Welcome to Copper Bluff
Challenge #9 at tvrealm was to "create your own fandom realm with existing television characters". (Below the cut you'll find meta, a short story, graphics, icons and a fanmix. Whew!)
* * *
Copper Bluff, Wyoming. After the death of his wife and newborn daughter in childbirth in 1855, Rick Grimes pulls up stakes and moves to this small farming community. Within a few years he's re-married and settled in as a rancher and farmer, remaking his life and taking in a number of strays along the way, including the town drunk Hershel Greene and emotionally stunted drifter Daryl Dixon. Also headed to Copper Bluff: bounty hunters Dean and Sam Winchester, who are searching for the Dixon brother who killed one of their closest friends.
(Meta)
After the death of his first wife, deputy Rick Grimes hangs up his badge and moves to the small town of Copper Bluff, Wyoming. The frontier town is the perfect place to start a new life. Rick marries widow Carol Peletier and transitions to life as a rancher, determined to keep his head down and avoid trouble. But he can't resist his inherent instinct to help others and his ability to see the good in people, and soon finds his ranch populated by those whom the townsfolk view as the detritus of Copper Bluff. Among them are Andrea Miller, a former saloon girl who turns out to be an expert marksman; Glenn Rhee, an outcast in the town because of his Asian ethnicity, whose quick thinking has saved the ranch from ruin on more than one occasion; and Hershel Greene, who used to end most nights dead drunk under a card table and now tends to the Grimes livestock, clean and sober for the first time in over a decade.
Daryl Dixon is the newest addition to Rick's ragabond family. An expert hunter and tracker, Daryl is the son of an alcoholic, abusive father and younger brother to Merle. He has spent his life struggling with their bigotry and neglect, closing down emotionally and lashing out in anger when he can't escape from the cycle of abuse. It's only when he and Merle are separated - long after their father has died - and he's taken in as a ranch hand on the Grimes homestead that he finally finds people that truly accept him. He becomes a stronger, kinder man through the support of Rick and his "strays", and eventually becomes foreman of the ranch, proving himself to be an invaluable ally and friend to the Grimes family.
* * *
John Winchester taught his two boys everything he knew about hunting - hunting animals and hunting people. With his death, Sam and Dean carry on the family tradition, often choosing to accept assignments that most other bounty hunters won't touch. Their latest case, however, is personal. Their friend and colleague, the famed hunter Rufus Turner, has been found murdered - and the man all say is responsible, Merle Dixon, has been sighted in the town of Copper Bluff. Sam and Dean are determined to bring Merle Dixon to justice, no matter what it takes.
And when Merle shows up one night at the Grimes ranch, bloodied and on the run, Daryl is forced to decide exactly where his allegiance lies: with the people that took him in, sheltered him, and taught him what family truly meant - or with his only blood kin.
~ * ~ * ~
(Ficlet)
Copper Bluff
Daryl stands near the open barn door, breathing deeply. The night is cool, the breeze carrying with it the pungent scent of the newly churned earth in the south pasture, the lowing of the cattle as they settle down for the evening. It isn't enough to mask the rank odour of infection seeping from the barn behind him, or to muffle the sound of Merle's pained moans.
He shifts away from the doorway when he hears the sound of footsteps, puts his back to the lit windows of the homestead.
"He gonna make it?"
Hershel glances over his shoulder, and Daryl follows his gaze. The straw around his brother is dark and damp with blood, staining the dusty ground. Merle himself has his eyes closed, his good arm flung over his forehead.
"It's a bad wound," Hershel replies slowly, and Daryl drags his eyes away from Merle to focus on the old man. "I'm just a veterinarian, Daryl. You bring me a horse with a bum leg, a dog that’s havin' troubles divesting herself of her pups? I can help you. This?" The old man shakes his head.
Daryl bites at his lip, fights against the instinct to put his fist through the nearest beam; to take a horse, leave his brother lying in the dirty straw and head to town, forget everything in the cheapest whiskey that Shane's got behind the counter. Feels like his body's thrumming with the urge to run, like when Hershel puts a hand on his arm he'll start vibratin' from the proximity to the live wires under his skin.
"I did what I could," Hershel continues. "I managed to staunch the bleeding, gave him something for the pain. Right now, we just have to wait and see."
Daryl looks back at his brother. It's hard to tell in the moonlight drifting through the slats in the old barn roof, but Merle's face looks paler now; the lines in his weathered face deeper. He watches Merle's chest rise and fall, and his own breath hitches. "You need somethin'? Medicine from the doc? I can ride to town-"
"No, there's nothing."
