#ELLIE SAID I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR BS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

boliv-jenta · 2 years

Text

More of Us Part 4

Joel Miller x f!reader

WC:2.7

Warning: Swearing. Gore. Jumping the shark.

A steady beep tapped at your unconsciousness. Each beep never changing but growing louder to you as you awoke. The small steps your brain took to being aware ending in a giant leap as everything came back to you. Bolting upright you were caught by two strong, warm, world-worn hands.

"Joel?" Your voice croaked out.

"Easy now. Doctor's had a put a couple of stitches in." Your side throbbed as if to confirm his words. "Thankfully, it looked much worse than it was. They said you passed out because of the physical exertion."

"What did you tell them?" It didn't hurt as much as you thought it would to sit up in the raised bed.

"The truth. Kind of. I said my daughter decided to creep into an abandoned building, it nearly being Halloween and all. We went to find her, we heard a scream, we ran around the place to find a way in, you injured yourself climbed out of an old smashed up window. It was the best I could come up with to explain the state of us all and I haven't seen any cops yet." Joel sighed.

"You're awake!" Ellie came over to your bedside.

From the looks of things she had made herself comfortable in the chair in the corner of the hospital room. There was a blanket and the small table next to it was littered with candy wrappers. "Did Joel tell you how we got here?!" You weren't sure if her bubbly tone was excitement or sugar rush.

"It can wait. Just give her some space." Joel ushered Ellie away a little.

"No, tell me. How did we get here?" Grabbing his arm he turned back to you. Joel's brow furrowed in thought. "Well, we were in the apartment with Sam and Henry, you were on the floor. I was looking how to stop the bleeding then everything was blurry for a few seconds. Like I had chlorine in my eyes or something then we were in your house. You were on your bed. I was still next to you holding the wound. Ellie was to the left of me like she was before."

"It was so cool! We were then we were here. Teleportation, like in my comics." Ellie was beside herself with excitement.

"Alright, kid. That's enough. Are you hungry?" Joel's hand gently covered yours, still gripping his arm.

"Always." Ellie chimed in.

"I wasn't talkin' to you but I'll get you something too." He nudged her with his shoulder. She was now perched at the bottom of your bed. "I hope you don't mind I had to use your credit card." He gestured to Ellie's discarded wrappers.

"That's fine." You smiled. "I am kinda hungry."

"I'll get you, both, something to eat. Ellie stay with her." He finished over his shoulder as walked out of the room.

"So do you think you're a superhero or mutant?" Ellie leaned forward on her elbows, like a kindergartener at story time.

"What?" You huffed a laugh at her. "What are you talking about?"

"How else do you explain it? Every time you fall asleep we end up someone else. It's a pretty BS superpower if you have to fall asleep to use it." After dropping that bomb on you she pulled a half eaten packet of M&Ms from her pocket and tossed some in her mouth.

Sitting there dumbfounded, you had to admit it made sense. In a completely ridiculous, there's no way that's an actual thing, kinda way.

Your whole life you were much more at home in fantastical worlds. TV shows like Buffy, Stargate, Charmed, books and video games gave you a sense of peace in a world you struggled in. If anyone had prepared to suddenly to throw into some weird ass situation it was you. Think of it like Scream. They tried to use the rules to survive. Now, what are the rules when it comes to suddenly gaining weird powers? Family legacies. Given your unremarkable family, that didn't seem like a front runner. No brushes with radioactive waste in recent memory. No bites from any creatures. No mysterious objects suddenly come into your possession, no lamps, or coins. You hadn't read from any forbidden books. Well, maybe a couple forbidden in some states but nothing old or bound in human skin, no gold plated tombs. You hadn't lit any candles, not that you were a virgin. You weren't part of any shady government experiments. None that you knew of anyway. That thought chilled you until Joel's return warmed you up. He sat at the end of your bed, opposite Ellie. He held out a few sandwiches, letting you and Ellie choose which ones you wanted first. The three of you shared the small space comfortably, talking and eating. Ellie's knee pressed into your calf. Joel's thigh pressed into your leg, one of his hands rested on top of it. It felt like the little slice of domesticity that was missing from your life.

At that point you realised that it didn't matter where the hell this 'gift' came from. All that mattered was that you didn't ever use it again. Joel and Ellie deserved this life, these simple moments as a family. Whether that family could eventually include you, you didn't care, you just wanted to do right by them. After dinner, Ellie's sugar rush wore off, she curled up in her chair in the corner, falling asleep quickly. Joel carefully covering her with a blanket caused a smile to bloom on your face and an ache to grow in your heart. There was no way you were letting them down, you had to figure this craziness out.

Joel returned to your bedside. "You should be getting some sleep now too, Sugar." Tears brimmed in your eyes. With the sharp reflexes of a man used to jumping into action, Joel's hands were cradling your face instantly. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"What if I take us back? Every time I fall asleep we end up someone else. What if we go back or to somewhere else?" The new thought came straight out of your mouth before you had time to process it. Was it possible for you to take them somewhere else? Possible seemed a more abstract term when you were being comforted by a video game character, while recovering from an injury in their world.

"So what if you do?" Joel's question took you by surprise. "We can handle it. Look, our world ain't easy. You just have to keep going. I've seen the alternative and it ain't for me. I got the kid to help, I got...well.." Joel Miller, survivor, killer, whatever you wanted to label him, actually blushed. A pink ting grew on his olive cheeks. Only slightly worsened by your fingers lacing with his on the bed.

"What else to you have Joel?" Teasing him your lips curled into a smirk, one that he soon kissed away.

"Seriously, what do you do to me? I feel like a teenager again." He sighed between kissed.

Another thought stabbed at you. Faking a yawn you avoided his lips. "Come on, lay down now. We'll be with you when you wake up."

Shuffling down in the bed, Joel pulled the covers over you before sitting in the chair next to you, one hand running tenderly up and down your back. Facing away from him you curled into a ball as if you could cradle your thoughts to keep them hidden from him. What if whatever powers you had weren't just about teleportation, what of they were about getting what you wanted? You had wanted Joel. You had wanted a hospital. If you were honest with yourself being in their world was a twisted thrill. Or maybe your self sabotaging tendencies sent you back there.

Joel's hand eventually dropped away from your back. With them both asleep, decided to go for a walk. Throwing back the last few sips of Joel's discarded, and now very cold, coffee you slipped out of bed. The floor was freezing on your feet, hopefully that could help keep you awake. Your phone sat on the table next to you. Maybe Google had some answers. Tiptoeing out of the room, you waited until the light from your screen couldn't disturb Joel or Ellie to unlock it. Tapping your search bar, you stood looking at the little line blinking at you, waiting for to type. It's steady flashing felt like an act of aggression because you had no idea what to type. The little line taunted you. This whole thing was beyond even Reddit's collective deductive skills. Maybe your time would be better spend researching The Last of Us. After avoiding spoilers for years you had very little knowledge of it. Only thanks to various YouTube thumbnails do you know that they both make it to Part 2. The fact that it's only Ellie on the cover art makes you uneasy but that was something you could pack away for now seeing as there's a five year gap between the games.

Before you knew it, your feet had taken you deeper into the hospital. It was dark and the silence bordered on eerie. The feeling of being watched crawled up your spine. Whipping around you were relieved to see a nurse leaving a patient's room. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Thank you. I'm just stretching my legs." You smiled at her.

Satisfied she turned to be on her way. With the uneasy feeling gone, you turn to be on your way as well. Walking straight into a wall of muscle, a needle bit at the skin of you neck. It was sunk in deep before you could do anything about it.

Coming to you took in your surroundings. "If I had a nickel for every time I've woke up in a clinical white room. I'd have two nickels. Definitely weird that it's happened twice in a week." You muttered to yourself.

Rising out of the bed you made the short walk to the door.

"Move away from the door please. The doctor will be with you shortly." A woman's voice came over the loud speaker. It was one of those ones that you couldn't quite peg if it was a real person or not. Polite but monotone.

The woman that entered soon after was definitely real, even if she didn't act that way. "Subject 19. Sit down on the bed."

"What?" Your mouth hung open as she moved towards you, backing you onto the bed.

"Any pain? Blurred vision?" She shone a light in your eyes.

"No, I'm fine. Where am I?" You shrugged her off.

"The Director will be with you in a moment." With that she left you alone again.

'Shady government experiment' shot right to the top of your possible answers. 'It was all a dream' was becoming your new favourite possibility. Even if it meant give up Joel, and Ellie, you weren't cut out for this. Pushing on with daily life wore you out some times, how in the hell were you going to deal with all this? Your self pity party was brought to an unceremonious end when four men entered the room. Two solider types, dressed in black, carrying large guns. Two wearing suits, one of them carried himself with an air of authority, the other scurried behind him.

"Wh...?" 'The Director', you assumed, cut you off.

"Subject 19. Your new talent is the result of one of our many experiments on other worlds. Some experiments had unfortunate side affects. The Cerdycorp outbreak for example. The people of that world proved less resilient than others. We've released similar viruses on multiple worlds. Some just produced a type of pandemic. Some product a spike in minor illneses. Some produce people like you. People we have cultivated over the years, adding something here and there to otherwise harmless vaccinations. Peole who can travel between worlds. Some are just able to travel with their minds. Some aren't even aware of their abilities. They believe the things they see to be dreams or hallucinations. They may even draw on these dreams as inspiration for cheap entertainment." You doubted a man like him could be amused but he definitely wasn't with that last notion.

"So Joel and Ellie are real? They are from another world, just like The Last of Us?" There were so many mixed feelings there, sorrow for them, joy for you. Then overwhelming anger. "And apparently I'm from fucking Fringe! You're experimenting on people? You son of a bitch!" Two guns trained on you before you could take two steps towards the subject of your anger. He hadn't even flinched.

"I took you, an unremarkable woman, and made you something special. I would have thought you would be grateful." The anger burned hotter in your veins, it blocked out all common sense and self preservation. Readying yourself to tell him exactly how 'grateful' you were you opened your mouth and...alarms blared. The bright, florescent lights shut off for a moment only to kick in at an more ambient level. Red lights, flashed outside when the one of the soldiers opened the door to see what was going on. The squirrelly, sweaty underling ran out before coming scampering back into the room. "Sir, I'm sorry. We must leave. Subject 15 has escaped."

Panicked screams coming from the corridor outside reinforced the idea that Subject 15's little jaunt was something to worry about.

"Can we contain it?" The Director asked. The blood splatter on the small rectangular windows six feet from the floor pointed to no.

"We've only been feeding it enough to keep it alive. It's hunger will be out of control." Sweaty Underling informed him.

The screaming stopped. Not a good sign.

"There must be something we can do. You, go see what's happening!"The Director barked.

The pee on that he pointed to had the good sense to hesitate, clearly regretting his choice of carer. It was only when Sweaty Underling pulled out a small gun from beneath his jacket to point at him that he moved towards the door, slowly edging sideways with his automatic weapon raised. When he was within a foot of the door the whole thing shook in it's frame as something slammed against it. Another slam had the hinges straining. A third had you hiding behind a file cabinet in the corner. The fourth, and final one, had the door flying off of it's hinges. It imploded into the room, red light from outside flooded in. In the second before you ducked down, you glimpsed the outline of what looked like a man. Blood rushed in your ears due to your hands being clamped over them. It did little to muffled the screams of terror as Subject 15 eviscerated the three men. The sickening thwack of guts spilling onto the floor was the last sound they made.

Your thoughts turned to Joel, what could have been, how much you wished you could be the type of woman he needs, strong, fearless. That woman would have an escape plan. The woman that you were was a realist. If heavily armed, trained professionals couldn't take that thing out, you had no chance. The only chance you had was hiding and hoping for a miracle. The creature moved closer and closer until you could feel it at your back. It crouched next to you, it's copper tanged breath flowed over you as it sniffed your hair.

"Well, you aren't from around here." It said in perfect English. With an American accent. Not what you were expecting. At all. "Come on, Sugar. I could use a hand."

Pulling yourself up on trembling legs you were met with a very familiar face. Looking down at you was a very naked, very visibly excited, Max Fucking Phillips. That was the point when you completely lost the plot.

AN: Fans of the game will know we have some rough times ahead. I wanted to have a little fun before we dive back in to all the heavy plot. We'll be back with Joel soon enough.

Tags @kirsteng42 @babydarkstar @prolix-yuy @thegreenkid @hquinzelle @fangirl-316 @gracie7209 @jedifarmerr @doommommy @scorpio-marionette @sturkillerbase @harriedandharassed @aynsleywalker @mswarriorbabe80 @quica-quica-quica @rise-my-angel @adancedivasmom @graciexmarvel @kinda-nobody

#joel miller x you #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller #the last of us au #the last of us

25 notes · View notes

greyheartwriter · 2 years

Text

Portal Falls Chapter 1

Danny sighed for about the millionth time in the past few hours. Sam nudged him with her elbow. "It's your turn, Danny." "Right," Danny put two cards down. "Two threes." "BS." Tucker called instantly. "What?" Danny said. "Dude, you're on eights." "Oh," Danny sighed again and took the pile. Thankfully it wasn't that big. "What's with you, Danny?" Sam asked as she laid her cards. "Nothing. I'm just bored. We've been on the road for two days." Tucker took his turn. "One ten." Danny continued without even pausing. "I mean, why do we have to spend summer vacation in Oregon, anyway?" Sam shrugged, "I don't know, it's not that bad." "Yeah, we finally get a break from ghost hunting." Tucker agreed. "A whole summer, actually." "I know, but--" "Danny, relax. Valerie can handle things in Amity, and Ellie said she'd keep an eye out for anything big. Not to mention Jazz will be back from her college tour in a few days." "No, you're right, you're right." Danny laid down his card. "One jack." Sam studied her cards. "I'm just glad we're finally gonna get a chance to relax."

A few hours and several card games later, Jack finally pulled the RV into a camping spot in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were out of the vehicle almost before it had stopped. Maddie and Jack followed, stretching out their stiff muscles. "Okay, Danny. Your father and I are going to set up the tent for you guys and get dinner going." Maddie said as she pulled a few things out of the RV. "Why don't you kids let the camp host know we're here? Stretch your legs a little. Just remember to be back in about an hour." "Okay, Mom." The trio headed toward the small building that they passed coming in. It wasn't too far from the campsite and they got there in a couple minutes. Danny could tell, before they even got close, that this place was just a huge tourist trap. The words 'Mystery Shack' were nailed across the roof in big wooden letters, only the S in 'shack' had fallen down and was impaled in the ground a few feet from the building. Question marks covered posters and wooden signs out front. "This place looks... interesting." Tucker said. The others nodded. They stepped onto the porch, and instantly, Danny felt something. A buzzing in his ears that reminded him of passing through a ghost shield, only fainter. Sam and Tucker didn't seem to notice anything though, so he shook his head to clear it. The buzzing faded after he took a couple more steps. Danny pushed open the door to what looked like a gift shop. There was all sorts of merchandise, from shirts to snowglobes, and all of it seemed to be mystery or supernatural themed. There were even strange taxidermy animal hybrids for sale. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anyone in the shop, but then Danny realized there was, in fact, someone working the register. It was a blonde girl, couldn't have been much younger than the trio, maybe 13 or 14. He also heard faint sweeping sounds coming from behind one of the shelves. Another girl, about the same age as the trio, but a redhead, walked out with a full dustpan. She noticed Danny and the others before the blonde. "Hi, can we help you?" She asked, dumping the dustpan into a trash near the register. Sam spoke first. "Yeah, we're staying up at campsite 4..." "Oh, you must be the Fenton party, right?" The redhead interrupted. "Yep that's us." Danny said, smiling. The blonde behind the counter finally seemed to notice them. She looked up from the magazine she was reading, anyway. The redhead stepped toward the trio. She held her hand out and Danny shook it. "I'm Wendy. This," she thumbed at the blonde. "is Pacifica." The blonde went back to her magazine. "Don't worry, she's cool once you get to know her." Wendy whispered, smirking. "I'm Danny. And this is Sam and Tucker." "Glad to meet you guys." Wendy reached behind the counter and pulled out a piece of paper. She held it out to Danny. "Here's your pass. Make sure you put it in the RV window." Danny nodded and the trio headed back outside. "Thanks." The door dinged shut.

#Danny phantom #sam manson #gravity falls #danny fenton #phanfic #danny phantom crossover #crossover #gravity falls crossover #tucker foley #maddie fenton #jack fenton #fanfic

36 notes · View notes

starlessskies94 · 1 year

Note

The more I find out about the Fireflies the more I can't stand them. If it ends up where Joel is killed by the Fireflies, fingers crossed that he isn't, that Ada, Ellie and the others with them will take them out before they tear apart more families. In fanfics for the series the Fireflies will never get away with their bs. The one I will be starting soon, they make a very powerful enemy and by the time Ellie and Joel reach the hospital most of them are already gone because the new faction they made an enemy of takes them out and if Joel didn't take down the ones he did in the hospital including Abby's father, they would have.

Same as I said before, I hate the Fireflies. I honestly think they're a bunch of hypocrites. The way they berate Joel for wanting to save Ellie and accusing him of taking away her choice; when they did exactly the same thing putting her straight under without telling her what was going to happen! They took her choice away too!

I think with the way the story is going, something is going to have come to a head for the gang to finally live peacefully without this hanging over them though.

I have noticed that too, a lot of fanfic writers and fans seem to agree that the Fireflies were not the saviours they made themselves out to be. I personally believe that if they had created a cure, they wouldn't have shared it out equally like they said they would. They'd 100% use it to control people and eventually they'd end up turning into their own screwed-up version of Fedra.

That story of yours sounds really interesting too! Would you mind sending me the link to read it when you post the first chapter please?

#the last of us #starlessskies writes #joel miller #asks and answers #anon asks #the last of us part 2 #fanfic #joel and ellie #ellie williams

2 notes · View notes

yeeyee-alumni · 3 years

Text

Ellie’s (lack of a) character arc & why the result is an unsatisfying story

Let’s state the obvious: Ellie does not have a character arc in The Last of Us Part 2. A character arc is defined as a gradual transformation or inner journey of a character in response to changing developments in the story. And you may argue that Ellie from the beginning of the game is not the same as the one at the end of the game, and I would agree with you. She went from a woman consumed by revenge (not really but we will stick with that for now) to a woman able to forgive her aggressor and move on. However, there are problems with this supposed inner change on multiple levels. a) the change is not gradual b) the change comes out of nowhere c) the change is not informed by anything I don’t think there’s any need to thoroughly explain the first statement. Ellie has the same goal from the beginning to the very last second before attaining her goal. At no point in the story is she self-reflective, questions her methods, there’s no moral dilemma for her, no inner conflict, no doubt that causes her to put her own actions into a new perspective and possibly change her motivation. From beginning to end she believes to be 100% justified in her goal to kill Abby. Subsequently, if Ellie were actually consumed by revenge, the only logical conclusion to her story would be for her to eventually drown Abby.

