[ casually drives off a cliff ]

[sakotis]

TEST DRIVE MEME



WHAT THE FUCK TO DO:

► STEP 1; Post a comment with a character that's not in HH as if they're already in the setting or alternative version, post character who is in HH. Scenarios if you need them!
► STEP 2; Tag around and get a feel for your characters, whether or not you're voice testing or planning to actually app them in!
► STEP 3; Post this all over your plurk and get people to get their big asses in here and force them to app or face the consequences. Oh, and I guess have fun. I suppose that's important, too.

reposted from the like five different people who gives a crap at this point, you get the picture. posted with mod permission b/c i am the mod.

Comments

c:!!!

[oopsright]

[By the time she hears her name she's already within an arm's reach of the main doors. Tess tenses. She knows that voice, the gruff tone, the way her name comes out in question. She can remember almost every exact moment in which he's spoken her name, whether it was in a rare show of intimacy or out of anger. Tess doesn't want to turn around, she doesn't want to have to face him, not after what she'd done. How could she? How could she face him after she had pushed him away, refusing his help?

Deep breath. Just take one damn deep breath. It's just Joel.

And that's what scares her the most.

A deep breath is taken. Her short nails bite into the thick skin of her palms as her hands curl into fists. Tess decides to bite the bullet and turns to meet her maker, only to stare with widened eyes. They dart away from that familiar, scruffy looking face, search past and around him.

Oh no. No, no no no--]

You're... you're alone?

[Their cargo. Such precious cargo. Just where in the fuck did it happen to disappear to?]

Just why the hell are you by yourself? Where is she?

[Her earlier apprehension seems to have taken a back seat. One foot moves her forward in his direction.]

[inviable]

[No, that wasn't exactly right. The last time he saw her she was a fresh corpse on the ground, blood pooling out around her from bullet wounds. The last time he saw her alive was what counted- alive, here she was alive.

And he knew that this shit happened, that people, even dead people, just showed up all the time around here, but shit, he'd resigned himself to never seeing his partner again a long time ago.

Fucking Christ. She turns to face him and he freezes again, all the air stolen from his lungs for a moment, just at the sight of her. He's staring at her, trying to take it all in and numb his shock, but she's looking everywhere except at him. Looking for something. Ellie. Tess is striding towards him now and demanding to know what happened to their cargo, which gives Joel a decent hint about what her last memories are. He has to shake off the shock and deal with this.]

Hold on- [His voice wavers. He takes another step forward and closes the gap between them, his eyes flickering to her shoulder. He can't see it, but knows it's there-- and just now much time did they have left?] We ain't back home, Tess. She's not here.

[His words are ragged and rushed, because there's a more pressing concern on his mind about what their immediate next step was gonna be. Joel can't leave her to deal with this alone twice.]

[oopsright]

[ For the step he takes to close the gap between them, Tess takes one back. He can't get close to her, she can't let him. She doesn't want to risk it, risk possible infection spreading by touch. Speaking of infected, for the moment, Tess doesn't feel any of it. She knows she should be bleeding out, knows the side of her neck should be throbbing angrily. But there's nothing, nothing at all. Seeing Joel standing there like she hadn't pushed him away, telling her that he lost their drop? That alone wipes out any concern she's had for herself and what she could become, the potential danger she could be to everyone here.

There's a knit in her brow as she tries to understand what he's telling her. ]

-what? Then where is she, Joel? She can't have gone far.

[ What did you do with her? Tess doesn't want to think about how close he is. The way he's looking at her, his tone, although it's not like they can get that damn gun cache here in this place anyways. ]

[inviable]

[She backs up and Joel stays put, his mind racing. If she starts turning on him (if, Holly Heights made no sense at all, maybe bringing a dead woman back infected was something the guy in charge wouldn't do- or maybe it was exactly what he would do), they're gonna have to do some quick thinking.

He keeps a gun in his coat pocket these days, hidden. If it's not hidden, the citizens get nervous. Otherwise he looks the same, except for being clean, rested and well-fed. Christ, how is he supposed to explain this to her, fresh off the arrival list?

He steels his voice and gestures to her; listen.]

Tess, look around. Everything's gone. Everything's different. Right now, I gotta- [throat closing up, he inhales and cleans the hurt out of his voice, exhales.] I gotta see it, one more time. Is it still there?

[Word on the street was nobody showed up injured. Sick. But you just never goddamn knew, not with the landlord.]

[oopsright]

You're damn right everything's different! [ Her tone has nothing but a hard snap to it, and it shows in the sudden flare of annoyance as it brightens her eyes, hardens her jaw. And just like that--it's gone. Wiped out of her, wiped off of her face. No thanks to that one particular question.

Straws, Tess feels like she's grasping at straws. Or drowning. To what he's referring to, the weight of those words, she's definitely drowning under them.

She has to take a slow breath, letting it out shakily. Her hand flexes at her side. ]

What does it even matter, Joel? [ There's a softness behind those words, resignation. She can't do this. She can't be here. ] It's there, we both know that.

[ Part of just flat out doesn't want to have to show it to him. It's not a pretty sight. Once already was good enough, wasn't it? ]

[inviable]

[Joel bites back a frustrated sound, because her anger and her resignation make sense. But he just wants to get this over with, so he can decide which way to move- he'd yank the shoulder of her jacket back and check for himself, but she was edgy and she was resigned.

She'd probably fight with him for getting too close. He doesn't blame her. He stays where he is, eyes shuttering as he breathes out a sigh.]

Listen, Tess, I've been stuck here for months. I got nothin' to do but keep tabs on this place. From what I know, it-- [we don't know, we won't know until we take a fucking look, and even then. unpredictable, the landlord was fucking unpredictable. but for now:] We gotta take a careful look at it.

[And he steps in again, voice lowered to barely above a whisper. There was nobody but them, but people milled about suburbia and thought nothing of infectious outbreaks. The last thing they needed was someone overhearing.]

Trust me, alright?

[oopsright]

[ It's probably a good thing that he decides not to touch her, she might've decked him. Tess can name a few times throughout their partnership over the past decade or so where she had clocked him in that hard jaw of his with her knuckles.

A scowl twists her features. He doesn't really expect her to believe that shit, been here for months. ]

Months. Really? You really expect me to believe that shit? I just watched you walk away, Joel. Cut the crap.

[ She's glaring up at him, a hard set in her jaw. He's close again, so close she can make out the lines at the corners of his eyes, the grays in his dark hair. When did he get so old looking? ]