-"Lord Shaxx bailed him out" was the answer Freija got when she asked to visit Ellis at the low risk cells on the Tower. Lord Shaxx himself didn't gave a clear answer to where his "Little Fox" was, probably because he didn't knew either. However he did mention to her that Ellis had comms open-
The question was, did she really want to contact him. Really. Really. Because she wanted to yell at him, and that wouldn't help. But neither would leaving him alone.
Fine.
She thumped inside and opened the comm link. She didn't bother being nice about it, either.
"Are you at least staying off your fucking leg?"
Of course I am! I promised that to you! Actually I asked dad to get me out because of that!
-He seemed to take offense at the question-
I'm a man of my word! Most of the time...
"You put a lot of effort into that," Freija said sarcastically. Specifically arranging your words so you can squirm out of whatever you need to, because telling an outright falsehood makes your tongue tie itself down, but speaking a technical truth that absolutely doesn't answer the question being asked? Oh you'll do that one. "Where are you being so very careful?"
Some hunter friends help me make a quick hunter nest on a pretty peaceful part of the EDZ! And I'm laying in here, unbothered, happy and most importantly far up in the tree, away from the floor so I can't step on my leg! Wanna come?
Freija was not keen to believe him, but she'd learn not to predict anything, just in case. "Yeah, I'll be there in a little while."
Since she was already on Earth, it was no trouble to get to the EDZ. She could only hope he was easy to find from the LZ.
I'll be waiting for you! Remember to look up, guardian!
-Ellis sounds happy as usual, though a little bit more energetic-
Sunny tracked him down and led the way with an indicator, and Freija trekked more or less straight to him. "Hey, Ellis!"
-Ellis was laying on a considerably big hammock-like structure made from different pieces of cloths, tarps and old hunter cloaks that were tied to the trees. A few extra pieces covered a part of it to work as a roof and under it are a bunch of coolers and boxes with food, magazines and supplies for Ellis' different hobbies-
Hi Sunny!
The cloth treehouse reminded Freija of her own hammock tent she used on the field. That he made one into an entire house was not a surprise.
She didn't want to disrupt the thing, so she hauled herself into the branches of a neighboring tree and laid her body carefully along the length of it to lean close. "And you didn't use your leg in the crafting of this?" she challenged, gesturing at the shelter. "I want to be nice but being nice just lets you neglect yourself."
I didn't use my leg, at all! I just had a bunch of friends help me!
-He turned to the side to look at the titan-
See? I don't surround myself only with people who mistreat me, I have friends who help me! Like you!
"I know how you act when I try to help," she replied dryly, not trying to argue with him about it. Until he could understand the link between 'but my leg shouldn't be broken' and 'i deserve a broken leg', it would just make her angry and him crazy.
That's because I don't ask your help and you insist anyways!
-He crossed his arms-
This is how I act when I actually wanted the help.
"I'd let you have that point, but Sunny's also helped upon your request and you ignored the information she gave you," she pointed out. She wouldn't believe him no matter what he said, she didn't know why she was bothering. "Anyway, I'm glad you're alive and not walking on the broken leg anymore." She started to get up to get down, moving over the tree branches more ably than could be expected of anyone in that much plated armor. "Seen you and gotten an idea of how you're doing. Need anything from home?"
That was me asking for an opinion, not help. It's different!
-He hummed, turning his head to the side-
Not really, you were the one looking for me.
"Yes, because I worry about you," she replied. "I was also asking if you needed anything because I worry about you, and I was about to leave and that's one of my ways of making sure people are taken care of."
"Asking my opinion about the toxicity of black mold feels a lot like asking for help instead of an opinion," Sunny objected. "Especially since I know you didn't come across any information or opinions to the contrary and yet you ate it anyway."
I asked your opinion because I needed it, and I'm thankful that you worry about me! Though it confuses me a bit...
-He lifted himself and sat on the structure-
But I've already told you I don't need anything. I'm fine, I'm always fine!
"You said that while you were walking on a broken leg," Freija sighed. She was clearly trying to get a good jump to get straight down and hesitating. "Even if you do think it's fine, I very clearly don't think it's fine for anyone to go around walking on broken legs. I'm used to you starting fights you know you can win, but you always lose that one. Why do you keep saying it to me? Hoping I'll get annoyed and ignore you like everyone else?"
Force of habit, I'm just used to say it... I'm sorry.
