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 Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:35 am
 Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
A small sigh of content escaped the hick as he sat back in his chair. Of course, the little, plastic lawn chair was anything from a fluffy sofa, but it worked well enough for him. He was used to laying out on the lawn with his buddy Keith, back in the day, just soakin' up the sun and a whole lotta beer.
Of course, this wasn't the lawn at his Mama's house, and it sure wasn't back in those easy times. Cola replaced alcohol, too, but he was likin' where he was at well enough. The zombie apocalypse provided a rush that his old, southern life couldn't began to give.
He scooped up another bottle of Cola sitting beside him, mindless to the fact that he had gotten the 6-pack for Elf in the first place. Oh well, there were still three left, after this one would be thrown back.
Callused fingertips brought the bottle up to his mouth, prying the cap off with his teeth. He spit the bit of metal off to the side, watching as it flew off the side of the trailer his lawn chair was perched on. One couldn't be too careful in an apocalypse.
Another chair sat on top of his temporary perch, just for the occasion that anyone wanted to lounge with him, while the bulk of the group did their own thing.
Thus far, no one had taken the offer.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:52 pm
 "..."
The sound of clumsy scurrying up the side of said trailer would creep subtly up to his ears. Ennis was clearly not the strongest little thing. Nor the most graceful. A frizzy orange head popped over the side with a small nose wrinkled with concentration.
Scrambling up to the top awkwardly, she was acutely aware of how silly her slightly flailing climb might look. But this was outweighed by the fact that she felt exponentially safer the higher up she was. Up here she could see anything coming from a distance.
It eased her twitchiness and constant anxiety of ambush a bit.
"Ah...E-Ellis...I-Ididn't..know you were up here..."
And it looked like he was enjoying his alone time as well. Scolding herself for her thoughtlessness, she waved her hands nervously.
"S-S..sorry for the interruption, I-I'll...j-just be a second..I.."
Just grab a soda and retreat and perhaps he won't be too annoyed, yes?
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:32 pm
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
The hick opened one eye, where they had both fallen closed just moments before Ennis had began to scurry up. He watched as the red hair ascended, not once reaching for his firearm. The young man knew that fidgeting...
"Heya Elf," he murmured, voice drawling lazily. He opened his other eye as she stammered, quiet while she tried to finish. Pale eyes blinked blankly. "Take a seat," he offered, both arms slowly moving to stretch behind his head.
He turned his attention towards the horizon again, the little town before them thoroughly destroyed. "I mean... if you ain't busy. It's real nice up here," he spoke to her, though he looked ahead. "Besides, I've been meanin' to get a soda to you. Can't be more than one or two left," he grinned sheepishly to himself.
Despite whether she would tell him she was busy or she wasn't, be began to speak. "Man, did I ever tell you about the time me and Keith put some fireworks on top of our trailer?" he only hesitated for what seemed like half a moment, "Shiny new trailer and we went and turned it black, you hear me?"
He grinned, head rolling on his shoulders to look over to her. The hick glanced over her modestly. "Somethin' up, little lady?" one brow rose with the question.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:10 pm
"I...don't mind..."
She blinked, fairly bemused. Every time Ellis was around, somehow she found herself breaking another one of her million little rules. Don't speak unless spoken to. Don't touch. Don't intrude. Don't ask. Don't waste time. Don't get caught looking. Don't be a bother.
"I'm..not busy..."
It occurred to her that somewhere along the way she had been convinced that the most considerate thing to do around other people was to do what she needed to do and then get out of the way. Take care of herself and then pretend she wasn't there.
"It's been a long time since I've had soda..." The little orange headed girl struggled with the cap for a bit before it suddenly jerked off, causing her to squeak a bit with surprise, before hastily righting herself to prevent spilling and further embarrassment. "I-It's...uhm...a bit of a luxury these days, yes?"
Water was more practical and easier to transport. And Ennis wasn't the sort to allow herself to indulge.
"R-Really..?!" She nearly spit out her sip of soda upon hearing that one, and some rare giggling would ensue. The image of Ellis and his friend scorching the top of a trailer, followed by chaos and panic was just so easy to see in her mind's eye, that it was like watching a silly cartoon. "H-How in the world have you and 'Keith' managed to live this long...?" She inquired with muffled mirth, finally managing to swallow some soda. Immediately after saying so, though, she turned red and stiffened nervously. That was almost an insult! Something she almost never allowed.
"Sorry...I-I...Ididn'tm-mean...t-to insinuate..." Trailing off, and peering closely at her feet, she managed "...n-nothing up...really..."
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:22 pm
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
"'Cause we're two, tough sons-a-bitches, baby," he said with a wild hoot, as if he were speaking with Keith himself. Of course he wasn't offended by the question.
He was actually quite excited to explain.
"See, we had gotten a pair of metal trashcan lids ahead of time," he said, leaning forwards as if it were a secret, "Oldman Jenkin's." The old man had complained for years about the missing articles.
