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

[shivving]

What do you mean, a different time?

[ At this point, he'd believe anything. Some Back to the Future shit? Sure, why not. ]

[failedparenting]

It's just like I said. They'll go back home to love some more of their life before they get dragged back. Could be a few days for them, could be years.

[Look man, you murdered him and he's talking to you right now. You've got the room in there to believe shit.]

You two might be from different times already, I don't know. But it might be an even bigger gap when she comes back.

[shivving]

[ Back home to live more of her life. He thinks of where she'd been, where he'd been, before they'd both been pulled here, and his face drains of blood. ]

She can't go back to where - to when we were.

[ She can't. She can't. ]

It ain't safe.

[failedparenting]

[Oh Joel, you sweet summer child.]

And d'you think this place gives a shit?

[John heaves a sigh almost heavy enough to deflate him completely. God knows he's been in Joel's shoes before- is this how it is trying to talk him down from violence, when his children are on the line? Seems like he's got a lot of apologies to hand out if he ever goes home for good.]

Look, I get that it's bad where you're from. Shoot a goddamn stranger in the stomach bad. [Ahem.] But losing your shit right now is gonna do nothing, alright? Your daughter's gonna need you if she comes back, and she's gonna need you in one piece.

[shivving]

[ There it is again. It's not the first time someone's mistaken Ellie for Joel's daughter, and he's sure it won't be the last.

He doesn't shut down the way he had in that farmhouse, when Ellie had referenced Sarah - had talked freely about her in a way that even Tommy had learned never to do decades earlier. But still, it's a touchy subject. There's a reason he and Ellie avoid ever precisely defining their relationship. ]

She -

[ She's not my daughter.

He can't say it, any more than he'd been able to say it when Jo had made the same sort of assumption. Family isn't just about blood.

Is that true? Could it possibly be true?

Joel drags a hand down his face, feeling suddenly drained beyond words. ]

...If she comes back.