Joel Miller (
shivving) wrote in
entrancelogs2017-03-25 06:42 pm
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Entry tags:
you know you can't hold me forever
Who: Joel and Ellie
Where: All over
When: A few days after Tess goes home
Rating: probably R for Joel, eventually
Summary: Another disappearance
The Story: [ He doesn't worry at first. Tess has always been doggedly independent - more so than he'd like, sometimes, though he can't deny her ability to take care of herself. And she'd become even more so here. Back home, back in Boston, they'd had a partnership. Needed one, if they were going to survive. No one made it on their own back there, even in the relative safety of the zones.
Here, things are different. Here, there's no need for a partner to watch your back. And things had...changed. Joel knows that. Where once, Tess had been the most important person in his life, now she'd become a distant - if vital - second. Not that she'd complained, not for a second. She'd seen how things were, accepted them, and moved right on with her own projects. Setting up supply rooms. Preparing for the next inevitable crisis. Always thinking one step ahead. That was Tess.
So while not hearing from her for a few days might once have been unthinkable - a sure sign of emergency - now it's become almost the norm. Nothing to worry about.
When she stops picking up her phone and then even responding to his messages, though, Joel's stomach sinks with a sick, sneaking dread. He forces the feeling away - she's just busy, probably forgettin' to eat again, much less check her damn phone - but he can't escape it altogether, puttering restlessly around his room half the afternoon before finally going out into the hallway to knock on Ellie's door.
(He carefully avoids looking at Tess' door, across the hall. Carefully doesn't look at his still-silent phone.) ]
Ellie?
Where: All over
When: A few days after Tess goes home
Rating: probably R for Joel, eventually
Summary: Another disappearance
The Story: [ He doesn't worry at first. Tess has always been doggedly independent - more so than he'd like, sometimes, though he can't deny her ability to take care of herself. And she'd become even more so here. Back home, back in Boston, they'd had a partnership. Needed one, if they were going to survive. No one made it on their own back there, even in the relative safety of the zones.
Here, things are different. Here, there's no need for a partner to watch your back. And things had...changed. Joel knows that. Where once, Tess had been the most important person in his life, now she'd become a distant - if vital - second. Not that she'd complained, not for a second. She'd seen how things were, accepted them, and moved right on with her own projects. Setting up supply rooms. Preparing for the next inevitable crisis. Always thinking one step ahead. That was Tess.
So while not hearing from her for a few days might once have been unthinkable - a sure sign of emergency - now it's become almost the norm. Nothing to worry about.
When she stops picking up her phone and then even responding to his messages, though, Joel's stomach sinks with a sick, sneaking dread. He forces the feeling away - she's just busy, probably forgettin' to eat again, much less check her damn phone - but he can't escape it altogether, puttering restlessly around his room half the afternoon before finally going out into the hallway to knock on Ellie's door.
(He carefully avoids looking at Tess' door, across the hall. Carefully doesn't look at his still-silent phone.) ]
Ellie?