Crossbows and Moonshine (Dragonfoot455 and Travler)

Well shit..

No one expected Zombies when the virus spread like God damn Wildfire. Then people were starting to die then Corpses starting to eat the living. Alyissa had been one of the lucky ones not to be stuck in the city where things were even worse. Atleast she was out of town when it happened. For a Time Aly had wandered around with a group or two but it never lasted long before she was out on her own again. Things hadn't been easy with little food and supplies running low. Alyissa would have to settle down somewhere or she'd be in trouble. It was the moaning and groaning that caught her attention this Time. Galloping of hooves was next as a cluster of Biters overwhelmed some Horse and just like that the poor animal was torn into chunks. Sad part was if in the right place Aly could have been the one munching on Horse meat instead of those Proxy batards. Her stomach hissed and clawed like a Racoon in a cage and Alyissa wondered if she'd go hungry a third night in a row.

Aaron had run off in the opposite direction from where Daryl was when the damn horse had bolted. For several weeks now they had been trailing the thing, trying to bring it to safety. Instead of understanding that they were trying to help, the horse kept spooking every time they came near.

Now Daryl was forced to track the horse on his own. He knew that Aaron would be fine. The man had proven himself many times over, and the archer wasn't worried about him at the moment. What he was worried about was the horse getting into some kind of trouble the thing couldn't shake. He followed the sound of the thing running, then the snorts, and as the archer trailed the beast he could smell the stench that signaled the nearness of Walkers.

He rolled his upper lip in disdain. Those things were a purge upon the Earth. He slowly made his way through the woods, his feet making barely any noise as he did.

Then he saw it. The horse ran across a meadow, and straight into the brush. Suddenly the stench of rot increased with the sound of groaning and the screech of the horse as the sedentary Walkers had their lunch handed to them. At first Daryl was going to leave the undead to their meal. The horse was gone; there was no saving him.

But a flare of anger rose up in his chest. They'd been tracking the horse for weeks! It was theirs, damn it! And this group of Walkers was too close to the compound for him to feel safe. He moved forward once he had scanned the clearing for signs of any other flesh eaters. Seeing none, he stepped forward, his crossbow lifted, and fired a shot. The bolt flew true and hit a Walker's head in the ear, taking out the thing as it bent down to bite at the still screaming horse again. Once the bolt had left his crossbow he slung the strap over his head and then pulled out his two Bowie knives. This was going to be a personal fight.

Alyissa tried to block out the poor animal's shrieks of pain from echoing inside her ears. The whistling of the bolt put one of the Bastards down from making Buttons suffer more. Aly spotted Daryl near the back brush taking what seemed to be doing Target practice, narrowing her eyes to see if she could get closer without alarming the Back woods Redneck. Alyissa didn't want to be the next with a bolt buried in her brain. With the cautious gait of a wolf she decided to get closer. Alyissa was being quite silent until a twig snapped under her combat boot, "Shit" she hissed to herself hoping that she wasn't seen. Too late to duck into cover now that Aly was in range of earshot. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Alyissa revealed herself into Daryl's line of sight but kept a hand hesitate hand on her 13 inch razor sharp skinning knife that was sheathed near her gun holster

"What the fuck are you doin?" the Irish lass growled low while keeping Amber eyes on her surroundings. She was a pretty thing with long brown wavy locks tied back into a half assed braid. Aly's frame was curvy but hid enough muscle to hold her ground against any larger opponent. Amber eyes stared hard as if buring holes into him while they still held a demand of a answer.

Daryl stalked towards the Walkers, his focus on killing every last one of those decaying fuckers. The sharp snap of a broken twig caused him to whirl, his knives raised and ready to lash out. What he saw surprised him. He had expected a rotten corpse, perhaps an animal drawn out by the horse's screams. He didn't expect to see a wisp of a girl in a long braid, her own hand clutched aroudn the hilt of a dagger.

"What the fuck are you doin?"

Her question struck him as odd. Wasn't it obvious what he was doing?

