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TDM: Mega Throwback Edition!
✖ TEST DRIVE MEME
Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island you find yourself on is a tropical paradise. The hair is heavy and humid, and a thick flowering jungle encroaches on the white sandy beach. As far as mysterious islands go, it could be a lot worse! Maybe there’s a bar with some Mai Tais set up here somewhere…
Just a little one - it’s about the size of a small dog, running along on its hind legs. Aww, he’s kinda cute if you ignore the sharp teeth and claws! Lucky for you it’s busy chasing something else and soon darts back into the bush unless you do something to grab its attention.
Listen closely and you’ll find that sometimes you can hear sounds that are distinctly mechanical. Whatever this place is, it at least sounds like it’s inhabited by something possessing intelligence. You could definitely go and find out. Just be careful!
Or maybe you think, hey, I’ve seen this movie, I’m staying on the beach! You could, but unless you’re good at diving for fish you might have a hard time finding food.
Ⅱ. CRETACEOUS PARK
CW: Dinosaurs! Violence, possibly against dinosaurs!
The jungle is thick and it takes a lot of effort to move through it. You’ll have to crawl under vines, climb over felled trees, and just generally pay a lot of attention to your surroundings. This is the sort of situation where having someone with you certainly makes things easier. Occasionally you will hear animals calling, and you’re bound to see some of them eventually. Maybe you’ll luck out and spot a herbivore like one of the armoured dinosaurs, just chewing on plants and not likely to attack you unless you piss it off. Maybe you spot something about your size with a decidedly less vegetarian diet and you have to decide between hiding or trying to scare it off.
Eventually in your wanderings you come across an unusual sight: a dirt road. It cuts its way through the trees and ferns, and to the south you can hear what is probably a familiar sound: engines. And shouting.
It’s getting closer.
Suddenly there are cars and motorcycles rushing down the road toward you - try not to get hit! One of the cars slows and a guy with a ragged blonde beard hangs out and tells you to get in the back. At close to the same time a truck slows and another guy tells you to climb aboard and grab a gun.
Why would you need a gun? The answer presents itself almost immediately: big daddy T-Rex is stomping its way down the road towards you.
You can escape with the first car, or pitch in and try to shoot the dinosaur with the second. Or you could try and prevent them from hurting the animal entirely, or just run off into the jungle by yourself. Better decide quickly, though. That T-Rex looks hungry.
Ⅲ. SETTLEMENT
CW: Kidnapping.
Whether you throw in with the humans or maybe stumble upon it by accident, you wind up at their encampment . It’s definitely the safest place to be - there are high walls around a series of small buildings mostly cobbled together from wood and tin. But there’s cots, and food. Outside the perimeter wall are tripwires and very basic motion sensors that will alert the settlement if any sizable animals are prowling around.
You’re informed that mostly the dinosaurs leave the camp alone - too much effort for not enough food.
While you’ll be welcomed the first night, as soon as morning rolls around it will be made abundantly clear that you’re going to be expected to pull your weight. Pitch in with the cooking or cleaning, or if you have some mechanical skill you can help fix up some of the rattling vehicles parked around.
From what you can gather, this is just one of a few different settlements on the island. Some of the others have small farms, and if you can drive you will be asked if you’d mind running over a delivery to one of these.
Agree, and you’ll be handed the keys to what sure looks like a 1970s era Cadillac. The mulleted gentleman who has asked this favour of you hands you a piece of paper upon which a small map is drawn, along with written directions. A note at the bottom reads, “don’t look in the tunk.” You think he means ‘trunk.’
“Package is in the trunk,” this gentleman confirms. “Don’t open it, sunlight’ll mess it all up.”
With that he sends you on your merry way. Best to take along a buddy for safety!
Partway through your journey you will come to realise that whatever is in the trunk is making a banging noise. You can ignore it and keep driving, passing the keys off to the people at the farming settlement, or you can pull over and investigate.
If you choose the second option, you’ll find that your ‘package’ is a person. Not a human one - this person has scales and huge, bulging eyes above small nostrils. They’re bound hand and foot and gagged, staring up at you with terror.
Well, jeez. Now what?
Ⅳ. REPTILIANS
Whether it’s because you’re led there, or because you find it by accident, you find yourself in a village - the houses are smooth stone, curving elegantly under sprawling vines and beautiful blooming flowers.
