ellie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
backpacking) wrote2014-04-27 08:17 pm
backpacking) wrote2014-04-27 08:17 pm
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Name: Kai
DW username: n/a
E-Mail: femaleplotdevice@hotmail.com
IM: kairaptor (rarely used)
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kairaptor
Other Characters: Sam Winchester (ofletters), Daenerys Targaryen (unsullies), Snow White (onevice)
Character Name: Ellie
Series: The Last of Us
Timeline: Just after Joel is impaled at the University of Eastern Colorado (just before "Winter")
Canon Resource Link: The Last of Us Wiki and Ellie on TLOU Wiki
Character History: In September 2013, the spread of a vicious brain-addling fungus, Cordyceps Brain Infection, exploded onto the scene in the United States. The fungus, which can state either as inhaled spores or an injury from an Infected, does not inherently kill or cause zombification. Rather, it overtakes the host's functioning, effectively making them living, violent mutants until they die naturally or are killed. This pandemic rocked the country and as a result, 2/3 of the population ceased to exist.
Born years after the virus spread, Ellie knows nothing of the world before everything began to break down. She was born and raised in Boston and lived with her mother, Anna, though much else about her early life is unknown. At some point, her mother asked a friend, Marlene, to watch over Ellie if anything should happen to her. After Anna died, Marlene followed through with her promise and, in trying to keep Ellie safe, sent her to a military boarding school.
Riley introduces Ellie to a man named Winston who lives in an abandoned mall; Winston shows Ellie how to ride a horse and Riley uses the distraction to contact the Fireflies, something of which Ellie doesn't approve. While trying to escape the chaos of a fight between the rebels and the soldiers, Ellie argues that she doesn't want to get hurt or to hurt the military, while Riley insists that nothing will happen and that she only wants to help the Fireflies escape. In trying to avoid danger, themselves, the girls run into an Infected and Riley is almost bitten, however, they are saved by the Fireflies they'd helped escape earlier. After a series of arguments with the Fireflies, joined by Marlene, the latter gives Ellie a knife and letter, both from her mother, and send the girls back to school. Riley, having been refused admittance to the Fireflies, says she'll see Ellie later.
Six weeks later, Riley sneaks into Ellie's room in the middle of the night. Newly made a member of the Fireflies, Riley says she will tell her disgruntled friend about her time away if Ellie goes with her back to the abandoned mall. Ellie, both curious and frustrated, agrees, and the two head out of the school. Riley talks about her experience with the Fireflies, saying that the military hides a lot of the truth about the number of Infected and the state of the Quarantine Zone. Ellie is evasive in talking about her own life and employs sarcasm and deadpan to express her disdain for Riley's new choices.
In the mall, the two come across Winston's old home; the man had died of a heart attack and the horse he'd let Ellie ride is gone. The girls explore a bit, conversing somewhat stiffly, until Riley reveals that there is still power in the city and turns the lights on within the mall. Weakening, Riley apologies for the bad blood between them, and things begin to lighten up. They are able to have some fun, riding a carousel, goofing around in a Halloween store, and taking pictures in a photo booth. When they come across a broken-down arcade, Riley leads Ellie through an imagined playing of a game called "Turning," one that seemingly has an impact on Ellie despite the fact that she couldn't really play the "real" game. She states that she has to get back to the school, since she's been in too much trouble already, and Riley admits that she is going to be relocated to another Firefly base outside of Boston.
The two have a few last lighthearted moments, engaging in a re-appropriated water gun fight and then hooking up Ellie's Walkman to dance to music. Finally admitting to her fear of being alone (and a number of other things), Ellie kisses Riley and asks her not to leave. Riley agrees quickly and the two start to decide what to do next when a swarm of Infected burst through the doors, attracted to the music. The girls nearly escape, but Ellie is dragged back by a Runner until Riley leaps down to her rescue. They manage to kill their assailants, but at a mortal cost; both have bites from the encounter. Defeated, the two choose waiting it out together over suicide, but it is only Riley who succumbs. Distraught that she lives after her friend has died, Ellie agrees to go with Marlene, who realizes they could potentially use Ellie's immunity to cure the pandemic.
