#tlou got me thinking now especially with these 'was joel right?' questions

[moonssugar]

tlou ep 8 okay “would you sacrifice this 14 yr old girl to save more lives?” i think is the surface question here which is: *is humanity is worth saving? *at the cost of medically experimenting on the single person that is known to be immune to a fungal virus in which the experiment will kill her and there is no guarantee that it will work, we also did not ask this girl for her consent (which she can’t give) or her guardian’s consent (knocked unconscious) and left out important information about the consent (she will die). but back to is humanity worth saving? to me the ep says yes. i feel like the whole series says yes. because ellie is worth saving to the one person who cares about her. and sam and henry were, and bill and frank, and tess, and riley and so many others named and unnamed are/were worth saving.

the issue with the fireflies and their situation with ellie is that theyre thinking of themselves as the potential saviors of humanity with their ‘cure’ they know probably won’t work but theyre willing to sacrifice her for, to destroy her life. the thing is, recognizing that humanity is worth saving means actually putting in the work to see that through — it means humanity needs to stop killing each other first in order to put that into practice, humanity has to stop oppressing each other with cults and fascist paramilitaries that struggle for control and rule with fear  fanaticism and starvation long enough to recognize that, start organizing and looking after one another instead of fighting tooth and nail for breadcrumbs and who gets to lock who in a cage. making a cure is easy, choosing not to tear each other apart is hard. injection is simple, reaching out and pulling each other up, saving each other and choosing to keep doing that forever is fucking difficult and scary. adding a cure to cordyceps would be another thing to kill each other over and control if things continued as they did. you can’t chase a cure that promises to fix everything while doing the same things and continuing the same cycles as before. and even if there would never be a cure for the infected (there isnt) what matters is if people can exist long term either alongside cordyceps for the remainder of human history or until it disappears and more importantly alongside other human beings. because that is the way to survive and that is the way to ensure that humanity, each person’s life is valued and continues to matter and be worth saving. that is how you save humanity

[justagalwhowrites]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag, @sawymredfox!!!

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

21

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

1,032,269. When you throw in the Tumblr only stuff I think I'm closer to 1.2 million overall.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Pedro Pascal fandom, mostly TLOU! But I'd love to spend some time with Poe Dameron, my beloved, so I might dive into Star Wars beyond Mando at some point :)

4. top five fics by kudos 

I'm really not sure on Tumblr? Individual chapters don't get as much attention and I don't write many one shots, my highest single post on Tumblr is probably a one shot but I have NO CLUE which one!

On AO3:

Lavender

Beskar Doll

Yearling

New in Town

Lavender No Outbreak AU

5. do you respond to comments?

I used to be so much better about doing this and I've just not been keeping up with it lately. I want to get back to it! I LOVE getting comments, they make me so happy! Part of my issue is I read them immediately even if I don't have time to respond and I'm like "I'll respond when I post the next chapter" and then I post the next chapter super late at night and I'm so tired and I'm just like "I'll reply later" and then I never do.

ANYWAY! I want to get back to replying to comments because I love them. I used to reply to every one. Less now.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Proof of Life, an angsty as hell QZ!Joel era one shot. I traffic in angst but I like my happy endings, especially for long fics :)

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Lavender I think. After all that angst, they got the life they wanted and saved the world. Not too shabby.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I haven't really! I've had a few people disagree with directions I took characters or plot lines and a few people send asks that didn't feel so nice but I'm not sure they were intended to not be nice. I try to not take those things personally. But everyone as been exceedingly kind, probably kinder than I deserve!

9. do you write smut?

I do but I feel like it's my weakest area. If you're looking primarily for smut and reading my stuff, you're probably in the wrong place, I'm sorry! I wish I was better at it! I feel like I'm getting better at it. But alas!

10. craziest crossover?

I haven't written any and I haven't really read any, either. Closest thing I came to a crossover I think is tying the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy of Star Wars into Doll's history in Beskar Doll.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

None so far!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Not shared anywhere but I do have commenters in other languages tell me they've put my fic into Google Translate to read it! I think that's immensely cool .

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven't but I'd be open to it! 

14. all time favorite ship?

Of characters that actually exist in canon? Probably Han Solo and Leia Organa. I LOVE them. Love love love love LOVE them. The "I love you" "I know" in Empire followed by the reversal in Jedi? TO DIE FOR.

15. what’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

As far as fics go? None. I have the stories so thoroughly planned there I'm compelled to finish them, I can't help it. I wasn't always this thorough of a planner, though, and I have so many books that I've started and written like 40k words of that I'll probably never finish. That breaks my heart a little. All these characters who won't get to live their whole lives because I can't get their stories across the finish line. But I'm not sure I have enough hours left in the rest of my life to tell every story I've got inside me so it'll have to be what it will be!

16. what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything else lol especially smut. I feel like my descriptions are often lacking, too.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Yes please! As long as the author can do it right (either because they know the language enough or get help from someone who does - the translate tools just aren't great at grammar and it takes me out if it's a language I know.)

19. first fandom you wrote in?

The Pedro fandom! Specifically, the Mandalorian. Beskar Doll, my first baby <3

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

Probably Lavender? Maybe Yearling. It's so hard to say! I'm probably the most attached to Doc and Joel, though.

NP tags: @dancingtotuyo @beardedjoel @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @netherfeildren and anyone else who wants to play!

[alexiskk]

Hiiii tlou anon here!! Your works are sooo good and since u asked for Tlou suggestions, I was wondering if you could do a fic where Tommy and Ellie are talking and Tommy reveals that Joel’s ticklish. Which leads to Ellie trying it out of course, and Joel getting revenge on the both of them for messing with him! I look forward to seeing what you’ll write and I’ll probably end up giving you more suggestions in the future. :) -tlou anon

hi anon! this is such a good suggestion, im so glad tlou has brought me back in the mood to write, definitely send more if you have em! Also I backed off on lee!tommy a bit but I hope u still enjoy🫶

word count: uhhh kinda long

❗️tw: shoot/killing a deer, slight mention of blood

also all Joel and Ellie pairings in any of my fics are in a parental/child relationship anything else is gross so pls don’t think I ever mean to cross that boundary. ok thx

Not so Funny Now

Thud

“Damnn El” Tommy blew out an impressed sigh as he looked over in proud amazement at the girl posted with her barrel rested on the tree trunk beside him.

“I guess my brother is good for something, he taught you howda’ shoot like a bat outta hell”

Ellie smirked as she stood up and rested the rifle on her shoulder, almost knocking herself over in the process, but she seemed to play it off successfully. They were both watching the deer Ellie had shot about 20 yards in front of them struggle to regain it’s footing, after all, she had shot it square in it’s neck, so it was only a matter of time before it was down for the count. Lucky for them, the deer only managed to make it a few more yards before not so gracefully plumping back into the snow.

Ellie had found some of her time in Jackson to be restless, as she hadn’t quite found anyone her age that she clicked with quite yet. Tommy especially picked up on this restless energy due to numerous nights of listening to Joel’s complaints about “Too many godamn questions”. So, Tommy thought inviting her on some of the hunting trips would help her blow off some steam, and more importantly, tire her out. Although, he was especially fond of days like today, where the rest of the crew was too busy off with the cattle and stable duties, so he and Ellie had the day left to themselves.

The pair had made their way over to the deer as Tommy began sizing up their catch.

“A buck Ellie not too shabby” He gestured to the pedicles on top of the deer’s head.

“Hey, what can I say, I’m a natural” Ellie had a sarcastic tone as she awkwardly threw up one of her hands while the other stayed securely on the rifle. It was only her 6th or 7th trip out here but she learned to pull her weight, although she couldn’t help but hide a smug smile as she realized this was the biggest deer she’d ever shot.

“No seriously, you gotta great shot kid”

“Awh quit fawnin’ over me Tommy” Ellie held her breath as Tommy paused and slowly looked up at her, to her surprise, he bursted out a chuckled laugh in response to her pun before even she could. He shook his head and looked back to the buck.

“You duhumass help me pull”

Ellie let some of her own laughter escape as she walked towards and placed her hand around an antler while Tommy grabbed the other. They both began dragging it through the snow, leaving a trail of dirt and blood behind them.

“Hey you know what a deers favorite bread is right?” Ellie had her eyes down at the snow in front of her, slightly out of breath from the trek they were making back to the horses.

Tommy smiled as he continued to entertain her gimmicks “Now what might that be?”

“Dude, it’s Sour doe, duh”

While less caught off guard, Tommy still found himself breathing out a few chuckles in response to the teenager’s terrible puns. Ellie of course had a huge grin plastered across her face, this wasn’t the audience she was typically used to.

“What, so you’ve got these memorized?”

“Nah these are my own, but I have plenty memorized from the book if that’s what your looking for.”

The pair dropped the buck as they had finally made it back to their horses. Tommy began preparing one of the horses to carry the load from the day.

“Ah is this that famous joke book i’ve heard so much about?”

“Whatt Joel mentioned the book to you?” Ellie still slightly out of breath looked up from the snow. She knew Joel cared about her, but there were very few days he actually enjoyed the joke book coming out of her pack.

“Just a few times” Tommy smiled with his back to Ellie. He was extremely caught off guard a few weeks ago when Joel had repeated one of the jokes Ellie had told him earlier in the day, he didn’t think he knew how to joke like that anymore.

“Did he also mention he fucking hates joy because I can barely get him to crack with it”

“What he wouldn’t laugh?”

“Barely”

“Yeahh that sounds like my brother”

Tommy gesture for Ellie to help him in loading the buck up onto the horse. They struggled getting it off the ground due to its size, but finally got it up and secured it before they both hopped on to the other horse they brought with them. Tommy gave Ellie the reins of the other horse to lead from the seat behind him and they began their trek back into town.