Upon your arrival several humanoid lizard people emerge from their homes and watch you, silent. One of them, stooped and wizened with age, moves to stand directly in front of you. When they speak, you realise that you can’t hear them with your ears; they communicate through telepathy.
You are welcome to stay in our village if you pass our Test of Bravery.
You’re half expecting that they’ll make you fight a velociraptor or something, but no - this village elder leads you and your companion both to the center of the village where there are several large flat stones ringed around one much larger stone. You’re both instructed to sit. More of the reptilian people approach, watching you.
Tell us a story of your bravery, the elder tells you.
You’ll have to dig into your memories to find a moment where you think you acted bravely, and then you’ll have to tell everyone assembled about it. You might be tempted to embellish a little bit, or to outright lie.
But if you do…
When either your story or your memory is finished, the village elder will look at you with their strange eyes and pronounce whether or not you’re allowed to stay.
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application! Apps are always open!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island you find yourself on is a tropical paradise. The hair is heavy and humid, and a thick flowering jungle encroaches on the white sandy beach. As far as mysterious islands go, it could be a lot worse! Maybe there’s a bar with some Mai Tais set up here somewhere…
Just a little one - it’s about the size of a small dog, running along on its hind legs. Aww, he’s kinda cute if you ignore the sharp teeth and claws! Lucky for you it’s busy chasing something else and soon darts back into the bush unless you do something to grab its attention.
Listen closely and you’ll find that sometimes you can hear sounds that are distinctly mechanical. Whatever this place is, it at least sounds like it’s inhabited by something possessing intelligence. You could definitely go and find out. Just be careful!
Or maybe you think, hey, I’ve seen this movie, I’m staying on the beach! You could, but unless you’re good at diving for fish you might have a hard time finding food.
Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.
2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.
3. The people on the island are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. The dinosaurs are animals and can be killed. I mean, good luck with that, but.
4. Have fun!
Ⅱ. CRETACEOUS PARK
CW: Dinosaurs! Violence, possibly against dinosaurs!
The jungle is thick and it takes a lot of effort to move through it. You’ll have to crawl under vines, climb over felled trees, and just generally pay a lot of attention to your surroundings. This is the sort of situation where having someone with you certainly makes things easier. Occasionally you will hear animals calling, and you’re bound to see some of them eventually. Maybe you’ll luck out and spot a herbivore like one of the armoured dinosaurs, just chewing on plants and not likely to attack you unless you piss it off. Maybe you spot something about your size with a decidedly less vegetarian diet and you have to decide between hiding or trying to scare it off. Eventually in your wanderings you come across an unusual sight: a dirt road. It cuts its way through the trees and ferns, and to the south you can hear what is probably a familiar sound: engines. And shouting.
It’s getting closer.
Suddenly there are cars and motorcycles rushing down the road toward you - try not to get hit! One of the cars slows and a guy with a ragged blonde beard hangs out and tells you to get in the back. At close to the same time a truck slows and another guy tells you to climb aboard and grab a gun.
Why would you need a gun? The answer presents itself almost immediately: big daddy T-Rex is stomping its way down the road towards you.
You can escape with the first car, or pitch in and try to shoot the dinosaur with the second. Or you could try and prevent them from hurting the animal entirely, or just run off into the jungle by yourself. Better decide quickly, though. That T-Rex looks hungry.
Notes:
1. You determine your level of dino encounter! And what kind - nobody is going to get on your ass if you pick one from the Jurassic period instead of the Cretaceous. It’s a magic island for crying out loud.
Ⅲ. SETTLEMENT
CW: Kidnapping.
Whether you throw in with the humans or maybe stumble upon it by accident, you wind up at their encampment . It’s definitely the safest place to be - there are high walls around a series of small buildings mostly cobbled together from wood and tin. But there’s cots, and food. Outside the perimeter wall are tripwires and very basic motion sensors that will alert the settlement if any sizable animals are prowling around.
You’re informed that mostly the dinosaurs leave the camp alone - too much effort for not enough food.
While you’ll be welcomed the first night, as soon as morning rolls around it will be made abundantly clear that you’re going to be expected to pull your weight. Pitch in with the cooking or cleaning, or if you have some mechanical skill you can help fix up some of the rattling vehicles parked around.
