carlgrimeswiffle67
"you'll always be the dumb blonde."
In which Eleanor Briar-Anne Walsh is forced to grow up in her father's shadow, being seen as nothing other than "the dumb blonde."
That's what they say.
Not always to her face - people rarely have the guts for that - but Eleanor Briar-Anne Walsh has heard it in every tone. Whispered behind tents. Muttered after she walks away. Said with a laugh, said with a sigh, said like it's some kind of fact written into her bones.
Shane's little girl.
Daryl's replica.
The Loud one.
The Annoying one.
The one too Honest and too pretty for a world that chews people up and spits them out.
Nobody ever expects much from Eleanor.
Maybe it's her hair - nearly white in the sun.
Maybe it's her voice - loud, Daring, always choosing Violence before she chooses herself.
Maybe it's the way she folds in on her own feelings to keep the group steady, even when no one notices.
But mostly, it's because she grew up in her father's shadow - a shadow that stretches long, loud, and dangerous.
Shane Walsh leaves little room for softness, and even less room for a daughter who refuses to break the way he expects. Every mistake she makes is held against her. Every fear she feels is dismissed. Every accomplishment is brushed aside. And every time she slips, every time she speaks up, every time she breathes wrong-
There it is again.
"Dumb blonde."
But the thing about being underestimated is that it's the easiest way to hide what you're becoming, and what Eleanor Briar-Anne Walsh didn't realize? she's becoming the person who she admired most-- her father.
carl grimes x fem!OC