SCENARIO: Day of the Dead AU WHO: Eloise Stamp and Gabriel Rousseau. WHEN: January 31st. WHERE: Looting. WHAT: Ellie chooses the wrong looting partner. You can't win every fight to the death. RATING: High, for violence and character death. STATUS: In progress.
Snowing again, and the air felt clear and bright. A good day.
Ellie had woken up with the distinctive feeling that it would be better than the last -- better even than the one before, and the one before that one too. It had felt like a day for wandering outside. Her partner today was unfamiliar, but she'd made promises to a handful of people that she would not go into the streets alone anymore. Besides, Rousseau spoke French as far she she understood, and he seemed strong -- though Eloise wasn't always the best judge. The main thing was that he was human (not like Dog, who had been too busy playing with a child to accompany her), and he helped fulfill requirements.
They traveled in silence. Though Ellie was in a better mood than she'd managed for what felt like forever, she wasn't the most sociable companion: instead of speaking she was happily quiet, expressing herself only in a language of gestures and communicative expressions. The fresh air made it easier to think, as did the careful movements necessary for the excursion -- as though having to thoughtfully consider every movement for speed and silence somehow carried over into her mind, her reasoning.
The first thing Ellie said to Rousseau at all after they had left the Library was this, in a whisper: "Monsieur? Aide moi, s'il vouz plaƮt? H-help."
Then she rose up on her toes, pointing to something intriguing on a high shelf in the store they'd slipped into. Her expression was calm, somewhat expectant; she watched him carefully for a long moment before smiling absently.