#i could seen them cutting out tess’s backstory

[silentsockfeet]

wait okay new tlou hbo theory: each episode is structured to show a parallel between a specific character’s backstory and what is happening in the present. they’ve already flat out said that ep3 is gonna be about bill and frank so i think it would actually make a lot of sense for them to use that as a base episode structure, and it would fit really nicely with the overall story arc

first ep would be joel’s backstory of course, second ep likely tess’s, fourth ep maybe that hunter from pittsburgh that starts the revolt?, fifth - sam and henry, sixth uhh tommy and maria?, seventh probably ellie circa. left behind, eighth marlene or david maybe, and then the finale could be anna to parallel joel’s choice.

[cowgurrrl]

I Know the End

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader (plus platonic Ellie Williams x fem!reader but we focus more on Ellie in this fic)

Author's note: I didn't know how to end this but I kinda love it how it is!!

Summary: "We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything— what a waste." - Luca Guadanino, Call Me by Your Name aka you and Ellie talk about what's important [2.1k]

Warnings: a little bit of backstory, Ellie being a disaster lesbian, fluff, a time jump of sorts (Ellie is 18 and Charlie is 2)

It only took a whole day of running around with Dina and Ellie, but you've never seen Charlie fall asleep so fast. You were exhausted, and Joel had to run errands and then patrol, but Charlie begged to go outside in the spring sunshine the moment she woke up. Dina was supposed to come over and hang out with Ellie alone, but when she heard Charlie's two-year-old demands, she changed their plans. "Let's go to the park!" Dina agreed, much to Charlie's excitement and Ellie's confusion. You watched as Ellie looked at Dina when she wasn't looking, something familiar shifting behind her eyes before she pushed it away. 

They left to go to the park and were out all day. Charlie was half-asleep in Dina's arms when they finally came back, but that didn't stop her from clinging to Dina when you tried to take her. Before the infamous Charlotte Miller pout could take full effect, Dina leaned back so she could look at her. "How about you tell Ellie to invite me over more often so we can play? We don’t even need to hang out with stinky Ellie if you don’t want to.” She said, and Charlie laughed, letting you take her from Dina's arms. Ellie blushed and rolled her eyes at Dina's teasing, but there was no heat behind it. You wonder if you and Joel were as obvious as Ellie and Dina are. Charlie was asleep in bed not even thirty minutes later, absolutely exhausted from her girl's day out. 

When you walk back downstairs, you find Ellie sitting on the porch, watching the last bits of sunshine disappear behind the mountains. Her shoulders are relaxed, and she seems lighter. She doesn't jump when you step onto the porch to join her. Her eyes are stunning in the sunlight, all golden brown and happy. You look out at the purple and pink rays as they shine across the green fields and take a deep breath.

"Charlie said she had fun with you and Dina today." You say, sitting next to her, and she smiles.

"Good, I'm glad," she says. "We had a lot of fun with her." You turn to look at her and see that same blush invading her cheeks. You smile and turn your attention to the chipping paint on one of the chairs Joel built.

"So, you and Dina-"

"Don't." She cuts you off before you can even start, and you laugh. She looks at you like you're crazy, but you shake your head and pull your legs up to your chest. 

"You're an adult. You're allowed to have your own life. I just… would like to be in on it." You say. She sighs and rubs her eyes, the wheels in her head spinning so much that you swear you can hear them.

"It's complicated," she admits, and you smile. You remember the number of times you gave the same answer to Tess when she asked about you and Joel. Saying it was complicated allowed her to fill in the gaps you were too scared to even look at. "What?"

"Nothing. You just sound like someone I used to know." 

"Can I ask you a question?" She asks, and you nod. "How did you... know that you loved Joel?" 

"That's a big question," you admit. She winces and opens her mouth to retract it, but you stop her. "Have I ever told you about how we met? Or what we were like in the beginning?" You ask, and she shakes her head. You look at your wedding band as you trace your memories back to the very beginning and almost laugh at how stupid you two were.

"I met Tess first. She got me out of some trouble with FEDRA, and I owed her a favor. One day, she asked me to do a drop with her smuggling partner. I don't remember what her reasoning was, but I agreed. He hated me. He'll say he didn't, but he did. He thought I was a rat and wanted nothing to do with me."

"Why did he think you were a rat?"

"Because I was." You admit, and Ellie furrows her brows in confusion.

"Wait, what?"

