meadowlark | @eugene.hicks

Steak. Venison. Rabbit. Mutton. Being able to hunt whenever.

Not having to pay for shit.

[Money as a concept is a MEGA DOWNER, she's right and she'll say it.]

﹙ so she went to a military prep school, but there was no money? lord, that's a bleak future. gene shakes his head some. ﹚

I wasn't much for hunting, but I'll agree that money's quite the downer.

﹙ he worked in an abattoir when he was eleven, moppin' blood off a slaughterhouse floor. between that an' the war, he doesn't have the stomach to kill creatures himself, though he does it when needs be for his veterinarian work. ﹚

You got a job yet? I can spot you some cash if not.

[The shitty stuff's all in the details.]

Me either, but it's nice to get out into the woods for a while. Away from walls.

[The peace of mind that comes with having fresh meat to bring home.]

I got myself a job, ya worrywart.

[When she was younger, the care might've rankled her. Now, she knows enough to treasure it, and even tease him a little bit.]

One of the other gals mentioned it, but my kingdom to be able to unplug a while. This whole constant barrage of information has bound to be the cause of more stress than it's worth.

﹙ he misses bein' able to go out into the woods around agathine an' just exist. he's always had a strong need to be solitary, to the point where it'd been a cruelty to his younger brother who'd only ever wanted his attention an' to be included in what he did. gene hadn't learned how deeply it hurt him until years later, when al took his joinin' the paratroopers as a deliberate point of spite that drove him into the marines in retribution. ﹚

Kid, I was a medic in the Second World War, being a worrywart ain't the half of it.

﹙ he can take the teasin' in stride. lord knows that gene would (and has) run himself damn near to the ragged edge lookin' out for others before he troubles himself to turn that attention inward. ﹚

What did you find for yourself? If you don't mind my asking.

Didn't think I'd agree with you at first, considering how useful it is, but yeah. I'd like to turn this shit off sometimes.

[As much as it brings her peace of mind, as much as she enjoys having all the wonder and knowledge of the world at her fingertips, there with just a thought, she's desperately homesick for the quiet of that old farm. She can almost find it in the edges of things here, but it's different, being lonely in a crowd, or on a fire escape.]

Fuck, that'd do it.

[The medics are always and will always been the toughest sons of bitches in any war zone. Killing is one thing. Keeping somebody alive is hard, slow, soul-wrecking work.]

They just needed a bit of extra muscle at this dive. You might like it, they've got live music.

[He's seen her- if they hired Ellie as muscle then they had occasion to see her in action.]

Edited 2020-11-13 23:54 (UTC)

I'll never take a day's peace and quiet for granted ever again in my life, O Lord.

Oh yeah? Hell, send me a ping. I'll swing on by once I'm finished my shift at the dance hall. I do enjoy a live band.

﹙ most music was live music back in his day, whether it was one fella with a piano or a guitar an' a strong, clear voice, or a pretty gal croonin' lovesongs up on a stage. he misses it, that familiarity, that closeness. music played from a record just ain't the same, though he enjoys it well enough.

an' for his part, he is dead certain that they saw her at work, an' just as much that it was work she's good at. don't pick a fight with the little scrappers. angel was barely taller than ellie, but lord that man never lost a fight until a bullet took his throat out. at the eulogy they gave him, tuck had the good humour an' sense to know angel wouldn't've wanted tears an' said as much — they knew they had to take the bastard down at a distance, else they wouldn't have survived it! ﹚

Here you go.

Won't be able to talk a lot during my shift, but if you stick around, nobody'll mind too much.

[He's not the first of Ellie's friends to visit, with short hair and the accents of dead cultures. With too many scars, usually so easily healed by the technology of this place. But Ellie's boss had seen her missing fingers and just told her where she could find a doctor.

Ellie sends the map pin over, privately.]

That ain't no nevermind. I'm awfully good at minding my own company in the quiet.

﹙ he misses the dead, lord knows. but he has always had a strong love of bein' alone. ﹚

I'll be there, then. Keep a light on for me, El.

