exsilium | three. (video.)

( At least this time Ellie isn't in some random, ramshackle building, but enjoying the warmth of the kitchen and a giant cup of coffee. At least she looks marginally better rested than she has on previous occasions. )

So, with that whole swap thing, I've been thinking. ( A pause, and there's a note of self mockery in her voice: ) Because I don't think enough when weird stuff isn't happening. Or less-weird stuff, at any rate. ( Has she really digressed already and wandered off with her thoughts? She shakes her head at herself. )

I was thinking about anger. Or any emotion, I guess, when they get that intense that you feel like all your insides are writhing about like snakes, but anger's the one that stuck out for me. We're all in this war, and some of us have been in wars before and some haven't, and everyone handles it in these different ways.

( She trails off; articulating this isn't going so smoothly as she'd expected, but sometimes you just have to throw things at the wall and see what sticks. Homer used to throw pasta at the wall, a lot, and a bloody lot of that stuck. The memory makes her smile a little. )

I mean, just before I got here, Kev-- uh, this guy in our group, he wasn't doing so well with everything. ( See, Fi, she at least tried not to name and shame. Belatedly. ) Everyone tried different things to get him going, and it was this weird insight-- I guess it just said a bit about the kind of people we are, depending what tactic we used. ( Fi: sympathy. Lee: abuse. Homer: encouragement. )
I was all logic and common sense. ( A beat, before she continues, speaking a little more slowly as she grapples with her pride and tries to think it out. ) Sometimes I don't think that really shows the full picture, but.

( She could say that it definitely doesn't, not when you got anger that just bubbles up and blows being reasonable right out of the water. She could, but does not. )

Anyway, I was talking to this guy here, before, about anger. How you can use it, and that, make it work for you, and I just... I didn't know if that really worked for anyone. If anger's a weapon, or if you got an on/off switch for it, or what? 'Cause there's this quote in uh, this Shakespeare play - “wrath makes him deaf,” I think the Queen in Henry VI. ( She squints, trying to remember. ) And then there's another bit, about not coming between “the dragon and his rage,” in King Lear. I think Lear was already going crazy, though, by then, though. ( Quietly: ) It's been a while since I studied them. Trying to read that stuff and figure out all the language is hard, without those special high school study editions.

( Where was she even going with this? )

So I guess I just wondered what you lot thought about it. Anger and controlling anger and using it and whether it screws you up, or what.

( A beat, and she smiles crookedly. ) Or we could talk about dragons. We don't have any back home, but some of you have to have dragons, right?

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( Collette gets a sense that what she's said hasn't been... without an impact. She makes a mental note, responding to the last of what Ellie says. )

It better be! Hard to have sleepovers if I can't even navigate the room!

You might have to fight Steph for the covers, unless I get an inflatable mattress.

( She doesn't think about how that could sound. )

That'd be fun, though. Actually getting a few of the girls together, or something.

( Collette, however, does, lips quirking up at the corners even as her eyebrows reach for her hairline. Well, there was something new! And news, which tickles her fancy. )

Oh, you can always shove me off on the couch for the actual sleeping part. Steph, you say? She's a lot of fun! I bet she's great to be with.

( Smile. GOOD CHOICE, ELLIE? )

Oh, like a sleepover? ... A real one?

Yeah, she's really decent. She's a good mate. ( ALL OF THAT IS FLYING OVER HER HEAD, COLLETTE. ) I dunno. I sleep better when she's around, that's all.

( Awkwardly, she rubs the back of her neck. )

A sleepover or... or camping, or something. Hell, we could invite some of the boys, too.

( And thus the camping trip idea was born yes good )

( At least she doesn't take the mate the wrong way. No, that's too much something meshed into Australianisms even from pop culture alone for Collette to mistake that as anything other than friend.

The rest, however? Collette's smile softens, expression smoothing out. )

I'm happy for you, honest. Getting a good night's rest is pretty much what the doctor always orders, right after apples and taking asprin and calling them the next day.

( Said with a wink. )

Having someone there who cares about you to help you get that's pretty wonderful. Ah, yeah! Camping'd be fun! Girls and guys -- just not Caesar. Not that I think you know him, but yeah.

( That I'm happy for you seems like a... weird thing to say about sleep, but Ellie just shrugs it off, assumes it's part of Collette's general enthusiasm for everything in life.

However, the wink makes her raise an eyebrow. ) Yeah. It's good?

( Hmm. She's just going to file that away. ) I don't know any Caesar. I was thinking Pete and Cedric. Do you know them?

I know Cedric! And a Peter -- ( she hesitates, remember Al had said that was his middle name. just a coincidence, but something her mind picks at nonetheless. ) -- which is where I'm guessing the Pete comes from. Is the one you know kind of a super-smart geek?

You call him Ricco, all right? He prefers it. ( Ellie, don't be mean. )

Peter, yeah. Good guy, bit squeamish, though. I don't think he's ever seen where a good bit of steak comes from.

( Seriously, Ellie. )

Them, and Steph, definitely. Asami my roommate, uh... Mitsuki, some others. I'll ask them. We should just-- do it. Soon.

Sure, get supplies together, grab the people, and go! Though the supplies thing is really smart. I didn't realize how much was involved until the first time I went, and that was with someone who knew what they were doing!

( She grins. )

Call me when it's decided? Ricco, you, me, Pete, Steph, Mitsuki, Asami, whoever else!

Supplies won't be too big a deal, hunting out there isn't too bad. We'd get enough for all of us. Uh, them lot-- Katniss, she should come with us. ( "She needs more friends," Ellie almost says, but she puts a lid on it. ) And Fifi. Um, she's a friend of mine from back home. Fiona Maxwell.

( Hmm. She likes this plan. ) Let's say this weekend. I'll bully everyone into coming along.

( Did she say 'bully'? She meant persuade.

Don't trust that grin. Ever. )

Fifi and Katniss?

( Collette grins. )

Sounds like we're going to have a regular Animal house out there! Good, I'm looking forward to this.

[But Steph, obviously stalking most of Ellie's conversations (private or otherwise, sorry Ellie), may have just choked on her drink. Unlike Ellie, she actually picked up on the implication here and isn't sure if she's more amused, or facepalming at the fact Ellie managed to accidentally make it seem like they're dating.]

three. (video.)

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