Ash is a robot!*

[bending_sickle]

Today's Word Count: 3143

Novel Progress: Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18.

Current Emotion: *more zombie noises*

“What – what am I doing?”  She tried to stand up straighter, shifted her hands from her knees to her thighs, her pack dropping to the ground.  “What the hell are you?  Just – just leaving.”  She almost had her breath under control again, but now the cold shower of emotions from that morning’s waking came back to her.  “What the fuck?” she gestured helplessly, trying to convey the absolute terror and betrayal that empty halls and smouldering fire had filled her with.

A few of the dwarves looked at her in confusion.  Gandalf, she noticed, was nowhere to be seen, although little Bilbo was still with the group.

Balin turned to Thorin, saying, “You said she was stopping here,” as if Grace had made a decision, any decision.

“I’m not,” interjected Grace, just as Thorin lifted a hand to quiet Balin’s questions.

“You said Elrond had offered you lodging,” said Thorin.

“So?”  Very eloquent, that.

“Leave it, Thorin,” said Dwalin, moving to Thorin’s free side.  “If she’s no sense to stay, then so be it.  We have to be gone from the valley before the elves know it.”

Thorin nodded, began to turn away, then stopped.  “You truly do not want to stay?”

“No!” exclaimed Grace, pushing her hair out of her face, twisting it around over one shoulder.  “Have you seen them?  They’re all –” she moved her hand in front of her face, as if holding something.  “All wrong in the face.  It ain’t human.”

Stunned silence met this declaration, then, abruptly,  Bifur began to laugh.  He gestured towards Grace, then the dwarves, chuckling some harsh-sounding words.

And, because I fucked up and put in the wrong quote, here's the one I used on Tumblr:

Thorin did not seem to hear this. “That inn, in the village of men,” he began. “It was no fit place.”

“It weren’t fit for a dog,” she agreed.

Another silence, then “The last homely house east of the sea,” said Thorin, turning to her. “That is what they call this place. The mountain pass lies ahead, and it is a treacherous road.”

Grace shifted, drawing up both knees to her chest now despite the pain. She propped her chin on her knees and studied him, considering his words. “You sound like you’re angling for me to stay.”

Thorin gave her a condescending look. “The wilds are no place for you. This morning’s orc ambush should be proof enough of that.”

Grace raised her eyebrows at this. “And the trolls’ sack was proof for what, exactly?”

Thorin pointedly ignored this and ploughed on. “There are other towns of men nearby. The elves may be conviced to extend their hospitality a while longer and –”

“Elrond already said I could stay.”

“What?” For all his words, Thorin did not seem happy about this.

“He said I could stay, or go downriver, all the way back to the sea if I wanted.”

39004 / 50000 words. 78% done!


* Alien (1979)