#8 Friction Match

[swan_bite]

THE WALKING DEAD

"Turkey Shoot" by Pink Kafka


friction match
"It's the end of the world. You can be anyone you choose to be." Daryl Dixon, at the end of the world.
Daryl, Glenn, Rick, Andrea, ensemble. Gen, with canon pairings. Daryl & Glenn friendship.
adult
~24,800 (complete)
link

* I love apocafics because I like when people get stretched to their very limits. most love stories (i'm not saying love is this way --cause I don't like to make generalizations because in yr life love might be unicorns, but fiction, ya know?) are apocafics in a way, anyway, so.
* last time I read a story from a hick pov, I was reading Twain. this is part of what I love about fanfiction, that its gaze based on girl gaze, based on queer or bi girl gaze, based on straight girl who is interested in queering gaze. that gaze finds beauty and finds understanding in even the types of dudes who are usually nothing but the butts of "Deliverance" jokes.
* i read it as UST between Glenn and Daryl, and then I read it as Gen and it works either way because the author finds/shows the passion of family and friendship.
* i'm rly interested in family (duh) and I tend to MOST enjoy fandoms where family features heavily, like SPN, HP and TWD. i was thinking about how Daryl is like Draco, who has to grow up and reject his family in order to find his family.

Rating: (x(x_(X_x(o_O)x_x)_X)x)

Comments

[vegarin.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you so much for the lovely rec! And a big ditto on your analogy of apocafics being like love stories.

And honestly, I have to know. Who drew that amazing fanart of Daryl? Wow.

[swan-bite.livejournal.com]

Her name is Pink Kafka (I'd never seen her art before) who manages both to draw attention to all of Daryl's physical flaws AND make him hotass at the same time. lol

Much like you, in a way, where the flaws highlight his great qualities, without being an apologist for them or something. I really loved FM. It was amazing how I could recognize Daryl throughout, and yet the Daryl at the end was not at all the Daryl of the beginning. Only great fan-writing can make a character be both IC and evolving, ya know? And yr other characters didn't feel like set-ups or plot devices, but like real people, even when they weren't so sympathetic or Daryl didn't quite understand them yet. So yeah, thanks for writing such a great fic.

[vegarin.livejournal.com]

Oh god, thank you so much. I honestly don't write all that often and this was this big trial for me (and for my poor flist, periodically subjected to my groans and rants), but your comment basically points out the very things I properly agonized over (Daryl's development as a character, and portrayals of other peripheral characters, etc), so it feels like it was all worth the pain. Really, thank you! <3