#it's like everyone was pissed that she attacked clementine and people needed a way to excuse it so it's not violet's fault when like...

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[chilling-seavey]

ABM - Christian's POV of Daniel ranting about Florence 😂 ~T

This is such a good idea why didn’t I think of this omg. It really shows the behind the scenes of Daniel’s feelings for Florence since the book is mostly focussed around her. I broke this down into three parts so you can see Development™ hehe (also this isn’t as lighthearted as it could have been but everyone likes a sprinkle of angst, right?)

Christmas Break 2018

Daniel lugged his suitcase inside, trying to answer his mother’s desperate questions about how his first term went but he could hardly get a word in as she spoke excitedly about how much she missed him. He only wanted to go upstairs to his room and check his phone notifications to make sure he wasn’t missing any important updates from Florence. She was approaching her due date fast and it had taken her way too many days of convincing to get him to keep with his original plans to go home for Christmas break. Thankfully, after greeting his family with hugs, his mother went to make dinner, leaving Daniel with a moment to breathe and get settled. He stood in the middle of his room, texting her that he arrived home safely, way to distracted to even hear the knock on his door until his older brother was leaning over his shoulder.

“Who ya texting?”

“Jesus, Christian.” Daniel startled, nearly dropping his phone in the process, pressing a hand to his chest.

“I did knock. Who are you talking to?” Christian sat on the side of his bed as Daniel slid his phone in his pocket and started to unpack.

“A friend.” Daniel couldn’t hold back his smile.

“A girlfriend?” Christian pried.

“No.” Daniel shook his head, the slight disappointment in his voice apparent.

“A crush?” Christian tried again.

“We’re friends.” Daniel glared playfully at him. “Best friends.”

“I thought Jack was your best friend.”

“Jack is a good friend. But Florence is my best friend. I love her.”

“I see.” Christian nodded slowly, watching his younger brother’s every move as he hung up his clothes from his suitcase.

“She’s amazing.” Daniel grinned, continuing before Christian even had to ask. “So sweet and so funny. Her family sucked so she’s living with family friends in the city and they are really nice people. Almost as nice as Florence but…not quite.”

“How did you two meet?” Christian chuckled.

“A party actually. Jack made me go and she was there and we started talking and hit it off. She’s pregnant.”

Christian choked on his breath at that sudden statement.

“Not by me!” Daniel rushed out.

“I was gonna say.” Christian sighed, holding a hand to his chest with relief.

“Some jerk from her high school.” Daniel continued, reaching for another shirt from his suitcase, “She’s due soon. December 26th. I really wanted to stay to be there with her for the birth but she told me I should come home still.”

“You wanted to be there to see her birth her child?” Christian gaped. “Daniel, you’ve barely known her more than three months.”

“Two months, really.” Daniel shrugged. “I dunno. I basically lived at the Clifford’s with her for the month of November and the beginning of December.”

“Mom and dad are gonna be pissed. You were staying at a stranger’s house half the term?! What are they paying residence money for then?”

“They don’t need to know.” Daniel smacked him with a t-shirt before putting it on a hanger. “And they aren’t strangers. But, seriously, I’m so excited for the baby. She’s having a girl! A little girl whose gonna be just as perfect as she is, can you believe that?”

“Lord, Daniel, you have it bad, bro.” Christian chuckled, shaking his head.

“I do not! I’m just being a supportive friend.”

“Next thing you’re going to tell me that you went to birth coach classes with her.”

Daniel blinked at him, “Is that bad?”

“Oh my gosh, bro!” Christian laughed, falling backwards onto the bed. “Daniel, this isn’t your baby, dude. Don’t get attached, please, okay?”

Daniel shifted in place a little, playing with the shirt on a hanger that was in his hand still, “She’s gonna name the baby Clementine. Isn’t that cute?”

Christian sat up again, “It is, but, listen to me, bro. Don’t get into your head about this being your life now. She may be a great friend but taking care of her or her child isn’t your responsibility.”

Daniel frowned, turning to hang up the shirt in his closet.

“I’m not telling you to not be supportive or not to take care of or protect your friends,” Christian continued when he sensed that he hurt his little brother’s feelings, “but make sure you put yourself first, okay?”

“I know.” Daniel mumbled. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out. Christian watched his brother’s face break into a smile at whatever was on the screen and he replied excitedly before sliding it back in his pocket and going back to unpacking. “She’s from LA, Chris! Isn’t that so cool?”

Christian simply listened as Daniel rambled on about this girl until dinner was ready…and every day after that until he took an early flight back to Toronto when Florence went into labour. Christian knew very well who his little brother was which meant he knew very well that Daniel was going to get attached and was going to get hurt. He just had to figure that out for himself.

Christmas Break 2019

Daniel definitely did, returning home for the next Christmas break a completely different version of himself. He was still Daniel, the same son and brother that had left for school, but he was different in the sense that nothing seemed to make him happy; not even their mother’s fettuccini alfredo that she made specially for his homecoming.

“How’s Florence? We haven’t heard much about her recently.” Their mother asked over dinner the very first night.

Daniel was twirling his pasta around his fork and he glanced up at her before looking back down to his plate, “We’re not friends anymore.”

Christian watched his family’s expressions draw to concerned, his own frown coming to his face.

“Why’s that, honey?” Keri asked sadly.

“She’s too busy with her boyfriends so…” Daniel took a bite of his dinner through a shrug.

“Plural?” Jeff raised an eyebrow.

“Dunno. I guess.” Daniel shrugged again. “I don’t know what she does with her life. None of my concern.”

“I thought you loved her?” Anna piped up. Christian kicked her under the table.

“Can we change the subject please?” Daniel asked.

The topic of Florence was dropped from that point on. No one brought her up again. Although, it seemed that every other topic of conversation seemed to bring out a slightly bitter or upset addition from Daniel of how it would relate to Florence in any way.

I don’t want to watch that movie. Florence would always watch that.

Florence always washed the dishes this way instead.

Did you know Florence has never been snowboarding?

Christian was sick and tired of it by the last week of December, having suffered nearly a month of his little brother’s moping around and whining. So he helped himself into his room late one evening, the night before New Years Eve, slamming the door loud enough to have Daniel look up from his piano.

“Don’t you knock?” Daniel glared.

“What the hell is up with you, bro? You’re not yourself.” Christian crossed his arms, standing tall in the middle of the room.

“I’m fine.” Daniel retorted, turning back to his piano and lifted his fingers to the keys.

“Ok, let me rephrase.” Christian said. “What happened between you and Florence that has turned you into a human rain cloud? Your depressive attitude almost ruined Christmas for everyone.”

“Your empathy is extraordinary, Chris.” Daniel rolled his eyes.

“So, talk to me, Daniel.” Christian sat on the end of the bed closest to the piano bench.

“I was tired of seeing her with other guys so I told her I don’t want to be friends anymore. That’s it.” Daniel explained sharply.

“Because you love her.” Christian stated.

Daniel dragged his finger over the piano keys to remove the dust. His silence was answer enough.

“Daniel, I told you last year to watch out for yourself otherwise you would get hurt. You get attached and you get hurt. I know you.”

“Fine, then I’ll be all by myself the rest of my life! Alone and single and…and pathetic!” Daniel yelled, whipping around to glare at his older brother, tears welling in his eyes.

“Hey, hey, Daniel, bro, relax.” Christian spoke softly, moving to sit beside him on the piano bench and set a hand on his shoulder. “Relax, okay? I’m not attacking you.”

Daniel’s lips were set in a deep frown and he blinked hard to try and rid the tears from his eyes before they fell, staring down at the piano keys.

“Just talk to me, okay? We’ll figure something out.” Christian spoke softly.

“I haven’t seen Clementine in…in months.” Daniel’s voice wavered and he swallowed thickly. “I miss her. I miss my best friend and I miss the baby so damn much.”

“Then why’d you cut her off instead of talking it out?”

“I was angry. And hurt.” Daniel sighed, quickly wiping away the heavy tear that fell down his cheek. Christian tucked his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “And I hate being single. I hate seeing her with guys that are so much better than me because…but…I…they weren’t there for the things I was there for.”

Daniel looked at his brother who met his saddened gaze. Christian only could nod, encouraging him on.

“I always did so much for her and she never loved me like I loved her.” Daniel whimpered. “I’m fucking pathetic.”