“ Was he always like that? ya know, all ‘ugh im joel, im tough and grumpy and i hate laughter’” Ellie had he arms flexed inward as she lowered her voice to imitate Joel.

“U-Uh he’s kinda been that way since i can remember kid, although Sarah was one to remind me of how ticklish the bastard is”

Tommy didn’t seem to bat an eye at the statement he just uttered, while Ellie sat in shock behind him.

“W-what did you say?” an astonished grin stayed on her face, this was the best yet most unexpected piece of news she could have asked for. If that asshole won’t laugh at her jokes, she’d just have to find other ways to make him laugh.

“Huh? Oh yeah Joel’s terrible, if he wasn’t so goddamn strong i’d torture em’ everyday just to see the old fucker squirm.” Tommy chuckled as memories of him and his older brother during childhood flooded in n out of his memory.

He then turned around to see a plotting expression on Ellie’s face.

“Hey if your thinkin what I think your thinkin, leave me out of it, heaven forbid he found out I told you”

“Hmm fair enough” Ellie replied and seemed to let it go as her and Tommy mostly sat in silence for the rest of the ride back, but despite his warnings, she couldn’t help but imagine his older brother in stitches, and strength be dammed she was eager to make the old man laugh, any way she could.

With a week an a half gone by, Ellie had practically forgotten her whole plans to make Joel laugh. Between hunting trips, chores around the stables, and helping out Maria, there was no real time for her to even think about it. But, it happen to be a rare lazy Sunday for both her and Joel, with neither of the having duties to attend to today. Although in the Miller house, there was no such thing as a “lazy day”, as Joel found himself up underneath the kitchen sink while Ellie, of course, found herself perpetually bothering him.

“So what is it your trying to do?”

Joel sighed, “ For the 4th time kid, the pipe is leakin’ and I can’t figure out why it ain’t workin’ when I fixed this shit 2 weeks ago.” Joel let out a frustrated grunt as he attempted to turn a wrench on the pipe letting out a perpetual drip every few seconds. Although the frustration in his voice was mostly from annoyance from Ellie’s constant pestering.

“I thought contractors were supposed to be good at this kinda stuff.” Ellie stood with her arms crossed, onlooking Joel as he had himself wedged up with most of his upper body underneath the sink and head lamp on to light his view of the pipe.

Joel sighed once again. “This is plumbing, not contractor stuff”

“Oh, so you just suck at plumbing?”

“Would you just—just go find something else to do” Joel didn’t even break eye contact with the pipe, he was just done with Ellie’s constant nagging, especially on what was supposed to be his day off.

Ellie rocked back and forth on her heels.

“Alright, but just remember you asked for this” she rushed over to her backpack that laid on the couch to pull out a beaten up copy of No Pun Intended: Volume Too. She then rapidly flipped the pages as she walked back into the kitchen to join Joel once again.

“Hey Joel, why shouldn’t you trust stairs?”

Joel muttered under his breath “Here we fucking go again”

Ellie didn’t dare wait for a proper response.

“Because their always, up to something!” Ellies over exaggerated response to the joke left her with a huge grin on her face, but she was getting nothing from Joel except grunts from his fight with the kitchen sink, so her attempts must continue.

“Ok ok, you’ll like this one. I used to hate facial hair. But thennnnnn it grew on me!” She once again ended in her iconic cheeky grin, but Joel was already exhausted of her none sense two jokes in.

“Ellie, this is actually worse than torture, just-please go make yourself busy elsewhere” His half joking half absolutely serious tone seemed to discourage Ellie’s spirit a bit, but something clicked in her as he spoke, and that devious plotting expression returned to her face.

Ellie, being the spitfire that she is, took no consideration into what the consequences of her actions would be, but as she inched closer and closer to Joel, the only thoughts in her head was how much fun she was about to have.

“Geez talk about torture Joel, i think you might onto something”

She had finally positioned her self right next to Joel’s body underneath the sink and that’s when she attacked.

“Ellie what the hell are yoUOHC-”

She dove her hands around the thighs of the man wedged up underneath the sink. She could barely get a good grip with his thick work jeans getting in the way, but she managed her best to squeeze right above both of his kneecaps as hard as she could. Joel caught his words and incoming laughter in his mouth and managed to swallow them all, leaving only awkward grunts to escape him. His legs began to twitch, trying to fight off the teen with her hands wrenched around his legs. He began to attempt to scoot out from underneath the sink to properly defend himself when Ellie decide to switch her tactics.

“You lihitle sHiHIHIT DOHONT-”

Panicking after seeing Joel’s initial response, Ellie dove her hands into his sides and she soon began to smile. With his head in close proximity to the pipe, Joel couldn’t risk any aggressive moves escaping from underneath the sink, but luckily for Ellie this also meant he could escape the onslaught of tickles she was dealing him at the moment. Ellie’s smile only grew as she now realized just how ticklish Joel was, watching as his stiffened grunted outbursts began to turn into actual resentful laughter under her touch. He even attempted to push Ellie away with what little strength he had at this point, but Ellie was quite quick, repositioning herself up and around the man to never get caught. From what Tommy had told her, she knew there was no one way she could give Joel a break without him retaliating, so she had her hands digging into the old man at super sonic speed, probably only worsening the experience for Joel himself.

“You motherfucker why don’t you laugh at my jokes like this?”

“Y-YoHoUH ASAHASS”

“That’s nhot an answer Joel!”

Joel could simply not handle the torment from Ellie. Being pinned as well as completely caught off guard caused the man to begin to succumb to the electrified touch of Ellie, each poke and kneed into the man’s sides causing a wheezing laugh that would occasionally break out into genuine giggles when he couldn’t tough it out any longer.

Ellie found herself giggling along side him, she had never seen Joel quiet this joyful, and there was no way in hell she’d ever let him forget this.

Joel in his fight against his sensitivity took a calculated swipe at Ellie, in a panicked response she threw her hands underneath the man’s arms to which his body responded with jerks and jolts as he-

Dung

“Oho shihitttt”

Ellie’s smile slowly faded as put an abrupt stop to her torture and scooted a few feet back on the floor as the man underneath the sink was now completely vertical and rubbing the side of his head with his hand after obliterating it into the pipe he was working on, which unfortunately, was still dripping in a rhythm. They both sat in a tense silence. Ellie unaware how badly she might have hurt Joel, didn’t know how to comfort or even help him at this point.

After what felt like years, Joel began to slowly pull himself up and out from underneath the sink, scoffing or grunting with pain with each heavy movement until finally slumping his upper body up against the lower cabinets. With his hand burying his face, even though Ellie was facing him their was no way to tell just how hurt, or more importantly for Ellie, just how angry he was. The pair sat facing each other on the kitchen floor, continuing their tense silence until Ellie just couldn’t take it any longer.

“Hey, Joel i-i’m real sorry I didn-”

“Could y-you j-just grab some ice” Joel cut her off more gruffly than usual, but he didn’t look up or move his hand.

“Y-yeah of course ” Ellie had a doe-like expression on her face as she scurried to her feet and grabbed a pack of ice from the freezer. She feared she may have pushed too far.

She knelt down next to him and he gestured for her to place it against the right side of his head and she obliged. Ellie watch as Joel went to take it from her hand when all of a sudden, he jerked to grab her wrist instead.

“hEYA-UH!”

Im what seemed like miliseconds, Joel whipped the teen by her wrist around him, grabbing her other arm and whipping himself around in order to place her firmly up against the cabinets where he once sat. He then grabbed her upper biceps as if he was to hold her in place there.

“ WHAt the fuck Joel I thought you were fucking hurt!” Ellie’s genuinely shocked and angry tone was followed by kicking and attempts at squirming away but Tommy was unfortunately right, that asshole is way too strong.

“What the hell do you think your doing-g-gettin’ on me like that?” Joels tone was stern but he seemed to stumble over his words a bit, almost as if he was a bit embarrassed over his vulnerability with Ellie just minutes prior.

Ellie still frustratedly trying to shake Joel’s hands off her to no avail replied.

“Well you’re such a grump how the hell else am I supposed to get you to- i dunno have fucking joy?” After she finished her sentence she slowly brought her struggles to a stop and look up with that memorable cheeky grin.

“You gotta admitttttt it was prehettty fuhunny Johoel ” She sillily shook her shoulders back and forth as she giggled at the recent memories of Joel in stitches underneath the sink.

For some reason, it never registered in Ellie’s silly little brain that Joel would try to get her back somehow. The pair didn’t have much of a history of physical touch in their relationship so Ellie was half expecting a lecture on how just how unsafe what she just did was. After all, other than that one incident in the bunks with Riley, she couldn’t even remember the last time she was tickled.

At this point in time however, Joel’s embarrassment was currently being used for fueling his rage towards the rascal he was holding up against the cabinets, and a disapproving frown began to slip at the edges as Joel developed his own plotting expression. Ellie watched him, still giggling but an inherent sense of panic began flooding her senses, for she knew nothing good could come of this look.

Joel sighed and shook his head.

“Yeahh kid maybe it was, but not nearly as funny as this is about to be.”

Joel let go of his grip on Ellie’s arms to dig his hands into her stomach, to which she responded with a flurry of giggles pouring out of her mouth.

“jOHOHEHEHEL”.

Ellie doubled over as Joel’s hands kneeded at her stomach and sides, there was little strength in her to push the oaf’s hands away and even if their was, Joel had no plans of stopping anytime soon.