Daryl's already picturing the layout of the doc's little office, knows he can break in through the back window with its rickety lock. Ain't right, what's he planning, but he'd make it up to the Doc later. He's gotta do it, go back to his old ways. Just this one time. Only 'cause it's necessary. Only 'cause it's for Merle. "I can get you whatever you need-"
"The only thing that would help is Doc Horvath's expertise," Hershel says evenly. "Are you sure we can't send for him, son? I could get Glenn to ride out-"
"Ain't none of the doc's business," Daryl snaps.
"Ain't none of Rick's, neither," Hershel says evenly, "but he got brought into this the second your brother showed up on his property." Hershel tosses aside the damp cloth that he's been using to wipe at the drying blood on his hands; when he gestures toward Merle, Daryl can see the dark smudges of his brother's blood edged beneath the old man's nails and staining his cuticles. "He tell you what happened?"
"Ambush," Daryl says shortly. He avoids the old man's eyes when he speaks; doesn't want to give Hershel the opportunity to read in them the truth that he won't say out loud. Knows from Hershel's silence that he's figured it out anyway - hell, the old man probably knew the truth the moment Daryl rushed into the house and dragged him from his bed.
Ain't nobody ever gonna get the drop on Merle.
And Merle, he always did find it easier to take instead of earn.
Daryl's body tenses as he waits for Hershel to come out with it - insist on waking Rick, sendin' someone to town for the sheriff. There ain't no way he can let that happen. No matter what Merle's done, he can't stomach the thought of his brother locked up behind bars. He'll snatch him up himself, rope him to a horse and take off, take his chances out on the trail with his brother before he lets that happen.
And then Merle might die.
But the old man surprises him.
"I'll sit with him tonight," Hershel says. "I want to monitor his fever, and those bandages will need to be changed."
"I can do that."
"You can," Hershel agrees, "but I think you're goin' to be busy talkin' to Rick." Daryl opens his mouth to protest, but the old man holds up a hand. "What I said before is true. Rick's involved in this now, whether you want him to be or not. And it's gonna be his call what happens next, as much as it is yours."
When Merle mutters something in his sleep, Daryl's eyes flick toward him. Takes in his greying hair, the grizzled stubble on his cheeks. The muscled arms beneath the pale blue button-down that's seen better days. And he's almost overcome with the urge to kick Merle in the damn ribs, to take off his belt and lash him the same way their pa did to him, almost every single week after Merle left.
He's got it good now. He's got people who love him. People who got his back, not just pay mouth service to the notion and then leave as soon as they're old enough to take to the trail.
He don't need his damn brother. He don't need this.
He doesn't realize that he's fisted his hands, that his own muscles earned from hard work on the farm have bunched beneath his shirt, until Hershel lays a comforting hand on his arm.
"We're your family too, son," Hershel says. "Go on and talk to Rick."
Daryl lets out a breath. Ain't no point in getting caught up in the past or the way things should have been in a perfect world, 'cause there ain't no such thing. Just like there ain't no point in worryin' about what might happen if Rick don't take kindly to an injured fugitive from the law holing up in his barn. He ain't gonna know shit one way or the other 'til he talks to the man. He'll let Rick make his call. And then he'll make his own.
He nods briefly toward his brother. "Come get me if-"
"I will," Hershel says.
Daryl nods and turns away, is running everything through his brain and trying to figure out just how to explain everything to Rick, when Hershel's voice calls him back.
"Daryl," Hershel says, his tone reluctant. "There's one more thing you should know."
Daryl glances over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"He might lose his hand."
Daryl nods again shortly, walks out into the moonlight. Is halfway to the big farmhouse when his stomach roils and he lurches toward the fence, loses his supper in the weeds. Wipes his mouth with the hem of his shirt and makes his way to the house; wakes Rick and sits with him in the drafty kitchen while Carol sets the coffee to boiling.
It's not until Carol's fingers brush gently against his cheek that he realizes he's crying.
~ * ~ * ~
(Medium Sized Graphics)
Rick Grimes
Hershel Greene
Merle Dixon
Daryl Dixon
Carol Peletier-Grimes
Andrea Miller
Dean Winchester
Sam Winchester
~ * ~ * ~
(Icons)
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
Table generated using angelamaria's Icon Table Generator.
Icons by Severina2001.
~ * ~ * ~
(Fanmix)
Song Links
Small Town - John Mellencamp
Running in the Family - Level 42
No Son of Mine - Genesis
Simple Man - Lynyrd Skyrnyrd
Desperado - The Eagles
Everybody Hurts - REM
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Wanted Man - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
~ * ~ * ~
Challenge and Bonus Points
Meta - 3 pts per 100 words (439 words) = 12 pts
Ficlet - 5 pts per 500 words (1200 words) = 10 pts
Edited Medium Graphics - 3 pts per image (8 images) = 24 pts
Icons - 2 pts each (16 icons) = 32 pts
Fanmix - Front/Back Covers + Song Links = 25 pts
Total = 103 points
.
