open | all I want is the moon upon a stick

[vaccination]

Date & Time: October 10th onwards.
Location: Around the base.
Characters: Ellie and you.
Summary: Ellie's hangin' around, totally over this moon business.
Warnings: Swearing.



a. the cafeteria
[Ellie sits at one of the tables in the cafeteria, a pyramid of upside-down cups stacked in front of her. It's certainly not the sturdiest of structures, but she's spent some time on it, and she's vaguely proud of her accomplishment. They only clattered to the floor once or twice.

Now that she's done, she leans back and slides down a few inches in her seat. Well. That killed twenty minutes.

She reaches out a hand to slowly nudge one of the cups at the bottom corner of her pyramid. That might be loud if she keeps going.]

b. the observatory
[Space is cool. It kind of makes her feel like she's falling when she looks out the window or through any screens, but she keeps coming back to the observatory to do just that. She's not sure if she likes that feeling or not. The wasteland where Exsilium once was is still visible, but Ellie doesn't seem to pay it much mind right now. She's lying on her back on the floor, sneakers propped up against a wall, comic book held over her face.

Every now and then she makes some sort of noise. This comic is so intense.]

Comments

a!

[muskets]

[ Mami hadn't mean to comment as she passed. She didn't know this girl; how she passed her time was none of her business, and butting in would be little more than an intrusion. She catches sight of the way Ellie's hand was sort of nudging at one of the cups at the base, though, and sort of laughs before she can help it, holding her hand to her mouth to stifle the surprised noise. ]

You're going to knock it over after all that work?

[vaccination]

[Ellie pulls her hand back, sitting up straighter. Whoops. Busted. She smiles sheepishly as she explains.]

Yeah, why not? Just taking it down one by one isn't any fun. And I don't think anyone would appreciate me leaving this here.

[muskets]

It's going to make a lot of noise. [ Ellie's sheepish smile has Mami shaking her head with another little laugh of her own. She steps back, folding her hands in front of her, and gives her a playfully expectant smile. ] Go ahead.

b

[gevurah]

[ Kate stands between the doorway of the observatory, a tired but amused smile spreading across her lips. ]

Is it good?

[vaccination]

[Oh, Kate. It's good to see her. Where had she been during the evacuation to the moon?]

Fucking awesome. It takes place in space, so it's like reading something totally new.

[She sits up so that she can display the current page--a spread of planets and stars. She's read it dozens of times, but never while on the moon.]

[gevurah]

Did you find it in the library?

[ Kate doesn't read comic books much, therefore hasn't ever sought them out in the library. Most of her reading in the past decade has been research related, less for leisure.

She steps into the room, eyes drifting from the pages to the walls of the observatory. ]

B

[originalgaangster]

[ Sokka hunkers down, tilting his head to try and look at the comic book. It's in some language he can't read, but the cover is certainly engaging. Plus this kid is almost the same age as his sister...

Call it protective big-brotherly instinct or something. ]

Whatcha reading?

[ He sprawls out, sitting next to Ellie in all his gangly post-adolescent glory. ]

I mean. I don't recognize the language, but those pictures look pretty engaging.

[vaccination]

[Whoa, personal space. Ellie immediately sits up, but relaxes a bit when she sees it's a kid somewhere around her age.]

Shit, are you a ninja or something?

[Probably not, but damn he startled her. But he asked about her comic, which she holds up.]

It's a comic. Savage Starlight. Can you not read English?

[originalgaangster]

[ Sokka edges back a bit when he notices her tense reaction and tries to put on his best friendly smile for her. ]

Ah. I'm not sure what a ninja is but probably not.

[ He shrugs his shoulders, head tiltign to examine the script again. ]

Nooope. Is that what it's called? The language where I come from uses a lot more unique characters. And they don't look anything like that stuff.

[ Yeah, he's noticed that the roman alphabet tends to repeat itself. Weird! ]

a

[velveteened]

( he's frankly in the cafeteria for a lack of anywhere else to be; in his months in the city of exsilium, he's got used to having the freedom to go exploring whenever he liked. so it's boredly that he looks around the cafeteria, and why the pyramid catches his attention before long. he watches her put on the finishing touches before approaching her, trying to not startle her and cause her to destroy the whole thing or anything equally catastrophic on accident. )

That's pretty impressive.

[vaccination]

[Ellie sees him coming, so any disasters are averted. She pulls back her hand.]

