[Action / Voice / TL;DR]

[scootch]

[voice/action tl;dr - action bit locked to Sam Yao]

[Waking up in the wild - alone, especially - was the most dangerous thing imaginable. Even sheltered as she'd been in the past, Ellie knows this well; infected could be lurking anywhere, as well as thieves and bandits and god-knows what else. But this is the strangest experience she's had yet. Her backpack's gone. Her gun's gone. Her switchblade is gone. Worse than that, her clothes are gone. And... she's now wearing a... dress?

....

She's never worn a dress in her life, let alone anything so pristine and white. She's barely even seen any except in pictures, since they're so impractical these days. Too much bare skin for infected to grab and chomp down on. It's so surreal that she actually has to stop and stare at it for a while, brushing her fingers over the unfamiliar material. It's clean and soft and... it feels new. She'd never known what "new" even felt like until now.

It's while she's examining the dress that she realizes that her bite mark is showing. Feeling a sudden flare of panic, all thoughts of preserving the newness of the dress flee her mind. She scrambles to a nearby rock and starts scraping the material against it until it breaks enough to tear off a strip, which she ties around her forearm just beneath the elbow. It isn't much, but it's better than showing the old wound off. Even when it's already healed, something like that is likely to get her shot by anyone she stumbles upon. Unless it's Joel...

...Joel. Shit, she needs to find him.

Her exploration of the area only leads to more questions. The place she's in is so quiet. Houses look neat and well-maintained, instead of the ramshackle messes she's used to. The first sign of movement tells her there's people living here, but they're just walking around like everything's normal, like they feel safe, unarmed and casual, despite the fact that the woods are open and no walls protect the town. It's the most confusing thing she's ever seen in her life. She doesn't dare approach them, though. They have... growths on their backs. That's never a good sign. If anyone catches her, she'll most certainly duck and run.

At some point she wanders back to the area she'd woken up in, and nearly trips over a book. It's not like there's time to settle down to read it, and she'd just ignore it normally if her name wasn't written clearly on the cover. Hoping to find a message from Joel or someone else she'd know - Marlene or the Fireflies, maybe - she opens it up, only to find... voices. Lots of voices.

...It talks? Since when did books talk? Wasn't that a thing from like twenty years ago? Baffled, she sits down and slumps back against the nearest tree, only to flinch and glance over her shoulder to check the source of the pain. And then, of course, she screams and sends the book flying, because what the hell she has things growing out of her back too.

The journal records the scream, initially, and then a series of stammering, panicky denials, but it doesn't catch what she does next- when she starts pulling out feathers, a handful or two at first until the pain catches up with the adrenaline and she discovers the blood on her fingers. She doesn't stop there, though. She has to get rid of it. Whatever mutation has happened to the infections here, she will not become one of those monsters.]

[Eventually, when she's been found, cleaned up, and given a proper explanation for all of this, Ellie gives the journal another examination when she's reluctantly recovering at the clinic. She's tired, confused, and in more pain than she can ever remember, but that isn't going to stop her from looking for the one person she trusts to get her through this. He has to be around here somewhere, right? Even on- another world? (That sounds so dumb...)]

Right, so. Uh. Talking book, got it. I'm Ellie, and... I'm looking for Joel. Kind of scruffy, carries a lot of guns, doesn't smile, like, ever. Not even at good jokes. I was told to use this thing to find him, so... Joel? If you're here, I... messed up. Sorry. You better still be alive.

...Does anybody have a book I can borrow? I lost everything I had on me when- yeah.

Seriously, this is how this thing works?

Comments

[ voice ]

[bowgunner]

...Depends. Do you like westerns?

[ voice ]

[scootch]

[That sounds... vaguely familiar, but not ringing any bells.]

Dunno. What's a western?

[ voice ]

[bowgunner]

...You don't know? Hmm. Westerns have cowboys, I suppose. And pistol duels at high noon.

[ voice ]

[scootch]

Cowboys... like, mutated animals with guns?

[Sounds like Triple Phoenix, that video game she was telling Riley about. Except with cows.]

[smallsurvivor]

There's lots of books at the library. You can borrow from there.

[Clementine is being SO HELPFUL right now.]

[scootch]

Libraries actually exist here!?

[WOW she knows where she's going as soon as she's well enough to get out of bed.]

[smallsurvivor]

Um.

One does?

Do you want to see it? I can come show you!

[scootch]

Uh...

[She'll just. Look down. At a whole lot of dried blood and bandages.]

I can't really walk around right now. But I do want to see it! Maybe once I get out of here?

[voice]

[halfnhalf]

[The "talking book" part is what gets Teddy to pay attention, having been letting the journal act a bit like a radio for the most part while he does his thing. His thing, at the moment, is reading through a trade paperback of Superman punching people in the face, so he's not quite paying as much attention as he should.

Though when she asks about borrowing a book, that's when Teddy looks up. Then at the comic panels of Superman delivering a speech on what it means to be a hero, then at the journal again, before he holds up the book.]

