dream in mercury

"as i walked through the shadow of the valley of death. i feared no evil because i was blind to it."

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     rhodes wonders if they eve would’ve met if all this hadn’t taken place. to think that a real life pageant girl was in the same room as him, that he’d bandaged her up and they were just chased by a bunch of monsters. it’s unthinkable to the person he was before, but not anymore. “i think you could’ve done it,” he says, quietly, “you’re pretty enough.” another moment of silence between them and rhodes feels the familiar pang of guilt for his fallen. he wonders if some of them are still alive, or even if they think about him. “i don’t think it matters. i’ve been caught with worse people doing stranger things.” it’s not something he talks about a lot, or that he even likes to admit. “before all this started, my parents found me and my best friend…. uh, together.” he turns his head. “i think i’m pretty over worrying about what other people think. besides you need more time to heal. give it another minute, you know i can’t carry you if you face plant on the concrete.”

“shut up.” she said eyes rolling. “thanks for believing in me though, if things ever get back to the way they were i’ll make sure to thank you when i accept the crown.” it’s a faint distant and childish hope but she keeps it there, just in case. she leans back against the wall and raises an eyebrow at him. “that’s your big dark secret? you had sex with your friend and your parents saw you? i’d call your parents assholes but i don’t talk like that.” she looked back over at him ruffling his hair. “seriously whoever you wanna love that’s your business. that kind of stuff tends to go out the door when the world gets overrun by mutants.” 

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     rhodes rolls his eyes, continuing to tend to her until he’s sure the bleeding has stopped. he’s not a doctor or a nurse of any kind, but watching and seeing and learning are valuable traits in this new world. “yeah, we could’ve been a lot less lucky. this is exactly what i mean when i say we shouldn’t be out this far making that much noise.” he and korie don’t get to talk seriously much. they’re too busy joking or goofing off to know each other, really. her question catches him off guard, the idea that he might reminisce about a life long gone almost like a knife to his chest. “i-… i try not to,” he admits. so much loss, too much to say that he misses it. “it just makes me too sad, y’know? what about you? weren’t you a pageant girl before all of…. this?” 

the thought of her life before all this should just make her sad, but now she’s just apathetic. she’s seen enough people die she thinks, that nothing phases her anymore. she laughs and looks up at him. “yeah. yeah i was. the circuit was going on when the outbreak started. i had just won miss fulton county and was getting ready for the regional pageant. i was gonna be miss america. it all seems a little shallow now huh?” she traces a scar on her hand where a gun backfired into her palm and wonders how many points she’d get docked for it. the whole conversation is a little too close for comfort. faces, images flash through her mind of everyone she’s lost. it terrifies her to think of tacking on another person to that list. she she balances against the wall and pushes herself up. “we should get back. before you get caught making nice with someone from the pavillion.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

empathylcst:

“dammit,” she muttered, groaning lowly as she pulled out the chocolate bar, cracking it evenly in half before she held the half out to korie. “i really didn’t think you’d be able to hit that.”

“damn ronnie, you’ve know me for like a year and you still underestimate me. i keep telling y’all. miss teen georgia pageant in fifteen, sharpshooting won me the state title. i didn’t bust my ass at four-h for nothing.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     as they make it up the stairs, rhodes slides a discarded and rotting desk against the door, trapping the handle in an upright position. it wouldn’t keep any mutants at bay for long, but it would keep them safe long enough to escape should need be. he turns back to her, realizing why she grasped him so strongly when they made it through the window. “you’re hurt,” he whispers. he slides over to her, shrugging his backpack off and pulling supplies from it until he’s ready to fix her up. “this is gonna sting, cover your mouth.” he doesn’t wait for her to ready, knowing that the anticipation is worse than the sting. rhodes pours antiseptic into her wound before covering it, luckily not feeling any stray glass in the wound when the gauze wraps around it. “are you alright?”

“it’s not that bad i-” she gasps, back going ramrod straight. “shit!” she curses looking at him in disbelief. “that was mean.” she says, tapping her newly wrapped wound. “maybe st. luke’s is good for something after all.” she chuckles darkly. “coulda’ been worse, at least it wasn’t a bite or something. i’m worried you wouldn’t know how to use my gun and end up blowing your hand off or something.” her relationship with rhodes is a strange one, it had begun on a supply run, and now it was almost regular. whenever she went out on weekly runs he met up with her and they goofed off. it almost added a little normalcy to her life. “you ever think about your old life rhodes?” she says, eyes closed, a little content to lay against the graffiti covered wall.

[prvttydeadly-blog]

justsvrvivesomehow:

lucy raised her brows at the other woman, shrugging her narrow shoulders. “what do you want?” she asked, unsure of quite what to say.

korie thought for a second, twirling a finger in her hair and paused. “i want to hear a story.” she said. “i want you to tell me something about before the mutants.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     rhodes follows closely behind. physical activity has never been his strong suit, but the fear of death is enough to spurn anyone into running much faster. he looks around, noticing two or three mutants joining the chase, all of them oozing and leaking and sweating with their limbs outstretched toward them. he looks forward to see a large, dilapidated building, windows smashed out and the some parts of the roof caved in. he pulls her hand to turn that direction, taking the lead and jumping through one of the broken windows. “stairs, stairs, stairs!”

korie scrambles after him, barely stumbling through the window and not without accident. she hisses in pain as a stray shard of glass catches her in the thigh and grabs onto his elbow. “go.” she says herding them both up the stairs. the mutants outside the window seem confused for a second, nostrils flaring and then dazedly wandering back down the road. she collapses against the wall and groans. “shit rhodes. i think we lost them, but we should wait it out for a little while before we head back.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     they stand there, together, silently, watching as the monsters appear in their midst and stop them from leaving. he seethes inside, damning himself for not acting sooner, for not being more forceful in his approach to tell her they should go home. the one to their left begins sniffing louder, turning it’s head until it’s eyes land directly on them. rhodes bites his lip to stay quiet, it’s head blistering open as several more eyes gaze at them through the slits in it’s bald head. it screams at them, piercing the sound between them. rhodes grips her hand and pulls her toward the road, “time to run.” he says, like a fact. 