-The hunter looked around for something, not finding it and rolling to the edge of the nest to look down, groaning and rolling back-
"Do you honestly think anyone really believes it?" she huffed. "Habit or not, we--everyone that hears you say it-- knows it's not true. The only reason it works is because we know you don't want help and won't take it and there's no point in trying to argue with you about it, because even if we do try to force it, you'd rather break your good arm than accept it. I'm just not exhausted with it, yet, so I keep arguing with you." She didn't want to admit how badly he was wearing her down, too. Part of it was not wanting to give up hope on anyone, but the other part was mostly sheer bullet-headed stubbornness.
Hey! Everyone believes it! I'm convincing!
-He laid on his back, looking at the sky-
You're just too insistent.
"I am insistent, but I'm not the only one that doesn't think you're okay. No one else is willing to argue with you about it," she insisted. "I'm just the kind of asshole that's going to argue with you about it."
Maybe they don't argue with me because they know I'm fine! And you're not an asshole, you just like arguing! That's fun to do sometimes.
"They don't argue because you've said you're okay and at that point you are clearly not going to say anything else. I bet they even do the same face when they hear you say it." She crossed her arms. She knew there were a lot of people in his life that didn't care, but the ones that asked if he was okay were not on the list, presumably. She knew she was special for having gotten the chance to comfort him when he was grieving, but he wasn't that subtle.
They give me a warm smile and say "good to know!". Because they know I'm fine!
-Ellis yawned, and stretched out to have more of his body be covered by the warm sun-
"Mmhm," she said. "They must be convincing." She scanned the area again, still looking for a clean drop, somewhat artificially.
Why are you so focused on making me feel bad now? I'm convincing!
"I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I'm just saying it doesn't matter if you're convincing, they wouldn't argue about it because they're respecting your desire to be left alone, whether they believe you or not. I just can't stop being a self-righteous jerk. And I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I'm just stating a fact. But I can tell, and I'm really bad at telling when people are lying. Your," she mimicked his usual tones (if not his voice) impressively, "'fine, I'm always fine'," she returned to her own, "is a subconscious reflex. Every single person you've said it to has noticed, at least every once in a while, that you're lying. They are being polite, not blind."
But I don't need help! Everyone knows that when I say "I'm fine" it mean "I'm fine", I'm too dumb to have underlining intentions... and everyone knows that too!
-He protested, turning to the side, now noticing the titan was looking for a way to go down-
I'm pretty but dumb!
Freija hesitated for several seconds, then laughed. "And now I know how it feels," she sighed. "I always pull that one... Pretty much everyone any time they pick on my lack of finesse, that I'm a dumb Titan and they shouldn't expect more." She was putting on the show about it but she didn't really want to leave, either, and she couldn't decide if she wanted to stay until they were upset or run now. "None us are fooled every single time, even if some of us are some of the time. We simply know our help isn't welcome."
Uh huh, yeah...
-He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes-
But I'm truly dumb... a warlock lady of the hidden once put it as "Will remember everything he hears and will believe it despite contradicting previous information." on a report about me to Ikora.
"I don't call that dumb, I call that crazy," Freija said. "Plus the warlock is wrong. You don't just believe whatever you hear. You are fully prepared to deny anything whenever you want. You don't change your mind about the earth being flat every time you hear someone say it's not, you heard one time out of a bazillion that it was flat and you decided to keep that one and refuse to be moved by evidence. Sure, you changed your mind to believing it was flat when someone said it, but if it was as simple as you hearing something, regardless of previous experience, you would change your mind back just as easy. The part where you were told it was flat and picked it up, I can see where they were coming from, but the rest of their conclusion doesn't make sense. You want to believe stuff, so you believe it, it's not about being dumb." She smiled bright, as though this was a normal conversation. "Plus, you're a medic with fifty hobbies and you're preternaturally good at some of those, I'm not gonna let you tell me you're dumb because some Warlock got mad you wouldn't listen."
Honestly I'm not sure about the earth anymore. Someone explained to me how my star maps couldn't be posible if there wasn't a curvature...
-The hunter turned his head to the side, confused-
I'm not naturally good at anything! I just have a weird memory that allows me to do stuff with less practice than others... it's like saying you're naturally good at making solar hammers!
Freija quirked a brow at him. "You can't tell me you're dumb and then tell me that you're really really good at things because you figure them out. That doesn't make any sense. Which isn't odd for you, but it does give me reason to think you're not dumb."
Me figuring things out doesn't mean that I'm smart. Most of the time I know how things are supposed to be done but for one reason or another I don't do it that way...
-Ellis paused for a moment, thinking of something to give as an example-
Like the black mold! I knew it was harmful, everyone told me it was harmful and I could've done some experiments before going straight to eating them, but I didn't! That's stupid.