"I'm killing these motherfuckers," he answered. All stealth was gone now; her question had alerted the Walkers to their presence and a couple had turned their attention to the live food. "Thanks for letting them know I'm here." His voice was low and gravely, and his eyes shifted over her face with a hint of distrust. The walking dead were coming, though, and they didn't have much time to interact. In a moment he was killing them, his hands and daggers working like natural extensions of each other as he waded through the half dozen or so undead as he made his way towards the horse. He moved like a seasoned fighter, his awareness allowing him to duck and dodge the slower creatures' attempts to attack him.

The damned horse deserved to be put down. There was no reason to let it suffer.

Alyissa watched him go in as the Walkers were too concerned with eating the innards of Buttons to pick up that the others that approached Daryl but were quickly dispatched. Now Aly could have backed up and saved her own ass as usual but couldn't watch someone get eaten while she could have helped. Huffing with frustration and slung the Rifle off her shoulder and kept the rest off his back making sure the only noise it made with the Suppreser on was the whizzing of it hitting rotten skulls. Finally Daryl had cut a clear path through the corpses to put down the suffering Horse. The rotten stench of the Walkers made her stomach turn while he seemed unfazed. She approach the animal as it took its last ragged gasps if air. "Sorry Bastard" she murmered through her Bandana to keep the smell from making her gag. Finally after a long sigh she bent over and plunged her Skinning knife into it's skull to keep him from a slow death. Orbs of fire flickered over Daryl's stoic facial expression. "Friend or Foe?" she asked after a awkward pause.

As he fought through the few Walkers that were attacking them a skull about four feet away exploded and brain brain matter splashed across Daryl's face, momentarily blinding him. He flinched when he realized that the crazy bitch was shooting the undead mere feet from where he was fighting them off.

He was in her line of fire!

Thankfully she seemed to be a good enough shot and didn't miss any that he could tell. Still, he made a mental note to give her a tongue lashing when they were done.

He finally stood over the horse, the Walkers spread around them like deflated balloons, and sliced the poor thing's neck open. The horse bled out quickly. The lips that had been pulled back in pain relaxed as the light began to slip from his eyes.

The girl was on the other side of the horse's large head and she bent to stab her knife into it's skull. Daryl couldn't help but cock his head. This chick was something else - he didn't understand her one bit and was starting to wonder if she was a bit wacked out from all the craziness of the world. Then she glared at him and he swore that there was some kind of madness in those eyes of hers.

"Are you asking or telling?" He smeared the back of a hand across his face to wipe the brain matter off, spitting to the side to get rid of the rancid taste. "Because from where I was standing I couldn't tell if you were trying to shoot the damned Walkers or me. Do me a favor, okay sweetheart? Don't shoot towards people." He frowned at her and then gestured towards himself. "Especially not 'this' people. Got it?"

Alyissa scoffed and shook her head "I was trying to help, you were outnumbered. Guess I should have left your pompous Ass to the Biters then huh?" Aly countered in disbelief at what she was hearing. "And don't call me Sweetheart " she added swinging the Rifle back over her shoulder. Alyissa used her bandanna to wipe the grey matter off of her knife. "Where is the rest of your group or you out here by yourself?" she asked now taking a few steps back. Daryl looked filthy and ironically it suited him, he was a good looking man. Gravely tone of his voice along with the rippling muscles in his Arms were nice to look at. Suppose being out on your own for so long any man could look tempting enough.

"You shouldn't have shot them next to my head," he exclaimed, pointing to his skull, "that's what you shouldn't have done!" He shook his head as he wiped the blades clean on his pants and then resheathed them. "I have never met a more...no scratch that. I have met someone more birdbrained." He scowled at her. The thought wasn't a pleasant one; he was thinking of Beth. She was a wonderful girl, but naive and she didn't think things through. He wasn't ready for that again.

"I'm with people," he said, his eyes shifting to the side. What if she had people too? Bad people?

"What about you. You got people?" He waited and let her tell him as much as she wanted to before he continued. "We have a place that's kind of safe. If you want I can take you there." His eyes narrowed. "Just don't go shooting any of my people, deal?" He adjusted the crossbow on his shoulder and then spit again, the taste of death still too strong. "We lost enough of our friends already."