Still in Boston with Marlene a few weeks after her bite and Riley's death, the Fireflies leader tells Ellie that they're going to go out West to one of the group's labs to try and develop a cure. When Marlene is badly injured, she passes care of Ellie to two local thugs, Joel and Tess, big names in the broken-down QZ. Originally neither party was particularly enthusiastic, but Marlene offers the pair a lot of weapons in exchange for taking Ellie to the local capital building and they agree (Joel more reluctantly). Leaving Marlene behind to recover safely, Ellie travels with the seasoned pair for her first ever trip outside of a QZ. Things change for the worse when they are cornered by soldiers and the duo realize that Ellie is Infected, thinking it all to be a set up. They're able to escape without too much damage and the fact that Ellie has been bitten but doesn't turn brings about curiosity in Tess and suspicion in Joel. They encounter a number of Infected and perilous moments, but Ellie is able to see the "real world" for the first time and seems to appreciate the chance. Once they reach the capital building they find all the messenger Fireflies dead and a distraught Tess soon reveals that she's been bitten. She stays behind to hold off another round of the military while Joel and Ellie escape the city.
Joel, shut down to Tess' death, declares that they'll do as he says, and Ellie begrudgingly agrees. They make for a local man, Bill, who "owes Joel a favor," one which they hope to cash in for a car. Along the way they set off a number of traps that the now-paranoid man had set up around the area and Joel eventually stumbles into one himself, held up by the ankle and shooting at Infected while Ellie hurriedly tries to get him down. They're spared by Bill himself who heralds them toward his base, though once there it's clear that he has embittered since he "lost someone he cared about." He and Ellie bicker constantly, but he does agree to help them find the parts for a car. The group survives a more dangerous part of town, but barely, and only to discover that someone else has taken their desired battery before they could get to it. It's soon clear how it happened; Bill's missing partner took the battery but was bitten and committed suicide within a nearby house. They do find a running car, however, and Bill helps to see Joel and Ellie on their way.
The car makes it as far as Philadelphia before the two are flagged down by a man who's apparently been injured. Joel, a practiced thug, sees through the ruse and means to run him down, but the stranger and his gang send the duo's truck careening into a nearby store. Joel and Ellie just barely make it through the encounter, killing all the "hunters" on the highway who meant to kill them for their food and supplies. They come across other bodies and manifests that explain this, and Ellie asks how Joel knew that the man hadn't been hurt and if he himself had hurt people. The noncommittal answer is fairly telling and Ellie clams up, but doesn't seem to turn cold despite the knowledge, clearly aware of what their own survival might cost. Joel directs them toward a bridge and they cut through a hotel to get there, but they're separate as he falls down a few floors in an elevator shaft. Despite his having told her to wait, Ellie heads down to try and find him and does so just in time; Joel is struggling (and failing) as a hunter chokes and drowns him, but Ellie snatches up his gun and kills the assailant. Shocked with herself and at her first kill, the girl admits the gun back to Joel, but is indignant when he only berates her for the action rather than thanking her for saving his life. She doesn't let it go, but he's just as stubborn, admitting a veiled word of thanks a bit later, but it's one that she seems to appreciate nonetheless. This is a big turning point in their relationship as he allows her to use a rifle to cover for him while he clears their path. Ellie proves to be a decent shot and he officially hands over a pistol, arming her with something "a little more her size."
In evading a monstrous tank trying to end their two-man army, Ellie and Joel run into another pair, Henry and Sam. Joel almost beats Henry to death and is nearly shot by Sam, but Henry calls him off, noting that Joel has a little girl with him and that hunters "don't really keep kids around. Survival of the fittest and all that." The brothers invite them to travel to a nearby radio tower to regroup with their other party members, if they're still alive, and Ellie accepts before Joel can really argue. Seemingly pleased to have someone of her own age around, Ellie banters with Sam as they sneak through the city and to the boys' base; once there, Henry explains their plan to sneak out through the main city gates at night, a plan with which Joel agrees despite potential disaster. By some miracle, the four are able to make it out, but a broken ladder separates Henry, Sam, and Ellie from Joel. Henry, protecting his brother before anything and everything, runs off with Sam before the hunters can catch them, and Ellie returns to Joel, unwilling to depart from his side even in the face of danger. They flee the enemy until they're faced with the choice of either a facedown with a tank or a jump off of a bridge (one which Ellie chooses without a second thought, despite her inability to swim).
