second shot; first network post ; video ;

[nohalfway]

[ It's pretty clear that whoever is handling the TAB is having difficulty figuring it out. Following some muffled profanities and crackling as the video is essentially a moving blur, the image clears to the visual of a young teen. Her red hair is messy, pulled back into a loose bun where her bangs continuously fall in her face. Different from her initial arrival, she is clean and devoid of any showing injury. There's a very clear scar on her eyebrow, which seems to have uniquely ceased the growth of hair, leaving a wide gap. That very brow wrinkles as she leans over the TAB and inspects. ]

Is this stupid thing working or what?

[ "Stupid", says the one who found this thing super awesome five minutes ago. The charm died out when she realized just how incapable she is of utilizing most technology. ]

Oh--

Oh, I see it now. It says "recording".

[ Ellie's voice is a touch hoarse, so she speaks quietly. She leans back in her chair when she is comfortable in knowing it's working. The teen takes a deep breath, exhaling heavily before speaking. ]

Okay, so I'm... Basically being told here that I should take a shot at, [ Ellie shrugs, waving her arms a bit to make a gesture. ] this. Getting acclimated, socializing, or something.

Anyway.

[ She waves, lips curled in a crooked, awkward and shy sort of smile. ]

What's up? I'm Ellie. I've been here a few weeks, but I haven't done anything on the network yet. So, er.

Nice... To meet everyone? I guess.

[ Her glance shifts away, and she eventually shakes her head and begins to reach for the TAB. ]

So that was pointless. How do I shut this thing off?

[ Ellie picks up the TAB, where the camera shows a pretty full image up her nose and under her chin as she flips it this way and that. A few more profanities, and eventually the feed shuts off. ]

Comments

Video

[beautifulspaceraptor]

It's lovely to meet you Ellie. [ The alien, toothy raptor fellow sounds awfully amused. ] I hope you settle in without too many hitches. If you'd like a crash-course in TAB usage, don't be afraid to ask.

Video

[morethan084]

[Daisy isn't used to seeing many younger people here, and it still bothers her a lot when she does. Of all of the people that came here, why did children have to be among them?]

Hey Ellie. I'm Daisy. I know this place can be a bit jarring, let me know if you need anything.

video;;

[archea]

Hey.

[ Archer can't help but smile, even if she feels that might bother Ellie. Little kids get angry by the weirdest things. ]

You've been doing well, I see.

[ Archer herself looks... dirty, tired and in the middle of a forest. ]

Video

[nohalfway]

[ OH MY GOD ANOTHER ALIEN. Excuse Ellie, because the excitement hasn't left her yet. ]

Holy fuck another one!

[ She grins ear to ear, leaning in on the screen. ]

Hi! Oh man.

Are you another one of the aliens here? You don't look like the other dude I talked to, but you definitely are not human. Totally digging the, y'know--

[ Ellie gestures a circle around her face, referring to the markings he has. ]

So fucking cool.

Video

[nohalfway]

[ Boy, she just... Keeps struggling with this darn thing. There's a lot of rustling before she gets the camera functioning again, and she finally sees the girl in the screen. ]

Wow, this thing is actually getting attention? Weird.

Uh, hi Daisy.

[ She pauses, finally leaning back in her seat. ]

Yeah, it's... Not exactly something I'm used to. But I'm getting there. Slowly but surely.

Have you been here long?

video;;

[nohalfway]

[ This girl looks familiar. ]

Oh--

[ Ellie immediately feels bad when she recalls her behavior. She wrinkles her nose. ]

Ah... Yeah. A little bit.

Hey, sorry about, y'know. All the theatrics from before. I wasn't in a good place.

[archea]

Hey, trust me when I say that experience tells me you had every right to reach that way. At least you didn't try to shank me.

[ Always a good thing in her book. ]

Found a good place to stay?

[nohalfway]

Er, not gonna lie. I was pretty close.

[ She laughs. ]

I did. I'm being taken care of by some pretty nice people. Kinda just taking it day by day, to be honest.

...You? You don't look so hot, sorry to say.

[morethan084]

Usually does, it's the only way for all of us to communicate. Unless mail is your thing I guess.

[...]

I don't even think they have a post office on this planet.

[Well that was a tiny bit complicated, considering at one point a year went past on what was essentially one giant orgy/party planet. Way to cheat her out of a birthday.]

9 months, or a year and 9 months depending on what actually counts.

Long story short, we were stuck on a planet for a year without knowing it.

[...Way to not freak this kid out, Daisy.]

Not that that sort of thing usually happens.

[nohalfway]

[ Okay, this girl is talking about post offices, time, and it all adds up to a whole lot of shit that she still can't really wrap her head around. Given where she comes from, that's not going to change for a while. ]

[ Her eyes squint and her nose wrinkles. ]

What.

