open

[onlyimmune]

WHO| Ellie and OPEN
WHAT| Ellie's sticking her nose into everything.
WHEN| From the end of the mini-arena up until now.
WHERE| All over the capitol
WARNINGS| Swearing. Lots of swearing.

The Mini arena was hard on her. Despite it only being a day long, despite everyone trying to distract her, it was still hard on her. She sneaked away from her own room in the middle of the night and broke into Joel's - empty while he was fighting for his life - and curled up into his blankets and watched the reruns of everything she'd missed. She was still there in the morning when the arena ended.

When the family members came, Ellie spent a few brief seconds hoping beyond hope that she'd finally meet her mom. Riley had come back from the dead, so why not her family? But in the end, no one had come for her, and Ellie's heart had fallen and she'd left. Tess being brought for Joel was good, but it also meant that he was preoccupied. That was fine. He deserved time with Tess, and Tess deserved time with her, and she'd leave them to it.

She started avoiding her other friends. It wasn't that she didn't want to see them, but they all seemed to all have their own stuff going on, and she didn't want to get in the way. It was stupid, to be disappointed that her mom wasn't there, but she was. So she did what she did best, and got into trouble.

Stole a scone from a bakery, or tried to, and flipped the owner off when she nearly got caught. Spent an entire 24 hour stint in the arcade. Went to the top of the tallest building the Capitol just so she could scream off the roof.

And if she ran into anyone, well, they would probably just end up getting dragged along.

 

Comments

[aintyourdad]

His second death was, in a lot of ways, much easier than the first. For one thing, having been through the process meant he knew what to expect - and he knew it wouldn't be permanent. So he didn't have to die believing he'd never see Ellie again.

And this time, the method of his death was much cleaner, quicker. There was no struggle, no desperate fight to stay alive. He was in pain, he wasn't going to make it to the end, and Wyatt - Wyatt obliged him. He knew he could count on the other man, and he pulled through.

So when he woke up, there wasn't any shock, or disorientation, or anything like that. Joel had always been adaptable, and now he'd known what was going to happen, so he was able to climb out of his bed almost immediately, to go looking for Ellie - who was apparently camped out on the floor of his room, like usual.

"Hey, baby girl," he said, leaning down to brush hair out of her face.

[justoutrunyou]

The roof had been such a nice peaceful place.

After her scream a door burst open and Sandy came stumbling through it panting and wheezing and clutching her side.

Her face was red and shiny with sweat. Glancing up she spotted Ellie before lowering her gaze again struggling to catch her breath.

Apparently she had taken the stairs instead of the more relaxed elevator.

[onlyimmune]

It was telling, perhaps, that Joel was the only person that could wake Ellie without her suddenly jumping out of her skin and stabbing them. Instead, his familiar voice woke her slowly, eyes opening to first catch sight of his finger and then travel up to his face.

The relief hit her like a freight train, and she slowly sat up.

"Hey, Joel." The words were quiet. "... You're still kicking, then?"

[onlyimmune]

Ellie turned so quickly she nearly knocked a nearby potted plant over. When she saw it was Sandy, however, she relaxed immediately.

"You alright? You look like you ran a marathon."

[justoutrunyou]

She tried to make words but her gasping breath seemed to take priority so she leaned into the door frame and held up a hand in a thumbs up while she finished breathing hard and could relax.

"I...I've been trying to train...like really hard." she explained running fingers through her sweaty hair.

"The only reason I survived as long I did last time was Pruna, Luck and those magic masks. Mindy would have killed me in a minute if I hadn't been using a mask." She explained forgetting that not everyone knew that Mindy had betrayed her and forced her into a fight.

[aintyourdad]

"Always," he said, his lips twitching a little as he studied her face - as though to make sure she was okay. Why wouldn't she be? Who knows.

"I told you I wasn't gonna be away long, didn't I?"

[gunshiptotheface]

Strolling through the city was easy enough, of course watching the familiar shape of Ellie flipping off a baker was a nice surprise to his day. He couldn't say he opposed to stealing from the Capitol and their people for the amount that they as Tributes had to put up with.

"Too bad he turned around, you probably would've managed to get it otherwise."

arcade

[shenunigans]

The arcade is a popular haunt for a young teen trying to ease their mind through trying times. Not that Dave didn't want to see Bro, of course. It had been a long time since he died, they had catching up to do. It's just that catching up means either having emotions or trying desperately to dance around them, and both are fucking exhausting. Occasionally, he'll abandon the older man and find his own fun removed from all the hubbub.

He's been at the arcade all afternoon, but he's damn sure Ellie has been here longer. She's been focusing on a game he'd been eying off for a while, but he kind of coasts pasts awkwardly several times before taking it upon himself to mention it.

