©astrodevils 2023

━━━━ 'nothing ever ends poetically. it ends and we turn it into poetry. all that blood was never once beautiful. it was always just red.' kait rokowski

❝ the outcome justifies the deed. ❞

MEN OR MONSTERS
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joel miller x fem!oc
ex-lovers to lovers

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the last of us | show

━━━━ 'what we do to survive does not define us.'

'but the blood that stains my skin is all i am known for...' ━━━

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ MEN OR MONSTERS

For the longest time, humanity has debated whether or not we are good or evil, but it has always been more complex than that. It is so simple to paint the world in black and white-good or evil-and place everything into the two boxes where they will never be able to be in the other.

But it is so much more than that.

An array of grays spread in between the black and white, ranging with various amounts of darkness and light. Every shade contains an ounce of darkness; just as every piece of light is surrounded by shadows.

Humans are too complex to be categorized in simple boxes of good and evil. In Kieran Almazan's mind, there were only two labels humans could be given:

Men or Monsters?

Men were complex beings crafted to be smarter than all other creatures on Earth. They held a greater intellect than any other. Their actions would be deemed moral or immoral. And once that decision is made they have the ability to continue to act in such ways, or switch.

Monsters. Oh, monsters have no choice. They only devour to fulfill a need that is bubbling inside them. They act without a sense of morality. They do not care about the consequences, only to fulfill their desires. Monsters are so much worse.

And yet, sometimes, monsters are better than men.

They lack the choice, the knowledge, the intelligence that men have. They do not have morals, they just are. They do not know better because destruction is all they know. Men? Men know better. Men have the choice to do better. Yet, most do not.

As she explained this ideology to her guardian, begging the question of what the woman believed.

"Are we men or monsters, Samara?"

She answered as she brushed through Kieran's dark locks,

"We are who we need to be to live."

cast!

Samara Miller played by Tessa Thompson

"You have ten seconds to start explainin' yourself, Joel, or I'll do us both a favor and kill you right now."

Kieran Almazan played by Siena Agudong

"You promised me a future where I'd be safe. You lied."

TLOU characters as described or as how you portray them

━━warning!

mentions of murder, self-harm, loss of children, emotional manipulation, death, rape, sexual assault/harassment, etc.

descriptions of murder, death, child abuse, animal death, self-hate, war, loss of children, survivor's guilt, suicide, kidnapping, etc.

extra trigger warnings will be added for chapters that need them. feel free to ask for trigger warnings for specific triggers here.

━━disclaimer!

i do not own the last of us or any of its characters. all credit goes to Naughty Dogs and everyone else who helped create the show. i only own Samara Miller, Kieran Almazan, and any other original characters in this along with their storylines.

i also do not support the zionist creators involved in TLOU. while many people us TLOU and other fictional worlds as an outlet to ignore the world, please educate yourself on the genocide of Palestine.

━━additional!

please do not steal/plagiarize from this story or any of my others. gaining inspiration is perfectly fine, as well as wanting to use a specific scene. if you do this, know you do not have to get credit.

━━a/n!

a new fic? are we surprised? no! but this one's different, I say, I'm completely and utterly hyperfixated on the last of us that I'm dedicating everything to this. well not everything, I still have other fics.

anyway! I'm super excited for this fic and the show. I honestly think it's fate since in early November of 2022 I first played part 1 after my coworker kept recommending it to me. and I fell in love with the game that I blew more money on the 2nd game the same night I finished the first one! I'm currently replaying tlou part 2 (hot take, I kinda like it more than part 1) which has fueled me with so much inspiration for this fic.

tangent over! I hope you guys are excited for this fic as well as the show. prepare to hate me, love me, then want to strangle me again throughout this fic because I love chaos.

start: Jan. 14th, 2023

end: N/A

edit: N/A