ring of fire

david tarrentino. trader. terror.

[terrortinc]

you’re gonna be okay.

“careful now, kid, that’s a big promise to keep.” he’s got on an easy smile, flickers into a wince as she works on his hand, sliced open by the slip of a blade. it’s not the first time he’s come to flora for a quick fix to some wound of varying seriousness, every time ready with a story. “getting sloppy in my old age. can’t even open a fresh box of cans without fucking my shit up.” and every time it’s a lie. 

watching her deftly bandage up the cut, david nods his head at her. “well hell, flo, look at that. any day you decide not to amputate one of my limbs is a good day for me. you plan on being a doctor someday?”

[terrortinc]

can’t have that around camp.

it’s a rare thing to catch david off guard, especially doing something he’d rather not be found doing. as much doesn’t remotely show on his face, which is masked by an easy grin that frames his joint. “aw, c’mon now, tommy boy. it’s medicinal.” drugs of any kind are few and far between, but weed has been the easiest for david to get his hands on. usually it would be given to those with pain or anxiety, if at all, considering it’s promotion of laziness, it’s lack of focus. having something like this out in the open of camp tends to make the leaders a little uneasy, gives a sense of freedom in an otherwise organized and uniform society. so these days it almost strictly runs under the radar, exchanges hands for far more selfish reasons. for david, that reason is pure boredom.

he takes a beat, and then another drag, before he’s gesturing an invitation to thomas to join him at the treeline, just on the edge of the camp. “you up for a try? can’t imagine you ever had a taste for it before, huh? shit, man, you’re already cool as cucumber, aren’t ya.” got to be, david figures, to deal with the shit ugly injuries he comes across nowadays. “here -- won’t hurt you.”

[lgbtcorp]

    fear the walking dead sentence meme:     episode 4 - 6

they don’t die. they keep coming back.

people like us run like cattle, piled into trucks – one suitcase apiece.

it’s safe inside the fence. outside, everything’s dead. everyone’s gone.

turns out there’s nothing you’ll ever take that nature won’t take back.

it all belongs to nature. and the dogs. and the dead.

she’s helping sick people.

it’s not normal. stop it. stop acting like it is.

they said there’s nothing alive out there.

i think there’s someone out there.

she needs it more than i do. you said so yourself.

don’t be a hero.

curfew will remain in effect until further notice.

be nice. so i don’t have to shoot you.

either you’re gonna go in and you’re gonna talk him down, or i’m gonna go in and i’m gonna take him down.

you’re worrying your family.

i don’t think i can do it.

they keep asking me if everything’s gonna be okay and i – i don’t have the words.

it is gonna be okay.

you’re in my head all day. i can’t concentrate.

you’re the only thing that makes me believe there’s still good in people.

where the hell is my damn truck?

was that make-up sex?

what’s going on with you?

you’re buzzing around here all day, every day, driving yourself nuts.

that is their duty.

are you listening to yourself? you’re talking paranoid.

can’t have that around camp.

there’s nothing alive out there.

i’ve already met four people that swear you’re the reason they’re alive.

he was gonna die. i didn’t know what else to do.

are you the one that decides who goes to this facility?

your friend is in good hands.

you’re a very attractive woman.

my father told me not to have hatred in my heart.

men do these things not because of evil. they do evil because of fear.

what the hell happened to your face?

take it easy!

don’t you hurt him!

he’s not a risk. i’ll look after him.

if you find this, i love you.

what i saw was prophesied. what i saw was godly.

i wish you were here, but i will see you soon.

what kind of man does that?

i don’t know what came over him.

tell me, you fascist pricks!

i’m gonna show you hostile!

you know they’re not here to protect us.

get any sleep?

what the hell is wrong with you?!

what if she dies?

i need you to be strong now, okay?

i can’t hold us together on my own.

i don’t want her to be scared.

this is how we bring them home.

i want to help you.

now we have something to trade.

i don’t want you to hurt him.

these guys are not warriors.

can you help me get my people back or not?