“You’re not pathetic. You’re in love. Almost the same thing but not quite.” Christian chuckled. Daniel barely cracked a smile. “You have to decide if you’re willing to move on and find someone else who is willing to be your girlfriend and keep Florence as a friend or if you would do better without her in your life if it’s too hard.”

Daniel shook his head quickly, “I can’t do life without her, bro.”

“You can’t make her love you.”

“I slept with her.” Daniel blurted out.

Silence fell between them. Christian didn’t know what to say.

“Last month.” Daniel sighed. “We were drunk, and I don’t really remember it and she really does not remember it. But it happened. She initiated it. That means something right?”

“You need to make it right, Daniel.” Christian whispered. “You need to tell her the truth. About your feelings, about why you have been sad, and especially that. She deserves to know what happened.”

Daniel leaned his face against the keys of the piano, the messy notes ringing through his room.

“I’m gonna miss Clementine’s first birthday.”

“Why?” Christian frowned.

“Because I was angry and booked a flight for the fourth instead of the first.”

“Daniel.” Christian groaned.

“I was angry, okay?” Daniel protested, sitting up again.

“First things first, we’re getting you an earlier ticket so you can see the poor kid on her birthday and so you can talk to Florence if it’s the last thing you do.” Christian got up and grabbed Daniel’s laptop from his desk to pass it to him. “And I’m going to watch you book it and get on the plane.”

Daniel nodded and took his laptop, setting it on his lap and opening it up.

“Can’t believe my little brother is the dumbest boy in the country.” Christian grumbled, leaning over his shoulder to watch him open up the booking website.

Mid Summer Break 2020

“Christian.”

Christian sat up straighter in bed, pushing his laptop off of his lap to give his brother’s phone call his full attention. He could tell something was seriously wrong by Daniel’s trembling voice and his soft sniffles from crying.

“Hey, Daniel. What’s up?”

“I think I’m in trouble.”

“What’s going on, buddy?”

“I think have a kid.”

[mydarlinclementine]

u n s e e i n g    e y e s    f o l l o w    a p p r o a c h i n g    f o o t s t e p s    . . .

     “  hope you’re not try’na be a sneak.          it’s unbecoming. ”  

                                                     a warning laced with poison.                                                       she stands by the window.                                                      no cane. no fear.

     friend or foe, they’ve got      one thing       she’s after.

                                          “ got a light ? ”

( jodie comer, gorgon, she/her & cisfemale ) is that ( bad reputation ) by joan jett & the blackhearts ) playing? (clementine cornelia carmichael ) must be nearby! heard folks say the ( one hundred fifty ) year old ( ex-mercenary ) was at the thanksgiving fair, ( lightin’ a cigarette by the kiddie play pen ) when chaos ensued. during the glitch, ( she dropped her cane while jumped by some no-good, possessed werecreatures, ‘til a mystery someone swooped her off to safety ).

b a c k g r o u n d .

clementine cornelia carmichael was the second of two daughters born to the carmichael family in georgia... and the disappointment starts there. her parents had been vying for a son, but alas –– with one x chromosome too many, they had no choice but to amend their planned wills. their family fortune, derived from plantation money, would go to the first daughter to marry, and her husband.

the catch. clementine didn’t know about this policy. only her older sister ( wanted connection ) was aware. so when clementine married her first husband, jeb, at 16, her older sister began brainstorming ways to sabotage their marriage to get the inheritance back in her name. it began with petty things. flubbing house parties. planting rumors. attempting to seduce jeb. eventually, it became clear this love was strong and she wouldn’t break it alone.

and then her lucky break struck. jeb and clementine’s efforts to have a child grew more desperate in the third year of their marriage. by 19, clementine had two miscarriages and narrowly escaped with her life. little did she know, getting so close to death activated a dormant gene in her...

all carmichael women are gorgons. her older sister knew about the family lore but clementine had never bothered to listen to her mother’s old tales of men turned to stone. it was only folk tales, old wive’s tales designed to scare both daughters into staying prim, proper, and well-behaved.

imagine her shock when, while they were making love, jeb turned to stone. talk about yikes. clementine flipped. her older sister came to the rescue –– with a pick axe and a sledgehammer. the two women pulverized the stone and buried it in an urn in the back yard of the young couple’s yard. widowed, clementine was reduced to nothing. no joys in life presented to her. the kicker? gorgons can reverse their own stone-turnings. and her sister? the bitch bloody lied to get her hands back on the inheritance.

a year and a half later, gorgon hunters stormed the house and mistook clementine for her sister. they kidnapped her and planned to kill her, until the quick-witted lady pitched an offer they couldn’t pass up: she’d provide them with mercenary services in exchange for her life. all of a sudden, their hunting jobs got ten times easier.

clem before jeb’s death was gentle. docile. calm waters, soothing breezes, dog-eared pages come morning. now? she whipped at the world with a vengeance. why deny what she was? why fight her essence?

clem later turned her captors to stone and privatized her mercenary jobs. her body count rose and rose, with no evidence left over for incrimination. but... by the late 1960′s, she grew tired of running. tired of hunting. with fresh dust on her hands, she finished her last kill, collected her hefty bill, and used the money to relocate to tiny letum falls, oklahoma.

there, she began to help out at the garden emporium, adding to its statue collection from pure boredom. she’d go to the bars, sleep around, repeat.

in the 70′s, she met manny otero, and the two have danced around one another ever since –– fuck buddies. she’ll never admit she actually might have feelings for the man.

in september, descendants of the hunters clem worked with and killed arrived in letum falls, searching for a blonde gorgon –– they found what they were lookin’ for, but not exactly who. again, mistaken for her sister, clem was attacked and left for dead in an abandoned house by the woods. dumb asses. didn’t know a gorgon can’t die unless you behead her.

clem awoke from the incident bloodied and blind. she can make out light and some loose peripheral shadows, but the blows to her head damaged her optical nerves enough to render her legally blind. she begrudgingly carries a cane when absolutely necessary, but she’ll more often than not defy using it by just... struggling her way through things. it’s messy. inelegant. but she’d rather stumble and trip than admit she needs assistance.

unlike other people, who might view tragedy as a way to make amends and realign with the world, clem’s attack just fueled her fire. she’s agitated. bristly. ready to snap at anyone who gets too close. it’s a miracle she hasn’t done a number on manny yet, or xander. ( she’s got a bit of a soft spot for the guy. )

t h e     f a i r .

she went ‘cause everyone expected her not to. idiots. of course she was going to prove assholes wrong. of course she was going to light up a few cigs near the kiddie play pen. who do you think she is ?  a changed woman ?

like clockwork, the first screams rang out when clem finally heard her lighter catch. so she took her time. lit the cigarette, took a looooooong drag. then came the footsteps. the snarls. the corner of her lips turned up in the teeniest of smirks.

she smelled it before she felt it. the blood. but just as soon as the pain blossomed ‘round her right forearm and shoulder, she was being pulled in the opposite direction. practically carried.

yeah. someone saved her ass. and she’s pissed about it.

c u r r e n t l y .

spends her time drinking, smoking, ‘n adding to brooks baker’s gray clouds over at the bakery. when she’s not there, you can find her sitting in her favorite diner booth sipping her umpteenth black coffee or tearin’ into a big fat slice of key lime pie.

aw. you scared ?  you think some big bad glitch is gonna come back to take you, too ? cry her a river, hun. this ain’t nothing.

the local bartenders already know to pour her a double whiskey, straight as soon as she walks in the door. clem’s got this presence about her –– she turns heads and makes ‘em want to turn away all in one go.

c u r r e n t     c o n n e c t i o n s .

fuck buddy / savior – manny otero.  she’s got him right where she wants him... in bed. these two ooze libido and become a show almost anywhere they go. sometimes she’ll let him buy her a drink. other times, it’s just easier to cut to the chase. since becoming blind, things with manny haven’t changed much, and clem’s thankful for that. little does she know, he’s the asshole who saved her life at the fair.

unlikely ally – xander chapell.  these two share late night cigs after clem gets some and, xander, well... does not, due to a variety of freak and unfortunate incidents. often clem barging in pre-bang. they have a special trust between them. xander opened up to clem about losing bez the night after the glitch. and she opened up to him, a little, about her past. it’s uncanny. but their bond works.

w a n t e d     c o n n e c t i o n s .

enemies.  give me people who really rub clem the wrong way. it ain’t hard to do.

her older sister.  their relationship is dysfunctional. deceptive. manipulative. you’d think they were the heads of opposing armies, not borne from the same flesh and blood. surprise surprise, clem has since uncovered a gorgon’s ability to reverse their changes. needless to say, she’s wanting to seek some kind of comeuppance. the issue? her older sister has been the only person to succeed in forcing help on her after losing her sight. and killing her own caretaker? that’d look pretty gnarly, from the outside lookin’ in.

drinking crew.  they’re not close, but they share a dark sense of humor and a penchant for dullin’ the senses.

garden emporium customers.  i would love to have a connection whose relative / dog / etc. were turned to stone and showed up at the emporium the very same week they decided to snag some kind of lawn ornament to complement their new landscaping... let’s make it crunchy, and awkward, and terrible.

hookups / past flings.  she’s been here a while. been around the world for a while. so i reckon while her body count for kills is high, her body count for beddin’ gives it a run for its money.

mentor / mentee type of thing.  someone’s looking to learn from her. why ?  who knows. but she’ll offer ill-founded advice and bitter philosophies. doesn’t have a good reason not to.

