(no subject)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens and Ellen slips in from the Capital Wasteland, a battered leather duster thrown over her old Vault suit. She's got a rolled-up sheaf of blueprint paper in hand. "Hey, Bar?" she says. "I could really use a beer, we had trouble with raiders coming after the water caravan today... oh, and if Dean Winchester's here somewhere, could you let him know I'm looking for him? Thanks."

There's a bark- the door didn't close immediately behind her.

"Oh, and some water and food for Dogmeat, please? Thanks."

She's looking for Dean specifically, but this is Ellen; she'd be just as happy to meet up with anybody else tonight. She made it to the end of a very long day, after all.

Comments

[hopeitsworthit]

A waitrat bringing a note over is not really something Dean was expecting, considering his beer's full and he's still got half a burger left.

Still.

He scans the bar for a second, looking for -- yup, there's the girl with gray hair. He stands up, bringing his beer along for the ride but leaving the burger behind.

"Hey, Ellen," he says, once he's within hailing distance. "Lookin' good."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen looks up and smiles. "Thanks," she says. "It's the first I've been out of my armor since before dawn today. How've you been?"

[hopeitsworthit]

"I've been worse."

He cracks a grin.

(He's ignoring the fact that, from now on, that statement will always be true.)

"Sounds like a hell of a long day. You on a job, or just traveling?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"The former," says Ellen. "Today was a water caravan delivery day, which means I had to get up early to go meet the crew transporting the water out of the DC ruins and escort them to Megaton to make sure the- I've lost you already, haven't I? I keep forgetting who knows about that part of my job and who doesn't..."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Nah, I'm pretty sure I followed the mechanics."

Water delivery out of DC to some other city, guard duty -- that bit was pretty clear.

"You got me on the why, though. And the how. And where Megaton is."

You know. The little stuff.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Okay," says Ellen. "Well- Megaton is the town I live in. It's outside where Arlington, Virginia used to be, and it's close to the rock formation that the Vault I grew up in is buried under. There's a lot of people living there, but the town water treatment plant is old and rickety and hasn't ever really been able to produce very good water, just water that was mostly pure. You get a lot of babies born in Megaton with six toes and things like that."

"Before he died, my dad managed to build a water purifier on the site of the Jefferson Memorial that's able to make the entire Potomac tidal basin drinkable and safe. The Brotherhood of Steel is operating the purifier now. They're soldiers and scientists who're trying to reclaim tech from before the Great War. I joined up with them last year. I have to escort the water to Megaton because the last time somebody else did it, they got fooled into giving the city's water supply to a radiation-worshipping cult and a couple of people died."

Now, just how much else does he want to know about her world after an infodump like that?

[hopeitsworthit]

Dean'll start with the easier things.

"Damn. Well. Good on your dad for fixing that shit. And you, for not being a sucker, plus takin' one for the team."

Okay, now it's time for the bigger picture.

"But yeah, it all sounds pretty shitty."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Pretty much," Ellen says. "It's been two hundred years since the War and we're only really getting to recovery now. There's no real law in most of the Wasteland. Today I had to help fight off a good-sized band of armed raiders who were trying to hijack the water caravan- and God knows what else they were planning to do when they were done. One of them had a bunch of severed hands on his belt."

Seriously.

[hopeitsworthit]

"Severed -- yeah. Guess it's kinda better than ears, since you can't get as many hangin' there. But. Uh."

The picture he's carrying of Ellen's world is getting more and more accurate.

And, you know. Shitty.

"Cannibals're a bitch."

He speaks from experience.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

( "No. Not without incident." )

"No kidding. Even the ones who're trying to reform themselves have problems..."

She shakes her head; the Family aren't remotely in the same category as the people of Andale. Vance actually meant well, and it was pretty clear poor Ian had something genuinely wrong with him other than being raised by heavily inbred Republican career cannibals. The comparison isn't fair at all.

"Anyway. They're all dead now. And the water's safely in Megaton, being properly distributed, so I got out of my armor and made sure my Brahmin were all right and checked on the experimental plants I'm growing, and then came here."

Ellen's kinda got a lot of stories that have 'they're all dead now' in them.

[hopeitsworthit]

Funny how Dean does, too.

"You really do keep busy. You eaten any dinner yet?"

Hey, after the day she's had, he'd be ready to eat half a cow.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Not yet," Ellen admits. "I think the last I had to eat was a squirrel on a stick back around noon."

[hopeitsworthit]

"Right. What're you feelin' up for? I'll spot you this one, and a drink, too, if you want."

Plus it'll let him finish his own dinner.

Everyone wins.

[not_his_pa]

William has been feeling better but he's still pale when he goes to the Bar and smiles to see Ellen,

"Things goin' well?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, yes," says Ellen. "It's been a long day but things are all right in the end. Hi, William, how're you doing?"

[not_his_pa]

"I've been a little ill but I'm almost back to how I should be. Good, hey Dogmeat,"

He leans down to give Dogmeat a pet as he's always such a happy dog.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat whufs once and butts his head against Will's hand. Maybe he'll get food out of it. You never know.

"Glad to hear you're getting better," Ellen says. "Hopefully you'll be able to go home soon."

[not_his_pa]

"I've been home and restin' there when I can. I got some time here but didn't stay too long,"

It was one of those times when he wanted to sleep in his own bed.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, gotcha," says Ellen. "That makes sense. How are things holding up back home, then?"

[not_his_pa]

"Not too bad, but I'll be glad when I'm back to doin' everythin' I should be."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I can imagine," Ellen says. "Being idle's never easy."

She's aware of having to slow down and not do stuff in order to recover, but it still feels like wasting time whenever it happens to her.

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, especially when I started doin' better but not all the way. My Ma and Mark kept sendin' me back to bed,"

Which was hard because William knew he could manage things but he didn't want to worry them more.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That sounds familiar," Ellen says. "I got glared at a lot by doctors here when I had to recover last year and kept getting out of bed to exercise."

[not_his_pa]

"I'd probably do the same for Mark but I'm stronger than him."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen smiles a little. "Sometimes you just have to lie back and take it," she says. "At least it won't be much longer for you. And you can get decent food while you're here to help with getting better faster."