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a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.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

[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.

[firstofitskind]

"Unfortunately. Or fortunately, from a certain perspective," Liam confirmed.

[okteiviakom]

"Guess that means we probably won't be stuck here longer than we had the flood, or the dinosaurs, then," Octavia noted, but with an odd note of reluctance.

This wasn't her wasteland.

But.

[firstofitskind]

Liam tilted his head at her, giving her a considering look as he took in how she was dressed now, how she'd been dressed the first time they'd crossed paths nearly two years ago, and the small-but-significant concessions she'd made to life on the island in-between.

"Most people would be relieved to hear we'd be leaving this place behind," he observed mildly. He was well aware Octavia was not 'most people'. It was, after all, kind of what had brought them together.

[okteiviakom]

It had been a slow process of assimilation, replacing somee of her wardrobe with present day things. Lighter materials, here and there. Pants that couldn't withstand even the slightest encounter with a blade.

Yeah, none of that was present now. Give her Helios and she might as well have been back in the woods where she'd come from.

(Give her Lincoln.)

"'Most people'," she rasped, but sounding subdued, "sound like smart people, for once."

[firstofitskind]

"Bound to happen eventually," he shrugged. He tried to think about how he'd feel if they ended up in a world similar to the one he'd come from. A harder life than Fandom, to be sure, but also one where he wouldn't have to second-guess himself quite so much. "Still, there's something to be said for what's familiar."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged. A little piece of helplessness seemed to bleed out in the gesture - but only a very little bit.

"Guess I should get my turn at feeling like a belong in a landscape."

Guess she was getting it. More or less.

[firstofitskind]

"Well," he said with a shrug of his own. "I'm glad to have someone along who's in their element, anyway."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia huffed out a... very vague sound, the meaning of which even she probably wasn't all the way sure of.

"Let's hope that translates into stuff to bring back to the island."

[firstofitskind]

Liam started to say something in agreement, but that quickly changed to: "Duck."

Not that there was anything within view yet. But there would be.

[okteiviakom]

And so Octavia ducked, sword already in her hands, because this wasn't the kind of environment where questioning a thing like that before doing it would do anyone much good.

"What is it?"

[firstofitskind]

She’d probably hear them before she saw them, a swarm of a half-dozen vampiric bloodbugs. They were big enough that her sword would be an effective weapon against them, but there were enough that they wouldn’t be able to pick any of them off without being swarmed by the remaining bugs. Liam raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. Did she want to engage?

[okteiviakom]

Now, not engaging might've been a decent choice. At least to see if the bugs made them or if they'd get lucky and the things would just pass by.

But Octavia didn't like leaving things up to luck. She nodded, and then she was already straightening up, sword drawn and ready to slice the closes bloodbug to shreds without hesitation.

What good was warpaint without a war, anyway?

[firstofitskind]

A valid point. And so Liam got his own weapon, the laser pistol, and fired off a quick shot at one of the bugs. It exploded in a cloud of exoskeleton and ichor - though thankfully not on him this time.