Which neatly leads me to the next point: her change comes out of nowhere. The decision to let Abby go, as is implied by the narrative, is triggered by a random, arbitrary flashback of Joel. First of all, the timing here is outright comical. For what reason is she having this specific flashback at this very moment? Sounds like contrived, convenient bs to me to give the appearance that her decision is informed by something (which it isn’t, and we'll get to that in a moment). Second of all, getting a flashback to the most important person in your life that has been brutally murdered in front of you, seeing an image of what could have been and what was unjustly taken from you, is not gonna inspire you to forgive your aggressor. If anything, it would make you more determined and sadistic. And third of all, I hear you all yelling "but it was a flashback to their conversation about forgiveness and that inspired her to forgive Abby." And I have multiple qualms regarding this line of thinking. Number one, forgiving the person you love most in this world for having lied to you cannot be compared to forgiving the person who brutally took said person from you. This actually further accentuates my previous point, this is the person that robbed you of your opportunity for reconciliation. Implying that Ellie's thought process here is „I wanted to forgive Joel, but this person robbed me of any opportunity to, so I have to forgive her” is muddled, nonsensical and quite frankly unrealistic. And number two, is the implication here that this is the first time Ellie has thought back to that conversation? That’s a whole new level of nonsense. She will have reflected on all moments with Joel, including this one, and yet at no point prior to this moment had she considered even the possibility of forgiveness, as I have illustrated earlier. So why now? Very obviously to get a payoff, which was neither set up nor properly developed. And moving on to my last point: it is not informed by anything. I know a lot of players didn’t want Ellie to kill Abby, and even I felt that way at first, albeit presumably for entirely different reasons (I was so drained and removed from the narrative by that point that I only thought to myself "just go home, you psychos"). But upon reflection, I concluded that that would have been an unsatisfying conclusion narratively speaking. Nevertheless, Abby seems to have grown dear to many players. After all, they have spent several hours with her, they have seen her struggle, overcome her obstacles, fight for what she believes to be right. Their feelings towards Abby are informed by the person they have seen her to be and by the experiences they went through with her. Yet Ellie is missing all of that context. She has not been with us throughout our three days in Seattle, she doesn’t know Abby outside of her having horrifically killed Joel and she has not gained any new information that would lead her to change her opinion about her. And so, we have another example of the story making characters do things that are not informed by anything, for the sake of a poor payoff. And since we're talking about characters acting nonsensically, let's talk about the roughly three minutes leading up to Ellie nearly drowning Abby, shall we? Ellie approaches the beach absolutely determined to find and kill Abby (repeatedly murmuring Abby’s name to herself). Yet when she reaches the pillars, she cuts Abby down, letting her free Lev and follows them to the boats, indicating that Ellie has changed her mind, showing pity/empathy upon seeing Abby a mere shadow of her former self. And yet again, we have Ellie acting in a way she never has before. She didn’t have pity for Nora who was coughing her lungs out, or for Jordan who had advocated for letting her live, or for any other innocent WLF or Seraphite that came in between her and killing Abby. But the one person she holds a grudge against to the point of killing hundreds of innocent people without batting an eye, that is the person she is suddenly capable of feeling pity/empathy for? Is it really that surprising that Ellie's actions here feel forced, uncharacteristic, and illogical? But it actually gets worse. In an additional display of Druckmann not knowing how humans work, we have Ellie putting her backpack with all her gear in the boat, looking at her bloody hand and then remembering "Oh yeah, that's the woman who killed Joel. I almost forgot.” And at this point in my playthrough I was laughing out loud. And so, we have Ellie all of sudden determined to kill Abby again, so much so that she is willing to threaten an innocent child’s life (this by the way was the final nail in the coffin for me, they thoroughly obliterated Ellie’s character throughout the entire game, but this goes against the very core of her being). And we know the rest, they fight, Ellie nearly kills Abby but eventually lets her go. To summarize what happened in the three minutes before our big emotional payoff to our 25 hour-long journey of playing this epitome of misery porn: Ellie has 3 - count them 3!!! - changes of heart. Her motivation does a perfect 180 almost every minute. This is not how people work! That’s lazy, contrived beyond believe, and borderline comical levels of writing, because Druckmann prioritized having a final boss battle on a beach over organic, coherent, and logical storytelling (but I guess it was worth it for the goddamn visuals). However, what’s most infuriating is that there are such easy fixes if one only thinks about it for more than two minutes that could erase nearly all for the major issues I just illustrated while maintaining the plot points of the two fighting on a beach and Ellie letting Abby go. If we have Ellie walk to the beach immediately, finding Abby there untying the boat (Lev nearly passed out in the boat, Ellie not seeing him) and she then attacks Abby, immediately we have erased two of Ellie’s changes of heart, she remains consistent in her goals/motivation, not jumping back and forth between two extremes. The two women fight much like we see it in the game, and then as Ellie is about to finish it, we hear Lev calling out to Abby. And there we have our motivation for Ellie to not kill her. Not because she gets a random, convenient flashback, not because she forgives Abby (Abby has done nothing to earn Ellie’s forgiveness), not because Abby has earned her redemption, but because Ellie cannot find it in her to put an innocent child through the pain Abby has put her through. Because at the end of the day, Ellie’s hatred for Abby does not outweigh her capacity for compassion and empathy for those deserving of it (a core characteristic of hers that was established in the first game). Because Ellie would rather let an individual live that is undeserving of it than cause the same pain she was put through to an innocent child that is undeserving of it. Granted, if we were to go with this ending, we would still have to build towards it properly and therefore would have to tweak the rest of the game, mainly by showing Ellie being self-reflective, merciful towards innocents, and even doubtful about her goals at times to make her final decision informed by prior developments in order to have the character arc actually be a gradual transformation leading to a logical conclusion. I have been a writer for nearly 4 years now, which means I am in no way an expert, or the most creatively talented person around and yet I would argue that this ending would be much more satisfying to most players than the alternative we were presented with. Because as it stands, none of our actions or decisions (and yes that is something important to consider when we are working within the medium of video games), or Ellie’s for that matter, lead up to this conclusion. The conclusion to this story, the final moment, the big emotional payoff hinges on a random flashback, not on any other developments that previously occurred in the story. Subsequently rendering all of the 25 hours entirely pointless, none of it had an influence on the finale, none of it mattered narratively speaking. So, is it even a surprise that many found this to be dissatisfying? I noticed a few people who are fond of Abby accusing people feeling differently of having too much of an emotional bias or even going as far as to say they are less emotionally intelligent. This is problematic for two reasons, a) different people have different reasons for disliking Ellie’s final choice. Some still hate Abby as much as in the beginning, others feel drained and indifferent, and others still feel similarly to how I feel in that it’s mainly narratively dissatisfying. And b) the same story can have a different effect on any amount of people (otherwise, we would have settled the discussion about what the greatest movie all of time is long ago). My point being, that no matter how you feel about this particular story you are 100% justified in feeling this way, and yes that includes people that by the end of the game still hate Abby just as much as they did the moment she bashed Joel’s skull in. That does not necessarily have to be personal bias, more often than not it’s the ability to see through the storytelling techniques used, rendering them mostly ineffective for these people (and I include myself in this). I wanted Ellie to kill Abby not because I was unable to empathize with her or couldn’t see past my own personal bias, but because that would have been the logical, narratively satisfying conclusion to this specific story.

#tlou #tlou2 #the last of us #the last of us 2 #the last of us part 2 #ellie #ellie williams #joel #joel miller #abby #abby anderson #writing #storytelling #character arc #rant #themes #motivation #rewrite #I posted this before but deleted my account so here it is again

49 notes · View notes

onlyhereforangst · 3 years

Text

WWR

Ok y’all if you thought 18x05 was long, you in for a trip. Get ready for lots of caps, lots of not PG-13, and lots of overanalysis. I hope this lives up to the hype since it took me forever and a day (literally almost every minute of the 20 minutes of scenes took practically an hour to breakdown, I have a problem I know). Anyways, let’s get sweaty under the cut because the day ain’t young no more 👇🏼

Their bickering in the car but Nick smiling the whole time is a huge married vibe but also he’s so happy she’s alive and will take any shit she gives him vibe and I’m here for it. Pluuuuus Ellie avoiding nicks question about the phone call 😭 he’s so freaking concerned for her (he’s been through his own version of PTSD), his voice drops all the teasing and he actually opens up a little bit - really wants to make sure she’s ok. He needs to be there for her and ugh poor Ellie, those walls are going back up after that hug- a momentary lapse in her usual self. She’s so far outside of her comfort zone talking about feelings and weaknesses and she immediately deflects. Nick respecting that deflection is also huge growth for him, knows it’s not ok to push through like a person like him would normally do and force her hand. He knows she needs space but also clearly ready to be that ear to listen or shoulder to cry on whenever she needs it.

His joke about notable mustaches only to be the butt of the joke about using the word notable later is hiiiiiilarious.

Her comment about Zillow 😂 um excuse me ellie you looking for houses and to settle down 👀 but then(!!) Nick pushes her down the stairs first when shots start, getting her out of harm’s way and putting himself in danger like he always does my heart 😩 like he’s still on the stairs by the time she’s in a cell “safe.” And side note damn they are good shots, oof.

The toilet bowl scene is easily one of my favorites. Nick freaking out over Ellie moving hers and him not being able to had me DYING. Like legit cackling over his worry she’s suddenly way stronger than him 🤣🤣 and then he gets SO pissed they took their car hahaha like so mad he hugs the damn wall in frustration. But then he claims he’ll rip out the bars of the window (you know, to make up for not being able to move his toilet and still prove he’s macho) and Ellie’s comment about superhuman strength & his agreement LOL. His anxiety level of being trapped and more so Ellie being trapped is getting to him already. He is reaching for any possible way to get them (read: her) out of there safely it doesn’t matter that the plan sounds outrageous. Cue him moving back to pissed and breaking the toilet with his damn foot like 🥵 we get you strong Nick but no need to show off. Hot damn. His “I really think we’re stuck in here” after that IDK why but had be laughing again. I’m pretty sure I said “no shit Sherlock” at my TV watching live because thank you Captain Obvious.

Aaaaaand then when she pauses and finds the bomb bricks but goes so quiet oooooof he’s on high alert. You can practically hear his heart pounding and then he goes and starts panicking slightly when she doesn’t respond with our first use of a first name, “Ellie we have a wall between us, what is it?” But his tone is so frantic and his eyes are darting around putting the whole picture together and my heart aches for him. He’s starting to realize just how helpless he is to save her. The exact thing he likely swore he’d set out to never let happen again (Ellie in danger) after last episode, is happening again. And this time, it’s not like he can go hunt the guys down, he’s quite literally stuck. Helpless with no way out. Aaand here’s where Nick starts to lose his patience. Pissed at himself for not saving her before, not being able to save her now. Pissed at everything. He cannot comprehend how she is in this situation AGAIN and he can do nothing. But oh lord, he doesn’t even realize it’s about to get worse...

Him brooding over this crappy situation in a corner and being the cautious one is so unlike him (but also so telling as to how unnerved he is by her being in danger once again and not wanting to do anything to make it worse) and Ellie calls him on being “so careful, cowboy” and hot damn again she really does like a man in uniform doesn’t she??? 👀🔥 and she not picky on the type of uniform either 😏 but Nick immediately deflects because he’s not *quite* ready to talk feelings so let’s get down to business about counting bullets BUT the second Ellie starts to worry again he goes into hyperdrive protective and caring boyfriend partner. Without hesitation he tells her they’re going to figure it out because goddamnit he HAS to figure this out for her. He can’t fail, again. And he’s so so SO worried about her & her mental health right now and I sincerely love it. I know Ellie doesn’t want to have that conversation but I stan (I can’t believe I’m using that word, I’m not hip enough for that word) an empathetic boyfriend who supports their significant other when facing mental health issues (like PTSD in Ellie’s case) ❤️❤️❤️ Nick breaks my heart, he wants to be there for her- wants to be the one she feels comfortable enough to open up to and he just gets so dejected when she rejects his probing again (but I don’t blame her, it’s *hard* to open up about these difficult topics), his body language slumped over the bars and tone is just so defeated even if he tries to snap back into his usual Torres self (newsflash it ain’t working bruv because she’s not totally wrong in calling you hovery). Yet naturally he gets annoyed because he JUST CARES ELLIE DAMMIT LET HIM CARE. Like you go through this entire list of him trying to protect you from everything that could go wrong because HE CARES. HE WAS TERRIFIED HE LOST YOU ELLIE. HE TRULY THOUGHT HE’D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN. NEVER TOUCH YOU AGAIN. NEVER TELL YOU HE LOVES YOU. HE CARES. AND HE CANT LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU AGAIN. HE LITERALLY WANTS TO SAVE YOU (his own words because god damn this show plays with my emotions 😭😭) FROM ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING BECAUSE HE COULDN’T SAVE YOU FROM GETTING KIDNAPPED AND HAVING TO FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT OF A PLANE RIGGED TO BLOW. Ok done with yelling for now but man this part gets me. The implications are so important even over trivial stuff. He felt helpless and Nick Torres cannot do helpless, so he tries do to everything else in his power to keep her away from any danger no matter how little it seems. Even hot coffee is too much for his precious babe and while he knows she’s not some delicate, fragile flower- he knows she can hold her own (& has called her a badass as proof), his heart can’t possibly take another explosion on an airstrip. Even if that airstrip is something like a burnt tongue. Ok I die now 😩😩😩

But let’s come back to living because this bullshit Nick “I always tell you what’s going on with me...you ask I tell you” exCUSE ME. Is this the same man who claimed he was being overprotective and that Ellie was like a sister to him?!???!! Yeah, I call bullSHIT that you tell Ellie what’s going on with you. (And Ellie calls BS too, btw buddy).

But when Ellie finally decides to open a little I love it. I think she finally understood at least just a bit that he just, simply cares about her & her well-being. So she gives him a tiny taste of what she’s going through. And god Nick’s face when he understands the gravity of what she’s having to face mentally. Like I know he knew but I don’t think he knew just how bad. And you can just see that hatred towards his perceived failure turning inward once again as the mood shifts in these cells to somber. Plus Ellies last comment here with them *needing* to find a way out of there- girrrrrrrl poor baby girl 😭 she’s struggling so hard right now and trying so hard to not let it show and not let it get to her but you know she’s terrified. You know she’s desperately triggered. UGH Ellie 💔💔

We cut to Ellie desperately trying to figure out a solution to getting the fuck outta there and once again my heart aches for her triggered self. Nick seems desolate and frustrated, shutting down slowly as it seems less and less likely they’ll get out. Buuuuut then the GUM. Ahahahahahah Ellieeeeeee how do you know about that last piece of gum for “breath emergencies”??? AHHHH this man’s jeans are so damn tight (& yes trust me I would know, I observe) but like also you staring at a spot on said tight jeans that’s only maybe five inches from a different outline 👀👀👀 GIRL I FEEL YOUUUU. GET. IT. Plus she knows exactly what he calls it and I freaking love that. His excuse for why he has to save it is also hilarious 🤣 his breath emergency later hmmm doubt you wanted to save it to MacGyver something Nick sooooo you got another thing in mind?? 😏 and then LMAO it’s mushy because his pants are sweaty I’m rolllllling. Your pants too tight Nick? (this is not humanly possible btw) ALSO is this why later Ellie says she expected Nick to be more sweaty??? If it is and now rewatching I kind of feel like it is, omg what a great callback on her part 🤣🤣

Nick trying to coach her on the proper way of opening the cell door is hilarious because bitch which one of you was able to move their toilet Nick 👀😂 but oh damn now it’s when shit goes downhill fast.

Nick not being able to see anything and his frantic questioning is amazing compared to Ellies absolute panic realizing she is once again facing down a bomb. I feel like her calming breaths are a coping technique Jack has been helping her with but man kill me now, Nick’s face?? When he realizes what he thought was helplessness earlier has just shot yo exponentially??? Oof with a capital O. This poor man needs a damn drink and yet all he can have is a club soda boy I *feel you* on that (side note #letsgetthisbabyoutmybellyasap). His woman has gone and gotten herself into another bomb encounter for the second time in a week. And he CANT DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT. Can you imagine the absolute inner (and outer, give it a sec) freak out he’s having?? He wants to save her from hot coffee for Christ’s sake and now he can’t save her from a rigged bomb. Talk about a shitty situation.

I just love the Torres Teachable Moment little discussion. Like Nick’s smirk gets me. I really don’t think he knew she had a name for it or realized that she caught on to what he was doing (trying to help her grow as an agent without being obvious or “degrading”). And then we move on to comparing arm length and I crack up 😂 “my arms are longer than yours” and “no they’re disproportionately short for your body” HAHAHA like what the hell have you guys been doing to know this?? Do you stand *that* close together with your arms down to know their lengths comparatively and how much do you stare at Nick, Ellie? Daaaaaaamn. From his gum to his arms to his body I see you 👀 I’m not hating tho I would too 😏 I think what I loved most about this whole jail scene (aside the ending obvs) is the quick flipping back and forth from joking & teasing to dead serious & worried. Like they’re both trying so hard to keep it above board and light- trying desperately not to think of the implications of what’s happening but then (usually Nick) those intrusive thoughts sneak through and he can’t help but redirect them back to serious. It shows their inner warrings with themselves and just how hard this is for both of them. How much they want to appear strong and unflappable but they both know deep down the whole situation is eating away at them. And Nick bringing up her standing on a bomb only moments before he tells her he’s going to shoot the wall- OOF. Ellie’s genuine terror for him injuring himself and her then not being able to do a damn thing about it because she’s standing on a FREAKING BOMB is so painful to watch. Like she’s stuttering she can’t get it out fast enough, she needs to stop him, she can’t fathom him getting hurt while she’s helpless (uh, hello there theme of the episode how have you been). Nick’s facial expressions through this scene are also so telling. He goes from “this isn’t a big deal” to “oh shit she’s panicking” to “holy shit is she going to open up, is she really talking about this” to “fuck it’s my fault she had to go through that and it’s tearing me up inside every second” to “hooooooly fuck is she about to say what I think she’s about to say?? Is she about to confirm what I know deep inside but am too afraid to say aloud?? Is it true??” And ELLIE OH ELLIE. Reliving that *has* to be hard, has to. To finally bring it up after she’s been dodging it all damn day...you know the thought of him getting seriously injured had her more than rattled. And she cracks open those cement walls around her heart so briefly, the glimpse in it provides I think a turning point for Nick. Finally seeing that it’s not just him, she’s in deep too. Even if she can’t say it, can’t say she was fighting to see him again 😩💔 he knows. She says he only has one bullet left and to save it and they’ll figure some other way with tears in her eyes my HEART. But Nick gets it. Nick gets it because he’s been in the exact same situation. His eyes as they process the implication of her words and the fear for his life running through them 🥺 his simple “ok” is so unlike his normal self, you just know he’s once again doing anything and everything he can for. Even if that means standing down and not fighting for his way (the natural instinct for him). He knows what she needs is reassurance he won’t accidentally shoot himself. So he does it 😭 But him pacing (as a man of action suddenly faced with forced inaction) & Ellie begging for an inventory over and over (a woman of logics and data faced with PTSD) is so painful. You can tell they’re both struggling and neither wants to admit it but also they both need to do something - for Nick that becomes finally deciding to shoot a foothold in the wall and for Ellie that meant trying to go over their facts again and again but suddenly she’s once again terrified Nick is going to injure himself. The one man she fought to see again might hurt or even kill himself and she can’t do a damn thing because she’s standing on a bomb for fuck’s sake. Aaaaaaand cue the blow up. Cue Nick voicing his worst fears of Ellie accidentally triggering the bomb. Cue Ellie getting defensive because she’s so damn used to be babied and treated like she can’t take care of herself. Cue the “overprotective hovery man crap” line that had me rolling on the floor (tbt ROFL). Cue Ellie calling herself a girl but Nick calling her a woman like DAMN get me where it hurts Nick- that right there is a man who respects the living hell out of this fiiiiiiine representation of a woman in front of him 🔥. Cue Ellie saying because I’m “me” like um FUCK YES IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE YOU AND HE’S TOO SCARED OF LOSING YOU ELLIE. Cue Nick finally losing his shit and getting reeeeeealllllllll like hallelujah do you hear the church bells?! Even Ellie knows to finally pause and listen. Nick never loses it on her, never. She knows this shift is serious and it’s happening. And omg his confession can I just have a moment of silence for the GROWTH.

Thank you, it needed commemorating. The same Nick who didn’t belong to a team is the Nick that is out here claiming he can’t sit idly by while the love of his life might get blown up again. He’s NOT OKAY WITH THAT AND NEITHER AM I. NOT AFTER THIS GODDAMN SCENE. His head bob accentuating just- how- important this is to him is so in character (thank you Wilmer) and theeeeeeen shoot me the way he has to fucking collect himself from almost crying. The emotion- there just aren’t words. Literally he has to look up to the sky and blink back those tears you know are threatening to fall at the thought of the woman who he still *technically* hasn’t told that he loves her could potentially die, again, for the second time in a week. So guess the hell what? He’s telling her (sort of). He’s telling her he would do anything, anything, put himself in danger’s way if it meant there was even the tiniest chance it would save her. Pardon the callback but- HE WOULD RISK HIS LIFE TO SAVE HERS. DON’T YOU REMEMBER ELLIE. YOU SAID I KNOW. DO YOU KNOW NOW. DO YOU. BECAUSE GOOD LORD CAN YOU MARRY THIS MAN ALREADY BEFORE I DIVORCE MY HUSBAND AND DO IT (jk love you honey 😘). But like damn, she knows it now. That look- she bites her lip and has tears in her own eyes at the realness she can feel even through a cement block wall. It’s a feeling she’s not used to. She isn’t used to being a person someone would literally risk death for. She doesn’t think she deserves it (sip on that like whiskey, mull it over, let it sink in & cry about it). Even if she knows she doesn’t need saving (and so does Nick), she finally realizes it isn’t about that. It isn’t about he feels like she can’t do it. It’s about the overwhelming pull that your life isn’t greater than the one you love. That love, real true love, is knowing you would do anything for that other person (and they the same) because the world would be worse off without them in it. And Nick will never be okay with a world without Ellie. Never. Their joint quiet after his confession is so powerful. There’s no claims of falsehood, there’s no trying to quip back at him, there’s no trying to stop him. It just settles into the room- into their hearts. They’ve crossed a line and it means so, so much. Nick can feel a weight lifted off his shoulders as he loads his gun and gets ready and Ellie can feel a weight settle on hers from the need to reciprocate. And not out of pity, it would be out of truth. But she knows it isn’t the right time. She knows she has to do it, and she will. She held back earlier when she couldn’t say she was fighting for Nick, but his outburst and confession gave her the courage in this scene. She finally has confirmation she means to him like he means to her. And she has to know, she has to know if he means it or if it was heat of the moment so when the dust settles she inquires, “what’s going on over there?” A pulse check. A way of asking without asking—did you mean that? And the shock of confirmation of her face as Nick, dead as a doornail serious says, “close calls make you live harder”….holy hell. That’s the moment it snaps for her, everything snaps into place—the agony he’s gone through not only this week, but the past couple years of close calls. He’s done beating around the bush, he’s living harder, he’s going all in, he’s getting what he wants. He refuses to let anything like a damn jail cell rigged to blow stand in his way. And she knows, she knows just how important she is to him. He might not have said those three words, but that phrase- that phrase was a direct window into Nick Torres’ soul. And by god I love it.