This? Not even. We're on the fucking moon. That's impressive.

a

[thorny]

[Rose is ostensibly in the cafeteria for a glass of water, but she's really meandered over to do some people-watching. there's only so much that can keep her from stewing on the relative impotence being trapped on a moon base lends them, and nothing is more relaxing than trying to analyze strangers through their meal choices.

with a mission like that it's pretty hard to miss Ellie and her Great Pyramid of Cups. after getting herself the water that she has only mild intentions of actually drinking, Rose wanders over to where Ellie's sitting. she observes the structure in silence for a moment before commenting conversationally]

Wouldn't it be more interesting to see how many you can remove before it comes down rather than beginning with wholesale destruction?

[vaccination]

What, like Jenga?

[She looks over at her company. A lot of things from before the infection were lost, but Ellie was at least familiar with some games.]

b.

[revolutionized]

[In contrast, Utena dislikes the wide-open, empty feeling the observatory creates. It reminds her too much of Akio's ceiling of fake stars, but there are other memories, softer at the edges, that compel her to come back to this place day after day. When she visits, she usually does so when she thinks she might be as alone as possible (given the close quarters, this was an exercise in futility). She thinks she's alone today, until she hears a noise.

She goes to stand near the girl on the ground, at a careful distance.]

You've been here the whole time? [A tilt of her head.] I didn't know there were paper books up here.

[All of the literature, comics and otherwise, seemed to be digital.]

[vaccination]

[Holy shit that is some pink hair. Going on the list with the talking creatures and robots. Ellie looks up at her, upside down still for a few moments, then pushes herself up into a sitting position.

Nope. Still pink.]

Uhh, yeah. [To both the question and the statement.] I brought this up with me. There's not like a stash or anything anywhere.

b

[infiltrative]

[ Oh god, a comic. Huell was just passing by when the the familiar sight of one stops him in his tracks and immediately tosses him into a brief dilemma. A dilemma because no one's supposed to know he even likes comics and it's probably not professional or something when he's in costume, but dammit he's been getting bored. It's just her so it can't hurt, right?

Right.

Hello Ellie, have a sudden rush of air and a rather brightly-coloured teen standing next to you. ]

Where'd you get that?

[vaccination]

[Holy hell. Ellie nearly jumps out of her skin, instead scrambling to her feet.]

Jesus! What the fuck, don't do that shit when someone isn't looking!

A

[governorkang]

[Kang walks into the cafeteria right around the time Ellie's putting the last few cups on her structure. It catches his eye immediately, and he watches quietly at first, leaning against the wall. She's obviously bored, and trying to kill time.

And, so is he.]

Impressive. Do you think you could make it taller?

[vaccination]

[It's a good thing she's getting used to talking to being that aren't human, or else she would have screamed. She remembers this guy, vaguely. Still, she looks a little uneasy.]

Uhh... not like this, no. [There's one cup on the top. There's no more room to add, there.]

If I started with a bigger base, sure, but I didn't want to hog all the cups.

A

[blossomgale]

[ Here, another person with a crazy hair color! Sophie's just dropping by the cafeteria, most likely to pick up a small snack or two. The pyramid of cups definitely catches her eye and she stops in her tracks to look at it. She tilts her head curiously... ]

...What's that?

[vaccination]

[Ellie is starting to feel super plain in comparison to most of the girls here.]

Just a tower. Never seen anyone make one before?

b.

[blondtactician]

[Armin's just passing through, looking for someone else, when he notices the bright colors. At first he just sort of hedges closer, catching a glance at the pictures over her shoulder, but that's sort of rude.

He clears his throat.]

What sort of book is that?

aww :') sleep well!

[vaccination]

[Ellie sits up. He gets points for not just walking up to her and startling the shit out of her, like a lot of people here.]

What sort of book? It's a comic book.

[Even SHE knows what they are.]

someone's popular also a i guess

[controlledvariable]

[Guess who looks a little like they just rolled out of bed?

It's Steph, because she doesn't know how to have sleeping patterns like a normal person. At least she has coffee, though, as she slides into the seat across from Ellie.

Also some sort of food looking thing, but that's less itneresting.

She doesn't say anything, just props her chin on the table and watches Ellie stack cups.

Hey, buddy.]

everyone wants the e

[vaccination]

[Ellie looks up, eyebrows lifting as Steph sits. She's tempted to shove the stack over in Steph's direction just to see what she would do, but that seems a little mean, so she doesn't.]

Good morning.