"Anyways, we used those as a shield... though we both got burned to hell here and there. Wasn't anything new. We used to shoot them things at eachother. Black cat almost took off my finger once," he lifted his head to show off his scarred, ring finger.
He was content with that as the story, settling comfortably in the chair. "Yeah... nice to get a sip of somethin' but toilet water..." he nodded along, "Was a good idea." He shut one eye in a wink to her.
"So Elf," he started, not bothering to even try and call her anything but the cutesy pet name he had created, "What do you wanna do once you get out of here? Figure you'll run off to save the world and I'll get back to my trailer an' drinkin'."
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:06 pm
"Trashcan lids...?! As...shields...!?"
Ennis nearly had to bite down on her sleeves to muffle her giggling. She wasn't sure if Ellis' lifestyle actually became any more dangerous during the zombie apocalypse, so utterly insane his stories from before were.
"S-So...so...you..j-jousted with fireworks, you and Mr. Keith...?!"
She could barely catch her breath long enough to squeak out her gasped question, which seemed to set her off on another long stream of twittering giggles. Once again, the picture in her mind's eye was quite vivid of this most ridiculous and unconscionably dangerous battle. And it was quite the funniest thing she had ever seen.
"You really are a knight, 'Sir Ellis'..."
Okay. Okay. That's enough laughing. Mother always said, too much of her laughing was rather grating, and frankly she had always agreed. She promptly forced herself to regain her composure, straightening with slight embarrassment.
"Your finger...? Oh...I see it now...that must have hurt..." Her lingering amusement quickly melted into a small frown of sympathy and a slight wince at the thought. She found herself reaching out and nearly compulsively brushing a fingertip against the burn scar before realizing what exactly she was doing and snatching her hand back, and turning a rather bright shade of red.
Cough cough.
"Ahem...I...I don't really know...I-I always assumed I..." What was it she had assumed? "...that I...wouldn't last long enough to have to think about it..."
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:49 pm
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
Ellis could definitely appreciate, well, being appreciated. It seemed that Ennis was one of the few people that would listen to a story of his and not cut him off, or roll their eyes. She was even nice enough to offer a courtesy laugh.
A handsome grin grew on the hick's face.
"Yeah, we were pretty crazy back in the day," he mused, as if the pair weren't still crazy. He took a long drink of his Coke, just now remembering it from the moments before when he'd opened it.
"Y'know what I always wondered?" he questioned as she released his finger. Of course he hadn't thought much of it. "Why they say you kiss somethin' to make it better. Like a bruise or a cut," he picked at the old scar.
After a moment, he was off-subject again, grinning and out of his thoughtful look. "Well, now you're with us, so you better start plannin'," he nodded matter-of-factly, "We're all going to make it out of here... Alive an' well." He grinned, just thinking about it.
"Yeah... we're all going to get together some day and drink and tell stories about the time we all fought off zombies," he seemed to be pretty happy about the idea of it. "We'll have some nice, cold Cola over it."
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 8:30 pm
Ennis' mousy features went comically slack with fright for an instant as he mused over sayings pertaining to healing kisses. A miniature heart attack would ensue. Did he somehow guess what she was thinking? Impossible, he hadn't even touched his finger! The impulse had barely been in her mind a second, and she'd refused to agknowledge it at all!
Was Ellis in fact some sort of geniuslike chessmaster who only played at the role of a childish young man with a love for outlandish stories who could actually read like like some sort of cheap, paperback, supermarket romance novel?! Could he hear this right now!?
"...wh-wha..? Oh..."
Then again, perhaps it was just an innocent question and that was one of the most unacceptably silly thoughts she'd had in years. Either way, Saffron hid her rather telling face by immediately jerking it downwards to concentrate on her feet, shifting a bit in her own flimsy lawn chair.
"I suppose it's more about...distracting someone from the pain than actually getting rid of it..." Awkward cough. "...n-not that I would know anything about that."
Having regained her composure a bit, she smiled warmly at the idea of sitting around trading memories when this was all over. What a lovely thought.
"...I'm sure everyone would be begging to hear your stories then, yes? W-We'd be like heroes..."
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:31 am
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
Ellis didn't /seem/ to notice her inner turmoil. He simply shifted his attention onto his arm, looking from that finger, to his hand, to up his forearms at the various scars.
"I don't reckon I did get my cuts kissed a lot," he mused, finally glancing back up to her to notice her eyes on the ground. "Reckon that's why the lot of them scarred up?" he questioned as his brows rose.
"This 'un 'll probably scar up pretty nice," he muttered, reaching to rub his shoulder. His T-shirt was bulky with the bandaging. Where the madman had shot him. With that, he began to do what everyone scolded him for; he began to scratch.
"I like the sound of that," he nodded, grinning brightly, "A hero... Me, an' Keith, an' Nick, an' even Curtis!" He paused, looking over at the girl, "'Course, you too, cause you're comin' with us, right?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:25 am
"...I certainly hope that's not the case..." She frowned a bit at the skin of her leg which had been rather deeply skinned during her rather clumsy jump down from her tree. "...I'm afraid that would make me rather prone to scarring..."
