One of the first twd fanfics I ever wrote was a story about Daryl's childhood. He's 11 years old, Merle is just about to leave for the military (at almost 20, because of various reasons) and we follow him as he deals with being left behind, as well as his general life, trying to find his footing in a world that ultimately isn't very kind to him.
More info and a bit about the characters under the cut, if you're interested :)
At eleven, Daryl is a shy and soft-hearted, but very angry kid. He lost his mom four years ago and still has a hard time coping with it, even though she wasn't much of a mother to him to begin with, since enduring constant abuse at her husbands hands has made her withdrawn and uninterested in the world around her, increasingly turning to drink in the later years of her life.
Daryl is struggling all around. He's an outsider at his school since he's quiet and doesn't know how to talk to people, but is also very easy to provoke, quickly turning to violence. Also, like many neglected kids, he's generally unkempt and sort of smells, which is not doing him any favors. His grades are bad, mostly because he's barely literate due to his dyslexia (his school doesn't really have the resources to help him, his dad says dyslexia sounds like something Democrats made up to get participation trophies) His home life is terrible. Merle, the big brother Daryl looks up to and wants to be like and always, always desperately searches for the approval and affection of, is leaving. To add to all of it, he's starting to look differently at other boys. It's something he can't quite put his finger on yet, but it makes him very nervous and uncomfortable.
Will Dixon is the brothers' father, of course. He used to be a mechanic, but is currently unemployed and if he's not out hunting, he can usually be found at the local bar. Favorite pastimes include being the worst person alive.
Lindi Anne Carrigan is Will Dixon's new girlfriend in a long line of girlfriends that usually leave after a few months. She's 22 and completely in over her head, but she tries to be a nice stepmom, which neither of the brothers (especially Merle, who's only a few years younger than her) appreciate. She does stay longer than most and eventually manages to build a bit of a relationship with Daryl, because she's the first adult to be gentle with him and letting him be instead of trying to toughen him up at every turn (she even lets him look at the pretty magazines in the hair salon she works at). Lindi Anne is naive, but kind. When she enters the Dixon's lives she has a very bubbly personality, but she starts losing her spark as the relationship with Will wears her down. Even though he knows this, Daryl does not take it well when she finally manages to leave his father, feeling abandoned once again and growing very resentful of her.
Jeremy Elm is a weird kid that bites and has no friends and eventually grows close to Daryl, who's also a weird kid that bites and has no friends. They spend a lot of time building forts out of sticks, trying to catch fish with their bare hands, and playing with discarded weapons kids should not be playing with. The friendship is eventually cut short due to tragic events™
Bobby Banks is Daryl's no. 1 enemy, because his older brother Mitch is Merle's no. 1 enemy. Daryl is very unhappy about this, because no one bothered to ask him if he wants an enemy and he's sort of small and malnourished which usually makes him lose his fights against Bobby, who towers over him (unless he can get his teeth in)
Donny Skinner works at the local gas station. He deals meth as a side hustle and is generally well liked by the teenagers in town, because he accepts even the fakest of IDs when selling alcohol as long as you pay with cash.
Mrs. P is another sworn enemy of Daryl's. Mostly because she keeps wanting to use the gas station payphone at the same time as he does.
The story itself sits at like 15,000 words which is about halfway done, but I haven't touched it in 5 years and I don't think I'm ever going to again. Still, it's my own little mini canon around Daryl and basically the backstory I adhere to in everything I create with his character. Pieces of it are floating around in a bunch of my fanworks!
I've been wanting to do something fun to celebrate the birthday of the silliest and coolest liar assassin out there, so I figured we could do a little prompt week together, to count down to it!
Beginning from the 3rd of July, you can participate by posting anything related to the prompts offered to you in the attached prompt list (fanfic, poems, art, collages, edits, ...). Please, make sure you add the hashtag #ngmweek26 to your posts, so that I can accurately track and reblog them. Feel free to tag me as well, if you want to!
I've divided the prompts for each day into three categories: One Word, Alternate Universes, and Scenarios. You may go wild with your interpretations. You can either select one prompt for each day or combine two from the same day within one work. That is up to you.
NSFW works are allowed and so are darker topics (even if most of these prompts are rather positive). Make sure you tag your works accordingly, please!
The final day - his birthday on the 9th of July - is a free day. Which means, you are free to post whatever you want!
Thank you for joining me in my attempt to make his birthday as special as possible! I will create a masterlist of all works in the end, so that we can have a little collection of love letters to Nagumo🖤
-✨️[Uh... hello Game Master, sorry for my... English... well, more or less for the moment, anyway... Out of curiosity, how did your form... "Nightmare" feel? When... uhh... I won't say a name for... certain reasons you have towards... a certain robot.]
[P.S.: Do you prefer to be called Game or Master separately or with a separate nickname?,You are my favorite and I love your design. You really cool.]
[“…..This again….”]
Game Master was quiet for some moments. They’ve fallen into silence before over something similar. It’s like as if to compose themselves.
[“….For my ‘Nightmare’ state in general…so there’s hopefully not much mentions about it after…”]
[“…One, I incredibly dislike it. Hate it. I think a lot of people would assume it’d be enjoyable because of the boost in power. But no. No. Not at all. It’s horrible.”]
[“Overheating and overwhelmed. Thoughts are unclear and difficult to create. I’d…really just follow the previous objective I had in mind before with extreme fixation. I’m not exactly there, if you know what I mean. It feels wrong, I hate it.”]
[“The sense of empowerment and increased strength is there, though like I’ve expressed before…it feels incredibly wrong. Body feels amazingly light. Though at the same time, heavy, and there’s this constant burning sensation.”]
[“I overheat the easiest out of the rest, I’m more at risk for it. I try to keep it under control once I notice temperatures are increasing too much too fast by using cold resources at my disposal or limiting movement. I attempt to end fights immediately once I get the warning that I am.”]
[“Im not a fan of thinking about what happened, though it remains very loud in my mind. I was set up. By her.”]
[“I need her dead.”]
Their clawed hands were now fists. They were clearly enraged thinking about what she did to them. They know it.
They didn’t say anything for a while after that, keeping to themselves in silence.
I don't think it really ever occurred to me that we might keep our orientation after we die (and that would be a good thing!), until I met @nerdygaymormon here. I always thought I'd be 'cured' of my sinful thoughts and desires when I got to heaven (or the other place).
And I'm counting gender as an orientation here. Another idea I got from him because of how he writes about orientation being the way we relate to or position ourselves with regard to the world around us.
His revolutionary work centered on self-respect, self-acceptance and self-worth has changed my perspective. Not so much my perspective on what I am, but on what that means in the current and eternal sense.
