#took me rephrasing it like four different ways before she gave up trying to understand and hung up on me in frustration. like ok bish
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Good Feelings - Chapter III
Was I expecting to get this done today? No, no I was not. But it’s here so yay.
I literally have nothing else to say... I hope you like it tho :)
Full Masterlist & Good feelings Masterlist
Characters belong to the lovely, @lumosinlove
CW: food and drink
“You do realize that practice starts in ten minutes right?” Leo asked as he and Finn got out of their car and started walking into the coffee shop.
“Yeah I know, but I wanted coffee.” Finn replied.
“We literally could have made it before we left the house.” His boyfriend deadpanned.
“Let me rephrase, I wanted coffee from here.”
It had been about a week since the couple’s first trip to Tremblay’s and it was definitely safe to say that they had become regulars. Leo and Finn loved it here— because they had amazing coffee of course, nothing else.
Loved it so much in fact, that Finn was willing to risk being late for practice. The hockey season started in no less than two days and the team’s first stop was Florida. They were going to be there for a week, playing two games against the Lightning and they had to prepare.
“Okay I can understand that but just a warning, if we’re late and show up with coffee then we’ll be running extra drills for a week.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
Leo couldn’t do anything but nod and agree.
—
“Bonjour, boys!” Finn and Leo passed Noelle on their way to the front counter, they’d be ordering to go this morning.
“Noelle.” Finn called back with a smile.
They were then met with green eyes and brown curls.
“Bon matin, Finn, Leo.” Logan greeted before shaking his head. “Sorry, I keep speaking French and you probably don’t even know what I’m saying.”
“Oh I know what you’re saying!” Leo spoke up. “I’m from New Orleans, we speak French there. Good morning.” He smiled
Logan looked surprised. “New Orleans, huh? Well that explains your accent.” His eyes widened when he realized what he said. “I- I mean your accent. It’s noticeable. Y’know?” It’s not like I spend hours a day thinking about it. Sighing, Logan finally said, “I’m from Quebec.”
“Yeah,” Leo said. “I figured.” So they’d made the same mistake. Both boys were now blushing down to their necks.
Finn noticed their discomfort and spoke up, to try and fix the awkward situation. “I, for one, did not have a single clue what you just said.”
Logan looked at him, “Non?”
Finn furrowed his eyebrows and both his boyfriend and Logan chuckled. “Getting this one to learn French will be the last thing you do.” Leo pointed a thumb at Finn.
Finn elbowed Leo in the ribs lightly, making the taller boy groan and glare at him, though he was still smiling. Finn put his attention back on Logan, “What did you say? When we walked over I mean.” He asked.
“Good morning, Finn.” Logan answered, teasing grin on his face. “Now,” he paused, finally getting to the reason they were here. “the usual?”
They both nodded. “And to go please!” Leo said.
“Yeah, I kinda made us late for practice.” Admitted Finn.
“Practice?” Logan questioned.
“Oh! I guess that hadn’t come up before!” The redhead perked up. “We’re professional hockey players!” Finn had a look of pride on his face.
Logan’s eyebrows just about went up to his hair line. “Wha- oh. Well I guess we’ll have to talk about that next time we see each other, non?” He asked, not waiting for a response he continued. “I’ll be back with your coffees.”
—
“Professional hockey players....” Logan grumbled to himself while making Finn and Leo’s coffee. “Could they get any hotter?!”
And at that exact moment Sydney decided to show up next to him. “What was that?” She asked.
“Nothing.” Logan answered her, still mumbling under his breath. His sister did nothing but give him a knowing look and carry on.
“Bonjour.” Noelle joined the two, bringing in some dishes to put in the sink to be washed. After being greeted she spoke up again, “Hey, do either of you remember when Audrey said the new girl is starting?”
The Tremblay siblings loved working here; just the four of them. It was nice, reminded them of home. Memories of taking orders and washing dishes whenever their parents would let them come in on a work day. Learning how to cook or the difference between a cappuccino and a macchiato. Eventually working there for real and getting their first pay checks. But their parents were back in Quebec and as Tremblay’s grew in popularity here in Gryffindor they all collectively decided that they needed extra hands.
So they went on a hunt to find someone for the job, eventually they did. And today was her first day.
“Yeah.” Sydney answered. “She should be here later actually.”
“Do we know anything about her?” Putting the covers on the now made coffees Logan stuck around to here the answer before returning to Finn and Leo.
“Audrey does, but of course she’s not here today.”
“Sydney, she has a cold.”
“So?! She’s not here, that means I’m in charge. I don’t like being in charge.”
Logan playfully rolled his eyes at his sisters antics and left the two there, leaving the kitchen.
“Okay, here you go!”
“Thanks, Logan. We gotta get going.” Leo said, accepting his drink from the shorter boy.
“Pas de problème! On se reverra.” He nodded at them, waving a final goodbye as they walked out. Just before they did though, he heard Finn whisper a “What did he say?” and Leo laugh after him. Logan couldn’t help the adoring smile that crossed his features, those boys were going to be the death of him.
—
It wasn’t a busy day at Tremblay’s. It had been about an hour since Finn and Leo left and since then only a couple of people had come and gone. It was days like these where Logan liked to relax, turn the record player up a little more than normal and let lose. He was around, cleaning tables, tidying chairs and quietly singing to the tunes when the familiar ding of the shop’s door opening caught his attention.
He stopped in tracks, a little embarrassed of how vulnerable he’d been and sought out the person who had walked in. 
He’d found them. It was a girl, maybe a couple inches shorter than Logan. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a dutch braid and sunglasses sat on the top of her head. Logan figured it was just another costumer so he smoothed out his apron and was about to tell them to take a seat and he’ll be right there; Sydney however, had beat him to it. She was at the girl’s side but the more he looked the more Logan noticed that it didn’t look like this girl was here for a coffee. His sister was shaking hands and making conversation with her, leading her to the back—through the staff door.
