calmhrtprevails | (no subject)

The door opens on a vista of rocky landscape punctuated here and there by yellowed, rough-edged grass and low, scrubby brush. There's a hint of coolness on the breeze in the otherwise warming air, and a scent of distant rain. "We are," Fawkes rumbles, "some hours' distance from the Citadel. We're likely to stop at the town of Megaton first, and then make for the Arlington route the rest of the way."

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From:

cantdiequiteyet

Teresa watches the way the man runs - looking for the speed and signs of tiredness Fawkes is talking about.

"Oh, well," she says. He chose to run that way, after all.

"What's a Frankenstein?"

From:

calmhrtprevails

"One of the names the humans use for my fellow meta-humans," says Fawkes. "There was a book about a man who tried to create a living creature from the pieces of corpses. His creature became a monster, and since it had no name, people called it by its creator's name- Frankenstein. The humans here use it for my kind; we're made monsters, not born."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"Like me and my former colleagues," says Teresa.

She shakes her head in the direction of the running man.

"Some of them are worth protecting."

She has to say it out loud to reassure herself.

From:

calmhrtprevails

Fawkes nods. "Most likely," he says. And then: "I can't really blame him. Most of the others would eat him, or drag him off to turn him into one of them, or worse. Until they're gone, his fear's more likely to keep him alive."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"Right," Teresa says. "I suppose so."

It's not quite the same as her situation, as half-yoma are significantly different from full yoma, but she's seen the fear and suspicion. It's just more justified here.

"Let's get to this town."

From:

calmhrtprevails

"Very well."

After a long while of walking under the Wasteland sun, the land begins to grow hillier and the signs of former civilization more numerous. Fawkes leads the way along the chunks of pale grey stony stuff that were once a road and notes, "We'll turn west under that elevated road and circle the ridge shortly. Megaton's just on the other side."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

Teresa walks around and over the chunks of grey stuff like she hardly noticed it was there, except for the occasional curious look. Concrete isn't a thing on her world.

"This is from before?" she asks.

From:

calmhrtprevails

Fawkes nods. "There were roads that ran for hundreds of miles," he says. "Both on the ground, and on those pillars you see ahead of us. When the war came, it didn't go well for them- or for any of the other things men had built."

Around the ridge, the landscape opens out to reveal a plain stretching away towards the horizon. Here and there a forlorn tower of metal tracework reaches towards the sky; a keen eye might spot dangling, broken cables still clinging to a few. Far in the southeast, the remains of a city can be seen, its tallest point some kind of vast, broken obelisk.

That is not the way they are going. The way Fawkes and Teresa are going leads north, towards metal walls anchored in the sandy Wasteland soil. They encircle a fair-sized area, on the other side of which the noises of everyday village life can be heard- even down to the lowing of at least two cattle.

From:

cantdiequiteyet

At least that sound is familiar.

"What kind of welcome can we expect?"

From:

calmhrtprevails

"The people here know me by now," says Fawkes. "They'll most likely be wary, but offer no threat. Some of them may even be friendly. The robot at the gates may consider you dangerous, but so long as you don't make a hostile move towards him or anyone else, he won't turn you away."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"Alright."

As long as she doesn't have to kill anyone, it's OK. She's quiet again, nothing but the footsteps on the ruined road.

From:

calmhrtprevails

That, fortunately, will not be a problem. The gates to the metal city are guarded by an odd figure made of metal with a glowing part on top. "Welcome to Megaton. The bomb is perfectly safe, we promise," it says.

From:

cantdiequiteyet

Teresa stares at the robot when it says that.

Then she stares at Fawkes to see that makes what she heard make anymore sense.

When it doesn't, she just nods and walks on.

From:

calmhrtprevails

"The town," says Fawkes, "is built around an ancient weapon of war that was too dangerous to move. My friend disarmed it some time ago."

(The robot was pronouncing it perfectly safe before that, but Fawkes isn't aware of that.)

The city gates slide upward at the robot's pronunciation of both arrivals to be acceptable. Beyond lies a city built of scrap, metal rooms and buildings stacked up on top of one another all along the sides of a vast crater. Stairs and pipes lead the way down to the crater bottom, where a pool of water has gathered around a large, ovoid shape- "That would be the bomb in question," Fawkes notes.

There are, yes, a few cattle here. Well. One cow, at the moment. With two heads. She's being tended by a young boy with dark skin and a blue coat. There are other people around as well- some running shops, some arguing with each other, some trading, at least one seemingly praying to the bomb while up to his knees in water.

From:

cantdiequiteyet

Teresa takes all this in quietly, her expression her usual enigmatic smile.

"Are they safe here?" she asks. "From the creatures outside?"

From:

calmhrtprevails

"They are," Fawkes confirms. "They built on this spot to use the crater for their protection."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"The... 'bomb'?"

Teresa doesn't know what a bomb is, by the way.

From:

calmhrtprevails

"That device," says Fawkes, indicating the great egg-shaped thing at the center of the crater. "It was one of the weapons meant to be used in the Great War, two hundred years ago. If it were used, the explosion it would cause would level every building for miles, and leave most of the living things in the region no more than shadows burnt onto melted rock."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"No wonder they avoid it," Teresa says, following his gaze. "It's disarmed now, but the monsters still avoid the area?"

She just wants to make sure she has it right.

From:

calmhrtprevails

"The monsters don't avoid the area," says Fawkes. "The walls of the city, and the slope of the crater, provide shelter. And look, there."

He points to a narrow catwalk running around the interior of the walls. Specifically, to a man on the catwalk, leaning forward to peer through a small hole.

"The walls are guarded by men and women with guns. They have the high ground, and can strike at any enemy that's stupid enough to come within their range, as long as they see them first."

From:

cantdiequiteyet

"Oh."

She understands now, looking up and watching the walls.

"Humans defending themselves." She'll get used to it. Rigth now, her own ignorance amuses her.

From:

calmhrtprevails

"They do their best," Fawkes agrees. "When they can't fight, they find safer places to live instead, as far as they're able. Or they combine both, when they can."

He indicates a two-storey structure off to the left, the first house inside the walls. "That's my friend's home," he says, "and where I stay when I'm here. The man who runs this town, Sheriff Simms, lives in that house across the way. I had planned to retrieve some extra supplies before continuing on to Arlington. Is there anything you might need?"

From:

cantdiequiteyet

She shakes her head.

"No, I ate and slept before departing. We'll get what you need."

From:

calmhrtprevails

"Very well," says Fawkes. "This way."

As Fawkes unlocks the door to the Megaton house, a tinny, electronic-sounding voice with a faint, movie-derived English accent announces, "Good day, sir! And welcome back." Teresa may notice, as she steps through the door, that the voice appears to be coming from a floating thing of metal limbs and glowing parts. "How may I be of service this afternoon?"