“OkOKAHOKAAHAY NOHO ENOUGAHA YOUHU DIHIHICK”

There was constant routine of Sarah ending arguements or fights by leaping onto her father and tickling him until he gave in, it was one of the only things she could hold over his head. Joel obviously let her, he saw how happy it make her to see him loose his mind over her hands squeezing into his ribs. But in the Miller household, revenge is always in order, and just like Sarah giggling absurdly on the couch from Joel’s attacks, Ellie now found herself doing the same on the kitchen floor.

“ IHI CAHAHNAHT” She could barely get the words out in between the laughter as she was curling herself up into a ball on the floor. Joel’s hands were now squeezing at rapid speeds, all the way up to her armpits and all the way down to her hipbones. Ellie’s eyes where glued shut and snickers and snorts began escaping her as all her strength had run out.

“Nohot so funny now kid huh?” Joel’s grin was cheekier than ever, he loved to see Ellie this giggly, this was her childishness at 100%.

“IHIHI DIHE AHAHA JOEHEHAEL”

Ellie was almost wheezing at this point, Joel had began attacking her knees the same way she did him, where she felt each squeeze jolt throughout her-

Creakkkk-Slam

Tommy looked with wide eyes at the pair on the floor as shut the front door behind him. He had brought over beers for Boggle night at the Miller household when he saw the sight of a giggly Ellie still curled up in a ball as well as his brother, who had stopped his torture and was now giving his brother a stern look.

“You got somethin’ to say to me?” Joel asked his brother with a knowing look at Ellie and then back to him. He was also rubbing Ellies back at this point as she continued to sputter out a few stray giggles, but he had a slight inclination that Ellie didn’t just decide to attack him on her own terms.

Tommy gulped as he walked in slowly and placed the drinks on the table. He took a step back, never breaking eye contact with his brother.

“Uhh Nope”

In blur, Tommy bolted out of the kitchen and sprinted up the stairs. Joel red with anger immediately got to his feet and followed close after.

“GET BACK HERE ASSHOLE”

Ellie finally pulled herself up from the floor as she heard a thud, followed by muffled manly giggles from upstairs.

So much for a lazy Sunday.

[davosmymaster]

What Oscar Isaac character would survive in the last of us do you think?

AHHHHHH I LOVE THIS QUESTION THANK YOU SO MUCH NONNIE!!!

For starters, I think Marc and Jake would definitely survive. (It could take a toll on Marc definitely, but I think that at some point he would realize morals are not useful anymore.) By association, Steven would do it too. Jake would be Dark!Joel 2.0

(In fact, @loki-hargreeves and I have been thinking about what if Marc was Joel's son. I mean, Marc is 36 and Joel 56 so it would be completely possible. Sarah would take Randall's place. It would be amazing to see father and son reconcile at some point. Lots of angst. And this is what we imagine Marc Spector (former Marc Miller) to be:

WILLIAM TELL. (The Card Counter)

I wanna believe that he for sure would do survive too. Maybe he would become an actual officer and that's his way of surviving. Maybe he will just hang around the QZ. In any case, he is a very capable man.

KANE. (Annihilation)

KANE FOR SURE. You hear me? like KANE. Especially the Kane at the end of the movie. He is a menace. I love him so much. He would make it 100%

Pre-canon Kane would join the fireflies and risk everything for a cure. I bet my right arm.

Now... Nathan Bateman (Ex-Machina)

Ohhh shittttt. This man has all the money in the world, but he didn't get all that money just by chance. He earned it because he is extremely smart and manipulative. This man would THRIVE in TLOU. He would found his own QZ or some shit. He is a natural leader despite not wanting/loving the idea of people around him. He knows what buttons to push, and he has knowledge that FEDRA wants. He is 100% surviving TLOU even if he is not fighting clickers himself

And the last character to survive is... Poe Dameron

Just because I refuse to believe he would get killed. I feel like he is a bit too enthusiastic and hopeful for TLOU torture so Im not so sure about him. Still, I wanna believe Poe would survive. Certain people would kill me if I didn't mention him here.

Other characters such as Santiago... I don't think he would survive. Maybe it is because I don't like him very much but he is too greedy for TLOU. He would get killed by raiders or FEDRA for sure.

Duke Leto... he is so far from TLOU that I can't even imagine him in the show. I'm sorry🤣🤣

Jonathan would die on outbreak day trying to protect his daughter. He also likes pancakes too much not to have them for breakfast😂😂.

Blue Jones I think he would survive for a while but eventually get killed the same way David got killed because this man is a little too deranged. He would survive if he got good business partners (don't wanna get too dark in this... but I mean... the man "owns" a few beautiful girls... David vibes in here).

I think that's all. Thank you so much for this. Had wayyy too much fun!!!

Love you

💕

[oodlyenough]

tlou ep 4

I enjoyed this ep as a bit of a breather ep? It felt very much like a "part one" to next week's "part two", but that's not a bad thing... I was thinking that to me it feels like the show is in a pattern of heavy hitter / bridge ep / heavy hitter / bridge ep, but then I realized a lot of people would probably disagree with me considering Tess' last ep a "bridge" while Bill/Frank the heavy hitter. Lol.

But I do think it was wise to give us an episode around now where we mostly spend time with Joel and Ellie and watch their relationship develop. I do find Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey really fun together and I enjoy watching them bounce off each other.

Other thoughts:

Reserving judgment on the Kathleen story until we see how it plays out in part 2. I am hesitant about the show giving her a seemingly legitimate reason to hate Henry, when in the game he and Sam are very much just innocent people, arguably more innocent than Joel lol. This franchise has a questionable-at-best approach to Black characters in general, so...

However Kathleen is clearly unreasonable (killing the doctor out of personal spite is a TERRIBLE leadership decision, as is ignoring the probably-Bloater in favour of her own petty personal revenge.) So we may come to find out that her version of events is twisted, and at minimum we're obviously meant to see her pursuit of revenge against Henry is absurd

Which of course makes me wonder how much Kathleen's storyline will end up setting up future seasons of the show.... it's all TBD

I saw someone say Melanie Lynskey isn't threatening enough but I disagree, I think her particular brand of unhinged leader could be very interesting and purposeful. Remains to be seen though

It's weird to hear Tommy's voice from not-Tommy. Especially when Gabriel Luna already sounds so much like Tommy! lol

Speaking of Tommy, fandom was right that Tommy is the vet. That makes more sense than Joel and suits the character (a "joiner" etc in addition to being a ludicrous sniper), so happy with that.

The pun book!!!! I was so hoping they'd include Ellie's puns. I think the only game easter egg I'm desperately awaiting now is someone to throw a brick or bottle lol. Don't fail me HBO

I'm very glad they included Joel and Tess and Tommy's raider background, even if I do think the weight of it pales in comparison a little to all the on-screen do-gooding we've seen from Joel and Tess thusfar. At least the show isn't trying to wipe it out... maybe it will be explored more in the future? tbd

I preferred his initial anger and later apology re: the gun in the game to what we got in the show. I don't mind him apologizing, I just wish he'd been unreasonable to start with, lol. I do think they're definitely making show Joel all-around more likable. Which... is a choice... on one hand, I don't like game Joel all that much, lmao, so at least I like show Joel more. On the other hand, it makes me wonder where they're taking it in the future.

Bryan the raider guy pleading for his life is more effective on TV than in the games where I don't think twice about finishing them off because, well, video game violence. And if you ignore them they start attacking again lmao. For a moment I thought we'd learn he was Melanie Lynskey's son...

Love True Faith but it felt a bit wasted in the credits of this ep, didn't feel like it connected to anything in particular.

[germposting]

RE: TLOU discourse revival. 1) OH MOOD and 2) u forgot the TLOU 2 haters coming out of the woodwork to spam unhinged gif ridden rants all over again (I've blocked at least three who are posting at an hourly rate)

i mentioned that the tlou2 discourse around abby is going to be a doozy in the tags lol :p the hboverse stans are going to be soooo annoying about it once they reach that point. especially since hboverse is confirmed to be splitting tlou2 plot over a couple seasons, which means we’re gonna get more joel content aka kindling for the fire once he dies lmfao…. i stopped watching tlou hbo after the episode in jackson tho. when they copied the exact dialogue and blocking between ellie and joel during the confrontation in the game -> the show, i packed up. i was like “oh okay, so this is the exact same down to the movements? why am i watching this? i already saw this before ten years ago.” tbh i dont think the show handled the line between a new adaption and the old content all that well, bc they didnt add in any new variables to the mix so it felt like watching the same story with different actors too often. i wanted some better changes!! like the bill and frank episode and the henry and sam deep dive!! but everything felt the same, with the minor changes being ??? questionable as to what their purpose was. why make tess get beat up and defer to joel so much when in the game she was the one running things? why have that zombie kiss her? why have ellie kill riley? idk! i was just disappointed with the show and the new fans are really annoying lol not to be gatekeep-y but i really wish this hadnt hit mainstream audiences :/ atleast when it was just a popular game, the gamerboys were the only ones being annoying, and they were really easy to tune out! but now its like the gamerboys got turned up tenfold and theyre just repeating the same talking points that we’ve already been forced to listen to since 2013 yk? i dont care if you hate abby! i dont care that you think joel was right! i dont care if you think the WLF group were bad people but that somehow you still think ellie is a good person! stop yelling at me ive heard all of this before! they are talking about it as if these are new revelations theyre having, and i guess for them it is, but for us its like… okay go on youtube and find a video essay about tlou2 from 2020 and i promise you everything you think has already been said in that essay and it was worded better than your pov hot take tiktok is. lol.

[thewalkingdead-imagines]

My Take on TLOU 2

Warning: Major spoilers for tlou part 1 and 2 below!

