#steeb-stn

[stackmoorepaper]

Youve heard of ellie+sarah swap, now get ready for ellie+abby swap. Little abby, who has never been LITTLE, who has always taken care of herself, has never needed anyone, until joel showed her what it felt like to be a kid - to be someone’s kid. And ELLIE, ellie the born and bred firefly, whose dad is gonna save the world! Ellie and lev!

OOOOOOOH AND ELLIE IS SO FIERCELY LOYAL‼️ she would be such a firefly if she was born in that environment wtffff

BECAUSE AHHH joel and tess being stuck with this hard ass of a kid and joel thought he was grumpy, but she’s like… i’m an orphan, my best friend and i snuck out to see the abandon mall, she got bit, i lived and now i’m with two old ass strangers so some fucking terrorists (because you know abby she’s my cynical little munchkin wunchkin and she would be like Fuck Fedra but also team Fuck Them Bugs) can poke and prod at her to save this shitty world

but like… she’s not made of stone no matter how hard she pretends to be and he sees her chin wobble when tess died and has seen her eyes light up she sees a deer in the distance, he’s seen her hide her smile when she picks up state quarters, over their journey he learns So Much about her, she’s active, she laughs the most when she’s flying down the road on a horse, she writes and reads. A Lot. when she lets her guard down she tells terrible jokes, too dry, and with boring punchlines but she always lets out her own little chuckle and the chuckle is funny so he starts to chuckle with her, she’s never been protected like he’s protected her, abby watches joel beat a soldier to death for her, watches him ward off infected, feels him sniping above her as she races towards sam and henry, his solid hand rubbed firm circles on her back as she threw up after sam and henry died

he tells her about football and “it’s meaner cousin” rugby, “yeah you’d like rugby, real contact sport girl, ya got a hard head”

and the room conversation OOOOH! and DAVID!! my god because even more so (obvi) than her “first kill” with him, he’s so sorry, he feels so guilty, he’s so sorry that she had to be so brave, that he couldn’t protect her, he’s been working so hard for her to be a kid that he almost forgot how quickly vulnerability gets snuffed out in this world when someone isn’t there to protect it

and then the hospital, and we know how this goes, he’s not letting this kid die, not when he just got her to live

AND ENTER ELLIE THE BAD GUY WILLIAMS DUN DUN DUN

Ellie who’s dad was gonna save the world, ellie who’s dad was so smart and so loving and so dedicated to this shit rock that he was putting everything on the line to save humanity, HER father was gonna give her everything the world had to offer, he was gonna be the savior, because of ellie’s father, the world would be the world again, he was gonna cure the virus and save the world

but then joel happened and ellie found her father’s body, joining the other corpses left to rot in the world

and this got super long and honestly girl… this might Become Something because this is GOOD and like i could go on forever omgggg

[bonesbuckleup]

Just thinking about like a hinge, like a wing and wondered if we could have a tiny preview of tim and dick meeting? As a treat?

Sadly, no, but mostly because that bit hasn't been written yet. 😅

I am physically incapable of writing things in order. So, like, when I estimate I have ~30% of the sequel written, it's not that I have the first third done. It's that I have the opening scene, the ending scene, and then a scatter shot of random paragraphs and bits of dialogue and moments that may or may not make it into the final version, which makes me hesitant to share actual bits. Something that's there and a major plot point right now could be gone in a week.

In the meantime, please enjoy this shitty meme (a companion to this one, if you will) that I made five seconds ago re: the Like a Hinge follow up fic--

[itspileofgoodthings]

@steeb-stn YES

It’s such a good one. Such a funny and deeply valid part of her reclaiming her confidence. She’s not just going to sparkle and have fun; she’s going to set people straight!

[stackmoorepaper]

been thinkin about your demon possessed maria idea and while i love the part with tess’ ghost helping out, i think it would also be fascinating to have like. The ghosts of jackson seeing this evil entity in their town amongst these peaceful people who have brought life back to their homes and going NOPE. Absolutely not

idk i just love the idea of all these souls of the infected maybe not having control of their bodies anymore but very much having a spiritual presence and power

I’m literally so sorry this is so late don’t hate me but also!!!! Um @liveandletcry23 get in on this!!

because like the ghosts of jackson who were maybe fallen ex members of the patrol coming together from the spirit world to save their fearless leader

Maria!!! Maria is in trouble!!! She’s being haunted by forces unknown and their roots are crumbling

ooh I love this I love this!!!

