[closed]

[nohalfway]

Who: Ellie (nohalfway),Tess (dog_eat_dog), and Joel (focusrighthere)
What: New roommates, and a little bit of an apology.
When: Early Evening
Where: Joel and Tess' home.
Rating: PG-13 as usual for bad language.

[ Well, this is it. They're far, far away from what they knew. No infected, no Fireflies, no corrupt government... Nothing. Living a normal life is something Ellie never really imagined. Hell, what she lived was normal by their standards. You survived, you hunted, and you fought to not become the hunted. ]

[ So adjusting to a place like this? Near impossible. Ellie assumed she'd stay with Joel, just as they had before, and he seemed fine with it. There was an empty room in his home he shared with others, but that didn't catch her interests at all. A room to herself? Yeah, that might seem like prime real estate for someone her age, but when you're so used to being packed like sardines in one room with another individual? It just feels like the safest route. ]

[ Ellie settles with that, making her own little place of comfort with what she can find. She takes it upon herself to steal whatever pillow or cushion she can find, piling it in the corner of Joel and Tess' bedroom with absolutely no remorse. Ellie stacks a few pillows to construct a roof, a blanket making a curtain, which she keeps draped upward and leaving her little cave uncovered, for now. It's a pretty comfortable corner, and Ellie's already taking advantage of it, pun-book in hand as she reads it lying on her back. ]

It's not that the man didn't know how to juggle, it's just that he didn't have the balls to do it.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaah, burn.

[ She turns a page, snickering to herself when she reads another. ]

I'm glad I know sign language. It's pretty handy.

Pfffff. Good one.

Comments

[nohalfway]

That has nothing to do with maturity! I don't think about that kind of shit. Isn't he like 60?

[ Ellie puts her hand over her stomach, trying to somehow deter the bile that threatens to come up from this discovery. ]

Why would I fucking tell him anyway?

[dog_eat_dog]

First of all, he's fifty... and second of all, fifty isn't old, as much as we might joke about it. Grow up.

And third, you'd tell him because you're a nosy little girl.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie scoffs, falling back in her chair and leaning her elbows onto the table. ]

Look, I'm not going to tell him shit. Last thing I want to do is watch you two bicker like some old married couple or something.

[dog_eat_dog]

Then make this easy on us all and start learning to sleep on your own.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie growls, eyes looking away from Tess. She doesn't fucking want to sleep in some empty room by herself. ]

I'm not taking down my fort yet.

[focusrighthere]

[ It's been an interesting couple of days and nights. Enter the mediator, who cooks your meals and tries to keep you from killing each other. Joel closes the front door behind him and can immediately tell that he's walked in on the tail end of something tense.

Goddamnit. Again? They've been fighting since Ellie showed up with no signs of stopping. ]

Hey.

[ What is it this time? Maybe he's reading this atmosphere wrong. ]

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess turns her head to look at Joel, and she knows he knows something's up. She puts her hands on her hips.]

Hey. Your kid's grown overly attached to her pillow fort.

[nohalfway]

[ Just who she wanted to see. ]

Joel!

[ Ellie gets up from her seat, storming to the front door. She accusingly points at Tess, a look of frustration clear on her features. ]

She's making me hole up in the empty bedroom. That's crazy. No normal person sleeps alone at night, that's suicide! Tell her!

[focusrighthere]

[ ... yeah, this was gonna come up eventually. Joel's not crazy about Ellie sleeping on the floor, but only because it means she's sleeping on the floor. As long as she's in the room anyway, most nights he lets her crawl right into the bed. She's still spooked.

She has nightmares. He looks between them, unable to think up a solution that would make them both happy on the spot. ]

Easy. [ He says first, trying to calm Ellie. Lifts a hand in a calming gesture. ] She doesn't wanna sleep alone, Tess.

[ We know what she's been through. The look he sends to his partner communicates that thought, but it's more apt that Joel knows what she's been through. Too well. ]

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess heaves a sigh, shoulders dropping with exasperation. She knows, she knows, but it's been six months on their end to work out these things, she's rarely had to fear sleeping alone in an apartment in a Quarantine Zone guarded by patrols, she's tired of reaching for Joel in the middle of the night and finding Ellie instead.]

How long are we going to do this, though?

[She's not a parent. She doesn't know how to be.]

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie is honestly exasperated entirely over this situation. She hardly agrees with Tess, and she would have been perfectly fine sleeping on the floor. Anything but being alone. The last time she did anything alone, it ended up terribly for her, and she'd rather not take any chances. Not right now. It doesn't matter where she is. ]

[ She stands behind Joel, arms crossed as she stares at her feet in anger and frustration. ]

[focusrighthere]

[ It's annoying when he can understand both viewpoints. The truth is even if she slept anywhere else, he would probably check up on her. It's been their reality for a year. It was more terrifying than living in a Quarantine Zone, being on the outside again. Dealing with hunters and cannibals. Simply not having her around makes him anxious.

But he can't disregard Tess. She has a fair point. He has a look on his face like he's trying to think of something better to say, but he just exhales, helpless. ]

Until she feels comfortable.

[ He can't just ignore Ellie needing that comfort right now. If it used to be in him, it's not there anymore. ]

[dog_eat_dog]

[There's something in her that wants to react in more anger, but she knows that won't work. She has to stick what she knows works, and what works is diplomacy, even if Joel knows she's seething to say more. More can be said in private, away from the girl.

The girl she doesn't want to hurt, but doesn't want to conceded to. Ellie may have come into her life unexpectedly time and time again, but Tess wasn't going to change her ways every time. The first had proven disastrous enough.

So instead she lays out her terms, pointedly:]

No forts, in her own bed, and not indefinitely.

