IC Voicemail

[everysecond]

...Wait so I'm supposed to do what with this?

I guess I leave a message.

Hey, this is Rileyable Riley. Leave a message.

So does that work?




[ooc: Leave a message for her!]

Comments

[tonsofpun]

[Drawing up her legs, she wraps her arms around them and deliberately opens up that Winter in her mind. Tries to go with the current of memories and not drown in them. It's easier this time. Gets easier every time she does it. She wonders if that's a good thing, going numb to this shit.]

... in autumn, Joel got really hurt. He fell, and this piece of rebar went through him. Here. It was pretty fucking scary for a while. I was on my own, taking care of him, and he came down with this infection. I didn't really know what to do.

I had him holed up in the basement of this house, and I went hunting. I actually bagged a deer. ... so these two guys found me.

[Ellie goes on, explaining her first meeting with David and James, how she'd traded the deer for medicine. How David had fought at her back against the wave of Infected while James went off to get the supplies. How David recognized her from a secondhand account -- that she and Joel had killed quite a few of his men.

How David had her followed, and she woke up in time to jump on Callus and make a run for it to lead them away from Joel. How they'd shot Callus out from under her, how she'd fought her way through more and more of them until they'd managed to take her.

Her voice doesn't falter until the end.]

... when I woke up, I was. Locked up. In a cell. In some kind of slaughterhouse. David was outside, and he was- butchering something.

And then I realized it was a person.

[everysecond]

[As active as Riley is, she's also a damn good listener. She doesn't say a single word the entire time Ellie talks, just listening to her story. Sure she frowns a bit but damn it this is something Ellie has to work through. That means she can't interrupt because fuck it the gods sure won't. At least she doesn't think so.

Better to pretend like they won't.

She just nods to tell her to keep going, already pissed at everyone involved with David and, most of all, David himself.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie goes quiet, trying to figure out how to tell the next part of the story. It's something that's confusing even now, though she knows exactly what he wanted from her. It still makes her skin crawl, makes her stomach turn over.]

He told me he was trying to convince the others that I could come around. That I was special. And loyal. That I had heart.

[The words feel disgusting as she says them, as if she can still hear him whispering them along with her in his too-soft, too-gentle voice. His hands had been leathery, cool, and slightly damp.]

I let him get close. Poker face, you know? Touched his hand. Looked him in the eye.

Broke his fucking finger.

[She glances sideways at Riley, knowing she'll appreciate that part.]

[everysecond]

[That's her girl. She smiles in approval then nods to tell her to keep going. She knows there's more that Ellie needs to get out. Because...

Fuck, a cannibal.]

[tonsofpun]

Made a grab for the keys. Didn't get them. I'm not so good at pickpocketing, I guess.

... he grabbed my arm and slammed me against the bars, cracked a couple of my ribs.

[Ellie's voice starts to get vacant again, and she shakes her head. It's easier when she going through it like this. Tries to order it.]

The next morning he dragged me out. Was gonna cut me up, but I bit him. And then I started yelling about being infected. Showed them my arm. Buddy-boy flipped his shit and I was able to grab the knife and cut him bad, grabbed my switchblade and booked it out of there.

Into a snowstorm, but anywhere was better than there.

I almost got away, managed to lift a gun off one of the guys I snuck up on while I was getting out of there. But then David caught up and cornered me in this old restaurant.

[everysecond]

[Wow fuck. This is just...getting worse and worse.

Riley sighs then nods. Okay. She's ready for the rest. She's pissed at this guy but she's ready.]

[tonsofpun]

... he took my gun. Knocked over some candles, set the place on fire. I ran. Hid. Kept moving.

He had the fucking nerve to tell me he was sorry they killed Callus. That they'd use every part of him. He just... wouldn't shut up. He kept talking. I tried to rush him, but he was too strong, so I just... figured I'd sneak up on him. It took a few times.

He could've used the gun, but he didn't. Instead he pulled out this... machete. And we hunted each other. Finally, I got in a really good stab, and he started thrashing around, until I hit a counter. I think it knocked me out for a while.

Woke up on the floor. Couldn't find my knife.

[everysecond]

[Though she knows Ellie lived through this, she still sits forward in the hopes of learning more. How'd she live? How'd she get out?

Fuck, she's glad Ellie butchered this guy.]