From what you can gather, this is just one of a few different settlements on the island. Some of the others have small farms, and if you can drive you will be asked if you’d mind running over a delivery to one of these.
Agree, and you’ll be handed the keys to what sure looks like a 1970s era Cadillac. The mulleted gentleman who has asked this favour of you hands you a piece of paper upon which a small map is drawn, along with written directions. A note at the bottom reads, “don’t look in the tunk.” You think he means ‘trunk.’“Package is in the trunk,” this gentleman confirms. “Don’t open it, sunlight’ll mess it all up.”
With that he sends you on your merry way. Best to take along a buddy for safety!
Partway through your journey you will come to realise that whatever is in the trunk is making a banging noise. You can ignore it and keep driving, passing the keys off to the people at the farming settlement, or you can pull over and investigate.
If you choose the second option, you’ll find that your ‘package’ is a person. Not a human one - this person has scales and huge, bulging eyes above small nostrils. They’re bound hand and foot and gagged, staring up at you with terror.
Well, jeez. Now what?
Notes:
1. If you open the trunk and discover the Crazy Frog-esque figure within you can continue on to the settlement and deliver him as promised. If you choose the former, the people at both settlements will be angry and turn on you unless you can spin a very convincing lie about your prisoner escaping.
2. If you choose to free your froggy friend, they will indicate that you should follow them through the jungle to their home.
3. If you skip the delivery mission, you can still stay at the camp. It’s very bare bones, but there’s food and cots and bathrooms at least.
Ⅳ. REPTILIANS
Whether it’s because you’re led there, or because you find it by accident, you find yourself in a village - the houses are smooth stone, curving elegantly under sprawling vines and beautiful blooming flowers.
Upon your arrival several humanoid lizard people emerge from their homes and watch you, silent. One of them, stooped and wizened with age, moves to stand directly in front of you. When they speak, you realise that you can’t hear them with your ears; they communicate through telepathy.
You are welcome to stay in our village if you pass our Test of Bravery.
You’re half expecting that they’ll make you fight a velociraptor or something, but no - this village elder leads you and your companion both to the center of the village where there are several large flat stones ringed around one much larger stone. You’re both instructed to sit. More of the reptilian people approach, watching you.
Tell us a story of your bravery, the elder tells you.
You’ll have to dig into your memories to find a moment where you think you acted bravely, and then you’ll have to tell everyone assembled about it. You might be tempted to embellish a little bit, or to outright lie.
But if you do…
When either your story or your memory is finished, the village elder will look at you with their strange eyes and pronounce whether or not you’re allowed to stay.
Notes:
1. Whether or not you are allowed to stay is not based entirely on how brave you were - how you react to having to share (willingly or not) these stories also plays a part. For example, if you ran away from a fight but in the present you don’t try to justify it with bullshit reasons, you will still be invited to stay.
2. The Reptilian village is a blend of nature and advanced technology. Frankly, it’s a nicer place to stay than the human settlements. They have a lot more creature comforts, like nice deep baths and soft beds.
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application! Apps are always open!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
no subject
Her bite had already been looking more gnarly than Ellie's by the time they reached the Capitol building; Ellie isn't sure if she's trying to reassure Tess or herself, but she's just repeating something they both know, anyway. Stupid. Is she nervous? This is dumb. It's weird, she's talking to Tess and it's weird.
But Tess had the right of it, didn't she? Just keep going one day at a time. Ellie'd gotten pretty good about that herself, lately.
"You could come back with me, when we're done with the drop off? Joel'll be back at camp."
Does she want to see him? Does she want time? Ellie's not going to pretend she knows what's best for either of them, but she feels obligated to make the offer.
no subject
She drums her fingers on the wheel.
"I'll see him," she agrees. "But you should break the news to him first."
Tess can imagine how that'll go, but it's better than blindsiding him completely.
no subject
It's mumbled under her breath for her own benefit more than Tess's, dry and rich in sarcasm. Sure, she'll have a blast telling Joel that his partner is back from the dead. Yeah, no biggie! Not like she can already picture the look on his face and that firm, warning tone of voice he uses when she'd gone too far.
"He wouldn't let me talk about you. You know... after."