[Keep a light on for me, he says, and Ellie's glad this is in text because it aches inside her. Gene's been good to her so far, simple company, but it means more to her than she can rightfully throw at him.

It's getting harder to be lonely out here in New Amsterdam.]

Roger dodger.

﹙ an' on he goes. he don't mind the quiet of sittin' in a calm corner nursin' a beer or two — he lifts his drink to her, but doesn't say much else or try to wheedle her into speakin' before she's due. he's always had a head for his own company, even before the war — preferred to be alone, much as anyone can an' still have need of some human connection.

it's a nice way to spend an evenin', an' it helps him acclimate some to bein' back rather than bein' back in agathine. funny, how things make sense here now about just as much as they did back home, in the same sorts of ways. he never would'a said he missed this place, but — he'd have missed the folk, if he'd never come back. he does keep an eye on ellie, though — much as he's sure she can handle herself if that's the job she's doin', gene wouldn't stand by idle if she got into a spot of trouble anyhow. ﹚

[Ellie spots him, nods back, flashes a smile before getting on with her shift. While her much more heavily muscled partner stays on the door, Ellie stays on the bar, close to the other workers, most of whom are young women.

It's a busy night, and Ellie keeps a sharp eye. Part of the job of the workers on bar is having a playful connection with the customers, of course, but Ellie's job is to keep anyone from getting out of hand. Preserves the other workers from having to do it. Most of the time a hard poke in the side and a shake of Ellie's head is enough to get someone to back off apologetically.

Through the night there are several live musical acts, most of them upbeat and high energy, cover bands of old rock songs designed to get people dancing. But as it draws later there are a few slower songs, more soulful things.

How the trouble starts isn't clear, but one larger man starts drunkenly shoving at another, and Ellie moves to interfere, to put a hand on his arm.

He backhands her. Hard. And Ellie not only dodges back to lessen the force of the blow, but takes his arm, takes his momentum, and just leans the guy into the bar. The impact knocks the breath out of him, but doesn't hurt him too bad. She growls something at him, and by then the other bouncer is there to politely but firmly lead the guy out of the bar.

He's a bit drunk, and it shows. Ellie throws Gene a glance, and a wink. She's fine.

Finally, things seem to be winding down towards closing, and Ellie takes a glass from the bar, heads over to Gene's table to toast him with it as she sits down.]

Can't believe you sat here so long. Sorry about it. You good?

Edited 2020-11-20 06:25 (UTC)

﹙ he's halfway out of his seat before she gets the situation under control, old instincts that aren't all the easiest to shake off. the look she sends him afterwards settles him some, an' he sits back down with a half salute in the vague vicinity of his forehead.

helluva girl. reminds him of aveline, a little. tough as nails, the both of them.

when she comes over an' sits down he leans forward an' gestures her in just so's he can make sure there's no damage to her face. the angle he's at obscured seein' how much connection there truly was, an' he's worried some. ﹚

I'm fine. You okay?

[The only reason Ellie hasn't forgotten the tussle by the time they sit down is because of the way Gene's looking at her. It's been a long, long time since somebody's fussed over a bruise this light, and she has to fight down the twinge in her heart even as she leans forward, tilting her head so he can see the light blush of a bruise along her jaw.]

That? Sh'yeah, fine. He wasn't even trying to hurt me.

[Ellie gives Gene a reassuring if crooked smile, brings her glass back to her lips as she takes a seat. It's much more quiet now, the crowd just milling and tired and happy, the musicians packing up.]

Used to get much worse than this on patrol. S'weird, working where nothing's trying to kill you.

Lordy.

（ he's sure, havin' seen the way she moved, that she's dealt with well worse than that. but it's his nature to fuss. still, he lets it be an' sits back against the booth proper. ）

Sounds like there's a story to that.

（ he says it easy enough — space for her to tell it or not as she cares to. he ain't one to pry, but he ain't never denied no one a shoulder when they've a need of it, either. the trick is gaugin' the need. ）

[Ellie smiles back, the lordy hitting something that feels all too much like home. Gene's like that, familiar in all the best ways. Enough for her to double-check her memory and realize that she really hasn't told him much about herself at all. Just that she went to military school at once point.]