But Nick pulling a prank on Ellie like that is also so Nick- the little shit. The genuine concern in her voice when she yells his name 😭 like dude, her worst fear, something causing ongoing trauma in her head right now is the ONE THING you decide to tease her with??? I should expect nothing less but damn that’s low 😂 her checking on his status update with Gibbs though feels like such a role reversal from earlier and it cracks me up, side note.

When they’re getting ready to stand down the returning brother and Nick gets in position next to the wall but can’t even look ahead- he’s just staring at Ellie, oof. In that moment he’s brutally and painfully aware she can’t hide for cover. Not only can she not hide, he can’t cover her because he’s (locked in a cell but also) out of bullets. He’s once again near helpless and the woman he loves (and has now finally kind of told) is a sitting duck. Someone get this poor man a damn club soda, I repeat.

And the little talk between the two parties- I love that Ellie takes point. Love that Nick lets her. Like damn that’s a supportive partner right there and I 👏🏼 AM 👏🏼 HERE 👏🏼 FOR 👏🏼 IT. He knows she can handle this shit and he will willingly let her. But nooooooowwwww weee gettinggggg to the goooooood paaaaaaart.

Ok first, “good to see you” - this man has missed her face. Straight up dying to see her in the flesh. Just listening to her voice and not seeing the emotions written on her face is not enough. Seeing her alive, smiling at him, he needed it. But of course, let’s keep it light, act natural Nicholas.

“I thought you’d be sweatier” - excUUUUSE ME ELLIE. Not only did you just call out his reference to his sweaty jeans earlier, you also WANT TO SEE HIM SWEATY DON’T YOU. THAT SMIRK SAYS YES DON’T LIE. And honestly, I don’t blame you shhhhh.

“The day is young” - can I get another excUUUUSE ME NICK. Words- they don’t- function. Because that knowing smile of hers- SHE’S OKAY WITH IT. GET YOUR MIND OUT THE GUTTER YOU TWO THERE’S A HOMICIDAL MAN UPSTAIRS. YOU’VE GOT TIME TO GET SWEATY TOGETHER TONIGHT YOU HEAR ME. THAT DAY IS YOUNG AND SO ARE YOU SO GET THOSE BRICKS AND THEN YOU CAN GET TO BANGING LATER. I just fucking can’t with their smirks. I can’t. This isn’t the normal banter, this is the fuck me banter and I’m okay with it. Because right after the I-wanna-get-in-your-sweaty-jeans banter we have Ellie putting her HAND ON HIS GD HIP AS HE PASSES ONLY TO MOVE UP TO BOTH SHOULDERS. AND THEEEEEEEN HOLY HELL SOMEONE LIGHT A MATCH BECAUSE THIS BITCH ABOUT TO EXPLODE FROM SEXUAL TENSION. Is it possible to rewatch this scene a thousand times in slo-mo and still not have watched it enough? Because that is me. That will always be me. How are they so in tandem, so in sync as they look up mere inches from each other- directly into the other’s eyes knowing exactly how serious this situation is and yet pausing to freaking gaze longingly (read: have eye sex) at each other. And I’m sorry Nick looks down at her lips like three times??? For a good while too?? Sir nothing you said required you to look there. nothing. And also there’s no way his hands aren’t on her I thiiiiiiink they’re on her upper arms (based on the last shot as he’s walking to get the bricks) but like hold her tight Nick please. Also while Ellie doesn’t look at his lips (in this scene) holy shit those are some come-hither eyes if I’ve ever seen them. “I’m sure” ABOUT YOU. SHE’S SURE ABOUT YOU NICK. SHE’S SURE SHE’S READY TO GET SWEATY WITH YOU NICK. Like literally, this girl had been leaning up against the cement wall for a looooong time before he has to pass her and now, NOW that Nick has to pass her- SHE STANDS UP TALL. TO GIVE HIM NO SPACE. WHILE SHE’S STANDING ON A BOMB. BITCH YOU WANTED IT. That was a damn power move Ellie and I am not mad about it. She so easily could have leaned back, given him a ton of space to get around, but nooooooo she stands right there, middle of the tight opening and says yes Nick come get 1mm from my face, touch me here, touch me there, touch me everywhere don’t care 👀 while you pass. I’m sure I’m okay with it because you’ve just eye fucked me and it’s exactly what I wanted. And I mean come oooooooon just the underlying emotion behind both of their words. Nick isn’t just asking if she won’t move her foot- it’s his way of asking if she’s ok and she looks SO much better, more relaxed now that he’s with her. The tense, anxiety-ridden Ellie that was asking for inventory or snapping about him being overprotective, is now at ease despite still standing on said bomb- all because Nick is right there with her and if that doesn’t make you 🥺😭 I don’t know what will. Like she can’t even take her eyes off of him even after rude brother interrupts this gold moment of theirs until Nick has already completely turned his head towards the dude. She’s just so relieved to see him standing there, so close to her, feeling his warmth underneath her hands again.

Side note to prove my earlier point, when Nick casually reaches through to throw the bags of bricks through the door Ellie is leaning on the wall and THERE’S SO MUCH ROOM. HE COULD HAVE EASILY PASSED.

Nick looks like he literally wants to murder the guy, enraged that he’s the one who put Ellie in this situation again. We would’ve seen swan!Nick if it wasn’t for Ellie choosing this moment to finally share her feelings. Because remember- she’d decided she was going to reciprocate but knew it wouldn’t come off the right way before. Now’s the time. Now when the immediate threat to their lives is gone (excluding bomb of course). Now when they’re alone, they’re together, and she can look him in the eye so he knows she’s serious. He can read the truth in her eyes rather than doubt her words said across a jail cell wall.

“This isn’t about me, it’s about you” - well damn that got your attention didn’t it Nick??? So used to putting Ellie first, putting yourself second its weird to hear it come from someone else isn’t it? That someone is worried for your safety? That someone needs you living and breathing just as much as you need them doing the same? His eyes immediately change from Imma kill this man to did I just hear this woman right.

“I’m not okay with you getting blown up either” - first off, the parallelism is what makes this absolute *chef’s kiss* because Nick has literally zero chance of being blown up if he runs after this dude. Shot? Yes. But blown up? No. Ellie has chosen these words precisely to call back to what Nick said earlier. To make sure he’s aware she understood the weight of his earlier confession and is making the same one. They are on equal footing- their feelings are not only reciprocated but just as strong as the other. She could’ve said anything else but choosing his exact words was so poignant in the moment. It’s like the difference between saying “I love you” & “I love you too” compared to “I love you” & “I really care about you.” And the way she says it with such confidence, she isn’t playing around, she didn’t even *have* to bring up their previous conversation, she’s got determination etched across her face with a ghost of a smile on her lips. She means this, and it’s dying to bust out of her. And so the shock to Nick’s system is quite frankly understandable. This is Ellie - someone who hours ago didn’t even want to tell him who she was trying to make a phone call to. Ellie who has walls the size of Mt. Everest erected around her heart. Ellie who could have brushed off his earlier comments said from the safety of a cement wall between them. But no. This Ellie is all-in, she’s ready to own up to her side. She’s ready to lay it on the line just like him. Equal footing. If Nick is ready to jump, then so is she. And he’s just so taken aback- glancing at her lips, blinking through the shock as he processes. Processes the weight of her words on their relationship. He knows he could laugh it off, make a joke about his superhuman strength not allowing him to get blown up, or he could man up and take them both forward. Ellie doesn’t even flinch under his stare, if anything she becomes more confident, more resolute in her words and her stance. Her eyes searching his for what his reaction will be and for a brief moment I swear there’s a tiny bit of worry, a tiny bit of unease that he wasn’t ready for her to repeat his words back to him.

“Well, what are we gonna do about that?” Oh YOU HEARD. That smirrrrrrrrk Nicholas stop iiiiiit, Eleanor’s standing on a bomb you don’t need to light her on fire!! Because this is a challenge, a goddamn challenge. Staring straight into her soul saying, “oh you want me and I want you? How about we blow this popsicle stand and go get fucking sweaty ok? Because that’s what I want to do about that 👀🔥🔥🔥” and not only is the smirk sexy as hell but it’s also got this glint of elation. Like he could not be happier she said those words back to him. That he finally took Ziva’s advice, wasn’t a wuss and WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT IT PAID OFF. But his words also tell of a little nervousness. And not necessarily in a bad way, more as in a leaving it to her way. Putting her in the driver’s seat of this relationship knowing it’s where she’ll feel most comfortable. Given all she’s been through, like all of it not just the past week, he knows that she needs to be in control of how fast they move. And once again his chivalry and thoughtfulness of her is just- I cry. He doesn’t just assault her with what they should do next, he leaves it for her to decide. For her to weigh in on how far and how fast she wants to take them. And by the little shy smile Ellie gives him- she knows what he means. She knows her words have hit their mark and that he respects her enough to let her lead the way. And now she has to make her decision, a decision we DON’T GET TO SEE BUT I’M NOT BITTER IT’S FINE. But a decision nonetheless.

I honestly go two ways on this- the most obvious of hell yes they kissed right then and there and started *something* and then the bitter realistic one of they were probably interrupted by Gibbs (who was literally outside like right then based on timing) but also may have just continued to stare into each other’s eyes- still slightly taken aback by everything they just shared and what it means for them. Still unsure of how they “work” as people who *love* each other, not just partners. Having that reality sink in as they continue to face off and wait for a rescuer. That reality sinking in could lead to obviously very good things (that we better see on our screen or I will fucking riot) or a slight nervous closing-off. Like not quite closed off closed off, but a tiny retreat when the gravity of the day falls down on both of them. I don’t think either will believe they only said what they did because of the situation/moment they were in, but it’s still a lot to deal with after all is said and done. I sincerely hope they unpack this in the coming episodes and give us some direction of what happened after that jail cell scene.

I love the Torres told McGee about what happened today and I’m so curious about how much detail he told him lol but I also love that McGee has now received genuinely good advice from Torres twice now (the one about the reunion and now this). Just goes to show you the brotherly bond they have ❤️ but also that the advice was the same advice he literally lived out that day. Close calls make you live harder, almost as an affirmation to himself (Nick about what happened), but as something he knew McGee needed to hear too- they all do.

And then this bullpen scene - one, how far of a time jump is this and whyyyyyyy won’t they telllll meeeeee. They hate me. Two, Ellie coming over so close just to hand off a file that he doesn’t even look at 👀 three, THEIR SMIRKS. WHAT DO THEY MEAN. Because Nick is holding back the world’s biggest smile as Ellie gets close to him and Ellie is just all nonchalantly checking him out with a brief eye-sex scene. Like damn this fine man doesn’t want me to blow up and I don’t want him to blow up either 🔥 Now does this mean they absolutely got together and did the nasty after they got out of that cell? Of course not. We can only dream, and write fics. This ending scene is very reminiscent of what NCIS loves to do with their power of open-ended persuasion at the end of an ep, see On Fire for example. The ending music and comments combined with the shot of Gibbs leaving in the elevator is literally there to try and persuade you that he killed Xavier. In this ep, the ending music and voiceover combined with their looks at each other is there to try and persuade you they totally got it oooooon. Not to say they didn’t, but I don’t trust NCIS one damn bit.

All in all, cannot *wait* to see where they take ellick the rest of the season. Emily hyped this ep and man, she did NOT disappoint. Let’s see that shift that is going to ripple for the rest of the season now like Wilmer promised 🤞🏼

Oh and my only side note because this was insanely insanely long and if you’re still reading I’m proud of you for hanging in there with me & my screams into the void, send me an ask screaming back it’s ok I’ll love you for it—waaaas the whole team poking fun at Torres for using the word notable was downright hilarious. That and Gibbs trying to do everything himself, I can’t. Comedic gold. I love. I would go from dying of laughter to intense emotions so fast in this ep I got whiplash and for that, I am thankful to Gina. She always delivers 🔥

#ellick #WWR #ncis #lol this is literally a total of 6k words #what is wrong with me #don't answer that #hope y'all who stick with it enjoy 😘#18x06

61 notes · View notes

themadauthorshatter · 3 years

Text

I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time we check on Charles.

If you haven't read the previous parts, you can find them here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 and revision

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Recap time: the symptoms of withdrawl are beginning to kick in and leave Charles in less than favorable conditions, which Henry shows to the government in order to get the sapphire back.

Got that? My episode synopsis-ing is getting better😃. Anyway, ONWARD!!!

We begin with Charles sitting against the wall with his head in his arms and his knees to his chest. It's been a few days, withdrawal's in full blast, and he can't even pick up his head when he hears Henry walk in and kneel in front of him.

"Go away."

Henry simply holds out the pills again. "It must be hard without these, just sitting and counting the stars. Assuming you can do that," he adds with a shrug.

He reaches forward and practically picks up Charles's jaw, lifting it up so they meet eyes, which Charles doesn't do because the chain on his hat is shiny, there's a red hair on his coat, a papercut on his thumb, the scar on the bridge of his nose, and tons of small things that keep getting his attention.

"My offer still stands, Charles. All I need is you to tell me where it is, and you can have these back. Every last one."

Charles only stares off as his face contorts with sorrow and frustration, even when Henry snaps his fingers to get him to focus.

"Come on, Charles. We've been at this for a while, and I'm having a hard time seeing you like this now, so tell me. Where did you hide the sapphire?"

Tears fill Charles's eyes and his shoulders drop. "I don't know," he sobs. "I... I don't know."

Henry sighs and scowls, pocketing the pills. "Well, damn it for the both of us, then."

As he opens the door, Charles rushes at him, hard enough to knock them both to the ground and dent the cuffs.

Charles, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, books it, running down the hall and around every corner he can.

Henry, chuckling, stands up. "Alright. Let's do this, Charles."

Charles keeps running(really getting his cardio and steps in here), ducking behind and diving wherever he can to avoid being seen and found, eventually finding his way to a weapon vault.

In a rush and a panic, he bashes the cuffs off and repeatedly slams his hand against the panel to slip inside; don't worry, his ribs are better enough to be Bold Action Man again.

Inside, Charles catches his breath and tries to get his bearings, even when Sven announces over the intercom to keep an eye out for a runaway pilot.

Now knowing people are looking for him, Charles lets out a sob-groan and throws his hands over his eyes, losing it before taking a few deep breaths.

"Just breathe," he mutters to himself. "Just breathe, Charlie. You've managed before once. You can do it again." Charles takes another breath and arms himself with a handgun as someone begins to open the door.

He quickly draws and aims at Henry(are you surprised?), who raises an eyebrow and gives Charles a look of, 'bitch, really?' and leaning against the doorway, propped up on his arm.

Charles only stands his ground, taking deep breaths as he shakily speaks. "Take me home."

Henry only responds by snapping his fingers on one side and tapping his nails against the doorway, two sounds that heavily distract Charles.

It gets worse when, in between snaps and taps, Henry cracks and pops his knuckles, even clicking and clucking his tongue and tsking.

It doesn't help that Charles keeps noticing the weapons on the walls, especially the damage some have on them.

Henry snaps his fingers in front of Charles and removes his top hat, so Charles has a clear shot to his head.

Charles clenches his eyes shut and pulls the trigger, damning the consequences and the fact that he still has no idea how to get home.

Click!

Charles pales as his stomach drops with his hands and the gun, sliding to the ground as Henry kneels back in front of him.

"Do you REALLY think we'd keep our weapons loaded when we don't use them?"

Charles goes to hit Henry with the gun, as it's now a blunt weapon, but Henry grabs his wrist and pulls him close, so his back is against Henry's chest and Henry can slip an elbown around Charles's neck.

"By the way," Henry says before leaning into Charles's ear and growling, "You should've taken that shot, when you had the chance."

CUT TO EARTH(BECAUSE I'M A TROLL😈😈😈)

Rupert and Calvin are driving on that off road from Part 4 and looking for Charles's car, he's gonna need for when he gets back.

"I hope Charles is okay."

"You said that yesterday," Rupert replies sharply.

Calvin shrugs. "I'm just worried, that's all. He's been gone for a while, and Henry's got him."

"And he wants to know where we put the sapphire."

Rupert stops when they find Charles's car, but Calvin's not done.

"Where's the sapphire, anyway?"

"Shipped it off," Rupert explains as he leaves the car. "The General's having some friends of his make a replica, though, out of glass."

Calvin follows and they find a very relaxed Terrence, who's lying on Charles's car.

Calvin steps up and demands to know what Terrence is doing here.

"Nice to see you, too," Terrence sighs as he gets up. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"We're bringing Charles home, and he's gonna need that," Rupert snarls.

"Not where he is, but knock yourselves out," Terrence dismisses as he tosses the keys to Calvin. "Told anyone that it needed gas. Kept it company."

Calvin eyes Terrence, but loads in and starts Charles's car.

"I'll follow you," Rupert calls as he hops back into his car; the plan is that they're going to rtyrn the car to Charles's house, grab the twins', and return to the base. Rupert's following Calvin, for safety reasons.

Calvin gives a thumbs up and they head out toward Charles's house, Terrence riding with a tense Rupert.

"So the pilot's up in the stars now? Shame."

"You left him that note," Rupert replies sharply. "Why?"

Terrence raises an eyebrow. "When people can't solve a problem, you either give them a hint or solve it for them, which won't help them at all."

Rupert's eyes go wide as he stares at Terrence. "'Help?' You call getting Charles kidnapped 'HELP?'"

"Help is like art; it can mean anything."

"That son of a bitch is forcing him into withdrawl!" Rupert snaps. "He's keeping him from taking his medicine and you're just going to sit back and say you 'helped!?'"

Terrence stares down at his boots as Rupert locks his eyes on the road.

"I swear, if Charles dies, it's on you."

Terrence only stares out the window and remains silent for a while until they drop off Charles's car and head back to the base.

"He won't die. Henry won't let him."

"How do you know?" Rupert asks.

"Because he's selfish and childish, and he hates sharing his toys."

"But he LEADS the Toppat Clan."

"Which used to belong to Reginald," Terrence explains. "Charles is the General's son, adopted or otherwise, and the General calls MOST of the shots."

Rupert tightens his grip on the steering wheel. "And with Charles on that station, we can't attack."

Terrence nods. "The General's already lost a lot of people. What d'you think he'll do if he accidentally gets Charles incinerated in space?"

They're silent for the rest of the drive, after that.

Now that I bring up Galeforce, we cut to him watching the live feed of Charles escaping before being dragged back to his cell, kicking, screaming, and crying. Right, who's pulling him, grabs his hands and re-restrains him, so Charles is back to hanging.

WITH CHARLES!

He's struggling against his cuffs again as Henry, Right, Reginald and Ellie watch, unimpressed, fed up, and just sick of his BS.

"You know, this would've been A LOT easier, if he'd just stayed like this the entire time," Ellie rematks with her arms folded.

Henry nods, but signs, 'We can't have him atrophied or with his arms stick like that, but at least it keeps him in one place.'

They watch him keep trying to break free, Charles not noticing them.