"I had a kid at home that I needed to feed, and I was desperate, so I did the shitty FEDRA jobs, smuggling, raiding, whatever. I made a good amount of money. Not enough to make us rich, but enough for me to keep her alive and buy ammunition when it came through," you say. "When Jane died, I just… kept doing it. I had nothing else to live for, and that kind of hopelessness is a hot commodity in QZs. It makes you deadlier, more ruthless, quicker. People wanted to hire me to do their dirty jobs because they knew I could do it and not flinch."

"I never knew that." She says, and you nod, but you don't look at her. You focus on the chipping paint and how it feels under your nails when you pick at it. "Did you kill innocents?"

"I never asked about the targets, but yeah, probably. Joel's done things like that, but he never got as deep as I did. I think he hated me because he saw how similar we were, and it scared him, but we made a great team. We kept doing runs, and we barely spoke for the first few times but then... I don't know," you shrug, looking up from the paint. "Something changed. I started caring about him, and he started caring about me, but we never talked about it. We just existed together. It annoyed the shit out of Tess, but I think she knew we had to work it out one way or another. When she died, we were both lost. She was our lynchpin. She kept us together and focused. She made us a team," 

"But then we started traveling with you, and he started opening up. We started talking, like really talking, for the first time. We talked about our daughters, our pasts, everything. I saw a different side of Joel that I had never seen before, and I realized how much I loved him. I think I fell in love with him years before that but didn't realize or didn't let myself feel it," you chuckle and shake your head. Ellie's eyes haven't left yours since you started talking. You imagine her brain moving as fast as possible, trying to put the pieces together. "The fucking apocalypse happened. You would think that would make people want to admit their feelings before it's too late, but not us. It took years for us to admit we loved each other. We wasted so much time. And even now that we're married and have you and Charlie, I still wonder how our lives would be different if we had been honest sooner." You look at her pointedly, and she sighs.

"Is this the part where you tell me that love is all we need to heal or whatever bullshit?" 

"No, this is the part where I tell you exactly what I said to Joel years ago," you plant your feet on the porch and turn to look at her fully. "Something terrible happened to you. A lot of terrible, awful things happened to you, and I'm sorry. But you don't need to keep punishing yourself for the past. You are worthy of all the love in the world, and someone is here, willing to give it to you. Don't fuck it up." She doesn't say anything. She just nods. You smile and reach for her hand, her fingers cold to your touch.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but I know Dina would be lucky to be loved by you. Any person would be. And when you're ready to bring the person you love home to us, I promise to love them as much as you do, okay?" You ask, and she squeezes you with tears in her eyes.

"Okay." She agrees. You don't say anything more. You don't need to. You just squeeze her back and take in the last bits of sunshine, watching Joel slowly appear over the hill. You laugh together at how small he looks, and Ellie says something about him getting slower as he gets older. You manage to pull it together once he’s close enough to hear, and he smiles seeing you two together.

"Hey there, cowboy." You call as Joel starts walking up to the porch. He walks over and kisses you before walking over and kissing Ellie's forehead.

"What are y'all doing out here?" He asks, squeezing Ellie's shoulders as he stands behind her. She swats at him, making him laugh, but he stays nearby.

"Talking," Ellie answers.

"'Bout what?"

"Us." You say.

"Uh oh."

"When do you think you realized you were in love with me?" You ask, and he smiles.

"From that very first day."

"Bullshit, Miller!" You yell. Thank God Charlie is the world's heaviest sleeper; otherwise, she'd be wide awake. "You were so mean to me when we did that drop."

"You were just as mean as I was."

"I guess that's true," you say. "God, Tess was so annoyed at us."

"She always said that she was gonna lock us in a room one day and not let us out until we figured out what was wrong." He says, and you smile as a pang of bittersweetness hits you. If it weren't for Tess, you would've never met Joel, and you definitely wouldn't have learned to love him without those late-night conversations with her.

"Did she ever do it?" Ellie asks. 

"No, but she sent us on more drops together. Somehow, I think that was her way of forcing us to like each other." 

"Man, she was the coolest."

"She was," you say as you look at Ellie. "She really cared about you." She nods, unsure what to do with that information but taking it in anyways. Ellie looks at you, probably knowing you would be easier to persuade than Joel.

"Is it okay if I stop by Dina's?" She asks, and you smile.

"Be home before the sun comes up, please." You say, still trying to set boundaries with her but also trying to let her be an adult. She's out of the chair and down the porch stairs before you can blink. Joel follows her movement with a confused look but doesn't try to stop her. You walk over to him and wrap your arms around his neck. He snakes his hands around your waist and pulls you close enough to smell his shampoo.

