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

[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! ]

[vaccination]

A ninja. They're all quiet and shit when they move around.

[But, whatever. Ellie doesn't know a lot, and she's met people who can't read at all, so this isn't too weird.]

Where are you from?

[originalgaangster]

Oh. Uh, nah. I'm just good at being quiet sometimes, I guess. I do a lot of hunting.

[ He shrugs. ]

I'm from the South Pole!

[vaccination]

The South--[Okay, she comes from a world plagued with fungus monsters. Maybe living in the South Pole is a little less crazy.]

What the fuck did you hunt in the South Pole? Polar bears?

[originalgaangster]

[ Sokka laughs. ]

Nooo way. You don't hunt a polar-bear dog unless you have at least three hunters, preferably big strong guys, with spears. More if you really want to be safe, and even then you don't wanna mess with them. They're dangerous! Nah. Fish. Turtle-seals, tiger-seals, otter-penguins sometimes. Sea birds.

[vaccination]

What? What are you even talking about? Turtle-seals? Otter-penguins? That's like four different animals.

[She's looking at this kid like he's off his rocker.]

[originalgaangster]

Uh, maybe in your world. But those are like...

[ He counts on his fingers. ]

Three different animals. You're telling me that an animals are just like, bears. Not a platypus-bear or a skunk-bear or something like that?

[vaccination]

[What the fuck is a platypus.]

Uh, yeah? Bears. Cats. Dogs. Owls.

[originalgaangster]

Weird. The only owl I ever met was an owl-spirit. He was really touchy about his library. At least your birds are pretty normal.

[ He cracks a grin. ]

Buuuut. Every world has its differences, right? And most of them aren't like mine, from what I've heard. Anyway, uh, I'm Sokka.

[vaccination]

[She shrugs.]

Guess so. I've talked to robot guys here, so I guess freaky animal mixes aren't too unbelievable.

[After a moment of hesitation, she offers her hand for a shake.]

I'm Ellie.

[originalgaangster]

[ He takes her hand and gives a warm, friendly shake. ]

Good to meet you. Been here long?

[vaccination]

A few months. Got here in August. You?

[originalgaangster]

Ah, I was here back in... Geeze, I dunno. March, maybe? It was a few months back. Then I went home and then I just got here again. S'crazy.

[vaccination]

You went home and came back? How was that?

[originalgaangster]

Weird. I thought I was done with this place, but nope. They decided they needed me back, I guess.

[ He sighs. ]

Kinda nice, too. No constant rain. No being on the moon. The not being on the moon thing was a big bonus.

[vaccination]

[There's something more important here.]

Did you tell people about Exsilium?

[originalgaangster]

Uh, no.

I mean, who's gonna believe me when I tell them I was stuck in some huge city where it always rained and I was dragged into some war? Especially because to them I'd never been gone.

[vaccination]

I'd lose my mind if I couldn't tell anyone about the shit here.

[But the longer you keep something to yourself, the easier it is. at least in her experience.]

[originalgaangster]

Yeah, I get that. I mean, no one was gonna believe me. What was I supposed to do, look crazy?

[ A shrug. ]

Never thought I'd miss the city though, sheesh. Being stuck here is worse.

[vaccination]

[She shrugs back at him. Maybe. Someone had to believe it, right?]

Yeah. Never thought I'd miss all that rain and gloom.

[originalgaangster]

Just give me some real snow. Or some sunlight! Sunlight wouldn't be bad!

[vaccination]

I'll pass on snow, but sunlight would be nice.

[originalgaangster]

I miss snow. It reminds me of home.

[ Sigh. ]

But even the rain would be better than being stuck inside this box.

[vaccination]

[Snow and winter just reminds her of things she'd rather forget. She sighs, too.]

It'd be nice to live somewhere green.