![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
First Annual Pod Day
WHERE: Vault 66
WHEN: ???? - Day 1
WHAT: The first pods open
WARNINGS:TBD
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:
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.
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.
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!
no subject
Her mother had encouraged her to take art classes but she was the only one. Even the art teacher tried to discourage anyone from assuming art was going to be a career path considering the strict censorship laws her city had put into place.
"I do like P.E. I'm the fastest girl in my grade." She added hoping that sounded less lame then she thought art sounded.
no subject
She gave Sandy a firm nod, adding, "And the running may well keep you alive down here, which is no mean thing. I once overheard someone say that when you're faced with an opponent, and there's nothing you can do but run, then run until you're at a place where you've either lost your opponent, or you can make the fight yours." Granted, Peggy had never really heeded that advice, being the sort of person who went straight for the eye of a hurricane.
no subject
Either way Peggy was not stupid, and if she didn't think art was stupid then maybe that was just another lie Sandy had been told.
"OK...yeah. Maybe I can paint something to make this place look less sad and gross." She agreed though she wasn't sure if she even could.
As for the running thing she smiled at Peggy's advice "My dad always used to tell a joke about running. You never have to outrun the bear...you just gotta outrun whoever else the bear is chasing." After a moment she added "I think yours sounds cooler though."
no subject
"Honestly, if we could find something to rid the walls of the blood splatters, that would even be a positive step forward. We know that horrors have clearly happened here - we don't need a constant visual reminder of it." Granted, the entire vault was a constant visual reminder that Horrors had clearly Happened in the entire world around them. She took a deep breath and walked around the room, taking the rest of it in. She wondered how much an education mattered in this grave new world. Was there anything to glean from history any longer? Did the works of Aristophanes even matter anymore?
Talking to Sandy - someone who had more of a future in her than Peggy did - in a classroom, of all places, made Peggy wonder more and more what the future held for any of them. They were all still in some form of shock, learning to accept their new normal, and that was just the thing - what if this was the new normal? What if there was no going back, or no going up?
Peggy picked up a test tube from a nearby chemistry set and examined it, lost in deep thought. Finally, snapping out of it, she said, "Perhaps some mural painting thing in the common area. We can all pitch in. Get our minds out of our worries and get to know one another better." They were all each other had, she realized, and though she wasn't always ready to let people in and get to know the real her, they were going to need to build trust and move forward together. Like it or not, Peggy had realized that they were a society unto themselves now.
no subject
Thankfully Peggy didn't hold it against her and was already thinking practically about how to make this place more livable.
"I guess if we're gonna be stuck together we should get to know each other." Sandy agreed. "So far everyone's been cool...except Jiro. He's a jerk." But even Jiro had some good part to him Sandy had discovered while he helped her chase roaches away from Louis.
"The more we know about each other the more we can figure out about this place...everyone's got some skills either running fast or code breaing." She offered a shy smile to Peggy.
no subject
Peggy set the test tube back down, but kept an eye on the chemistry set. That could have quite a few applications, depending on necessity. She wasn't the world's foremost chemist, but she knew enough to help in some emergencies.
"He is a little rough around the edges, I agree," Peggy said. "But I don't think he bears any ill-will. Like both you and me, I think there's a story there. He hasn't said or done anything too harsh or untoward to you, has he?" It's not like she's going to march over there and reprimand him, but it's better to know how everyone is interacting now, before things spiral out of control. Cabin fever is still, likely, a fair bit away, but it's important to be prepared for that eventuality now, and the best way to do it is to learn how everyone gets along. Head things off the pass if need be.
"I'd like to think the code breaking will come in handy here, but the consoles have proved quite impossible to me. I almost hate to admit it, but they're a bit more advanced than what I deal with where I'm from."
no subject
"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."
no subject
"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.
no subject
As for the robot bit she looked thoughtful, "I mean no? I asked him about the people before us but he kinda...glitched or something. Like he couldn't hear me and just kept on talking about other stuff." She explained "He's really happy to have people to take care of, and he seems to think we're all better off in here then we would be back home."
no subject
"I believe there may be something in his programming that stops him from sharing certain information with the dwellers of the vault." Not that she knew much about robotic programming, but it surely seemed a safe bet. "If anyone's familiar with robotics, perhaps we could convince them to tinker about a bit, but that seems unlikely amongst our lot." There were a handful of ways that Peggy could think of using Louis in a fight, both offensively and defensively, but that wasn't the same as extracting information out of him. "The fact that he believes we're better off in here certainly means he's going to be in no hurry to help us get out."
no subject
The part about Louis was what she focused on though "I guess we can ask the others." She tapped the device on her arm "I think we can send messages with these things to like...all the other humans? I haven't really tried it yet but maybe we should start?"
"We just gotta be careful we don't hurt him. Louis has been the nicest one since I woke up." Though she hadn't spent a lot of time with the nurse yet.
no subject
Peggy reached out, then, and gently patted Sandy's hand in a way that was more meant to comfort her than it was to patronize her. Having spent a good chunk of her life being talked down to, Peggy found that she didn't care for it, and unless she was interrogating someone, she wasn't going to talk down to anyone either. "I hesitate to make promises or guarantees, because we're in uncertain times, but we will do our best to ensure that nothing happens to Louis."
no subject
"Is that normal? That's probably normal." she showed it to Peggy before shrugging. Peggy might be able to tell that yes, Sandy's heart rate is normal.
Then suddenly Peggy patted her and it kind of froze Sandy in her tracks. She wasn't used to that sort of familiarity from any adult that wasn't her mother. She blinked and then smiled as Peggy made what sounded like a reasonable promise.
"Our best is all we can do right?"
no subject
She did notice Sandy's freezing up, though, and immediately pulled her hand back. "I apologize for that," she said. "I was merely trying to be reassuring. I ought to have asked if it was okay, first."
She took a few steps across the room, then, only to investigate their surroundings a little bit further. "Let us hope our best is enough in these circumstances." The only thing she doesn't want to be is another skeleton added to the collection that these walls already contained.
We can probably trail off here for now :D
Probably a lack of social circles back home but oh well. Her social circle was very small and tight now.
Thinking about what waited for them beyond the walls of the Vault Sandy nodded before resuming her search for useful items.
"Well if it isn't, at least we'll know we tried."
Then again, so had these skeletons right?