Before I start: None of my criticism is meant as hate against anyone who loved the game. This is just my personal opinion, if you liked it or feel differently than me, that’s completely fine, to each their own!  Also, this is solely about the plot, not the gameplay, the scenery, the graphics etc. because those were unarguably breathtaking and incredibly well done. Either way, here we go:

• Starting off with the elephant in the room: I absolutely hated that they killed Joel. I hated this so so much. 

1. The fact that they killed him at all Killing off a main Character is rarely the right call and it most definitely wasn't the right one for tlou in my opinion. Joel and Ellie’s father-daughter relationship and its growth was what made the first game so special and by killing Joel, they killed a whole lot of the game’s essence already. Plus, and this is a personal thing, I (and I am 100% sure lots of others) loved Joel as character, which makes killing him off even worse. ...which lets me come to my second point

2. How they killed him First, the fact that they did it so very early on in the game. I spoiled myself on accident and knew he was going to die way before I even started the initial game but I can say that I was entirely shocked that it happened at the start. I thought it might be done towards the middle, which would have at least given us some time with him and a possibility to say “goodbye” in a way but instead you get very few moments with him at the start and then his death. That’s it. That alone is a punch in the face for anyone who loved this character and the first game. Then, they make him save Abby only for her to lead them into an ambush. I was also very confused that they made Joel follow her without questioning it, sure this one is debatable, but after years and years of being a hardened survivor, do you really think he would just trust a random stranger? He grew softer, sure, and he also grew to trust people more, but not enough to just follow a random stranger who said they had a whole ass group without questioning it at least for a moment. He didn’t even seem to be just slightly wary and to be honest, that just seemed unnatural to me.  The brutality of his death is another punch in the face. Abby tortured him, for god knows how long. She first shot his kneecap off and then tortured him until he laid paralyzed on the ground, blood overflown and barely conscious. They did that to a character the whole first game lead you to love. Then they make Ellie come in to watch Abby give him the rest with a fucking golf curb while she pleads for his life. Sorry but what the fuck? We’ve seen Joel survive so fucking much, he’s survived being impaled by an iron rod for fuck’s sake and took out whatever people threw at him and he dies like that? Without even giving him the possibility to fight back? There’s so much going on in my head when I think about that moment that I honestly can’t even put all of this into words.

• I get that this all was done to set up the remaining plot and honestly, that was the next problem in my eyes. This whole story revolved around a revenge plot and how much you have to stop this circle of revenge. To me, that’s more of a predicable and overused plot but that might be a personal thing. My problem is even more that they made the whole story about this and that it felt like a severely forced teaching moment / moral of the story type of thing that lasted for 25(?) hours. I’m not against teaching moments per se, that’s not the thing, and I wanna be clear about that but I hate it when its a. forced b. way too obvious and feels unnatural, and to me that was the case in the second part.

• Now about 1/3 through the game, I didn’t want to completely give up on it yet. I thought/hoped there might be a chance for me to even somehow like it in the end. So I wanted to  stay open and for a little I could still see that there was a bit of the essence of the first game left. I loved the cut scenes of Joel and Ellie so so much. I can’t emphasize how much I adore them. They did a great job with them, really. The scenes at the museum are pure perfection and they honestly made me despise the fact that they decided to kill him even more. I will never get over Ellie putting the hats on the dinosaurs and Joel, and I will surely not get over his gift to her. This guy went out and searched his ass off to find her a cassette with the first moon-landing, just to be sure that he has the perfect gift for her. This is beyond adorable. I’ve rewatched these scenes so often already and they honestly get me emotional each time. These scenes felt like the first game again, they gave you that cozy, warm feeling when you got to watch their relationship grow. I also loved the guitar shop (or their way towards it) cut scene, it kind of conveyed what I would’ve wished for for the entire game. A good bunch of action and horror when they have to make their way through but it still has the essence of their relationship and their story when they discuss the teenager’s deaths.

• In short, I really really wanted to see more of these cut scenes and kept on hoping for more until they switched everything up and a cut scene for Abby started. 

• I already expected them to try and make Abby look better or made the thing she did to Joel kind of “understandable”, especially because I’ve seen that there were people who really started to love her character. So I kind of expected something big to happen. To me, it didn’t. So her father was the surgeon that Joel killed. Sure she hated Joel (fair enough, he killed her parent) but is that enough for me to understand, excuse etc. what she did in Jackson? Fuck no and that has several reasons. → Joel didn’t kill (nor fucking tortured!!) her father because of something small, like a few supplies etc. he killed him because he literally was about to kill his adopted daughter for a vaccine that might have not even worked out. He killed him to protect someone. Also:  → Her father moreover visibly seemed to doubt that he would do this procedure if Abby was the immune girl, which is pretty much hypocritical bullshit. → Abby’s father didn’t give a shit about Ellie too, he could have let her wake up and make a conscious decision whether she wanted to do this, he didn’t. He just approved of killing her → He threatened Joel with a surgical knife  → He would have stayed alive if he would have let Joel just go with Ellie / refrained from killing her  So this honestly didn’t make me feel for her, this only made my rage for her grow. She had to know that Joel killed her father (and prevented the vaccine) because he didn’t want this little girl to die for something that might have not even worked. Then, he saves her ass from a sure death and she still decides to torture him to death? There was not one moment of doubt in Abby, not one and what makes it worse is that she doesn’t show any remorse about what she did at any time during the game

• I really hoped that they would stop after this but they really made you play all 3 days as Abby, the same time as Ellie. They really force you to play as character who has killed and brought so much pain over the characters you grew to love (probably as an attempt to force you to like her after seeing her side). So instead of using these hours to give you time to play with these beloved characters, they give it to her. Sorry but that’s bullshit. 

• Besides this, it also absolutely threw off the pace of the plot. You just wanted to know what happens to Ellie now that Abby on top of it all also killed Jesse (!!!) and instead you get thrown back to square one. • I’m not interested in her weird love triangle with Owen and Mel, I don’t care how she got from Salt lake city to Seattle and I don’t care about her work out program. All these plots just frustrated me more tbh.

• Now, I wanna add that I tried to ask myself if I would’ve liked her if she hadn’t killed Joel and honestly, I’m 100% sure I wouldn’t. I just really don’t like her personality. All this time she just seemed bitter and boring, moreover she repeatedly said that she helped those others for herself and to top it off, she also fucked a guy with a pregnant girlfriend (fuck Owen too btw). So again, how do you expect me to like her?

• I did like Lev and Yara. Honestly, if naughtydog wanted to do something so very new, they could’ve just made a whole story about Lev’s struggles within this post apocalyptic community. That would have at least been interesting and wouldn’t have fucked your favorite characters over, just saying.

• Now flash-forward to the scene back at the theater. Abby’s just killed Jesse, she’s got Tommy hurt on the floor and then you’re forced to play as her and hurt Ellie? Fuck that  (Also, the way they had Ellie walk around in that scene? C’mon that’s not how she’d walk around a room while she’s searching for her enemy)

• This thing kind of leads to one thing that wraps up a lot of the end well, Ellie was panicked and broke down when she realized that Mel was pregnant, Abby said “good” when Ellie plead for Dina’s life and said that she was pregnant. I’m not saying that there’s a general difference between Ellie killing people and Abby killing people, it’s obviously shit either way but there’s a clear difference in how they handle it. Ellie is clearly distraught while Abby stays cold, and after everything (also everything else I’ve mentioned) they still wanna make you sympathize with Abby and be angry with Ellie for doing all this. A lot of the game is set up to this (at least that’s what i felt like). Just one example: Abby plays fetch with dog, Ellie is forced to kill dog (also, weird how you’re just forced to kill dogs when you play as Ellie and not Abby, huh?)

• While naughtydog tried to make YOU (as well as Ellie, honestly) see all the different points of views they make Abby entirely ignorant to it, without any remorse and still try to make you have sympathy for her. She does not try to be insightful regarding what she’s done to Joel and see Ellie/Joel’s side just once. She actually mentions that Joel deserved much worse and suggests she did everything right in Jackson. This ignorance and complete lack of remorse...I think this is one of by biggest problems with this plot. Also, that very last attempt to make you feel for Abby when she’s lost her bulk and stand at those pillars? Really? Kinda cheap 

• Again, I get where they wanted to go with the story. I get that they wanted to show that you lose everything when you just seek for revenge and that the circle needs to be broken, but it was so one-sided in the end. Both, Abby and Ellie lost a lot, but Ellie loses absolutely everyone and Abby still has Lev. Ellie loses even two fingers, which doesn’t even allow her to play guitar, which is another fucking punch in the face. It was more about letting Ellie face the consequences instead of Abby and to me, that’s just the wrong call to make after the entire first game lead you to love her and Joel. So, it felt dissatisfying to let Abby go in the end. I get why they did that but it felt like this whole journey was for absolutely nothing. Especially after they ripped her from a life with Dina and JJ to go back to hunting Abby down. She lost everything and didn’t even get to end it. 

• Generally, what this game did...I don’t think that this is something you do with beloved characters. You just don’t do them completely dirty and they did so with Ellie and Joel. People loved this game majorly because of Joel and Ellie’s story and relationship and were excited to see more of it in the next part and they screwed those people, their viewers and players, completely over. You don’t have to be a complete viewer pleaser, don’t get me wrong, but you also don’t need to completely shit all over them. After all, these are the people who buy and support your game, it’s just not fair to them.