"Are you trying to game your way to carpal tunnel or are you a pro?" He asks out of nowhere, leaning on a machine alongside her.

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah I know," She said, scrubbing at her face with the sleeve of her pajamas. "It wasn't like I was worried or shit," The said stiffly, "Though you could have been a bit quicker coming back after you fucking--" But she cut it off. He really wasn't the one she should be mad at.

"... I'm just glad you're okay."

[onlyimmune]

Mindy had told her, about Sandy, about Wyatt, so Ellie grimaced slightly at the reminder. She didn't exactly like thinking about it.

"I'm sure you'll do better this time," She said carefully. "Just don't wear yourself out completely, yeah?" She stepped over to the edge of the building, looking out over the city. "This place is fucking massive."

[onlyimmune]

She wasn't expecting to run into Garrus, let alone to have him catch her at her failed attempt at shoplifting, and a dark colour tinted her cheeks.

"Yeah well. I'll get it tomorrow." She shifted back on her heels, narrowing her eyes at him. "So you into spying now?"

[onlyimmune]

"What?" Ellie said, not even looking away from the game but twisting her head - only to groan as the distraction meant that she died. She threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! I didn't want your stupid high score anyway."

She turned to Dave fully with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Were you waiting for it? I just got really fucking sucked in, you know? It's really good."

[gunshiptotheface]

"No, actually, just walking. You drew all the attention to yourself." Really the only reason he had noticed her was because of the reaction of the owner to her flipping him off.

[aintyourdad]

"Me, too," he said, sitting on the floor and leaning his back up against the side of the bed.

"Tell me you did somethin' other than watch it," he murmured, gesturing her over to him if she wanted.

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah," She said, shifting over to join him, sitting up against the bed and then leaning her head in to that it just touched his shoulder. "Riley and the dwarves dragged me out for ice cream, and then I had hamburgers with Enjolras. Don't worry. I did other shit."

And then she came back and watched reruns.

"... I'm sorry you didn't make it, Joel."

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah, well..." Garrus was right, but she made a face. "He's still a dick. And you're one to talk about drawing attention." Even though Garrus had been around for a while, they still got looks.

(She still had nightmares.)

She drew in a hard breath, meeting his eyes firmly. "Look - Just because I punched you in the alien dick or whatever... That doesn't mean we're fucking square."

[gunshiptotheface]

"I don't wave around a red flag screaming suspicious activity." He replied cooly, but she was right, of course he'd always get looks. It wasn't as if aliens were common here.

"Let me guess, still have nightmares about it?"He wasn't being arrogant about it, if anything it was a quiet question with enough understanding in it for it to be genuine. He still had nightmares about the death of his team on occasion but the first time you get jumped never really leaves you. Even he remembers the first time he was attacked and almost killed.

[aintyourdad]

"Good," he said in response to her answer. That was exactly what he'd wanted her to do - go out, spend some time doing fun things, not thinking about or dwelling on what he went through.

"Ah, I wasn't tryin' all that hard, anyway. Like hell do I wanna win this thing knowin' you'd have to go back in without me. That ain't how this is gonna work."

[onlyimmune]

The blunt question took her aback and she looked surprised, then suspicious, and then frustrated and embarrassed, unable to meet his eye.

"I have nightmares about a lot of stupid shit," She said lowly. Which meant 'yes'.

[onlyimmune]

She snorted, though her heart wasn't in it.

"So, what? You're just going to throw the towel in every time I bite it? That's pretty stupid, Joel."

[aintyourdad]

"Did I do that?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm just pointing out that one of us without the other reduces the odds. You know that."

[onlyimmune]

"Well no shit, Sherlock," Ellie said, smirking, bumping her head against his shoulder.

"Just... I would be okay, you know. If you won. I would be alright. It's better that at least one of us gets out of this fucked up thing, right?"

[gunshiptotheface]

"Yeah, you're not alone in that category." And he watched her for a moment, rolling his shoulders in a shrug.

"You might not like me, but I've dealt with enough backlash from this from everyone else. So I'm giving you an open offer, I can train you to fight if you want it, it might help with the nightmares."

[aintyourdad]

That... actually brought to mind something else - something Howard had said to him, a few weeks ago. With everything else that had been happening, Joel had put it on the back burner, but now that she mentioned getting out of it, well.

"What about a petition?"

[onlyimmune]

"You and Shepard have pretty weird ways of dealing with trauma," Ellie said, under her breath, glaring a bit before looking away.

"You'd have to make me a few promises," She said finally, after a long moment. Because making demands of people offering things is totally how you do this, Ellie.