vaccination | contact ☣ ❝scorpions are pretty creepy.❞

[She purposefully waited to give Ellie a couple days to adjust before trying to get in touch with her. Thankfully, her name was easy to remember to this point. She shares the name of an old roommate.

Hopefully it's okay to reach her now. She'll just have to see.]

Heeey, Ellie. You don't know me... my name is Asami, I'm another Transport around here. I was hoping you could get back to me; I just have something to ask you.

Anyway, enjoy your day, and I hope to hear from you soon.

[Okay, whoa. This thing is saying she has a message? How the fuck--

Oh. Okay. Simple enough. She'll just... hesitantly call her back or whatever.]

Uh, hello?

[Either Ellie would or wouldn't call her back. As much as she hopes she does, Asami isn't too embarrassed either way while she minds other things throughout the few hours after her call. Her response comes as a pleasant surprise to her.]

Hi, Ellie! I'm so glad you called me back. I know it must've been weird to be called out of the blue by a stranger like that.

Yeah, no kidding. What did you have to ask me?

Well, I met this man earlier—gruff, but sort of handsome. I was wondering if he'd found you?

[There's a measured pause, here. Handsome? Uh. Ooookay. She's sure she's talking about Joel, though--how many gruff men would be looking for her in this place?]

We found each other. We're good.

Okay, great. He seemed so stressed out, so I wanted to make sure. Is he your dad?

That's... nice of you. [Weird, having someone contact her to check up on him, but weird things have been happening a lot, lately.]

And--no, he's not my dad. It's a long story.

[Asami doesn't suppose Ellie wants to talk about her long story, and she doesn't want to put that pressure on her either. She nods although Ellie can't see, and there's a bit of a pause, and then in a way she repeats herself:]

I see. Well I'm glad you guys were able to find each other. Not very many people wind up with the company of their friends and families around here.

[Her voice sounds more somber, but it's without a trace of envy or jealousy. She has friends from home around here, and she's had them from the beginning. She considers herself extremely lucky.]

Anyway, let me know if you guys need anything, alright?

[Ellie appreciates it. She's not even sure how to categorize Joel. It's not something she knows the words for.]

I know. I'm lucky he's around.

[In every way possible.

Another pause on this end.]

Hope he didn't freak out on you too much.

Oh, no, not at all. He seemed worried, but... [Well, yeah. That.

Wait hold on.]

—he doesn't freak out on you, does he?

No? Why would he?

[p h e w ok]

For a moment you made it sound like he loses his temper often.

[Whoa, back up lady.]

What, do you think I meant like he--agh, no. I just meant freaked out like worried.

Alright, I'm sorry. [She audibly tries to dismiss the idea, sounding genuinely apologetic.] I was just making sure. He did seem very concerned.

Yeah, well... everything turned out okay.

Good.

[She'll take that as her cue to leave her alone.

A beat.]

Hey, um. Before I let you go, would you mind telling me his name?

[Ellie hesitates, but this lady seems nice enough, if not a little weird.]

Joel.

[excuse you ellie just wait until you see the rest of the circus!!!]

Joel. Alright! Thank you so much, Ellie. Like I said, let me know if you guys need anything.

Yeah, will do. Thanks.

[Is this where she ends the call? Ellie doesn't know phone etiquette, so there's an awkward pause before she figures out how to hang up.]

contact ☣ ❝scorpions are pretty creepy.❞

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