• This might be a personal thing but I’ve seen so many creators ruin good stories just because they wanted to do something super creative, edgy and entirely new with it. 99% of the time that goes horribly wrong. Don’t get me wrong, you have to do new things to keep it fresh but at the same time you cannot lose what made a story special in the first place. You have to make sure to keep the essence of the story alive and at the same time do something new with it. Unfortunately, i feel like the creators of this game didn’t even want to keep this essence alive, they just wanted to do something entirely new and they belong to the 99% who managed to ruin it.

• You know what I would have loved as plot for the second game? If they would have let Ellie explore that her life can mean something and matter even without a vaccine. The first game even perfectly set the second one up for this. Resolving Joel and Ellie’s conflict + making Ellie realize that she’s more than just her immunity + a new adventure...that would have perfectly continued the story. It would have kept the essence of the game going and mixed it with something new. Now, they pretty much ignored how Ellie felt about this part (except for two cut scenes and a tiny bit here and there) which was pretty much her main issue since she got bit. The last cut scene with Joel and her outside...it just made we wish so much that they got the chance to properly talk everything out. And by now, I kinda just pretend that everything after this night didn’t happen.

• So honestly, I’m just very disappointed and upset. It felt like they were mostly just trying to prove that they had the balls to pull a plot like this off, to show that they had the balls to kill a beloved main character and have you play with their killer.  Sure, that might be ballsy and bold, but to me, that’s not what good story telling is about. Good story telling is not a game of “my dick is bigger than yours”. But maybe that’s just my opinion.

And there’s one more thing: Happy endings aren’t always bad, lazy and unrealistic And depressing endings aren’t automatically creative, deep and good I feel like that’s something a lot of creators don’t realize

[darlingsdevil]

Of The Valley (Joel x F!Reader)

Chapter 1: Autumn Days

Summary: Life in Jackson is never easy. Consoling angsty teenagers, wading through the mysterious waters of Joel’s romance language and with a child of your own on the way? Life is about to get a lot harder.

Of The Valley Masterlist

RDR2 Masterlist

Taglist (comment to be added or removed): @fangirl-inthe-us @sidepuff

A/N: This fic will follow pre revenge plot TLOU 2. It will follow the flashbacks and such, up until the day after the dance, then it will sprout out differently. I don’t recommend reading this until you have finished the game.

Welcome to my Fanfixtion. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here!

•••

The sun rose slowly above the eastern mountains, streams of sunlight pouring into the old windows. The bustling of mid morning Jackson was loud outside, even louder in the crowded restaurant. You kept up with the never ending pile of orders though.

You waded through the chattering crowd, holding dirty plates close to you, you placed them on the back counter and returned to your post by the front of the bar.

“Maria,” You called out cheerfully as the older woman sat down at the bar. She responded with a smile.

“I’ll take an order of scrambled eggs and bacon. Side of toast will do just fine too.”

“Bacons in high demand right now. I can only give you a few pieces,” You replied, writing down the order on a piece of paper.

“As long as it’s bacon, I don’t care if I get one piece or five.”

“Anything to drink with that?”

“Nope. Unless by any chance you’ve got coffee, then I’ll have to buy a cup for me and for Joel.”

“No coffee yet. The trader’s from the south aren’t due for a couple more months, I thought? I’ll be first in line to get those beans when they do come through though,” You said, backing away from the bar to place the receipt on the far counter.

“You might have to fight Joel for that spot, you know,” Maria chuckled.

“On second thought, I’ll be second in line, I do know he loves his coffee. Almost as much as you love bacon.”

“That’s probably true,” Maria responded with a shrug.

You went back to taking orders and bringing out food to customers, chatting with your friends here and there. When Maria’s order came out, you brought it over to her quickly. Breakfast sounded amazing right now, you would definitely order some food once your shift ended. At least the crowd had died down, only a few stragglers were left in the restaurant.

“Here you are. Scrambled eggs and bacon. With some toast,” You said, placing the two plates in front of her.

“Thank you.” Maria grabbed a fork and dug in. There were no more orders coming out from the back, so you took this time to rest. You grabbed a rag and began wiping down the bar. Maria glanced over at you briefly, like she was looking to say something.

“Penny for your thoughts, Maria?”

Maria sighed and set down her fork.

“I need a favor.”

“What type of favor?” You tried your hardest not to sound suspicious. When Maria needed a favor from you, it usually wasn’t good.

“It’s a small one. Nothing too bad,” She said slowly.

“Okay,” You blinked, setting down your rag.

“I need you to go on patrol today.”

“Nope,” You said dismissively.

“Come on, do it for me? You’re our best shooter next to Tommy. There’s a large group of infected near the north that can easily be picked off by two snipers. Tommy’s already up there waiting.”

“I told you I’m not going on anymore patrols.”

“I know, but please, I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”

“I’m not going, Maria. I can’t go.” You shook your head.

“Look, I know why you don’t want to go out, I do, but I really need you to. No one else can do the job as well as you.” It was true. You were Jackson’s best shot next to Tommy. You owed Maria more than a couple favors, it seemed she was cashing in now.

“I’m not going there alone.. I can’t go alone,” You repeated.

“You won’t be alone. I’m having Jesse escort you there. We need you,” Maria negotiated.

“You’re having a kid escort me?”

“Look, Jesse’s more than capable. Just because he’s 17 doesn’t mean he can’t take you up there,” Maria said.

“Will Jesse stay?”

“No. He’s going to meet up with Eugene after to finish patrolling a route,” Maria told you, finally picking up her fork. The second waitress arrived which meant you were off for the rest of the day. It pulled you away from your thoughts. You had been working since three in the morning, helping the restaurant get ready since they opened at four. It was seven now.

“I need someone to stay with me other than Tommy. Someone, someone I trust well,” You replied, your head swimming in what ifs.

Maria sighed, staring down at her food.

“I can ask Joel if he could. He won’t be happy, it’s his first day off in awhile. But just this once I will, okay?” Maria asked you. You breathed out a sigh of relief. You couldn’t say no to Maria. You owed her too much. Even if you tried your hardest to get out of it, it would never work. At least you would be going with someone you trusted. Of course.. you hadn’t seen or talked to Joel in awhile though. Hopefully things wouldn’t be too awkward.

“I haven’t been out in a long time, you know, I probably won’t be the best shot,” You told Maria.

“You’re going on the damn patrol,” Maria glared at you with humor. It was worth a shot.

•••

Joel met up with you an hour later near the stables. He didn’t look happy. Your stomach was doing somersaults thinking about going back out there. You weren’t just nervous, you were terrified.

“I’m sorry I made you come out here to escort me. It’s a stupid job, I know,” You said to him while you were retrieving the horses. You surrendered your horse back to the stables after you left the patrol job, you would rather have someone else take her out then have her stuck in the stables for eternity. Luckily though, she was in for the day.

“Yeah,” Joel grumbled. It stung a little, but you would be angry too having to go out on an escort when it was your first day off in awhile.

You looked down at your feet, the wet mud covering your worn leather boots. “I’m sorry. I am. I didn’t want to do this either.” You said, sounding defeated.

Joel didn’t respond, instead he went off to retrieve his own horse. The stable worker brought you Levia, her dark coat shimmering in the morning sun.

“It’s been awhile since she’s seen you. How long has it been, three or four months?” The stable worker asked, handing you the reins.

You shrugged. “Three months,” You laughed nervously. The worker didn’t know anything of course, no one did.

“Been that long, huh? I think Levia missed you,” The worker said, patting Levia’s side.

“I missed her too.” You gently pulled on the reins and muttered a thanks to the worker. You took Levia outside to the chilly, late autumn air. While you waited for Joel, you gently petted Levia, she neighed softly, you could tell she missed you. You missed her too. You wondered if her new owner was treating her as well. Levia was spoiled with you.

Joel came out of the stables with his own horse, Caesar. Caesar was a stallion with a dark brown coat with white markings near the top of his head. Levia’s coat was completely black.

“I missed you, girl,” You muttered to the horse. Joel led Caesar towards you.

“You ready to go?” He asked.

“I need to log out a couple guns from the armory first. Been a while since I’ve been around here, they change anything for procedures?” You asked, heading towards the armory. Levia and Caesar’s hooves clicked behind you against the mud. Joel walked beside you, standing further away from you then he usually did.

“Not that I know of. It’s not changed since you’ve been out.” Jackson was always changing procedures for how to check things out, especially near the gates.

“That’s good. They might not even recognize me up here,” You joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Joel just shook his head. “Don’t think they would have forgotten you, it’s only been three months.”

“I’m not coming back after this, they probably will,” You said, walking up to the table set up for guns.

Joel began to say something, but you cut him off by talking to the man at the table.

“Two rifles please. One with a scope,” You asked.

��Sure thing,” The man responded, getting up to fetch the two guns.

“You’re not coming back?” Joel questioned behind you. You could practically feel the confusion from him.

“No, I’m not coming back. Already been reassigned to the bar. You haven’t been there in awhile, have you?” You said quickly, trying your best to sound nonchalant.

Joel dismissed your question, “Maria told me you were just taking a break?”

“I never said I was taking a break. I’m done with patrolling, Joel.” You turned to face him. Joel looked angry, lied to. You never lied, you simply avoided him for three months.

“You know you could have told me that instead of avoiding me for three months pretending like you were coming back?” Joel glared at you.

“When the hell did I say I was coming back?” You hurled right back, crossing your arms in a defiant stance. This was not how you wanted your morning to go.

“Excuse me, miss, here are the guns,” The man cleared his throat behind you. You swiveled around and took the guns from his hands.

“Thank you. Put our names down for -” You began but were quickly cut off.

“Already done. You guys be safe out there, okay?” The man nodded to you.

“Sure thing. Thanks for the guns.” You hadn’t been forgotten it seemed, at least not yet.