"We could tell 'im 'ow to get to an escape pod, and 'e wouldn't listen," Right says.

"We could literally say ANYTHING, and he wouldn't listen," Ellie adds.

Reginald only sighs/groans as he leans his head against Right's shoulder. "How long is he going to do that until he realizes it won't help?"

They watch Charles for a little bit longer before, Ellie, who gets the 'okay' nod from Henry, steps up and slams her fist into Charles's stomach.

Charles stops instantly and has a coughing fit.

Cut to Galeforce seeing this and clenching a fist before cutting back to Charles as he keeps coughing.

"You're not doing yourself any favors, so just tell us what we want to know and we'll send you on your merry way."

Charles weakly glares at them, though he looks eyes with Henry.

"What part of 'I don't know where the sapphire is,' do you not understand?" He snaps. "I fell unconscious, when I gave it to them, so HOW could I be able to tell where they hid it?"

Henry furrows his brow before Reginald speaks up, "If you didn't hide it, someone else must have, and you're the top pilot, if you don't know where it is, who would?"

Charles immediately thinks of the twins, but shakes his head, eyes on the floor to avoid looking at everyone. "I don't know."

"Careful, kid," Right says. "If y' keep lying, you'll get yourself killed."

Charles shakes his head again. "I really don't know."

Right, knowing Charles is lying, punches him in the cheek with his non-cybernetic hand.

It makes Charles's ear ring and makes him taste blood(because he bit his cheek), before Henry approaches him and signs to him.

'Don't think I forgot about those twins you care about. If they know, we'll drop you off and pick them up, easy. Unless you want to tell us yourself where ths sapphire is?'

Charles's face drops with horror before he glares and spits a mix of blood and saliva at Henry, hitting him on the cheek.

"Fuck you."

Henry, ever the gentleman, scowls and wipes himself off, nodding at Right and Ellie; 'He's yours.'

He and Reginald turn to leave, but Henry lightly holds Ellie's arm and leans into her ear.

"Don't break him."

"Why would I break your new favorite toy? Give me some credit."

The two smile at each other and Henry leaves, Reginald behind him; he did not want to be in that room when Right and Ellie were there.

The door closes and the two turn to Charles, Right letting Ellie go forst because she's a lady👸

Cut back to Galeforce, who cringes as Ellie punches Charles sone more, the pilot groaning and crying out with each strike.

Victoria and Konrad enter the room carefully, Konrad holding a rolled up piece of paper and Victoria there as his escort and emotional support.

"General, you asked for us?"

Galeforce turns away from the monitor as he it shows Ellie letting Right take a turn and Charles pick up his feet to kick him away.

"I did. How's the design coming along?"

Konrad passes the rolled up paper to Galeforce, who opens and insects it.

"We've already got a few prototypes being built, so we should be ready for testing soon."

Galeforce nods at them. "Good. When they're done, have them tested ASAP, got it?"

Both nod and Galeforce dismisses them, though. Victoria stays to long enough to see him set down the paper and maks himself keep watching the feed, on which Right throws a kick HARD into Charles's stomach and makes him cough worse than when Ellie punched him.

It makes Victoria flunch becofe she turns to the General.

"I don't know who's getting it worse, him or you."

Galeforce ignores her, only watching as Right lets Ellie have a turn again.

Victoria puts a hand on his shoulder, and she can FEEL how much he's shaking.

"We're going to bring him home soon, General. I promise."

Galeforce, without looking, rests his hand on Victoria's.

"Thank you."

CUT BACK TO CHARLES!!!

Right and Ellie are gone, and he's beat to all hell, his face and body bloodied and bruised, though his ribs aren't as significantly bruised as his face, because of obvious reasons.

Charles is breathing heavily and spitting out blood, because it taste makes him sick. He rests his head against his arm and gives his restraints another pull before sighing and letting out a sob.

He doesn't know if the others know he's on the station, but hopes that they're both alright and planning on getting him out, because he's trapped.

Then he thinks about how Henry knew Charles was protecting the twins, and breaks down.

Henry knows about the twins.

"I'm sorry," Charles says to no one in particular. "I'm so sorry."

#henry stickmin #henry stickmim collection #completing the mission #completing the mission au #charles calvin #toppat!henry #ellie rose #toppat henry #medication withdrawl tw #slight violence tw #swearing tw #stickvin #one sided stickvin #stickrose #ellry

13 notes · View notes

outerbankslut · 4 years

Text

Confessions... JJ Maybank (ptersparkers’ Writing Challenge)

Summary • You had been dating JJ for the for a few months after meeting him a year before and during a Kegger one night he gains the courage to confess something.

Warnings • Underage Drinking. Swearing. Mentions of smoking weed. JJ being hella cheesy and cute. Minimal violence (punching). Makeout scene at the end and insinuated smut after.

Word Count • 3.2k (Imagine)

Masterlist

(GIF isn’t mine, let me know if it’s yours)

BEER ROCKED DANGEROUSLY over the side of the red solo cup held in JJ Maybank's hand as he bobbed from side to side within the crowd of sweaty, buzzed teenagers. He was 7 beers and one joint deep and it had barely been 2 hours. But that was JJ for you. Getting hammered at parties and hooking up with random tourons would normally be his plan for the night. Until he met you. His life drastically changed with you around. He stayed round your house, you hung out on the boat together, you surfed with each other, comforted each other. You both enjoyed each other's presence. You felt safe in each other's arms.

Eventually JJ asked the million dollar question, not marriage though. Yet. He asked you to be his girlfriend on a boat ride, just the two of you as the sun set behind you. It was surprisingly romantic for the Maybank boy which you had told him. He simply kissed you on the lips and said when there was the right motivation for him to, which was wanting to spend every moment with you, he could be as romantic as he wanted.

JJ took the rim of the cup to his lips and let the beer wash down his throat as he turned, looking around him, searching for one person. Until he found you. His eyes landed on your head of hair standing by the keg chatting with John B gripping a similar red solo cup to JJs own. Except you weren't stumbling from side to side like him.

"Ellie!" He called out as he pushed his way through the herd of people and beamed as he saw you turn around.

"Took you long enough to get here."

As soon as he reached you he wrapped his arms around you tightly like a koala bear and nestled his head on your chest. You laughed at your boyfriend wrapping your arms around him, the vibrations coursing through your body to his as he inhaled your soothing scent. He felt so lucky to hear your laugh all the time. That melodic, enchanting laugh.

"How much have you had drink JJ?"

You asked. He pulled away counting on his fingers and held up three with a goofy grin before saying, "Five beers."

You chose not to comment on his maths considering he was already hammered so it wasn't his fault.

John B piped up from behind you, "I think he's had six or seven. And I saw him smoking a joint early on."

"Thanks, John B." You smiled, before you took JJs hand leading him over to a log that didn't have any people sitting on it. "How about we sit down, J?"

Then you felt a gentle tug on your hand as JJ stood still in the sand begrudgingly. "No, I wanna go dance."

"You look like you're about to fall flat on your face, J. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. But can you come with me? Please Ellie belly." He begged, pouting and you got so caught up in his wide innocent stare that you found yourself nodding. If JJ was there you would happily do anything with him.

He pulled you into the crowd as you made sure he wouldn't fall over from his inebriated state.

His blond hair was held back by a navy blue bandana but strays still brushed against the soft skin of his face in the wind. He quickly put his arms around your waist quickly as if to say you were taken. Both of you completely content as you put your own wound round his shoulders. It wasn't even a slow song playing as you both swayed in the moonlight but you acted like it was anyway.

After a while it got too much within the masses of people surrounding you so you left it with JJ following after you.

"Hey, where you going?" He asked his eyes widening at the thought of you leaving him. He didn't want you to ever leave him. The sight melted your heart. If this was your ex he wouldn't even have asked. And would've just stayed dancing, probably with other girls as though he didn't have a girlfriend at all.

"I'm just going to go further up the beach. Where it's quieter. You coming?"

"Yeah." He'd go with you anywhere. "Of course, I'll go with you."

You smiled and walked down the beach, your feet sinking into the sand with each step you took.

The waves were louder where you were. Mainly because there wasn't music blasting right in your ear or the loud chatter and yells of Pogues partying.

You both laid next to each other in a small area on the sand listening the water crashing against the shore not caring about the sand that most likely covered you head to toe.

"Hey look, El." He pointed his finger into the sky towards a cluster of stars. "That one looks like a dick." He smirked. "That's probably like the size of mine as well. You think?"

"Mmm, I think maybe a grain of sand is more comparable." You looked at him with with a teasing smirk and he sent you a glare. "Anyway, I don't even see—wait nevermind I see it now." You paused for a second laughing.

"What?" He asked poking your shoulder.

"Its—It's the big dicker."

JJ snickered at the pun and you fist bumped before taking his hand in yours. Eventually the laughter faded to a comfortable silence with JJ rubbing circles on the back of your hand and you holding onto his like your life depended on it. JJs touch was soft and kind and yours was reassuring and gentle.

All of the sudden JJ turned over in the sand facing you as you turned to face him too.

He cleared his throat before speaking, your faces only millimetres apart. "El, there's—there's something I've wanted to say to you about... for a while now."

He was slightly sobered up now at the thought of what he was about to say. It was big for JJ. Never once had he felt love towards someone other than his four friends. His hookups meant nothing and his family—well that wasn't love in the slightest. So for him to feel safe and comfortable with someone was rare and it was a big deal.

You laid in anticipation thinking about what he could be saying. There could've been a hundred things. But one thing popped up that made you feel giddy inside. Your mind was saying no. There was no way he was about to say that. If anything he was probably about to break up with you. But you swiftly made sure to push that to the back of your mind. Though you didn't know what to think at his long pause as he tried to find the words.

"Is it—is it something bad or—"

"No, no. Just don't freak out or anything cause I don't think I could handle that."

You pinched your eyebrows in confusion but nodded nonetheless with an encouraging smile.

"I don't know whether you feel the same way or anything, but I think—"

And just like that JJ was interrupted as John B ran over laughing. "Guys Popes about to do a Keg stand."

You looked bewildered to say the least. From your short time knowing the Pogues you knew pope rarely drank. JJ huffed quietly under his breath sending a scowl into the back of John B who was going back to the epicentre of the beach party. You pulled JJ up his hand which you hadn't let go of yet and paused holding him back for a second.

"Hey? Um, what was it you wanted to say?"

"Nothing it doesn't matter." JJ sighed and gave a thin lipped smile. The atmosphere was ruined now. He wanted it to be perfect. He wanted it to mean something. But it didn't feel right to say in that moment.

You nodded not convinced but let it go. If it was that important he would have said wouldn't he?

AT TWO AM the party was still going and JJ had sobered up more, not wanting to be drunk if he was to try and tell you by the end of the night. He just needed to build up the courage again to say those words he'd been so starved of most of his life.

A lot of the Tourons and Kooks had cleared off going back to their holiday homes or mansions while the Pogues partied till dawn. Since they had no obligations, no one to answer to, nothing to lose.

Pope was completely drunk from the keg stand and Kiara was babysitting him for the rest of the night while trying to stop him from drinking even more.

JJ had strayed from you a few minutes before going over to talk to John B next to the campfire that was roaring while you manned the practically empty keg. You were sitting sipping on your own beer when you felt someone sit next to you and turned to see a boy who looked a little older than you.

"Hey baby." He put his arm around you as you grimaced attempting to push it off. "What do you say we get out of here and go back to my place?"

JJ was facing away from you for a second before John Bs face contorts to confusion and the blond turns to see the boy with his arm around you, not him. Just some random guy.

"Um, no thanks. I have a boyfriend." You push's his arm off standing up and walking away until he grabs your arm tightly.

JJs grip on the plastic cup crumpled it and he dropped it to the floor as he stormed towards the scene quickly with a furious stride in his step.

"That was a little rude." His breath hit your ear and the intoxication obvious as you winced at the pressure on your arm. You looked from him to his calloused hand placing extra pressure on your arm probably leaving bruises. And then gritted your teeth in annoyance as you hissed, "Let go, asshole."

"You heard what she said asshole let go of her." The voice of your boyfriend rung out when the guy didn't relent and even having the audacity to let out a low chuckle.

"What are you her boyfriend?"

You saw the blaze in his eyes and shook your head. "JJ it's fi—"

"Yeah, actually I am. So I suggest if you've got any sense left in that pea sized brain of yours, you let go of her." JJs fists tightened slightly and his jaw clenched.

The guy let go of your arm with a scoff before pushing you forward roughly towards JJ.

"Fucking slut." He spat in your direction and turned to leave but the fire in JJs eyes only grew.

His arms caught you as quickly as they abandoned you when he gently pushed you away from him and ran at the guy tackling him into the sand. People who had gathered around gasped in shock. Though, what was shocking about JJ Maybank getting into a fight at a party?

You went to go forward but John B pulled you back shaking his head as he moved forward to pull JJ away from the boy who he had punched twice.

John B pulled his friend off putting a hand on his chest to stop him running towards the guy groaning on the floor. Luckily the guy ran off quickly not causing anymore trouble as you hurriedly stepped towards the boy grabbing his shoulders and looking over his face and body.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. Are you okay?" He said as he looked at the red print left on your arm his hands grazing over it.

"I'm fine, J. You didn't have to do that."

"I didn't have to—Are you serious? Of course I did. He wasn't letting go of you. I wasn't just gonna stand there and watch."

"I—I could've handled it. I don't want you getting hurt just because you think I'm a damsel in distress who can't help herself."

"You're not just a damsel in distress you're my girlfriend. I did it because you shouldn't have to go through that, we're a package deal. I protect you and you protect me."

Your face softened. "J, I understand and thankyou, I just hate the thought of you getting hurt because of me."

"Well deal with it cause as long as we're together I'll take any punches thrown your way because I love you so fucking much!"

JJ let out a breath as he realised what he'd just said and his eyes widened. You stood frozen as the words spilled out, your feet stuck to the ground, your hands trapped at your side.

"You—you love me?"

JJ got over the initial shock of what he said and nodded furiously. "Of course, you're the most amazing girl I've ever met. And the fact that you care too just makes me love you more. I'll scream I love you from the rooftops if I have to. So that guys like that know that you're my girlfriend."

The boy suddenly got an idea as he spotteda red metal stand stuck in in the sand behind you. He sent you a grin before rushing over to the object climbing up holding his hands in the air and wobbling slightly before yelling to the crowd of Pogues. "Can I have your attention please, everyone?"

Your eyes widened at the realisation of what he was about to do and you held in a breath.

"In case you didn't already know I'm in love with Ellie Reed that girl right there. And she's my girlfriend so if anyone here was thinking about going near her. Think again, she's off limits!"

Your cheeks flushed red and your lip was quivering now while a tear trickled down your cheek slowly.

The boy you loved with your whole heart, loved you back. He jumped down from the stand and before he got a chance to walk any further you ran up to him jumping into his arms that he quickly outstretched. He twirled you around once you were safely in his embrace and you felt like you were on top of the world.

"You don't have to feel the same way. I just needed you to know." He whispered in your ear, he was honest and he was scared. Scared that once he said that you'd run away cause you wouldn't feel the same way. He was reluctant to even admitting this in fear of rejection. But sometimes you just need to say fuck you to your fears and go for it.

You shook your head pulling back and wiping a small tear that was in a puddle on your cheek. As he set you back on the sand you lightly hit his chest.

"You going soft on me Maybank? Oh wait no you already were before." You teased him but he didn't care. You wanted to make sure he knew exactly how you felt back. So you did.

"I love you too, JJ. Dating you has made me feel like I actually have someone who I could go to for anything. You're so supportive. And the way I've seen you with your friends, you'd do anything for them. And I admire that so much."

You took his bandana in your hand and said, "And I especially love this cute ass bandana on you." You grinned winking at him. JJ made a mental note to wear it more often. "You're an amazing person and boyfriend and I don't think words even express my love for you."

He beamed at you and he wrapped his arms around you, his own eyes watering slightly and he pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead. It felt like he was high. But he didn't need weed for the type of high he was on right then.

THE DOOR WAS pushed open as you and JJ made your way through the entryway to JJs room lips locked. His hands slipped down to your waist grazing over the end seams of your top attempting to pull it up though it was tightly held on your body.

"Why is your top so hard to get off?" He grunted in frustration.

"I don't know. I'll just take it off." You pulled it over your head, throwing it to the side it hitting the floor and he stood still for a second.

"God, you're so fucking hot." He breathed out before stripping himself of his baggy tank top and pressed you up against the door, it slamming shut in the process. You smiled against his lips suddenly feeling dizzy and euphoric as his hands roamed your body. You gripped his hair tightly, your hands placed on the back of his neck as he deepened the kiss.

You felt his hands tighten around your bare waist when you moved your hands from his neck down the sides of his stomach lightly brushing over his abs before you reached the button of his board shorts. You unbuttoned them hastily and he kicked them off not wanting to take his attention from you.

Then his hands went down to the skirt you wore. Pulling at the waist band before he pulled it down, his hands brushing over the red lace situated beneath.

He broke the kiss and began trailing them along your jaw before whispering in your ear. "Jump."

You did exactly that feeling a tingling sensation at his hold on your thighs pinning you against the wooden door as you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders.

He trailed kisses further down your jaw before he carried you towards the bed and threw you down on the covers. You stared up at him his heavy breath hitting your face as he leaned down trailing the soft down your neck first and then down your chest. You were letting out soft moans and calling out his name as he sucked on your skin nicking it with his teeth leaving reddish marks left and right around your chest.

When he moved down to the lining of your laced underwear the creak of a door sounded through the room.

"JJ I—" Pope froze his eyes wide as he saw his friend on top of you only in your underwear. JJ quickly moved his body over yours.

"Jesus Christ, Pope."

"I'll—I'll leave you guys to it. Uh, have fun? And sorry."

Pope quickly exited the room looking mortified at the image of his friend having sex while Kiara and John B standing outside realised what had happened and laughed to themselves.

JJ let out a chuckle while you huffed. The thought of his friends being just outside the room was slightly unnerving as you realised the amount of times you had moaned JJs name. But just JJs touch took that feeling away. His head has rested on your chest before he sat up looking to you full of lust.

"Why don't we just finish what we started then."

Note • So I was on the fence about posting this for a while cause I just wasn’t that happy with how it ended up but I went back and edited it today and I’m much happier with how it turned out. Like it was 1.4k words before I edited it and then bam like 3k words. Oops. But the main part I was worried about was the last part cause I’ve literally just written the like 2 kisses in my other imagines. Hopefully it doesn’t cringe anyone to death. Also thankyou @ptersparkers for making the writing comp cause I kinda got out of my comfort zone writing the last part. (Also your study sessions series helped me kinda). Also this is the post that says about it if you wanted to participate :)

177 notes · View notes

spaceskam · 4 years

Text

another part of my kid fic universe for @zuluoscarecho ❤️️

warning: mentions of past abuse and deportation

“I spy with my little eye something... brown.”

"Um... Alex's hair?"

"No! His hair is black!"

"Definitely brown.

"Let's say both," Alex chimed in, smiling easily as he listened to Michael and Isaac play their billionth round of I Spy as they made their way to Texas to pick up Isaac's things from his Tía Ellie’s house.

It took a bit more negotiating that expected. Turns out, she’d never directly witnessed Isaac actively using his telekinesis, but she’d been getting suspicious that there was something off about him. She loved him, she’d said, but she was no longer comfortable housing him. She’d been getting in contact with a social worker and Isaac had overheard which led to him hunting down Michael in hopes he’d be a safe place to go. Alex had to take over the phone call at that point.

“Okay, okay,” Michael agreed, humming as he looked around for something brown. His hand was locked with Alex’s, resting on the center console of Alex’s truck. Alex gave his hand a soft squeeze. “My hair?”

Isaac erupted into unprecedented giggles, “Not everything is hair!”

“Well, shit, I don’t know what else comes in brown, dude, the tree trunks?” Michael asked, smile getting wider by the second.

Isaac had only been staying with them for a week so far, but he got comfortable fast. They’d set up his room and he would be starting school that following Monday, so it was clear he had no reason to not get comfortable. Besides, he and Michael had little telekinesis lessons and that seemed to help a lot at making him feel safe there. Alex made sure to add a little more to that safety by working on making sure Daniella had a constant, trustworthy line of communication to talk to Isaac every day. So far it’d been a little rocky, but he was working the little bit of magic he could manage.

He was determined to be a good father figure.

“No,” Isaac said.

“Okay, I give up, what is it?” Michael said.

“My hair.”

