video

[shivving]

public

[ When Joel's face appears on the screen, he's not screaming. He's not stalking the room in rage or setting the library on fire.

He is calm. Eerily so. He glares unblinking into the camera, brow furrowed, silent just long enough to become unsettling.

He has the look of a man who hasn't slept in the last twenty-four hours. ]

I know it's probably the mansion what took Ellie. That more'n likely, none of you had anything to do with it.

If I find out otherwise, I will kill whoever's responsible.

[ end feed. ]


private to tess

Tess.

Comments

[morethan084]

[Right. She gathered that much.]

I can help you look for her, but I need a description of what she looks like.

[shivving]

[ He really, really doubts she's going to have any luck at all in finding her when he hasn't.

But hell. It's worth a shot. ]

She's a teenager. Bout fourteen. Reddish hair. Talks like a sailor.


I've looked.

[morethan084]

[She doesn't sound familiar, then again there are a lot of people in this place.

Not realizing she was pushing it:]

Is she your daughter?

[shivving]

[ His voice is clipped, not inviting any further questions. ]

I'm just lookin' for her.

[morethan084]

[Yikes.]

Right. Did you ask her friends? Kids do stupid things sometimes. Maybe she just needed some time alone?

[shivving]

She wouldn't do that without sayin' something.

[ He knows her. She's smarter than that. ]

[morethan084]

Sometimes they do.

[Probably not helping here, is she?]

[shivving]

[ Not in the least. ]

You don't know Ellie. She wouldn't do that.

[ Except she had, once. But...not again. She knows better than to do that again. ]

[morethan084]

Right.

[She was a teenage girl once, she knew what that was like. Still Daisy clearly was just pissing him off with that what if scenario.]

How long has she been gone?

[shivving]

Two days.

[ It may not sound like much. But for Ellie to drop completely out of contact, for him to be unable to find her for that long...It's not unprecedented. But it never bodes well. ]

[morethan084]

What was she doing the last time you heard from her?

[He obviously didn't need to be told what this place was capable of.]

[shivving]

[ How the hell is he supposed to know? He can barely remember anything that's not his own panicked fear. ]

Just - normal stuff. Living.

She made it through the flood okay.

[morethan084]

[It's pretty clear Daisy's trying to put together what she can of this puzzle.]

Maybe she got scared? I mean, it was scary to begin with. Imagine what that's like when you're a kid.

[She's really just thinking out loud.]

Can't blame the kid for wanting to get away from all of that.

[Helpful.]

[shivving]

She ain't just any kid.

[ She's brave, and smart, and has seen much worse in her life than a flood. ]

She knows better than to up and disappear.

[morethan084]

[She really is doing a shit job at this whole trying to calm him down.]

I'll search for her. Or help search for her, since I assume you have been...

Yep. Shutting up now.

[shivving]

[ He's distracted, and worried, and honestly, not the most considerate person even at the best of times. Which this definitely isn't.

Joel grunts in vague acknowledgement, not especially encouraging. ]

Don't do anything stupid.

[ It's as thoughtful as he's likely to get. The last thing he needs is someone else getting hurt looking for Ellie. ]