[morethan084]

Yeah, honestly? I barely remember how it all happened. It's kind of a blur.

[Oh, some of it she totally remembers, but she'd rather not think about it.]

[nohalfway]

[ Every once in a while, that culture shock hits her again. She's been here a few weeks, but it's still like she got here yesterday. Ellie sighs and lowers her head, shaking it a bit as she rubs at her face. ]

Godddd, I swear I'm fucking dead or something. Every time I think this place is starting to make sense, it stops.

[morethan084]

Honestly? You kind of just get used to being surprised. Which is pretty sad now that I'm saying it out loud.

[She won't go into the details about how their ship crash landed and they were stuck on another planet for close to two months in disgusting conditions.]

Did you not have a cell phone back home?

[Daisy's only asking because she seemed to have issues with figuring out how the TAB worked.]

[nohalfway]

[ With another exhale, Ellie raises her head, settling down where she sits a bit. She's currently cross-legged on the bed-- Jesse's bed, actually. Daisy may be able to recognize his room if she looks close enough. Though Ellie's made herself a nice little nest well against the wall. The TAB, she's managed to lean against some books to make a nice little stand. ]

Cell phone?

[ She actually has to think on that for a second, which should probably answer Daisy's question. But it dawns on Ellie when she thinks hard enough. ]

Oh, you mean the tiny, portable phones that people used to carry around? Nah, those stopped being a thing like. 20 years ago where I'm from.

I've found a few beat up ones before. Buried in the dirt and crap. They look like they were pretty cool.

[morethan084]

[Remember how a moment ago she said she got used to surprises? Well she's still thrown a bit anytime someone had no idea what a cell phone was.

Even more so when she hears that they stopped making them.]

...What?

Don't tell me they actually made brain implants a thing.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie pauses a second there, before basically sputtering into a snicker and shaking her head. ]

No, no no. Total opposite.

[ Still chuckling while she says the next part: ]

World totally fucking ended. Everything's literal garbage.

[morethan084]

What?

[Earth is...? No, different world. Please let it be a different world.]

How?

[Who? What? Where? When...? SHIT HAPPENS DAISY.]

[nohalfway]

[ She leans back against the wall, letting her head roll to the side. This isn't the first time someone's asked what happened in her world, and it won't be the last. It just never stops being weird explaining it to someone who hasn't experienced it. For a moment, Ellie looks away from the camera, up at the ceiling while she gathers her thoughts. Her loose bun flops to the side, bangs falling in her face where she blows it away from her nose and eyes. ]

It's kinda hard to, y'know, summarize it? But basically, there was a massive infection of this cordyceps fungus. Caused a pandemic, made a bunch of people mindless, flesh-eating monsters.

[ Ellie gestures with her hands, rotating them in a circle. ]

Chaos. Everyone freaked the fuck out, then quarantine zones popped up, entire world went under martial law and...

[ She looks back to the camera, shrugging. ]

That's basically the gist of it. Technology took a huge nosedive. I've read about a lot of things in books and old magazines, and there are some people around who lived before everything went to shit. So I learned things along the way.

[morethan084]

[The moment Ellie goes silent Daisy instantly regrets asking. She had been so caught up trying to picture her world becoming a wasteland, but she hasn't actually experienced it. Ellie has.]

I'm sorry.

[Because the apocalypse was her fault, obviously.]

I didn't mean to bring up-

[Well she did, she just had to know.]

[nohalfway]

[ Again, she shrugs, and though she smiles? It's pretty meek. and flat. ]

Don't worry about it.

Honestly?

[ She's hardly upset with Daisy, and it shows in her tone. ]

That's what I grew up in. I didn't know anything else until I got here. Whenever I read things, it all seemed pretty bizarre and surreal to me. Like it never happened and I was just reading fiction.

You're not, like, bringing up old wounds or anything by asking where I'm from. Don't sweat it.

[morethan084]

[Daisy smiled tightly at her reassurance that she hadn't actually upset her.]

Well I don't know what century you're from, but, if you want first hand experiences from the late 20th century and early 21st...

[nohalfway]

Year was 2033 when I left.

[ Her answer is quick, and she smiles a bit brighter. ]

Yeah, I'd totally be down for that, actually. I've always been kinda fascinated by the stuff people had before everything turned to shit.

[morethan084]

[2033 isn't that far off back home for her, but Daisy won't bring that up.]

Some had more than others, but I definitely had a few of those small portable phones. Some of them weren't so small.

[nohalfway]

[ Ellie snorts. ]

A few? Weren't they super expensive, though?

[morethan084]

[Not if you stole them.]

Depends on the one you got. They were more expensive in the 90s.

I actually have a laptop and a ton of old movies, if you ever want to get an idea of what things were like back then.