vault66 | First Annual Pod Day

Entry tags:

First Annual Pod Day

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Vault 66
WHEN: ???? - Day 1
WHAT: The first pods open
WARNINGS:TBD

AWAKENING

You awake laying on your back in an, admittedly comfortable, pod. You can't move anything but your eyes, can't even feel your body yet. How you got here or why is a blank. You may have been in the middle of your day, asleep, or even- for what you remember- should be dead. Then a screen directly in front of your face flickers to life and in crisp, black and white displays: DON'T PANIC. The following video then plays:

Watch on YouTube

The screen flickers again and reads: CONGRATULATIONS ON PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! WELCOME TO VAULT LIFE, CITIZEN. WELCOME TO YEAR: [ERROR]. YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS ARE LOCATED IN [FILE CORRUPTED. SEE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR]. ENJOY YOUR STAY AND THANK YOU FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT VAULT-TEC.

The pod then unseals and you are able to, unstably at first, climb out of the pod. Your body may feel foreign for a moment- perhaps entirely foreign if you suddenly find yourself a human, ghoul, or super mutant for the first time. But whatever your form, you have two items on: a bright blue jumpsuit with the number 66 in yellow on the back, and a mechanical device known as a Pip-boy sealed onto your arm. If you click on the buttons it takes you to an instruction screen.

You look around to find yourself in a room of other pods. Some are just opening, other people looking as confused as you climbing out. Others remain closed with the status of 'STASIS' on the screens attached to the pods. The rest of the room is less than impressive. Computer systems that seem out of place compared to the technology level of the pods are scattered across the room, apparently running the chambers. Trying to access them, even for the most talented hacker, will simply result in SEE OVERSEER being displayed. There is large metal door leading to the rest of the vault, a lever on the wall next to it that will cause it to open.

Welcome, dweller, to vault 66.

RAD ROACH RIOT

Outside of the pod room, the rest of the vault is limping along on an emergency power supply. The air is stale from lackluster recycling and deep shadows occupy the corners of rooms and edges of hallways as only the pale maintenance lighting flickers from the ceiling. The pip-boy flashlight helps, but can still only light up a small area, casting anything outside of it into even darker shadows.

In those shadows there is skittering. The noise isn't too noticeable when there are groups of people, but get down to one or two and it's impossible to ignore. Venture into an empty room and you’ll spot a small number, maybe even just one, loitering in what, until today, had more or less been their sole domain: radroaches. Giant, mutated cockroaches that have a hunger for fresh food (like say, new vault dwellers) when it’s available.

The majority of roaches, however, seem to have a destination in mind, mostly ignoring characters unless blocked or directly bothered. This hoard, gathering from all over the vault, all move through the shadows and vents to the kitchen. If a character is unthreatening enough, they can follow the trail unmolested by the creatures.

In the kitchen itself is a whole different matter. Even from down the hall, characters can hear a masculine, slightly French-accented voice exclaim:

“Mais! Get out, out you nasty things!”

After a moment, a burst of flame can be seen through the door, followed by the new yet distinctive sound of mandibles ripping at metal. Those that decide to enter will see over a dozen roaches trying to take down a lone, floating robot. Despite the robot occasionally hitting them with a blast of fire from a small flame-throwing on one of its arms, the roaches appear to be winning.

The source of the fight can be seen behind the robot: a counter full of various kinds of packaged foods, some of them newly opened. One roach has managed to make it to the prize, ripping into a things of what seems to be apples with its mandibles.

GENERAL EXPLORING

Whether you help with the Battle of the Kitchen or not, the rest of the vault awaits. This includes two other robots floating around the medical wing and water/air control systems, as well as more radroaches wandering around the many corpses/blood splatter patterns to be discovered and potentially cleaned up.

OOC NOTES

To talk to a specific NPC one-on-one, leave a comment on their thread below. Note an exception is Louis in Radroach Riot, he will pop up on his own in threads related to him.

Looking for loot in a specific area? Looking for a specific item/kinds of item in general? Ask here and we’ll let you know.

If you have any OOC questions, please leave a comment here!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Elizabeth grimaces at the thought of attempting to talk to another robot. The last one she spoke to was too eager to help with its saw.]

Exactly what I'll need.

[The blowtorch is a necessity she can't ignore. Still she'd like to know what she's getting into before she tries to converse with this one. She doesn't miss the annoyance in his tone. After her own experiences she can't exactly blame him.]

Not a fan of the robot?

"Mixing human and insects sounds a dangerous thing," Louis is sticking with this one. "No matter the sense of humor. How lucky you came to Vault-Tec instead."

He picks up a needle and holds it before her.

"You have threaded before, yes?"

Elizabeth's been to or remembers more universes than she count.

She is now aware there are more than she ever had any idea about. She can only remember pieces and bits from when she was omniscient but no place like this ever existed through any door she ever looked through.

"Those are good questions. You're trying to find the constants and variables. There was a New York City and United States."

Her expression becomes curious.

