(no subject)

[onlyimmune]

WHO| SEMI-CLOSED - Ellie, Howard, Venus, Mindy, Orc, R, Wyatt, Hawkeye. (If you think your character has a good reason to be there, ping me and we'll see if we can work them in.)
WHAT| Ellie's birthday.
WHERE| The Laser Tag place.
WHEN| A couple days after the crowning.
Warnings| None!


The crowning had been weird as fuck, no lie about that, and Ellie was having a hard time really integrating into her new home, despite having been there since before the Arena had started. She was fairly cheerful - outwardly at least - but deep somewhere inside everything was still eating at her, slowly.

The idea of a birthday party was a welcome distraction.

She'd never had a birthday party - not a real one, anyway. She'd once gotten an extra ration card for her birthday from Riley, but that was about all she could think of. Birthdays were generally only marked with a 'oh, so you've survived this long' - kids were more mouths to feed and usually unwelcome ones, especially after her mother had died.

But this wasn't home, and no one had yet told her that dying in the arena meant that she wouldn't age - that though her birthday should have just passed, she was in fact back to herself a month or so <i>before</i> her birthday. Thankfully ignorant, however, she could celebrate. And she knew who she wanted.

Howard figured out most of the details and she had let the rest of them know where to meet - just in the lobby of the Laser Tag building, before they got all geared up. Ellie was brimming with a low-key excitement, she'd never played laser tag before but it sounded like something out of a science fiction comic so she liked it. She was there first - way too early - and waited for her friends to arrive.

Then, after everything, they'd have cake.

Comments

[onlyimmune]

"Awww, It's cute!" She said, taking the rabbit carefully. She'd never really had one - toys weren't exactly the first priority in an apocalypse - and she was a little unsure of what to do with the thing, but it was cute.

She tucked it under her arm and smiled up at him.

"Thanks, Orc!"

[paidinbeer]

That was apparently what he was hoping for as his craggy lips broke into a smile.

"Happy Birthday." He wished her, and then added "How old are you anyway?"

[onlyimmune]

"Fifteen, now!" Ellie says with a grin.

"Not bad, huh? That's how old Howard is, right? Are you the same age, Orc? It's hard to tell, sometimes."

[paidinbeer]

That made him smile and nod, even though he felt a pang about being hard to recognize as young He'd always been like that.

"Yeah, me too. Surprised we made it this long." Surprised any of them had made it this long really.

[onlyimmune]

"Fuckin' right?" Ellie agreed instantly. With the rabbit tucked carefully under her arm, she nodded back toward the party.

"You ready for some laser tag, big guy? It's going to be fucking awesome."

[paidinbeer]

Orc nodded and tried to imagine someone his size being any good at laser tag.

"Hope they have a vest big enough for me." He muttered in a half joke. He remembered once, a long time ago getting to play laser tag at this "Fun Center." There was bowling and mini golf, but everyone wanted to play laser tag. He'd gotten in trouble for body checking someone half his size in the dark.

In Orc's defense...the kid was being a wuss and running around so fast that Orc had been unable to shoot him properly.

[onlyimmune]

"I'm sure they'll have something," Ellie said, turning and leading him over to the equipment racks.

"We can always hang one on each shoulder if not," She said, trying to be helpful but probably just being unintentionally insulting.

[paidinbeer]

A little of both really. Orc picked at the equipment carefully and ended up putting on two vests at the same time. The guns also became a problem when it was discovered his fingers were too large for the standard triggers. A couple of the staff apologized profusely and set to work on modifying the toy fire arms.

Orc meanwhile was looking at his fingers in thought.

"It's been so long I've actually started to forget what it feels like to...ya know. Feel without this stuff." He rubbed two stony fingers together making a grinding sound.

[onlyimmune]

She felt a little pang of sympathy as she watched him, and carefully put a hand out to pat his stony arm.

"I dunno, Orc, sometimes I think it might be nice to have some natural armour," She said gently. "But things come with a price, I guess, right?"

[paidinbeer]

"Sure seems that way." He grumbled and put his hands back down. A rare moment of Orc being self aware swept over him and he glanced back at her.

"It's your birthday, you don't wanna get all bummed out over my stuff. Let's go find Howard or something." He urged.

wrap up?

[onlyimmune]

She gave him a sympathetic smile but then nodded. "Yeah, alright. Let's go find Howard and then play the fuck out of some laser tag."

She made a little gun with her fingers, said 'pew' and pretended to shoot him with a wink.

"Let's go, big boy."

Good end~ Also I finally got my copy of the game. I'm going to try and start it tonight.

[paidinbeer]