𝕧𝕠𝕕𝕜𝕒 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕪.

it was easier for reggie to sleep through the night now, she’d found a technique that helped her knock out fast - - and it relied on her memory of the meditation tapes she’d fall asleep to throughout college when she’d be up all night worrying about an exam. however, this night in particular, reggie was faced with a nightmare - - one that felt all too real. tossing in turning in her sleep, mumbling out “no’s” and “it’s me”s while in her resting wakefulness, she was met with the walker version of her wife, daisy.  frantically forcing herself awake, panting, tears streaming, and sweat gluing the stray pieces of her high bun to her face - - she had knocked the bedside framed photo of her and daisy’s wedding day onto the ground and shatter the glass in a moment of panic. 

that only added to her tears as she sadly creeped over to behind the curtain, tapping a sleeping cj’s shoulder gently . she knew how much she resembled a child waking their parent after a nightmare , but what could she do ? “ ceej . . .” she whispered, a tear dropping onto the blonde, that she immediately wiped off, “ s-sorry, i - - i had a nightmare . . . can i . . .?” she trailed off, embarrassed to finish the statement . 

COLBY PAUSED HIS MOTIONS FOR A MOMENT as he recollected on the fond memories of treating reggie’s very minor burns after she had set her sleeve on fire. he couldn’t stop the laugh that spilled from his lips, moving closer to her body so that he could wipe the excess ointment off. “i cannot believe we not only have to worry about you with fire, but now you with just about any inanimate object. what are we gonna do with you, reg?” colby was joking, of course. he was more than confident when it came to treating the minor injuries that resulted from sheer clumsiness in their new world - it was the bigger things that made him stay awake at night. colby allowed his hand to lightly ‘slap’ the girl before him, his fingers brushing against her cheek in a tapping motion as a revenge action for the ‘kick’ he had received. “thank god we have a big bad wizard of oz like branch around to keep us safe, yeah?” he laughed as he removed his gloves from his hands, tossing them into the nearest trash bin. “anythin’ else i should be assessin’? i swear if you’re hiding a secret sprain or somethin’, i’ll slap you for real this time.”

“YOU POKE FUN BUT I PROMISE my words are going to be echoing in your head the next time you start fuckin’ around with mother nature,” colby said with laughter lacing his words. truth be told, he knew all about the clumsy injuries that a person could bring upon themselves. there had been a time, pre-apocalypse, where he spent a lot of his time drunk and taking a spill all over the place. “i do have to admit though,” colby started as he started using antibacterial ointment on the gash presented on her cheek. “the scar this most likely will bring will definitely give you a leg up on the poor bastards who run into you outside the walls. just hope there aren’t any big, bad tree roots hidin’ out for ya.”

☠  —  don’t  open,  dead  inside  !  oh,  wait  !  that’s  just  reggie  quinton,  you  know,  the  cis  female  scout  in  the  mountaintop  community  ?  she  is  twenty  nine  years  old  and  looks  a  lot  like  laura  dreyfuss,  but  i  mostly  just  see  them  wielding  a  pistol.  now  that  you  mention  it,  i  don’t  think  i’ve  ever  seen  them  without  their  cracked  round  glasses.  which  makes  sense,  since  they  seem  to  remind  everyone  else  in  their  group  of  clinging  to  the  tattered  books  she  loves  so  well,  a  gentle  gaze  with  a  caring  smile,  and  the  hurt  of  losing  everyone  she’s  ever  loved.  well,  hurry  up  and  let  them  in  !  we  can’t  leave  them  for  the  walkers  !