"Didn't they just hang out all day?" He asks, and you laugh.

"She's gotta go do something important. I'm sure she'll tell us about it later," you say. "How was your day?"

"Better now that I'm home." He says as he kisses you, and you roll your eyes. 

"Cheesy."

"Do I get to ask you when you realized you were in love with me now?"

"Oh, I know the exact moment I realized."

"You do?" He asks with a pray, do tell look on his face, and you nod. 

"Yep. It was my birthday, and I didn't want a big fuss, but you and Tess remembered. You got us out of the QZ and took us to one of the old buildings with a picnic that Tess made, and we watched the sunset over Boston. You traded something expensive for a nice bottle of wine, and we passed the bottle back and forth, and I looked at you as the sun was setting, and I remember thinking, "oh, fuck. I think I love him," You tell him, still seeing the moment clearly in your head after so many years.

"Do you remember the night we had to spend outside the QZ because we got caught up in a deal, and it was too dangerous to sneak in with all the soldiers?" Joel asks, and you nod. It was still early on in your relationship. At least two years before you realized you loved him. The leaves were just starting to change as fall approached, and he let you sleep with his jacket on because you were shivering so much. It was the first act of kindness he'd ever shown you. "That's when I realized I was in love with you." He finally answers, and love blossoms in your chest. He's staring at you with those big, brown eyes Charlie got from him, and you think you would do everything over again. You know you would do everything over again.

"So, you fell in love first." You tease.

"Oh, big time." 

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taglist: @evyiione @nyotamalfoy @abbyhaslongshorts​

[barlowstreet]

Okay I have theories

And I like being proven right so I'm posting this for posterity.

Under the cut because if you haven't played the game this is definitely SUPER spoilery!

Okay, I know this is probably information you can find because critics have like seen the first season fully but I don't know how to do that and I am just guessing.

Episode 2 - Just Tess, Joel and Ellie going to the Capital building and Tess' death. I don't think they're gonna do much more than like explain Ellie's immunity, introduce clickers, etc. I think this would be a good episode to expand on Tess a bit because I love her, but I don't think they're getting far out of Boston. This might also be the episode with Ellie's mom/Ashley because there isn't a ton of plot to handle here.

Episode 3 - Bill's Town. The trailer has footage of Frank and Bill so I think they're going to do quite a bit of backstory with them and Nick Offerman is only gonna be in episode 3 so this one has to be the Bill episode.

Episode 4 and 5 - Pittsburgh. According to IMDB, Henry and Sam are in two episodes, so we're gonna get 2 Pittsburgh episodes. Probably one in the city proper, and then one for the outskirts/sewer/radio tower.

Also Wikipedia says that Henry and Sam are now from Kansas City and "hiding from a revolutionary movement in Kansas City", the leader of which is being played by Melanie Lynskey so that'll be interesting.

Episode 6 - Wherever Graham Greene is. Somewhere in Wyoming, apparently. I think they're going to find Tommy's place in this one, this is when we're getting the big confrontation between Joel and Ellie, and I bet this episode ends at the university with Joel getting hurt. I could be wrong, but that's my bet.

I wonder if they're gonna run into the cannibal group/hear about them, and then you get that line from Greene about Joel being scared, and then they get to Jackson and Joel gets all freaked out about caring about Ellie to much and tries to peace out. Then impaling, etc, because that would be such a good cliffhanger. And it looks like the Jackson stuff is more solidly in winter now so, logically, it tracks.

Episode 7 - Left Behind, I think this is when Left Behind happens, and I think they're going to film it almost exactly like how the prequel happens, switching between flashbacks and what Ellie is going through in the present. I think Left Behind is going to be a full episode on its own.

Episode 8 - Winter. Winter is an entire episode.

Episode 9 - The hospital and the end.

It'll either be like this, or Bill's town will be shorter than a full episode and Henry and Sam will be in some of episode 3.

[poisonouswritings]

So I bit it and checked out the new Fictif story (thoughts and some spoilers under cut)

TLDR; I am pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic for the future of this one, but I will still fight Fictif in the parking lot of Denny's at 3am

Firstly I just wanna say,, the music,,, is such a damn banger. I could vibe to it all day.

Secondly the writing seems good so far!! Definitely descriptive, didn't Immediately launch into 'characters being unreasonably in love' the way some other stories on this app do. There was a healthy amount of flirting mixed with genuine conversation

A little bit of Last Legacy vibes!! Not sure how intentional it is

The characters,, actually,,, seem to have backstory??