This was the girl they hired.
“Everything you need should be here. I’ll go get you an apron and you’ll be all set!” Logan heard his sister telling Tremblay’s new barista when he followed after them. Upon walking into the back room he passed Noelle who was about to start her shift. And then Sydney who, as she said, was going to get an apron. She gave him a smile as she passed, one that said, be nice.
“First day, huh?” Logan had rounded the kitchen island and was now leaning against the counter next to the girl, arms crossed and friendly smile adorning his face.
A bright smile overtook the girls features, Logan noticed how her soft brown eyes crinkled ever so slightly. “Yup! First day.”
Her voice was strong, unwavering, unlike his had been on his first day—for a couple reasons he wasn’t allowing himself to think about right now— the point was, Logan liked her attitude. She seemed confident, like she knew what she was doing and if she didn’t, you bet she’d figure it out.
Logan liked this girl and he could already tell he’d be friends with her. He held his hand out. “Logan Tremblay.”
She took it, grip strong and smile still on her face. “Natalie Darcy.”
#leo knut#o'knutzy#finn o'hara#coast to coast lumosinlove#sweater weather lumosinlove#logan tremblay#coffee shop au#noelle tremblay#natalie darcy
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Chapter 17
Hi everyone! I hope y’all had a great holiday. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or whatever, I hope it was filled with love and happiness. And that your New Year celebration was safe and fun. Here’s a late holiday present.
~~~~~
“Don’t you dare say I’m gonna make it.”
---
Everything felt off as I made my way into school the next day. Apart from the cuts and bruises that littered my skin, making movement extremely painful, I felt like all eyes were on me. I was limping, my face twisted with pain at each step or slight movement, my eyes burned with unshed tears. But there was no way in hell I was about to cry at school.
What was I, four?
“You don’t look too good,” was the first thing Lynn said to me when I reached my locker. I gave her a small shrug and went to get my materials for the next couple of classes.
“Don’t just shrug at me. What happened?”
“Nothing,” I mumbled.
“Bullshit. You look like you’re in pain.”
“Just drop it, Lynn, damn!” I yelled. She took a step back in shock but nodded, not saying another word when she walked away.
I sighed. I’d need to make it up to her later, preferably when I’m not feeling like I got ran over by a bus.
I gathered my books and slowly made my way to my government class. Thankfully I’d gotten to school pretty early so I could take my time going up the stairs.
I sat in my seat and put my head down on my desk. I barely slept the night before, afraid that Rick would come back and finish what he’d started. And as much as I wanted to call the cops and have Rick arrested, Mom wouldn’t let me. His threat got to her and she didn’t want to risk our safety. Hell, she didn’t want me to go to school because of all the crap my body was put through, but I convinced her that the both of us staying home wouldn’t turn out well.
“You’re in my seat.” I rolled my eyes under my eyelids and gave the voice the finger without hesitation. I already knew who it was. “Rude.”
“Leave me alone,” I said into my arm. Since my head was down it sounded muffled, but I knew he heard me. He sat in the seat next to me.
“I said leave,” I said a little louder.
“Nope.” I huffed and lifted my head. Damn Quinn, you look like shit.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.”
“No offense.”
“So much taken.”
“Sorry,” he said. “But really, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing I’m gonna tell you about.”
“Aww, why not?” he asked with a pout. I had to keep myself from showing any emotion. “C’mon KQ, what’s going on?”
I scrunched my face in confusion. “KQ?”
He shrugged. “I’m trying something out. Is it working, yes or no? Please leave a comment after the attached survey.”
I snickered against my will. “Oh shit,” Vic exclaimed, “I got a smile!”
“Shut up,” I mumbled.
“Fuck no, you never smile at me.”
“Because I can’t stand you.”
“Okay, but I know that’s absolute bullshit.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” I challenged.
“Hell yeah.”
“How do you know?”
“Because,” he said smugly, “you’re still talking to me with that smile on your face.”
I blushed. I hadn’t noticed that stupid smile was still on my face. Stupid crush making me feel things for this fucker. And his stupid face. And his stupid cocky grin that was so damn attractive.
Stupid Vic fucking Fuentes.
The door to the classroom opened which caused Vic and I to look toward it. Mr. Davis walked in and stared at us in surprise.
“Oh, I’m sorry boys,” our teacher said, “I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in here. I guess I forgot I unlocked the door.”
I blushed once again, although I don’t know why. Vic didn’t seem to notice and shrugged. “We’re sorry Mr. Davis, are we not supposed to be in here?”
“No, it’s fine. Just don’t let anyone else know you’re in here. No other students are allowed in before the bell rings.” We both nodded, and Mr. Davis walked out.
“So, have you done this before?” I asked.
“Done what?”
“Been in the room before the bell? Davis seemed okay with you being in here.”
Vic shrugged. “Yeah, sometimes I come in here first thing when I need a quiet place to think. Davis is cool with it as long as I’m alone and no one sees me come in.”
I nodded. “Why’d he let me stay then?” I asked out loud.
“I guess he trusts you, being new and all. Plus you’re pretty quiet so it’s not like someone’s gonna know that you’re here.”
I hummed in understanding and put my head down again. I had maybe fifteen to twenty minutes until the bell and I intended to use all of them for a much-needed nap and an attempt to clear my head.
Unfortunately, Vic Fuentes hates me.
“Quinn?” he asked. I didn’t want to answer, but I knew he knew I hadn’t fallen asleep yet.
“What?” I mumbled.
“Can you tell me what happened to you?” he asked softly. It wasn’t like he was whispering; no, it was like he was…scared. Of what? I had no idea, but he sounded so worried about something in those few words. I peeked over my arm to look at his face.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said just as softly as he did.
“You don’t have to tell me everything, I just wanna know why you look so beat up.”
I hesitated for a second before I answered. “Because I was.”
