o1. Arrival | Dictation

[nohalfway]

Okay... Okay.

So I'm all for traveling, surprises, and bullshit.

Oh yeah, I'm all for the bullshit. I'm all for being thrown into some bumfuck Egypt kinda place, no one answering my questions, and fucking nabbing all of my shit.

Someone is going to get their eyes gauged out and their fingers hacked off, and it's gonna be the asshole who thought it'd be useful to snag all my stuff. Don't think I won't find you, because I will.

Oh, and when I do? It'll be motherfucking war.

And while we're at it, it'd be real nice to get some answers as to where the shit I am. Because I'm not in the mood for this and I'm way too old to play fairy princess.

Comments

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

My guess is that it fits the theme more than computers or telephones would.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Well, I've never used any of those either, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Computers don't work where I'm from.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Where are you from?

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Earth. But everything's fucked up and dead pretty much. We're worn down by infected people and shitty government.

Pretty much all the technology that apparently existed before I was born is useless now.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Was there some sort of plague?

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

It's a fungus that attacks the brain and turns you into a mindless killing machine.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Well.

That would explain the cynicism.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Yeah that about covers it.

I grew up in it, so I'm pretty sure I'll never be comfortable here. I was born about six years after the infection hit.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

No cure?

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

[ That's... A really tough question. ]

Well, I thought so.

I'd like to think so.

I got bit almost a year ago and nothing happened... I'm immune, and I was supposed have been the hope of a vaccine.

Aaaaaaaand now I'm here.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

So the castle has essentially doomed your planet.

I wonder why.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

No.

[ Ellie side-eyes at this point, her gut burning at what she's sure she knows about a certain someone. ]

It's been doomed a long fucking time and nothing's gonna change that at this point. Here has nothing to do with it.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

But you would still rather be there than here?

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Well yeah. I'd be stupid to want to go back there. Especially if there's no infected here.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Ah, so you wouldn't rather be there than here.

Good choice.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

... Yeah.

[ She just can't help but linger on the guilt that comes with possibly being the cure for all of that. Everyone is still suffering back there, still trying and struggling to survive. And she could have fixed that. Couldn't she? ]

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

How old are you?

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Uh, fourteen? Why?

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Only curious.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

How old are you?

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Older than the human race.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Pfff.

Haha, I'm calling bullshit on that.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

Kids should have more open minds.

[handwritten]

[nohalfway]

Yeah well, I guess you can say I'm a special brand of kid.

You grow up being skeptical where I'm from. Because there's basically no hope for anything, really, and shit like this place?

Yeah, they basically threw all the storybooks away.

[handwritten]

[fearbringer]

I would be happy to prove my existence to you in some way or another.