vaccination | contact ☣ ❝Am I ever getting boobs or what?❞

Kid's a little punk, if you ask me.

He offered you a job because I asked him to. I think he's nice.

[Alright, well, maybe Joel can silently agree on the part where Jesse did offer him a job, and claimed to have offered it on account of wanting to help them get out of where they're living.

The 'nice' part, though... Well, there was a reason Joel punched him in the face.]

We'll see.

Tough crowd.

[Again, Ellie isn't surprised. She's sure as long as she likes Jesse the guy is safe from Joel. Mostly.]

[Joel doesn't answer her. He drives in silence for a short while, having pulled onto the ramp and now following signs that lead where he's hoping they'll end up. All the while, he's mulling over leaving Ellie on her own for a few days at a time.

Yeah. He may not like Jesse but he's going to have to talk to him about this. He hasn't got much of a choice.

His thoughts become distracted, though, as he spots up ahead exactly where he was hoping they'd end up.]

Well, look at that, kiddo. We're almost there.

[They're approaching the ocean. A beach. The long stretch of water spanning the horizon is blue and sparkling under the bright afternoon sunshine.]

[Ellie's never been to the beach, so she's certainly never taken a trip to the beach. She's never seen blue ocean like that against the sky, so when she realizes what she's looking at, it hits her like a ton of bricks. Holy. Fuck. That is the motherfucking ocean.

It takes her breath away and it's just another swatch of blue against the bigger blue of the sky.]

The ocean?

Sure is.

[He glances over at Ellie and the way she's staring out at the ocean ahead of her is a moment he wishes he could capture forever. Seeing her wide-eyed with awe, seeing that childlike wonder come out in her. Moments like this make him so damn glad he's got her by his side.]

Pretty, ain't it?

It's beautiful. [She doesn't take her eyes off the water, pressed as close to the window as she can be without actually being outside the car. It's like seeing the city outside of the zone for the first time, or those giraffes in Utah. She wonders if the ocean is this pretty still at home. Would it fill her with the same sense of awe?]

I didn't know we were so close.

I didn't either, to be honest. But whaddya know. Here we are.

[He lets Ellie take in the sight of it all as he drives towards the beach. Every now and again, he looks at her, watches the way she's pressed up against the window, gazing out in wonder. And soon, he's pulling up into the curb just beyond where the ground starts to give way to sand.

He kills the engine, opens the door, climbs out. The smell of fresh sea breeze, salty and cleansing, hits his nose and he draws in a deep breath. The sound of the ocean, waves lapping and bubbling at the shore, is almost instantly calming. After he shuts the door and locks it, he strolls around the front of the car to the passenger side and stops by Ellie.]

Take your shoes and socks off and leave 'em in the car.

[Ellie's already on it, opening the door while simultaneously undoing her laces and throwing her shoes into the bottom of the passenger's side. She can't move fast enough. Walking around without shoes was a big no-no in the zone, what with there being filth and broken sharp things all over the place, so feeling the asphalt beneath her bare feet is something new.

And...

Hot.]

Ah, shit! That's hot! Hot hot hot!

[Ellie looks like a dancing monkey the way she starts hopping towards the sand.]

Yeah, watch it, kiddo. [He locks the passenger side door, watching in amusement Ellie bouncing off in a hurry over the hot asphalt towards the beach.] Sand might be a little hot, too.

Fuck! You did that on purpose! [It's already burning, but Ellie's laughing so it can't be that bad.] Why are your socks and shoes still on, Joel? C'mon!

[He hesitates, thinking that, yeah, he should have taken his shoes and socks off.]

Alright. Wait for me over by that bit of shade there.

[He points to where a tree is casting a shadow over a small area of asphalt, then unlocks the passenger side door again. He sit down on the seat and leans over to undo his laces; he pulls his boots off, tosses them one after the other in with Ellie's shoes, and strips off his socks. He gets to his feet and is instantly visibly trying not to hop from foot to foot with how hot the asphalt is.]

Damn it, that is hot.

[Even in the shade, the heat burns the bottom of Ellie's feet. Back and forth, back and forth, she alternates which foot she's standing on. As much as she dislikes water, she keeps glancing over at it, impatient.]

Hurry it up, then! C'mon c'mon c'mon! [The fact that water still holds a lot of terrible things like sharks and lots of ways to die is the only thing preventing her from sprinting into the waves. She'll wait for him to go with her.]

[Joel shuts the door and shifts from foot to foot while locking it. And then, he's striding hurriedly towards the sand like he's walking over hot coals. Good damn thing the blisters on his feet from all the travelling they did back home have mostly healed.

