Need opinions on Running for Their Lives

[shantyrfan]

As you know, I've overhauling Running for Their Lives to include more on Tyler and Louise relationship. After some of the feedback, I realized I need to revise some of the events regarding Kid and Lou as I feel she should be more standoffish to him at first. Right now, I'm a little stuck on the next chapter of Tyler and Lou's courtship so I'm

Comments

[annaryder]

I think Lou most certainly would lie to Michaela without compunction.

Michaela is too young to reliably keep a secret or be expected to lie for her mother. There is no point to telling her the truth from a practical standpoint if the intention is for Michaela never to see her father again and that is kind of the purpose of running away from him. On the show, Mary Louise certainly lied to her younger children and demanded Lou do the same, Lou followed that instruction through the final scene with Theresa and Jeremiah, "our pa was a good man who died a long time ago." She also lied to Kid about Boggs being her father and about her flirtation with Tyler. And of course she lied regularly about her name and sex. Honestly I think Lou would be sorry to upset Michaela but (similar to her other lies of necessity) she would justify it that in essence Tyler will be dead for Michaela for all intents and purposes since she will never see him again.

[shantyrfan]

Thanks Ellie! I hadn't thought about it but Lou did lie a lot on an everyday basis. When she was doing it out of necessity (to keep her secret or protect her siblings) she was very good at it but when it came to covering for herself when it really would be better if she was honest(like hiding things from Kid such as Tyler and Wicks), she was very bad at it. Furthermore, it is kind of ironic that Lou got so upset when Kid lied to her about Margaret and refused to talk about what he did or didn't do with Doritha because she had done the same thing to him on multiple occasions by this point. I think I am going to rewrite it so that she tells Michaela that Tyler is dead but I would love more feedback from everyone else if you have an opinion.

[darkshornet]

Interesting reading both comments. I was going in a different direction, that Lou was going to make a hide and seek game of it. They were hiding from Tyler and Michaela's part was to play along and stay quiet.

[shantyrfan]

That is an interesting idea too. Though given Lou's own childhood, I see her following in her mother's footsteps in more ways than one. My only concern is when the truth comes out, how will this affect Michaela? I have some ideas but I'm not 100% on how the story will end yet. Right now I'm stuck on what to do once she gets to St. Louis.