i said you couldn’t do that. i can do anything i want.

i got guns.

get your ass back in the truck.

i won’t hold nothing back.

i’ll tell you whatever you want.

when it comes to getting his hands dirty, he doesn’t want to.

you don’t think she’s human, do you? ‘cause if you do – if that’s what you think – then we’re just a bunch of murderers.

that ain’t a person.

are those bite marks?!

one slip-up, one ‘what if’ and we all start finding out how the neighbours taste.

so when we roll up on this bitch, you stay in the truck.

some people don’t trust the government.

the man with the blade and the man in the chair – they’re not different. they both suffer.

have you no respect for private property?

is that your bike?

i’ll ask the questions.

i’m kind of the law in these parts.

come on, i want to show you something.

they’re not coming back.

i’m not sick.

if the kid turns, it’s your ass.

i told her in detail about the violence, what was done, how we suffered.

do you think she will understand that it was necessary then to survive?

sometimes all we can do isn’t enough.

do you wonder what happened to them?

i can hear them. i can still hear them.

tell him what you told us.

i was wishing we had something to mask the smell of urine.

i look at you and i see someone who knows the meaning of necessity.

i’m gonna require a man with your talents when i make my move.

they all come back.

traumatic brain injury is the only thing that stops it.

we don’t want her to turn.

i thought this was getting better.

i thought we were winning.

it’s not safe for us to stay.

each for our own now.

we’ve got enough food and water to last us.

you won’t get in without me.

you lied to me my whole life.

they did nothing when they came for us.

who are we counting as family?

what is family now?

you might as well kill me now.

he cuts me. he mutilates me.

i will help you find your family.

just cut me loose. please.

i don’t want to have to shoot you.

you should save your ammunition.

you’ll see where doing the right thing gets you.

if things go sideways – if you see anything – you drive.

you’re gonna be okay.

take care of her, okay?

would you rather they all died?

i don’t want anyone to die.

you can’t save everyone.

if they’re dead, they’ll just keep walking, right?

it’s alright. they’re slow.

please, kill me.

the infection took her.

there’s nothing left to see.

i’ll take you with my family, but we need your help.

the dead will hear you and they will come.

you don’t have to do this, okay?

just put the gun down.

we can follow the river down to the sea.

generators kick on when the power dies.

i feel strange.

we don’t know where we’re going.

it’s like i’ve been living like this for a long time, and now everyone is catching up with me.

the only way to survive a mad world is to embrace the madness.

it doesn’t matter how you die. you come back.

don’t let that happen to me.

[terrortinc]

tarrcntino·:

after    your    mom                          ah  ,    so    she    was    dead    .    for    real    .    it    doesn’t    surprise    her    ,    yet    her    heart    still    clenches    .    at    least    one    gentle    soul    would    not    have    to    watch    as    her    daughter    ripped    herself    apart    to    survive    something    she’s    not    meant    to    .    she’s    had    four    years    to    grieve    ,    for    him    &    her    ,    &    she’s    over    it    .    ❛    but    you    did    ,    didn’t    you    ?    leave    me    behind    ,    because    you    sure    as    fuck    didn’t    come    back    .    mess    or    not    …    you    could’ve    left    a    sign    that    you    were    breathing    at    the    slight    chance    !    the    slight    chance    that    i    was    alive    .    ❜

tearful    glare    is    trained    on    her    father    ;    instincts    fighting    mind    .    she    really    didn’t    like    her    personal    space    being    invaded    .    riley    .    riley    was    the    only    one    in    such    a    long    time    to    have    been    welcomed     in    there    .    fuck    ,    it    felt    weird    .    she    wasn’t    used    to    receiving    any    kind    of    affection    ,    not    from    her    father    then    &    now    ,    or    from    anyone    now    .

