exsilium | 1st story. (voice.)

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1st story. (voice.)

( there's a bit of a pause before anyone speaks. when the voice does start, though, it's pretty low. flat, almost, like the speaker is tired, and her voice sounds pretty rough and husky-- and distinctly australian. she sounds decidedly... detached from what's just happened, considering it's her first entry. )

I remember, once when I was a kid. One of the shearers bought a kangaroo to the farm – not alive, though. It was roadkill. I couldn't tell you if... he hit it, or if he just found it. I don't know if that matters.

Anyway, he brings this dead 'roo over in the back of his ute, and hauls the thing off his trailer. I'm surprised he got it on there, to be honest. He and my dad, they took it over to one of the sheds and started butchering it. It was already dead, but they still went through all the steps they use for lamb or cattle if we're gonna be using them for food. Slice the throat, first. They took the whole thing apart, until there was just this... steaming carcass, and then they froze the meat for dog food, buried the guts so that the foxes couldn't get at them.

That's a bit what I feel like right now. Like I'm a carcass that someone picked up and dropped off here. It doesn't matter if I was alive or not when they found me. ( She laughs a bit, but it's a bitter sound. ) I'm here now, aren't I? Either I've gone bush crazy and I'll be dead soon, or I'm already dead. This Initiative bullshit is just-- Jesus.

( A sigh, and a long silence. )

My name's Ellie. Ellie Linton. I don't know if names mean much to the dead, but that's it.

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Alive or dead, even shit like a name can still mean a lot.

[Eddie takes a quiet drag off his cigarette.]

Eddie Riggs, I'm a roadie.

Suppose. Part of all the things we collect, I guess.

( Excuse her, she's just being an angsty, existential teen. )

Nice to meet you, Eddie Riggs. ( If only she didn't sound somewhat sarcastic. ) What does a roadie do, exactly?

You ever see dudes running around in black shirts at a concert making sure shit is good to go? Yeah, that's what I do for a living. Been doing it for almost twenty years.

[He's good at dealing with this sort of thing.]

So what's your story, Ellie?

Wouldn't know. I've never been to a concert.

( She's being contrary. That said, she does ease off just a little bit. ) Seen them on TV shows, though. I think.

( Ahhh, stories. Her favourite thing to talk about. Good Sir Eddie just earned a few points. )

I've got a few. Winding up at this place probably takes the biscuit, though.

( And speaking of, she is totally crunching on some cookies right now. ) I just blew up an airfield a couple of days ago.

Well shit, if we find some musical talent, then we'll just have to fix that.

[Is he joking? Probably not. He'd enjoy building another stage.]

Yeah, I know that feeling. Went through some weird shit myself. Pretty awesome all the same though.

[Her comment about the airfield doesn't phase him. Really, he's more curious than anything.]

Did the TSA really piss you off that badly?

Dunno if "awesome" is the word for most of them, but they're kind of exciting, I guess.

( Hah. Yes, okay, she laughed. Sort of. It was one of those weird cynical sounding things that can just about pass for a laugh. ) It was occupied by some foreign soldiers. I mean, I dunno what-- time you're from, or whatever. ( She mutters something about things being "bloody stupid" before continuing. ) But uh, where-- when I'm from, Australia got invaded. And now Australia doesn't exist or... something. But we were trying to get our airfield back so the Kiwis'd have a shot at getting some headway.

Why the hell would anyone want to invade Australia? That place is designed to fuck people up. Er, no offense with it being your home and all. So you were part of a resistance back home?

[Eddie takes another drag, releasing the inhaled smoke in a long, slow breath.]

At least that's shit we have in common.

( Although Eddie can't see it, Ellie is grinning. Brief, but it's there, and maybe it can be heard in her voice a little bit. ) Yeah. And that's before you even get to the bloody wildlife. You know that if the Gympie-Gympie plant stings you, it just burns and burns for months? One bloke stumbled into one, got stung across the face-- couldn't see for days. Like one of those triffid things, only without the walking. Or eating people, I guess.

( One can only hope. It is Australia, after all. )

Kinda. Some friends and I were camping when we got invaded. We just kind of... tried to do things that'd help.

( Sometimes it worked out well, sometimes not so much. )

Yeah? What happened where you're from?

You're not crazy. [It's said firmly, but carefully, meant to be a reassurance. A little more wryly, she adds:] I'm not so sure about the dead thing, I've got no idea if they can bring people here if they're dead at home.