"No superheroes." No heroes really. "What does being a superhero mean?" Comics were not among the books provided to her in her party. She can guess but she'd rather hear it from someone who has it as their reality.

Charlotte looks, as much as a floating three-eyed robot can, devastated at the news. But she rallies the best she can, even if the saw arm remains droopy.

"Medication, hun. You don't need all that if you're in tip-top health. Unless there's something else the matter? I've got an x-ray machine right over here."

The optics shutter and open, one after the other, as Nick seems to be thinking on his 'feet' about what to say to that, and what tumbles out is pretty defensive.

"There's a bunch of them. We're underground, there's bugs. Louis' gotta get we can't change that. No one else's ever complained, it's just his problem."

Edited 2020-05-16 19:33 (UTC)

[Jiro hasn't encountered the other robots yet, but he knows there's more of them.]

He's a dick. Won't come out and say things, but he'll be a passive aggressive little shit.

[It may be a paranoid warning, but...]

Watch your food if you get on his bad side.

[Elizabeth perceives the genuineness of the statement. Her surprise only deepens but she supposes it is better than being alone in an unknown situation. There is strength in numbers when people have the same goal. She imagines everyone within this vault must wish to be free from it and find out why they are here.]

You're used to waking in strange vaults with strangers or strange and dangerous situations in general?

[She smirks lightly to show she is joking. Her curiosity piqued by talks of Peggy's life. She wonders what life could have led to being accustomed to situations like this one and to rolling with punches and kicks with such ease. Elizabeth has learned to compartmentalize out of a need to survive.

She doesn't know how good she is at rolling with the hits as much as she's come to expect them. There's no memory loss this time preventing her from remembering her own decisions this time at least. No, she sharply and painfully remembers the wrench to the head and Sally's cold hand on her fingers.

Elizabeth follows her to the door. She reaches for the lever as they approach and turns to Peggy to be certain she is ready before pulling it.]

No. Only more strangers who are as confused as I am.

Elizabeth should have known it wouldn't be so easy. She doesn't know if she can trust any answers she received but she hoped for answers at least. Her hand remains on the syringe with the sharp point at its end. There's a child in the vault. If she is hurt, Elizabeth will need to know what they have to heal her.

"But what does this specifically do? Would I need it for pain? Would I need it to prevent infection? If I was bleeding from a deep wound, what would you do?"

She is hoping the robot doesn't mention the saw.

Thanks for the warning. It's good to know what I'm up against. I'll try not to get on his bad side but we need the blowtorch.

[She's not afraid of getting on anyone's bad side to get what she needs. She also needs a cigarette at the moment.]

Unfortunately, the robot in medical is similar but that one has a saw.

A deep, highly dramatic sigh is the only reply at first as Charlotte sadly hovers back over to resume her 'organizing' of dulled equipment and clipboards.

"It's a stimpak, dear. It stimulates your body's regenerative abilities."

Great.

[The saw and the blowtorch they could use, but the robots themselves might be unnecessary.]

Wanna use them for parts? Whoever programmed them could be watching us.

[They're probably being watched through other means as well, this 'Overseer' or architect of this whole thing.]

"Oh...well yeah I mean. I figured they were gonna be hard to deal with." She admitted "But a couple of us wanted to like...try and contain them. Maybe keep them in a room or something so they don't bother Louis and he doesn't bother you."

Jiro might not still want her help honestly but there's precious little for Sandy to distract herself with down here.

"I was just wondering if there was like a nest...or something."

"I mean they might be...but I think it'd be hard to find stuff like that."

Further proof they weren't from the same universes. Sandy was finding the concept of multiverses interesting but also a little unsettling.

"New York used to be full of heroes and villains and super powers and even magic. But things got...really bad I guess. So by the time I was born most of them were already gone or on their way out. Wait...where were you from?"

"Not me no. I mean...he was really rude to Louis. I think we gotta keep an eye on the robots so he doesn't break any of them." Because even if she didn't totally trust the robots so far Louis had only been helpful.

"He likes animals, Jiro does. He even thinks we should keep the roaches alive instead of killing them." She explained deciding to leave out that he admitted he used to be able to speak their language. He couldn't now so it wasn't important and it was his secret to share.

"For how old and junkie everything looks I guess on the inside it's still high tech. Like...the robots look old and dinged up but they're still more high tech then anything I've seen."

"Yeah...I guess I lucked out." Because it was apparently the only thing that saved her from...

Opting not to think about what could have been Sandy squints at the needle in front of her.

"Yeah once or twice in school, but it's hard. Is there like a trick to it?" She accepts the needle and twists it back and forth between her fingers studying the hole where the thread is supposed to go.

Sandy looked a little proud of herself when Elizabeth said she was asking good questions. Those had just popped out of her mouth but she was going to take the praise where she could get it.

"Oh um...well we don't have them anymore but in New York...my New York there used to be people with amazing powers. Magic, mutations, some were just super smart and had high tech stuff. And they would fight bad guys with their powers so they were called superheroes." She wondered if there was a better way to define it.

