bakerstreet | ( picture prompt meme )

( picture prompt meme )

the picture prompt meme

I — Comment with your character.
II — Others will leave a picture (or two, or three...)
III — Reply to them with a setting based on the picture.
IV — Link to any pictures that are NSFW, please.
V — Be aware that this meme will be image-heavy.

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[ Her fifteenth birthday begins with an endless supply of flat rocks skipped over the surface of a nearby lake. They're sometimes ensnared by the sticky leaves that have been drawn out from the shore, having fallen recently from the trees as summer fades. She doesn't have a pile gathered and so she wanders the shallows until her toes are cold, and even after, picking up prime candidates.

They tell her (almost warily) that she probably should stop sneaking out of the safety of the town without telling anyone. Joel tells her (sternly, but understanding) that she can find ways to be by herself that don't involve leaving so much to chance.

Ellie sneaks out anyway. Because she can. Because she has to. Because nobody will actually try to stop her. Because, sometimes, Tommy's safe haven in Jackson is so safe and normal in a way that she's never known that it stirs up a wild panic in the pit of her stomach. For one thing, none of the other kids carry around weapons on their person at all times, and she wants to shake them and start yelling about how fast everything they know and love could go to shit and probably will. She does say stuff like this, sometimes, which does nothing but alienate her from the then-disturbed others.

There's a girl who almost reminds her of Riley and that's when she starts spending more time outside the walls.

She isn't sloppy about it, though. Far from it. The pistol is stuck in the back of her pants and her knife, of course, is always on her person. At any sound, small or large, she stills like an alerted deer, scanning the thin tree line a distance from the lake.

The past year has not been kind to Ellie. ]

[ Usually Joel is up and gone before sunrise and not home until after sunset. He's pretty sure Ellie prefers their arrangement as it is now much more than the one Joel had tried during their early days in Jackson, and sometimes Joel prefers it, too. He tells himself that she's self-sufficient, too old to be babied or bossed around, and he stays out of it, mostly. Besides, short of locking her up, he can't think of any way to keep Ellie behind the walls.

But today is different. For once, they had plans, even if it was just a simple dinner with Maria and Tommy. But when he cuts out of work early she's not at her own job at the stables, and their apartment is empty. Joel has it down to a routine after a year, and he checks each of Ellie's usual haunts with a resigned kind of anger. It doesn't take long. Joel knows where she is, where she has been more and more frequently over the past month, and the walk to her favorite spot by the lake isn't a long one now that he has done it a dozen different times.

The afternoon light is bright when Joel finally breaks through the treeline, but even still it takes a while for him to spot Ellie, crouched down in one of the patches of long grass that dot the lake's shore. He knows she can see him by the angle of her head, assumes that Ellie has probably been watching since he stepped out onto the beach, and that finally breaks his patience. Maybe she isn't hiding, but she hasn't called out to Joel, either. ]

I think you're a little old for hide 'n seek now, kiddo.

[ Even a nickname can't dull the sharpness of his tone, but she's a hundred yards down the shore, maybe too far to hear his frustration. The rocky, sandy soil shifts under his boots as he walks towards Ellie, but his eyes are on the water.

It is pretty, but neither of them are there for the view. ]

[ He hadn't been sneaking; she'd heard him approach. She saw him, too, big, plaid (sometimes denim) man as he is. Ellie doesn't answer when she hears his voice, so it isn't immediately clear whether or not she made out the words. Instead, she tosses another rock... though, the effects of his distraction are evident in the way the stone sputters once on the surface before sinking, a stark difference from her other throws. ]

Nobody's playing hide and seek. [ Maybe those kids are in the town. It isn't fair to be so sharp and critical of them, but her stubborn nature and general unease dictate it. Ellie wrinkles her nose and lets another rock fly, but this one is worse than the last as her composure unravels a little.

'Hide and seek' takes her back, all at once, as if Joel had suddenly struck her across the face. It returns her to a room where the heat's rising and a shaky, excited voice calls out for her to give up the ghost.

"There you are, Ellie." Her hands tremble in real time, but she quickly stiffens them up into tight fists. ]

I thought we agreed that I'm fine out here. [ She says, because she has to speak up, to hear the sound of her own voice over the jarring memory. ]

[ For a fifteen year old, she is damn hard to read - or maybe she's hard to read because she's fifteen - but either way, how Ellie's second attempt at skipping stones is more like a frustrated throw lets Joel know he's in store for something.

He stops a safe distance from Ellie just as the second stone makes a pathetic sploosh from the weight of Ellie's throw, and the only sign of his own low-simmering temper is the way Joel digs his heel into the soft ground with a little too much strength when he chooses his place on the beach. Of course he's relieved that she was fine (again), but it was hard to let go of the anger when instead of contrite, she picks pissy as the attitude to toss his way. ]

Huh. No, I think we agreed that you've been fine so far.