it’s    an    aggressive    reaction    ,    one    rooted    from    years    of    self    preservation    .    a    survivor’s    instinct    to    protect    herself    .    palm    pushed    harshly    against    the    wrist    of    her    father    ,    using    the    momentum    of    her    step    back    to    give   it    that    much    more    oomph  !    she    was    backing    herself    into    a    corner    ,    with    a    clenched    fists    &    a    twitching    pistol    .    a    ticking    time    bomb    .    ❛    yeah    .    yeah    ,    i    am    .    i’m    also    not    a    kid    anymore    .    ❜

can’t say he’s stunned as she flings his touch away like it burns, doesn’t much blame her either. lips pursed in mild impatience, if not general unpleasantness, david backs off. italia looks like she’s barely holding her marbles now, and there’s not much of a worse combination than an emotional little girl and a loaded gun. that girl is a gun now.

“fuck you aren’t,” david argues, his tone level and hard, but flickering with the slightest bit of genuine emotion. “someone comes through a fucking window after you, what do you do? shoot ‘em dead. no hesitation. jesus, i should be cold on the ground right now. think you know everything, but you don’t, italia.” for a second it’s a lot like it was before. david reprimanding, expecting more from what was his soft, gentle daughter. she seems closer to his expectations now, there’s something vaguely sad about that.

after a beat, a huff, and a shake of his head, david saddles up on a big, old toolbox. safe to say he doesn’t plan on leaving her alone again any time soon. through the broken window, the red-orange light of a new day is beginning to creep in. “all this time, why not find yourself a group? get yourself a little protection, huh?”

[terrortinc]

gsanchcz·:

“not so bad except for all the RAPING and PILLAGING. lack of laws and society. civilisation gone to shit. people acting like literal ANIMALS and CANNIBALISTS for a bite to eat, ammo, or shelter. no trust or security.  . . besides that, not bad at all.” she scowls. she hates being this hostile, but this old white dude WOULD be having a great time in this world- it was always designed and moulded for him. she pauses. she DOES have cigarettes, but only a few left. “NOPE.” gabriela lies easily, staring straight ahead and popping the ‘p’ in the word. “outta luck. sorry.” she reaches into her pocket and pulls out said cigarettes, still not looking at him as she takes a crooked one out of the packet and lights it, before s l o w l y exhaling out a cloud of smoke.

“mm,” david hums through smirking lips, his head nodding along with her spiel. “the eternal optimist has spoken.” leaning back in his chair, he’s not exactly surprised by gabriela’s rejection. in fact, he expects nothing less. she has him grinning through her secondhand smoke, bitterly amused. “you’re a piece of work, huh? i like you.” he imagines nothing could be more insulting.

“well -- i happen to have something for you.” half eaten apple is tucked between his teeth as he reaches one hand down into his bag. gabriela’s no fool, so he shows one palm to her, assures her he’s not quite stupid enough to pull a gun on her. at least right now. from the pack david flourishes another bright green apple. “maybe not quite so outta luck.” brows quirk lazily, gauging her, before he nimbly tosses it upwards for her to snatch out of the air if she chooses. “you a fruit girl?”

[terrortinc]

tarrcntino·:

life    may    as    well    punched    her    in    the    face    ;    jabbed    a    knife    in    the    center    of    her    chest    to    reach    the    cold    heart    that    laid    beating    under    the    prison    of    bones    .    rewind    time    ,    let    her    memories    playback    the    moment    the    little    girl    had    thought    she’d    lost    her    parents    !    a    month    went    by    ,    a    slow    painful    months    of    italia    waking    up    in    the    midst    of    the    night    in    tears    ,    a    choked    sob    ,    quiet    so    the    things    outside    didn’t    hear    her    .    with    no    mother    in    sight    ,    no    father    .    no    family    in    sight    to    wipe    away    her    tears    .    because    they    were    dead    .    that’s    what    she    assumed    ,    that’s    what    she    had    to    think    because    in    what    world    does    a    father    ,    a    mother    abandon    their    child    in    the    middle    of    the    apocalypse    ,    in    a    land    she    didn’t    know    ?

