Daryl recognizes empathy, but not as something that he's allowed to receive. It makes him balk worse than the initial intrusion, a shuttering - useless against a vampire's powers, but that flinch is there, shame, the same kind that made him turn away from open interest, only cranked up much higher.
There is nothing he needs empathy for, you see. No commiseration necessary. He is fine, because he has freed himself of old hate. His brother might have killed him, or brought him to the edge to ensure he learned; their father would have killed him. Daryl, because it was all he knew, took on these attitudes as well. He would have had them for his entire life if the world hadn't ended. How fucking pathetic. A man who needed the end of everything to be honest inside his own head.
It's too late for anything else, but it's enough. It's more than he ever thought possible, and he's grateful. He's grateful for Rick, too. And if by some trick of fate, Rick is still out there, then he wants Rick back with his wife and his kids. The pain of that will be nothing, nothing, compared to the relief of that family back together.
That one has the boat. Daryl takes a drink, catching the very edge of a lipstick stain, and asks Coco about the lady with the braid.
Good intel. Thoughts of identity slip away—
Sorry, distinct and clumsy. Whoever it is.
Rick is gone, and it doesn't matter anyway, but Lestat is... a real person. A ridiculous person, but real. Daryl is just an old hunting dog. Fortunately, he's an old hunting dog with some good shit to trade.
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There is nothing he needs empathy for, you see. No commiseration necessary. He is fine, because he has freed himself of old hate. His brother might have killed him, or brought him to the edge to ensure he learned; their father would have killed him. Daryl, because it was all he knew, took on these attitudes as well. He would have had them for his entire life if the world hadn't ended. How fucking pathetic. A man who needed the end of everything to be honest inside his own head.
It's too late for anything else, but it's enough. It's more than he ever thought possible, and he's grateful. He's grateful for Rick, too. And if by some trick of fate, Rick is still out there, then he wants Rick back with his wife and his kids. The pain of that will be nothing, nothing, compared to the relief of that family back together.
That one has the boat. Daryl takes a drink, catching the very edge of a lipstick stain, and asks Coco about the lady with the braid.
Good intel. Thoughts of identity slip away—
Sorry, distinct and clumsy. Whoever it is.
Rick is gone, and it doesn't matter anyway, but Lestat is... a real person. A ridiculous person, but real. Daryl is just an old hunting dog. Fortunately, he's an old hunting dog with some good shit to trade.