After she died. She had become a taboo subject, just like Sam and Henry after her. 'Things happen, and we move on.' Suppose this puts a pretty big wrench in those plans, but Ellie isn't bringing it up to rub salt in the wound - she just wants Tess to know it's not going to go too well, far as she can figure.
no subject
(Is it odd to feel relieved in some way, that her feeling that there was something between them was correct? Doesn't it mean something to be someone important enough to be locked away in his memory forever? Better than being forgotten entirely, she supposes. Oh, Joel.)
She stops the car at a crossing; it judders as she fails to downshift fast enough to match, and then stalls entirely. Fucking manual cars. Pay attention, Tess. She starts it again, shifting back up aggressively.
"Do you push his buttons with that?" she asks. "Bring up shit he doesn't want to talk about anyway?"
no subject
The car stalls, and Ellie sends a brief side-long look Tess's way before answering as the Cadillac's engine restarts.
"It isn't like that."
The question gets under her skin a little, but considering the way things had been when Tess saw them last - maybe it's not a big shocker she might have that impression. Still... whether it's childishness or something else, it bristles at something a bit.
"It's not like I tried to piss him off," or hurt him (is that why it stings? insinuating she would do that, now she knows that's what it's really about?) "and I get there's reasons for the stuff he doesn't like talking about." Like Tess. Sarah. Henry, Sam. His ex-wife. Probably countless more people and things he'd lost in a world that doesn't exist anymore. That world was Tess's world, too, she reminds herself. ...Fuck.
"But it's-- I dunno. Complicated, I guess."
They've come a long way. It isn't something she's thought about a lot in those terms, remembering how stilted and brusque, how terse and dismissive conversations used to be. Hell, when Tess died - it had taken all but a hefty amount of begging and leveraging her own life against him to get him to agree to taking Ellie. But now?
ellie :'( i love her
"I'm not asking because I think you're being a brat about it," Tess replies, though that could very well be possible, in her mind. Don't get her defensive, she warns herself. "I'm glad you don't. I'm asking because if you bring it up to him when you know not to and normally respect that, he'll take you seriously."
i love tess so we're even... love this girl bonding happening rn :')
Maybe she had been ready to jump on the defensive, but Tess's reassurance effectively kills that before it can really get started. There's something almost - or, wait, scratch that... actually downright funny about this all the sudden? Much as Ellie had gotten to know Joel during their cross-country trek, she's sure there's a hell of a lot more Tess's seen she hasn't. They worked together (and more than that, from what Ellie figures) for a long time, and their relationships to one another were totally different, right?
Oh no.
...Oh no. Now she's curious.
"Hey... so, how long were you guys partners anyway?"
love girl talk <3 they're so good
"A while," she replies. A while could be anything in this world, especially when people become as thick as thieves with as little as a single life-or-death moment, so she clarifies: "Coming up on a decade. I was friendly with Tommy before he left, so I met Joel through him."
[OOC: Whenever I write Tess I change the ~Joel & Tess Lore Dates~ depending on whatever the Joel player is feeling, but these days with TLOU2 having specified that Tommy left around 2027-2028, and Tess being implied to have known Tommy personally would mean Tess knew Joel going back... 6-7 years minimum? Or something! I'm super flexible but that's my thinking for now lmao here's hoping Druckmann makes it a lil more clear in HBO TLOU.]
no subject
Ellie is a connoisseur of many things, and Details About Joel is one of them. Maria had filled in some of the blanks back at Jackson, and Joel himself had started steadily sharing more and more as of late - but who's got the juiciest bits but someone in Tess's place?
"So, here's what I figure." She's a diplomat, clearly, and so she's willing to negotiate instead of simply making demands. "We can do a one-for-one. You ask me something, I ask you something... and we keep it between us girls. You in?"
Obviously her interests spread far beyond Joel - Tess is one big question mark to her and Ellie would really like to get to know her better, especially now they're stuck in this weirdo place together, whatever that entails. Nothing like a friendly back and forth, right? What's the worst that could happen?
