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ˏˋ°•*⁀➷bill & frank's town
AFTER SEARCHING THE VAST INTERIOR OF THE GRANDIOSE HOUSE, Cassie had found the teenage girl she'd been searching for in the living room, rummaging carelessly through the belongings left behind in the wake of Bill and Frank's passing. A random assortment of drawers had been pulled ajar, with their contents either sprawled upon the closest surface or shoved hazardously back inside. Upon hearing the distinctive sound of approaching footsteps of another, Ellie's eyes turn away from her boredom-fuelled task. A slight smile teasing her lips, Ellie quips, "Took you long enough."
The corners of Cassie's lips twitch upward at the girl's words, amused by the banter. "Needed to have a talk with Joel," She informs her, purposefully dancing around the details of what's been said; knowing it was to stay between only herself, and Joel. Noticing how Ellie's mouth falls ajar, eager to spew a string of questions about their talk, Cassie opts to intervene before a single word can escape the girl's mouth, "It wasn't 'bout you, don't worry. It ain't anything that 'ya need to know."
A drawn-out, overly dramatic sigh drawls from the very depths of Ellie's being, echoing loudly as she scuffs the soles of her Converse upon the wooden floor in protest. "You say that about everything," She grumbles beneath her breath, ensuring the firefly — no, ex-firefly — hears every last droplet of her disgruntlement. "I'm not a dumb kid. I can handle it."
Cassie knew this — of course, she knew. Years ago, she'd been in Ellie's shoes; deluded by her youth to believe for even a second she knew all that there was to surviving in this new, cruel world. More so, she knew the futile nature of trying to shelter the girl from the horrific touch of affliction — to hide her away from the inhumanity and bloodshed that'd seek to destroy her at every moment. The day would come when the gleaming innocence of Ellie Williams would be set alight, left ablaze until it's nothing but ash, blown away with the wind. Darkness will come, no matter how much light dares to linger within Ellie's heart, for without it, none could survive. One day — likely sooner, rather than later — Ellie would become merely another victim of the dark's wraith.
But Cassie would be damned if she were the one to rob Ellie of her youth. And so, she doesn't take the luring bait of the girl's statement, and instead remains silent in the wake of Ellie's annoyance. Though, not so easily is her weary mind freed of conflict, for she recognises there is a very fine line laid out between letting the teenager bask within the bliss of not knowing, and setting her up for failure; for death. Naivety was a scarce attribute amongst the remnants of humanity, and, while admirable, to possess too much of it was a death sentence.
As she watches the young girl, who had returned to the meaningless task of searching through drawers in their conversation's lull, Cassie becomes hyper-aware of the cold metal of a pistol tucked away in her waistband, pressing jaggedly against her back. When they'd been scrounging through the vast collection of weapons stowed away in Bill's bunker, Cassie had eagerly taken a rifle with a long-ranged scope for herself. She'd then found herself reaching for a smaller, simple pistol, but, for a reason she'd yet to explore, she'd kept it from Joel; hiding it beneath her clothing.