“Wha-” Vic was cut off my Mr. Davis walking back into the room. He walked to his desk and sat down, shuffling some papers around and putting them in stacks.
I looked to Vic to see if he would finish his thought. Rather, he got up without a word and walked out of the room. I watched him leave before closing my eyes.
I managed to get almost fifteen minutes of a nap in my system.
Vic didn’t come back to class.
***
Lunch was very awkward. Lynn wouldn’t look at me, let alone talk to me. That tension spread through the whole table. No one was talking, and I mean no one. I picked at my food aimlessly, waiting for the bell to dismiss us from this torture.
“Okay, this is fucking stupid,” Savannah said. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but it needs to be fixed because you two,” she pointed at Lynn and me, “are making us all fucking uncomfortable.”
I sunk down in my seat. Savannah was right, it was stupid how Lynn and I were acting. Plus, I did tell myself I’d apologize for being such a jerk earlier.
“Lynn,” I spoke, “can you come outside with me, please?”
She didn’t say a word, but she got up and followed me out into the courtyard.
“So,” she said once we were out of earshot of the other kids outside, “talk.”
I nervously scratched the back of my neck. “I’m really sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”
“Then why did you?”
I sighed. “I’m going through a lot, and no, I’m not gonna talk about it. There’s just…a lot for me to process lately.”
She crossed her arms across her chest and stood with an air of dominance. “Like?”
I huffed and ran my fingers through my hair. “Man, I don’t know. There’s stuff with Vic and school in general. Then there’s the stuff going on at home with Mom and Rick and all this shit I can’t help, but I just wanna help, but I can’t.”
She stared at me blankly, waiting for me to continue.
“I’ve been feeling so helpless; I just want something good to happen. I guess it’s all been building up and I broke a little. I’m really sorry, Lynn. I don’t want you to be mad at me because I can’t deal with some things. Plus, if you’re mad at me who will listen to my rants?” I added a little chuckle at the end for good measure. She didn’t laugh back.
I stood there staring at my best friend as she mulled over everything I had just said. I began chewing on my lip, a habit I had developed when I felt anxious.
“Look, I’m really sorry, okay? I don’t know what else to say. You’re looking at me like you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” she said softly.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear.”
“But I’m not happy with you.” I nodded. “You’re the kind of person to hold things in and be really secretive. I’m telling you right now that you don’t need to do that with me. If you wanna say we’re friends then act like it. You can tell me things rather than keeping them in that big head of yours.”
I smiled a little. “Okay, boss lady. Are we good?”
She nodded. “We’re good.” I breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged my shorter friend.
“Thanks for not being mad at me,” I said when we pulled away.
“Well I’m like, your only friend. You’d be dead without me.” I shoved Lynn playfully as we walked back into the cafeteria.
***
I walked out to the parking lot in a much better mood than I had been in all day. Lynn didn’t hate me, my classes were pretty chill, and although my wounds were still extremely fresh, I wasn’t too bothered by them.
I swung my lanyard as I approached my car. But before I could unlock my car, someone called to me. I turned to the direction of the voice and immediately rolled my eyes.
“What do you want?” I asked with sass.
“Why do you always roll your eyes when you see me, Quinn?”
“Because you annoy me, Victor.” He huffed, but he knew he couldn’t say anything back.
“I wasn’t very annoying earlier.” Maybe he could find something to say.
“Yeah but you’re annoying now.”
“Well there’s a reason for that, I guess.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You guess?”
He nodded and kicked a loose rock on the ground. “Can I go home with you?”
I inhaled quickly and chocked on the air that got caught in my throat. “You wanna what?” I asked once I had regained composure and controlled my coughing.
“Let me rephrase that,” he chuckled. “Can I come over?”
“Why?” I asked with a hand on my hip.
“Look, if I’m being honest, I just wanna talk to you, and I know you’re gonna run or shoo me away. I need us to be in a safe environment where you won’t freak out.”
I mulled it over as I unlocked my car and walked to the driver’s side. On the one hand I knew that Vic wanted to talk, probably since this morning when we were in class. Not to mention that I was curious as to where he went when he walked out, and what he wanted to ask me. All these thoughts ran through my head as Vic stared at me expectantly. “So?” he asked.
I didn’t have an answer for him yet. The last time Vic came over we had a moment. A different, confusing, conflicting, warm moment. Although I was sure that we wouldn’t have another moment like that one, I didn’t want to have to talk to him about anything.
But then I looked at that stupid look on his face. That stupid expecting look. That stupid expecting and concerned look. Then I sighed. I sighed and looked at the worried boy in front of me.
“Get in,” I said. Vic nodded and walked to the passenger’s side.
We put our seatbelts on before I started the car and drove to my house. We didn’t say anything to each other as I drove, but there wasn’t a need to. I figured Vic was thinking over what he was going to say to me. I, on the other hand, was beginning to worry that trouble was waiting at my front door.
Dear God, please don’t let there be trouble waiting at my front door.
#Too Close To Touch - Sympathy#Playlist Love#Pierce The Veil fanfiction#Pierce The Veil fanfic#Fanfiction#Fanfic#Kellic#Kellic fanfiction#Kellic fanfic
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my spoilery thoughts on the last of us part ii
i apologize in advance for this super long post that you have to scroll past because i don’t know how to do the “keep reading” option thing
the only reason i’m writing this out is because i’m literally going insane from not being able to talk about my feelings for this game to anyone since no one i know actually cares lmao so this is mainly just for myself and anyone who wants to read this
the intro:
as i played through this game, i also watched a few playthroughs up until the point where i stopped to take a break. this was a game i couldn’t binge just because it’s so heavy and intense and sometimes you just gotta step away and take a breather
one of the playthroughs i followed along with was jacksepticeye’s and at the end he gave his review of the game like he normally does. i didn’t completely agree with everything he said, but for the most part i thought what he said lined up pretty well with my own opinion.
in particular, one thing that stood out to me was when he said that the introduction to this game shouldn’t have been Joel talking to Tommy about what he did at the end of the first game, but rather the whole flashback of Ellie’s birthday at the museum. then at “one” during the countdown to liftoff, the screen should’ve went black and fast forwarded to four-years-older Ellie opening her eyes in her home in Jackson (idk if i’m explaining this well, but Jack’s editor, Robin, edits this together and really sold it to me. if you wanna see it, go to the last part of Jack’s playthrough and look for it towards the last 30 minutes). i think this would have given us the time i think we all needed with Joel before he died and all the following flashbacks would be more focused on how/why Joel and Ellie’s relationship turned so distant - or hostile on Ellie’s part - and could’ve helped the pacing a bit.