[ ooc: oh gosh, sorry for backing you up into lore-???-territory! I didn't even think about that, but for what it's worth that rationality sounds totally fair based on what we know. super excited for the HBO series too (excited, nervous... yeah)! it would be so awesome if we got more background on the pre-TLOU timeline, so many cool things could fit in that period! ]
no subject
It's an easy decision. Smuggling comes-–came?––more naturally to her than anything else in life; she can't picture herself in a world that didn't end. With no normal adult life to speak of, it all ends up divorced from reality. She could imagine herself as lawyer or a movie star or a mommy blogger, it's all equally unrealistic.
But trade like that? How many hours has she spent getting herself the best deal possible, cashing out as much as possible on the barest of luxuries?
She intends to make out like a bandit here.
Tess takes her eyes off the road to look at Ellie.
"How did Marlene get her hands on you? What's the story there?"
[ooc: Omg, no need to apologies, all good! I just like to yap about it because her backstory is so wrapped up in hints/word of god/whatever stuff that everyone interprets it different. and hell yeah, I'm pumped for the HBO series -– I think we will get more pre-TLOU stuff, there's been some [eye emoji] set shots that seem to imply some international stuff, even?? tess and marlene's leaked audition scripts had some interesting details? very wild stuff.]
no subject
So, there's a non-committal shrug of her shoulders in response to the first question; it's an easy enough one to answer.
"She knew my Mom back in the day." It makes her briefly think of her backpack and what few possessions she has now lost to her. Mom's letter, the switchblade - she really hopes they're safe wherever the hell they are. "So I kinda knew her from around."
'Around.' It's a long story and the details wouldn't be particularly interesting to Tess, she figures. That works.
"What'd you do before? Before the outbreak happened."
Ellie isn't sure how old Tess was when it all went down, but she's kind of curious what life was like for her - and why she eventually ended up a smuggler. Was she like Joel, someone who had lost everything? Or had she slowly gravitated toward that line of work for personal reasons?
[ ooc: Whaaaat, I have been out of the loop on the HBO deets this sounds... super promising?! I wish they would just give us a nice big hefty chunk of goodness from that whole time period, it would easily make for its own show, game, DLC, what the heck ever!!! ]
no subject
But she'll play.
"I was in my first year of college," she replies. "Or first two weeks, I guess. I thought I'd take some classes and find out what I wanted to do, and in the until then, just have fun with it. I think I went to more parties than classes."
Going from worming her way into a frat event and holding a beer funnel for a guy she'd just met to crowding onto on FEDRA buses hadn't exactly been the transition she'd had in mind, but it was what it was.
"Your mom a Firefly?"
[ooc: I honestly think it's gonna be pretty good! I'm usually a cynic about adaptations but there's some pretty promising stuff going on. The pilot is entirely pre-outbreak apparently so that's an hour-long show instead of the what, 15-20 minutes we got in the game? They're gonna have to fill in a lot of time wherever there was a long stealth gauntlet in the game, too, as that's just not interesting to watch vs play yourself, so I think we'll see a lotttt of new character moments. (I would have killed for a season 1 that was just Boston, flesh out the smugglers and Firefly and FEDRA conflict + American Dreams + Left Behind, then ended the season with the Capitol building, but that was only ever a pipe dream lmao]
no subject
"Was it fun? You know, before everything went to shit? Read this book once about a college rager and some dude drinking upside down on a ping pong table or something. Weeeeird."
Parties, music, dancing, dating... yeah, weird. Real weird trying to picture a much younger and less burdened Tess whose biggest problem was which class she wanted to skip and what was worth her time.
"My mom was a nurse, she and Marlene were real close, I guess. She died right after I was born."
It's said in the way most kids these days talk about things they'd grown up without, not really having the context to grieve its loss.
[ ooc: oh no you're getting me hyped... I have been trying to keep my expectations low so I won't be disappointed but now I have HOPE........ I am right with you and would've loved it if they fleshed out the earlier stuff in its own season, but I am sooo willing to take whatever we can get hahaha! part of me will foolishly pine after a spin-off or dlc of Joel/Tommy/Tess and leading into giving us more pre-timeskip Boston, ugh!! ]
no subject
When you're nineteen especially, when your very presence is against the rules in some places but juuuust socially acceptable enough that you can squeak by anyway.
She always liked the challenge of not getting caught. Maybe that was where all this smuggling business got started. Some things don't change. She smiles despite herself, letting herself relax in the seat a little. The road is straight, she can stay steady. Driving without a license.