[drpepperwithcream]

It’s Over...

Y’all wanted that depressing content, so I’m going to deal it out. Again, totally not a content dealer, but I’ll just leave this here. I accept tears as payment.

Warning: Character death.

Life happens in the blink of an eye. Louis has always experienced it in a negative light. When his parents shipped him off to boarding school, to when the world went to shit, to his best friend getting shot in the head… and now the one that he loved was lost… then lost again…

Louis walked down the steps of the rundown boarding school’s admin building. It was barely past sunset, but everyone at the school had turned in due to them all being in a depressed funk… Especially, three people… four if you count animals. He walked out the front doors and veered right towards the graveyard as he replayed the events leading up to the newest grave… Clementine.

Two days ago, she was fishing with Violet when walkers surrounded them. They fought off the best they could, but there were so many. Violet saw Clementine stab a walker in the head then another walker grabbed Clem’s arm and bit into it. Violet tried to run to her so she could help Clem get out of there, but because of Clem’s shouts the walkers all closed in on her. Clementine yelled at Violet to run… And she did.

Violet came back to the school almost in tears and quickly explained the situation to Louis, Ruby, and Assim before the four of them ran back to the stream to hopefully save Clem by cutting off her arm, but when they got there… they were too late. Clementine was dead. All the walkers tore her to shreds and what was left of her turned into one of them. They killed all the walkers aside from Clementine, but fuck, the damage the walkers have done to her was horrifying and left her barely mobile. The sight of her like that; bloody, torn apart, white eyes; it made them all sick, especially Louis.

The only gun they had was AJ’s and they didn’t want him to put Clementine down. They had arrows, though, and Louis stepped up to put her down… despite feeling so much pain. He aimed the arrow at her head before closing his eyes and turning away from Clementine, forcing tears to come out. He let go, and he heard her walker growls go silent.

Assim got the arrow out of Clem’s head while Ruby went into the shack to grab a sheet to wrap Clem up in so they could bring her back. Violet held Clem’s hand as she sobbed and Louis let the bow fall from his hand and sat with Vi.

Next thing Louis knew, he was carrying Clem’s wrapped body back to Ericson’s. He and Violet were the ones who broke the news to AJ and he blamed himself for not being there for Clem. Louis tried to assure him that it wasn’t his fault, and Louis did everything he could to not blame Violet. At least not until after Clem’s funeral when Louis said something. He blamed her for Clementine’s death. He knows that it’s unfair, hell, even Violet said so in their fight, but he didn’t care. She was dead, and he was mad and upset… It was like losing Marlon all over again, except he loved her.

Louis sighed as he looked down at Clementine’s grave. Rosie was laying on top of her grave. He found it odd that despite Clem’s initial fear of dogs, she got over it and Rosie looked up to her after Marlon died. Louis knelt down to pet the depressed dog. The poor girl lost two owners over the course of a year.

His eyes glanced up to the top of the bell tower where he could see Violet’s legs hanging off the edge with her laying down. She was the second of the four who was extremely distraught over Clem’s death. She hasn’t spoken a word to anyone and she’s been avoiding him ever since their fight. He was sorry about the words he said to her, about how everyone she loves dies. Clementine was her girlfriend and they’ve been together since the raiders attacked. Up there on the bell tower was their spot. Violet just wanted to relive some of their moments together.

Louis stood up and headed towards the dorms. All he could hear was silence, a sad kind of quiet. He walked down the hall towards Clem and AJ’s room. He saw their door was cracked open and he peaked in to see Tenn consoling AJ on Clementine’s bed. AJ was the third person. The poor kid lost the one person he looked up to. Clem was like a mother to him, she taught him everything he knows, but the poor kid is having a hard time accepting that there wasn’t anything he could have done to save her. Louis didn’t want to intrude on the boys.

He quietly backed away and headed to the only place where he felt safe, where he can let all his emotions out because he was the fourth person. Louis entered the piano room and sat down on the bench. Clementine was his friend, and having to kill her and carry her back took a toll on him. After he broke the news to AJ he had time before Clem’s funeral to go cry in the piano room alone. Because Clem wasn’t just a friend to him.

He loved her. Even after she began to date Violet, he still loved her. He was in love with her. The day of the raider attack when Clem admitted she liked someone, Louis was hoping it was him, but it wasn’t… It was Vi. He was happy for Violet, especially after losing Minnie, he was glad she found love again, but it just so happened to be with the girl he fell in love with.

Louis did everything for Clem. When she needed an extra hand, he was there to help. When she and Vi got in a fight, he was there for her. When she needed someone to watch over AJ, he was the number one babysitter. He always meant to tell her how he felt. Despite her being in love with Violet, he hated keeping his emotions from her. He loved her, and he couldn’t stop loving her.

He was glad he never got jealous in front of them, but it all surfaced when he and Vi fought. She had Clem’s heart, Clementine’s last moment was making sure the one she loved got out of there alive. And his jealousy mixed with the anger of not being able to be with her or tell her how he felt, and the sadness of having to kill, carry, and mourn over Clem just all manifested into the fight he had with Vi.

Louis pressed a key on the piano. He felt so much for her, even now that she’s gone, he just wished he could be with her. If only for five minutes, he’d tell her how he felt. Louis wouldn’t care if she didn’t feel the same way, he just didn’t want this weight to weigh on him anymore. He pressed another key and sighed. His heart ached, and when he felt down, when everything felt like it was over, he’d turn to music… It’s over…

God, he hadn’t played that song since everything started, but right now he related so much with it that he needed to let something out. And this song gave his feelings and emotions life.

Louis lifted his hands to the right keys and began playing.

“I was fine, with the men, Who would come into her life now and again, I was fine, ‘cause I knew, That they didn’t really matter until you,

I was fine, when you came, And we fought like it was all some silly game, Over her, who she’d choose, After all those years, I never thought I’d lose,

It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?

It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?

You won, and she chose you, And she loved you, And she’s gone, It’s over, isn’t it? Why can’t I move on?

War and glory, reinvention, Fusion, freedom, her attention, Out in daylight, my potential, Bold, precise, experimental,

Who am I now in this world without her? Petty and dull, with the nerve to doubt her, What does it matter? It’s already done, Now I’ve got to be there for her son,

It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?

It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?

You won, and she chose you, And she loved you, And she’s gone!”

Louis felt tears stream down his face.

“It’s over, isn’t it? Why can’t I move on?

It’s over, isn’t it? Why can’t I move on?”

He finished playing the last few notes then breathed. Louis lifted a hand to face to wipe his tears and he set his elbows on the piano and the instrument let out a bunch of long jumbled notes. After the notes stopped playing-

“Louis…”

He turned his head to see Violet standing in the doorway. They didn’t say anything for a while, then she spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

She understood why he was so pissed at her. Their fight made more sense because it was out of love. Louis lost the one he loved to his friend, then he lost her again to this fucked up world.

“Vi… Just…” Louis wanted to forgive her for Clem’s death. He was jealous of Vi because she got to hold her for all those months. He wished it was him. He wished he was there to protect her. But at the end of the day, Louis couldn’t fault Clem for falling in love with Violet, and he didn’t blame Violet for that, but she was there in Clem’s final moments. She left her to die. “I need time.”

He heard footsteps leave. He glanced at the doorway to see her gone. Once again he was alone.

It was over… wasn’t it?

You know when you find a song that fits SO perfectly? Song belongs to Steven Universe.