A hint of rueful bitterness would creep into her crooked smile. She would have liked to have a first kiss before she became a walking plague. Maybe even a first...
Ahem. Well all those important firsts, yes? Too late now, though. And no use dwelling on it.
"Don't scratch at it like that...you'll hurt yourself..." A sympathetic frown would ensue. "...the itching means new skin is growing...your shoulder is being...remade. Isn't it fascinating?"
She nodded, though she knew she shouldn't. Her discipline was waning more and more it seemed. It was dangerous. Too dangerous. She was far too dangerous to allow herself such luxuries...it was surely only a matter of time before her selfishness caught up with her.
"...yeah. I'll come with you..." Ennis murmured with a slight note of guilt, before hastily adding. "...all of you...that is..the group..."
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:16 am
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
"Psh..." Ellis managed a raspberry, teasing the girl. "How did you manage to get away with that?" He paused in scratching at his shoulder, under her instruction. She did have a lab coat on, after all.
"I mean... I had girls do it here and there when I was in high school, but I don't figure I have the healin' touch, y'know?" he attempted to look down at his mouth. "Man, but my sisters came up to me all the time with their little bruises and bumps, though."
He grinned crookedly at remembering them, attempting to keep up his usual cheer.
"Huh... you don't have to, I don't guess," he blinked, misreading her tone. He set down the empty bottle, next to the other two, arms stretching behind his head once again.
"I mean... I'd like you to, an' all, but not everyone likes a big group, I guess," he stared out into the infected town, "I mean, I never figured I'd be in one anyways. Kinda feels weird."
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:55 pm
"...it wasn't hard..."
Ennis couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. A raspberry? He really was just like a kid. Had she ever been like that? She couldn't remember, but frankly she couldn't see herself being so...happy.
"...no? That's just as well...I shouldn't think someone like you would need to kiss anyone for something like that." She smiled. "...you seem like the sort of person who could make someone feel better without even trying, yes?"
Sisters? Sisters. She could just see Ellis carrying little siblings on his shoulders, kissing their bumps and scrapes, teasing them childishly. It made her heart ache to think of it.
"Not at all...I...I'd like to stay. If you'd like me to stay...I'd...like to stay." She insisted, her words leaving her mouth rather disjointedly and awkward as always. She cursed herself again, turning a bit pink with irritation at herself. When had she become so woefully inarticulate?
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:02 pm
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
"I like to think I got a sort of a healing element to me," Ellis said with a faint smirk, "I mean... I'll stick with ya and keep ya company. Course, I usually get kicked out of watching duty 'cause the injured don't right appreciate my stories..."
He shrugged, it was a crazy thought to him... not wantin' to hear out a story.
"The girls always wanted to hear my stories," he said with a tight grin, "'Course, they liked to call me Ellie and put fingernail polish on me, too, but I didn't mind it too much."
He grinned more sincerely with the memories. "My oldest sister had a crush on Keith. I think the lot of them did. Think one named a kid after him just for the heck of it," he remembered with a chuckle.
The chuckle soon turned into a whole-hearted laugh, with the hick almost doubling over.
He was still giggling slightly when he tried to switch subjects, eyes glistening with moisture. He rubbed at them, grinning lazily. "I /would/ like ya to stay. Yeah... definitely..."
He tried to get settled again, looking ahead. "Stick with me... I promise you'll make it out of this in one piece," he winked over at her, grinning boyishly.
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:26 pm
"I can't imagine why..." She mused without a hint of sarcasm, taking another sip of soda. The bubbles caused a slight squeaky hiccough which she did her best to pretend came from some other source. "...s-sticking and company, yes? Who could ask for more...?"
Another quiet smile would light on her face as she listened attentively to stories of his family. Hearing such memories seemed to her the next best thing to having any of her own.
Other than the few she had managed after the world went to hell, of course.
The apocalypse seemed to take such precious things from everyone. Even if it had to give you something first to do so. What a curious place the world had become.
Her bright upturned smile faded quickly at his last sentiment though, and her eyes would return to her feet.
"You oughtn't make promises like that, Ellis...I wouldn't want to make a liar of you..."
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Saffron the Scientist Crew
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Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:58 pm
Ellis;
The Childish Mechanic
"I'm not one to break my word... ever..." he said with confidence, though he knew it wasn't completely true. It /was/ true to the extent that he could make it so. That had to count for something.
He was probably just being hard on himself, but he figured he deserved it.
The hick had broken some pretty big promises in the past because of his inability to help it. But, he decided it wouldn't happen again. He damn well wouldn't let it.
"Heck, I'll even pinky swear, if ya want to be reassured," he offered out his pinky, grinning from ear to ear, "My sisters used to make me do it, back in the day."
"They used to say it was even more bindin' than swearin' on your mama," he nodded, with a child-like excite.
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