Michael laughed and turned in his seat to face him, looking some where in between impressed and baffled.

“You totally tried to throw me off course.”

“Duh.”

“You hear that, Alex? We’ve got a fuckin’ trickster in our backseat,” Michael said, huffing a laugh as he settled back into his seat, “He’s gonna outsmart us all.”

“Wouldn’t shock me,” Alex agreed, pulling his hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. His heart felt so full in a way he couldn’t quite articulate. Michael leaned over and kissed his cheek for extra measure.

“Me neither,” he agreed, looking back to Isaac when he pulled away, “How’d you do in school, by the way? Forgot to ask.”

“Good,” Isaac said, shrugging, “As and Bs.”

“Trying or not trying?” Michael clarified. There was a few seconds of silence and Alex could picture the distinct, guilty grin on his face that mirrored his father’s. “Well, I always say if they know you’re better than them without even trying then you’re doing something right.”

“Okay, no, that’s a horrible lesson,” Alex butted in. Michael scoffed in disagreement as Isaac just let out a soft laugh.

Isaac hadn’t really struggled to understand the fact that two men could be together (another thing they had to thank Daniella for) but it had been an adjustment for all of them and they had a conversation about the barest definition of Michael’s sexuality to nip any complicated questions in the bud. That had been preceeded by a talk with Danielle herself who said ‘that would explain a lot, good for you’.

In times of banter, though, he happily sided with whoever he felt could make the situation funnier.

“Yeah, Mr. Michael, bad lesson.”

“This whole teaming up against me thing is not gonna fly. You both seem to forget I could throw everything with my brain,” Michael said, more pouty than serious and only getting more laughter from the boy in the back seat, “And stop calling me mister, it makes me feel old.”

“You are old,” Alex told him. Michael stuck his tongue out at him, but didn’t argue. They hadn’t quite had the whole alien conversation yet. That felt like more a month milestone or something.

The rest of the drive to Texas went like that, conversation and jokes and listening to music. It took about three songs to realize that Daniella seemed to have only one flaw in raising Isaac and it was his lack of music taste. Alex put on Panic! to educate him.

Around the two and a half hour mark, Isaac had passed out against the window and Michael was laying over the center console to put his head on Alex’s shoulder. It was quiet and peaceful and so damn domestic that Alex could almost imagine they were taking a family trip to Disney World.

“I love you,” Michael whispered for no reason, fueling his little fantasy even more.

"I love you too.”

They arrived outside Ellie’s house around 1PM. The neighborhood wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it was nice enough. Lawns were manicured, kids were playing outside, people were walking their dogs. The fact that Daniella had been successful enough to have a house in a neighborhood like that and still got deported was a quick reality check Alex didn’t enjoy.

“Wake up, bud,” Michael said, reaching into the backseat to gently shake Isaac awake. It took him a minute but he rubbed his eyes and slowly came back to life.

They all climbed out of the truck and walked towards the front door. It opened before they could even knock, a small, white, blonde lady on the other side. By looks alone, it was difficult to tell how old she was--she could’ve been 23 or she could’ve been 45.

“Ellie?” Alex clarified.

“Yes, Sir,” she said, eyes landing on Isaac as he hid behind Michael, “Hey, Isaac. You scared me running off like that. I’m glad you’re okay.”

His small hands clutched Michael’s, hanging off him slightly. Michael didn’t seem to mind.

“We’re just here to grab his things or anything you managed to keep from Daniella’s house. We’ll keep it until she’s able to come back,” Alex said. Considering Michael had personal reasons for disliking this woman, it seemed best that Alex took over.

“Right. Everything I could save is in the guest room,” Ellie explained, moving out of the way to let them in, “Could I get you guys coffee? Water? Anything?”

“We’re okay, thank you,” Alex said.

She led them to the small room that Isaac had slept in when he was there, nearly every square inch of the room covered in things. Most of it was small trinkets and personal items and Alex considered that maybe he should’ve asked if he needed more boxes.

“I’ll go get you some newspaper to wrap some of it up,” Ellie said, quickly walking out of view.

“I... I was not expecting this,” Alex said carefully, looking around the room before looking to Isaac. He was still clinging onto Michael, looking either scared or embarrassed or both. Alex managed a warm smile. “It’s okay, I’m not mad. Just surprised, ‘s all.”

Slowly, they began making trips to the truck. Alex had a few boxes and they filled them with newspaper-wrapped trinkets and mugs, handling them all with care. Then they got to the other stuff like his clothes, some of Daniella’s clothes, multiple sheet sets, curtains, a quilt Daniella made from his baby clothes. Then they got his books, toys, etc. It was just a lot. It had the entire backseat full and the trunk not too far off. It took three hours.

“You sure you don’t want anything? I can make lunch,” Ellie suggested. Alex politely declined.

“We’ll pick up something on the way home. Thank you, though, for taking care of him for so long,” Alex said. She nodded, but grabbed his arm to keep him in place after Michael and Isaac said their goodbyes and headed to the truck. “Is something wrong?”

“Be careful with him,” she said, voice hushed even though they weren’t in ear shot, “There’s something off about that boy. Daniella hid it well, but once you have him in your house... Things start happening.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Alex said, again trying his best to be polite. She knew enough, they didn’t need her discovering more.

“Just be careful,” she said sincerely, “I tried bringing him to church but--”

“Thank you for watching him, but we’re good now,” Alex cut her off, not really wanting to hear more. He knew she hadn’t done what Michael’s religious foster family had, but how much longer until she had? That was just something he could keep to himself.

Alex made his way back to the truck where Michael and Isaac were already waiting for him, both silent and probably for two entirely different reasons. So, Alex suggested food.

They ate in silence as well as they started their drive back to Roswell. Isaac looked drained which was probably his main reason for silence, but Michael looked out of it.

By the time they started driving through long stretches of empty desert, Isaac was sound asleep in the backseat. It was when the sun started going down, though, that Michael couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“You okay?” Alex asked softly, squeezing his hand as he heard his breathing slowly begin to escalate. He looked over at him and saw that his bottom lip was quivering and his eyebrows were drawn taut, everything showing that he was trying to not cry mixed with his breathing becoming more and more erratic. A quick look in the backseat proved that Isaac was still asleep.

So Alex pulled over into the desert.

He got out of the driver’s seat and went over to the passenger side, all but pulling Michael out of the truck. He broke down as Alex pressed him into the door, trying to hold his face and get him to calm down.

“Hey, what’s going on? What happened?” Alex asked softly, hands on his cheeks. He hated seeing him like this, yet loved that he was being so open with his feelings. It was a strange juxtaposition.

“After the house he grew up in was foreclosed, but before they had people go in and clean it out, he’d break in to get his and his mom’s things. They wouldn’t let him go in and get his shit after they took his mother, Alex. He had to break in,” Michael admitted, choking on a sob as he recounted it and meeting Alex’s forehead with his own. Alex frowned and that secondhand sadness seeped into his veins. “He shouldn’t have had to do that.”

“No, he shouldn’t have,” Alex agreed softly, weaving his fingers into his hair, “That’s fucked.”

“I feel so guilty,” Michael admitted, “I-I should’ve known about him. I should’ve been easier to reach, should’ve been the first person they called when they needed somewhere for him to stay.”

“How could you? Daniella didn’t tell you,” Alex assured him, “Which, honestly, was probably good for both of you. He didn’t need to get to know you when you were at your lowest.”

Michael sniffled, seeming torn on whether he could agree or not. Alex just continued to do his best at soothing him.

“But it doesn’t matter. We can’t change what happened. He found you, that’s all that matters.”

“God, I can’t... He was so close to ending up like me,” he said, clutching Alex’s shoulders, “I don’t want him going through that shit.”

“And he won’t, okay?” Alex promised, “He’s got us and we’re not going to let that happen.”

“Never let any of that happen,” Michael insisted, “He’s gonna have a good life.”

“Yeah, he is. He’s already got a ton of people who love him and want him,” Alex assured him, “We just need to make sure he knows that.” Michael sniffled and nodded his head. “You’re wanted too, by the way.”

Michael huffed a laugh, “It’s not about me.”

“Kinda is,” Alex said, “And that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared of what might happen to someone else and want better for them. That gives you a drive to be better for yourself.”

Michael breathed steadily a few times and Alex carefully dried his face, grounding each other easily. Alex moved just enough to kiss his forehead and Michael relaxed a little more.

“Sorry,” he said once he calmed down. Alex shook his head.

“Don’t apologize. It’s okay to cry and be sad,” he whispered, “It’s okay to be scared.”

Michael managed a smile and he whispered, “Have I told you I love you lately?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, “But I still like hearing it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They met in the middle for a soft kiss that led to another that led to another before they slowly stopped. As easy as it would be to let it turn into something else, the truck was still running and they had a sleeping 10 year old in the backseat.

“You’re gonna be a great dad, Michael.”

“So are you,” he said, his hands sliding up to his neck before he pulled him into a hug, “You’re already great.”

They held each other for a moment before deciding it was okay to let go and climbing back into the truck. Michael leaned back over the center console to lay his head on Alex’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his bicep.

Alex really started planning that trip to Disney World.

#malex #malex fic #michael guerin #alex manes #roswell new mexico #my fic #i never planned on you

76 notes · View notes

specialmindz · 4 years

Photo

“PAPYRUS! PAPYRUS WHERE ARE YOU?”

BUBBH!

“PAPYRUS!”

Sans poked the baby bones currently playing the bathtub. “hey uh, bro? i think dad wants you…”

“PAH-PYRUS!”

SPLASH SPLASH!

“WHAT YOU WANT STINK DADDY? I’S MAKING MOOSIC OVER HERE!”

The infant continued splashing in the tub, the bubbles floating gently through the air with each slap the water received. “UNDER DA’ SEA! UNDER DA’ SEEEA! DOWN HERE IT WETTER, DOWN HERE IT BETTER, TAKE IT FROM BAY-A-BEEEEE!”

CAP CAP CAP!

CA-THINK, WHAM!

“ugh! dad, you don’t have to slam open the door like that-”

“WHERE’S MY KEYBOARD, YOU LITTLE SHIT?”

SPLASH SPLASH!

“I don’t know what you’s talkin’ bout’. What is dis ‘key-board’ you speak of? Is a board game?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS! YOU USE IT WHEN YOU’RE USING MY COMPUTER! TELL ME WHERE IT IS THIS INSTANT!”

SPLASH!

Papyrus stopped. “Why you need it so bad? You’s a scientist, not a moosician! I’S the only one with musical talent round’ here! Listen to mah jams!”

SPLASH SPLASH!

“UNDER DA’ SEA-”

“THAT’S THE WRONG KIND OF KEYBOARD!”

“uh oh,” said Sans, studying the water. The surface of it was almost completely obscured by bubbles, but he had a good idea of what lay beneath. Papyrus normally didn’t even like bubbles, as they got in his eye sockets and made it hard to see where he was swimming, but today he actually asked for extra suds in order to create “special effects” for a “concert” he was performing.

It looked like Gaster had the same idea too, as a trademarked sigh of unmistakable misery escaped him.

Heh heh, it’s like watching a balloon slowly lose its will to live…

SPLASH SPLASH, SPLASH SPLASH!

“It’s under the water isn’t it?”

“Nyeh?”

“My keyboard. It’s underwater.”

Papyrus looked down at the water and then back up at his father. “I do bad Daddy?”

“Yes Papyrus, you’ve made a mistake...”

“I fuk up yo’ life?”

“Yes Papyrus, you’ve ‘fucked up my life,’ now give me my keyboard so I can repair it.”

“Mmm…no. No, I’s gonna fix it. I already has an idea, in fact! I can still make dis work.” Papyrus licked the water. “Yep. Daz the problem. That’s the problem right there. I got the suds, but the water not be salty enough. SNAS!”

“AHH! wh-what? what do ya’ want pap?” asked Sans, putting a hand against his skull.

“Well FIRST, I’d like you to pay attention,” said the baby. “We gots a situation over here and you’s dreaming bout’ eating Sabastian!” The infant pointed to a dead crab floating in the bath near his feet. It had CLEARLY been eaten a long time ago by someone else, probably a human seeing as Papyrus got all his stuff from the Dump, but apparently the shell was all he needed to play pretend.

“I needs you to search the Powder Place and finds the salt,” said Papyrus, now pointing at the bathroom cabinet.

The bathroom cabinet was where the family keep their cleaning supplies. Heavy-duty powder that was used to clean up serious messes regular soap couldn’t handle, pest control bottles that sprayed foul-smelling chemicals, and copious amounts of baby powder lined the floor of the cabinet. Some of the bottles and boxes were neatly arranged, but most of the supplies had been knocked over, their contents scattered everywhere due to a combination of missing lids and an unsupervised baby…at least that’s what Papyrus said.

His little brother didn’t like the Powder Place very much, and at one point he even tried to do something about it, admitting fully that he had once purposely spilled the contents of the baby powder in order to make the area smell like an infant rather than Catty’s litterbox room. It was Papyrus’s argument that cleaning supplies should never smell like fresh fruit.

“Be careful Snas, it may smell delicious in there, but erything be poison. Big people’s use it as a trick to kill off fat babies.”

“Don’t be absurd! That’s not even close to being correct.”

“Yes it is. Big people’s like their monies and a fat baby is a baby that eats alllll the time. Food costs money, so they buy poison that smell like food to get rid of the baby without legal con-see-quences.”

“That’s not true, who TOLD you that?”

“Dirt-Butt.”

“*Sigh*”

Of COURSE it was Dirt-Butt.

“Dirt-Butt” was ALWAYS saying nonsense, though it really didn’t bother Gaster as much as every other source of knowledge the infant found. He was usually relieved in fact. Papyrus was used to getting stereotypical info from the media, but the things Dirt-Butt told him more often than not, actually kept him out of trouble.

If only headaches weren’t still the norm…

“NO DADDY, DON’T USE DA’ LECTRICAL HOLE! DIRT-BUTT SAY PICHU LIVE IN THERE!”

“…What?”

“dirt-butt told pappy that pikachus were electric mice who made their homes in electrical outlets,” explained Sans, playing a game on his phone.

“IS TOO! PIKACHU’S BABIES LIVE IN THERE! YOU’S GONNA POKE EM’ IN THE BUTT!” Papyrus covered the holes of the outlet with his hands, Determined to save his fellow infants. “Dirt-Butt says only big people can get poked in the butt, he also say-”

“Pikachus do NOT live or make their nests in electrical outlets.” Interrupted the scientist. “No one does.”

“Yes they do! Dat’s why the tricity gets used up. Pichu eat da’ power so they can gets big, is their nutrients!”

Gaster shook his head. “No. The reason you don’t want to stick things in here is because you’ll be electrocuted. Dirt-Butt lied. You need to pay more attention to people when they’re talking Papyru-”

“You gets elly-cuted cause’ you piss off Pikachu.”

“Did you not hear me?”

“If you poke the babies, you gets zapped.”

“Papyrus.”

“I KNOWS MAH ANIMALS DADDY!”

“SNAS, MORE SALT!”

“NO, do NOT put salt in your brother’s bathwater, it’s terrible for bones,” said Gaster reaching into the cabinet. He pulled out the salt, but was immediately met with a wet keyboard to the face.

CACK!

“PAPYRUS!”

“GIMME MAH SALT STINK DADDY! IS MINE!”

“No, it is NOT yours-”

“GIMME MY SALT OR I’S GONNA TELL UPON YOUUU!”

“You do that.”

“I WILL! I’ll tell upon you and you’s gonna get in trouble! I tells em’ you taked the salt and tried to make a baby stew…” said Papyrus smiling.

“Wh-”

“I’ll tell eryone you putted salt and carrots in mah bath and eryone will hate you. They’ll go ‘poor baby Pappy, he has such a bad wife, his daddy try to cook him for supper! We should ah-rest that bad guy and donate lossa monies to that baby’s fundraiser so their family can eats!”

“…What fundraiser?” asked the father, sensing trouble. He immediately regretted saying anything. In fact, he regretted it before the second word even came out of his mouth, but by then it was already too late.

“MY fundraiser. Baby Pappy’s Happy Nappies for Crap Bs!” Papyrus grinned and spread his arms out wide as if in celebration.

“’Crap B’s…?”

“Crap babies. Babies who not geniuses like me. Snas say, other baes not as fortunate as us, so I should be nice and share mah toys.”

“…”

“I don’t wanna do that, so instead I makes a fundraiser to get the inferior infants nappies!”

“Papyrus-”

“Nappies is diapers.”

“I know what nappies are,” said Gaster, already annoyed. Though the fundraiser’s name was enough to prove to Asgore that he wasn’t responsible for whatever came from his youngest’s latest money-making scheme, he still had to put an end to it. If he didn’t, he’d have the king’s citizens knocking at his door, and things were already getting bad in that regard.

More and more monsters had fallen ill from Hotland’s toxic fumes due to the fact that the Underground’s air filter lacked the power to operate and the more…unreasonable, individuals were getting upset. With the Lab being the closest medical building, the sick were often brought in and placed into the renovated Medical Ward. What was once mostly a living room was now a warehouse of beds, stretching almost from one end of the room to the other and lined with monsters of every variety.

Not that he was running out of room or anything.

The monsters there weren’t being cured, but rather drained of their magic to create magic crystals, a brilliant, if cold-hearted idea to be sure. This however, was necessary, though it had a severe consequence as it resulted in an increase of the Fallen; monsters who had lost too much magic and so had fallen into a comatose state. If the comatose had a chance of waking, he wouldn’t have dozens of family members banging on his door and flooding his email with questions, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Those that fell, fell to dust. There was no waking them…at least he didn’t THINK so…Gaster admittedly hadn’t bothered to experiment with that kind of thing yet.

I’m raising two children, keeping the oil reservoir under control AND a secret, trying to come up with a permanent solution to our power problem, logging the names and the number of incoming patients, making magic crystals, recording Papyrus’s progress, AND fixing HIS messes; I don’t have the TIME to meddle in monster mortality.

“uh, dad? papyrus just ran out the door giggling.”

“Wh-what?” Gaster looked about the bathroom to find that it was, indeed, missing a baby. “Why didn’t you stop him?!”

“he ran right past you, so i figured it was okay.”

“Papyrus by himself is NEVER okay, you should know that! Where did he go?” He poked his head out of the doorway and looked down the hall. A wet trail of baby tracks led into the darkness and he could just faintly hear the clacking sound of tiny bone feet getting farther and farther away.

“he said something about ‘customer satisfaction’ or…whatever. i wasn’t really paying attention-”

“GET OFF YOUR PHONE AND GO GET YOUR BROTHER!”

“*siiiiigh* FINE. PAPPY? WHERE YOU AT BABY BRO?”

“I SAID ‘GET’ NOT ‘YELL’ SANS!”

Lazy little…

“uuuughh!” Rolling his eyes, Sans shoved his phone back into the pocket of his hoodie and walked out the door. “PAPPYYYY! HEEERE PAPPY!”

“NYEH HEE HEE HEE!”

Wiping off his ruined keyboard, Gaster tucked it under his arm and followed his oldest.

He already knew where the little bastard was headed.

Earlier in the week, while he was sweeping dust off the beds, he had found a little white diaper under the covers. ALL of the beds that once held the Fallen, had them in fact. It was obvious that Papyrus was putting diapers on the comatose patients, but until today, he never knew why.

“…those aren’t babies pappy,” said Sans from far off.

“Course they are! Daz why they sweep so much. Cwap babies don’t do much Snas, they just eat, sweep, and doody in their diapies. Some of them pay wit toys, but-”

“PAPYRUS GET OUT OF THE MEDICAL WARD!”

Papyrus turned his head to look down the hall, then, waving at his daddy, he turned back around.

“PAPYRUS!”

“Shoosh, stink Daddy! You wake da’ babies!” The tiny skeleton looked at the fluffy, unconscious dog-monster. “So tell us, doody-dog…how satisfied are you wit mah pro-duct? From one to a hundred?”

“…”

Papyrus lifted the dog’s head, “Eleventy-six!” exclaimed the baby bones, “I’d definitely wear another! Mah only complaint is the lack of hole for my stupid dog tail-”

“*pfft!* pap-”

“THERE SHOULDN’T BE ANY COM-PAINTS!” yelled Papyrus into the dog’s face. “DIS A FUNDRAISER, YOU BE GATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU GET, SUCK-BABY!”

“…”

“he’s not answering you bro.”

