[ video ]

[hostage]

[This post goes up very shortly after Jesse comes out of his catatonic state, on the evening of the 23rd. He's a little frenzied, a little wild-eyed and panicked, but he has to know he didn't imagine all of it. There has to be someone else who saw it, too.]

Did anybody - Did anybody else just get back? I mean, like... Were any of you guys ported out, too? To the future, or whatever it was. I can't be the only one. I mean, I saw some of you there. It was De Chima, right? We were just in De Chima? But our bodies got left behind here, I guess. I dunno. What was it? Was it a dream, or... Like, did we seriously just see the future? Because I think that's what it was. I think that was the future. I wasn't alone. I mean, I know I wasn't alone there.

...Right?

Comments

[hostage]

[He looks at her again. In ten years, she'll be his age. With her powers, she'll be forced to do the things he just experienced. She'll be living the exact life he just had a taste of, if not even worse. They'd force her to tear herself apart the same way he had to.

She has so much more faith in him than he has in himself, but he's sure of one thing:]

I'm never gonna stop fighting. I'll never let them take you, Ellie. I'll kill every last one of 'em if I have to.

[nohalfway]

[ She gives him another smile. Ellie's perfectly aware of the impact of one, especially to someone as dedicated and passionate as Jesse. While she's not sure what he saw, what he went through, she can gather that it was enough to spook him and make him rethink his whole life here. ]

You've got way too big a heart, you know that?

[ Ellie reaches out for him, hand resting on his wrist and staying there. ]

I'll fight right beside you. I know you wouldn't want me to, I know you'd do all you can to shelter me from pretty much anything. But if it came down to it?

You know I'd kill for you too. It's what us survivors do for each other.

[hostage]

[She's right: He doesn't want that promise from her. But he won't rebuff her.]

I love you, Ellie.

[It probably doesn't need to be said. He just feels the need to say it, anyway.]

[nohalfway]

[ Those are... Bold words. Words that Ellie is absolutely not used to being told to her, and words that she honest to god has never prepared herself to hear. She blinks, stares blankly at him a while, and her mouth goes partially agape. ]

I--

[ Jesus, how do you not awkwardly respond to that? Not that she doesn't feel the same way, just... Wow, the thought of those words almost sounds as weird as it does saying it. ]

Shit.

I love you too, Jesse. Seriously.

[hostage]

[His lips twitch into a little smile. He didn't think he'd catch her so off-guard.]

That wasn't a surprise, was it?

[nohalfway]

Um.

[ Her shoulders hike up a tad, face shifting away from Jesse. There's a smile there, crooked and awkward, but genuine. ]

I can... Definitely say I've never been uh.

Told that before. From anyone.

[hostage]

[It doesn't exactly shock him that Joel hasn't said the words, but it's still overwhelmingly sad. Ellie deserves to know how much people care about her.]

I'll have to say it more often.

[nohalfway]

[ This is so weird. It's a strange mixture of being flattered, happy and... Slightly uncomfortable? She's not even sure what to call it. Ellie rubs under her nose and at the side of her face, unable to really look Jesse in the eye for the moment. ]

Bah--

[ She jabs at his shoulder, still not facing him. ]

That's so... Gross. You're gross.

[ "But okay. Yes. You should. All the time." <- direct translation ]

[hostage]

[Jesse snorts. Aw, he embarrassed her.]

I'm done, I promise.

[He picks up his sandwich and takes another bite.]

[nohalfway]

Yeah, shut up and eat that sandwich, Pinkman.

[ Because she worked VERY HARD on it. ]

Don't be telling Joel any of that because he might kill you.

[hostage]

[Innocently:]

Don't tell him that I love him?

[nohalfway]

Exactly.

Because I know you do.

[hostage]

[Jesse ducks his head, smiling to himself. He won't deny it.]

[nohalfway]

[ Dramatically, with arm waving: ]

Well all love Joel, but he's a big, old, grumpy asshole who'd probably short circuit by hearing it.

[hostage]

You're probably right.

