Why does he keep fighting? 

Basically, to what end?

Maybe it’s all the carrot he leads himself by all while knowing it’s actually a piece of plastic.

He has to keep fighting. He doesn’t have to think about why.