Joel’s death:
potentially an unpopular opinion? but i actually like how Joel died. or uh lemme rephrase, i like the way they wrote his death. in this world of violence, hate, and brutality (actually doesn’t sound too off from our world but ahem moving on), i think the way he died was realistic, especially since he doomed all of humanity by saving Ellie in Part I. it just makes a lot of sense that someone would go after him and hunt him down
from the moment Abby and Owen stood over Jackson from the cliff, i was thinking: well theyre gonna kill Joel and since we’re gonna probably be playing as this girl for some (emphasis on some) of the game, they’re gonna go hard on the grey area of perspective in terms of revenge. which i was super on board with, but we’ll get back to that
when this game was first advertised, i didn’t know how i felt about a revenge story. it’s been told so many times and i’m never as hell-bent on revenge as much as the character is because it never feels warranted enough. that is, until i saw Joel die. watching Ellie pinned to the floor with a perfect view of his body, his face, beat to shit as she screams and begs for Abby to stop? haha that’s fucked Naughty Dog, thanks. but i do appreciate that they were able to make me just as mad as Ellie because of just how brutal his death was and how much i care, cared, about that character. no story has ever made me so incredibly enraged to the point i was with the main character full-stop to just destroy the perpetrator and take revenge. that’s why i think the way Joel dies is perfectly done. the fact that that cutscene is so horrible to watch for so many reasons just proves that it does it’s job.
Ellie’s half:
i actually don’t have too much to say about Ellie’s half of the story. this was what i both expected and wanted from the game, the whole game. while i can’t say i was having “fun”, because this isn’t really a fun game to play, you know what i mean when i say that this part was fun to play and follow.
side note: Naughty Dog’s improvement of your NPC buddy is so good, Dina and Jesse were both actually helpful, still not perfect, but also they’re not supposed to do all the work for you. i think the added layer that they could also get caught/seen and alert the enemy was completely unexpected and such a good addition to the gameplay (ofc this goes for Lev as well).
throughout the whole story, there’s kinda a problem with the pacing, and i know i’m not the first person to say that. however, i think the only big pacing issue i had with Ellie’s perspective was that kinda weird attempt of an open world map that they did with the gates. it felt a little unnecessary since i, and most other people, are playing for the story, not an open world with various side quest-like things. i missed the guitar cutscene with Ellie playing the guitar and singing to Dina (which kinda sucks, but i obviously just watched it after) because i just wanted to get back to the story rather than explore a large area. it was an attempt at something different so i won’t fault the game for that too much, but also stay in your lane lol so that section was a bit of a miss for me personally. i really liked the rest of it though, it had me engaged the whole time
Abby’s half:
ok. i have a lot to say about this half of the game since this is where most the problems occur.
first, let me preface this by saying that i don’t hate Abby. as i said, from the very beginning i knew she was going to have a, not justifiable, but an understandable reason for murdering Joel and that the game was going to be about seeing two sides to the same story. except, at the same time, i came here for Ellie, so why am i playing as this heterosexual? im mostly kidding. but fr i didn’t need the entire half of the game trying to get me to sympathize with Abby. i really didn’t need the message to be so spelt out for me, i got it from the moment i realized she was going to kill a favorite character.
i think my main gripe with the way they told this story is the way they formatted it. this story has all the elements to be amazing, but the execution just lacked the...finesse? idk if that’s the right word.
rather than splitting up the game into two halves, they could/should have integrated Abby’s story into Ellie’s so that when we cut from Abby holding the gun at Ellie in the theater to suddenly Abby as a young girl, it won’t feel so jarring when we have to start all over again with the upgrades and the timeline.
i really liked how we switched between them in the very beginning so why couldn’t that have just continued? in a book with multiple povs, the author often switches back and forth between every or every few chapters. you never see a book that starts with one perspective, then at the climax you have to start all over again from the other. at least, i’ve never seen this in any books i’ve read and i’ve read a lot ngl
maybe they forced us to stick with Abby for so long because if we’re forced to play as her, then we’re forced to get invested into her story. while this makes sense, it also really degraded at my enthusiasm for the game. it took me so long to just give up on the idea that we would be going back to Ellie relatively soon and when i did actually realize that was what was happening i was really disappointed.
instead of separating their stories, i would’ve liked to have Abby maybe one step behind Ellie the whole time so that while we play we’re just anticipating when Abby will finally catch up and it builds to this whole thing. instead, when we actually got to the point where everything was supposed to go down, we’re hit with whiplash and back to the very beginning with tutorials?? like did they just expect us to forget how to play since we switched characters?
i’m thinking, after Ellie and Dina jump over the barbed wire that explodes and Ellie’s knocked out, we could have switched over to Abby waking up in the WLF stadium. after Abby sneaks out of the stadium and you have that interaction with Jordan where he mentions Leah at the tv station, then we go back to Ellie waking up and tied to the table and we see Ellie kill Jordan.
after this i think Abby should have met Lev and Yara way sooner because i barely even remember what happened before Abby was caught by the seraphites it was so boring. so she gets caught by the seraphites AFTER we meet them through Ellie being shot through the shoulder (i still want to get all the first impressions of new stuff with Ellie because then it still makes her feel like the main character) and we meet the siblings and blahblahblah.