* * *
Copper Bluff, Wyoming. After the death of his wife and newborn daughter in childbirth in 1855, Rick Grimes pulls up stakes and moves to this small farming community. Within a few years he's re-married and settled in as a rancher and farmer, remaking his life and taking in a number of strays along the way, including the town drunk Hershel Greene and emotionally stunted drifter Daryl Dixon. Also headed to Copper Bluff: bounty hunters Dean and Sam Winchester, who are searching for the Dixon brother who killed one of their closest friends.
(Meta)
After the death of his first wife, deputy Rick Grimes hangs up his badge and moves to the small town of Copper Bluff, Wyoming. The frontier town is the perfect place to start a new life. Rick marries widow Carol Peletier and transitions to life as a rancher, determined to keep his head down and avoid trouble. But he can't resist his inherent instinct to help others and his ability to see the good in people, and soon finds his ranch populated by those whom the townsfolk view as the detritus of Copper Bluff. Among them are Andrea Miller, a former saloon girl who turns out to be an expert marksman; Glenn Rhee, an outcast in the town because of his Asian ethnicity, whose quick thinking has saved the ranch from ruin on more than one occasion; and Hershel Greene, who used to end most nights dead drunk under a card table and now tends to the Grimes livestock, clean and sober for the first time in over a decade.
Daryl Dixon is the newest addition to Rick's ragabond family. An expert hunter and tracker, Daryl is the son of an alcoholic, abusive father and younger brother to Merle. He has spent his life struggling with their bigotry and neglect, closing down emotionally and lashing out in anger when he can't escape from the cycle of abuse. It's only when he and Merle are separated - long after their father has died - and he's taken in as a ranch hand on the Grimes homestead that he finally finds people that truly accept him. He becomes a stronger, kinder man through the support of Rick and his "strays", and eventually becomes foreman of the ranch, proving himself to be an invaluable ally and friend to the Grimes family.
* * *
John Winchester taught his two boys everything he knew about hunting - hunting animals and hunting people. With his death, Sam and Dean carry on the family tradition, often choosing to accept assignments that most other bounty hunters won't touch. Their latest case, however, is personal. Their friend and colleague, the famed hunter Rufus Turner, has been found murdered - and the man all say is responsible, Merle Dixon, has been sighted in the town of Copper Bluff. Sam and Dean are determined to bring Merle Dixon to justice, no matter what it takes.
And when Merle shows up one night at the Grimes ranch, bloodied and on the run, Daryl is forced to decide exactly where his allegiance lies: with the people that took him in, sheltered him, and taught him what family truly meant - or with his only blood kin.
~ * ~ * ~
(Ficlet)
Copper Bluff
Daryl stands near the open barn door, breathing deeply. The night is cool, the breeze carrying with it the pungent scent of the newly churned earth in the south pasture, the lowing of the cattle as they settle down for the evening. It isn't enough to mask the rank odour of infection seeping from the barn behind him, or to muffle the sound of Merle's pained moans.
He shifts away from the doorway when he hears the sound of footsteps, puts his back to the lit windows of the homestead.
"He gonna make it?"
Hershel glances over his shoulder, and Daryl follows his gaze. The straw around his brother is dark and damp with blood, staining the dusty ground. Merle himself has his eyes closed, his good arm flung over his forehead.
"It's a bad wound," Hershel replies slowly, and Daryl drags his eyes away from Merle to focus on the old man. "I'm just a veterinarian, Daryl. You bring me a horse with a bum leg, a dog that’s havin' troubles divesting herself of her pups? I can help you. This?" The old man shakes his head.
Daryl bites at his lip, fights against the instinct to put his fist through the nearest beam; to take a horse, leave his brother lying in the dirty straw and head to town, forget everything in the cheapest whiskey that Shane's got behind the counter. Feels like his body's thrumming with the urge to run, like when Hershel puts a hand on his arm he'll start vibratin' from the proximity to the live wires under his skin.
"I did what I could," Hershel continues. "I managed to staunch the bleeding, gave him something for the pain. Right now, we just have to wait and see."
Daryl looks back at his brother. It's hard to tell in the moonlight drifting through the slats in the old barn roof, but Merle's face looks paler now; the lines in his weathered face deeper. He watches Merle's chest rise and fall, and his own breath hitches. "You need somethin'? Medicine from the doc? I can ride to town-"
"No, there's nothing."
Daryl's already picturing the layout of the doc's little office, knows he can break in through the back window with its rickety lock. Ain't right, what's he planning, but he'd make it up to the Doc later. He's gotta do it, go back to his old ways. Just this one time. Only 'cause it's necessary. Only 'cause it's for Merle. "I can get you whatever you need-"
"The only thing that would help is Doc Horvath's expertise," Hershel says evenly. "Are you sure we can't send for him, son? I could get Glenn to ride out-"
"Ain't none of the doc's business," Daryl snaps.