[we-are-richmond]

No Rest E4 C2

This could’ve been a lot better written...but oh well

 I looked at the woman wide eyed, and in fear. The pit? What was the pit?! The woman called Bridgette earlier grabbed my arms, causing me to gasp loudly. "NO!" I exclaimed, struggling against the woman. The bandit leader looked down at me unamused as I struggled to get free. "LET ME GO!" I shouted, yanking one arm free. The woman let out a loud yelp as I swung my elbow into her face. When she let me go, I ran forward panting. I had to get away. The leader growled angrily at my attempt, pulling out her gun.  "Look out kid!" Andy shouted. I whipped around panicked, and a sudden force sent me to the ground. A pained gasp escaped my lip, looking around frantically to figure out what just happened. The side of my head felt sticky, and my ear hurt. Was I shoot in the side of the head?  The bandit leader stomped over to me, clutching her gun. "You going one way or another you little shit." She growled, swinging her gun at my head, knocking me out cold.  "Is he breathing?" "I don't know. Kid was stupid to attack Alice like that." "Make sure he lives, we all know Ivanova won't be happy if she doesn't get her pit fight." "Probably should've kept that other woman alive, the one Nicholas shoot yesterday. She looked like she would have been a good one."  "Ah...wha..?" I whimpered, my head throbbing in pain. Slowly I began to open my eyes, the brown orbs observing the area around me. I was in a RV of sorts, and I almost hoped I was back at that dumb campsite.  Andy and Clint arguing about vegetables. The kids running around the lake, splashing each other. Jade tinkering with her truck. Liam would come up behind her, Jack in her arms, laughing and giggling. The woman would get off, smiling at her family. Joan would smile at the children, stepping out the RV with a cake in her arms. I'd stand there, watching the everyone live. Clementine would walk over, taking a seat besides me.  And then I'd see Mari climbing out of her text, taking a seat across from me, holding her cassette player. Kate would sit besides her, braiding my little sisters hair. Over by the forest line I could see uncle Javi catching with dad. Dad would look at Javi, wrapping an arm around his brother. Uncle Javi grinned, ruffling my dads hair.  Ava walked over to me and Clem, AJ resting in her arms. The small baby giggled, reaching out for Clementine. She grinned, getting up, taking the boy in her arms. Ava chuckled, patting Clem on top of the head. Clem beamed, getting up from her spot besides me. She made her way over to the bench.  Eleanor and Tripp smiled at the girl, waving. Tripp had an arm wrapped around Eleanor, while the small woman had both hands resting on her belly. The large man grinned, pecking his love on the face. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Conrad stepping over, two wine glasses in his hand. Francine smiled at her love, getting up from the grass.  A whimper escaped my throat from both the pain and the thought of them. Tears burned at my eyes, and I broke. I broke down like a complete baby. I missed my sister so much. I wanted Kate come back. I needed my dad to come back!  My senses were brought back wildly, when a hand struck it self across my face. I looked wide eyed in panic, staring at the woman before me. As if my head didn't hurt enough as it already did. The woman I had hit before hand, glared down at me. "Get up ya little shit. It's time to get ya ready for the pit." She growled out.  Within seconds I was lifted back up to my feet, looking in fear at the group before me. "Don't think your so tough now do you?" Alice hissed, looking me right in the eyes. "Don't harm him to much Alice, we need him ready for the pit. Ivanova's pissed off enough as it is." A man from across the tent explained. What was this pit they kept talking about?!  "W-What..?" I began before being hit again. My body shook, my hand cradling my cheek. "Please stop hitting me..." I whimpered, holding my arms up defensively. Alice raised her hand again, only to have it grabbed by the man from before. "Stop, I'll take him there sense you clearly can't handle the damn kid." He hissed out. Alice glared, yanking her arm free.  The tall man looked down at me, taking me by the shoulder. I looked up at him fearfully, and he ushured me forward. Not wanting to be hurt more then I already had been. "Things here are crazy. But you gotta listen boy, because there are people worse then Alice. You'll find out soon enough."  I was trapped in another settlemnent. By a insane leader that enjoys others pain. All for the sake of their own entertainment. Only this time, there was no Ava. No Mari or dad to keep me sane and safe. There was no one but me in this hell.  My breather hitched as I struggled not to cry. It was so hard to stay strong. All I wanted was to get my dad back, and now I was being put in this arena.  The man pushed me into a small tent, walking over to a wall. I looked at him nervously as he pulled out a knife. He walked over, slicing the bonds off my wrist. Hesitant of the man, I began to rub my wrist nervously. "For...this pit...do I..get any protection?" I questioned. "You use what you find." He took my arm once more, approaching the end of the tent.  We exited the back of the tent, towards a path. Alongside the trail, was a large dug in pit...just as they had called it. Bandit members stood alongside the edge, watching as I was forced forward. A sick twisted joy sprawled on their faces. Ahead of the path was a wooden structure, standing on it was Ivanova and some of her other members.  The leader glared down at me, watching as we walked over. "Attention my people, you have waited long enough. For a choosen one to be selected. Selected for the pit!" Ivanova shouted towards the bandits. The people all cheered loudly, grinning. I continued to walk forward, terrified of what was going to happen to me. The man lead me towards the ledge, and I could only gaze down the pit in worry.  "Sorry bout this kid." Before I could react I was shoved forward, tumbling down the hill. I gasped in pain, holding my side as I looked around in panic. Everyone cheered at my misery, chackling at the despair on my face.  "Release the walkers!" Ivanova bellowed loudly. Two people stood above the pit, pulling up a wooden grate that was blocked off a hole. My eyes widened as muertos began to pull out. "Let's see if he can survive the pit!"

[enguardebitch]

top 3 twdg episodes?

1. No Time Left. Although this episode was shorter than all the others, and had parts where I felt were quickly glossed over just to get to the end, it doesn’t affect my utter love for this episode. In all the video games that I played, none really broke me like No Time Left did, and all the things that you did over the course of the season came to a point when you confronted the man who took the only thing left that Lee had, Clementine. 

All your relationships with the characters, all the arguments that you took a side in or even stayed on the bench, you see that they had an effect on the people around you, especially Kenny and Clementine. Even Ben, who is a determinate character in this episode, was given the chance to grow even after his potential death, and he could finally tell Kenny that even though he was suffering, so was Ben, so was everyone else, and that Ben was sorry for what he done. Behind Clementine and Lee’s relationship, the relationship between Kenny and Ben was my close second simply because of how this episode took it.

Even the villain was a well thought villain simply because he was just a man trying to survive in a world that broke him, just like Lee and Kenny and Lilly and Clementine and everyone else that we had met. He became a villain because of the actions of the main character and his group, the protagonist who in most games is saw as the hero of the story, and the episode twisted the typical role of the protagonist by having the villain rightfully telling Lee what he did wrong throughout the game. While some reasons are not as powerful if you played Lee a certain way, you most certainly felt the punch if you played Lee another way because the episode is basically telling you that this broken man can easily become anyone that you know and love, even the “hero” himself is no different to the “villain” because that’s the world they live in now.

Finally, the ending. The fact that we played as Lee, that we saw ourselves in this character and that we know that he is going to die, it does not make the actual event any easier to handle when it finally comes. When Lee is lying in that jewellery shop with Clementine begging him to get up, we find ourselves right there with her begging Lee to get up, to keep on fighting when we know that time is finally up for him. He simply has no time left. I have no doubt that most of the players, along with me, had cried when Clementine put Lee down/left him because he was no longer there. The player felt that loss just as much as Clementine herself did, and makes for a telling story and characters that you are able to get attached too.

2. Around Every Corner. Around The Corner was a pretty good penultimate episode for me, and that’s because it goes back to the fact that I made a lot in my answers. The choices you make all come together as in this episode when Lee has hit his lowest point, when he had lost Clementine. How you behaved to the characters around you and the choices you make tip the scales on who will risk their lives for you, and who will cut ties and stay behind. If you make certain choices earlier in the episode, Ben won’t even be there to help you save the little girl, and that’s because you didn’t save him. If you cut ties to people left right and center, you will find yourself quickly backed into a corner with no one there that you can rely on.

It’s as the episode says in the title, there’s danger literally around every corner, and it shows what happens to people who put themselves above the group or try to weed out the weak thinking that they cannot survive. Crawford was a dictatorship that decided that all people who were “weak”; the elderly, the children, the ill and the pregnant, they didn’t deserve the chance to survive, and looked what happened. One of the people that they saw as weak, that they wanted to force a difficult choice on to get rid of her unborn child, she turned and she lashed out, and no matter what Crawford spouted about the strong must survive while the weak will die, it doesn’t change the fact that their community fell because of the actions of a single “weak” member.

