[ Vincent - Ellie ] We are in H(a)ll

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

ACK- Vincent had heard someone coming in, but somehow hadn't registered that they were coming in for HIM in particular, and thus was still a bit startled when Ellie plopped down beside him. It's only the slightest of flinches he gives though anyhow, and once he sees it's just Ellie he's also not particularly alarmed. Despite her open advocation for her own murder, Vincent really didn't have an issue with her.

"Hello, Ellie. Nothing particularly interesting is happening in here, at the very least, but it's a place to sit. I take it you're also experiencing a lack things to do right now…?"

…Though he does remember that Ellie WAS in his projection as well, even if her reaction to things hadn't been nearly as dramatic as the other two who had seen whatever the machine had made his brain put on display.

Ellie Carter

She doesn't feel the need to confirm she's bored as fuck here and jumps right into the elephant in the room instead. She leans closer, looking him over.

"So you really don't remember that shit? When we were running around in your brain?"

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Yeah, there it was. Vincent isn’t surprised that Ellie might want to talk to him about all that, and ultimately doesn’t mind either. It was only fair.

“I don’t remember it, no. I didn’t feel or register anything at all during it, I don’t think, like I was just asleep.” A pause. “I… did hear a little from Suzune about it though, after the fact. Just small details, as she asked her questions.”

Ellie Carter

"Aw, balls, what'd she say? Is she scared of me now?"

Ellie was the one who did all the stabbing, after all, and she didn't really stick around to explain she had been controlled.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

…Ok, Vincent blinks at that.

“Scared of… you? Why would she be scared of you?” If anything, wouldn’t Suzune be scared of HIM? Vincent shakes his head a little. “She didn’t mention you, just… graves, and some other details.”

Ellie Carter

"Ummm… Well, there was that knife. Did she mention the knife?"

She asks, then quickly decides before even giving Vincent a chance to confirm.

"She probably mentioned the knife. When I grabbed it, well, it was like I was bein' mind-controlled. I started stabbin' the ground like crazy."

She makes stabbing motions, helpfully.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Vincent gives a small nod initially. Yes, Suzune had mentioned the knife-

Hearing the mind controlled bit though makes Vincent visibly wince, along with the stabbing aspect of things.

“I… see. I’m so sorry I made you do that, I… Ugh. I’d heard there were something like forcing you to feel things, but I hadn’t realized that had happened to you too.” He hadn’t Known that would happen, obviously, but he still feels responsible for it.

Ellie Carter

"Aw, big guy, don't you worry 'bout it!"

She laughs and gives him a hearty slap on the shoulder.

"It's cute that ya give a shit, but I don't think you forced me to do it. It's that machine they put you in 'er somethin'… Honestly, I was fine. It was a cool lookin' knife."

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Vincent doesn’t react at all as Ellie slaps his back, perhaps keeping purposely still. Though Ellie does get a sense of just how solid and immovable this guy is in general.

“That’s… true, I suppose,” Vincent relents after a moment. He hadn’t Directly made her do it at least. “Still, though, it sounds as though it was at least generally mirroring my own actions from reality. You aren’t the only one to have stabbed someone.”

Funny how Ellie was gloating about stabbing a guy to Vincent if all people before DGHFHF

Ellie Carter

"And I'd bet the two of us ain't the only ones either! It's the classic way to do it. An' guns are expensive. An' really obvious to carry around. I only ever owned a rifle and damn that shit was NOT gonna be snuck anywhere, you know? Also I hadn't cleaned it… in like forever…"

She trails off. Waste of money ass rifle. She hates hunting and she actually killed a guy but didn't even use that shit.

"Anyway, I'm not lookin' for an explanation unless you wanna give one. We probably all have reasons we did what we did and God knows you're way more in the dumps about it than me. But, hold on, did you have a goth as fuck family? Or was it just like that because ya dress like that."

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Well, Vincent would certainly hope there aren’t others, but there wasn’t particularly a method he’d hope for More of instead.

For example, Guns, as Ellie herself was bringing up. Vincent is quiet for a good moment, before finally offering something.

“…I hadn’t planning on killing anyone before I ended up doing it. I… had even made a point of not owning a gun myself at all, even though my family had kept one, to lower the chance of something stupid happening. But that didn’t stop me anyways, clearly.”

