abandonware | i n [B] o x . // EXPIATION.

[ Riley, the furious roar escaping her sounding nothing like her, clawed hands reaching for her as Ellie fumbles with the gun, hesitant and terrified. Could she really--

The memory makes her feel nauseous. ]

Me either.

[ She glances over at A2 from between her arms, before slowly straightening up. If her eyes are red from crying, no they aren't. ]

You shouldn't have had to. I'm not supposed to be able to be infected, and I could have brought this entire place down. I just - brought it with me. I'm not safe to have around.

Hm. [Again, A2 falls into silence, just listening, brow knitted in concern.] Not safe, huh.

[...

She sighs. She's remembered something.] Before I woke up here, I died. I... destroyed the machine network — sent their tower crashing down. [...] There were children in there. I could hear them.

[A hard swallow, before she continues. Her gaze goes flat and still, staring out into the distance at nothing. Going away for a moment to retell this story. To process it.] There's something like your infection in my world. A logic virus the machines created. It killed so many of us. It completely decimated YoRHa — not only the field units, this time. Everyone in orbit too. The Operators, the Commander. I'd never seen so many infected at once. I was cut off from the network years ago, so I wasn't impacted. But there was someone I was trying to help.

[Pod, who had been quiet until then, speaks up:] YoRHa Unit 9S.

Yes. I took the virus from him. I did what I needed to do. And then the Tower fell around me.

[She studies her bandaged hands. Her fingers flex, unflex.] On the off chance it woke up, if something happened, I'd kill everyone here. But it hasn't. Not even when I came back this time.

[...]

You shouldn't isolate yourself. It won't help.

Edited 2025-04-23 18:37 (UTC)

[ Ellie listens with almost reverence-like quiet, shoulders finally coming down from around her ears. Her eyes widen a little at the mention of the children, but...well. There'd been plenty of children's remains to find on her journey. Maybe she's messed up, being unsurprised. Maybe she's just realistic.

She doesn't say anything for a few minutes after. She can't go utterly still like A2, as much as she might be trying to for blank faced and passive. The impression of her biting the inside of her lips, the way her eyes flit around just slightly as she thinks, how her fingers curls and uncurl nervously - she's moving constantly.

That's a lot for A2 to entrust to her. It - shit, it feels like something off her shoulders. No one could understand...any of it here, it felt like. No one except A2, apparently.

Finally, she lets out a huff before she thrusts her arm forward. The night of her turning, the bite had raw and angry, blistered. She'd lost her bandage gradually and it hadn't been fixed like her clothes when she revived. The bite has calmed now, a ring of someone's teeth have been left impressed on her skin, cysts covering it, and the undeniable tendril of the fungus visible in places under the skin. ]

This is here. I'm -

[ her breath catches. The words came out easier under duress. Right now, they feel like lumps in her throat. She's terrified to say it and she hates it. ]

That's how they were able to-- Cordyceps is already in me. It grows on your brain. But I'm immune, so it can't do anything. Or it - couldn't.

[Both Pod and A2 take in the girl's clear anxiousness and her wound both. It's unlike any wound either of them have seen, in their world of metal and porcelain, silicone formed in the shape of human beings. But the words are familiar.]

I think the logic virus is still here too. Hard to tell. [She says it softly, without much feeling. There's no grief in her words, no fear. It was a fate she'd only avoided through sheer luck and tenacity. Perhaps in a world without machines, she'd be free of a ticking time bomb. Perhaps not.]

But this world isn't our worlds. It's not the same.

[A careful pause. Then, gently, her hand comes to rest on Ellie's shoulder. She locks eyes with her, gaze focused, but not unkind. She's trying to convey something very important.] You can tell, can't you? Did anyone else get infected when it took you over?

[ Silco, Vi, Aloy. That's all she remembers at least. It's like some fucked up fever dream she only half remembers. She definitely hadn't been thinking right.

She's not afraid to find out, or so she tells herself. That'd be cowardly, and Ellie Williams is not a fucking coward. She's just...trying to get her head sorted, is all. ]

Not that I've heard so far. It'd be hard to miss.

[Her gaze turns to some point in the far distance as she combs through her memory data for any mention of unusual behavior amongst the humans. Eventually, she blinks and shakes her head.] I don't think there's been anything. It's quiet, now that the fighting has stopped.

