IC Inbox

[dog_eat_dog]

INBOX

Comments

text

[vaccination]

Wanna hang out?

text

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess waits to respond just to ponder whether this is a trap, but she finally replies:]

Sure. Where to?

text

[vaccination]

Did you eat?

text

[dog_eat_dog]

Not yet. Let's go.

text

[vaccination]

You in your room?

[... sent as Ellie sticks her head out of her own room.]

text

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess is out there already, closing her door and locking up. She glances aside at Ellie. This is strange, and strange calls for suspicion, but she wants to see where it goes.]

You're in a good mood.

[vaccination]

[Good mood? The last time Ellie was in a good mood was probably on the farm. Or, you know, the train. But she's not bringing that up.]

What makes you say that?

[Ellie locks her door and gives it a little wiggle, putting the key into her backpack.]

[dog_eat_dog]

[She knows what a good mood looks like, and it’s not exactly this, but it’s enough for her to want to hang out.]

Normally I’m the one extending the invites.

[vaccination]

[And Ellie hates it every time. Maybe it's easier if she extends the hand.]

Yeah, well. Maybe I was just hoping you were hungry, too. Sucks, eating alone.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess has the immediate mental image of Ellie eating lunch in a high school bathroom, bullied by the other kids. Her conclusion is that Joel fucking crippled this kid’s ability to make friends.

She just shrugs. It’s flippant enough.]

You don’t need an excuse to ask me, but sure. I’m game. What’d you get up to this morning?

[vaccination]

[Ellie gives a shrug as they walk.]

Laundry. Figured since it's easier here, I should, uh. Probably do it more often.

[dog_eat_dog]

Might as well. It’s a real novelty, and I’m still not bored of it. You still washing things in buckets in Jackson?

[vaccination]

Sometimes. Mostly tubs, since they kinda have... like, water tanks and stuff. Most people would turn a spare bathroom in their house into a laundry room kind of thing.

[Weird to have such convenience, here.]

You? Just relaxing this morning?

[dog_eat_dog]

Sounds like life before.

[Just lower tech.]

Yeah, pretty quiet morning. Coffee with Arthur, met up with a friend to chat. Nothing crazy.

[vaccination]

That your normal day here?

[It sounds so... well. Normal. Like before.]

[dog_eat_dog]

Mmhmm. No early morning drops or late night wall-hopping, but I like having a routine all the same.

[vaccination]

I'm guessing you don't miss that.

[dog_eat_dog]

Maybe not that specifically, but I miss work. Filled a lot of hours that way.

[vaccination]

[Ellie pulls a face. She can't say she misses what was her work.]

Hobbies tend to do that for normal people, I hear.

[dog_eat_dog]

Only so many hours a day I can drink, nap, and read, kid.

[vaccination]

Is that seriously all you do? What about... I don't know, check out the garden?

[Ellie does like it there, and so she immediately regrets suggesting that.]

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess is plenty busy, but none of it is warden-friendly, so... ]

Never been. Misty works there though, so I guess I should poke my head in sometime. You know the greenhouse team has graduated three inmates in the past few months?

[vaccination]

What the fuck? How?

[Is there a way to cheat, or are they that good...?]

I'm hoping that's a fluke.

[dog_eat_dog]

They’ve got it down to a science, I guess. Misty and Hange were two of the wardens. Pick their brains.

[vaccination]

Damn. And they're sticking around, huh? Seems like that's common.