We Already Have One

we already have one 🤭

I do believe the beginning is Joel confiding in Tommy about Ellie already drifting? it could be just him telling Tommy what happened, but I think there's more to it. he has the guitar and he's cleaning it a little bit and then he gets back to Jackson, and Ellie's already moved out. she's already in the garage, so that had to have been right off the bat. this also means that the whole time she's being taught how to play, she's not even in the main house 😭 which gives her more time and chances to ignore him and resent him. and also gives her more time to think about what him saving her really means D: I'm normal

Do you have any fanfic recommendations?

hi, anon! I do! I read a little fic every night as ✨️enrichment time✨️ so there's gonna be a lot. all of these are on ao3 :)

"I think I saved myself by saving you" by @not-so-mundane-after-all was actually my first tlou fic that I read! it's a sickfic where Ellie gets sick before leaving Jackson

"violent heart" by @timelesslords is another good one! it's ep8 aftercare, but with aspects from the game and the show. she also has one from Joel's perspective called "never let you down again"

"never let me down again" by tayyys (I'm not sure what their tumblr is) is a good one! it's a rewrite of ep6 and on, where Ellie leaves after having overheard Tommy and Joel's conversation

"miller lite" by captainredspade (CodeNameArtemis) is also good! this one has a lot of Tommy and Ellie bonding, but it's angst cause Ellie got hurt on a day trip with him

"irreplacable" by captainredspade (CodeNameArtemis) is one where Ellie takes a bite for Tommy and there's more bonding between them

"heaven doesn't want me now" by @lkay-09 is one where Ellie (sort of) gets a choice at the hospital. some of the lines in there are just *chefs kiss*

"come tomorrow this will all be in our past" also by @lkay-09 is one where Tommy goes with Ellie, instead of Joel, in ep6

"triplicate" by @penandinkprincess is a very angsty one where Joel finds Ellie's file at the hospital in Salt Lake!

"a half-step to the left" also by @penandinkprincess is the Tess lives au we all asked for hehe :)

"glimpses unseen" by flannelfeelings (@boopernatural here :)) is one where we see Tommy's trauma of losing Sarah when Ellie gets hurt outside the walls

I shall stop listing them now as there are A Lot, but I recomend lkay, pen, and flannelfeelings' fics a lot :) there's a lot of fics between them all and they're all so good :)

So I have a theory about the Nora scene

You know how Ellie didn’t get any of her stuff back in the finale? Well in her bag didn’t she have a picture of her and Riley? So maybe the fireflies went through her stuff (before they disbanded) and maybe some of them (Nora) end up recognizing her from the photo? Idk tho

I just feel like them having a picture of the only immune girl will comeback to haunt Ellie

Or like you said- maybe Ellie gets bit with Dina and then Nora notices the bite and realizes she’s not turning

I agree, I really hope she isn’t covered in bite marks by the end. Doesn’t she also get bit in the game near the end too?

she does have a picture of Riley in her bag! and she did lose it! (this is not exciting, I just love me some theories)

I imagine they did go through her stuff cause that just seems like something they'd do. and maybe Nora does recognize Ellie from that, and then helps Abby to go after her. I know she doesn't go after Ellie, but they could ask around and find out that Ellie very clearly means something to Joel, so if she kidnaps or goes after her, Joel will come and then the golfing will happen. could also help with the theater part - Abby would already know who Ellie is, while Ellie only knows Abby as the girl who killed Joel. mmmm or if Nora and Abby meet after the fireflies disbanded, and Abby confides in her about what happened in that hospital and Nora shows her the picture. anon, this is such a good fucking theory. it will bite Ellie in the ass, I can already feel it

and yeah, that could be it, too! Ellie gets bit with Dina and Nora sees it and that's how she knows. I was worried/thinking they'd give her another bite within the same 24 hours, but this makes more sense. we know from episode 2 that it'd still be a bit inflamed cause it's healing, so maybe Nora sees it and knows that she should be turning, but she isn’t. I am wondering how Nora will go out, though? cause she breathed spores and they don't have spores in the show, so do they wait for Nora to start turning? cause she was pretty close to it, I imagine, when Ellie caught up to her

and yeah, Ellie did get bit near the end! it's when she's going after Abby in Santa Barbara, she ends up getting bit on her left hand, coincidentally. so if they give her a bite for every single time she's supposed to breathe the spores and then also when she's supposed to be bitten, girl's gonna have at least 5?? and if they do the chemicaling and the tattooing the same, is she gonna burn all of them?? cause that just seems like a lot? and ouchie, man

but also, how the hell did she know Abby was at the aquarium??? everyone's saying Nora probably told her, but we saw that whole interaction, and it was never mentioned? she beat the shit out of Nora, there's no way Nora was telling her anything. and I don't imagine she would've asked anyone else because 1, there were too many and they all wanted her dead and 2, she was basically in the basement (I think? haven't finished the rewatch yet) or the parking garage, so I'm sure she found an exit that way. she could've overheard someone talking about it, but she seemed pretty shaken up when she got back to Dina and Jesse, so I doubt she was in the right headspace to eavesdrop

AAAAAA there is more devastation to episode 3 :(((((

someone found the letter Bill and Frank wrote (I do not know if it's actually the one, but we're gonna act like it is)

the last line????????? Bill was saying that Joel and Tess could do what he and Frank did, if it ever came to it. it'd be on their own terms, but they didn't get that! they couldn't get that! I am so freaking distraught

do we think the reason Joel always acts like he isn't hurt is because the last time he did, he didn't realize Sarah was? and that it took time away from her?

Tendrils are horrifying, I wish they would’ve used them more in the show.

I understand their reasoning behind taking spores out, but it does suck because that brought in its own horrifying elements. The fact that if your mask breaks/ even cracks a small bit you’re screwed.

I also wonder how they’ll do part 2. Dina finding out about Ellie? Will they just have her get bit again? Nora realizing Ellie is immune? Such a cool (and very dark) scene, I’m not sure how they’ll do that

I agree!! they added such a horrific layer to the show, but they didn't show a whole lot of it? hoping they add it more to the next seasons 🤞🏻

yeah! like just breathing it in, you're dead. doesn't matter how much you did or didn't breathe, you're still dead

I completely forgot that's how Nora found out, too, omg. are they just gonna cover our girl in bites? I really hope they don't. I wonder if they'll add spores to the next seasons? or maybe they'll make a different "strand"? like, instead of spores, maybe through water? if an infected died in water, then wham pow, the water's infected. I do not know, I guess we shall find out