“oh fuck me, seriously?” she groans yanking him along as she darts down the road at full speed. occasionally she thanks her mother for forcing her into at least twelve different extracurriculars. she looks behind her momentarily to see it pursuing and looks back towards the seemingly endless stretch of road. “we need to lose it rhodes, come on smart boy tell me where to go.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     rhodes allows korie to lead them, watching with steady eyes until they lay eyes on the menace making them worry. he sees it, but no matter how many times he sees them, they never really settle well in his mind. they continue, but not for much longer. he grabs her arm, stopping her to point at another walking around to their left, stalking around and sniffing at the air. his eyes are wide, lips trembling. “what now?” he whispers.

korie’s teeth sink into her lips, heart racing. she wishes she had an answer for him but now is one of those moments when she just wants to cry, when she misses being a stupid university student back in georgia. she backs a little farther into rhodes and tightens a vice-like grasp on his wrist. “now, we are very very quiet.” she says, breath stilled.

[prvttydeadly-blog]

theosamuels:

Theo rolled her eyes at her, but with a jovial demeanor because he meant nothing by it. “Oh come on! You basically just told me I have no chance of winning, and you still won’t offer anything to make it interesting? Didn’t take you for a stick in the mud.”

“don’t be rude, didn’t your mama ever teach you about manners?” she snorted, looking back at him. “i don’t know what i could give you that you don’t already have. if you want salvation i’m the wrong person sugar.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     the worse single syllable he ever could’ve heard. he takes a deep breath, sucking it in to hold so that he doesn’t have to make any other noise while they wait to see who the culprit is. he scrambles with her gun at first, letting it hit his hands before really holding it. her arm over him makes him feel a bit more calm, but not enough to stay much longer. “whatever it is,” he dips his head to the side, “we can lose them in the buildings?”

“yeah it’s fine-don’t worry.” she wishes she believed it herself. after seeing those things for more than a year she should be used to it, but it still makes her stomach jolt; a small reminder of her utter helplessness in humanity. she marches carefully along the line of concrete extending down into the floor of the building. she sees it off in the distance, huddling along, lonesome. silently she turns to him and holds a finger up to her lips as they make their way towards the exit.

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     “you can’t avoid your responsibilities forever,” he bites his lip. another long stare out into the world they now call home. “i think it might be time to-” he’s cut off by the sound of something else moving around them. rhodes moves over to korie, sweeping his eye line around them to see who it might be. “w-was someone else with you?”

“don’t lecture me, you sound like my mom.” her eyes flit open at his distress and she removes her pistol from its holster. ever so carefully stepping forward, thin arms spread out in front of him. “no.” she whispers sharply. she grabs a nearby stick and hands rhodes her gun. “don’t shoot unless you have to.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

theosamuels:

Theo pursed his lips as he considered her question. “Do you have 20/20 vision?” Theo wondered, getting a feel for his chances. He fished a granola bar from his pocket, chocolate chip of course, and waved it between the two of them. “It’s yours if you hit it, but what do I get if you miss?”

“nope, just damn good aim. my dad liked to go to the range of weekends, i’m convinced he mighta taught me how to shoot a gun before he taught me how to read.” she tossed the rock back and forth in her palm. “if i miss...the pleasure of my company?”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

empathylcst:

“half an old chocolate bar,” she said, eyeing korie curiously before she looked back at the bottle. “don’t push your luck for the other half, too - i’m saving it for my brother.”

“well tell theo i’m touched.” korie said, not all that genuine. “i’m just motivated now, i haven’t had chocolate in who knows how long.” she closed one eye, aiming carefully and shattered the neck of the bottle. “alright pay up.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

nomorerhodes:

     “i really don’t think you should be making so much noise,” rhodes whispers, looking around their surroundings. the entire wasteland is wrought with terrors, ones he’s sure they’ve yet to encounter. he turns back to her with a worried expression. “maybe it’s time to go back.”

korie sighs, laying flat on her back. “you’re no fun.” she says, sweeping long swaths of black hair away from her face. “you always think it’s time to go back. you know the pavilion ain’t exactly as clean as the hospital. besides i’m supposed to wash the dishes and i’m avoiding it. let’s just stay out for a little longer.”

[prvttydeadly-blog]

korie fixes the rock in her slingshot, sending it whizzing across the barren landscape one more time and groans, turning back to her companion. “alright, what’ll you bet me that i can knock that bottle off from here?” she says, pointing towards the half shattered beer bottle, resting atop a dilapidated car.

[theseulgis]

joy :: ‘The Perfect Red Velvet’ Character Trailer