as a follow up, after Ellie kills Nora, which by the way, Ellie’s facial expressions are just so good with the red light while she’s just beating Nora to death? wow that entire interaction was so well done. anyway, after Ellie kills Nora, and Ellie gets back to the theater and the scene ends with her and Dina hugging, then we would switch to that whole section with Abby and Lev traveling to the hospital to get the meds and it would be cool if on her way in, Nora helps Abby and then on her way out, we run into a door we have trouble opening so we push and when it opens, Nora’s beaten up body is right there.
you get the gist. Abby’s story was barely intertwined with Ellie’s until the very end where she finds Owen and Mel dead. she doesn’t know that literally everyone else, except Leah, is dead too. i feel like that would’ve made the impact of Abby and Ellie’s fight at the theater more effective. affective? whatever i’m not an english nerd
i also think we should have gotten the flashback with Abby’s dad a little later when we’re expected to understand her character a bit more.
overall, i’m not mad about getting Abby’s side of the story, but i am mad that the way it was told felt so disconnected from Ellie. we could still get that whole arc of Abby going to the island to get Lev, she can still get her own story apart from Ellie, but she needed to have more of a interaction with Ellie’s actions.
Abby vs. Ellie, Abby’s pov:
i absolutely hate this fight. i really hate the way it was written and the way it happened. i get that the game is trying to give us Abby’s perspective and to show that in her point of view, Ellie is the villain in this story.
except, AGAIN, i don’t need this spoon fed to me!!! i KNOW that the world isn’t black and white and that people’s perspectives are different, but also? i don’t really care. both characters have gone through shit and both have done shitty things. neither of them are innocent, no one in this world is innocent (hence why i really dislike Mel, but that’s not really relevant), so it really comes down to which character you value more. in my - and most other people’s - case, it’s Ellie. i know the whole point of this fight is to make the player uncomfortable, but i wasn’t just uncomfortable, it made me legitimately start to dislike this game (spoiler for the end of this stupid-long review: i don’t completely dislike it)
the game really emphasizes that this is Abby’s story as much as it is Ellie’s and i get that, but this fight did not need to happen the way it did and the game didn’t need to be even longer after this. a lot of people say that we played from Abby’s perspective because Ellie would have killed Abby and that would be that (and she did, by the way, i relished watching Ellie get her revenge because while i don’t hate Abby, it was still so satisfying even if that wasn’t how the game wanted me to play). however however however, Abby wouldn’t have showed mercy either. she was absolutely going to kill Ellie if Dina hadn’t intervened then she was going to kill Dina if Lev hadn’t intervened.
here’s how i wouldve wanted it to go: we go back to Ellie’s perspective once Abby has the gun pointed at Ellie in the lobby and during their fight, Ellie would get the upper hand because she has weapons and shit (let’s be honest, Ellie would not win in hand-to-hand combat with fully-healthy Abby, we saw that first hand). Lev would try to jump in, but then Dina would disarm him and prevent him from escaping her grasp. then eventually Ellie would have the barrel of the shotgun pointed at Abby’s face and she would hear Lev tell her to please stop don’t kill her and Ellie would listen because the same exact thing happened to her (we could get a short flashback or something for more emotions, idk). so instead of killing Abby, Ellie would knock her out and her and Dina would leave and Lev would run to Abby’s unconscious body. this would end that cycle of revenge and because Abby has something more important to her than revenge (Lev), they would move on.
the ending:
if the game went how i just imagined, we probably wouldn’t get an ending that’s as depressing and open ended as it is, but i’m sure Neil and his team could figure something out, such as Ellie still has to deal with PTSD and Tommy’s really pissed at them and Ellie still looses her two fingers. so we get that little domestic sequence and the PTSD flashback and Tommy coming with his eye missing and showing the map. he leaves and when Ellie is about to leave in the middle of the night, Dina convinces her this time to stay and the next day Ellie tries to play the guitar one last time before giving up since she doesn’t have her fingers (i still want that last heartbreaking flashback, that one fucked me up i love it) and she goes out to leave it somewhere in the woods with it all ending with her walking away from the guitar that Joel gave her to symbolize her letting him go. idk man something like that, still not that open ended, but i’m just talking out of my ass rn
anyway that’s not how it went so we’ll stick to reality.
an open ending isn’t supposed to be unsatisfying, because that’s what this ending was. Part I does an open ending perfectly as we still get closure even though we don’t know exactly how things go afterwards (until now obviously).
after playing from Abby’s perspective for so goddamn long, it was weird to play as Ellie again, even while it was also a relief, and that makes me really sad. in the end, i did feel bad for Abby when she was literally left to starve and “hang” (but again i didn’t need 15+ hours in order to feel basic sympathy).
from the way they wrote the story, i knew Ellie wasn’t going to let it go and she was going to leave Dina and JJ. it made sense and i don’t think it was out of character for her, but the fact they did that in the first place and that Abby was the one to let go first? Abby got her revenge, she killed Joel, but Ellie never got that closure so of course she was going to go after Abby.
in the very end, Ellie is left with no one and Abby still has Lev and a group of fireflies to run to. Ellie’s biggest fear was being alone as she said in the first game, but that’s exactly what she’s left with. yeah life is unfair and i do like that the consequences feel real in this story, but i don’t think Ellie deserved to be done so damn dirty while Abby is living her best life. sure all of Abby’s friends were murdered because of Ellie and Dina leaving is Ellie’s own fault and i don’t blame Dina, but i mean we have no idea what happens to Ellie after this, where she goes. it at least feels like she’s on the road to eventually being relatively okay, as okay as you can be in this world.
i can’t completely articulate how i feel about this ending, even after three days having finished playing. all i do know is that while it’s realistic how Ellie’s story ended, i would’ve liked for Abby to get the same treatment. for her to not actually find the fireflies through the radio and escape from the Rattlers only to have no where to go so that, just like Ellie, revenge cost her everything and we don’t know where she went after.
