@cjk [ audio ]

[signifies]

Hello everyone. My name is Clark. I'll try and keep this brief.

Firstly, I've drawn up a blank list and placed one on the bulletin board on each housing floor. If those with medical expertise feel comfortable, they can put their name, residence here, and — if they have one — specialisation, in case of an emergency. We have several residents who aren't from the same point in time, so if you'd like to volunteer to update someone's medical knowledge, please mark your name with an asterisk.

Secondly, ah-- [ a bit of a laugh. ] I'm from Kansas, which some of you might recognise as being host to some pretty bad weather. Now, I'm not going to say I'm paranoid, but-- I like to think ahead. So, I've made up some kits with some of the usual survival paraphernalia back home and distributed them between floors. Feel free to help yourselves if you need them.

[ No one has to use them, but he’d rather everyone knows they're available. ]

Thank you for your time.

( all replies in audio unless otherwise stated )

Comments

[pundemic]

[She makes a noise that's caught between exasperation and utter disgust.]

Figures.

[She hasn't figured out how to articulate the fact that she likes humans - you know, individual people - but doesn't really think all that much of humanity.]

But you're not a soldier, right? [She chews on her lip.] Ever get shot at?

[signifies]

[ He nods. ]

I have been shot at.

[ It didn't bother him that much. He doesn't even feel bullets. ]

If you're a good reporter, you should be making a few people angry.

[pundemic]

[She's unspeakably angry, all of a sudden, at all these people who had a perfect world and who were going out of their way to ruin it. How fucking stupid they must have felt when it was like, oh yeah, your arbitrary rules? Your borders? Your differences? They don't fucking matter at all. Everyone gets infected the same. Everyone dies the same. It's all just-- petty bullshit and her heartrate jumps to fight-or-flight fast at the thought of it.

It's not like they could have known. It's not like they had warning. But Clark's a good guy, and no one should have been shooting at him, and if humanity had been even a little bit more capable of working together maybe a good eighty percent of them wouldn't have fucking died.

She has to breathe. Shit, shit, if she doesn't breathe she's going to just stop being able to function right here in this stupid store beside their stupid automatic doors. Breathe, Ellie.

And she does.]

What's it-- [damn her strangled voice.] What's it like? Being a reporter.

[signifies]

[ Probably nobody left to tell her what a panic attack is or how to deal with one. Clark has put down the bags, and moves to block off someone's view of her from most angles. He squats, sure to give her space. ]

Ellie. I'm here. Are you all right?

[ His mother, somehow, always knew how long she had to, and she didn't have super-hearing. ]

One... [ in. ] two... [ out. ] just follow me.

[pundemic]

[Joel held her, after David. She doesn't remember what he said, just the tone of his voice. Similar in cadence to how Clark's sounding now, but she doesn't-- she doesn't need a fucking babysitter. Or whatever the hell he thinks he's doing.]

I'm fine.

[She is. Of course she is. You have to function, when there's death around every corner. You function or you die. She doesn't have time to fall apart, and this is the dumbest fucking thing in the world to get worked up about. She has no way of knowing this is a matter of compounded interest. Getting bit. Riley dying. Tess. Henry, Sam, Joel being so fucking close to it and then-- fucking David. She's never had this much time to just sit and think about it and not have to worry instead about where her next meal is coming from, how many bullets she has left, whether or not that scrape is going to get infected or that loose tooth will have to be pulled.]

C'mon, get up-- people are going to start thinking you're weird.

[signifies]

[ I don't care what they think. The sharpness of the thought crosses his face, then Clark looks down. Showing vulnerability never comes easily even in the world he's from. He can't imagine what it must be like for her, and so young. ]

You're fine.

[ She will be. He'll just channel this into some aggressive baking. ]

Let's go.

[pundemic]

[They head for those sliding doors in silence. Once they're through and on the walkway outside, she kicks at his heel.]

I asked you a question, you know.

[signifies]

I know you did.

[ her being okay was more important!!! ]

It's good. I think it's my calling.

[pundemic]

[Excuse you, she is always okay. That's her superpower. Already it's like it never happened, her heart rate is back to normal, her voice steadier.]

What, like a destiny? You believe in that sort of thing?

[signifies]

[ He doesn't. Every person does what they can in the span of their lives. It's his fathers who put something else into words.

The symbol of the House of El means hope. He's learning what that means, and believing. ]

I think we all have a purpose in the world, and we owe it to ourselves to find it.

[pundemic]

[She had one. For a year, almost to the day, she had one. Now, she just curls her fingers around the straps of her bags and tries not to think about the bitemark on her arm. No cure is coming. Joel said they've stopped looking.

She doesn't believe him. But she isn't going to tell him that.]

That seems-- I don't know, naive to me. Sorry.

[signifies]

[ His mouth lifts in a brief smile. ]

No offence taken.

[pundemic]

Is that why you're so cool with all of this?

[Unspoken: with me?]

Because of that whole... war correspondent thing?

[signifies]

[ Clark's brow furrows. ]

Ellie, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like you, unless they wanted to hurt you.

[ It's a little sidestep of what she's asking. Clark hasn't felt enough kinship to be able to name what it is. He just knows he likes her and understands her. ]

[pundemic]

[She laughs. It's sort of a bleak sound, like she's forgotten how to do it and mean it but is still giving it a shot anyway. You and I have met very different people. She can't bring herself to say it outloud, it sounds too much like self-pity.]

I mean, I am pretty likable. If you go for that kinda thing. Smartass sarcasm, you know?

[signifies]

[ She doesn't believe him.

That's okay. He's patient. ]

You're smart, caring, and I bet if I took you to a carnival you'd win me a lot of stuffed bears at the shooting gallery.

[pundemic]

[They used to have something like a carnival. The adults were the nostalgic ones, they missed their youth and they tried to recreate it for the next generation. Ellie always thought it was kind of pointless. You can't miss what you've never had. Things like ice cream, chocolate, a full night's sleep-- you grow up that way, it's just your normal.

But once in a while, maybe after somebody raided an old toy store or something, they'd have little contests like that. Shoot at rat corpses with a bb gun, or maybe if they found balloons that weren't rotted they could blow those up and shoot them instead. She knows what he's talking about.]

Oh, is that all I am to you? Someone who can win you trophies? Well, I've got news for you, Mr. Kent, if anyone's taking home a stuffed bear here it's definitely me.

[signifies]

[ He grins down at her. ]

That sounds like a challenge, Supreme Battle Commander Williams. Are you sure you want to face me, champion of my people, in that arena of combat?

[pundemic]

[She can't smack him in the shoulder with her hands full, but she deliberately careens into him.]

Yeah, because you're so scary.

[signifies]

[ And Clark laughs. ]

[pundemic]

[Normal people are so much more fun to be around than the ones she's met, okay. So much laughter.]

See what I mean?

[Oh, but there is their building nearby. Ellie makes a beeline for it.]

C'mon, big guy, I promised to let you read those comics of mine.