microbrobotics | [MoM] IC CONTACT POST

[ He does laugh this time, clapping his hand over his mouth almost immediately. ]

Dude, you'd be picturing it too if you'd seen this movie. I love Indiana Jones.

Pffff.

I have seen that movie and that is totally not what I was thinking of at all.

So what were you thinking of, huh?

I was thinking of sneaking into a boring-ass library and stealing books, nerd.

Completely spoiling it ...

Why'd you sneak into my room anyway? Just bored?

[ Ellie shrugs. ]

I haven't really been sleeping much lately. My powers have been getting better, I guess. So I don't really need sleep.

So.

Yeah, bored.

[ Ah. Hiro's been around his brother too much to completely believe that... ]

You didn't have nightmares after the swear-in?

[ Ooooooh, touchy question. Mostly because, yes, that is exactly why she hasn't been sleeping. Ellie visibly tenses at that, brows furrowed. ]

Can't have nightmares if you're not sleeping.

... Yeah. That's what I thought.

[ She flashes an accusatory glance at Hiro. ]

What's that supposed to mean?

[ ELLIE DOES NOT WANT TO ADMIT IT. NOT WITH HIRO. BECAUSE THAT IS WHO SHE HAS BEEN HAVING NIGHTMARES ABOUT. ]

[ He winces a bit in response. ]

You're just like my brother. You don't want to hurt me, so you don't tell me when you're hurting. Like that makes it hurt any less when I find out.

[ Ellie caves in a bit at that, suddenly feeling bad for snapping. ]

Hiro...

[ She sighs, briefly putting her face in her hand. ]

I'm just... Not really in a place to be sharing my feelings. It's not that I don't want to, it's just--

[ She's developed a nasty habit being around Joel so much. ]

You don't want to hear about my nightmares, dude. I sure as hell don't even like thinking about them.

If you don't wanna talk about 'em, that's fine, just ...

[ He lets out a long breath. ]

Just don't tell me you don't have them.

[ Ellie's silent a while, fiddling with her fingers and tangling them together out of tension. ]

I don't want anyone to worry about me.

Too late for that.

[ He's had a few nightmares of his own since the swear-in. And most of them involve her with the gun... ]

[ She exhales a frustrated, groaning sigh. ]

It's already bad enough what I did, there's no point in me telling you that I still feel like shit for it.

I'd just be, I don't know...

[ Ellie gestures her hands, waving them around briefly. ]

Beating a dead horse or something.

But I want you to tell me. I just - I just wanna help. You're my girlfriend.

[ Ellie's nose wrinkles, and she awkwardly rubs the back of her neck. ]

Okay.

[ Her hand drops to her lap, looking forward rather than facing Hiro. ]

I...

I've been having a lot of nightmares about, you know, shooting you.

[ She sighs again. ]

Then... Shooting myself.

I don't know. I mean, I had a few dreams and thoughts like that before? But that was a long time ago.

-- You wanted to kill yourself before?

[ She's silent a while again, frowning as she looks down at her feet. ]

Kind of.

[ Hiro falls silent for a moment too, thinking. ]

Why?

[ Ellie visibly goes tense. She's not exactly in a place to be sharing her secrets with everybody, but... Those who are close to her deserve to know. She knows there's no getting past what happened if she keeps quiet. ]

Um...

I'm not sure what you saw, back at the Swear-In, but--

[ She tugs at her sleeve, pulling it over her knuckles in a nervous stretch. ]

I had a really good friend. Her name was Riley.

She was supposed to leave and... Well, we were fucking morons and snuck out. Some things happened and we caused a lot of noise which called a horde of infected.

[ Her shoulders hike up to her ears. ]

We shouldn't have snuck out. The mall was boarded up for a reason but...

[ Ellie lets out another exhale, cutting it short. ]

We...

We both got bit.

[ His eyes widen at the mention of Riley and stay that way. There's only one way that can end, and yet he can't help but ask anyway. ]

... She ... she died, then?

[ Ellie's breath starts to come out shaken, forced. ]

I um...

Yeah. Yeah, she died.

[ And given that Ellie almost certainly saw zombies, given every zombie movie Hiro's ever seen ... He swallows. ]

She - she would have forgiven you, I think.

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