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MEMORIES OF HER CANON ELLIE HAD UPON ARRIVING AT THE PINES*

• She can't swim.
• Her best friend Riley, including her romantic feelings for her and Riley's death.
• The fact that she was bitten by a infected creature, but is immune to turning into one herself, unlike others.
• Her switchblade and the fact it belonged to her mother.
• Puns are aces.

*By the end of her second week in the pines she will recover all other memories up to her canon point.

MEMORIES OF GROWING UP IN THE PINES.

Home life & Childhood

Ellie remembers little of her life at home at the pines at the moment. What she does know is:
• Her mother died of illness when she was a baby. She never knew her father, who left Wayward Pines before she was born.
• She was brought up by... someone. A guardian. She remembers very little about this person.
• Corstine is her cousin.
• She had a happy enough life at home. When trying to recall things, she can't think of anything awful that happened. She liked her guardian, whoever they were. She had her own room, and was well looked after.
• She had an impressive collection of comic books.

School life

Ellie's recollection of how she did at school in Wayward Pines is much better.
• She was a C/B student, who could probably do even better if she tried a little more.
• Her favourite subjects were English, PE and art. Steve was her art teacher, and in general she was a bit less absent there.
• She was a bit of a troublemaker. Often not knowing when to shut up, messing around with friends in class, talking back when she thought something was unfair, skipping detention, etc.



Please do drop a line here if you'd like some shared memories with Ellie! Whether it be school friends, teachers, people she's come across around town, skipping school or otherwise. Let me know!

NAME: Dee
CONTACT: buttboobs
OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE PINES: Nope.



NAME: Ellie
CANON: The Last of Us
CANON-POINT: Just before the fireflies find her and Joel at Salt Lake City.



HISTORY: Wiki.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S STRENGTHS?: Ellie's resilience and sheer force of will to survive whatever the apocalyptic world throws at her is probably a big strength of hers. She won't give up when the odds aren't in her favour. She'll do whatever it takes to meet her goal, and is a very determined individual. This is particularly true when it comes to the people she cares most for - if she thinks someone she loves is in danger, she'll do whatever the hell it takes to get them out of it. Sometimes succeeding, other times, sadly, not. Her loyalty for the people she cares about is paramount. Once she sees Joel as her partner, father figure and friend, she'll out herself at risk to help him. She also knows when it's necessary to work even with someone she doesn't entirely trust though; that's just part of survival. Ellie is pretty smart and quick witted - she knows how to use certain situations to her advantage. She's empathetic to others, and a pretty good judge of character. She also knows how to lighten the mode and is big on punny jokes.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S WEAKNESSES?: Though Ellie's trust and loyalty to her friends and people who've earnt it is solid, she's still very distrusting of strangers. At times this could perhaps be a strength - certainly in her opinion it's better than being naive and overly trusting. But it does mean she's often rather defensive and unfriendly to strangers. Ellie is also quite rash. Most of the time, this rashness is a result of her quick thinking and sheer determination to keep herself and others (Joel, namely) safe. It can also be from pure fear. Her biggest fear is ending up alone, after being left alone through death or abandonment by so many people, and Ellie is at her most rash and even childish when threatened by this. When it appears that Joel might leave her too, she straight up steals a horse and runs away - probably her most childish and irresponsible act the entire game. She can also be brave to the point of thoughtlessness at times, such as jumping from a high but broken bridge into deep water, despite the fact that she can't swim.

WHAT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES IN YOUR CHARACTER'S PAST HAVE IMPACTED THEM THE MOST?: The death of her best friend and crush, Riley, is one of the biggest. Her relationship with Riley affected Ellie greatly; you can see evidence all over the game, from her repeating phrases Riley used, to the way Riley's speech about "fighting for every moment" spent with someone you care about plays into Ellie's sheer stubborness to keeping her and Joel alive. Then there's the fact that Riley and Ellie were both bitten, and the fact that Riley died and Ellie did not. Ellie has butt loads of survivors guilt thanks to this. It's layered on even further throughout the game with the deaths of Tess and Sam, who were also both bitten. Of course, that she is immune to the infected, carrying the weight of these deaths on her shoulders, is also a heavy responsibility. It's something that pushes her forward. Her relationship with Joel has also impacted her heavily. At the canon point she's at, she trusts him more than any other person and a lot of her motivation is to keep Joel safe. All of her confrontations with David, the leader of a cannibalistic group of people responsible for seriously injuring Joel, have had an impact on her as well. She had of course seen plenty of Bad Shit by that point, but it was all she went through with him (being locked up, forced to feel her most vulnerable and alone) that really pushed her into realising how awful humanity can be.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR CHARACTER?: Doing what she can to help others, particularly those she cares about. For example, a big motivation for everything she does in the game is finding the fireflies so they can do whatever they can with her to discover a cure for the cordycep infection she's immune to. She's also motivated by the people she loves. When she lets someone into her heart, she is an incredibly loyal, thoughtful and caring friend toward them. It may take time, certainly now the more Ellie's learnt about the world, but once you're friends with Ellie, you're friends for life.