maybe because Abby’s story was pretty much wrapped up and Ellie’s wasn’t, they’re planning for a trilogy, but i guess we’ll see.
the tldr;
this game has all the elements it needed to be amazing overall imo, i just wish they were all utilized Better. the reason it’s so hard to figure out how i feel about this game is because it has so much potential that just never came through and i’m really jealous of all the people who were blown away by this story. it’s still a good game though, but a 7/10 seems too high and 6/10 seems to low. ig it’s a 6.5/10 for me.
thanks for reading if you made it this far
#tlou2#tlouii#the last of us#the last of us part ii#the last of us part 2#i just love ellie a lot#i dont think abby is better than ellie for letting go because everyones an asshole#im scared of them making a part three because they would end up killing ellie somehow#this game fucked me up and im sorry if you actually read all my rambling but i appreciate you#also joel is not a bad person he’s just traumatized from losing his daughter leave him ALONE he’s HUMAN#the last of us part ii spoilers#tlou2 spoilers
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Shadowlight: Chapter 1, Part 3, Introductions 2
Amara started packing up his karaoke machine. They've gotten smaller over the years since his parents had a collection of them. This one was compact like a small radio and included a touch screen and high powered speakers on the sides. It came with at least four microphones in case if there were songs being played that required more than 2 voices. The microphones were wireless and able to be worn like a headset or bluetooth attachment for cell phones.
"Gava, we need to get ready to meet up with Tanda, she'll be waiting for us at the school," Amara called to his brother.
Gavampatih; otherwise known as Gava to his family and friends, came into his brothers room, "You know I got the text just like you did brother." Gava was eighteen, and about to graduate from Montague High, with scholarships for a degree in Zoology at SUNY College at Oswego. He only took interest in the parkour club because his parents wanted to make sure that Amara would be safe since Amara was only 16. Their parents didn't fully trust Amaras club that he was in, so Gava was told to keep an eye on him while he was in the club.
"Well let's get a move on, gladly mom and dad are at work at this time so they'll understand why we're out at night" Amara grinned.
"You should just be glad that mother and father are petting you be in this club at all. They think it's dangerous, father especially" Gava reminded him.
"Then why don't you tell them how dangerous it is? Or maybe you don't because you enjoy it as well as I do" Amara told his brother.
"You should be glad I even keep you from having to leave that club. But yes, it is quite enjoyable" Gave replied, "Now let's get going before mother and father get back."
"Wait, shouldn't we go and get Sophie, so she isn't heading to the school alone" Amara asked.
"Good idea, let's go get her. She is only fifteen after all" Gava agreed.
Heading out the door of their apartment, they rushed to Sophie's apartment.
...
Adam and Alvis were already at the grocery store when they got Barak's group text. "Perfect timing right Alvis" Adam asked as he was grabbing some apples from the fruit section they were standing in.
"Indeed. I wonder how long we're going to have the party, not to mention when Kage, Aileen, and Barak are going to be there" Alvis replied.
"Knowing those three, they'll be late as ever," Adam laughed.
"Well it wouldn't be the first time," Alvis laughed as well, while grabbing some Kosher brand banana chips, "Speaking of them, doesn't Barak like banana chips?"
"Yeah he does, we also gotta grab some kosher beef patties while we're here so he can have a burger too" Adam replied.
"Alright, and Amara and Gava are both vegan right" Adam asked.
"Yeah, they are, Gava, is more of a vegetarian than a vegan though" Adam answered, "Krystal is vegan though too so we gotta get her a vegan friendly cake."
"Damn, I hope it tastes good," Alvis responded.
"Everybody else have different diets from them, like Kage and Tatsuo are pescetarian, while Aileen, Sophie, Aidan and us, don't really have any special diet," Adam told Alvis.
"Except I have a peanut allergy, so...I need a peanut free diet," Alvis replied.
"Right, I forgot about that," Adam remembered.
"Let's finish getting the food, and head out as quick as possible, we don't want to be late," Alvis gestured.
...
Tanda waited outside the school, her cane in hand. Tapping it on the ground to make sure she didn't bump into anything as she paced back and forth at the front entrance. She was blind, but was able to tell were things were based on the fact that she learned how to perform echolocation. That and the use of her can helped her recognize distances between her and objects. She is the only blind person within the parkour club and is one of the best in the club for a young blind girl.
"Krystal should be getting here first, then Amara and Gava, Sophie should be last. Adam and Alvis should be there before everyone else, I wonder where Aiden is as well" Tanda spoke to herself as she packed back and forth.
Footsteps soon approached, Tanda recognized them immediately. the way the heel landed first and then transitioned to the persons toes. "Aiden, I was just wondering where you would be. Do you think Tatsuo will be late" Tanda asked.
"She usually skips joining up with others and just goes straight for her destination, remember" Aiden explained.
"That's right, I forgot she does that. She'll be there about the time Adam and Alvis get there," Tanda remembered, "Amaras supposed to bring the Karaoke machine, Gava must have some chairs as well."
"Well just so you know Tanda, I brought some chairs as well" Aiden said as he patted two bagged up two foldable chairs strapped to his back.
"Won't that make it hard for you on our way there" Tanda worried slightly.
"Nah, I've used weights before when we practiced, so these two chairs are nothing to me" Aiden told her.
Footsteps began coming near, Aiden looked over his shoulder, "Hey birthday girl."
Krystal rolled her eyes, "Not my birthday yet, but I'll take it."
"Let me rephrase then," Aiden said, "Happy early birthday, Krystal."
"That's slightly better" Krystal replied, nodding her head.
"Amara and Gava should be here soon right," Tanda asked Krystal.
