It's hard to get into the pun-making mood, when armed guards always give her frustrated looks or avidly warn her against loitering (Fuckers-- they kidnapped them, and now they're gonna give them shit about staying in one place? This is a joke, right?), but when the stars finally aligned and she was alone atop the roof of a building, with nobody but a few pigeons to bear witness, that book of hers couldn't be pulled out any faster. The soldiers, the city, the... sewer monsters that vanished as quickly as they came-- it was all too familiar, and she needed something, anything, even this (Maybe even especially this. It feels like it's been forever, since she cracked this stupid thing open.) to take her mind away from it. Every similarity between Hive City and the quarantine zone made her feel sick to the stomach.
"Ssso," She exclaims to some poor nearby bird, who only has a confused, wary gaze to respond with. "I saw a beaver movie the other night, and let me tell you, it was the best dam movie I ever saw! Hahaaah... hah. Yeah."
It flies away when she puts emphasis on dam, and her laugh continues to crumble into little more than a dry chuckle. She watches the feathery lil' dude fade into the night, and she spends a good while resolving that she couldn't even begin to blame the guy.
" 'The shepherd had a crush, but unfortunately... he was too sheepish to say anything.' ... Pfft, okay, these people were seriously paid way too much to write this thing." She can't even imagine a time where there was a demand for this stuff. It must've been nice to have a job where you could come up with stupid jokes and make a book out of it-- but then again, from what she's heard, just about any job would be better than the stuff she's been through. Hands down.
... She guesses she doesn't need to imagine a time like that anymore, though. Hive City's like something out of ancient history, to her.
"The shark looked at the--"
... Oh, hrgh. Before she has the chance to finish the joke, a whole different kind of joke shouts up at her from the street below. Looks like one of the guards finally noticed her, and for some reason that Ellie can't quite grasp, sitting on top of a roof is a crime against God. She'd curse him out if she didn't know how much trouble that'd land her in-- and since she's already got so much trouble to deal with as is, she has no choice but to heed his oh so generous warnings.
"(... The shark looked at the douchebag military wannabe and said bite me,)" She mumbles under her breath as she tucks away the book and heads for the fire escape. So much for ancient history.
