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a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.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

[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.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia inclined her head back towards the sword that was still - for now - in its scabbard at her back. "Enough to be effective."

Verity was going to be seeing her throw her sword at something or someone today, for sure.

[arboreal_priestess]

And then Verity would need to know where the hell she'd gotten a sword balanced for throwing and if that place were still accessible because holy shit a throwing sword.

"Any good with guns?" she asked, giving the sword an approving nod.

[okteiviakom]

It was also possible the sword wasn't even remotely meant for that, and Octavia was just good at hurling it out of pure stubborness.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "Guns are more my brother's thing. I never bothered to learn."

He'd learned guns on the Ark, she'd learned blades down on the ground. It worked the same as all their other key differences.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Let me know if you ever want to learn," Verity said, carefully scanning the horizon for anything moving. "I generally prefer killing things from a distance."

[okteiviakom]

"Where's the fun in that?"

It was clearly meant to be a joke, but her tone didn't really make it sound like it.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You hit 'em just right, they can explode," Verity said.

...Was that a joke?

[okteiviakom]

Too bad if it was, because Octavia's head tilted a little like she was intrigued.

She was... uncomfortably comfortable with violence. (Wherein it was uncomfortable for everyone else.)

"Huh. Fair point."

[arboreal_priestess]

She should definitely hang out with Verity then. The Healy-Prices were also uncomfortably comfortable with violence. Even their children's games involved an element of danger.

And traps. So many traps.

Fortunately for Verity, a bloatfly took that moment to buzz up, angling its stinger at them. Verity barely seemed to aim before squeezing off a shot - and it did explode in a gout of blood and gore.

The Wasteland was uniquely suited to backing up that kind of comment. It was like some kind of perk!

"See what I mean?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's sword was in her hands as soon she caught sight of the bloatfly. Reflex, and a necessary one, even if she didn't need to go further than that before the gross explosion.

She raised her eyebrows. Didn't smile, not quite, but there was something brighter about her expression. Maybe.

The weirdo.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "I guess that's a point in guns' favor."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm actually a bigger fan of throwing knives," Verity admitted. "But they're better when you know you can get them back. Same with my throwing axes."

She was carrying sets of both on her, it should be noted.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia raised her eyebrows a little, and shrugged. Her gaze was already scanning the distance again for anything incoming.

"I always get my sword back."

Yes, that did actually imply exactly what you maybe thought it was implying, Verity.

[arboreal_priestess]

"...You use your sword as a throwing weapon?" Verity asked, eyebrows shooting for her hairline.

THAT WASN'T WHAT SWORDS WERE FOR, OCTAVIA.

[okteiviakom]

SAYS YOU.

"Yes?"

It was only a question because Octavia combined answering in the affirmative with wondering whether it merited that much of an eyebrow raise.

"I mean, I don't use it just as a throwing weapon." No, she was very good at slashing and stabbing as well.

[arboreal_priestess]

"It's balanced for throwing?" she asked, sounding positively baffled.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged like it wasn't that big a deal. It was just what Indra had trained her with!

"Yeah."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay, I need to see this in action," Verity said with a firm nod. "Because if somebody is going around making throwing swords, I clearly fuckin' need one."

[okteiviakom]

"Person who made it isn't exactly available," Octavia replied a little dryly.

(This wasn't her wasteland. This wasn't her wasteland. This wasn't her -- anyway.)

"But that first thing shouldn't be a problem."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Yeah, I sincerely doubt we're going to face a lack of things to kill on our trek," Verity said, resigned.

Look, she didn't really like killing, especially not of creatures that were just trying to survive. But when its survival put hers in jeopardy, well...wasn't really a contest.