Also, this is the episode where Clementine’s development into who she is in the later seasons finally starts. She started to learn how to use a gun in the last episode, but she wasn’t ready mentally to actually pull the trigger, she had yet to learn that fear is what would get her killed and that she would have to confront that fear if she wanted to live. This episode is the episode where Clementine finally learns to pull the trigger, and the next episode concludes this by having Clementine take her first life. It’s a horrible lesson for a young child to learn, but it was a lesson that she needed to learn nonetheless.

Also, it introduces a character that, to me, felt like she was meant to be the action packed loner stereotype that you see so often in these types of games. Molly was introduced being able to trick the intelligent Lee and get the jump on him, even if this ends up with Lee managing to fight back, it says a lot about her that she was able to know that someone was watching her and then sneak around the newspaper stand while Lee was approaching her. However, this isn’t all about Molly’s character, she’s not just this loner type with nothing else attached who’s there to show how bad ass she is. Molly tried to be compassionate, and she shows multiple times that she is capable of empathizing with other survivors and do the right thing. 

She tried to save her diabetic sister, even going as far as allowing herself to be sexually exploited just to get medicine, and in the end her sister was killed and she left the community trying to push the “survival of the fittest” mentality. She attacked people who were creeping up on her and she didn’t know them, but she stopped when a little girl begged her not to kill her guardian, and then she saved the little girl and one of the grown men who tried to put a gun to her head. Even when Clementine was out of danger, Molly went and gave Lee the means to escape rather than cutting her losses and excusing herself by saying she did all she could. Even towards the end, she allowed herself to be left behind in a crumbling city so that people that she barely knew could leave with a boat that they found, simply because she didn’t want to put them through the hard choice of deciding who had to stay behind. She sympathized, while other survivors who were meant to be sympathetic because they were ill, like the cancer group, betrayed Lee no matter what he was like and stole the only way out of the city while the group left to rescue Clementine.

3. Above The Law. There were a lot of episodes that I really liked just under the top two, but I would have to admit that Above The Law would have to be my third choice. The other episodes in A New Frontier were alright, especially after Season Two, but they were fast paced and often I didn’t really find myself bothered with what happened save for a few instances, such as Mariana’s death. It was really Above The Law that I thought that maybe Telltale had took their mistakes from the last season and improve off them, and often it was the characters and the choices that improved the experience for me.

One of these good points were Joan, the villain of the entire season who was responsible for the death of Prescott, Mariana, and nearly killing Kate after she was shot. However, we see that she was doing it for the greater good, so that the community had the supplies needed to survive until they were able to reach sustainability, but there was something off about how Joan talked about her reasons. All the episode, we’re thought to believe that the men were under David’s rules because they were soldiers, they were his men to lead, and the last person I would suspect is this old lady who’s nice and welcoming to someone, even going as far as to explain why Javier couldn’t be accepted after he murdered one of their own, or was found to be friends with a known thief who and stolen from them before.

But at the end of the episode, I could hear something off about Joan while she was explaining her reasons, or even not at all if you don’t spare Max. She didn’t sound genuine, she didn’t sound sorry for what she did, but she was saying what the other leaders wanted to hear because they didn’t want to accept that she did all these things with a guilt-free conscious, especially faced with accusers who have blood on their own hands. She manipulates them into thinking she did everything for the greater good, and if the player chooses Javier to do some morally-grey things in the previous episodes, such as killing Rufus, killing Max, bludgeoning Badger’s head to mush, and acts unremorseful for doing what he did, it’s a case of choosing between two cases of grey, there’s no one clear case. The others would go for the candidate who didn’t murder their own and break rules by getting their brother back into the community after he was exiled. This characterization is what made Joan compelling, until all of the next episode undid that just like it did with Carver in the last season. 

The choices in this episode, while some were anti-climatic, such as with the choice of keeping Mariana’s death to yourself not doing much besides pissing David off for a while, but other choices do affect the story in some way, until once again the next episodes undo all of it. Saving Max is one of the big ones for me, because I noticed that it’s one of the times in both this season, and any choice in the last season, where if Javier chooses to put his trust into someone else, to show compassion even to the face of someone who wronged him, he wasn’t punished by the person turning around and stabbing him in the back. Max did what he said he would do for Javier, he came out about all of Joan’s plans even when the punishment for this was him being exiled or even killed, and while Javier and David are still arrested, it’s not because Javier was wrong for choosing to spare someone but rather that Joan is a masterful manipulator in this episode and knew what to say to make her seem like the one in the right.

It’s like the choices in Season One, it’s harder to spare a life than it is to take a life, especially when you live in a world where taking a life may put you in a better situation. Showing compassion means that you still have your humanity, and you still have something to live for in a harsh world.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Best Executed Deaths

A few weeks ago, I did a list talking about the Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers and I thought it was only fair that I talk about some of the character deaths that I thought were actually done well. So consider this like a companion to that list. 

Like I said in that T5F, this is TWDG, a game series all about people surviving in a world overrun by zombies. Naturally, characters are going to die. Some of these characters get pretty shitty deaths that only happened to fill a quota, some had effort and thought put into them and how they were going to effect the story and remaining characters. These are deaths that served their purpose, progressed the story, or are an understandable conclusion to a character’s arc. 

Do keep in mind that when I say that I enjoy the way these were done/handled/portrayed/whatever, this isn’t me taking joy outta watching these deaths play out. Hell, I kinda hate most of the deaths on this list, but just because I don’t want this character to die or I wish they stuck around longer doesn’t mean I can’t recognize when it’s executed well, y’know? 

5. Larry and the meat locker incident

So.... Larry’s an asshole, y’know? He made it on another T5F because he sucks. No one likes Larry. 

He treats Lee like garbage, treats his own daughter terribly, and is overall just a piece of shit. That being said, he played his role well. He did what he needed to do which was be a antagonistic character within the group who posed a threat to Lee by threatening to expose his past. He creates a lot of tension within the group, he puts all this pressure on Lilly, you can’t even attempt to show any kindness to him because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself and Lilly. 

That being said.... his death scene is pretty good. Y’know, you play through ep2 for the first time and you’ve just discovered that these people are cannibals and they have you locked in a fucking meat locker so they can butcher you later, and Larry is freakin’ the fuck out because he’s pissed. Lilly is sick in the corner, Kenny is desperately trying to find a way out because they have his family, and Clementine is terrified, and Lee is just waking up. 

You go over and try to calm Larry down because he’s pounding at the door and this dude.... this bastard has the gall to be like “Fuck you, you must really hate me! I’m plannin’ on bein’ around waaaaaay after you’re dead! I’ll be the one to put you down!”

Then he has a heart attack. 

And you’re stuck in this meat locker with him. You don’t know if he’s alive or not-- Kenny immediately deems him dead, Lilly is desperately trying to resuscitate him, and they’re both yelling at you. You gotta decide if you’re gonna help Lilly try to bring him back, or if you’re gonna help Kenny make sure he doesn’t turn. 

Not matter what you do, Kenny smashes Larry’s head in with a damn saltlick because I guess he missed the opening of the episode where they remind you that your actions have consequences. 

Larry’s death has lasting effects on your relationships with both Lilly and Kenny, though more so Kenny since no matter what, Lilly loses it a little and ends up murdering Carley/Doug and leaving the group. But boy, Kenny will never forget the time you didn’t wanna play hero with him and smash a guys head in right in front of his daughter. 

It’s a damn good scene, I gotta hand it to ‘em. I hate Larry and I can’t say I miss him, but I can definitely see both sides of the argument on what to do there. Plus it’s... I dunno, a creative death? and I kinda like that? No one else is out here getting their heads done in with a saltlick, y’know? 

Anyway, Larry sucks but his death? Well done. 

4.  Minerva and the tragic showdown on the bridge

Oh man, I really am digging my own grave with the Minnie crowd lately, huh? Ah well, I’m sure it’s fine. 

Listen...okay, look. I have a lot of feelings about the bridge scene. On one hand, I hate it. On the other hand, I kind of love it? 