Alyissa snorted in laughter "The only difference between live meat and dead meat is a couple of ragged gasps so I'd be grateful it wasn't your head. Suppose you want Introductions then...I'm Alyissa. I have no group, last one was a all you can eat buffet for the damn Biters" she huffed not looking to be very pleased to be in his presence just as Daryl was in hers but it was nice to see a somewhat friendly face. "I don't kill unless I need to" she retorted still keeping a hand on the hilt of her knife. One could thing about being alone was that it kept you on your feet. Daryl looked rough around the edges but nothing jumped out at her screaming 'serial killer' so she extended a hand towards but pulled back when a crunching of underbrush intervened

"Daryl I heard Buttons..is he?...oh" Aaron blindly blabbered but was silenced at the sight of the dead equine lying dead at their feet. He stared down at the corpse before swallowing the lump in his throat. "What happened?" he asked trying to make his voice steady as Aaron spoke, exchanging glances between the Archer and Sniper.

He seemed to snarl internally at her quip about live and dead meat. He didn’t care to be any kind of ‘meat’, but her anger at her lost group and the hint of sadness in her voice made him still his tongue. He eyed her hand on her hilt, wondering if she might think that she ‘needed to’ kill now. Thankfully Aaron showed up, breaking through the brush with about as much grace as a wounded ox.

“What… what happened to Buttons?” He looked from the slaughtered horse to the new girl, unsure of what was more amazing, that the horse was surrounded by a half dozen dead again Walkers, or that they had found another survivor.

Daryl pulled a seed stalk of grass out and stuck the pokey end into his teeth. “Aaron, meet Alyissa. Alyissa, this is Aaron, and I’m Daryl.”

“But… Buttons!”

The archer shrugged. “Damn horse ran right into the pack of them. He had some kind of death wish. Sure as hell didn’t want to come running to us…” he turned and looked at the horse once last time, muttering ‘stupid horse’ under his breath. He shouldered his crossbow and started walking. “You can come with us or not, Alyissa, but there’s food and showers at the compound. You might as well come and take a looksee rather than stay out here all night.”

Alyissa frowned slightly at how insensitive Daryl was being seeing that Aaron was upset about the Horse's death. But he had a point, there wasn't much they could have done to save Buttons. So she hesitated but gave Him a pat on the back "I'm sorry about Buttons, if it makes you feel better. Me and Daryl slaughtered every Walker that took him down" she soothed before heeling after the scowling Redneck. "So these people of yours..they the friendly sort?" Aly said not sure how to really make conversation with him after their not so great meet and greet.

On the way back to Alexandria. Alyissa tried to guess what Daryl did before the Apocalypse. Could have been a Sports Hunter but not the kind that would hunt big game for Trophies. He had sympathy for the horse when it died so that was out of the question. Maybe a Mechanic but still the Crossbow didn't add up. Alyissa ppicked up the Vest but no embroidery of any patch unless he cut it off. Could have rode Motorcycles but not like her. The Chapter of Hell's Angel she had been in back in Vegas had been small but they were just as threatening, It was pretty rare they let in women. Hell she was the only one in the damn group. Being a full patched member took far too long.

Finally the three of them strolled through the Ruins of what looked like used to be more of the community before they boarded it off. The gate was up ahead and Alyissa felt nervous at what lay on the other side not that she showed it. By the way Aaron was dressed he didn't look like he had much of a violent bone in his body.

Aaron smiled at her though his eyes were wary. He scanned the edge of the woods and then began to walk after Daryl. “Yeah, thanks for that, Alyissa. It’s just that the horse meant a lot to us; we were really looking forward to having a quieter way to get around, and something to help the labor at camp.”

He watched her catch up with Daryl, the stubborn set of her jaw reminding him a lot of the bowman. They both seemed to have been cut out of the same cloth.

Daryl turned to look at her as they walked. “Friendly? Depends.” He reached up and pulled the grass stalk out of his lips. “Sometimes friendly don’t mean good. It means that they’re sizing you up for their next meal.” He walked quietly with her as long as she would allow, not initiating talk but not scowling too greatly if she asked him questions. They finally came up to the front gates of Alexandria. Daryl waved a hand to the person in the tower, then led the small group up to the tall metal gates. They slid back and a young oriental man greeted them. He and Daryl seemed friendly enough.