“Cwap babies not talk much Snas, but the result be clear. They satisfied…and now I must expand mah business!” cried Papyrus, raising a finger in the air. “TO WATERFALL!”

“huh?”

Using his wingdings, Papyrus picked himself up and placed his little body atop his brother’s skull, apparently expecting Sans to take him to his destination with haste.

He didn’t.

“pap, i don’t know what EXACTLY you’re trying to do, but it’s probably not a good idea; you’re naked and dad was-”

“TO WATERFALL SNAS!!” repeated the baby, louder this time. “TIME BE MONEY, HONEY!”

“don’t call me that.”

SPL-SPLASH!

Teleporting to Waterfall, the two brothers fell into the water near the docks, Papyrus slipping from his sibling’s head almost at once.

“NYEHHHHAAH! WHY YOU PUT US IN DA’ WATER SNAS? THE FISHIES SEE MAH BUTT!” The infant covered his rear end with a tiny hand, using the other to grab hold of Sans’ hoodie.

“then you shoulda listened to me huh?” replied Sans, CLEARLY not sorry at all. “besides, you know i can’t control exactly where i show up!”

Just the area in general…

“DON’T LOOK AT MAH BUTT CWEEP FISH!”

TAP!

A strange tapping sound drew the older boy’s attention, and Sans turned his head to see old man Gerson walking along the docks, cane in hand, while the baby batted at the curious fish.

“What’s all the commotion over here?” asked the turtle, scratching under his chin. He looked a lot more ancient when he was in full view. Sans usually only saw him in his shop, as did everyone else. It was rare to find him wandering around, as Undyne had a habit of taking it upon herself to scavenge for supplies at the Dump and present it to him to selling. Because of her, he never really HAD to leave anymore.

TAP, SHIFF!

The old man got closer and peered down at the two in the water, holding a magnifying glass to his eye. “Wahhaha, of course, of course it’s you, Papyrus. Giving your brother trouble I see!”

Does he bring that everywhere with him?

“it-it wasn’t pappy’s fault, i made a mistake,” said Sans quietly.

“Is that so? Well you two shouldn’t be bathing in the same place we water folk get our food, might get a taste for skeletons! Wahhahaha!” He laughed again, but the little Horror wasn’t as amused.

“DON’T EAT DA’ BABY!”

“we weren’t bathing…i just…took a wrong turn or something…”

“You weren’t? Then where are your brother’s clothes?”

“CTHULHU TOOK EM’! I seens it, wit my own widdle eyes, Wrinkle-Man!” said Papyrus, splashing in the water.

“Really? Well that’s just awful! Isn’t that awful Sans?”

“please don’t encourage him.”

“They must be pretty mean to do something like that; picking on a poor little cherub like you.”

“Yep, I’s a sad cher-chero-cherrio. A very sad cheerio Wrinkle-Man, baby’s don’t gots lots of monies ya’ know? How I supposed to buy new jammies wit no monies?”

“That IS an issue,” said Gerson warily, sensing an approaching problem. He turned to Sans, but the child only glared at him, his expression giving the answer to the old man’s unsaid plea.

You started this, now YOU can deal with it.

I’m not helping you.

“Ya’ know what would make this little cheerio happy again Wrinkle-Man?”

“cherub, pappy.”

“*Sigh*…What’s that?”

“If you would accept dis diapie.” The baby bones held up a soaked diaper, possibly getting it from out of Sans’ pocket.

“oh, that’s right, i didn’t check my pockets today.” He looked down at his clothes sadly. Whatever was in there today was probably ruined now by the water.

Papyrus tended to hide things in his brother’s hoodie.

Every once in a while, the kid comedian would reach into his pocket to find crayons, candy, a kaleidoscope, bouncy balls, a yo-yo, and sometimes even makeup in his pocket. They were fun little surprises that he enjoyed, like tiny gifts. They obviously belonged to his sibling, but liked Papyrus liked to say “what’s mine is yours,” so he considered them gifts.

The big treasures were his favorite, as they were rare and akin to getting surprise packages in the mail. He’d wake up in the morning and go to the place on the floor near the dresser where he always threw his hoodie and be excited to find a big lump covered by his clothing. A sign that his brother had hidden something neat.

You’d think he’d quit hiding things with it by now. He’s gotta know I’m stealing em’…

One time, Sans even found a skateboard hidden under it. He played with it a lot, and got pretty good, but when he started doing tricks, Papyrus became…unhappy. He remembered his baby brother screaming in terror and crying when he showed him a kickflip for the first and last time. He remembered feeling super guilty about it too. He only had 1 HP after all; if he fell, it was bye-bye big bro.

The skateboard now sat in a corner collecting dust, a sad reminder of what could have been.

“I don’t need a diaper yet kiddo!” said Gerson, slightly insulted.

“Sure, you do! All old peoples need diapies and all we asks in ass-change is dat you gives us a small donation.”

“A small donation’ hm?”

“Yep, for just thirty-twelve G, you could have this super absorbent, long-lasting diaper. Yo’ donations go to the Happy Nappies Fundraiser where we will buy MORE diapies and gives them to the less fortunate.”

“…It sounds like you’re selling diapers for 3,012g, FAR more than they’re worth. That’s thirty-twelve right? 3,012g?”

“Correct. We uses the extra monies to buy more nappies.”

“That’s not a fundraiser young’un’, you’re supposed to be raising money for charity. If you’re selling these to the babies here in the Underground-”

“I not sell to babies, I GIVE to da’ baes!”

“…But their parents pay for them.”

“Yes.”

“That’s not a fundraiser, you’re ‘hustling’ as the kids say.”

“No! I not hustle, I BUSTLE! The fundraiser be for babies, THEY gets the diapies for free, not the big peoples.”

“you’re either not understanding bro, or you’re trying to cheat people.”

Probably the latter.

“Daz not too. I buys diapies for the peoples who needs em’ and I use the rest to buy stuffs dat I need...like my jammies. Erybody wins.”

Papyrus attempted to climb out of the water and then, realizing his arms weren’t strong enough to pull him up onto the dock, he summoned his wingdings and placed himself onto the planks.

RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE!

“ugh, pap!” Sans covered his face as his tiny and inconsiderate sibling shook his body back and forth like the dogs in Snowdin, attempting to rid himself of the water.

“Wahahaha!”

SQISH!

THAP THAP THAP!

The infant squeezed the diaper in his hands and whipped it in the air, sending beads of water every which way. He knew it would probably not be the most absorbent product he ever sold, but perhaps the old monster would still want it for catching doodies…?

“bro, that diaper’s ruined, you’re not going to be able to sell it. look, it’s torn…”

“Nyeh?” Papyrus looked at the nappy in his hand. It seemed fine just a minute ago, but now it was all stretched out and worse yet, the sticky parts that were meant to hold the diaper in place wouldn’t stick anymore. He tried several times to get them to, but the front kept falling open.

Sans was right.

His product was ruined.

“NYEHHHHHAAHHHH! SNAAAAAAAS!”

“*sigh*”

“MY DIAPIE BE BOKEN SNAS! NYEH-HAAAHHHH!!!”

Sans got out of the water and picked up his baby brother. “don’t cry pappy,” he said, bouncing him up and down in his arms. “it’ll be okay.” He patted him on the back, but the baby bones refused to stop crying, still clutching the diaper in his little hand.

“Oh dear…hmm…tell you what,” said Gerson, pulling a wallet out of his shirt pocket. “I’ll buy your nappy at 2,000g, since it’s damaged. A young’un’ needs a pair of clothes, right?”

“our dad didn’t sell his clothes if that’s what you’re-”

“Shu up Snas, YES PWEASE MR. WRINKLE-GUY!” yelled Papyrus, suddenly all smiles. “I WOULD VERY MUCH AH-PEA-CIATE THAT!”

“PAPYRUS!”

“WAHHAHAHAHA!” laughing loudly, the tortoise-monster gave him the money. “Looks like this old man’s been outmaneuvered in marketing! I better watch out!”

“Nyeh hee hee hee!”

“…”

“Oh, don’t look so glum, my boy. Your brother needs this practice in order to protect you in the future! He’s gonna be quite the young warrior, isn’t that right Papyrus?”

“…There will be war.”

“WAHHAHAHAHA!” Mr. Gerson laughed again and walked back towards his shop. He tended to laugh a lot when Papyrus was present, though seeing him also made the elderly monster a bit sad too.

Sometimes I miss the old days when a lot of these little guys were around…

Maybe one day, nature will fix our past mistakes. I just hope it doesn’t need help…or that it’s not too late.

TAP, SHIFF!

“…that wasn’t very nice bro.”

“The business world is a harsh one, Snas,” said Papyrus, counting his G. “You needs to pactice too big Buther. One day, you’s gonna need to help da’ baby, ya’ know? Is sad dat you has no monies of your own. Just cause’ you gots 1 hp, don’t mean you’s useless. You gots a brilliant mind, put it to good use.”

“i don’t need life advice from a crook.”

“Kay’ when you gets a life, come see da’ baby.”

“i HAVE a life, you little asshole! it’s just isn’t a life of crime.”

“No crime no dime, big Buther. Sometimes you gots to break the rules to get da’ jewels! Tell Daddy he either pay you for help, or he pay fines for child labor.”

“that’s blackmail.”

“Is genius is what it is.”

Sans chuckled and put the money in his hoodie. “why would you need my help bro? unemployed monsters down here are a dime-a-dozen!”

“…”

“all jewel need to do is lie and they’ll help you out. i don’t need to do anything, heh heh…”

“…You needs to pactice yo’ font too.”

“fine-”

“SOMEWHERE AWAY FROM DA’ BABY!” yelled Papyrus, kicking his legs.

“i can’t leave you here, child abandonment is a crime-”

“DAZ NOT EVEN A PUN!”

“besides, crawling all the way home would be a bit labor-ious, wouldn’t it?”

“IIIII HATE CHUUUUUU!!”

CAP, CAP!

Oh crap, someone else is coming. I need to get Pappy back in some clothes or-

“HEY! NO BATHING IN THE FOOD SUPPLY, IT’S ILLEGAL!” cried a shrill voice Sans knew all too well. Startled, he dropped his brother in surprise, but luckily the infant didn’t seem to care.

“HELLWOE FISH-LADY!” Papyrus threw up his arm in greeting. “DA’ WRINKLE-MAN JUST LEFT!” The baby pointed towards Snowdin.

“He was just here?”

“yeah, he headed back to his stall a few seconds ago,” replied Sans, glaring at his brother. “while you were…underwater. why were you underwater? this is the breeding area…”

“Right, I was talking to the fish. Gotta make sure no one’s stealing them, so everyone can keep eating-”

“Fish Lady’s growing an army to fight the homos!” said Papyrus excitedly.

“SSHH!! Shut the fuck up Papyrus!” whispered Undyne harshly.

“homosapiens baby bro, you have to say the whole thing or…you know what? just say humans, kay’?”

“Homo humans!”

“…not better. also, are you talking about actual fish, undyne or water monsters?”

“WHO CARES?” yelled the young girl. “THE MORE SOLDIERS THE BETTER!” She grinned proudly, her hands on her hips. No one would expect an attack from the water AND the land, the next war against humans was as good as won.

That is, if no adults found out about it. They didn’t appreciate Undyne’s ingenious war strategies like Papyrus did.

No matter how helpful or cool they were, adults always seemed to have a problem with her ideas, and unfortunately, Sans and Gaster were no different. For most of them to work, she needed science nerds, but they saw her plans the same way they saw Papyrus’s, terrible and “asinine.”

The Royal Scientist’s words, not hers.

She didn’t know what “asinine” meant, but it had the word “ass” in it, so she assumed their father was calling her ideas booty.

My ideas aren’t ass!

My ideas are GREAT!

Stupid, crappy, science dweeb, is just lazy. How hard can it be to build a giant robot? Isn’t there already someone asking him to do that already?

“…A giant robot can destroy entire towns, I saw it in a movie.”

“what are you talking about? are you still on about that robot army?” Sans sighed, a trademark sign of his that meant he thought she was being stupid. Undyne had heard it many times before.

“IT’S A GOOD IDEA!!” she screamed. “AND IT WASN’T AN ARMY, IT WAS JUST O-”

“for the last time, if you saw something already done in a movie undyne, the humans know how to COUNTER it; they make the friggen’ things!”

Undyne’s so dumb…

“Yeah, but the movies are old, Sans! They’re in the Dump, because no one watches them anymore! We’ll have the element of surprise.”

“I wish to pilot a Gundam, big Buther.”

“SEE?! Papyrus wants it!” she said, pointing at the baby bones. “You want to blow up a town widdle Pappy?”

The infant smiled and bounced up and down on his rear end excitedly. “Yeah yeah yeah!” he said, ignoring his sibling’s frown. “I’s Middle Eastern ya’ know…is mah calling.”

“still don’t know what middle ease is, pap.”

“Middle East Snas! It mean I comes from da’ center of the earth…only is a liiiittle East.” The infant pinched his fingers together, squinting with one eye to make sure there was space between them, hoping he had solved the mystery.

“The center of the earth…?” Undyne looked confused. “You mean Hell?”

“i’d believe that.”

“Noooo! I’s on the WOOF of Hell…cept’ is a liiittle East.”

“Yeast…isn’t that the stuff bread is made from?”

“he’s saying east, undyne. it’s a direction.” Sans pointed towards where he knew the Lab was located.

“…That’s left, Sans-I MEAN RIGHT! That’s your right.”

“NYEH HEE HEE HEE!”

“SHUT UP PAPYRUS, I WASN’T WRONG!”

“you are.”

“YOU SHUT UP TOO!!”

“how old are you?”

“YOU CAN’T ASK ME THAT! I’M A WOMAN, IT’S ILLEGAL!”

“Is you a baby like me, Fish Lady? If so, I gots a great product for you…”

“I’m NOT a baby, I’M GROWN!” Undyne stomped her foot angrily on the planks of the pier, scaring Sans a little. He had no idea how long those timbers had been there, but he knew people walked on them every day. Eventually, they would break and need to be replaced…probably by the pines in Snowdin.

There are some people who use them for firewood too though, I know Grillby does. What if we run out? How long does it take a pine tree to grow?

…

Who planted them there to begin with?

“Nyeh? You spacing again, big Buther?”

It was something he thought of often whenever he was bored, and he highly doubted it was the monsters doing.

“Come back down from space, Snas!”

No one knew what the inside of Mt. Ebott was like, which is why everyone in the beginning not only scrambled for a home as soon as possible, but also refused to leave it behind for something better. It didn’t make sense to begin with for the monsters to carry saplings with them into a mountain with little to no sunlight. Even if the sunlamps in Snowdin had been immediately installed, it would’ve taken time. Could the trees survive that long without the sun? Why were they all pine trees to begin with? If the monsters came from different environments all over the world, wouldn’t some have brought cacti, palm trees, and other tropical plants?

It’s like someone made preparations for us to live here…

“EARTH TO THE SNAS!”

“AH!”

“Stop daydreaming and tell da’ Fish Lady how great mah fundraiser be! She doesn’t want to buy my diapies…” said Papyrus quietly.

“Why are you naked?”

“s-sorry bro, i was thinking about the trees. how come there’s only pine trees and fruit trees in the underground?”

“Nyeh?”

Why was his brother always thinking about trees?

“There’s a fern in the Resort Area,” said Undyne, hoping to change the subject. She’d rather talk about plants than diapers.

“why though? who was the guy who went ‘hey, yeah, i know i’m being ushered out of my home with little to no warning and should prooobably pack everything i think will be needed to maintain my survival-”

“But this fern doh…” The young girl laughed, imagining the scenario. “I gotta take this fern, man!”

“*pfft!* c’mon undyne, for real-”

“FERNS BEFORE FOOD! FERNS BEFORE FAMILY!”

“NYEH HEE HEE HEE HEE!”

“AND THESE FLOWERS, DUDE! I NEED THESE GOLDEN FLOWERS IN MY LIFE!”

Sans laughed in spite of himself as his baby brother let out a high-pitched screech of delight. As curious as he and it was, the comedian had to admit it was also pretty funny.

I guess back then, people didn’t have to worry so much about survival as they do now. They probably weren’t expecting things to be so hard down here.

It’s good that kids like us don’t have to worry about that sort of thing…most of us anyway.

Dad’s a douche, but our generation depends on him and he’s doing his best to deliver. Without him, the Underground would be doomed.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was one of the worrying kids. The future frightened him; his father frightened him.

One of the perks of being invisible, aside from whenever the Royal Scientist needed him, was that Sans could go anywhere and do anything he pleased when off the clock. He knew about the Fallen and what his father was doing before Flowey even appeared to tell him, and he was willing to bet his brother did too.

Papyrus didn’t mess with the draining machine.

Sans noticed he didn’t talk about it either. There were no questions, no threats, no mentions whatsoever. In fact, these days Papyrus seemed to mellow out a bit in general, his pranks becoming fewer and fewer in number until the labs horrendous reputation began to fade. The baby bones had even gone out to recruit other bright minds to help in the lab, no doubt sensing his father’s incoming mental collapse.

Despite how serious their power problem was, the truth remained that they HAD oil. It was dangerous to use, but it was a choice Gaster had other than draining that he didn’t favor. He CHOSE murder, their father CHOSE to drain sick monsters who came to him for help, and showed absolutely no remorse or concern for his actions.

Not good.

“Does Onion-chan gots ferns?”

“huh?”

“It’s Onionsan, Pappy. You’re spelling it wrong, and yes, those are ferns.”

“oh, you’re still talking about ferns…who’s onionsan?” asked Sans. He didn’t know much about the monsters that lived underwater, but apparently no citizen was safe from his little bro. He hoped he hadn’t caused too much trouble…

“Onionsan-chan be a monster from Japan, man!” replied the infant, enjoying his tongue twister. “I doesn’t know how he got here dough…”

“OnionSAN, Papyrus-”

“They too big for mah diapies, so we not visit the tentacles today.”

“what?”

“Onionsan is a monster that looks like an octopus. I’ve never heard of Japan though.”

“Is where the woah-bots come from, Fish Lady! Da’ Vocaloid and the Gundams and the aira-planes…”

“airplanes aren’t robot birds baby bro,” said Sans smiling.

“Nyeh? No bird? Tsundereplane lie…?”

“huh?”

This alarmed Sans. Papyrus was behaving himself more in the lab, but that meant he was spending most of his time outside where it was dangerous.

Who’s Tsundereplane? How many people is he talking to?!

“you know what? it doesn’t matter. stop talking to strangers papyrus, it’s dang-PAPYRUS!”

BEEP BEEP!

Taking Sans’ phone out of his pocket via wingdings, Papyrus called his “friend” on speed dial.

“Hellwoe?”

“papyrus, stop!”

Who the hell gave him their number?! How long has that been in my phone?!

“Yep, is da’ baby…”

“hang up, papyrus. whoever gave you their number isn’t a sane person-”

“Snas say you’s not a whoa-bot bird Tsundereplane. Why you lie to cute widdle me?”

“…”

“WELL SCU YOU TOO, STINK ARROW-PLANE! I BEAT YO’ ASS!”

BEEP!

“…”

“…Tsundereplane not my friend no more.”

“Aww…poor Pappy…” Undyne patted the infant’s skull.

“don’t feel sorry for him! that’s what he gets for talking to strangers, maybe next time he’ll think before putting numbers in MY phone!”

“Yep, woe is me Fish Lady…”

“are you even listening to me?”

“…First they steals mah jammies and now they lie and call me an idiot-face. I am the saddest of cheerios…”

“THEY STOLE YOUR CLOTHES?!”

“you little shit.”

“STEALING’S ILLEGAL! Don’t worry Pappy, THE UNSTOPPABLE UNDYNE WILL GET YOUR CLOTHES BACK!”

“he’s lying undyne-”

Sans reached out to stop her, but Undyne was already off towards Hotland.

Damnit!

There’s no way he’d catch her, he didn’t even know who or where Tsundereplane was.

I don’t even know what they LOOK like…an airplane probably, but…

“Nyeh hee hee hee!”

“*humph!* i bet you’re pretty proud of yourself, huh baby bro?”

“Yes.”

“you think you did the right thing?”

“Yes.”

“what do you think’s gonna happen when undyne finds out you were lying?”

“She gonna come back and do the accu-sa-tions and Imma say ‘they throw my jammies in da’ lava?’ then I’s gonna cry reeeal loud, and she gonna feel sorry for me.”

“…”

“She’ll say, ‘aww, I didn’t think of that! Poor baby Pappy…I should go out and buy you NEW jammies!’ and then I say, ‘no, no, you’s done enough.”

