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a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.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

"I can manage that," Liam decided. "Would- do you think you could return the favor?" he asked, a little shyly.

Even after more than a year of dating, non-sexual touching was still Kind of a Big Deal. Hell, he'd nearly cried the first time Verity had done the whole hair-washing-and-scalp-massage thing for him. He just. He hadn't known something so simple could feel so nice.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, we might need to be in a bath for that," Verity said, considering how much taller he was than she. And there were no heels in the shower, after all.

"But if I can't wash your hair in the shower, can I make up for it by brushing it when we get out?" she asked. "With a side order of shoulder rub?"

[firstofitskind]

"Now that sounds like a plan," Liam grinned back at her, bumping their shoulders together briefly.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity took a moment and slid her arm around Liam's waist, just long enough for him to feel its warmth and presence, and then she was pulling it back to keep her hands on her weapon.

"So, what are you hoping for tonight?" she asked as they trundled the miles through the wasteland. "The Salisbury steaks or the BlamCo mac and cheese?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam couldn't help the disgusted face he made. "I suppose the Salisbury steaks are less worse," he admitted.

Another thing they were doing once the island moved again: going to dinner at one of those bougie farm-to-table places with ridiculously expensive- and ridiculously fresh- food.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I mean, we could always hope for more ants?" Verity said. "They kinda tasted chicken...ish?"

The mice - mole-rats - appreciated them?

[firstofitskind]

"I'm almost disappointed we ran into that yao guai so early," Liam admitted. "Those are supposedly relatively good."

Everything was 'relative' around here, honestly.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Which is surprising, considering how gamey bear tends to be," Verity said. "But why shouldn't that be upside down in this place, too?"

[firstofitskind]

“And why am I not surprised that you know how gamey bear tends to be?” Liam asked, clearly amused.

[arboreal_priestess]

"The real shock will probably come when I assure you that I didn't trap it or kill it," Verity said, snickering. "Nah. We were visiting a yeti clan."

[firstofitskind]

“‘Do as the yeti do’, hmm?” Liam grinned. It was a testament to how much studying he’d been doing over the past year and a half that that didn’t even get a ‘wait, those are real too?’ the way it would have early in their relationship.

[arboreal_priestess]

"It's only polite!" Verity insisted. "Though the funny thing is, most yeti are vegetarians, and had prepared the bear for us in an attempt to make us feel more at home. Which made it doubly-awkward to have refused. So we didn't."

[firstofitskind]

"Did anyone eventually tell them you wouldn't have been upset with a vegetarian meal?" Liam wondered.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Yeah, mom mentioned it casually the next day," Verity said. "Mostly because we weren't up to facing the idea of leftover bear."

[firstofitskind]

“Good for your mom,” Liam said, as they trudged on. The DC skyline- or what was left of it- was beginning to take shape through the haze, and the sick feeling in the pit of Liam’s stomach at the sight had nothing to do with radiation levels.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity glanced up at Liam and chanced another brief handhold. "You okay?" she asked, knowing he probably wasn't. This was his home, after all.

[firstofitskind]

Some of the tension eased from his face at the contact, at least?

“No,” he admitted. No sense in lying to the person who knew him better than anyone. Waking up on Monday and seeing Fandom transformed had been disturbing, sure, but he’d also been fairly secure in the knowledge that it wouldn’t stay like that. This place... this place was a shell of the vibrant, busy city he’d called home, and would continue to exist after they left.

[arboreal_priestess]

Good, cause it would have been awkward to have to call Liam out for lying in front of Miguel and Octavia anyway.

"Makes sense. Pretty sure it would mess with me to see Portland like this," she said quietly. "Or Baltimore."

[firstofitskind]

Would she really have, though? Really?

If they didn't have the mice- mole-rats- to feed, honestly, Liam would've considered turning back right now. As it was, they'd better get enough supplies on this run because he didn't want to come back.

"Visiting DC in other worlds- yours, or the one Fandom usually connects to- it's weird, because things aren't exactly the way I'm used to. But they're close enough. This is just- it's wrong."

[arboreal_priestess]

Ugh, no. Shhh. Don't ruin the illusion.

"It's like how empty your DC feels because there aren't cryptids running around in it," Verity agreed, nodding. "This is like visiting a graveyard."

And they'd come to loot.

[firstofitskind]

"The sooner we’re done here, the better," he muttered.

[arboreal_priestess]

"We'll get in and get out, as fast as we can," Verity promised. "First decent-sized haul we find, we're out."

Verity was entirely of the 'bird in the hand is better than two in the bush' mindset. Only in this case it was 'food in her belly.'

[firstofitskind]

Liam nodded, not saying anything more as they approached the edges of what had once been DC.

"Might be worth checking out St. Michael's," he offered, finally breaking the silence. The Lair that existed underneath it had been carved out of an extensive natural cave system, after all. It seemed like a logical assumption that the people of this world might have appropriated the structure for their own use as well.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You know this place better than I do," Verity agreed, falling back a half-step to let him take point. "I'm willing to go wherever you think is best."

[firstofitskind]

There had, of course, been decades of construction followed by destruction and decay here that hadn't happened in his world, but still.

He led their little group into the ruins of a church, purpose in his step as he made his way to a particular back hallway, hand running along the wall until he found what he was looking for, and a portion of the wall slid aside to reveal a hidden elevator.

With a rather unfamiliar looking terminal screen where the biometric scanner should have been.

"That's different," he muttered. Possibly better, because at least something like this would be easier to bypass than biometrics.