God certainly did know too, huh? There was No way he wasn’t going to hell if he wasn’t already there, Vincent thought.

He’s thankfully(?) brought out of whatever brooding he’s doing a little by the Other comment that Ellie’s making here, to which he’s slightly baffled by.

“Wha- Huh?? Sorry, but what do you mean by that?” Goth what?? Where was That question coming from. “But, no, my family members dressed very… Modestly? And my wife is… was… always the exact opposite of me in aesthetic regard.”

Haha, he’s still not used to using past tense there.

Ellie Carter

Was it his wife? He's talking like he knows he has some sort of violent streak. Kind of concerning, but Ellie just said she wasn't here to interrogate him. She's pretty good at getting brooding people off guard with the stupidest questions, so she plows straight ahead. Let's not focus on your dead wife you may or may not have murdered.

"In the projection, your family had this big goth house and a big graveyard in your, well, yard. I was just wondering if you had some sort of Addams family type beat. Just wonderin' if that was real or just a representation of your haunted mind. I hope you're all put on a pirate ship fer mine. You like swimmin'?"

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Who’s to say!

“Ah… no, I’ve never lived in a house that’s like that, so I’d assume it’s the latter. Even if we did have the money, I doubt Gracie would have wanted one like that.” Even if ‘representation of his haunted mind’ sounded a bit dramatic to him. ~~(It’s super true, though-)~~ As for swimming…

“I could take or leave it. I’ve never been particularly good at it at the very least. …Is that to say that you Don’t have a pirate ship in real life, though? How disappointing.” He’s joking, though his delivery is of course perfectly deadpan.

Ellie Carter

"Hah! Hmm, okay, okay, you caught me. I miiiight not be the 'sailing the ocean' type of pirate, but I am a pirate. Just a more technological sort of pirate."

She flips her hair back as she says it. She thinks its awesome. Maybe even cooler than actual piracy.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

“Ah… so the ‘I’m not paying for this streaming service’ kind.” He gives a nod. Fair Enough, honestly. “…It’s pretty annoying how separate everything is in that regard these days.”

Is this what people in their 30s talk about these days-

Ellie Carter

"Ohh, right, ahaha! I mean, I feel like only an idiot is still paying for that shit."

She says, then thinks to herself Vincent does seem like the kind of guy who had the money to buy a bunch of those. Well!

"I meant more like hacking into systems and leaking documents. I was part of a group that did that sorta shit for fun."

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Vincent pauses, hearing what she Actually meant, staring for a moment.

“…I see. And what sort of documents were these, then…?” He is Reserving Judgment, so much- He really can’t tell if she means scamming and or blackmailing individual people or something more like big businesses.

Ellie Carter

Her answer comes easily, finally for once in her offline life able to talk about this openly.

"Oh, anything. Usually one of us would find initial access through a website or an exposed API and see what we could enumerate and if we could pivot into something internal. Sometimes we'd find and publish something interesting like contracts or network diagrams or chat logs… I mean, there's also keys and passwords or source code but that's pretty dime-a-dozen shit anyone will drop. We didn't make money off of it. Just for the love of the game, really."

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

…Ok, he really doesn't know what he was hoping to gain by asking that, that was on him. Vincent inhales and pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, partially at himself, but he lets it out in a sigh as he drops his hands again afterwards.

"…I think the most concerning part of that is the apparent lack of target standards more than anything else, though I'm far from being in a position to critique you anyways," he settles with saying. For multiple reasons, even, it wasn't like he was a computer expert here. But still, the idea of any of his own private information being posted wherever wasn't a happy thought to have, even if realistically he knows that data leaks happen all the time.

"I'll ask something else, then. How do you get into doing that sort of thing for fun in the first place…? Or how does anyone, for that matter." This was so outside his wheelhouse he really has no idea.

Ellie Carter

"Met a guy while playing Call of Duty. He was cheating an' I asked him to show me how!"

She laughs at the memory, running a hand through her hair. She thinks its funny that Vincent is talking about her like she's some crazed criminal who targeted people willy-nilly. Which she did do, but hey, didn't this guy _probably kill his wife?