mandalus :: the city of fates.

[The video switches on to a panicked fifteen year old. She's panting softly and she's standing in the middle of a kitchen-- her kitchen. Her eyes brim with unshed tears and the camera shakes a little, due to her shaking hands.] Um, I was just coming downstairs for breakfast and she was just like this.

[She turns the camera and it's Clara Oswald on the floor, eyes closed, looking asleep as far as anyone can tell.] I tried shaking her awake. I tried yelling at her. She's not waking up. I think...I think-- [Ellie shakes her head, breathing erratic.] I don't know what to think but she's got her pulse and she's breathing but she's not waking up. I need help.

Dean? Sora? Guys, I am so fucking out of my element here, it's not funny. Please.

[And then her machete hit sand, sinking in a little. Ellie yanked it back out, sending sand flying off to the side. Snow was falling, and Ellie climbed to her feet quickly, getting a brief look at her surroundings. There was a man standing a few feet away, a man she didn't know, and Ellie aimed the machete at him, hands trembling a little. She tightened her hold on the handle. The man tried to approach her, starting to speak in a soothing tone and Ellie would have none of it. She let out a wild yell, swinging the machete. He flinched away, the machete grazing him, but not cutting all the way through his arm. He took a dozen steps back, fiddling with the phone intended for her. He chose the function which put a call out to every Honored Guest.]

Kind and benevolent Honored Guests. One of your own has returned and she is...dangerous. She will not let me approach her, and perhaps one of you could appeal to her?

[He turned the device, showing Ellie, covered in blood and sand, gripping a dirty machete.]

If any of you know her, please, come to the beach and try to calm her down. With that weapon, she is a danger to herself and others. Many thanks.


{Spoilers for late in The Last of Us. Winter, more specifically.}

[When the device turns on, it's night. The camera shakes a little, and below the sound of a muttered curse, there's a low electric hum. It's steady, unwavering. The camera shifts up to show the freckled face of the potty-mouthed fourteen year old redhead.] Fuck, so I learned what they meant by enforcing curfew. This fucking braclet thing is shocking me.

[The camera angle changes as Ellie tries to tug the bangle off her arm. She gets zapped on the other hand from trying to wiggle her finger between her wrist and the bangle.] Fuck!

[As time goes on, the electrical hum increases and the sound of Ellie's breathing changes. It's getting worse.] Goddamnit, I'm nowhere near home. [Her words sound pained as the punishment keeps going, and gets more powerful.] Fuck. Stupid fucking farmhouse out in the middle of fucking nowhere.

...the fuck am I gonna do? [Ellie mutters to herself. She drops the phone, and curses again. When she reaches down to pick it up, she accidentally hits the end call button.]

[Ellie didn't have a good reason to be out in the woods. Aside from pure boredom and wanting to see how lost she could get herself, and then find her way back home again. No infected to hide from/kill, and the kid got bored, strangely enough. No Joel to help her channel that teenage energy, and that was how Ellie ended up in the middle of the woods. Lost. Okay, only a little lost. Just a little. She could use the map on her phone to find her way out of the woods, but that was taking the easy way out. And Ellie didn't want to do that. She may have had it easier here, no infected, no hunters, but that didn't mean she could let herself go soft. Joel would need her when she got home.

Ellie made her way through the forest, noting that the trees started to thin out to her right. She started in that direction, wondering if it was a clearing, or if she'd hit farmland. When she reached the treeline, Ellie stopped short. She could see the side of a house a couple hundred yards away. Her stomach twisted and her breath c aught in her throat. It wasn't just any old house, she knew that house. She remembered riding up, emotional and hurt over what she'd overheard. Joel was going to pass her off to Tommy. The wound, which had mostly scabbed over with their trip to UC Boulder, was torn afresh. She remembered the look on Joel's face as he yelled at her. And Ellie had yelled right back.

Ellie climbed over the wooden fence, dropping to the ground. The house was still overgrown with foliage on the front, vines creeping along the edge of the porch roof. She stepped tentatively onto the porch, then tried the door. It was unlocked and Ellie stepped inside. Either this was one hell of a drug trip of a drug she didn't even take, or this place was really there.

Ellie slowly pulled out her phone, hitting the video function. The camera picks up part of her face, her focus everywhere but the phone as she moved through the farmhouse.]

I've got a question. Does random shit from home show up here for everyone? Or is this place just fucking with me? Because I am about to lose my goddamn mind over this.



[[Photo index for the Hidden Pines Corral located here]]

[The device turns on as it clatters to the floor of the Station. There's the sound of struggling and several guards are trying to deal with an orney Honored Guest. She sounds young and when she struggles her way into frame, arms grasped by two of the guards.] Get the fuck off-a me! Where am I? Where's Joel? Joel! [Her voice is high and strained with worry, mixed in with the anger of not being let go.

Her leg comes up, sharp and fast and gets one of the guards hard in the shin. He grunts and lets go of her and she leans forward and bites down on the arm of the other guard. He curses and lets go and she takes off like a shot. As she gets further and further away from the device, her shouts for some person named Joel grow quiet, but more frantic.]



{{Ellie's gone and left her phone, so it's probably for the best that replies should be in action. Also, if you don't want spoilers, just ask!}}