Not wanting to cause any more of a scene, you left quickly, heading towards the gate. You felt bad thinking you had been leading Joel on by letting him think that you were coming back, but truth be told, you never said anything to him. It all got back to him through rumors, rumors ran rampant in Jackson, always had and always will. Which is why you kept your secrets under closed lips, the only one who knew of most of them being Maria.

The gates were opened for you and Joel, and as you stepped out of Jackson a wave of nausea immediately hit, a deep sinking feeling like you weren’t meant to be out there. You took a deep breath, hoping to calm your racing nerves. It was hard to, especially with Joel breathing down your neck. Luckily, he didn’t notice, and if he did, he didn’t say anything.

You pulled yourself up onto Levia’s saddle. It felt foreign to be back on a horse. You gently squeezed her side with your feet to tell her it was time to go. Levia was a well trained horse, and immediately started into a slow gallop. Caesar and Joel following behind you.

Levia followed where you lead here, through the dirt paths for a couple minutes until Joel finally spoke.

“You know where you’re going?” Joel’s voice was condescending.

“Yeah. Been there a couple times. It’s common for infected to be in that area this time of year. It’s a sniper's nest. Shouldn’t be too far from here actually. Thirty minute ride at very least,” You responded. It wasn’t worth your time to quip back at him.

“You sure you know where it is?” Joel questioned.

“Course I do,” You snapped back. Looks like it was worth your time.

“Been awhile since you’ve been out here, that’s all.”

“Just because I haven’t been outside the walls in awhile doesn’t mean I have forgotten where to go, Joel,” You scoffed, rolling your eyes. You were beginning to regret asking Maria to assign Joel to escort you to the nest. And if things went south for you, you weren’t sure Joel would back you up, with the way he was acting towards you, you could tell he was pissed.

It was silent for a few moments. Joel taking in what you said earlier about not returning to patrols.

“Why aren’t you returning?” He asked, his tone much lighter this time.

You bit your tongue, “Patrol work just wasn’t fit for me anymore,” You replied plainly.

“You are our best shot.”

“Look Joel, I just didn’t want to be on patrol anymore, simple as that.” You shut his question down. Of course he would have questions. Everyone did.

Joel didn’t believe it for a second, he knew something was up.

“Haven’t seen Mark in a while either. Where is he? Taking a break too?” Joel questioned. You prayed he would stop bothering you.

“Mark? He’s around. Got taken off patrol too,” You said quickly. You held on tightly to Levia’s saddle in hopes to calm your nerves.

“Maybe I should pay him a visit, been awhile since I’ve seen him.”

“He won’t answer. He’s sick right now,” You lied straight through your teeth.

“Sick. Yep. What does he have?”

“Will you stop bothering me, please?” You barked out, letting anger seep through your clenched teeth. You took a glance behind you at Joel. He looked annoyed, if looks could kill, you would already be dead.

“Sure thing, boss,” Joel told you. You rolled your eyes. This was going to be a long trip.

•••

[kaptainandy]

My Complete In-depth TLOU 2 Thoughts:

Yeah I know, y’all have already read through countless reviews and thoughts, but I gotta get my thoughts out there. So, continue under the cut for some somewhat coherent, essay-ish style ramblings. There will be a TL;DR at the end because this is going to be long. (Spoilers ahead).

Okay so my overall perception of this game is that it’s average and I’m slightly disappointed. I’m going to start with the things I really liked and enjoyed before I get into what I didn’t like.

The visuals and gameplay were solid and enjoyable with small improvements upon the first game’s already fun and interesting, gameplay. The NPCs felt less like they were following a track in terms of their movements and felt more natural. The dialogue between enemies felt more varied than the first game, and the addition of giving everyone a name made me feel more immersed and the reaction from other characters to their fallen friends felt more believable. I feel that overall, the development of gameplay from the first to the second game felt “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” and I think it worked out because it’s one of the aspects I liked about the first game. The addition of craftable silencers, varied stealth takedowns, ability to go prone, tall grass to hide in, cars to hide under, larger infected (bloaters and shamblers) now being able to destroy weak walls, etc. were fun editions that helped the combat feel less repetitive. And lastly, the areas of combat that included both human enemies and infected, (and later WLF soldiers vs Seraphite soldiers)  was really cool and felt more realistic for the world of the Last of Us. It was something I think the first game lacked and it was really interesting to choose who to take down first and let the enemies fight each other.

The level design was also great. I felt it gave the player a lot of options of how they wanted to traverse the area to takedown enemies and look for supplies. Everything felt huge and worth exploring. The player was rewarded appropriately for checking every nook and cranny, and the addition of going prone to fit under small spaces or breaking glass to get into locked buildings was a lot of fun. The first day in Seattle as Ellie was especially enjoyable as you got to explore the city and mark things on your map while engaging in dialogue with Dina. Every building held something new and acted as an opportunity for Dina and Ellie to banter.

The art direction was incredible and I don’t think I’ve seen a more stunning looking game. It felt like a lot of time and care went into the design of each item and every corner of every environment. My favorite environments were definitely the homesteads of the major characters/factions (Jackson, the stadium transformed into a village by the WLF, the Seraphite island, etc.) because it told the player more about what everyday life is like for these characters and how they’re similar and different. Also, the weather, time of day, lighting, and use of space (or lack there of) added tension and changed the tone in scenes and levels appropriately. I felt engaged in each moment. I think the best use of visuals and atmosphere to set tone and really immerse the player was in the lower level of the hospital during the Abby playthrough. It was claustrophobic, damp, dark, ominous, and it always felt like danger and despair were right around the corner. And the massive clicker cluster fight in the small hospital corner was one of my favorite parts in the entire game. What would have felt like a silly and dumb concept if encountered elsewhere, was actually legitimately terrifying and really cool due to the tone set from the scene. Seeing the effects of a ground zero site for infection 25 years later was really cool to see.

The music? A masterpiece. We have to stan Gustavo Santaolalla. What more can I say? He did a great job. If nothing else, give the soundtrack a listen.

The acting was incredible, as to be expected. The emotional moments were really sold and carried by the actors and the music together. Ashley Johnson, Troy Baker, Shannon Woodward, and Laura Bailey I expected to be phenomenal and they were, but I’d like to give a shoutout to the newcomers and more minor actors as well. I felt no one had a bad performance, or even an average one. Every performance felt genuine and made me more connected to the characters.

As for new characters, I felt Yara and Lev were the ones I felt the most for and were the best written. The inclusion of Lev being trans was really cool to see as a trans person, and I felt it was executed well within the story. Lev being exiled from the Seraphites for questioning their ways and attempting to transition while Yara fought to remain by his side and protect him, made them both interesting and likable characters. They had depth to their characters. Despite coming from an environment that seemed ruthless and unforgiving they both acted as voice of reasons and wanted to help others, which was their strength and their weakness in the end, adding to their complexity.

The story had it’s moments. I found myself being impacted more during light and happy moments more so than the traumatic and sad ones. I felt a lot of time was put into showing the love and care between Ellie and Dina, and I found myself smiling like a goober when they were being goofy or together or cuddling. This also ties into the LGBTQ representation, which I personally thought was well done as I briefly touched on with Lev. I understand and respect those who felt there was too much trauma forced upon the LGBTQ characters, and I agree with that when it comes to Ellie because the whole game was essentially torturing her. I’ll at least give Naughty Dog credit for avoiding the “bury your gays” trope when they very easily could’ve done that given the constant death in the world of the Last of Us. Treatment aside, as a gay trans man, the overall presentation of these characters I felt was realistic, respectful, and gave me hope for future LGBTQ representation in triple A titles. I know this is literally doing the bare minimum but we gotta start somewhere.

Now, as for things I disliked about the game, there was a lot and I felt the weight of things I disliked outweighed those that I like since the overall experience depended on them more heavily.

I’ll start with the small things that irked me, that could be somewhat excused and are more a personal preference. For starters, I felt the game was too long. After awhile it got repetitive and having nearly the entire game take place in one city (as opposed to the first game that took place across the country), the scenery got old pretty quickly. I feel like a lot of the traveling could have been cut. For example, instead of showing a cut scene where characters say “we have to get to x” and having to basically travel the entire way, it would’ve worked better had it cut to them being at or close to their destination, thus cutting back on repetitive combat. It didn’t feel super rewarding and it only sometimes resulted in something added to the story. In the end, I felt it should be exempt for a similar reason you don’t need to show a character’s entire traveling in a movie, it’s just unnecessary.

Another minor detail that bothered me was the shamblers. Not as a concept, because I thought they were really fun new enemies and added something to combat, but the fact that they felt thrown in with no explanation. Where did they come from? Are they only in the northeast of the US? What caused them? It’s mentioned briefly by one character (I forget who) that it could be a result of excessive rain, but it was just a guess and not further elaborated on.

The fact that events and characters of the first game that were influential to Ellie and Joel’s character seemed to be inappropriately forgotten about. I understand the game is meant to be enjoyed by people who haven’t played the first game as well as fans of the first one, but it could still be done in a way to cater to both audiences. It would also help people who didn’t play the first one learn and connect more to Ellie and Joel. Why was there no Riley-related dialogue for Ellie upon seeing “The Turning” arcade machine? Hell, Riley was never mentioned at all. Same with Tess. Bill was briefly mentioned, but not by name. Ellie’s mom still remained a mystery, and I don’t recall her being mentioned. Henry and Sam? Also never mentioned. Upon seeing Sam’s robot toy in Ellie’s room (which I thought was a nice touch) I would’ve thought he might’ve been brought up in discussion with Dina about past friends. I get that it could be implied Ellie has discussed her past with Dina and others before the events of the game took place, but you have an audience to think about. Essentially you have to think that if the audience didn’t see it or hear about it, it didn’t happen. I feel the omission of past characters and events was a disservice to the first game and was really disappointing.