Are you hurt at all?

[Sometimes people sounding tired can just mean they're tired, but everything else about what this girl has said makes Steph a little worried she might be injured.]

You're neither crazy, near to death, nor dead, I can assure you that much. It may seem overwhelming, but you are in good hands among the Transports.

I don't think we're dead. Or I hope not.

We're not dead at the moment. I started to figure that one out when I still had to pay for things, but I had some help. I don't know what it means for people like us later, dying first and all. But it's not so bad right now. Just slightly overwhelming.

[The accent is definitely... distinct. It's not like the affected one from the Capitol, or, really, anything else she's ever heard in her life. That's what she pays attention to more than most of the spiel (not that large clusters of words hold her focus that well to start with), at least until close to the end.]

You're not dead.

[Or at least, she's pretty sure she's not. Crazy, though... crazy she can't guarantee.]

I got blood in my magic belt buckle after a bunch of heavy stage props crushed me. When I woke up I was in the Age of Metal, shit looked like it was ripped off of a heavy metal album cover. Found out a bunch of humans were trying to overthrow their BDSM wearing demon overlords.

Thanks to them, I got an awesome axe and my guitar can shoot lightning.

( . . . )

Are you drunk?

Oh, great. That's a relief.

( Be sure not to cut yourself on all of that bitter. )

Bumps and bruises. Nothing too bad. ( Although-- ) You got any of that, uhh, burn cream stuff?

( Close proximity to explosions can be a little uncomfortable. )

( It takes her a second to work out the video thing - she was probably told how to make it work, but that doesn't mean it all sank in right away. Also, some muttering about technology. )

Seem overwhelming? It kinda is overwhelming, mate.

( Such a long-suffering sigh. ) I've heard that before. It doesn't usually go so well.

You're filling me with confidence.

( Learn some manners, Ellie. ) Got any more nuggets of wisdom for me?

( Weirdly enough, that actually makes her laugh. )

At least we can rely on always having to pay. Good old capitalism at work.

Wait, hang on. You actually died before coming here? Are you sure?

( She was just being melodramatic but... wow. Brace yourself for morbid question time, Mr. Diggory. )

[Eddie switches over to video, giving the poor girl a raucous bout of laughter. Interestingly, Eddie seems to be holding his guitar in a position to play it, and the area behind him seems to be mostly clear of buildings and people.]

Nah, it'd be a lot easier if I still had the sacred beer tree.

[Eddie has always been a firm proponent for show, rather than tell. So he rocks out with some tasty jams that just happen to call down bolts of lightning from the sky. It's a pretty awesome display with the strikes appearing behind Eddie, finishing up the whole thing with a power chord that summons an eruption of fire behind the roadie, further illuminating the finale of his display.]

So, still think I'm drunk?

Great. If this was Heaven, I was going to write a strongly worded letter of complaint.

( Not, of course, that she thinks she'd be someone destined for Heaven. At best, Purgatory. She was never religious, but maybe some of Robyn's lessons rubbed off along the way. )

Sacred beer--

( You know what, she is not even going to question it. Questioning things just seems like a really bad idea, right now.

And then comes that little display. She looks rather skeptical when he starts playing - she can't help herself - but slowly her eyebrows are rising further and further, until they're probably up in the altitude of Mount Everest's higher peaks. )

No. ( Uh. ) I'm starting to think maybe there was acid in those biscuits I had, earlier, but you're definitely not drunk.

( No, please forgive her. ) But it's a guitar!

[He smiles and returns his guitar to hanging off of his back.]

Kid, Clementine ain't an ordinary guitar. She's been blessed by the metal gods. Now for them putting acid in your biscuits, I don't know shit about that.

[Religion has always been a non-entity in Panem. Ellie may not be religious, but Katniss has hardly heard of it at all. So that concept, whatever she's talking about... it strikes her as almost completely foreign, apart from an expression simply used to refer to the sky.]

Heaven?

Ellie.

( There will be none of that kid business if she can help it, sir. )

You are really, really strange.

( But it's more just an observation. He actually seems like a decent kinda guy. She appreciates how forthright he is. )

I think there might just be more to get used to here than I though. Time travel seemed as weird as it can get, but uh. Clementine is something else.

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1st story. (voice.)

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[audio] somehow this conversation already delights me

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