[ He's got decades on Ellie, so when he turns his head in her direction, Joel's expression doesn't give away anything. Even his tone is milder. ]

And if I recall, that was where our agreein' ended.

[ His shifting food dislodges a stone from the sand while he talks, and before his sarcasm can take a turn for something worse he sighs out, bends down to grab the rock, turning it over and over in his hand as he straightens back up.

It's an imperfect stone, not exactly flat enough to be ideal, but his throw gets a single hop before it sinks, taking a few bits of floating leaf with it. He doesn't say anything else, frowning out at the rippling surface of the water rather than at Ellie. ]

What does that mean, Joel? [ Finally, she stops obstinately avoiding his gaze and stands her ground, turning and looking sour. ] "So far?" Uh, yeah, I'm here and alive, so obviously I've been fine so far. I'm gonna keep being fine. I'm not stupid.

[ "I'm alive thanks to you. Liar." She swipes at her nose with the back of her sleeve and stares back out at the water again where the ripples of Joel's effort are fading. ]

What is it you want me to do, huh? Sit around and play checkers with a bunch of kids who don't know shit about how things really are?

[ At first, it'd been fine. She'd been more able to do just that, to enjoy the movies and semblance of a 'normal life' without such a massive chip on her shoulder. Sure enough, though, the knowledge of the outside world and her own memories crept in like a sickness. She's reminded of it, too, every time she feels a phantom itch at the bite on her arm. The other people living with them don't know about her being immune. Joel and Tommy had agreed to keep that information on a very strict need-to-know basis, just in case.

Ellie still remembers the day she'd been passed off to Tess and Joel, when they'd holed up in an apartment before making their break from the QZ. "It can't be much worse out there. Can it?"

Stupid. Fucking stupid. And naive. ]

[ And there it is. She isn't yelling, hasn't started gesturing hugely or shoving at him yet, but Joel has come to know Ellie's anger well in the past year. It won't take much at all to really set her off.

But as tempting as it is to flip that switch in Ellie, he swallows back the urge and rolls his eyes behind closed lids. She wouldn't be this defensive if she didn't understand why he was annoyed with her or what she was risking every time she sneaked out beyond the walls, and Joel wished he could just fucking call her on it and demand obedience the way he had when they first met. She was just like him, though, and Joel figured she would just dig her heels in harder if he tried.

So instead he did what he always did during this particular argument: sighed, shrugged, and let her get away with it. ]

God forbid, Ellie. You might make a damn friend.

[ She was already back to pouting in the direction of the water, sparing Joel the need to police his facial expression so carefully. Sometimes he wanted to shake her with every ounce of frustration he felt, but right now he was just tired. Everything he'd done, all the fighting and murder and lies, had been to get her back here. Jackson was the safest place Joel had seen in a long time, but he was helpless to do anything about Ellie sabotaging herself. ]

Look. I get it. It's... I bet it's weird, alright? But you do like it here. The horses, Tommy and Maria...

[ For all he wants it to come out a statement, it seems to be more of a question, or at least a prompting. Tell me what's so terrible, his expression says when he looks back at Ellie. ]

[ Stubbornly, she wishes that she could claim that nobody wanted to be friends with her, but it isn't true. Adults and kids alike have been kind and welcoming, so the guilt there in refusing their efforts compounds everything else, and... it sort of all comes out at Joel, because she's only ever open and honest with and around Joel.

Much less than she'd been, once, but... still. ]

Yeah, I like it. [ She mutters, unable to deny that. ] It's not like I want to holed up alone in some frozen basement without any food.

[ She casts her eyes his way and feels another unwanted pang. It's a very specific frozen basement that she'd been referencing, one he probably barely remembers, considering he'd spent most of the winter teetering on the brink of death. ]

... It's like I said. [ Once, not too long ago. As she explains (albeit grudgingly), Ellie backs up to settle cross-legged on the sand. ] Everything we both did and went through - for all of it to have just been totally wasted -

[ She groans in an anguished frustration sticking her head between her knees, twining her fingers and pressing them to the back of her neck. Ellie isn't sure if it'd be worse to have what Joel said be the truth, in that there had been no hope for a cure all along, or to have what he said be a lie, and there still be a team of desperate Fireflies looking for answers out there. If he'd lied, though, wouldn't they have come looking for me? Marlene knows Tommy, she's gotta know where he is.

Some days, for a crazy moment, she considers running away back to the hospital to find answers herself. Luckily for everyone, even Ellie isn't that reckless. ]

I just don't know what to do with myself. [ She admits finally, looking almost helplessly up. ] I've never really lived a life like this. I don't know how to do it without acting like a fucking psycho.

