From the Causeway to Washington DC, Thursday Afternoon

[arboreal_priestess]

This was not the first time on Fandom that Verity had been glad her apartment could double as an armory, but it might have been the most acute. This week had been ridiculous, from fighting off a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.

Nightmare fuel was walking into a room of giant mole-rats and hearing them talk to you, in case anybody needed a shot of that real quick. (Nobody needed a shot of that. Nobody.)

They also ate a lot more than Aeslin mice normally did and even though they supplemented their diet by eating pretty much any other creature they could find, the food levels in the Kincaid-Price household had gone from 'dangerously low' to 'practically non-existant' over night.

Which was why Liam and Verity had decided to strap on pretty much every single weapon they owned and head into the Wasteland to scavenge the remains of D.C. Supposedly, that was where the best remaining supplies were located.

Supposedly, that was where the most dangerous predators in the Wasteland were located, too. And most of them walked on two legs.

That was a problem they'd deal with when they got to it.

"All right," Verity said, securing another rusty container of bobby pins and her spare screwdriver. "We ready to head out?"

[Open to anyone who wants to join Liam and Verity on a scavenging expedition. Be prepared to self-NPC!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

At least the mole-rats in their apartment didn't try to kill them? Unlike the mole-rats that had popped up in the station yesterday.

"Ready," he confirmed, taking his laser rifle from the holster at his side.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity took a moment to eye him appreciatively (what, her boyfriend looked good holding a gun okay?) and started out over the Causeway. "So how many calls have you gotten about the island this week?" she asked, keeping her gun low. She was pretty sure nothing was going to attack them on the Causeway, but she also wasn't stupid enough to bet on it. "Is the weefee lady okay?"

[firstofitskind]

“She’s got a colony of tame blood bugs, she’s more okay than most,” Liam said dryly. “I actually did check in when I didn’t get a call from her, that’s how I found out about the blood bugs.”

[arboreal_priestess]

"Ugh," Verity said, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, I guess I can't complain considering the mice, but...ugh."

She was the wrong Price for this world. Alex would geek out over the new species and how they survived. Antimony would probably be running a gang somewhere. Verity was missing her heels.

[firstofitskind]

“You should see the Trooper’s armor,” Liam said, shaking his head. “It’s all this... patched together scavenged mishmash. Calvin was downright scandalized.”

[arboreal_priestess]

"So, I'm not telling an officer of the law that I found a suit made of tire scraps with disembodied hands tied to the belt in the wreck that is my closet or whatever, but I am telling my boyfriend that there's a reason I've been mostly raiding his drawers for clothes this week," Verity said, her eyes scanning the horizon for anything moving. There were some birds wheeling in the hazy sky, but otherwise, everything seemed quiet.

"If this is the week that breaks this pattern and has us stay, we're moving to Michigan."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam's wardrobe contained... a lot more flannel and long leather jackets than it usually did. Which was somewhat impractical for the late spring, but at least there weren't any disembodied hands.

"Why Michigan?" Liam wondered, nudging a dead bloatfly with one foot. Ugh. Dead too long for there still to be anything of use on the carcass.

[okteiviakom]

This wasn't Octavia's wasteland, but it was closer to it than Fandom usually was, and so she had been feeling a very weird sense of belonging, all through this week so far. And then feeling conficted about that feeling, because it wasn't as if she'd missed having to scavenge for survival, but -- in some weird way, maybe she had?

She'd also gone further and further back into looking like a Grounder, this week. All tough, practical leather with her hair braided back along her scalp, away from her face. And of course, armed with both her grim-looking sword as well as the knife she'd bought from Cable a while back.

And, guess this off-island trip was special because she'd gone for the warpaint, too. Black around the eyes, with specific shapes on her forehead and her cheeks.

"Food's an obvious priority. Anything else?"

[firstofitskind]

"Keep an eye out for power packs for this thing?" Liam asked, hefting his rifle up slightly. He'd been a little dismayed to find out his favorite sidearm had changed along with the island. "Also medical supplies can't hurt." Sure, the clinic was well-stocked. Didn't mean a personal stash of that anti-radiation stuff wouldn't be useful.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked at the rifle briefly like she was memorizing what to look for. Then she looked up again, and nodded. "Rad-X and RadAway especially, right?"