Joel and Ellie are saved from drowning by Henry and Sam, who reappear, and the group makes peace over the fact that Joel, too, would have abandoned the others to protect Ellie. Newly reunited and resolved, the four continue to the radio tower, taking a detour through an Infected-filled series of tunnels. Joel and Sam are briefly separated from Henry and Ellie, but they make it through the hordes and back out into the sunlight of a local suburb. There is a brief time of peace as they meander through the abandoned homes and discuss a past that the kids never knew, but it doesn't last; a sniper and his gang have taken up residence in the neighborhood and threaten the group. Joel manages to take him out after using the others as a distraction, supporting them with the rifle, but another group of Infected almost overcome the other three. Seemingly free from harm, they slip out of the area and into a safer one, holing up for the night. Ellie discusses her fear of being alone with Sam and the two speculate what happens to people after they become Infected, both unsure and uncomfortable with the topic. It becomes clear why when morning breaks and Sam, bitten during the previous day's endeavors, tries to attack Ellie. Henry almost shoots Joel in his panic over Sam's loss, but manages to shoot his younger brother before taking his own life in grief.
Fall arrives just as Ellie and Joel, having traveled across the country in the time following the brothers' deaths, arrive on the outskirts of Jackson. Ellie wants to talk about the loss, but Joel, as with Tess, refuses. They mean to meet with Joel's estranged brother Tommy in order to learn more details about the whereabouts of the Fireflies and they don't have to look very far; Tommy, his wife, and a number of others discover them outside of a nearby power plant. Tommy is initially thrilled to see Joel, with whom he'd fought and parted ways, and introduces them to his wife, Maria, and explains the town of 20+ families that they have managed to sustain. When Maria takes Ellie off in search of a meal, a team of local bandits breaks in and almost overpowers the women, though Joel, Tommy, and some others rejoin them just in time. Before the fight broke out, Maria explained to Ellie some of Joel's back story (his history and deceased daughter) and Ellie sneaks away a picture of Joel and the girl, Sara. Overhearing Joel's intention to pass her off to Tommy for him to deliver to the Fireflies, the hurt Ellie flees on one of the group's horses and holes up in a nearby farmhouse. It isn't long before Joel and Tommy catch up with her and the two argue, with Ellie insisting she'll be fine due to her status as immune and reminds the man that she isn't his daughter. Turning cold at the mention, Joel agrees with her, but reasserts that she's going to go with Tommy.
In the wake of the fight, the trio ride back to the town that Maria and her father set up in which Tommy and a number of others live. Joel, having changed his mind after reflecting on Ellie's fear of everyone leaving her, quietly insists that he'll take her, after all. He and Ellie take one of the horses (which she names Callus, despite Joel's dislike o the choice) and say goodbye to Tommy, heading off for their next destination: the University of Eastern Colorado. They do a lot of banter on the way, with Joel teaching her about football and telling her a little about college life. However, the campus is mysterious empty, with no rebels to be found. The pair search the area and make their way to the science building, but all they find are (infected) monkeys and a body of a Firefly who'd been bitten. They learn that all the Fireflies went to their lab in Salt Lake City at a local hospital, but immediately after, they're almost taken out by yet another group of hunters. Joel and Ellie try in vain to make it back to the horse, but one thug in particular goes tumbling over a rail with Joel in tow and the latter falls backward onto a long piece of metal and is impaled. Ellie climbs down and frantically tries to help him, but there are more hunters coming, and she begins to panic.