[shittybirthday]

[ Through all of this, Joel has been getting takeout for Ellie and himself. He left a little under an hour ago, leaving Ellie to watch over Jesse but telling her to call him if anything happened. He's got two large pizzas and a couple of sodas, and there's a grim look on his face as he opens the door to let himself in. Although the sound of... Jesse's voice? Causes a curious frown to form on his brow.

He comes to a stop at Jesse's bedroom door, staring at Jesse before shooting a questioning look at Ellie. ]

Right about what?

[ And then, eyes then back on Jesse. Still looking off-guard, a little bewildered. ]

Back with us, huh?

[hostage]

[Jesse lets out a short laugh at Joel's timely appearance. Not a moment too soon.]

Yeah, you haven't gotten rid of me yet.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie is mainly shocked that she didn't hear him at the door. Her hearing is usually better than that, but what just happened has her a little distracted. She whirls around fast, looking up at Joel while she tries to quickly fabricate an answer. ]

Right about how...

[ Her eyes look over to the sandwich Jesse hasn't finished yet. ]

Important it is that he should eat something. Because he just woke up from that weird mood he was in.

[shittybirthday]

[ Joel's frown deepens a little at Ellie. She's acting a little weird. But then again, thinks Joel as his attention cuts back to Jesse, it's probably due to this whole weirdness with him. Yeah, that's probably it, because he himself is a little weirded out at not just how strange Jesse has been acting, but how suddenly normal he seems now.

He steps into the room slowly and moves across to a table to set the pizzas and drinks down. He then turns around to look at Jesse, a hand rubbing across his beard while he studies Jesse cautiously before setting both his hands on his hips. ]

You, uh. You remember anything? 'Bout how weird you been acting the last few days, or...?

[hostage]

[Jesse recognizes the look on Joel's face. It's a look he's seen on his parents' faces, and on Mr. White's face, too. It's the look of someone trying to figure out if he's on something. The look of someone gauging his sanity. Jesse's smile fades when he sees it.]

No. I don't remember anything I was doing here, 'cause I wasn't here.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie had that feeling, too... But there's enough strange things that go on here that Ellie would rather believe it was the doing of the people who brought them here. What he explained was pretty fucking vivid. When Ellie catches that look on Joel's face too, she shifts herself around, turning to look at Joel directly. ]

I think the guys that brought us here are up to something. He really wasn't here, Joel.

Out of nowhere, Jesse was back to normal.

[shittybirthday]

[ It was just so damn weird, not to mention disturbing and unsettling, seeing Jesse behaving like he was drugged out of his mind. Or like he'd lost all control of his mind and his body. Almost behaving like a person who was on the brink of turning into a Clicker, only minus the primal rage. ]

Yeah, I can see that. [ About Jesse being back to normal out of nowhere, that is. He's still giving Jesse a cautiously assessing look, like he's trying to work it out for himself what the hell happened. But then he gives a frank and acknowledging lift of his brows. ] Wouldn't surprise me if the mob that brought us here are behind this. Sure ain't the first time weird shit has happened.

[ He turns to pick up both sodas that he'd bought and faces back to both Jesse and Ellie, and moves across the room. He holds one out for Ellie to take, holds the other out to Jesse, seeing he probably needs a drink far more than Joel does right now. ]

[hostage]

[Jesse accepts the soda gratefully and takes a long drink. He feels a little better, Joel rolling with that explanation. It doesn't really matter, given the business they're in, but he'd rather not have Joel thinking he's getting high. He's not sure why that's important to him, but it is.]

Sorry for the trouble, anyway. If it happens again, you're probably better off locking me in a room 'til it's over.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie hasn't been here very long... Three months, approximately. And in that time, sure, she has seen plenty of strange things. Hell, her powers are still something to marvel at. But this? This is a whole new thing to her. Ellie looks at Jesse, then to Joel with her face colored in concern. ]

Does this kind of stuff happen all the time? Should we be worried?

[shittybirthday]

It happens enough.

[ He's been through weird dream shit, weird Satan... shit, weird... other shit. And he knows plenty of other weird shit has happened that he's managed to avoid, simply due to luck or being out of town at the time. The more he thinks about it now, Jesse acting like a drooling, catatonic zombie very well could be some weird thing this place schemed up. Weirder things have happened, after all.

He studies Jesse again. ]

You remember anything?