He motions for Ellie to come with him. And he was right about the sand: the moment he steps on it, feet moulding into it and sand sinking between his toes, he realises how hot it is. It feels good. Feels amazing, in fact. He can't remember the last time he felt soft sand between his toes or the sea breeze on his face. It takes him back to the vacation he and Sarah took to Florida the year before the outbreak.]

You gonna be alright walkin' on the sand? It's pretty - ah! - hot.

[God, they must look so dumb. Ellie grins, watching move so quickly to the sand, trying her best not to outright cackle. The grin disappears when she dares to follow him and is doing her little hot feet dance again, hissing and jumping.]

Yeah, just--just hurry up and lead the way, this fucking sucks! Run!

[Run is what Joel does. He breaks out into a jog, his footing slightly unsteady here and there when his foot sinks or digs into the sand. He keeps jogging, all the way to where the sand is wet from where the tide had been higher a little earlier in the day. It's refreshing under his hot feet. He slows to a walk, wet sand seeping and sinking between his toes, then stops and turns to Ellie.]

Come on. It's a lot cooler here.

[Ellie dashes across the sand. Can't hurt her all that much when her foot is only on it for a split second. Running on sand is difficult, though, and she nearly tips over in it more than once. It's got her sweating, though, but you wouldn't guess she felt sort of gross by her excitement when she touches wet sand.]

Now this is what I'm talking about. This is officially the beach. The part where we're not getting toasted.

Hm. Yeah.

[Joel hears what Ellie says but he's taken to looking out over the ocean, at the lazy waves, the water sparkling under the sun, the lone seagull flying across the sky, how the water stretches on and on until it meets the sky. He takes a moment to drink in the calming sound of the waves lapping at the shore and the smell and feel of the gentle sea breeze pushing through the air.

He finally looks down at Ellie.]

Wanna go for a walk?

[Distracted reply more or less ignored, Ellie's busy inching over towards the waves. The breeze keeps getting her hair into her mouth, so she holds it back as she watches the shallow water pool around her feet in the sand. It's cold, but after that walk over coals she's glad for it.

Just... wow.]

Huh?

[A walk?]

Yeah, sure. As long as we stay near the water.

[Joel can't help it: he tenses up ever so slightly at the way Ellie approaches the water. It's fine, he knows it's fine - nothing will happen to her, Ellie won't go running into the water, he won't let anything happen to her. But still, things he'd rather forget niggle at the back of his mind. Things like the taste of stagnant water in his throat as he frantically applied compressions to Ellie's chest.

He tries to shove that aside as he crouches down and starts rolling the hems of his jeans up over his ankles and up his shins.] Just don't go walkin' out too far, alright?

Pssht, do you think I wanna drown?

[She goes out of her way to avoid it, most days. The waves seem nice and calm here at the sand, but every now and then she sees a bigger one looming on the horizon and it makes her heart drop. Fuck that. The last thing she'd ever want is to be caught under a wave.]

[Joel looks down sharply as he finishes rolling up his jeans. Jesus. He swallows with a slight clench of his jaw, then stands tall and heads after Ellie. He comes to a slow stop beside her, once again peering out at the water before glancing down alongside him at her.

He's not going to even acknowledge that remark of hers about drowning. Hell, no.]

So, is this everything you hoped for? How you imagined the ocean to be like?

Lacking the pirate ships and mermaids, but you can't deny that view.

[It's a lot more special than the city, though. It's the ocean, and they're there because they want to be. Not because anyone asked them to, or promised them a reward, or some hope that things could change. It's nice. She likes hanging out with Joel when it's very obviously just because. Because they like spending time with each other.]

How 'bout you? Is it like you remember?

[Pirate ships and mermaids. Joel can't help uttering a quiet, "Heh," at that. He knows Ellie is just joking - although, part of him wonders if that is the image Ellie actually had in mind of the sea. Makes sense that she would, he supposes. The closest she ever would have came to the sea was that dark, dismal beach they'd ended up on with Henry and Sam in the middle of the night. Nothing but decay and the always lingering threat of death awaiting them at every turn. Jesus, he and Ellie both would have drowned there if Henry hadn't--

Yeah. Well, he's not going to think about that.]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. [He's silent for a moment as he continues gazing out at the calm, cool water, while a small wave washes in over his feet. It's cold, sharp, refreshing.

Long time ago, back before the outbreak, I went on a cruise. Ever heard of a cruise?

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