Who: ellie + some open and closed prompts. Where: around Aldrip! What: February open log Warnings: lots of swearing, because it's ellie. possibly violence? because it's ellie.
[ Ellie has more than enough food stockpiled at this point, but she can't help it. A lifetime of living on FEDRA's rations, jealously guarding them from the bigger kids who wouldn't hesitate to steal them from her, creates an itch in her bones. This place was overflowing with food now, but would that last? Could you starve in a simulation?
She wasn't exactly eager to find out. So Ellie takes to the hunting routes she'd weasled out of Richard. The solitude is comforting when she starts to miss Joel, making it easier to pretend for a little while he'd just wandered off to put out some traps or something.
It's too nice of a day to deal with startled natives, so she's got her gun in her back waistband, a bow in her hands. Except instead of the odd sturdiness of it making her aim better, it feels like the damn thing is fighting her.
She lets off an arrow after something in the grass, but it misses for the third time that day. ]
Oh, you've gotta-- Are you fucking kidding me?! This thing's broken or something!
[Sometimes it's easy to forget this is a simulation, because Aloy doesn't think twice about going about her daily life. She sleeps, and apparently has odd dreams about beautiful androids; she hunts, so she can eat when she normally would. No question about whether she needs to do these things.
Aloy is watching as the girl's quarry scurries through the grass, alarmed prey making for safety. A bit dry,]
[The bow seems a bit light in her hands. Not something Aloy would want to go after machines with. But that’s nothing to give anyone trouble over. Aloy started with something easier than this, too.
She tests the draw, then starts looking for something to go after.]
Not this one, just bought it today. The one I'm used to is a lot shittier. Probably been broken and repaired a million times already.
[ she's not on Joel's level of good with it, but Ellie would usually consider herself at least competent at hunting. but she's used to overcompensating for a worn, damaged bow. ]
Weapons can be similar, but there's always some sort of difference. Especially if one's been through a lot.
[Granted, Aloy is used to weapons that aren't standardized and mass produced. She stoops, looks over it, and then gestures. Ellie can have it, since she was hunting in the first place.]
[Disinclined to go back and forth on the topic, Aloy rolls her shoulder, and takes out string to truss it up. Hopefully Ellie doesn't have second thoughts about that.]
Twitchy? What makes people so nervous about it?
[After all, when Aloy eyes the weapon...it's just so much smaller than most of the old world weapons she's seen. Granted, the Zenith's weapon could be small, too, but this isn't something a Zenith would wave around.]
[ Aloy is older and cooler, so Ellie's first instinct is to impress.
She pops back up to her feet, aiming at a tree a little further from them. As she shoots, the loud bang doesn't phase Ellie the way it once had. But it's undeniably loud and startling, and she's had more than one native get in a huff about it.
unlike her bow, the shot lands. sorry birdie in the tree... ]
It's loud, it's fast as fuck, and can blow someone's head off from like a million miles away.
[Aloy doesn't flinch, exactly, but she does reflexively crouch at Ellie's sudden movement. Don't want to accidentally put herself into Ellie's line of fire.
She cranes her neck to get a glimpse of the falling target.
Belatedly, with some amusement in her voice:]
You almost make it sound like 'loud' is a selling point.
You gotta, otherwise they're gonna think they can do shit like hit you with a bus. My world's not like this place, all...I dunno. Helpless and friendly.
[A bus...isn't that an old type of vehicle? She only looks puzzled for a moment. Then she's thinking about how specific that example is, and simply ignores the idea of being helpless.]
[She's thinking of Enduring Victory. The great lie at the end of the world. Giving people a reason to stay organized, so there was still a chance for the real project to come together.]
It just feels like...if everyone behaves as though their community is going to fall apart, then no one's going to take care of it.
[Aloy can admit that. She doesn't want to self-sacrifice is she has any choice in the matter, actually. But...if comes down to it...she remembers Elisabet giving everything for life.]
Sometimes...maybe not. Sometimes things are bigger than one person.