Abilities/Special Powers: Ellie is a normal human with the exception of being immune to the infection. She's bright and resourceful, often thinking on her feet to the result of saving lives of herself and others. She wields a knife with practiced expertise (as much as involved with stabbing, anyway,) and is shown to have some skill with both a pistol and a rifle.
Third-Person Sample:
First-Person Sample: Okay, I know this is probably old news to most of you guys, but you've got a fuck ton of food in this place. Like, I've never seen this much food in my entire life.
[ Where some might sound bitter, Ellie is mostly impressed. There's quite a selection out on the counter behind her, one on which she spares a cheeky grin before returning to the feed. ]
And those closets? Damn! I mean, again, old hat, but they're sick! I seriously don't know why so many people complain about this place. It's like what I used to hear about amusement parks, except everything's free and... okay, yeah, sometimes people get messed up. But if you could see the shithole I came from, you'd pick this one, no problem. Trust me.
[ Or not. She wouldn't wish the state of her world on anyone else. ]
I've never been on vacation, but this is probably as close as I'll get.
DW username: n/a
E-Mail: femaleplotdevice@hotmail.com
IM: kairaptor (rarely used)
Plurk:
Other Characters: Sam Winchester (
ofletters), Daenerys Targaryen (unsullies), Snow White (onevice)Character Name: Ellie
Series: The Last of Us
Timeline: Just after Joel is impaled at the University of Eastern Colorado (just before "Winter")
Canon Resource Link: The Last of Us Wiki and Ellie on TLOU Wiki
Character History: In September 2013, the spread of a vicious brain-addling fungus, Cordyceps Brain Infection, exploded onto the scene in the United States. The fungus, which can state either as inhaled spores or an injury from an Infected, does not inherently kill or cause zombification. Rather, it overtakes the host's functioning, effectively making them living, violent mutants until they die naturally or are killed. This pandemic rocked the country and as a result, 2/3 of the population ceased to exist.
Born years after the virus spread, Ellie knows nothing of the world before everything began to break down. She was born and raised in Boston and lived with her mother, Anna, though much else about her early life is unknown. At some point, her mother asked a friend, Marlene, to watch over Ellie if anything should happen to her. After Anna died, Marlene followed through with her promise and, in trying to keep Ellie safe, sent her to a military boarding school.
Riley introduces Ellie to a man named Winston who lives in an abandoned mall; Winston shows Ellie how to ride a horse and Riley uses the distraction to contact the Fireflies, something of which Ellie doesn't approve. While trying to escape the chaos of a fight between the rebels and the soldiers, Ellie argues that she doesn't want to get hurt or to hurt the military, while Riley insists that nothing will happen and that she only wants to help the Fireflies escape. In trying to avoid danger, themselves, the girls run into an Infected and Riley is almost bitten, however, they are saved by the Fireflies they'd helped escape earlier. After a series of arguments with the Fireflies, joined by Marlene, the latter gives Ellie a knife and letter, both from her mother, and send the girls back to school. Riley, having been refused admittance to the Fireflies, says she'll see Ellie later.
Six weeks later, Riley sneaks into Ellie's room in the middle of the night. Newly made a member of the Fireflies, Riley says she will tell her disgruntled friend about her time away if Ellie goes with her back to the abandoned mall. Ellie, both curious and frustrated, agrees, and the two head out of the school. Riley talks about her experience with the Fireflies, saying that the military hides a lot of the truth about the number of Infected and the state of the Quarantine Zone. Ellie is evasive in talking about her own life and employs sarcasm and deadpan to express her disdain for Riley's new choices.
In the mall, the two come across Winston's old home; the man had died of a heart attack and the horse he'd let Ellie ride is gone. The girls explore a bit, conversing somewhat stiffly, until Riley reveals that there is still power in the city and turns the lights on within the mall. Weakening, Riley apologies for the bad blood between them, and things begin to lighten up. They are able to have some fun, riding a carousel, goofing around in a Halloween store, and taking pictures in a photo booth. When they come across a broken-down arcade, Riley leads Ellie through an imagined playing of a game called "Turning," one that seemingly has an impact on Ellie despite the fact that she couldn't really play the "real" game. She states that she has to get back to the school, since she's been in too much trouble already, and Riley admits that she is going to be relocated to another Firefly base outside of Boston.
