1st Arrow [Action]

[threeweeksago]

[Oh man. Oh man this was not good. Not good at all. Last night had been one of those rare nights where Ellie actually got a good night of sleep, a mercifully dreamless sleep where she wasn't haunted by the Infected or the hunters or the faces of all the people she had known and lost.

So of fucking course something had to happen the next fucking day. The morning had started so nicely, and then suddenly everything kind of went weird and she woke up in... wherever the fuck this was. Not cool. What's even less cool is that she woke up alone. Outside of That Incident at the resort in winter, she can't remember the last time she woke up alone. Even in the present, Joel always hung around their tiny little cabin at least until she was awake before heading off. So... being alone in a strange place with no memory of how she got here? That sent a clear jolt of panic lancing through her.

Not even stopping to really absorb her surroundings, Ellie takes off running with no real direction.]

Joel? [She's trying not to sound panicked, but she's not doing a very good job of it.] Joel, where are you, you asshole?!

Comments

[indirectcause]

It happens, not a damn thing we can do about it.

[He listens to her story, frowning softly. That's what it was at the end of the day, wasn't it? Just appearing fleetingly into each others lives before one of you either left or got your life cut short]

Shit. Makes you sometimes wonder why you get close to people at all. Guess that's what keeps us human, makes us different from them.

[Walkers, Infected, it's the same game in different packaging. People who just aren't people any more]

[threeweeksago]

When you put it that way...

[She never really thought about it like that before. Each death hurt, each abandonment just tore open a wound in her heart that never fully healed, and that's all she ever focused on. But those words...]

Almost everyone I know and cared about has died. My mom, even though I never got to know her. My best friend, Henry and Sam... and if they don't die, they leave. [Like Joel nearly did.] It hurts. It hurts like hell and I hate feeling like that.

But if feeling hurt when someone dies is what sets us apart from them? Fuck it. I can deal with a little more pain. Anything to avoid turning into a monster.

[And not just the Infected. There are plenty of humans that are monsters, who were really no better than the mindless people-turned-animals they fought, and that feeling is something that sets them apart from those people as well.

She actually manages to crack a small smile after all that. Congrats, Ben, it looks like you're actually managing to help someone cope with her survivor's guilt.]

[indirectcause]

[Holy crap he's finally done something good. He offers her a small smile in return]

See? As horrible and fucked up as the whole mess is, you can at least always say you're still living. That you're still trying.

[God knows he hit the point of giving up, but he never stopped CARING. Not for those around him, at any rate. Caring about himself? Well, that was another thing entirely]

[threeweeksago]

Yeah... yeah, definitely.

[She still has a long way to go to overcome all her traumas, but this is certainly a good start.]

Y'know... I don't normally emotionally barf all over people I just met, and uh... don't even know the names of yet. Sorry about that. [She grins, then laughs, then raises a fist.] I'm Ellie.

[indirectcause]

[And some of those traumas will never be fixed. Ben sure knows some of his won#t be]

Hey, it's okay. Arriving in this place is a giant headfuck. You're allowed to do stuff out of the norm.

[Jesus, it feels like it's been forever since he brofisted anyone. Everyone in his group is either too old or too young to get it. He smiles, tapping his fist against hers] Name's Ben. Nice to meet you, even in a crazy as shit castle.

[threeweeksago]

[Ellie laughs again.] It's always the craziest places that you meet the most interesting people, am I right?

[indirectcause]

Isn't that the goddamn truth, and it doesn't get much crazier than this place.

[threeweeksago]

And yet, in some ways, this place doesn't seem as crazy as the shit we've had to go through with the dead rising and fucking creepy fungus monsters. Wonder what that says about our worlds?

[indirectcause]

I know right? How fucked up is it that we can find a magical kidnapping castle actually plausible?