The characters,,, actually,,,, seem to have personalities that go beyond their relationship with the MC? The characters don't feel flat and one-dimensional?? They feel like people??? With their own relationships and conflicts and opinions and????

hohohOHOHO HOT PIRATE LADY

HOHOHO HOT PIRATE LADY MAKES MEN QUIVER IN FEAR

HOT PIRATE LADY HAS A CREW OF MOSTLY WOMEN

I am very weak for hot and confident ladies in general, but especially pirates

Wolfish male character who loves his younger sister but somehow fucked up in the past and is now desperately trying to find a way to save her????

He has growlies?????

Hot pirate lady calling him a puppy???????

Hot pirate lady and wolfie man being best friends????????????

Wolfie man may turn into a wolf at some point???????

While I am a little sad that this one seems to be following the recent trend of not having individual character routes and instead just jamming everyone together (FTLoG, MM, CtC, and now this one), the relationship between the characters makes it make sense

The CG for this chapter is of the hot pirate lady???

The concept of the story is actually really interesting!! It gets revealed pretty early on so I'll just say, the idea is that MC is an author and has to help fairytale villains (the wolf from Red Riding Hood and Captain Hook) change their stories.

Hook's motivation is that she has her own story but it was completely overshadowed by a man-child and now she's determined to get her own book to tell her story in!!

The writer really looked at all our outrage over Tess, Celia, and Val (I've also seen people say this about Maeve to a lesser extent but I haven't played CtC yet so) and said 'girl I got you I will shove this in the exec's faces until they fucking listen'

While this obviously does not make up for all the bullshit Fictif has given us in the past, I am saying this is a step in the right direction. It's a start.

This does not mean we should stop being critical of them! One good move does not put them back in good graces, and I'd hate for this one series to basically be a pander. Continue to call Fictif out on their crap!

[an-excess-of-ladders]

Spoilers for Season 3... My predictions below...

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So I think Jack did know about Nicky being alive but not right away. I think he found out years (possibly many years) later and was very hurt by Nicky cutting himself off. So that when he wanted contact again Jack was too hurt. I am sure his dad and mom will play a part in his feelings, too. Clearly, his dad blamed Jack for what he knew of what happened to Nicky. If Nicky hid from his mom, as well (which he probably would have) that would have hurt her terribly, too. And Jack is very loyal to and protective of his mom. Obv it is going to hurt Rebecca and The Big 3 that Jack kept Nicky being alive from them. Jack would have probably also felt like keeping it to himself was to protect them, just like with his dad.

In the flash forward I think Rebecca has Alzeimers and is slowly fading away. This would be the opposite of how Jack died and hard in the opposite way, as well. Alzeimers is very hard on the family. My grandma had it and by the last few months of her life she did not recognize my grandpa. This would be very hard on the Pearsons who have only had memories of Jack for so long and are very sentimental. I can imagine that Tess is very close to Rebecca and devastated that she does not recognize her. Toby I can see maybe just not wanting to, in his mind, be in the way. He is obv struggling with something (depression and/or something else) and he may have lost someone in his family to Alzeimers and just cannot relive it. This would be all the more true if he and Kate are split up or Kate has died.

My guess as to their unconventional parenting thing is that maybe they have a surrogate. Maybe the baby she is pregnant with now is totally fine. But maybe they want to have another and decide they cannot go through all the heartache of possibly losing them. So maybe they decide to use a surrogate, which has been seen, most famously on Friends. But maybe what is new about it is that the surrogate is a friend (Madison? Sophie?) or family member (Zoe?) and they have more of a shared parenting thing going on.

As for Randall and Beth, I think they may have separated in the future but will not get divorced. They will work it out. But maybe something happens that does change their relationship a lot. I think Randall's decision to stay in the race has already done that somewhat. I know from experience that once you feel disappointed on that scale, things are never quite the same again. And there are years of resentment at this point over him making decisions without her, including chasing his dreams when she feels she had to give up hers. I hope she and Rebecca talk about all this.

I noticed in the preview that Zoe said something along the lines of "I can't do this anymore." That could be a fake out and be something innocuous like "I need to go back to the hotel room..." but if it is serious and Kevin found her father... Yeah, that could be very hard to see. That would be so out of line but I can imagine Kevin not thinking, being so caught up in his own reunions. I hope not. I am super excited for Beth's backstory ep in a few weeks.

Ahhh, I can't wait til Tuesday!!