“…is that right?”

“Yep. I say, “Just gives me some monies and I go gets em’. Shopping be boring.’ Then she gonna go ‘you’s right! Shopping IS boring. Here are some monies…and a widdle extra for the accu-sa-tions.”

“…”

“That’s when I be reeeal nice and say ‘keep da’ extra, you deserves it for being a good friend to da’ baby.’ Then I buys candy and I eats it, then we all live happy ever after.”

“…i’m calling undyne.”

“WHY YOU GOTS TO DESTROY MY HAPPY AFTER?”

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

“I’M NOT SELLING YOU NOTHIIIIINN’!!!” screamed Papyrus, “NYEH!” Snatching his brother’s phone, the baby bones took off running towards Snowdin.

“PAPYRUS! PAPYRUS, NO!”

“NYEH HEE HEE HEE HEE!”

“DO NOT GO INTO TOWN NAKED, PAPYRUS!”

Friggin’ dumbass! There’re dogs everywhere there, he can’t be showing that many bones, he’ll get eaten!

Or they would.

Probably the dogs.

Either way, Sans knew who would ultimately be blamed.

“GOOD LUCK FINDING ME IN DA’ SNOW BIG BUTHER!”

“ugh, shit!”

POOF!

With an enthusiastic smile, Papyrus leapt into a snow poff as soon as his sibling lost sight of him. There was no way Sans would find a tiny white skeleton in a snowfield. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack…whatever a haystack was.

Finally, his Michael Jackson syndrome was paying off.

“Nyeh? *sniff sniff*”

That was odd. The snow poff he was in smelled like doody. Well, actually, the whole town smelled like a barnyard, but this was especially bad…

“*huff puff* pa-papyrus…”

“…”

“papyrus, i know you’re in there, your tracks lead right to the snow poff field!”

“…Those could be anybody’s tracks, there’s no baby here, skelly-man.”

“really? heh heh, well that’s weird. most people who live in snowdin avoid the snow poffs.”

“…I had to move cause’ I missed my rent. This my home now.”

Sans laughed; his brother had no idea. “woooow, that sucks. i’d personally hate to live in a poop-igloo, but you do you man, ha ha ha!”

“What?” Papyrus poked his head out of the snow poff and looked down.

“yep. the reason the snow is built up in this area and nowhere else, is because this is where people dump their chamber pots.”

“…”

“the snow tends to build on top of the droppings and that’s what makes these little mounds, cool huh?”

“…”

“asgore is trying to get plumbing up and running, but it’ll be a while before THAT happens, what with the power issue and all. personally? i don’t see it happening. people make money gathering these snow poffs up to sell for fertilizer.”

Without saying a word, Papyrus climbed out of the snow poff and walked towards the Ruins. It was the longest route to a river, but at least it didn’t cut through town.

“papyrus?”

“Shut up.”

“aww, what’s wrong pappy? paaappyyyy-”

SPLASH!

The baby bones jumped into the river, using his wingdings to hold himself steady in order to keep from being swept away by the current.

“…”

“oh no, pappy! you can’t just hop into the river, the fishies will see your butt!”

“…”

“you know what you need to catch those doodies? what every baby needs?”

“Choke on bread.”

“a dia-”

SPLASH!

“heh.”

#Fonttale #Fonttale au #Undertale #Undertale au #Papyrus #Sans #Baby Papyrus #Kid sans #Kid undyne #Undyne #Gaster #Undertale fanfiction #Dark Comedy

21 notes · View notes

wildselkie · 4 years

Text

Top 10 Scenes in TDP Season 1 (pt. 1/3)

*not ordered in which is better or worse, but it will be in chronological order*

Also some things are worded weirdly. I have a pain in the ass time trying to get my thoughts across in words so... I thank you for your patience :))

_________________________________________

1) The scene where Callum, Ezran, and Rayla find the dragon prince. Ep. 2

I think this is one of the more pivotal moments in the show. I mean it is literally the scene that sets the story in motion after all! Two human princes, an elf assassin, and the lost dragon prince (who was thought to be dead/gone/egg destroyed(?)).. this is just IT.

*also i’m aware that Ez probably found the egg first cos he already knew about this secret area but still

2) Viren (attempts to) proposes the idea to trade his life in for Harrow. Ep. 3

Now there are other well thought and well written posts on this scene with Viren and Harrow, so I won't waste your time with all the gushy stuff. I find this scene important because it shows the lengths that Viren would go for his friend. Whether he's doing out of the goodness of his heart or some other selfish reason... maybe both(?)..

!WARNING! MINI VIREN POST ALERT EVEN THO I SAID I WOULDN'T GET INTO IT

In the book Moon, it dives deeper into the plot along with expressing the characters' thoughts and feelings. As for Viren, it's stated in the book that he wanted to:

"offer his life for Harrow's, but he wanted him to understand that this was more than just a sacrifice of a subject to his king. This was personal"

"... he would need to be straightforward. He wanted to say simply I love you and I will die for you" (Ehasz 80).

I have no doubts that Viren didn't not love Harrow or anything of the sorts, but at the same time it feels like there was another motive. Maybe there was, who knows.

All we know about Viren is that he's a father of two (Claudia & Soren), divorced/ separated from his wife, and he's a dark mage. Of course there's some more (like he's taller than Harrow according to the character line up)... also his staff... like if you look at it, it's the same one as the mage who faced Sol Regem all those centuries (?) ago. Maybe he's related to him, or possibly descended from one of the followers. I'd imagine that teaching dark magic may be a thing within his family and ancestors... he taught Claudia dark magic. That doesn't prove anything but it's a small thought.

ANYWAY-- this scene is one of many scenes that show Viren in a vulnerable state. The book gives a look into how he felt when he decided to sacrifice himself and everything. It's just interesting and I'm here for it.

3) Amaya and her weapons grade baguette Ep. 4

On a less serious and more fun note, the fact that Amaya is a breakfast connoisseur is just perfect. Amazing. Fantabulous.

"As a breakfast connoisseur, she was offended that Ezran would neglect a hearty morning meal" (Ehasz 120).

I only emboldened and italicized "offended" because in the show YOU CAN LITERALLY SEE HER FACE WHEN EZ TELLS HER.

Bruh she was so offended lmaooo

It's right at 13:36 time in the show... the slow zoom in and all 😂

4) Amaya and Gren meeting Viren at the statue Ep. 5

I’m trying to see if I should have paired this with the first scene where Amaya arrives first. That scene is pretty calm but has a somber feeling. It introduces the relationship of Amaya and Sarai without having to directly say it.

But this scene here is... interesting. Not in a good way or bad way, but we see they’re reminiscing of the past. At some point, they all got along nicely. Callum even noted in his spellbook that Viren’s family became like a second family to him when he moved to the castle.

This interaction was cute tho. It started out positive (sort of) with them joking about Viren eating the last jelly tart which pissed Sarai off lol. But then Viren went on to apologize to Amaya and reassured her that what he does is out of the goodness of his heart and love for Katolis. But...

“Aaaaand, he’s back, Amaya thought” (Ehasz 150).

And then went on to sign that he’s on a bunch of bs. See? Even Amaya knows he’s full of shit lol. But really tho... it makes me wonder how much of bs Viren goes on even before the events of the current story line.

5) Rayla saves Bait from the sea monster Ep. 5

Let us give a round of applause for Rayla going against her fear of water to save Bait, the grumpy frog who hates her. I think this just goes to show how compassionate Rayla really is. This would include the time when she goes back to grab bait back in the banther lodge in episode 4.

6) Viren giving his kids their *secret* missions Ep. 6

Okay this isn’t just one scene. I cheated yeah yeah whatever >:3

When Viren is telling Soren what he must do when he finds the princes, at first he doesn’t fully get it, but then.. OH n0

Viren’s intentions are starting to unfold and come together as one. Like, this man just told his own SON that should he find the princes, he should kill them. This 18 yr old bby

bruh

And Viren didn’t say it aloud, but he heavily implied it. Only to then gaslight him later on when Claudia confronts him in prison.

As for Claudia, Viren tells her that she must retrieve the egg. And do everything in her power to bring it back, even if it means that she’ll have to sacrifice Soren... her own damn brother ;-;

7) When Callum finally lets Rayla hold the egg Ep. 6

This scene is pretty big. Rayla knows that Harrow is long gone and is trying to find a way to tell them. Obviously she doesn’t choose the best time to try it.

They were in a dire situation that could potentially kill them (even tho they had plenty of those moments already). The reason why this scene is so big is because it shows her struggle to break the bad news (ever since the right binding fell) as she continues to grow closer to them. Here you can see Callum passing the egg to her, despite her hand being in the terrible state that it is in. It is also the scene where right before passing it, he finally tells Rayla that he trusts her.

8) Human Rayla!! Ep. 7

Human Rayla is so corny but it’s the good kind of corny. One of the best comedic jokes in the series!

That is all cos human Rayla needs an AU of being a nighttime tv host or smthg

9) Viren and Runaan Ep. 8

yo this is alot okay. The scenes with these two introduced some Moonshadow philosophy and such (ie. not being scared of death). Runaan being the stoic and serious assassin that he is. And Viren not having any of this shit.

There are three major things here:

Runaan knows about the mirror and is most likely aware of who Aaravos is. He literally says, “That mirror? You have found something worse than death.” Goddamn...

And then Viren just... trapped his soul.. his essence into a goddamn coin. Just like that? wow. And hold it, almost admiring it in front of Gren.

Also this is the first time we officially see Viren in that form. In the beginning of episode 5 we are given a darkened silhouette of Viren and the butterflies. But here we see the damage resulted from years of having done dark magic, and it’s horrifying. He is the high mage and all but goddamn. I mean with every action there are consequences so-

10) Callum destroying the primal stone Ep. 9

I feel like this is one of the “of course it’s this one!” scenes but it really is! Callum realizes that only a sky dragon can be hatched in the eye of storm and there he is with a literal storm in his hand. By now, Callum has come to understanding what feels right and that being a mage is his destiny. But he also understands that he needs to sacrifice some things for new beginnings. This whole journey was to get the lost dragon prince home and restore balance and peace and with the egg starting to die... well you can’t really do that without the egg.

It’s at 18:50 where he realizes all of this. It’s one of the big boy moments in the show. Seriously, it’s a big moment and the suspension helped get the feels in. And we got a cute baby dragon!!

End, begin. it’s all the same. (pls someone get that reference ;-;;;)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some honorable mentions:

- Episode 7: Claudia and Soren interacting. I love their sibling bond; it’s so silly and sweet and I love it. It makes me wish I had an older brother of some sort.

Ellis and Ava,, I like the flashback story given when they meet the dragang. I just like it, okay? Smol chiald w/ smol wolf pup and a hippie Lujaane seeing the beauty & strength in Ava.

CGI Coran. That all I have to say about that guy lmao

- Episode 8: When the group is going up the cursed caldera and they encounter that giant leech. Like can we just appreciate Callum’s funny way of making out a plan? Fat respect for that.

Another is when the group split up and waited for the leech to leave. The conversation between Ellis and Callum were sweet as was the one between Rayla and Ez. I loved Ellis’s admiration for Callum being a mage. And her expectations of what a mage was is pretty hilarious. So wholesome. The same goes for Ez when he gave Rayla that daily fill of positivity.

Like... Ellis is telling Callum how smart and confident and cool he is. And meanwhile Callum is like... it’s not me, it’s this. *whips out primal stone* And she goes on to tell him that she believe he’ll be amazing with or without the stone.

And Rayla is telling Ez how she failed in her job of killing the enemy. And Ez is telling her how she’s awesome at everything she does.

this is the positive wholesome shit I come for like... this is parallels but GODDAMNIT it’s so.. ;;;;-;;

Yo this is long ENOUGH! Thank you so damn much if you read to the end. You’re the real beauties. Anywho... uh parts 2 and 3 will be up soon.

It’s 11 now so I need some sleep. goodnight kids

#callum #ezran #rayla #tdp #the dragon prince #zym #hot brown morning potion #applause for the beautiful show that is tdp #tdp soren #moonshadow elves

14 notes · View notes

being-worthy · 4 years

Text

The Last of Us Part II – Adding my two cents to the game

Just so we’re clear, let’s establish a few things first:

MAJOR TLOU II SPOILERS AHEAD!!

I also spoiled myself ahead because I needed to know what would happen to Joel and Ellie… and the ending as well.

I’ve played the first one. I liked how it ended and totally support the ending!

I haven’t played the 2nd part but I’m watching the playthrough on YouTube in small doses. My heart can’t take much of it at once lol (and being poor and paying of debt for a loved one is no fun because I don’t have much money to spend on myself).

Right now, I’m at the part where Joel goes with Ellie to the museum for her birthday – it’s so cute and fatherly and my heart can’t take how bittersweet this is …

The 2nd part was rushed and has some bugs that could’ve been avoided, whether you like it or not. That’s a fact and we’re here for the facts not the truth (if you want the truth join a philosophy course).

The parts with Abby are too long, more than what they should’ve been and her vengeance is 💩.

English is not being my first language but I do my best (that’s all I can do).

I’m listening to Bryan Adams and Richard Max while writing this because I’m still not over Joel…

You may voice your opinion but remember this is my space! Be respectful at all times and absolute no hate here!

The first part ended with Joel bringing an unconscious Ellie to the hospital where the last Fireflies are, she almost drowned and he had to perform CPR on her. He’s rendered unconscious too and wakes up on a hospital bed with Marlene and Ethan (the guy who hit Joel in the head with the butt of his rifle) in the room.

That’s when he starts asking where Ellie is and Marlene informs him that she’s not his problem anymore and being prepped for surgery. Here, we need to note the following things: Marlene had sworn to Ellie’s mother to protect and to keep her from harm’s way but TAKES the decision to practically sentence her to death and yeah, she gives a speech that it’s not easy for her either yada yada yada but it’s all bs. The reason why is because:

a) making a decision refers more to the process and is something that takes time, while taking a decision is the act of deciding something that happens in an instant. Ultimately, Marlene decides for HER!! What about ‘my body, my decision’? Or in this case ‘her body, her decision’? It doesn’t matter if it’s related to an abortion or having your skull opened, the same principle should be applied!

She even says to Joel ‘because this isn’t about me. Or even her. There is no other choice here’. – Firstly, there’s always another choice! Secondly, Joel replies to her saying ‘yeah, you keep telling yourself that bullshit’ and he’s right, it’s total and utter bullshit. Even later on, when he’s carrying Ellie into the parking lot (I believe it was a parking lot), he tells her ‘that ain’t for you to decide’. Again, he’s right. It isn’t Marlene’s decision nor his but Ellie is still unconscious, so what do you want to do? Let them butcher her open? He crossed with her through half the country and ended up caring profoundly for her – she became like a daughter to him. He doesn’t have an on and off switch to turn off his feelings towards Ellie. Moreover, do tell me, if you’d like a doctor or someone else TAKE such a decision for you, instead of waiting for you to wake up and then tell you about the procedure and what this will entail. I get freaking furious whenever someone takes a decision for me or without asking me first.

b) Neither she nor the doctor wait for Ellie to regain consciousness and since she’s unconscious, they see it as the perfect importunity to just go ahead and rummage in her brain to see if there’s something that could help them developing a vaccine or a cure.

c) That’s another thing. They had zero guarantees, not even a 0.1 percentage of probability that they’d find something – nothing, nada, zilch. Just a hunch and maybe in an apocalyptic world for some people this might be enough but then why not wait until she wakes up and tell her ‘we don’t know for sure if your immunity will help us finding a cure or a vaccine. So that’s why we need to open your skull and see what makes you immune which ultimately, will kill you’ (in some nicer words though lol). Because they know she might not fully agree with it and they give a sh*t about what she thinks/wants and have that narrow military/cult mindset of ‘a sacrifice for the greater good’ and/or wouldn’t care either way because she’s a kid. I’m no fan of sacrificing one or a dozen people to save billions. If we can’t save them all or at least try our damn hardest, then we’re doing something terribly wrong! Also, she’s a freaking kid!! She hasn’t seen much and has her whole life ahead, doesn’t matter if it’s in the apocalypse. The thought that they’re willing to sacrifice her, a kid, without batting an eye shows me that all Fireflies are terrorists.

d) Now to the doctor (the one with the scalpel) – according to the internet this guy was Abby’s father and his murder was why she tortured and slaughtered Joel. First things first, every doctor has to take on a Hippocratic oath. There are many different variations but they all come from an old one that states the following:

… I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favour of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

… If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

The doctor doesn’t keep her from harm or injustice, he isn’t even there for her well-being, only to see how her brain ticks. So, that immense violation of his oath doesn’t make him a doctor anymore but a BUTCHER and don’t come to me with ‘but it’s the apocalypse or it’s for the greater good blah blah blah’, then how better are we compared to rapists and people who murder out of fun? If we throw our principles out of the window just because it’s the apocalypse and/or it’s for the greater good, then with all due respect we all should just go ahead and jump from a building and burn in hell.

e) I got to the part where Joel and Ellie went to the museum for her birthday and at the end there’s a graffiti that says ‘liars’ with the fireflies’ symbol above. Even at the end, their own members saw that they Fireflies were only a bunch full of hot air and nothing else. They ended up being terrorists and forgot what they once stood and fought for.

So, taking all this into consideration - who wouldn’t have saved her? And yes, Joel saves her out of selfishness, so what? True, that he didn’t tell her the truth either, but can you resent him for this? He’d have to tell her that Marlene betrayed her, betrayed her trust and her mother’s trust in her and was willing to let her die and let her body being violated (rape is not the only way to violate someone’s body – FYI). This would have impacted Ellie’s state of mind too. She’d have ended up resenting Marlene and the Fireflies or worse. She had gone through so much already and didn’t need more on her plate. So, he spared her that betrayal and resentment.

Now let’s talk a bit more about Joel. Joel is no saint or hero but no villain either. He’s just a man who was willing to doom the whole already-damned world to protect the girl he adopted. He does what he needs in order to survive but within some reason and hasn’t lost his humanity (it’s just deeply hidden in him), he’s a person trying to survive. He tortures people - yes, but only to get information and makes sure to end them quickly afterwards. I agree that one of the main things you’ve to do during such times, is to adapt or you’ll die or worse. In the 1st part he’s rough, tough, strong, stubborn, resilient, experienced in the world he lives in and wary of strangers (just remember that scene on the highway with the stranger pretending to be hurt and Joel knew from the moment he saw him that it was a trap), someone you don’t want to mess with, etc. On the other hand, there’s this other side of him where he teaches Ellie to swim, tries to joke with her, to play the guitar, takes her to beautiful places, he takes her to a museum with dinosaurs and stuff from space, that proves he’s capable for carrying deeply for someone, in this case Ellie, and don’t get me started on the gift he gives her when they’re in the space capsule (!!), and so on. Ellie and Joel have this great dynamic. Then in the 2nd part, they made him to be so trustworthy toward a young unknown girl, tells her even their REAL names, like he literally says ‘my name’s Joel and that’s my brother Tommy. We live further down’. Dude, why don’t you just go walking around with a banner around your neck stating who you are to the whole freaking world. At some point he even said the name of their home (Jackson)!’ - WHAT THE HOLY F*CK?! He even offered her to go with them and take her to their home and give her supplies. Then, even BLINDLY and WITHOUT ANY WARINESS follows her to a place with an unknown sized group, where he and Tommy don’t know anyone - HOLY FREAKING HELL?! It’s not like it could be a trap, I mean it’s completely normal that there are many survivors camping up in the mountains in the middle of a snow blizzard, it’s the perfect season for doing that ¬¬. We’re living in times were everyone is kind to each other… I just don’t get it. This behaviour change is too radical and old habits die hard, especially ones acquired and used for decades!! That’s a big flaw from Naughty Dog regarding Joel. They portrayed him as someone stupid (sorry Joel but it’s true), sloppy, too soft, etc. He’s older and fatherlier with Ellie all fine and good, but he’d still be very cautious toward outsiders, particularly when they outnumber him!! It’s true that at some point we’ll have to be more trustworthy toward others in order to try and reestablish society or something close to it but you’d still be wary and wouldn’t take them right to your home first thing!! I had also into consideration that they were being chased by a horde of runners and clickers and their options where limited but still!