The two have a few last lighthearted moments, engaging in a re-appropriated water gun fight and then hooking up Ellie's Walkman to dance to music. Finally admitting to her fear of being alone (and a number of other things), Ellie kisses Riley and asks her not to leave. Riley agrees quickly and the two start to decide what to do next when a swarm of Infected burst through the doors, attracted to the music. The girls nearly escape, but Ellie is dragged back by a Runner until Riley leaps down to her rescue. They manage to kill their assailants, but at a mortal cost; both have bites from the encounter. Defeated, the two choose waiting it out together over suicide, but it is only Riley who succumbs. Distraught that she lives after her friend has died, Ellie agrees to go with Marlene, who realizes they could potentially use Ellie's immunity to cure the pandemic.
Still in Boston with Marlene a few weeks after her bite and Riley's death, the Fireflies leader tells Ellie that they're going to go out West to one of the group's labs to try and develop a cure. When Marlene is badly injured, she passes care of Ellie to two local thugs, Joel and Tess, big names in the broken-down QZ. Originally neither party was particularly enthusiastic, but Marlene offers the pair a lot of weapons in exchange for taking Ellie to the local capital building and they agree (Joel more reluctantly). Leaving Marlene behind to recover safely, Ellie travels with the seasoned pair for her first ever trip outside of a QZ. Things change for the worse when they are cornered by soldiers and the duo realize that Ellie is Infected, thinking it all to be a set up. They're able to escape without too much damage and the fact that Ellie has been bitten but doesn't turn brings about curiosity in Tess and suspicion in Joel. They encounter a number of Infected and perilous moments, but Ellie is able to see the "real world" for the first time and seems to appreciate the chance. Once they reach the capital building they find all the messenger Fireflies dead and a distraught Tess soon reveals that she's been bitten. She stays behind to hold off another round of the military while Joel and Ellie escape the city.
Joel, shut down to Tess' death, declares that they'll do as he says, and Ellie begrudgingly agrees. They make for a local man, Bill, who "owes Joel a favor," one which they hope to cash in for a car. Along the way they set off a number of traps that the now-paranoid man had set up around the area and Joel eventually stumbles into one himself, held up by the ankle and shooting at Infected while Ellie hurriedly tries to get him down. They're spared by Bill himself who heralds them toward his base, though once there it's clear that he has embittered since he "lost someone he cared about." He and Ellie bicker constantly, but he does agree to help them find the parts for a car. The group survives a more dangerous part of town, but barely, and only to discover that someone else has taken their desired battery before they could get to it. It's soon clear how it happened; Bill's missing partner took the battery but was bitten and committed suicide within a nearby house. They do find a running car, however, and Bill helps to see Joel and Ellie on their way.
The car makes it as far as Philadelphia before the two are flagged down by a man who's apparently been injured. Joel, a practiced thug, sees through the ruse and means to run him down, but the stranger and his gang send the duo's truck careening into a nearby store. Joel and Ellie just barely make it through the encounter, killing all the "hunters" on the highway who meant to kill them for their food and supplies. They come across other bodies and manifests that explain this, and Ellie asks how Joel knew that the man hadn't been hurt and if he himself had hurt people. The noncommittal answer is fairly telling and Ellie clams up, but doesn't seem to turn cold despite the knowledge, clearly aware of what their own survival might cost. Joel directs them toward a bridge and they cut through a hotel to get there, but they're separate as he falls down a few floors in an elevator shaft. Despite his having told her to wait, Ellie heads down to try and find him and does so just in time; Joel is struggling (and failing) as a hunter chokes and drowns him, but Ellie snatches up his gun and kills the assailant. Shocked with herself and at her first kill, the girl admits the gun back to Joel, but is indignant when he only berates her for the action rather than thanking her for saving his life. She doesn't let it go, but he's just as stubborn, admitting a veiled word of thanks a bit later, but it's one that she seems to appreciate nonetheless. This is a big turning point in their relationship as he allows her to use a rifle to cover for him while he clears their path. Ellie proves to be a decent shot and he officially hands over a pistol, arming her with something "a little more her size."