[itspileofgoodthings]

Maria do u have any december reads you would recommend? Not necessarily Christmas or even set in winter just books that feel like december if that makes sense

My mind always goes to my favorite books from when I was a kid! The Clown of God, The Night of Las Posadas, really anything by Tomie dePaola. The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden is also really sweet. 

As for “older” books, haha, I recommend Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge. Or The Dean’s Watch also by Goudge (this is what I’m reading right now!) 

Ella Enchanted is always associated with December to me but I think that’s just because I gave it to my sister as a Christmas present one year.

If I think of any more I will add them here!

[itspileofgoodthings]

Asking as a confused believer - does it ever puzzle you that Christianity is so dominant in the world and particularly in western culture? Not that it’s not a good thing in the sense of how many souls have been made. But reading Scripture I would have never guessed it would be this way? ‘But small and narrow is the gate that leads to life, and few find it.’ And ‘you are not of the world’ but every american president has been (at least nominally) christian like... it makes me nervous idk

Askrjdksds im sorry i hope that made sense i guess my questions is why is christianity so popular when jesus made it sound like it wasnt gonna be at all

Oh this is such an interesting question! But not one I’ve struggled with before? And the really simple reason for that, I think, is that I don’t believe that everyone who calls themselves a Christian actually IS one, or, to say it another way, is actually living a Christian life.

The general, loose idea of Christianity is popular but there’s a lot of stuff that goes on within that framework that isn’t in accord with it at all. 

[itspileofgoodthings]

Maria can we talk about ‘give you a child’ in peace and how we have never heard her talk about babies before (marriage sure but not children!) it just makes me a little CRAZY

We CAN!!!!!

That LINE!!!!

So fearless-era taylor always said she wanted kids—someone asked her once how many and she said “I want an army of children”—but you’re absolutely right. We have not heard any reference to it in her music yet and it is something to hear her say it so directly.

I love that it’s included in peace especially, of all the songs. It’s so fitting somehow, you know?

[itspileofgoodthings]

I would love to hear your opinions on online dating because i bet you have some interesting ones. I personally feel very mixed about it because its like the least romantic thing i can think of but then my two closest friends met their husbands on dating apps so i just dont know

haha I don’t have any blistering opinions on it! 

I agree that it seems very unromantic but also it’s not like all online dating ventures work out so ultimately it’s still about two people and how they work together. 

Ryan Hamilton has an amazing bit on online dating in his stand-up special Happy Face and how people are like “it’s a great option!” but with this tone in their voice like “I would never but for you? Go for it” and 

1) it’s amazing and hilarious and you should watch it and 

2) I promise that’s not what I’m trying to do when I say that I’m pretty sure that for me I would never. 

But that’s because of where I’m at in my life and the way I think about dating not an inherent distaste for online datings especially. 

To answer your question simply: I’ve known people for whom it’s really worked out! And been amazing! Especially because-- i mean not to be super unromantic but you can narrow the list of candidates down to people who meet certain criteria that you CAN’T compromise on? And that can make it easier. I’ve also known people for whom it’s been a disaster, though usually it’s a disaster for some other reason. Which leads me to a more rambling answer.

I think really it’s less about the medium (well, mostly, I don’t think you can really start to date someone exclusively online? Or at least I wouldn’t be able to do it without a concrete plan to meet them in person very soon) and more about what’s going on with you personally. I think really knowing what you want and who you are and being fairly stable and happy as you are (relatively speaking, not that you have to be perfect or never struggle just in general) are far more crucial to success in dating than any outside elements including how you meet someone.

everybody is different but the way that I see it if you focus on your own life and making a good thing out of it and you have things to do you’re more likely to just...........find someone who shares your interests and who likes you than if you try to find it and only focus on the search. But also! With that said! I think you can use dating apps and try your luck haha. I support that. Just not as the be-all, end-all? Because I think it could yield disappointment really quickly and/or something that makes you just as unhappy as being single does unless all the stuff inside *gestures vaguely* is all figured out and in order.

 I’m going to stop there because I’m about to launch into something else. I’m just very passionate about this topic in general