fh_adventures | FALLOUTVERSE - Capital Wasteland into Vault 106

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FALLOUTVERSE - Capital Wasteland into Vault 106 - DAY THREE

For a moment, it seemed almost like a rustic scene: a herd of calm, two-headed cows ambled idly past Fandom's camping spot, and took up a position to graze off what little grass managed to wrestle itself loose from the ruined soil, just a few feet away.

But overnight, the cracks had increased in size, cutting through the sky. Looking upwards now, it was almost as if whatever location they were pulled towards had a halo, a small ring of friendly skies from which the blackness shot out in several directions.

Furthermore, though, this was Radscorpion country, and the people who travelled here now would do best to watch their steps...

And after that, it was on to a small hidden door in the middle of nowhere - behind which hid Vault 106.

[[ ~~wait for the~~ ocd up! ]]

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This area is full of clutter and dirt. Here and there, you can find niches with beds that have been abandoned for a long while. It’s quiet - except for the occasional murmuring of an insane vault dweller... who might attack you at any moment. There is no more clear path, but it’s obvious that whatever it is you’re looking for, it’s further ahead.

Alex had a bad feeling about this place ~~even if those feelings were reserved for Skywalkers~~. He had his gun out while he looked slowly around the living quarters.

There didn't seem to be anything of use there save for...something. Alex turned and found himself face to his face with his father. He blinked, opened his eyes and his father was still there, sneering at him.

He raised his hand to strike and Alex flinched backwards, trying to get away. Nothing hit him. His father was gone. A moment or two later, his father was there again, eyes blazing with a drug high that he remembered and Alex flinched again, trying to slip away, trying not to show fear. His father opened his mouth and there were blood drenched fangs.

"Vampire," he breathed, taking out the gun to try and shoot this...thing. But, his father was gone. He needed to get out of there. When he turned towards the door, his father, fangs and all, loomed in it and started stalking towards him. Alex couldn't make himself fire. He blinked, his father was gone and a vault dweller was there, swinging a lead pipe. Alex turned, caught the strike on the back of his neck and nearly passed out.

The gun still worked, the gun was in his hand and Alex fired, taking out the vault dweller before he stumbled out of the room and back into the halls. His father followed, hate in his eyes and Alex was afraid.

"Oh my god, it's like something out of Hoarders," Quinn murmured as she walked carefully in, tire iron held in front of her like a baseball bat.

And then she blinked. Her mom was there.

"Mom?" Quinn asked uncertainly. "What - How?"

"It's all right, Quinnie," her mother said, with that perfect '50s housewife smile of hers. "We just have to clean up in here a little and then we can stay forever."

Quinn was still processing that when her mother lunged at her, all teeth and claws. Instinctively, Quinn struck out with her tire iron --

And a moment later realized she'd been whaling at thin air. She pulled herself together, hyperventilating a bit as she did.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ben muttered, gripping his rifle and wishing like hell for a lightsaber.

Trying to steer away from the sounds of murmuring, he took cautious steps forward...and jumped about a foot into the air at the familiar sound of his cousin speaking. "Oh, come on, Ben, think!" Jacen commanded. "You don't think you're getting out of here alive, do you? I thought you were smarter than that."

Ben had his weapon up and sighted before he could think. "You're not real," he said, voice shakier than he'd like.

Jacen shrugged. "Does it matter?" he asked before he disappeared. Ben shuddered and closed his eyes. Walking blindly through the vault would seem stupid to a non-Jedi, but Ben trusted the Force more than he trusted his eyes right now.

After a while, Ender lost sight of the group (he didn't) and he was alone (he wasn't) and there were voices, buzzing voices, singing voices. Bugger voices, he knew, and he twisted around to see them, but they weren't there.

"Where are you?" he called, and pushed his head into an empty room, searching. "Come back!"

More chattering, and then he saw one, a queen, sneaking past him, through the hall, so close, and--

She vanished, leaving Ender reeling.

Five minutes later, he opened a door to find Peter: "Bugger lover, bugger lover, I always freaking knew it!"

It wasn't real. It really wasn't real.

Was it? Was he back in that bunker, back on Eros, had he just imagined everything that had happened since? Was that clanging he heard just now, Peter's image evaporating, was that the civil war still raging outside his door?

Alai gripped his hand tight. "Salaam," he said, "Salaam, here, between us, Ender. If you stay."

He turned and twisted.

Ben stumbled blindly around a corner, Mara's voice ringing in his ears as she begged him to stay and felt a familiar presence.

"Ender?"

Please be real, please be real...

Ender? said his nightmare. But it wasn't real. None of it was real. He was still sleeping. Or was it someone banging on his door? Trying to get to him?

Ender stepped back, and said nothing.

Ben kept on walking, pulled back into nightmares and memories of his own before getting jumped by something insane and corporeal instead of made of mist and hallucination.

As Reno pressed onward into the vault, his smooth grin occasionally turned into a sour scowl. For the most part, these living quarters were just the overturned, ruined living spaces of people he'd never known.

There was something in the air, here, there had to be. Because now and again, he could see the room that he and Rude used to share, back in the ShinRa building. He'd stop, and he'd stare, and then after a few moments he would blink and find himself standing in a stranger's home all over again.

Jason thought he could handle dark and smelly and dirty, but that had been when he was with everyone else. He didn't know when he lost sight of the others - one minute he was following right along, and then he heard a sound and turned. When he looked back, he expected to see the others. Instead, he found himself face to face with his mother, not as she'd been when she'd shown up in Fandom, but as she'd looked right before she died, sick and pale and thin.

"Mom?" he said uncertainly, feeling stupid the moment the word left his mouth.

"Oh honey, you don't think you're really going to get home, do you?" she said, with a cold, hard smile.

"What?" Jason said, before shutting his eyes. "Shut the hell up. You're not real." When he opened his eyes again, the vision was gone, but he didn't feel much better.

Edited 2010-08-08 20:47 (UTC)

Alex really, really didn't like the look of this place. It was safe to say she was gripping the bat as tightly as possible. The murmurs were freaking her out.

She took her time looking around and didn't expect, on the next turn, to find herself face to face with Gigi of all people.

"Gigi? How... what are you doing here?" She was beyond confused.

"I'm here to keep you company, Russo. You honestly believe you're going to get out of here? Or that you'll beat your brother and get to keep your powers? Please. Keep dreaming Russo."

Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No, no, no. You're lying." She shut her eyes tightly, trying to keep her anxiety and panic from taking over. When she finally opened her eyes, Gigi was gone but those feelings wouldn't be going away any time soon.

This was creepy, but that didn't stop Kitty from unthinkingly touching the table when she was checking the place out. And it didn't stop her from staring when she saw her hand go right through the table.

She hadn't meant to do that. She hadn't made herself phase.

Concentrating really hard, she tried to make herself tangible again, but every time she put her hand to the table or wall, it just went through. It wasn't actually happening, of course, but that wasn't going to stop Kitty from freaking out that she couldn't make herself stay solid.

The whole place had Makita on-edge from the moment they had passed the door. It just felt wrong, like something creeping over her grave.

She kept her knife ready, but what she found when she turned the corner caused to clatter to the floor.

"Papa?"

"My Makita." His face -- his body -- was melting. Melting from the fire of the Skyfurnace, and Makita shook as she felt the heat radiating from him. "My beautiful, clever, Makita."

"Why did you let me die?"

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FALLOUTVERSE - Capital Wasteland into Vault 106 - DAY THREE

Vault 106 - Living Quarters

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Re: Vault 106 - Living Quarters