"Oh yeah they were minutes behind me, so they should be here any moment," Krystal acknowledged, "It's not hard to miss our two favorite Hindu boys with Sophie, especially when one has a Karaoke machine on their back."
"Well it's almost 8:30, so we need to hurry up so we can meet up with Tatsuo, Adam and Alvis" Tanda stated.
Amara and Gava appeared right after Tanda spoke. "Well let's get going," Amara said, slightly out of breath.
"Finally caught up, huh" Krystal grinned.
"How are you not out of breath," Amara wondered.
"Because you still haven't gotten over your asthma brother. Remember how you said this club was supposedd to help you get over it" Gava reminded his brother, who wasn't even phased by running with foldable chairs on his back.
"Right," Amara responded, still trying to catch his breath.
"Are you good to go Amara" Sophie asked Amara, "Because we're about to go."
"Yeah, I'm good let's get a move on" Amara replied.
~hours later~
Barak tried sitting in one of the seats in the cargo hold of MAGV, but it was difficult to do so from the searing pain that was racking his body. He had a hole in the back of his shirt, and the edges of that hole were extremely burnt out. He noticed a man coming up to the club members and everyone who may have been affected by that device.
"Evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Headsman Lucius, the head pilot of this MAGV, and commander as well. The director of our organization known as U.N.I.O.N., was aware of this event that just happened to the lot of you. Our organization is a conglomeration of at least 113 countries, including the recent country, New Atlantis, which is where the director resides as the founder of the country. For all of you who may or may not have been put in unfortunate circumstances" Lucius looked directly at Kage and Aileen, who were still merged, "We will be putting you through some tests to see what you may be able to do now after the event that caused disruption in your lives. Worry not though, your families will be notified, and compensated for the time that you are all here with us."
A person who was living in the apartment where the device blew, spoke up, "And what about those of us who were taken from our homes, will we be compensated for being here?"
"And what is your name Miss" Lucius respondedd with question.
"Aureliana, Aureliana Rodriguez" the woman replied.
"Well Miss Rodriguez, everyone is going to be put into a small system for this catastrophe you've all experienced. We will interview all of you. During that interview, we will ask for your banking information, and then connect with your bank to deposit money into whatever account you may have" Lucius explained.
"Alright, but just so you know, after whatever happens on the roof of the apartment complex, I don't feel I should touch anything" Aureliana replied, raising her hands. What surprised Lucius is that they were glowing a golden aura inside and out.
"Are you good at catching things Miss Rodriguez," Lucius responded.
"Yes but what does that have to do with..." the last of her sentence was cut off as Headsman Lucius tossed her a New Atlantis quarter, made of a silver-nickel alloy. As soon as it came her way, she caught it with both hands and then looked at the quarter.
"Let me see the coin Miss Rodriguez" Lucius ordered. Aureliana held up the coin in her left hand. It was turned to gold.
"Congratulations Miss Rodriguez, you just passed your first test" Lucius applauded, "Now for the rest of you, we will be heading to a special room where your powers will be neutralized temporarily for interviewing each of you one at a time." A lieutenant suddenly came up beside him, "Sir who should I interview first?"
"Lieutenant Pam, interview that person right there" Lucius pointed directly at the merged form of Kage and Aileen, "And get them some clothes as well."
"Yes sir," Lieutenant Pam nodded as she went to get Kage and Aileen from their seat.
"We are more than one person Lieutenant," Kage spoke, making Pam pause for a moment before looking to Lucius. "Sir should I get two sets of clothes for them in case if one of their powers is that they are two people merged into one?"
"Do what you need to Lieutenant" Lucius responded.
Lieutenant Pam, turned back to Kage and Aileen, and began helping them unstrap from their seat, "These straps get a little complicated so let me help out here."
Barak looked over at them, trying not to stare, but then he looked at his peers. Adam looked unchanged as did Alvis. Krystal's hair was a platinum blonde now, and looked like she was shivering. Aiden looked as if he was sweating bullets. Amara suddenly had two extra arms and Gavampatih looked like some anthromorph beast. Tandas eyes looked as if they had become miniature universes. Tatsuo looked unchanged, except for the fact that her Elder Scrolls necklace was burned into her collar bones. Sophie also looked unchanged, but he wasn't for sure what might have happened to her, just like Adam and Alvis. Most of them were unconscious except for Aiden, Krystal and Tanda. In fact Tanda was looking directly at Kage and Aileen as they walked off towards their interview. Whatever happened next was going to be a long and grueling process.
#writing#thehumbledwritinggirl#writer blog#story blog#story mode#writer#inspired#inspired to write#shadowlight
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Tutoring (Reflection)
1st week: 10th – 14th
It's been a week since I started tutoring. I have one student and she’s seven years old. Originally, I thought that since she was young it would be easier to teach her but off course I was wrong. She barely knows many words, so explaining new words and things to her was every challenging, also she constantly says she doesn't know things but when I want to show her, she stops me and does it herself and most of the time she’s right. We spent the whole week focusing on Math and English. She can’t differentiate between addition and subtraction, so I kept giving her homework to practice, in English, I introduce the word ‘Characteristics’ after a long while of learning how to pronounce, spell and understand it, she was able to give me examples and explain it in her own words. I've also noticed that she mimics me so I have to be very careful of how I act in front.
2nd week: 17th – 21th
I’ve started getting used to Manal and her constantly saying she ‘doesn’t know’, I’ve been trying really hard for her to let go of those words since it could impact her to give up when a challenge faces her instead of trying to attempt it. On Thursday, I had asked her again during a lesson what characteristics is, indirectly but she was unable to recall anything we had learnt about the word. During a session we had read a paragraph of a story and underlined any word she didn’t know, so she could increase her vocabulary and when I had given the meanings of the words, she had to make sentences with those words so that I was sure she understood them and she was capable of doing so but when we finished understanding the new vocabulary I had asked her what we read and wasn’t able to recognize that it was a description of a statue. When we were learnt new words I’d try my best to use things around me like once we did the word ‘tour’ so I gave her a tour of my home to better explain the definition to her.