“Who’s this?”

“Alyissa,” Daryl grunted. “Rick around?”

“Yeah.” The oriental man had a gun tucked into a shoulder holster and he carried a long knife sheathed at his side. “Hey, I’m Glen.” He nodded at Aaron as he came in as well, then slid the big door shut and locked it. “The mayor and Rick are at the town square, last I saw them.”

Alyissa gave Aaron a warm smile in exchange for his friendly attitude but with Daryl on the other hand seemed like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. "You always this grouchy or is it just me?" she teased giving him a side glance. Glenn was much kinder than Daryl not to mention the young Korean man was very good looking but the Wedding ring gave away that he was taken.

The community was quite quiet since Deanna threw a Dinner party as a sort of truce between the two groups for the scuffle with Aiden and Nick that morning.

"I thought there would be more people out and about here" Alyissa said gripping the hilt of her Skinning knife again Incase it was a trap. Aaron shook his head "Relax everyone is at Deanna's house. You're new so everything might seem really strange but I promise you that you're in no danger here." he soothed putting a hand on the Irish lass's shoulder.

"I think I'll skip the party thing, looks like you have running water. Could use a shower right about now" Aly sighed readjusting the Rifle on her shoulder.

"You're free to use ours if you like I'm sure Erick won't mind some Company. Speaking of which. Daryl would you like to join us for Dinner?"

The party sounded like another excuse to break open the wine and try to pretend that everything was okay. Everything wasn’t okay; Daryl could see that there was building tension in the community, and all of it because the leader was afraid to lead. He sat down on Aaron’s front porch and pulled out his knife, then he started to wipe it down and sharpen the edge.

“More people don’t usually mean it’s safer,” he said in response to Alyissa’s observation. “Sometimes the people are more dangerous than Walkers. At least with them you know what to expect.” He spat on the dirt and kept at his task, one ear bent to everything that Aaron was saying.

When he was asked to join them for dinner, though, his hands stilled. Was this some kind of weird suburban trick? Then he looked up and saw Alyissa there, looking for all the world as dangerous as Mishone. Maybe the guys wanted him to be in the house in case their new guest went all ‘the Shining’ on them. “Yeah, okay. That’d be good.”

He stood up and brushed off his hands as he waited for Aaron to lead the way. His eyes slid up to meet Alyissa as they were both invited into the little house. Who was this girl, anyway? He supposed that between Aaron and Erick they’d get more of her story out. The couple was always a good host. They were some of the few people who had made Daryl feel accepted from the moment they met.

Inside the house Aaron ran a hand through his short, wavy hair and turned to point up the stairs. “There are towels in the closet right outside the bathroom door.” He nodded to Alyissa that it was alright for her to go in. “Make yourself at home.”

Daryl leaned his crossbow next to the front door and walked in, feeling slightly out of place in the pristine home. Erick and Aaron had done a lot to personalize it, and though there weren’t any pictures of the men on the walls, their presence was everywhere.

They had certainly had a nice home despite Daryl walking around like a feral animal taken as a house pet. Alyissa couldn't help but laugh to herself as she passed him heading up the stairs. "Relax will you, the only thing here that might bite you is me" she joked making sure to take her weapons with her as a precaution. Though Aaron had offered for the two to make themselves comfortable Alyissa still didn't fully trust them quite yet.

Once she reached the Bathroom, Aly began to strip herself of all the dirty clothing before entering the walk in shower. Luckily she had packed her own bar of soap so she didn't have to wash herself with any musky smelling suds. She watched dirt and grime circle the drain as her body was lathered clean. Her muscles relaxed as the tension was washed away under the full blast of hot water. She made sure not to take too long washing herself clean incase water was limited in the community.

Erik looked at Aaron, and when the new girl was out of earshot he purred out a kitty ‘meee-ow’! “I think she likes you, Daryl. Better not miss out on your chance to pounce that.”