Oh, hundreds.

[Ellie breathes out, takes a long drink from her glass, unsure of where to start.]

I was on Jackson group patrols from the time I was fifteen, paired at sixteen, keeping the area clear of hunters and infected. We'd run through the checkpoints, clear anything we came across, report back.

[Ellie pauses, tilting her head.]

Have you ever seen a zombie movie? Something like that, but twenty-something years later.

（ it's over his head, mostly. his idea of zombie films is the one he and reggie snuck in to see in the thirties an' it sure don't have much in common with what she's talkin' about. ）

Can't say as I have, not the way you're thinkin' anyhow.

（ but patrols. clearing areas of people an' 'infected', by which he assumes zombies. those are concepts he has analogous experiences for, much as anythin'. he's always good at contextualizin' things. maybe it's on account'a all the folks he talked to from a different era or place an' how formative that was for him. ）

[Ellie frowns to herself, trying to figure out a way to describe it that will be both accurate and not sound horrifying. It's impossible.]

I was born about... six years after it hit.

Joel-

[Ellie pauses here, because it's still a lot to say his name.]

He says that everything was fine when they went to bed before the outbreak, but they woke up and the world was going crazy. That millions of people died in one night. If it wasn't because they were infected, it was because the infected got them, or because people were scared, and turning on each other. Millions more every night after that, and more and more infected that just kept hunting everybody else.

FEDRA declared martial law, and set up Quarantine Zones. Work assignments and rations for everybody not military. Most of the Zones fell eventually, though.

[Aside from the details from Joel, it sounds almost like she's reading out of a textbook. She flickers her eyes back up at Gene.]

Sorry. There's no way to not make it sound fucking depressing. But it's just what it is, yanno?

Jesus.

（ it's barely a word, breathed out. ）

Ain't no wonder you're takin' this place in stride, then.

[It's a better reaction than some, and Ellie nods, taking a sip of her drink.]

Most things.

[She tries for a smile.]

Seeing how many people there were still freaked me right out.

Reckon so.

（ he knows what people are like when they're wolf-hungry an' out for themselves. you saw it in france. the rebels, yeah, but there was always someone willin' to sell someone out for a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs, too. to say nothin' of what happened in russia. ）

Guessin' folks were more enemy than friend, huh?

Most, yeah, and it wasn't always clear who was and wasn't.

Was pretty jumpy most of the first week.

[Meaning she's adapted rather well, given that she's sitting here in this bar, and isn't reacting with deadly force to someone taking a swing at her. Or seems to, anyway.]

I don't blame you.

（ to most folks that know him, he adjusted well comin' home. no fits, no drinkin' to excess, no violence. but what he carries is deeper than that, tucked away in dark corners. he can't say as he gets her specific trauma, but he knows what it's like to have somethin' like it. he tugs his beer into the protective circle of his braced forearms, an' lifts it idly after a moment. ）

Hell, I'm surprised it was only a week.

Not my first time adjusting to a safe place after a long time on the road.

[Ellie watches him, though, the way he holds himself, like he's using his whole body to prop up his heart, caging himself in. She knows the posture; she's seen it in plenty of men older than him.

Some younger.]

It helped, having... people, I guess. So early.

[And a lot of people willing to help her break out of the temporary safehouse for a little while.]

Mm. The one thing that can get a body through anythin'.

（ he's always been a bit of an island, preferrin' his own company an' all, but even then he acknowledges there were long, vast swaths of time where seein' ghosts kept him stable. after his ma died, he couldn't lean on his brothers or his pa to cope, because they needed him to be the strong one. but even when he had nothin', he had the dead. ）

I'm glad the transition weren't all that hard for you. An' if you find yourself needin' anythin', all's you gotta do is ask, too.

[Ellie takes another drink, watches him, more of a sober expression on her face. She doesn't doubt him, not exactly, but he's different from what she expected.]

You so nice to everybody you dance with?

@ellie.miller

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