lips    parted    ,    &    for    a    split    second    ,    that    hard    exterior    showed    a    crack    .    an    armor    perforated    yet    again    ,    &    she    was    bleeding    from    the    blade    of    his    words    .    the    gun    fell    an    inch    ,    pointed    at    his    chest    instead    of    his    head    now    .    should    she    shoot    him    ?    finish    what    her    brain    started    ?    you    can    tell    she’s    debating    it    ,    the    way    her    finger    doesn’t    leave    the    trigger    ,    how    it    caresses    the    little    flap    of    metal    .

but    he    gets    the    best    of    her    .    the    pistol    lowered    ,    now    no    shield    covered    her    puffy    eyes    .    the    tears    locked    at    the    base    of    lids    ,    never    crossing    the    threshold    .    ❛    shut    up    .    shut    the    fuck    up    ,    you    …    YOU    LIAR    .    ❜

“fucking hell, kid,” david winces, his grimace shooting away from her. “maybe i always was a particular kinda asshole, but you think i’d fuckin’ leave you behind?” sure does say a lot about what kind of father italia thinks he is. granted, she’s not really far off. he did leave her behind. “i was -- fucked, all right? really fucked. after your mom --.” he can’t remember a time the rest of that sentence has ever left his lips, been freed from his tormented mind. he decides today isn’t gonna be the day, italia can fill in the expletives. “if they could get her, they’d get you, too. and maybe i wasn’t really keen on seeing that mess, okay?”

but they didn’t get her. she’s survived, all this time. he fills in more of the space, glass crunching under his boot. david pauses with his hand raised, gives her some time to decide to pull her trigger, before he lays his palm on the crown of her head. feels the realness of her, his daughter. “you’re tougher than i thought.” that’s my girl, he thinks.

[idolshe-arc]

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍  .  abandoned   shed 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄  .  end   of   the   day   /   early   morning

there   was    a    loud   noise   in   the   shed   ,   the   shattering   of   glass   ripping   her   out   of   her   restless   sleep   .   italia’d   thought   she’d   be   relatively   safe  for   the   night  where   she   was   ,  the   door   barricaded   ,  the   only   way   in   being   the   WINDOW   she’d   climbed   through   .   gun   was   already   ready   to   fire   ,   the   barrel   armed   and   pointed   at   her   guest’s   head   .   ❛   take   one   more   step   ,   and   i’ll   be   feeding   your   corpse   to   the   dead   .   ❜

[terrortinc]

foraging isn’t too high on david’s list of fun things to be doing. he prefers to enlist hunters for that, reap the benefits. but he’s looking for something important today, something highly coveted. he just didn’t realize how accurate his findings would be.

“yeah, yeah, yeah.” he’s too busy shaking the glass off his jacket to mind the muzzle aimed at him, wouldn’t be the first time and he’s smarmy enough to believe it won’t be the last. no surprise here.

until he gets a look at her, and he’s pretty sure he’s dreaming. conked his head worse than he thought coming in through that window. fucked off to some twisted dreamland in which his daughter isn’t dead or, worse, still walking, decaying somewhere. dead, she isn’t, undead neither. his bated breath releases in a shaky exhale. “jesus fucking christ.” it would be god’s fault. who else could have such a fucked up sense of humor? after all this time -- she’s here. in a fucking shed. “-- tal?”

david actually laughs, totally humorless. entirely stunned. he steps forward and it’s only then the presence of her gun becomes a little more obvious. in lieu of a little white flag he limply raises both hands. “you wanna hit me with one of those quiet pills, i can’t blame you.” after all, he’d left her for dead. he thought she was already dead. david’s never felt such a desperate urge to make excuses, to explain himself, until this very moment. for the first time in a long time, he struggles to find the words. “shit, tal... i didn’t think you’d-- i figured you were dead and gone. if i’d’ve known...”