The bow hunter scowled at Erik. “Shut up,” he laughed, but his cheeks flushed under all the dirt.

“Don’t tease him too much, honey,” Aaron went to the kitchen and stirred the pot of stew. Biscuits warmed in the oven and a rare bottle of wine sat in the sink to chill. “He’s had a rough day. We lost Buttons.”

“Oh no…” Erik went over and put an arm around Aaron. Despite his crutches he was starting to get around pretty well. “You guys were really hoping to get that horse.”

“Yeah,” he turned and they kissed, making Daryl turn away and feign interest in their piano. He’d never played. The closest he had gotten to one was when Beth played in that mortuary. His thoughts went to her and he drew his fingertips along the edge of the keyboard guard.

“Do you play?” Aaron broke away from the kiss to notice Daryl’s preoccupation with the musical instrument.

“No. No…but I knew someone who did.” He turned to look at them. They were so happy. In many ways they reminded him of Glen and Maggie, even though Maggie had been a little odd lately. He’d chalked it up to growing that baby inside. Even Lori had gotten strange when she was carrying.

“Will you help me set the table, Baby?” Erik’s question to his lover made Daryl wonder if he could read minds. He watched them work together, the secret glances across the table were endearing. It would have made him sick if he didn’t believe it was 100% genuine affection.

The sound of the shower turned off and the men exchanged glances. Aaron leaned over the table and lit the candles. “There. Now we’re ready for dinner.”

Alyissa heard laughter as she came down the stairs fully dressed but still had her hair wrapped up in a towel. It was good to know that Daryl had some good spirit in him left. Aaron's stew smelled goof and it caused her belly to give a growl that shook her to the very core. Aly passed the Crossbow Redneck giving another sideglance that showed that Daryl was an unknown curiosity to her. Seeing the couple share affection so bluntly filled her with a sweetness that Alyissa despised. She had been wanted on multiple accounts of murder, possession of Narcotics and too many other charges that if caught would land her to get locked away for a very long time. How could she afford to even show weakness around a group of people that Aly didn't know. Still their show of affection for one another tugged a small smile out of the corner of her lips.

"Grub looks good Aaron despite the...ah romantics" she said with a awkward clear of her throat before gesturing towards the dim lighted room complete with Candlelight and wine. "Is there a special occasion I'm blissfully unaware of?"

The setting looked cute; a clean white cloth covered the square dining table and there were red cloth napkins under the spoons. Somehow they had managed to find or save a bottle of Merlot, and true to the ambiance, the water was in a wine glass that sat next to the empty ones that still waited to be filled. The candles sparkled on silver candlesticks, and even though the stew had been brought out in the pot it had cooked in, somehow the silver pot didn’t look out of place. A plate of warm rolls topped off the simple meal, and the smell of chocolate chip cookies began to come from the kitchen. A bell dinged an Erik stood back up. “That’s my cue.”

As he went to fetch their dessert out of the oven Aaron indicated Alyissa’s spot at the table, opposite where he wanted Daryl to sit. “Actually it’s the anniversary of our first date. We weren’t sure of each other and I had asked him out but we didn’t want to go out on Valentine’s Day. Too much pressure.” He laughed softly. “So we went out the day before, and now the thirteenth of each month is our anniversary. We figure-“

“-why wait a whole year to celebrate?” Erik completed the sentence as he came back in. The cookies smelled heavenly. “So now the number thirteen is lucky for us.” He set the cookies down and took a seat opposite Aaron.

Daryl had been standing behind his chair as he studied the two carefully. Once Erik sat down he pulled out his own chair and sat down as well, his expression grave. Memories weren’t always his friend. Actually, they seemed to never be his friend. He remembered too many ‘celebrations’ that turned into drunken beatings, especially after his mother died and his father decided to turn his wrath on his two young boys. Daryl didn’t blame his mother for running away when he was a boy. He just wished that she would have taken his brother and him with her. It was a long time after, even after the outbreak, before his older brother told him the truth.

Their mother hadn’t run away. Their dad had beaten her to death one drunken night, and buried her in the yard the next morning.