In evading a monstrous tank trying to end their two-man army, Ellie and Joel run into another pair, Henry and Sam. Joel almost beats Henry to death and is nearly shot by Sam, but Henry calls him off, noting that Joel has a little girl with him and that hunters "don't really keep kids around. Survival of the fittest and all that." The brothers invite them to travel to a nearby radio tower to regroup with their other party members, if they're still alive, and Ellie accepts before Joel can really argue. Seemingly pleased to have someone of her own age around, Ellie banters with Sam as they sneak through the city and to the boys' base; once there, Henry explains their plan to sneak out through the main city gates at night, a plan with which Joel agrees despite potential disaster. By some miracle, the four are able to make it out, but a broken ladder separates Henry, Sam, and Ellie from Joel. Henry, protecting his brother before anything and everything, runs off with Sam before the hunters can catch them, and Ellie returns to Joel, unwilling to depart from his side even in the face of danger. They flee the enemy until they're faced with the choice of either a facedown with a tank or a jump off of a bridge (one which Ellie chooses without a second thought, despite her inability to swim).
Joel and Ellie are saved from drowning by Henry and Sam, who reappear, and the group makes peace over the fact that Joel, too, would have abandoned the others to protect Ellie. Newly reunited and resolved, the four continue to the radio tower, taking a detour through an Infected-filled series of tunnels. Joel and Sam are briefly separated from Henry and Ellie, but they make it through the hordes and back out into the sunlight of a local suburb. There is a brief time of peace as they meander through the abandoned homes and discuss a past that the kids never knew, but it doesn't last; a sniper and his gang have taken up residence in the neighborhood and threaten the group. Joel manages to take him out after using the others as a distraction, supporting them with the rifle, but another group of Infected almost overcome the other three. Seemingly free from harm, they slip out of the area and into a safer one, holing up for the night. Ellie discusses her fear of being alone with Sam and the two speculate what happens to people after they become Infected, both unsure and uncomfortable with the topic. It becomes clear why when morning breaks and Sam, bitten during the previous day's endeavors, tries to attack Ellie. Henry almost shoots Joel in his panic over Sam's loss, but manages to shoot his younger brother before taking his own life in grief.
Fall arrives just as Ellie and Joel, having traveled across the country in the time following the brothers' deaths, arrive on the outskirts of Jackson. Ellie wants to talk about the loss, but Joel, as with Tess, refuses. They mean to meet with Joel's estranged brother Tommy in order to learn more details about the whereabouts of the Fireflies and they don't have to look very far; Tommy, his wife, and a number of others discover them outside of a nearby power plant. Tommy is initially thrilled to see Joel, with whom he'd fought and parted ways, and introduces them to his wife, Maria, and explains the town of 20+ families that they have managed to sustain. When Maria takes Ellie off in search of a meal, a team of local bandits breaks in and almost overpowers the women, though Joel, Tommy, and some others rejoin them just in time. Before the fight broke out, Maria explained to Ellie some of Joel's back story (his history and deceased daughter) and Ellie sneaks away a picture of Joel and the girl, Sara. Overhearing Joel's intention to pass her off to Tommy for him to deliver to the Fireflies, the hurt Ellie flees on one of the group's horses and holes up in a nearby farmhouse. It isn't long before Joel and Tommy catch up with her and the two argue, with Ellie insisting she'll be fine due to her status as immune and reminds the man that she isn't his daughter. Turning cold at the mention, Joel agrees with her, but reasserts that she's going to go with Tommy.