Like, does it piss me off that Tenn dies here because I trust AJ? Yep. Do I still wish they had maybe put Lilly here so that she could actually do her job as a villain? Sure. Does it upset me that AJ ends up shooting his best friend in order to save Louis? Totally. Does it annoy me that Minerva just won’t fucking die even though I shot her and the walkers keep nom noming her? Absolutely. 

That being said, I can’t pretend that Minerva’s death isn’t pretty great.... which I know will upset the Minnie crowd who always talk about how it’s bullshit she died here and she deserved a redemption arc... but lemme explain. 

Looking at the game itself, the text and story progression, Minerva was never going to get that. She was never set up as someone we were gonna “fix” or as someone who would have a change of heart and switch to our side. From the moment we meet her, she’s too far gone. The delta have their claws sunk deep within her, they brainwashed her, forced her to murder her own sister, and she has completely given up. She never expresses any desire to go back to the school. Nope, the delta is her home now. Her family. And it’s tragic. She and Sophie proof of what would happen to the Ericson crew if the delta go ahold of them-- “which twin will you be?” y’know? 

She fucks us over instead of actually helping us, we escape, the boat explodes, but Minerva doesn’t go down with the boat. Nope, she makes it to land and well... she fucking loses it. She sees her delta family get taken out by walkers and she goes nuts with her gun and gets half of her face chewed off by a walker.

So yeah..... she’s dead. Almost. They try to act like we’re supposed to believe that she’s really dead after she gets surrounded by walkers and throws the grenade at Clementine and all that but c’mon.... unless I see a body or a walker version, I don’t believe shit. 

Which brings me to the bridge.... there’s a lot of dread building up to Minerva’s final appearance, and you just hear her singing the damn song and bringing a bunch of walkers with her. Not to mention that she already looks dead. She looks like a walker who can talk, and not gonna lie, I like it. It’s freaky and sad and fucked up and adds so much to her character at this point. I mean, she’s here to kill Tenn so that they can all be a family again. She’s smiling and relieved that she’s dying and boy she just can’t wait to take Tenn with her and it’s not great.

She’s here to die and to take someone down with her, and she’s not leaving until she does. Hell, if she can take Clementine out, that’s just a bonus at this point. 

ALSO can’t forget that if AJ does shoot and kill Tenn, Minerva is still alive as she’s being eaten by walkers and she looks so damn happy as she reaches out and says, “Yes, come with me...” 

Like..... it’s so fucked, and I hate that I love it. From a storytelling standpoint, it’s a fitting death to conclude Minerva’s character and it impacts everyone there in more ways than one. 

3. Duck and incredible emotional impact

Oh, Duck... poor, poor Duck. 

This one has stuck with me and I hate it. I was never one of those players who hated Duck from the beginning. It’s interesting to go back and see how people reacted to him in the first couple episodes because a lot of them didn’t like him. They found Duck to be annoying, loud, stupid, and would even wonder “yeesh, when can I kill this kid?” 

Which is yikes but not gonna get into that right now. 

But from my understanding, Telltale got wind of this and knowing they were gonna kill him off, were like “Okay, y’all dumb, so here--” and they added in that little segment with Detective Duck where he helps Lee figure out what’s been going on with the stole meds. It’s a cute scene where we get to hang out with Duck and he proves that he’s not stupid, he’s just... y’know, a child. 

Then the motor inn gets attacked, shit goes down after they escape, and it’s revealed that Duck was bitten. 

Oh man, let me tell you about emotional impact both on the characters and the player because wow. 

Duck’s death is slow, drawn out...and since it’s early in the series, there’s a lot of denial, mostly from Kenny. They find the train and Kenny fixates on it because to him, if he gets it working and they can just get away, Duck can recover. Duck isn’t like the others, he’s just a little sick and everyone is making a big fuss about it. 

Then you have Katjaa, who starts out in that denial stage but she moves into acceptance a lot quicker than Kenny does and well.... that might be because she made up her mind about what she was going to do, which that is a whole other layer of fucking despair to this situation. 

They also do something that I like with Kenny by adding that depth of him believing he had something like this coming after what happened at Hershel’s farm. Y’know, when he grabbed Duck and took off, leaving Shawn to die? Yeah that. 

He’s been so adamant about protecting his family to the point where he doesn’t have anything for the rest of the group, aside from Lee if he helps kill Larry. He did what he could to keep his wife and child safe and in the end, it didn’t matter. Duck still got bit, and now everything is shit. 

Then when you thought it couldn’t hurt even more, you find Katjaa dead in the woods and you still have to take care of Duck, whether you have Lee shoot him or have Kenny do it, or even just leave him to turn. Either way.... Duck’s death is just one big ol’ despairing oof.

It’s really good, guys. The music, dialogue, scenery, the pain....They really nailed Duck’s death in such an emotional way and it doesn’t just end there. This sticks with Kenny all the way through S2 and changes him as a character. It impacted Clementine and Lee greatly because this kickstarted Chuck telling them that Clem would end up just like Duck if things didn’t change. 

S1 just... knew how to kill off its characters... well, for the most part. 

2. Marlon and the death that had to happen whether we like it or not

Sigh.... okay. 

So... Marlon. Lemme tell you some things about Marlon’s death. 

First, I hate it. Nothing new there. If you know anything about me, you know that I am vocal in my desire for the Marlon redemption arc, for the “Marlon lives” AU’s and the “Marlon lives longer but dies differently” AU’s. I like Marlon as a character, I find him to be a fascinating character study. Ray Chase’s performance as Marlon brings so much personality and I love it.  So naturally, I wanted more of him in TFS. 

Here’s the thing. I may want all of those things, I may take a lot of joy from discussing these ideas with you guys and coming up with different scenarios,  theories, AU’s about him, and I’ll always be the first one to be like “I hate that Marlon dies in ep1, I wish AJ hadn’t shot him! Woulda liked for him to stick around longer!” 

But with the story TFS is trying to tell, Marlon has to die. AJ has to shoot him. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, no one likes it.... but that’s just how it is. 

Marlon is presented to us as this chill and genuine guy trying to keep his group safe and together. He feels the pressure of being responsible for all the lives in this school and that’s a lot to put on a teen growing up in the apocalypse. 

Then we learn that hey, the twins didn’t die. No, last year they ran into Abel and Marlon made a deal with him where he traded the twins in order to save himself, Brody, and the rest of the school. He wanted to plan a rescue mission, but he was too scared, so he and Brody kept it to themselves. They made up a story about the twins dying and moved on, but that continued to weigh down on them. 

Then Abel comes back, Brody freaks out, tells Clementine the truth, and Marlon hits her so hard that it kills her. 

And it gets worse. 

You go through the whole confrontation with Marlon trying to cover his ass and blame Clementine for Brody’s murder, he’s waving AJ’s gun around and threatening to shoot Clem while everyone is gathered around watching. It’s raining, it’s super dramatic and tense and I love it. 

In the end, Marlon gives up and he just wants to leave. Let him become a bad memory, he’ll never come back, just let him go. 

Then AJ shoots him in the head unprompted. He just.... he just does it and then wonders why everyone is looking at him like he’s a murder baby. 

Marlon’s death is crucial, not just to kickstart the plot but also for AJ’s character arc. His death affects everyone in that school. It makes Clementine question herself and if she’s raising AJ right, it breaks Louis’ heart, it pisses off Mitch, it sets Violet off on her bullshit. Everyone is hurting and confused because they don’t know what to do. Marlon is dead and AJ, this tiny toddler, was the one who pulled the trigger. 

From the beginning, we’re told that AJ is always listening, watching, and what we do will affect him for better or worse.... and maybe you don’t think much when you tell him to always aim for them head, but when he says exactly what you taught him after murdering Marlon...? Yeah, you’re sitting there like “Well, fuck.” 

But if this didn’t happen, if AJ didn’t kill Marlon, then.... there’s not a lot left. Sure the raiders are still coming, but AJ no longer has to go through what he has to or realize how much he hurt everyone. He’s no longer on that path that made him such an interesting and layered character. 

Sure, you coulda made him shoot someone else, but the fact that it was Marlon is what made it impactful.

Ugh, it’s good and I hate it. I hate it so much. 

1. Lee and the death that broke all our hearts

.......Just-

-y’know?

What else is there to say?

Well, alright, I’ll explain. 

We play as Lee in S1, we go on this whole journey with him and develop him as a character, establish relationships, and care for Clementine. He’s a great character. I did a list on why he’s great, too, if you wanna check that out but all you really need to know is that we all loved Lee.

