exsilium | 01 ☣ voice

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01 ☣ voice

Bullshit is showing up here with everything on me but my comic books. All those Savage Starlight issues, gone. Just like that. Fuck you too, Initiative.

[A pause. Ellie's never really addressed a group of people. Technology is crazy. Okay, there was a point to this whole thing.]

... anyway, guess I just wanted to say thanks to the people that helped me out when I got here. I found who I was looking for, so. Didn't wanna leave anyone with a cliffhanger.

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Hm? What? What is it?

[ He's forgotten that they're still connected in the face of what he's discovered. ]

Oh. Ah- never mind.

What? What's going on?

Don't be late for dinner. That's all.

I'm never late for dinner. Why are you being so weird?

I'm not.

Are too.

Just remember what I said about dinner.

I'll be there in a timely manner. Promise.

I'll ah- I'll see you then.

[A small snort of amusement.]

And you think I'm the weird one?

I'll see ya.

[ THIS IS PAPABEAR WAITING AROUND IN THEIR NEW PLACE. CHILLING. ... just relaxing. Doing nothing, flipping through a book without its cover, the pages yellow from time and dust, the spine cracked. Just waiting.

BTW what's for dinner? Pancakes.

Yes. Pancakes. ]

[And this is Ellie showing up right on time. She's closing the door behind her when she catches a whiff of the food.]

Hey. That smells awesome.

[She shrugs off her pack and jacket, dumping them on the floor next to the sofa.]

I'm not late, by the way.

[ The corner of the page is turned in to mark his place. Joel looks at the discarded jacket and backpack, giving her a pointed look, and the nods to where her room is. ]

Ellie- what'd I tell you about just leavin' your jacket and bag on the ground like that?

[Aw, crap. She should have known better, given how many times Joel's gotten on her case about this. Really, she doesn't think it's that big of a deal, but it's not worth getting into a fight over.]

I know. Sorry. [She sighs and gathers her crap in her arms, crossing over to her room and audibly dumping it on the floor in front of her bed.]

Look! All clean. I'm a wizard.

[ Although they had scouted around for a decent place to call a temporary home of their own, this one had been abandoned and had two bedrooms. It was nothing like the one he'd had back in the QZ in terms of cleanliness but it was home. The rooms had been worn down with hanging bits of wallpaper, chipped paint, rusted and water stains on the ceilings and walls, the carpets torn and smelling rank. The furniture had been no better.

Together they had worked to cleaning it up as best as they could, wiping down the walls and the windows, leaving the windows open overnight in order to air the entire place out.

And here they were. All together again. ]

Last I checked, your name ain't Jeannie, and it sure as hell ain't Samantha either.

[ Those 70s references will no doubt go right over her head. Either way he can only tell her to make sure she keeps her room clean, even then he hadn't been that strict with Sarah. Once a week at most, unless he walked by the open door and saw it resembling a pigsty. ]

You hungry?

Was that some reference to something I won't get?

[She seems to be in a pleasant mood as she goes over to Joel, picking up the book he was reading and checking it out.

Whenever Ellie does some exploring on her own, she comes back in good spirits, and it's evident as she grins at him, ready to tease.]

Fucking starving. Did Tess leave food for us, or did you cook?

Sure was. TV shows from long before your time. A decade before mine.

[ He leans back comfortably against the chair - or as comfortably as he can with how rickety and old the dining set seem to be.

The pancakes are on low. ]

Pancakes. They ain't that hard to make.

[ And that moment is gone as he rises from the chair to move over to the stove, spatula in hand to begin easing it under the pancake to flip it. ]

Ah, so back when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

[It's Be a Smartass Day, and Ellie's taking full advantage of it. After inspecting Joel's reading material, she wanders over to their tiny kitchen to observe what he's doing. She's come to like watching him do things--put crap together, clean something out, cook. It didn't even really need to be all that interesting for Ellie to be over his shoulder.]

I thought pancakes were a breakfast thing.

More like before the earth was even created.

[ He'll bite.

Joel catches her at his side from the corner of his eye. He glances at her, a corner of his lips quirking. One day he'll teach her how to make pancakes, easiest thing ever to make but the most frustrating with having to stand there and watch for the bubbles. ]

They're considered a breakfast- lunch- and dinner thing where I'm from.

[She leans against the counter, fingers drumming against the cracks in the linoleum. Ellie knows how to cook things from cans until they're done, and how to hold meat over a fire until it's cooked through. Anything beyond that is considered fancy territory, and thus beyond her league.]

What was your favorite thing for dinner? Pancakes?

I'll tell you, but only if you give your word that you won't go laughin'.

I swear. No laughing.

[ A brief pause to add to the moment. ]

Mac n' cheese.

[A pause on her end, because she has to make sure--]

You mean, that shit that comes with the powdered cheese?

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