RADIO FREE ELLIE: 1st Broadcast.

[ascocarp]

WHO: Ellie and YOU.
WHAT: Ellie is bored and playing with a ham radio.
WHERE: Anywhere with a radio.
WHEN: After the TDM, for various values of 'after' when time is variable.
NOTES: It's Ellie, so casual discussions of violence are de rigueur.

[The broadcast begins a little fuzzy as Ellie messes with the dials and utters indistinctly to herself.] Can I- uh- yeah, okay. Cool. Hello? Wait, no, that's... [More fuzz and murmuring.]

[Eventually, she seems satisfied. Now, how do radio broadcasts go? She remembers the ones in Boston's military QZ go...? God, she never paid any attention in that class. Her voice comes in clear, and it's obviously a young person speaking.] Uhhhh, nine-hundred hour... fuck it, the sky's fucking broken. Callsign... Daniela Star.

[Right.]

So, like, is there anybody here that goes by William? Or Will? Not Bill. Heh, those guys are assholes...

Oh! Also, has anybody seen any frickin' trees? Like real trees, with branches and shit. I found some potted plants, but they were all plastic. What about animals and stuff? I don't mean the freaky shadows, fuck those assholes. Like actual living breathing animals.

But... y'know, speaking of the shitty shadow fuckers, does anybody know how to, like, beat them? I saw somebody do it, but they had like a full suit of armor. I tried it and my hand almost fell off. They're cold.

...Maybe that's it. Anybody seen any fucking suits of armor laying around?

Comments

[ascocarp]

Holy shit, you have a sword? Are you a knight, too?

[Hold that thought, she's gotta be distracted by your badassery now.]

[gonplei]

A warrior. [ And a warlord, sometimes. ]

What do you mean, 'too'? Who the hell is a knight?

[ascocarp]

Hate to break it to you, lady, but you're not the only weirdo here.

[gonplei]

I asked you a question, pipsqueak.

[ascocarp]

You giving me shit about manners? Some warrior you are.

[Now she's just being difficult.]

[gonplei]

A warrior knows not to talk back to someone who could kick her ass.

[ She wouldn't, because she's a little girl and that's pretty much crossing the moral event horizon. But, you know, she can threaten her, that's fine. Also, Octavia has totally talked back to people who could kick her ass, but that's not important.

Without much actual venom, because a teen girl being difficult is more endearing than enraging: ] Are you always this much of a smart-ass?

[ascocarp]

So stop talking back to me.

[She laughs. There's no heat in her words; she's just-]

I'm just fucking with you. Calm down.

[gonplei]

So the answer's yes, you are always this much of a smart-ass?

[ascocarp]

I have a great personality.

[Yes.]

[gonplei]

[ Flatly: ] Yeah, you're a delight.

[ EYEROLL. ]

Are you any good with that shiv?

[ascocarp]

Uh, yeah.

[gonplei]

You ever killed someone with it?

[ascocarp]

[And then, the creeping tone of rising anger-]

You ever killed somebody with your sword? And it was all fucking clean and you felt real proud of yourself afterward, right? That's how it fucking goes?

[gonplei]

[ Oop. Looks like she hit a sore spot there. ]

Sounds like you know that's not how it goes.

[ascocarp]

Yeah. I do. It's not a fucking pissing contest.

[gonplei]

I was asking if you knew how to survive. But if you wanna be a brat about it, go right ahead. I don't have to give a crap what happens to you.

[ascocarp]

I know how to survive. I don't gotta prove it to you. I've done-- I don't gotta prove shit to anybody.

[gonplei]

Do you think I give a damn if some random kid proves themselves to me? [ God, this is what you get whenever you try to be nice to someone. This is why she never does it. ] Get over yourself. I asked because I give a damn if you can't do it and you need someone to teach you. Sorry for not wanting to see your corpse out there.

[ Ugh. ]

If you say you can protect yourself, fine.

[ascocarp]

Bullshit. You asked. You said you were a warrior and shit, I believed you.

[gonplei]

And if you asked me if I'd ever killed anyone, I wouldn't start whining.

[ascocarp]

[Ellie is shocked for a second, filled with doubt and self-loathing. That doesn't seem like something she'd say. But this is a radio broadcast. She can't go back over it. And she's tired and hungry and maybe she's just the sort of terrible person she hates.]

[Weakly,] Whatever.

[gonplei]

[ Ugh, now the child is having feelings. She doesn't know what to do about that, so all she says is ] Just try not to die. [ before putting her radio away. ]