Of course she'd committed those to memory as soon as she'd found out about them.

"Also more weapons." Well, for her, anyway.

[firstofitskind]

He nodded in response to the question. He'd pick up any Stimpaks they came across too, of course, though that was something he personally wouldn't be using. "More weapons are always helpful," he agreed.

[okteiviakom]

"Figuring out a way to get the island away from this wasteland would be the most helpful thing," Octavia drawled. It was a kind of a dry joke, so, feel special, Liam. "But failing that, more weapons is really good."

[firstofitskind]

Liam's lips quirked up in a half-smile at the joke. Sure, Octavia's sense of humor wasn't typical, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate it when it made an appearance.

"I've done a bit of research," because of course he had. "Apparently this sort of thing has happened before; the island spends a summer hopping to different locations." Which meant that hopefully, soon, they'd be on to something else. Whether or not it would be any better was anyone's guess.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's face scrunched up. Displeased, if not overly so.

"So this is going to keep happening?"

She wasn't actually sure how she felt about that.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Clean water if we can find some," Verity said, noting the warpaint but not questioning it. "I don't trust the pipes with those things down there."

Some of the noises she heard echoing up from her sink had been downright unsettling.

"I wouldn't say no to more medical supplies. And weapons. The more we have the fewer other people do."

Verity trusted her people, even the ones she didn't really know. It was everyone else in this Wasteland she was skeptical about.

"And fuck, if you find coffee? I don't even know."

[okteiviakom]

"I think most of those other things might be easier than the water," Octavia noted, a little on the dry side. She didn't trust the water here just in general. (Which meant she'd grown up a lot since she'd been the first person from the Ark to step on another irradiated Earth. There'd be no swimming, this time.)

But, she nodded. "But basically, everything that's even remotely useful, because the island had barely anything. Got it."

[arboreal_priestess]

"You're not wrong," Verity said with a sigh, twisting her high ponytail into a bun and shoving some wicked-looking metal sticks into it. "Maybe some of that mutfruit--" her mouth twisted into a grimace "-if we find a grove on the way home."

Sure, the mutfruit was supposed to be healthy, but Verity still felt safer sticking to the expired-for-literal-centuries pre-boxed food.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had so such qualms. She'd be careful about what she ate, sure, but they hadn't had any pre-boxed food available back where she was from.

"Yeah." She nodded, glancing brieflt up at the metal sticks. (Those looked good for stabbing. She approved.) "I brought bags, we can bring back as much as we can carry."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity was wearing so much weaponry that she could clank when she walked. The only reason she didn't was because that was a dead giveaway to the things she generally intended to use her weaponry on.

"Good," she said, nodding. "How are you on weapons? Have enough?"

Well. 'Enough.' That wasn't really a concept in an irradiated hellscape.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel had no weapons, but he had his suit and himself. He was hoping he'd mostly be needed for carrying supplies, but he wasn't counting on it.

"Ready. Shock, this place looks awful."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity was eyeing the 'no weapons' thing. "You know how to use a gun?" she asked. "I can loan you one if you don't have any."

Please don't get eaten in the Wasteland, Miguel.

[what_the_shock]

"I'm good," Miguel said. "Better at dodging bullets than shooting them."

[arboreal_priestess]

"You've got no weapons at all?" she asked. "I could give you a holdout knife? Or axe?"

Just something?

[what_the_shock]

"No, really," Miguel protested, "I'm good." He held out his hand, talons out. "I can cut through anything this place'll have. The suit's more bulletproof than kevlar, I can lift a car, and I can move faster than you can see."

He shrugged. "Also I'm venomous, but I'd really rather not bite any of these things."

[arboreal_priestess]

"...I had absolutely no idea, huh," Verity said, quickly reversing her axe and tucking it back into her belt. "Okay, then, I guess you're sorted then."

Now she kinda to watch him in action.