“You okay, Daryl?” Aaron was pouring the wine in everyone’s cup when he noticed the thousand yard stare coming from the bowman.

“Yeah,” his reply was more of a grunt. “Never better.”

Alyissa stared at Daryl for a moment seeing how tired he was from losing people, must have been someone special to look so half dead inside. She herself had endured her fair share of abuse. Her mother had been a beautiful and kind women who caked makeup on her to hide the purple on her cheekbones. Aly's real father had walked out on them when Alyissa and her twin brother were only three years old; leaving nothing behind but a old bottle of booze and an old Guitar. Her mother remarried a local Pastor who was fairly nice in the beginning until he used the word of God to 'punish' his new family but the whipping scars on her shoulders and belly told a different story.

She gratefully accepted the food and wine that had been offered to her. Erik and Aaron were a lovely couple and even better hosts. The Irish female raised a class in the air to the Couple's anniversary. "A toast then for Unlucky lovers and no Finer Ass of a Bowmen I've never met" she joked before tipping the glass of alcohol back and let it set the familiar ache to get Piss drunk set in.

The lovers laughed and Erik raised a glass in Daryl’s direction. “I think she’s talking about you there, Bud.” The conversation quickly shifted to lighter topics, but Daryl’s eyes slid towards Alyissa warily as he sipped at his wine. He wasn’t sure what to take of this girl. She was forward, brash, harsh, and a damn good fighter. After their multiple brushes with people who seemed like ‘good people’, only to turn into cannibals or worse, he found it difficult to trust anyone who seemed halfway decent. He figured they were all hiding something.

Aaron was generous with the food. He seemed to take as much joy from seeing people eat as any righteous Italian grandmother, and once they were all happily enjoying the meal his boyfriend made he turned the attention to their newest guest. “So Alyissa, tell us about yourself. What was life for you like before all ‘this’,” he indicated the world around them, “and how did you happen to wind up along?” He shook his head sadly. “We all have our stories, I guess… it gives us a common tragedy to draw from.”

Daryl was dipping the bread into the stew and seemed content to merely chow down. His body language was of someone who wasn’t paying attention, but when the conversation turned to Alyissa’s history his ears perked. This was very different from Rick’s ‘How many Walkers have you killed, how many people have you killed, and why did you kill them’ line of questioning that he was used to hearing.

Alyissa almost sputtered on her glass of Wine, obviously caught off guard by the question. "I uh.. was in a motorcycle club...done some things I'm not proud of but I'll spare you the gory details. The group I was with had camped near the highway a week back. We were overrun by Biters and I was the only one that made it out, didn't know anyone personally but was quite lonely traveling on my own" she admitted almost ashamed to share of her criminal past incase they decided to boot her out if they found Alyissa too much of a risk to keep around. Instead of discussing further about herself she turned the conversation back into the two lovers

If she got to know them a bit better then she would open up but learning first hand not letting anyone too close was the first rule of survival. Daryl seemed more interested in the Irish lass then he let on. Feeling his feral gaze on her in a strange way calmed her nerves seeing they were both pretty wild. To keep herself from making any more small talk then needed she ate the rest of the stew Aaron had provided and proceeded to keep Alcohol in her bloodstream to keep help relax a bit.

“A motorcycle club? Is that like a book club?” Erik took a sip of wine. “You know, Daryl here is building a couple of motorcycles, aren’t you, Daryl?”

The bow man glanced up and grunted. He seemed focused on his dinner.

“Maybe he can show them to you tomorrow.”

Daryl looked up at his host. He downed the rest of his wine and held it out for more from Aaron. “I can do that.” His eyes darted to Alyissa. “They aren’t Hogs, but they’ll do.” He took another long drink before setting the glass down. “You know your way around a wrench?”

As he listened he took the last of his bread and wiped the bowl clean.

Aaron smiled to himself. He could sense Erik’s cupid antics, and he approved. Everyone needed someone. “Cookie?” He passed the dish around. “Daryl, you never told us about yourself. When you showed up with the rest of your group it was kind of hectic. What was life like for you?”