This relates to something else I disliked: It felt like too much time was spent on characters solo traveling and being in combat and not enough on story and relationship building. I felt the time spent traveling alone as Ellie or Abby was far greater than traveling with a companion. The dialogue and interactions between Ellie and Joel in the first game was crucial to the story and relationship, and when the characters were apart, it made the player that more eager for them to be reunited. They were only ever apart when one was missing/injured or they were unintentionally separated and it made sense to the story. In terms of missed opportunity, I especially thought Jesse’s character was mishandled and wasted. Just as the player was really beginning to know his past and connect with him, he dies a seemingly (in my opinion) stupid death. Not only that, but there’s almost no mention of him or his death after it happens, and Ellie and Dina seem relatively unaffected. I felt like Dina’s character also could’ve been fleshed out better. She was one of my favorite characters, but the things we knew about her didn’t seem to impact the story or her character that much, especially the loss she’s suffered. Her thoughts about her sister’s death and Jesse’s death are barely touched on, and I just felt like I was left wanting more.

Jesse and Dina could’ve definitely been handled better, but at least I cared about them. I didn’t have those feelings towards anyone in Abby’s story (except Yara and Lev). This relates to the bigger problem with the timeline of events and the and the order they were shown in the game, but I’ll touch on this in a bit. Before beginning to know these characters, the only thing you know is that they were involved in killing Joel, and happy about doing so. Now the challenge was to get the player to like them, which the writers failed abysmally. I couldn’t even remember half of their names when they were brought back up. The most influential of Abby’s friends, aside from Owen, seems to be Manny and the only things we get to know about him is that he’s horny, likes to get drunk, and - much like the writers - tries to force other characters to like each other (i.e. Mel and Abby). He only exists to establish Mel and Abby’s relationship and to save and help Abby when they encounter Tommy trying to snipe them. Mel and Abby (who I will touch on extensively in her own paragraph because yikes) both seemed like miserable people to be around and their relationship seemed catty and to simply revolve around Owen. I’m kinda sick of having women characters’ relationships revolve around the fact that one of them used to date the guy that the other is now currently dating. It’s stupid and I couldn’t give less of a fuck if that’s the biggest roadblock in their relationship. Also Mel calling Abby a piece of shit seemed unwarranted based on what we knew. Like we knew Mel was against the brutality of Joel’s death, but the way she spoke to and of Abby seemed like there was something else that the writers forgot to tell/show the audience. Abby never did anything personal to Mel (that Mel knew of) yet Mel decides to hate her guts and be unreasonable? Nora was kind of okay and seemed like an actual decent person (aside from wanting Joel dead and them making that shitty comment to Ellie) in her relationship with Abby. She was willing to risk getting in trouble to help Abby, but we weren’t given enough time with her to make me give a shit, especially after what she said to Ellie. Owen had potential to be likable; he was charming, funny, a bit of a fuckboy, but nonetheless was optimistic and hopeful. But for some reason the writers decided to throw out any ounce of care we had for him by having him cheat on Mel with Abby in a shitty sex scene. 

Now for my thoughts on Abby. My thoughts about her also relate to my thoughts on the order of events, and a few other aspects I haven’t mentioned yet, so forgive me if my thoughts are a bit all over the place. I really really tried to sympathize and like Abby, but holy shit they fucked up every possible opportunity to create some sort of likability. For starters, it boggles my mind that they had her commit the atrocity that was Joel’s death as basically the introduction to her character. Not only that, but just mere minutes beforehand Joel had saved her life and shown her nothing but kindness and she goes on to torture him and continue to do so while his surrogate daughter begs and screams for her to stop. She shows no guilt both in the moment or afterwards. It doesn’t eat her up inside at all. Every time Joel is brought up by Abby and her friends, she wastes no time expressing how elated she is that she not only killed him, but did so in such a gruesome way. You really expect fans to even WANT to like this character after she tortures and kills the only other character (besides Ellie) that fans LOVED. And I’m not upset that Joel died, because I expected he would and there were a million ways it could’ve been done appropriately to both the story and fans. But the way he died and how early he died at the hands of essentially some nobody really rubbed me the wrong way, they essentially threw him away without any honor to the experience we had with him in the first game. So, that’s our introduction to Abby and her friends. Again, the writers had the challenge of trying to make us like her, but it felt like they didn’t even try. Every attempt to make her likable fell flat either due to an action that happened right before or after. Abby’s only expression of sorrow is after the death of her father and Owen. Manny’s death is never mentioned after it happens and she seems to act like it never really happened. There is no remorse when she kills Jesse and Tommy, or anyone for that matter. She and (seemingly most of the WLF) condone and even get off on torturing Seraphites (they’re terrible people but if you’re trying to make me like a character, I don’t think you should have them condone the torturing of anyone). Abby is quick to kill Dina even after learning she’s pregnant, to which she comments, “good” and only stops because Lev is an actual decent human being and gets her to stop. And the writers have the gall to try and compare her to Ellie; trying to be like, “see she and Ellie aren’t so different uwu.” Meanwhile, Ellie is crying each time she hits Nora; she just wants Abby, she didn’t want to have to torture Nora like that. Ellie is traumatized after finding out that Mel is pregnant after killing her. Ellie is constantly shown to be grappling with the consequences and feelings of her actions. She experiences guilt and shame while Abby is shown time and time again to not regret her wrongdoings. The writers really tried to push us to like Abby by having her care for Yara and Lev, but I felt she did it out of selfishness and needing to feel good about herself not because she truly cared for these kids.

Going back to Joel’s death, the gruesomeness wasn’t even warranted based on Abby’s reasoning. Abby’s dad didn’t get murdered in front of her and he was killed because he stood in Joel’s way, holding a scalpel to Ellie. Jerry’s death was quick and painless too. And I know people will be like, “but Abby was also mad because now there’s no cure because of what Joel did!!!” However, she had no problem wanting to kill, or leave Ellie alone despite knowing she was immune. Abby was never on a quest to capture Ellie or talk her into finding the Fireflies with her (which would have made for an interesting storyline actually), she wanted her dead too. Joel’s death was the most tasteless death of a beloved character I think I’ve ever experienced.

Also the order of events was really detrimental to the story and especially Abby’s character. The way that flashbacks were thrown in throughout the story after Joel’s death fell flat and made Joel’s death feel even worse. The Joel and Ellie flashbacks were honestly the highlight of the game because we got to spend time with the only 2 fleshed out and likable characters. Had they been placed at the beginning of the game and also showed more of their relationship after Joel tells Ellie the truth about the Fireflies, I would’ve felt his death would have been more okay (still shitty, but slightly better than what they gave us) because it would feel more unexpected and it would hit better emotionally after these moments we had with Ellie and Joel. Hell, the majority of the game should have been as it was advertised (which is another issue I’m gonna touch on shortly): the rocky relationship between Joel and Ellie after Ellie learns the truth and the two of them going on a revenge quest together, as Joel tried to earn Ellie’s forgiveness. The events presented in the order in the game also made it impossible for anyone to try to like Abby. We learn she commits the biggest atrocity and we know all her friends are going to end up dead, so there’s no emotional impact when we see how they die because we’ve known the whole time they were gonna be killed by Ellie. Both Abby’s character and the story they were trying to tell could’ve have been really great and interesting but it was just so poorly executed. 

The story itself seemed so amateur as well. It just boiled down to “revenge and violence are bad uwu” while giving the player no choice but to engage in said violence. They tried to create a gray area between good and evil like they did in the first game, especially with Abby’s story but they ended up doing the opposite. Also the weak use of animals and pregnancy to create emotional impact is just so easy. They couldn’t think of any other way to make us connect to the characters except “hey look they love this animal” or “this is someone who is going to have a baby under these rough circumstances” and it’s just sloppy writing especially because they use both tactics MORE THAN ONCE. 

The intersecting stories, themes of “what really is good/evil,” redemption of a thought to be unlikable character, and the death of a beloved character would have been so interesting and emotionally impactful if done right, but it felt like Naughty Dog chose every terrible option and outcome, resulting in the wet fart that we got. It felt sloppy with no honoring of the previous game or characters. We all cared, but apparently the writer’s didn’t. The ending with Ellie essentially being left with what she feared most, being alone, would’ve been way more appropriate had anything prior warranted this consequence. Not only is she alone, but Ellie loses the ability to play guitar, a way in which she remembered and felt connected to Joel. Like she goes through hell, and 99% of her actions are justified, yet she gets punished.

Lastly, I want to touch on the false advertising for the game. Normally, I wouldn’t be upset because movie trailers do it all the time where there will be subtle differences or added scenes that don’t occur in the movie, but this was a whole other level of fuckery. I get trying to mislead people to think something is going to happen only to steer them in a different direction, in fact I think this is really cool and fun when done well. However, this was straight up lying and essentially selling an entirely different game. Not only were these lies perpetuated in trailers and ads, but even in events such as E3. Neil Druckmann constantly harped on the idea that the game was going to be about Ellie and Joel having a falling out after Ellie learns the truth and how they navigate their relationship through their next adventure together. Yet the game was never about that, instead it was just a story about drawing shitty parallels between a beloved character and a new character who was destined to be unlikable from the start.