In some games the death of an important and primary character is sometimes essential. TLOU II is one of them because this was necessary for Ellie to grown and learn more about herself, the world she lives in, among others but Joel deserved way better than what he got! I feel for Tommy too, he didn’t deserve to split up with Maria or lose an eye but I believe the reason as to why he became obsessed with avenging Joel was because he already thinks he failed him in the past already, either when Sarah died, or when he joined the Fireflies and Joel wasn’t happy about it, or when they blindly trusted Abby and her friends.

Before I start with Abby, we need to establish something else first: revenge is about retaliation; justice is about restoring balance. The motive of revenge has mostly to do with expressing rage, hatred, or spite. It’s a protest or payback, and its foremost intent is to harm. And because it’s so impassioned, it’s typically disproportionate to the original injury—meaning that it usually can’t be viewed as just. The punishment may fit the crime, but it’s often an exaggerated response to another’s perceived offense. Nevertheless, I do believe that justice comes from vengeance but that type of justice only breeds more vengeance, and this is what Abby essentially does, avenge her father (even though I believe he lost his way and became unscrupulous) and ends up being capable to live with herself with little to no trouble after what she did to Joel, after repeatedly hitting him over and over and over again with a golf club, and forcing Ellie to watch the last bit. Abby and a bunch of others, who were also aware of her secretive plans, travel thousands of miles just to find Joel and brutalise him and massacre him. That scene was really brutal. But at some point both Abby and Ellie have to realise that vengeance is not the answer and if everyone keeps coming back seeking vengeance, then they’ll move around in a vicious circle until someone decides to forgive because killing like this not only hurts themselves, but also those they love and love them.

I don’t see the WLF as a whole as someone who deserves sympathy. They’re quite similar to the Fireflies who maybe at some point had noble goals (or almost) but ended up strayed from their path. They loot and kill everyone they see, no questions asked (much like the police these days in our world), even if they’re just passing by and aren’t affiliated to any group and just want to survive.

The ending of TLOU II couldn’t have been better. Ellie was happy with Dina and the baby but deep down she knew she didn’t close the chapter with Joel’s murder. Abby, and knew that at some point, she’d have to revisit that part to close it entirely. Her leaving with Tommy was the right decision, even if Dina wouldn’t/couldn’t fully understand why and I feel sad for Maria too but I strongly believe that she’ll return - whether or not Dina will wait for her is another story.

This is all I’ve to add. I’ve been sitting her for about 5+ hours writing this because I wanted to put my perspective of this masterpiece out there and show people that the game is still great.

Let me know your thoughts!!

#the last of us #the last of us 2 #tlou #tlou2 #tlou2 spoilers #tlou joel #tlou ellie #the last of us 2 spoilers #joel miller #ellie williams #tlou abby

8 notes · View notes

williammr01 · 4 years

Text

My thoughts on TLOU pt2.

It hasn’t been long enough since the game came out, so I’m including a cut since I can’t say what I think about the game without spoiling the whole thing. Over all though, I think the criticism and hate that the game got from fans is bull. I think it’s misogynistic bs, homophobic and trans-phobic bozos pissed off over a major plot point and a “liberal” story. If you’re worried about buying the game because you think Joel is treated wrong, or you think they screw up Ellie’s character- don’t worry about that. My main problem with the game is the story structure. If you’re unable to bond with one character, basically half the game is a waste of your money. And you have to play through those parts to get to the end of the game. So for whatever my opinion is worth to any of my followers, please consider that as the only reason to wait on buying the game. Spoilers under the cut.

I like the basic idea of what ND was going for. I think it’s fitting that Ellie becomes Joel in the end. I love and appreciate that we got Ellie and Dina’s romance shown as any other romance in a video game. I enjoyed my time playing as Ellie, until I couldn’t play as Ellie anymore. Because at that point, I was forced to play HALF of the game as a character I couldn’t connect to. And that is the basic failure of this game for me. They start the game off recapping the end of TLOU. Great. They should have continued to tell the story from that point, from Abby’s point of view. There’s so many flashbacks in this game, that we could have played through Abby’s back story and had the Ellie and Joel flashbacks every couple of hours. I would have played through that. Instead ND wanted that Abby’s group being old Fireflys to be a big surprise, but it wasn’t. I figured that out immediately when Abby/ the group killed Joel. I’m not going to get into how basically the game keeps telling you that revenge is wrong (when there is literally no other way to progress the story), because I deal with dumb repetitive messages in all media. What bothers me is that I literally could not connect to Abby because I didn’t know her before she killed Joel. I also didn’t really care much about Jesse and Tommy because the game only had companions for Ellie when it came time for surprises or emotional fall out. The thing I loved about the first game was that we basically spent the whole game learning and watching about Joel, Ellie and their relationship. This game doesn’t have that. It’s actually a problem I’ve had with a few ND games, and I thought for sure that the one thing I could count on from the makers of this game was that I would be able to feel for the characters. I couldn’t. I actually spent the last 25- 30% of the game just playing through the bits I had to and skipping all the cut scenes, because I was so angry that I was being forced to playthrough as Abby- because about an hour into playing as Abby I realized that the game was already over and I had figured out the motivations an hour in. After the first game, I knew that if there was ever a sequel, that Joel or Ellie had to die. So for me, there was no surprise. There was no revelation to look forward to. I was counting on, expecting a story about Ellie, and this isn’t that. And because this is a videogame, plot points have to be telegraphed, which makes the game less enjoyable for me. The minute Dina threw up I knew she pregnant. I knew she and the baby were going to be a reason for Ellie not to kill Abby. They would be “part of the revenge path” that Neil and everyone kept talking about for Ellie. Now at this point I haven’t actually spoke about the ending, the events of it. I won’t because I don’t want to spoil that for anyone any more than I already have. All I’m saying is- if you have a hard time emotionally connecting to characters, don’t buy this game until it’s cheaper. I do think it’s worth playing, to get to know what happens to Joel and Ellie. And at some point, I will play the Abby parts all the way through since I am a nerd and made multiple save points outside of the autosave. And maybe when I’m not angry that the game kept stopping me multiple times from getting revenge, I’ll play it the whole way through like it’s meant to be. But I’m still angry about that. I think the game could have started off with Abby, or you play Ellie’s story through to the end, and the “Part B” is playing through as Abby, or the reverse, whatever. I just think there was a better way to structure this game.

But I’d honestly recommend just watching a streamer you trust to watch their playthrough if you know you can’t connect to new characters easily. If you know that you’re going to be too emotionally reliant on getting revenge/justice for Joel to deal with having to play 25-30 hours before that happens, watch a streamer, or find a supercut of the important cinematics. As for the LGBT stuff, there’s one instance of homophobic behavior from a minor character, and basically everyone around lets him know he’s wrong. There’s also this child in Abby’s part- they may or may not be trans or non-binary. Full disclosure, I started skipping those parts before it was confirmed, if it was. So I’d watch a stream or video to get the full story. Because while I know why the kid was being hunted down, and get that to most people it would only be because the kid wasn’t following the Seraphites rules, umm the rule broken does have to do with the kid’s identity. Again, I do think it’s shown as being fucked up that the kid is being hunted, but that might be triggering for some folks, especially if the kid is trans/non-binary. And lastly, fuck everyone who said this game was too violent. It’s not. It’s really not. I don’t know if it’s some subconscious thing because the main people you play as, and the cult lady, are women. But it’s honestly not worse than anything you see on tv. I would say the only reason that some might consider it more violent than the first game is solely based on the fact that this game is so much longer than the first game, there has to be “more” violence, but really it’s just variations. So like, if you could handle the first game, I think you’d be able to play this one.

#the last of us pt 2 #tlou 2 #tlou spoilers #spoilers

4 notes · View notes

jazy3 · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 16X07

I just finished watching the new episode of Grey’s Anatomy and I really liked it! I like the fast paced episodes and this one felt like it went by really quickly. This week’s episode was set entirely at Pac North which was interesting. We haven't had an episode like that in a while. Kelly McCreary's real life sister stars as Richard's niece Sabi who it turns out has a very serious heart tumour! Sabi and her Dad, who is Richard's estranged brother, come to town looking for his help and things go downhill from there.

Despite Sabi and her Dad's request for another doctor because they are all technically related Maggie insists on operating on her. Things go awry during surgery when Sabi's blood stops clotting properly and she dies on the operating table. So Maggie winds up being responsible for the death of her biological cousin who is played by her real life sister. Fun times!Kelly McCreary gives an amazing performance in this episode so props to her!

We find out that Richard is estranged from his siblings because they feel he always acts like he's better than them because he's a surgeon and that they only stayed in touch because of Adele. After Adele died they stopped keeping in touch and their relationship soured further when Richard was forced to call them and tell them about his affair with Ellis and Maggie's existence because of the podcast. Awkward. According to Richard his siblings said some very ugly things about Maggie and said they wanted nothing to do with him.

He stopped reaching out and didn't tell Maggie about it because he wanted to protect her. Although we later find out that apparently Richard's brother and Catherine keep in touch even though Richard doesn't so that's interesting. Sabi is warm and friendly and both her and Maggie are overjoyed to find out that they not only look alike but enjoy many of the same things! Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when she dies

Alex gets Maggie operating privileges so she can operate on Sabi at Pac North after she crashes unexpectedly. He really is a good Chief. Due to a miscommunication in the OR and Pac North being a crappy hospital Maggie doesn't realize that Sabi is resistant to the drug Heparin until it's much too late. Several minutes pass without oxygen flowing to Sabi’s brain and as a result she becomes brain dead. Maggie doesn't want to give up so Alex has to come in and tell Maggie to call it.

Maggie then has to come out and tell everyone what happened but she can't bring herself to do it. So Alex takes her aside and into a supply closet and comforts her as she lets her feelings out. Shout out to Alex Karev for being everyone's security blanket/person/human tissue on this show! It's not an easy job, it's not a job he signed up for, and I doubt it's a job he enjoys but he does it anyway because that's who he is.

This trait of Alex's to be there for people when they need it most is one of my favourite things about him and is one of the many reasons why he is one of my favourite characters. Maggie tells everyone what happened and its heartbreaking to watch as Richard and Catherine realize what's happened before his brother does. Richard's brother is livid and blames Maggie and Richard for not respecting his and Sabi's wishes. There goes that relationship completely.

Elsewhere at Pac North Amelia comes to see Owen to tell him she's pregnant and having a baby with Link! She blurts this out to him at work in a hallway in true Amelia fashion. Owen, as usual, is a complete and utter asshole to her in response. On top of that in keeping with the assholery Owen is then a complete jerk to his sick and frantic patient who’s a poor struggling single mom who fell down the stairs and needs both surgery and an abortion.

Owen has literally had the same storyline with every woman he has dated, been engaged to, or married since the beginning and I am really sick of watching it. Give him a new storyline or write him off! Also Owen is consistently a complete jerk to his patients who want to exercise their right to choose when it comes to medically assisted death and abortion services. In real life I'm pretty sure acting that way would get you fired.

Owen routinely obstructs the care of patients who make decisions regarding their life or their pregnancies that he doesn't agree with based on his own beliefs. It’s fine to have beliefs but they should never influence your treatment. I'm honestly shocked none of Owen's patients or their loved ones have sued his dumbass and gotten him fired and de-licensed! If it was me or my loved one that's absolutely what I would do.

Owen asks Amelia for her help and then gets mad at her for helping and then he screams at her and then punishes the patient which forces Amelia and an OBGYN to go around him to get the patient the care they need. The fact that Owen tries to force the patient to undergo two procedures/treatments unnecessarily makes no sense. It's cruel and illogical and would be impossible to justify to the billing department.

Amelia and Owen finally have a proper calm conversation in the parking lot after Amelia helps the patient and calls him on his BS. During this conversaton SHE ends up apologizing to him for his assholery. WTF? I agree that Amelia springing the news of her pregnancy to Owen at work was in bad taste but nothing NOTHING justifies the way Owen acted in response. They are not together. She owes him nothing. On top of that nothing on Earth justifies the way Owen acted towards his patient. Nothing.

Meanwhile Catherine finally answers her phone and shows up for Richard. He sees Gemma comforting him because she's been MIA and gets very snippy and territorial about it. Catherine and Richard get into an argument about what Catherine saw when Richard's brother interrupts and everything goes sideways with Sabi. Afterwards Catherine offers Gemma an accounting position with the Fox Foundation. There's a catch though they don't have any positions in Seattle. She literally tries to get Gemma to move out of state because I guess answering her phone and being there for Richard was apparently out of the question?

Elsewhere Jackson continues to be a complete ass to Maggie for no damn reason! We find out that neither Richard nor Catherine know that they broke up and when she tries to talk to him about this he is the world's biggest jerk. Also where the hell was Meredith all episode? At the beginning of the episode she leaves the house to go do something that sounds important but then later we learn that she's at Pac North having coffee with Alex. Was Meredith having coffee with Alex the important thing or did she do something else and then go meet Alex? What did she do after she ran into Maggie and Amelia? And why was she dressed so weird?

Hopefully we'll find out what Meredith did all episode in the coming weeks! On the plus side this was a DeLuca free episode which is always a treat for me since I find his character incredibly annoying. Onto next week's promo! Meredith finally has her day in court! Shout out to her long suffering lawyer! Haha! It looks like Richard and Alex stick up for her and Bailey has something more to say and is not quiet about it! Buckle up everyone!

Until next time!

#grey's anatomy #Meredith Grey #reviews #review #thoughts #critique #episode recap #season 16 #16X7 #16X07 #papa don't preach #richard webber #maggie pierce #catherine fox #amelia shepherd #owen hu

10 notes · View notes

sweetswesf · 4 years

Text

84. Internship, Weeks 1 - 2

Hey Y’all! As promised, I’m going to be updating y’all more often. I want to share my story of my journey to becoming a software engineer, and hopefully frequent updates keep y’all engaged, keep y’all praying for me, and hopefully I can encourage y’all to keep going on whatever journey y’all on. I know y’all got one! It’s January and 2020! If you don’t, I hope you make one to be a better, more caring and loving you, because you and someone else needs your love.

If you don’t know why Ellie Goulding is here, sing the last part of that last sentence you read in a British accent, and maybe you’ll know why!

Anyway, past all the sappy corny stuff, let me update y’all on my internship! Week 1 went well. Day 1, my mentor gave me a task. I didn’t know what the heck he was asking for and ½ my time was spent trying to read the calm and keep from panicking. I feel like I have been doing that for years. Half my time at work is spent eating, the other half is “what the heck am I doing.” But I was told during my first internship out of college from my colleagues in Jersey City YEARS ago in 2014, that they didn’t know what they were doing either. They’re still employed there lol. We figure it out. I would like to get more comfortable though.

How I got out of my confusion was simple. I told myself, “Okay, [my name]. Calm down. You got this...think! What tools do you have? You’ve read the ticket (which outlined, RATHER briefly what was being asked), you’ve read the comments back and forth, you know this ticket’s number is in the 100s and current tickets the rest of the team is working on is in the thousands and you see this has been passed sprint to sprint, so it’s most likely a low priority task that won’t get a lot of visibility, so you can take some of that pressure off yourself.” I reviewed other tickets that were quoted in the ticket, and started reading through them and the code. I copied over my template that I made which helps me plan out and outline my tickets. Feel free to snag this format.

I have been told my organization and note-taking skills are great. One piece of advice I’ve cherished that I will share with you is lean on your strengths. This helps me get typing and get my thoughts organized so I feel less overwhelmed. This format also encourages me to get hunting for this information. Microsoft OneNote has been crucial to my success in my career. When I saw my Finance colleague years ago (who is my same age and now a Finance manager who previously reported directly to our company’s CFO) on OneNote, I was like, “Damn, she’s so far ahead of me,” and I remember feeling, “Damn, why ain’t no body tell me about this!?” I definitely recommend it. No BS, part of the reason I wanted to stay at my company too after my Apprenticeship was so that I could cary over my notes on OneNote and not have to worry about copy and pasting and sending notes through email etc. if I had to leave companies.

Anyway, back to this first task: then I thought back to what another female engineer and graduate of my bootcamp who’s now killing it and has masked from other developers at work the fact that she graduated from a bootcamp (no shade, but there is a stigma on us, that’s just fact) said, “Don’t stay stuck for too long. Give yourself a time limit then reach out.” Thankfully, my mentor’s so awesome, that he checked in, “Hey, everything good?” One thing I am so grateful for is the relationship I have with my mentor. Like I mentioned before, I have known him since HE was an intern and I was in Finance. When I first mentioned my wanting to make a career switch to him, unlike others (who were not engineers by the way and were not in tech) who said, “No, you won’t be good enough. They won’t hire you. Stick to Finance. You’re on the right track,” my now mentor said, “Yay! You can do it!” That’s the type of support you need around you. Only positivity round here!!

Anyway, he checked in. I told him it wasn’t clear. Then asked him for a visual representation. I am learning, that I do really well when I can draw out and see a diagram of how the code works. All that coding is, and many engineers have told me this too, is writing something that will accept data, do something to it, storing it in a database, or retrieving data from a database, doing something to it, then display it to the user. Requesting the information is mainly governed by frontend engineers. Doing something to the information and sending it to/retrieving data from a database is mainly governed by backend (server) engineers. Database structure is mainly handled by infra engineers. I have chosen a team that is all back end engineers, because our product is mainly backend. That’s something to take away too: make sure you know what the divide is generally at your company/the company you want to go to. If your company’s app/product is mainly front-end, you will probably have a sweeter time as more people with this part of the stack’s expertise will be around. The FE engineers at my company are definitely not lacking in their workload, but there’s much less of them. When compared with backend (BE) engineers, their “impact” is less, because they are mainly working on internal tools, not the main app that is touched by millions of users daily. They certainly do get promoted, but I know, at my company, they have a harder time.

I have spoken to some friends who are also engineers at my company who advised that after T5, it’s so hard jumping to T6, that it’s almost worth just staying at that level but working for a pay increase. There’s less pressure and you’ll get paid comparably. You’re already paid comfortably by T5, so the need to jump to T6 is not dire. All of the engineers just sound so relaxed and comfortable with their futures, that it almost feels wrong when I know so many people at the same damn company, ME INCLUDED, who are check to check. I am not broke, don’t get me wrong, I am pretty comfortable, but I am still saving and paying down my loans hard, and not taking trips around the world or spontaneously taking same day flights to Coachella like I was a few years ago. I gotta live my life too, and I don’t regret that, but I will continue to be smart with my sorta risky decisions.

I’m getting sidetracked again. He drew out how the code worked, I asked him a few more follow up questions, and for the most part, I was much more clear and confident about what I wanted to do. Part of the training of becoming an engineer is figuring out the questions to ask. I’m sure he could have gave me all the answers to these questions in the introduction of the ticket, but building those muscles of investigating first are necessary. I completed the ticket the following week, complete with unit tests which I did not get a chance to do much of in my apprenticeship and had anxiety around because of that, but, as I saw, it was not worth all the worry. The knowledge and experience will come in time if you work to get it.

I was not sure what having another woman on the team would be like, just because in my experience, some women can be really competitive when it’s so few of you on the team, thinking there can only be one, but I was super welcoming and I think that allowed her to open up and we found out we went to the same school (and simultaneously found out another one of our teammates went to the same as well) and we bonded instantly. She felt really lonely last week, partially because our manager was working from home focused on performance review season for all his reports, and everyone on our team is scattered and off doing their own things in meetings by themselves. More and more engineers have been telling me they prefer not having a manager and are somewhat disrespectful of managers and product managers. There are a LOT of divas in engineering, but when you’re making as much as them, finding a job is not hard, you’re paid the most at your company, you come in at 10, start work at 11 and leave at 4, and recruiters and companies do anything to get you and keep you there damn there, I see why! I found out a Staff Engineer at my company makes on average $500k. Thats more than most doctors!

One thing that has been on my mind is if money is a motivator. True, money should be a motivation for a job when you have debts to pay off, do not own anything, and want a future possibly less stressful than the one you grew up with, if you can control it. However, it should not become idolized. $500k is attractive. I could pay off my loans. I could buy a home and not be a renter. I could give something to my children or a younger family member if children are not destined for me. I could travel to Coachella if I wanted and around the world more often. I could dress how I want. I could contribute to my community and help more people. I enjoy and want to be a good engineer though to create opportunity for aspiring Black developers and to make sure we have a voice in an ever growing world that insists on reducing Black people to memes and magic.

#silicon valley #san francisco #bay area #women in tech #black women in tech #black engineer #software engineer #school loans #doctor #good vibes #internship #tech #tech company #bootcamp #backend #python #c++#go #clojure

1 note · View note