Lee’s got a lot of baggage, given that he was on his way to prison for murdering the dude who was sleeping with his wife. But then the apocalypse happened and he got a second chance to do some good... or I guess bad? if you do a scumbag Lee run? 

Anyway-- no matter what, he cares for Clementine and it’s nice to see them bond over the course of the season... so when shit hits the fan and Clementine gets kidnapped by the Stranger, we’re just as upset as Lee is.

Then Lee gets bit.... and we realize that even though he’s our playable protagonist, he was never safe either. He gets bit and I can still remember the feeling of like... a bowling ball dropping in my stomach and my heart hurting because no... no, no, not Lee. I basically became Kenny like “No, he’s different! Lee isn’t gonna die! Being bit doesn’t mean death!” and while that is technically true.... had to face it: Lee’s going to die by the end of the season. 

Ep5 of S1 is a whole journey... We’re dealing with trying to save Clementine while seeing Lee get worse and worse-- he’s passing out, he’s growing paler and slower and it’s hard to watch. You maybe get a little bit of hope if you decide to cut his arm off, but that’s just... it’s too late for that. 

Not only is he fighting this, but then you got Ben who gets impaled and Kenny “dies” putting him outta his misery and Lee’s powerless to do anything. So great, that sucks. 

But at least he’s got Christa and Omid.... until they get separated at the Marsh House and Lee’s gotta get through a herd of them by himself. 

This slow burn is so good. His condition gets progressively worse but he’s so determined to get to Clem that it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have time to think about what is inevitably going to happen to him, even if the player does. 

And just.... the final scene... y’know, the actual death scene? 

It’s so good. It’s a beautiful, emotional punch in the face. Like, way to end your game like this... Lee is trapped her with Clementine and he can’t walk, he can’t get up no matter how much Clementine begs him to try, he just- he can’t. He knows it’s all over for him and so he has her handcuff him to this heater so that no matter what, he can’t hurt her and just.... their final moments together where Lee is minutes away from death but is struggling to tell her as much as he can and I’m crying.

Then of course, the final choice-- Do you shoot Lee, or do you leave him to turn?

Both ending hurt my soul, but they’re both great in different ways. Shooting him is so heartbreaking... seeing little Clem sobbing as she points the gun at him and closes her eyes, then it cuts to black as the shot rings out and you hear Lee’s final breath....

BUT THEN YOU HAVE THE LEAVE HIM ENDING WHICH-

Lee manages to tell her more when you choose not to shoot him, but just watching Clementine get to the door and her little “don’t go” before Lee closes his eyes and falls over limp... falls over dead, I just--

Ouch... I am applauding this through my ugly sobs. 

It’s the best death in the series. It has everything and then some- emotional impact, works to progress the story and characters, amazing dialogue and performances.... It still gets me to this day. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Mark’s death technically happens off screen, but I mean, c’mon... Mark wasn’t the most compelling character, but everyone remembers what happened to him. Everyone remembers walker Mark. What happened to him showed us just how fucked the St Johns were and it’s excellent.  -Brody’s death is pretty good, too.  -Abel’s death is an interesting one. He’s a garbage can, but they managed to humanize him just a bit by the way he hands his soon-to-be demise.  -Badger when Conrad kills him. It’s super good.  -I’m looking over this list now and it’s kinda funny that not a single S2 death made it here... it’s almost like all the character death that happened there was because a quota needed to be filled and who cares about complex character development when you got Kenny and nothing really matters I guess... ugh. The best deaths would probably be Carver, and Kenny when you shoot him but they’re not good enough to be in a top 5 so.... good job.

---

So... that was fun. What do you guys think? Do you agree with my choices or nah? Do you have a favorite death I didn’t list that you thought was well executed? Let me know, I’m curious. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

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Next week’s T5F

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

hot take: Louis and Violet's "friendship" is one-sided and poorly written. The only reason its considered a "brOTP" is because the fandom writes the friendhsip better than Telltale did.

I mean... you’re not wrong, anon, hahaha.

In fact, I totally agree that their friendship isn’t well developed within the game, and because of that, it feels one-sided. 

They have the chemistry of two friends who care about each other, but the game doesn’t feel the need to show or develop this further than light banter and a couple of mini-monologues from Louis and Violet when you save them, monologues that don’t even add up with the character actions...

Both card games are great. They get along well there, but the rest of the time? Ehhhhh....

If Violet isn’t putting Louis down to his face, she’s doing it behind his back, and Louis doesn’t trust her enough to even tell her why he wants to board up the back wall later instead of right that minute, which means he’s probably not as open with her as we once thought. 

Violet’s so pissed about Marlon that she can’t be bothered to take in the fact that Louis is mourning/traumatized from his death, which results in her calling him names, degrading him in front of others, and shit-talking Marlon right in front of him, which he does call her out for. Because Louis is still processing everything about what Marlon did to the twins and Brody and why AJ felt the need to shoot him after he gave up, he’s just as angry and upset and doesn’t know what to do so he votes to kick Clementine and AJ out, even if he knows that he doesn’t actually hate them or really want them to leave. He doesn’t know what he wants, he’s just all over the place. This pisses Violet off because she wants them to stay for her own more selfish reasons which blind her to the fact that AJ murdering someone, even someone like Marlon, the way he did is bad.

They’re both on the extreme sides of this, and they’re both wrong. Just gonna throw that out there-- Louis and Violet are both wrong here. I lean more in Louis’ favor than Violet’s because I don’t agree with Violet’s idea that AJ did nothing wrong, but ultimately kicking Clem and AJ out isn’t the best choice of action here. But that doesn’t mean AJ is justified in what he did and he needs to know that. 

After all the nonsense, these two spend two weeks bickering about this and that while under the stress of raiders wanting to take them away. Because of that they never reconciled and don’t do anything close to that until the card game. Nope, they’re just arguing because Violet won’t shut her mouth and listen and Louis won’t open his mouth and be honest. 

Communication is their biggest struggle.

Then where the imbalance really starts to shine through is when you play both routes, and see that what Louis is telling us about Violet isn’t exactly what the game portrays. He talks about how if he needed her, Violet would be there,  meat cleaver in hand, ready to protect him... buuuuut when you save Violet, she completely forgets that Louis exists once we get on the boat. She never asks if he’s okay or how he’s doing, and when she reunites with Clementine after the cave scene, she has nothing to say about him losing his tongue. The most we get out of her is that weak little “Lou” that’s honestly just.... pathetic. And she certainly does nothing to help or protect him after he's tongueless, bleeding out, and can barely walk, choosing to stay with Minerva instead. 

It doesn’t help that she seems to be facing him with a cleaver more times than protecting him with it. Y’know... after AJ shoots Marlon and Louis is distressed and everyone’s looking at Clementine, Violet pulls out her cleaver on Louis and the others and steps in front of AJ... who the group isn’t even looking at and wouldn’t even attack. So, good job there. 

If they wanted this to make sense without it coming off like Louis and Violet’s friendship is one-sided... maybe have her ditch the ex-girlfriend who tried to murder Clementine and help Louis get off the boat? Oh, that messes up your “we gotta have Louis save Clem on the beach and Violet to crawl up shore no matter the player choice” nonsense? Oh, my bad, you’re right. We’ll just settle for it being bad then. 

And the thing is... Violet’s talk about Louis isn’t entirely accurate, either, though it does appear more so than Louis’ talk about her based on his actions. She talks about how Louis actually cares about people, which IS true. He’s proved many times that he cares about and values those around him more than he does himself. Unlike Violet, he does ask if she’s okay when they’re stuck on the boat and will tell Clementine that her eyes aren’t infected. He’s also the one to hold her hand and guide her back to the group after the explosion. 

And we all know how honest he is about his feelings with Clementine after they start a relationship, which makes Violet’s idea that when Louis cares about someone, he doesn’t just feel it, he says it. 

But the idea that he’ll just always say how he feels, scream it, sing it isn’t.... quite there? Okay, how do I explain this... he’s honest and loud when he’s pissed or distressed, but when he’s not...? Louis isn’t open with how he cares about others he doesn’t have the same deep connection with unless he’s stressed, upset, or has quiet, one on one time with them, and even then it can be hard for him to come out and say it because he feels like they’re not really hearing him. Y’know... like every conversation he has with Violet ever. 