[ Ellie's still a teenager, though, and prone to teenage hyperbole. ]

[ The second Ellie gives the answer he had been fishing for, the urge to fling accusations at her face is strong. Then why do you keep trying to leave? But Ellie has her ways of getting under his skin, and he feels a pang of guilt like he always does when she alludes to any of their time together before Jackson. Joel shifts restlessly and shakes his head, but as uncomfortable as this sort of thing is for him, as much as he wants to hunch up his shoulders and ignore the hell out of the rest of the world, he wants their lives here to work so much more. ]

It wasn't wasted- [ As soon as she pauses he snaps it harshly, defensively, and she must expect it because Ellie curls up and groans dramatically, which is more than enough to make his mouth click shut. It's been an argument rehashed between them a few times already. Sometimes she's so goddamn theatrical about it all that he wants to laugh at the most inappropriate things, but not now. He rubs a hand over his mouth to hide a frown. Sure, he had plenty of regrets about how he and Ellie came to be where they were, but in the end it had been worth it.

They don't talk much. Not real talking, not like this, and so when Ellie dumps her purse out in the sand instead of closing off and calling him a name like usual... he flounders. Joel doesn't say anything for nearly half a minute, not looking at Ellie anymore, his eyes focused on some small dot of nothing on the opposite shore of the lake. ]

Nobody here has ever lived like this before either, darlin'. [ He sighs hugely, but he doesn't sound frustrated or angry anymore, though part of him still is. ] It's not like Boston. We're all on our second, third, hundredth chance. In places like this, it don't matter who you were before, or what happened to you.

Don't you wanna start over?

[ Ellie has no illusions about the struggles of the other people who live in Jackson. It'd be selfish - and stupid- to assume that she and Joel were the only ones who'd ever had to tough it out. In this world, the only people who haven't had a shitty time are nobody, because everyone has to deal with the way things are now.

So, she knows they've all worked their asses off to get here, too, but they do a better job of acting like they hadn't than she does (she thinks). ]

It's not that easy! [ Comes the indignant reply, and she kicks at a rock lying somewhere near one of her trainers. ] Yeah, I want to just... forget it all happened and be a kid who hangs around and watches movies, I guess, but-- the world didn't change, Joel. Just because we're in this place, it doesn't mean there aren't Infected out there.

[ And worse than Infected. The regular watches and occasional need to take care of an intruder makes that obvious. It's good, though. Better to not have the chance to forget entirely what the real world is like. ]

Of course it matters what happened. [ She mutters, digging her heel into the sand, making a curved dip in the grains as she goes. ] That stuff is why we're... who we are.

[ There's a puff as she exhales, inflating her cheeks, glancing almost guiltily at him. ]

... And, anyway, I wouldn't know how to just forget all that stuff and start over.

[ The rock Ellie kicks skitters into the shallow water, pulling Joel's eyes from the opposite shore, back to her. She looks a lot younger than her fifteen years all the sudden. The relationship between them, as strained as it had become, was still one of the only things that could stir up the parts of Joel that he had considered mostly dead. Protectiveness, fondness, annoyance, regret... not quite the same mixture of devotion that soaked his memories of Sarah, but it's similar enough.

After Salt Lake City, the long conversations stopped. He knew she didn't trust him, at least not like she had before... but she hadn't questioned him directly about any of his story, either. It didn't occur to Joel that her doubt in him, in his lies, might be the root of at least some of her problems in Jackson.

Instead he was caught up in the little thrum of hope he feels. This was the most Ellie had shared about her feelings with Joel in a long time. With a low groan he finally sits down in the sand, slowly stretching his long legs out in front as the aches and pains of his hard life made themselves known. ]

I didn't say it was easy, Ellie. [ Joel doesn't say it unkindly, more patient right now than he usually is. The peace between them feels fragile. ] But there's nothin' we can do. Boston's good as dead, darlin'. You saw the other quarantine zones, how they all ended. And there's always gonna be Infected out there. That don't mean we gotta be in the middle of it, though.

[ The lie he told Ellie all those months ago is at the tip of his tongue. There is no cure, there is no solution. Joel swallows it back, scared of finally having her call him out, and he shakes his head. ]

You can't wanna go back out there.

[ They've certainly come a long way. She can still remember with ease how he'd butted heads with Tess about the "mission" in the beginning, how she'd clung to change like a drowning woman and he'd scoffed at the idea, so clearly wanting to return to the QZ and the life they'd built up together. As with all the people she'd seen die, she feels a twist of guilt in remembering Tess. ]

'Course I don't. [ Ellie mutters, not meeting his gaze. ] That's not it.

[ Shit, how could she want that? How could anyone? Even the hunters had had a little community going, fucked up though it was. People are meant to live in groups like this, working together to keep life going.

That objective knowledge isn't enough to banish the fear, the mistrust, the jagged edges to her person that she'd developed over the past year. ]

It's just - You don't really think all this can last, do you? [ It isn't a jab at the idea; her tone is a subtle plea for him to say "yes, I do; yes, it can." Even if he says as much, though... it's not like this is the first time he's lied to me. ]

I guess I'm just waiting. [ Ellie crosses her arms and leans forward, draping herself over bent knees. ] Waiting for things here to get messed up.

[ Again. ]

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( picture prompt meme )

i think you mean "all of the above"

A++ assumption

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