Oking... She had heard the name of that town a couple of times over the years. Sure enough, she had fixed odds and ends for traders from this community, back when that was basically all she did in Silvershaw. It wasn't too impressive now but the rows of houses, the ruins and piles of bricks and junk, bent and rusted roadsigns, broken windows and cracks in the road, it all fed her imagination. She had seen faded pictures from before the war and, just like other places, this had probably been a nice place to live in and she was glad that she didn't have to sit around in Silvershaw, even though Aaron had had half a mind to leave her there for this mission, what with the uncalculated risk it posed. It had been a long argument but in the end, she got her will.

Honestly, to her, it wasn't about Oking. It wasn't even about going on a 'real' mission rather than a patrol or scavenging run either, although that was a major part of it. It was the first time in a long while that a larger group was going out that wasn't just a caravan and this group included Cassandra. Aaron was a great teacher but Cassandra was the reason Ellie had picked up the bow instead of the crossbow. They hadn't really interacted much, since the older woman rarely stayed in the settlement for long, but in her own way, she left a lasting impression on Eleanor.

And now, here she was, surrounded by a small group of people much more experienced than her. It hadn't really hit home how dangerous things could be until Aaron stopped and directed them into the cover of an old, ruined coffee shop. Ellie became uncomfortably aware that the bow in her hands was the third one of its kind made by her. The first one broke after a few uses; the second was sturdier and she had gathered a lot of experience with it, but ultimately its punch was lacking. This one was stronger, she was well-acquainted with and proud of it, but she had been itching to improve on it and worked on something better, more powerful and balanced... which now lay unfinished and completely useless in Silvershaw. She trusted the weapon in her hand to do its work but she couldn't help but notice the signs of overuse and decay, the microscopic cracks that her fourth prototype wouldn't have.

She stayed close to her mentor and followed the exchange that made her tense and she angrily clutched her fingers around her weapon, but almost as soon as it escalated it was already over. Duela, the woman who was leading them on this expedition, showed herself to the couple and Ellie pricked her ears to the exchange, only to be startled by a cascade of rubble and the [i]BOOM[/i] of the Supermutant's sledge. Only now did she notice the ghoul who had fallen into their midst but she wasn't sure if McTavish didn't scare her more. Since the first time she laid eyes on him, she had been curious to talk to him and, at the same time, terrified of trying. Stories about Supermutants usually weren't the kind you wanted to listen to before bedtime, yet the Mayor accepted him in Silvershaw and while a lot of people were whispering whenever McTavish passed, Ellie wondered what the one they were whispering about was really like.

Perhaps she would find out as this adventure progressed. The guardsman and the mutant seemed to have the situation under control and thus, Ellie directed her attention back to their ghoul leader and the couple.