She wonders, idly, if the kid has considered Marlene lied to her. Marlene probably wouldn't even think of it as a lie: when you have that kind of conviction, that kind of delusion about your own causes, anything can be the truth, if it's yours. If you can convince others.
Tess's smile fades out again a little.
"No dad in the picture?"
[ooc: pre-timeskip is the DREAM, I hope it happens someday, people have been asking for it since the OG game came out... tho I guess it'll have to if they want to do more with Joel... but for now I am hoping they end the season on David instead of the hospital so they can eke out more content before that! (also lol Alberta's stupid-ass premier is claiming HBO TLOU's going to get 7 seasons, so if that ends up coming true, Druckmann better milk every minute he can.]
no subject
But Tess is on the family thing - right. "Nah. No idea who he was, if he's out there." She rolls a shoulder in what she hopes looks like an easy shrug. Marlene hadn't given her much, and Ellie figured she didn't have that much to give on who Ellie's father had been - never mind if he were even alive. "What about you? You have family out there somewhere?"
Was she like Joel? Parted ways with them, maybe had a falling out? Maybe she had people in the Boston QZ?
[ ooc: 7 SEASONS?????????????? i think i just experienced a runtime error irl, jesus. wow, if it's going that long we might actually get a good chunk of flashback stuff if it isn't incorporated in the earlier episodes, maybe? ]
no subject
There's a reason they're always conscripting.
"And you've been in Boston your whole life, huh?"
There used to be other places to go to, other QZs. Not that most people could get in, but the grass is always greener, and all.
[OOC: LMAO RIGHT it's totally unconfirmed and I'm just just Kenney talking out his ass but if it's EVEN REMOTELY POSSIBLE... give! me! flashbacks!]
no subject
"I'm sorry," she says a little softer - and though it isn't much, that's all she really has to offer in the face of all that. It's sincere for what it's worth. "That's... really shitty."
Man, this conversation has gone and gotten depressing; Ellie's shifting a little to lean in and look out the windshield toward the jungle on either side of them as the Cadillac rolls onward.
"Yeah, grew up in Boston. When you and Joel took me out, that was the first time I'd been outside the QZ. The woods were so cool... got to see fireflies - the real ones, I mean. Oh man--" She cuts off with a laugh, "and there were even fucking monkeys? Pretty awesome."
The novelty of the great outdoors might have faded some after months and months of roughing it, and her focus might've been much more tunnel vision toward the end of their journey with the (hopeful) end in sight, but... occasionally, there'd be something new that would take her by surprise.
"What about you? I'm guessing you ended up in Boston but you must've been all over before that, right?"
[ ooc: what have you done, now the flame of hope is alive inside me... I will be so sad if we don't get this now even if it's a pipe dream okay :'( imagine if we get Tess-Joel-Tommy shenanigans...... I want it 😠 ]
had a bonkers week, sorry that this comes late!
She adjust her grip on the steering wheel. Life is terrible. Tess lets it roll off her like water off a duck's back. Can't let it hold anyone back.
"Monkeys," she repeats, disbelieving, but she's sure wild monkeys are a thing as much as wild dogs and horses must be. "Me, I grew up D.C., but I've traveled a bit. Mostly New England." And, if that bears clarification to a kid born while it became its own little dominion again, cut off from the broader United States as the ranks closed: "The collection of states that used to be early colonies. You've probably spent more time out West than I have at this rate."
all good! o/ noooo worries friend
Have to admit... Ellie is super curious how Tess and Joel ended up partners, and maybe this is a roundabout way of getting to that - but she's trying to work her way up to it. She knows Tommy had some part in it at one point and time, but even so... she feels like she's just looking at a tiny corner of a photograph and missing huge chunks of the big picture.
Plus, knowing who Tess had been before... well, everything - that would be nice. There's a lot of time left unaccounted for. She's not entitled to any of it, but if Tess is cool sharing, then... no harm no foul, right?
no subject
There's the principle of it, but then there's also the dodge, temporary as it may be: ending up in Boston is a whole story, but where she lines up with the as world Ellie knows, the world of Joel and Marlene and Tommy and all those people, that's trickier.
"You pass much in the way of Quarantine Zones on your way out there? Any other settlements that aren't overrun with hunters or Fireflies or whatever?"