He shoved the last part of the bread into his mouth and chewed, considering the question. Once he swallowed he rested his hands on the table and leaned forward. “I lived in Georgia. In the boondocks.” He punctuated his story with drinks of wine. “We didn’t even know that shit had hit the fan until a group wandered into our yard and started to eat people. My brother and I got out. Just the two of us.” He leaned back and went quiet for a long time before starting his story up again.

“Then we met up with Rick Grimes and his group, and things went crazy for a while. But most of us survived and here we are.” There was a lot of things left out of his story, but there were a lot of things left out of most people’s stories.

“So, what happened to your brother?” Now it was Aaron’s turn to ask questions.

Daryl picked up a cookie and looked at it. “I had to kill him. After he turned.” He examined the chocolate chips as he remembered the way he had felt. “When we were little I used to hate him. I would have liked to have killed him back then, but when it finally came down to it he was my brother.” He shook his head and took a bite. “You guys would have hated him anyways. He’d have shanked you as easily as he’d have killed a walker, just because of… you know. He didn’t take kindly to anything that wasn’t white or straight.”

Alyissa stared at Erik for a moment trying to decipher if he was joking "Oh you're actually being serious. No Hell's Angels were not docile in the slightest." she sighed taking a cookie before listening to Daryl's own backstory "I'm sorry about your brother man even if you didn't like him that much, it still must have been hard" she said with all honesty in voice. "My own brother was shot down but that was well before after this happened" she motioned towards outside the gates then reaching for another cookie. Aly didn't quite know what the exchanged looks between the couple was but she had a feeling that it was about how she and Daryl interacted with one another. Sure Alyissa and Daryl had much in common but they hadn't exactly meshed with one another yet. If anything she felt secure but quite annoyed in his presence. "I do know my way around a wrench, I wasn't born a do nothing sissy bitch. I can tune a engine better then you can put on your shoes..not that I'd brag about it" she said before reaching into her back pocket for her Flask of Whiskey. Aly appreciated the fine dining but it was more sophisticated then what she was used to.

Erik choked into his wine at her turn of the phrase 'sissy bitch'. His lover patted him on his back as he coughed.

Across the table Daryl grinned at her over his bread. "Yeah? You haven't seen how well I put on my boots." His eyes had lost part of it's shield, though; they were starting to talk the same language. "That's some pretty fancy wrenching for a woman who wouldn't brag about it."

Aaron was trying to save the dinner. As he rubbed a hand up and down Erik's back he nodded. "We can always used skilled people here in Alexandria. Maybe tomorrow you can meet up with Deanna and Rick. Everyone here has a job to do; it helps keep us all pulling our fair share. If you and Daryl can work together--"

"Hey. I said I'd show her the bikes. I'm not going to let some broad start messing with them until I know what she can do."

"Well, I'm sure you two can figure that out."

Daryl eyed the flask that Alyissa was drinking from.

"Alyissa, you're welcome to stay with us if you'd like. We have a guest room." Erik had recovered from his coughing bout. "Mi casa tu casa and all that. You too, Daryl. There's no reason for you to be in that communal home with Rick and everyone. I know that it's crowded in there."

"Nah, I'm okay there with the rest of my group." He started to push away from the table and gather up his dishes. "Thanks for dinner. It was good. It's always good."

Alyissa didn't know if Daryl was using a derogatory term but some part of him looked threatened by the idea of fraternizing with the opposite sex. Instead of showing of her disdain to the Redneck's retort instead she shrugged. "It's okay Aaron, some boys just don't like to play nice. I never really like partnering up with mediocres anyhow" she growled before taking her dishes and placing them in the sink to wash before twisting the cap on her flask of Whiskey "I'd love to stay with you love birds, maybe Daryl will teach me something" Aly smugly added

Alyissa found that she made friends easily when finding out they hate the same things or annoying the crap out of them and she had a few ideas in mind with Daryl, she obviously had implied she wasn't going anywhere with accepting the couple's offer to stay with them. Daryl was an expert with a Crossbow and Aly knew Guns like the back of her hand. Together they could be quite a duo....or a pain in the ass to one another more or less.