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closed: aloy
She wasn't exactly eager to find out. So Ellie takes to the hunting routes she'd weasled out of Richard. The solitude is comforting when she starts to miss Joel, making it easier to pretend for a little while he'd just wandered off to put out some traps or something.
It's too nice of a day to deal with startled natives, so she's got her gun in her back waistband, a bow in her hands. Except instead of the odd sturdiness of it making her aim better, it feels like the damn thing is fighting her.
She lets off an arrow after something in the grass, but it misses for the third time that day. ]
Oh, you've gotta-- Are you fucking kidding me?! This thing's broken or something!
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Aloy is watching as the girl's quarry scurries through the grass, alarmed prey making for safety. A bit dry,]
It looks like it's working to me.
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Then, turning with the full force of sarcasm only a teenager could muster: ]
Yeah? You wanna give it a try?
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Besides, she has a bow, too. Aloy looks at the bow, looks at Ellie.
Holds out her hand.]
Sure. Let me get a feel for it.
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So she drops the bow into Aloy's hand before making a gesture to the woods around them. ]
Be my guest.
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She tests the draw, then starts looking for something to go after.]
Have you gotten much practice with it?
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[ she's not on Joel's level of good with it, but Ellie would usually consider herself at least competent at hunting. but she's used to overcompensating for a worn, damaged bow. ]
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[She's going low, getting quieter as she thinks she spots something. Must not have the old bow anymore, she assumes - what else could it be?]
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Didn't arrive with it. Figured something you bought would be better, since it's new and all.
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There's a bunny in that grass, Aloy's pretty certain. Just let her draw an arrow back, and fire - coinflip says it's a hit!]
- There.
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[ this bowed has personally betrayed her. ]
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[Aloy offers the bow back to Ellie, before heading over to check the take.]
It's a good bow. You just need a chance to get used to it.
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[ still, she follows, quickly tying the bow back to her backpack so she doesn't need to carry it. ]
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[Granted, Aloy is used to weapons that aren't standardized and mass produced. She stoops, looks over it, and then gestures. Ellie can have it, since she was hunting in the first place.]
A gun...one of the old world weapons?
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[ she waves the catch away, motioning for Aloy to take it instead. Then she pulls her gun out of her back waist band so Aloy can see. ]
Yeah, mine came with me. But the natives get a bit twitchy when I use it, so I figured a bow would work better.
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Twitchy? What makes people so nervous about it?
[After all, when Aloy eyes the weapon...it's just so much smaller than most of the old world weapons she's seen. Granted, the Zenith's weapon could be small, too, but this isn't something a Zenith would wave around.]
cw animal death mentions
She pops back up to her feet, aiming at a tree a little further from them. As she shoots, the loud bang doesn't phase Ellie the way it once had. But it's undeniably loud and startling, and she's had more than one native get in a huff about it.
unlike her bow, the shot lands. sorry birdie in the tree... ]
It's loud, it's fast as fuck, and can blow someone's head off from like a million miles away.
Re: cw animal death mentions
She cranes her neck to get a glimpse of the falling target.
Belatedly, with some amusement in her voice:]
You almost make it sound like 'loud' is a selling point.
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People try to hit you with a bus very often?
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So they had guns, but they could be intimidated by yours?
[People are so strange.]
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[ she motions for Aloy to follow her as she goes to retrieve the bird. ]
This place is pretty cushy, though. There's food everywhere, for one. There's been monsters, but nothing's tried to kill me just yet.
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You want to stay sharp. Might be the smart call.
[Aloy's not blind to the benefits of community, but she's the last person to say you have to stay in one.]
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[ so says Joel. it was cynical, but hey, he had survived the outbreak and twenty years after it. ]
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Mindset like that might help it happen, though.
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It just feels like...if everyone behaves as though their community is going to fall apart, then no one's going to take care of it.
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[ She asks it genuinely.
There was a moral spectrum in this place, and it's...different than what she's used to. ]
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[Aloy can admit that. She doesn't want to self-sacrifice is she has any choice in the matter, actually. But...if comes down to it...she remembers Elisabet giving everything for life.]
Sometimes...maybe not. Sometimes things are bigger than one person.