[tonsofpun]

[This is where it gets difficult. Ellie lays a hand over her side, gliding her fingers over the places that still ache when it gets cold. The breaks that showed up on her x-rays with John.]

I started... crawling. I think some ribs were broken by then. I don't remember. But I spotted his machete.

And he just... came out of nowhere, started kicking me.

He told me I could try begging.

I didn't. I told him fuck you.

[everysecond]

Good.

[He deserved it. Ellie begging? Fuck that shit.]

[tonsofpun]

So he... flipped me over.

[She rubs her hand against the side of her throat, thinks of leaving this part out, but the whole point is to tell it all. She bulls on through. Riley's silence and support have made all the difference.]

Started strangling me. I reached for the machete and got it in my hand.

I don't-

[She bites her lip. She does. She does remember.]

It all kind of went crazy. He screamed, a little bit. At first. And then he stopped.

I didn't stop. Joel had to pull me off him.

[everysecond]

Fucker deserved it for pushing you.

[And...at least Ellie's butchered someone who deserves it.]

[tonsofpun]

Fucking deserved it for a lot of things.

[Ellie feels ill, thinking of it. But she doesn't feel like she's going to break down or start sobbing. It's a start. A good start.]

[everysecond]

How you doing? Got it together?

[That's the important thing. Not that Riley is pissed at this guy, not that Riley is concerned about the gods, not whatever Joel probably thinks because she knows that he at least cares about Ellie even if he's an asshole to Riley... All that matters is that Ellie is holding up.]

[tonsofpun]

Yeah. Fine.

[Bullshit. She crushed a man's skull in. Normal people don't do the shit she did today, and normal people definitely don't walk away from it without some serious emotional shit going on.]

[everysecond]

Bullshit. That's why I didn't ask if you were okay. I only asked if you have it together.

[tonsofpun]

I'm not gonna... wig out or anything. Okay?

I've got this.

[She sounds a touch defensive, mostly because she's definitely not all right.]

[everysecond]

Sure. You won't wig out for the gods.

[She gives her a meaningful look.]

So there's time to freak out while it's just me.

[tonsofpun]

I already did.

[She feels... strange, about this, for some reason. Like it's some kind of betrayal that when she came home, she broke down with Joel. Not Riley. But Joel had been there. He'd seen it. Riley hadn't.

Riley was gone.]

A... a long time ago, Ry.

[everysecond]

Girl, will you just...stop that shit and let me hug you. Come on.

[Because she just needs to fucking hold her after all that.]

[tonsofpun]

No.

[She makes a jerking motion with her hands, because if Riley is nice to her...]

No, shit. If you do it, I'll fucking cry-

[everysecond]

Fuck it.

[She reaches out with her powers to tug her closer, wrapping her arms around her.]

Fuck it and fuck not crying. They're not hear right now and I am. If you need to cry then just cry, damn it.

[tonsofpun]

[Even and Riley pulls her in, Ellie remains tense, trembling a little until she buries her face into her neck. The tears, when they come, have to fight their way out. She tries to hold onto them, but she soon gives up.

They're quiet. The kind that happen during the middle of the night, face pressed into a pillow to muffle the uneven breaths.

It's been a long time since she's let herself cry. It's always been explosive, angry or terrified, a heat of the moment thing that couldn't be contained, a crack right down the middle she couldn't hold together. This is different. This is a moment Riley has assured her she has a right to have, to sit down and be human for a bit.

Ellie didn't know what the fuck to do, the one time she saw Riley cry. But it seems like Riley knows.]

[everysecond]

[Riley just holds her while she cries, letting Ellie get it out. It's just them now, there's no one to judge Ellie for her tears. Hell, she totally won't. Hugging her tight, she even goes so far as to pet her hair gently, not even telling her to hush or anything.

Sometimes a person just needs to fucking cry and she knows it and she's gonna let her girl do that.]

[tonsofpun]

[Was there some kind of class in comfort that Ellie missed, growing up? Because Riley, Tess, Joel, even Sandy- they all have hugged her and touched her hair, and she doesn't know why, but it works. It's the most soothing thing she can think of.

Soon, her breathing evens out, but she doesn't pull away. Riley's shoulder is warm and her face is still damp and hot, but it's easier to breathe. Not so much pressure in her chest, her throat, behind her eyes.

Riley's right, she does feel better.]