@moment | text

[elswhisperer]

We should assume communications are being monitored by our captors. Be careful what you reveal here.

[ Short and to the point, this is all Setsuna has to say. ]

Comments

[pundemic]

（ don't you read her for filth like that, smh!! ）

i'm just saying as far as credentials go, 'survived things' isn't really the selling point you seem to think it is.

（ she is going to batter at that calm like a moth trying to kill itself on a lamp out of sheer spite now. just watch her. this is 100 percent normal teenage behaviour and not weird and maladjusted at all. ）

[elswhisperer]

You have a point. And explaining more isn't something I'm going to do.

[ How does agreement feel, Ellie. ]

[pundemic]

（ like the hollowest victory of all time, tbh. she stares at her phone in vague frustration, and then: ）

okay.

so

you got a name? or are we just calling you mr moment.

[elswhisperer]

Setsuna F. Seiei. I don't care how you address me.

[ 'Setsuna' meaning moment.

...He's not the most creative guy. ]

[pundemic]

（ peep her trying to figure out how to say that aloud. 'setsuna' is easy enough, but 'seiei' gives her a bit of grief. sai-ey? sei-ey? she mumbles her way through several increasingly terrible iterations, and then finally: ）

wait, i could literally just call you 'Eff'?

[elswhisperer]

Sure.

[ Saying 'don't do that' seems like a good way to get called Eff anyway. ]

[pundemic]

ah, i'm just fucking with you.

setsuna's nicer anyway.

i'm ellie.

[elswhisperer]

[ They're actually making progress here! He's kind of surprised. ]

Got it.

[ Things like 'nice to meet you' don't really come naturally to him... ]

Have you given up on trying to get a reaction out of me?

[pundemic]

（ 'nice to meet you' whomst, tbqh. ）

maybe.

you're kinda boring, dude.

[elswhisperer]

I don't usually make small talk.

[ This man has managed to socially isolate himself for like two years despite being surrounded by people at all times. ]

[pundemic]

that's fine. smalltalk is pretty much my super power.

（ the last year of her life has been spent travelling with joel miller, of course she's good at it. ）

whaatttttt is your

fave color
biggest fear
biggest dream
ideal vacation spot
go-to meal when you feel crummy
'if i had unlimited free time' instrument you'd like to learn?


i got more, but i'll go easy on you and start there.

[elswhisperer]

[ He can almost hear Marina telling him to just go ahead and answer. Isn't this how understanding begins? ]

blue
failing something important
ending warfare
don't have one
hotdogs
never thought about it

[pundemic]

well

it's a start.

（ honestly, what a fixer upper. ）

okay let's see, uhhhhhh

（ why is she typing out exclamations? no clue. when you turn a feral child loose on the internet when she's only ever read about it in books or seen it in old movies, strange behaviour happens okay? ）

what shade?
what counts as important?
why warfare?
make one up!
what's a hotdog?*
you're thinking about it now, what's the answer!

*obviously this one's a joke, i know what a hotdog is.

（ but has she ever eaten one? no, no she has not. ）

[elswhisperer]

Vivid blue.
Missions where failure means casualties.
Because I've seen it firsthand.
An island beach.
Piano?

*What do you eat when you're upset?

[pundemic]

you're a soldier

（ the way that makes this trapped-rat feeling in her brain amp up the awful under-the-skin itching, hoo boy. she takes a breath, and then another, and it barely feels like she's breathing at all. she has to put the phone down for a second, because it's.

not fair. she knows it's not fair. not her circus, not her monkeys. but she can't help the purely physiological response, the fight-or-flight (and it's always fight with her, always —) impulse that crawls up her spine. ）

hey, me too. island beach. a+

piano's nice too. i kinda played one before.

（ haha, she is so completely normal about this!! ）

i really like curry.

[elswhisperer]

[ Even through the barrier of text, Setsuna can see that something is wrong. It's the soldier thing. Does she have a history with soldiers?

Is she a victim of war?

'No, the world calls me a terrorist' -- what kind of comfort could that possibly bring? ]

I'm not a soldier. But I fight.

[ And if to her that's just as bad, it's alright. He doesn't blame her. ]

[pundemic]

kinda put that one together.

（ and since that's what he focused in on, she — probably made him feel some kinda way about it. she sighs, and then: ）

it's fine. i was in military prep school. total bore. as long as you don't try to get me to do burpees we're fine.

[elswhisperer]

Got it.

[ He doesn't buy it, but it's none of his business. ]

I like chicken curry.

Someone I care about plays the piano. She sings too.

[pundemic]

i don't think i've ever had chicken

（ look, commercial birds were basically just eaten to urban extinction.

... few pigeons, though. ）

is she here? this friend of yours

[elswhisperer]

Try it, if you get the chance.

No. She's back home, looking after her people. I hope she's never parted from them again.

[pundemic]

oh yeah i'll ring up the nearest mcdonald's and see what they've got on tap.

（ is that not how fast food restaurants work. is it not??? ）

sounds leader-y.

[elswhisperer]

[ Even Setsuna is familiar with fast food restaurants...! ]

She shoulders a lot of responsibility.

[ There may be no harm in being specific in a place like this, but he's endangered Marina by mere association with him enough already. ]

She's not like me. She'll never pick up a weapon.

[pundemic]

（ pacifism, as a concept, didn't really survive the outbreak. ellie wrinkles her nose at the idea of not picking up a weapon — it's always a strange moment when you come up against concepts that don't really align with your worldview. and it's not — bitterness exactly, it's more like a sort of tired, world-weary certainty that only teenagers can manage that lands her square in the absolute belief that his girlfriend is about as naïve as they come.

(and if she can stay that way — what harm can it do, really? worlds away?

maybe a better person would be glad that someone out there can live like that. all it does is make her ache.) ）

okay?

（ like. what else is she supposed to say to that, actually. ）

[elswhisperer]

A world where no one needs to pick up a weapon is what I'm fighting for.

What do you want to accomplish?

[pundemic]

bet this is a shitty detour for you then huh?

（ as to that question turned around on her like a knife — she balks at it, and bares her teeth just a little at her phone, not quite aware she's making an expression that has more in common with a cornered animal than a human.

not too very long ago, she might've said save the world. ）

honestly, i just really want to play this one video game. no frills. all the way through.

（ ha ha ha... ha. ）