Hey. I've got a comic book, if that's your thing. [So it's not necessarily a book, and he's not exactly expecting her to agree, but... worth a shot. New people always need some entertainment to help get used to the place and all. He sure would've liked one right after he got here.]

[voice]

[scootch]

[That's one way to get her to perk up.]

Comic book? Oh, sweet! What've you got?

[Please be Savage Starlight please be Savage Starlight please be Savage Starlight]

[voice]

[halfnhalf]

[Oh wow, Teddy's kind of surprised by that. He doesn't run into female comic fans nearly as often as he'd like.]

Oh, you like them too? Well... I've actually got a lot to choose from. But right now, I'm reading up on Superman. Kind of a classic, I know... [But hey, he's an icon. Teddy's always liked the guy; at least, when DC's not making him all weird.]

[voice]

[scootch]

[Super... man...

...nnnnope, not clicking with her. Though it sounds kind of flashy, and she likes that. She also likes the fact that he says he has lots.]

What's that one about?

[Action]

[voiceinthedark]

[He's never been the best runner, but he tries to keep up with it whenever he gets the chance. You never know what a horde of zombies is going to swarm your town and blow it up after all.

God. This is really what his life has become isn't it?

And even here, in Luceti, where there's been no sight or sound of zoms while he's been here, he's still unable to give up all of the habits that have kept him alive. So running around the village and through the woods has become something of a routine now that he doesn't have much else to do.

It's kind of sad that hearing a scream is normal for him now.

He wavers for a moment, torn between the instinct to flee, find safety, and knowing that someone could be hurt, and there aren't zombies here. There aren't! But it's only a moment and then he's jogging in that direction only to see a young-ish looking girl, can't be much into her teens if that and ugh, there's blood on her and he nearly bolts, but there's no-one else around. No zoms. Really no zombies.]

Hey! Hey... uh...

[He steps out, holding his hands out to show he's unarmed.]

You need to stop doing that. Your wings are really delicate.

[Action]

[scootch]

[She jumps at the voice, bloody hands pulling away from the wings, and stares over at him, wild-eyed and on the defensive. glancing hastily around, she grabs a nearby rock - not a weapon, and not particularly effective in a fight, but better than nothing - and holds it over her shoulder, ready to throw it or bring it down if he gets too close.]

Stay back!! You stay away from me!

[Action]

[voiceinthedark]

[He takes a hasty step back, hands still held out. He's seen this reaction in people before, panicky and afraid of anyone else. Sad to see it in a kid.]

Okay. Okay, look, I'm not armed. I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise. I just want to help.

[Action]

[scootch]

[She doesn't lower her hand, though she wants to; her arm's shaking, and she feels strangely weak. Dizzy, actually. Maybe pulling out all those feathers wasn't such a great idea after all.]

Who're you with? The army? The Fireflies? What do you want? [She pauses, and then, hesitantly-] Are you infected?

[He has wings, too. She's never seen a mutation like this before.]

voice;

[dadlyinstinct]

[Oh man, a kid. She sounds young too.]

Sorry, haven't heard of the guy you're looking for. If you need one of these journals I'll give you mine until you find yours. I don't use it a whole lot anyway.

voice;

[scootch]

It's okay, I found mine. I mean, I guess it's mine. It's got my name on it, but I've never seen it before today.

Thanks, though.

voice;

[dadlyinstinct]

No problem. What's your name? Mine's Lee.

voice

[risingwinds]

[Tall, scruffy, carries guns, and doesn't smile? If he's there, Ven hasn't seen him. Then again, with a village so crowded, it's impossible to no everybody. For now, he'll make a mental note before responding properly.]

Well, I've got a handful of books from the library. Most of it's stuff like fairy tales and fantasy. That and some stuff on astronomy.

[He laughs sheepishly at that. Even if star charts aren't very helpful within the enclosure, it's still fun to read about space.]

voice

[scootch]

[Wow, okay, between him and Teddy, her pings have officially been, uh. Pinged.]

Astronomy? I wouldn't mind reading about that.

voice

[risingwinds]

Then just say the word, and they're yours!

[He chuckles.]

I've got all these books with star charts, stuff on all the planets in earth's solar system... some of 'em are kinda weird, though. A few say Pluto's a plan, but others say it's not. Which one is it?

[Then again, the sky's totally different where he's from. Stars are other worlds... which are technically planets. Ah well.]

[voice]

[notyourutopian]

[Eleanor came upon the entry rather late, but...she figured she'd ask.]

...I assume everyone has already told you about the library?

[voice]

[scootch]

A couple people mentioned it, yeah. I've never seen a real library before.

[Not one that wasn't totally trashed, anyway.]

[voice]

[notyourutopian]

I hadn't either, before I came here. Not one that wasn't full of water, it least.

This one is amazing. I've borrowed far more books than I should have, probably.