And only at nights. It is our room during the day.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie's eyes shift up, meeting with Tess as she lays down the law. Her arms drop, and her resolve seems to calm a bit more knowing she's not cast out for the evening. ]

[ She glances at Joel, then back to her, arms shrugging a little and her voice sounding much calmer. ]

Yeah, sure, I can deal with that.

[ She'd sleep under the bed if she had to, honestly. ]

[focusrighthere]

[ It's done. Joel feels relieved when Ellie agrees, though can he definitely sense Tess' seething. He'll deal with that later. He gives the kid a squeeze on the shoulder. ]

None of us expected this. We gotta deal with it as we go.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She keeps her hands square on her hips, eyes moving to Ellie for her confirmation and then back to Joel. She's ticked. She's not in the mood to play mommy, she doesn't want to listen to nightmares reminding her of back home, and she doesn't want to deal with any of it.

Joel will come to his senses, at least. Ellie will settle down.]

And we're dealing with it. If that's all, I'm going to hit the gym. Fort better be gone when I get back.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie bites her tongue, wanting so much to argue the problem but knowing that the agreement they came to is the best she'll get. It hits her rather hard that this was even up for debate in the first place-- Is it really abnormal to fear being alone? Isn't that basically everyone's vice back home? Ellie would assume that this would be the way they would always deal with things, given that this place apparently has its share of problems too. ]

Fine.

[ It's in a biting tone, nothing unlike what she takes up with people she disagrees with normally. But the way she shifts behind Joel and sets her eyes back down to her feet suggests much otherwise. She's honestly ashamed of herself. Once upon a time, Ellie did fine on her own. While it might not have been what she preferred, the quarantine zones provided enough peace of mind where wandering by herself or even sleeping by herself was no issue at all. ]

[ But look at where they've all ended up. They leave to the outside, exposed to the cruelty of the world and now they're even further. Ellie came to the realization that nothing is safe over a year ago, and that fact has proven itself time and time again. ]

[ However, Ellie can't shake how stern Tess was about how strange it is to not be alone. Has she really just been a big baby this whole time? Does this make her a coward? Weak? Are her recurring nightmares just her blowing things out of proportion? ]

[ Maybe this situation is all her fault... Maybe Ellie was wrong about herself and isn't as independent as she thought. Sure, she's relied on Joel as a crutch and defense, but she thought that was what partners did. The rest of their journey, they were close-knit. Joel would have said something about her being a coward if she truly was... Wouldn't he? ]

Guess I'll go fuck off and put everything away...

[focusrighthere]

[ It's not difficult to guess how Ellie must be feeling. He's been with her through most of it. Joel knows Tess like the back of his hand, so it's not difficult to guess there either. He gives her a silent look, one that wishes she would just be more patient with the kid, but he's aware that they will have words about that later.

In private. For now, he strides over to the room that has been the source of all this squabbling. ]

C'mon, I'll help you.

[ Tess can cool off elsewhere and Joel can speak to Ellie. She has to hear from someone that this isn't a big deal. He beckons her to follow. ]

[nohalfway]

[ She's not really sure what she's feeling the moment she gets to the bedroom-- Anger, sadness, disappointment? Whatever it is, it has her quickly tearing apart what she built earlier on. ]

Yeah, sure, so long as the all-mighty ruler won't attack you for it.

[ Ellie gathers whichever cushions she can in her arms, storming off to the living room to put the couch back together. ]

[focusrighthere]

[ Joel clears up whatever's left while Ellie rearranges the couch cushions. Their lives here are so, well, domestic - Tess and Joel have had six months to get used to it and Ellie's had less than a week. He puts the blanket back on their bed, smoothing it out.

He has memories to rely on, too. She's never lived like this. There's a small part of him that is happy she wants to stick close, the part that feels anxious about losing her someday.

Joel follows over to the doorway and leans against the frame, arms crossed and facing Ellie by the couch. ]

Don't let her get to you.

[nohalfway]

I'm not--

[ Ellie makes a sound of irritation, smacking her hands on the cushions as if to smooth them out, even them or... Something. But it's mostly out of frustration than anything else. ]

Whatever. She's right. I'm a big baby for following basic fucking survival skills.

[ She storms back into the bedroom, bumping into Joel on her way and giving absolutely not a care about it. Ellie swipes up her books and takes them to the living room, falling onto the couch and throwing them onto the coffee table. ]

So whatever, fuck her. We'll get ransacked in the middle of the night and you guys'll survive and not me. Peachy.

[focusrighthere]

Hey.

[ He stands his ground when she bumps past, frowning after her. ]

I ain't gonna let that happen. Ever.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie sits up, glaring daggers at Joel. It's nothing against him, but she can't help how uncomfortable she feels right now. ]

It's not a matter of letting it happen, Joel!

She wants all of us to be separated, as if it's fucking safe here. People keep saying that and in the same breath, talk about how this place can switch like a fucking light bulb!

So excuse me for not wanting to be a "normal teenager" and sleep down the goddamned hallway by myself.

[ Ellie sighs, trying to cool down but all it does is make her feel worse. She stares at her feet. ]

It's like I'm the only one who feels that way. Like it's wrong.

[focusrighthere]

[ A half of a sigh, Joel looking down at his feet too. He's quiet after Ellie finishes speaking, but then he moves from his spot in the doorway over to the couch, sitting next to her. ]

You're not the only one.

[ He's been missing her for six months. Having her closeby at night doesn't bother him like it bothers Tess; it's something he got used to from before and getting used to it again stems all the troubles that her absence caused. ]

It's not wrong, Ellie. We just gotta - compromise.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie sighs, eyes shifting up to Joel. There's a look of disbelief there, because once upon a time? Joel was extremely critical of her. ]

You don't think I'm being immature?

[ There's so much disbelief in her voice, it's painful. ]

You actually want me in the room with you?