closed;

[onlyimmune]

WHO| Ellie, Joel and Holiday
WHAT| Holiday catches Ellie leaving Joel's room in the morning and wants to know wtf is up
WHEN| A couple days before Riley's intro
WHERE| District 8 Suites
WARNINGS| Insinuations of underage sexual relations but don't worry they are all false

Ellie yawned as she woke up from her place on Joel's floor, sitting up to scrub her face. During the night she'd rolled closer, face pressed into his shoulder, sleeping at his side. She'd been sleeping in his room almost every night since he'd come back, but she still somehow managed to wake up earlier than he did - even though she was sleeping better, she was still sleeping lightly.

She stood up, careful not to wake Joel, quietly stepping over him and padding her way to the suite door to slip outside. She was thirsty as hell, so she quietly closed the door behind her as she made her way to the kitchen in her pajamas.

Comments

[doc_holi]

Holiday was still well awake as the new day came. She was more or less nursing a hang over from the day before and didn't want to sleep it off for whatever reason. Either way, she was feeling better and considering just staying up for all of this day, too, when Ellie walked into the common area.

It didn't take her long to place the young girl. Hawkeye had mentioned her before. However, her actions as of late had been slightly concerning. She didn't know Joel at all and hadn't really talked to the kid yet. Perhaps she should. Really, it was none of her business and Holiday was more inclined to look the other way lately, but this was still a kid and the doctor's soft spot still existed, sadly enough.

So, she got up from her place and followed the girl to the kitchen. "Morning." Small talk. That'll work.

[onlyimmune]

Compared to home, and compared to the arenas, Ellie actually felt remarkably safe in the tribute tower. So she didn't jump or startle when Holiday followed her, even if she didn't know why. They'd never met, or spoken, but Ellie wasn't that worried - so when Holiday spoke she turned to the voice.

"... Hey," She offered back, her own version of small talk. Obviously Holiday wanted something, or why bother chatting?

She poured herself a glass of water. "You're uh, Holiday, right?"

[doc_holi]

"That's right." Holiday nodded and made her way further into the kitchen area. "And you're Ellie, right? Hawkeye's mentioned you."

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah," She said, perking up a bit at Hawkeye's name. At least this wasn't a total stranger then.

"Hawkeye's pretty cool. You're not blond, though, so I'm guessing he hasn't been hitting on you," she teased.

[doc_holi]

"Only a little," Holiday giggled, remembering how he wanted a kiss the first time they met.

"I've seen you a lot around here," she said, trying to be subtle about switching topics, "What brings you to our little district so often?"

[onlyimmune]

"Oh," Ellie says, not expecting the question (not having expected to be noticed) but not shocked by it. She gestures with a thumb back towards Joel's room.

"Joel. We uh, go back. He got brought here last arena, so."

[doc_holi]

Well, that actually did shed some light on this. "You knew him from your home? That's rare around here."

It probably wasn't all that rare, but she sure didn't see it happen often. She was thankful it hadn't happened to her.

[onlyimmune]

Ellie nodded. "... Yeah. It's not that rare, though, some people have people from home, but-- I wasn't exactly expecting it, if you know what I mean."

She shrugged.

"But it's good. I think. That he's here."

[doc_holi]

"Is it? I mean-" She looks back out of the kitchen before glancing back to Ellie, motioning off towards the rooms. "You two were friends back home, too?"

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah. We were traveling together. I know it's kind of fucked up to want someone here, but... I don't know. It's easier, somehow..."

She paused, looking back to his door. "... Not being alone."

[doc_holi]

... She couldn't really argue with that, she supposed, but Holiday would rather be alone than for them to suffer here. It didn't make her any weaker or stronger than Ellie. Probably just colder if anything.

So, she nodded. "I understand that... Um. If I can ask-... I mean, you seem to be here all the time, so... you're close?"

[onlyimmune]

Ellie frowned. "Yeah, like I said, we used to run together," She said, as if that should explain everything. "You go through an apocalypse together and you either end up close or one of you ends up dead, you know?"

Or several of you end up dead.