I mean, Louis barely shares anything significant with Clementine until they go hunting and he tells her about how he believes they all have one thing: this moment, and as if realizing he’s shared too much, he switches his persona back on and pushes her away back over to Aasim. He does a little friendly flirting but even that doesn’t always come the easiest [like when he asked if she ever had a boyfriend] and it doesn’t become more serious until much later. 

Then we don’t get much from him and his feelings for her until the talk in the quiet talk in the dorms, then he opens up more about Marlon after the two-week time skip during shooting practice, and eventually breaking down the entire wall and being open and vulnerable with her in the piano room. But it takes effort to get there, and it’s quiet. That’s the thing-- he’s not shouting anything or singing or whatever because that’s the persona. When he sings Oh My Darling to Clem in ep1, it’s cute and fun and all, but it’s not as real as when he sits down and plays Don’t Be Afraid in ep3. That’s quiet, emotional, and more him, and the only time the group is sitting down and actively listening.

This makes me believe that Violet truly thinks that Louis is loud and always honest about his feelings is based on the outer wall of his that she sees every day rather than what’s beyond the wall... if that makes any sense. Hell, the same could be said for him. You could argue they’re both just seeing what the other wants them to see. 

So this whole thing makes me wonder if these two just don’t really know each other the way they think they do.... which is interesting. Like, with everything said, I don’t actually doubt that they care about each other and have their own ways of showing it, I’m just throwing doubt at the game for not expanding on this friendship outside of banter and the verses thing they got going on. 

So yeah... brotp within the game itself? Probably not. But that’s fine, we have a community that goes them justice to help fill the void. Fanon brotp Louis/Violet is enjoyable and I love it. :) 

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

hey CJ since we’re getting ep4 next week, can you list all of your possible theories/predictions for episode 4 ? how the episode will start, how it will end, deaths, scenes, and what not :)

*deep inhale* 

buckle in

it’s a long one

You know what I’ve noticed? We haven’t had a single walker death, have we?

Marlon killed Brody, AJ killed Marlon, Lilly killed Mitch [😭], Clementine killed Abel, Louis killed Dorian, AJ killed Lilly/ Lilly killed James, we’ve blown up who knows how many delta soldiers but…

No one has died from a walker bite or walker attack, and we haven’t had to deal with a bite victim in our group.

Which… is weird, right? Just me? All three of the previous seasons had ‘em.

S1: Girl in the motor-in, Doug/Carly, Duck, Brie, Lee

S2: Pete, Sarita, Carlos, Nick, Luke, Sarah

S3: In all of the endings, Kate, David, and Gabe [and Javi, if you count the fake-out ending] can be killed by a bite/turned into a walker. [Also Conrad can die to the walkers in one of his many deaths]

So… s4 gives us?? A bitten Abel?? But it’s determinate and he lives anyway?

This just kind of makes me think that we might get one in episode 4 since we haven’t had to deal with it. Then again, they might just be going for the whole “humanity is more dangerous than walkers” thing, but for the sake of argument…

I don’t think Clementine will be canonically bitten like Lee was. By that I mean she may get bitten if that’s what prompts one of the endings. Same thing with AJ.

I’m thinking that one of the kids might get bit, and I’ve narrowed it down to Tenn and Minerva.

Tenn because I feel he would be the most tragic and it could really show us what kind of AJ we’ve created.

Maybe AJ’s super cold and just… shoots Tenn before anyone gets to say goodbye because “what do you do when someone’s bit?” and it doesn’t really affect him all that much even tho he considered him his friend.

Or, maybe AJ’s legitimately heartbroken that his friend is bitten and doesn’t want him to die and we see our kid just… cry over his friend.  

Or maybe there’s a happy [?] medium where AJ’s upset but he knows what has to be done, so he says his goodbyes, lets everyone say their goodbyes, and then whoever [most likely Clem] puts him down. 

As for Minerva, if she survives the explosion, might get bit as some sort of “redemption” by saving Tenn or whoever.  

Lilly / James Endings

So, I’ve already discussed the whole Lilly vs James choice in previous asks so I’ll just summarize my best guess as to what they may do as far as the outcomes. I think with this choice, we may be choosing our final antagonist.

[spare Lilly] I doubt they’ll just kill her off in the explosion because she’s fucking Lilly and the devs said they’re straying away from choice payoffs like that.

I think she’ll be “missing” as in when we wake up we may not see her [unless she is there and attacks us and we have to escape her again] and she’ll gather up any delta survivors to get revenge and possibly take AJ [assuming they’re going for the s1 parallel of kidnapping a child] and then we’ll have a final battle with her.

I’m hoping it’s by the barn so that we can bash her brains in with the salt lick like WHY ELSE WOULD THEY SHOW IT TO US?? 

Lemme look her in the eye while Clementine holds the salt lick over her head and say, 

“Larry bled like a fucking pig, and so will you.”

Fuck Lilly jfc

[shoot Lilly] Again, I doubt if we save James that he’ll be killed off during the explosion, but we’ll get separated. 

after an intense escape scene and I think we’ll meet up with some of the group [Louis/Violet, Aasim, Omar] but no one else is accounted for but there are too many walkers drawn in from the explosion to stay put and look.

Clementine might send everyone back to the school while she searches for AJ because I don’t see her just assuming that he made it back without looking. But, when we get to the school be to find that [hopefully] everyone made it back okay [more or less] except AJ and James.

Which prompts a “Oh shit, we have to go find them!”

Whether they’ll go through with the ‘kidnapping’ part of it, I dunno, since it’s been pointed out that James doesn’t really seem like the type unless it was for some extremely drastic measure.

We might have to justify our actions to him and explain why we told AJ to shoot. 

I said before that part of the choice [James vs Lilly] might be to let James die a friend and thinking AJ’s saved, or prevent his death and watch him turn on us. But, I dunno. Either way’s heartbreaking.

AJ + What becomes of him

I agree with a lot of people when they say that we won’t be influencing his choices next episode and he’ll make his own decisions based on what we taught him. 

This is a little worrying because I’m not the greatest parent… after all, I shoved Abel through the window, let him attack Dorian, told him to shoot Lilly…

But! I didn’t kill the walker couple [what good that’ll do I dunno], I let him know that killing Marlon was wrong, didn’t give him dibs on Abel, I didn’t torture Abel…

I’m just eager to see just how much it’ll affect how my choices shape him because I don’t want to it be just one or two things.

Deaths

Honestly, I think it’d be cool if everyone was determinate. 

Imagine the combo of endings that could produce.

I’d hate it because I don’t want my kids to die, but at least if they were all determinate then I could possibly save them all, right?

Unless we get an A vs B choice again in which case PLEASE DON’T

I keep thinking of scary combos like

[save Aasim] vs. [save Ruby]

[Save Tenn] vs. [save Willy]

[save Willy] vs. [save Aasim] 

[god looking at these makes me think of those fanmade ending screens that are all over reddit and I don’t like it]

I know that if they throw ANY of these at me I’ll just be stuck there, staring at the pause screen gripping my controller to the point of breaking it and trying to not scream. 

Also, I list those ones because I don’t think we’ll have another [save Louis] vs. [save Violet] choice because at this point it’s a little pointless? It’s a shitty choice for the player to make but… it’d be easy, too? Depending on which route you’re doing? Like, I’m not going to pick Louis for all three episodes then suddenly be like “Nah, gotta save Vi” because??? 

I think my choice is pretty obvious at this point, game, c’mon. 

But, if that’s not the case, I’ll list who’s most likely to die down to least likely:

Omar [sorry buddy, you’re on all our lists and I hate it]

Minerva

Tenn

Lilly/James

Willy

Aasim

Ruby

Louis/Violet [betrayed]

Louis/Violet [saved]

Clementine

AJ

Tho I hope Omar lives to the end so he can turn to the camera and flip all of us off for talking shit

Gimme that romance 

I know we just took down [or did we…?] a bunch of sick delta raiders but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get to smooch Louis again, okay?

After all this shit, I’m gonna need to see some romance with Clementine and her bf/gf [or bromoments if you friendzoned them]

Let me hug AND kiss Louis. 

I think we deserve it at this point.

Also, he’s pretty messed up from shooting Dorian [OR YA KNOW LOSING HIS TONGUE]

And gimme angst with Violet. I’ll try not to get pissed off this time around since I’ve got a better understanding of her character after taking time to process it. So long as she doesn’t hurt anyone [and I doubt she will] then we’ll be fine. 

Long post, but there are some of my thoughts. 

Maybe once the trailer comes out I’ll have more ideas and predictions, but for now, that’s all folks.