In the end, I think it’s still worth playing because I’ve seen so many mixed reviews floating around so I feel it’s best to make your own opinion. And if nothing else, it’s a fun experience if you’re just looking at a fun game to play if you don’t really care too much about the series or characters as a whole. Will I return to this game? Not anytime soon likely. But just being the fan that I am of the series I think I’ll try to get most of the achievements eventually, and to experiment with photomode because the visuals are so good. Even with how much of a disservice this game is to the series, I don’t think it ruins it for me. It just makes me love and appreciate the first game even more and I think they could bounce back from this, but they’d need to put in a shit ton of work to earn their core audience back.

TL;DR: As an addition to the Last of Us as a series, the game is a huge disappointment and disservice, but as a standalone game it’s slightly above average. The gameplay, music, and visuals slap but the story, characters, and relationship building (or lack thereof) suck. Naughty Dog lied in a highly scummy way to fans via advertisements and trailers. Fuck Abby. Stan Lev and Yara.

[theareya]

even numbers for the gaming asks!

Okay, its been 1000 years since I posted this gaming ask. But here are the answers!!!! I put most under the read more…

2. First game you played?The first game I ever played ever, in thehistory of forever, was Super Mario Bros. at my babysitter’s house, if mymemory serves me correctly

4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played agame?Ohkay, let’s see. Without eating or bathing,but I did get up briefly to bathroom and drink water, I finished uncharted 1,2, and 3 consecutively in 120 hrs. Needless to say, I never did that again, asthe blood vessels in my eyes popped, I ate two bigmacs after, and my parentsyelled at me. Otherwise, without moving or tending to most of my basic bodilyneeds, 10 hours max as of late.

6. An underrated game from within the last fewyears?I don’t know, I’m probably biased and neverreally look online to see how the game was rated/how it’s doing. Oh! But! Ireally liked Battleborn, which was basically a game that came out like a littlebefore Overwatch? Or near the same time, actually. You also fight in teamsagainst one another with unique character abilities to obtain certainobjectives. Honestly, it is extremely well done and detailed, but very muchfalls in Overwatch’s shadow possibly due to similarity and budget D:  8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery?I’m biased. I love Bioshock. But I also am ahuge fan of those apocalyptic, dystopia aesthetics. So, essentially, anythingalong the lines of bioshock, Fallout, and Last of us.

10. Prefer PC or console?I’ve always played on console. And I’m so bad atPC. You would think it’s a bit easier to aim a cursor to shoot at something,but I’m particularly bad at that.

12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played?Most games are pretty… bizarre. Most of theactual weird ones I’ve only seen online on those “top ten weirdest video games”but maybe Katamari? There are definitely weirder ones… The Nightmare Within wasalso… strange. I don’t actually know what counts as bizarre anymore in thegaming world. Shrek party…

14. Do you watch playthroughs online?Sometimes, yes! If I know I am never going toget the game. For example, an xbox exclusive (I do not have an xbox) or if Ialready played the game and want to see others suffer, lmao. Or if I like thestreamer.

16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced?… I don’t remember. I’m going to say 2011.

18. Worst game you’ve played?There are probably worse games, but I’ll go withthe most recent one I’ve played, which was Bound by Flame. It was kind of thisunfortunate mix of—attempt at—Dark Souls, Dragon Age, and other medieval games.Some parts of the gameplay were unnecessarily hard for kicks, with no way toovercome the boss aside from chipping away at the health by throwing a rock atit, while your single dead companion lay sprawled in the middle of the fieldten seconds into the fight. And of the one and a half romance options pergender you were allowed, none of them were very enticing. Spoiler** I overcamethe end fight by purchasing 10,000 potions to fight the dragon. I made itthrough just fine, only after using 600 potions. Strategy was little help, butheyo I made it through. 20. Favorite publisher and/or developer?…Sony? I don’t know… I’m terrible at thesequestions.

22. If you could turn one game into movie, whichwould it be?You know I don’t know, since any game thatturns into a movie makes me want to cry bitter tears of hate. I’m looking atresident evil specifically. But if I could turn Bioshock into a really goodmovie with the proper actors/actresses, storyline, extras, atmosphere, then …yeah.

24. Ever cried because of a video game? Whichone(s)?…Too many. Nothing gets me more invested andemotional than a videogame. I guess the only one that has made me actually cryvisible tears is Journey. The ending overwhelmed me in an inexplicable way.

26. How often do you play online? Co-op?Relatively often now, especially withOverwatch, and the fact that a lot of my friends have Overwatch as well. So,like, every other day, if not daily. Otherwise, I love co-oping with a friend mostlybecause the AI that they give to work with you tends to … suck butts. Lookingat Resident Evil… again.

28. Who got YOU into gaming?My babysitter. Haahaa. I used to hang out ather house all the time and I’d watch her play all sorts of games. She’s alsothe one who gifted me my purple game boy color :’D30. On average, how long does it take you in thecharacter creation screen?Could be up to an hour. But at least 30minutes. It depends on if I know what I want.

32. Do you cosplay?I do! But I’ve actually only cosplayed animethings. Most of the video game stuff I would like to cosplay is too hard and/orI wouldn’t do it justice. Also I’ve been parts of group cosplays generally, sowe gotta find a good match.

34. Favorite male npc?For some unknown reason, the only personpopping into my head right now is erandur, the dark elf companion, from skyrim.Like… he’s not my favorite npc, but…my mind is drawing a complete blank. And isjust repeating that name over and over in my head. Oh boy

36. Best antagonist?Albert Wesker. …Spoiler??** Look… if you gottathrow him in a volcano to get rid of him after 200 tries of “just survive longenough” fights, he’s pretty good to me. Please let him die.  

38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then triedagain, and loved it?N….no? There are some games where I getfrustrated, then invite a friend to play, who is extremely over-leveled, andthen they help me… live. Does that count?40. Favorite voice actor?Okay, I love Troy Baker. How can one person beso gosh darn versatile?? For anyone who doesn’t know (I doubt that) He voicesJoel from TLOU, Booker from Bioshock, Sam Drake from Uncharted, to name theones that pop into my head. And he does like a million other voices, and sings,and is just very excellent overall. 

42. A game you will never forget (in a bad ORgood way)?Resident Evil 5 in the respect that I justplayed it during a very happy time in my life with one of my friends. And itwas also when I learned that I really love co-op, as well it was a supertreasured bonding time with that friend. We legit screamed so obnoxiouslythroughout the whole thing, apologized profusely, yelled for help. Like thatgame brought out our full range of emotion while playing.

44. Do graphics matter?Not necessarily. They add a nice kick, butthere are quite a few games I can think of where the gameplay and story aremore prominent. Storyline is generally always the main thing I look for first.Storyline and characters. 46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles?ALWAYS. Even for NPCs. Like the setting thatsays “ALL SUBTITLES” one of the reasons is because it alerts me to enemiessometimes too as they whisper in the distance. Which is the closest thing to awarning from jump scares that I’m going to get.

48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but havenever gotten to it?Um. I’ve actually been pretty aggressive ingetting my grubby hands on the games that I want. EXCEPT. Nearly everythingthat came out after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of memories?? Like 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 5 ½,365/3 days  idk there were too many?? AndI basically had almost every console except the PSP so I just kind of gave up??

50. How many games do you own?…uh… too many?? At least 200 if you total allof them from the dawn of my first game boy color.52. A game you will always stand behind, andsupport no matter what?..Fable. OKAY So, even though the game, alongwith the game company crashed and burned, I really loved that first game??Along with The Lost Chapters. I essentially based the experiences I had withFable 2, 3, Journey on how good the first game was. If I were to make someoneplay it now, they would probably think it’s pretty dumb, but I thought it was acleverly made game…54. A sequel you really want?… lmao Fable. AND/OR The Wolf Among us, becausethat’s been sitting there for far too long.56. Do you tell people irl that you play videogames?Yeah. If it comes up in the conversation. Or if…they have merchandise that I want.

58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scenebetween you and you LI?N…o…60. The game you are best at?I know Bioshock inside and out… I don’t knowwhy I’ve played it so much, it’s a very linear game, but wuh. Also weirdly, I’mvery good at Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. And the only reason I’m obnoxiously goodat that game is because of the Chaos. I love those ridiculous little things andwould do anything to make sure they’re happy and healthy. And in order to dothat I had to play each stage multiple times to get the right power-ups andanimals to feed the Chaos…. There was a whole garden. And god.

62. Would you want to work with video games whenyou are older?I feel like if I start working with it I’llstart disliking it very much, unless I literally work as a tester… that getspaid a decent amount. Like seriously, walk in, sit down, play for… hours uponhours. Otherwise, I do not have the creativity or skill. lmao.

64. Describe your favorite video game using onlythree words?Underwater death city.

66. Game with the yummiest looking food?Final Fantasy XV. Okay, so I haven’t finishedthe game. I’m really not even that far into it, like… at all. I just saw thefood and got hungry. It’s so realistic and pretty.  

68. An older game that you’ve just recentlygotten into?I guess… Fallout New Vegas was pretty old, butthen my friend bought it for me on sale, and I tried it out and it was supergood??? And now I’m really into the Fallout series.

70. Do you play any mobile games?I.. play Fire Emblem Heroes, and a variety ofother mobile games like.. Notice me Senpai, Zen Koi, Mystic Messenger, uhhh…whatever is recommended sometimes. .

72. Have any guilty pleasure games?Not really. I’m pretty prideful in every game Iplay, including my otome games.74. Which game has the best lore?…Once…. Again, BIOSHOCK. Idk there are just somany little things in the city that you can find that point to the history ofthe residents, and what happened to them. There are those audio messages and littlesecrets that everybody has in the city, leading to its fall. I just love it somuch. Skyrim is a close second, to be fair. It’s more immersive and I canroleplay more on there.