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[stand_unshaken]

 

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[vaccination]

I'll break her fucking fingers.

[Ironically, for all the shit people give her for being a Zero warden, throwing Tess into there doesn't even cross Ellie's mind. She can feel the oncoming landslide of her anger, and the only thing keeping her in check is the reminder that if she does what she wants, she'll get demoted, and then she won't get her deal. Speaking of which:]

I'm giving you a chance. I thought you'd give a shit since you have people to look after at home. For all that Tess goes on about you, she doesn't seem to care about helping you get your deal.

[A deal she blabbed to Ellie about. A deal she said he tried to pass on to her or some shit. Selfless Arthur.

He's a prick.]

text SORRY THIS IS SO LATE

[stand_unshaken]

Let us not pretend you give a damn about me or mine. She took your journal, not your weapon, nor your ability to speak.

There is a reason she is here at all. You cannot solve your own problems, then you tell me so. I will get your item back. But not because I want to keep Tess in check.

NO WORRIES

[vaccination]

[She doesn't care about him. Or Tess, really. All she wants is Joel back, that impossible second chance, and Tess is a threat to that simply by pressing her buttons.

Ellie could solve this problem in particular, but there's no way it doesn't end with violence.

So here she is with this fucker.]

Get to it.

[stand_unshaken]

You had best think about attaining some respect while I solve your problems for you, kid.

Because right now, he's of a mind to get her journal and read it himself, just to somehow take something out on her.

Probably not a good idea. Still.

[vaccination]

[She rolls her eyes so hard she probably gives herself a tension headache from the force.]

I'm not the thief, here.

[stand_unshaken]

I know what your world is like. Calm the hell down.

like half an hour later

[stand_unshaken]

All ready for you, miss.

Feel the sarcasm dripping off the text!

pony express

[vaccination]

[She's so eager to get it back she lets that one slide.]

Where are you? I'll come get it.

l m a o

[stand_unshaken]

Bar. You old enough to drink?

He doesn't care.

[vaccination]

I'm not fourteen. Tess' perception of time is off.

[Which means she'll be there, and she does show up shortly after, looking a little frazzled with her hair half out of its elastic and clothes wrinkled. Who irons??? Not Ellie.]

[stand_unshaken]

I was hoping the Admiral wasn't hiring actual children. [Hello! What a kind greeting. Her journal's on the bar next to him, where he's sitting, also very unironed.]

[vaccination]

[First thing's first: Ellie grabs her journal and tucks it into her backpack. She looks at Arthur, brow furrowed.]

Did you look at it?

[She would have.]

[stand_unshaken]

Jesus. No, I didn't. [And if that's the attitude she's bringing, he's going to be leaving pretty quickly.]

[vaccination]

Then you're better than Tess. Or me. I would have looked.

[Look, it's a compliment. Ellie isn't sitting, clearly unsure as to what to do now that she has her journal back. She still wants to retaliate--old habits--but knows it's better to just. Let it go.

Easier said than done, but she's trying. Ellie takes a deep breath.]

... thanks. She wouldn't have given it back to me without a fight.

[stand_unshaken]

I got my own journal I don't want people lookin' at without my permission.

[So. Do unto others, etc.]

I know she wouldn't have. She woulda antagonized you at the very least.

[vaccination]

[Huh. Cowboy does journaling.]

Yeah? She take yours yet?

[Maybe he's off limits. Tess clearly likes him, and more importantly, seems to respect him to some degree. It's why Ellie asked him to get her journal back.]

[stand_unshaken]

Yeah. I let her look, after we got paired. I had her file, seemed fair enough to let her have a look at my own past.

[vaccination]

That makes you about two hundred percent nicer than the people she was used to at home, I bet.

[Joel would never if he bothered to keep such a thing. And never would Ellie, so Tess fucking stole it.]

[stand_unshaken]

I bet it did. I didn't want folk back home lookin', either, but she's different, ain't she?

[He takes a drink and shakes his head.] Gotta be honest with her. If I want her to be honest with me, I got to.

[vaccination]

You make it sound easy.

[There's something pretty major she's keeping for Tess--thank god she's smart enough not to write that down in her journal. It'd fuck her up. Fuck Ellie up too, talking about it. Trying to explain.]

[stand_unshaken]

It ain't. I look like the kinda guy who regularly opens up about his feelings? [He shakes his head.]

Maybe I just understand parts of her that need understandin'.

[vaccination]

Looks like Tess' luck didn't run out after all.

[Maybe this cowboy guy isn't Joel 2.0. He'd never say anything like that.]

[stand_unshaken]

[He turns to her, eyebrow raised.]

Now don't tell me that's a compliment.

[vaccination]

[There's something close to a laugh under Ellie's breath.]

Maybe I'm just getting worried about coming off as more of a fucking asshole than Tess.

[She's just constantly stressed and teetering on the edge of a meltdown. It expresses itself in different ways.]

[stand_unshaken]

Hmm. [He turns back to his drink, swirls it a little just for the pleasure of seeing the liquid slosh around.]

You did earlier on. You let her get to you like that, you'd best hope for a nice inmate.