WHAT IMPRESSION DO OTHERS TEND TO HAVE OF YOUR CHARACTER?: That's she's brash, loud, a "punk" kid who swears way too much. Depending on whether she gets on with the person in question, they might also pick up on her being quite a bit of a jokester. Though many can also underestimate her because of her size and age, writing her off as "just a kid", it doesn't often take too long for people to realise she can handle herself well.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THAT IMPRESSION DIFFER FROM WHO YOUR CHARACTER REALLY IS?: Ellie has an acute fear of being alone, something she can hide quite well. She also has guilt, again something she hides unless she knows and trusts you well enough. Once you get to know her it also becomes more obvious how caring she is. She offers small acts of friendship (like giving a friend her own age a toy he wanted) as well as the larger life saving stuff. Really, is a kid, and she just wants to be a kid. She wants to be able to act her age, to spend time with teenagers her age. To protect herself though, that's often not really possible.

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER HANDLE CRISIS OR ADVERSITY?: Head first, guns blazing. Immediate external threats are met with an instant will to survive, a fight first, talk later (or never) kind of mentality. Ellie knows that much of the time it's a simple matter of "them or us". She'll kill to survive, she'll hurt people to survive. On the other hand, when it's more of an internal conflict - for example, finding out someone she trusts and loves has betrayed her in some way - she'll run, she'll sit on it, she won't be the one to confront that person. This is most obvious when Joel tries to push Ellie off on his brother. Ellie doesn't challenge him about it, she just runs, and only when he comes to confront her does she finally speak her mind. Give Ellie a knife and half a dozen men who want to kill her and watch her murder them all with very few regrets. But have someone she cares about betray her in some way or complicate things with certain emotions and watch her act pisssy, run away, and/or avoid confrontation until she can't anymore.

WHICH 5 THINGS WILL YOUR CHARACTER REMEMBER UPON ARRIVAL, AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM?:
• She can't swim.
• Her best friend Riley, including her romantic feelings for her and Riley's death.
• The fact that she was bitten by a infected creature, but is immune to turning into one herself, unlike others.
• Her switchblade and the fact it belonged to her mother.
• Puns are aces.

Many of these are important to Ellie's character, others are here just for the fun.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU FEEL WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?:

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SKILLS, ABILITIES, & PHYSICAL WEAKNESSES: Ellie has no supernatural powers, though she is immune to the cordyceps brain infection that turns people into aggressive mutated creatures. This isn't really a power, but it does make her different from everyone else in her world. Since she has been bit and technically been infected, it also means she does have strange growths on her brain, though they're benign and don't affect her at all.

As for certain human skills and abilities, Ellie has quite a few. Living and travelling in a post apocalyptic world, she's knows a few things about survival. She knows basic first aid; she can sew up a man that'd just been impaled through his middle. She knows how to cook wildlife with few utensils. Beyond that, she can use a pistol, riffle, shotgun, bow and arrow, pipe bomb and molotov effectively. She's also very good at killing someone with her switch blade. Ellie is a good horse rider, and despite her age she can drive a car without crashing it.

Of course, she is a 14 year old girl, and not particularly strong. She can sneak up on you from behind like a badass, but a full grown adult could still take her down quickly if she's not quick to back up or surprise them.

INVENTORY: The clothes on her back, with her switchblade in her jeans pocket. Also a backpack containing:
+ A pistol.
+ A note from her mother.
+ A firefly pendant with the name Riley Abel on it.
+ A toy robot.
+ No Pun Intended by Will Livingston (joke book)
+ No Pun Intended Volume Too by Will Livingston (joke book)
+ To Get to the Other Side by Kathryn McCormack (joke book)
+ A broken Walkman Cassette


PROSE-HEAVY: prose sample
DIALOGUE-HEAVY: dialogue sample