[ goddammit, shepard. thanks for throwing him under the buss.
her anger is noted, though he is a little confused by it. then again, he can't claim to know her well enough to have detected much of a pride on her in the first place. but while noted, he doesn't really do much in response, save for an idle tip of his head. ]
i WouLDn'T bE ThE ONE TeAChiNG You.
[ seems to make perfect sense to him.
he's started leading her away from the sleeping quarters, making a straight beeline for the trailing areas he's had to grow accustomed to, thanks to that very military bootcamp. ]
[It isn't pride, it's defensiveness. Ellie has never been stellar at following directions and doing what she's told- a detail she isn't shy admitting either. She isn't pissed that he's suggested that she needs training. It's that he doesn't know anything about her in the first place, and that he's washing his hands of the whole training thing that he suggested. She isn't about to go sign on to some military drill squad after knowing how much fun they were back home, and she sure as hell isn't going to seek out complete strangers to order her around.
Thanks but no thanks.
Her chin remains up, head unbowed, and Ellie doesn't look back at him.]
[ he doesn't respond, but that's because he'd taken care not to look back when she spoke. he doesn't want to know what she has to say in response to his dismissive words, because he doesn't need to know, and better to assume the words had done just as they'd meant to and dismissed the issue altogether.
why, then, is he still leading her to an empty hallway. and why, then, is he quietly instructing her to stay down one end while he crosses the distance to get to the other.
he doesn't unsheathe his sword, and instead meets her square in the eye now that there's at least twenty feet between them. ]
[There's something deeply unsettling about the request. Part of it is the discordant quality of the words, not just how it sounds (brittle and uneven) but what is said. Nic has always acted like the fighting and the pain don't even register to him. Like maybe the idea that he might die doesn't either. Ellie tries to figure it out, or at the very least to wrap her mind around it, and the closest she can get is likening it to what it's like to stay alive back home. That the first time she'd shot a guy in the head she'd felt sick, but that now she doesn't think twice. But the thing is, even that doesn't seem right.
Maybe he tunes it out, or doesn't feel it the same way- but. Pain is still pain.
Her shoulders rise and fall in time with her breath and Ellie remains where she's been positioned. Her eyes follow Nic's back as he puts distance between them then stands opposite. There's no way in hell that Ellie could put a dent in a guy like this. In the back of her mind she figures that that's probably why she'd asked. Because Nic is basically invincible and Ellie won't have to be afraid of hurting him. Of doing more damage. Her palms feel clammy around the hilt of her new weapon- an unfamiliar weight in her hands. God, it's freaking huge how the hell does anyone fight with this kind of thing?]
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no subject
her anger is noted, though he is a little confused by it. then again, he can't claim to know her well enough to have detected much of a pride on her in the first place. but while noted, he doesn't really do much in response, save for an idle tip of his head. ]
i WouLDn'T bE ThE ONE TeAChiNG You.
[ seems to make perfect sense to him.
he's started leading her away from the sleeping quarters, making a straight beeline for the trailing areas he's had to grow accustomed to, thanks to that very military bootcamp. ]
no subject
Thanks but no thanks.
Her chin remains up, head unbowed, and Ellie doesn't look back at him.]
Yeah, I know a copout when I see one.
no subject
why, then, is he still leading her to an empty hallway. and why, then, is he quietly instructing her to stay down one end while he crosses the distance to get to the other.
he doesn't unsheathe his sword, and instead meets her square in the eye now that there's at least twenty feet between them. ]
tRy To kIll me.
no subject
Maybe he tunes it out, or doesn't feel it the same way- but. Pain is still pain.
Her shoulders rise and fall in time with her breath and Ellie remains where she's been positioned. Her eyes follow Nic's back as he puts distance between them then stands opposite. There's no way in hell that Ellie could put a dent in a guy like this. In the back of her mind she figures that that's probably why she'd asked. Because Nic is basically invincible and Ellie won't have to be afraid of hurting him. Of doing more damage. Her palms feel clammy around the hilt of her new weapon- an unfamiliar weight in her hands. God, it's freaking huge how the hell does anyone fight with this kind of thing?]
-You sure?
no subject
aRe YOU?
[ and maybe that's the point he's trying to make. ]