[terrortinc]

“-- shiiit, end of the world ain’t so bad.” david’s smile is all teeth, his head cocks. “no traffic. no more taxes.” as if he hasn’t always evaded them anyway. sprawled over an old rusted out chair, he chomps messily into an apple. glittering eyes scan the horizon. “sure, you can’t turn around without knocking over some dead thing tryin’ to kill ya, but hell. better than holding your dick in a dmv line or something.”

resting his implicating gaze on the person opposite, david leans forward onto one knee. his lips purse into a curious smirk. “except cigarettes. damn, i’d kill to go to the corner store for a pack right about now.” nevermind the carton he has stashed in his cache -- emergency trade stock, or maybe a particularly shitty day. “wouldn’t happen to’ve found any around i could bum, would ya?”

[terrortinc]

so! my laptop charger is broken ;( the new one is coming tomorrow so i’m gonna post a quick lil open starter w the last of my laptop battery and then i’ll be back here and on @ingood​ tomorrow to start responding to all the other fabulous starters <3 ttfn

[terrortinc]

( jeffrey dean morgan. 49. he/him. ) we spotted DAVID TARRENTINO around toledo today, just another gear in the machine of the apocalypse. i heard he is a TRADER for CAMP AILTON. i guess it fits, seeing as he’s known to be + persuasive & + clever, as well as - self-serving & - surreptitious. they often have ring of fire by johnny cash stuck in their head while they work. i wonder if they’re prepared for what’s coming ? 

before.

david tarrentino has always been just a cog in the system. grew up in foster homes and he sure grew up fast. learned the streets and didn’t much care for them. he wanted more, he wanted to throw a wrench in the machine that spit him out. he’s always been calculated, always been careful despite the smug swagger he walks around with. he’s looking out for number one.

it’s easy to band around a kid with a whole lot of confidence and even more connections. the alchemy of managing what one might call a gang ( david calls it a business ) is tricky, but he’s a smooth talker, could cut a deal with a nun.

he started running a small time game, buying and selling (and stealing) guns on a dark market. used the funds to buy his first piece of real estate before his 23rd, flipped it for a major profit and he only went up from there.

around the time the world went to shit david had a whole line of condos to his name and a thriving (albeit underground) weapons business. not to mention a wife and daughter. he really thought if anyone would slither out of the apocalypse it would be him, but not even david could be so lucky.

now.

after his plane crashed, he and his wife left his daughter and their pilot behind. they would find shelter, safety, and bring italia to it. things never work out so easily. he wife died quick, too fast for david to process (to this day) and for the first time he realize he’s not exempt. his daughter presumed dead, david moved on. let the madness roll right off his oily back.

he spent some time bouncing around the rogue factions, riling together a band of merry misfits before leaving them behind (in peace or usually in pieces) when things got too dicey.

about six months back he found ailton, decided he’d be happy to use them for their protection and safety. he plays a character here, just a simple man with no taste for violence. no, see, that’s why he’s a trader. he likes working with the living, not the dead (the one truth in his many lies). and just like before, he runs a game. supplies are often siphoned off, traded for his own nefarious plans and desires. no matter what, david only cares about himself. first and foremost.

traits.

david, though typically charming in a murderous used car salesman kinda way, isn’t a very friendly type. he doesn’t smile, he smirks.

even with his daughter, he was never one to show much love. he cared in other ways, he’s a big picture kind of guy. unless it’s part of a larger goal, he’s not kind nor considerate. 

he is, however, a good person to have on your side, if you get him there. he can be fiercely loyal, his true partners are very serious to him. every man, even the bad ones, need someone to lean on once in awhile. david in particular loves a group atmosphere. he loves chaos, anarchy. very much a wild thing.

connections.

people in other camps who trade stolen goods with him, those who might be part of a possibly burgeoning black market.

someone who rightly suspects him of being up to no good. he hasn’t been caught so far, but to have someone on his tail and finding out about his antics would be super fun.

friends ish. prob not super deep, but ppl who might be able to stand him lmao. frenemies are probably more likely. hooks up, too, he’s a pig but hey. some ppl dig that, right?

seeing where a dynamic goes is also v v fun too :~)