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a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.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

[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.

[what_the_shock]

She'd probably get to, if this went as expected.

"What's the plan, anyway?" Miguel asked. "Do we have a specific destination in mind?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"DC," Verity replied. "There are still giant swaths of the place that haven't been properly scavenged, or so the scuttlebutt goes."

[what_the_shock]

"Long walk," Miguel observed. Not that he couldn't do it, but still.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Closer than it seems," Verity said. "Hard to tell without the usual landmarks, but I don't think we're in the usual Baltimore environs. According to some of the people I spoke to, it's only a few hours trek."

[what_the_shock]

"Huh. Interesting difference."

He glanced at some radroaches a distance off, then dismissed them unless they got closer.

"So, how have you guys been doing?" He grinned a little. "You never call, you never write, you never visit anymore."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh my god, you've transformed into my aunt," Verity said, laughing. "Not bad. My mice have turned into mole-rats, so that's a little traumatizing. Talking mole-rats lisp, you know. It's disconcerting to be horrified and amused at the same time. You?"

[what_the_shock]

"Pass on the mole-rats," Miguel declared. They didn't sound nearly as adorable as the mice.

"I've been okay. At least my toes are dry now. I was wondering if we were going to have to pull a Noah's Ark last week."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I just think of how much I bitched about wanting to be dry last week and wondering if we're being punished for it now," Verity admitted, shaking her head. "Dramatic irony at its worst."

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah, well, there's dry and then there's nuts. I had my class make kits to clean the water and detect radiation this week," Miguel said. "A happy medium would be nice!" he called over his shoulder to the retreating island.

[arboreal_priestess]

Who knows? Maybe it would even listen!

"I've decided I don't want to know how much radiation we're breathing in," Verity said. "I'm just popping the meds fairly regularly and hoping for the best."

[what_the_shock]

"I'm leaving them to people who need them," Miguel said. "Hopefully we'll be gone from here before it'll make a difference for me." He probably couldn't heal radiation damage forever, but if they were here for much longer, he'd probably try to arrange an exodus.

Something caught his eye, and he looked ahead and to the left, where stunted dead trees stood. "There's something big over there." He pulled down his mask just in case.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity turned to the left, smoothly pulling her gun up and peering down the sight. "Please be one of those creepy two-headed cows," she muttered, looking to find a place to target.

[what_the_shock]

The creature that walked out and sniffed in their direction was definitely not a two-headed cow.

"Maybe it won't be aggressive," Miguel muttered, not holding out much hope for that.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity looked at that thing and frowned. "I don't think it knows how not to be aggressive," she said, looking at claws built for nothing more than snatching. But she couldn't see any eyes on its...face?...so maybe it wouldn't notice--

It spat a ball of something sickly green at them.

So much for that. Verity spun out of the way.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel leapt the other direction, then sent a blob of webbing out to seal its mouth.

"I think you're right."

The thing thrashed and struck out with its clawed arms; Miguel did his best to cocoon it before it got close.

[arboreal_priestess]

Which, honestly, just made it a hell of a lot easier for Verity to do her thing.

"Can I shoot through that?" she asked, uncertain how strong (and sticky) that...webbing?...was.

[what_the_shock]

"Depends on the bullets," Miguel said. "Best go for the head."

And if that didn't work, he was ready to keep going.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Always," Verity agreed, and shot two bullets into the things head.

It...It did not go down.

"That's a...well, fuck," Verity said, blinking at the webbed creature.

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah," Miguel agreed. He leapt on the thing and pulled its head back, digging into its throat with his claws. "Shock, it's tough! Shoot there!"

Maybe once he'd gotten through the skin, the bullets would do more damage.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity pulled up her gun again, emptying her clip into the thing's throat, precision leading to a grouping of shots no bigger around than than her palm.

[what_the_shock]

That seemed to do the trick, dropping the thing in its tracks. It still wasn't dead, but it wasn't actively trying to fight anymore, so Miguel would count it a win.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Maybe that webbing will keep other stuff away from the carcass until we come back this way," Verity said, reloading another clip. "Nice moves. See what you meant before."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel grinned. "Told you." He wrapped the thing up entirely in webbing. "It'll last a few hours, anyway. We'll see how fast we're back."