This week I had started tuitions for two other kids, Mariam, three year old and Nawaz, five year old. I tried to take Manal and Mariam’s tuition at the same time but Manal kept getting distracted so I had Mariam and Nawaz have tuitions at the same time since they’re in they both needed to learn the same things. I started Mariam and Nawaz with alphabets since that what they had to know by the end of December. For their first week, the learnt how to hold and write with a pencil and learn A,B,C and D to write. I had difficulties with them since their so young and got distracted very quickly and sometimes they’d come for tuition crying so it was personally hard for me to deal with since I’m not used to crying kids so it to me a while to find a way to calm them down.
3rd week: 24st - 28th
This week made me realise that she has a passion for math and asks for more math work than any other subject, although she takes a liking for the subject she still can’t tell the differences. Because in her work I can see how she randomly confuses the signs and when I question her about it, she immediately corrects mistakes. So I’ve decided to take each sign at a time, and hopefully it will help her understand the signs better. She also kept referring to the previous words during our lessons, which made me happy to see that she could recall, since she had difficulties remembering.
It was a really good week for Mariam and Nawaz since I had used small chalk boards to teach them and they responded really well when I’d draw a picture or any of the letters we’d learnt. Mariam would ask me to draw different thing and after I did so I’d tell her that name of the thing in English and she’d repeat after me. Nawaz knows the alphabets but isn’t capable of writing it properly but since we started using the chalk board its easier for him to write.
4th week 31st - 4th Nov
This week I did addition of one-digit, two-digit, three-digit and four-digit with Manal. She had difficulties in the beginning but then she managed to do all the sums I’d give her every day. She also was able to remember the new vocabulary we had learnt and was trying to use them, it surprised me with she used them because I didn’t expect her to use them.
For the younger kids, I had started making picture cards for them to learn the alphabets and words that are associated to the letter. I used the cards as a reward after they were able to write the letter and then I’d give them the letter with a picture to colour for example I did C for cake and another of a car, then I’d give them one card each to colour. This colouring reward would also help their hand movements for writing better. And it actually motivated Mariam to work harder since for the past few days she hadn’t been cooperating and it had made Nawaz move ahead off her, oddly, I noticed it really motivated him that he was doing better than her.
5th week: 7th - 11th
This week for Manal, I had moved on to subtraction of one-digit, two-digits, three-digits and four-digits. She had confusion in the start but once she understood, she was getting most of them right and then I had tested her with both one-digit addition and subtraction on Friday. We also worked on her Swahili skills since she’s every weak in the subject, so I made her write simple sentences in English then translate them into Swahili and also did a few exercises from her textbook on translating. I’m really getting through to her since she’s stopped saying she doesn’t know and it makes me feel like I’m actually helping her on another level because words are powerful, especially ones that demotivate.
Mariam is struggling with writing, she hasn’t been able to write the letters I ask her to write correctly, but I noticed that she’ll write the letters either upside down or right-side up, which was amusing at first but a little bit frustrating, and it was eye opening. Nawaz has been confusing letters the whole week, whenever I’d remind him of the correct letter, then ask him he’d answer me wrong, most of the time but when he got it right, it was really satisfying to me, because it must been that I’m getting through to him. The whole experience is making me realise what teachers goes through and it has made appreciate them more, especially kindergarten teachers, since the dedicate their lives to teaching young kids and what they’re teaching to them now is like a stepping stone for the kids to learn more.
6th week: 14th – 18th Exam week preparation and tests
During the whole week we did revision of all her subjects by doing verbal tests and written tests, I also did a session with Manal where she was the teacher and I was the student, I kept messing up so she could correct me and it was a great was to see how much she knew and how she learnt it and how she’d teach me the same information, it was really amusing and fun. We also made Swahili flash cards to prepare for the Swahili exam, she enjoyed making the flash cards even though it was on her least favourite subject.
Mariam has finally been able to write and remember words associated through letter A to G. Nawaz wrote all the alphabets this week but it was a real struggle for him to write since it took both Nawaz and I to be patient for him to recall the letters just from memory.
7th week 21th – 25th
In this week, I made Manal read stories and I noticed that when she reads, she doesn’t understand what she’s reading. So every time I made her read I’d ask her what was going on and she’d use the exact same words in the book, so then I’d ask her to rephrase her words until, she barely used the story’s words. Manal has an interest in arts so one day we spend the whole day drawing and colouring in designs and another day we had played online Swahili games which were matching the correct word with its meaning and before we played the game I made her write the words afterwards and we added on to her Swahili flash cards with new words she had learnt.
Nawaz and Mariam barely came this week, and the days they came they had completely forgotten most of what we did and it was difficult for them to recall, I noticed how the lack of reminder and practice was why they hadn’t been able to recall the information they knew. I’m trying really hard to help them remember without giving them the answers.
8th week: 28th – 2rd Dec
Manal’s holidays have started.
I had started with numbers for Mariam and Nawaz, and we have been working on writing them and saying them. I have been using a collective amount of objects to show them the numbers in object form like 5 pencils. And I also make them use their fingers to show me the number four or five, etc. Mariam can write up to the number 6 but unless she’s given a guideline then she can only write till 4. Nawaz is capable to write up to 10, without a guideline.
9th week: 5th – 9th
During the week I was practicing new alphabets with Mariam and Nawaz, and I thought that maybe the normal method of teacher write student write, I could play a game with them, both individually and together. Individually, to see how much they knew themselves and to observe their progress and together, so that they can work together to get the right answer. The first time I played the game with them, they were both really excited, participated and didn’t give up when they were wrong. The game is showing them the alphabet then asking them what letter is it, then asking them which word is associated with which letter placed in front of them and pointing out the correct letter.
10th week: 12th – 16 th
All students have gone for their holiday.
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