In the wake of the fight, the trio ride back to the town that Maria and her father set up in which Tommy and a number of others live. Joel, having changed his mind after reflecting on Ellie's fear of everyone leaving her, quietly insists that he'll take her, after all. He and Ellie take one of the horses (which she names Callus, despite Joel's dislike o the choice) and say goodbye to Tommy, heading off for their next destination: the University of Eastern Colorado. They do a lot of banter on the way, with Joel teaching her about football and telling her a little about college life. However, the campus is mysterious empty, with no rebels to be found. The pair search the area and make their way to the science building, but all they find are (infected) monkeys and a body of a Firefly who'd been bitten. They learn that all the Fireflies went to their lab in Salt Lake City at a local hospital, but immediately after, they're almost taken out by yet another group of hunters. Joel and Ellie try in vain to make it back to the horse, but one thug in particular goes tumbling over a rail with Joel in tow and the latter falls backward onto a long piece of metal and is impaled. Ellie climbs down and frantically tries to help him, but there are more hunters coming, and she begins to panic.
Abilities/Special Powers: Ellie is a normal human with the exception of being immune to the infection. She's bright and resourceful, often thinking on her feet to the result of saving lives of herself and others. She wields a knife with practiced expertise (as much as involved with stabbing, anyway,) and is shown to have some skill with both a pistol and a rifle.
Third-Person Sample:
One second, she’d had her hands pressed to the chest of a man who was in a lot of likely-mortal peril. She’d gaped at the metal rod which had run him through from back to front, the sound of men with blood on their minds pounding at a nearby door, threatening to end both of their lives if the impalement hadn’t done it for Joel. One second, she’d been stricken with fear and panic, knowing the only way through was more killing.
The next second was water. Inexplicably, she was in the shallows of an ocean.
Flailing spastically, Ellie scrambled to get out of the salt and foam. Her mind staggered to find something to grasp onto, to make sense of this, and all she could arrive at was dead, fucking dead, it finally happened. She was never going to die an Infected, but she hadn’t even made it to the Fireflies to die a human, however that was going to happen. Some asshole had probably shot her through the head before she could help herself. Help Joel.
“Fuck!” she spluttered, half-soaked, standing on the sand. No one else was around, but that made sense, or… at least, aligned with her half-baked idea of what the afterlife would be like. A sudden pang of fear shot through her at the notion that she might be alone for all eternity, but she swallowed it down like a particularly large pill. No, she wouldn’t let herself tumble into some kind of depression after everything she’d been through and was now facing. Wasn’t her style, even outside of life.
Exhaling out a puff of air, Ellie placed her hands on her hips, surveying. The beach was empty, save for her, and gave way to grass. There were some woods in the distance and, bizarrely, a mansion, which rose up on the horizon, ominous, the only landmark. Bemused, she took a few steps toward it, trying to gauge what it could possibly be, or… even stand for, in a place like might have shitty physical metaphors for different parts of her life. Everything felt solid and real, from the way the sand slipped under her wet trainers to the air that clung to her face. But it wasn’t, or it couldn’t be, not in the same way that life had been real.
Right?
“Hello?” she called tentatively, not exactly scared of someone getting the jump on her, but more uncertain than anything. “Anybody else dead?”
Seemed an appropriate question. Heaving another sigh, the girl began trudging ahead, leaving the perils of the water behind and stepping out onto the grass. It eventually seemed to give rise to a stretch of gardens, another sight that made her stop and peer dubiously at what waited for her up ahead.
“… Well, what’ve I got to lose?” she muttered, and ventured on.
First-Person Sample: Okay, I know this is probably old news to most of you guys, but you've got a fuck ton of food in this place. Like, I've never seen this much food in my entire life.
[ Where some might sound bitter, Ellie is mostly impressed. There's quite a selection out on the counter behind her, one on which she spares a cheeky grin before returning to the feed. ]
And those closets? Damn! I mean, again, old hat, but they're sick! I seriously don't know why so many people complain about this place. It's like what I used to hear about amusement parks, except everything's free and... okay, yeah, sometimes people get messed up. But if you could see the shithole I came from, you'd pick this one, no problem. Trust me.
[ Or not. She wouldn't wish the state of her world on anyone else. ]
I've never been on vacation, but this is probably as close as I'll get.