"Ain't none of Rick's, neither," Hershel says evenly, "but he got brought into this the second your brother showed up on his property." Hershel tosses aside the damp cloth that he's been using to wipe at the drying blood on his hands; when he gestures toward Merle, Daryl can see the dark smudges of his brother's blood edged beneath the old man's nails and staining his cuticles. "He tell you what happened?"
"Ambush," Daryl says shortly. He avoids the old man's eyes when he speaks; doesn't want to give Hershel the opportunity to read in them the truth that he won't say out loud. Knows from Hershel's silence that he's figured it out anyway - hell, the old man probably knew the truth the moment Daryl rushed into the house and dragged him from his bed.
Ain't nobody ever gonna get the drop on Merle.
And Merle, he always did find it easier to take instead of earn.
Daryl's body tenses as he waits for Hershel to come out with it - insist on waking Rick, sendin' someone to town for the sheriff. There ain't no way he can let that happen. No matter what Merle's done, he can't stomach the thought of his brother locked up behind bars. He'll snatch him up himself, rope him to a horse and take off, take his chances out on the trail with his brother before he lets that happen.
And then Merle might die.
But the old man surprises him.
"I'll sit with him tonight," Hershel says. "I want to monitor his fever, and those bandages will need to be changed."
"I can do that."
"You can," Hershel agrees, "but I think you're goin' to be busy talkin' to Rick." Daryl opens his mouth to protest, but the old man holds up a hand. "What I said before is true. Rick's involved in this now, whether you want him to be or not. And it's gonna be his call what happens next, as much as it is yours."
When Merle mutters something in his sleep, Daryl's eyes flick toward him. Takes in his greying hair, the grizzled stubble on his cheeks. The muscled arms beneath the pale blue button-down that's seen better days. And he's almost overcome with the urge to kick Merle in the damn ribs, to take off his belt and lash him the same way their pa did to him, almost every single week after Merle left.
He's got it good now. He's got people who love him. People who got his back, not just pay mouth service to the notion and then leave as soon as they're old enough to take to the trail.
He don't need his damn brother. He don't need this.
He doesn't realize that he's fisted his hands, that his own muscles earned from hard work on the farm have bunched beneath his shirt, until Hershel lays a comforting hand on his arm.
"We're your family too, son," Hershel says. "Go on and talk to Rick."
Daryl lets out a breath. Ain't no point in getting caught up in the past or the way things should have been in a perfect world, 'cause there ain't no such thing. Just like there ain't no point in worryin' about what might happen if Rick don't take kindly to an injured fugitive from the law holing up in his barn. He ain't gonna know shit one way or the other 'til he talks to the man. He'll let Rick make his call. And then he'll make his own.
He nods briefly toward his brother. "Come get me if-"
"I will," Hershel says.
Daryl nods and turns away, is running everything through his brain and trying to figure out just how to explain everything to Rick, when Hershel's voice calls him back.
"Daryl," Hershel says, his tone reluctant. "There's one more thing you should know."
Daryl glances over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"He might lose his hand."
Daryl nods again shortly, walks out into the moonlight. Is halfway to the big farmhouse when his stomach roils and he lurches toward the fence, loses his supper in the weeds. Wipes his mouth with the hem of his shirt and makes his way to the house; wakes Rick and sits with him in the drafty kitchen while Carol sets the coffee to boiling.
It's not until Carol's fingers brush gently against his cheek that he realizes he's crying.
~ * ~ * ~
(Medium Sized Graphics)
Rick Grimes
Hershel Greene
Merle Dixon
Daryl Dixon
Carol Peletier-Grimes
Andrea Miller
Dean Winchester
Sam Winchester
~ * ~ * ~
(Icons)
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
Table generated using angelamaria's Icon Table Generator.
Icons by Severina2001.
~ * ~ * ~
(Fanmix)
Song Links
Small Town - John Mellencamp
Running in the Family - Level 42
No Son of Mine - Genesis
Simple Man - Lynyrd Skyrnyrd
Desperado - The Eagles
Everybody Hurts - REM
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Wanted Man - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
~ * ~ * ~
Challenge and Bonus Points
Meta - 3 pts per 100 words (439 words) = 12 pts
Ficlet - 5 pts per 500 words (1200 words) = 10 pts
Edited Medium Graphics - 3 pts per image (8 images) = 24 pts
Icons - 2 pts each (16 icons) = 32 pts
Fanmix - Front/Back Covers + Song Links = 25 pts
Total = 103 points
.