[Briefly, her eyes flicker to Ellie.] I'm not going to tell you not to worry about it. It's bullshit advice. But... for now, it's safe. [A pause.] For now... those who are left are fine.

[Physically, anyway. She hasn't been too far gone not to notice the absences of some of the others. But they'd not located any bodies, so perhaps they had somehow found the escape that she'd been seeking in destroying herself. A2 would think this an unfair outcome, if she wasn't used to it, and if she knew that the safety of those missing people was a certain thing.]

Is that why you're out here by yourself?

I'm just - [ a huff. ] I don't know. Figuring shit out. Step one is get my shit out of the rubble and go back to camping in the woods, I guess.

[ she toes at the dirt, brows furrowed. it'd been nice while it lasted, having four walls and a roof. the nights of paranoia, waiting for someone to come bursting through the door had fucking sucked, but having a bed was nice. she barely slept most nights here; not all the way through anyway.

the relatively peaceful periods just made her more antsy. was she this paranoid, before leaving the zone? it feels like a lifetime ago, Ellie can barely remember. ]

Not exactly looking forward to being drawn and quartered or something.

[An eyebrow raise at this, a little tilt of her head. Dusting invisible dirt off the bandages covering her knees, she looks in the direction of the ruined building's innards, laid bare by the destruction wrought in a battle she only remembered in foggy bursts, like her memory data was somehow underwater.]

If anyone tries to do that here, I'll kill them.

[It's stated plainly.] But they're not going to. You should stay with the other humans. If they're willing to take me in, then...

[A2 rolls her shoulder. Felt so strange, not to have her usual sword.] I'll help you find your things. C'mon.

[ it feels good to know she has one person on her side at least. staying with the other Chosen, though...she's not so sure about that one.

instead of responding to it, Ellie nods and pushes herself to her feet with a huff, dusting off her knees. ]

It's not much. Mostly just wanna make sure to get the food I've been stocking. It's...here somewhere.

[Silently, A2 proceeds into the rubble, Pod floating ahead of her to investigate. The two of them begin to work in easy and familiar concert to clear the rubble. Both have no trouble at all moving what would be too heavy for a human being.]

Stocking food...? [A2 finally asks, then in understanding:] Oh. Yeah.

The people who run the farm share food. [She briefly glances over at Ellie at this, gauging her reaction.]

[ Ellie busies herself helping, though in comparison to two robots with at least twice her strength, she's more left to just clear out the smaller stuff.

The farm...she hasn't actually gone to visit yet. ]

Maybe normally, but if it's this bad... People are probably going to start focusing on feeding their own.

[ There's a resigned note to her voice. Maybe later she'll be able to imagine something better, but right now standing in the rubble... She doesn't feel like part of the Chosen most of the time. ~~It's fully Ellie's fault but shhh~~. ]

Guess I can't blame them.

Hm.

[A2 hums to herself in thought, not saying anything for a while. She's pleased to be working, though it's a laughable task compared to any lofty mission assigned to her by YoRHa. But those missions hadn't actually mattered, she thinks, with a painful twinge. At least here, she was helping someone. Helping a friend.]

You sure about that? [...] I... think they'd share. [A pause.] Everyone's been helping each other.

Maybe they would. [ there's a pause as she contemplates a rock in her hand. ] Everyone's weird as hell here anyway.

[ she chucks it, kicking aside a couple more. ]

Feels like anyone I could ask, I fucked up and bit. And I'm used to doing for myself, it's not like I couldn't survive alone.

[A quiet "hm," in response. A2 focuses on the work as she thinks over an appropriate response. She didn't quite know what she was doing, unused to this sort of discussion. Giving advice, is what she realizes.]

I killed you. [...] And you asked me to kill you. But we're still talking.

[She did not blame the girl for asking her, and yet it was a burden nonetheless. Another stone on her back. If she hadn't been in this place, she's not certain she would've survived it, between her programming and her already tenuous mental state.

But she was here. She had survived yet again. This burdensome life of hers continued stubbornly on.

Carefully, one-handed, she lifts a slab of broken-off wall that is twice her size. Something glitters underneath, but there's a lot to get rid of before it can be reached.]

Don't know if that could happen anywhere else.

Edited 2025-05-17 23:56 (UTC)

i n [B] o x . // EXPIATION.

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