"My dad used to tell me stories about them. He fought with them a lot and sometimes alongside them. So he knew a lot of them."

He's thinking along the lines of alternate universes as well, unless Sandy's from far in the future. Whether either of those are true, or it's all a cover-up and they are from the same Earth or dimension, the scenarios are disturbing in their own right.

"I'm from Gamagori, Japan. We had demons, not superheroes or magic, but the government hid it," he's hesitant to add the last part, but it should be said. "It's- it was 2017."

"Practice. Go, go. I will wait."

And not hover- literally- over her, since it seems to make humans nervous. Rather he spends more time than needed getting the dress ready to mend while she works.

"Hopefully a teacher will wake soon, then you may resume schooling."

"Nah, they're solo acts. Just wander where they want, laying their eggs, getting up into everything."

Now it seems like she isn't going to yell at her like certain other robots, Nick is back to hovering a little more casually.

"You could put a few heads on pikes, warn the rest off."

That gave Sandy another visible shock.

"Whoa...ok um...well I'm from 2050 in my world so...yeah I don't know where that leaves us."

Elizabeth had started telling her about alternate universes. That had to be what this was right?

"Also...either your English is awesome or I suddenly know Japanese."

It takes Sandy about eight tries to finally get it, and when she does she's so delighted she almost drops it.

"I did it!" She grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks for waiting."

As for the teacher comment she pulled a face "Yeah because that's really what I've been missing from my life. Spending one on one time with a teacher alone in a class room." Then she realized that Louis might not be totally into sarcasm and scrambled to avoid offending him.

"So far you're a better teacher then the human one I had that tried to teach me sewing. She wasn't as patient."

"Eggs..." Sandy gave a visible shudder at the thought. "Gross...OK file that away for later." She muttered before returning to the problem at hand. She laughed when he suggested heads on pikes.

"We'd have to make the pikes first, but yeah I don't think Jiro would be down for that. He really likes animals...even bugs. That's why I was trying to figure out another way."

2050, holy shit. He doesn't think all that will happen in the next 30 years, but it could. It's still more likely they're from alternate universes.

"It's English," he raises an eyebrow. She had to know what language she was speaking, didn't she? Now he's questioning it himself. "All the computer shit and the signs are in English."

He hadn't given much thought to it beyond that, but now he is. English words had been easier to find without thinking about it and he hadn't had any trouble understanding anyone, even words he hadn't heard before. What the fuck?

"Those robots are currently our only sentient link with whomever brought us here in the first place," Peggy said. "Well, as sentient as a robot can get, I suppose." How advanced where they, anyway? She didn't have much experience with robots, but she'd read about them some in Howard Stark's writings.

"It's a noble thought, keeping the roaches alive, and normally I'm loathe to hurt animals, but these things clearly crave flesh. I'm afraid in this instance, it's likely more of an us versus them situation, and I'm rooting for us to overcome this ordeal." Then again... "Early man did manage to domesticate animals. I wonder if...if these roaches can be domesticated and put to some use." That was a thing worth discussion. She made a mental note to bring it up to Jiro the next time they crossed paths, though she wondered if perhaps he'd already considered that.

"Whomever is responsible for this vault - and Vault-Tec in general - clearly had some very advanced ideas and some very advanced knowledge. It contrasts greatly with how absolutely rudimentary some of these objects are," she indicated the chemistry set and the toy car. Granted, given that Peggy was clearly from a different time than Sandy, it was possible that certain things seemed even more advanced for her. "There were also previous tenants here before us, if all the skeletons are any indication. Makes you wonder what, exactly, happened before we were released, and how long ago it was."

She opened her mouth to say something else, but then stopped, eyebrow quirking up. "Were you able to get any information from Louis regarding this place?" She didn't imagine a robot would be too forthcoming, but one never knew.

[Peggy laughs a little at the joke. Humour - is there any better catharsis for situations such as this? Well, perhaps a tipple of whisky, but that simply seemed to be an unrealistic notion for the moment.]

I have woken up in a strange place a time or two, but no, the vault is definitely a first for me. Strange and dangerous situations, though, those are my bread and butter. Not always wholesome and delicious, but they do tend to keep one energized and on the move.

[She watches Elizabeth carefully as they make their way to the door. Whatever inner turmoil the other woman might be feeling - and aren't they all currently guilty of feeling inner turmoil? - the woman clearly has her wits about her. Cracking a joke in this sort of situation, Peggy can appreciate it. You have to have a certain amount of strength to do so at a time like this.]

Yes, I found much of the same myself. I tried looking in the pods to see if I could find anyone I knew, but I'm afraid I didn't have much luck.

[Steve was a long shot - Steve was always going to be a long shot - but there was no Sousa, no Jarvis, no Howard, no Rose. Thankfully no Dottie or Whitney either, though perhaps a familiar face wouldn't have been terribly awful to have.]

I hope whatever we're looking for lies beyond that door, and we're not just in for a long journey down a yellow brick road that leads nowhere.

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First Annual Pod Day

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