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a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.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

[arboreal_priestess]

At least it wasn't a canvas onesie?

"I didn't argue with my parents about staying on the island over Christmas just to move home with them," Verity declared, looking down into the water in time to spire a mirelurk looking back up at her. They held eye contact for a long moment before the mirelurk swam on. "God why is everything in this world creepy?"

[firstofitskind]

"It's almost enough to put one off sushi," Liam agreed, making a face. And as a Gen Z-slash-millennial, that was saying a lot.

"I do like your parents," Liam said. "But you're right, I don't know if I'd want to live with them. I just meant, is there something specific about Michigan as opposed to, say, Dallas?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"It's where the old homestead is," Verity said softly. "Generations of Healys grew up there. It'd be neat to try to renovate that old place."

[firstofitskind]

"Oh," Liam said, his tone equally soft. As someone with no familial ties (of the blood kind, anyway) of his own, that kind of thing had a way of piquing his curiosity. "You know, we don't have to get stuck in the land of giant radioactive animals to look into that," he pointed out.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, yeah," Verity said. "I know. But we have lives on the island, you know? Feels weird to uproot that just to go check out a falling down old house full of black mold."

[firstofitskind]

"Could be a weekend project," he mused. "We've got portals and the shuttle at our disposal after all."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Gross, you're so domestic," Verity teased as they stepped off the Causeway and into the Capital Wasteland proper. "You and your 'home projects' and 'healthy breakfasts.'"

[firstofitskind]

"Whatever," Liam shot back, bumping her shoulder. "You like it." As much as she teased him about the whole 'wanting to learn to cook' thing, she'd never actually turned anything he'd made down, after all.

[arboreal_priestess]

Well of course! She was a brat, not an idiot.

"Yeah, whatever, I guess you're okay," Verity said, not able to hide her smile.

He was more than that. And he knew it.

[firstofitskind]

"Glad I pass muster," Liam replied. He opened his mouth to add something else- and then stopped abruptly, going still.

"Yao guai," he muttered to her under his breath, tilting his head slightly to the left.

How did he know that's what the mutant bear thing was called? Shhhh. Don't question it.

[arboreal_priestess]

Hey now. The Wasteland Survivor's Guide was an exceptional guide could not only save a life, but might even inspire folks to reach for the lost greatness of the prewar era.

And mentioned yao guai.

Verity slowly shifted until she was facing the giant mutated creature, making no fast or sudden movements to draw its attention. It was snuffling at something in the dirt, but odds that it would miss their little party were pretty slim.

"Shoot first or trust in luck?" Verity asked, already thumbing the safety of her gun off.

[firstofitskind]

"Shoot first," Liam said without hesitation. "Luck can go either way." And he didn't want to chance it being the bad kind.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Never much believed in luck," Verity said, and squeezed off three shots into the creature's head.

It roared and charged towards them.

"I hate this place," Verity muttered and emptied her clip.

[firstofitskind]

"You say that," Liam sighed, taking aim and letting off a few shots from the laser rifle, "but you get antsy if you go too long without fighting something," he pointed out.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well..." Okay, Verity couldn't really argue with that. Instead, she just popped out the magazine and slipped in a new one.
"But this might be too much of a target rich environment."

She aimed off to their right and shot a bloatfly preparing to launch stingers at them. It exploded in a shower of guts and Verity was shooting at the yao guai again as it charged towards them.

[firstofitskind]

If Liam had a reply to that, it was lost as he swung himself up onto the yao guai's back.

The things were resilient, true, but even the most resilient of creatures had a hard time with a point blank headshot.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Hot," Verity called as the beast roared once more and fell over. "That means I'm going to have to ride radscorpion to properly one up you for this one. Or one of those big suckers with the claws."

[firstofitskind]

Of course, now Liam had yao guai ichor in his hair. Ugh.

"Probably should've stabbed it," he admitted, resignedly trying to shake some of the gunk off. "Less messy."